We moved house.
I slipped a disc in my back (because of the move).
Spent way too long on a crazy cocktail of drugs to just get through each day!
And just when things were coming together…
Bam! School holidays!
There’s always something… right?
When I saw this week’s recipe I knew it was time to return to the group.
And I knew that I would replace the blueberries in Dorie’s recipe with a jar of Morello Cherries.
I contemplated strawberries.
However my daughter and I crave Black Forest Cake, loaded with juicy, plump, sour cherries… pretty much… all the time!
School holidays are pretty crazy times around here.
I turned my back for a minute at the cinema and a movie poster became a prop!
So amidst all the chaos it was pure bliss carve out a little time to bake.
It felt indulgent.
Soothing.
Pretty!
Dorie’s Roulade recipe was simple and delicious.
We loved the cherry filling.
And I think strawberries would have been amazing.
I can’t wait to see what the rest of the French Fridays with Dorie group thought!
(We are off to Melbourne for the weekend so I posted a day early!)
You know that feeling?
The one where you know you are kind of… sort of… off track?
You can feel it.
It’s real and it’s… well… frustrating.
You try and work out how and why you got off track.
But you can’t quite put your finger on it.
There’s been all day futsal championships… All day soccer championships.
Weekend sports.
And, oh, don’t forget the mid week training sessions for the weekend sports.
And speaking of weekends, there’s birthday parties to attend…
Concerts to get ready for…
And the endless driving!
Now don’t get me wrong… I’m not complaining.
I actually enjoy the chaos.
But I think I’ve forgotten what gets me through the chaos.
Through the swimming lessons, band, homework and the never ending housework!
Cooking.
Baking.
This is what I enjoy. What makes me happy.
But I guess when there’s so much of everything else to do, cooking, baking and blogging just feels like more work. And here’s where I went off track!
I stopped doing the things that feed my soul! (Dramatic, I know! Sorry! Occupational hazard!)
I realised this while I was blanching and peeling the hazelnuts for this week’s Tuesdays with Dorie recipe!
The nuts were doing my head in.
I mean, come on! I don’t have better things to do than stand here rubbing the skin off hazelnuts?!?!
And can’t you just buy these little suckers skinless???
Then it hit me and I started to laugh.
The reason I called my blog Kitchen Therapy was because my own therapist pointed out to me that cooking is my form of mindfulness training.
My way to be fully engaged and in the present moment.
Sort of like my meditation.
(And we all now know how good meditation is for you!)
So I stopped thinking about how much I’d like to cook something and I just started doing it.
It felt good!
The hazelnut biscotti smelled amazing and I felt happy!
It was that simple!!!
It’s almost midnight and I’m snacking on these as I type.
My husband is next to me watching the latest season of Dexter complaining about not being able to stop eating them cos they taste sooo good!
I will definitely make these again, my daughter requested a choc-chip filling next time!
I can’t wait to see what the rest of the Tuesdays with Dorie group thought.
If you would like to check out the recipe, head over to this week’s hosts who have the full recipe on their websites.
Jodi of Homemade and Wholesome and Katrina of Baking and Boys.
We moved house about 6 weeks ago and finally, FINALLY… we have internet!
I brought over our mini modem however reception at our new place (which is only 2km from our old place but at the end of a cul de sac) is pretty much non existent.
Posting my Dr Who Tardis Rainbow Cake and Dalek Cupcakes was an act of sheer will power!
Remember dial up internet speed?
That’s what I had to work with, I’d press a button and then go and do a few jobs as I waited for the page to load.
After many many many many many many hiccups (as my 4 year old likes to say in order to emphasise his point) our ADSL modem finally arrived on Friday.
The first thing I did , was look up the recipe schedule for Tuesdays with Dorie: Baking with Julia!
And oh what a great week to return!
This cake is delightful.
It’s perfect in its simplicity.
It makes me happy! 🙂
And I will make it again and again and again!
P.S. Notes to self next time you try and make this cake…
The recipe calls for one recipe Perfect Genoise. ONE.
