baking.
Posted by shan | Filed under me, stuff
it’s the middle of summer, right? so this torrential downpour is a little bit infuriating. {truth be told, it’s actually a refreshing change from the relentless heat, but i’m opposed to it on principle.} but, what else is there to do on a miserable saturday than bake your little heart out.
there’s been three very specific things i’ve wanted to make lately:
1. marshmallows. because i bought some homemade marshmallows at the markets recently and they were divine.
2. vegan chocolate avocado cake. because i saw laura’s post about joy the baker’s recipe and it sounded amazing. and weird, which i like. and i don’t eat eggs outside of cakes so it seems odd that i eat them inside of cakes. {it’s not a moral stance or anything, i’ve just never been able to eat them.}
3. banana bread. because we bought too many bananas last grocery shop and i needed to use them up.
so, first up: marshmallows. the recipe was fairly simple, but having never made anything like this before i had a bit of pre-marshmallow anxiety – “is this thick enough? how do i know what this is supposed to look like?!” – but they turned out perfectly. i’ve already planned to make these as easter gifts.
next up was the chocolate avocado cake. this was really simple; no different to a normal cake, really. i snuck a quick taste of the batter just as i was about to pour it into the pan, and was horrified to taste nothing but baking soda. ack! i forgot to put the sugar in! lesson learnt: ALWAYS TASTE YOUR COOKING. but with some extra stirring i was able to work it in just in time. i haven’t had a proper piece yet, but the bits i’ve sneakily broken off have been amazing. i’ll be taking it to an afternoon tea tomorrow, so i look forward to people trying it without knowing what it is. i was originally planning on making a different icing, but decided to make the avocado one just to see what it’s like. tastes good to me!
and lastly, banana bread. i got this recipe from the australian women’s weekly BAKE book. haven’t got it yet? go now. run. i haven’t tried this yet, but i think it might be a little overdone. i’ll sample some for morning tea tomorrow!
now why can’t i be this productive during the week?!
Tags: baking, cooking, food, homemade
what’s for dinner?
Posted by shan | Filed under me
after seeing it mentioned on twitter on new year’s eve, i made a spontaneous decision to join the edible365 project in 2010. the rules are simple – i take a photo of something i’ve eaten everyday and upload it to flickr. a lot of people stick with taking the same meal every day, but i mix it around a bit depending on which meal is the most interesting {and also to avoid revealing just how often i repeat my dinners}.
here’s the month of january, in edible form:
you can see the full size photos in my Edible365 set on flickr.
PS. Now that it’s January 31, I can happily report that I haven’t eaten any more chocolate since that minor sponge cake incident. it really wasn’t that hard at all! I’m thinking of continuing into February, but loosening it a little. I still won’t eat straight up chocolate, but will be forgiven for chocolate flavoured things.
Tags: edible365, flickr, food, photos
honesty.
Posted by shan | Filed under me
internet, i have a confession.
i ate some chocolate.
in my defense, it was actually a chocolate flavoured sponge cake, and it was a tiny tiny piece, and i was at a small gathering for my partner’s grandmother’s 80th birthday where i literally could not refuse it. and, i don’t particularly like sponge cake, so i didn’t really enjoy it.
am i forgiven?
in any case, i’m not actually counting it because it was an unavoidable “special occasion”, but i just felt i should be honest. so i’m now nearly two-thirds through No Chocolate January. woohoo!
Tags: chocolate, food, honesty
rain, rain, go away.
Posted by shan | Filed under etsy, me, stuff
how depressing is this?
this is what it looks like from my kitchen window right now:
it has looked like this for most of the last fortnight, and will continue to look like this for most of the next month and beyond.
so, this is where i am:
in front of the heater with my gold sequined peter alexander slippers. ahhhh, bliss.
the only redeeming things is that at least it’s not that cold. it’s cold, but it’s not obscene-cold. we spent the recent long weekend in canberra and it was just absurdly cold.
so, now i shall spend the rest of my weekend cooking. tim has just moved in with me, so we’re getting a weekly food plan sorted. i’m going to make a chicken pasta bake that we can both take for lunch on the days that we don’t have leftovers. and then i’m going to make some toblerone cookies. yum!
Tags: complaints, food, rain
