Ruby, I ♥ you!

I finished house/doggy sitting today. I adore looking after Ruby, she is just the best dog in the world. When it comes time to leave I get a heavy heart, cause I just get so attached to her! I always come home hoping that I will own a lovely natured dog like Ruby one day.

We went on some really nice walks together each day, I love walking through this particular suburb, its full of huge houses, old trees and perfect gardens. It's so funny when Ruby sees a cat or a bird, and even though they run or fly off, she keeps searching for them for ages!

I got a new toy recently, and I am already addicted to it! Yep, Darren and I took the plunge and got iPhones! I am still new to it all, and writing a message seems to take aeons! I would love to know if anyone has any applications they would recommend? I need some games!

I attended a wonderful afternoon tea on Saturday, with a sweet group of lolita girls! It was organised by my gorgeous friend Kelly. We dined at a place called Saldechin, it used to be a huge old bank, which has been transformed into an Asian themed tea room! I had pork buns, rich mousse cake and iced tea!

I wore my green wig for the occasion, sadly I don't own any lolita clothing, I was the only one without a pretty frilly skirt, but Kelly is soon to help me rectify this! Lolita fashion is totally fascinating to me, and I am looking forward to learning more about it!

✿ Jaffa Cupcakes ✿

I am house/doggy sitting at the moment, I knew I was facing a Saturday night in alone with my new S&TC box set. I knew I would need something to snack on during my hours in front of the TV!
In Australia, Jaffa's are a classic orange flavoured chocolate candy, that is traditionally eaten when you go to the movies. I had seen lots of Jaffa cupcakes by the NZ Cupcake Queen, and was feeling inspired.

Orange and chocolate has got to be one of my most favourite flavour combinations, and I remembered making orange marble cakes as a kid. I found used a recipe from here, I frosted them with choc orange buttercream. The cupcakes are light and fluffy, and the choc orange flavour is really intense!

Marble Jaffa Cupcakes - Recipe from 'Good to Know'

Ingredients

175g (6oz) caster sugar
175g (6oz) unsalted butter, softened
175g (6oz) self-raising flour
1tsp baking powder
3 large eggs, beaten
1tbsp fresh orange juice (I added about a 1/4 teaspoon of orange essance too)
2tsp finely grated orange rind
1tbsp cocoa powder blended with 2tbsp hot water (I used about 2 and a bit of coco!)

Method

Put the sugar, butter, flour, baking powder and eggs in a bowl. Beat with an electric whisk for 3 to 4 mins until pale and creamy. (I actually creamed the sugar and butter first, then added the eggs, then sifted the flour and baking powder in last)

Transfer half the mixture into a second bowl. Into this mixture, fold the orange juice and rind. Fold the cocoa into the first bowl.

Spoon the two mixtures randomly into cupcake liners. Draw a knife through the mixture to create the marble effect.

Bake at 180°C/350°F for 20 to 30 mins until firm. Remove from the oven and leave to cool in the tin for 5 mins, then turn out and cool completely on a wire rack.

Frost and enjoy!

Thank you all so much for your kind comments lately, and I am overwhelmed by all the new followers too, I think I would like to celebrate with a give-away soon, so once I get home next week I'll get started on that! <3

All for a High Tea Party!

What a busy week it was last week! I worked hard on making a Birthday present for my friend, she had a High Tea party yesterday.

I wanted to make her one of my tote bags, a yo-yo necklace and a coffee cuff, and I somehow got it all done in one week, I was even sewing yo-yo's in my lunch break at work!

I love the coffee cuff, I followed a tutorial from here. I think I'll have to make one for myself next, as there is a fantastic newly built Hudson's coffee place in the hospital I work at, and I am almost having a daily coffee now! I could sell them to all my co-workers too!

It was so nice to sit and talk to friends, drink tea and eat together, I think we need to do it more frequently. I got dressed up for the occasion in one of my wigs, I feel like I don't wear them enough, and they are so handy for covering up a bad hair day!

I was asked to bring some of my cupcakes along, 8 to be exact! So I made 4 blueberry lemon cupcakes with lemon curd filling and cream cheese frosting, and 4 dark chocolate pistachio cupcakes with ganache filling and ganache butter cream! Gosh the blueberry ones were so delicious! I will post the recipe because I thought they were so tasty!

