Comically Sans

Daring Bakers Challange #2- Apple Strudel

noreply@blogger.com (fontfreak) — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 00:27:00 +0000

The May Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Linda of make life sweeter! and Courtney of Coco Cooks. They chose Apple Strudel from the recipe book Kaffeehaus: Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest and Prague by Rick Rodgers.

Okay so I'm so way late with this post that I don't know if it even counts for this month but goddamnit, I made the strudel and I'm gonna blog it. I seriously need to start these challenges earlier in the month though to give myself the time to go to town on them like some other Daring Bakers do. I am put to shame.

As it was, once started, this was rather fun. I did two batches of the pastry as instructed (see below) and my second one was definitely better than the first. After rolling the pastry as thin as I could and doing some gentle pulling it out by stretching it over my forearms, I finished it off by gently tipping the pastry over the edge of the table and let gravity do the work of thinning it out as it hung and I then pulled/rolled it (the tablecloth) back over the table edge. Then I just had to thin the edges out by hand. I thought I had way too much filling for one strudel (maybe my pastry wasn't big enough) and when the pastry came out of the oven, the top layer seemed too solid to me which would seem to indicate that it was too thick but once cooled this didn't seem to be an issue. Since reading this Daring Baker's entry, I think my problem may have partially been not using clarified butter so I'll have to try this again at some point. That said, it did taste good and a large portion of it was inhaled by my flatmate as soon as it came out of the oven.

Another Daring Baker whose challenges I regularly check is Tartlette. Between the stunning photography and innovative twists on challenges, I know I'm going to be torn between awe, inspiration and horrible envy.

Preparation time
Total: 2 hours 15 minutes – 3 hours 30 minutes

15-20 min to make dough
30-90 min to let dough rest/to prepare the filling
20-30 min to roll out and stretch dough
10 min to fill and roll dough
30 min to bake
30 min to cool

Apple strudel
from “Kaffeehaus – Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest and Prague” by Rick Rodgers

2 tablespoons (30 ml) golden rum
3 tablespoons (45 ml) raisins
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon (80 g) sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick / 115 g) unsalted butter, melted, divided
1 1/2 cups (350 ml) fresh bread crumbs
strudel dough (recipe below)
1/2 cup (120 ml, about 60 g) coarsely chopped walnuts
2 pounds (900 g) tart cooking apples, peeled, cored and cut into ¼ inch-thick slices (use apples that hold their shape during baking)

1. Mix the rum and raisins in a bowl. Mix the cinnamon and sugar in another bowl.

2. Heat 3 tablespoons of the butter in a large skillet over medium-high. Add the breadcrumbs and cook whilst stirring until golden and toasted. This will take about 3 minutes. Let it cool completely.

3. Put the rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C). Line a large baking sheet with baking paper (parchment paper). Make the strudel dough as described below. Spread about 3 tablespoons of the remaining melted butter over the dough using your hands (a bristle brush could tear the dough, you could use a special feather pastry brush instead of your hands). Sprinkle the buttered dough with the bread crumbs. Spread the walnuts about 3 inches (8 cm) from the short edge of the dough in a 6-inch-(15cm)-wide strip. Mix the apples with the raisins (including the rum), and the cinnamon sugar. Spread the mixture over the walnuts.

4. Fold the short end of the dough onto the filling. Lift the tablecloth at the short end of the dough so that the strudel rolls onto itself. Transfer the strudel to the prepared baking sheet by lifting it. Curve it into a horseshoe to fit. Tuck the ends under the strudel. Brush the top with the remaining melted butter.

5. Bake the strudel for about 30 minutes or until it is deep golden brown. Cool for at least 30 minutes before slicing. Use a serrated knife and serve either warm or at room temperature. It is best on the day it is baked.

Strudel dough
from “Kaffeehaus – Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest and Prague” by Rick Rodgers

1 1/3 cups (200 g) unbleached flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
7 tablespoons (105 ml) water, plus more if needed
2 tablespoons (30 ml) vegetable oil, plus additional for coating the dough
1/2 teaspoon cider vinegar

1. Combine the flour and salt in a stand-mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix the water, oil and vinegar in a measuring cup. Add the water/oil mixture to the flour with the mixer on low speed. You will get a soft dough. Make sure it is not too dry, add a little more water if necessary.
Take the dough out of the mixer. Change to the dough hook. Put the dough ball back in the mixer. Let the dough knead on medium until you get a soft dough ball with a somewhat rough surface.

2. Take the dough out of the mixer and continue kneading by hand on an unfloured work surface. Knead for about 2 minutes. Pick up the dough and throw it down hard onto your working surface occasionally.
Shape the dough into a ball and transfer it to a plate. Oil the top of the dough ball lightly. Cover the ball tightly with plastic wrap. Allow to stand for 30-90 minutes (longer is better).

