Fluffy Fleece, Beater Blades and Crofton Cast Iron.

It's been a weekend of addressing the big issues whilst being dressed in outfits that just say 'trust me, I know what I'm doing'.

Remember my Cookie Monster blue fluffy fleece zip up jacket from Uniqlo?  Well, it really is as warm as the advertising spiel suggests.  I wore mine to the pool this morning and barely felt the severe wind action as I climbed the stairs to the pool entrance.  Which is saying something given that I could hear the wind even before I got out of the car.

The hard work for the day done, it was time to kick back with a coffee and some reading.  Somehow reading things for work  is less painful when you have the Sunday paper open at the same time.

Intrigued by my sudden ability to embellish photos with text and artwork?  I can't take all the credit. Fat Mum Slim launched Little Moments on the App Store last week and I've been getting to know my way around it over the last couple of days.  I love how easy to use the editing tools are and also that prompts for Photo A Day are incorporated into the app.   There are add on options available through the app but I haven't bought them yet.  The images and fonts included with the basic option are enough for my learner skills.

Oscar Wilde just had this way of saying things best.

"Youth is wasted on the young".

When it comes to faux fur on the high street, at least.

I've been on the hunt for a cropped fur vest and / or a fur trimmed cardigan for weeks now and haven't been able to find a thing.  Until I spotted these adorable pieces on the way to Ikea yesterday.  Everything I was looking for, just several hundred sizes too small.  Perhaps it's time for the high street to reverse the mini-me trend in girls fashion and start upsizing their covetable children's wear designs for parents.

In the meantime, I'll just have to be content dressing for my age in tasteful wool knit sweaters and statement necklaces.

What's the point of having a smart phone if you don't use the camera function to make your life easier?  I have photos of where I park my car and Ikea self serve furniture locations on my camera roll.  Anything to free up those precious neurones of mine.

Ikea.  Ikea on the first Saturday morning of the school holidays.  It actually wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.  The most physically demanding part of the shopping trip was testing the entire range of children's table and chair options.  I knew the squat programme I do at the gym would pay off one day.  

The Mammut stool, table and chair were the winners of my squat and sit test.  The chair is for Toddler SSG and I'm going with the stool.  No sharp corners and being light weight plastic, I'm hoping that no one will come to any harm should Toddler SSG get all huffy with the furniture and decide to rearrange it on his own.

Jam slice from Donna Hay's Modern Classics Book 2.

There's been a fair bit of baking going on at SSG Manor this weekend.  It's the perfect weather for it and there's a few morning teas on at work in the coming week.

BeaterBlade for the KitchenAid (left) and the whisky thing that came with my KitchenAid (right).

I've decided to lift my game and use my Beaterblade for the final stages of cake batter production.  I use the KitchenAid whisk to cream and then switch over to the BeaterBlade for the addition of the remaining ingredients.

The batters I've made this week definitely look more aerated and lighter in texture than before BeaterBlade.

The moment of truth will be on Tuesday when my baked goods get 'judged' at morning tea.  I bought my BeaterBlade off eBay a few years ago but KitchenwareDirect (where I linked to) are selling it locally for $44.95.  I've just noticed that KitchenAid have now released their own version, the Flex Edge beater at $69.95.  That's also available at KitchenwareDirect if you'd prefer to keep things in the KA family.

My last bit of kitchen news comes to you by way of Aldi and their cast iron special buys from last week.  After several trips to Aldi and dithering about whether or not to buy the griddle pan ($14.99), here is the red one in my kitchen.  I finally decided to buy one because I like how the pan has some depth compared to the one I'm currently using.  Le Creuset have a square version with a cast iron handle (the Crofton version has a wooden handle) and the best price for that is $199 at the moment.  There's a five year warranty on the Aldi / Crofton version and the reviews around the web are generally very positive.  I'm christening mine tonight and am planning to do a review post during the week.

In the meantime, are you a Crofton fan?