Cake pics and dinner at Gambaro's

My blog has sadly been neglected the last few months. I'd like to say it's because I've been busy, but in all honesty, I haven't been that busy at all. I've been baking but nothing too exciting. Just a few treats (bribes?) for my parents and their employees in exchange for work on my car. I did make a pretty cute cake for my husband as a Valentines Day treat, but I intended to take photos step by step and completely forgot about it.

Chocolate cake with a cute
 little pink heart hidden inside

But now we're in March and this weekend saw the birthday of my gorgeous, sweet sister in law. Our family did it's usual thing and went out to dinner, this time to Gambaro's in Brisbane. It's a bit of a favourite restaurant, every one seems to enjoy the menu.

Balloon bouquet for the birthday girl,
 inside one was a gift card!

Well, all except me, sadly I'm the only one in the family who isn't a seafood lover. I just wish there were a few more non-seafood options! I know it's a seafood restaurant  but there's only so much seafood I can handle. Two courses of it is too much for me, but the only non seafood choice for main is a steak. And well, I can get a steak at the pub, if you know what I mean.  A steak just doesn't seem fancy when every one else is ordering lovely, well thought out meals. I'm hoping their menu changes before we go back there again. Their old menu, which is the one on their website, had a delicious lamb dish. I know they had a smaller menu while they were renovating and now that the renovations have finished I'm crossing my fingers they go back to the larger menu. And bring back the cocktail menu too! Oh! And bring back the crepes on the dessert menu too!

After dinner we went back to my brother and sister in laws house. We are always too full after dinner to have cake, but I planned for that. I made a cake for her, and with the extra batter had whipped up a few cupcakes for mum and dad to take home. I wanted her and my brother to have enough cake to take to work or share with friends. I think her sister and two nephews were visiting today so I'm hoping she got to play the favourite auntie and spoil the nephews with lots of birthday cake!

Chocolate cake with a cherry tree with one sweet little owl.

The cake itself was chocolate and it was covered in a dark chocolate ganache. The filling was caramel, made the old fashioned way of boiling a can of condensed milk and then when cool mixing in some whipped cream. (Oh boy did I baby sit that can of condensed milk, I think I topped up the stock pot every 15mins, I was not going to have that can explode and cover my kitchen with hot sticky caramel!)

The decorations are all fondant, my local spotlight was out of white fondant so I bought a different brand from Woolworths. Which I really regret. It was super soft, sticky and a pain to work with. It sweated so much! The decorations you see are the second attempt. I had the cake all ready on Friday night, but when I woke up Saturday morning they had melted. I nearly cried! But this tree looks so much nicer than the first one so it was worth it. The owl looks nicer too, the first one looked a bit plumper and more like a cat, whereas this one is definitely owl shaped. 

Closer look at Mrs Owl

But the minute I put a lid on the cake carrier it would start to sweat again. I'm sad to say that when I gave the cake to my sister in law it had started to get a bit sticky again. The luster dust that I'd used on the flowers was no longer sparkly and it looked just a bit wet. Ugh. Not using that brand of fondant ever again. 

Luckily everyone said they couldn't tell that the fondant was sticky, but I could. Oh well, lesson learnt!

Next up is my birthday, but because it's just a few days before Easter we're going to celebrate in April instead. Just to space it all out a bit. I'll still make a cake for my husband and I to have on my birthday, but I'll make a larger one for when I family come to visit too. Plus there's Easter baking as well! I still don't know what I'll do for Easter, maybe some cake pops and a cheesecake.

Macarons

The last few weeks haven't been that great. We've had a lot of sad news, some from Tony's family, some from my family and a few other things haven't turned out the way we've hoped they would. All in all it's been pretty rough.

I was moping and had just popped in to our local Woolies supermarket to pick up the necessities after a bad week (chocolate, chips, popcorn and diet coke) when I wandered down the baking aisle and saw this.

Passionfruit macarons in a box mix? I very rarely buy box mixes, I can't even remember the last time I bought one. I don't even know why I was looking in the packet mix section! Baking is a sure way to cheer myself up. I love baking, it's relaxing and then at the end of it there's a yummy treat to eat.

