Cupcakes Galore

Last night we celebrated my sister's birthday in style.  Over cocktails and mountains of delicious middle eastern finger food everyone laughed and chatted the night away.

My contribution to the night was dessert in the form of cupcakes.  Even after the mountains of delicious finger food I was happy to see that the cupcakes went down a treat.  I made two types, super chocolate and orange and poppyseed.

The chocolate ones are probably my signature cupcake and are regularly requested.  I use this recipe but for cupcakes add a packet of choc bits and bake them for 14-20 minutes depending on your cupcake size.  It makes about 15-20 large cupcakes (depending on how large they are) and about 40 small cupcakes.  Once iced, I always refrigerate these cupcakes as it sets the icing and makes the cupcake go more dense and fudgy.

The orange and poppyseed cupcakes were from this recipe which is worth the read just for the hilarity of the writing.  It was the first time I'd made this recipe into cupcakes and it made 21 large cupcakes which took 30 minutes to bake.  It is a flourless recipe, but beware, baking powder usually contains gluten so it isn't a perfect option for someone with a serious gluten intolerance.  The recipe doesn't have icing, so I made a pretty standard cream cheese frosting of:

125g butter
250g cream cheese
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 cups icing sugar
orange zest to taste

You just beat everything together and it makes an extremely tasty frosting.  For me the secret to this however is to use light cream cheese.  It just makes for a better tasting, easier to spread or pipe frosting.

Seeing as the cupcakes were for a special occasion I had a lovely time piping icing and decorating them.  But the best part of making anything like this is watching everyone enjoy them - oh and getting the leftovers to take home.  S and I will be having a yummy afternoon tea today!

A Happy Birthday at Soju Girl

Today my little sister turned 30.  I'm somewhat blown away by that.  I was fine with turning 30 but my little sister?  That just doesn't seem possible.  I have such clear memories of her as a very little girl, not to mention our awkward teenage years where my mother would despair at our fights before we matured into great friends.  30 seems so grown up, and judging from our conversation today over lunch about issues of managing staff, investment properties, house-hold appliances, plumbers etc we are grown up.  It is just that in my head she is my little sister and surely little sisters don't turn 30 do they?

Tonight Mum is cooking birthday dinner as is tradition, but 30 is a special birthday and there is more than one meal opportunity in a day, so my sister's husband, brother-in-law and I took her out to lunch at the Canberra restaurant Soju Girl.  The website describes the food style as modern South-East Asian and Japanese dishes but I would say that this is one of those restaurants that owes a lot to the creative freedom and inventiveness that is so present in so much of modern Australian food.

The dishes are designed to share, so we chose to share three "small plates" and two "large plates".

Our first small plate was zucchini flower, sushi rice, soy mirin and it was fantastic.  Each zucchini flower was stuffed with deliciously piquant rice, then lightly battered and fried giving it a beautiful crisp texture.  The soy mirin dipping sauce complimented it perfectly.

By the second plate I remembered to take photos and the Tiradito of King Fish, Yuzo, white soy, raddish was very photogenic and completely delicious.  This was probably my favourite of everything we ate (although it was all wonderful).  The flavours were so delicate and beautifully balanced.

Our final small plate was soft shell crab, som tom salad, citrus dressing.  I'm a fan softshell crab and the crispy deep fried batter was delicious, making this a joy in the mouth.  The flavours were complex and the salad a beautiful accompaniment.

Our two large plates were the beef cheek penang cashew curry and the coconut braised duck yellow curry which were accompanied by kaffir scented rice.  Both curries were beautiful.  The meat was fantastically cooked, it broke apart at the touch of a spoon and the sauces were rich and delicious.  There was a good array of vegetables in both curries which I particularly liked.  Fresh asparagus and snap peas lightened the meal along with generous garnishes of fresh herbs.

Our 5 dishes was a perfect amount for lunch for the four of us and with softdrinks and a beer and a coffee came to just under $40 a head which I thought was very reasonable given the quality of food.

Soju Girl is half restaurant, half bar with an extensive cocktail and wine list and a range of beers on tap.  It is quite open plan, so I wonder how noisy it would get when the bar side is full, but it is definitely somewhere I would be keen to return to.

