Saturday 20 July 2013

Adulthood

When I was younger, I think may be 19, I attempted to throw a dinner party and I learnt many valuable things. 
Firstly, as a Caucasian, don't serve stir fry to Asians. Not matter how good it is- it will fail in a comparison. Especially if you are new to cooking stir gets and definitely(!) if its your first stir fry. Secondly, 19 is a little to young to pull off a successful dinner party. I was trying to be much more grown up than I actually was and I don't think I pulled it off. 

Recently over coffee and tarts a friend gently broached the idea of throwing her first real dinner party- and of course, I was on board. A beautiful Thai pumpkin soup, ChimiChurried roast beef and 5, no wait, 7(!) chocolate pear ramekins later I'd say it was a smashing success. Which has left me wondering- are we finally old enough to throw dinner parties? I'm not sure I feel like a teenager anymore but as we all start turning the corner into our 30's one by one I can definitely say adulthood suits me more and more. I can also say I think I'm really starting to feel like I'm making that leap from young adult to just plain adult. Bring it on, dinner parties and all.

Friday 12 July 2013

Star cake




I made this cake last night for a friend. Her sons birthday party was this morning. Honestly it's not an overly clever cake- three layers, green, blue and red inside, matching stars on the outside...store bought fondant, a cookie cutter and a couple of spare hours. Not in itself really a blog worthy event, however, there is one element that has had an effect on me. It was the kids. 

The mums were impressed enough, some of them anyway, but the children just stood there silently reaching out and touching the stars one by one. I watched another girl sit quietly eating her layers completely focused on the different colours on her plate. A simple enough cake but still managed to catch their curiosity. That is the best compliment! 

Wednesday 10 July 2013

Creative gratification

I'm beginning to wonder how long this will last....this cake phase. I expect it to end sooner or later. I suppose more than anything it's easy. By that I mean, dinner, where I used to have most of my creative fun is now mixed in with feeding the baby, bathing the baby and bedding the baby, so we are lucky to have more than tomatoes on toast some nights. 

                

Cake however, can be thrown together relatively easily, baked and then left to be assembled after the baby is down. It 'fits in' easier I should say. And let's face it, you ice the thing, throw some coconut on the sides, some fruit or flowers on top, and 'boom', your creativity bone is satisfied........ As long as you stay off Pinterest and don't continue to feed your creative side with more ideas. Oops. 



Wednesday 3 July 2013

Cakey Dreams

            

So I'm having this thing where I think about cake an unusual amount recently. Okay, more than unusual amount. I go to sleep thinking about cake, I dream about cake and I wake up with cake on my mind. It's happening far too often. 

           

I've had a couple of good excuses to have such thoughts but I doubt these excuses cover me to the level of cake dreaming I've been doing...
              
              

I guess I've just discovered that there is more than just chocolate and carrot. Even more than red velvet...... My cake mind is being blown. Mostly thanks to 'MasterChef' and those Adriano Zumbo cakes....... Lets just say, I see cake in a whole new light now.