baking and gardening

in the lead up to christmas there is a lot of baking to be done.

  i bought a candy thermometer recently, and made the yummiest most dangerously good slated caramels.

its funny because most of the time while making them they don't look very appetising.

in fact often i thought this whole thing was going to be a huge disaster.

 

but the result were salted caramels with just the right hit of salt to start and then the sweetness takes over. try to eat just one, i dare you!

i also made my favorite, cream cheese cookies, to me this is how i know it is christmas time. they are always my favorite, and so easy to make.

i had my friend rosie over today with her family for christmas eve eve eve. i made chocolate chip cinnamon swirls for afternoon tea. they were a hit. so much so that i only got a before they go in the oven photo with rosie. they were gone before i even thought of taking the after photo!

this is the garden upon my return from canberra. it was happy but a bit overgrown and i know there were some good things hiding in there behind all the weeds, and things going to seed.

this is it after an afternoon for weeding a and a bin full of garden waste taken away. 

 

my sage is thriving, anyone know what to use sage for? i have heaps of it.

a few of the sunflower seeds i scattered did not get eaten by the birds.

 

my mini tomato plants are fruiting and looking happy.

 

the first 2 red minis and they were good. more to come i hope.