Birthday Cake 1.

It's birthday season in my house hold at the moment. 4 of us are within a month, with the exception of Tim.
Yesterday was my housemate and dear friend Chris' birthday. He is a decadent man with a passion for good food and coffee. So the perfect cake? Coffee cupcakes, with a dark chocolate ganache centre and coffee cream on top.
Completely over the top? Yes I know. But you still want some right?! I kinda made it all up as I went along, based loosely on a coffee cupcake recipe and a different ganache recipe and then thrown together. It was also my first stab at doing icing using a piping bag, messy but fun and by the time I did the last one it was looking alright. The cupcakes turned out not too sweet which was good because the ganache was crazy rich and the cream icing was sugary. I'll share the recipe later if you like?

Things to be thankful for

This week has flown by.
* This current season we have in the theatre will be over tomorrow. Thank. Goodness. Seriously.
* I came home on Thursday night to be presented with a) a glass of red b) hob nobs c) my husband home from being away for 5 days.
* Crazy May is almost over and Tim and I might actually get to spend more than a few hours together.
* I've just been given Monday off. I will be spending it with the above person!
* I've come to realise that as I get older I am so much more aware and in control of my emotions and things I say.
* The long awaited Friday craft date actually happened this week. Yay for bunting!
* I've finished 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo'. It was all quite harrowing to be honest, so I'm kinda glad to have gotten a conclusion!
*  Autumn leaves are just so stunning. You know, they probably didn't have to change colour as they die and fall off the trees, but they do... how great is that?!
* Little presents and suprises (like my tea cup waiting for me or jelly beans or crumpets in the cupboard) that my gorgeous housie keeps leaving.
* Spooning. It's one of my favourtie pasttimes. And I married a pro.

{things to be thankful for is a post I do every Saturday. It helps me sum up my week and remind myself of all the good things in my life. Feel free to play too and leave your *thankful's* in the comments or a link to yours on your blog. I will definitely check it out. *s*}

Ginger & White chocolate cookies...

Sound perfect? Why yes, yes they are. This is a recipe I adapted a while ago and have been making fairly consistently since, much to my housemates delight.

You need:
350g Self raising flour
200g castor sugar
1 tablespoon of ground ginger
1 teaspoon of bicarb soda
125g butter
75g/2 large tablespoons of golden syrup
1 egg beaten
75g of white choc buttons
75g crystalised ginger, roughly chopped

Then:
Preheat your oven to 160C and grease 2 flat baking trays. Sieve the flour into a bowl and add the sugar, ground ginger and bicarb.
Heat the butter and golden syrup slowly until the butter is all melted. Resist grabbing a spoon and eating it... (or is that just me and my sugar obsession?) Pour the wet mixture onto the dry ingrediants start mixing it add the egg and then add the white chocolate and ginger pieces as you go. You should end up with a fairly firm dough.
Shape the dough into balls (makes around 25) and place them apart on the trays. Flatten them slightly with your finger tips and cook for about 15 minutes (top shelf) 20 minutes (bottom shelf). The longer you bake them the crunchier they will be. Cool them on a wire rack.

Note: Upon further reflection I reckon you could totally replace the crystalised ginger with dried cranberries and it would work a treat too...

Recipe adapted from 'Baking' by Emma Patmore. A random little cook book from an op shop I believe!

Yipee! Friday's are all about food on this blog.

Images {via}

Japanese

This would make Sushi more enjoyable for me... {From}
I do love a good California role (mmmm avacado) or Japanese style tofu, but uncooked fish? Actually just fish? Nuh. If it could be played with however, I might consider...

Leaves

Original.

Colour cross.

Polaroid.

 

Helga.

Cinema.

Lolo.

Leafy goodness edited on my iPhone. Which is your favourite, I can't decide?!

Wet socks and snap happy...

I've had a bit of a nightmare couple of days. Some people have crazy bad attitudes and it's really put me on edge. *sigh* Putting that all aside here are some nice things for our eyes instead. It's been raining non stop in Sydney, which makes for pretty pictures, a lot of tea consumption and soggy shoes. Lets just focus on the pictures whilst drinking tea. We shall kick off our soggy shoes and place our feet in front of the fire to dry. (I wish imaginary fireplaces were real...)

