**THIS COMPETITION IS NOW CLOSED, CONGRATULATIONS TO THE WINNER MATILDA A.*

Keren from the Cupcake Courier has a magic touch when it comes to choosing all things gorgeous for her shop and the Cupcake Courier are now the exclusive Australian stockists for Mayfair Lane’s revolutionary stationery range. Why is it revolutionary? Because it can stick on mirrors, glass, wood and Stainless Steel without leaving any residue or marks. And because she loves NQN readers, she has put together a gorgeous package of Mayfair Lane goodies worth $73 for one lucky reader to win!

The clips

And what’s in this wonderful prize?

1x Happeez whiteboard
1x Happeez shopping list pad
1x Happeez notepad
2x Happeez single clippers

RRP $73

The Notepad

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If I appear to be in the midst of a soup epidemic I plead guilty Your Honour. It’s cold here and looking after a patient at home for the next week or so (Mr NQN) means that soup is a weekly feature. The routine is simple. I make a big batch of soup (the flavour depending on what is in season or what is on special that week) and I then serve it to him for lunch for the next 4-5 days. You see the thing is is that it needs to be easy because I’m busy tending to the world’s worst patient. He won’t put the laptop or his phone down and gets terribly bored even when he has a host of things to watch on tv. All he wanted to do was show his friends (and anyone with the stomach) photos of his post-surgery open wound and play with his gadgets. Typical boy.

Many of you asked what he was in hospital for. It was “bursitis” with a Staphylococcus bacterial infection. I shall briefly explain: your elbows (as well as the knee and shoulder) have sacs of fluid that float over them and they can get inflamed from rubbing or by infection. His was infected by “Staphylococcus aureus” and most likely from leaning his elbow on his work desk. Yes really! I know, I know… how incredibly innocuous and random. Not from anything as exciting or daring as underwater caving, discovering a Mummy’s tomb or from hiking in the Amazon. It’s mind blowing to think that the result of this is almost two weeks in hospital with surgery, two weeks at home connected to an infuser and antibiotics, and another two weeks after that on oral antibiotics.

So if I can suggest anything to you my Dear Readers, it’s please keep your elbows off the table (mum was right!) and moisturise them. And despite the fact that it was exacerbated by his cracked elbows (men just don’t care about moistursing their elbows do they?), he refused to let me put moisturiser on his good elbow. And this is when I’m not wrestling the laptop out of his bandaged arms (it’s truly an amusing sight). He has kept his sense of humour though and laughed hard when I brought him a copy of Hemmingway’s “A Farewell to Arms” but at times he does get cranky -case in point was the very last sentance he uttered was “I don’t like French food” when I suggested lunch (yes it seems we’ve become Lou and Andy).

Anyway, back to the cauliflower soup. It’s incredibly silky and creamy. There is only the smallest amount of cream in it and when you see that you can get so many serves out of it I hope that the 1/3 cup total of cream will not put you off. Do make sure that the soup is blended well which really aids in achieving the silky texture. I love the crispy crumb topping to give it a crunchy texture. However feel free to leave it off as I sometimes prefer it without it. But I never leave off the crispy bacon bits at the top- ever.

So tell me Dear Reader, are you a good patient or a bad one? Do you follow orders or are you defiant and rebellious?

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Even though I’m Australian I know I don’t do a lot of native Australian foods. Not because I don’t like them – on the contrary – but ingredients aren’t particularly easy to come across. However markets and food festivals are often places where you can pick up native Australian bushfoods such as Wattleseed or Lemon Myrtle. I came across a stall at the Easter Show called Barbushco where they offered us small slices of a Lemon Myryle cheesecake they had made in order to demonstrate how to use their spices. We were instantly smitten. Light and fluffy and with that aromatic Lemon Myrtle scent (much like Lemongrass or Lemon Verbena), it was a fabulous Australian take on a lemon cheesecake.

I’ve made plenty of baked cheesecakes in the past but never an unbaked cheesecake. I was surprised at how easy it was (having put aside a whole afternoon to make it only to find that it was done within 40 minutes) in comparison. The different, lighter texture as opposed to the thick, creamy baked cheesecake texture was something not to eschew but to embrace at times where lightness and ease will do. The ground Lemon Myrtle is a pretty green shade as the leaves are used and they impart such a delicious sweet lemony aroma. If you’re unable to get Lemon Myrtle then you can always substitute it with a good quality lemongrass powder or Lemon verbena. Or alternatively, you could use any kind of sweet sauce like a caramel sauce swirled through, a berry or fruit puree or your favourite chocolate bar chopped up into small pieces and stirred through.

As a whole cheesecake, it is a little shallower than your normal towering hunk of baked cheesecake and this is no surprise given that it only uses 250grams or 9 ounces of cream cheese. The ratio of crust to filling is also more equal than say a typical cheesecake so the first thing I thought of was a cheesecake slice where sturdiness and a thicker base is a desirable and necessary feature. Mr NQN was so in love with this idea that I decided to make the slice version the next day. It was a fabulous slice and out of the two shapes, I preferred it in the squares as this was easy to pop in a lunchbox.

So tell me Dear Reader, do you prefer a baked or a non baked cheesecake and what is your favourite Cheesecake flavour?

Also in some very exciting news, I have made it to #2 on the Top Australian Women Bloggers list!

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