Cupcakes and Jello Shooters

BEST BAGELS EVER.

2009-10-18T20:41:00.010+10:00

Soooo....pretty much E and I have completely neglected our blog....but we're back!!!! With many baked goods to share!

I saw a wicked looking recipe on foodgawker for New York style bagels and had to try them. I've made bagels once before, and they turned out well, but nowhere NEAR how good these babies did. E and I tried a cinnamon sugar one, fresh from the oven, and it was definitely the best bagel that I have ever eaten. They have a chewy, delicious crust, and the inside is pillowy, soft and dreamy....sigh.

They are SUPER easy to make as well, and SO worth it.

I found this recipe on the Sophisticated Gourmet blog.

The toppings that I used were: sesame, cinnamon sugar, and cheddar/parmesan/oregano/parsley/sea salt. I made a simple egg wash, brushed that on after boiling, and sprinkled on the toppings before baking.

Ingredients:

2 teaspoons of active dry yeast
1 ½ tablespoons of granulated sugar
1 ¼ cups of warm water (you may need ± ¼ cup more, I know I did)
3 ½ cups (500g) of bread flour or high gluten flour(will need extra for kneading)
1 ½ teaspoons of salt

Optional Toppings:
Caraway seeds, coarse salt, minced fresh garlic, minced fresh onion, poppy seeds, or sesame seeds. (Everyone in my house prefers plain bagels, but I have no preference, so I just went with the plain, so no one could complain.)

Preparation:
1. In ½ cup of the warm water, pour in the sugar and yeast. Do not stir. Let it sit for five minutes, and then stir the yeast and sugar mixture, until it all dissolves in the water.

2. Mix the flour and salt in a large bowl. Make a well in the middle and pour in the yeast and sugar mixture.

3. Pour half of the remaining warm water into the well. Mix and stir in the rest of the water as needed. Depending on where you live, you may need to add anywhere from a couple tablespoons to about ¼ cup of water. You want to result in a moist and firm dough after you have mixed it.

4. On a floured countertop, knead the dough for about 10 minutes until it is smooth and elastic. Try working in as much flour as possible to form a firm and stiff dough.

5. Lightly brush a large bowl with oil and turn the dough to coat. Cover the bowl with a damp dish towel. Let rise in a warm place for 1 hour, until the dough has doubled in size. Punch the dough down, and let it rest for another 10 minutes.

6. Carefully divide the dough into 8 pieces (I used a scale to be extra precise, but it’s not necessary). Shape each piece into a round. Now, take a dough ball, and press it gently against the countertop (or whatever work surface you’re using) moving your hand and the ball in a circular motion pulling the dough into itself while reducing the pressure on top of the dough slightly until a perfect dough ball forms (as pictured below). Repeat with 7 other dough rounds.

7. Coat a finger in flour, and gently press your finger into the center of each dough ball to form a ring. Stretch the ring to about ⅓ the diameter of the bagel and place on a lightly oiled cookie sheet. Repeat the same step with the remaining dough.

8. After shaping the dough rounds and placing them on the cookie sheet, cover with a damp kitchen towel and allow to rest for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat your oven to 425ºF / 220ºC / Gas Mark 7.

9. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Reduce the heat. Use a slotted spoon or skimmer to lower the bagels into the water. Boil as many as you are comfortable with boiling. Once the bagels are in, it shouldn’t take too long for them to float to the top (a couple seconds). Let them sit there for 1 minute, and them flip them over to boil for another minute. Extend the boiling times to 2 minutes each, if you’d prefer a chewier bagel (results will give you a more New York Style bagel with this option).

10. If you want to top your bagels with stuff, do so as you take them out of the water, you may use the “optional toppings” (listed above) to top the bagels and if you’re risky like me, make a combination of the toppings to top the bagels with, but before hand, you will need to use an egg wash to get the toppings to stick before putting the bagels into the oven.

11. Once all the bagels have boiled (and have been topped with your choice of toppings), transfer them to a lightly oiled baking sheet.

12. Bake for 20 minutes, until golden brown.

13. Cool on a wire rack.

Makes 8 medium-sized bagels
Recipe modified from Ultimate Bread by Eric Treuille & Ursula Ferrigno

Delicious Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies

2009-07-30T10:04:00.005+10:00

One night I (E) was tired of studying and was looking for something to do. I had just recently bought a large bag of old-fashioned oats to make the Stawberry Rhubarb Crisp found here - which was amazing by the way - and was looking for a way to put them to good use.

I found a great recipe for Peanut Butter Oatmeal cookies. I didn't have any chocolate, and as it was 10pm on a weeknight (and nothing was open at that time), I omitted the chocolate, but I used everything else that the recipe called for.

Chunky Peanut Butter and Oatmeal Chocolate Chipsters
Dorie Greenspan: Baking, From My Home to Yours

3 cups old fashioned oats
1 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp freshly ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt
2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup peanut butter--chunky or smooth (but not natural) - I used chunky
1 cup sugar
1 cup (packed) light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
9 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped into chunks, or 1 1/2 cups store-bought chocolate chips or chunks (I omitted)

Divide the oven racks into thirds and preheat to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (about 180 degrees Celsius). Line baking sheets with parchment paper.

Whisk together the oats, flour, baking soda, spices and salt.

Using a hand mixer (or a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment), beat the butter, peanut butter, sugar and brown sugar on medium speed until smooth and creamy.

Add the eggs one at a time, beating for 1 minute after each addition, then beat in the vanilla. Reduce the mixer speed to low and slowly add the dry ingredients, beating only until blended. If you are using chocolate chips, blend them in at this point.

The recipe says that you can cover and refrigerate the dough for 2 hours or up to one day. This will give more evenly shaped cookies. I was too excited to eat freshly baked cookies, so I skipped this step, but if you're more patient than I am it can't hurt to refrigerate the dough a little!

If the dough is not chilled, drop rounded tablespoonfuls 2 inches apart onto the baking sheets. If the dough is chilled, scoop up rounded tablespoons, roll the balls between your palms and place them 2 inches apart on the sheets. Press the chilled balls gently with the heel of your hand until they are about 1/2 inch thick.

Bake for 13 to 15 minutes, rotating the sheets from top to bottom and front to back after 7 minutes. The cookies should be golden and just firm around the edges. Lift the cookies onto cooling racks with a wide metal spatula - they'll firm as they cool.

Repeat with the remaining dough, cooling the baking sheets between batches.

I used Friend B's foil-based lighting contraption to take photos of the finished product.

These cookies were deliciously chewy! However, they come with a warning: they make about 40 large cookies, the size of which you can see in the above photograph. I'm not complaining, but if a gigantic amount of cookies is not what you're aiming for, you might want to halve the recipe.

Enjoy!

Cream Cheese Dreaminess

2009-07-29T17:55:00.003+10:00

We've been baking a lot in our sweet new apartment, and this was another recipe I (C) tried out last weekend. They are Cream Cheese Chocolate Chip Cookies from the New York Times.

I found the recipe via foodgawker.

They are delicious cakey cookies, and have just a hint of cream cheese flavour. I didn't quite have enough cream cheese, so that probably made a difference, but they were still awesome.

Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:

4 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
4 ounces butter, room temperature
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips or milk chocolate chips

Preparation:

Heat oven to 350°. Grease a cookie sheet, or spray with nonstick cooking spray, or line with silicone liner.

In a mixing bowl with electric mixer, beat cream cheese, butter, and sugars until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla until smooth. Slowly beat in the flour, baking powder, and salt. Fold in chocolate chips.

Drop by teaspoonfuls onto prepared baking sheet(s), leaving about 1 inch between cookies. These cookies spread very little. Bake for 10 to 14 minutes, or until the cookies are set and lightly browned around the edges.

Makes 2 1/2 to 3 dozen cookies

Happy "It's not actually your birthday, but you never told us when it was, so Happy Pretend Birthday!"

2009-07-28T13:38:00.005+10:00

Sad Times.

Our good friend A is moving home!!!! She got accepted as a transfer student to a Canadian Law School, so she is leaving us forever after this semester!

We decided to have a small going away/"you never told us about your birthday and it passed, so we're making you a cake" party. We had a lovely bbq at the beach, and then came back to the apartment for some chocolate cake! Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures of the awesome bbq food (we made a brown rice salad, Jamie Oliver burgers, fresh spring rolls, and greek lamb sausages. mmmm)

I did manage to take some pictures of the adorable cake we made though!! We used the same recipe for chocolate cake that we had used for E's birthday. Instead of doing two layers, I decided to bake off half of the batter in a muffin pan, and pile the cupcakes on top! We whipped up a quick ganache to ice it with and threw on some sprinkles to make it pretty! It was delicious once again, and the party was lovely.

For the recipe- click Here for the recipe!

Reese's Peanut Butter Cups....Muffin edition

2009-07-28T13:23:00.006+10:00

One fine Thursday morning, I (C) decided to do a little baking while my dear roomie E was at school for a tutorial. I have possibly 1 000 000 recipes favourited on foodgawker, so decided to choose one from there. I decided on Peanut Butter Muffins with Chocolate Chips from the Catching Pennies Blog.