Around the interwebs: NYC Polaroids

If you like polaroids, and really, who doesn't? Then this website is for you. Andrew Faris moved to NYC in 2003 and took his parents polaroid camera with him. He photographed a lot! Now he has shared them on the interwebs and you can even order them as posters.

Here are my favourites, but go check it out for yourself!

*Around the interwebs* is a series of nice things to be spied around the net. I stumble upon all sorts of magical marvelous things in my travels and this is a great way to remember them all. More found here.

Things that make me happy...

While we are talking about lists...
* Having a sleeping baby in my arms. Gosh they are nice.
* Red wine and chocolate. Together. In my mouth.
* Being at home in the evening.
* Sunsets and full moons.
* When things just work out.
* The smell of cooking onion.
* Tiny pretty tea cups.
* Being bare foot. Especially in places where its not the norm. (At work, in the supermarket etc)
* Receiving news that makes you squeal with happiness - even when there's no one else around to hear!
* Writing down what it is you really want to say.
* My husband.
* Late night chats with dear friends. (add wine, food, and high speed conversation = perfect)
* Tea. In a mug. Earl Grey, milk, no sugar.
* Dunking biscuits in tea. Gingernuts or Anzacs... but whatever you've got really.
* Rain drops.
* Open minded conversation.
* Hot showers.
* Crumpets. Is there anything more heavenly? I'm a big fan of butter and promite (yes promite I love promite). Butter and peanut butter (yes together in an over the top buttery melty way). And then for the third (because there always should be a third), butter and honey. *sigh* Now I am contentedly drooling on the keyboard.

{via}
{mine}

Lists

Mmm listy, listy goodness:

In Lists, manuscript archivist Liza Kirwin has raked together an exhaustive pile of historically significant notes, grocery lists, and romantic ephemera from some of the 20th century’s greatest artists—Joseph Cornell, Franz Kline, Willem de Kooning, Jackson Pollock, and so on. It’s a book that turns the trivial into treasure.

Check out this interview with the author here.

1} Eero Saarinen's list of the good qualities of NYT critic Aline Bernstein!
2} Pablo Picasso's list of recommendation for the Armory Show!

Butterflys

Did you know Uganda has a huge amount of butterfly varieties? We saw incredible amounts of them while we were there. Just stunning. The problem is they are quite hard to photograph while they are alive... On the side of a road that runs through the Kibale forest there are an awful lot of dead ones that have been hit by cars... sad, but much easier for me to capture!
I came across this beautiful shoot via dress design decor. The photos are owned by pony_tail.

Monday morning music

Thanks Saturday morning Rage for catching me up on how awesome The Jezabels are!
Here's to a sun-shiny week to all you lovely people.

Things to be thankful for

* The little snippets of time I've had away from work this week. A few dinners at home even! Lovely.
* The little ego boost from blog appreciation I've had.
* My folks are safely in the UK and having a marvelous time.
* The rain. Our garden looks happy.
* My pay cheque from the teaching gig I did. Makes the hours allllllll worth while.
* We booked our holiday to Brisbane for October! Love having things to look forward to.
* Mia brought us cup cakes. Her icing skills are perfection.
* Winter clothes and extra throws on the bed. All the better for snuggling with.
* Jonquils. How I love thee.
* New bands to dig: The Jezabels & Washington.
* Autumn leaves, pretty colours and early sleeps.

{things to be thankful for is a post I do every Saturday. It helps me sum up my week and remind myself of all the good things in my life. Feel free to play too and leave your *thankful's* in the comments or a link to yours on your blog. I will definitely check it out. *s*}

This is one of the funniest and most amazing-est things I have ever seen! Happy Friday, hope you have a lovely relaxing weekend! I will be at work, digging around on the internet and generally loitering in an unfashionable way, whilst authors talk to people with an awful lot of blue rinse in their hair...

Lemon Delicious

I'm crazy about lemons and ginger at the moment! Last night I made a ginger cake and then a carrot cake with lemon cream cheese icing AND then Gran's lemonade. I was going to give you the recipe for ginger cake... but  I left it at home. Sorry.
But a recipe I do have here is for something I make all the time for pudding, and it is fan-flippin-marvelous. And lemony. And can be made in tea cups! It's all lemon cakey on top and then you sink down into heavenly gooey lemon treacle at the bottom. It really can't get much better.

