Wishlist group - received

Some lovely baby boy themed stickers that I received from Swan for the June Wishlist on Swap-bot.

Decorated diaper cake!

A couple of days ago one of my closest friends had her first baby and I wanted to give her an unusual, but at the same time, useful gift. Diaper cakes are a relatively new trend here in Greece, so I thought I'd have a go at it!

I dediced to make an orange/green diaper cake, so I got a couple of cute baby items and diapers with green patterns...

and rolled an endless amount of diapers...

I made a three tiered diaper cake and tied the tiers with green ribbon. This is how the diaper cake turned out:

Some more details...

...and the cherry on top of the cake:

I also made a funny card and left the cake as a suprise for mom and dad to find in the nursery when they return home with the baby:

Private swap with Miranda- to send

Here are some pictures of the Greek edibles that I have chosen for Miranda in the UK, as a part of our private swap on Swap-bot. I hope she enjoys the contents of the package!

I have included the following sweet items...

...and these are the savoury edibles:

I hope that Miranda enjoys what I have selected for her!

Private swap with Miranda - received

This morning I received a lovely package from Miranda, as a part of our private swap on Swap-bot. The swap was about exchanging edibles from the UK with edibles from Greece (both savoury and sweet). Miranda sent me her edibles in a transparent box decorated with deco tape:

This is how everything looked like, when I opened the box:

This is the savoury part of the swap:

Finally, this is the sweet part of it:

I will be definitely making some chicken tikka masala this weekend and having my coffee with some delicious shortbread fingers!

Thank you so much, Miranda!

Easter crafts!

This Easter, I had a lovely, creative time preparing little treats and surprises for the little ones that I'm related to in one way or another.  I bought a couple of Easter baskets, dived in my Easter and spring related craft stash...

...did some serious baking...

...and then some more...

When everything was ready, I made some icing for the cookies (unfortunately I didn't take a picture) and turned them into these lovely Easter themed cookie bags for the kiddos to enjoy:

My five year old nephew received an Easter basket containing a bunny plushie, egg shaped chocolates, a cookie bag and some bunny stationery, that looked like this

...and the niece of my better half received a girly pink basket, containing egg shaped chocolates, a cookie bag and some bracelets for her to wear.

I'm rather pleased with how everything turned out!

Scones

When I was 20 years old, I lived in England for 4 years. One of my favourite tastes that I cannot find in bakeries where I live now, were scones and yesterday I decided to make a batch. Actually, they look and taste great!

So, in order to make yourself some sultana scones, you will need the following:

- 250 g self raising flour

- 55 g stick cold butter

- 1 level teaspoon of baking powder

- 1/2 teaspoon salt

- 150 ml milk

- 1 egg beaten with a little  milk

- 50 g sultanas

Method:

Heat the oven to 205°C.

Grease and flour a baking sheet.

Sieve the flour into a roomy baking bowl then add the butter, baking powder and salt. Quickly rub the butter into the flour until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.

Make a well in the center and using a dinner knife, stir in enough milk to make a soft, pliable dough.

Turn the mixture on to a floured board and knead very lightly until just smooth then lightly roll out to 2cm.

Cut rounds with a 7.5cm cutter or cut into triangles with a sharp knife.I made squares.

Place on the baking tray and brush with the beaten egg and milk mixture. Bake near the top of the hot oven for 15 minutes or until golden brown and well risen.

Cool on a wire rack before eating.

Serve with butter, or lashings of jam and cream.

Angel package - Coffee and cigarettes swap

This is the angel package I got from Anniehall, the organizer of the Coffee and Cigarettes swap on Swap-bot, after my partner demismummy decided not to keep her end of the deal and flake. Anniehall was kind enough to send me some coffee, an ashtray and a CD compilation.