The muffins baked up beautifully, and were soo delish. I chopped up and used some of the rando compounded chocolate that we had bought to make the Daring Bakers mallow cookies. These muffins are soo good.

PS. I'm just so excited that I have to say it again: WE MADE IT ONTO FOODGAWKER FINALLY! We've been trying to take nicer photos lately, and Friend B even MacGyvered a reflector thingy out of some tin foil and a wooden pot rest thingy. We only have point and shoot cameras as well, so it's hard to get professional looking pictures. We try our best though! Also, our readership went up to 3! We got three lovely comments! I was pretty much convinced that no one read our blog other than myself, E and possibly Friend B at times. lol.

Here is the recipe:

Peanut Butter and Milk Chocolate Chip Muffins
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2/3 cup brown sugar
6 tbsp butter, melted and cooled
1/2 cup crunchy peanut butter (or smooth)
2 large eggs
1 cup milk (low fat or skim is fine)
3/4 cup milk chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375F. Line a a standard 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners.
In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt and brown sugar.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the melted butter, peanut butter, eggs and milk until smooth. Pour into flour mixture and stir until just combined. Stir in chocolate chips.
Divide batter into your paper-lined muffin tin. Each cup should be filled to the top, not just half way up, to ensure you get a nice dome on the muffin.
Bake for 17-20 minutes, until a tester comes out clean and the top of the muffin springs back when lightly pressed.
Cool on a wire rack.

Makes 12.

Daring Bakers!

2009-07-27T16:50:00.006+10:00

E and I joined the Daring Bakers this month! The challenge was to make chocolate covered marshmallow cookies and milano cookies.

We were so excited to bake them, and they turned out pretty well! We ran into a few small hitches, but it was a lot of fun. We even brought our mallow cookies out to our backyard (the BEACH! yay!) for a photoshoot. Our neighbours probably thought we were a little crazy.

Mallows(Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Cookies)
Recipe courtesy Gale Gand, from Food Network website

Prep Time: 10 min
Inactive Prep Time: 5 min
Cook Time: 10 min
Serves: about 2 dozen cookies

• 3 cups (375grams/13.23oz) all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup (112.5grams/3.97oz) white sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 3/8 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 12 tablespoons (170grams/ 6 oz) unsalted butter
• 3 eggs, whisked together
• Homemade marshmallows, recipe follows
• Chocolate glaze, recipe follows

1. In a mixer with the paddle attachment, blend the dry ingredients.
2. On low speed, add the butter and mix until sandy.
3. Add the eggs and mix until combine.
4. Form the dough into a disk, wrap with clingfilm or parchment and refrigerate at least 1 hour and up to 3 days.
5. When ready to bake, grease a cookie sheet or line it with parchment paper or a silicon mat.
6. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
7. Roll out the dough to 1/8-inch thickness, on a lightly floured surface. Use a 1 to 1 1/2 inches cookie cutter to cut out small rounds of dough.
8. Transfer to the prepared pan and bake for 10 minutes or until light golden brown. Let cool to room temperature.
9. Pipe a “kiss” of marshmallow onto each cookie. Let set at room temperature for 2 hours.
10. Line a cookie sheet with parchment or silicon mat.
11. One at a time, gently drop the marshmallow-topped cookies into the hot chocolate glaze.
12. Lift out with a fork and let excess chocolate drip back into the bowl.
13. Place on the prepared pan and let set at room temperature until the coating is firm, about 1 to 2 hours.

Note: if you don’t want to make your own marshmallows, you can cut a large marshmallow in half and place on the cookie base. Heat in a preheated 350-degree oven to slump the marshmallow slightly, it will expand and brown a little. Let cool, then proceed with the chocolate dipping.

Homemade marshmallows:
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/4 cup light corn syrup
• 3/4 cup (168.76 grams/5.95oz) sugar
• 1 tablespoon powdered gelatin
• 2 tablespoons cold water
• 2 egg whites , room temperature
• 1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1. In a saucepan, combine the water, corn syrup, and sugar, bring to a boil until “soft-ball” stage, or 235 degrees on a candy thermometer.
2. Sprinkle the gelatin over the cold water and let dissolve.
3. Remove the syrup from the heat, add the gelatin, and mix.
4. Whip the whites until soft peaks form and pour the syrup into the whites.
5. Add the vanilla and continue whipping until stiff.
6. Transfer to a pastry bag.

Chocolate glaze:
• 12 ounces semisweet chocolate
• 2 ounces cocoa butter or vegetable oil

1. Melt the 2 ingredients together in the top of a double boiler or a bowl set over barely simmering water.

yucky goopy gelatin. it didn't smell any better than it looked either!

The VERY sticky glucose syrup. We couldn't find any light corn syrup here in Australia, but the glucose syrup worked well!

after dipping the cookies in chocolate

Milan Cookies
Recipe courtesy Gale Gand, from Food Network website

Prep Time: 20 min
Inactive Prep Time: 0 min
Cook Time: 1 hr 0 min
Serves: about 3 dozen cookies

• 12 tablespoons (170grams/ 6 oz) unsalted butter, softened
• 2 1/2 cups (312.5 grams/ 11.02 oz) powdered sugar
• 7/8 cup egg whites (from about 6 eggs)
• 2 tablespoons vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons lemon extract
• 1 1/2 cups (187.5grams/ 6.61 oz) all purpose flour
• Cookie filling, recipe follows

Cookie filling:
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 8 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
• 1 orange, zested

1. In a mixer with paddle attachment cream the butter and the sugar.
2. Add the egg whites gradually and then mix in the vanilla and lemon extracts.
3. Add the flour and mix until just well mixed.
4. With a small (1/4-inch) plain tip, pipe 1-inch sections of batter onto a parchment-lined sheet pan, spacing them 2 inches apart as they spread.
5. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 10 minutes or until light golden brown around the edges. Let cool on the pan.
6. While waiting for the cookies to cool, in a small saucepan over medium flame, scald cream.
7. Pour hot cream over chocolate in a bowl, whisk to melt chocolate, add zest and blend well.
8. Set aside to cool (the mixture will thicken as it cools).
9. Spread a thin amount of the filling onto the flat side of a cookie while the filling is still soft and press the flat side of a second cookie on top.
10. Repeat with the remainder of the cookies.

E piping out the milanos.

it's chilly these days

2009-07-11T10:35:00.003+10:00

We've been SOOOO busy these past few weeks, hence the lack of posting. E and I have been buried in assessments- writing memorandums of advice, and prepping for client interviews and negotiations. We finally finished this past Thursday, and it feels pretty amazing. This recipe is from a few weeks ago, but I wanted to post it as it was so delicious.

Winter is full on these days, and chili is such a warm, comforting dish. Perfect for days when you are wrapped up in layers of clothes, fuzzy slippers and mittens. (side note- our new apartment gets VERY cold at night. We just moved to a wicked place on the beach, but there is no heating, so it gets QUITE cold at night. The location is worth it though, and we just make sure there are lots of blankets around!)

Here is the recipe:
1 onion, diced
1 tsp minced garlic
1 rib of celery, diced
1 large carrot, diced
1/2 cup shredded green cabbage
1/2 bell pepper, diced
dried herbs and spices-
1 tsp chile powder
1/2 tsp cumin
1 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp paprika
1 can of kidney beans
1/2 pound of ground turkey
1 can diced tomatoes
1 tsp vegetable stock powder

1. Sweat off the onion and garlic in a little bit of oil.
2. Add in turkey, and cook almost alll the way through
3. Add the chopped vegetables and the herbs and spices.
4. Cook until slightly softened and fragrant.
5. Add in the can of tomatoes and the kidney beans.
6. Sprinkle in the tsp of stock powder.
7. Simmer on low for 10-15 minutes.

serve with shredded cheese, sliced green onions and fresh cilantro.

BIg Chief

2009-07-11T10:20:00.004+10:00

E and I recently went to Law Ball, which was a lovely evening at the Mirage Hotel in Main Beach. We got all dressed up in pretty dresses and heels and had a pretty amazing night! The next day we were tired as, and pretty much out of commission, so Big Chief was in order.

We got burgers for takeaway, and brought them back to our apartment to enjoy while watching some H. Pott. (Prisoner of Azkaban I think?)

Anyways, Big Chief burgers are SOOO good. I got this one, the Works Burger, which has a beef patty, lettuce, tomato, bacon, a fried egg, beetroot, bbq sauce and grilled pineapple. It was so big that I didn't eat anything else for the rest of the day. So worth it though. I'm definitely going to miss Big Chief when I go back home to Canada!

If you live in Australia, you should definitely make a trip down to Big Chief. They have a ton of different burgers, and their steak-cut fries are pretty fantabulous as well.

A pic of E, our friend J and I at Law Ball.

Eggcellent

2009-06-25T14:12:00.006+10:00

By C:
I know, cheesy title, but I just couldn't help myself!

