I'm still trying to clear the backlog from our trip away. It was great  . Will post a few pics in the holiday thread as soon as I get some time to sort photos. DH was off again the day after we got back, on his way to visit his sick mum in Qld.
The Easter Bunny was running late this year so there was flurry of activity this morning to get some things organised for the adult "children".
I'm going to lunch at a friend's house today. They have built a big, new house beside the Hawkesbury River so I will get the grand tour
Happy Easter to you all xx

Goodness Judy and Cookie. Glad you are both ok. Cookie that would have been very scary.
Sounds fun obbie. You are brave taking 4 kids

MEP I can think of a couple of possibilities, assuming you added the yeast (I managed to forget the yeast once  ). Either the yeast is no longer active, or somehow the mix overheated and the yeast got too hot.
Check your yeast to see if it foams or bubbles in teacup with a bit of lukewarm water with a pinch of sugar. If it hasn't foamed after a few minutes it's probably no good.
Also I noticed that the bun dough got quite warm in the tmx bowl when it was so hot over the weekend. Did you leave it in the bowl to rise? I played it safe and took mine out of the tmx to rise in a different bowl. I read somewhere that anything over 40°C may damage or kill the yeast.
I made two batches of hot cross buns over the weekend, both using Chookie's recipe. One lot I altered quite a bit using very sweet dried apricots, some spelt flour and extra ground ginger and they have all been gobbled up except 2 when I last looked.
Good luck with your next batch MEP.

It must have been your cordial Gayle, I hope she continues to improve.

Thanks Judy. Easy remedy that was worth a try

Djinni, I think your Chook has been sending messages to my Chook.   When I went up with the food scrap bucket, my sick Chook hopped in wth the others.   
A girl friend for the depressed budgie sounds nice.
Not a good day for the Diet. Went out for coffee and resisted the pastries. Had Diet lunch but cooked all afternoon.  Think I will have to keep out of the kitchen.  Ate 2 hot X buns for dinner.  . They were delicious.

Hope your chook improves too Chookie.
It is hard to diet when you spend a lot of time in the kitchen Chookie, especially your kitchen. All manner of delicious things are produced there!

Mab and Cookie you're making me feel guilty    A little while back I decided that I wasn't going to organise dinners etc for the "children". I thought I'd encourage them to cook for themselves.  Found a book called "The No Time To Cook Book" with heaps of easy recipes that take less than 20 minutes and I put that out on the kitchen bench before we go away It's still in mint condition
Today I made more Icelandic Banana bread, more Oatloaf and Savoury Mince with brown rice for dinner.

That's great news Mab. Now you can relax and enjoy your trip. Safe travels

Good morning all.
Back "on deck" after a very hectic week or two with a trip to the accountant the highlight  A tax refund is coming my way.
That's the good news.
The bad news is that I have a sick chook. She has been very quiet for a week or two, hasn't laid for about a week and is moulting. She doesn't seem to be eating and hasn't come out of the henhouse this morning. Of course she is the most feral of the flock and is very difficult to catch. Any chook whisperers out there? I would appreciate your advice. TIA