Sometimes Life Gets in the Way

Hey everyone!

Just letting you know that I haven’t been slack and forgotten my whole resolution to blog weekly, but the normal time I would allot to blogging each week was spent on a plane; stuck in a holding pattern for half an hour; waiting for baggage at a broken baggage carousel; waiting for 3 buses to the long term car park (there were SO many people in line!); and then driving 3+ hours back to Barham. I am glad to report that I didn’t flatten any critters along the way. Except maybe a mouse, but they don’t count because you don’t feel the bump (yes, really.). So suffice it to say, I lacked the energy to get into it at 11pm.

You’ll have to bear with me a while longer, because last week was hellish and this week will be more of the same – only time will tell how hellish. Both weeks have/will involve aeroplanes, which is a sure-fire way to sap your time and energy and patience. Hopefully somewhere in the process I’ll have time to reset my blog settings and make posts such as this – which I wrote on my email but is saved as a draft – post straight to my blog, which will make it easier to keep things rolling. Again, hopefully, I’ll have time to blog this coming Sunday, but don’t hold your breath. I may have more important things to do.

I’m exhausted and I think I’m getting a cold (again!!! *shakes fist at air travel*), and this travel thing means the work I’m supposed to be getting done during the week, isn’t. There are so many balls in the air, one of which is “do laundry”, so I’m on the verge of purchasing new socks to save me the trouble!!! But in the last week I DID finish one of those books, and I DID visit a theme park – Sea World. It rained. But with skin like mine, better to be wet than sunburnt! So there are things to tell, but no time to tell it in.

Okay kiddies, I’m off to deal with some of these balls in the air (and "balls" really is the appropriate word for this!) before I drop one and it hits me in the face. Wish me luck...

101 Things Update - Week 6

This week was just about as slow as last week, with the notable exception that I made cupcakes and went for a jog.

#1 - Declare my 29th year to be Year of the Cupcake. Rose and Pistachio Cupcakes, inspired by how completely crap the ones at Joy Cupcakes at Westfield Doncaster were. Seriously, four dollars and it reminded me of cardboard. Not only the texture, but also the flavour. They. Did. Not. Taste. Like. Rose. And it wasn't just me - mum tried some too. It was like they had forgotten to put the rose flavouring in, or had decided that they didn't respect their customers enough to trust them to enjoy a distinct flavour that they had ordered and so opted to dumb it down. Also, the frosting had what I would describe as pistachio dust in - you could see that there was a bit of very mild graininess about it, but could discern no flavour, next to no colour (besides brown, which makes me think they just added pistachio skins and not the nuts, and come ON, people - pistachios are a vibrant GREEN!!!) and could barely detect the texture. And the frosting left a fatty coating on your teeth, much like you get from that cheap $2 Shop chocolate they sell at Easter. Ugh. I knew I could do better, and I did. I also emailed their customer service department and told them how crap it was (yes, really. I've turned into that person) and how much better I could do and offered my services to assist improving the flavour, which they ignored. Oh well, their loss. Once people get over how pretty the cupcakes are and recognise them for the pile of poo that they are, they'll stop buying them. And then they'll realise that I was right. RIGHT, I tells ya!!!

...Step awaaaaaaaay from the sugar...

#35 - Exercise 4 times a week in the lead-up to the wedding. Done! Two days at the gym, and I worked really hard. Then, on Saturday, Grant and I went for a jog. A JOG!!! I ran!!! Sort of. I kind of more shuffled and panted and sweated and held my right boob in place to stop Zappy from hurting me as he bounced around behind my pectoral muscle. Thanks to Grant for supporting me and jogging with me, even though it must have been infuriatingly slow, and even though he must have been thinking every step of the way that I would require CPR. Dad came for a walk with me today, which damned near killed me even though it was nothing out of the ordinary. I think it was all the strained muscles and lactic acid from yesterday's little effort that did that to me! Oh well, better luck next time. At least I got up and moving today.

And now I'm going to instert a search term bound to be a hit with anyone with LQTS: Long QT Syndrome patients can jog! Although, I must say, when I asked my electropysiologist whether I could, he gave me A Very Disapproving Look and paused a moment before saying that I could go for a light jog. Heh. Me?? Do anything more than a light jog?? Pretty bloody unlikely!!! I'd also like to point out that two of his patients are (or were, 3 years ago) AFL players. They keep that one pretty quiet! So I guess what I'm saying is that it's not against doctor's recommendations, but you do have to be a bit sensible about it. No sprinting, no marathons, nothing that's too much of a stretch on your normal scope of fitness (which I have been gradually improving at the gym).

#49 - Lose 1kg per month. Well, I must say I'm completely unsurprised that I gained half a kilo this week, given how much crap I ate, but it's kind of good to know where your balance is. I'm feeling fat, but have recognised that it's a three steps forward, two steps back kind of proposition because whilst I gained girth last week but lost weight, this week I did the reverse, so I'm not completely disheartened. I do know what I have to do to stay on track with this, though - eat less cake! Even though I technically am on track, if I'm looking to lose 1kg per month.

I'm going to have to be particularly careful what I put in my mouth this week, though, given that I'm headed to Brisvegas for a work thing (where they will feed us - already made my menu choices and chose the healthiest things I could, but that's not saying much), and then having dinner with my aunt and hopefully my cousins, and then spending the weekend with my friends Danielle and Kaye. Work thing = abundance of food and wine. Family thing = abundance of food and wine. Girls weekend thing = abundance of food, maybe not so much the wine. Maybe I'll just go easy on the wine and desserts, cos you get so little bang for your calorie buck.

