Rain rain go away, a great day for xmas shopping!

It is wet, wet, wet here. It has rained heavily since early this morning and not about to let up.  My youngest had his footy final this morning and was going to cheer his team on but it is way too wet for him to navigate his crutches through the mud, grass and grandstand and as you can imagine he is incredibily disappointed.

So we are venturing into the shops today to do some xmas shopping.  I have more of an idea now of what to get who and started yesterday.  The man of the house is very keen which is unusual for him to want to go any where near shops but he does look forward to xmas. I do need to keep him away from shops with xmas decorations and lights as we have more than we need.    I left him to go to Bunnings, the hardware store this morning, which is not always a good idea.   He has already been gone an hour so who knows what he will come home with!

We are indeed looking forward to putting up the xmas tree tomorrow and if it still raining, baking the much anticipated and delicious  family christmas cake.

Here are a few Xmas gifts  I have found on my travels…

Kmart have some great stocking stuffers.  It has been a while since I have been in Kmart but I was incredibly surprised.  Visit www.kmart.com.au
·      Audiosonic Portable Speaker – great for iphone, ipad etc.  These come in pink and black and also make great Secret  Santa presents at $8.00
·      Jigsaws – my eldest used to do a lot of those in New Zealand, they are fantastic for rainy days.
·   Jackeroo Picnic Basket – wicker basket stocked with plates cups and utensils – great for those summer get togethers at the beach or park
·  Books – Matthew Reilly, The Tournament.  Fabulous Australian Author who writes great masterpieces.  Catching Fire,  the latest Hunger Games movie sequel by Suzanne Collins.
·       Magazine subscriptions   are a great gift that keeps on giving throughout the year. It is really nice to receive a magazine in the mail and sit down with a cuppa… There are a great range of magazines from Australian Womens Weekly to  Better Homes and Gardens to Fishing World.  As a lover of food I just love my Donna Hay Magazine at www.donnahay.com.au
·      Mandate Menswear stock  beautiful David Smith Shirts.  Gorgeous, uniquely designed  shirts for the man in your life who loves style and quality.  www.mandatemenswear.com.au
·      City Beach have a great range wallets, tees-hirts and boardshorts for the teenagers in your life or if you are not sure what they want, a gift card there is a fantastic idea.  www.citybeach.com.au
·      M&Ms never go amiss and there is a great range of M&M gadgets at Target.  I  love the M&M drummer!  Or for the more adult, the biggest  Toberone or Lindor chocolates, my favourite dark chocolate.

I will get out the Christmas Cake recipe and put it in my next blog.  Until next time, have a great one.    Angela 

The gift of giving

Christmas comes around all too soon and here I am yet again with the quandary of what gifts to get. I am frantically cutting out ideas from catalogues and writing a note on my phone of who wants what.

My youngest has made his list which keeps on chopping and changing unlike last year when he said he had everything he needed- god bless him, but this then left us with no idea what to get him and left a mad rush just before Xmas.

Our eldest, a typical teenager just wants money.  I have continued to tell him that Christmas is about giving and money does not come into it. The man of the house is easy to please with something for the boat or footy tickets to watch his beloved footy team.

I have put my request in to  Santa for a sat nav for our Jeep. Our previous cars had one and as much as I love the Jeep I am always getting lost and running up the Internet on my phone using the GPS! Santa, I have been a very good girl this year!

For wonderful moreish homemade  xmas gift  give this Coconut Rough recipe a try. The man of the house loves making this recipe and it does not last long at home.

Coconut Rough

½ cup self raising flour

½ cup plain flour
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
1/3 cup caster sugar
1/3 cup desiccated coconut
125g butter, melted

For the topping:
1 cup icing sugar
1 ½ tablespoons cocoa powder
1 tablespoon softened butter
2/3 cup desiccated coconut
1 cup condensed milk

Preheat oven to 180°C. Lightly grease a 20 x 30cm slice tin. Line with baking paper.

Sift flours and cocoa powder into a bowl and stir through sugar and coconut. Make a well in the centre and pour in melted butter. Press into prepared pan. Bake for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool.

Meanwhile, sift icing sugar and cocoa powder into a bowl. Stir through softened butter and then coconut and condensed milk. Spread over cooled base and refrigerate until set. Cut into pieces and enjoy.

Byron Bay - a little place of magic

Our youngest son whilst recuperating from a broken ankle, dragged out his box of magic tricks  and decided he required some much needed new  material and props to practice.

Off we trekked with "Nanna"  in tow (who has been a fantastic help with youngest at home), to  “Mad on  Magic”, at 114 Griffith Street Coolangatta, madonmagic.com. It is a great little shop with everything a budding magician could need.  They also have a great supply of fancy dress costumes and awesome Christmas present ideas.

Filled up on props it was a beautiful day to take a drive further down to Byron Bay. 

Byron as always is a hive of activity, awash with people, chilling out by the beach or exploring the numerous shops and cafes to "people watch".  We found a great café for lunch “The Junction” @ 85 Jonson Street with delicious burgers and NZ Green Lipped Mussels.  The youngest has now taken a liking to these and keen to add these to his repertoire  of  home cooked dinners.  He whips up mouth watering Oysters Kilpatrick and the best Saffron Chicken Kebabs! Unlike our eldest son who’s menu currently consists of anything fast "and he means fast" like McDonalds or Pizza!   Lunches at The Junction are an awesome price.

We were limited with our dear one on crutches  to wander around but I did find a great little t-shirt shop. You can’t go past Ghanda on 3/8 Lawson Street, www.ghanda.com. Beautiful and  comfortable printed cotton  t-shirts at a great  price.

The beach as usual was alive with people, abeit windy with huge waves rolling in. 

Byron Bay creates it’s own magic.