A rare photo of me, taken this morning with my little man.

Here's the latest finished work on this section of the house.

This is being cleared out as I type this post :))

Here's our one and only tree.  Lemons anyone?

and here's a lovely lemon pudding I made from here

work in progress.........

the sleeping quarters are being built .....upstairs.  Since I've taken this photo the roof has been put on for the upstairs bedroom (which will be our bedroom) . 

this room will be our en suite :))

St.Martin's day .....

........... and here in Malta together with a bag full of figs, chestnuts, almonds, walnuts and hazelnuts it is also a tradition to bake this cake.  Here's some information about this day San Martin .  I will also be posting the recipe once my other hand is not holding baby :)) (too long to type recipe with one finger!!)

An update...... Not much is happening  at the moment as I am stuck indoors with middle child who is sick     :(( .  However he can still goof around with his little sister.

Hello everyone, I would like to share this with you and wish you all a great week.  I've just seen this over at Capers and Olives  and I think it is wonderful.

American frosting and walnut cake . Recipe can be found here Rachel Allen

Friday after school we went to see the Science fair.  This was great fun with hands on experiments, an earthquake room which was the kids' highlight, science shows explaining water and it's components, static electricity and lots more.

Saturday evening was spent with our friends enjoying a delicious meal and Halloween treats. Then on Sunday morning we were invited to join our dear friends for a hat birthday party which turned out to be great fun.

Cinnamon Rolls 

1/4 cup granulated sugar (50ml)
1/2 cup warm water (125ml)
1 tablespoon dry yeast
1/2 cup milk (125ml)
1/4 cup butter
1 tsp salt
2 eggs, beaten
4 cups plain flour

Filling

1 cup butter
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1 cp coarsely chopped pecans/walnuts (optional)
1 generous tbsp cinnamon

In a large bowl, dissolve 1 tsp of the sugar in warm water.  Sprinkle in yeast, let stand for 10 minutes or until frothy.  Meanwhile in small saucepan heat together milk remaining sugar, butter and salt until butter is melted, let cool to lukewarm.  Stir into yeast mixture along with eggs.  With electric mixer, gradually beat in 1 1/2 cups of the flour, beat for 2 minutes or until smooth.  With wooden spoon, gradually stir enough of the remaining flour to make soft slightly sticky dough.

Turned out dough onto lightly floured surface , knead for 7 - 10 minutes or until smooth and elastic.  Place in large greased bowl , turning to grease all over.  Cover lightly with plastic wrap let rise in warm draft free place until doubled in bulk. 

Filling :   meanwhile in a saucepan over medium heat melt butter and sugar mixing well together add cinnamon and pecan/walnuts (optional) and set aside.

Turn the oven on, punch down dough and turn out onto lightly floured surface.  Roll out into 18 x 14 inch (45 x35cm) rectangle.  Brush with half the melted butter leaving a 1 cm border uncovered.  sprinkle the sugar mixture, here you can leave some of the mixture to pour on top later.  Starting at long side tightly roll up pinching seam to seal.  Brush with melted butter.  With a serrated knife cut into 15 pieces place cut side down in the pan cover and let rise until double in bulk.

Finally pour the remaining sugar mixture on top and bake for 30 minutes (this all depends on your ovens really)| or until golden and top sounds hollow when tapped.  Let stand for a couple of minutes and then you can serve and enjoy.

Depth of field no.1

Depth of field no.2

Watching football practice

Painting at the mother and child group

Wednesday and Thursday,  we've been watching the middle child playing football down at our temporary football pitch (I'm emphasising temporary because this year after I do not know how many years the government has  allocated the funds to build a new football ground  YEAH!!  I have been trying out again the Depth of Field technique and for the first time I think I'm on the right track.  Lastly yesterday for the first time I took my little girl to the local mother and child group.  At first she sat on my lap and observed the other children and the new surroundings then slowly slowly she started playing , ate a banana, painted a red fish and to end the session we sang together as a group.  It was fun and I've also met some new mums :) 

quiet time ....

This photo was taken a while ago with my phone, however this is becoming a frequent scene here and I just love watching them :))

weekend cooking........

Cinnamon buns are by far my most favourite food indulgence.  However this is not something I bake often but when I do I really enjoy the process,  from dough making to the smell in the house and finally to the enjoyment of eating them. 

Today we woke up to thunder storm and lots of rain.

On another note, I've also managed to took a couple of photos with the depth of field technique which is not as easy as I thought.

I wish you all an enjoyable week.

This is part of the back garden of our home to be.  At the moment it's a big mess but once we clear all the stones etc...we will turn this into our personal relaxing outdoor space.  In the meantime we go there and kids play with the soil, they build, they cook and of course they get very dirty!! Happy Sunday to you all :)

Me and my girl and our daily walks.....

