Baby, It's Cold Outside

In the last few days I have been registered and oriented at my university.
I would have taken some pictures of the grounds, because for the most part it's a beautiful campus full of old worldly charm, but firstly, I didn't really think of it and secondly, I would have had to have taken my hands out of my coat pocket and that would have been unpleasant.


I'm resolved not to be one of those people who perpetually states the obvious and moans "It's cold!"  so I've been putting on my best stoic face and responding to anybody who complains in my vicinity that the weather is fine provided you dress appropriately.
This dressing appropriately has seen me wearing 2 thermal tops and a t-shirt underneath a woolen jumper with a thick woolen coat over the top, thermal leggings and thick knee high socks under my jeans (which don't fit so well with the thermal leggings underneath - or possibly my thighs and stomach since eating ribs and discovering my love for American candy - gym opens this week, I'll be there), beanie and ear muffs (which don't fit well with my glasses meaning I have to sacrifice my vision for the sake of warm ears) and then my leather gloves.
In all that garb, it is still possible to be cold.
It's -19°C outside right now.


I get the feeling that in the warmer months this is going to be a great little town to get around.
I'd like to get a bicycle and just scoot about the place. At the moment however, this is one town where you need a car and being neither the owner of a car or a person legally entitled to be in control of a car, I'm a bit screwed.


I ran out of dinner type food yesterday and knew that would mean I had to walk to the supermarket or order in something greasy and the size of a steering wheel to be delivered.
You will be pleased to know that I chose the former.


Donning an additional thermal layer for safety, I headed out into the brisk air and as I was walking the 1.2 miles to the supermarket, it was crystalising in my head that I wanted something warm and stew like and quick to cook.
Once in the warmth of the supermarket, I saw these 

Mmm... Sausages.
Being Australia Day this week I have been thinking about sausages and the people I usually share them with on that day and it has been making me feel a bit sad.


So with my handy handheld scan as you go scanner I scanned them and popped them in my shopping bag.
A few aisles later and I came across legumes and I decided to make Sausages and Lentils.


One thing I have to show you, is how I bought my carrots.
I fear that these carrots might incur the wrath of my dear sister, who would disapprove of something so natural being so processed.
I'm sticking to them though because you cannot buy loose carrots in the supermarket so my options are these or a bag containing enough carrots for a family of 12.
And I like carrots (as you might be able to tell by the bag already being opened before getting home) but not enough to devote myself to an entirely carrot diet. Plus, whenever I go to the fridge, I tend to shove a few of these in my mouth which is healthy and fills me up and stops me eating more Reece's peanut butter cups. For at least 5 seconds.


Now that we've cleared that up, back to the Sausages and Lentils.
Sausages and Lentils is a dish we thought was dreamed up by our brother Nick until it appeared all fancified in the recipe book Apples for Jam but this could also just be a case of universal consciousness.
We were in disbelief that a recipe so simple could be so totally delicious.
The recipe is so simple in fact, that when your brain is partially frozen and you blank on some of the key ingredients and then you're distracted by taking photos of your cooking and miss a few steps, it still tastes delicious!


Lentils and Sausages

Good sausages	Olive oil
Tin of brown lentils (or cook 1-1 ½ cups green / brown lentils)	1 garlic clove
½ onion finely chopped	Tin chopped tomatoes
(optional) chopped carrot, celery	herbs of choice – parsley & oregano are favourites

That's the official ingredients list.
Here's what I ended up with in my addled state;

Good sausages	Olive oil
1-1 ½ cups of the only lentils in the supermarket. Look like puy.	0 garlic cloves (forgot to buy them)
3 spring onions - forgot to buy brown onions	What I thought was a tin of   chopped tomatoes but was actually stewed tomatoes so contained sugar and bell peppers and other stuff
chopped carrot and celery	herbs of choice – parsley & coriander were what was in the fridge

Step -1. Drain and rinse lentils, put in a pot with enough water to cover, bring to the boil then simmer 10-15 minutes until tender

Spring onion, not brown onion

1. Fry off vegetables. 

2. Separately cook sausages in a fry pan.

3. Chop up all your herbs

4. Throw them in the pan with the vegetables

5. Throw the lentils in too

6. And the tomatoes with a bit of stock or water

7. Once the sausages are cooked, slice them up

It was important for me to check the flavours at this stage (gobbling up pieces of sausage)

8. And chuck them in with the veggies

9. And then you eat it

Don't know why I'm wasting my time studying writing when clearly my talents lie in food photography!