Lemon-Blueberry Cupcakes - from Basic Cupcake Recipes

Makes 12 cupcakes

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup milk
1 tablespoon lemon zest
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 cup blueberries dried/frozen/fresh

Method

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F, 180 degrees C. Blend the butter, sugar, and eggs together in a bowl until creamy. Mix the flour, soda, and salt together in a small bowl. Add dry mixture to the batter, a little at a time, alternating with the milk. Add the lemon zest and lemon juice.
Add blueberries and hand stir until evenly distributed through the batter (I used frozen blueberries, I thawed them on a paper towel and then gave them a light dusting with flour prior to adding to batter).
Place paper liners into muffin pan. Fill each liner 3/4 full. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until a toothpick or cake tester stuck into a cupcake comes out clean.

I frosted them with a 'Jessy's made up' cream cheese frosting, after injecting them with lemon curd...I actually used a proper hospital syringe!

Hope you all have a really sweet week! <3

Mum's Apple Birthday Cupcakes!

It was my Mum's birthday just two days after Mothers day... and I asked her, what flavour cupcakes would you like on your special day Mum? She replied something combining apple, vanilla and cinnamon please! How stoked was I to find a recipe called Viking Apple Cake? VERY stoked, not only did it have apples, and had Viking in the name (my boyfriend loves Vikings!), but it was apparently 'healthy' too! The original recipe calls for cardamom seeds, but Mum isn't too keen on their flavour.

Viking Apple Cupcakes - recipe adapted from the Daily Green

Makes 14 cupcakes

Ingredients

1 cup yoghurt (I used forest berry flavour)
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup sugar
1/1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup buckwheat flour
2 cups almonds, ground
1/4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp of cinnamon
3 cups apples, peeled and diced

Method

Whisk together the yoghurt and the sugar in a bowl. Add the eggs and vanilla and whisk. Sift together the flours, cinnamon, and baking powder in a separate bowl.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, and stir.

Stir in the apples and ground almonds and spoon into patty pans.

Bake at 180ºC for 25-30 minutes.

Icing: 2 tbsp butter, 3 cups icing sugar, 1/4 cup yoghurt - beat and ice cakes!

Tip: These cakes need to be eaten in the first couple of days after baking, the apple in them makes them a bit too moist if left for too long!

Mother's Day

I love mothers day, I love how there are millions of chrysanthemums and pretty things all suddenly available. I love my Mum too hehe, she is the best!

For mother's day, it is definitely tradition for a cooked breakfast. I chose a recipe I saw on Huey's Cooking (Australian cooking show) for savoury waffles. They went down a treat, my only gripe with them was they just seemed a little big 'eggy' for my liking, but mum loved them.

Cheese and Onion Waffles, with Slow Roasted Tomatoes and Bacon adapted from this recipe.

Ingredients

4 tomatoes cored
Olive oil
Salt & Pepper
190gms Self Raising Flour
Spring onions, finely chopped
Tablespoon parsley, finely chopped
3 tablespoons grated cheese
2 tablespoons grated feta
440mls Milk
2 Large Eggs
8 Rashers Bacon

Method

Preheat oven to 200C, fan forced. Core tomatoes, top with olive oil, salt & pepper. Cook in oven until they start to collapse.

To make the batter, put the self-raising flour, spring onions, cheeses and seasoning's in a large bowl. Stir and make a well in the centre.

In another bowl, whisk the milk and eggs. Then pour into the flour and mix well – starting with a wooden spoon and progressing to a whisk.

Lightly grease waffle iron with butter, and cook waffles (I would definitely recommend a darker setting). At same time cook bacon in frying pan.

Assemble waffle with bacon and a roasted tomato on top. Sprinkle with chopped parsley. Serve while hot and enjoy!

I made the card myself!

We had my Grandparent's over for a slow-cooked roast chicken lunch. It ended up being a late lunch because we had a power failure just as we went to pre-heat the oven! Hilarious!
I also made some lemon teapot shaped cookies, with a recipe again from Paris Pastries blog, and had a go at making my own royal icing... after a lot of mess and frustration later, I have decided that cookie decorating is just NOT my forte and I will just stick to cupcakes in the future!