I finally was able to sleep in today, and woke up feeling very well rested. It is a relatively nice day today, but it feels like there could be some rain coming. With Queensland, you really never know! One minute it's bright and sunny, the next, torrential rain. I have even witnessed some hail going down in these parts!

The semi-gloomy days always make me crave comfort foods, and comforting today came in the form of a nice fluffy omelet.

I had bought some hot smoked salmon a couple days ago, so decided on my other ingredients around the salmon.

It was lovely.

Recipe:

2 large eggs
a splash of milk

a small piece of hot smoked salmon, flaked into small pieces
a small spoonful of capers (I stole a few from my roomie E!)
1 artichoke heart, torn into small pieces
1 tbsp or so of cream cheese
salt and freshly ground pepper

Directions:
1.Whisk the eggs and milk in a small bowl.
2. Heat a small frying pan on medium heat and add a small amount of oil.
3. When the pan is hot, add the eggs.
4. Cook for 1 -2 min, scraping the bottom and allowing the runny egg to fill the gaps.
5. Sprinkle in capers, salmon, artichoke and salt and pepper.
6. Gently flip the omelet over when the top is almost set.
7. Place small knobs of cream cheese on one half of the omelet.
8. When the bottom is cooked, fold the omelet in half and slide onto your plate.

Chocolate Craving. Friend B: Episode 2

2009-06-24T22:27:00.007+10:00

So, E, Friend B and I were just chillin' out, maxin', relaxin' all cool today, watching some Sex And The City and Masterchef...when E and I suddenly NEEDED some chocolate cake.

We had been watching the SATC episode where Miranda gets a chocolate craving and decides to bake a Betty Crocker cake. She ends up cutting little pieces from it every time she passes the kitchen, and can't stop herself from eating more and more. To avoid eating the entire cake, she first tries covering it in foil (which deosn't work), then putting it in the fridge (again- no dice), then putting it in the GARBAGE (even THAT didn't stop her), and finally- pouring dish soap on top of it.

I feel as though all girls love chocolate and can totally relate to the temptation that Miranda faces in this episode.

Friend B was Oh So Kind and offered to make us a chocolate cake. He whipped up a quick recipe of the Deep Dark Chocolate Cake that was mentioned in E's birthday post. He halved it, and the three of us pretty much finished it off! We are champions.

There was also ice cream involved. We didn't have any ice cream in our freezer, so decided that a quick trip to Macca's was necessary. We took Miss Daisy (our lovely champagne station wagon) to pick up 6 ice creams, which Macca's so accomodatingly put into lids instead of cones for us, and raced back home to enjoy the ice cream with our warm chocolate cake.

It was AMAZING.

We found the recipe via foodgawker. It was on the website www.inncuisine.com.
Here is the recipe:

Deep Dark Chocolate Cake

2 cups granulated sugar
1 & 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup cocoa (I used and recommend Hershey’s Special Dark Cocoa)
1 & 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 & 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable or canola oil
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup boiling water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour two 9-inch cake rounds or one 13×9x2-inch baking pan.

In a large mixing bowl, stir together the first six ingredients (sugar through salt); add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed for 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin); pour into prepared pan(s) and bake in a preheated 350 degree F oven for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center comes our clean. If baking cake rounds, allow rounds to cool slightly before turning out onto wire racks to cool completely. If using rectangular baking pan, allow cake to cool completely before icing.

One Bowl Chocolate Frosting

6 tablespoons butter, softened to room temperature
2 & 2/3 cups confectioner’s (powdered) sugar
1/2 cup cocoa (again, I used and recommend Hershey’s Special Dark Cocoa)
1/3 cup heavy whipping cream
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

In a medium-sized bowl, mix and beat all ingredients using an electric mixer. If icing seems too thick, add a touch more heavy cream until desired consistency is reached, taking care not to over-thin the icing. I have found these amounts enough to frost the top and center layer of two, stacked, 9-inch cake rounds (but not the sides) or the top of a 13×9x2-inch rectangular cake. If you are looking to frost the sides of the stacked cake rounds as well, consider doubling these amounts.

Note to Self: When a muffin recipe tells you to line the trays with paper liners, do NOT spray it instead.

2009-06-24T15:55:00.009+10:00

E and B learned this lesson the hard way when making Barefoot Contessa's Tri-Berry Muffins one night. You can find the recipe here.

The recipe clearly indicated lining the trays before spooning in the batter, but since we didn't have any paper liners and it was late at night, we figured there couldn't be much harm in just spraying the pans with canola spray instead.

Turns out we were wrong. Very, very wrong.

Here's what the batter looked like before spooning it into the pans. Nothing weird going on here, right?

We were pretty excited to enjoy the final product, as I (E) am a carbaholic and love freshly baked muffins. However, this is what ended up coming out of the oven...it wasn't so much a "muffin" as it was a "random crumbly mess".

However, crisis averted: we ended up just scooping the "muffins" out of the tray and ate them out of a bowl, which turned this semi-disaster into something rather pleasant!

However, when it was time for round two, we just decided not to line or spray the pans whatsoever...considering whatever the result was, it couldn't be worse than what previously happened.

Nice surprise, hey? We just had to pry the muffins out a little by running a knife around the edges first, but other than that, no biggie.

They ended up being pretty fantastic muffins. Just remember to line the tray first.

Bananas in Pyjamas/ Banana Muffins

2009-06-23T22:43:00.009+10:00

By C:
As a child (/for the majority of my life ie. 21 years), I hated bananas. I hated the smell, the texture, the gross peels, and most of all- the fact that they reminded me of the disgusting medicine my mother forced me to take when I was sick. Only recently have I come to like them. I began to develop an appreciation for them when I was in the Dominican Republic. I spent a month there doing volunteer work, and the snacks that they had on site were usually bananas and pineapple. Pretty much any fresh tropical fruit is delicious, so I made myself eat one, one day, and realized that they really weren't so bad! Pretty fan-friggin-tastic actually.

However, despite my childhood-loathing of bananas in their raw form, I always loved banana bread and banana muffins. I have a similar weird quirky thing where I really hated ketchup as a child, but really liked tomatoes... but that is a little different I suppose.

Anyhow, here is a recipe I found on allrecipes.com for Banana Breadl , which I made into muffins.

I also added some dark chocolate melts that I had.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup white sugar
1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 egg whites
1 cup banana, mashed
1/4 cup applesauce

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease an 8x4 inch loaf pan.
In a large bowl, stir together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon. Add egg whites, bananas and applesauce; stir just until combined. Pour batter into prepared pan.
Bake in preheated oven for 50 to 55 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of loaf comes out clean. Turn out onto wire rack and allow to cool.

**PS E and I JUST found out that we got the beautiful apartment that we've been waiting on! it is RIGHT on the beach. Look forward to posts with our snazzy new pad in the backdrop.

Happy EOFYS, EOFYS, EOFYYYYYYYYSSS!!!!!

2009-06-23T22:37:00.002+10:00

Happy EOFYS everybody!!

N.B. For those who have absolutely no idea what this post is about, there is a commercial for Foxtel's End of Financial Year Sale that pretty much airs nonstop here on the Gold Coast. TV, radio, elevators, everywhere.

I(E) can't get this catchy jingle out of my head no matter how hard I try!!! Suggestions??

E's Birthday Extravaganza, starring: Friend B

2009-06-23T10:48:00.008+10:00

This is what our kitchen looked like around the halfway point in cooking up the birthday feast for E. Our darling E turned 24 this month, and Friend B planned an 8 course dinner for her- almost all dishes by Jamie Oliver. (Friend B may or may not have a slight man-crush on the Naked Chef...)

The whole meal took us about 6-7 hours to complete (it was like our own Masterchef episode) and the end result was pretty amazing!

It started off with a little peppercorn cheese with water crackers (not included in the number of courses):

The main was a Steak with a Chianti Butter Sauce:

with a side of Olive Oil Mash:

Home made Ravioli with potato, mint and pecorino cheese in a Butter and Mint Sauce and Steamed Broccoli with Beurre Blanc Sauce:

* the ravioli was especially tricky, as we don't own a pasta roller OR a rolling pin. Friend B really wanted to make it though, so we improvised by using our can of canola oil spray. The ravioli turned out quite thick, but better than expected for not having the proper tools.

The spread, complete with pink napkins:

and for the grand finale:

Eton Mess- vanilla meringue, with whipped cream and strawberries macerated in balsamic vinegar and sugar:

Deep Dark DELICIOUS Chocolate Cake:
* note the unique architectural structure- one square layer and one circular layer- Friend B's idea

Home made Vanilla Custard Ice Cream:

and Citrus flavoured Donuts with Cinnamon Sugar:

It was QUITE the feast.

Recipes will come soon.

Homemade Mac n'Cheese

2009-06-22T23:54:00.006+10:00

One night I(E) needed to find a use for some leftover Gorgonzola (that was partially used to create a gnocchi masterpiece). After some googling and searching on Foodgawker, I came across this recipe for homemade Mac n'Cheese.

