banana bread

A few days ago I noticed my stash of bananas were starting to get beyond the point of eating. So I decided to make some banana bread. I'd never made any before so I hti up google in search of a good recipe.

I stumbled upon a blog (I cannot remember the name of it for the life of me!) that had this recipe and a little side note saying the person who wrote the blog post had been nagging her friends mother for years for the recipe.

If it's a mummy recipe, you know it's going to be good!

I am not too great in the kitchen, so the fact that even I am saying this recipe is foolproof and delicious, says a lot.

If I can do this, anyone can.

So I thought I would share this recipe with you all.

Here goes; 

Pre-heat oven to 175 degrees celcius

Ingredients 

You will need;
cooling rack
loaf pan; greased.
4-5 bananas; smashed
1/3 cup melted butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg; beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
1 teaspoon bi-carb baking soda
pinch of salt
1 1/2 cups plain flour

Add the melted butter first.
Mix

Add sugar, egg & vanilla essence.
Mix.

It should look something like this so far.

Sprinkle bi-carb and salt on top.
Mix.

Add flour last.
Mix.

The mixture will go in to a batter & look something like this.

Pour mixture in to greased loaf pan & bake for roughly an hour.

 Mine usually only takes about 45-50 mins.
I just keep an eye on how brown the outside is and do the clean knife test.

And Voila! You have your banana bread.

I was so proud of myself for taking photos throughout the whole process and then once I had eaten a big piece, I realised I forgot to take a photo of the finished product in one piece, oops.

I also didn't realise that I don't actually own a cooling rack so I had to use a rack from my oven.

Everyone who has tried this has loved it, it's usually accompanied by 'I haven't had banana bread in years!'
It's a really good feeling when people enjoy you're cooking/baking.
I must do this more!

Let me know if you make banana bread using this recipe, I'd love to hear how it turns out.
I've already given it to 5 separate people who tried it and wanted it.

For those who want to just cut & paste the recipe, I'll re-write it here with no pictures.

Ingredients;
4-5 bananas; smashed
1/3 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg; beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
1 teaspoon bi-carb baking soda
pinch of salt
1 1/2 cups plain flour
greased oven loaf pan
cooling rack

Method;
Add butter to bananas first - mix
Add sugar, egg, vanilla essence - mix
Sprinkle salt & bi-carb on top - mix
Add flour last - Mix
Pour in to loaf pan and bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour

Do you have any simple but delicious recipes for me?
I would love them!
x

weekend wrap up

I had a really good weekend, despite the freezing, rainy whether.

On Friday night I went to a friends Partylite party, and purchased myself a few dozen different tealight candles.

I got 12 black orchid tealights, 12 fig fatale tealights, 4 giant passionfruit tealights and 4 giant twilight sea tealights.

I absolutely adore Partylite candles, certainly more than Dusk candles.

I've never tried Glass House candles so I can't compare those two.

Then after the candle party, Nick and myself went to our friends bonfire/get together which was really fun but we ended up leaving around 11pm because I was just way to cold to function.

Yesterday afternoon, we headed to the movies with a couple of friends to see Ted.

It was really funny, but quite predictable.

I loved that Patrick Stewart was the narrator. 

Has everyone seen this picture before?
It popped up on my Facebook a little while ago and I thought it was so clever.
That is, until I found out Ted is made by Seth McFarlane who also made Family Guy.
Then I realised, it's not that clever, just blatantly obvious where Seth got the idea for Ted from.





This is what I wore to the movies, nothing too special.
I didn't even bother with heels.

Cardigan - Target
Dress - Valleygirl
Stockings - Target
Shoes - K Mart

Overall, a pretty cheap outfit lol

Today I didn't do a whole lot.
I made banana bread for the first time and it came out really well, I'm very proud!
I'm going to post the recipe I used next time I blog, it was very quick and simple, which is how I like my recipes.



And of course, the usual snuggles with my little girl, Luna.

What did you do this weekend?
Did you manage to stay warm?
x

say hello to samsung

Image taken from google images.

For the last 4 years I have been a loyal iPhone lover.
For the last 2 years I have been a loyal iPhone user.

Until recently when I saw the new Samsung Galaxy, I thought that iPhone's were the absolute best and nothing could top them.

My iPhone4 was starting to annoy me as the phone was slowly dying so I did some research on the new Samsung Galaxy then went and had a play with it in my local phone shop.

I fell in love and promptly purchased myself a white one.