Don’t think you know better and decide to quickly whip another (cos one just seems way too flat to divide into 3 equal parts) when your husband leaves to pick up your almost 15 year old daughter from a birthday party at 11pm. It’s almost midnight, you’re not thinking clearly or rationally and they will look at you with worry in their eyes when they walk in at midnight to find the house smelling delicious and you sitting on the lounge with a glass of wine and a smug and satisfied look on your face…
Two cakes look about right (for what I had imagined it would look like)…
However, the recipe clearly tells you the Perfect Genoise “is drier than most American cakes”.
I baked two, split them in half to make four, but luckily, I ran out of my sugared strawberries and ended only using three layers.
I broke bite sized bits off the fourth layer and dipped these into the strawberry juices and then scraped the last bits of cream on top before popping them in my mouth.
I kept going until both bowls were clean.
If there was more I would have eaten more.
Instead I had to wait until after dinner for more.
Here is where the lesson comes in.
This cake is dense (as the recipe says!).
There was too much sponge for the amount of strawberries and cream in it.
So (in hindsight) one genoise split into three (as the recipe says!) would have tasted better.
I can not wait to see what the other members of Tuesdays with Dorie thought of this recipe.
And if you would like to check out the actual recipe and give this cake a go for yourself, head over to Sophia’s Sweets or Think, Love, Sleep, Dine.
And follow the recipe!
In 1979 we left Yugoslavia and boarded a Qantas flight to begin our new life in Sydney, Australia.
My mum’s sister greeted us at the airport, she had immigrated many years earlier and we stayed with her family for a couple of months until we got on our feet.
I was 7 years old and I have two very distinct memories of this time.
1. I remember wondering how people could eat Kentucky Fried Chicken with Coleslaw! I thought it was the strangest and most unpleasant tasting thing I had ever tried (strangely enough, it didn’t take long to develop a taste for this food phenomenon!)
2. My 10 & 6 year old cousins had a small tv in the play room at the back of the house where they would go and watch Dr Who episodes every night after dinner. This is the Dr I was introduced to…
The Fourth Dr Who
I have to tell you, we were terrified watching some of the episodes! I remember many times hiding under sheets while we waited for the scary bits to be over! But as soon as the show was finished our bravado returned. I remember wrapping my younger cousin from head to food in toilet paper trying to re-create one of the show’s creatures!
I’m not sure where Dr Who and I parted ways? I’d like to say it was the long hours spent studying as I got older and had less and less time for tv. This is true (seriously!) But if I’m to be totally honest, I have to acknowledge that along with this was an ever growing interest in boys and spending any free time I did have, going out with friends.
However, in the last few months the Dr entered my life again, thanks to my now 12 year old son and his friends!
I listened to their in depth conversations about the latest episodes as they dissected each event and argued about their absolute favourite episode!
We had some sleepless nights when they discovered the weeping angels and thought it was funny to replay the scary bits of the episode again and again on You Tube! It was okay doing that when they were all together at someone’s house and in a big group, but they soon learnt it wasn’t that great when they had to come home and get ready for bed! At night! By themselves. All alone in their room!
Thankfully the more they watched the scary bits on You Tube, the more immune they became!
(Can you believe every photo I have of my son’t 12th birthday is blurry! How to make them stand still long enough to take a decent photo is beyond me!)
So with his 12th Birthday approaching I told the boys I would make a Tardis birthday cake!
To be honest I was all talk.
But they told everyone and got so excited I realised at some point my credibility was at stake!
Once I stopped fighting the idea, I relaxed and had a lot of fun.
I decided I would take this opportunity to incorporate a number of recipes I’ve been wanting to try for a long time and to be honest, without accountability and a looming deadline they would probably have been on my “one day” list for years to come.
I’ve been wanting to try Marshmallow Fondant.
I LOVE LOVE LOVE MARSHMALLOWS!
I found a recipe one of the prettiest blogs I have ever come across! Bakingdom .
If you click here it will take you straight to Darla’s marshmallow fondant recipe!
Now I’ve never made, let alone used marshmallow fondant before. So I was pretty happy with the results…
My other “one day” recipe was from a blog I stumbled upon recently that is indescribably stunning Sweetapolita.
I saw Rosie’s Rainbow Doodle Birthday Cake and it’s been on my mind ever since.
