and looking back at 2012

2012 in review.

2012 has been good to me. I went on a few holidays, welcomed my second nephew into the world and passed the four year mark with my plus one. I also started blogging. Something I never really thought of doing before. Another big thing for me is starting my 30 before 30 quest. Which I am loving because it has allowed me to focus on some goals for the near future. Some are small and some are huge. I have only completed two. One being reading Pride and Prejudice. Which I loved and now have the complete set of Jane Austin (a Christmas present from the plus one). The second one was climbing Bluff Knoll. I hope to complete many more of these during the upcoming year. One in particular is the riding 100km in one day. So far I have reached 60km and we are planning to ride some more, increasing the distance everytime, and try the 100km when the weather is cooler, probably around March.

Meeting my new nephew for the first time.

Currently I am sitting at the computer looking through photos from a holiday I went on with my plus one, earlier in the year, to Sydney and Canberra. I am picking out the best to print out to go into a photo album. From that I will choose some of the best to go into a scrap book of my 20's as a part of another 30 before 30 goal. I had never been to Sydney before, although I ventured into New South Wales, to Deniliquin, in 2010 as a part of another holiday which included Adelaide, Victoria and Tasmania. We spent around 3 weeks driving in a big loop from Sydney, down to Woollongong, out to Canberra. We then traveled north to Cowra then to the beautiful Jenolan Caves where we stayed at the caves house. We then spent a couple of nights in the Blue Mountains in a holiday home at Blackheath. From here we traveled to the Central Coast then back to Sydney. Our first night back in Sydney we stayed at Taronga Zoo. This was my favourite experience on our holiday. Taronga Zoo has an over night stay called Roar and Snore. I will go into this more at another time. It deserves it's own post.

We wanted to go hang gliding when we were south of Sydney but for the the two days that we were in the area there wasn't enough wind to support us. Which we were told was very rare. So I popped hang gliding on the list.

Glebe in Sydney.

Jenolan Caves House NSW

Me in the Blue Mountains

Sydney from Fort Denison 

The other big holiday I went on this year was to Bali. It was my first time there and only my second time out of Australia. The holiday was for a friends wedding and although the holiday wasn't very long it was still very enjoyable.

Bali temple at a resort

Spa room in the resort

Me dressed up for the wedding

Relaxing on my last night in Bali

Starting tomorrow I will be commencing Project 365. 1 photo, everyday, for 365 days. I am really looking forward to this. It is also on my list of things to do before I turn 30. My weekday routine doesn't change much during the year so I will have to try to find different subject matter. I have a few friends also doing Project 365 including a friend who is doing her own 30 before 30.

Other things I am looking forward to next year include going to visit my best friend in Brisbane. She is about to move there and I hopefully will be able to go in the upcoming months. I have never been to Queensland before so it will be an exciting holiday.

My new years resolution will be to save more. I have a lot of expensive things planned for the upcoming years, so saving in the midst of this will be hard. But hopefully I will learn how to be more frugal and less impulsive with my money. Being impulsive with my cash is something I suffer greatly from.

Well I will see everyone in the new year. I hope everyone has a fantastic New Years and I ope the upcoming year brings many joys.

Love, love Elle.

and White Chocolate and Strawberry Cheesecake

and a day for boxing
Boxing Day Cheesecake

Well Christmas is all over. I still have the tree up and there is one lonely present under it still to be given. I am not sure of the custom. Am I supposed to take it down before New Years? It will defiantly come down sometimes this holidays.

The last Christmas event this holidays was on Boxing Day lunch at my plus one's parents house. Christmas is often very hot her in Perth. So a cold lunch is often preferred over a hot dinner. It was around 40C (104F) on Christmas day and a refreshing 37C (98F) on boxing day. I offered to bake the cheesecake for dessert and it turned out better then I had thought. I started it Christmas night when I was exhausted and my mind was struggling to work out even the simplest of equations. I struggled to work out how many cups of sour cream it needed. It should have been simple because the recipe told me. But it wasn't.

