18 September 2012

MNM's Bake: Nutella Fudge with Sea Salt

I seem to have developed a thing for chocolate and sea salt in recipes of late. It is such an awesome taste sensation. This fudge is super duper easy to make and very moorish, and totally satisfies my chocolate/sea-salt cravings.

Ingredients:
1 cup nutella
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 tsp vanilla essence
50g butter
1 block of Whittakers dark chocolate (chopped) or 225g dark chocolate chips
1/2-1 tsp sea salt

1. In a medium glass or stainless steel bowl, stir together sweetened condensed milk, vanilla, chocolate, nutella and butter.
2. Form a double boiler by by setting the bowl over a pot of simmering water. The water should be low enough that the bottom of the bowl does not touch the water. Stir until all the chocolate has melted and the mixture is smooth, approximately 5-7 minutes.
3. Line or grease a 8 inch square (22cm square) tin and pour the mixture in. Spread the top smooth with a spatula and sprinkle with sea salt. Refrigerate until the fudge is firm, at least 2 hours.
4. Once the fudge is firm, run a knife under hot water, dry it off and run it around the edges of the tin to loosen the fudge. Lift the fudge out and cut into 2cm squares.
5. Store in the refrigerator in an airtight container.

For more tasty recipes, visit here.

17 September 2012

MNM's Make: Instant Snow

We made snow. This stuff rocks. It's called Insta Snow powder, and just a tiny scoop will make a whole bowl full of delightful snow to play in. This kept the kids entertained for ages. It feels like the softest fluffiest snow powder a snowboarder could ever dream of.








It looks like you can get it in NZ from here, or there's always Amazon here, or the original source Steve Spangler Science here.

Following on from all the cool stuff Nikki sent us to play with like the water beads last week, I wasn't sure the fun factor could be topped. But the snow is definitely up there in on my coolness rating!

Have you ever played with fake snow?!

14 September 2012

Things I'm Loving 14.9.12



I wholeheartedly believe that no matter what is happening in your life, there is always something you can be thankful for..no matter how simple it is.

After the storm
Loving that just a few hours after the biggest storm we've seen in a long while, Welly was able to dish me up this stunning city scenery on an unscheduled midday Sunday walk.


The LEGO Story
This is a brilliant animation of how LEGO came about. You'll need to boil the kettle and sit down with a cuppa to enjoy it uninterrupted though as it is 17 minutes long.

I just loved how the company stayed true to their values, and have kept LEGO as a family business. How they didn't give up when times were tough, and when they got knocked down, they just got right back up again, even if it meant rebuilding from scratch. A lovely story of how one man's legacy is now loved by millions throughout the world.



Divided Loyalties
When you have a daddy who is passionate about supporting his homeland, it's probably a bit inevitable that you'll grow up supporting two countries...and they're definitely loving their Team GB Olympic gears!


 GF goodness
Loving that Dominos do gluten-free pizzas so I can still be an active participant in family takeaway nights!


Flowers...just cos....
Does there have to be a reason? Last week I got a sunflower from hubby...just cos...and I'm loving it.


He's got talent
This is such a heartwarming story, 34 year-old Christopher Maloney (no relation!) who overcame his extreme nervousness, five years of applying and then ripping up his application because he couldn't go through with it, as well as other people telling him he was wasting his time to audition for X-Factor UK. If you can watch it all the way through without a tear in your eye and a smile on your face, you'll be doing better than me!



Here's how you can join in:

Link up below with your blog post telling us what you're loving, and grab the Things I'm Loving button below for your post too. Don't forget to share the love by visiting all the other lovelies who have joined in - the linky is open till same time next week!









12 September 2012

WW: One Sock and One Calippo

 

"Mum...it's too cold........"


Enter Mum's sock to the rescue, stage right?

And is it just in our family or is it impossible for all 6-year old boys 
not to go through the knees of EVERY single pair of trousers they own


A happier face licks while Noah waves at a school friend across the road
Oh yeah, I woz here too that day...sometimes I totally forget to get in on the pictures
Love having an iPhone camera that can switch to the front 
so you can actually see what you're taking a picture of!
This sly look says..."don't even think about trying to get a lick in Mum...it's all mine!"

