Words from a beautiful and wise woman

'Let's face it, a nice creamy chocolate cake does a lot for a lot of people; it does for me.'

Haunted by Harry

Let me start off by saying that I have never been a Harry Potter fan. While many of my friends were enveloped by the Harry Potter books and films (and all the games, and playing cards that followed) I was on my own adventure in Middle Earth. I was and am a Lord of the Rings kind of girl and I had no room in my heart for any of this Harry Potter business. And now it just feels too late to join that band-wagon. Unfortunately for me, I have a few friends who love Harry Potter. The amount of conversations that have completely passed over my head because of all these terms which made no sense to me are too many to count (and I still don't understand what a horcrux is!). One of the most fervent fans is my good friend Jade. She went to Harry Potter World in America, she has memorabilia, she's got a wand; she lives and breathes Harry Potter. Last Friday she turned 22 and she had a pretty average day (she was sick and the exhaust on her car fell off on her way to work). So I wanted to show her how much I love her (despite her love for all things Harry Potter related). Alas, she got Harry Potter cupcakes.

On Thursday morning I got up and started baking some choc-hazelnut cupcakes. I used my favourite chocolate mudcake recipe, however I substituted the plain flour for hazelnut meal and used hazelnut extract instead of vanilla extract.


About to go into the oven

I allowed them to cool while I went out for the day, and then returned home that night to decorate them. I made up two types of icing for the 24 cup cakes. A raspberry buttercream and a nutella buttercream icing. To make the raspberry buttercream I made a coulis, however with a lot less sugar so the raspberry flavour would shine through. I thought the raspberry icing tasted great especially since the tartness of the raspberry cut through the sugar in the icing. The nutella icing was pretty straight forward, I made it in the same way I would've made a chocolate buttercream, but I added in warmed nutella instead of melted chocolate. I think I might make a swiss meringue nutella icing next time (I was decorating these cupcakes at midnight so I had a time restraint).

After making the icings I started dying the fondants and making shapes to place as toppers on the cupcakes. I made 'sorting hats', 'snitches', brooms and Harry scar shaped toppers. I could've dyed the raspberry icing maroon so they would look like 'Gryffindor' coloured cupcakes, but I didn't realise that they were the colours until I had finished the icings. I guess I can do this for her 23rd birthday next year! I think they turned out alright considering I was a little pressed for time and am not a Harry Potter fan (I am eternally thankful to good for providing me with pictures!) Anyway, I'm glad I got to make these for her because she is wonderful and deserves all the love and appreciation in the world. Happy 22nd Birthday Jade!




Harry Potter Cupcakes!




The 'Broom' toppers (left) and 'Sorting Hat' toppers (right)

 


The ever wise and inspirational Julia Child

“Learn how to cook; try new recipes, learn from your mistakes, be fearless, and above all have fun!”

- Julia Child

Julia Child

Pour me a glass of that.

TEA is something that gives me a warm fuzzy feeling, not only when I'm drinking it but when I associate it with past events. I grew up being read Beatrix Potter books, and then when I was older I watched the animation on ABC, and now I own the books myself and the animation on DVD. I loved how the depiction of Beatrix Potter during the opening credits of the series would see her scurrying home in the rain, and arriving to her home with a fire crackling, then she pours herself a cup of tea. For those of you who are familiar with the books and series, her characters are constantly drinking tea as well. Tea would comfort me when I'm sick, I could make a cup for my Nana to show her I love her, or allow for my mum and I to spend some time with one another. We would make a pot of tea, and I'd get the Japanese tea cups out, and we'd sit with each other enjoying (usually) a variety of green tea. My other favourite tea memory would be when my Dad would take me to China town and we'd have yum cha, and we'd get a pot of Chinese Tea, which I would hurry to drink so I could tip the lid and see how long it took for the waiter to give us a refill. Tea was definately present in some of the nicer moments of my childhood.

 

My tea cup & submarine strainer

Tea seems to have made a come back lately with the establishment of T2 helping this progress, especially having only been in Adelaide for not even a year. Before that there was T-Bar in the David Jones building and at the Central Markets. We've also got Saldechin which has been around for quite a number of years which not only has an extensive tea menu, but a cocktail menu which features a few martinis that have been infused with tea. Many restaurants and cafes have a larger tea selection, which is wodnerful for those of us who are tea lovers. East Terrace Continetal serves T2 teas now and Devour Dessert Bar has a really enticing tea selection (the raspberry tea was delightful). A good tea selection definately enhances my opinion of a place.

I definately urge anyone who enjoys tea to grab a friend (or a book) and venture out and find a cafe to enjoy some nice tea, or maybe visit T2 or T-Bar (if you dare) and find some beautiful teas to take home with you. This is a risky idea because you could end up walking away with many teas, but an empty bank account. My next T-venture will be to the new establishment 'Teasel' (was named 'Teawana') that has just opened in James Place opposite Southern Cross Arcade.





Raspberry Tea from 'Devour Dessert Bar'

 

Farmers markets in Adelaide

 

“Shipping is a terrible thing to do to vegetables. 
They probably get jet-lagged, just like people.”
~ Elizabeth Berry

Every Sunday, there are many wonderful farmers markets on throughout SA. Our closest one is the Gepps Cross Markets that are held in the drive in. For the first time in months I went to do the families fruit and veg shopping seeing as my mum usually does it, and she's away at the moment. So it was raining when I woke up and it looked down right dreary, but I mustered up the strength to leave the warm house and venture out.

Once I arrived the sun was actually out and it wasn't too cold or muddy, and then the fun began. I spent about $80 on fruit and veg, mind you this will last my family 2 weeks, maybe a little more. I love that so many of the famers can say that they were up that morning picking the produce and are now selling it to us. While I got some beautiful pink lady apples, organic oranges, and my personal favourite, some tangelos, I think the items I was most excited about were the carrots. They were stunning just sitting there glistening in the sun, and I just had to get a bunch (or two).

Next time I get a Sunday off (and the weather is decent) I'll head down to the Adelaide Showgrounds Farmers Market.

When people put effort into a meal

At the moment my mum is away which means I am doing the majority of the cooking for the family, and I am definately not complaining. A few nights ago my cousin, who lives with us, asked if he could cook dinner on Wednesday night (which is tonight). I said yes of course, whilst being a little skeptical because he does not cook very often. He wanted to cook a Thai dish, seeing as he is Thai and misses the food sometimes, so found a recipe for a dish he loves and set out to get the ingredients for it (I was pretty pleased to see pork belly in the fridge last night). I arrive home after work today to a beautiful aroma throughout the house, hints of star anise, cinnamon, garlic and pork were the most prominent of those. He proudly served up his dish with some rice, and it was delicious.

So the point of this post was to verbalise that it was really nice being cooked for by someone who put an effort into making a nice meal for the family, and it was even nicer being able to arrive home from work and just relax. I hope this will become a more frequent occurance!