(I didn't actually realise this at the time but I got the phone the day after it was released in Australia. I'm usually so behind on these things, for once I'm ahead/in time!)

Everything about the phone is so flawless and just, pretty.

It's lighter than the iPhone and has a much bigger screen.

After I bought it home and showed the boy, he kept commenting on how ridiculously big it was.

I can certainly see how this would be annoying for some people, especially boys who like to keep their phones in their pockets, but for me, it's perfect.I have terrible eyesight and I get quite headachey when I'm on my iPhone for long, so the huge screen on the Galaxy feels like it was made for people like me!

Image taken from google images.

I honestly cannot believe I was so close minded towards all Android phones.
It's safe to say I'm an Android convert that will never be going back to an iPhone.

Now I just need to learn how to put a screen protector on without a million air bubbles and all will be right in the world lol.

What kind of phone do you use?
love/hate it?
Have you been pleasantly surprised by another phone?
x

clothes, kittens & knitting

I think I'm going to start doing a weekly 'phone snaps' blog post with some pictures I've taken that aren't worth dedicating a whole post to.

Here goes...

I have taken up knitting (again).
When I was younger, I would occassionally knit something.
I can't start off or finish though, so I have to get my Mum to do it for me.
I drive my Mum nuts when I decide to knit because I always manage to mess it up.
My best trick is making stitches appear out of nowhere.
I started with 35 stitches and have somehow ended up with 47.
I've only done about 5 lines lol.
WHAT AM I DOING WRONG?!

This is my horrible attempt at a selfy.
I was trying to capture the pleat detail of the top

The top looks so different with the flash on my camera turned on.
It's actually a very, very dark blue

Not sure what's going on with the weird angle of my face here, but this is the top with no flash.
Well, technically it's a dress. The tag actually said 'dress' on it.
I'm extremely short and this dress is a long top on me, so I have no idea who the hell this could be a dress on!

Top/dress; Target
Leggings: OneZach
Shoes: No idea
Belt: Was a gift

This was my baby boy this morning, snoozing on my bra

And this is my baby girl giving my boy a kiss.
Too cute.
 

 This is Louise's cat, Gertrude.
She is just a baby and so beautiful.
She loves to snuggle up on my lap and make herself at home while I'm having coffee dates with Louise.


Does your cat have any weird/cute habits?
x

China Glaze & OPI

A couple of months ago I blogged about OzSale $6-$9 China Glaze sale, and the polish's that I purchased.

I realise it's been quite a while since then but I thought it would be better late than never to do a quick review on my experience.

I actually made 2 separate orders; one the day the sale started and another the next day as I decided I wanted more lol.
My first order included 8 nail polishes, and I was so excited about the Good Witch & Flying Dragon colours to arrive.

It took about 3 weeks but when they finally arrived, my heart sank.
As I was signing for the package I knew at least one bottle had broken as I could smell it before I even opened it.
Upon opening my package, this is what I came across...
(Thank goodness I noticed the smell and took the precaution of laying a towel down before I opened the package or my carpet would have some hideous stains from this!)

2 Broken bottles. And wouldn't you know it? The colours that broke were Good Witch & Flying Dragon!

I was incredibly disappointed in OzSale for their poor packaging.

It's pretty obvious that if you wrap 8 bottles of nail polish in one layer of bubble wrap and then pop them in a normal post bag, that something is bound to go wrong.
I personally think each bottle should have been individually wrapped & then posted in a box.
(Which coincidentally is how my second order arrived)

I promptly contacted OzSale, and after they received a picture as proof, they refunded my order in full.

It took a long time for OzSale to respond to me and an even longer time for them to actually follow through with the promised refund.

I'm satisfied with the refund as after giving my remaining unbroken bottles a good scrub with nail polish remover, they are good as new (except I can't read their shade names).

Overall it was a very long and drawn out affair dealing with OzSale and I can honestly say that unless they have some crazy amazing deal, I won't be buying from them again.

A week or so after the China Glaze sale, Catch Of The Day had a $10 OPI nail polish sale, from which I purchased 10 bottles.
I paid for my order in the morning and that evening my order was marked as 'processed' and the next morning it was marked as 'delivered'. The following day I received all 10 of my nail polishes, secure as anything and all unbroken.
I love that Catch of the Day don't make you wait until the sale has finished before they process and ship your order like your OzSale do.
It was a really easy and fast experience buying from them and I wouldn't hesitate to purchase from their site again.

And that is my 2 cents!
Have you ever bought from either of these sites before?
If so, what was your experience like?
I'd love to know!

x