And just one more thing...

I know I said that I was going to watch the Footy Show, but it's an ad at the moment and really I want to watch the rest in bed anyway. I way too tired from the long day I have had.

I just wanted to say that I am annoyed at Research In Motion (RIM). Yes you heard that right. I die-hard Blackberry user is pissed off with RIM. Why? Because they are taking so freaking long to release the Playbook - Blackberry's very own tablet. They made the announcement in September 2010 and I have been waiting for it since then. This is ridiculous. They PROMISED that they were going to release it in the first quarter of 2011. They have now announced that the release date is going to be April 19 2011. THAT IS NOT THE FIRST QUARTER RIM!!!

AND that's just the release date for North America and Canada - there is no talk of the device being released anywhere else!!

This is precisely why we now live in an Apple world. While I am no fan of Steve Jobs or Apple, I have to give them props for being able to seize the opportunities as they came. The RIM Playboook has all the fancy specs and would run circles around the iPad, but as they are still dragging their heels to release this baby, Apple is still winning the race.

I am still holding out for the Playbook. But if they make me wait any longer, I will jump ship and buy an iPad. And I don't think I'll be the only one!

Bridal shower planning

Yes, even though we have already had Nicole's hen's night and bridal shower in Sydney - it's been almost a year since she was meant to walk down the aisle, so I thought that it would be nice to have another one just prior to her wedding next weekend.

So the plan is that we are going to have a bridal shower, it's going to be small, intimate, low key and more importantly, it's going to be a surprise. I invited Nicole to dinner on Thursday night, telling her that it was going to be a "girls' dinner" and true to Nicole fashion, she is trying to make it a bridal shower. She requested that I invite this person, and another person, oh, and do you mind inviting this other person?

She is so expecting a bridal shower.

To throw her off the scent, I told everyone to tell her that they are not available. I believe that my actual words were "give her the most pathetic, petty excuse as to why you are unable to attend. She needs to feel unloved". And that is not to be mean, of course. It's just that I recognise that only with extreme lows, can you experience extreme highs. And I want Nicole to have the best night.

I want tears. :)

I intend to make pink cake, with a quilting pattern on it, with pearls and a tiara.

And I would write more, but I've got one eye on the TV, and Shane Crawford just kicked Sam Newman in the groin. The Footy Show is back! Toodles!!

Simple chicken dinner

I have decided that Thursday should be mash night. I LOVE mash! Especially on a deliciously cold night, it's almost the end of the week and it's date night!

Luke and I used to meet after his bass guitar lesson (yes, my man plays the bass!) and go out for dinner somewhere. It was recently decided (with some helpful advice from Miss Nadia Mitsakis) that we spent way too much money on eating out and while we can continue with "date night", we don't really need to go out for dinner.

Last week was the first Thursday in a long while that we didn't go out for dinner, and we had a steak and mash dinner. I forgot how much I loved steak! I used to eat it all the time and when Luke and I started living together, he indicated that he wasn't such a big fan - so we stopped buying and cooking steak at home.

This week, I wanted to use the leftover potatoes - so I decided to make mash again. It was a cold autumn day and perfect for piping hot, comforting, buttery, creamy mash. But what to serve with it?

On Tuesday, I cut up a whole chicken and used the breast meat for a honey mustard chicken dish. I cut out the thighs, drumsticks and the wings and froze them. I also froze the carcass and some leftover chicken fat and this will be useful in making chicken broth and chicken rice respectively. Waste not, want not. I will demonstrate how to cut up a whole chicken, but that is another post altogether.

So let's get to this dish. I sort of created this recipe myself. I made it during the last mahjong night and I thought that it was pretty tasty. However, I tweaked the recipe tonight and this was ten times better! Recipe below:

NESS' HOMEY BAKED CHICKEN

Ingredients

• Assorted chicken pieces (in this case, it was 2 drumsticks, 2 wings and 2 thighs)
• 1 tablespoon garlic powder (or more depending on whether you like garlic)
• 1 tablespoon red chili flakes
• 1 tablespoon thyme
• 2 glugs of olive oil (no need to use extra virgin)
• Salt

Method

Pre-heat the oven to 200C and pre-heat the frying pan.
Once the frying pan is heated up, fry the chicken pieces skin side down.
Once the pieces are brown, put them on a lined baking tray and pour the excess juices/oil over the chicken
Bake for about half an hour.
Serve over mash potatoes and pour the pan juices over the chicken.

Very simple dish. Even tastes like chicken bococini! Really hit the spot tonight. LOVED it!

