A busy and festive week in pictures. Love Instagram!

Not long until Christmas now and last week the festivities were in full swing!!  I even managed to do a bit of Christmas shopping!!

Miss H doing some Christmas craft.  She is definitely happiest when she's painting

We made some 'smartie chip holly cookies'.  Adding a little bit of festivities to the kids lunch boxes for the week.

Master J messing around with a pair of 3D glasses.  A couple of kids in his class this year have got glasses and he's desperate for a pair.  He keeps telling me his 'seeing' is a bit fuzzy.

The girls and I had a trip into Sydney on the bus this week and it was the most spectacular day.   

Sydney really is a beautiful city (a different kind of beautiful to London).  The weather was so lovely that we got the ferry home instead of the bus.  By the way - look at the size of that cruise ship parked in the harbour!  It was ABSOLUTELY ENORMOUS!!!!!  It didn't look like it would fit under the bridge.

Charlie and Lola at the Opera House

We went to see Charlie and Lola's Extremely New Play at the Sydney Opera House.  It was a puppet show all about the seasons and how everything changes from spring to summer, autumn to winter.  It was so well done and absolutely captivating.  I think I enjoyed it as much as Miss H.  I loved seeing her little eyes absolutely glued to the stage and hearing her laugh out loud at all the funny bits.  If you get a chance I highly recommend going to see it.  You can get tickets here.

Master J's as a reindeer in the Kindergarten production of 'fly Rudolph fly'

This was the cutest production I have ever seen.  Look at those 4 cheeky little reindeer!! When I first asked Master J what part in was playing in the Christmas play a couple of months ago, he informed me very proudly that he was reindeer number 16!  Too cute!! (and Mr D and I did have a chuckle).  They had me in stitches the whole way through the play.  They were just SO excited to be up on stage having all the mums and dads watching their big moment (along with a lot of waving, whispering and giggling).  I have to take my hat off to the teachers for organising and producing it, as every one of them remembered their lines perfectly!

Having a chat with Santa at Miss's H's Kindy Christmas BBQ.  Miss H asked him for a new lipstick because "mummy threw my old one away Santa!!"  Ooops!!

And the sand munching has begun!!!

Miss H having a wonderful time at the beach whilst Master J was at Nippers training on Saturday afternoon.  It was a King Tide this weekend, and the tide was SO far out that the beach seemed enormous and it was perfect for the little ones to play in.

Crazy King Tide!

It was a King High Tide on Sunday morning and it caused a bit of chaos at the swim club!  The water was so high that it swamped the pool and went right up over the stairs where we usually sit and watch the races.  Master J and his friends did so well swimming with the huge sets of waves crashing over them.  He won his race too - so proud of him!!!

Relaxing by the lake on Sunday afternoon while mummy does her Candy Bows market stall.  

watching the ducks x

Twirly wirly garlic and herb bread (home-made of course)

Who would have thought that I could make such a fancy looking garlic bread??  Normally I would have scared away from something like this - well, actually truth be told I would have just popped into Bakers Delight and bought it!  However this recipe is so easy that you can't go wrong, and you know exactly what's in it too (I'm trying to steer clear of all preservatives at the moment.)   It's also a great one to take to a BBQ or picnic as it looks so pretty.

A few people have asked me for recipe so here it is - it really couldn't be simpler.  I have made it in the thermomix but I am sure you could just adjust it if you don't have one.

Start by making the garlic & herb butter:

• Add 500-600g of fresh, chilled cream into the TM bowl (not thickened) and using the butterfly attachement blend for 1-3 minutes on speed 4.  Once the butter is separated pour off the buttermilk (pop it straight into the fridge and use it to make either pancakes or scones - SO YUMMY and much tastier than using normal milk).
• Strain the milk off one more time using ice cold water and you are left with beautiful butter.  (you could of course just use butter from the supermarket if you don't want to make it)
• Add chopped garlic and herbs of choice (I used rosemary and thyme) and mix it into the butter for 30 seconds on speed 4.  There you have it - beautiful garlic & herb butter.  Just set it aside in a bowl (not in the fridge as you don't want it to go to hard).

homemade garlic and herb butter

Bread Ingredients:

450g luke warm water

4 tsp yeast

1 tsp salt

750g bakers flour

5 tbsp oil

• Turn the oven on to 180 degrees (I always forget this part!!  It's SO annoying).

• Put the water, yeast, salt, flour and oil into the TM bowl and mix for 5 seconds on speed 7.  Then set the dial to the 'closed lid' position and knead for 2 minutes on interval speed.

• Tip the dough out and wrap it up either in some cling-film plastic or your thermo-mat and leave it to rise for about half an hour or until it has doubled in size.

The Fun Bit:

• Roll the dough out into a bit square - about the size of the thermomat (approx 50-60cm long).  I find that if you rub some olive oil (or any oil) onto your hands and then press the dough out it is so much easier to handle and doesn't stick.

• Spread your garlic & herb butter across all the dough.  You can use a butter knife or spatula for this, but I just used my hands (clean of course) and spread it out.  A rather messy job but it does feel kinda nice squidging butter between your fingers!

• Using a spatula or a knife cut the dough up into 3-4cm wide strips and roll each one up like a snail.

• Arrange each little snail in a pattern inside a 26cm springform cake tin.  Sprinkle a little rock salt and a few herbs on top and pop it into the oven for 40-45 minutes.

before.....

After!!  (sitting on my lap in the car on our way to a BBQ with friends)

Simples!!  It really was delicious and oh so easy to make.  If anyone tries it without the aid of Thermie, let me know how you got on........

*(This recipe can also be found on page 20 of the Thermomix Festive Flavours Cook book.  The pictures are all my own)