So I decided, since I was expected to produce a Tardis birthday cake, I was going to go all the way!
We sang happy birthday (which included strange word additions and a lot of wresting) but eventually my son cut into his birthday cake…
To say the boys were blown away would be an understatement!
I followed Rosie’s recipe for the Rainbow Cake with Lemony Swiss Meringue Buttercream and made as many layers as I thought a Tardis would need in height. I spread her lemony swiss meringue buttercream between each layer and finished it off with a crumb coat before covering the whole thing with the coloured Marshmallow Fondant.
The dalek cupcakes were simply chocolate cupcakes.
I made a dozen regular sized cupcakes and topped them each with mini cupcake.
I then made and tinted buttercream in the colours of the newest dalek models and covered the cupcakes.
From what I can gather, the different coloured daleks have different qualities, so the boys put quite a bit of thought into which dalek they wanted to eat!
Then back to their skateboards… on their stomachs…as you do…
I guess riding upright got boring?!?
I think I have food ADD. Is there such a thing? Well if there is, then I’ve got it!
Too much of any single taste and you’ve lost me. It could be the most amazing tasting thing ever. BUT…
if it’s just sweet, just salty, just sour… then after about 2 or 3 bites, I am bored. I don’t want to eat it anymore.
I blame my mother for this! She used to serve all our meals with grapes or cantaloupe “to break up the taste”. She rationalised that by having a few bites of something sweet between mouthfuls of dinner it would encourage you to eat more. Is that weird?
Who would have thought something so simple would shape my entire approach to food… FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE!
Black forest cake and pavlova are my absolute favourite! I need those plump tart cherries to cut through the chocolate cake and the sour passionfruit, strawberries and kiwi to compliment that sweet meringue. The balance of sweet and sour is what makes it exciting. The food comes alive for me.
I love to dip salty pretzels in nutella (especially late at night as I’m watching TV!) and as my husband looks on at me shaking his head. But I don’t care. I am in taste heaven!
I combined the rhubarb with the sugar, vanilla bean and water to make the jam filling.
And the hit of sourness that greeted me amongst the sugary sweetness of the jam excited me! This was going to be good!
I made the dough. Chilled it in the freezer. Then grated half of it into the pan. (I’ve never, ever grated dough before!) I then spread every last drop of the rhubarb jam over the grated dough before grating the other half of the dough over the layer of jam.
I baked it for 40 minutes and then sprinkled a generous amount of icing sugar over the top.
I have to admit I couldn’t wait for it to get cold before I dove into it!
My daughter (who has inherited my eating habits) loved this as much as I did.
The smooth, tart, rhubarb jam cut nicely through the sweet shortbread.
My husband, who has tamer taste preferences when it comes to his food, loved the shortbread but found the rhubarb jam a bit too sour for his liking. He fixed this easily by scraping off half the jam before going back for more, again and again!
Over here in Sydney, Australia, the school year starts at the end of January and after every 10 weeks of school the kids are given two weeks of holidays.
Except for Christmas when they get 6 weeks off.
We’ve completed Term 1 and are just winding up 2 weeks of holiday chaos fun!
Now I love and adore coconut.
I knew between trips to the movies, putt putt golf, sleepovers and full days of laser skirmish I was going to get this recipe done and posted!
It has coconut after all! (And it is one of the simplest recipes I have come across!)
I find it hard to make time to accomplish the basics, like grocery shopping, with so many activities and kids staying over.
But I was not going to miss this!
I made it in plenty of time! And then the next two days we left the house pretty much straight after breakfast and returned at night time!
So all my ideas of pretty photos flew out the window!
I even bought a pretty friand tin… it made a pattern!!!
But the photo taken with my iphone late at night just doesn’t do it any justice!
I wanted to run away! Skip posting for the week.
Like I did with the Cocoa Sables.
That week the kids had so many school band commitments and performances that, while I made both the Cocoa and Butter Sables, I didn’t get around to posting anything!
I did the same with the Salmon Rillettes.
I like Sardines! And I loved this recipe!
However amidst the Easter and school holiday madness, we decided to go to Melbourne for a 3 day weekend the day this post was due. So I skipped it.
But you know what?