Alright - I have to go to work at an obscene hour tomorrow, so I suppose I should scadaddle! Night peeps!

xoxo

Rachel's baby shower cake

So I made this cake for Rachel's baby shower. To be honest, I was quite pleased with it, even though making it was one of the most frustrating processes ever. Cake decoration is never easy and a small kitchen does not help! Either which way, I completely blame the gum paste. It was way too moist and soft and it was just too difficult to manipulate it in the way I wanted to. So while the Copha (copha cabana... that song ALWAYS pops into my head everytime I say Copha. And YES, I know the song is COPA Cabana!) helped alot, I think I got over-excited and used too much of it. My new resolution? Plans my cakes way way way ahead.... colour the gumpaste ahead of time and where possible, make the figurines ahead of time too.

Suppose a baby mouse would have to do!!

For this cake I originally envisioned some baby shoes and a baby giraffe - but then I forgot to print the template for the baby shoes and Luke had gone to bed (the printer is in Luke's room) and then I didn't have any brown food colouring or the materials to make modelling chocolate, so I couldn't make the giraffe either. I didn't know the gender of the baby which makes it a little most difficult to make the cake, but hey, I'm always up for the challenge!



I flipped through the Cake Characters book that Yvonne gave me for my birthday last year, and found a few things I could use. I had made the baby blankie before for Luke's 30th, but because the gum paste was so soft and sticky, it took me an hour to get it right. An HOUR! For the baby blankie, which was the EASIEST thing to make!

Anyway, it all worked out well. For the cake, I made a Chocolate Dump-It Cake with a jammy filling and chocolate frosting. I got the recipe from Honor, who is an absolute baking whiz. She made this cake for a birthday morning tea at work and it was to DIE for!! My cake didn't turn out quite like hers, but I think the taste was almost there. Rachel told me that they all enjoyed it and that she wanted the recipe. The recipe below:

CHOCOLATE DUMP-IT CAKE

Ingredients for the cake

2 cups of sugar

113g of unsweetened chocolate

113g of unsalted butter

1 cup of water

2 cups of plain flour

2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1 cup whole milk (I used low fat though as that was what I had at home)

1 tsp cider vinegar

2 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

Method

Pre heat the oven to 190 degrees celcius.

Mix the sugar chocolate, butter and water in the saucepan, place over medium heat and stir occasionally until all of the ingredients are melted and blended.

Remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly.

Sift the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. In another bowl stir together milk and vinegar.

Once the chocolate mixture has cooled abit, whisk in the milk mixture and eggs.

Add the dry ingredients - DO NOT OVERMIX.

Pop into the oven for 30-35 mins.

For the frosting, mix 1.5 cups of chocolate chips (melt them) with 1.5 cups of sour cream.

And because I didn't have brown food colouring or modelling chocolate, I decided to make a white teddy bear

Even though it took me forever to make the little figurines, I was pretty pleased with the cake. For once, laying the fondant wasn't a drama, the only downside of that was that I poked a hole in the fondant when I was cutting the sides, which I was pretty annoyed about. But hey, it was 4 in the morning and I was tired! :)

Cutting the letters was hard!!! I think I'm going to get some little alphabet cutters. And for the future, I'm not going to use the black on these colours - it was way too dark.

Hope you liked the cake Rachel!!!

Dry fried french beans...

Ok, so one of my weird things is that I don't order vegetables when I eat out. It's not one of those OCD things, but I just don't believe in paying that much for vegetables. If I am going to pay for something, it better be something that I don't know how to cook, and it should be meat. If it comes with vegetables, I will still eat it, but It's not weird weird, per se. It's just a belief!

The one exception to that rule were these delicious french beans at one of my favourite restaurants, Written on Tea. At my friend Lakshmi's birthday dinner, I tried this dish, and I was hooked. I wanted to order it the next time I was there, but the person I was with had no interest in ordering the dish. A skeptic. Like me, before I was given the opportunity to have these delicious little things!!

So anyway, I decided to try out this recipe I found on Google:

Ingredients

• 200g green beans
• 150g minced pork
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 1 mini thumb sized ginger
• 2 dried chili (well, really depending on how spicy you want it); and
• 1 teaspoon of chili flakes (as above - depends on how spicy you want it).

Sauce

• Dark soy sauce
• Regular (light) soy sauce
• Sugar
• Sesame seed oil

This wasn't enough, btw - I added more beans after

Method

• Fry the beans in oil until they become wrinkly (about 2 mins) - as for me, I left it in there for a tad longer than I needed to, so the beans might have been overcooked. They still tasted good though!
• Dry the beans on some paper towels.
• Leave a tablespoon of oil in the wok and add the chili, the garlic and the ginger.
• Add the pork and fry until all the pork is cooked through.
• Add the beans and sauce ingredients and cook for about a minute.

And enjoy!!!

I think the taste was almost there. I daresay that the Written on Tea version was better but hey, for a first go, it was not bad at all. And for a fraction of the price, I would do it again for sure! :)

Cameron...

I'm back!!!