I have to admit, it turned out pretty amazingly to say the least, and it's quick to prepare.

I didn't really follow the recipe measure for measure, mostly because we don't have measuring spoons or a scale in our apartment, which can be an issue...

Nonetheless, I would definitely suggest trying this recipe. It says serves 4-6 but when you have appetites the likes of B and I, and a recipe as great as this one, there are rarely leftovers!

Side Salad: We added a bit of grated Pecorino as well as Parmesan on top before baking, which only upped the awesome factor!

Macaroni with Gorgonzola and Parmesan Cream (from Bloomacious)

2 cups milk
2 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus a little extra for greasing
3 1/2 tablespoons all purpose flour
pinch of nutmeg
salt and ground pepper
4 oz Gorgonzola cheese, crumbled
1 lb dried macaroni
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup (?) grated Pecorino cheese

Method:
Heat milk in a saucepan over medium-low heat; when warm, turn element off and let stand.

In other saucepan, combine butter and flour over low heat, stirring vigorously with a wooden spoon as the butter melts and flour is mixed in. Once the butter is fully melted, cook and stir for 2 minutes longer.

Gradually add warm milk, stirring constantly. Mix fully before adding all milk. Cook, stirring often, until thickened. Continue to cook for about 3 minutes.

Add nutmeg, salt and pepper to taste and stir in well. Remove from heat, but keep warm and covered.

Bring a large pot of water full of salted water to a boil. Preheat oven to 350 F. Lightly grease a 6 x 12 baking dish with butter.

Add the macaroni to the boiling water and cook until about 1/2 way done, about 5 minutes. Drain and transfer to prepared baking dish.

Add the warm sauce and Gorgonzola and stir gently. Sprinkle Parmesan and Pecorino on top.

Bake until the top is golden, about 20 minutes.

Enjoy!!!!

Saturday Mornings

2009-06-22T23:16:00.004+10:00

Breakfast is perhaps my favourite meal of the day, but sadly, it is often rushed and frantic. It is especially frantic on the days that we have 8am class (Evidence Law at 8 am??? WHO thought that was a good idea?).

Some days, it's toast wrapped in (ghetto) paper towel to be eaten in the car with a travel mug of coffee...but other days, it's homemade pancakes with butter and maple syrup, or banana and cream cheese- stuffed french toast....fluffy omelets with veggies and cheese...oh, breakfast can be downright dreamy. Anyhow, weekends are the perfect time to slow down and take the time to enjoy it. Especially when you are lucky enough to have a sunny day, a comfy couch, and a gorgeous ocean view.

This is what I made a couple weekends ago. I was originally planning on being lazy and just having toast with jam, but noticed my bag of avos on the counter and decided to let them join the breakfast party.

This recipe is too easy to even be called a recipe, but to make this dreamy breakfast sandwich, you'll need:
two pieces of multigrain bread, toasted
some butter or margarine (if you're in Australia, Devondale is the way to go!)
1 egg, fried (I like mine just a little bit runny inside)
1/2 a small avo, cut into thin slices
a couple pieces of sliced tomato
1 piece of cheese (I used process cheese- shame on me, I know. I happen to love it though! )
salt and pepper

1. Pop your bread in the toaster
2. Fry the egg to your liking.
3. When the egg is just about finished, top with cheese and cover pan to let cheese melt.
4. Take the toast out of the toaster and spread with butter or margarine.
5. Place avo slices and tomato slices on one piece of bread.
6. Top with the cheese-topped fried egg.
7. Place other piece of bread on top.
8. voila- delish breakfast sandwich.
**Best enjoyed while still in pyjamas.

I eat Chuna on Chuesday

2009-06-11T14:27:00.005+10:00

Our friend L, who is Australian, once tried to convince E and I that the proper way to say Tu (as in Tunes, Tuesday etc) was pronounced "Chu"- as in Chuesday and Chunes. However, he then went on to explain that that pronunciation was not appropriate in all circumstances- ie. Looney Tunes is pronounced "Looney Tunes" and not "Looney Chunes". Call me crazy, but does this make ANY sense to you?

*note the LOVELY weather outside! It's a gorgeous day.

Anyways, long story short, I bought an amazing baguette from Coles today, and had a huge can of TUna in the pantry, so decided to make a little (read:big) sammy for lunch.

I didn't measure (as usual, sorry!) but here is a rough recipe:

Tuna Salad

1 regular can of tuna
1 rib of celery, diced
2 tsp mayonnaise
1-2 tbsp sour cream
1 tsp dijon mustard
salt and pepper

dreamy baguette or bun

fancy lettuce (I am unsure of what type of lettuce this is- anyone know fancy lettuce equivalent in places such as Canada, where there is no such thing as fancy lettuce?)
1 artichoke heart, torn apart- I buy the ones just in brine- no oil
sliced tomato

Pile on a big ol' scoop of tuna salad onto your bun, top with tomato, lettuce and the pieces of artichoke. Place top of bun onto the pile of deliciousness. Enjoy.

Toast Love

2009-06-11T14:05:00.007+10:00

There haven't been any posts on toast, and seeing as we claim that this blog is about life, love, surfing and TOAST, I (C) thought it was about time to write one! Toast is quite high on my list of favourite foods. I'm sure that many people may find toast boring, but there are so many options and delicious variations of toppings that you can put on toast, that "boring" is definitely not a word I would ever use to describe my beloved toast. AND, who can say no to warm, chewy, crispy pieces of BREAD. I'm pretty sure that my life would end if I ever developed a gluten allergy. It's just that kind of love, people.

Here is a picture of the delicious brekky that I had today. I have toast pretty much every morning, and these have been my favourite toppings lately- light devondale (most amazing margarine ever) wth 4 berry jam, and crunchy peanut butter with sliced bananas.

**Fun fact- E and C love combining cream cheese and peanut butter on toast. You should try it. Now. It is beyond amazing.

Esquire Take Two: Steak Tacos

2009-06-10T16:30:00.012+10:00

After the epic success of the Chicken Parm Sandwich, E and B decided to tackle another Esquire recipe, Kerry Simon's Steak Tacos. It does have a LOT of ingredients, but the end result is worth it. Although the recipe says that it serves 6 to 8, our massive appetites ensured that these tacos didn't last long.

Esquire's Steak Tacos (Serves 6-8)

For tacos:

3 1/2 pounds skirt steak, cut against the grain into strips (a little smaller than your little finger)
20 flour tortillas (4 inch)
1/2 cup canola oil
1 large head Napa cabbage (also called Chinese), cleaned, cut into thin strips, and tossed with the juice of 2 limes

For spice mixture:

2 tsp chipotle chile powder
2 tbsp garlic powder
2 tbsp paprika
2 tbsp cumin
3 tsp kosher or coarse salt

For salsa:

1 jalapeño pepper
1 red onion, sliced 1/4-inch thick
4 plum tomatoes
2 oz canola oil
1 tsp kosher or coarse salt
1/2 bunch cilantro, roughly chopped
3 fresh limes, juiced

For guacamole:

6 ripe Haas avocados, halved, pits removed, flesh scooped out and placed in large bowl with the juice of 4 limes
4 plum tomatoes, small diced (about 2 cups)
1 red onion, minced, about 1 cup
1 bunch cilantro, roughly chopped
2 tsp kosher or coarse salt

For lime crema:

2 cups sour cream
2 fresh limes

Tip: The salsa, crema, and guacamole can be prepared up to 2 hours ahead of time, wrapped tightly, and refrigerated. When wrapping the guacamole, place a layer of plastic film directly on the surface (and/or keep avocado pits in the bowl) to avoid discoloration from oxidation.

To make tacos: Combine spice-mixture ingredients and toss with steak to coat and set aside.

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Warm tortillas on cookie sheet in oven. Heat two large sauté pans to medium-high. When pans are hot, add oil to each pan followed by 1/2 the seasoned meat. Spread meat out evenly and cook without turning while you lay out warm tortillas on a clean work area to get ready for assembly. Cook meat for approximately 3 minutes, turn, and cook for another 3 minutes, stirring occasionally to achieve even coloring. After 3 minutes, turn off heat and allow meat to sit in the pan, becoming just cool enough for you to handle.

We were initially unable to find Chipotle Chili Powder at the supermarket, until we encountered "Mexican Chile Powder", which, in Australia, is apparently the same thing. So...just an FYI.

To make salsa: Rub jalapeño, onion, and tomatoes lightly with oil and roast in large sauté pan on medium-high, turning frequently until lightly charred all over. Set aside to cool. This was the end result:

When cooled, roughly chop and place in a food processor with salt, pulsing until almost smooth but still just a little chunky. Transfer to bowl, add cilantro and lime juice, cover, and refrigerate.

Unfortunately, our salsa ended up being slightly watery.

However, all was not lost; we just drained the excess liquid from the salsa and everything was OK.

To make guacamole: Lightly crush avocados with fork until almost smooth but still a little chunky.

This recipe called for a LOT of avocados...although I'm definitely not complaining!