Frocktober - day ten

There were lots of things I loved about turning 30, but one of the main ones was realising how comfortable I now am in my own skin.  After years of feeling like an ugly duckling, never knowing what I should look like, how I should dress etc, I now feel comfortable in my style and happy with how I look (mostly, I do of course still have days when it just doesn't come together).  Possibly this is why I now seem to have no problem wearing very short skirts and even posting photos of myself on the internet wearing no makeup at all!

Today's dress is another from ASOS.  It has quite a flouncy skirt which doesn't necessarily give me the most flattering waist line, but I love the bounce and sway of the masses of skirt, it makes me feel incredibly girly.  It was complimented by cute burgundy tights by Leona Edmonson and my lovely birthday shoes from S.

Today was my birthday and I was incredibly spoiled by a whole host of super wonderful people.  I have to say, it really was one of the best birthdays I've ever had.  It was a relatively quiet day, but every aspect of it was full of love, happiness, smiles and warmth (metaphorically speaking, it was actually a bit grey and cold meteorologically speaking).  I finish this day reflecting on what a truly lucky person I am.

Oh my, I've got a very full tummy

My Mum sure can cook. She can create a feast, there is no doubt about it and when it comes to a special occasion like a birthday, she goes all out.

Tonight was an early birthday dinner for my brother-in-law and that means the traditional birthday dinner - roast duck with dumplings and red cabbage. Is your mouth watering yet, let me describe it in a little more detail.

Mum has perfected the art of roasting a duck. She produces crisp skinned, succulent meat where the fat has melted away (but is reserved to fry potatoes in later) leaving just juicy, duck perfection. She takes the drippings and turns it into rich gravy which we pour over potato dumplings and red cabbage till they are infused with that ducky goodness.

It is the kind of meal where you end up picking up your duck bones to crew every last morsel off, where plates are scraped (and licked when no one is looking). It is a meal where you eat till you are full, then eat a bit more because it is just so good.

And when you think you may explode, the chocolate mousse arrives.

What a meal, thanks Mum it was brilliant.

Happy Birthday!

There is so much I could write about today in terms of things that made me smile as today is my birthday.

As the date is 10-10-10 I had a 10th birthday party, so I could write about the joy of reliving childhood party memories, eating chocolate crackles and fairy bread, playing pass the parcel, having a spectacular pink dolly varden cake.

Or I could write about my gorgeous flatmate making me a "Princess Lisa" party crown to wear for the day.

Or I could write about my gorgeous friends and their delightful children that they brought in fancy dress (so cute!!!) to add to the party.

Or I could write about swishing about in a party dress complete with big fluffy red petticoat.

Or I could write about my family, Mum making my my traditional birthday cake despite having a badly cut hand and my sister seeking out a gorgeous birdbath for my backyard which I've been looking for years for.

But what I am going to write about is the thing that I look forward to on my birthday more than anything else, because I'm not sure that Dad is quite aware just how much I love it. Every birthday, my Dad writes me a poem.

No matter how busy he is, or what else is going on, he writes me a beautiful poem, right from the heart. I love it. The minute I see that card attached to a present, I have to open it and read the lovely thing he has written. For me, the poem makes my birthday and is the best thing I ever receive each year.

Today's poem is no exception, in fact it really may be one of my favourites ever, it was just lovely, so much so that I want to share it with you.

Ten, ten, ten
It happens now and then
Ten, ten, ten
And when it does its then
That magic things just happen
That wonders do abound
That life and love are fulsome
With joy the only sound
So take up all your glasses
And charge them with great cheer
And make a toast to Lisa
The lovely girl who brings us here
Our love for you is special
As special as you are
We bless each star we have you
Our very special star

Another visit to the Flute

We had a birthday in the office (well 3 actually) so you know what that means - oh yeah, I've been to the Flute. I'm sorry to be repedative but it is just so damn good!

As there were three of us (yes, it is my birthday soon) we had a complex negotiation to decide on which of their amazing delicacies to choose. It is a difficult decision!

First you need to decide if you are going to pre-order or wing it. Evey day they have a stunning selection of cakes and not all of them are available for pre-order. But if you do decide to go the pre-order route, you then have to make your way through the tantalising list.

We ended up with a Jaffa Dome. It has a crunchy chocolate base, flourless orange cake and layers of dark chocolate and orange mousse. It was so fab I ate two pieces. I'm kind of regretting that now as it was extremely rich but oh so good.
In fact I may need rehab, this Flute addiction is getting serious!