Game. Set. Matchstick!

One of my greatest tennis memories is watching Husband and his father verse each other in this game of giant ping pong. He (my father-in-law) lived on a farm, which was set up with tractors, sheep, horses... and a tennis court. One of the farmers was the commentator/score keeper for the match, and it was an enjoyable couple of hours listening to them trash talk each other while they played.

Owning a tennis court came with many hassles of upkeep. It takes just as long to set up for a game as it does to play it, as the court needs to be rolled, the lines marked, and the net hung up. And, of course, the spiders and snakes removed... Much unlike the perfectly maintained courts at the Australian Open, e.g.

A friend of mine has a son who lives and breathes tennis. She asked if I could make a tennis themed cake and cupcakes for his 13th birthday.

I'd designed a simple tennis court cake, with some tennis ball cupcakes. I'd felt very clever with the cupcakes, using bright yellow sprinkles to make them look furry, and white fudge frosting to mark the lines on them.

In my original plan, the tennis court was going to be perfect (much like an Australian Open court). But, instead, I didn't have quite enough fondant to cover the entire cake, so it was spontaneously surrounded by darker green tufts of grass to hopefully hide the cracks and gaps...

For the tennis ball cupcakes, I had attempted to mimic a Wilson ball, and changed the number on the ball, with the age Matthew was turning.

In a delightful turn of events, the 13 cupcakes sat perfectly around the cake to aid in extra coverage to the various blemishes.

The request also included Matthew's racquet ->

I managed to make something that almost resembled a tennis racquet, though could have been easily mistaken for a ping pong paddle with wires.

I used white royal icing to draw the tennis court lines, and then placed the "racquet" on top of the cake.

For the net (because you have to have a net in tennis), I used a strip of fly screen, and glued it to two cake pop sticks. Sure, proportionately it looks more like a volley ball net, but hey, no-one's perfect, right?

Did you know that the origin of using "love" in tennis scoring quite likely came from the French word for egg (which is l'eouf) because 0 looks like an egg? Though, there is dispute that the use of "love" actually came from the acceptance that at the start of a tennis match (when the scores are zero), the players still have "love for each other".

I like the French version, personally... Everything sounds better in French.

Joyeux Anniversaire, Matthew!

It's a boy!

A midwife must possess

the hand of a lady,

the eyes of a hawk,

and the heart of a lion.

The experience of having a new baby is one that is not forgotten (well, unless you're knocked out). It is indescribable the way pain becomes a distant memory when that tiny and slippery miniature person that's been growing like an alien inside of you, is now on top of you, so tiny and fragile...

When I gave birth to Jonathan, he was purple and not breathing, because the umbilical cord had been tied around his neck for so long. Instead of me cuddling him, he was taken straight to the little emergency table, and the midwives and doctors attended to him until he started breathing and crying. I didn't realise what was happening at the time, but since Husband wasn't looking worried, I wasn't. He told me later that he doesn't worry about things he can't control, but that the situation probably justified abject terror: A baby not breathing, a suction hose, an oxygen pump, lots of carts, and many people crowding around...

He said it was cool seeing Jonathan go from being purple to pink from the extremities inwards, fingers and lips, then arms and face, and finally his chest. Everyone holding their breaths waiting for him to take his own.

Recently, friends of ours had a similar situation with their baby. But, for her, there was so much focus on making sure the baby started to breath, that no-one noticed the mother had passed out from so much blood loss. After being attended to, she was pulled to recovery, and everyone has a story to tell about the day.

Everyone has their own opinions on Home Births vs Hospital Births. I'd previously had a relaxed position, but am now a firm believer in a hospital birth considering Jonathan's complications... And because Husband pointed out that had the same situation been presented at home, his solution would have included a mini Dyson and a bicycle pump.

I had two midwives help me deliver Jonathan. One had just been made a registered midwife, and this was the first baby she was about to deliver on her own (special for everyone). The other, clearly a pro, refused to let me change my mind to have a cesarean, just because he was a few minutes away from being born... How rude!

Here's a little video that Husband had made about the arrival of Jonathan:

On the topic of hospitals, babies and midwives, this weekend I'd made some cupcakes for a local lady who has a tiny newborn of her own. She wanted to take some cupcakes to the hospital, to thank the midwives and staff who took such great care of her while she was there having her little baby boy! What an honour to be part of such a lovely sentiment :)

She had a baby boy, so requested baby boy themed cupcakes. There were designs in mind, and slowly the toppers were taking the form of what they were supposed to look like:

If you don't already know, I have a thing about symmetry. And things matching. And anxiety. Which is why I really don't understand why I made a different number of baby face/footprint cupcake toppers, to the blocks spelling BABY. After agonising over it all afternoon about how they would be placed in the box if there weren't even numbers of them all, I made an extra block, and put a star on it. Stars are baby boy themed, right?
... Just say yes.