An Australian making Italian food with Canadian bacon in an American kitchen while listening to Britpop

As all my roommates have been absent until today, I've had 3 lovely, lazy, relaxing days in New Paltz which are welcome after the hustle bustle madness of NYC.

One of the things I was hankering to do but knew I needed to do on a solo mission was seriously check out the supermarket. Despite having delicious pizza from a place around the corner called Grimaldi's I am determined not to start eating take out for every other meal as seems to be so commonplace in this country. For this to be I needed to know what resources I have at my disposal.

So I hiked down to the local Stop&Shop, which despite sounding like a convenience store you might just Stop in & Shop for something you'd forgotten, like milk, it is actually a gigantic mega emporium of groceries with a complete pharmacy and florist inside. 

I had nothing to do with the rest of the day and a shopping list of 3 items; sage, Lady Grey tea and chicken stock so I double knotted my laces and set off into the fray.

It was mental! I had to stop every few minutes and stare at the lining of my handbag to stop myself from hyperventilating. There was just so much food!!! Food we just don't know about in Australia! Food like Texas Toast and cheese in a can and albacore and chocolate coated pretzels! 

And not only is there so much more food, there is also so much more choice of food. If you want to get soup, you have a good 12 shelves to scan. I decided it would be quicker to make my own!

So homeward bound with a few more things than planned in my bag

How did they get in my basket? And then my bag? And then my mouth?

and I set about making my first ever pot of minestrone in the US.

Two things the supermarket did not have; 1) Convincing Tim Tams

Not even close! Everyone know Tim Tams come in brown packages.

and 2) bacon hocks. 

I had learnt from my first cooking adventure in the US; fettucine carbonara in Queens (story and recipe maybe to follow, we'll see, we'll see) that American bacon is a bit flimsy for cooking purposes so I used Canadian bacon which is thicker.

I make this minestrone when I’m feeling happy or when I’m feeling sad or when I’m feeling sick or if I have a big assignment due or when someone has had a baby or because it’s a day ending in ‘y’. Any excuse really.

You can make whatever adjustments to this that you like. Use peas instead of beans, leave out the barley, use normal bacon or pancetta instead of bacon hocks if you're in the US and that's all that's available. 

This however is my deluxe edition best ever minestrone recipe which I love, love, love for the rest of my life. 

Minestrone

1 tbsp butter	1 onion
3 cloves garlic	Sage
2 bacon hocks	2 celery stalks
2 carrots	1 potato
1 tbsp tomato paste	400g tin chopped tomato
400g tin borlotti beans	3/4 cup pearled barley
Basil	3 litres of stock
green beans	1 zucchini
½ cup small pasta

1.      Melt butter over a low heat, add a dash of olive oil and then add onion, garlic and sage

2.      Fry until soft. Add bacon hocks, celery, carrot and potatoes. Cook 5 minutes

3.      Add tomato paste and tomatoes, 

basil, 

Dried basil. OK by me.

borlotti beans and barley. Season

I hazarded a guess that Roman beans were the same as borlotti beans. I was correct.

4.      Add stock. Bring to the boil and then simmer 1-2 hours

5.      Add zucchini, green beans and pasta

6.      Cook until pasta is al dente

7.      Remove bacon hock from pot and remove any meat that falls away from the bone. Chop finely and stir through soup.

And no, sorry, there are no more pictures because by the time it was almost ready I was hopping from foot to foot and starving hungry so I gobbled it up.

All that remains!

In search of... what?

