Street Names

Lately I have started to collect different photos of street names. I has been quite fun hunting them down in various locations around Brisbane. I have finally completed my younger brother's name Justin. And I'm hoping to complete my name sometime in the next few weeks.

Just a bit of chalk

It is now holiday time at St Margs and we have extra long shifts and need to find things to entertain ourselves and the kids. Today we had the theme of animals. The kids were doodling on the blackboard (which isn't usually allowed but because the teachers not around in the holidays we had fun!), I encouraged the kids to stick to the animal theme with their drawings.
The girls have a huge interest in Littlest Pet Shops, so I decided to draw some. I was actually surprised that they didn't look too bad. :)

Vincent Gadan on Masterchef!

Vincent Gadan - First he appeared on Tuesday night for the for the immunity challenge and teased us all with glimpses of his amazing pastry treats, however the immunity challenge was a savory dish and even though he wasn't sure how to cook savory he still won! When I heard he was going to be on Masterchef again for a masterclass I was over the moon! He showed us three different tarts - Baked Lemon Meringue Tart, Chocolate Salted Caramel Tart and Pear Frangipane Tart, I have included the links for your interest. Everything he made just looked fabulous! Definitely a pasty shop I am going to visit next time I am in Sydney!

Exam's are finally over! 5 weeks of holidays for me!

Yay Uni holidays have finally arrived! Time to work my butt off and save for the wedding! Not long left to go! Wohoooooo! So exciting! To treat myself for all of my diligent hard work studying I brought a new handbag. It's cute and little and has French designs on it! And it's not heavy because I can't fit much in it! :P
These holidays I plan to:
- Relax
- Get lots of hours at work
- Finalize all RSVP's and numbers for wedding
- Adam and I are going to Melbourne end of July to finialise some wedding plans
- Eat healthy and cook some really beautiful meals
- Watch every episode of Masterchef
- Have a quiet time and do a devotion every day

Artistic Food

So as you know over the last few days I have been making many different coloured macaroons for Paul and Cheryl's house warming party. I was reading through a fabulous cook book by Justin North again called French Lessons I got a lovely recipe for chocolate macaroons. The thing I like about this book is that he doesn't just list the recipes but he actually explains a whole bunch of techniques for the reader to understand why and how to do things. It's definitely a book to get your fingertips on.





This is Justin North's Recipe that I absolutely love:

Macaroons
makes 50 mini or 25 medium-sized macaroons
prep time 20minutes cook time 15 minutes (for me it took a lot longer to prep and then fiddle together at the end.)

Ingredients
125g ground almonds aka almondmeal
225g icing sugar
3 egg whites
60g caster sugar
zest of 1 lemon (optional) (i used lemon zest only in my lemon flavoured one.)

Line 2 baking sheets with greaseproof paper. (I found that if you put two layers of paper down they don't burn as easy on the tray).
Sift the ground almonds and sugar together into a large mixing bowl. In another bowl, whisk the egg whites and sugar to stuff peaks and stir in the lemon zest if using.

Use a large spatula to gently fold the sifted ingredients into the egg whites. (Don't get impatient this is very important to fold and not stir! - think of sponge cakes if your have made one.)
Spoon the mixture into a piping bag fitted with a medium-sized nozzle. (I just used two teaspoons) Pipe neat little mounds on the baking sheets - about the size of a 10cent coin for mini macaroons or a 50 cent piece for medium size. (When I had them all on the tray i tapped the tray a few times so they looked smooth and even on the top.) Leave to stand for 15-20minutes, until a skin forms on the surface.

Preheat your oven to 140oC. Bake the macaroons for 12-15minutes until they have formed an outer shell. The perfect macaroon is crisp on the outside and slightly chewy in the centre. Leave to cool on the baking tray for a few minutes then carefully transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely. (When you get your macaroons from the oven, don't be afraid if they look underdone. If they look a bit wobbly on the bottom this is fine they will continue cooking on the tray. I also found that sliding the baking paper carefully off the tray and have them cool on the bench is better than the wirerack as the wirerack leaves dents.)

When ready to serve, sandwhich pairs of macaroons together with Creme Patissiere (This is another one of Justin's fantastic recipies but you could really fill it with whatever filling you want to get creative with!)

Chocolate Macaroons
Sift 20g of cocoa powder in with the ground almonds and the icing sugar and don't include the lemon zest. Sandwich them together with Chocolate Ganache.