But here's where I fail at a foodie, I have to admit I've never even tried a macaron before. I'm more of a cupcake girl. I love cake in all it's forms (except trifle, to do that to cake is a disgrace) and truth be told, I really prefer home made cake to other sweets or cakes you can buy at a bakery or cafe.

I also live on the Gold Coast and in my suburb bakeries and cake shops are disappointing so I avoid them at all costs. I have seen macarons for sale in the cold case section at Woolworths, but just couldn't bring myself to buy them. 

So when I saw the box mix I just snapped it up. My husband was a bit shocked that I bought a box mix, he was even sceptical about them. Adriano Zumbo is famous for macarons and complicated desserts, so I wasn't sure I could even get them to turn out and look anything like a macaron. I have spent many hours watching cooking videos on youtube so had picked up a few tips and pointers. I'd also seen a quite a few disasters.

But one Wednesday night after even more sad news I cracked open the box and gave them a try. I'd read that the mix doesn't whip up too well in stand mixers as it's only a small amount, but I had no issues using my kitchen aid. I did a few steps that aren't mentioned on the box. I left them sit on the bench for about 30mins before baking (I got distracted and forgot about them after I'd finished piping, whoops!) and then let them cool completely before trying to take them off the baking paper.

They turned out pretty well and were absolutely delicious! So much so that this week I bought the salted caramel flavour to try! Yum!

Four years ago...

Four years ago I married my wonderful husband. We had a small wedding, just 40 guests, made up of our families and close friends. Our ceremony lasted only 20 mins, just perfect for two people like us who are quite shy and don't like a lot of attention. Our wedding wasn't a flashy, fancy affair. It was pretty casual and laid back, just like us. It was exactly how we'd planned it and how I'd imagined it would be.

While the wedding day itself went smoothly, our first 18 months of married life were a bit more stressful, but they do say that the first year is the hardest! Thankfully that's all behind us and I'm happy to say that life is pretty damn awesome right now. I can't wait to see what the future holds for us.

And now some pics! These were taken by our wonderful photographer Toni Snell!

Christmas shopping and planning

Not only am I a planner and list maker, but I love Christmas. I try and start my Christmas shopping early, not too early, but well before the Christmas rush starts.

I write down present ideas throughout the year, I just make notes on my phone and usually list the what the gift is, where to buy it and how much it is. In previous years we've bought for all of my husbands family, aunts, cousins, grandparents as well as his mum, brother and sister. Shopping for that many people means I need to be organised or it turns into a last minute frantic shopping trip. When it comes to my family there's only my parents, brother and sister in law that we buy for, but they're so hard to shop for!

Wrapping paper for this year and next year!

I've gotten a bit of a late start this year, it's already late October and so far I've only bought one present. But I have sorted out my wrapping paper, gift tags and cards. I like to buy two giant rolls of wrapping paper, I try to coordinate the colours but get different patterns. I'll all of my family's presents in one roll and all of Tony's family's presents in the other roll. They next year I'll use the same wrapping paper but swap the family's around so they're not getting the same pattern as the year before. I hate buying wrapping paper, the rolls are awkward to carry and roll about in the boot of the car. Plus this way it makes it so much easier when it comes to sorting out presents and loading up the car.



We're also crazy and visit both our families on Christmas day. It's a long day that starts too early, involves a traditional cooked Christmas lunch with Tony's family (which by dessert I've usually fielded one or two phone calls from my family asking when we'll be at their place!) then we head out to my parent's place and have a Christmas dinner of cold meats, seafood and salad or some years a barbecue. By the end of the day we've usually driven about 250kms, spent around 3.5hrs in the car and eaten way too much!

Christmas for me, takes some coordinating and planning. One tradition I love is baking Christmas biscuits. Every year I make gingerbread and shortbread. When my grandma was alive she always made shortbread for Christmas and special occasions and it just wouldn't be Christmas without it. I love gingerbread and there's just something about the spicy, gingery biscuit that says Christmas to me. I can't bake the biscuits too early, as my husband has a huge sweet tooth and baked yummies never last too long! I also have to make double batches of both biscuit mixes as there's a lot of people in my husbands family and my family like having left over sweets to nibble on in the days after Christmas.

