*click* *tap* *click *click* *tap*

That is the sound of some readers who having seen the rather bizarre title of today’s post, may have gone elsewhere for fear of what they were going to see. But lean in closer Dear Reader, because I’m glad that you’ve stayed and I’m going to share with you a rather unusual recipe today. Yes raw brownies with a chocolate avocado frosting.

I have a bit of a fascination with raw food stemming from one person. Demi Moore. I know, very random but when I read in a trashy mag (i.e. the Oracle ) that she subsisted in a raw food diet I was suddenly sold on it. OK I know, the chances are highly probable that her youthful looks are more based on a combination of a few other factors that have nothing to do with her choice of a young husband. But considering I’m all kinds of hopeful about everything I choose to believe that it has something to do with it.

Delicious Raw Honey from Walkabout Apiaries, Milawa

I got the recipe from my wonderful friend Hannah from Wayfaring Chocolate who posted about how good these were. They were easy enough to whip up and even better they need to be eaten while frozen although they never quite freeze up hard. They are also vegan, gluten free and dairy free.

And the taste? Well it’s pretty good! It’s not the same as a gooey fudgey baked brownie but of course that’s nothing that a truckload of butter, sugar and eggs won’t fix. It does satisfy a chocolate craving, even if there is actually no actual chocolate in it. And there is icing too. Can you see how hard it is working to convert you? The icing, made out of avocado, honey and cocoa is actually pretty good and not at all “avocadoey” and gives it that more cake like quality. I would recommend perhaps putting this in a smaller tin, it was quite thin by the time it was all spread out. And best of luck not eating the medjool dates before they go into the mix!

I looked in the mirror-so far no Demi Moore like moments and I didn’t get the urge to post a picture of myself in a bikini and put it on twitter. Perhaps some things are best left to the experts!

So tell me Dear Reader, which celebrity or person (said as if the two were mutually exclusive) would you like to look like when you get older?

P.S. And I have to say a big congratulations to Lauren W. who won the auction for a dozen of my cupcakes and she chose the baby booties cupcakes in a pale blue. I am afraid that I let you all down a bit when I said that I’d let you know when the auction was on. When I had a look at Sabrina’s site, she was having technical difficulties with the software that she was using so I didn’t want to send anyone there just then and by the time I realised that it was fixed the auction was over! But in fantastic news, we raised $8,269 for Second Harvest Japan!! That’s over three times what she was aiming for and if anyone wants to give you can do so here.

And here is a message from Second Harvest Japan:

“Thank you so much for your efforts to raise fund for our disaster relief operation in Japan! We are SO grateful for you all. I’m so touched that all the bloggers got together and concentrated their energy on this. I think this inspires other people to participate in support for people in the affected areas.”

Congratulations on your baby Lauren and thankyou for supporting the people of Japan

Raw Brownies with Chocolate Avocado Frosting

Adapted from Wayfaring Chocolate and here

• 1 cup (110g) walnuts
• 1 cup (150g) medjool dates, pitted
• 1/3 cup (30g) cocoa powder

For frosting

• 1 avocado
• 70 g/2.5 ozs raw honey (the honey makes them non-vegan though) or agave nectar
• 30 g/ 1 oz. cocoa powder
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• dash salt
• dash cinnamon

1. Combine walnuts, dates and the 1/3 cup of cocoa powder in a food processor and process until the mixture, according to the original recipe, “looks like potting soil”. Pat this into a loaf tin (I placed this in a 2x20cm square pan but found it a bit too thin).

2. In the food processor, whiz the avocado, honey or agave, second lot of cocoa, vanilla, salt, and cinnamon until smooth.

3. Spread the icing over the brownie base, then put in the freezer for about an hour to set. No matter how long the brownies stay in the freezer, they never become rock-hard.

Mr NQN is notorious for getting bored in his hobbies and work. He starts off a task perkily with great enthusiasm and then becomes disillusioned and bored and off each interest falls to the wayside. He has dabbled in more hobbies than I can count whereas I’ll quite happily perform repetitive tasks until the night falls and then wake up to do them all again. He however leaves a trail of abandoned hobbies, half done tasks and neglected sporting equipment citing a lack of challenge and boredom as the reason. Of course you know what this means to the slightly neurotic like me.

“Do you think you’ll ever get bored with me?” I asked him one evening when I saw his abandoned glider peeking out from a darkened opened cupboard door.

He thought about it. “Naahh, you’re way too much hard work” he answered seriously.

“Oh thanks…I think” I replied.

I decided to take it as a compliment. I think that perhaps he didn’t mean it as one.

One item that looked complicated to his eye but was in fact completely easy to create was the stained glass jelly cubes. All it required was the setting of some packets of jelly, the cutting up of this jelly and the addition of some more sweetened condensed milk jelly, my favourite comfort food of all. I saw this on Wizzy’s wonderful site and knew that he would love it (and perhaps making it for him would mean that he wouldn’t get bored with me! ) As Wizzy points out it can also be made for events where you could use a team’s sporting colours or flag colours.

Like many of you I’ve watched in horror at the awful events of the past few weeks in Japan. I have witnessed the country I used to live in shake and crumble and watched it with such horror unable to speak or write about it. I know that people that I have met throughout the years have probably perished and the very thought terrifies and saddens me. I remembered at once the kind hearted landlady that invited me over, spoke softly and sweetly and helped me whenever I was challenged with Japanese protocols. There was the teacher that vouched for us putting his very own line of credit and house on the line for us. There was the friend who brought us around to the secret local’s areas of Tokyo where we would have O-den soup in a wooden shack that has stood since WWII. There were the thousands of flight attendants whom I taught English to and who cried when I left and bought me gifts and cards-I still have those gifts and cards. Some of my best memories have been made in Japan and some of the most remarkable people I have ever met were encountered in my time living there and holidaying there.

Click here to read the full story

Over the years I’ve tried to learn the art of diplomacy. It’s not something that comes easily to me. My father is one of the most blunt people that I know and thinks nothing of  being brutally blunt much to the amusement of those in the know around him and the flushed looks of the offended. He would always end off with a puzzled look and a “Whaaat?” not quite knowing how or why he had offended someone.

At home, dinner conversations used to go a little like this.

My mother: “Do you like it? It took me five hours to make it, what do you think?” she would say after spooning some onto his plate.

My father: “It’s ok” (shrugs)

My mother: “Well…that took a lot of time” (sniffs)

My father: “It’s ok… but I have had better. And you got sauce on my spoon”.

Over the years we’ve had to explain his behaviour to others with a “Don’t worry, he’s just like that” and Mr NQN and I laughed recently at how he has managed to get away with all sorts of bluntness. We discussed the merits of having an “Answer your emails in a blunt way day” i.e. you would pick a random day of the week when you can be brutally honest in your emails. If your boss asks you “Do you mind staying up all night and writing that presentation only for me to present it like I wrote it?” you would answer “Yes in fact Bill* I really do. You see I’m busy reading gossip blogs and after that I’m going home to drink too much and think of ways to bludgeon you and make it look like an accident”.

Click here to read the full story