I made Bread

I made bread. I know everyone else made bread too. I know this because it took three weeks to procure flour and four weeks to procure yeast.

Once I had procured said items, I chose a simple white bread recipe I found online here. According to the instructions it was going to take 30 minutes of preparation. It didn't. It took me at least 3 hours. In saying that, I don't think the 30 minutes prep time factored in the ZOOM session with my Mum partway through or the rising in the hot water cupboard component of the bread-making process.

Which leads me to this, what do people do if they don't have a hot water cupboard and it's winter? Do they light a fire or turn a heater on for their bread processing? Maybe they turn the electric blanket on and tuck their bread between the sheets? I think I have now satisfactorily answered that question myself. You're welcome!

Anyway, back to the bread-making business. It must be mentioned that I had flour EVERYWHERE! I mean everywhere. Every surface in the kitchen, cupboard handles, the floor, the cats, me. Everywhere.

Bread making is fun, immensely satisfying and I would go as far to say, a bit exciting. I felt very wholesome and earthy in my pinny, kneading my bread and covering it in teatowels (clean not used) to let it do its thing in the hot water cupboard. Kneading, by the way, is a fabulous arm work out. It was very exciting to peel back the teatowels each time to see how much it had risen. Eventually, it found its way to the oven, which I swear had been on for 3 hours!

A short 45 minutes later, with the smell of freshly baked bread wafting through the house, I pulled the loaf tin from the oven. It looked like the real deal and once sliced, oh my goodness, it tasted like the real deal, but even better than the real deal. We ate it warm from the oven with melted butter. So good!

I would definitely use this recipe again for a basic white loaf. My only critique is that it might have been a tad yeasty in taste, but that could be me because I haven't eaten bread in over a year. Oh, and that my two dough balls were not even in size, so my loaf was a bit lopsided. I thought it would be like cake mix and spread evenly in the oven. Ah, no!

Next up will be a fancy, twisty loaf. Watch this space!

Thanks for reading,
Rachael xo

Lightning Chicken Recipe

If you have read my recent This and That blog post or follow me on Instagram you will know that I have set myself a weekly 'cook a new recipe' challenge.

One of my lovely ex-mothers-in-law, don't judge but I have had a few, suggested I try Chelsea Winter's Lightning Chicken as it is quick, easy and delicious.  She was right on all counts.

So without further ado, here is the recipe!

Lightning Chicken With Thyme Cream

Why "lightning" chicken? Because it's as quick as lightning to prepare! The trick is to make sure you get a good golden colour on the thighs when you sear them, because it's that colour that creates the flavour of the sauce - Chelsea Winter

Prep time: 5 minutes / Cook time: 20 minutes
Serves: 4-6

Ingredients:

• 1kg chicken thighs (bone-in or boneless, skin-on or skinless)
• Neutral oil, e.g. grapeseed, for frying
• 25g butter
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• ¹∕³ cup white wine
• ½ cups cream
• 1 tbsp chopped fresh thyme leaves

To Cook:

1. Remove the chicken from the fridge 30-60 minutes before cooking. Pat the chicken dry with paper towels. Season on both sides with salt and pepper, being quite generous.
2. Heat 1-2 tablespoons of the oil in a large frying pan over a fairly high heat. When very hot, add the chicken (skin-side down if it has skin). You may need to do this in two batches – don't crowd the pan or the chicken might start stewing.
3. Leave the chicken to fry without turning until it has turned a deep golden brown colour on one side. Turn over and brown the other side. You can turn the chicken back over a couple of times to get it looking browner and crispier. Also, the more crusty brown stuff that builds up in the bottom of the pan, the better.
4. When both sides of the chicken are lovely and brown, set aside on a plate or roasting tray.
5. Tip any excess oil from the pan and replace over a medium heat. 
6. Add the butter and garlic and swish it around for 30 seconds. 
7. Add the wine, increase the heat to high, and let it bubble rapidly for about 30-60 seconds to evaporate the alcohol – it should reduce by about half.
8. Stir in the cream and thyme, then add the chicken and any resting juices. 
9. Reduce the heat to medium-high and let everything simmer until the chicken is cooked through and the sauce has reduced down to a nice consistency – not too thick; it's quite a rich sauce. If it becomes too thick, simply add more cream and simmer again until you're happy with it. 
10. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
11. Serve with steamed greens and mash, new potatoes, pasta, bulghur wheat or rice.

not the nicest plating but everyone was starving so it was a quick serve!

