yellow is the colour of my true love's hair

It has been a wildly hetic time on the home front of late. Hospital trips, final uni deadlines and a near approaching wedding have made for much stress and high drama. So, you can imagine the pleasure that I've been taking these past few days in having the time to do some baking, pottering in the garden and reading a book or two.

orange cupcakes, topped with orange marmalade and ganache

I arrived home from skating to find a bowl of skinless oranges on the kitchen bench. My beloved and our friend, Roland, had been brewing a beer with orange peel and corriander in it, but what to do with the oranges? Being the ever ingenious domestic mistress, I made orange pudding cakes. We gobbled them up, hot from the oven with an orange glaze and toasted almonds. These were followed up with the baking of orange cupcakes, half of which I packed up for Roland to trek home with.

a yellow rose, everlasting daisies, thyme and mint

This little arrangement is freshening up our bathroom in a vintage blue glass bottle, wrapped with a yellow string bow (to match the roses, of course). I picked up the bottle from a collectables and antiques store. The flowers are all from our garden which has gone entirely wild with all the rain and sudden sunshine spurts. Speaking of which, it just started raining again! I guess I won't get the front garden weeded and trimmed today afterall.

our wedding invitations and reply cards

(I think) we've finally sent all of our invitations. That is, except for a certain somebody who decided to escape to Hong Kong before we could formally invite them. The reply cards are starting to trickle in. I expect we'll get a rush of them just after the rsvp date.

more flowers and my camera shy love

That is all. xo

I wish..

..that I could have a tea party right now! I know a place with daisy chains, secret corners, mysterious paths and picnic spots. Want to come? There will be pinwheels, tea cups, dancing and cakes. Maybe we could even play hide and go seek...

These are the cakes I made for our niece's birthday party a while back. They were yummy, but I needn't have bothered. There was a ton of food and only a handful of three year olds to eat it.

a wonderful weekend...

An indulgent weekend too, I think. Baking, skating, dancing, drinking, laughing, chasings, singing, driving, children, animals, two birthdays! These are things weekends are made of. It's been a breath of fresh air from the crazy times of the last few weeks. I'm happy, sleepy and ready for bed.

Pictures are, from top to bottom: The two of us driving home from a friend's lovely birthday celebration in the bush, a beautiful pearl necklace that Leigh's mother has generously passed on to me (more on that later), Driving home from Leigh's parents in the late afternoon sunshine, our little man, Bender, glad to have us home at last.

Edit: I don't know why the time spazzed out when posting this, but it's not really early on Thursday morning, it's late on Sunday night. Sweet Dreams (are made of this).

Art Appreciation

This is a photo of the Art Appreciation class from year 12. That's me on the left, with the little mole eyes and not much hair.  

We used to have a great time researching art history, writing essays and debating contemporary art. It was great to be in a class with a group of girls (we did have boys, but they were lazy and dropped out) who were passionate about art and fully willing to get their nerd on and research the hell out topics before coming to the discussion table.  Remembering these times, I can't help but wonder why these ladies didn't go to art school and why many of the people in my current art history class did.  

I am sick to tears of people who don't give two hoots about art history, wasting my time in tutorials.  They are art students, how can they not be excited to learn about art?  Each week I roll up to class hoping that somebody else has something to say, has maybe even done some research, and each week I am disappointed.  On my student feedback form I think I will suggest that they have two art history courses, one for those of us who care about what we are studying, and one for those who do not.  That's my two cents.

Pumpkin and Chocolate Cupcakes (vegan)

If we were getting married in the Autumn, these are the cupcakes I would make. The recipe follows, but I'm a bit ghetto in the kitchen (I don't even own cup measures) so I'm afraid you'll have bear with me on some of my guesstimations.

Ingredients
1 cup (and a little extra) of pumpkin, cooked and pureed
1/3 cup of oil
3/4 ish (almost a cup) of brown sugar
1/4 cup of soy milk
1-2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 and 1/4 cups plain flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
almost 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
pinch of salt
1/2 a cup chocolate chips
chilli and cinnamon icing (recipe follows)
super easy ganache (recipe follows)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Line muffin pan with cupcake cases.
2. In a medium sized bowl, stir together pumpkin, oil, sugar, soy milk and vanilla.
3. Sift in the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt). Stir with a fork or spoon until well combined. (I usually use the same fork that I used to mash the pumpkin).
4. Fold in the chocolate chips.
5. Fill cases two-thirds full. Bake for around 22 minutes.
6. Transfer to a cooling rack and let fully cool before icing.

Chilli and Cinnamon Icing

1/2 a cup icing sugar

1 teaspoon ground chilli

3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

2 tablespoons melted margarine or butter

splash of soy milk (about a tablespoon)

dash of vanilla extract

Directions

Place spices and sugar in a small bowl. Add the margarine, soy milk and vanilla and stir until smooth (I find it easiest to use a fork). The mixture should be an opaque tan colour and not too runny. If it is too glossy and liquidy, add more icing sugar. Keep at room temp until ready to ice.

Super Easy Ganache

1/3 cup (dark) chocolate chips (or the equivilent amount chopped chocolate

sploosh of soy milk (2-3 tablespoons)

dash of mayple syrup (optional)

Directions

Heat the soy milk over medium heat until just about to simmer. Remove from heat, add chocolate chips and mayple syrup (if using) and stir until chocolate is completely melted. Keep stiring until milk and chocolate are fully combined. Set aside to cool for a few minutes before scooping it into an icing bag.

To assemble the cupcakes.

Use a knife to spread an even layer of Chilli and Cinnamon Icing over the cupcakes. I tend to spread it a couple of mm thick, but this is purely up to taste. Then embellish with swirls, zig-zags or writing, using the ganache and a number 2 decorating tip (the tiny round one). Allow the icing to set at room temp or in the fridge before serving. Enjoy with company and coffee.

It's raining outside, but it's warm in the library.

So I can help but sit here and daydream about iced tea. At the moment, I'm loving mine with lemon, thyme and a little honey, but there are plenty of other ways to add excitement to your iced beverage.

Start with this base recipe:

3 cups of boiling water
4 tea bags

Steep the tea bags in the boiling water for about 5 minutes. Strain out tea bags (do not squeeze them! ).

To which you might add...

1/3 cup honey

3 cups apple juice

Stir in the honey, mixing until it is completely dissolved. Add the juice and chill in the fridge. Serve over ice and refresh your winter blues away.

..or maybe..

Ginger root (about 4 cms)

1 cup cold water

Sugar or honey, to taste.

Finely slice the ginger root and crush. You'll need to add this at the start and strain it out with the teabags. Stir in the cold water and your sweetener (if desired) and chill in the fridge. Serve over ice for an energy boost.

..or even..

1 can peach juice

juice of half a lemon

Prepare the tea. Stir in peach juice, lemon juice and chill. Serve over ice for a taste of summer.

As I said, there are many more variations for iced tea (the only real limit is your imagination) but these three are particularly appropriate for winter. Make sure you allow the tea to completely chill before serving. If you pour hot, or even warm, tea over ice it will melt the ice and dilute the tea. Happy drinking!

Waiting by the Phone

Well, by the phone line at least. We're waiting for an email about our potential reception venue.

I have really good feeling about it. Fingers crossed that it comes to fruition.