First blog from the Big Apple.
A morning of feeling frustrated by the cold and deprived of coffee and I decided to head in from Queens where I've been staying these past few days (another story - perhaps not fit to publish on the internet) and find Culture Espresso which is apparently a Melbourne-style espresso coffee joint.

Upon entering, I was overjoyed to see the words 'flat' and 'white' strung together on the blackboard menu.
The joy turned to disappointment upon delivery of said flat white. Watery and with scalded milk; the resemblance it bore in appearance to a flat white made it all the more distasteful.

Consulting my trusty iPhone I searched the New York city map for something in the surrounding streets that might interest me and get me out of the cold and that is how I find myself here, right now in the New York Public Library.
Like everything else I've encountered in New York, it seems overgrown and confusing to navigate.
And of course the hardest thing is, I don't even know what I'm looking for. If I knew that there was a reading room or a particular book here that I wanted to find, then I would be able to concentrate my efforts on finding that particular thing. But until classes start on the 24th, I'm really just a lost soul, wandering the streets of New York or the halls of this library.

In a bar I went to on New Years Eve, I met a guy who asked me what it was I had come to New York to find. I was stumped by this one. I think that the focus of my studies had led me to consider 'going to New York' to be an activity to undertake, like a project.

But perhaps deep down I held a belief that this really was a magical city where I might find something I've always wanted, but couldn't dream of finding in the mundane environment of home; true love, outrageous success, the key to my eternal happiness.
I remember as my plane flew in over Long Beach to JFK airport, I was looking down at the streetlights which are orangey-yellow here, not the white I'm used to back home. The weaving path of jewelled streetlights sparkled and I thought to myself that maybe the streets here really are paved in gold.

Perhaps what I'm searching for is an answer to what I want to find in my life.
In an environment such as I'm in now, where everything is unfamiliar - every street corner, every logo and package in the supermarket, I will be forced to examine what's around me more carefully. I will have to think about what I really want and try to seek that out.
So wish me luck on this extraordinary game of seek.

And of course, I miss you too dear sister.
So much so that sometimes my chest feels like it will burst.

Welcome summer

Yesterday was a day I missed my sister.  And even though in good company throughout the day, there was a gap.  We flew kites and took the balance bike for it's first ride, and picnicked on the grass in Central Park (Malvern).  It made me think of the "real" Central Park and what you might be looking at (snow mostly).  Later in the day while dancing our sillies out the Rainbow Connection came onto the iPod and I was taken back to a car sing-along in Margaret River, WA while on holiday 18 months ago and we were driving towards a rainbow (Owen's first).  There may've been a welling.  Mum told me you got a cell-phone number.  I felt jealous she knew.  Was then frozen by choice when I wanted to contact you - would a text work? Should I facebook? Email? Call?

But today has been a good day. 

Sunshine, 30 degrees, slight breeze.  People were smiling.

A tram ride into the city with running commentary from Owen, Gus happily making eyes at the other passengers and lulled to sleep by the rickety rocking. The tram driver even left his seat to help lift up the pram!

A dumplings lunch at Camy. A game of making the alphabet with the chopsticks while we waited. $7 for 3 people, thanks for coming.

A 10-minute shopping expedition for bathers as my 6-year old faded saggy workhorse pair didn't survive their last wash. I ended up with a black & white spotted tankini in deference to my saggy tummy which didn't survive last pregnancy.

Onwards for an afternoon swim in the sunshine with our brother & nephew.  We saw Owen get over his (shared with me) tendency not to try anything unless sure he'll be successful.  He swam with a noodle.  He went under water.  He splashed. He leapt. He clung to Andy's neck and stayed in until his lips were blue and teeth chattering.  He looked more like Monty Burns than humanly possible.  Gus had his first swim and as expected this waterbaby loved it. ALOT.