I don’t like how I feel when I miss a week of posting!
I’ve come to understand that completing the recipes each week with the French Fridays with Dorie group gives me a sense of achievement and accomplishment!
It makes me feel goooood!
So while I’ve been cooking most weeks, it’s not as satisfying as engaging in the entire process of cooking, posting and then sharing this with the rest of the group!
Who knew this would become such a fun and filling part of my life!
This week’s Tuesdays with Dorie recipe was perfect for Easter!
For two week’s, since 1823, Sydney plays host to Australia’s largest event, The Sydney Royal Easter show.
It’s when city meets country.
Australia’s rural industries showcase their finest produce and livestock.
Districts from Queensland and New South Wales display their primary products in creative and imaginative ways…
Livestock of every kind is displayed and judged.
Sheep, pigs, goats, horses, poultry and cattle of many breeds.
There are also dog shows, cat shows and animal nurseries.
The kids get to see chicks hatch and feed and hold farmyard animals.
And of course there are the rides…
We finish the day by loading up on show bags and settling in to watch the nightly show before the fireworks.
It’s a long and expensive day.
But there’s something for everyone.
Did I mention the woodchopping, show jumping, tent pegging and precision driving?
Or my all time favourite reason for going to the show…
Food!
The farmers sell tubs of freshly cut pineapple and watermelon.
Stalls sell sausage sandwiches, potato on a stick, chocolate covered berries, vienna almonds and gozleme.
There are also arts and crafts displays and competitions.
Woodwork, leatherwork, lacemaking, embroidery and toy-making.
One of the most popular categories since 1960 has been cake making and cake decorating.
Sugar crafts are judged and displayed along with cakes, biscuits, slices, jams and preserves.
This week’s Tuesdays with Dorie recipe, lemon loaf cake, would be a perfect fit here.
Simple, yet tasty, old fashioned home cooking.
Food you would serve at afternoon tea with the neighbours…
We all loved the taste and texture of this cake, I can’t wait to see what the other Tuesdays with Dorie group members thought!
And if you would like to see the recipe and try it out for yourself, head over to this week’s hosts, Truc from Treats and Michelle from The Beauty of Life.
It’s been almost a month since I last posted anything!
One of my kids picked up a bug and then generously shared it with the rest of the family.
So for the past few weeks I’ve either been unwell or been looking after unwell kids.
Even as I write this, I can hear the chesty cough of one of my boys coming from upstairs.
This week’s Tuesdays with Dorie recipe, Pizza Rustica, almost didn’t happen.
It was easy enough to motivate myself to take part in this week’s recipe.
I really enjoy being a part of the group!
I picked the day to bake.
I organised myself and planned things so the day would be relaxed and leisurely.
I had three loads of washing done and hanging before 8.30am.
I was feeling good and on track!
As we walked out to the car to leave for school, we could hear a loud engine starting next door. We sat in the car and watched workmen with generator powered hoses strip the paint off the house next door and land all over my three loads of washing.
It’s okay, I kept telling myself. No big deal. You’ll just run the clothes through the wash again…
Then, my 4 year old, who seemed like he was finally getting better, began vomiting.
When we arrived at the doctor, he told me we had to go back home “NOW” so he could go to the toilet.
We made it back home just in time!
Then back in the car and back to the doctor!
But it’s okay! REALLY!
Finally, after a stop at the chemist for medication, we were back home and I was ready to cook!
I made the dough, it was incredibly easy.
I opened the ricotta to prepare the filling and quickly realised I picked up a tub with an expired date.
It smelled bad! BUT REALLY, IT’S OKAY!!!
I raced back to the store and picked up the last two tubs of ricotta, yay!
They had just the right amount of ricotta I needed!
Raced back home to find the seal on the second tub was broken! Seriously!?!
After a minute or two of contemplating giving up, I decided to just add the block of Philadelphia cream cheese I had in the fridge.
As the kids say, booyah!
Problem solved!
I was feeling pretty pleased with myself!
All the running around meant my pizza rustica was ready much later than planned.
Which was no big deal.
Until I realised it was the first day of daylight savings in Sydney and by the time it came out of the oven it was pitch black outside and I had no chance of taking a decent photo of the finished product!
