Standard – Page 7 – polka-dots & sparkles

When only biscuits will do

Posted on November 8, 2011November 8, 2011 by bekswhoknits

a basic biscuit recipe with three variations.

The first one has chai latte tea in it.
I only had chai tea bags so I tried to dilute it as much as possible.

The second ones have a hershey’s kiss on top of them.

The third ones have choc mint flavoring. Well choc mint drinking chocolate, and lots of it to flavour it.

I have no idea what we’re having for dinner but we have biscuits.

Here’s my amended recipe for chocolate mint biscuits

Ingredients
125g butter, softened
1/2 cup caster sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg, at room temperature
2 cups plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
4 tablespoons chocolate mint powder
1 tablespoon milk

Method
Preheat oven to 180°C. Line 2 baking trays with baking paper.
Using an electric mixer, beat butter, sugar and vanilla in a small bowl until pale and creamy. Add egg and mix until well combined. Sift flour and baking powder over butter mixture. Add milk, chocolate mint powder, and stir until just combined.

Spoon onto baking trays.
Place a Hershey’s Kiss on top of of each biscuit. Alternatively squish top of biscuit with a fork.

Cook in oven for 12-15 minutes.

Enjoy with a hot cup of tea. Or mug of hot chocolate mint drink for extra indulgence.

Pretending it’s winter

Posted on November 7, 2011November 7, 2011 by bekswhoknits

It’s raining in November. That’s really odd for Perth or even Australia. It’s almost summer and instead of being sunny and hot, it’s wintery and raining.
So I’m using the excuse to cosy up in my trackies and hoodie, make biscuits, and watch the rain.

I cast on the second of the basic training sock for my boyfriend over the weekend so while I’m in a sock mood I want to try and plow through it.

I’m thinking a cosy bowl of pasta will hit the spot as well.

A medley of beans

Posted on November 3, 2011November 1, 2011 by bekswhoknits

chorizo, tomato, mushroom, white beans, snow peas, parsley, chives, onion, and parmesan all mixed into a dinner for one.
With some Greek yoghurt mixed with strawberry jam for something sweet.

Dinner, a show, & a parking fine

Posted on November 2, 2011November 3, 2011 by bekswhoknits

It’s cricket season. Yay! I love cricket. For those un-aussies among us cricket is like baseball except over 5 days. 5 days of sport is glorious.

So the Sheffield Shield is our local competition, and free entry means we can catch a couple of hours after work.
After the games play (we’re kinda losing on day two) we starting heading back home but it was peak hour and annoying, so we stopped in East Perth for dinner.

It was close and it had started raining so we stopped at local Italian place Antico Caffe. Tempted by the sign ‘free beer with pizza’.

The waitress was adorable, and very attentive.

The food took a little while to come out (exactly the time it took for me to drink a glass of wine), but when it came out it was pretty delicious.

I had a pizza with chickem, potato, and bacon which went down a treat.
But I should have ordered what the Mister had, chicken stuffed with prawns in a white wine sauce with potatos.
Which was “like his three favourite meals combined to make one super meal”.
The free beer (an italian beer we’d never heard of) wasn’t too bad to begin with, but the end verdict was we’ll pay for beer next time.

We had probably the best seats in the house, as we were looking outside to the intersection and all the people who were stuck in the rain. Including a pizza delivery guy who was supremely lost.
We watched as he crossed the street three times, asked a random stranger where he was, and took at least 18 minutes between us noticing him and him driving away again.

I can never eat a full pizza so I’m always happy when I can doggy bag it (it made a great lunch).
So we left on a bit of a high until we realised that we had a parking fine.
Silly me was trying to escape the rain and didn’t put enough money in the machine.

So it ended up being an expensive dinner, but it wasn’t as bad as all the other reviews on Urbanspoon have made it out to be.

The menu definitely had enough things to try that we wouldn’t mind going back.

Dinner at the Scotto

Posted on November 1, 2011November 1, 2011 by bekswhoknits

We had to get out of the apartment. Last night there was a disturbance resulting in a lot of yelling and screaming, 3 cars of slashed tyres, and a broken window.
None of it affecting us except the yelling, but as tensions were running high in the complex we wanted to have dinner somewhere.

I’m without a car at the moment (my sister in law is borrowing mine due to writing hers off [not her fault] and be not needing a car to get to work whereas she does) so I have no other way to get to the local knitting stitch n bitch.

So I convinced (using that word very loosely) the Mister to have dinner at the Flying Scotsman and then drop me off at the Queens.

I had been craving fish all day so I had the Cider Battered Fish & Chips, and Mr had the ribs.

It’s always good portion sizes and really hit the spot.
I could then knit the night away and forget all my troubles.

Tallest Man on Earth

Posted on October 28, 2011October 28, 2011 by bekswhoknits

I have a whole post and analysis written for the support bands mostly because I wrote it at the time. But I don’t have any such analysis because Kristian Mattson was amazing.

I was standing on one leg all night to see him and it was absolutely worth it.

It was a magical, wonderful, enchanting performance.

Sweet and savory muffins

Posted on October 25, 2011October 24, 2011 by bekswhoknits

the cheese, bacon, and zucchini

And the blueberry or mixed berry

Chicken Casserole, courtesy of Not All Tea & Scones

Posted on October 24, 2011October 24, 2011 by bekswhoknits

A recipe from the cookbook of the lovely not all tea and scones. As well as having some gorgeous photos on instagram, she’s working her way through the CWA cookbook.

My Great-nan (as well as being an inspirational woman) was a member of the CWA. She worked on a farm all her life, and these recipes remind me of visits to the farm.

So I’ve been wanting to try one of these recipes for a while. So when the bestie had to come over for dinner (because she’s just moved into the area and her fridge is being delivered tomorrow but she doesn’t have a tv yet and needed some company – yay for bestie being within walking distance) I didn’t want pasta, and I didn’t want salad, but I did want a casserole.

So this fit the bill.

Some minor alterations included the use of hp sauce ( just because), the tinned tomatoes being flavored with garlic and herbs (I love shortcuts), and not using two whole chickens (because I too was not feeding a football team).

The end result? Very delicious. With some vegies on the side, and some rice to soak up the juices, it had rave reviews.

Thank you CWA.

Outfit post

Posted on October 21, 2011October 24, 2011 by bekswhoknits

It’s been a long time between outfit posts.
But I felt inspired by my new floaty top. And it’s a Friday afternoon and the Mister isn’t home (he would find the whole concept horribly narcissistic and pointless – and would probably ask why I think this outfit is worth taking a photo of).

Well of course it is narcissistic, but I’m ok with that.

And I love this outfit because it will be perfect for summer festivals, days at the cricket, or beer gardens by the beach.

Summer is in the air.

Plan B – courtesy of Leggos

Posted on October 20, 2011October 19, 2011 by bekswhoknits

Well plan A was going to be a chicken pasta. However as I was defrosting it there was a strange smell eminating from the microwave so I decided not to risk it.

And there was nothing else in the freezer. Really must set a reminder for that.

So I sorted through the tins in the pantry to figure out what to feed a hungry man.

Fortunately I had a tin. Of spaghetti sauce. From a camping trip I overcatered for (why me?!) last year.

It’s doesn’t make for a bad sauce. Certainly with some bacon it was meaty enough. Some fresh herbs to add some flavor, and a dash of worcestershire sauce for good luck. Some olives for me and bobs your Aunty.

Dinner was served.