I'm Not Dead.

Hey readers!

Yes I am indeed back from my completely unplanned blogging hiatus. It must be the cold. You know how bears hibernate in winter? It's been so so so chilly round these parts that I've been in my own kind of blogging hibernation. Well, that and a few shoots for work and a few nights out. I've been run off my feet!

But not to worry, I haven't completely neglected my baking mission. Over the last two weeks I baked a raspberry and coconut slice (I deviated from Hummingbird and used a Women's Weekly recipe) and Hummingbird apple and nut loaf.

Before I get into the nitty gritty, here are some bits and pieces that document the past two weeks:

This is Echo On the Marina Cafe in Roseville. I had a shoot there last week, and whilst the weather was dreadful, the location itself made it worthwhile being there. It's kind of tucked away by the water, and reminds me of Bewowra Waters Inn. Myself and the crew were treated to great coffees and delicious breakfasts. I went for the french toast with maple syrup, bacon and poached pear.

My ninja piggy! Awesome Frankie went out and started up my baking fundraiser at work. While she really didn't have to, it was a lovely thought. Thanks Frankie xx. Ninja piggy sits on my desk.

M.N.O.P. Acronym parties are great. This particular night stood for 'Massive Night Of Party'. It was indeed.

Pancakes. The easiest, tastiest shot to get down. Basically frangelico with a wedge of lemon dipped in sugar. A staple for any acronym party. Photo by Sam T.

So thats my week in review. Back to the baking stuff.

For my birthday this year, my friend Fonda very kindly sent me a Women's Weekly baking book. She couldn't have been more on the money with this book. I LOVE WOMEN'S WEEKLY!! The recipes are fool-proof and I never have any dramas with baking from them. So I decided to try out the raspberry and coconut slice.

Thanks Fonda, they turned out great. A very big hit with the work crew!

A week later, I had a flick through the Hummingbird cookbook and this description caught my eye: "This cake is very popular in Winter months...." Winter months? say no more, cause it is freeee-zing! Nutty apple loaf it was.

Interesting ingredient: strawberry jam? I've never used jam in a loaf recipe before, and was pleasantly suprised. Not too sweet despite the chocolate pieces.

That's all for now. My fingers are so cold and they need to be directed to other things- like pressing buttons on the tv remote. I promise to never neglect my blog for this long again, but then again... the next few weeks are quickly filling up. Check back to hear what I have to say about Eclipse and Jacob's abs.

Oh, you should also check out Christine's blog. She recently made a giant Penfolds wine bottle cake which turned out pretty amazing.


Peace!

x A

hello

Dear all, tonight's post won't be about baking because I did not bake at all on Sunday. Why? Well a number of reasons, which I will indulge you in as I've indulged in over-eating at today's shoot. Basically, it will take me a while to explain but you will forgive me and understand completely why it did not come about.

Reason One.

On Saturday I experienced fear on a whole new level. For my birthday this year, my old work crew got my a voucher for a flying trapeze lesson at circus arts school. Did I ever mention that I'M TERRIFIED OF HEIGHTS?!?! Well I am. So when my friend Axx texted me with questions such as " are you afraid of heights?" answer: yes. "Do you get motion sickness?" answer: yes. I should've had an inkling of a feeling right?

And so low and behold the I received the ultimate gift that would test my inner strength and ability to not absolutely crap my pants. I took Christine with me, who definitely alot more excited than I was and left for Sydney Olympic Park. All I can say is, lucky my tights were black.

See the size of that ladder? I climbed that. ME! 5 TIMES! We were taught to swing our legs up and hang upside down, hang upside down then back flip off, hang upside down and get caught by another acrobat. So okay, of all the above all I could do was hang upside down and that was once. We got this on video, but I'm not sure if I want to share my flying trapeze failure with the inter web just yet. But all in all, it was definitely an experience I can say "been there, done that, bought the t-shirt". It was an awesome gift because It's something that I would have never done for myself, and I am glad I did it ( despite the bruises). The staff were very kind and especially supportive when I got to the top as they received comments such as " I think I'm going to vomit", "Don't let me gooooooooooooo" and such whining. So thanks Maple!

