Not on the High Street

I'm so excited because I applied to sell on notonthehighstreet.com last week. The first email they send you basically tells you not to get excited. Over 90% of applications are rejected and if you haven't heard in two weeks, you haven't made it. I sent them some pictures of my calligraphy stuff and a picture of the above...a 'stone canvas'. It's my 'whistle whistle...' calligraphy (see earlier post), carved in stone then photographed and printed onto canvas. I'm so excited about it because I think it looks really effective...it really gives the illusion that it is stone. So I took loads of pictures, wrote my ideas down in a carefully worded email (which took half a day to write....)


...and I waited...and obsessively checked my email every hour.


And then it came..they said they 'loved my range'...how exciting!!!!

(Thank for the BRILLIANT card, Lally!)

Oreo Brownies and sunshine

We had such a lovely day today. Big Girl had her friend round for a sleep over and spent all morning giggling about some rather rude outfits which were created for the Barbies. Granny and Grampy popped by for a cup of tea. Poor Granny spent much of the morning as Little Girl's horse, remaining 'tethered' to the table whilst Little Girl ate her lunch! No need to report this to the NSPCG as I think that Granny was quite compliant...! The Big Boy spent much of the day raising the height of the tree swing so that it is impossible for any one to get on it. Big Girl then planted strawberries and Little Girl watered all the paving slabs in the greenhouse. Margo and Jerry (the bantams) ate my lovely purple crocuses and Mr Wild Ink fell asleep early as he'd spent much of the day drinking real ale... and the sun shone!
The highlight of day, however, were these brownies which Little Girl and I made. I saw them on Lorraine Pascal's Baking made easy and have been meaning to make them ever since. It's a fantastic recipe as the smooth gooey-ness of the brownies contrasts with the chunks of crunchy, dark Oreo.

Recipe for Lorraine Pascal's Brownies with Oreos
165g Butter
200g Dark Chocolate, broken into little pieces
3 Eggs plus 2 Extra yolks
2 tsp Vanilla Extract
165g Soft Brown Sugar
2 tbsp Plain Flour
1 tbsp Cocoa Powder
A Pinch of Salt
154g Oreo Biscuits, broken in to quarters
Icing Sugar, for dusting
20cm square tin

Preheat Oven to 180 c or Gas Mark 6

1. Melt the butter and add the chocolate, stir until melted.
2. In a large bowl whisk eggs, yolks and vanilla until light and fluffy then add sugar in two additions.
3. Pour the melted chocolate in around the sides of the bowl, add flour, cocoa, salt and a third of the oreos, combine thoroughly.
4. Pour into a greased, lined tin and bake for about 25 mins. If you put a knife in the middle it should still come out a bit gooey (unlike if you're making a sponge cake). Turn out when cool, cut then dust with icing sugar. Enjoy and try not to eat them all in one go!