3. It would be best if you have a work area that you can walk around on all sides like a 36 inch (90 cm) round table or a work surface of 23 x 38 inches (60 x 100 cm). Cover your working area with table cloth, dust it with flour and rub it into the fabric. Put your dough ball in the middle and roll it out as much as you can.
Pick the dough up by holding it by an edge. This way the weight of the dough and gravity can help stretching it as it hangs. Using the back of your hands to gently stretch and pull the dough. You can use your forearms to support it.

4. The dough will become too large to hold. Put it on your work surface. Leave the thicker edge of the dough to hang over the edge of the table. Place your hands underneath the dough and stretch and pull the dough thinner using the backs of your hands. Stretch and pull the dough until it's about 2 feet (60 cm) wide and 3 feet (90 cm) long, it will be tissue-thin by this time. Cut away the thick dough around the edges with scissors. The dough is now ready to be filled.

Tips
- Ingredients are cheap so we would recommend making a double batch of the dough, that way you can practice the pulling and stretching of the dough with the first batch and if it doesn't come out like it should you can use the second batch to give it another try;
- The tablecloth can be cotton or polyster;
- Before pulling and stretching the dough, remove your jewelry from hands and wrists, and wear short-sleeves;
- To make it easier to pull the dough, you can use your hip to secure the dough against the edge of the table;
- Few small holes in the dough is not a problem as the dough will be rolled, making (most of) the holes invisible.

I am Aynia's unventable spleen

noreply@blogger.com (fontfreak) — Thu, 21 May 2009 00:55:00 +0000

It's a paradox. I have this blog which is a public forum and when something goes wrong, I like the idea that I can vent my spleen into the publicity of cyberspace and someone reads my rant and commiserates or laughs and even if they never comment to let me know, I still know that surely someone out there must have felt that way too. But this is a public forum and as such, one can't really properly vent one's spleen about certain things. Like certain clients one might have. I use two things to gauge my rants- (1) would I say it to their face (2) will it damage my business if this opinion is made public? If I wouldn't say it to their face, I sure as hell shouldn't write it behind their back and ship it off into cyberspace. I may have several hypocritical niggles in my persona but that facet ain't one of them. I guess it's because if someone's pissed off at me, I'd like to think they have the balls to say it to my face instead of mouthing off behind my back. As for (2), well that's just common sense.

But on to happier things, these Passionfruit Melting Moments are next on my baking hitlist. Mmmmmmmmmmm, passionfruit.

One Silly Ball

noreply@blogger.com (fontfreak) — Wed, 13 May 2009 20:54:00 +0000

I don't know if I've written you guys a list yet of the many things I find funny about Australia. The wildlife rates up there pretty highly. They have birds that sound like monkeys, lizards that sound like birds and several species that look like leftover bits of many other animals all stuck together.

And the Aussies themselves are a constant source of amusement for me. On the whole they're very friendly and I've never met chattier shop people in my life and whereas I find it amusing that they seem to be able to shazza dazza just about anyone's name (and if they can't, they slap an "-o" on the end) but I thought my name was safe.

Apparently I was wrong.

In the absence of being able to 'azza' or 'o' me, at least two Aussies here (and that's two more people than have dared ever before in my life) have decided to shorten me to one sillyball (I've been thinking of BlackAdder recently). It's done so off-the-cuff and unexpectedly that I'm left blinking to myself going, "Did they just call me Aan?!" Because that's what it sounds like when you leave off the rest of my name. And you know what? I don't think I mind.* I never had a nickname growing up, my sister is the only one who has ever got away with shortening my name, so something supposedly as minor as this is rather novel for me. But seriously- only the Aussies mate, only the Aussies would try this.

And since I'm on the topic of Aussies and language, I feel the need to bring up something which really cracks me up and this is their use of the word shit.
That really shits me.
I cracked the shits.
It's shitting me to tears.
The last is my personal favourite and makes me giggle almost as much as when I first heard a Brit say, "It all went tits-up."

*Don't you go getting any ideas though. I'm quite happy with everyone using my name in full. More than quite happy.

Apple glory

noreply@blogger.com (fontfreak) — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 04:56:00 +0000

I haven't check up on Mac vs PC ads for ages and oh the hilarity that has ensued this afternoon. Excuse the crap quality of my embedded YouTube vids but I had to share a couple of my favs. Check out the Apple site for the complete archive.

Incidentally, I did not know about that new face recognition software on iPhoto and I actually went, "Holy crap!" out loud when I heard that. That is so cool and so handy. I am in awe.

geek niche

noreply@blogger.com (fontfreak) — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 23:49:00 +0000

"Comic Sans walks into a bar, bartender says, 'We don't serve your type.'"