I didn't quite have a full tbsp of fresh thyme but aside from that, it was delicious. The Cowboy and I loved this, the Princess liked the chicken but not the sauce. The recipe made enough that the Cowboy and I also had it for dinner last night.

I sourced the recipe from here.

Enjoy!
Rachael xo

This and That...

recently.

HOME
I finished painting the drawers I blogged about last time and they are now in our bedroom, lined with rose scented drawer liners. I love how the white lightens the room. I love how I don't have to rummage through plastic bins to find clothes!
The Princess and I went to Kmart today and got a few more bits for her room, some more fakery (plants), little storage containers, an ottoman and a duster! I got an ottoman for the living room and a blush, plush Minky to snuggle in when it's super cold and it has been super cold recently. I actually do have a nice faux fur one but we have one little girl cat who loves plush and believes it's hers.

happiness is clothes in drawers

pretties

this girl loves plush

SCHOOL
I am having so much fun with my little groups of children. The writing theme I created for them this term is 'Magic Carpet Adventures! - Where in the world are we?' We watched a shortened version of Aladdin and then I took them on a magic carpet ride where they all landed in a different country (randomly chosen). They are currently making dioramas of the scenery of their country/continent. They have landed in Antarctica, West Sahara, Poland and Colorado. Then, they are going to write an adventure story about their carpet ride, describing the scenery,  characters etc. I even have a genie costume and magic lamp organised and they will each get to make one wish to include in their story. So exciting, for me haha!

READING

I finished reading The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, my May Poppy Loves Bookclub book. What a wonderfully woven story full of rich characters who I felt I knew once I reached the end of the book. I really want to see the movie now. I'm waiting on my June book to arrive from Book Depository which is From Darkest Skies by Sam Peters. It will push me further out of my reading comfort zone as the genre is Sci Fi, normally not my thing! I'm currently reading The Red Queen, one of the Princess's young adult novels. It's about a young girl in a Dystopian society and I am really enjoying it. I'm also reading The Two Most Important Days by Sanjiv Chopra and Gina Vild which in a nutshell is about positive thinking.

my new hat and stuff

coffee date with a book

WATCHING

The Cowboy and I finished binge-watching House of Cards and those evil Underwoods. We have just finished Marcella which we thoroughly enjoyed although it did have a strange and unexpected ending. We are also watching the All Blacks rugby test matches against France. The Princess feels sorry for the French coming all this way and losing, she is nice. I did feel sorry for the French player in last nights game who collided with one of the Barretts (lucky there are more where they come from) and was sent off with a red card. I think the red card was unjust and a yellow card would have done the job. I do hope Beauden Barrett is ok though, I am a bit paranoid about head injuries.

FAMILY

We have had lots of lovely, extended family time recently. We went to Rawene for Queens Birthday weekend. The weather was foul but I didn't care, I was with my Mummy and Poppa (stepfather). Poppa cooked some of my favourite foods, a boil up for dinner one night and then Mutton birds for lunch one day. Spoilt! We left Rawene on the Sunday and drove to the Cowboy's Mum's new house, just outside of KeriKeri and had a huge and delicious lunch with his family. They shifted the dining table to the patio and we ate outside in the Winter sun, it was lovely and felt a bit like Christmas!
Last weekend Amah (Grandmother) and Eileen (Aunty) came to visit. Eileen made me her legendary Neenish Tarts so I was spoilt again with favourite food from family. She left me a container full of them which I may have enjoyed for breakfast and lunch a couple of days in a row. Shoosh, don't judge!

The Boatshed Cafe, the day before the storm hit Rawene

I don't like to share these

FOOD
Speaking of food, I have a new obsession. When I am not eating Neenish Tarts for lunch, I am having toasted Vogel bread spread with butter, slices of cheese, Aunty Carol's beetroot chutney and cracked black pepper. I could happily have it for dinner every night as well. YUM! I did make a new curry dish last week, though. The Cowboy and I were at the Supermarket and I tried a sample of a dish made with yellow curry paste. It was so good that I promptly bought the paste and coconut cream. I made the curry last week, it was really easy, boneless chicken, potato, beans and was perfect for the cold nights we were having. I made so much that we ate it two nights in a row and as curries often are, it was better the second night.