Evenly mix in tomatoes, red onion, cilantro, and salt; cover and refrigerate.

B was responsible for making the guacamole, did a pretty great job. He makes a cameo here, chopping tomatoes with scientific precision:

To make lime crema: Whisk 2 cups sour cream together with the juice of 2 fresh limes.

Once all your ingredients are prepared, you're all set to prepare these yummy, yummy tacos.

Enjoy!!

Esquire Magazine Has Recipes?

2009-06-10T16:21:00.006+10:00

I(E) didn't know this, but Esquire magazine has some pretty great recipes.
One lazy afternoon E and friend B decided to try out Esquire's Chicken Parm Hero, which turned out to be one of the best sandwiches we'd ever had.

The recipe can be found here.

We couldn't find Semolina hero rolls at our local friendly Coles supermarket, so we just used sliced Artisan loaf instead. I'd say it turned out just fine that way as well, but if you can find a nice, soft sandwich roll I'm sure it can only add to the amazing taste experience.

Highly recommended.

A Modified Version of Harold Dieterle's Chicken-Parm Hero:

Ingredients

• 1 boneless, skinless organic chicken-breast cutlet (about 8 oz)
• 2 tbsp flour
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten (overbeating creates air bubbles that prevent the bread crumbs from sticking)
• 1/2 cup seasoned bread crumbs
• Canola or peanut oil for frying
• Artisan loaf, cut into approximately 1" slices
• Sauce (see below)
• 2 tbsp grated pecorino
• 1/4 cup (4 oz) shredded buffalo mozzarella

Method

Dredge chicken breast in flour (knocking off excess), dip in egg (dripping off excess), and press in bread crumbs (must be thoroughly coated at each step). In a sauté pan over medium to high heat, add 1/4 inch of oil. When a pinch of breading sizzles on contact, fry breaded cutlet (lowering heat if necessary) until golden brown and cooked through, about 3 minutes on each side. (Check for doneness by making a tiny cut in thickest part of breast.)

Place bread slices on foil-covered sheet pan and lightly toast under preheated broiler. Lightly coat upper and lower halves with sauce and arrange cutlet on bottom half, cutting to fit if necessary.

Top with sauce, grated pecorino, and buffalo mozzarella. Transfer to preheated 350 degree oven until cheese is melted, about 2 or 3 minutes. Set top in place and serve.

Sauce

• 1/4 cup spicy Italian sausage, out of casing and crumbled
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 cup white onion, minced
• 2 tsp fennel seed
• 2 basil leaves, chopped
• 1 can (14 1/2 oz) crushed organic tomatoes
• Coarse salt and ground black pepper to taste

In a medium sauce pot over low to medium heat, cook sausage. Strain off fat, add garlic, onion, fennel seed, and basil, and cook until softened. Add tomatoes and simmer over low heat until thickened, about 30 minutes. Season to taste.

Turkey Monday

2009-06-08T19:00:00.005+10:00

Today started out a little rough for me (c). For some reason, I woke up feeling like I'd been hit by a truck, and was nauseous AS. I decided to go to school with E though, and almost died during our PPT class, so went home for a couple hours to nap. Anyways, nausea subsided, and the day got much better. I even had an ok time taking the bus to school! It was the first time that I was actually impressed by Surfside bus lines! However, I still have not completely changed my mind about those bus drivers..mr. bus driver was nice today, but I didn't have my 7ft surfboard in tow.

So, the day ended much better than it started, and I made a delicious dinner. I had seen an amazing looking recipe for turkey meatballs with tomato cream sauce, and had bought some ground turkey the other day, so it worked out quite perfectly.

I found the recipe on Evil Shenanigans Blog
I halved the recipe, as my package of turkey was only 1/2 a pound, and I also added some veggies- 1/2 a zucchini and 1/2 a red pepper.

Turkey Meatballs with Quick Tomato Cream Sauce Serves 6

Sauce:
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 cup diced onion
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 - 12 oz can diced tomatoes
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon fresh thyme
1/2 teaspoon fresh oregano, chopped
2 teaspoons fresh basil, chopped
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 cup heavy cream

Meatballs:
1 pound lean ground turkey
2/3 cup grated carrots
1/2 cup finely diced yellow onion
1/4 cup bread crumbs
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon fresh oregano, minced
2 teaspoons fresh thyme, minced
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/3 cup freshly grated parmesan
Fresh cracked pepper
1 pound papradelle

For the sauce heat the olive oil over medium heat until it shimmers. Add the onion and cook until soft, about three minutes. Add the garlic and red pepper flakes then cook until fragrant, 30 seconds to a minute.

Add the diced tomatoes with the liquid and stir to combine. Add the sugar, fresh herbs - except the basil, and salt then bring to a simmer.

Put the mixture in the blender, along with the basil, and process until smooth, about two to three minutes on high. Pour back into the pot and return to the heat and bring back to a simmer. Turn off the heat and add the cream. Stir to combine.

Preheat the broiler and line a baking sheet with parchment, then spray with vegetable oil.

To prepare the meatballs combine the turkey, carrots, onion, garlic, bread crumbs, and egg. Mix until combined.

Add the herbs, salt, pepper, and cheese. Mix well.

With a small disher, about two tablespoons, scoop out the meatballs into the prepared sheet pan. You should get between 25 and 30 meatballs. Top with a dash of the paprika.

Bake under the broiler for 10 to 15 minutes, or until the meatballs reach an internal temperature of 165 F.

While the meatballs are in the oven prepare the pasta according to the package directions.

To serve put the pasta in a serving bowl and toss with half the sauce. Add the meatballs to the serving dish and drizzle the remaining sauce on top. Garnish with fresh grated parmesan cheese and torn basil.

Martha Rocks my Socks

2009-06-05T22:05:00.021+10:00

I (C) love Martha. I have been a fan her for a long time, way back before she was involved in insider trading, went to jail, was under house arrest, and had to wear an ankle monitor. I personally think that her show became much better after all the whole jail vacay. She is way less stuck up, and can look back on the whole debacle and even poke fun at herself once in a while!

Anyhow, here are a bunch of pictures of various baked goods that are from the Martha Stewart Baking Book. Also, a couple random recipes- just a collection of baking pictures I have on my computer.

A chocolate cake that I made this past Christmas. It is actually a modified box mix. I have to say that Betty Crocker cake mixes are pretty awesome! I added 1 cup of sour cream, an extra egg, and a teaspoon of vanilla extract. The icing is a whipped ganaache, with an unwhipped ganache poured over the top. The ganache is just equal parts of whipping cream and chocolate. Whipping it makes it fluffy, moussey and dreamy.

Here are a couple Easter recipes:

Chocolate wafer cookies with chocolate ganache and coconut nests, with mini egg (favourites).
This is a Martha Recipe:

Ingredients:

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for rolling out dough
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup Dutch-process cocoa powder, sifted
6 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
1 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon instant espresso powder
Gel-paste food coloring
2 cups sweetened shredded coconut
6 candy-coated chocolate eggs

Directions

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper, and set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine butter and sugar.
In a large bowl, combine flour, salt, and cocoa powder. Add flour mixture to butter mixture; mix on low speed just until a stiff dough forms, about 2 minutes. Transfer dough to a piece of plastic wrap, wrap tightly, and chill until firm, about 30 minutes.
Place chocolate, heavy cream, and espresso powder in a medium heatproof bowl. Place the bowl over a pan of gently simmering water, stirring occasionally, until chocolate has melted. Remove bowl from heat, and set the chocolate ganache aside to cool, stirring occasionally.
On a lightly floured surface, roll out chilled dough to a 1/4-inch thickness. Using a 2 1/4-inch-round cookie cutter, cut out 24 cookies; place them on lined baking sheets. Chill cookies until firm, about 20 minutes.
Bake cookies until set, about 14 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
For colored coconut, combine a few drops of food coloring with 3 tablespoons water in a medium bowl. Stir in coconut; mix until evenly colored. Spread on an ungreased baking sheet; bake just until dry, about 12 minutes, being careful not to brown. Let coconut cool; transfer to a small bowl.
When the ganache has cooled to room temperature, whisk until it becomes stiff enough to pipe. Transfer ganache to a pastry bag fitted with a 3/8-inch-round tip, and pipe around perimeters of cookies. Dip each cookie, ganache-side down, into plain or colored coconut. Fill "nests" with candy-coated chocolate eggs, 2 or 3 eggs per nest. Store cookies in an airtight container, refrigerated, up to 3 days.

Bunny Bread

I don't really know what recipe I used, so can't post it, but I think they were rosemary bunny buns. Mega cute.

Chicky Cupcakes

Another amazing Martha recipe:
Cupcakes

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
4 large eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cupcake pans with liners; set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing until incorporated; scrape down sides of bowl, and beat in vanilla.
Add flour mixture and milk alternately, beginning and ending with flour. Scrape down sides and bottom of bowl.
Divide batter evenly among liners, filling each about three-quarters full. Bake until tops spring back when touched, about 20 minutes, rotating pan once if needed. Transfer to a wire rack; let cool for 5 minutes. Remove cupcakes from pan, and let cool completely on wire rack.