Daring Bakers' Challenge #1- cheesecake

noreply@blogger.com (fontfreak) — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 23:55:00 +0000

The April 2009 challenge is hosted by Jenny from Jenny Bakes. She has chosen Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake as the challenge.

Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake

crust
2 cups / 180 g graham cracker crumbs
1 stick / 4 oz butter, melted
2 tbsp. / 24 g sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract

cheesecake
3 sticks of cream cheese, 8 oz each (total of 24 oz) room temperature
1 cup / 210 g sugar
3 large eggs
1 cup / 8 oz heavy cream
1 tbsp. lemon juice
1 tbsp. vanilla extract (or the innards of a vanilla bean)
1 tbsp liqueur, optional, but choose what will work well with your cheesecake

DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (Gas Mark 4 = 180C = Moderate heat). Begin to boil a large pot of water for the water bath.

2. Mix together the crust ingredients and press into your preferred pan. You can press the crust just into the bottom, or up the sides of the pan too - baker's choice. Set crust aside.

3. Combine cream cheese and sugar in the bowl of a stand-mixer (or in a large bowl if using a hand-mixer) and cream together until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time, fully incorporating each before adding the next. Make sure to scrape down the bowl in between each egg. Add heavy cream, vanilla, lemon juice, and alcohol and blend until smooth and creamy.

4. Pour batter into prepared crust and tap the pan on the counter a few times to bring all air bubbles to the surface. Place pan into a larger pan and pour boiling water into the larger pan until halfway up the side of the cheesecake pan. If cheesecake pan is not airtight, cover bottom securely with foil before adding water.

5. Bake 45 to 55 minutes, until it is almost done - this can be hard to judge, but you're looking for the cake to hold together, but still have a lot of jiggle to it in the center. You don't want it to be completely firm at this stage. Close the oven door, turn the heat off, and let rest in the cooling oven for one hour. This lets the cake finish cooking and cool down gently enough so that it won't crack on the top. After one hour, remove cheesecake from oven and lift carefully out of water bath. Let it finish cooling on the counter, and then cover and put in the fridge to chill. Once fully chilled, it is ready to serve.

Pan note: The creator of this recipe used to use a springform pan, but no matter how well she wrapped the thing in tin foil, water would always seep in and make the crust soggy. Now she uses one of those 1-use foil "casserole" shaped pans from the grocery store. They're 8 or 9 inches wide and really deep, and best of all, water-tight. When it comes time to serve, just cut the foil away.

Prep notes: While the actual making of this cheesecake is a minimal time commitment, it does need to bake for almost an hour, cool in the oven for an hour, and chill overnight before it is served. Please plan accordingly!

This was my first Daring Bakers Challenge and I wish I had had more time to do something superfancy. There also wasn't any specific occasion to bake for, which in my mind can make choosing the variation an easier job. I therefore decided to stay fairly plain and went citrus. To the basic recipe I added finely grated rind of two lemons and one orange. For the topping I caramelized (kinda) finely sliced orange with some sugar, rum and some lemon juice.

I wanted to do some mini ones so roughly guessed amounts and spread out the base between eight cupcake paper cups and put the rest in a foil-lined small round casserole sigh we had. (I lined it with foil so that I could pull it out of the dish later). Of course the small ones cooked sooner than the large one so I couldn't cool them in the oven. Thank goodness it's warm in Brisbane! Also with this many things in the oven, I couldn't do a proper water bath so just put a pan in the bottom of the oven. It worked a charm- no cracks. This recipe is amazingly forgiving. The larger cheesecake ended up being quite deep so I was worried it wouldn't cook properly in the middle. As soon as it started browning on top, I covered it lightly in foil and that did the trick.

I will without a doubt be making this recipe again. In fact I'm pretty sure it's my new permanent always-use-it-cheesecake-recipe. I really want to try out variations that have been posted by other bakers.

Tea for two. Or more.

noreply@blogger.com (fontfreak) — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 20:47:00 +0000

I've seen this mug before and can't remember if I've blogged about it but I'd been talking about the need for a Pantone colour tea cup for ages before I saw this. It's comforting to see someone else saw the need...

No explanation needed really. I do have one objection though, the link to this mug is on the website boystomengifts.com. I BEG YOUR PARDON?!!!! Do only men want cool and quirky office-esque gifts? I know many women who would find this a cool gift. Hmpf.

Oh the number of times this could have saved my bacon! Although I got very proud at being able to hold 4 mugs in one go and not spill a drop or burn my knuckles.

The only problem I can see with this mug is that it will only hold 2 biscuits. Maybe three at a squeeze but they'd have to be thin. Otherwise I think it's simply ingenious. I'd want one, that's for sure.

