Hello again, and a happy belated Easter if you celebrate. It’s actually a public holiday here in NZ for ANZAC day , so I thought it would be fun to sit down and catch up. Oh and stand around the garden smiling at hedges, obviously.
I would normally start with a sewing catch up, but in honour of the holiday I will first share my ANZAC biscuits. Oats, coconut, golden syrup , of course they taste good.
Mr D and I engaged in our annual “fruit no fruit” argument discussion. He is pro adding currents (the most boring of dried fruit surely?) and sultanas, I am against. If it has fruit it isn’t an Anzac biscuit babe!
This year I relented and added currents & dried apricot to half the mixture. As predicted the fruit burned but he insists that just “adds to the flavour”. Indeed. The recipe below, from my well thumbed Edmonds cookbook. My edition is pre fan-bake ovens, so I would reduce the temp to 160C if cooking on fan. So easy and so very tasty.
I made these the first year we lived in London, but the British Tate & Lyle Golden syrup seemed a lot lighter than the Chelsea variety I use here in NZ, so my biscuits were much paler and had a more mild flavour. They were perfectly delicious but not the ANZAC biscuits I remembered, I do recall there were (homesick) tears!
Fast forward twenty odd years and I can bang out a batch of biscuits and sew a new top just like that, go me.
To be fair the Cashmerette Montrose is a pretty quick easy sew, even for me. Or at least it would be if I didn’t insist on using gorgeous but slippery Liberty silk, and driving my overlocker through the fabric causing a big ole’ tear. Yes dear reader, there were indeed tears.
After a restorative glass of Chard/moan to my husband I took stock and decided , given how gloriously busy the fabric is, I could possibly get away with some machine embroidery. I could also end up with a hot mess, but worth a try yes?
Interfacing to stabilise the mess.
Machine embroidery for the win! So good it’s almost invisible, or at least very difficult to see. I’m surprised it worked so well.
I’ve made the Montrose several times times before, one of those patterns that is deceptively “basic” but actually great, I’m not sure why I’ve not made one for a while.
The silk is from The Fabric Store, with the most glorious sheen I haven’t captured in pictures. I must have had something in mind when I brought 1.5 metres, but I know not what. I did however managed to squeeze the top out of this amount. I didn’t use the larger bicep piece, and as you can see the arm is quite snug, but it’s fine to wear & works well under a cardigan or jacket
A perfect top for work or play , vive la Liberty 🙂
In between baking, sewing and a stinking cold , I did manage to read a book this month, highly recommend Killers of A Certain Age by Deanna Raybourn. What a blast , four female assassins reach retirement age and think the “company” they work for has shouted them a retirement cruise. The Company has more permanent retirement ideas.
I just loved this, great characters, pacey plot & honestly, woman of a certain age absolutely kicking ar8e. If a bit of swearing and violence isn’t your bag then avoid, but if not, I highly recommend.
Probably timely reading for me, as I approach with speed my big five oh. Actually turning 50 is pretty ok for me. It’s exponentially better than NOT getting to turn 50, and I guess I was already on the “old?” spectrum when I stopped dying my hair. Its something I’m thinking about a lot though , wont lie.
I’ve been married for almost 25 years (I’m honestly checking those figures as we speak) , my approach to aging must be coloured by that? I haven’t been on the pull in nearly 30 years . What does that even feel like now?
My husband is seven years older than me so he is mid 5o’s, we talked about what it would be like to even think about meeting someone new now (its ok kids, were not planning to kill each other, this is hypothetical! )
Aging is a gift. I’m watching the ceremony from Melbourne , the NZ Warriors rugby league team (yay!) in the annual Anzac day game vs Melbourne. We are blessed .So many young men and and woman who had no choices.
Living it large friends! Enjoy your week
Kristina xxx
Plum Kitchen 