Carrot cake

Do you like carrot cake? It's one of my favorite cakes.... I am always looking for THE best recipe.
You can find recipe's here and here and here also here.
For my carrot cake I used the recipe that my blogfriend Gayle from Garden of Daisies gave me. I can recommand it to you. The cake is delicious!!!
It's the recipe of Gayle's sister, in their family it's a tradition to make this cake for birthday parties at her house.

Birthday Carrot Cake

Sift together dry ingredients
2 cups of flour
2 tsp of baking powder
1 1/2 tsp of baking soda
2 tsp of cinnamon  ( I also used 1 tsp of gingembre)
1 tsp of salt

Beat together
1 1/2 cups of salad oil (I used 1 cup of oil)
2 cups of sugar
4 eggs

Add dry ingredients and mix well

Add:
2 cups of grated carrots
1 cup of crushed or chopped pineapple
1/2 cups chopped nuts  (I used 1 cup of nuts)

Bake in a large rectangular cake pan
Bake for 1 hour in a glass pan at 350

Cream Cheese Icing
Beat together
2 1/3 cups of powdered sugar   (I used St Moret fromage frais 8%)
1/2 stick of margarine ( 1/4 cups)
1 package of cream cheese
1/2 tsp of vanilla 

Finished

I finished the cedar-leaf shawl yesterday. A very quick and pleasant knit, although the stockinette part was a bit boring.
I'll give you more pictures when the shawl is dry.

Witje is dead

This morning I buried my oldest chicken, she was 7 years old and her name was Witje.  She did not seem ill yesterday morning. When the farrier was here to trim the hoofs of the donkeys, she came immediately to pick the small pieces of horn. Dogs and chickens love them.
Yesterday night when they went to sleep, she was not well and would not eat. This morning she lay dead in the  hen-house.

She is the white one in front.

On the line

I also bought two large pieces of batik fabric.  Both are beautiful but the red/orange one is my favorite. Maybe i'll use them for bags, I don't know yet.

More SALE

Today I was in town  to look for more yarn on sale. I couldn't find it but I found babyclothes......
The cute little boy in Holland for  whom i made the fabric garland will have a brother or sister in the beginning of next year. The shop had 60% off, I could resist that!

SALE

In France it's SALE-time. In Paris you could see  many woman walking /running with bags  and bags....  Even the most expensive shop has a big sale.
I bought some yarn , beautiful 100% wool from Anny Blatt. Maybe for another Andrea's shawl, a present for someone?????

I also bought  merino/silk in a lovely brique color, I bought the cedarleaf pattern for this yarn.

Some pictures of the cedarleaf pattern.

A short trip to the Lot-valley

How beautiful France is!!!!!!
I've spent some days in the Lot-valley, it's not so far from here.  There are so many beautiful, old villages,so many markets to visit.

Real 'macarons', the red ones are coloured with flowers.

The traditional 'bread' with fruit , baked in a wood furnace.

Sausage with cantal cheese......and herbs.

I bought a basket, made by the old man, he used branches  of viburnum. Very strong....

Very cute chairs.

In this region you can walk with a donkey.......

Some impressions

Today was the brocante/fleemarket. In the morning weather was hot and beautiful , at noon there was a heavy thunderstorm with a lot wind. Within a quarter of an hour everybody packed and disappeared.......
But I  sold some bags and small things but NONE of the key-holders and NONE of the childbags. A bit amazing....

In this post I also want to give you some giveaways.
I saw the on allsewnup's site. The first  you can find on The Quilt Nook, the second you can find on little miss shabby's blog. There is another on Just for you design's blog. The fourth is on Mylittle hand fuls.
Good luck.

Key-holders

I am ready for the brocante/fleemarket tomorrow. The car is packed . I'll arrive there at 6 o'clock in the morning...... Weatherforecast is bad, thunderstorms, we'll see. 

Please cross your fingers for me!!!

Here are some pictures of the key-holders I made.

My first Award

I have received my first blog award! MamaTAVE gave it to me.

There are rules for accepting this award:
1  You have to thank the person who gave you the award.
    Thank you so much Tave, I feel really honored.

2  You have to share 10 things about yourself.

    1 I am not a vegetarian, although I don't eat much meat. I prefer to eat biological food.
  
    2 I am a short woman but I don't feel short.

    3 I don't like hot weather, like today. For me 23 degrees is enough!

    4 The name of my cat is Bibiche, that means darling in English. The dog's name is Rosa, her name comes from Rosa Luxemburg and Rosa Parks.

    5 I prefer tea, especially herb tea.

    6 I must always have a knitting project on my needles.  After a busy day knitting is very relaxing for me.

    7 I love gardening and I am member of 2 garden clubs.

    8 Living in France makes me very happy.

    9 I am very proud that i started blogging, Until four years ago I had never touched a computer!

    10 Red is one of my favorite colors.

3  Pass the award to bloggers you recently discovered and whose blogs you think are beautiful.

    --Between the lines is a blog about craft and daily life. I love her bags, very pure, a bit japanese style. her pictures are also great.
    --In your bonnet is Kerry's blog. I love her work, look at her last post......... so lovely!
    --Creenfantin. I am sorry for my english friends but this is a blog in French. Anne creates very beautiful things for children, even without speaking her language you can 'understand' her.

4  Contact the bloggers  you've chosen and let them know about the award.

Two new bags

Last week I made two new bags . One is for the market and the red one is an order .  She wanted a bag and left  me free to choose the model and even the color. the lady has a garden with many trees, that's why I have chosen a bird on a branch. I hope she'll like it.....

While I was 'away' because of the problems with my computer someone gave me a 'beautiful blogger award'. This is my first award. Tomorrow I'll tell you more about it.

Computer out of order

My computer was out of order for more than two weeks!  My new Mac gave suddenly a white screen, I was very disappointed...........
I am not very satisfied with the treatment of the Apple Center in Limoges. this weekend I'll write a complaint letter to  Apple Europe.

In the meantime I made some more childbags and key-rings and pincushions for the market, next wednesday.
I hope to show you some pictures tomorrow.