This isn't really a mug that will make drinking easier in any way but I worked with photographers for a while and as a themed mug, I reckon this is one of the better ones I've seen.

Here is the link to the page where I found these. Follow it to see more interesting designs and also further links to info about the cups, how there were designed, where to buy them etc. I'm just sticking to the pretty pictures for now.

teeny tiny glory

noreply@blogger.com (fontfreak) — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 23:42:00 +0000

I'm a huge fan of the miniature and have a fondness for dioramas so when I came across these at cheekymagpie.com, I was lost in love. it's like a diorama in a matchbox but because you can open and close them, they're like little boxes of joy. I'm gonna be buying matches just to make me some of these. Or I could just use this link for a template to make your own matchbox. (HA! Yeah- more like put it on the list of things I want to do in my spare time. I'm afraid it has to come after updating my website, changing this blog design and doing up a coffee table I bought recently. Never mind packing on Friday, fitting in my first Daring Bakers Challenge and moving on Sunday. As well as my normal work. Could I please have 2 more days in the week thanks? I don't think 48 hours is that much to ask.

Both images from www.cheekymagpie.com

Okay so I'm writing this next bit a couple of hours later but I had to add this in. You know how once you see something somewhere you suddenly start to see it everywhere? Well this has turned into my day of matchbox stumbling and I just had to share these other gems with you.

I mean how adorable are these? And they could be adapted for so many things. Little party favours for kids, place settings, mini-pressies for ppl. They're just a really cute way to contain small stuff. Check out inchmark.squarespace.com.

Similarly, this is also another cool use for these things. Check out Little Window Shoppe.

NB- The recipe for the hot cross buns has now been added to that entry. Just click here to jump to it. Enjoy.

ladies bring a bib

noreply@blogger.com (fontfreak) — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 06:09:00 +0000

You have to give it to Adidas, their marketing people are geniuses. What I would love to know is if this latest promotion for NZ rugby was devised by women or men. I know where I'd be placing my bets...

On this site, you can pick from five of NZ's best strapping lads and get them to swap shirts. It's hilarious, it's objectifying, it's gratuitous and part of me knows that I should think it's wrong but- it's got slo-mo replay. And that has to be right. I want to work for Adidas advertising, their job must be awesome.

hot cross glory

noreply@blogger.com (fontfreak) — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 02:53:00 +0000

I'll admit it, I pleasantly surprised myself this year. I try to make hot cross buns every year and although they do taste good, they have previously been rather, umm.... how does one tactfully put it? Aaah yes, solid. One hot cross bun and you're full. Two hot cross buns and you wouldn't need concrete shoes. But this year- light and fluffy! I was so relieved! I don't know what was different, apart from the recipe, but I'll be sticking with this one from now on just in case that was it.

All packed into their tin ready to bake.

Closeup, it's compulsory by now, you should all know that.

Fresh from the oven, unglazed. They've even brown on the sides! I was stoked.

After the honey glaze, shiny hot cross glory.

Mmmmmmmmmmm.

HOT CROSS BUNS

INGREDIENTS
2x7g packkets granulated yeast
1/4C (55g) caster sugar)
1 1/2C warm milk
4C (600g) plain flour
1t mixed spice (I did 1/4 each of cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg as that's what I had)
1/2t cinnamon
60g butter
1 egg
3/4C sultanas (I used a mix of citrus peel and sultanas)

FLOUR PASTE FOR CROSSES
1/2C plain flour
2t caster sugar
1/2C water (I added a bit more)

GLAZE
1T honey, melted with some hot water

METHOD
1- Combine yeast, sugar and milk in a small bowl, cover, stand in warm place about 10 mins until mix is frothy.
2- Sift flour and spices into large bowl. Run in butter. Stir in yeast mixture, egg and sultanas; mix to a soft sticky dough. Cover; stand in warm place about 45 mins or until doubled in size.
3- Grease 23cm square slab cake tin. (Or I just put some baking paper in and don't grease it at all.)
4- Turn dough onto floured surface, knead about 5 mins or until smooth. Divide dough into 16 pieces, knead into balls. Place balls into prepared pan; cover, stand in warm place about 10 mins or until buns have risen to top of pan. (This took longer for me, left them for close to 30 mins.)
5- Meanwhile preheat oven to 200- 220C˚ (I suggest you gauge this depending on your oven. You want it hot but when you put them in, if they look like they're browning too quickly, turn the temp down a bit or put some greaseproof paper over the top them.)
6- Place flour paste for crosses in piping bag fitted with small plain tube, pipe across buns.
7- Bake buns in hot oven about 20 mins or until well browned. Turn buns onto wire rack and brush generously with glaze. I tend to do several coats as it the glaze gets absorbed quite quickly initially.

