A Quick Catch-Up with Pictures

I swear someone has hit the fast-forward button on my life. Time is flying by and it's getting closer and closer to the day that I'll get to meet my little girl. There are still so many things to do before she comes.

The last week has been a lovely one with great catch-ups with dear friends over a number of days.

One catch-up involved a decadent Chocolate High Tea with the girls. I was totally spoiled with presents for the baby, but mostly came away from it so thankful for the truly amazing female friends I have in my life. They are all so intelligent, travelled, kind, funny and loyal. I feel really blessed.

Another day I got to christen my Shinzi Katoh tea set and so whipped up some cupcakes for the occasion.

I continued to be in a baking mood, so cooked up a damper for lunch with DH. Last than ten minutes after sitting down, he said to me "Actually, I'm quite full." I looked at him and said "Well maybe that's because you just ate half a loaf of damper." He looked at the plate and replied "Wow, I did too. It's really good."

I've continued to enjoy cooking this week and made a salmon and dill cream fettucini for DH for dinner tonight. As he always does the cooking, he's loving the break.

We are still very slowly setting up the baby's room. We finally bought a set of drawers so that I can sort out all her clothes that I've been busy pre-washing. While the drawer top will become the change table, I could resist setting out some of her lovely toys for now.

How adorable are these? The face-less frog was knitted for me by one of my Japanese student's mums before I left Japan. The sleepy lamb was from my SIL and the baby's cousin and the pink bull from my cousin.

Some Japanese-ness there too. The wooden plaque is a music box that plays the sweetest little tune, another gift from Japan before I left.

I still have to get started on making the nappies, find a bookcase for the room (she has quite a collection of books already and that's only going to grow), put up shelves, paint some furniture, work on some artwork for the room, sew a mobile... the list goes on. So while I am very excited about meeting my baby, would someone mind slowing time down for me?

The Hopeless-In-The-Kitchen-Girl's Guide to cooking

Caramel Tart Balls

Ingredients

1 1/2-ish packets (you've already had some with a cuppa) Arnott's Butternut Snap Cookies

1 tin-ish (don't forget to save some to eat straight out of the tin when you're finished) Nestle Caramel Top N Fill

Chocolate to melt and snack on while you're "cooking"

1 generous dose of the ability to not worry when things don't turn out

1 pinch of knowledge that you're making these for a friend who has lived with you in the past so knows how hopeless you are in the kitchen but loves you anyway

Super cute chocolate liners (very important that they are cute as you will see below)

Method

Step 1: Choose a recipe that doesn't involve the oven as you haven't recovered emotionally from your previous attempt at baking cupcakes that caused not one, but two kitchen fires that you had to get your husband to put out because your pregnant belly made it difficult to do so.

Step 2: Attempt what should be a very easy Caramel Tart recipe that involves making tart cases by microwaving the biscuits, rolling them out and shaping them into the bottom of a mini tart tins. Instead, have yours turn out really crumbly and uneven, very unlike the photo, so that when you try to eat the tart later, the tart case crumbles all over yourself and the floor. Eagerly lick the caramel off your fingers anyway. Realise that if you'd followed the recipe and actually MADE the caramel rather than cheat and just buy the ready-to-pour stuff that the hot caramel might have stuck the tart casing together. Decide you don't really care.

Step 3: Realise that the ingredients taste good together and that you don't want to waste them.

Step 4: Throw the biscuits in the blender to crush them up, though not too finely.

Step 5: In a bowl, combine the crushed biscuits and caramel, mix. Pop the bowl in the refrigerator to let the mixture harden a little to make it easier to roll the balls.

Step 6: Roll the mixture into small balls and place on a plate. Melt some chocolate in the microwave (to continue the cheating theme). Spoon chocolate over the balls.

Step 7: Let the chocolate set in the refrigerator.

Step 8: Once the chocolate is set, place the balls, chocolate side down into super cute liners. The liners act as a distraction of your messy attempt of pouring the chocolate and that what you're serving is a little odd.

Step 9: Melt some more chocolate and spoon over the top of the balls, kind of creating a chocolate-caramel mix sandwich. Make sure you've melted more chocolate than you need so that you need to eat the rest of the melted chocolate from the bowl so that it doesn't go to waste.

Step 10: Put the balls into the refrigerator to set the chocolate.

Step 11: Ask someone nearby that loves you to taste them to see if they are OK. Remember that if this loved one gives you the go-ahead, your friend that loves you will be equally as accepting.

Getting To Know My Oven

One very exciting thing about moving back to Australia is that I have an oven again! I have said on this blog before that I don't cook, well that wasn't the total truth. I don't really cook meals, but I love to bake. Nothing terribly difficult mind you, certainly nothing up to La Fuji Mama's level, but I love to make cakes, biscuits, slices and the occasional pavlova.

My oven and I are going to take a little time getting to know each other, but it will be fun, like getting to know a new friend. Today's menu was vanilla cupcakes. Yummy, if I might say so myself, maybe a little too sweet (wow, I didn't think I'd ever say that) and didn't quite brown enough on the top, but overall, a decent attempt.


As DH, a good friend and I tried them, this was our view.


The living room feature will be our new rug with some artwork on the walls, pillows and chair covers to tie it all in together. Behind that, you can see my favourite feature of our new place - the gorgeous bush reserve view. It's teaming with bird life. As our bedroom is directly above the living room, we have the same view and the birds singing every morning is magical to wake up to.

I think I will be able to make this a lovely new home and build a lovely new life.

This is... my Favourite Kitchen Tool

... in my tiny Japanese kitchen...

... my husband! I like to pretend that I CAN'T cook, but that's actually a lie. It's just that for the last few years, I've hated cooking. I'm not exactly sure why, it started around the time that my food allergies kicked in, so that may have something to do with it.

I will go back to cooking one day. Actually, that's one thing that I'm really looking forward to about moving back to Australia, having a decent sized kitchen and having an oven! Ohh... how I've missed having an oven.

But in the meantime, it's been my wonderful dh that has done all the cooking. Many mornings he even makes my lunch for me to take to school. On weekends he'll cook breakfast and bring it to me in bed if I so desire. He does the grocery shopping and while I've been sick for the last year and now that I'm slowly coming to terms that I may not ever get back to how I was before getting sick, he has even picked up my slack with the cleaning.

So, how could I not choose him as my favourite "gadget".

Thank you to Sharon for guest hosting while Angela settles back in from her holiday.