Author: Anna Hogbin

RECIPE || Black Tea, Honey & Thyme Cupcakes

Good morning lovely friends.

How are you ? Whoosh! What a week! Hasn’t it flown by? I have been doing a lot of juggling this week. Kids coming and going and buzzing around home with their friends. It has been quite the social scene. I managed to sneak in a cup of coffee in town by myself earlier in the week, which helped keep my head above water. As an (excitable) introvert, my cup gets filled with solitude, time alone. It is probably the one thing I crave the most as a busy mother of many. How ironic that we chose to have a zillion children. (Yes, I do have the occasional chuckle over this).

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RECIPE || Caramel Cupcakes

Hello Lovelies. Thank you for joining me here this morning. Grab a cuppa and let’s have a chat.

How has your week been? Mine was pretty good. There was a Covid case at school so the girls spent most of the week at home. Thankfully there was no home learning so the pressure was off. Phew. Instead, I tried to teach them the virtues of housework and having pride in a tidy home. It was such a joy. Their eagerness to learn made our time together so delightful. Afterwards we sat down together and I read aloud while we all drank tea. Oh what a blessed sanctuary is our home.

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RECIPE || Lemon & Raspberry Cupcakes

Hey lovely friends. How’s things?

I hope you have all enjoyed your week. I know I said I would be sharing my cake road trip misadventures with you this week, but life got a bit busy so I will have to keep you in suspense a little bit longer.

In the meantime, I have the most delicious Lemon & Raspberry cupcake recipe to share with you.

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RECIPE || Healthy Banana Bread (gluten free, refined sugar free)

Hey friends, how are you all going?

Did you enjoy the school holidays with your kiddoes? I decided to take two of our birthday girls up the coast to a local resort for a few nights. We had the best room, right near the most amazing pool. I even brought my swimmers!! Anyone who knows me knows that one of my pet loathes is wearing swimwear so I rarely, if ever swim. I much prefer to be loaded up with a basket of books to read while my treasures swim. But this pool was sooo tempting that I boldly declared that yes! Mama Bear will swim!! Ha ha! (and the heavens roared!)

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Motherhood Musings ~ Extreme Sports

Hello lovely friends,

 How are you all going? I’ve had a great week. While I didn’t get any blog baking done, I made two delicious loaves of refined sugar free banana bread. (Would anyone like me to post the recipe?). They will keep the troops happy for a few days, even the gluten free – dairy free – vegan – Keto – Paleo – Daniel fasting – veggo – anti sugar – flexitarian meatatarians who dwell amongst us. 

No seriously, it’s a terrific recipe and can be easily adapted to alternate diets. 

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RECIPE || Bushwalker Biscuits

Happy weekend Lovelies,

I hope you are enjoying the warmer weather and not being a cry baby like me wishing our winter would last a bit longer.  While I am not quite ready to embrace hot weather just yet, I am rejoicing in our newly acquired freedom to venture out and about as of today! The first thing I want to do is sneak away and go and sit in one of my favourite cafes in town all by myself with my journal. Bliss.

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RECIPE || Red Wine Chocolate & Strawberry Cupcakes

Hello Lovelies, 

How are you going? I hope you are all hanging in there with the continued lockdown. It’s been a bit of a topsy turvy ride for this mama bear, as it has for many others I imagine, but with amazing support from the school, realising and accepting my own limitations and taking some time out alone, I am starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel and I think we might just make it through this with all of our sanity in tact!

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The Adventures of an Earl Grey Brown Butter Cake

Hello friends,

Thank you for dropping in today. I hope you are all surviving lockdown ok.

What strange times we are living in. They almost seems surreal. Like all of you, I have been trying to find my ‘sea legs’ and steady myself enough to walk rather than stumble through all of these challenges. Currently, however, staying with the sea analogy, I’m more like the rookie sailor hurling his guts up over the side of the ship. Nice.

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Vintage Ballet Party

  Hello friends,

Whoa! What a week! Lockdown has finally reached us, squeezing it’s gnarly grip around our neck and life has been all topsy turvy ever since. I take my hat off to you precious mamas who have been doing the ‘great juggle’ for many weeks already. I don’t know how on earth you aren’t going mad! Mind you, there are 12 people in our household (at last count! haha!) so that might have something to do with me going a little bit loopy!

Anyway…I have had enough of misery and mayhem and decided it’s time to escape into a wonderland of cake and twirling ballerinas, if only for a few moments. I have been sitting on this sweet vintage ballet party for over a year now. I was incredibly honoured to have it featured in Mingle Magazine, a prominent American party styling  mag. 

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