Raspberry and Banana Bread by Donna Hay

I am posting this recipe for a fellow Tweeter @madeit and thought some others out there may also enjoy it. This is one of the best banana breads I have ever had and the addition of raspberries adds an extra dimension that makes it impossible for me to refuse! I hope you and your family enjoy it as much as we do.

Raspberry and banana bread

125g butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups plain flour sifted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking powder, sifted
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda, sifted
1 1/2 cups mashed bananas
125g raspberries, fresh or fozen (fresh is best, frozen ones end up a little gritty as you add them into the recipe frozen)

Preheat oven to 160 on baking function. Place butter and sugar in a bowl of an electric mixer and beat until pale and creamy. Gradually add the eggs and beat well. Fold through flour, vanilla, baking powder and bicarb soda. Add the banana and raspberries and gently fold through to combine. Sppon mixture into a lightly greased and lined 10 x 21cm tin. bake for 1 hour 10 minutes or until cooked when tested with a skewer. Allow to cool completely before removing from tin. serves 6-8

**Tip: Use very ripe bananas as they will keep the loaf moist and intensify the flavour.

Thanks Donna Hay - yet another great recipe for us.

Its going to be a massive weekend

Of work that is! I posted an update recently to let you all know that we are going back to Mathilda's Market on Sunday 22nd August and now we have been accepted into the Somers Winter Market on Saturday 21st August.

So whilst that's very exciting imagine my surprise when I realized that we also have the Flemington Market on the same weekend!! Yep that's right on the Sunday - it's time to start Cloning, or ringing in helpers (yes Sally that means you!)

This will be the first time we will be attending and am looking forward to it as the location is a little bit special - its at the Coolart Wetlands & Homestead, Lord Somers Road, Somers. Everything I have read about the homestead says its going to be an amazing location and we're holding out hope for a day of great weather.

The Somers Winter Market is a boutique market held annually. To check out their website and the list of other stallholders that will be joining us click on the image above.

Its a coup - oh and give us some feedback on the website

Hi I’m Lisa’s sister Sally and today I am taking over her blog! Ssshhhh she doesn’t know :)

Why? Because I can, you see I look after the Olive’s Tree website so have the details to get in and I am looking for feedback on the new website. Let’s see how long it takes her to realise!

So what do I have to do with Olive’s Tree? Well I am what some people would call a ring in. A few months ago Lis invited me over for dinner in exchange for some advice on what she should do for a website, you see as my Mum says I “work in IT” which really means I have the most knowledge in the family about that thing we call the internet! So one dinner and some basic advice later and I have a part time job in Website support, PR management, business advisor, and general dogs body.

You see that’s the best thing about sisters - I help Lis with Olive’s Tree and she gets to help me with things she’s good at. Things like fashion advice, home design tips and anything else I can rope her into really. Growing up Lis always had the good clothes which I was always borrowing and getting her to do my make-up trying to keep up and be a girlie girl.

And that really hasn’t changed, Lisa is still into fashion, design and generally just beautiful things. She was born with an eye for it and hence she has created Olives Tree and through her beautiful work she can create.

I thought I would share with you a photo from when we were kids - it's one of my favourites! Check out the wallpaper! And whats with the pajama tops tucked into our pants - thanks Mum.

BTW I'm on the left and Lisa is on the right.

Enough reminiscing Sally (yes I am talking to myself, it’s normal, for me) the whole point of me taking over the blog was to ask you what you think about the website and to ask if you have any advice on how we can improve the website or blog. If you do feel free to email me (sallycdavies@gmail.com) and let me know or post your comments below - if you don’t give me a list of things to work on then I’m sure Lis will!

Until next time......

New Organic range is on its way

I thought I would share with you a new range we have planned. The fabric is an organic cotton which I jut love from the Mona Luna range and will be available for both boys and girls. I ordered it today so its still a couple of weeks away from being on the website.

We think that this range will be really popular and we would love to hear your feedback on it.