I revealed in my previous post that I have been dreadfully lazy and incapable of lifting my knitting needles and adjoining wool out of their flower print knitting bag residence. However I must retract this statement as I have not been terribly idle at all! I have in fact over the last number of weeks been exceptionally active! With the fantastic help of my 10 soon to be 11 year old niece, we created an Easter bonnet and prepared amazing edible bird nests. Both of which we brought camping with us to Westport in County Mayo for the Easter weekend. Along with all these ventures I have once again strived to improve my fitness level by hiking and cycling in the west of Ireland! The views are breathtaking and I don’t feel like I am exercising at all. My gluteus maximus muscles say otherwise much to my satisfaction! Below I will take you through how we made the Easter bonnet and bird nests as well as show you some of the spectacular views we encountered on our trip away and activity packed weekends since. As one can observe from this post, this Sunday is a day of rest as I feel it is fully deserved every once in a while. Even if it feels outrageous to still be sitting in ones pyjamas at 3pm in the afternoon. Shhh...Tell no one...
Easter Nests
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| Ingredients and materials for the bird nests |
1 pack of Cadbury Mini Eggs
120 g All Bran
225g cooking chocolate
Saucepan of boiling water
Glass bowl
Large plastic bowl
Old egg containers
Mixing spoon
In a bowl I placed the All Bran. Over a saucepan of boiling water I melted the cooking chocolate in the glass bowl. I added the cooking chocolate to the bowl of All Bran and using a wooden spoon mixed the two together. I then spooned the mixture into the egg cartons and topped each nest with two mini eggs. And there you have it, edible Easter bird nests!
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| Completed bird nests |
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| We added little chicks for an extra Easter touch |
Easter Bonnet
Continuing with our Easter creativity, I have stated the materials we needed to assemble the bonnet along with the photographs below which demonstrate the Easter Bonnet assembly from start to finish! It was a big hit with my niece and she subsequently modelled it for the remainder of the day!
Materials used:
A straw hat
Tacky glue
Ribbon
Feathers
Paper flowers
Fluffy chicks (please refrain from using actual live chickens)
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| The materials used to assemble the Easter bonnet |
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| Sticking on the feathers with tacky glue |
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| The finished bonnet from the side modelled by my niece |
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| The Easter Bonnet from the front |
And especially for those of you who appreciate the spectacular scenery which exists all around us I have attached some photographs of the beauty of the west of Ireland.
Killary Harbour
near Leenane Co.Galway/Co.Mayo
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| The beginning of a 10km walk alongside Killary Harbour |
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| Foher, a village deserted during the famine |
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| Rosroe Quay with Connaught's highest mountain Mweelrea in the background. A grassy boreen leads from here to Foher and it was along this boreen that food was brought to the people of Foher during the Famine. |
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| A view of little Killary Harbour from a mountain valley which divides the two harbours. |
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| A view of Killary harbour from the same valley from which little Killary can been viewed. |
Westport/Murrisk, Co.Mayo
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| Standing at the peak of Croagh Patrick, Ireland's holiest mountain. |
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| The valley we descended between Croagh Patrick and Ben Goram Mountain. |
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| Climbing down the valley next to a stream |
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| Crossing the stream as it became larger |
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| A view of the valley from the other side |
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| The Easter Bunny at Westport House |
Birthday Celebrations
I think that is all for my post today. It is my fiancé's birthday and I have made a delicious Victoria sponge birthday cake with fresh cream and strawberries. Which we are about to devour in large chunks I have no doubt. I have made this cake before and it was a massive success with all that ate it. It is a recipe from The Big Book of Baking.
This is the most dog eared recipe book in my home! I got it on offer in Eason's bookshop in Galway for €8.99 and it is most certainly worth every penny and then some! I will leave you with a photograph of the cake. I swear I would give all my readers a large slice if I could but I am unable!
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| My favourite baking book |
This is the most dog eared recipe book in my home! I got it on offer in Eason's bookshop in Galway for €8.99 and it is most certainly worth every penny and then some! I will leave you with a photograph of the cake. I swear I would give all my readers a large slice if I could but I am unable!
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| The Victoria Sponge Birthday cake |
Happy Knitting and Crafting,
Helena =D
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