31.1.11

*** this poem ***


I'm not really one for poetry, but I really love this poem.  So much so that I had to post it even after publishing a post earlier today... I have liked this poem for as long as I can remember and it is even better when read by the author [Jenny Joseph].  I can see her wearing purple with a red hat that doesn't go... and eating only bread and pickle for a week.  So nice...

Video from here.

*** MORE baking ***

This blog was not meant to have so many baking post, but I find myself baking more and more and more and more these days and as I don't really have anything else to post at the moment you will have to make do with the multitude of cupcake images that I am uploading... Yummo.

Something different is bound to appear soon...

* Raspberry cupcakes with cream cheese and white chocolate frosting [partial fail: originally these were meant to be strawberry cupcakes, but alas Sainsbury's does not stock frozen strawberries- and evidently it is not strawberry season either].
* Caramel and buttermilk cupcakes... I made the icing too sweet... noooo!

16.1.11

*** a challenge ***

A while back I received a facebook message from a friend with beautiful images of a mini gingerbread house resting on the corner of a hot chocolate mug [check out the beautiful images from the Lucky Pony Blog].  At first I was über-tempted to upload them to share my mini-gingerbread house enthusiasm, but I stopped myself.  Lucky Pony writes "If anyone is brave enough to attempt these and then actually pulls them off, please send photos!". Well: "Challenge accepted".  My houses came out a little bit wonky and wobbly, but for a first attempt I'd say not too bad.  I still have a heap of dough left, more than enough for a second attempt.


13.1.11

*** my new camera ***

It is needless to say that I love baking... I might not be the best baker in the world, but I love it regardless [which is strange, I usually get frustrated with things I am not good at- hence the frustration I am feeling with my course. But, that is again, besides the point].

As part of one of my classes we wrote a script for an animation and, as a group, created an animatic for it.  Our story was about a lady who can't bake to save her life- her husband doesn't have the heart to tell her this and keeps pretending he likes her cake (but keeps shoving them down the side of his couch or feeding them to his dog). Eventually, years later Rose (the bad baker) is chasing a mouse with a knife and ends up cutting into the side of her husband's chair, revealing decades worth of hidden away cakes. She's upset but gets over it [not the best resolution, but that is not what this blogpost is about anyway].  What it is about is this:

We are presenting this piece of work tomorrow and we thought it would be nice to have some cupcakes with our presentation [yes, any excuse to bake]... but since Rose can't bake at all we were contemplating on handing out seriously disgusting cakes, which would be quite the waste though. So to compromise I baked a whole range of cupcakes [dark chocolate with chocolate chip and hazelnut, maltesers cupcakes and lemon ones], of all these cakes there is one in which I added a grated onion. So one unlucky soul is going to get quite the surprise biting into (probably) the most awful cake ever. I'm quite looking forward to it. Slightly malicious, but in good spirit... and with the potential of being epically funny, in which case I might just blog about it in the near future.

Besides that I took these photos with my lovely new SLR camera that I am adoring (even though I dont know how to use it yet- all I know is click to take a picture- thats why the pictures still look a bit sad...).





9.1.11

*** this bubblegum-blue vintage kitchen aid ***

For as long as I can remember, every time I see something that I like, my instant reaction has been "I want one".

In this case too that was my immediate reaction when I saw this vintage mixer. I found these images on the Lucky Pony blog. A beautiful South African blog, have a look at it.

I love her declaration: "When I took it out it’s box and put it on our kitchen counter, I swear every other appliance in the room peed itself." [In my opinion this is such a South African statement, it makes me miss "home" if you can call it that- but best keep those thoughts for the 'I like South Africa' post].

7.1.11

*** still life with woodpecker ***



I read "Still life with Woodpecker" recently by Tom Robbins. He has a beautiful way with language [and what an awesome bookcover].

Here's a little part in the book that I enjoyed particularly:

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Leigh-Cheri asked.
"I doubt it. I was thinking about the origin of the word pumpkin. It's such a cute word. Kind of plump and friendly- and sexy in a farmer's daughter sort of way. Perfect. I wonder who came up with that word. Some old pumpkin-patch poet in ancient Greece, I suppose. A traveling salesman out of Babylon?"
"Bernhard! Knock it off! It's been hours. I'm sure it's well past dawn."
...
Bernhard hugged her tightly. His fingers ran like foxes through the forest fire of her hair. "You know," he said, "I'll bet pumpkin is an American word. It just sounds American to me. Sweet dumb well-fed optimistic down-home ball of fun. I think of a Midwest cheerleader getting knocked up on the back seat of a Chevy after a frosty Friday night football game. You know what I mean? American pumpkin."