Bit of fun for you all

I know it's not quite the end of the year yet, but the word search is ready so I thought I would share it with you now.  That and this way I wont forget to put it up for you all lol.

Just so you know there is more than one EIT in there, totally by accident but I'm rolling with it and have decided that for everyone who finds all of them, and sends me proof (ie don't just say how many but say where they are) there is a prize woot woot hehe.

Have fun all :)

Click here for A4 wordsearch (PDF)
This link takes you to a DropBox copy, it might bring up a sign-up thing but if you click on the X it should still give you access to the wordsearch.  The sign-up is for if you want to save a copy to your DropBox.

If you would rather me email you a copy to print just flick me an email and ask :)

 

 

JB has been baking...

So decided I would add a new thing to my blog, and that is recipe reviews.  But only specific recipes, those being ones in the Women’s Institute Home & Country magazine.  What made me think of it was last night I was making a recipe from I think the latest magazine and I thought why not share what I think of it with people.  Then of course I had to think about who to share it with and I decided this venue of sharing was as good as any so you guys get the honour and privilege of getting it shared with you.  I tend to make atlst one recipe per magazine, and there are I think 4 magazines a year so there wont be heaps of recipe reviews coming, no need to panic there lol.

Disclaimer: I am not a baker so if a recipe doesn’t have the ingredients right I am not likely to notice and can’t adjust at first bake time.  Also I bake gluten free so some of these recipes might be all good with normal flour etc.

 

So anyhow, last night I made Apple Slice.  It was actually really easy to make as well.  I think getting the apples peeled, cored and diced took the longest, well other than the cooking part.  I did think when I was mixing it all together at the end that there was not enough butter mix and that it was going to be very crumbly, however I was pleasantly surprised and while it is crumbly it is no more crumbly than normal gluten free baking.  And even better it was yum as warm and potentially even more yum this morning for morning tea.  That is surprising as most gluten free baking (esp cake like stuff) is definitely better on the day it is baked.  I am not sure how well it will be in a few days time, also not sure if there will be any left for me to find out hehe.  This recipe is definitely getting copied to my recipe book for future baking :) nom nom

The recipe is below, as are some photos cos what is a baking blog post without some photos lol.  Just a wee note, the recipe doesn’t actually say when to add the sugar, I added it with the flour mix but am sure it could just as easily be done with the butter mix.

 

Apple Slice:

2 cups SR flour
3 Granny Smith apples, cored and peeled (I used Pink Lady I think they were)
1 cup sugar
1 egg
125g butter

Toss diced apples with SR flour in a mixing bowl.
Melt butter in a small saucepan, stir in egg.
Pour butter and egg into apple mixture.
Spoon in to baking paper lined Swiss roll tin (I used a slice tin after googling what at swiss roll tin was lol).
Bake 180 degrees for 35-40 mins.

Supplied to Home & Country Magazine by Rotorua Federation

 

 

Long wknd happenings

Well last wknd was a extra long wknd for me, living in Hawke’s Bay we get our anniversary stat the Friday before Labour Day so it’s a 4 day wknd.  When I first moved here I thought that was a bit rubbish as we missed out on a 3 day wknd at some other stage of the year, however now I have been here for a few years it turns out I really like it this way and don’t see why more places didn’t do it lol.

Dad came over this time, to build me a pantry and also to hang out (and of course do other odd jobs that I had found for him to do… hehe).  I think he has done an amazing job with the pantry and it looks super cool.  Like any good creator though he can spot the mistakes and not quite right bits lol.  Good thing I am the one that lives there not him aint it :) hehe.

I also got a fridge off a workmate, turns out procrastinating does pay off.  I was looking at fridge/freezers at work one day thinking I didn’t really want to get one but I really should (have been thinking that for over a year now) and one of my workmates noticed and asked why, when I said I needed to buy one cos mine was on its last legs he said they had a spare they were looking at selling and would I like to buy it.  So a not as expensive as expected fridge/freezer became mine woot woot.  My kitchen is now looking better than ever.  Some stage I will improve the rest of it but that is going to be the expensive bit so it might be down the track some stage.  Plus I don’t know what colour I want to paint it so it can wait lol.