What an interesting weekend!

I have had a lovely weekend, it was busy and there was no room for any crafting or cooking cupcakes, but it was nevertheless interesting!

On Saturday I woke up with a very sore neck, it made me feel like I had a hangover, but no alcoholic beverages were consumed, no fair!
I went to a Medieval fair at Gumeracha in the Adelaide foothills, with my friends Hillness and Rose. It was a fair full of hearty food, people wearing beautiful costumes, and plenty of weaponry! We ate our lunch whilst sitting on bales of hay, and watched the jousting. I loved the smells coming from all the food tents, and all the 'camp' fires smelt so good. I left with only a brown paper bag of fudge, it tasted so good!

Sunday I woke up and had a much better neck, amazing what a couple of Diazepam and one pillow less can do! I have been making a habit of cooking breakfast on Sunday mornings, so I tried a recipe I saw on Paris Pastries blog (I drool every time I visit!) that I desperately wanted to try, Nigella Lawsons Doughnut French Toast!

So the toast tasted alright, I burnt it a little while doing too many things at once, perhaps they were a little too sweet, but it gave me a real sugar rush to start the day off!
I went with my friend Kelly to a Japanese Festival celebrating children's day (Kodomo No Hi). I found it very interesting, and I really enjoyed seeing all the kimonos, origami, Ikebana (flower arranging), bonsai, music, and all the delicious Japanese foods.
On my way home, I thought wow, what a cultural weekend! I am just bummed cause I forgot to bring my camera to both events!

My little sister was sick when I was sick last week, and I spent some time teaching her how to use my sewing machine. Her project was to make a wheat bag from the pattern in issue #28 of Frankie magazine (the coolest magazine in Oz in my opinion!). I think she did an awesome job, and soon they began multiplying! Can you guess which one was for me? ;)

Just pop them in the microwave for 2 mins and they keep toasty warm, much safer than a hot water bottle!

So if I haven't lost your interest already from such a long post, I am going to do the number 8 questionnaire, Alicia from The Red Deer tagged me to do!

8 things I am looking forward to:
1. Christmas...what? Can never start too early!
2. Next Saturday night, partying with my boyfriend and his sister!
3. Acting on my latest cupcake idea, oh its a goodie!
4. Finishing a vintage wrapping paper inspired tote bag.
5. Having enough stock to open an Etsy store.
6. Watching my new box set of Sex & the City.
7. Moving out of home...sigh, end of next year isn't that far away.
8. Crawling into bed with my wheat bag...love my bed in winter!

8 things I did yesterday:
1. I woke up, and had a shower.
2. I made doughnut French toast and tea for breakfast.
3. I drove to Kelly's house, and admired the kimono she was wearing.
4. We drove to the Japanese Festival.
5. We ate yummy food and looked at all the display stuff, also had an interesting chat with some beautifully dressed Lolita girls.
6. I drove home to my boyfriend, watched an episode of Reaper.
7. We had a nice dinner at Fasta Pasta
8. We went and saw X-men Origins : Wolverine, and I really enjoyed it!

8 things I wish I could do:
1. I wish I could keep up with my imagination and keep track of all the ideas I have.
2. I wish I wasn't so vague, and could keep on top of everything that needs to be done.
3. I wish I could create more exciting meals for my family.
4. I wish I could quit my job and make a living from my crafts.
5. I wish I had the time to make stuff to open an Etsy store.
6. I wish had more motivation to exercise more.
7. I wish I could move out of home and have my own pretty sewing room.
8. I wish I could go overseas now!

8 shows I watch:

1. Reaper
2. Lost
3. Fringe
4. Prison Break
5. Chuck
6. Heroes
7. Dexter
8. Sarah Conner Cronicles

Now I get to tag 8 people!
1. Kelly from Aetas in Vitae
2. Ash from Butterflyfood
3. Lyndsy from Coco Cupcakes
4. Danelle from ellecupcake
5. Zoe from Dream Come True
6. Cat from Little Miss Cupcake
7. Becky from Strumpets Crumpets
8. Brandy from Diary of an Indy Grrrl

Woah! What a big post! Hope it didn't bore you all! Have a lovely week! :)