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Image taken from Amazon.com
This is how you know your girlfriend is part of your blog readership.
They say that when life throws you lemons, make lemonade.
Well, I thought hard about it for a while then decided that those lemons would be put to much better use in baking these, what I call Lemony Lickits (or lick-its, as they’re really meant to be called), lemon cupcakes with lemon cream cheese frosting. It’s a refreshing break away from the rich chocolate and coffee ones I’ve been making the past few years.
This virgin attempt at the Lemony Lickits also opened up a whole new world of possibilities to my cupcake repertoire – I could do mango ones, strawberry ones, orange, lavender, and just about every other flavour that exists on the planet! It’s getting terribly exciting, and it’s only just the beginning.
Coffee cupcakes with a rich mocha fudge frosting
Just some leftovers from last night’s dinner, but with leftovers like these, it sure looks like I’m having a party at my desk!
Clockwise from top-left: Ricotta cakes; roasted beetroots and carrots; homemade mushroom soup; beef braised in a rich passata sauce
When trays of cupcakes like these start to appear, it usually means one thing – Christmas is here!
Every year I make little mudcakes as Christmas gifts for my colleagues. Sometimes I’d decorate them with silver dragees or fondant like I did last year, but baking for 50 people in the department was enough to deter me from even attempting any form of decoration so I stuck to the traditional fudge frosting instead.
The root of the storm in my kitchen
The weekend is finally here and I can say goodbye to yet another busy week that has gone by. I bid my Excel spreadsheets for the week goodbye and ushered in the weekend with a little dinner party at home. So the apartment was finally minted with its first dinner guests tonight, Michael Buble was blasting in the background and the kitchen was in full operation despite the simple but ever-so-classic menu of antipasti and a garlic and white wine linguine marinara – always a crowd pleaser.
Antipasto platter at D.O.C’s Pizza & Mozzarella Bar
The antipasto platter which consisted of paper thin slices of cured meats (a San Danielle proscuitto, some other random proscuitto and smoked bresaola that we bought from the local deli), buffalo mozzarella and ciabatta, was inspired by our dinner at D.O.C. Pizza & Mozzarella Bar some time back. There was no doubt the chef stuck to his guns and the mantra that “less is more”, and served up the bare minimum of proscuitto and bresaola, a fat ball of buffalo mozzarella imported from Italy and some grissini sticks. It was that simple, but it made such a bold statement that it left a lasting impression on us.
I really enjoyed the linguine too. We threw some pippies, prawns and squid into a mound of olive oil and garlic, added a few glugs of a 2001 Semillon (such a waste of good vino!) and tossed it all into the pot of pasta. Mmm…
But I digress. The food was great tonight and the company was even better. Pity my guests didn’t drink because I imagined our meal would go down really nicely with a good bottle of vino, but the company was ace anyway without the alcohol. Thankfully I’ve got a ride and a run in order tomorrow morning. All this pent-up energy’s got to go somewhere! What a lovely way to begin the weekend. Absolutely.
Things have come to a standstill. My exercise regime is pretty much non-existent (save for lunch-time respites at the gym) with the avalanche of work, deadlines and planning for the move.
I can’t decide if Christmas could’ve come at a better or worse time because it seems like the most popular date for deadlines to be set (like seriously!), but it also means that I get to be sitting under the Christmas tree in our sunny-island-set-in-the-sand.
Meanwhile, this space will be a bit silent until:
a. I have recovered from the deadlines;
b. I have Internet connection set up in my new place and
c. I finally have the time to make use of my Melbourne Triathlon Club membership and actually train with the crew.
Till then, folks. Perhaps the next time you hear from me is when I am enjoying unlimited wireless high-speed Internet at Starbucks or Mackers in East Coast Park.
