Cupcaking

Here we have Triple Salted Caramel cupcakes not all have this funny thing on top it was just experimenting, I will put photos up of the whole lot later. Secondly we have Mars bar cupcakes for my dear friend who inspired them, they are chocolate cake with a melted Mars bar centre and Caramel butter cream with chocolate flakes throughout. Enjoy

Baking

I love cooking cupcakes, but I also have a thing for just baking in general. I have a recent addiction to baking bread all kinds but here is my hubby's lunch for tomorrow Olive and Rosemary focaccia . The rosemary is from our lovely herb garden, and the mixed olives are from the markets which just smell divine.

Ok so the red velvet cupcakes where this morning and the focaccia's. Yesterday I made dessert for the family I did not take any pics but here is a link.
http://www.tarteletteblog.com/2009/08/recipe-raspberry-rose-vanilla-bavarian.html

I did not have all the do da's on top but it did look just as delicious. It is a real show piece. It is layers of Vanilla Bavarian Cream, Rose and almond Dacquoise, and raspberry jelly made from raspberries. I made this once before for Hubby's biggest morning tea for his work and I made it with fresh raspberries on top and for the Jelly and it was a little nicer, but the frozen raspberries work just as well just not as tasty.

So that is my baking for this week so far, oh no I also made pear and cinnamon muffins, I am sure they smell great and taste yum but they are ugly so they are not featured here and I only made them because I didn't want to have to throw these pears away in a few days. Yes this week being Sunday and Monday. Oh I forgot I also made two loaves of bread for dipping, Hubby is a snacker. We just bought a lovely balsamic oregano oil that is perfect for dipping fresh bread in. Hubby would rather snack on 8 different little things over a day then have 3 solid meals. Which is fine because it just means I get to make bread which I have a thing for at the moment. One day I will share my bread recipe that is just perfect. It has never turned out badly for me yet.

Enjoy and feel free to salivate over that dessert it is worth the effort and the time.

Cupcaking- Red Velvet Cupcakes

Thank you to my facebook friends and family for the inspiration, I was entirely out of ideas for this weeks baking so please keep any suggestions coming. 
So anyway this is one very nice recipe, the batter was smooth and creamy and the cakes rose beautifully.

Ingredients
2 1/2 cups plain flour

• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1 1/2 cups caster sugar
• 1 cup buttermilk
• (Just a hint if you don't usually keep buttermilk around your house just add 1tsp of tartar powder to your milk and let it sit for a minute before adding it to your recipe. I never keep buttermilk I always use this method.)
• 250g unsalted butter, melted
• 2 eggs, lightly whisked
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1-2 tsp red food colouring
• 
  
• Frosting
• 250g cream cheese, at room temperature
• 300g (2 cups) pure icing sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla essence, extra
• 1/2 cup thickened cream
• (You can use 1/4 cup of milk if you don't have cream I just like the texture cream gives in the end result)

To Make

1. Preheat oven to 200°C. Line muffin pans with paper cases. Sift flour, cocoa powder and bicarbonate of soda into a bowl. Stir through the sugar. Whisk the buttermilk, butter, eggs and vanilla in a large jug until combined. Make a well in the centre of the flour mixture. Add the buttermilk mixture. Stir until just combined. Stir in the food colouring.
2. Divide the mixture among the lined pans. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centres comes out clean. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
3. Use an electric beater to beat the cream cheese, icing sugar, cream and extra vanilla until smooth. Pipe onto cupcakes.

I sprinkled each with a little bit of coloured sugar just for the added effect. 

Product review- Fisher Price iPad Case

We have recently purchased the Fisher Price iPad case.
 It it made to entertain and protect the iPad. It makes the iPad very bulky but it just makes it easier for the babies to play and carry. They have about 5 fisherprice apps for babies that are all free. Educational ones on numbers and shapes and animals. Hastings seems to like it but as we all know babies have a very short attention span. He will spend ten minutes at a time playing or if I put it on the floor with him he will play on and off for for at least half an hour. So if you want to go from using the iPad to giving it to your baby it does take a bit of work taking it in and out but as it has a screen cover I have been using it for cooking as well so it keeps clean. It has rubber supports behind the ipad screen that give a little when they have pressure put on them so when a toddler leans or steps on it it will not break the screen. I am sure there is a weight limit on this but for when they are little it is great. When Hastings steps on it when the farm animal are on they make lots of animals noises and he jumps off and says 'lickles' (translation tickles) 
It retails between 49.95 and 54.99. 

 Pros Provides great protection, Apps are great for kids, Easy to use, Great price
 Cons Makes a lovely little iPad very bulky, A bit time consuming getting the iPad in and out of case.

Over all I like it, I think it makes doctors appointments more entertaining and educational games a little bit more fun.

We have not tested the following but for non ipad owners but iphone owners here is the iphone case for the kiddies.