After walking my daughter and son to school I like to go for a walk with my little girl. This off course does not happen every day, there are days when other matters take priority, but this week we managed twice.......

once to this lovely gated  garden in a nearby village

and this morning down our local promenade, where the sun was shining ...... a little too much ;) for my liking.

Hot chocolate and cake day.............

yesterday my eldest daughter came home from school excited about her teacher's plans for today.  'Mum tomorrow we're having a hot chocolate day!!'    Two minutes after she comes next to me twinkling her eyes and all that   ''could you mum please, pretty please with a cherry on the top, bake a cake so I can take it to school and we can have a hot chocolate and cake day'.  I couldn't say no of course :))

On an autumn weekend this little family went out for walks, baked and watched one of the many games played by the older generation down at the local 'bocci club'.  I should really do a post about this game but first I have to get some significant information and take some more shots.  My middle child loves to watch these men play. Sometimes they argue , sometimes they joke and make fun of one another , it can be pretty amusing watching them.

In the last photo you can see my littlest chef trying to pull the cake tin full of cake mixture away from her sister because she wanted to play with the mixture.  She thought that the cake mixture should be thrown out of the tin and onto the table!!!

Introduction to photography..... 

as many of you might know I love taking photos and lately my friend and I decided to attend a course in introduction to photography.  So far we've attended two lessons and it has been very interesting.  I have started to experiment with what I've learnt so far and I think the results would be better if my camera had more functions.  My camera's apertures and shutter speed are limited so for now I will have to make do with what I have or maybe get photoshop !

The MV Logos Hope [1] is operated by the German charitable organisation GBA Ships e.V. As the fourth ship operated by the organisation, she follows in the line of MV Logos, the wrecked hulk of which now sits on a rock shelf on the Chilean coast, MV Logos II which was retired in the fall of 2008 and which Logos Hope was designed to replace, and MV Doulos which was sold to a Singaporean interest in 2009.

Twice as big as any previous ship operated by the organisation, the ship was completely refitted over a period of 5 years. Logos Hope provides a better quality of life for crew as well as a wider range of activities for visitors and guests. The newly created Logos Hope Experience (which is situated on a deck that was installed into the original ferry’s car area) holds up to 800 visitors at any time, with capacity to host an additional 700 in the Hope Theatre and Logos Lounge. This publicly accessible deck offers visitors an introduction to the vessel and the organisation, a book fair featuring around 7,000 different titles, a visual presentation called the Journey of Life and the International Cafe.
The all volunteer crew and staff of 400 people, represent around 50 different countries. Unlike the crew during her original use as a car ferry, crew and staff normally join the organisation to live on board for two years.

Logos Hope generally visits ports for two weeks and is continually sailing from port to port year round. Since the launch into active service in February 2009, she has been in three regions: Northern Europe, the Caribbean and most recently West Africa.

the life raft was my son's highlight of the day!

This Old town house was built around the 1930's and is found in the centre of a typical Maltese Village.  When we bought the house it had 7 rooms in all and all situated on ground level plus a small garden and a shed at the back of the garden.  Here's what we are doing in order to turn this old town house into our new home.

 the 'kitchen'

 sitting area/ dining

 the kitchen sink :)

 the garden and the shed

 the entrance

kitchen window overlooking the staircase

It's all dusty and dirty at the moment, however I've decided to blog the process .  It's not really exciting for now but as they say things have to get ugly before getting pretty ...something like that anyway!!

The Walnut Cake

this cake is a wonderful cake, especially for those of you who like walnuts.

the recipe can be found here Walnut Cake by Rachel Allen

The Bacio Cake......

A few weeks ago I was discussing the bacio cake with Juniper and Guusje.  So today armed with all the right ingredients I've set myself the task of baking, taking photos and later tasting. 

Here are the ingredients needed for this very delicious cake ...

400grams of hazelnuts
350grams of sugar
14 cream crackers
4 tablespoons of drinking chocolate
2 tablespoons of cocoa powder
1 teaspoon of baking powder
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract or essence
1 tablespoon of melted margarine/butter
6 egg whites
300grams of good quality chocolate for melting to cover the cake .



 Method. 



cake ready to be enjoyed


Preheat the oven 375, line the cake tine ( 20cm round), begin by crushing the crackers and nuts , then add the drinking chocolate, cocoa powder and baking powder .  In a separate bowl mix the egg whites and add the sugar and vanilla extract/ essence. Then mix the cracker and nut mixture together with the egg mixture.  Once this is done pour into the prepared tin and bake for  30-45 mins (varies on the oven).  Once this is done leave to cool on a wire rack, in the mean time you can melt the good chocolate.  Once the cake has cooled enough turn upside down on the cake plate, the reason for this is to have a flat surface when you pour the melted chocolate.  I hope you enjoy.  I know that we are as already