Men and their toys and melting moments

The man of the house purchased a blower about a year ago to pick up the leaves outside and being the fanatic he is about his garden, it is out at least a few times a week, after work and then the weekends. People come to stay and the cry we hear is he is out there again…  The noisy thing it is. 

As much as he won’t admit it, I think he enjoys it and it is great to see that he takes pride in his yard. 

With the man of the house away working, I have been relegated to cleaning up the yard, in between keeping the house in order.  I tried to bribe the youngest with extra pocket money to get the blower out but he took one look outside, down the side of the house and it was just a plain “No”.  He is now sweeping the deck, the easiest of the jobs and who can blame him.  The neighbour has grown bamboo against the fence that continues to grow and at the slightest bit of wind drops many many leaves.  I can understand the man of the house’s frustration now at windy days.    I am almost tempted to go next door and ask the neighbour to trim or cut down the bamboo to below fence height and if that doesn’t work after the massive job of picking up all the leaves this morning, getting up at 7.00 a.m. and getting that noisy blower out instead of  the more neighbourhood friendly time of 10.00 am.

At least for now I have a lovely tidy yard, having weeded and watered the garden.  I have the tub out now on the deck to wash the dog and she, I see, is planning her escape route.

Melting Moments

I made these on a whim yesterday and they went down a treat.  I think there is only two left. 

Enjoy x

Ingredients

200 g butter, softened

¼ cup icing sugar

1 cup self-raising flour

1 cup cornflour

Butter icing

Method

Cream butter and icing sugar until light and fluffy.  Sift flour and cornflour together.  Mix into creamed mixture, mixing well.  Roll dough into small balls and place on tray lined with baking paper.  Flatten slightly with a floured fork.  Bake at 180 degree Celsius for 20 minutes until cooked.  Cool and sandwich together with butter icing. 

 

Butter Icing

100 g butter softened

¼ teaspoon vanilla essence

2 cups of icing sugar

1 to 2 tablespoons of hot water

Cream butter until light and fluffy, add vanilla and beat in icing sugar, add water to give a spreading consistency.  Note:  You do need the icing fairly stiff so it doesn't run out when sandwiching biscuits together.