Makes 5 1/2 cups

1 1/2 cups sugar
6 large egg whites
2 cups (4 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions:

In a heatproof bowl set over simmering water, whisk sugar and egg whites until warm and sugar is dissolved, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Beat mixture on medium speed until completely cooled and stiff peaks have formed, about 10 minutes.
Add butter, a few tablespoons at a time; beat until combined. Add vanilla and salt; beat on low speed until smooth, about 5 minutes.

To Decorate:

4 cups sweetened shredded coconut, toasted
1 piece (10 inches) black licorice lace, cut into 40 (1/3-inch) pieces
20 whole almonds
140 red candy-coated licorice pastels (about 1/3 cup), or pieces of snipped red licorice laces

1. Bake cupcakes and cool completely. When turned upside-down, each cupcake becomes the body of a chick. Spread buttercream frosting on a cupcake to anchor it to the serving plate while you are working. Use a small offset spatula to coat the sides thickly with frosting, and then mound more on top to create a dome shape
2. Press toasted shredded coconut into the frosting -- it stands in for fuzzy feathers. Hold the plate at an angle while applying the coconut so the excess falls back into the bowl.
3. Place eyes (made from snipped black licorice laces) on chicks using tweezers. Use a whole almond for the beak and red licorice for the feet and comb; both can be pushed into the frosting by hand.

This is my FAVOURITE carrot cake, and I make it at every family gathering. It is also the carrot cake that I mentioned in my Hong Kong post- the one I made in my cousin's teeny kitchen. It is a recipe from Best of Bridges. I like my carrot cake without nuts or raisins or pineapple- just moist, sweet, spiced, carrot-y, cake-y goodness. This cake is even better the next day, straight out of the fridge. It stays moist for at least 3 days after it's baked, but it rarely lasts that long in my house!

I double the recipe to get a big, tall double layer cake. You could just cut the one layer in half to make a double layer cake, but this cake is so good that I always double it.

Karrot's Cake:
3/4 cup corn oil
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/3 tsp. baking soda (!)
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
2 cups finely grated carrots (4-5)

Icing
8 oz. pkg. cream cheese, room temperature. (Don't use spreadable or light cream cheese!)
1/4 cup butter, room temperature
2 1/2 cups icing sugar
2 tsp. vanilla

Instructions:
To make cake: Beat together oil and sugar. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Combine dry ingredients and add to egg mixture. Beat all together until well blended. Fold in raw carrots. Bake 1 hour at 300 F. in a greased 9"x13" pan. (Can also be made in a bundt pan.)
To make icing: Soften cream cheese and butter; beat well. Add sugar and vanilla and beat again. Spread on cooled cake.

This is another one of my favourite cakes- it's from Nigella's book, How to be a Domestic Goddess. I have made it countless times, and it always gets rave reviews. It is a simple sponge cake with a layer of meringue, sprinkled with slivered almonds. This picture shows the cake without the top layer.

Strawberry Meringue Cake

Cranberry Pistachio Biscotti

I make these every Christmas to give away as presents. I use Martha's recipe, but modify it by using almonds instead of pistachios, and I dip the finished biscotti in melted chocolate and chopped almonds to fancy it up a little.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup boiling water
3 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar, plus more for sprinkling
3 large eggs, plus 1 large egg, lightly beaten
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup (2 1/2 ounces) unsalted pistachios, coarsely chopped

Directions;

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper; set aside. Place cranberries in a small bowl; add boiling water. Let stand until plump, about 15 minutes. Drain, and set aside. Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt into a medium bowl; set aside.
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add 3 eggs, one at a time, beating to incorporate after each addition and scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Beat in vanilla. Add flour mixture, and mix on low speed until combined. Mix in cranberries and pistachios.
Turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface; divide in half. Shape each piece into a 16-by-2-inch log, and transfer to prepared baking sheet, about 3 inches apart. With the palm of your hand, flatten logs slightly. Brush beaten egg over surface of the dough logs, and sprinkle generously with sugar.
Bake, rotating sheet halfway through, until logs are slightly firm to touch, about 25 minutes. Transfer logs on parchment paper to a wire rack to cool slightly, about 20 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 300 degrees.
Place logs on a cutting board. Using a serrated knife, cut logs crosswise on the diagonal into 1/2-inch-thick slices. Place a wire rack on a large rimmed baking sheet. Arrange slices, cut sides down, on rack. Bake until firm to touch, about 30 minutes. Remove pan from oven; let biscotti cool completely on rack. Biscotti can be kept in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week.

This post is getting far too long, so I won't post recipes for these two cakes now. They're both Martha cakes though- this one is a Pumpkin Spice Cake with Brown Butter Glaze.

This one is a Yellow Butter Cake with Chocolate Buttercream frosting.

And a picture of my two babies, thrown in for good measure:

I miss them!!! Too bad my mom can't ship one of them over to me here in Australia! :(

Things we <3 - Cupcakes, Sprinkles & Butterflies

2009-06-05T21:28:00.009+10:00

Our friend A turned 24 this week, so of course, we made cupcakes! We looked around for decorating ideas, but the baking section of Coles let us down massively, and squashed our dreams of mini oreo decorations and other cupcake cuteness. We settled on white icing with multi coulour sprinkles, and tried (a tad unsuccessfully) to make a few into butterfly cupcakes. The butterflies were cute, but difficult to make as the recipe we used produced cupcakes with a crispier top than desirable for cutting out the wings.

from Food Network Canada
Vanilla Cupcakes:

2cups sifted cake-and-pastry flour
1 cup granulated sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup milk
2 x eggs
1 tsp vanilla

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Using electric mixer on low speed, mix in butter, milk, eggs and vanilla; beat on high speed until smooth, about 2 minutes.
Spoon into 12 paper-lined or greased muffin cups, filling about three-quarters full. Bake in centre of 375°F (190°C) oven until cake tester inserted in centre comes out clean, about 18 minutes. Transfer to rack; let cool completely. (Make-ahead: Store in airtight container for up to 1 day or freeze for up to 2 weeks.) Variation: Chocolate Cupcakes - Reduce flour to 1 cup and baking powder to 1/2 tsp. Add 1/2 cup cocoa powder and 1 tsp baking soda to dry ingredients. Sift before adding butter and wet ingredients.

For the icing, I just kinda mixed some icing sugar with a few tabelspoons of butter and enough milk to thin it out to the desired consistency. (Again, not a measuring kind of girl)

For the Butterfly cupcakes, we cute out wing/circle shapes from the top, leveled them, and cut the pieces in half. We filled the cupcake with a little icing, and placed the wing halves back on top. A little icing, a few sprinkles, and an m&m to complete!

** Side Salad story for your amusement: E and I got Rosemount Sauvignon Blanc for $11.99! Needless to say, we had a fantabulous night, which ended in: us standing at a McDonald's drivethru while our cabbie waited for us to order, and later, eating mentioned McDonald's while watching an informercial on a broom and devising a pyramid scheme to try and get the brooms for free. Also, a box of crackers managed to sneak into E's bed....?

Wontonssssss....

2009-06-05T20:19:00.008+10:00

The other night, E and I did a little grocery shopping tour of the GC and bought many many yummy items. One of our stops was the Asian Grocery Store in Mermaid. The store is a little bit ridiculous, but we like it. The aisles are ridiculously narrow, and the shelves are stocked full of interesting, exciting and sometimes scary asian products. I got some "toasted cuttlefish", which I am a fan of despite the scary name (and smell). I made E try some, and she actually liked it! We also got some mung bean noodles, sweet potato noodles, tofu, wonton wrappers, and chocolate panda cookies for a birthday present.

The next stop was Coles to pick up bok choy and pork, then raced home for a wonton making extravanganza. Well, perhaps not extravaganza...it was only mildly exciting.

I have fond memories of making millions of these wonton guys with my g-ma, mom and sister at home, and we also make them a lot when we go up north to our cottage. It's a really fun thing to do with famjams and friends. Due to the time difference between Australia and Canada, I couldn't call my mom for the recipe for the filling, so I made my best guess as to what was inside, and they actually turned out really well!

I bought a package of ground pork....I'm guessing it was about a pound or so....it cost $4? lol, sorry for the lack of measurements- I'm not a measuring kind o' girl.

Northern Style Wontons/Dumplings
Ingredients:
ground pork- a $4 package, if you buy your meat at Coles lol!
1 bunch of bok choy, chopped finely
2 teaspoons minced garlic
2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
2 tablespoons soy sauce
ground pepper

wonton wrappers
water to seal the wontons

Direction:
Mix all filling ingredients together in a large bowl, try not to overmix.
Take a wonton wrapper, place about a scant tablespoon of filling onto the wrapper.
Dip a finger into water and wet the edges of the wrapper.
Fold the wrapper in half, so that it becomes a triangle.
Pinch the edges of the wrapper gently to seal.
Take the bottom corners of the triangle and pull them down and fold them over one another, and seal with a little more water.

