books, recipes, parenting & other things
It is the middle of summer, but I was wearing a sleeveless top, and it looked like rain – hence the shawl draped over the chair in my office, just in case. I did end up putting it over my head on the way to work, as it was drizzling and I’d forgotten my umbrella. (Yep, remembered the shawl but not the umbrella.)
Well, some might consider over a week into the new year a little late to be starting with the resolutions, but I’m doing so anyway – inspired by a variety of things, but most recently Chookooloonks photography blog, I decided to jump on the Project 365 bandwagon.
It’s not too complicated – take at least one photo, every day, for a year. No breaks, no days off. One photo, every day. And along the way, learn more about your camera, take better photos, and other exciting by-products of taking your camera everywhere with you.
So I began today with a photo of my diary for 2008 – a lovely purple soft-covered book, with a page for every day. I’ve been trying to scribble down a few notes about every day on each page, but who knows how long I’ll keep doing that for. I’m pretty terrible at keeping up with new projects, finishing what I start. Project 365, however, is something I’m very determined to do, and hopefully publically declaring my intentions to take a photo every day will help me stick to it.
The view from the front of our house, during a summer shower of rain. The dams are full, the tanks are overflowing, and the garden is flourishing. Not visible in this photo is the darter who was fishing in the dam. Darters swim with only their curved neck above the surface of the water (which is why they are also known as a snake bird), diving down repeatedly. This one was underwater when I pressed the shutter.
Roast pumpkin is one of my favourite foods – either on its own, accompanying a roast or a platter of other vegies, or as a versatile ingredient in a variety of recipes.
I leave the skin on, and bake it for a long time, so that it becomes soft and edible. I use it on pizza, combined with salami, feta cheese, and red onions. I use it in salads, with fresh green leaves of baby spinach, a touch of peppery rocket, grilled red capsicums, cashew nuts and crunchy fresh snow peas. It’s also a delicious topping to couscous, with a little vinaigrette and diced capsicum tossed through the grains. Ooh, and rolled up in some pita bread with pesto and tomato as a sandwich wrap. Delicious.
I love Christmas in Australia – extremely hot, searing blue skies, and ridiculous decorations everywhere designed for a completely different climate. Witness these reindeer and Christmas tree, part of the decorations being put up along the Queen Street Mall.
This rottweiler puppy is going to start training as a guard dog in the new year – at the moment though, she’s rather sweet, especially when occupied in chewing on a stick rather than growling and trying to attack your ankles.
The perfect way to spend a summer afternoon – lazing about in the shallow river, beer in hand, inflatable dolphin nearby.
Who can resist a pair of chubby baby cheeks? Even if they come accompanied by a rather grumpy expression.
It was my husband who introduced me to Staffordshire terriers, a breed of dog which had never particularly appealed to me before (I grew up with a poodle!). But now I really like their happy personalities, boisterous eagerness to play, and that solid, uncompromising wedge-shaped head. This little guy is named Edgar, and is very sweet indeed.
For someone who likes both chocolate cake and the colour pink – a chocolate birthday cake with pink icing and pink cream.
I used my usual birthday cake recipe of chocolate fudge cake, and then made the pink icing.
for the icing:
125 g butter
2 1/2 cups icing sugar
2 tablespoons hot water
pink food colouring
Cream the butter, either by hand or in a food processor, and add the icing sugar and enough water to make a stuff icing (I didn’t actually measure the water, the tablespoons are a rough estimate). Pour in about ten drops of pink food colouring and mix in – if you want a brighter colour, add more food colouring (although you then may have to add more sugar). You want a nice creamy icing that’s going to be easy to spread over the cake.
for the middle:
cream
pink food colouring
berry jam
punnet of strawberries
Whip the cream, and when it’s firm, add enough as much pink food colouring as you want. Slice the strawberries.
To assemble, decide which of the cakes is going to be the bottom layer, and spread it with jam. Follow it up by spreading it thickly with the pink cream, and then adding the sliced strawberries, placing them evenly across.
Gently squish the second cake on top, and begin smoothing the icing over with a spatula. Don’t try and get it smooth, just somewhat evenly distributed across the top and down the sides. Clean the spatula, dip it in hot water, and quickly smooth across the cake to even out the icing and create a smooth surface.
Decorate with pink sprinkles and pink & white icing flowers.
I think this probably the smartest looking cake I’ve ever managed – normally, my decoration leans towards slapdash, and I must confess this is the first time I bothered to smooth out icing – I was very pleased with the results.
(The colour is a bit whacky in the photo below – makes the pink look a little orange.)
o frabjous day! 