the cook and the chef

noreply@blogger.com (fontfreak) — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 09:21:00 +0000

I'm a sucker for a cooking show and even when they're crap, I seem to find it very hard to look away. Even if I can't stand the presenters (don't get me started on Nigella, I could rant on forever) but in this case, I love the show and the presenters. For those not in Aussie, you will not be familiar with The Cook and the Chef but it's great. And if you check out the website, they have videos you can watch. As a vegetarian, I'm usually hanging out for the desserts for anything I could actually make myself but I still find it fascinating to watch the meaty stuff being cooked. (And I even think that some of it looks good enough to eat!

What caught my eye tonight was Potato Dauphinoise- something I've always been a sucker for but this one is slightly different in that it's cooked in the pot and then put under the grill to brown up. Previously, I've always just put it in the oven from the get-go. I don't know if this method cooks quicker than the traditional method but I'm willing to give it a go. I've put in a screen grab of teh recipe, clicking on the pic will take you to the website.

I will also have to try this recipe for Apple Fool. I lurve just about anything with cooked apple (or indeed apple flavoured or apple scented anything...) and this is a quick and easy dessert (apart from remembering ot make it far enough in advance to chill it) but I really like the way the apple has been flavoured up as it cooked. I tend to add some lemon, some sugar, a bit of cinnamon if appropriate but this version sounds scrummy!

Brisbane Stitch and Craft Show

noreply@blogger.com (fontfreak) — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 22:26:00 +0000

Bonsai in Snow by Lara Cameron

YAY!

Ink and Spindle is coming to the Brisbane Stitches and Craft Show! I'm so ridiculously excited about it, they have no idea. If they did they'd be scared. I've been in love with their creations for ages now and it's just great to think I'll get to meet them and pick their brains.

In fact I'm really looking forward to the show in general. I'm hoping it'll be a great place to get ideas, find out what the Brisbane craft scene is like and hopefully make some connections. 'Craft' gets such a bad rep these days (tea cozies, knitted doilies and tissue covers) but there is some seriously awesome hand-crafted stuff out there which is, I think, what it's all about. Apart from the fact that it's the path I seem to be headed down myself, I've always liked the idea of the personal touch and I think in today's world, the key is the compromise between having that hand-crafted, personal feel to things but using elements of mass-production and modern technology to make it economically sustainable. I'm hoping the Ink & Spindle seminar on 'A Home Based Craft Business' will help with this.

cool alphabet book

noreply@blogger.com (fontfreak) — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 22:20:00 +0000

I'm not even sure where I came across this link initially any more, probably design*sponge (the default for all awesome stuff I seem to come across on the web) but this is awesome and it has totally renewed my obsession (yet another one...) with pop-up books.

In other news, I'm swamped with work for the first time in a long time and although it's great, poor little Aynia Brain is a little unused to it. (Oh woe is me, blah blah woof woof.) So of course now that I have 'real' work, all I can think about is the non-paid stuff I want to do for myself. I have some projects to post and a website I REALLY need to design, I should set myself a deadline...

joining the daring bakers

noreply@blogger.com (fontfreak) — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 09:28:00 +0000

I'm going to become a Daring Baker! It's very exciting and also a bit intimidating. I've been following Daring Bakers for over 6 months now- in fact probably closer to a year and finally decided to take the plunge. They have recently launched an awesome new website, the daring kitchen which you should check out but to summarise:

The Daring Bakers: A History
In November 2006, Lisa of La Mia Cucina and Ivonne of Cream Puffs in Venice decided to challenge themselves to bake pretzels for the very first time using the same recipe. They each went ahead and posted about it on November 18, 2006.

Having enjoyed that experience tremendously, they decided to try it again the next month, this time choosing to bake biscotti. And to make matters even better, they were joined by a few more food bloggers.

As the months went by, their baking group continued to grow, until it was finally decided that this "little baking group" had to have a name and The Daring Bakers were born!

Today, The Daring Bakers span the world as bakers of all nationalities come together once a month to try something new in the kitchen!

Now I know I like to think I can bake but what will my first challenge be? Will it flop? Will it be awesome? And, almost more importantly, will I be able to take good photos of it? I should seriously look in to doing a food photography course, there's only so much I can do at home with my trusty sony compact and my imagination.