Dad and I also went for a bush walk while he was here.  I had seen a sign for it when I went for my random drive the other week, and decided that I needed to not go alone cos it was not on a highly used road/area.  Boy was I right on the not highly used bit, we basically drove to the middle of nowhere then turned right and drove some more before finally reaching our destination.  It was the Mohi Bush Reserve and it was a very nice walk.  Took the time it said on the sign (well the first sign which said 1hr, the next sign said 1.5hrs which was weird lol) and we made friends with the cows and some sheep along the way.  Not a super flat walk, well in some places it was flat and in others it really wasn’t lol.  There were two walk options and we did choose the longer one, the shorter walk was 30mins I think the sign said.

All in all it was a very good wknd I think :) though 4 days is almost one to many when it comes to getting up for work on Tuesday morning and your brain goes ‘but I’m on holiday, what are you doing!!!’.  I am a survivor though so have managed to get up for work all 3 days this work week so far, one more to go….

My cool new pantry

Mohi Bush Reserve

Yes we both climbed the stile.... hehe

Pretty mossy ground

Maraetotara Waterfall Walk, which we did on our way back to Hastings (very very short, but pretty)

Pics from around campus

So, been meaning to put this up for a week or so now, but as you probably know already I am pretty good at the whole oh I’ll do it later or tomorrow or whatever thing, which is why it hasn’t been put up lol.

Anyhow, not much new stuff to say and this post is more a pic one anyhow.  A work related pic one at that, fun right hehe.  As I have been wandering round campus I have been seeing these cool painted rocks, no idea where they are coming from but I do like them.  I have taken photos of some of my favs and thought I would share them with you.

I also found this random but awesome little walkway on Friday when I was going to R Block, would never have known it was there if I had gone the way I normally go, but one of my workmates said there was a quicker way, and they were right :) not only quicker but way prettier as well.  Total win I say.

Last couple of wknds

Last wknd Mum came to visit, partly cos she could and partly cos I was getting a heat pump installed on Monday (yes I'm all grown up now and have a heat pump, and yes I used it one night this week when it was cold, for about an hour then I went back the the traditional blanket and hot water bottle lol).  While she was here we did a bit of exploring and sight seeing and a whole lot of chilling :) Can't really remember what we did each day but we went to a quiz at Theatre HB (and didn't come last), went and said hello to the Womens Institute statue in Napier, wandered round White Pine Bush and caught up with some of my friends and of course went to Jarks munch munch yum yum hehe.

This wknd Glenny and I went for a drive ystdy morning, to nowhere in particular, we just found a road and followed it.  Turns out it goes to Waimarama or Ocean Beach, depending on which fork you take, I took the Waimarama one.  There also looks like there is a DOC walk that way so someone will prob end up being my buddy when I go check it out (being female and it's the middle of nowhere I think its best I take a buddy when I go, atlst the first time).  It was a awesome drive with some great scenery and awesome windy parts, we all (Glenny, Cleo and me) enjoyed it a lot.

Ystdy evening Jenny came round for a movie night, and I cooked dinner.  It was very simple but yummy nachos nom nom.  And we ended up watching 2 movies, we were gonna watch one but when we finished it we wanted to watch another so we did, score for being grown ups with no bedtimes lol.

Also did a bunch a chores this wknd, the downside to being a grown up (lol).  Mowed me lawns, sprayed the weeds, did some baking, and some cooking food for this coming week, and caught up on washing (mostly).  Also did some fun stuff like finishing my book, and finishing a TV series I was watching so it was a good wknd all round really :)

WI statue, can't member her name but we had a good catch up hehe

Wandering round White Pine Bush

Waimarama

Lookout spot on the way from (and to) Waimarama, it looked better in person, just saying... lol

Mt Erin Lookout, randomly found this and had to take a photo for my friend Erin lol

It's funny....