Omlette and sandwiches for dinner at 5pm infront of Shrek 3  to keep someone awake (yep, still not returned, must be a gazillion $ in fines).  Ice-cream and black fruit salad (of blackberries, cherries, black grapes, currants, raspberries and blueberries) and a slab of the most delicious muesli bar in the world with a cup of Roobios tea while blogging. (And I just found a facebook album full of your photos- hurrah!)

This muesli bar would be awesome for kinder next week, were it not for the peanut butter ... thinking of trying tahini as a substitute ... will report back.  But do try this recipe ....

(and still no photos, no camera, universe are you listening?!)

Chewy Seedy Oat and Apricot Bars

300 g (3 ½ cups) rolled oats	100 g pumpkin or sunflower seeds (or a mix)
50 g desiccated coconut	50g (1/3 cup) plain flour
200g butter, chopped	200g golden syrup
150g (1 cup) brown sugar	150g dried apricots, chopped
125g (1/2 cup) crunchy peanut butter	1 tsp vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 160 degrees C.
2. Line a slice pan with baking paper (recipe calls for 18cm x 28 cm, but does anyone really measure / check theirs? I used a roasting tray).
3. Mix oats, seeds, coconut and flour in large bowl.
4. Melt butter and golden syrup together in saucepan over medium heat for 3-4 minutes, and then mix in sugar, apricots, peanut butter and vanilla.
5. Pour into the dry ingredients and mix.
6. Press into pan and bake for 20 – 25 minutes, or until golden and slightly firm.
7. Cool in tin, remove still on paper and slice into bars / squares.
8. Store in airtight container for up to a week, or freeze (apparently they freeze well, but uh we ate ours).

Just Blog Already - Happy Christmas

So where my sister is a can-do, do-do kinda girl, I so far have 4 draft posts sitting in blogger, from introductions, to happy birthdays to sister dearest (2nd December), a craft round-up and finally musings on the festive season .... but here it is, Christmas Day already and I've been leaving it all up to baby sis to actually publish - which is possibly a good idea, her being the creative genius writer, but also unfair as it is she who is frantically in her final 5 days, yes, just on 120 hours until Air Korea spirits her to the US of A. (I mean did you just see how LOOOONG that sentence was? and how many brackets (parenthesis) I have used below??!!)

Luckily I work well with deadlines (well kinda), and we (Katie & I) put together a lovely little collection of our favorite recipes to share with our family and dearest friends (and selfishly to make sure we had each others most delicious offerings when we can no longer just make and bring to one another). The title page to this self-published book, "Lolly Legs and Lonely Chicken" also advertised that we had created this blog - so I really needed to get my act together if this is to be a dual effort.

Our Christmas Eve tradition of sitting about wrapping presents, drinking cups of tea in jarmies and watching Love Actually continued last night .... I think this is now 6 years running and while the story has holes big enough to drive a truck through it also has Rodrigo Santoro's Abs, some pretty good movie dancing from Hugh and a sweet sappy Christmassy kind of spirit.  It is interesting having a young family and being in the position to start shaping the traditions our children will grow up with - while I plan to expand in future posts I decided last night to put aside the car-mat I was hoping to finish "in time" for Owen and just enjoy the last cooking and company.  The thrum of sewing machines has been also been part of too-many late Christmas Eves as I follow through on my intention to always create something for Owen and Gus by hand, and I don't want it to be too much of the fabric of memories for our family.

Anyway today started with the glee and wonder of 3-year-old's surprise at Santa having filled his stocking at the end of the bed with presents.  First they were lovingly stacked and carried through the house, sorted by size and finally opened and individually played with before moving to the next. 

Baby Gus relished the crackling paper and gnawed on Aunt Kate's, Dad's and my knuckles, or any object in mouth range.

Kate may be able to provide some pictures, but as our camera is among the long list of broken household items (washing machine, oven, printer ...), I am image poor.

For a third year running Kate and I managed to buy each other the same gift - this year Jasper Fforde's newest book - The Last Dragonslayer.  Luckily we couldn't have swapped this anyway, and seeing she first introduced me to this great author, perhaps fitting.  Last year is was Catherine Deveny's book, and before that matching yellow bird brooches from LuLu

We spent lunch with our lovely aunts/uncles/cousins in Williamstown, and fortuitously it was themed "Love" - meaning we all brought a plate to share - something you love, or make for those you love ....