I'm slowly going to start catching up on the backlog I have of baking photography and will put recipes up as well. Pics are all well and good but I'm always gutted if something looks good enough to eat and there's no recipe on how to do it! So for now, I will leave you guys with my latest endeavour, Banana Malteser Muffins. Believe it or not, it's a Weight Watcher's Recipe and it's bloody good!
BANANA MALTESER MUFFINS

Makes 16 muffins

400 g plain white flour
4 tsp baking powder
200 g brown sugar
150 g Mars Maltesers
2 whole whole egg
1 tsp vanilla essence
100 g butter
200 ml milk
2 medium banana, mashed

-Preheat oven to 180°C. Place 16 paper muffin cases into a muffin tray, or line muffin holes with 8 squares of baking paper.
- Sift flour and baking powder into a mixing bowl. Add brown sugar and stir to combine. Reserve 16 Maltesers for decoration and cut the rest in half. Add these to mixing bowl and stir to combine.
-In a jug, combine egg, vanilla essence, melted spread and milk. Stir into dry ingredients with mashed banana until just combined. Do not overmix.
-Spoon into paper cases and transfer to oven. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until risen and golden. Cool.

NOTES:
1- I only had 8 paper cases and the rest were silicone ones which were smaller so my paper cases were really full and they rose up perfectly and were great so I reckon you could put this over a dozen paper cases and they should be fine.
2- This is their icing recipe:
Beat 200g cream cheese and 2 tsp brown sugar with electric beaters, allowing a couple of minutes for the sugar to dissolve. Spread an equal amount onto each muffin, then place a Malteser on top!
I just about never following icing recipes and in fact was icing some biscuits first and had some icing left over (melted butter, lemon juice, icing sugar) and just took the left over of that and mixed in some Philly lite. (and natural food colouring)

This one's a little blurry but is a nice shot of my kitchen timer beside a muffin. I didn't even see the resemblance until my Mum pointed it out.

but wait, there's more!
As if one baking cahllenge a month weren't enough, I've also signed on to the Daring Cookers and through the complex path that in web surfing, came across sugar high friday which sounds like exactly my kind of thing. But I think before I commit to this one, I need to find some more people to feed. My current audience has mentioned that they will only be able to roll places in the not too distant future...

And if this book can teach me how to make decorations like the one on the left (lifted from Cream Puffs in Venice, well then I MUST get my grubby little oven mitts on a copy. Holy chocolate butterflies!

And this book also looks like another gem. I try not to judge by covers but when it's hard, especially when it comes to cookbooks! (Yup, I've been trawling through Cream Puffs in Venice again. I tend to find a new blog and totally scour through it, like playing a new CD on repeat for about a week. I'm awful like that.)

The thing is- I keep finding all these 'things' that I can do each week or month. I can Daring Bake, I can Daring Cook, I can Sugar High Friday but I haven't even managed to Illustration Friday it yet. I'm shocking. And I'd really like to Paper Cut Month it but now that freelance stuff is taking off (s-l-o-w-l-y but surely it would seem, fingers crossed), time for these things seems even more scare than before. What's that I hear you say? Enough with the excuses Noever, make like Nike and just do it. Indeed. Although it's much more in my style to make like Yoda.*

*"Try not, do, or do not. There is no try." I'm only writing this for the benefit of those who are so culturally deprived as to not be able to guess what I was going on about.

whose litte pony?

noreply@blogger.com (fontfreak) — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 23:01:00 +0000

Some of my friends find the coolest things on the internet. I came across this posted link on Facebook this morning and it totally made my day. I love things like this. Totally awesome.

The much-loved children's toy, My Little Pony, has undergone an extraordinary transformation. The new collection sees the ponies mimic a variety of characters from cult films like Batman and Alien.

The creator Mari Kasurinen, who admits she preferred Star Wars dolls to My Little Pony as a child, has been inundated with orders for the quirky toys, which are on sale for a whopping £330 each

I had to put every photo on, they are all just great, I cannot choose a fav, can you? All photos by Mari Kasurinen and check out marikasurinen.com.

Eames envy

noreply@blogger.com (fontfreak) — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 02:27:00 +0000

Hello my name is Aynia and I have Eames Envy.

The image above was found on designsponge.

For a very long time I have been deeply. DEEPLY in love with the Eames lounge chair and ottoman. Parents of a friend of mine have a genuine one and I swear it is the most comfortable chair on earth. As soon as I have enough room of my own, I believe that my love may, not so slowly, become an obsession. I want one. Bad. Even if all I can get my grubby little mitts on is a modern-day replication, I want it. Form AND function. *dreamy sigh* Perfection.

And now it seems like every second home interior picture I see has one in it. Even the white ones are growing on me. (But I could never have white, I could never keep it clean.)

that's a wrap

noreply@blogger.com (fontfreak) — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 03:23:00 +0000

Do you lend books to friends and want them back but they just keep circulating? Keep track of it! I bet you could even stick these inside DVD covers. If so, this is cute. Very very cute.