But this year I've also been asked to bring a dessert dish. Dad asked if I could bake mini pavlovas, I made them earlier in the year and they were a hit. Even my brother who usually hates anything with fruit ate them! Well, he ate them after picking off the berries and kiwi fruit. My husbands family love the dark chocolate cupcakes I make so I'll be making those too.

I've already planned out the things I have to do during the week before Christmas. Luckily, I'm a relief teacher so I'll already be on holidays that week. My husband isn't as lucky, but he does have a week off starting on Christmas Eve. The only thing is, I've already got a list of things he'll have to do on Christmas Eve.  He'll probably grumble but it's Christmas, how can you stay grumpy for long when there's yummy foods, time with loved ones and not to mention presents!

Christmas can be a lot of work and can be totally overwhelming but if I break it down and plan it all out then things run much more smoothly. For now I just have to work on shopping for presents. Once December 1st is here the tree will go up and so will the lights along our balcony. Each year we add more and more lights to our little balcony. I love Christmas lights, one day we'll buy a house and I can be totally obnoxious with the amount of lights we have. But until then we put just a few strings of lights and make sure they're all packed away by January 2nd.

Spring is here!

Who can resist a freckle cone from an ice-cream van?

The spring weather has finally hit the Gold Coast. A few weeks ago I packed up our summer quilt, washed it and replaced it with a light weave cotton blanket, but last weekend it was too warm for even that! I eventually had to give in and set up one of the small pedestal fans in our bedroom.

The spring cleaning bug has hit our household. Tony and I have been working on de-cluttering our apartment. For two people (and two cats!) we sure have a lot of stuff. I think what the problem is, in the past we've always moved about every 18 months and in the past have used moving time as a chance to de-clutter. We've lived in our apartment for three years now and still have moving boxes that haven't been unpacked!

Our little storage shed down in the basement (it's at the back of our car space and is about a third of the size of a small garden shed) is full of a lot of our extra stuff. There's old computer monitors, boxes of spare computer parts, boxes of cd's and computer cords and cables, as well as the usual stuff like eskies, air mattresses, fold up chairs and our Christmas tree and lights. But there's also two cardboard boxes from two moves ago as well as the boxes of books. So many books.

While my husband has a hard time letting go of computer parts and has a large collection of floppy discs, (some from the early 90s!) Most of my boxes are of books.

Years ago when we first moved in together we close to a couple of really great second hand book stores. Twenty dollars would buy me anywhere between four and five books, I was a uni student so would spend my summer and winter breaks reading. We also lived in a much larger place. Our rental was a three bedroom duplex that had separate living and dining rooms. It was easily twice the size of our current apartment, so we had the bookshelves and the room to store a lot of books.

Then we moved in with family to save for our wedding and most of our belongs and all of our books went into boxes and storage. Three moves later and all these boxes of books have never been unpacked because we've never had the room.

Last week Tony brought up some of these boxes from the basement. Three large 60L storage tubs and four smaller 32L ones. We spent some time sorting through them, making toss, donate, keep and give away piles. I kept all the books I know I'll reread as well as the books I know that mum would like. But a lot of them I'll never read again, or I own digital or audio copies of them. A few water damaged books got thrown out (I think they were ones I'd dropped while reading in the bath, or had gotten splashed at the beach) but most of them went in the donate pile.

And after carting around a few hundred floppy discs for the last 10-20 years, Tony went through all of them and the majority of those were thrown out too. It took a few hours but it's great to have that little bit of extra space in the storage shed again! Sadly, there's another six large 60L tubs of books to go. That's for another weekend!

To celebrate starting our de-clutter and spring clean we went out to Swell Sculpture Festival that's held yearly on the beach just south from where we live. We've been talking about going to it each year for the last six years! But this year we finally made it. I have to say, I think we timed our trip well. We went on the last day in the late afternoon. It was easy to get a park and wasn't overly crowded. Plus, the sun was setting so it wasn't overly hot and there was no glare from the water.

Birthday Pavlova!

I'm a supply teacher so I pick up a few coughs and colds each year. A few weeks ago I was teaching a darling little prep class when one sweet child coughed in my face, it wasn't on purpose, it just happened. Unfortunately that's the risk you take when working with little kids, snot and coughs happen. But I knew right at that moment that I'd be sick within days.