Chocolate Ganache - Justin North's way:
(makes 500g)
200ml cream
40g liquid glucose
240g bitter chocolate - at least 70% cocoa solids.
1/2 tablespoon Armagnac, cognac, (If desired)

Combine the cream and glucose in a small saucepan and bring to the boil. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the chocolate until melted and smooth. Stir in the alcohol if desired and leave to cool.
This will keep up to 2 week.

Two fabulous flavours I did make were chocolate orange and chocolate mini, all I did was add either orange essence or mint essence to the ganache. Just a few drops and they tasted amazing!

Just a Tip:
Don't ice the macaroons with the ganache if the ganache is still hot. Getting it cold and at room temperature is ideal.

Another fabulous filling is Donna Hay's Balsamic strawberry I read in her Christmas edition magazine from last year.
All you have to do is put 1cup (320g) Strawberry Jam and 2 Tablespoons of balsamic vinegar into a small saucepan and stirring over a medium heat until thickened.
I also added 1tbs of liquid glucose to help it hold better.
I didn't think I would like the flavours at first, but what seemed like a strange combination won me over and now I really enjoy the sweet but tart flavour.

So I did have a lot of fun over the last few days. It took a lot of time and energy but in total I made 10 different flavours and at least 10 of each flavour so that was at least 100 of these little buggers!

The flavours I ended up making were:
Balsamic Strawberry, Blackberry and White Chocolate, Choc-Orange, Rasberry Rose, Passionfruit Milk Chocolate, Peanut, Dark Chocolate Mint, Lemon, Vanilla, and of course Chocolate.

Everything actually went ok for me in the kitchen this time... I didn't really have many dramas, however I did have to keep going back to the shops because I ran out of eggs a few times!

My only real disappointment is I saved the chocolate ones to make last. I decided to make a double batch because they are always a winner. However I ran out of icing sugar by 20g. You wouldn't think much of it... I didn't I continued on as normal. But it was too grainy and they texture was not the same. They looked like normal blobs of biscuit because they didn't have the nice shiney crisp skin that forms. I ended up putting the chocolate filling in spare blue shells.

That is all for this nice long blog. Please enjoy the photos below.

Preparation Table.

Starting to plate up.

The Final Result! The flavours:
Balsamic Strawberry, Blackberry and White Chocolate, Choc-Orange, Rasberry Rose, Passionfruit Milk Chocolate, Peanut, Dark Chocolate Mint, Lemon, Vanilla, and of course Chocolate.

Dark Chocolate Mint

Balsamic Strawberry

Love this angle... don't they look gorgeous!

The dessert at the party. They got demolished by the end of the night.

I also made a few other quick nibblelies for the party. These are rich brownies.

Macaron Crazy!

So Many colours! It looks so beautiful!

I found this picture as inspiration! I want to make a whole bunch of different flavoured macaron's for Cheryl and Paul's house warming party this weekend! Don't they look amazing with all the different colours! I'm excited. I've only made chocolate ones before, so we'll see how I go :P

Plus guess what my cousin had her baby! It's a girl called Autumn Lily O'Brien was born this morning at 7:51am weighing 7.5pounds or 3.3kg. I can't wait to see her!!

Assignments complete... 2 Exams to go.

Tired looking Jes with her
Assignment about to be posted in.

Ahhhhhhhhhhh.... All of my assignments finally complete! I have lost sooo many hours of sleep getting these things done! God truely have me the strength to get through this and actually get them done. Especially my personal development folio. I got to a point in the middle of the night where my back just hurt sooo much from sitting on the floor piecing together this scrapbook. But somehow I managed to keep going. Next semester I hope to get most of my assignments done before the wedding. I'm not sure how it is all going to work out. But lets just aim for a beautiful pass.

iBlogger

So basically I'm trying out this iPhone app called iBlogger. Earlier I wrote this sweet blog and just as I was about to post it, the app died and I lost everything that I had typed up! it needs a auto-save function!
However today was fairly alright. I got a fair bit of my assignments done and had a lovely dinner with Adam's family and then followed by a nice date night with Adam. Very tired mentally now and eager for my body to actually start getting sleepy.

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

Lectio Divina

Lectio Divina is Latin for divine reading. Sounds weird doesn't it. I thought so at first as well. But we had to do this as a part of our Christian Studies unit at uni. It is a way of praying with Scripture that calls one to study, ponder, listen and finally, pray from God's Word.