Placed over some blue buttercream icing on top of my new favourite recipe for vanilla flavoured cupcakes, and they were finished! And just as importantly, they were symmetrical :)

The final challenge was to hold back the tears when my 9 year old daughter asked why the icing wasn't the same colour blue as the fondant...

Cirque Du Mickey.

So we were in America, on Day 5 of our Walt Disney Floridian holiday. We had time to grab a snack before seeing Cirque Du Soleil: La Nouba in Downtown Disney. By now we knew very well that "snack" in America, means a decent sized meal.

Wandering through Downtown Disney, we came across "Candy Cauldron" - a magical café/store that surely kept dentists in business. The front windows were filled with shelf after shelf of chocolate coated caramel apples, shaped into Disney characters. The walls were splashed with colourful candy. Vats of treat packets placed around the room. A cabinet in the middle lured us like the gingerbread house lured Hansel and Gretel. I had a suspicion that our diabetic-free life was sure to come to an end if we stayed too long. But there was no way we* could leave without admiring everything they had.

* Okay, just me.

Inside this cabinet was a display of marshmallow sticks covered in chocolate made to look like Mickey Mouse pants, cookies the size of your hand, fudge with more flavours than Disney characters, another selection of caramel apples, and what looked like LCMs, shaped into Mickey faces, decorated and on sticks (among many other things)! Why, oh why, did I have to make a decision? I wanted one of everything!

A young Australian woman served us, and as I looked through the glass, I asked if these were like "LCMs, shaped like Mickey"? She said they were exactly that, but here (America) they're called "Rice Krispies". From what I could tell, they had a layer of chocolate, a layer of something else**, and were drizzled with more chocolate. Fabulous, I'll take three, thanks!

** Mini M 'n' Ms, crushed Oreo biscuits, etc.

I chose the one with mini M 'n' Ms, because why not overdose on chocolate in one swift move, eh? Considering it was the size of my face.

I managed to get through half of this "snack" while people were taking their seats, waiting for La Nouba to officially begin. While this was happening, two older clowns were 'performing'. From what I gathered, their aim was to carry big, brightly coloured foam 'boxes', atop a giant stretcher, from one end of the auditorium to the other. Never-mind that it was probably one of those moments where you 'just have to be there to understand', but they were hilarious. Without speaking, they silently captured the attention (eventually) of everyone in the room.

Then the lights went out, and it started... Oh. my. goodness: It was incredible! The entire audience was captivated by the emotion, the intensity, and the victories of each acrobat, comedian, and dancer. Cheers were made and rounds of applause were frequently given. I highly recommend grabbing the opportunity to see a Cirque Du Soleil performance if you can! Amazing.

The Mickey shaped "rice krispie" that defeated me that night, I have managed to re-create at home, which proved to be a hit with the kids for afternoon tea. How hard could it be to make our own LCM bars? Here's what I did to make them, and kids would easily be able to help if you so desired them to...

I used this recipe. Once made, I used the back of a spoon to squish and spread it into my Mickey shaped cookie/sandwich cutter (like I'd seriously leave Disney World without one). I did this to avoid wastage from cutting shapes out of a square/rectangle slice. Half of the recipe made 6 decent sized 'LCM Mickeys':

I wanted to at least try the mini M 'n' M version that I had in Disney World. But I also really wanted to try something different, too! I remembered while we were drooling over them in the various bakeries around Disney, we noticed them with M 'n' Ms and crushed Oreos. I didn't have Oreos at the time, so made half with mini M 'n' Ms, and the other half I decided to make with peanut butter and chocolate, hoping to somewhat mimic one of the best combinations in the world.

After dipping them all into the melted chocolate, I sprinkled M 'n' Ms on the plain chocolate ones, and crushed peanuts on the others, which already had peanut butter spread on them... Ta-da! Afternoon tea was served:

One thing that I forgot to do (I realised too late, as usual), was push a paddle pop stick into the base so there was a 'handle' for them! Oh well. We'll be making these again, and I shall try to remember next time! :)

I've recently wondered what "LCM" actually stands for... Some suggestions may or may not include:

- Low Calorie Meal (Ha! I wish)
- Lunchbox Crystal Meth.

Oh, Snap! Crackle. And Pop.

Do you know what LCM stands for?
What would you put on top of a rice krispie?
Have you ever seen a Cirque Du Soleil performance?

Pizza twists!

