Honey and lemon

I have had a cold since last week and am feeling sorry for myself! I have spent the last four days at home watching bad day time television. Sixteen channels of nothing! Even ABC News24 repeats itself after a while. Thank goodness for Poirot and Midsomer Murders. Woo.

Today I forced myself to leave the house in search of honey, as I had managed to drink all that we had. There is no shortage of lemons here thank goodness as there are still several hanging off the tree outside. I was disappointed to find that our regular store had sold out of honey, and the closest supermarket only had the supermarket brand and some other dodgy honey. Luckily the IGA that I drove to had a large selection and I also picked up some cappucino ice cream while I was there.

I love my lemon and honey drink when I have a cold. It is so simple - fresh lemon juice, honey and boiling water. C was nice enough to juice several lemons for me this time around, so that I had a jug of juice ready to go.

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Trialling cupcakes

Today I made the cupcake recipe that BakingN and I received from the cupcake class last Wednesday. I restricted myself to making two flavours, vanilla and chai.

I am looking forward to tasting one tomorrow. Hopefully I have been able to do the recipe justic!

Instead of piping a soft serve icecream style of icing as we were shown on Wednesday, I attempted to replicate the rose as seen in this educational video. I am definitely in need of more practice.

Making use of our limes

C came home from work on Saturday and asked if I would make a lime tart for him to share with his workmates. There was nothing on television so I was happy to get creative in the kitchen! He gave me a hand making the pastry and the curd, then went to bed and left it to me to roll and blind bake the pastry!

We have many limes, although they are starting to run low, and struggle to come up with creative ways to use them. So far it is all curries, corona and tarts!

You can find the tart recipe here.

An afternoon in Maylands

E and I headed out today to check out a new lunch venue and shops! We made our way to Maylands and Sherbert Cafe and Bake Shop. We also planned to visit a shop we had just heard of called Out on a Limb. The store states that their "ethos is to sell predominantly australian and new zealand made eco friendly sustainable products and to support local artisan talents to create an interesting mix of gifts and homewares". Awesome! E and I found many beautiful items to admire while we were there. I came away with a stack of Blueberry Paper cards. There were so many lovely designs to choose from and so I grabbed a handful!
(I cannot find a website for the store but they do have a facebook page.)

Our tummies were rumbling by then and we headed into the Sherbert Cafe. Lunch was lovely and we finished off the meal with an enormous piece of Red Velvet Cake. Even though we were sharing we failed to finish the piece as it was so large and rich! The cake had a lovely texture and there were so many tasty looking treats that we will have to go back to try some more.

Cake success

Apparently my version of Nigella's Old Fashioned Chocolate Cake was well received by C's workmates... apart from the guy who said that it was not fluffy enough. I think he was expecting a sponge. At any rate he's not getting any next time! Hee hee.

C saved some for me, and we finished it off tonight. The cake was reasonably dense, to be expected when you make a cake with wet ingredient of sour cream and only two eggs! The icing I found a little bit too sweet - the golden syrup - however it was nice and chocolate flavoured. I would make it again.

Yum!

No photos, it all was eaten too quickly.

Nigella's Old Fashioned Chocolate Cake

Our version of this yummy looking cake is currently cooling on our kitchen bench. Hopefully we can make it look as tasty as Nigella has!

Image and recipe here.

A birthday breakfast

I was invited to breakfast this morning with K&B's family to celebrate LittleA's birthday. It was so lovely to catch up with everyone. I managed to sneak in under the "family" banner and I am not complaining!

Breakfast was at Blue Water Grill in Applecross. It is such a lovely spot, and we were outside with a 180degree view of the river. Nice! I was conservative and went for the Continental Breakfast and with that you get grilled asparagus, smoked salmon, cerealsm yoghurt, fruit and cheeses. There was more than enough variety to keep me happy and I was glad to give the hot food a miss.

It would not be a birthday celebration without cake, and K made LittleA an awesome work of art!

It seemed a shame almost to cut it, but cut it she did and we all tried to fit cake in after our massive breakfast.