Yes, I have been away, but only because I have been crazy busy at work  and by the time I get home, I collapse on the couch and am dead to the world by 9pm. But yes, I'm back with a new partner in crime:

That's right. Luke and I have invested in a digital SLR. And word on the street is that this is the best entry level camera there is on the market. So we researched on ebay. The price was right, and the purchase was made!! Welcome little camera. I think I will name you Cameron. Cameron the Camera. (yes, I am very creative).

Cameron's stats are as follows:

Type	Digital single-lens reflex camera
Sensor	CMOS APS-C 22.2 x 14.8 mm (1.6x conversion factor)
Maximum resolution	10.1 effective megapixels, 3,888 x 2,592
Lens	Canon EF lens mount, Canon EF-S lens mount
Flash	E-TTL II automatic built-in pop-up, 13m ISO 100 guide number, 27mm (equivalent in 135 format) lens focal length coverage; compatible with Canon EX Series Speedlite external hotshoe-mount flashes
Shutter	focal-plane
Shutter speed range	1/4000 to 30 s and Bulb, 1/200 s X-sync
Exposure metering	Full aperture TTL, 35-zone SPC
Exposure modes	Full Auto, Portrait, Landscape, Close-up, Sports, Night Portrait, No Flash, Program AE , Shutter-priority, Aperture-priority, Manual, Auto Depth-of-field
Metering modes	Evaluative, Partial (approx. 10% at center of viewfinder), Center-weighted average
Focus areas	7 AF points
Focus modes	AI Focus, One-Shot, Predictive AI Servo, Live Mode in Live View; Quick Mode in Live View
Continuous shooting	3 fps for 514 JPEG frames or 1.5 fps for 5 RAW frames
Viewfinder	Eye-level pentamirror SLR, 95% coverage, 0.81x magnification
ASA/ISO range	ISO 100 to 1600
Flash bracketing	Yes
Custom WB	Auto, Daylight, Shade, Cloudy, Tungsten Light, White Fluorescent Light, Flash, Manual, user-set
WB bracketing	± 3 stops in 1-stop increments;
Rear LCD monitor	2.5 in color TFT LCD, 230,000 pixels
Storage	Secure Digital Card Secure Digital High Capacity
Battery	LP-E5 Battery Pack
Dimensions	126.1 x 97.5 x 61.9 mm
Weight	450 g (body only)
Optional battery packs	BG-E5

Type	Digital single-lens reflex camera
Sensor	CMOS APS-C 22.2 x 14.8 mm (1.6x conversion factor)
Maximum resolution	10.1 effective megapixels, 3,888 x 2,592
Lens	Canon EF lens mount, Canon EF-S lens mount
Flash	E-TTL II automatic built-in pop-up, 13m ISO 100 guide number, 27mm (equivalent in 135 format) lens focal length coverage; compatible with Canon EX Series Speedlite external hotshoe-mount flashes
Shutter	focal-plane
Shutter speed range	1/4000 to 30 s and Bulb, 1/200 s X-sync
Exposure metering	Full aperture TTL, 35-zone SPC
Exposure modes	Full Auto, Portrait, Landscape, Close-up, Sports, Night Portrait, No Flash, Program AE , Shutter-priority, Aperture-priority, Manual, Auto Depth-of-field
Metering modes	Evaluative, Partial (approx. 10% at center of viewfinder), Center-weighted average
Focus areas	7 AF points
Focus modes	AI Focus, One-Shot, Predictive AI Servo, Live Mode in Live View; Quick Mode in Live View
Continuous shooting	3 fps for 514 JPEG frames or 1.5 fps for 5 RAW frames
Viewfinder	Eye-level pentamirror SLR, 95% coverage, 0.81x magnification
ASA/ISO range	ISO 100 to 1600
Flash bracketing	Yes
Custom WB	Auto, Daylight, Shade, Cloudy, Tungsten Light, White Fluorescent Light, Flash, Manual, user-set
WB bracketing	± 3 stops in 1-stop increments;
Rear LCD monitor	2.5 in color TFT LCD, 230,000 pixels
Storage	Secure Digital Card Secure Digital High Capacity
Battery	LP-E5 Battery Pack
Dimensions	126.1 x 97.5 x 61.9 mm
Weight	450 g (body only)
Optional battery packs	BG-E5

So is this the new thing that I've decided to dabble in? Yes, photography. And in particular, food photography. What can I say - I am greedy by nature. :)

So Cameron arrived on Friday and I have been busy snap snap snapping photos. I have added some to my Flickr photostream (and I have opened a Flickr account).

By the way, as I am writing this, I have got one eye on the television, and it is the opening round of the AFL Season. Adelaide plays Hawthorn. I should say now that I hate Hawthorn with a passion, and Adelaide is currently losing - so this is bringing terrible memories to Round 1 last year when Jill, Luz and I were in Melbourne watching my team get absolutely throttled.

So where was I? Well, long story short, I am back and will be updating more often and hopefully with better photos.

xx