I like the internets to think I am an invincible spring of motherly awesomeness. Because most of you don't know me, it's easier to keep up such a facade. I make sure the cake I'm photographing doesn't have the pile of 3 days of dirty washing behind it, or I'd photograph it on the table, so that the disaster the kitchen has become in the process is hidden, because, I don't want strangers judging my housewife-y abilities... That's what parents are for.

Anyway, perhaps this is a chink in the wonderful armour that is Internet Anonymity, but occasionally I open up my fridge after a number of distracting days, and the combination of its ingredients plus whatever we have in the pantry doesn't seem to result in "food" as much as "an abomination which should never have graced God's green earth".

I'm not sure if you've ever been desperate enough to try to combine bacon, flour, eggs, and gummi bears, just to see what happens?

This morning, my son made an omelette with strawberries, banana, bacon, and baby spinach, so I guess there's at least one person who can relate. But the sum of the parts do not always equate to a whole, if you know what I'm saying, which also sums up my eldest boy, coincidentally.

On two occasions, however, this emptiness in both dinner ideas and various food holding facilities, it has led to new staple dishes in the house. Once was Husband, and since he's not particularly interesting or creative (or perhaps because I'm jealous), that dish won't get a mention. The other was me, and since this is my blog and I can pretend to be the hero, well, here is my heroic tale of culinary improvisation resulting in deliciousness that should win me an award for Creative Mother Of The Year. I felt like Martha Stewart, except people care about me.

We had limited ingredients - some leftover BBQ chicken, a bit of ham etc - but not a lot of anything else. So I got that, gathered some other bits and pieces from the fridge and pantry, and created what I now call "pizza twists".

One puff pastry sheet, cut in half, makes two "twists".
Squeeze some sauce down the middle (straight lines are so last year).

Sprinkle some cheese on the sauce, and, whatever you have!

I'd usually say to just think about what you would/wouldn't put on pizza, but, I know some gourmet pizza places that have no limitations to what they put on their pizzas! For example: The last pizza that I ate from a gourmet pizza place had snow peas, broccoli, and cashews on it!

Roll them up, and twist them as you lay them on a baking tray.

Bake for approx. 20 minutes, in an approx. 180° oven... And ta-da!

Quick and simple improvised dinner, and the kids absolutely loved them!

In fact, this was so popular, we continued on to make miniature dessert twists, using Nutella and strawberries (okay, so I think this idea came from Max Brenner... Or, Italy?). But not as a puff pastry twist!

With much sadness, I was not able to eat one of the dessert twists due to my challenge to "quit" sugar from my diet for a month. But the kids told me that they. were. amaziiing!

Hopefully they won't want them again until February... Hmmmm.

Buon Appetito!

Na-na na-na na-na na-na BATMAN!

Today's forecast: It's going to be a Dark Knight.

Everyone recognises Batman, right? Is it the logo? His mask? The gadgets? The bat-mobile? Perhaps it's even one of the actors who've played the character?

For as long as I've known him, my brother-in-law has been a Batman fan. Husband and he would banter back and forth over the phone whenever the next (or previous) Batman movie would come out. They would tell tales of Batman in their childhood, the time their father dressed as Batman, and why spitfire balls should totally be legal.

He also likes wine (my brother-in-law that is), which is why a few Christmas' ago when we made and gave family members painted wine glasses as a gift, his looked like this:

I know many have already seen this, but a little while ago, I was asked to make a Batman cake. I obviously accepted the challenge. Google had many ideas on what other people's interpretations of a Batman cake would be, but how was I to make mine similar, yet different? I quickly designed something and went with it.

Combining a few ideas, I used 'delphinium' blue* coloured fondant to cover the bottom tier, added black rectangles and tiny white squares, and the scene was set! No, really, it was. It was the background for my fondant city:

* Cake Shop Lady told me that this was the colour of Original Batman's costume.

During my eBay therapy (which may or may not be ongoing therapy), I had the incredible foresight** to purchase a Batman logo cookie cutter!

** Husband does not call it foresight... In fact, I will not repeat what he does call it.

With yellow fondant and the new purchase, the top tier (before it was attached to the bottom tier) looked like this:

Once it was attached, I added some black ribbon around the bottom of each tier, to make them all pretty and neat, because, well, maybe I sometimes have an issue with things being untidy...

And what would a Batman cake be without BATS!!?

Thankfully, I made this cake just before Halloween, and so many stores were stocked up with all things bat related, including mini cookie cutters:

One by one, these icky little creatures were stuck into the Batman cake:

It was about this time I was convinced that the wires needed a bit more support, so I wrapped another layer of black ribbon around them, and tied them together (oh so gracefully) with black electrical tape, because, it was black! And once you go black.....

In my mind, it was now finished, and I could relax.