If you want to make them dumplings, circle shaped wrappers are best. To seal dumpling wrappers, simply fill, fold in half, and seal, scalloping the edges.

At this point, you can freeze them by spreading them out on a tray and freezing them until firm, then transferring them to a container or ziplock bag.

If cooking as wontons, boil for approximately 5-6 minutes, just until the meat is cooked, and the wontons float.
Wontons can be served with flat rice noodles and broth.

If cooking as dumplings, place a frying pan on high heat with a couple tbs of oil. When hot, place the dumplings in the pan and let them brown on the bottom. After a minute or two, add water to the pan- about an inch, and cover the pan with a lid to let the dumplings steam. Once all of the water has cooked away, the dumplings are done!

Makes about 40 wontons. (I had leftover filling.)

Serve with soy sauce or Chinese red vinegar.

Life Lesson #186: self raising flour cannot be substituted for bread flour or all purpose flour in bread recipes

2009-06-05T19:06:00.023+10:00

Cinnamon Dreaminess, straight up, yo.

But first:

I (C) went a little nuts one weekend and decided that I needed to bake bread...a lot of bread. I decided to try a no-knead bread, and also a recipe for cinnamon swirl bread.

Both turned out ok, but not quite right. I only had self raising flour, and assumed it wouldn't make a huge difference, but it did. The breads were both more similar to a heavy, dense quickbread, than the normal light yeast breads that I was going for. I'm not one to ever say no to freshly basked bread though, and it all got eaten in the next few days!

One other hitch- we don' have loaf pans here, so I decided to shape the cinnamon bread into large rolls and put them into a round cake pan.

I'm sure both recipes would turn out well using bread flour or all purpose flour though, so here are the recipes:

from the Grab Your Fork Blog
1 1/2 tablespoons yeast
1 1/2 tablespoons salt
6 1/2 cups (about 820g) plain flour + extra
1/4 cup polenta

In a large bowl, combine yeast and salt in 3 cups of warm water.

Add flour and stir until it is all incorporated into the dough. The dough will be very wet.

Cover bowl loosely with cling film or a tea towel and leave in a warm spot for 2-5 hours, or until the dough has doubled in size.

Remove the cover from the bowl and sprinkle a handful of flour over the top. This recipe makes four loaves so cut out roughly a quarter of the dough and transfer to a lightly floured bench-top. Gently shape the dough into a loaf, tucking any messy bits underneath so the top is smooth and neat. You may need to add a touch more flour if the dough is too sticky to handle.

Place dough on a tray lined with polenta-covered baking paper.

Let the dough rest for 40 minutes, and either repeat this process with the remaining dough or place it in the fridge (the dough will keep for a maximum 2 weeks in an airtight container).

After 20 minutes, get your oven ready. Place a large and deep roasting tin on the bottom on your oven, and a pizza stone on the middle rack. Turn on the oven to 230C and allow to heat to the correct temperature

Boil / microwave one cup of water.

When the oven is hot, sprinkle the top of the rested loaf with a light dusting of flour. Make three short diagonal slashes across the top of the loaf with a serrated or lightly oiled sharp knife.

Transfer the loaf directly onto the hot pizza stone in the oven, either by hand or by using the baking paper to help you slide it onto the stone. The loaf needs to sit directly onto the hot stone to ensure a good crust on the bottom.

Pour one cup of water into the roasting tray and then quickly shut the oven door to trap in the steam. You only need steam for the first 5-10 min of baking.

Bake the bread for about 20-30 minutes or until browned and the bottom of the loaf sounds hollow when tapped.

Makes: 4 loaves

from the Honey and Jam Blog

1 envelope (2 1/4 tsp) active dry yeast
2 cups warm milk (about 110 degrees)
6 ½ cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
1 stick butter, room temperature, cut into pieces, plus more for pans
½ cup sugar
2 eggs, plus 1 egg, lightly beaten
2 ½ tsp coarse salt
1 Tbsp ground cinnamon

filling:
1 ½ cups sugar
2 Tbsp ground cinnamon

1. In the bowl of an electric mixer, sprinkle the yeast over the warm milk and whisk to combine. Add the flour, butter, sugar, 2 eggs, and salt. Attach bowl to mixer fitted with the dough hook. Mix on low speed until all the ingredients are well combined, about 3 minutes. Raise speed to medium-low, and continue to mix until the dough is completely smooth and pulls away from the sides of the bowl, about 3 minutes more.

Turn out the dough on a lightly floured surface. Pat out the dough into a big round. Sprinkle with raisins and cinnamon and knead and fold until they are just incorporated. Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, and cover with oiled plastic wrap. Let rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1 hour.

3. Return the dough to a lightly floured work surface, and pat into a round. Fold the bottom third of the dough up, the top third down and the right and left sizes over, pressing down the seal. Return the dough into the bowl and let rise again until doubled in bulk, about 40 minutes.

4. Make the filling. Combine sugar and cinnamon with 2 Tbsp water in a small bowl.

Generously butter two 9 by 5 inch loaf pans set aside. 6. Return the dough to a lightly floured work surface, and divide in half. Roll each half out to a large rectangle, a bit bigger than your loaf pans - about 10 inch. Brush with beaten egg and sprinkle each with half of the filling.

7. With the short end of the rectangle facing you, fold in both of the long sides of the dough in. the roll the dough towards you, gently pressing forming a tight log. Roll back and forth to seal the seam. Place loafs in the prepared pans. Cover loosely with oiled plastic wrap, and let rest in a warm place, about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 425°F.

Brush the tops of the loafs with beaten egg, and transfer pans to the oven. Bake, rotating pans halfway through, until loaves are golden brown, about 45 minutes. If the tops begin to brown too quickly, tent with aluminium foil.) turn out the bread onto a wire rack to cool completely before slicing. The bread can be kept, wrapped in plastic up to 4 days.

Success!
I did manage to produce an AMAZING batch (if I do say so myself) of Cinnamon Buns after buying all purpose flour. I used a recipe from allrecipes.com. I didn't have any cream cheese, so tried out a sour cream frosting recipe which was quite lovely on the warm cinnamon buns!

Cinnamon Buns fresh from the oven!

Here is the recipe:

1 cup warm milk (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
2 eggs, room temperature
1/3 cup margarine, melted
4 1/2 cups bread flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup white sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons bread machine yeast

1 cup brown sugar, packed
2 1/2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
1/3 cup butter, softened

1 (3 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon salt

Place ingredients in the pan of the bread machine in the order recommended by the manufacturer. Select dough cycle; press Start
After the dough has doubled in size turn it out onto a lightly floured surface, cover and let rest for 10 minutes. In a small bowl, combine brown sugar and cinnamon.
Roll dough into a 16x21 inch rectangle. Spread dough with 1/3 cup butter and sprinkle evenly with sugar/cinnamon mixture. Roll up dough and cut into 12 rolls. Place rolls in a lightly greased 9x13 inch baking pan. Cover and let rise until nearly doubled, about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
Bake rolls in preheated oven until golden brown, about 15 minutes. While rolls are baking, beat together cream cheese, 1/4 cup butter, confectioners' sugar, vanilla extract and salt. Spread frosting on warm rolls before serving.

Sour Cream Frosting

4 tablespoons butter, softened
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 3/4 cups confectioners' sugar

In a medium bowl, mix together the butter, sour cream, vanilla, lemon juice and salt. Stir in confectioners' sugar, and beat with an electric mixer until smooth.

**Disclaimer- if you gain a pound of two after baking these, please don't blame me. This is just a warning that these are WAY too good. I ate 2 right out of the oven, and 2 for breakfast the next morning- so basically, I ate half of a pan of cinnamon buns in less than 12 hours. Breakfast, and dinner of champions.

I Could Get Used to This..

2009-05-22T15:04:00.008+10:00

My mom's good friend took me out for lunch one day at a gorgeous restaurant on the top floor of the Prince Building in Central. It had a huge wraparound balcony with amazing views of the city. The whole place was really beautifully decorated, and the food was really good. It was pretty pricey, but worth it. I got the salmon salad the first time, no pic though, and something called a Dosa the second time. A dosa is pretty much a HUGE Indian crepe that is filled with curry, or vegetables. I got one with sauteed spinach and mushrooms.

This one was my brothers. It had butter chicken inside.

I did manage to bake a couple times while I was away, surprisingly! I made a carrot cake for my cousin in his MINI kitchen. It was quite interesting...no measuring cups, pot for a mixing bowl, and we baked it in his microwave/oven. I don't have a picture of that one, but I do have one of the other cake I baked. I tried out a recipe for French Yogurt Cake at my mom's friend's house. It turned out really well except for the fact that it tasted like peanuts. I foolishly assumed that the oil that she gave me (it was in an unlabeled container) was corn or sunflower oil. It was actually peanut oil. Should've smelled it first! It still tasted good....just very peanut-y!