Fast forward a few days and one very long week on a year five class (older classes aren't my speciality!) and it was nearing my husbands birthday. Unfortunately a few days before his birthday he woke up feeling under the weather, he'd picked up my cold. The poor thing spent his birthday home sick and feeling miserable.

Usually I'm prepared for birthdays. I love lists and generally have presents bought and wrapped weeks in advance. This time round I sort of dropped the ball. We agreed to upgrade our computers for our respective birthdays this year, but Tony still needed something to open on his birthday. So the day before I ran around to pick up a few little gifts and supplies to make his birthday dinner. 

Birthday presents (and choccies!) all wrapped and ready to go, with birthday balloons. (Photos were taken very late at night after I'd finished wrapping them, hence the dark and dodgy lighting!)

Roast pork with roasted potatoes, honey carrots and steamed greens was for dinner. To be followed by birthday pavlova instead of cake. There's a bit of a theme when it comes to Tony's birthday meals. The main meal usually includes pork of some kind (last year was brinner - breakfast for dinner, with the year before being glazed pork chops) and a birthday pie. Last year I made black forest cake from scratch, I spent a whole day on that cake! And the year before was cheesecake, but I cheated and bought that from the local cheesecake shop.

Because there's just the two of us, I halved the recipe. Personally, I'm not a huge fan of pavlova, give me cake any day. I didn't want leftovers hanging around for days in the fridge so a halved recipe was the perfect amount. We got three large slices each out of it. 

Pavlova 

Ingredients

3 egg whites

3/4 cup caster sugar

1 tsp white vingar

1/4 tab cornflour

Whipped cream and fruit to decorate. (I used 250ml cream that I whipped until soft peaks. With kiwi, strawberries and bananas to decorate)

Method

1. Preheat oven to 120 and line a baking tray with baking paper.

2. Beat egg whites until soft peaks form.

3. Gradually add sugar, one spoonful at a time. Allow mixture to beat until thick, glossy and sugar is completely dissolved. (Rub the mix between your thumb and forefinger to check for sugar granules)

4. Fold cornflour and vinegar into the sugar and egg mix. 

5. Spoon mix onto the baking paper and shape into a disc shape. Bake for 45 - 50 mins until dry to the touch. Allow to cool completely in the oven.

No matter how I make a pav, it cracks. I've tried so many different recipes. I've tried a hotter oven, a cooler oven. Starting out with a higher temp and lowering the temp. But I just can't make a pretty pavlova, but that's why you smother it in cream and fruit. Cream will hide a multitude of sins! It was also the first time I'd made pavlova using my kitchen aid. So much easier than using the little hand mixer! 

Decorated birthday pav just before the candles were lit! 

Next weekend my family is coming down for Tony's belated birthday lunch. I've got to make a second birthday cake (a traditional cake, I think there'd be an uproar if I tried to serve up cheesecake or pavlova with coffee!) I'm not sure what kind of cake I'll make. Something that will give us enough leftovers so my family can take some home! 

Bellabox July 2012

I received my second Bellabox this month. I'm really enjoying the samples and products I get. Plus, even though it's a paid subscription and I roughly know the date it'll be arriving, it's nice to get something in the mail that isn't a bill or a takeaway menu.

This month I wanted the contents to be a surprise so I was careful not to read any blogs or look for bellabox hashtags on instagram or twitter. I did hear that it wouldn't be in a little compact box like last month but would be in a little make up bag instead, I was a bit disappointed in that. But once I got my box I was not disappointed at all!

That's four full size products there! Plus a make up brush and a trial size sample which is of a decent size. As well as the expected sample size products and a bonus sample which wasn't listed on the info card. Hiding underneath the sachet samples is a small blue zip makeup case.

I loved some of these products, but I couldn't stand some of them. But that's the fun in the sample boxes! You never know which products will impress you and which will disappoint. This months theme was Essential Beauty Buys.

• You, Me & Everybody Shady Lady Daily Face Milk (75ml RRP $9.99) I love this. I've been looking for a new moisturiser with sunscreen as I just wasn't happy with the tinted sunscreen I'd been using. I'd also tried a few moisturisers with sunscreen but I just couldn't find one I'd like. This one is 30+ and is still light without being overly heavy or greasy. I find a lot of sunscreens make me breakout but this one hasn't. Will I buy it? Yes.

