A Bit of a Random Post :)

As I begin this post it is 16h30 and just about dark outside. The picture above was taken to show you the view outside my window shortly before I started typing.

Saturday was spent baking and stocking up on treats for the week ahead...

Custard biscuits again but this time I used my maple leaf cutter - after all it is Autumn and it's all about the colourful leaves :)

I also made my DH's favourite - chocolate crunchies, that's what they are called in South Africa at least, here in England the closest thing I could liken them too are 'Flapjacks'. I've included the recipe below for those who would like to give them a go :) Needless to say they do NOT last long in my house. In fact I don't think that all this baking is going to last the week! But I do have a banana loaf squirrelled away in the freezer should rations run out ;)

Still in the Kitchen - I am busy forcing Hyacinth bulbs for the first time in little glass jars. So far so good. They both seem to have a healthy root system and are beginning to peek out of their bulbous homes :)

On the school front - last week Thursday we had our LEA (Local Education Authority) inspector come for her annual visit. We do look forward to her visits as she is very encouraging and loves to see what the girls have been up to. Seeing as though we were sitting in the school room (aka dining room in another life lol), I thought that I would give you a glimpse of the autumnal touches I have added to our school room...

At this point in time the school room has now morphed into an art studio and will remain so until next week! Miss J-L is going to have to sit with me and do her work in the conservatory or her room as her older sister is working on her art portfolio in preparation for her interview at our local college. She will be going to study Art and Design next Autumn.

Of course Miss V-L is thrilled beyond words that her soul focus for the next week is art, art and more art! After that it's back to some hard work on her IGCSE subjects.

Ooh - a little digression if I may ... did you enjoy your Bonfire Night last week? We usually have something at our home but this year I just did not feel up to visitors. So we decided to pop down to the Fireworks display put on by our local council. It was a huge amount of fun and turned out to be a good frugal decision too!

Usually I do all the catering if we are at our home and everyone brings a box of fireworks. But lets be honest, they are quite pricey and over in next to no time, not to mention the fireworks don't hold a patch on the professional ones. Off we went to our local even and paid £1 per person. For that we got atmosphere and the most wonderful display.

Temperatures were icy - a brisk 1 degree C which all added to the fun of Bonfire Night. The next morning we woke to our first hard frost of the season. We had had a very light frost the night before but there's nothing quite like a good old crunchy frost to make you feel alive!

Anyhoo, let me give you that recipe before I pootle off to make supper.

Chocolate {South African} Crunchies

Prep time: 15 minutes

Cooking time: 15 minutes

Pre-heat Oven to 160 degrees C

180 g butter

30 ml (2 Tbsp) golden syrup

5 ml (1 tsp) bicarbonate of soda

125 g flour

180 g rolled oats

250 g sugar

80 g desiccated coconut

1/4 cup (63 ml) cocoa powder

1. Heat together the butter and syrup. When the mixture boils, add the bicarbonate of soda. 

2. Sieve the flour into a large bowl, and mix in the oats, sugar, coconut and cocoa powder.

3. Add the melted butter mixture to the dry ingredients and mix with hands.

4. Press the mixture evenly into a greased 38 cm X 25 cm (or there abouts) tin and bake for 15 minutes. Allow to cool for 3 minutes and then cut into squares. Leave crunchies until completely cool and ice with chocolate icing. Allow icing to set then lift squares out of tin.

Chocolate Icing.

2 cups powdered/icing sugar

1/4 cup of cocoa powder

warm water to mix - your icing should be a thick runny consistency.

Blessings to you all...