The Norwegian Jumper

Now that the nights are drawing in and the sun is low in the sky, the heating is on and the wooly hats are out, my thoughts are turning to winter holidays, skiiing in the Alps?  Christmas in a chalet in Switzerland? Tobogganing in Lapland?? Poppppeeeeeewwwwww.....

That is the sound of my bubble being burst when I remember that I'm not a sixties film star, Cary Grant is not my boyfriend and I've never been skiing in my life.

The fantasy.

The fantasy - drinking wine and eating fondue, and looking glamorous. Then heading for the piste for some amazing skiing without falling over drunk.

The reality -  the only time I've been to an exciting cold country was when I was five. (Yes I know it's cold here but it's not the same - this country is just sort of soggy.)

My family and me climbing a glacier!

We went camping in Norway which seems exciting now, but at the time I did not understand why we couldn't go somewhere hot and stay in a hotel! 

All I knew was that my dad wanted to drive the car up mountains and across fjords and see how it would deal with the hairpin bends. 

  

'The Volvo' as it was called.

And my Mum wanted to knit Norwegian jumpers.

Posing at the Artic Circle with our
hand knitted Norwegian jumpers on. 

The result of all this fantasy/reality stuff is this....... A new range of winter themed cards.

Red Hart & Snow Birds

(so as not to scare anyone  - in small print - they are actually christmas cards)

In the shops now!

Modello Mondo official launch!!

Without further adoo...... trumpet noise   pah pa paaa  

and drum roll ( er.. don't know how to write that?) The Strange Bird New Range of Bags are officially launched in a kind of 1950's rocket of the future, to blast off on an exploration of the planet - who knows where they will land?? 

You can purchase any of these delicious bags  in my   

 Folksy  or   Esty   shops.

Droplets

Protons & Cells

Haverford

A.T.V.

To celebrate all this,  and to help spread the Modello Mondo word(s)  we're having a GIVE AWAY!!! 

How to win this gorgeous purse? Just follow my Blog here,  and leave a comment. 

Your name will be entered into a prize draw and a name will be pulled from a rather nice hat on November 11th 2012.  

Retro Cooking

Rainy, wet, damp, dark, cold Sunday blughhh! The only thing we could do - to drown out the sound of the dehumidifier was to do some retro cooking (it's the latest craze!)  Vince loves his 70's cookbook as much as me, and as we had some old bread a massive packet of cinnamon and a pineapple lying around we made these recipes.

 

Ingredients

4 slices of bread

30g Butter

2 tbsp sugar

1 tbsp cinnamon

Toast one side of the bread under the grill.

Melt the butter in a small saucepan over a moderate heat.

Add the sugar & cinnamon and mix well.

Spread the mixture evenly over the un-toasted side of the bread.

Place under the grill until the sugar mixture is crusty and bubbling.

Leave to cool for a bit then cut into squares.

Yes that is my favorite plate!

Whizzer! Having eaten our fill of that - we decided to make this!

                

 Ingredients

Topping:

500g sliced pineapple

60g butter

80g brown sugar

Cake: 

280g self raising flour 

100g butter

150g butter

1 egg

125ml milk

Heat the oven 180c 

Grease a 25cm  oven dish

For the topping: melt the butter and sugar over the heat, and spread it evenly into the buttered dish. 

Place the slices of pineapple on top of that.

For the cake mixture: beat the  butter and sugar together until creamy. 

Add the egg and mix thoroughly.

Stir in the milk and sieved flour alternately until well blended.

Spread the cake mixture over the pineapple and bake for 45 mins.

Remove  from oven, allow to stand for 2-3 mins then turn upside down onto a serving plate.

Then proceed to lick the bowl.