Carousel muffins

I made these at work the other day in a fit of experimentalism. I started with a basic muffin mix and added Butterscotch toffee flavour coffee syrup, marshmallows and chunks of white and milk chocolate. I'm not sure where you can buy the coffee syrup, i used it because i work in a cafe which is handy, it makes the tops go all sticky and sweet and crunchy. Golden syrup could be used as a substitute. marshamallows to use either flumps cut into cubes for their colour, or the big toasting white ones which are better quality. Mix the additional ingredients in the bowl first and then add the muffin ingredients.

Muffin recipe.

3/4 cup milk
2 large eggs
1 cup granulated suger
1 cup white self raising flour
1 cup wholewheat self raising flour
2 tsp baking powder
(1/2 cup oil due to coffee syrup you can probably eliminate this as the mixture might get too wet)

mix the wet ingredients together along with the marshmallows, chocolate and syrup. Add the suger and then the flour and baking powder. Dont over mix as the mixture can get too runny. Pour into greased muffin trays. This recipe makes 4 large or 6 small muffins. bake in a preheated oven at 180' for 25 mins. When cool, dust with a bit of icing suger. Yum!!

Poeming

Listening To Lady Day

And she burst into complete silence
As the needle slipped off the record
And it crackled, still turning
Her voice against my skin
And I forgot the blur of kittens by my feet
The dry rustle of the newspaper against my fingers,

That final scuffle of vinyl against needle
must have been felt when they printed the news;
The massive whir of the press as it inked the pages
And the smell of it against the paper boys hands
As he delivered the words which left her to be
Teased out of plastic grooves, black like ink.

Orhan Pamuk

Currently reading My Name Is Red which is a beautifully rich and thought provoking story set in 16th century Istanbul. The novel manages to incorporate a murder mystery with parabals about the nature of art, his prose captures the city in all its color and movement and as always is clever and engaging. Therefore i'm highly excited about this: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/jan/10/museum-innocence-orhan-pamuk. I'd also recommend Snow which i think is wonderful and very very sad, although i think Red is probably the more accomplished.

Adventures in Salt dough.

Salt dough is one of those amazing things that you make as a child and then forget about in adulthood. Well I came across a recipe in one of my little sisters many craft books and i set about making stuff for christmas.

Mix 300g plain flour with 300g salt, add 200ml of water and a teaspoon of oil. To harden the creations bake the dough in an oven at about gas mark 4/180' for 20 mins. voila cheap decorations. I made penguins and unicorns to hang on the tree, finishing them off once cool with some acrylic paint and glitter.

Christmas plushies.

Here are some stuffed toys I made for Christmas this year.They are (left to right) gray cat, black sheep and Japanese monkey. Unfortunately I cannot lay claim to inventing them, although I did customise them slightly. I followed this book 'Cute Dolls' by Aranzi Aronzo, to be found in Magma at full price and on Amazon at about a fiver. Not only is it impossibly cute, the instructions are suitable for dummies and the projects are all basic and easy to adapt and customise. I gave the cat a gingham dress and appliqued felt heart, the monkey acquired a tuxedo and I tied bows around a couple of them. This is handy to hide the sloppy sewing that joins the head and body ah ha! The only problem is jersy fabric is IMPOSSIBLE!! I hand sewed them and this was a big mistake, its slippy and stretchy and generally tricky, best use a machine. My little sister loved her sheep so much she went to bed with it after opening it on christmas day.

First post ettiquette.

First post ettiquette: avoid making a deal out of starting a blog. Therefore...
Everyone should buy this mouthwash. It tastes like cherry sweets and when i left the house at 7am this morning facing the snow and ice and bone shaking magic buses my mouth was happy, in a cherry bomb explosion sort of way.