There is an awesome playground at Heathcote, and it was jam packed full of families enjoying the facilities. After breakfast we wandered around the corner and watched while LittleA dragged her Nana under, over and through the structure. Oh what fun!

I took some time out to enjoy the view. What bliss!

I took a punt and rode my bike to breakfast this morning. I was hoping that there would be somewhere for me to chain my bike! Thankfully there was one rack around the side of the venue, but there was not a lot of obvious spots that I could see to park your bike. I think that I should ride more frequently to events, as our weather encourages it and it will get me moving and out of my car.

The long way home

Tonight I went around to E's place after dinner to spend some time with her. She had suggested dessert or a walk and I thought that sounded like a nice idea.

When I got to her place I realised that she meant to walk to dessert, so off we went! We passed a stack of Dockers supporters making their way home from Subi Oval, and I guessed from their lack of enthusiasm that Freo had probably come second.

We did a lap of Oxford Street in Leederville to scope out a venue, and ended up at Greens & Cock. I counted 21 different cakes in their display cabinet, an impressive selection! The Chocolate Cherry Meringue Torte caught my eye and we shared a slice and a pot of tea.

The photo shows how it was served up. I kid you not! Three layers of meringue filled with cream, chocolate chips and bottled cherries. We were both disappointed in the meringue, E's assessment being chalky and overbaked. Still, we got out sugar fix and a good cup of tea to catch up on the week that has been.

We took a different route back to E's place and it seemed to be the scenic route. We walked alongside the freeway and random roads until eventually we recognised the Northbridge tunnel. Leederville to West Perth via Northbridge. We both needed a bit of exercise anyway and it meant that we could talk for longer.

As you can see from the photo Perth streets are extremely busy at 10pm on a Saturday night. Cranking.


I suggested to E that we should sample all of the cakes in the display at Greens & Cock. Not all in one sitting though. That would be a good excuse to get out for a walk and chat. Stay tuned.

Hot cross buns

I bought a packet of hot cross buns this morning. Usually I am a conscientious objecter to what I consider to be an indecently early appearance in the shops of Easter buns and eggs (and the same with fruit mince pies at Christmas) but today I decided that it didn't really matter. I ate easter eggs in January so buns in late February does not rate any more.

Yum! I have eaten two already and I am sure that the rest of the packet will not last much longer.

Image and a recipe!

Manning Farmers Market

We finally made it to the Manning Farmer's Markets. They have been running for over a year now and we have been meaning to go for almost that long.

The market is on Saturday mornings at Clontarf Campus on Manning Road, open from 7.30am to 12.30pm.

We did an initial lap to scope out the market and see what was on offer. We had come with fruit and vegetables in mind however in future we could also stock up on eggs, preserves, bread tea, flowers, plants and many other delights, as well as enjoying breakfast or morning tea.

We bought from a few different producers, and soon filled up our shopping bag. We left with two types of plum, nectarines, organic figs, onions, beans, carrot, broccoli, cherry tomatoes and tea.

We were impressed with the variety and the reasonable prices for fresh food! Now we just need to get ourselves into the habit of Saturday morning grocery shopping...

For more information check out their website.

Australia Day is not all unhealthy...

Our snack container for the boat on Australia Day. We made it through all of the vegetables. Yum!

C was very excited about us getting one of these snack trays. We have used it now three times - the last three Australia Days! We need to think of other excuses to use it to get better value for money.

Crab season!

It is crab season again! The boys went out last Friday in search of the creatures. Pickings were slim - they only found six crabs that were sized - and for some reason we ended up with all of them. I was not complaining!

Even though they were not overly large, the crab meat was sweet. When I eat seafood I try to pick as much out fromt he crab as I can - no wastage. My sister E gave me a handy set of tools, they never saw any use until I met C. Now I have found many uses for them!!



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Abalone love!

The abalone season here in Perth runs for one hour on a Sunday morning over five weeks. Yep, there is limited opportunity to bag your catch. In previous years it has been a six week season - this year it has been reduced to five due to an increased number of licences.

