Sunday: part deux

Following on from this morning's post, Mr Kitty and I went to Rhodes Phoenix for some Yum Cha goodness. We had vegetarian dumplings, steamed chinese veges with oyster sauce, glutinous rice rolls with pork and TWO serves of pork buns. Because I love them so much.

Then off to Ikea where I bought a whisk, some coat hangers, some jam for Mr Kitty and a toilet brush. My life is that exciting.

We also saw Invictus - which I have to say I enjoyed, but take Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon out and it's a made for TV movie. Sorry Clint Eastwood. I liked it but it was a tad hokey for me.

Now That I am back at home I can post the recipes I made yesterday:

Apple, cranberry and almond loaf



50 g rolled oats
300 ml Milk
240 g Self Raising Flour you can use wholemeal
1 teaspoon Baking powder
125 g Craisins or dried cranberries (the original recipe calls for dried cherries but I couldn't find any so substituted these and they were very good)
50 g diced dried apple
3 tablespoons apple juice (preferably fresh)
75 g soft brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground Cinnamon
3 tablespoons Honey
1 lightly beaten Egg
3 tablespoons roughly chopped Almonds plus 2 tablespoons extra

Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F/Gas 4). Lightly grease and line a 1 kg (2 lb 4 oz) loaf tin with baking paper. Put the oats in a bowl, pour the milk over them and leave to soak for 30 minutes. Place diced apple into a bowl and pour over apple juice. Leave to soak for 30 minutes.

Sift the flour and baking powder into a bowl and stir in the rolled oats, dried fruit, sugar, cinnamon, honey, egg and almonds. Drain the juice from the apple and add the apple to the mix. Mix together well.

Spoon the mixture into the tin, level the top and sprinkle with the extra almonds. Bake the loaf for 45 minutes, or until it is golden brown on top and cooked through. Leave it to cool a little in the tin before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely. Toast and serve with ricotta and honey.

Recipe from Every Day by Bill Granger, published by Murdoch Books, Adapted by Miss Kitty.

Mr Kitty loved this loaf. It's not too sweet, not too healthy tasting. It's just right...

Choc-chip toffee drop cookies

250 g butter or margarine, softened
200 g caster sugar
180 g light brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 eggs
400g all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
3/4 cup HEATH BITS 'O BRICKLE Toffee Bits and 1 cup semi-sweet mini chips. Or any choc chips you like.

Heat oven to 180 degrees. Lightly grease cookie sheets or pans. Beat butter, caster sugar, brown sugar, vanilla and salt in large bowl until blended. Add eggs; beat well. Stir together flour, baking soda and cream of tartar; gradually add to butter mixture, beating until blended. Stir in brickle and choc chips. Drop by heaping teaspoons onto prepared cookie sheet.

Bake 8 to 12 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool slightly. About 6 dozen softly textured cookies.

Recipe from Hershey's. Adapted and converted to Australian measurements by Miss Kitty. Hershey's toffee and mini chips are available from USA Foods in Melbourne.

I'm happy to post the lamb tagine recipe as well if people want it. It was actually very good. I will be making it again.

Kitty xxx

Sunday...

Is supposed to be the laziest day of the week! Not for the Kitties!

This morning we are off for Yum Cha (BBQ Pork buns!!!) and Ikea and we'll try and squeeze a movie in as well.

Yesterday was a cooking day. I made 6 dozen butterscotch and choc chip cookies, an almond, cranberry, oat and dried apple loaf (for Mr Kitty) and a sensational Lamb Tagine for dinner. I'll post the recipes for the loaf and the cookies (and hopefully the review of the movie) when I get home!

Kitty xxx

Awwwww....

Kitty Love!

Kitty xx

Le Weekend - again!

I love these three day weeks. They make the weekend come around so fast.

I don't have huge plans for this weekend. I want to see Invictus with Mr Kitty, spend some time chasing the kitties and I might bake some cookies. I feel the need to get creative in the kitchen this weekend!

Last weekend's efforts went down a treat. If you remember I made the NQN/Martha caramel cake. I brought about 2/3 of it into the office on Wednesday so I wouldn't eat any more. It was sensational. Fabulous. Wonderful. Two thumbs up. Everyone in the office loved it. It was very soft and moist with a tender crumb. And the icing is so good it defies description.



But it did take a long time. There were quite a few steps involved. Cooling things down before I could use them (caramel syrup and browned butter for the icing for example). And the return on investment (time/energy vs. WOW factor) isn't as great as some of the other cakes I have baked more recently. But it was worth the effort.



Kitty xx

Jump on the bandwagon, people!

So the lovely Faux Fuchsia is on a mission to gather 300 followers to her lovely blog by next week. If you don't already follow her fantastic adventures, I suggest you take a look.

She is a Brisbane based blogger who Endorses Good Grooming, Glamour, Blowdried Hair, Dresses, Barbie Nostalgia, Decorating, Cooking and Entertaining, Gardening, Decluttering and Unchipped Nail Polish. She is marvellously witty and I look forward to her daily musings!