In fact the whole site of Kate's Paperie is filled with rather drool-tastic things. I mean holy moley, check out this wrapping paper. How on earth do you use it when both sides are beautiful?! And I am so adding them to my list of places to go when I finally get myself to New York.

There really is something to be said for living in the states. But then if I did I'd be stoney broke, having spent all my money on Etsy or things like this. *sigh*

A freakin' good idea

noreply@blogger.com (fontfreak) — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 22:11:00 +0000

Ikea. I love it, I hate it, I hate loving it, I love hating it, oh Ikea.

Whereas one part of my loves the clean, simple lines, another part does NOT like the mass-production factor because suddenly everyone has it and it's not unique anymore. Every house can look have some sleek modernist Scandinavian wanna-be-retro-esque interior. I want to be original. And now, anyone can be.

Given my current obsession with surfaces and patterns, this seems like a site sent from above. But instead I found it on design-undercover. I really must start trawling (ie stumbling) the web again properly to come up with my own material as opposed to finding awesome links on other people's blogs... (And what's more, I have this exact side-table in my bedroom at the moment. Sure, technically it belongs to my parents but that's just pedantry.)

in defense pink

noreply@blogger.com (fontfreak) — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 01:18:00 +0000

I am going through an artistic conundrum at the moment. Pink. I like the song, I don't mind the musician but my relationship with the colour has been a bit of a rollercoaster ride. From the age of about 4 till about 8, I think my wardrobe must have been well over 50% pink. At least that's how it sits in my memory. I loved it. I had a friend who had a completely pink bedroom and I was completely in love with it. And then somewhere along the line my love didn't just fade, it flipped into outright anti-ness. I remember having a light pink jersey in my early highschool years but it surely must be something like 15 years since I've worn pink and then, it was only in PJs. And now a little bit in a flower in a skirt I own. But still, I've been a pretty pink-free zone for almost half my life now. I can't pin it down but at some point, my anti-ness started to fade.

And in fact now I almost kinda like it. *shudder* Such has been my own personal brainwashing that even writing that feels like I'm airing some dirty little personal secret of which I should be ashamed.

What started as "oh I think some pink might look good in this design" has progressed to "oh I think some pink might look good in this room". I'm actively thinking about bringing the colour back in to my environment. I look at websites of interiors and go, "Oh that's really cute!" instead of wanting to stab my eyes out. It feels a bit wrong.*

So maybe pink has a time and a place. And if you're gonna use it, why not go all-out?**

All images used in this post are from Domino. Clicking on the pic will take you through to the gallery page it's from.

*It should be stated in my defense that in the Land of Aynia, there is a very large difference between "Oh that's really cute!" and "Oh I must do that to my room!" or "Oh I must go out and wear that!" A VERY large difference. I'm not going to be pinking up my bedroom any time soon. Hell no.
**again, not in any room in my house, not in this lifetime. I am, clearly, still coming to grips with pink.

back in the running

noreply@blogger.com (fontfreak) — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 22:34:00 +0000

Okay so it's been a while. It's just lucky I'm not one for New Year's resolutions... I do have excuses galore- I just won't share them with you.

I am DIY/craft obsessed at the moment. Not that it seems to be resulting in me actually doing anything as of yet but I bursting with ideas and brim-full with research. Part of it is my OCD organisational self manifesting. I've bought boxes to put things in, now I just need to cover them. I've put my dad's tools into compartments/boxes (but they need shelves) and the next thing weighing on my mind is the books in our house. In NZ, they were in alphabetical order (pretty much) in our study but what with the move and now having books all over the house, there are my books mixed up and with M&D's books with my sister's thrown in as well and they could be in any room of the house. I'm a big fan of alphabetical order but must admit that while scouring the web, I have come across several ideas like this one and I must say, it kind of appeals.

(Image from Domino)

Ordering by colour? Very cool indeed. You'd have to know your material though, that's for sure. You can't deny that it looks good though. I shall have to think about it...

Now I have many, many things to blog about and several half-written entries so keep your eyes peeled for several posts in a day as I bring things up to date. Also in the works is an updating of my personal website (no link yet, it REALLY needs a revamp). I'm all full of plans and still trying to decide how to organise the various forms of my cyber presense (this blog will be getting a facelift as well) but I just need to make some decisions. Argh!

all together ooky

noreply@blogger.com (fontfreak) — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 16:15:00 +0000

I know it's been an absolute age since I blogged and I totally blame it on trying to pack up my 3 1/2 years of life in the UK and move it all over to Oz without my mother knowing. Well she kinda knew but she thought I was arriving 3 weeks later (I surprised her for her birthday) so things were all very covert for a while there plus I was rushed off my feet. This week, apart from hoping to land a job interview, my aim is to bring this blog up to date with the life of me. I'm sure someone out there cares...

