Category Archives: Cooking and Recipes

Mini Watermelon Jellies

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I hate wasting things. So much so that I’m forever trying to find ways to use things – some less successful than others. Case in point: pumpkin seeds. I used to bake pumpkin pies for a living (much more fun than it sounds) and I’d go through kilos of pumpkin each week.I tried to do something with the seeds – after all weren’t pumpkin seeds an edible commodity? One day I was horrified to discover that stashed in the back of the bottom shelf of the fridge, I had amassed kilos of slimy pumpkin seeds. I proceeded to wash them and then was so exhausted after that that I simply gave up and threw them out. Like I said, some instances were more successful than others.

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Princess Torte

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Being the way that I am i.e. what some people would politely call “offbeat” or “quirky”, means that I’m not often the first choice for some things. I was always the last one picked on a sports team and lord knows I never expected to be asked to do baby sitting. After all I love Halloween and last week tried to buy a Taxidermied Owl. Not exactly babysitting  or Godmother material – and I didn’t think that I really wanted the role. But when my good friend from High School Lulu called me asked me to be the Godmother to her new baby Evie I squealed with delight and twittered and facebooked about it for all to hear. I was chuffed! She was entrusting me with the spiritual upbringing of her child?

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I checked with her “Are you sure? You know that I’m a bit weird right?” and Lulu simply laughed. She’s known me since we were 12 years old and we both had to wear our ugly brown and gold Sydney Girls High School uniforms – a uniform that had everyone dubbed ‘Brown Cows’, how flattering! “We just want you to be you” she said which made me feel so warm and gooey inside. I in turn promised to take her to afternoon tea, buy her Baby Dior dresses and not take her to see Bruno.

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Earl Grey Tea-ramisu Tiramisu-Daring Bakers February 2010 Challenge

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Where did this month go? For a moment I swore I was still in January and then February rolled around and swept me off my feet like a hurricane. Two of my favourite bloggers Aparna and Deeba were hosting February’s challenge and even though I knew exactly what flavour of Tiramisu I wanted to make it still took me a while to get my act together. When a friend suggested I join Daring Cooks I looked at her like she was possibly insane and wondered how I could possibly fit another commitment into my crazed schedule.

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Those that know me know that around 4pm every day I will probably be making myself a cup of tea and will be eating it with a biscuit. My favourite kind of tea is Earl Grey followed by Lady Grey which gives me more of a pick up than Earl Grey. So early on in the month, when I was thinking of a twist on tiramisu, I immediately thought of tea. It sounded like an easy enough substitution, just switch the coffee for tea. With that idea, I had no excuse for delaying it which I had been doing lately. Perhaps I had caught Mr NQN’s procrastination bug? The one where he said that fixing the balcony lock was next to impossible until his brother came over one afternoon and fixed it within the space of five minutes. I hoped not.

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Nutty Caramel Popcorn – Better Then Bought!

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I am a woman of ratios. For someone that was average at best at Maths at school, for me food is all about ratios. The correct ratio of moisture to dryness the correct ratio of salt to sweet and the correct ratio of popcorn to caramel. I always find that when I get a bag of caramel popcorn there are never a) enough caramel to coat the pieces or b) enough good nuts. I understand that for them it’s not so much a matter of ratios but more a matter of economics with ratios running a poor second.

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Tim Tam Cookie Pops

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I’ve never been much of a poet. Until I was a teenager, I always thought that poems had to rhyme. I’ve never quite understood haikus but I don’t mind the odd spot of non rhyming poetry. It doesn’t help though that Mr NQN guffaws whenever he hears poetry from yesteryear. If I were to write poetry, it would probably be an ode to a cake or food and in this way I thought that these cookie pops, based on Bakerella’s incredible cake pops, would be the most appropriate Ode to a Biscuit.

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I had a packet of Tim Tams and Mint Slice biscuits in the pantry-a leftover from Halloween when I bought them intending to use them as gravestones (I bet Arnotts never envisaged them being used like that!). Made up of three ingredients, these would have to be among the easiest and most smug making items I’ve ever made. Not only were these cute, but they were easy to make and did I mention only required three ingredients?

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