It's funny how having a bit of a disposable income can make such a big difference for small things.  When I first moved into my place I didn't really have any disposable income, especially for luxury things like decorating rooms etc.  So I got some curtains for the bdrm from Mum and Dad, those dark-ish red ones, and while I was in the bigger room I tolerated them.  Never loved them but didn't exactly hate them either.  Then I moved to the smaller of the two rooms and the red curtains were not so much of a concern.  Still can't say I loved them but since I wasn't in there much it was all good.  Then last wknd Bro and I swapped the rooms over and I am now back in the bigger room, and by Tuesday I was already over the red curtains, they are icky and just wrong.  So on Friday I went home via Spotlight to get some new ones.  Why wait till Friday you ask, well it was the first night I had a chance to get there lol.  

I think the reason that I didn't hate the curtains at the start was that I couldn't afford to get new ones, even if I wanted too, but now I do so they had to go.  Now the curtains aren't quite the colour that I was aiming for, but they are still way better than red.  I was hoping for a mid-grey shade but the ones that were that shade were too long or too short for what I wanted so I have gone with dark dark grey (or maybe black, depends on the light lol) as they were the right length :) and they are so much better than what was there.

Now some of you may know that I was going to make that room a red/orange/brown-ish kinda room, haha yeah that aint gonna happen.  I don't dislike the colour red but it turns out I really don't like it as a room colour, so the colour scheme is going to change.  I have ideas and thoughts about what I might do but I am not gonna share just yet as the plans and ideas might change before it gets painted.  Am sure I will share the finished room with you all though, cos it will look cool whatever colours I choose :) and don't worry Bro and Dad, Jenny is gonna help me paint it so you two are being spared that task lol.

Am still alive, maybe not sane though....

So thought I would let you all know that I am all good and that I survived the latest lockdown.  Somehow it seemed as long as the first which was weird, and it was definitely not as fun as the first one, maybe cos it was no longer a novel experience or maybe cos work was different and less flexible.  I started at EIT the week before we went into lockdown, so have now done more days of my job from home than I have from campus (but this shall be corrected now we are in level 2, yay).  Work was not as flexible as Radio Kidnappers was as am in the Help Desk so there were phones and emails to man and keep an eye on, and we kept our standard hours.  However unlike Kidnappers I was done for the day at finishing time and so didn’t work in the evenings or wknds.

I was going to post during lockdown but then just kept thinking ‘oh I will do it at the end, this wont last long’, but it did last long-ish.  And I am also good at procrastinating so that is another reason why it never got done lol.

Shall do a bit of an update for you all.  Some of you will know bits of the following, some won’t, some might have forgotten.  So feel free to skim bits if you already know it or just cant be bothered reading it.

I am now working at EIT (Eastern Institute of Technology).  It is the Hawke’s Bay polytechnic, and has two main campuses, the main one is in Taradale in Napier which is where I work and the other is in Gisborne (Tairawhiti campus).  There are also some smaller campuses in Hastings, Central HB and Auckland.  I work in the IT Support Team, aka the IT Help Desk.  It is a team of 7 (this includes our team leader and intern).  It’s a pretty good team, has its work hard moments and also the joke around have some fun moments, which all teams should have I think.  Seems like it is going to be a good place to work, which is cool.  You never really know when you interview what it is actually going to be like working somewhere.

Crafting wise I have finished a couple of projects, am pondering on one and started some new ones.  I finally finished the scarf that I started, oh probably about 3 winters ago…. It looks pretty cool, and is nice and snug.  I bleached a pair of jeans that I bought cos I liked the fit of them and hoped I would grow to like the dark blue colour, turns out I didn’t so I decided to bleach them over lockdown.  Was an interesting afternoon’s worth of activity and now the jeans look real cool so I’m super happy.  They are a bit patterned from the bits that bleached less than others but I think it looks cool.  I have also crocheted a hat twice, and unpicked it twice…. It just isn’t working out how I want it too, or its me not suiting the style I am trying to do, so it has now been put aside while I ponder it some more.  I found my french knitting spool thing while sorting out my craft desk during lockdown so am doing a something with that as well, its going to be purple and hopefully a hat, time will tell on whether this hat works out or not.  I also finished my poncho that I made last winter, and was mostly happy with it but it just needed a bit of tweaking, so I did the tweaking and its now much better, the tweaking was adding a collar lol.  I have a couple of sewing projects waiting for me to bring my sewing machine back out and another crochet project waiting for me to start it, I am just finalising that one in my head first lol.