Apple Torte

I love to cook and my gorgeous parents know this well, so for Christmas they got me a Kenwood Chef stand mixer. Lack of having a stand mixer since I moved away from home has not stopped me baking, but it makes such a difference. Properly creaming butter is simple. Whipping eggs and sugar till they are "pale and creamy" is a snap. So of course, my rate of baking is increasing markedly.

Last night I decided to make a cake which had got brilliant reviews on one of the blogs I regularly read "Apples Under My Bed". She herself had discovered it on the fabulous blog "Greed Gourmand" who it transpired had found it on a third blog, "Cook Almost Anything". It was difficult not to get distracted by each wonderful blog as I undertook my quest for the recipe, but at last it was found.

The fabulous cake in question is the Apple Torte. It may not be the most visually attractive cake, but it is delicious. It is one of those recipes where you wonder if it is going to work as you assemble the ingredients. Somehow, the 6 finely sliced apples just seem too voluminous, the delicious batter not quite enough, and the addition of pine nuts unusual in a sweet thing. But it all works.

The beneficiaries of all this baking activity are my colleagues. There were very few people in today, in fact only 5 cake eaters, yet half of it had disappeared before lunch, and the rest followed in rapid succession. This recipe is a keeper.

The King's Speech

I love a good movie and I've just seen a brilliant one. I know I'm by no means the first to rave about "The King's Speech" but it really is as fantastic as everyone is claiming it to be. As a friend said to me, the major elements of the story aren't really that surprising, it is history after all, but the story behind those events, of a man struggling with himself to be the king he wanted to be is compelling.

And the performances, well they are sublime. There is a lot of Oscar buzz about this movie and it really deserves it. Everyone is just pitch perfect, even the kids. Huge kudos as well to the director and cinematographer, as it looks beautiful and the use of camera angles to illustrate the the Kings feelings of intimidation when confronted by a microphone or a gathered crowd are brilliantly done.

This is one movie most definitely worth the price of the ticket.

A clean and tidy desk

My desk is clean and tidy! By which I mean you can actually see desk again and said desk has been spray and wiped so the layers of accumulated grot are gone.

I'm a hoarder, I can't help it, I think it is genetic from Dad. But I really love things to be clean and tidy and in their place, also genetic, Mum's side. These two sides of my personality do not necessarily sit well together. I hoard and hate myself for it and then in a fit of peak, I clean and throw stuff out. I guess it makes me a paper bulimic.

The end of the year is always particularly bad for the hoarder. With everyone super busy and looming end of year deadlines, there are excuses galore for why filing isn't done. Paper mountains grow, including ridiculous things like envelopes, old newspapers and magazine supplements which should all be thrown away the minute they arrive.

But that is where January's calming influence is so wonderful. Time is suddenly available and enthusiasm renewed from the break. So I have filed (properly, even making file name tags), sorted, disposed of, organised, cleaned and now I sit in a little haven of quiet calm. I feel at peace with the office and I have sworn (as I do every year) that I will maintain this tidy gorgeousness. Ahhh the serenity.

Back to the coalface

Back at work - it might not seem the obvious thing to put on the blog of things that make me happy, but there is nothing like a good break to renew enthusiasm and get you set for a productive year.

I actually love the first week, when things are generally quiet and those tasks like sorting the mountain of paperwork can be actioned. The office is quiet, the drive in sure is quiet and easy and it is all just a little bit more relaxed.

So yes, I am happy to be here and I'm set for a great year in the office.

Freedom

I had lunch today with an old friend and her two gorgeous rambunctious kids. They are both bursting with energy but sat so nicely to eat lunch and an ice-cream later. In between they played hide and seek behind store displays, explored the space under sandwhich boards and made toys from fallen leaves.

I love watching that completely unselfconscious joy of life that kids have. The ability for anything to become a toy, any place a playground, regardless of how silly they may look or who might be watching. The happiness to hug someone who really is a stranger to them because they know she is their Mum's friend and they have decided to like her. It seems somehow the most honest of reactions.

It is a little sad to me that we lose that innocence as we grow, so to watch that freedom of honest expression in action for a few hours is always lovely.

Picnic

What can be nicer than a day spent on a picnic blanket, under shady green trees on soft luxuriant grass? Tasty tidbits in hand, chatting, making shapes from the clouds, lazing in companionable silence. The heat of the past few days toned down to a warm glow that encourages relaxing, a light breeze keeping everything fresh. Just perfect!

A new hope

A new year. New possibilities, new hopes, new wishes. The first of the year is when I usually find myself thinking of the year ahead and hoping for all that it might bring.

Newness was all around me today it seemed, even down to the luck of seeing a rosella feeding its baby. The parent had been chirruping at me to fill up the bird feeder - although from the lipstick stains on its beak it had obviously been helping itself to my parent's boysenberries! And I quickly realised why when my attention was drawn to it feeding a young one. Big enough to fly but still cloaked in the green feathers of a baby rosella, the sight of it really reinforced the feeling of this day in particular as being another beginning. It is such a privilege to see nature in its glory like that.

A new life, a fresh start, the future reaching out ahead. The perfect start to a new year.