But in the meantime, this has been sitting in my drafts. Somehow it came up at work (well my former work) so I had to google the lyrics (for personal edification) to The Addams Family.

The Addams Family

They're creepy and they're kooky,
Mysterious and spooky,
They're all together ooky,
The Addams Family.

Their house is a museum
Where people come to see 'em
They really are a scream
The Addams Family.

(Neat)
(Sweet)
(Petite)

So get a witches shawl on
A broomstick you can crawl on
We're gonna pay a call on
The Addams Family.

Possibly the best rhyming in history: "see 'em" and "scream". Genius.

floral craziness

noreply@blogger.com (fontfreak) — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 15:48:00 +0000

I had never seen this flower before in my life although I was told it was a passion flower and is the flower of the passionfruit vine which you get quite commonly in NZ with the orange passionfruit so it's strange I haven't seen them before. But I have now and my aren't they crazy?

Happy Halloween

noreply@blogger.com (fontfreak) — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 11:18:00 +0000

I was catching up on a backlog of blogs (in the time I don't have at the moment) and saw a link on The Daily Monster to Monster Go Away Spray. The Daily Monster blogger was, justifiably outraged but I had to check it out:

Monster Go Away Spray

Most children both younger and older will at one time or another be afraid of the boogie man, ghosts, monsters, spirits and even the badly behaved house elf. Monster Go Away Spray was created by a mom to help her children get to bed and go to sleep much easier. Simply spray your child's room, the closet, under the bed and anywhere else monsters hang out. You can do this ritual with your child before bedtime or spray their room ahead of time and let them know the coast is clear. Many children have the gift of being able to see the spirit world, so it is important to never tell your child that what they are afraid of doesn't exist. But together you can asks the spirits to leave and create a safe and peaceful sanctuary. A light spray on their pillow will ensure a peaceful nights sleep. Ingredients are all-natural and include essential oil of French Lavender, Roman Chamomile and Italian Mandarin Orange.

This is definitely one way to deal with kids being scared of the dark and things that go bump in the night but I must admit that when the time comes, I will be able to deal with this issue in a more Pratchett-like fashion. I remember reading, I think it was Hogfather years ago and Susan, the daughter of Death, was nannying some children and two issues got raised.
1- the monsters under the kids beds or hiding in their closets were there as they had been created by the parents. "If you don't brush your teeth before you go to bed to horrible XYZ monster will come to get you."
2- Susan's way of dealing with the monsters was to walk in to the room with a large baseball bat (or discworld equivalent) and smack the &%** out of it. When one of the kids came running out to get her

And should we even start on the Monsters Inc take on things? All I know is that I will definitely be taking the 'stand up for yourself' line of approach and hope that any kids of mine are precocious enough to follow my lead. And I guess even better than the ass-kicking approach would be the Daily Monster/Monsters Inc method.

hanging on by a thread (and some superglue)

noreply@blogger.com (fontfreak) — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 16:18:00 +0000

Today the stress has hit the fan. My days left here are numbered and I'm starting to feel it, I'm in my final fortnight of work and, true to the laws of Fate, it's our busiest fortnight in a long time and my boss was off sick today and I myself am fighting off a cold. Usually, burning off stress and clearing my mind isn't a problem. Minor levels of stress can be baked or doodled away but for this kind of variety, I usually hit the gym or, even better, the climbing wall. Unfortunately, having literally hit the climbing wall last week, I am banned from figuratively hitting it for another week. And I miss it, I really really really miss it. Aaah well, I'm sure I can de-stress some other way.

Just call me OneStitch

noreply@blogger.com (fontfreak) — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 14:47:00 +0000

I was lead climbing last night on a route with 2 shelf overhangs and peeled off just under the 2nd shelf. I fell and unfortunately it was just the wrong distance and I landed just below the first shelf and although I had my hands up to save my head (not the face!), my knees were just at the wrong height and my left knee clipped the edge of the shelf as I swung underneath. I thought it would just be horribly bruised and I'd need ice but when I pulled up my pants there was this massive gash. My poor belay buddy blamed himself for giving me a crap belay but really, it's just one of those things. 10cm more less and my feet would have been on the wall and 10cm more and my knee would have sailed underneath.

So we headed to Charing Cross Hospital A&E and I was in and out in about an hour which has to be a record. Sadly I only have one stitch and some superglue to show for my efforts and annoyingly I'm out of commission for a week. And taking stairs is a pain in the, well, knee.

And of course I documented it but to keep gore to a minimum, I've done a montage of my latest adventure. Needless to say I have more pics. And excuse my manky thumb (chipped nail polish and I had just been climbing) but I needed something for scale.