In addition to (mini) Chicken Pyjamas (Parmigiana), we brought Corn Fritters, Oh-So-Good-Top-Secret-Brownie and Vanilla Cupcakes (recipes below).  Other food highlights that I hope to have shared in the how-to-make included amazingly deliciously spicy oyster shooters with wasabi from Sharon, some seriously good vegan curry from our brother Nick, a good chunky satay from family friend Renata and the signature dishes of pork belly with crackling, Mum's ice-cream pudding and much more besides.  I know, a little bit fabulous for Christmas isn't it?

Christmas is also typically a bit stressful and sad for some, or a time of reflection on life, love and (often) getting together with family that you otherwise don't see.  I know my dear sister has found this particular Christmas a bit harder in the final impatient wait to the next chapter in her story, trying desperately to shed material possessions to make space for adventure, only to have them refilled by well-meaning family (I am guilty).  Our little guys are also wired, with the normal rhythms of the day all tangled, blood sugars plummeting and sky-rocketing and at the end of a week of change for my toddler for whom change is hard - missing his good friends who have moved to Perth, finishing up daycare with the wilds of kindy waiting next year and lots of extra attention from houseguests this past month.

So happy Christmas to you all (?!), well really just you dear sister, but in case of rogue readers.... may the coming year bring much love, laughter, happiness and creative experience ...

And here are the recipes that "go" with today ....

Corn fritters

These are a hybrid from Bill Granger's Open Kitchen, and the excellent, funny blogging of All Consuming.  

They are delicious for breakfast, lunch, dinner and win as a snack food when out and about.  They can be plumped up with any or all of the following: fresh salad greens, tomato, sour cream, bacon, guacamole, sweet chilli sauce, more bacon ... but we like ours with avocado salsa – 2 ripe avocados diced, ½ cup chopped coriander leaves, 2 tbspn lemon/lime juice, 2 tbsp sliced spring onions (if to hand), dash Tabasco, salt and pepper

3 cups corn kernels (fresh from ~ 3 cobs or frozen)	1/2 to 3/4 red capsicum, finely diced
2-4 shallots, finely sliced (or about small Spanish onion finely diced)	1/2 bunch coriander and few sprigs of flat leaf parsley , chopped
2 eggs	1 cup plain flour
1 tsp baking powder	(optional) 1 tsp smokey paprika
pinch salt & pepper	vegetable oil or spray oil

1. Place 2 cups of corn kernels, onion, eggs, coriander, flour, baking powder and seasoning in a food processor and process until combined.
2. Place in large bowl and add the remaining corn kernels.
3. Heat some oil in a fry pan and drop in large spoonfuls of batter
4. Cook for about 2 minutes or until golden, flip and cook the other side

Brownies

This recipe, which comes from my sister’s friend Natalie, is supposed to be kept top secret. I think it’s because the power of the deliciousness of these brownies could destroy the world. So if you’re looking at this and it’s been censored, ask me to make you some.

200g dark chocolate	200g butter
3 eggs	1 tsp vanilla essence
¾ cup plain flour	¼ cup cocoa
1 cup caster sugar	250g white chocolate/ Top Deck

1.       Preheat oven to 170°C

2.       Line a brownie/slice tin with baking paper

3.       Melt dark chocolate and butter together

4.       Whisk in egg and vanilla

5.       Sift together dry ingredients

6.       Add chocolate mixture to the dry ingredients

Lovely, shiny, melted buttery chocolate

7.       Stir through chunks of white chocolate

Big chunks are good. As are small chunks.
Let's face it, all chunks of white chocolate are magical.

Almost at maximum deliciousness capacity

8.       Bake for 45 minutes

Love!

Busy work

Dear sister assures me she too will be posting something soon. She's been busy wrangling her inquisitive 3 year old and the baby Gus, who is already on the go; strong legs giving him the push off he needs to scoot on his back to exciting places like underneath tables.


