Spring has sprung and love is in the air

The first day of spring - it is amazing how flipping over a page of the calendar can be so very exciting.  How it can bring a smile to your face as warm as the gorgeous spring sunshine.  In reality the season of spring has been here for a couple of weeks now, but there is something about the first of September that just makes the world a little bit brighter.

The first of September is a significant day in my family not just because it heralds blossom, sunshine and the promise of summer, but because it is my parents' wedding anniversary.  Yes those two gorgeous people at the top are my parents on their wedding day.  The rather romantic date had more to do with the fact that it was the first Saturday of the school holidays (Mum was a teacher) than the change of season, but the symbolicness wasn't lost on anyone.

Do you remember the 90's sit com "Mad About You"?  The very last episode was told from their daughter's perspective about how her parents had the perfect relationship.  Perfect not in that it was all roses and stardust, in fact there were fights and silences and hard times.  It was perfect in that no matter what happened, what challenges life threw up, through the good times and the bad times they got through it all together.  That they were stronger as a unit, each was part of the other.  My parents are just like that.  The past decade or so has been a rollercoaster.  Mum and Dad have had amazing challenges, it has been tough.  But you know, I look at them and I see that couple in the picture, still smiling full of love even if there is a bit more experience behind it.  I often wonder if I have the strength that would enable me to survive what they have and I hope that I can live up to the amazing example of a real life together that they have set.

I guess most people celebrate their wedding anniversary quietly as a couple, but being my family, no celebration is really complete without the whole crew in tow.  Add in that Thursday is family dinner night and there really seemed to be no option other than for us to all celebrate together.  So tonight, us kids are taking Mum and Dad out to a rather gorgeous restaurant.  It will be a fitting way to celebrate what is and will always be a very special date.

I know this picture is a little bury but I had to include it to show the magnificence of my Dad's maroon suit - they had wedding cars to match.  And the bridesmaids wore avocado (as in the colour not the fruit).  Ahh the beauty of a wedding in the 70's.

Oops I did it again - return to the Flute

Today I had to run an errand out to Fyshwick.  As I let the crew know where I was going, an eager head popped around the corner.  "Does that mean you are going to Flute" he asked.

I would be lying if my proximity to the bakery that has stolen my heart hadn't occurred to me, but now there was office expectation.  It was my duty - my duty I tell you - to return with delicious baked goods.

And so I diligently went, found a park, made my way through the crowds and selected this drool-worthy strawberry tart.  Encased in a crisp pastry shell was a layer of berry frangipane, topped with custard and gorgeous strawberries.  Just the scent of those strawberries was enough to make the mouth water.

And yes, it was as delicious as it looks and was devoured by a hungry team in record time.

The taste of a memory

In 2009, two girlfriends and I bid farewell to our loved ones, travelled across the Pacific Ocean and set about discovering South America.  Of the amazing myriad of brilliant experiences we had, food remains some of the clearest memories.

Today a colleague returned from his own South American odyssey.  While his trip took him to different regions, I knew there was one thing he was bound to come across that he could bring back and remind me of the brilliant time I spent there - alfajores from Havanna.

Havanna (aside from being the capital of Cuba) is an Argentinian coffee house chain which makes the best alfajores, the national biscuit of Argentina.  Don't you love a country that has a national biscuit?  They are two sweet crumbly biscuits sandwiched together with dulche de leche a type of caramel and coated in dark chocolate, and they are divine!

He was good enough to bring back a box for the office along with mine, so everyone could try the deliciousness without having to get into my stash.  I don't actually have a picture of one because as soon as that foil packet is opened, they tend to disappear!  Now the hard decision arises, who will I share my 16 mini alfajores with?  Or will I just hide the box and eat them all?  Decisions, decisions.

The Bacon Tax

Today as I sat at my desk happily eating lunch a colleague emerged from his office. 

Colleague: What are you eating that smells so delicious
Me: Pasta bake
Colleague: It must be full of great stuff
Me: Oh yeah, lots of vegies, plus cheese and bacon.
Colleague: Bacon!  I thought we banned that for smelling too yummy.

This lead to a long discussion which ended in him deciding we should have an office bacon tax.  Basically he thinks if you are going to bring food into the office that smells more delicious that your colleagues' boring sandwiches you should be taxed.  Like a swear jar, the bacon profits could then be plowed into providing those with boring lunches a treat to make them happier.

Of course we couldn't limit it to bacon, it would need to be expanded to include the curries another colleague is famous for and raisin toast.  Oh and hot chips, the list goes on.

What tempting food smells should your colleagues be taxed for?

Spring has sprung

There is still officially a week and a half of winter to go, but no one has told the trees and the flowers.  In the last week spring has most definitely sprung in Canberra.