I wasn’t happy with my photos and I honestly contemplated not posting at all!
But I really enjoyed the taste of the pizza rustica and felt it would be crazy to have gone through all that and not post!
The dough was so deliciously sweet. I loved it. The filling was incredibly salty and cheesy. . Whoever thought of putting the two together was a genius! What a wonderful balance of sweet and salty! I am so glad I persevered!
I was excited about making these biscuits.
I fried the onions.
Sifted the flour, baking powder, sugar and salt.
Creamed the butter into the dry ingredients with my finger tips…
And then my 14 year old daughter and her friends asked if I could show them how to use the curling iron to curl their hair for the Taylor Swift concert they were going to.
I was happy to demonstrate.
Last time we went to a wedding I decided to teach myself to curl my own hair by watching a You Tube video!
(It is amazing what’s on there! I also learned how to apply eye make up like the girls from the Hills (?!) and many ways to wear a scarf!)
What can I say? Some things just aren’t “my thing” and I was in awe of what you could learn on You Tube!
I shared my excitement with my wonderful family, and they laughed at me!
Ha! Who’s laughing now!
The curls came out perfect (thank goodness!)
And I returned to my dough.
Not a minute went by before I heard “Muuuuummmmm!”
This was backed by shouts of “We don’t know what we’re doing! We need your help!”
Four heads and a can of hairspray later I returned to my dough.
My head reeling from the hairspray fumes I finished the biscuits!
But I guess sitting there for an hour didn’t do them any favours!
My biscuits came out flat as pancakes!!!
(Oh! And while I was off curling hair, my husband ate the ham I bought to fill the biscuits!)
Despite the lack of height and filling, I thought this week’s French Fridays with Dorie recipe tasted simple but nice.
I can’t wait to see how what the rest of the group thought
(and also to see how these should have looked!
I was very excited when my Baking with Julia book arrived!
And in plenty of time to join in on this week’s recipe scheduled for Tuesdays with Dorie!
I planned to enjoy making this recipe.
I set aside the last weekend of summer to take my time and play in the kitchen.
And this recipe fit the bill perfectly as it could be stretched over a couple of days.
No rush.
I made the dough and placed it into the fridge.
I had a two days up my sleeve until I had to cook it, so how easy was step 1!
In fact, it was so easy and stress free I decided to start on the prune lekvar.
(The prune lekvar is made with walnuts while the apricot lekvar has almonds. Two of my children are allergic to almonds while only one is allergic to walnuts, so prune lekvar it was!)
Harm minimisation!
We went on to have a great weekend at the beach with the kayak and the kid’s various boards.
Relaxing and leisurely!
It’s amazing what kids can do with boards when there are absolutely no waves around!
Creativity can be expressed in so many ways!
It was great knowing that whenever I was ready, my dough and lekvar were there, waiting for me.
No pressure.
And breaking the steps up like this, made what initially looked like a daunting recipe, into something manageable.
Easy even!
Processing the nuts, cinnamon and sugar was where I seemed to fall apart…
My food processor was sealed but somehow I ended up with a fair amount of this nut dust all over the kitchen.
It was a deliciously nutty, sugary, cinnamon-y mixture.
Unless you’re somewhat allergic to nuts!
Then it’s just a nerve wracking experience with kids coughing and complaining of heavy chests.
I used a mixture of hazelnuts, walnuts and pecan (the least allergic of all the nuts to our family).
But I guess with 3 kids, all allergic to various degrees to different combinations of nuts, it was going to be disastrous to some degree!
So after dosing kids up on antihistamines, I decided to skip the dried fruit and finish as quickly as possible!
I loved these!
I’m kind of glad I skipped the dried fruit.
I could really taste the prune butter and it was balanced beautifully with the nuts. Any more dried fruit and I think it would have been too sweet for my taste.
Granted, they’re not the prettiest looking things, but I loved these.
You can find the full recipe at Jessica of My Baking Heart and Margaret of The Urban Hiker blogs. Our hosts for this week!
To see what others thought of this recipe head over to Tuesdays with Dorie and check them out!
The Fourth Dr Who
It’s when city meets country.
Kitchen Therapy 