Peanut Butter Cookies and Kids Boutique

G'day, lovely readers and bloggers, The weather here has been simply Perfect!! Yes, Perfect with a Capital P. We're fortunate our living room has ceiling to floor windows on two sides of the walls, so even when I sit inside, I can open all those curtains and let the sunshine in. Love it. It would be hard for me to live in a dark place. Sometimes my children would think of something I've cooked or made in the past and haven't made for a while and would remind me it's time I did again. These Peanut Butter Cookies were one of those things. They are extremely easy to make. The recipe I use does not use any flour, you can either use crunchy or smooth peanut butter. I used smooth here. Hope you'll try them and enjoy them as much as I did. Peanut Butter Cookies
1 cup (260g) peanut butter
3/4 cup caster sugar (or a bit less would be fine)
1 egg, beaten lightly

(1) Combine ingredients in medium bowl.
(2) Roll rounded teaspoons of mixture into balls. (Go ahead, use your fingers!) Place cookies about 5cm apart on baking paper lined oven trays, flatten slightly with a fork.
(3) Bake in moderate oven (180 degrees C) about 15 minutes or until browned lightly. Stand cookies 5 minutes before lifting onto wire racks to cool.
**Remember, the longer you bake them, the crunchier they get. So if you like them softer and more chewy, it's alright to bring them out of the oven just before they brown. They will look a bit too soft to handle at first, but give them some time they will harden up.These cookies are so yummy, especially if you like peanut butter. I know at our house, we do! Now I'd better treat myself to a couple of them with a pot of tea before they get completely devoured by ravenous members of the family, wink** I also want to mention how a lady from The Vintage Village. com blessed me by aknowledging my blog in one of her posts. You can read it here. She has an online boutique called Cameo Kids Boutique which sells children's clothing, accessories and unique gifts items made from recycled vintage linens. If you haven't seen it yet, make sure you go and check it out, here . Absolutely gorgeous things! To Felicity Anderson: Sorry for my oversight and haven't answered your question till now. The answer to your question is in the Comments part of that post. Thanks.

Precious roses to cherish and shades of white

Hi, girls, Did you have a good weekend? I have been so busy that I haven't had time for roses lately. These are the last of the last roses before all my rose bushes get chopped to bare branches. Their scent is not diminished at all, even though the size of the blooms are smaller than usual. I'm happy just to have them though, since we're right in the middle of winter. The pink ones are Heritage (David Austin) and the mauve ones are Perfumed Perfection (Floribunda)I've finally finished painting our buffet, it looks great in all its white glory. I think it needs distressing though, it's perfectly white at the moment. I love different shades of white together to create a calm and serene atmosphere in the home. How about you?

So good to be back!

After reading Sandy's post at 4 Reluctant Entertainers about the Best Strawberry Bread in the World, I couldn't get it out of my mind. I told you I love fruity desserts, especially with berries. So off I went to get some fresh strawberries so I could try the recipe out. I was fortunate to be able to get strawberries at a reasonable price at this time of the year, I went to a Vietnamese grocer's, they seem to have fresh fruit and vegies much cheaper than the large supermarkets. Oh! I love the Strawberry Bread of course, it is GREAT!!! The best thing is it's so simple to make. I used a tray and spreaded it out (thinner as a result) to be baked instead of using a loaf pan because I wanted it to be cooked pronto. It took half the time to bake. It's called a bread, but it's the sort of thing which is more like a cake than a bread, but it's called a bread anyways, you know what I mean. I'll definitely make it again and again. Thanks Sandy for sharing. You can hop along to Sandy's blog and check out the recipe. Oh! By the way, I love Sandy's spirit, she advocates not perfection, but hospitality and kindness, that's really what it's about when it comes to entertaining and even everyday life, isn't it? I love the way she doesn't let "wanting everything to be perfect" to stop her from having people over. I've been making a few cushion covers too. The striped ones are made with tea towels, I picked them for their lovely blue (and white) and texture, I just love the freshness of the colours. The toile fabric is remnant from making pelmets for our windows in the living room. They go well together, don't they? The grey metal pedestal wire cloche with the little birdie on top is a new addition, I love its colour, the tall pedestal, the feel and the look of it, simply fabulous! There are still a few roses blooming in the front garden, I haven't been able to prune them due to rain and hail and storm, I'm waiting for a dry day or two to finish the job. These hot pink China Doll roses are from a standard (tree rose) weeping rose. It flowers non-stop, it only has a light fragrance, but I love the way the flowers always come in bundles, never single. Best Strawberry Bread in the World, a cup of tea, roses, wire cloche, starfish, ahhhh............ lovely! Thanks again for all of your lovely comments, I can't tell you enough how much I appreciate each one of you, your kindness has certainly made a difference to my life. Keep it up, ladies!

Recent Absence

Just a quick note to say that I've been having some trouble with our phone, hence the Internet connection. It's all fixed now and I'll be back, yay! I've missed visiting all of you and have felt so out of touch. Thanks so much for all your lovely comments, please be assured that they are very much appreciated. I'll get onto answering all your questions as soon as I can, I haven't been ignoring you. In the mean time, here are some of my old photos to remind me of summer. Have a fab start to your week.

Winter Roses

Hi, girls, how are things? Hope you are all doing well. We've had rain, hail and shine ( literally) here, so when it shines I had to seize the opportunity to quickly go out there and prune the roses. This year darling hubby is helping me which makes the load much lighter for me, He got me to teach him the how-to's and now I'm glad to say he's a confident rose pruner, isn't that great?These roses I saved from the pruned bushes were put in vases and glass jars for a few more days of fragrance and beauty, I just couldn't get myself to chuck them out. After this they'll rest for the winter........