While the mornings are still cool enough to warrant a coat, by the afternoon temperatures have risen to a point where you forget it, leaving it on the office coat stand to be cursed about the next morning.  Recent rain has given the plants something to feed on and this week is warm and sunny enough to enable washing to be line dried.

With this perfect growing weather avenues of blossom trees have broken out, the scent of one stand just up the road from my office is incredibly heady and they are buzzing with bees.  The willows behind the lake have taken on the soft green fuzz of new leaves and bare branches everywhere have taken on the reddish hue that shows the sap is flowing and greenery is about to appear.

In my garden the daffodils are putting on a gorgeous show.  The fancy doubles stand above minis and there is one especially lovely white and yellow one that guards over all the rest.  They catch the sun from morning to afternoon and just glow.  It really is a beautiful time of year.

Green Tea Muffins

This weekend S introduced me to something he had been raving about for ages - green tea muffins.  I have to admit to being slightly skeptical, but he kept on about how brilliant they were, so I gave them a go.  And they were well worth it.  They are extremely light and fluffy.  While they are sweet, the green tea and almond flavours balance it so that they don't have the cloying over sweetness that you get in a lot of muffins.

The recipe is from a colleague of S's so I'm not sure on it provenance, but wherever it came from they are certainly delicious and a unique and unusual flavour that I think would be lovely as part of a larger afternoon tea.

Green Tea Muffins

Ingredients
1/2 cup soy yoghurt (I just used natural yoghurt)
2/3 cup rice milk
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup canola oil
1/2 teaspoon almond extract (I would probably halve this in future as it was a little strong)
1and 1/4 cups plain flour - I used self-raising flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda - I didn't use this
3 to 4 teaspoons matcha tea powder - ideally you need to get the Japanese one from an Asian grocery, and make sure it's the one without added sugar, however we couldn't get it so we just used green tea powder.
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup sugar

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celcius and line muffin pan with liners
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the yoghurt, rice milk, vanilla, oil and almond extract, beating well to blend in the yoghurt. Sift in the flour, baking powder, baking soda, matcha powder, salt and sugar. If using rice flour it will be a little lumpy. (I just used ordinary white flour). Beat a little longer to break up any large lumps. Fill liners two-thirds full and bake 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted through the centre of one comes out clean. Cool on racks before topping with glaze.

GREEN TEA GLAZE (Icing)
2 tablespoons margarine
1 cup icing sugar
1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon matcha tea powder
1 to 2 tablespoons rice milk
1/4 teaspoon almond extract (I would probably omit this in future, although S loved it)
Drop of vanilla extract

Directions
1. With a fork, beat margarine to fluff, then mix in icing sugar and matcha to form a crumbly mixture. Slowly beat in 1 tablespoon rice milk, almond extract and vanilla. If icing is too thick to spread pour in additional rice milk a teaspoon at a time an mix till desired consistency is reached.

Dollop on the cupcakes then smooth over.  We didn't decorate them, however when S had them the first time they were decorated with little silver balls and icing flower.

Listography - Guilty Pleasures

Kate Takes 5's listography this week is all about guilty pleasures.  You know, the things you love but are slightly embarrassed to admit.  Ok, deep breath, here is my list:

1. Melting chocolate in the microwave and eating it with a spoon
Yeah, I really do sometimes do this.  My sister and I used to do it when we were kids, I still do, I bet she does too.  Add a cup of tea or a glass of red wine - bliss.

2. And on the topic, anything containing melted cheese
I adore cheese, but it is so much better melted.  For parties I make this thing where I basically cook a brie in the oven so it is melted on the inside.  I recently saw an episode of "Cheese Slices" (it is a travel show about cheese - I kid you not) where they cut a massive wheel of cheese in half, then had a special gadget that melted the cut side which they scrapped it off onto bread to eat, then they put it back under the element, remelted it, etc.  S and I turned to each other and unanimously agreed we needed that device.

3. Pop Music
If I'm asked what kind of music I like I will talk about jazz, 60's rock, opera, etc.  But you know, I really love a bit of pop every now and then.  It is even better if it is from the 80's.  Kylie, George Michael, the Bangles, boy bands, god help me, I will even sing along to the Spice Girls.

4. Shoes
I refuse to count my shoes for fear that it will incriminate me.  Lets just put it this way, I have to do a seasonal rotation as they won't all fit in the cupboard and the special going out shoes are in a whole other storage space.  And now I've decided I want to wear flats more, so I guess I will have to buy a whole lot of new ones!

5. Long Hot Showers
I don't feel quite so guilty about this one as we are having reasonable rainfall at the moment, but particularly when the drought was bad I felt guilty about using so much water.  But I love a long shower, not only does it wake me up, it relaxes me and definitely improves my mood - just ask the colleagues who had to put up with me the other day when the temperature hit -8 overnight and my hot water pipe froze so I couldn't have my wake up shower.

So what are your guilty pleasures?