obsessed

easy and good

RANDOMNESS

Bowen Therapy - I think I have had 5 sessions now and I feel so good. Like, incredibly good. I am still symptomatic but everything (apart from headaches)is quite minimised. I still get very fatigued but can do so much more before it kicks in. People keep telling me how well I look. Even the Barista at my cafe in Ellerslie told me I look well. Sommer, the Bowen therapist has me drinking Beetroot juice. I love beetroot but as a juice it is a different kettle of fish, or glass of juice, so to speak! It is very strong and beetrooty in taste and I have to syke myself into drinking it daily. Ugh! However,  I am so totally convinced of the benefits of Bowen I will do anything Sommer recommends, She has the power!

red wine is better

Hair and Face Stuff -  I trialled a new Schwarzkoft heat protectant spray for beautyreview.co.nz and really liked it, I especially liked the smell, it has that expensive salon done hair smell! I'm loving the L'Oreal Hair Touch Up spray I mentioned a while ago, it might well be the one product I would take with me to a desert island! I also bought, online, a couple of black, peel off facemasks and eye wrinkle masks which I have yet to try. I am positive they will work, expect to see a photo of me looking 10 years younger - coming your way - soon....

miracles in bottles and packets?

FOLLOWING

Did you check out Julie Battisti from my last blog post? I ordered some of her greeting cards. They are very beautiful. I bought them to give to people but I just don't know if I want to share them! 

Another person I follow online is Amber Fillerup Clark, an American blogger. I think I originally found her on Pinterest or YouTube when I was trying to teach myself how to do fancy hair braids - didn't work, very similar to me trying to follow Origami or coding instructions! Anyway, back to Amber, since I started following her a couple of years ago she has lived in New York, Hawaii and now Arizona. She is married, has two small children and a hair extension business called Barefoot Blonde. She is super pretty, wears amazing clothes, shoots beautiful photos for her business in stunning locations and all around seems like a sweet person. The juxtaposition of Amber as a person and her very successful business model intrigues me. Go have a look!

Barefoot Blonde

Amber Fillerup Clark Instagram

Barefoot Blonde Instagram

something else I don't want to share

sorry Amber Fillerup Clark, I totally stole your picture off  your website

This blog post has been brought to you from the comfort of my living room with my feet up on my new ottoman and a glass of red wine in hand.

Thanks for reading.

Rachaelxo

This and That...

this week.

HOME
The Princess and I finally finished clearing her room. We left the hardest thing for last, her wardrobe and china cabinet. What a job! We carefully wrapped everything in bubble wrap and tissue paper and itemised each item, cataloguing who gave it to her and the occasion. She has lots of things that have been passed down to her from great-grandmothers and lots of beautiful treasures that have been made for her. One day she may want to pass things down to her own children and her cousins' children. I told her it is her responsibility to do so, she looked thrilled. Not!

Some of her precious things were absorbed into the house, such as a beautiful handmade cross my Mum brought her back from Armenia. We popped it into a frame and added it to the cross wall. Funny story about the cross wall, one of my students visited me at home last year and asked why I had lots of T's on my wall-haha

I had angst doing her wardrobe as it was the last of the 'little girl' stuff in her room, she, on the other hand, had no such qualms! 

The Cowboy bought an atomiser last week whilst picking up his prescriptions. It changes colour and matches our fake KMart candles in the living room. We have eucalyptus in it, for our health, of course.

The After. The Before housed a china cabinet, clothes squished into a corner, stuff on the shelf and boxes on the floor. Her shoes didn't actually fit in there. Girly, she is not.

Real life is crooked. Don't worry, I will be getting my spirit level
 out tomorrow and realigning myself.

Armenian Cross

fakery

SCHOOL
The first week of Term 2 is done and dusted. I am loving being back and am really enjoying the little people I work with. Their enthusiasm is infectious and they are hilarious without meaning to be. This week I introduced them to my 'pizazz' words (oral language - words of the week) which are lovely big words that make their writing sparkle. When we talk about the 'pizazz' words we mime sparkles with our hands. So cute! 