White Chocolate and Strawberry Cheesecake

Adapted from Better Homes and Gardens Christmas Cookbook 2012

Preparation time: 20 minutes plus 1 1/2 hours cooling and overnight chilling.

Cooking time: 1 3/4 hours (the oven is off for an hour of this)

Serves: 12

Ingredients for baked cheesecake

• Cooking oil spray, for greasing
• 450g cream cheese, at room temperature
• 200g caster sugar
• 3 tsp cornflour
• 3 eggs
• 2 Tbsp lemon juice, strained
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract/paste
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 3 cups sour cream
• 1/3 cup strawberry jam

Ingredients for topping

• 250g cream cheese, chopped, at room temperature
• 170g white chocolate, melted, cooled
• 120g unsalted butter, softened
• 3 tsp lemon juice
• cherries
• 200g white chocolate extra

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180C fan forced. Grease a 20cm spring form tin with cooking spray and line the base and sides with baking paper so it extends 3cm above the sides. Wrap base and sides of tin with alfoil to make it waterproof.
2. Put cream cheese in a bowl of an electric mixer and beat on low until almost smooth. Add sugar and increase the speed to medium-high and beat for 3 minutes or until smooth. Beat in cornflour. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition, scraping sides of bowl. Beat in juice, vanilla, salt and sour cream until just combined.
3. Pour 1/3 of the cream cheese mixture into the prepared tin. Top with 1/2 of the jam. Repeat layers, finishing with the cream cheese mixture. Run a skewer through the layers to swirl jam.
4. Put tin in a deep roasting pan. Pour enough hot water into pan to come up 2-3cm up the side of the tin. Bake for 45 minutes. Turn off the oven and leave the cheese cake in the oven, with the door ajar, to cool for an hour. This will help prevent cracking on the top of the cake. Put tin on a wire rack to cool completely. Remove paper and foil (remove from tin if required then return to tin). Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate, in tin, over night.
5. To make topping, put cream cheese in a bowl of an electric mixer and beat until smooth and creamy. Gradually beat in chocolate until smooth, then beat in butter and juice.
6. Put cake on a serving plate. Spread all over with topping and refrigerate until firm.
7. Melt extra white chocolate in a heat proof bowl, in a microwave or on a stove a top a sauce pan with enough water to sit below the bowl. When melted remove from heat and dip cherries in, allowing excess chocolate to drip off. Place on a baking paper lined cooking tray. Refrigerate.
8. Remove cake and cherries from refrigerator and decorate cake with cherries.

I had left over white chocolate from dipping the cherries so I poured it over a granite slab and placed it into the refrigerator to set. I then made little curls with a melon baller and covered the cake with them. It looked a little like snow and added to the Christmas feeling. If you don't add the 'snow' a good tip for making the cake look neat is to smooth the topping after it comes out of the refrigerator before you add the cherries. Not a fan of cherries? or are they in short supply? Any chocolate dipped fruit will do. Try strawberries to match the jam. Or change the jam to match the fruit! I am all for changing a cake to suit your own tastes.

The cake was ridiculously creamy and I am pretty sure everyone had at least seconds. It was sweet and refreshing on a hot Boxing day. This is definitely going on my 'to bake again' list.

Until next time.

Love, love Elle.

and Victoria Sponge Cakes

and cakes for Christening
Victoria Sponge Cakes

Adapted from BBCgoodfood

 Last Sunday I went to my first ever Christening. My cousins little boy was Christened in the morning and afterwards we went back to my nanna's house for our Christmas lunch/Christening lunch. My cousin asked me to bake two cakes for him. A vanilla sponge cake and a chocolate one. Earlier in the year I baked her wedding cake, so I decided to use the same sponge recipe again and find a chocolate version. But things weren't going to plan so I change both the recipes to a Victoria sponge recipe instead.

