I am Aynia's unventable spleen

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

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

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

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

Daring Bakers' Challenge #1- cheesecake

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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?

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

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

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

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.)