(no subject)
Hello. I haven't updated in ages. Initially I was holding out until I got pictures from my party so I could show them to you. After that it was laziness(/dissatisfaction with the pictures). So here's the past few weeks in a nutshell.
My Birthday Party:
Was rad. I spent from 4pm Thursday til 1:30am Friday, then 9am til 7:30pm Friday (and a bit after that, as people started arriving at 7:30 and I was still in my apron, preparing bruschetta and skewering chicken) flat-out preparing food.
I MADE:
Two pizzas
Lime marinated chicken skewers with avocado dip
Bruschetta
Pesto and olive filo tartlets
A sort of gross sauce for shop-bought spring rolls
Golden butter cake
Black Forest Gateau (which was more of a Racially Ambiguous Forest Gateau, because I let the melted chocolate harden before I mixed it in properly)
Caramel mudcake
Raspberry cream cheese tartlets
Lemon meringue kisses
Unfortunately I neglected to photograph all the savoury stuff, but here's some dessert porn:
My cake. It certainly could have been shaped and iced (particularly the unevenly piped ganached), but I was really running out of time when I got to it, so it got a rushed job. Still pretty fucking pleased with it.
Tartlets and meringues. First time I've made meringues. Risky but rewarding.
Nicole's cake- Caramel mudcake covered in chocolate ganache. I discovered which cakes I should bake Nicole and Gemma through a 'compulsory cake poll' on Twitter. Nicole said she liked caramel mudcake and things covered in chocolate, so I covered a caramel mudcake in chocolate. This cake actually caused me the most grief, and was uncooked in the middle and burnt on the outside. Ffffuuu. The edible bits were delicious, though.
Racially ambigu-licious. Pretty upset with the underwhelming/overwhipped chocolate cream 'rosettes' on the top. I always tend to be really precise and perfectionistic throughout the whole process, until I get to actual final decorating and rush it and screw it up. Boo.
Non-food highlight of the party was probably the spontanous one-song dance party to Crazy Little Thing Called Love. It started when Alysha wobbled whilst attempting to stand up, and turned it into the hip-shakey leg-twisty dance which Helen and I joined in on. Four others soon followed suit. It was a beautiful thing. Oh also, when Adam and Avee left, I started singing "So long, farewell", and for THE FIRST TIME EVER, EVERYBODY ELSE THERE JOINED IN ON 'AUF WIEDERSEIN GOOD NIGHT'. Tears to my eyes.
Also, these two:
bonded magnificently, so I'll post both of their lj names here just in case one of them is reading this and they can add the other and...you know, whatev. bakachibigaki and jello_comics
The Fab Four
Are a wonderful Beatles tribute band which we went to see at a winery the day after my party. It was awesome. Yummy dinner hampers and wiiiine. Family dance parties.
THERE WAS A STORM
IT WAS EPIC. SHIT WENT DOWN.
There are a number of very good photographers at UWA and some grand photos were taken. Here are some.
Snowy hail? On MY Oak Lawn???
NOTE: THE FLOOR IS NOT SUPPOSED TO BE GREEN. The day after was amazing, though. Fresh juicy green leaves all over the ground smells and looks wonderful.
DOOM TREE
Pantomime
Has taken up much of my time. I am a bit terrified that we're so underprepared less than two weeks from opening night. ...holy sheets. If all goes well it'll be pretty great though. I need to get a wedding dress...
Contract Assignment
I'm quite annoyed about my Contract assignment. I organised my time marvellously so I would have it done two days before it was due, at the very least before the morning of the due date. But it took so much of my effort that I still ended up not going to bed until 5am on the due date. fml. It had better not sucked.
Exchange
Finally got my letter informing me that I've been accepted into the exchange program (I got the email a couple weeks ago), and I did manage to get allocated to Milan. Which is a reliiiiief, because there was always the chance that even if they liked my application, they'd choose to send other people to Milan instead of me and I'd have to go for Plan B: The Netherlands. Which still would have been awesome, but less useful for my Italian skills. And, you know, not Italy.