Run, don't walk people!

Kitty xx

Birthdays

So usually I get really excited about my birthday. I issue people with gift lists, I plan my own special dinner at a fancy restaurant, and I look forward to the event for many weeks prior (count downs have been known to occur).

Not this year.

You see, this year I am turning 34.

Up until this week I had been too busy to really think about it, but it dawned on me as I was sitting on the bus yesterday morning that 34 is just one birthday from 35. 35 for me is a bit of a milestone age. I had such dreams when I was younger and I thought I would have achieved an awful lot by the time I reached this age. Boxes to tick, so to speak. I thought I'd be married with a family and a fulfilling career. I thought I'd have my own house, a dog, a hobby and be involved in my community. I'd travel, write books in my spare time and have a holiday house somewhere.

Of that list:

* I am married (yay for a tick!)
* No kids
* No fulfilling career. I have a job but it's not really what I want to do long term. In fact, I'm fairly certain it's killing me. Slowly.
* Our house is waiting to be knocked down. Well, I am waiting, at any rate. A long time. A new house is two years away at best guess
* No dog, but two fab cats (who both play fetch which is dog-like) so I am calling that a tick
* No hobbies unless you count shopping and eating, which I don't because one is destructive for my bank balance, the other for my waistline.
* I am not involved in the community at all (revert to point three - the commute from the house I hate to the job I loathe means I have almost no spare time during the week and weekends are spent shopping and eating).
* We do travel a fair amount - usually 2-3 trips a year, so that's a tick
* No book. Not even a chapter. Fail.
* Shit - I don't even have one house let alone two...

Let's tally up the results people: three ticks. Three measly ticks out of ten things. I'm married, I have dog-like cats and I travel. Occasionally.

Wow. When I think about it like that it makes me a little bit sad. I wonder that if I haven't achieved more of the above, it's because I have been wasting my time on things that really don't matter.

The struggle with my birthday and age and things accomplished thus far links to a bigger issue for me which I have been grappling with over the last few months - my mini-mid-life-crisis, for want of a better name.

I hate my job and have no idea what I want to do when I grow up. For me, 34 is grown up. I should have decided by now (or at least be doing something I like). Not only that, I should be well down the road of achieving my goals and aspirations. But I am not - I am stuck in a job where people really don't appreciate me. My talents, such as they are, are being wasted. I feel like I have spent 2009 treading water. Our year was consumed by our desire to try and have a baby, Mr Kitty's incremental changes to our house plans that are still not finished and me sticking it out at a job I can't stand because I don't know what it is I do want to do.

Well, no more people.

Rather than feeling sorry for myself and spending 20Ten repeating 2009 (which could so easily happen), I have decided to make a few changes in my life.

Stay tuned for announcements. Although decisions have been made, it's still to early to post specifics, but in general terms I am going to start putting myself first. Not some company, not other people, me. For a change. I am going to do things that make me happy. And I am going to get a goddamn hobby!

As a wise friend said to em this morning - sometimes you just have to have the courage to step off the cliff and hope that there is something better for you at the bottom.

Let's see how much more I have ticked off my list when I actually turn 35. Despite whatever the Chinese say about it being the Year of the Tiger, 20Ten is going to be the year of the Kitty!

Oh, and for those who are interested, I have tried to get a bit more excited about my actual birthday next week. We've booked dinner at a nice restaurant and Mr Kitty has been buying up a storm. Stay tuned.

Kitty

Le Weekend...

What with all the kittie love going on here, I can't believe it's already the last day of the weekend!

So, what have we been up to?

We've spent most of our time trying to stop Max from eating Millie. And Millie from smothering Max with licks and kittie love. But they seem to get on okay now - the true test will be tonight when we make them sleep in the same room for the first time. Hopefully the screeching won't keep us awake for too long...

(Millie is a howler. She is the most vocal cat I have ever met. She said more in the first 12 hours than Max has said in his entire life. But then again, she is a girl...)

Other than that, we...

* Saw Up in the Air which was great. It's been quite a while since a movie has made me think that much about my life and what makes me happy. If you haven't seen it, put it on your list.

* Took a food trip around Sydney: Yesterday we managed to get to Haberfield (for good Italian deli yumminess), Adriano Zumbo for the Masterchef chocolate mousse cake (which really is all that) and some macarons, the Sydney Fish Markets for some fresh tuna and scallops for Mr Kitty, Northbridge to potter through the Japanese supermarket (we bought panko crumbs and frozen edamame) and finally Dan Murphys at Willoughby for some Innocent Bystander Moscato. A fab drink for a hot summer's day - and so inexpensive at $10 for a half bottle which is just enough to keep Mr Kitty and I happy.

Today I am going to attempt a baking spectacular. Based on this NQN recipe, and a recent episode of Martha Stewart where she interviewed Maya Angelou whilst making this cake, I am going to attempt to make a caramel cake with brown butter/caramel icing. They are essentially the same recipe but I won't be putting cardamon in mine. I'm a purist.

Will report back!

Kitty xx