"Spring Garden Cushion, Lemon Coconut Cake,etc Happy Monday."

Hello,

Happy Monday,

Well I hope you had a great weekend. Ours was definitely a case of taking the good with the bad.

Last night I completed the Spring Garden project. I decided to turn it into a cushion instead of a wall hanging. It is more practical than having to find a hanger drill a hole in the wall etc.

"Spring Garden Cushion."

 I'm pleased that I persevered with this project. In the end I didn't add all the pieces of extra flowers and the garden rake etc. These were a little out of proportion to the watering can and flower pot. Special thanks to Marj for sending this project to me. There are 24 squares and a small amount of floral fabric left over. If anyone wants these and the pattern please let me know in the comments, first in first served.

"Lemon Coconut Cake."

 Now I promised to share this delicious recipe with you. I made another one yesterday and there is only a small piece left.

Lemon Coconut Cake.

1 1/2 cups of self-raising flour
1/2 cup of desiccated coconut
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 cup milk
125grams butter,melted
grated zest of 3 lemons

Icing
11/2 cups icing sugar
1/2 cup desiccated coconut
1/2 cup lemon juice

Preheat oven to 160 degrees Celsius. Grease a 20cm square cake tin.

Place sifted flour, coconut and sugar in a bowl and make a well in the centre. In a separate bowl, beat eggs,milk and melted butter and lemon zest. Pour egg mixture into the well in the dry ingredients and mix.
The mixture will be quite sloppy.

Pour mixture into the prepared cake tin and bake for 45-50 minutes.

To make icing, mix sifted icing sugar with coconut and lemon juice. Ice the cake once it is cold.

Now both times I made this I didn't worry about the icing, everyone just wanted to eat it. Plus the first time I made the cake I only put in three quarters a cup of sugar, the second time half a cup. It made no difference to the taste. I never put in the amount of sugar that recipes say, always reduce it a bit. We don't need all that extra in our diet.

Saturday morning saw Ian Lucy and I up at 4.00am to pick up David from the airport. Bonnie had to work so she stayed home. She wanted to come but I felt it was better she stayed home in case something happened and we were delayed getting back. I decided to take a book to read to fill in time on the trip down and had a little battery operated light to read by. We were a couple of km's out of town, by this time Lucy was asleep in the back and I was reading and I had just thought to myself it really is dark on the highway now there are no lights, hope we don't hit anything or anyone. A minute or so later BANG. A Kangaroo decided to jump into our car. Hitting the front of the car on my side and bouncing onto my car door. Thank heavens I was reading and didn't see it. Ian  quickly pulled over to assess the damage. The front fender had all been pushed back to the tyre. Ian pulled it back off the tyre and cut his finger. Well there was blood everywhere. Luckily I had put a First Aid Kit in the car a few weeks back. Thinking we might need it if we came across a car accident or need it ourselves. So there we were at 5.00am in the dark, cars driving by not realising we had a busted car. Of course they couldn't see the damage.I can tell you trying to find the correct bandage etc in the First Aid Kit was a hassle, thankfully Lucy was able to open the packaging. Note to the makers of these products, Please put a Pull Here Sign. We then rang Bonnie waking her up to get her to drive her car to us so she could take our car back home. By this time David had rang to say he had just landed. By the time we got to pick him up we only had to drive into the pick up area which was great.
Then it was time for a quick Breakfast at Macca's in Midland then onto Bunning's to pick up somethings we needed. We were back in town just before 9.00am so then it was time to take Ian to the hospital. He had lost feeling in the finger. Two hours at the hospital and 4 stitches on his finger, there was some metal and paintwork in the cut.  I had to smile when Ian walked out and said the Doctor doesn't sew as neatly as me.
You really don't know what life is going to bring you so I look forward to seeing if the car will be fixable or if it will be written off. If you are wondering about the Kangaroo, gone to God.

David thoroughly enjoyed his trip to Vietnam, saw lots of places,met so many people. They had booked into a hotel but booked out two days later, They weren't meeting people, though the hotel was lovely. So they booked into the Backpackers that his mate had stayed in while waiting for David to arrive. They had the time of their lives meeting people from all over the world. While waiting for a tour one day they played 3 a side soccer with some local children of about 8. They couldn't speak English but David and his mate had the best time. The young boys kept on saying in Vietnamese whatever the words were for  3 a side soccer.

"Jam Melon Pickles and Spoons made from Coconut from Vietnam."

Now on Friday I was given 2lbs of Jam Melon. I found a recipe for Pickles in Mum's Golden Wattle Cookery Book. I cut up the melon and poured the vinegar over it. Planning to make it on Saturday. With everything that happened on Saturday it didn't happen until Sunday. Once again I added lots of extra herbs and spices to the recipe. Earlier on in the year I saw these labels on special a packet of 25 for 20 cents. I think they are supposed to be used for school books. I thought they would make great labels for the cooking. I purchased two packets . I just realised I had written "Jam Melon" on the label after taking this photo. I have since corrected it by adding Pickle to the label. They are rather yummy. I cleaned out the pot with a piece of bread and butter yesterday.

Those lovely spoons are what David brought back as a gift for me from Vietnam. They are made from Coconut. They are just so perfect, made by someone who loves their wood carving.

This morning we woke to a real heavy mist. I took this photo just before nine. Still couldn't see the paddock across the road.

"Misty morning at Kainga."

 Whatever you do today make sure you are a "Happy Person."


Happy days.
Bev C