READING

I finished reading the Homecoming by Yaa Gyasi and can't recommend it enough. Such an incredibly powerful and moving story. I participated in my first online book club discussion at 6am NZ time one morning. It was so good and I didn't feel out of my depth as the questions were generally opinion based so I was able to contribute quite well, plus I had time to think about my responses. The May book is The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society which I am hoping arrives from Book Depository this week. In the meantime, I am reading The Spaghetti Giraffe which I saw on my Associate Principal's desk and borrowed. It's quite a different read to the Book Club novels haha

WATCHING

Our latest Netflix binge was The Sinner. If you love a good thriller/mystery type story you need to watch this. It is an incredibly well written and well-acted series which twists and turns in every episode and just when you think you have it figured out it changes again. 

Don't judge me but I am also obsessed with watching 'How do I Look' on Bravo from Monday to Friday at 3.30 to 4.30pm. I love a good makeover!

FAMILY
The Cowboy is on his second lot of antibiotics. This chest infection has really knocked him around.
My Mum and one of my Aunties have been in Auckland staying at Domain Lodge while my Aunty has some treatment at Auckland Hospital. They came for a visit on Friday, it was so nice to see them and fun and I loved seeing what they had bought for their latest craft projects. The bonus was they brought down a big bag of Feijoas for the Cowboy, who loves them, I don't, and homemade pickles and relish made by the Aunty. Her beetroot pickle is the best, I have been spooning it, read that as heaped and plural, onto my frittata for the last two nights!

FOOD
It was the Cowboy's birthday on Anzac Day (25 April) and because he was so sick we stayed in. I cooked him a nice dinner, steak which I marinated using this Chelsea Winter Teriyaki Marinade. It was for chicken but worked well for steak. I must make the chicken dish though, it looks so good!I used to have a fabulous Teriyaki marinade recipe that I got from a lady way back in my past called Mrs C. It was the best, but I have lost it. Grova, if you are reading this, try the Chelsea Winter one, I reckon it's close to Mrs C's.

a really good girlfriend would have made ganache and decorated with raspberries. Mine is the slack girlfriend version.

I also made this enormous Annabel Langbein chocolate cake. Mine was enormous because I didn't have the right size springform tin so I cooked it in my 25cm one. It was too easy, put all the ingredients in a bowl, beat, pour and cook. I didn't make the ganache icing or decorate with raspberries, instead, I did plain chocolate icing and one candle haha. It was still really good though.

FOLLOWING
I love following travel vlogger/Instagrammers and the best by far is this girl here, findingx. She is super clever, super funny, super gorgeous, has a super obsession with cheese and does life super well. I may be ever so super biased because she is actually my god-daughter! Seriously though, she puts so much into her content, and what I really love is she doesn't do the ordinary. Last weekend she glamped in a treehouse tent. Amazing! And you really want to check out her Iceland photos and stories. Incredible!

Last time she was in NZ she visited and I grilled her about behind the scenes of her travels. It was fascinating and an eye opener as to how much time, energy and personal expense goes into what she does. She also has a full-time job!

You can find Alexx on Instagram and on her website.

God-daughter, I hope you don't mind that I stole your photo xo

RANDOMNESS
I finally got around to dyeing my hair so don't need to 'Spray away the Gray' for a few weeks.

I also bought this 'device' because after my hair stylist cut my hair she gave me lovely big wavy curls and I want to replicate them. I researched first because that is what you do when buying a device and this one had the best reviews from real life ordinary people like me! My hair device came from Farmers, reduced from $70 to $30, I do love a good bargain!

Oh, and the L'Oreal Sugar Scrub I talked about last time. I used it last week and did it all wrong. I scrubbed without wetting it and aggravated my skin. I now have big acne type breakouts on my 53-year-old face. Great!

My new device.

THE WEEKEND
Is it sad that the highlight of my weekend was buying a new front door mat and glowy spring pegs for my laundry and that both items make me very happy!

My life happiness comes from a doormat

As my 7-year-old students would say,"have an amazing week".

Thanks for reading.
Rachaelxo

New Year's Day Dessert

The Cowboy gave me the newest Chelsea Winter 'Scrumptious' cookbook for Christmas. Clever him. Double clever him as he benefits from me using of the cookbook!

Since we didn't have a proper dinner on New Year's Eve I thought I had better up my game on New Year's Day.

What better than a celebratory dessert such as Chelsea's take on good old fashioned...

Chocolate Chippie Pudding!

It was truly decadent. Laced with Sherry. Smothered in Cream. Covered in dark Chocolate. YUM.

You can get the recipe here.

Thanks for reading.

xo Rachael