Recipe - Lemonade

I love homemade lemonade. I hate the bottled fizzy drink variety (probably because my mother used to give it to me me every time I went to hospital when I was a child, which was quite a lot).

And at this time of the year we have an abundance of lemons. I love to juice them and pour into ice cube trays and freeze for using in the months when the backyard lemon tree isn't giving us it's lovely gifts. But whilst there is a glut this is one of my favourite recipes:

Lemonade

1 1/2 cups sugar
6 lemons

Place the sugar and 1 1/2 cups of water in a saucepan with the finely grated zest of two lemons. Bring the mixture to the boil, stirring constantly. Simmer for 5 minutes or until sugar has dissolved (usually it doesn't take this long).

Squeeze the juice of all 6 lemons and add to the saucepan and allow mixture to cool.

Strain into a bottle, seal and store in the fridge for up to 5 days. Use as you would a cordial, diluting with your choice of sparkling or still water. We love it with soda water.

This recipe is from one of my favourite cookbooks, Complete Perfect Recipes by David Herbert. I love everything about this book, the recipes are classics, simple and using 'normal' ingredients (fancy ingredients that you use for only one or two recipes drive me nuts!).

Enjoy!

PS Check out this beauty we picked last week, sitting next to a normal size lemon!

Makings and made

Last week I was very busy making baby things for a good friend's baby shower yesterday. I made a lovely minky blanket, a quilt and these bootees (pattern found here, I have only included the ravelry link as you need to be a member of Bernat to access the pattern). But guess what I forgot to do? Take photos!!!! I can't believe it.

Anyway, the shower was lovely, so nice to catch up with friends you don't see often, isn't it?  I worked with some of the other guests, as well as with the mummy- and daddy-to-be, at Borders and I miss them so much.

What have you made lately?

Books to make you cry

I read.

A lot.

I read so much that on our wonderful trip to Paris last year one of the places I had to visit was a book store. Although not just any book store, the famed Shakespeare and Co, and it was wonderful. And a story for another day.

So I have decided to share some of my favourite books with you, starting with the ones to make you cry. Because I love a good cry over a book or a movie.

Not all these books would make my favourite books of all time, these are just the ones that made me cry like a baby. No, make that worse than a baby.

In no particular order...

One Day - David Nicholls. I have great memories of my 40th birthday last year, including finishing this book. A great friend called me an hour or so after I had finished it to wish me Happy Birthday and here is part of that conversation:

G: Do you have a cold?

Me: No...

G: You sound all stuffed up.

Me: I have been crying.

G: Are you alright? What's wrong? Can I do anything?

Me: I'm OK, I just finished a book...

G: Oh, you...

Me: But it was a really good book!

A Crack in Forever - Jeannie Brewer. I read this about 20 years ago and I'll admit if I had've known what the book was about I don't know if I would've bought it (no offence intended but the subject is so incredibly sad and I didn't know the value of a good sob at the time), but it got to me.

The Time Traveler's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger. I was so confused at the beginning of this book (Henry is 28, Clare is 20 - Henry is 36, Clare is 6?????), but by the end I was hooked and sobbing.

The Book Thief - Markus Zusak. A modern classic, entirely unique, exquisite and heartbreaking. And from an Aussie.

Cujo - Stephen King. I know, a weird choice but I was 14 at the time and the parts of the book being told from the dog's point of view made me cry so much. Haven't seen the movie though, but if it's like almost every other Stephen King book/movie it couldn't possibly do it justice (Misery, The Green Mile and The Shawshank Redemption being the obvious exceptions).

Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell. Oh Rhett!

Anne of Green Gables - L M Montgomery. I still read this every now and then and even though I vow it won't get to me, it does. Every. Single. Time.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - J K Rowling. Harry going into the forest, Snape, Tonks and Lupin, Fred, the end of a great series, so many reasons to bawl your eyes out.

PS I Love You - Cecelia Ahern. Had me sobbing from the second page.

Jasper Jones - Craig Silvey. What a fantastic book and written by another Aussie to boot.

There are stacks more that I have cried over (Little Women anyone?...) but these were the biggest.

If you have any others that you loved and made you cry, please leave a comment. I'm sure there are plenty that I haven't read and I would love to know what I'm missing out on.

Cheers

Last week

I have been...

... sleeping a lot because of a dreadful cold :(

... drooling over this delicious selection of fabrics.

... debating what to make from them, a good friend's baby shower is next weekend so I had better get a hurry along!

... savouring the school holidays and spending time with my girls :)

... having all sorts of problems getting photos loaded onto this blog!

... doing a little more work on the front yard.

What have you been up to?