Just another fun mid-week avo hanging out in the Village with my 2 treasures.

11 September 2012

Review: LEGO Creationary

What do you get when you cross a toy system loved by millions around the world with one of the best loved party games ever?

LEGO Creationary

Mega fun for all the family, that's what!!

We received this game on Friday to review, which turned out to be perfect timing on what has been one of the wildest, wettest weekends in Wellington in a long while.

And it was a great excuse for some quiet family time sitting down around the table together, in-between a weekend that was otherwise full of birthday parties and sugar highs.

We'd no sooner gotten up on Saturday morning than Noah was standing in front of us with the box in his hands saying "Can we play now? Mum, Dad? Can we? Can we?" which is always a good sign!

LEGO Creationary inside the box


It's a very easy game to get your head around, think Pictionary crossed with LEGO and you can't go far wrong. And with three difficulty levels to choose from (although we never made it past basic bearing in mind we were playing with a six year old and a three year old), you can make it as easy or difficult as you want.

The only difficulty was prising the creations back off Mylo who was keen to play with each one after it was made, which was fine until we suddenly needed a part of that creation for the next one. There was some in-depth negotiation needed to convince him that the next creation would be even better and he might like to play with that instead!

LEGO Creationary makings - yacht, giraffe, jail

On your turn, roll the dice to determine which category you need to build. Then use as many bricks from the the whole box of LEGO bricks as you want to make your creation.


Plenty of bricks to build with

These are some of the great creations we came up with. Can you guess any of them?

LEGO Creationary lighthouse, alarm clock, islands, maze
Lighthouse, alarm clock, islands, maze

The game was an instant hit, so much so that they played again without me while I was out on Saturday afternoon, even sending me a little picture text of one of Daddy's creations at one point for me to guess. I guessed BBQ and I was right!

LEGO Creationary BBQ
Mark's BBQ

Sunday morning dawned, there was an eager six year old hanging out for Round Three. I must confess I am usually somewhat challenged when greeted by a big box of random LEGO, as I much prefer to build things from a set of instructions. But I was pleasantly surprised when my creative juices got flowing, and I was turning out creations that easily matched the boys' more natural efforts.

LEGO Creationary cannon, bumblebee, double decker bus
Sunday's creations: my cannon, Noah's bumblebee and my double decker bus

We're already looking forward to taking it up to Hamilton to play over the Christmas break with the extended family as there's a few other big kids (aka my grown-up brothers) in the family who we know will enjoy it too.

If you're already thinking ahead to Christmas, you couldn't go wrong with this for a fun gift to entertain the whole family.

Here's the lowdown:

Product name: LEGO®  Creationary
Product description: Roll the LEGO® Dice to select one of four exciting building categories: vehicles, buildings, nature or things. With three levels of difficulty you can show off your building skills, while theothers guess what you are creating. A great game for family and friends to test your imagination, creativity, building and guessing skills to the max.
Contents: • 1 buildable LEGO Dice • 1 LEGO minifigure • 1 LEGO microfigure • 338 LEGO pieces • 96 cards • 1 rule booklet
Age: From 7 years
RRP $69.99

Disclaimer: we received a LEGO Creationary game in exchange for our review. The thoughts and opinions expressed in the post are entirely our own.

09 September 2012

MNM's Make: Water Beads & other Sensational Stuff

Recently a package arrived in the post from dear, sweet Nikki in England. And I think there was probably more fun contained in this one package than I have ever seen in my life! So over the next couple of Creativity posts, I thought I'd share with you some of the fun we had with all her treasures.

Water beads
These are quite possibly the coolest invention ever, Nikki and I had talked about them on Skype a while back and she remembered to send us some! Imagine the tiniest bead turning into a marble sized squishy water bead over a few hours. Then times that one bead by several hundred. Imagine plunging your hand into a whole bowl of these, it is an utter sensation explosion and very massaging and therapeutic.

