january so far

[+] the school holidays are finally over, I can't believe how quickly they flew by. I am now back to silence...too much silence after six weeks of craziness, it is hard to adjust
[+] lots has been going on around here, pretty awful things too. I purchased a camera from gumtree and it turned out to be a scam and I had my money stolen :( I feel like such a fool
[+] my aunts always buy things for us and the above photos are their latest purchase...a solar powered kissing couple & cute frog hair bands
[+] I have been applying for a few internships but not luck so far
[+] my youngest boy started high school this year *gulp* I felt excited and weepy all at once, where did the time go?

a wedding

a wedding photo of the gorgeous bride on her very special day...a day I am still trying to recover from as it was an extremely long day, but the weekend is coming up and I hope to be back to my old self soon before school starts.  The bride looked beautiful and it was a most lovely kind of day despite all the rain.

to the birthday boy

this is the birthday boy's birthday cake...he is crazy about rocky road so he got a rocky road cake. Happy birthday to my 15 year old! (the one with his finger in his mouth)

things that amaze me

There are three things that amaze me,
no, four things that I don't understand:
how an eagle glides through the sky,
how a snake slithers on a rock,
how a ship navigates the ocean,
how a man loves a woman ~ Prov 30:18-19

pink rainbow cake

I can't believe I accidentally deleted the proper photos I took of my last day of my baking *sigh* try as I might I could not recover them from my sd card so these instagram photos will have to do. I am relieved to say that my baking project is over, well my christmas baking. I have a whole lot of other baking to do, my boys all have birthdays coming up real soon and all two weeks apart.

This cake is meant to look as lovely as the one found here, although my layers turned out slightly more thinner than Linda's but it was still so pretty. Pink makes anything look good :)

My birthday was spent with my 4 men and my little girl and it was perfect. A quiet lunch at home and a few cuddles & kisses, I have to take advantage of birthdays and grab them and squeeze them just a little longer than normal as my boys are much too old for that sentimental stuff. And on Sunday I went out with my aunts and one bought me a little bird note holder and the other got me a pink ahh bra. The bra is amazing! I don't know how I managed so long without it. Thank you to all my dear friends who sent birthday wishes via instagram or through my blog...you are all so amazing.

Anyway back to watching 'new girl' while there is a little quiet around here ;)

chocolate and salted butter caramel macarons

I was so excited to try out this recipe...super, duper excited. I kept imagining the crunch of biting into one of them and how yummy the salted butter caramel looked, I was eager and I got to work on them, but it was not to be, my macarons looked horrible.  I place all the blame on the piping bag I have, surely they would have turned out lovelier if I had the right piping bag, right?  The caramel was also a disaster, I tried following the recipe and failed twice so on my third go I tried a different recipe but that was for caramel sauce! they did taste yummy despite looking horrible.  But this has not discouraged me,  I am determined to attempt this recipe just once more. Surely they can't turn out any worse than these, can they?

apple pie cookies

my little christmas baking project is almost complete...just another two recipes to try out before it is all over, and truth be told I never thought I would finish it as I quite often lack the energy especially as Sydney has gotten so much warmer these past few days. Having the oven on during my baking is just sheer torture!

Day 10 of my project were these apple pie cookies, they are so simple to make although not as pretty as Deb's from smitten kitchen but really the look of these isn't that important, not once you have tasted one of these cookies. OHHH EMMM GEE! are they yummy. I was going to try a small change with the recipe and cook the apples as I thought they would not be soft and cooked through but luckily I followed the recipe and I am definitely not disappointed. YUM, YUM, YUM.  Oh and did I say yum?

The two recipes left will be done this week, the cake which is my final baking project will be made to coincide with my birthday saturday *sigh* my lucky last year in the thirties age bracket :(

his hands

Your hands and my hands have a peculiar way of fitting together

baklava

this one, this one (on day 9 of my baking) was particularly fiddly but so much fun to make. I think next time, if there is ever a next time I will not include the rosewater and orange blossom as I found the flavours very overpowering. I used the SBS recipe found here, my only alteration to the original recipe is not adding the rosewater and orange blossom to the syrup as I found the filling had more than enough. It does require quite a bit of butter so beware hips & thighs!

cookie dough cheesecake

this cookie dough cheesecake bars were made yesterday but I am still so very exhausted from all the festivities of this week and constantly staying up very late with visitors that I have had no energy to post this. It does not look anything like Jamie's from my baking addiction bars but I persevered to the very end despite wanting to give up a few times. I think the graham cracker base made all the difference, so glad I found it as I doubt there is anything like it here in Australia.  Again, these didn't last long and were made especially for son number two who kept bugging me about 'trying' cheesecake. They weren't exactly like cheesecake but I am sure he enjoyed them just the same. The crunchiness was scrumptious and I love watching baked goodies disappear....means it didn't turn out too bad ;)

Wishing you all my dear friends a wonderful year ahead...happy new year!