Vanilla Sponge

For the sponge

• 200g caster sugar
• 200g softened butter
• 4 eggs, beaten
• 200g self-raising flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 2 tbsp milk

For the filling

• 100g butter , softened
• 140g icing sugar , sifted
• drop vanilla extract/paste
• strawberry jam
• fresh strawberries
• icing sugar , to decorate

Method

1. Heat oven to 190C/fan 170C/gas 5. Spray 2 20cm cake tins with cooking oil spray and line with non-stick baking paper. 
2. In a large bowl, beat all the cake ingredients together until you have a smooth, soft batter.
3. Divide the mixture between the tins, smooth the surface with a spatula or the back of a spoon, then bake for about 20 mins until golden and the cake springs back when pressed. 
4. Turn onto a cooling rack and leave to cool completely.
5. To make the filling, beat the butter until smooth and creamy, then gradually beat in icing sugar. 
6. Beat in vanilla extract/paste. 
7. Spread the jam on the top of the bottom cake layer and the bottom of the top cake layer. 
8. Spread the butter cream over the jam of the bottom cake layer and arrange the fresh cut strawberries on top and sandwich the second sponge on top. 
9. Dust with a little icing sugar before serving. 

Keep in an airtight container and eat within 2 days.

Chocolate Sponge

For the sponge

• 200g caster sugar
• 200g softened butter
• 4 eggs, beaten
• 200g self-raising flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 2 tbsp + 1 tsp milk
• 1 1/2 tbsp cocoa

For the filling

• 100g butter , softened
• 140g icing sugar , sifted
• 3-4 tbsp chocolate sauce + extra
• strawberry jam
• fresh strawberries
• icing sugar , to decorate

Method

1. Heat oven to 190C/fan 170C/gas 5. Spray 2 20cm cake tins with cooking oil spray and line with non-stick baking paper. 
2. In a large bowl, beat all the cake ingredients together until you have a smooth, soft batter.
3. Divide the mixture between the tins, smooth the surface with a spatula or the back of a spoon, then bake for about 20 mins until golden and the cake springs back when pressed. 
4. Turn onto a cooling rack and leave to cool completely.
5. To make the filling, beat the butter until smooth and creamy, then gradually beat in icing sugar. 
6. Beat in 3-4 tbsp of chocolate sauce (to taste). 
7. Spread the jam on the top of the bottom cake layer and the extra chocolate sauce on the bottom of the top cake layer. 
8. Spread the butter cream over the jam of the bottom cake layer and arrange the fresh cut strawberries on top and sandwich the second sponge on top. 
9. Dust with a little icing sugar before serving. 

Keep in an airtight container and eat within 2 days.

I cut out the enitials of his name and dusted the icing sugar around them.

Both cakes turned out great and the butter cream was not over powering or too sweet. I am definitely becoming a fan of vanilla paste over vanilla extract and that's what I used in this recipe. I love seeing the little seeds in the mixture. For the chocolate sauce I went to the ice cream topping section of the super market. I added the chocolate sauce to the cream bit by bit and tasted it as I went. Depending on how strong your sauce is and how chocolaty you want the cream add more if desired. My cousin wanted fresh strawberries not jam in the center so I altered the recipes to suit. I used a little jam to give an extra flavour kick.

Until next time.

Love, love Elle.

and a tree of glass

Christmas Tree

I have had my tree up for a while, but I am only now getting a chance to blog about it. Last year was the first year that I put up my own Christmas Tree. I would have loved to have one before this but some of my previous housemates had cats, and I was too afraid that they would destroy my tree. It wouldn't have been too much of an issue if I used plastic decorations but I wanted glass, so I waited until the house was cat free. I chose a smaller tree because I have a small house and I have it placed on my dining table. This shows that I don't use my dining table for what it is intended for very often.