So my first reason for not baking on Sunday: the next morning I woke up and was unable to move my body. I probably used every single muscle in my upper body to be able to hang upside down, just that one time. So sore arms= couldn't mix dough or knead dough. ( Did I mention that I had bruises all across my rib cage? At least the harness did its job- safety first right?)


Reason two.

Yep. Got Foxtel IQ with new channels- MTV, C.I, Discovery Travel and Living. I love watching TV and could not wait to get through hours of trashy reality television, living vicariously through tattoo shows and true crime shows that remind me not to listen to my ipod when I'm walking home alone at night. TV saves lives!! So far, I've been a little bit addicted to Jerseylicious. It is amazing, and so bad I can't look away.

I think the reason why Jerseylicious is so appealing is because it takes me to an alternate universe where people are this fake-tanned and its socially accepted? I don't doubt for a second that girl's like this exist- in regards to how catty they could be, but its amusing to know that some women clearly haven't left the high-school mentality behind. Plus, if you keep watching you'll see that the hairstyles of the guys in the show really do exist too! Watch it and see for yourself, its awesome.

So there's two perfectly legitimate reasons. I was broken from an epic trapeze lesson, and was a tad caught up in the land of television. But never fear, I plan baking something nice to farewell ( for now) Frankie this friday!

Peace.

x A

You Want Wintry Comfort Food?

I'll give ya comfort food.




Yep, thats another Hummingbird Bakery success story right there. Carrot cake with cinnamon and walnut, topped with cream cheesey goodness. Yummo! I think this one is my favourite so far.

But before I start salivating again, lets talk puppies . This week I had the best shoot day ever. Anyone who knows me well would know that there are three things that can make me feel utterly joyous without difficulty:

1. good food
2. good shopping
3. PUPPIES!!

So needless to say I thoroughly enjoyed getting to cuddle these little rascals for a day- all in the name of work. I love work!





As for the second highlight of my week, I had a friend's birthday dinner at Rock Pool Bar & Grill on Hunter St in the city. Oh.my.gosh. It was totally worth the $140. The birthday girl booked a private room which was a great idea- very intimate ( and they even dimmed the lights ooooh).

I ended up getting the Cape Grim fillet, as well as trying a few different sides : potato puree, hand cut fat chips, sauteed mixed mushrooms, mac and cheese ( yes this was available at Neil Perry's restaurant) onion rings, but the best side was the charcoal oven roast pumpkin and sweet potato with garlic yoghurt and burnt butter. And to top it off, I had the vanilla panacotta with rose granita.So so very good. Would definitely recommend eating here, and our waitress was so helpful. 9/10.

So yep, those were the best parts of my week. Oh, I also got my arse whooped again at Zumba but I think that it's a good thing right? No pain, no gain baby!

But anyway, on to the serious stuff- carrot cake. I must admit when it was in dough-ey form in my mixing bowl I was starting to doubt Hummingbird's recipe as it didn't look very nice at all. More like baby poop. But I was so wrong and you can see for yourself:






As I mentioned before, this has got to best my favourite recipe to date. The cake was super moist, and had abit of extra crunch with the walnuts. And as I'm a huge fan of cinnamon ( ie, I would tip half the shaker of cinnamon in if i could), it smelt sooooo good everytime I lifted the cake stands cover. salivatingggggg.

On another note: since I figure that no one actually reads the recipe, I won't bother typing it out. That said, if you do want the recipe, let me know and I'll be more than happy to share!


I guess thats all for now, it's Tuesday night and The Real Housewives of Atlanta is on.

x A

p.s- apologies for the wonky picture placement, am still figuring out the quirks of blogspot.

Thursday Night

This rainy wintry night entails:

loving Fleetwood Mac.lying in bed underneath layers of blankets. reading a book that makes me feel slightly better.Glee in the background on the TV. wondering what to bake next...

x A