This Lemon Delicious recipe is from a back issue of 'Real Living' magazine... It's friday, why not have dessert?

You need:
* 3 Tablespoons of buuter
* 1 & 1/2 cups castor sugar
* 3 eggs, seperated
* 3 tablespoons of self raising flour
* 1 & 1/2 cups of milk
* 2 lemons, Zest and juice.
* Hot Water
* About 6 Small ramekins, oven proof tea cups, or a medium flan dish. And a high sided oven dish that will fit all ramekins/tea cups/flan dish in.

Then:
Heat oven to 180C. Grease your tea cups - I use tea cups so I'm gonna say tea cups from here in.
Beat your butter and sugar until smooth and pale, then mix in the egg yolks. Add in the flour (sifting it) and milk in alternating lots, mixing between each addition to make a really smooth batter.
In another mixing bowl whisk the egg whites until they become stiff peaks. Gently fold this into the batter and then add the lemon juice and zest. Just give it all a gentle stir.
Pour the mixture into the tea cups it's meant to be runny. Only fill them to 2/3's of the way as they rise quite a lot. Place the tea cups in the baking tray and then pour hot water into the baking tray so that it comes up half the side of the cups.
Bake for about 30 minutes if making individual desserts, 45 - 1 hour for a flan dish. It's ready when its golden brown on top and puffed up. When you take them out of the oven, they will sink back down a bit.
this is fantastic if you serve with strawberrys and a scoop of vanilla ice cream, it evens out the sweet tangyness perfectly!
Watch your guests eyes roll in pleasure!

{Images via} I'm sorry I don't have any photos of mine as I havn't made this in a while. But how superb are these 2 tea cups?! I do love tea cups (even though I prefer drinking tea out of a mug!)...

Fridays are all about Food!

Faith

I'm in a funny place at the moment. I was a Christian but I dont think I can call myself that anymore.

And so I am lost yet found. I feel love and happyness in the world. I see good and marvelous things. I see so much hurt, rudeness and suffering inflicted. This poem really struck a chord with me, and I understand what the poet is saying. "I've been there dude". But as much as I relate to it, it's an earlier me that relates. Me now is different.
It's hard to explain and this is my first attempt at doing so, so be gentle, but for now and for posterity here I am.
I like much of the Bible. I don't beleive it is the word of God.
I like parts of the church. I don't believe it is the only way.
I really like Jesus. I can't say I'm convinced he was born of a virgin or that he rose again - and I don't think that makes him any less marvelous.
I love God. I see God in the wonder that my brain is this grey blob, with electricity and blood and from that I have a mind and I love and I have complicated illogical "feelings". I see God in the way worms need the earth, needs the tree, needs the sun, needs the rain, needs the clouds, needs the ocean, needs the fish, need the microscopic doobiewhatsits in the deep heart of the sea. etc. (You can stop singing circle of life now...)
I love people. Especially when they are being nice to each other. And there are so many wonderful examples. It's just a pity the media doesn't reflect that often.
So that's kinda where I'm at. Heart on sleeve/blog.

It's funny I actually started this blog with the idea of documenting some lengthy discussions I was having with a Christian girl I know. We were (are) in disagreement. Here, here and here.


{Image via}
Here's something I found that I really enjoyed reading... from Goop

Hey there Mr blue...

Love that post rain, sun peeking out feeling. This is for my husband. I love you,even though you love ELO, and I secretly love this song too.



{via}

Around the interwebs: misterrob

I love and admire papercut art. I have a friend who can do it and it blows my mind! My hands and brain don't have the patience for such things but my eyes and my heart ache to be able to do them. And so I shall content myself with looking at other peoples work. Check out misterrob. Amazing.

If you can, go to his Etsy shop and read the one that is a letter. It is so beautiful!

Rob Ryan online.
Rob Ryan Blog.
Rob Ryan Etsy.

*Around the interwebs* is a series of nice things to be spied around the net. I stumble upon all sorts of magical marvelous things in my travels and this is a great way to remember them all. More found here.

Found via Pepperstitches