• Carmex Moisturising Lip Balm (10g tube RRP $5.99) I hated this. It has camphor and menthol in it, which is a bit like rubbing a mothball on your lips. It made my lips burn and tingle plus the taste of the camphor and menthol lasts for ages. So if you have a drink of water that's what you taste. I'm sure my grandmother used to use this because while the taste was unpleasant it was familiar too. I've used it twice and was bad. The taste and smell just does not work for me. Will I buy it? No. Just no.

• Neutrogena Deep Clean Foaming Cleanser. (175g RRP $13.99) I was a bit sceptical as I remember trying neugtrogena products as a teenager and my skin reacting badly to them. But I gave it ago and I love this. I've been looking for a new cleanser for a while. I had been using L'Oreal Perfect Clean for sensitive skin. But there is something in it that makes my skin flush and burn. Not an attractive look. But I loved this Neutrogena Foaming Cleanser, it works well, it doesn't make me break out or react and the pump pack is awesome. I think all shower products should come in a pump pack. Will I buy? Yes.

• Nutri-Synergy Sensitive Skin Cleanser 100ml (500ml RRP $15.95) This product is not for me. What annoys me is when companies automatically assume sensitive = dry. I have sensitive skin but it's not dry, it's combination. This product was like trying to wash my face with sorbolene (or a thick heavy moisturiser). It also made my face flush bright red and feel like it was burning. I hated the feeling of this product on my skin and it left my skin greasy. Will I buy it? No.

• Ulta3 Nail Polish in Mulberry (13ml RRP $2.00) I've seen Ulta3 products at Woolworths and at pharmacies but I'd never tried them. The colour was a bit dark for me, I used to wear a colour very similar to this when I was in high school, these days I prefer lighter colours. But I gave it a go. It was easy to apply and dried quickly too. Will I buy this? Yes, in fact I picked up a bright green when I was at Woolworths just a few days ago.

• ELF Essentials Smudge Eye Sponge Brush (RRP $3.99) One of my friends has been raving about ELF products for the last couple of years. I've never tried them because I'm a bit wary about buying make up online and the colour not suiting me. But I didn't realise how cheap it was! I love cheap! I don't wear a lot of eye make up, so I haven't tried out the brush yet. Will I buy this? Probably not this exact brush, but I am planning on making an order from ELF in the next few weeks.

• Royal Moroccan Hair Repair Shampoo, Conditioner & Serum. Sachet samples (Shampoo & Conditioner 300ml RRP $17.95, Serum 100ml RRP $29.95) The scent of these products was strong. It took me by surprise at first. I got two washes out of the samples and the product worked well. But by the second use I noticed my hair was getting greasier a lot quicker than normal. I do have dyed dark reddish brown hair which frizzes easier and this product took care of the frizz well. I tried the serum once, but I'm not a fan of serums as they weigh my hair down. Will I buy this? I'm not sure, I'm on the fence about this product. 

• Givenchy Pi Neo (For your Mr. BB.) Sachet sample (50ml RRP $80) First of all, I hate getting perfume or cologne samples in sachets. What is with that? If you tear open the sachet how do you apply it without it getting everywhere? I carefully cut this sachet open with scissors and sniffed it (and got my husband to smell it who said it smelt like hand sanitiser) but I still managed to get it on my hand which I then managed to get on my face leaving me smelling this for hours. Oh, and this was the only way I could smell it. From sachet you can't smell anything! Will I buy this? No. 

• Neutrogena Deep Clean Gentle Scrub 15ml. This product wasn't listed on the info card, so I'm not sure if Bellabox ran out of room or if it's bonus sample. I really loved this scrub. I've been using a scrub by Biore but it just wasn't scrubby enough. This Deep Clean scrub is perfect, it has a nice fresh citrus smell and has enough little scrubby beads in it to feel as if it's really working, without feeling like you're sandblasting your face. Will I buy this? Yes!

Overall I was really impressed by this months Bellabox. There were so many products and so many full size ones at that! The little make up case is perfect, it holds just enough and is small enough to easily throw in your handbag. I can't wait to see what Augusts BB will have!