Today (/yesterday) was Good Friday. Like the good Catholic I am, I worked 9-3 (Public Holiday pay is a beautiful thing), cutting my usual 9-5 shift short to partake in the annual family tradition of driving to Rockingham for fish and chips. Now, I'm not entirely sure why we go to Rockingham for fish and chips. It used to be Freo, which sort of made more sense. The shop we go to is pretty great, but idk if it's better than all the fish and chip shops between Mullaloo and Rockingham, and we just sit on the grass to eat it and the view of the water isn't that much different to the rest of the coastline. Idk, but the drive is long enough to warrant mix-CDs and epic singalongs. IT WAS AWESOME. I WANTED TO KEEP DRIVING FOREVER. We were also very loud picnic-ers. Occasionally yelling in Italian. We're pretty cool. Also I had a nommy Plum, Ricotta and Blackberry Crumble at the cafe/gelateria place we went for sweets/coffee.
Tomorrow (/today) I'll probably make this cake: http://sugarlace.com/2010/03/cats-birthday-almost-bourdains-gateau-au-chocolate-a-la-fleur-de-sel-et-huile-dolive/ to take to Nonna's on Sunday, then I have work in the ebenin'. Sunday I guess we'll go to church as usual (and Aly and I will alternately snicker and sneer at everything as usual), then probably Liqueur For Breakfast (I love this tradition) and off to Nonna's for the big feed. Which with any luck will probably be my last Nonna's House Big Feed until Easter next year! :O I WILL EAT ESPECIALLY MUCH.
Also Nicole is a champion and drew me a picture of Spock and gave me an iTunes gift card, which I used the other night to purchase a Jens Lekman CD. You know I really like an artist when I actually pay for their music :P. I was actually sort of aching to listen to some of the songs when I was at work/in the car today, nostalgic for the first few times I'd heard them. Weird. Have some:
-The Opposite of Hallelujah: http://www.sendspace.com/file/rt45xf (the first of his songs I heard. Made me want to find more)
- Sipping on the Sweet Water/Nectar: http://www.sendspace.com/file/vb8oec (the CD wants to say water, but the lyrics say nectar, it's weird)
- A Postcard to Nina: http://www.sendspace.com/file/lynmwh (funny and poignant, about pretending to be his friend's boyfriend in front of her parents, because they don't know she's gay)
Fin.
My Birthday Party:
Was rad. I spent from 4pm Thursday til 1:30am Friday, then 9am til 7:30pm Friday (and a bit after that, as people started arriving at 7:30 and I was still in my apron, preparing bruschetta and skewering chicken) flat-out preparing food.
I MADE:
Two pizzas
Lime marinated chicken skewers with avocado dip
Bruschetta
Pesto and olive filo tartlets
A sort of gross sauce for shop-bought spring rolls
Golden butter cake
Black Forest Gateau (which was more of a Racially Ambiguous Forest Gateau, because I let the melted chocolate harden before I mixed it in properly)
Caramel mudcake
Raspberry cream cheese tartlets
Lemon meringue kisses
Unfortunately I neglected to photograph all the savoury stuff, but here's some dessert porn:
My cake. It certainly could have been shaped and iced (particularly the unevenly piped ganached), but I was really running out of time when I got to it, so it got a rushed job. Still pretty fucking pleased with it.
Tartlets and meringues. First time I've made meringues. Risky but rewarding.
Nicole's cake- Caramel mudcake covered in chocolate ganache. I discovered which cakes I should bake Nicole and Gemma through a 'compulsory cake poll' on Twitter. Nicole said she liked caramel mudcake and things covered in chocolate, so I covered a caramel mudcake in chocolate. This cake actually caused me the most grief, and was uncooked in the middle and burnt on the outside. Ffffuuu. The edible bits were delicious, though.
Racially ambigu-licious. Pretty upset with the underwhelming/overwhipped chocolate cream 'rosettes' on the top. I always tend to be really precise and perfectionistic throughout the whole process, until I get to actual final decorating and rush it and screw it up. Boo.
Non-food highlight of the party was probably the spontanous one-song dance party to Crazy Little Thing Called Love. It started when Alysha wobbled whilst attempting to stand up, and turned it into the hip-shakey leg-twisty dance which Helen and I joined in on. Four others soon followed suit. It was a beautiful thing. Oh also, when Adam and Avee left, I started singing "So long, farewell", and for THE FIRST TIME EVER, EVERYBODY ELSE THERE JOINED IN ON 'AUF WIEDERSEIN GOOD NIGHT'. Tears to my eyes.