For various reasons (wedding, honeymoon, work) the first weekend of the season is the only one that C will be home and able to fish for the abolone; he made sure to go out and get his quota. Yum! I have never been as spoilt as I am with C, he makes sure to keep me happy with fresh fish and seafood.

Ricotta and coconut flatcakes with banana and honey

Yum! For breakfast this morning I felt like ricotta flatcakes. I knew that I had a recipe somewhere and dug it up! The original recipe served four so I thought that I would halve it and keep any leftovers for snacks during the week.

It was not too difficult to do - except that I forgot to halve the milk and only realised while I was halfway through pouring it into the dry ingredients. What a dopey girl I am! I bulked the batter back out again with additional dry ingredients and they still tasted great.

I served mine up with some ricotta, banana slices and a drizzle of lovely White Gum honey.

I have nine leftovers now, and they should make a great morning tea snack during the week at work with some cream cheese or even ricotta.

Recipe here.

Girls Night In 2010

Last weekend saw our Girls Night In for 2010! The girls were trying to remember how long I have been doing it for, I think we have had five so far. The first one I am sure was a cheese night but the afternoon tea just seems a lot easier especially since a lot of my friends have children and I think that it is easier for them to drop in and eat cake!

In a contrast to last year, Sunday dawned as wet and windy. (Last year was very sunny and we had to keep moving the cakes on the table as the sunshine was melting the icing!)

Thank you to everyone who came and ate and also those who could not make it and donated. Our total raised for the Cancer Council so far is $545 with a couple of donations still to be received.

Mum pulled out lots of random pink sheets to adorn the tables, and one of her friends dropped around some lovely pink flowers to brighten up our tables.

This year there were seventeen of us to eat the yummy goodies! There were a few friends who baked for the occasion and we had the best spread ever this year.

Tasty treats included a P's pink pavlova, N's red velvet cake, Mum's spinach and ricotta rolls, M+S+M's mum's carrot cake, M's lemon slice, pink doughnuts, chocolate cupcakes with (pink!) white chocolate icing, lemon tart, cheese scones, musk sticks and salmon and cucumber sandwiches.

There cannot be a party without punch! This is a simple recipe, two litres of tropical punch juice, 1.25L each of lemonade and dry ginger ale and some strawberries. The ice block is actually half of the juice that mum froze.

I borrowed these poms from M, she made them for her daughter's first birthday and the colour was just right for us! Dad put them up for me before escaping the pink to go and visit his brother.

I think that Y was very optimistic in bringing her hat. Still, it made a pretty picture!

Urban Orchard

A few weeks ago I was intrigued to discover the Urban Orchard in the Perth Cultural Centre.

An unused area outside the Art Gallery has been transformed into a garden! There are beds with all sorts of edible plants, vegetables and herbs, and many fruit trees as well.

This seems like a great concept, showing people how easy it is to grow their own edible plants and also to provide fresh produce. I hope that it does catch on and that people make use of the facility.

I wish that my office was close by, as this would be a peaceful place to eat lunch during the workday.

Pancakes for one

As a general rule, weekend breakfasts are more leisurely than weekday breakfasts. There is no urgency to get to work and I can take my time to cook something.

This weekend I felt like pancakes made myself a little picnic. Wholemeal pancakes with strawberries, bananas, sugar and fresh lime juice and a pot of english breakfast tea.

What do you make to spoil yourself on the weekends?

Honey and Lemon

I have been at home for a couple of days this week with a cold. I have a yucky cough and my throat is quite raw. Thank goodness for the wonders of the honey and lemon drink! Definitely my comfort drink of choice when colds and flu knock at my door.

The lemons are just ripe on the tree outside so I should be good for supplies for a few days yet!

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Midnight snack

A dilemma solved - what to do with leftover hundreds and thousands!

Winter dessert

A warm dessert with ice cream is a fantastic way to end a meal in winter.

Last night and tonight I made Apple & Cranberry Crumble to ward away the winter chills.