Paul Bettany Is Silas

In the Da Vinci Code with Tom Hanks. Click on the thumbnail for bigger image, then click on the bigger image to see HUGE image.



I think he will be great at this part.

Spiced Kumara Cupcakes

2 cups flour
1 and 1/2 cups brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 and 1/2 cups cooked and mashed kumara
2 eggs
100 grams butter, melted


First I mixed all the dry ingredients in the blender.
Then I added the other ingredients and mixed well.
Filled the cupcake papers almost to the top and baked at 200C or 390F for 15 minutes.

Peppermint Icing

1 cup sifted icing sugar
1 teaspoon peppermint essence
1 tablespoon soft butter
2 teaspoons boiling water ( or enough to make a good consistency )

Mix all ingredients together, adding the boiling water a little at a time as to not make the icing too runny. Either pipe on to the cooled cupcakes, or use a knife to smear some icing on each cupcake. Leave a while for the icing to set before putting away or serving.

Chocolate Cupcake Recipe

1 and 1/2 cups plain flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup cocoa
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup shortening (I used 125 grams butter)
1/2 cup milk
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla (I used imitation vanilla essence)
1/2 cup boiling water

First I mixed all the dry ingredients together in my blender.
Then I added all the rest of the ingredients except for the boiling water.
I mixed this up until it got really sticky and started to form a dough in the blender.
Then I added the boiling water and blended it into the dough for about one and a half to two minutes. Until it was a lovely silky texture.
I poured mixture into the cupcake papers about halfway up the sides. These were the smaller ones. Larger cupcakes I filled near to the top of the cupcake papers.
Bake at 180C or 350F for twelve to 18 minutes depending on how much you filled them, and how big the papers are.

Chocolate Icing

1 cup chocolate chips or drops
2 tablespoons butter

Melt the chocolate and butter together in a small metal bowl or pot iside another pot with hot water in the bottom. Mix well. Make sure none of the water gets into the chocolate mixture. Spread liberally on the cooled cupcakes. Enjoy!

Chocolate Cupcakes and Spiced Kumara Cupcakes

Did these today as an experiment. Haven't made these before and my Mum used to use the cupcake papers - though I can't remember how full they should be before going in to the oven. So some of these I filled halfway, and others I filled right up to the top.
First the chocolate cupcakes (I'll post the recipe another day, as I'm whacked right now, and this is a quick post)....



These have chocolate melted with a little butter for the icing. Delicious!
Here's how I did the chocolate icing without burning it...



Then the Kumara spiced cupcakes with peppermint icing.. trust me these are wonderful... before icing



Closer without eating it I promise...



Here are a heap with the icing setting before I put them away...



Some of the kumara cupcakes I put chocolate icing on too, as I had plenty...



I can't resist the pull



Oh no



Oh deary me



Oh well there are more of them!!

Most of them fit in my lasagne dish and I have more in an icecream container, though Hubby had a hold of that before ( he's watching the final Super 14 game between the Crusaders and Hurricanes with Son, they're rooting for the Crusaders of course ) so they may not see the night out. At least not in the container!



I'll post the recipes next time I blog. Also a couple days ago I made Black Bottom Cupcakes which went down very well with a glass of milk. Alas I forgot to take photos of them, but I'm sure I'll find a photo online similar to mine.

Of Rain and Wind

Raining hard here this morning, Son is off to school so I dropped him off in the car. Daughter is home with a bad cough, so she gets to keep warm in her bed until I get back. There's been a bit going on lately around here, for instance...
Neighbours tree got taken down and mulched - yes the whole tree!



Here is the last photo I got before the guys went behind the garage and I couldn't see any more work being down, though I could still hear them..



Also I've been checking out Craftster, try saying that three times quickly! There is also a section just on discussing knitting. Cool site for finding tutorials too.

Nothing to do with crafting, but a site that has videos, some funny, some scary, some down right weird - so choose carefully.

There seems to be alot on the news here about this movie which makes me want to see it more than ever. Maybe that was the plan all along! I suppose the more publicity whether good or bad, the more people want to see it. The Da Vinci Code starring Tom Hanks and Paul Bettany.
Looks a bit like National Treasure which starred Nicolas Cage and Sean Bean.

Doll Finished!!

Okay, these aren't photos of the back of Daughter's Knitted Jacket but almost as good. Over the weekend Daughter and I made a doll using the sewing machine and some hand sewing. First doll I've made, Daughter helped by stuffing the body parts. I need to make some clothes for her now, and Son want's a boy doll too.



Her eyes and mouth are sewn with coloured thread.

I had another helper in this project too.