My mum has always said she sucks at making biscuits, and lets face it she does (sorry mum).

The family were drowning in Easter eggs over the Easter weekend and I could tell what Mum was thinking as soon as she opened pinterest.  I'm a visual person so I always go off how things look before how they may taste and this bad boy looked like it would taste better than it looked!!! 

Crushing the Easter eggs was the fun part, I just grabbed and crushed haha. And don't be scared to go all crazy with the types, the more the merrier.

The recipe said don't leave in longer than 10 minutes,  seriously don't, oh Jesus these are good!! 

Best-Ever Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients: 

• 3/4 c. unsalted butter, softened 
• 3/4 c. brown sugar 
• 1/4 c. granulated sugar 
• 1 egg 
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract 
• 2 c. all purpose flour 
• 2 tsp. cornflour
• 1 tsp. baking soda 
• 1/2 tsp. salt 
• 1 c. chocolate chips /or/ leftover Easter eggs (I used 2 big ones)

This year Easter is a 4 day weekend, I don't get down to see my family very often so I thought I would pair a trip down to my Mums new place in Waiwera with a trip up the South Island on the way home to visit my clients.

I always love getting away from the city, my job is quite demanding at the best of times so Its great to get away from the hussle and bussle and spend time with the family in the middle of no where.

The Trip down was interesting, the rivers were flooded and I had to cross 2 bridges that were completely taken over from the rivers we once knew, my mazda coped amazingly well - buy an axella they are awesome cars.

 
I got to mums place in good time considering the weather, it took me about 5 and a half hours.  I get out of my car and have a small anxiety attack because I HATE my car being dirty, obviously the mixture of flood waters, rain and gravel roads does not go too well with this.




My Mum is horse crazy.

She has always had them as long as I can remember, I would rather jump on a motor bike and have a blat on that, a much comfier and faster option.

Mum has always had a funny farm with miniature horses, wayyy too many cats, dogs and birds etc.  I managed to get a really good snap of one of her horses called Atom, hes an old boy very gentle and friendly.

We were throwing sticks in a man made pond that is only a few years old to the dogs, to our surprise fish started popping up from the dogs current.  Later on I noticed some Yabbies chasing the dogs as the swam hahaha my parents are stoaked that their pond that they thought was just a muddy pit has some really cool creatures in there.



It's Tuesday tomorrow so I am taking the opportunity while I am travelling home to pop in and see some of my valued clients on the way back up.  My first meeting is at 9 in Balclutha, I am so excited to finally put a face to the name after all this time.  Im hoping this trip will be worth while as Sign Network have just launched a signage guide to Harcourts agents and I am so excited to introduce it to the South Island.

All and all its been a great opportunity to get away from the city and just breathe!!  I realised the first night I was here that I have really missed looking out the window and watching the sun go down,  the horses grazing in the distance and the birds flying back to tuck in for the night.


Talk soon,
Shayden

I am constantly browsing Pinterest for weird and wonderful recipes to try for BBQ's, family dinners and pot lucks. I am currently staying at my Mums in Waiwera and thought I would surprise them with a new recipe I found on Pinterest.

WARNING!!  This is bloody good!!  Its a unique twist on a country classic that apparently came all the way from a genius Italian woman.  You know when you have a bite of something and you know that its going to be so good that one piece will be enough? This is that cake!!  Is it a cake, a pie or a crumble?  Who knows!!  Its beautiful!!

I thought the base tasted like shortbread. Inside are perfect apples, surrounded by a creamy thick sauce. The crumble topping provides a crunch and dust with Icing sugar to give it some wow this guy is good factor!!

It does take some prep but its amazing!!  I used a pie dish for this, I have also heard of people using a cake tin too.  Cook for the exact time to get it perfect.

Let me know how yours turns out,

Talk soon

Shayden

APPLE CRUMBLE

Instructions

Prep time: 15 min | Cook time: 60 min | Total time: 1 hour 15 min

I have wanted to start a Blog for a few years now but have never got around to it.

I take photos!!  I would like to say good ones but to me they are just a way of showing you what I see when I look at something, frim the lighting over a city at night to a great scone I have had and feel the need to share it with the world.

My job is an account manager at Sign Network in Christchurch, New Zealand.  I grew up in Southland and moved to Canterbury in May 2010.  Yes I moved just before the September Earthquakes.  The last 4 years have been a crazy rollercoaster of emotion and excitement for me.  I picked up along the way my beautiful girlfriend Georgia, you will see her a lot, she's my better half,  the pretty girl standing beside me making me look like a fool batting above his weight haha.

I could really go on here about the great times I have had but ill get to it!

So I mentioned I take photos!!  I also love to share them and tell the story behind them.  Every picture speaks and I want to share my journeys with you in case one day you may want to do something similar, use the recipe or just take a look next time you are passing.

I hope my personality comes out in time to come and you get to know me through my photos and shares.

Talk soon,

Shayden