Meanwhile I too have been busy, preparing to push off to New York.
There is a lot to be done before moving overseas however through the efforts of one jam-packed Thursday, I've actually done all of these things.


Now this is not the worst thing that could happen by far. The worst thing would be if it were the day before I was to leave and I still didn't have my visa and my bank balance was 8 cents. Some people might even think that it is a good thing, to be so organised. That I could just relax now that I've got it all under control. The problem lies in the fact that I'm a born worrier so when I had a list of things to focus on, I had a list of things I could actively work upon to feel proactive and keep my anxiety at bay.


I relate strongly with Misha's character in Dr Zhivago of whom it is said, "A feeling of care remained his ultimate mainspring and was not relieved and ennobled by a sense of security."


Now with there nothing to do before I go but wait. I have opened myself up, like a Pandora's box, to the worst kind of niggling worries.


I actually convinced myself the other day that I would not in fact be able to go to New York as I didn't know how to tip.
When thinking on it in a spare moment of rationality I concluded that as an intelligent adult I would perhaps be able to figure out tipping, or perhaps if measures were really desperate, ask someone.

To distract myself from all of the pointless worry, I went out and bought a very cool item which I believe my dear sister had been eyeing off as a potential Christmas present for me (sorry!); the Moleskin New York guide.
I've had Moleskin diaries before and while they're incredibly cool, I find that at $30 a pop, they're a little too expensive for my pointless and long winded scribblings.
But the New York guide is worth every penny, even when it will be filled with all of my pointless scribblings.
It has a large overview map of New York City, a subway map, 26 pages of maps plus a street directory and then lots of blank pages for your own notes. So in every spare moment of worry I've been diving into the internet and looking up things I might need to know, like where to get the best coffee near my hotel (Culture Espresso Bar) and the exact location of the street that the opening credits of 'Flight of The Conchords'  was shot on (Henry St in Chinatown).

So now when I get to New York I will have my own little customised guidebook and I have the added bonus of the feeling of busy-ness to distract me from all the dread! Perfect!

My little sister from then to now

A happy celebration of my dear sister's birthday on Thursday (post-dated entry).  In true generous form, after working all week, she hosted our whole family (minus Nick, our brother, living in large in Asia after finishing uni) and supplied more Asian greens in oyster sauce and pork ("chicken" for the benefit of Owen, the sometimes pedantic 3 year old) than you could poke a chopstick at.  It has been HOT in Melbourne and steamy courtesy of all the rain (I have had to drain our pots of tomatoes of several liters of excess water each day), so this was no small feat.  We had vanilla cupcakes which I seem to use for pretty much all birthdays, weddings, blessingways, picnics etc (recipe below).

I was 6 when my sister was born.  I don't really remember it clearly.  I do recall her beauty being admired by everyone who met her (all golden curls and smiles - the only babe in our family to have professional studio photos displayed in the family home, early 80's - lots of baskets of jip and dusky pink).  I also remember being rather pleased at having a sister and taking her to show & tell while mum was on canteen duty, and the devastation at having my teacher turn us away (wrong day? time? details some 19 years later are sketchy).

Fast forward through years of shared bedrooms with her and our two brothers, playing nicely (sometimes) and at others being told by our mother to take it out to the yard and finish it for good. From teaching her to push mashed veggies through gaps left by her lost baby teeth through to continued annoyance as a moody teen at her attentions, not having privacy & space.  

Somewhere along the way we became friends, long after I fled the family home aged 18 to live in sin (seems far too young now on reflection).  I think it might've been around the time I spent a year working and traveling through the United Kingdom and Europe in 2001, as all health professionals seem to.  We connected with email and talking long distance - who knew I had such a great women for a sister? And who knew how fabulous a sisterly relationship could be? In many ways more honest and resilient than friendships, and at the same time amazing to still be learning more about each other in spite of our shared history.

