Peaches 'n' Cream and Random Blue 'n' White

These peach/apricot Ambridge roses remind me of peaches and cream, as smooth as this apple, orange, watermelon, and berries yogurt drink I made in the blender. So soothing for the throat. If you find it hard to keep up with your fruit intake in the winter like I do, one or two glasses of this everyday would do it. "Overarching" effect of the coffee table! Random blue and white around the house...............

Lemony Sweet Treat

I came across this recipe in one of my cookbooks ages ago, but never attempted to make it. So when I was looking for a sweet treat to bake, I decided this would be it. I love fruit in desserts and citrusy ones are one of my favourites. With this one the actual fruit is not visible, but you could say it has a lot of Vitamin C goodness in it. Lemons always remind me of summer, sunshine and cheerfulness. So in winter, with a hot cup of tea, these Lemon Sunburst bars really help maintain some of that. Here it is up closer, doesn't it look cheerful? The not-so-strong winter sun shining in through the windows, it's so precious. That was a nice tea break, now if you'll excuse me, I'll have to go and continue with the rest of the preparation for dinner, we've got company tonight. Enjoy your week, till next time. Recipe for Lemon Sunburst

1 cup (150g) self raising flour
1 and 1/4 cups (185) plain flour
2 cups (320) icing sugar
250g butter, chopped
4 eggs
1 and 1/2 cups (330g) caster/ baker's sugar
1/2 cup (125ml) lemon juice
1 Tbsp finely grated lemon rind (I did not use this as my children don't like it)

(1) Grease 20cm x 30cm tray/lamington pan, line with baking paper, extending paper 2cm above edge of pan.
(2) Rub chopped butter into the self-raising flour, 1 cup of the plain flour and 1/2 cup of the icing sugar until mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Press over base of prepared pan; bake in 170C oven for about 20 minute; or until firm; cool in pan.
(3) Whisk eggs, caster sugar, remaining plain flour, rind (if using) and 1/4 cup of the juice in medium bowl; pour over biscuit base. Bake in 170C oven for 30 minutes, or until firm; cool in pan.
(4) Stir remaining icing sugar and remaining juice in a small bowl until smooth; spread over slice, cut into bars or slices when set.

Painted Beauty

G'day, dear bloggers, Here is my kitchen dresser/hutch painted white. I'm very happy with how it turned out, I love it so much better white. I also pulled lots of my creamware out of the obscurity of the cupboards and put them on show, they really lend height, texture and look great with other white things. I'm playing with roses again. I still have quite a lot of rose blooms in the garden, the weather has simply been lovely for them. Pink Simplicity(pink, Floribunda)Louise Odier (pink, Old Rose) Tamora (apricot, David Austin) I love how the hutch looks in the background, so cool, calm and collected, what do you think? Louise Odier (pink, Old Rose), Tamora (apricot, David Austin), Pink Simplicity(in urn, pink, Floribunda) Seduction(pink and cream, Floribunda) and Perfumed Perfection (mauve, Floribunda) And here are some close-ups. Have a fantastic rest of the week, till next time.

Award and the Start of Changes

Hi, dear bloggers and friends, it's getting cold here, but thankfully I'm sitting in the heated comfort of our home. I'm imagining what wonderful summer all my friends in the Northern Hemisphere must be enjoying, it's only the beginning of winter, I'm thinking of summer already! Federica at Sweet as a Candy has awarded me with this lovely award, thanks Federica. If you have not been to Federica's blog, you'll have to go and check it out. It's so chock full of inspiration better than reading magazines; she sends her readers to all sorts of beautiful places with loads of inspiration for home decor, fashion and living. I especially love the home decor section and think the styles she's chosen are simply breathtaking and dreamy. Please click on the link and go and have a look, you'll love it.I'm making a start with some changes in our living/dining area. I have been painting the hutch and buffet white and our lounge room is going to be changed into a study and music room, so some things from the lounge room have been moved out to the living room. I am looking at a wall paint colour, maybe somewhere along the light grey lines to replace the pink. Decorating and moving things around is fun. Remember the birdcage? It was dark brown and now it's been painted white. I love how it looks now.Now I'll leave you with these small bouquets of roses and daisies, have a lovely day, won't you?Roses used here : Perfumed Perfection (Mauve, Floribunda), Seduction (Cream and pink, Floribunda) and white daisies. The white roses in the large urn are artificial silk flowers.

Console Table

 I'm helping the environment by recycling and giving a bit of TLC to the pieces which need a bit of love. I spotted this piece near a pile of rubbish, I thought it had character. I changed the drawer pull, I'm still wanting to paint it to the white and the finish and distress that I like; but for now, here it is. The books and glasses and doily were my son's idea. The metal plaque behind is still not finished either, it's a bit too white and I want to repaint and distress it and put words on it. Nice little table for displaying roses, don't you think? Have a great week, dear friends. Roses here are Jude the Obscure(apricot, David Austin), St.Cecilia(pink, David Austin), Golden Years(yellow, Floribunda), Anne Boelyn(medium pink/apricot blend, David Austin).

Rhubarb in season

G'day, sweet bloggers and friends, have you had a good week? I've had a full one. I'm in the process of painting my hutch, buffet and dining furniture white, I paused for a while for some snaps snaps on my camera. I figured I wouldn't have the "unfinished paint finish" background for long, so I had to take photos, didn't I? It really did help having such co-operative subjects as these autumn lovelies though. I had so much fun putting these together, and so much more fun taking pictures! They are very photogenic, I must add. Roses used here: Perfumed Perfection (Mauve, Floribunda), Anne Boelyn (Pink apricot blend, David Austin) and Sheena Gold with lilac flowers(Hedge plant, can't remember the cultivar's name).Notice the two-tone pink on these roses? They tend to do that naturally in autumn. I love them like that since I love striped roses and I haven't added any in my garden yet. Pink roses: Sir Edward Elgar (David Austin English Rose) and Pink Simplicity(Floribunda)Tamora (David Austin) apricot I'm a sucker for rhubarb desserts. So I also took time out to bake a Rhubarb Crumble-topped Teacake. It's so good I had to share with you. The topping really makes it special and I love the nuts in it. The aroma while baking was unbelievable! You can have it with whipped cream, I didn't want it with cream this time so I had it plain with..........roses! Very low calories, lol! And of course a cup of tea has to be called for, what is a teacake without tea? These are Pink Simplicity arranged a bit wildly, the two-tone is even more obvious here. Recipe for Rhubarb Crumble-topped Teacake:
125g butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups plain flour
1 tsp bicarb soda 1 tsp cinnamon
1 cup (200-250ml) sour cream
2 cups rhubarb, finely sliced

Topping:
5 Tbsp plain flour
25-30g butter (diced and softened)
3 Tbsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup slivered or flaked almonds ( I used both)

(1) Preheat oven to 180C. Grease a 20cm springform tin. Line base with baking paper. (2) Beat butter and brown sugar together until pale and creamy. Add egg and vanilla and beat well. Sift flour, bicarb soda and cinnamon together. Add to butter mixture with sour cream and fold through until well combined. Add 2/3 of rhubarb to batter and stir well. Transfer to cake tin and smooth top. (3) To prepare Topping: Rub butter into flour until mixture resembles bread crumbs. Add brown sugar, cinnamon and almonds into the mixture. (4) Add reserved rhubarb on surface of batter and then layer Topping mixture on top of rhubarb. (5) Bake for 1 hour or cooked when tested. Enjoy your weekend, my sweet friends, hope you get to try the teacake.