I also bought fresh cream, which I whipped up with a whisk, blackberries, strawberries, and mini mangoes! I'd never seen them before and had to buy them. They were about the size of a large strawberry, and were so good. It was a lot of work peeling and cutting them though, since they were so small.

Hong Kong

2009-05-22T14:01:00.011+10:00

I (C) was in Hong Kong and Thailand for the 3 week school break. It was a ton of fun, and I ate soooo much good food. Perhaps TOO much. Here are a few pics of some of the deliciousness that I got to eat while I was away. I hadn't had good Chinese food (...make that ANY Chinese food) since Christmas, so I was pretty much in heaven.

Also, it is pretty much essential to have someone who can read Chinese with you in Hong Kong. The best food is at those little teeny places on side streets or from the crazy street vendors.

Eating street food. Mom struggling with a burning hot octopus fritter.

We (sister, brother, cousin, and cousin's gf) went out for food after a night out in Lan Kwai Fong- a really cool area in HK where there are lots of bars and lounges). This place is called Tsui Wah. It's open 24 hours I think, and we got there around 3:30am. It is a really famous and popular restaurant, and has amazing food. I did have one complaint though- the bathrooms left much to be desired, as instead of toilets, they had those ones that are sunk into the ground....not going to go into details, but it was a tad traumatizing.

In the picture above is Hainan Gai Fan- Hainan chicken rice, Milk Toast (YUM) and Fish Ball Noodle Soup.Another bowl of Fish Ball Noodle soup with Fried tofu and Lai mein- hand pulled noodles.At one of the street vendors. Our favourite things were: curry fish balls, bbq squid, sui mai, and octopus fritters. There are also these little sweet waffle-y bites that are called Gai Dan Jzi (don't know the English name, and I just made up a spelling up for them, but we got them every time we were in Causeway Bay or Wan Chai.

This is a semi-scary looking dish (for those that don't like octopus/squid) that we got at a place called Hui Lau Shan. They serve dessert mostly- they're known for their mango ice cream/shebet/icy deliciousness. They have an entire menu of mango based desserts- mango+sago+pomelo, mango + coconut milk + sitcky rice, mango mochi balls, mango custard/jello and tons of drinks and smoothies. They have a few savoury dishes like this one, fried turnip cakes....etc.
This is some of the dessert we ordered. The front one is the mango ice cream stuff with coconut milk and coconut jelly, mango puree and fresh mango. the one behind is mango with tapioca, fresh mango and the ice cream/sherbert stuff.

I have lots more food to post on, but that's going to have to be in another post!

Chester Cheetah to the Rescue

2009-04-24T15:59:00.008+10:00

End of Semester party last night = tequila shots, so naturally today became a write-off. We had big plans of going to the beach...shopping in Surfer's...going for FREYNCH TOAST (inside joke) ...but instead, we ended up watching 3 movies (we may try and make it 4), getting subway for lunch, paying a bill, and eating delicious Cheese and Bacon Balls. We recently discovered these gems and just had to get some today. They sound really weird, but are actually quite delicious.

There was also Chicken Focaccia Sandwiches Round 2 as hangover brekky, but we both couldn't really move/speak/walk this morning so no pictures were taken. They seemed to help a lot in curing the hangover though!

Basically, we've just eaten carbs ALL day. Both E and C seem to have the appetites of people weighing about 600 kilos, but we do exercise a lot.

Also, we plan on getting chicken nachos for dinner tonight. :)

50% done LAW SCHOOL!

2009-04-23T18:48:00.006+10:00

Are we champions or what? As you can probably tell, we have nothing to do today, as we just finished exams and our brains have been so fried that we don't even know how to function normally as human beings. Instead of enjoying the beautiful weather, we've been doing the exact same thing we did all study week- sat and typed at a computer. But, this is also a good thing, as our sweet little blog is already blossoming into something lovely.

On that note, we just want to say again- WE ARE DONE 50% of LAW SCHOOL!!! AND, we never ever ever have to do any Constitutional Law or Criminal Law again.

Also, these two exams were CLOSED BOOK. Are they TRYING to kill us??
We didn't REALLY throw out our text books...they will be sold to unsuspecting third semester students next semester- we need the money to buy those Louis Vuitton bags.

2009-04-23T18:12:00.000+10:00

This is what you call GORGEOUS.

Anyone want to buy a couple for us? Please?

We could write you a SWEET AS letter of advice and/or demand advising you of remedies that you could receive if and when someone breaches a contract with you for placing advertisements on your transport trucks for their gym...

Or, E could write you a song AND perform it for you. She has mad guitar skills, despite her long nails.

Why Cupcakes and Jello Shooters?

2009-04-23T17:45:00.002+10:00

E and I tend to be known by our friends for making cupcakes and jello shooters, as we make them quite often for birthdays around here.

This is quite a feat considering that we lived in the tin box mentioned earlier- said tin box's kitchen consisted of a microwave, a stolen toaster, and a sink. We aren't THAT amazing as we didn't make the cupcakes in the microwave or toaster, but still kind of amazing.

Since both cupcakes and jello shooters rock our socks, we decided to name our blog after them.

Here are a few pics of the fan-freaking-tastic cupcakes that we've made here so far. Oh and a pic of some multi-coloured jello shooters as well.

Specimen #1:
Cookie Monster Cupcakes for C's 23rd Birthday.

They were supposed to be Cookie Monster cupcakes, but turned out looking a lot more like aliens with cookies in their mouths.

Blue sprinkles don't exist in Australia apparently, so really, we were at a disadvantage right from the get go and it's really not our fault. Also, we lacked the ingredients and tools to make buttercream icing which resulted in the melty eye situation you see below. HOWEVER, they were delicious, and they have a certain (creepy) charm, no?

Specimen #2:

These cupcakes were made for our Housewarming party. We love the Aussie phrase "Sweet as" a LOT, and use it quite frequently. At least 6 times per day...even though it does not make any grammatical sense.

Specimen #3:

These cupcakes were made for our friend K's birthday. Blue sprinkles AND teddy grahams do not exist here. Well, actually that might not be true, as I was informed that there are Teddy Graham-like cookies here, but we couldn't find them anywhere in Coles. We used a Kid's Chocolate Teddy Cereal of some sort. They served their purpose as decorations, but got really soggy/weird after sitting in that intense blue icing for too long. Aren't they cute though??

And lastly, the multi-coloured jello shooters from C's birthday. Note the lovely ironing board they are sitting on? We're pretty sure there were multiple types of mould, bacteria, other organisms living in it. That is the bungalows for you! We're high rollers.

Pancake Comparison

2009-04-23T14:13:00.001+10:00

In case you haven't read our "about me", we are pancake aficionados, searching Australia for the perfect pancake. Well, sort of. As we are in law school, we've only been able to search twice this semester, but we think we MIGHT already have a winner.

The pancake brunch that started it all was at Bluff Cafe in Burleigh. Post-surf pancakes, to be exact.

These were amazing. Fluffy, light, and delicious, with a side of (heavenly) vanilla ice cream. If only we could find pure Canadian maple syrup to complete the experience.

However, these pancakes take the cake. They are from the Balcony restaurant in Byron Bay. They were fluffier, bigger, and, well, who can say no to a dollop of Double Devon cream. The blackberry and passionfruit compote was also a nice touch.

SO good....definitely worth the hour and half drive.

Next semester: pancake feast, round three.

Dial Up Internet in Australia

2009-04-23T11:00:00.000+10:00

Dial up internet is NOT conducive to making a food blog. 6 minutes to upload one photo is kind of unacceptable.
Also, it might help if we weren't so technologically challenged.

Bunga-hoes

2009-04-22T20:37:00.000+10:00

This is what you get when you move out of "Disaster Relief".

So, we moved out of the bunga-hoes this semester to a beautiful apartment by the beach. This fact alone made us 10000000 times happier as you really can't experience Australia from the confines of a tin box... but we got a whole bunch of money as an incentive for us to leave, so they could make room for exchange students.

We had money left over at the end of the semester, so this is what we bought:

-2 cases of pink vitamin water- strawberry kiwi, the best kind. It is also called FOCUS, which is quite appropriate as sometimes (alltimes) we need help in this area of life.
-6 picnic chocolate bars
-5 packages of sushi- 3 California rolls and 2 Chicken and Avo
-1 can of mother (like we need more of this after chugging only that and coffee for a week in an attempt to try and stay awake during exam period)
-2 delish chicken focaccia sandwiches (maybe pics of those will come later....after they've had a little time in our favourite appliance- the Sandwich Press)
-2 gigantic raspberry and white chocolate muffins. Those are now both gone, and we demolished those things so quickly, there was no time to even think about taking pictures
-6 bottles of Diet Coke. (To mix with our Cossack and Mishka tonight. Exams are OVER and it is time to get a little messy. Juuussttt a little.)
As a side note: E and C believe that it's really ok to consume massive amounts of artificial sweeteners. We are pretty much superheroes and are immune to any of the harmful side effects or cancers that they may or may not cause.

** did we mention we really like pink vitamin water?

Us and J at good old Bungalow 3

From that, to this:

Slightly better.