Also, these two:
bonded magnificently, so I'll post both of their lj names here just in case one of them is reading this and they can add the other and...you know, whatev. bakachibigaki and jello_comics
The Fab Four
Are a wonderful Beatles tribute band which we went to see at a winery the day after my party. It was awesome. Yummy dinner hampers and wiiiine. Family dance parties.
THERE WAS A STORM
IT WAS EPIC. SHIT WENT DOWN.
There are a number of very good photographers at UWA and some grand photos were taken. Here are some.
Snowy hail? On MY Oak Lawn???
NOTE: THE FLOOR IS NOT SUPPOSED TO BE GREEN. The day after was amazing, though. Fresh juicy green leaves all over the ground smells and looks wonderful.
DOOM TREE
Pantomime
Has taken up much of my time. I am a bit terrified that we're so underprepared less than two weeks from opening night. ...holy sheets. If all goes well it'll be pretty great though. I need to get a wedding dress...
Contract Assignment
I'm quite annoyed about my Contract assignment. I organised my time marvellously so I would have it done two days before it was due, at the very least before the morning of the due date. But it took so much of my effort that I still ended up not going to bed until 5am on the due date. fml. It had better not sucked.
Exchange
Finally got my letter informing me that I've been accepted into the exchange program (I got the email a couple weeks ago), and I did manage to get allocated to Milan. Which is a reliiiiief, because there was always the chance that even if they liked my application, they'd choose to send other people to Milan instead of me and I'd have to go for Plan B: The Netherlands. Which still would have been awesome, but less useful for my Italian skills. And, you know, not Italy.
Today (/yesterday) was Good Friday. Like the good Catholic I am, I worked 9-3 (Public Holiday pay is a beautiful thing), cutting my usual 9-5 shift short to partake in the annual family tradition of driving to Rockingham for fish and chips. Now, I'm not entirely sure why we go to Rockingham for fish and chips. It used to be Freo, which sort of made more sense. The shop we go to is pretty great, but idk if it's better than all the fish and chip shops between Mullaloo and Rockingham, and we just sit on the grass to eat it and the view of the water isn't that much different to the rest of the coastline. Idk, but the drive is long enough to warrant mix-CDs and epic singalongs. IT WAS AWESOME. I WANTED TO KEEP DRIVING FOREVER. We were also very loud picnic-ers. Occasionally yelling in Italian. We're pretty cool. Also I had a nommy Plum, Ricotta and Blackberry Crumble at the cafe/gelateria place we went for sweets/coffee.
Tomorrow (/today) I'll probably make this cake: http://sugarlace.com/2010/03/cats-birthday-almost-bourdains-gateau-au-chocolate-a-la-fleur-de-sel-et-huile-dolive/ to take to Nonna's on Sunday, then I have work in the ebenin'. Sunday I guess we'll go to church as usual (and Aly and I will alternately snicker and sneer at everything as usual), then probably Liqueur For Breakfast (I love this tradition) and off to Nonna's for the big feed. Which with any luck will probably be my last Nonna's House Big Feed until Easter next year! :O I WILL EAT ESPECIALLY MUCH.
Also Nicole is a champion and drew me a picture of Spock and gave me an iTunes gift card, which I used the other night to purchase a Jens Lekman CD. You know I really like an artist when I actually pay for their music :P. I was actually sort of aching to listen to some of the songs when I was at work/in the car today, nostalgic for the first few times I'd heard them. Weird. Have some:
-The Opposite of Hallelujah: http://www.sendspace.com/file/rt45xf (the first of his songs I heard. Made me want to find more)
- Sipping on the Sweet Water/Nectar: http://www.sendspace.com/file/vb8oec (the CD wants to say water, but the lyrics say nectar, it's weird)
- A Postcard to Nina: http://www.sendspace.com/file/lynmwh (funny and poignant, about pretending to be his friend's boyfriend in front of her parents, because they don't know she's gay)
Fin.