So here is a typical pattern to follow:

1. Read the passage aloud, becoming generally aware of what it is saying. Then sit in silence (with eyes closed) to just let the Word dwell in you richly.
Colossians 3:16 "Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts."

2. Read the passage aloud a second time. This time be aware to the key words or phrases that speaks to you. Again sit in silence for a while and notice how you are responding in the presence of those words.

3. Read the passage a third time. Speak out the word or phrase that is speaking to your inner person.

4. Now take time to sit deeply with what is speaking to you. When you are ready record your thoughts in a journal or notebook.

Lectio Divina - Psalm 34 (NIV)
 ¹ I will extol the LORD at all times;
   his praise will always be on my lips.
² I will glory in the LORD;
   let the afflicted hear and rejoice.
³ Glorify the LORD with me;
   let us exalt his name together.
 ⁴ I sought the LORD, and he answered me;
   he delivered me from all my fears.
⁵ Those who look to him are radiant;
   their faces are never covered with shame.
⁶ This poor man called, and the LORD heard him;
   he saved him out of all his troubles.
⁷ The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him,
   and he delivers them.
 ⁸ Taste and see that the LORD is good;
   blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.
⁹ Fear the LORD, you his holy people,
   for those who fear him lack nothing.
¹⁰ The lions may grow weak and hungry,
   but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing.
¹¹ Come, my children, listen to me;
   I will teach you the fear of the LORD.
¹² Whoever of you loves life
   and desires to see many good days,
¹³ keep your tongue from evil
   and your lips from telling lies.
¹⁴ Turn from evil and do good;
   seek peace and pursue it.
 ¹⁵ The eyes of the LORD are on the righteous,
   and his ears are attentive to their cry;
¹⁶ but the face of the LORD is against those who do evil,
   to blot out their name from the earth.
 ¹⁷ The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears them;
   he delivers them from all their troubles.
¹⁸ The LORD is close to the brokenhearted
   and saves those who are crushed in spirit.
 ¹⁹ The righteous person may have many troubles,
   but the LORD delivers him from them all;
²⁰ he protects all his bones,
   not one of them will be broken.
 ²¹ Evil will slay the wicked;
   the foes of the righteous will be condemned.
²² The LORD will rescue his servants;
   no one who takes refuge in him will be condemned.


For me the phrases that stood out to me the most were:
- 'his praise will always be on my lips'
-  'Glorify the LORD with me;
   let us exalt his name together.'
-  'those who seek the LORD lack no good thing'

Making IPhone Ringtones

Ok so tonight I have discovered how to make my own Ringtones, sorry if I'm a bit slow but I still thought I would share.

All you'll need is an iPhone (of course), iTunes and a heaps of MP3 files.

Open iTunes and select your favourite MP3 audio file.

Right-click on this file in your library to bring up the context menu.

Select Get Info

This will open a new dialogue box showing various details about the audio file. Select the Options tab.

Check the boxes next to both Start Time and Stop Time and enter the times you want your new ringtone to start and stop (the maximum length is 40 seconds) then click OK.

This will return you to your music library.

Right-click on the same music file again and this time select Convert Selection to AAC.

iTunes will process this briefly and insert the new ringtone-sized file under the original file in your library.

Right-click (Cmd-click) on the newly created file and select: "Show in Windows Explorer"

A new dialogue box will open showing you the location of this file. Select the file and rename it, changing the file extension from ".m4a" to ".m4r". Windows will warn you that this change may make the file unstable, but continue anyway.

Back in iTunes, delete the ringtone file you've created from your library, then import the renamed ".m4r" file into your library.
Connect your iPhone and sync your playlist. You may have to manually drag the .m4r file into the Ringtones section on your iPhone. With your iPhone synced this file is now ready to be used as a ringtone.
Wew
My new Ringtone - we run the night by Dj Havana brown.

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Today I made chocolate chip cookies with condensed milk!

180g Butter
1/3 Cup Caster Sugar
125ml Condensed Milk
1 1/2 Cup Self-Raising Flour
250g Large Dark Choc Bits

mixed it all together and put evenly onto a baking tray to cook at 180oC for about 10mins.

Take them off the tray or else they continue cooking!

This is my first time blogging from my phone. I'm hoping this is going to be fantastic and convenient and I'll be more often. I guess we'll see won't we :P

Mobile Blogging from here.

[geo_mashup_save_location lat="-27.2089" lng="153.0251"]

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]