Before

Soaking in the water 

Starting to grow 

 And grow

Full-size beads 

They feel so delightfully cool and squishy....

We've also had fun pouring these in the bath, and sitting with the beads swirling around us in a crazy, dotty coloured bath. It's especially fun to try and find the clear ones which are totally invisible once they are in the water.

I can imagine these would also be fun if you put them in a sensory tub poured them through cups and funnels, or plastic animals in with them.

You can actually buy these on Trade Me for as little as $1 a packet, just search for 'water beads'. They are ACE, and I am SO getting more!

Space projector torch
This was probably the biggest hit of all with the boys. For a couple of days, until Mylo left the torch on and the battery went flat.....gah! Remember the good old days of the Viewfinder....well this is the 21st century version for sure!
Eureka Toys Space Torch

It comes with 3 reels, one is based on NASA and the men landing on the moon. One is planets, and the other stars. I love how big the projection is when you put it on the ceiling. The man on the moon never looked so good!





Bath crayons
Who doesn't love bath crayons?  Even better when you can use them to say how much you love the gal who sent such cool stuff.



DIY drinking straws
These are also pretty darn cool. Especially when you figure out how to put your fingers over various holes and send water shooting out at people when they're least expecting it.



Name Bunting
Their name in bright lights. These cool name buntings are made of plastic stencils and look so cool hanging in their windows...don't you think?!



and....last but not least......

WE MADE SNOW!
And sorry for leaving you hanging there...but I've run out of time....so you'll just have to tune in next time for all our snowy goodness!

07 September 2012

Things I'm Loving 7.9.12



I wholeheartedly believe that no matter what is happening in your life, there is always something you can be thankful for..no matter how simple it is.

Daddy's Day
Loving our mid-afternoon walk at Otari Wilton bush. It was good to clear out some cobwebs and get some fresh air. We'd been joking earlier about whether there might be any dinosaurs lurking in the forest. I surreptitiously took along 3 little plastic animals and hid them strategically on the walk for the boys to find. Noah was a little skeptical and tried to tell us we'd planted them earlier although we eventually convinced him that wasn't very possible, whilst Mylo eagerly went along for the ride.



Loving so much this gorgeous shot of my beautiful boys at the end of the walk....



My city

Loving that my city poses so beautifully for me.



More Crazy Colour fun
The party plans are progressing. This little project was somehow squeezed in between all the baking for the Ninja Cookie Drop and violent coughing fits I had over the weekend that even saw me throw up into my mouth....ick! (gotta love that...not). Can you guess what it is?! A Twister-style punch box that the kids will be able to punch through (gently) to receive a treat - either a packet of colourful stickers or some MNM's.


Springing into Spring
So if you're reading this post on the blog, you might have noticed I FINALLY got around to changing the pictures on the blog slideshow header...somewhat overdue methinks since autumn was quite some months ago now! So having skipped winter altogether I decided to go straight into celebrating all there is to love about Spring and glorious weather. If you aren't already on the blog, head on over for a wee peek here.

The Sisterhood - your turn to help!
Last weekend many lives were blessed with an unexpected gift of baking because of the generosity of women in The Sisterhood. And over 20 women have previously been blessed with LOVE BOMBS - unexpected baskets of gifts to show them they are loved and thought of in spite of challenging personal circumstances or to recognise their amazing efforts that might otherwise go unnoticed.

Vote for The Sisterhood to win $10 000!!

But this is only the beginning, and there is so much more that can be done and will be done, with your help.

Sophie Laughton-Mutu (the creator of The Sisterhood) is in the running for a $10,000 Peoples Choice AMP Scholarship, but The Sisterhood needs your vote (it'll only take a minute) to ensure that we can continue to keep on encouraging and blessing people up and down the length of this beautiful country of ours.

Here's how you can join in:

Link up below with your blog post telling us what you're loving, and grab the Things I'm Loving button below for your post too. Don't forget to share the love by visiting all the other lovelies who have joined in - the linky is open till same time next week!








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