The Food Project

I love to cook, lunches, dinners, desserts, breakfast and snacks. Anything really but I have a issue with something. I have a big issue with people custom cooking. Cooking different meals for different people. Cooking chicken for the kids and steak for the Husband.... not in my house. I enjoy cooking but refuse to do this. if I have made salad and Lasagne we all eat salad and Lasagne. My son is only 1 but he knows the rules he will eat what I have given him he has given up trying to get me to give him other food. I may be a little strict and a little mean but I am not becoming a martyr to my family. I know families that cook special meals for their kids and separate meals for the adults and that's great for them but my kids are not getting special treatment. I will cook for that each of them like but not a meal for each person.
Of course there are some exceptions to this rule. My son cant eat steak so I will make him some eggs or some other protein that is quick and easy. My other exception is if you are sick I will cook a sicky meal, chicken soup or some other sicky meal. For safety reasons there are some other foods that get substitutions such as deli meats, I can not eat being pregnant so I will eat something else.
I don't have many foods that I don't eat and neither does my husband we are not fussy eaters and my baby is heading that way. He loves red meat, fish, chicken, salad, vegies, fruit. He eats very healthy, he will eat chickpeas, smoked salmon, and so many other out of the ordinary foods. I love that he enjoys his food and he has a broad palette. He will eat Thai food that is a little bit spicy, Indian food full of flavours, plain old fruit that is yummy and sweet, oh my he loves his fruit, he will eat my cupcakes but honestly he is not my biggest fan. 
So I will not custom make meals that is one of the many rules in my house. I have a lot of rules which makes for some difficult times but it makes for more good times because our house is kept clean our meal time is 90% pleasant, our sleeping time is deep and our fun time is more than fun and our house stays safe. So there are a lot of rules but it just means there is more fun when the rules are played by. I now realise I sound like a little hitler but I have a small child, I have another one on the way I need to know that when my hands are full  with little baby my big baby will listen. I know he will not always listen but I do know that a lot of the time he will and that is what will make my life easier and his life happier.    

Oh so pretty

As I am pregnant I am obviously not making these or drinking them but I ran into them on-line and thought I would share

SO Pretty SO Decadent.
Cake Batter Martini's

http://www.thenovicechefblog.com/2012/05/cake-batter-martini/

Melbourne

My Husband and I went away for the weekend.(smiles)

We left our baby here (tears-mine not his)

We saw so much in Melbourne,

Federation square

St Pauls Cathedral

The Spire

The Eureka Tower

Lygon St

Brunswick St

Myers and David Jones

Docklands

QV

Many beautiful arcades

Melbourne Central

Spencer St Station

The Yarra

We walked a lot (tired)

We Shopped a lot (yay)

The shopping was nice. My husband doesn't get to shop much so while he was able to he went a little crazy buying things for our babies. He bought matching sets, hats, booties, sweaters, and toys, he has a lot of fun.

We did so much and it was nice to be Tarryn for a weekend not Mum but oh how I missed my baby. I am with him 24/7 so being without him was like missing a limb.
But my baby was an angel.

He stayed with his grandparents,

He got spoilt

He slept better then ever

He got to eat lots of fruit

He got a super amount of cuddles

We got back to our baby we were so excited, him not so much he really couldn't care less, but he enjoyed looking at the trains.... Oh yeah hi Mum and Dad.... your back

It was lovely, Melbourne was beautiful, but it is nice to be home.

Sick of the sick

I am not often sick I am generally a very healthy person. But this pregnancy I have been very ill. Not like pregnancy nausea and pregnancy stuff but crappy immune system. As most know pregnancy suppresses your immune system. SO anyway every year I will get a cold or the sniffles just like anyone else but other then that I am healthy.
This last couple of months I have been so unhealthy. Almost every other week for the last two months I have had something. I had tonsillitis, a cold, then gastro which ended with me on a drip with server dehydration, then a cold that stayed for 2 weeks and resulted in an ear infection that ended up in a burst eardrum that I am dealing with now. SO at the moment I cant really hear out of one ear and it is a horrible thing to deal with I am not a fan of it I feel very old. If I boil the kettle I cant hear anything else but bubbling water it is driving me insane.
I don't like being sick I am not a very good sick person I am a grumpy sick person.

For the love of

I have so much love for the men in my life. 

My amazing Husband and my amazing son both bring me so so much joy and make me smile so much. I will have three special men in my life soon and I just cant wait, but ultimately I don't have a choice. But for now I will just enjoy the two beautiful men that I have and just sit and wait for the third. 

Not many people talk about this but I am not ashamed I am just sad. When I was in America I was treated for a brain tumor with both chemo and radiation. It was not until I was quite far through my treatment that I found out that I had been pregnant and at the time it did not affect me that I had to abort a fetus of 15 weeks for the sake of my health and the baby's. I have since seen my beautiful Hastings be born and grow I have seen my next baby's 12 and 20 week ultrasound. At 12 weeks I saw little arms and legs, fingers and toes, and a kicking little baby. I will never be able to get that image out of my head. I have cried so many tears for that baby that was never born. At the time I was all for choice all for a woman being in control of her own body but knowing that that little thing that could have turned into a Hastings or any other little thing just brings tears to my eyes. I know medically our baby would have suffered immense pain and a high chance of deformity but that is no justification. I think if you have never had a baby you may see the value in abortion but once you have seen the results of what could have been you cant help but disagree with the idea. I have now had one abortion one healthy baby one miscarriage at 10 weeks and am now pregnant with a second healthy baby. I never want to experience an abortion or a miscarriage again and I would never wish it on my worst enemy.

Here is my two amazing men. I will never forget the two I never got to meet but I focus mainly on the two amazing men I have. 

Revelations

I am bored
I need some excitement in my life, I need a hobby. I am very bored. I have started working for free for Josh. Doing research ect for his work.
Very Bored

I have no patients
I have very little time for anyone, if you cant spit it out come back later. There is not much that I think is worth waiting for.
I am very impatient

I am honest
I tell people what I think, I tell people things about myself that others wouldn't share. If you ask me how I am I will tell you I wont just say 'good'. I wont say 'oh i'm not hungry' when I am hungry I do not say these common things I just say what I think.
I am brutally honest

I don't like people
People don't generally like me when they first meet me it may have to do with all the previous things I have just mentioned. But really I just don't like them either. I have very few close friends and that is it.
I just don't like people