We had a beautiful role model for sister relationships in our maternal grandmother, Mama, and Auntie Maureen who lived in LA.  Our Mama died earlier this year and I know for me some of that grieving was imagining being in the same situation. These photos were used for the memorials and I think captures some of the warmth and mischief that sister-hood encompasses.

So now my successful little sister is going to live abroad.  I can't quite imagine life without her right here.  She has been there through thick and thin of mundane and exciting life events with me.  She was the only person I could imagine having with me as I recently birthed our second babe, Augustus, at home - she looked after Owen (our eldest), keeping the space calm and loving, holding me up through contractions on the edge of the pool.

It was at her recent garage sale I sounded out the idea of blogging (where yes, I indeed pillaged her life and argued over many items of contention - who really actually owns that doctors bag?  And no you don't need to take that awesome shirt dress, leave it with me..).  I think the idea of blogging has grown on me, much like the idea of a non-tradie having a mobile phone back in the mid 90s, or the ubiquitous iPhone along with all the apps in more recent years.  
I was thinking of how a blog could be a modern family journal of sorts.  Was it too narcissistic?  Or is it a practical way of reflecting on life given how plugged in the world is becoming and the fact I haven't albumised (totally a word) any photos from that Europe trip, and stopped printing or looking at digital photos when Owen turned 1 (more than 2 years ago).  
I am glad Katie jumped in and just did it ... I would still be trying to mull over how do I want this to be ....trying to find some framework ... thinking I love the snort-out-loud funny blogs out there, but couldn't keep the energy or material coming.  I love the generosity and depth of thought that occur in some and hope that others might find some of my (our) stories helpful, inspiring, or of interest.  I was keen that while chronicling my days and the stuff I do that it doesn't become show-offy or intimidating (how some of my favourite bloggers manage to do the stuff they do, let alone write about what they do is beyond me).

So with a big breathe, and a merciful 20 minutes of Gus sleeping in bed (by himself!!) I have put fingers to keyboard, introduced me and my sister and will take the space to say how proud I am of my sister, the talented writer,  an amazing auntie to her 3 nephews, a sounding board for everything for her sister, a beacon of style, vessel of inspiration, an ally in our (at times) crazy family, an EXCELLENT cooker of all things minestrone, sausage roll and peanut butter choc-chip cookie maker. Now off on scholarly pursuits in New Paltz, New York State, and with the most fabulous gift registry to set-up her new digs (Liberty sheets anyone?) - I will miss you, but am so happy to share this blog to keep in touch with thoughts, pictures and writing.

x L 

Vanilla Cupcakes

These are my go-to cakes.  They are super simple, coming as they do from a kid’s recipe book from the king of simple, Bill Granger.   I make them for weddings, birthdays, blessingways, afternoon teas, baby showers, farewells, welcome homes … basically any time I have to make a cake – they have even been used in large format for recent fire engine, sea creature and lion cakes.  They are equally good in tiny weeny cases, or big muffin type cases, adjusting the cooking time accordingly.   The icing is pretty magical (play guess the ingredients with unsuspecting recipients) but you could substitute boring normal icing.  You can pretty them up with a large freckle, some silver cachous, smarties, sprinkles etc (but do this close to time of serving or the colour leaks into the soft icing)

1 ½ cups flour	1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt	125g butter, softened
1 ½ tsp vanilla essence	3 eggs
¾ cup milk	1 cup caster sugar
Icing:
250g white chocolate	300g sour cream
Lollies/smarties to decorate

1.       Preheat oven to 180°C

2.       Line muffin tray with paper cases

3.       Sift flour, baking powder and salt

4.       In a separate bowl cream butter and sugar

5.       Add vanilla and then eggs, one at a time. Mix

6.       Add dry ingredients, alternating with milk until a soft dropping consistency

7.       Divide between paper cases and bake 20-25 minutes.  Should be a mild gold tinge on top.

For icing

1.       Melt chocolate and allow to cool slightly

2.       Mix in the sour cream

3.       Cupcakes must be cool before icing