Then as I asked (why, oh why) for his opinion on the cake I'd just finished, Husband said "You know what'd be cool? If you made a batarang and have it sticking out of the side of the cake!" He figured that because it was for a 30th birthday, they'd love it!

After Googling what the heck a batarang was, I agreed that it would be cool, and quickly used the Batman cutter to make one. I stuck it into the front side of the cake, which looked like this:

So now it was finished :)

I'm pretty sure justice was served with this...
Delicious, chocolate-y justice!

Mmm... Chocolate.

Happy New Year!

2014 HAS ARRIVED!

I've recently seen many Facebook statuses claiming, praying, hoping, wishing, asking, and declaring that 2014 will be "better" than 2013. A year where there'll be less drama, sadness, grief, and trials; and more love, joy, happiness, wealth, success etc... That no-one dies, or gets sick. That no pets run away. That the kitchen stays clean, and the fridge always only filled with healthy food. That motivation to exercise both arrives, and stays for the entire year... Oh, are those last ones just me?

Today, January 1st, is just another day. I'm not suddenly a self-controlled person who never yells at my children (though, as they're only just waking up now, so far I have not yelled at all this year). My children have not suddenly decided that they will clean their rooms every morning without being asked (though, again, just waking up - so maybe, just maybe!?). My fridge is still filled with the same stuff I put in there yesterday (minus milk I forgot to buy yesterday before the shops closed today). My kitchen floor is still a mess. And, oh look, washing remains on the line... It seems that nothing has dramatically changed overnight!

The world won't dramatically change overnight, either.
Some things will remain predictable.

With that in mind; to celebrate the new year... I baked :)

Inspired by various Happy New Year cakes, fireworks,
and what was in my pantry (M 'n' Ms), I made this:

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

May it be filled with... Peace.
And knowledge that, no matter what, God is in control.

Many are the plans in the mind of a man,
but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.
Proverbs 19:21

I'm quitting!

So, I've recently been diagnosed with GERD. To live with this, one doctor says that I can have a normal diet, but another says I actually need to be really strict with what I eat, as my body is repairing, and to reduce the risk of further damage to my oesophagus, etc. Well, I have not been really strict. Or even a little bit strict.

Because of this, I've realised recently that I am completely addicted to sugar. I would easily (and often) accidentally eat through a whole packet of lollies and an entire box of ice creams... Sometimes within an hour! I've decided that I need to do something about it. And so, I'm going to give up sugar (just for a month!) in the new year.

For me, this "sugar" includes lollies, chocolates, biscuits, cakes, ice cream, and soft drinks - everything that sugar is added to, either physically by me when I cook, or is already part of the main ingredients. I'm not going super hardcore giving up particular fruits, breads and pastas. No way, José! One step at a time, eh?

I know this won't be easy. I am imagining headaches, unbearable cravings, and constant stress! And that's going to happen on Day #1. January is going to be really hard! But I've researched and researched benefits of cutting sugar out of the diet. My body (and life) will benefit from cleaner eating.

Has anyone else given up sugar? Have you remained sugar-free? How hard was it on a scale of 1 to "Just hand over that chocolate bar or I'll punch you in the face!"? Do you have any tips that might help myself and/or others be successful in giving up sugar?

Here's a poem I stumbled upon the other day:

'Twas the week after Christmas, and all through the house,

Nothing would fit me, not even a blouse.

The cookies I'd nibble, the eggnog I'd taste,

All the holiday parties had gone to my waist.

When I got on the scales, there arose such a number!

When I walked to the store (less a walk, more a lumber)

I'd remember the marvellous meals I'd prepared,

The gravies and sauces, and beef nicely rared...

The wine and the rum balls, the bread and the cheese,

And the way that I'd never said "No, thank you, please"

As I dressed myself in my husband's old shirt,

And prepared once again to battle the dirt...

I said to myself, as only I can

"You can't spend the winter dressed like a man!"

So away with the last of the sour cream dip,

Get rid of the fruit cake, every cracker and chip.

Every last bit of food that I like must be banished

'Til all the additional ounces have vanished.

I won't have a cookie, not even a lick,

I'll want only to chew on a long celery stick.

I won't have hot biscuits, or cornbread, or pie.

I'll munch on a carrot and quietly cry.

I'm hungry, I'm lonesome, and life is a bore...

But isn't that what January is for?

Unable to giggle,

No longer a riot.

Happy New Year to all,

And to all a good diet.

Sadly, the author is unknown! I thought it was brilliant, and my favourite line is the carrot one. It reminded me of this picture I've seen floating around the internet, too:

So... Is anyone else keen to join me

on this quest for better health in January??