Anyway, don't expect much exciting to happen next week. Oh, except I am (#65 - read all unread books before buying more) in the middle of reading Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, so with all this flying around I may get it read. Oh, and just to let you know, my BFF Emma bought me Gone With the Wind (#66 - read Gone With the Wind) for my birthday (she had to order it in which is why it has only just arrived) because she knew how long it is and that I would probably have to keep reborrowing it from the library to finish it, which would be annoying and inconvenient. OH! And the girls and I will be hitting Sea World next weekend (#51 - visit a theme park) so maybe I WILL have a post after all! I count Sea World as a theme park, by the way. I don't care if you don't. So there.

Right. It's well past my bedtime and I have to finish packing for Brisvegas before bed (seriously! Who ordered the weather up there?? It's supposed to be NICE and SUNNY, and instead it's going to be COLDER and WETTER than it will be down south. Harumph). Night all!

Year of the Cupcake #2 - Gluten Free Rose and Pistachio Cupcakes

Well, it's August and it's time for my next installment of -

YEAR OF THE CUPCAKE!!!

Mum began to suspect quite recently that she is actually gluten intolerant. Testing has shown that she does not suffer from Coeliacs but has nonetheless been alleviated of many, many health problems ranging from stomach cramps to joint swelling, insomnia and exacerbated back pain (it's already screwed, but it had been getting worse, and suddenly, it's good again!)) in the fortnight she has not been eating glutinous foods.

So, thoughtful daughter that I am, I opted to make this month's cupcakes gluten free, as well as last month's. Mainly thoughtful about my own waistline, truth be told, because if I'd made them with wheaten flour then I would have been doomed to consume the entire batch more or less on my own, which would really have set me back on this whole weight loss thing. I gained weight this week anyway. Boo. Imagine how bad it **could** have been, though! Oh, my, it would probably have been something akin to this:

(replace Homer with me, the doughnuts with cupcakes, and the Devil with... yeah, okay, the Devil. The Devil made me do it! Ahh, personal responsibility: threatening weight loss since [insert arbitrary date in the mid to late nineteen hundreds, when weight gain hit popular culture as being a growing health problem (and beauty problem) for society]!)

Anyway, to the recipe:

1c canola oil (I used olive oil cos it's all we had, and I think this made it denser and richer)

1 1/2c castor sugar

2 eggs

1c (280g) natural yoghurt

2c self-raising, gluten free flour, sifted (as I do with regular flour, I used plain GF flour with baking powder added - 2 tsp per cup of flour, and be sure to use a baking powder without gluten! I think the Ward one is fine, but Anchor is not)

1tbsp + 1tsp rosewater (I used rosewater essence. Add 1tbsp first and then add more to your taste)

1/2 tsp Xanthan gum

250g butter (room temperature)

500g pure icing sugar, sifted

3tbsp chopped pistachios

green food colouring

Preheat oven to 200oC. Put 18 cupcake wrappers out in cupcake/muffin tray. Beat oil, castor sugar and eggs in a bowl using an electric mixer until well combined.

Looks yum already, doesn't it! And I wasn't tempted to stick my finger in and eat the mixture as I usually am at this stage (maybe because it has oil and not butter. Nowhere near as fun!)

Add yoghurt, followed by flour (in several batches - mix xanthan gum and baking powder (if you're using it) into the flour first to distribute it more evenly) and then the rosewater.

Divide amongst cupcake wrappers (about 2 soup spoons' worth each will divide it amongst 18 wrappers).

Bake for five minutes at 200oC then turn it down to 180oC and bake for another ten to fifteen minutes or so before beginning to check. Cakes are done when a skewer comes out clean (moist crumbs is okay, wet batter is not). Cool.

The cupcakes will be quite flat because that's how GF baked goods tend to turn out (and also why you crank the oven for the first five minutes - apparently the heat gives it a boost and makes it rise faster in the beginning so that it doesn't fall as badly in the end).

Beat the butter with the sifted icing sugar until all nice and whipped and pretty. Meanwhile chop the pistachios to about this size, so that they don't come as a nasty surprise when someone bites into the cupcake:

Add the pistachios to the mix, then gloat over your new Americolor food colourings.

I ordered this student colour kit online from Baking Pleasures. I'm addicted to these sorts of stores. It's dangerous.

So many pretty colours! As I look at this lineup, I'm dreaming of making macarons in all the colours of the rainbow. I dream about such things at very odd moments. I may order more of their colours at a later date...

I ordered these because a) I'm doing a lot of baking in Melbourne now, and mum only has her old liquid colours, and b) because I heard that they were the amongst the best gel colours on the market, oh and c) I'm a grot, and the fact they come in a squeeze bottle and don't require you messing about scooping the gel out of a tub like you have to with the Wilton colours really appealed to me.

I still managed to get it on my hands, mind you, but it happened when I was pulling the seal off the bottle and not when I was using it. So there.

Anyway, add a drop or two to the icing and beat it in, then pipe the icing onto the cakes using a super-fat nozzle.

Et, voila! (<-- me pretending to speak French. I don't. Except for asking for chocolate bread or coffee or whether anyone speaks English. Yep, I'm one of those tourists. In France, at least)

They're quite sweet and quite rich (might be the frosting contributing to it, but the cake is pretty rich on its own) but if you're a fan of rose flavouring then give these a whirl. All guinea pigs so far have approved.