Christmas tree

The angel 

Little dove inside the bauble

Royal Doulton Heart

Lights on

Presents under the tree

As you can see it is pretty hard to photograph glass objects. I don't know my way around my DSLR enough to work with focus. I also haven't found a tree topper I like yet. I'd like to find something simple and modern. A lot of what I have come across is covered in glitter, which just isn't me. I'd love to have two trees, or even two sets of decorations for the one tree. Then I could have either a modern tree with lots of metal and glass, and a handmade tree with a Scandinavian feel.

Maybe one day.

I hope everyone else's tree is trim and pretty.

Until next time.
Love, love Elle.

and a wreath of leftovers

Homemade Wreath

I have decided to be more of a crafty person. I have been slowly experimenting and trying out new things. We are decorating our office space for an inter office Christmas decoration competition and after seeing lots of homemade wreaths, I thought that I would give it a go!

I started by printing a doughnut shape on some white paper in a pale red colour and then glued this to some cardboard and cut the doughnut shape out.

Doughnut

I dug out my old wrapping paper and some off cuts I wouldn't use again. I then cut long strips of paper at different widths, between around 4cm and 7cm.

I then folded them back and forth over themselves to create a concertina.

Start folding

Tape together

I then taped it closed around the middle and then folded it over and glued it to form a fan.

Fan

I then glued each one down so that the patterned side of the paper was at the top.

First one down

I continued on until the whole wreath was covered then attached the wreath to the door in my office.
You could attach ribbon to the back so that it hung from a hook.

 

Finished wreath

I then forgot to take a photo of it in place. People with more talent then me at craft may wish to create a pattern or at least have a colour theme. I think this is a good start for me. Hopefully next year I will be creating more Christmas decorations for my house and my office.
If anyone else has some simple Christmas craft ideas I may like, please let me know.

Until next time.
Love, love Elle.

and 4 years

The Deco

Friday was my 4 year anniversary with my plus one. So I decided to choose a nice restaurant with a great view. The menu is also important to me, since I am quite picky.

The Deco Restaurant is located on the top floor of the Raffles Hotel in Applecross. The Raffles used to be called 'The Canning Bridge Hotel' and was a single story hotel built around 1896. In 1937 it was remodeled into the present day Art Deco design and the second story was added and the named change to that of the popular Raffles Hotel in Singapore.

Outside

Inside

Our table was booked for eight, which is normally is later then I prefer, but they were all booked up before hand. We arrived on time but had to wait for a few minutes while they got our table ready. The place was packed, and after speaking to one of the waiters, we found out it was their busiest night that year. Which isn't the best for a romantic dinner. But although the place was full, we could both hear each other without raising our voice. We landed a table by the window and the view was great.

Our View

We started with a cocktail each and then we ordered our mains, sides and starters. I chose the Lemon and mustard tossed green leaves with fried Haloumi and the plus one chose two oysters, a grilled oyster with lemongrass, creme fraiche and lime and a vanilla infused vodka and lime shooter. The haloumi salad was incredible. I absolutely love haloumi. It is up with brie and camembert as my favourite cheeses. I often have salads with haloumi when I go out and mostly it is cooked correctly, but on occasion it isn't cooked enough or is cooked too much. Haloumi is about the flavour and the texture and The Deco got it right. It was soft, salty and a little bit squeaky. Perfect! My plus one like both his oysters but by his face and reaction I think he preferred the grilled one with lemongrass.

Our first set of cocktails.

My salad

Oyster shooter

After the starters we ordered another set of cocktails and waited for our mains to arrive. The waiter had told us that the kitchen was quite busy and our mains would take a while. We didn't mind the wait. The starters had kept us going and we were enjoying our cocktails, each other and the view. Downstairs from the restaurant is a lounge bar and the music traveled into the restaurant. But it became background music and I watched some of the people below dancing to Grease Lightning.

I ordered the Suckling pig three ways with dates, fennel, ginger puree and Asian Jus. The plus one chose the Tasmania’s King Island beef, 100% grass fed free range, aged 30 days 250g fillet cooked to medium with a Bearnaise sauce. I don't like to eat meat which isn't well done or at least until no pink meat is left, but some of my pig came out medium and I tried some of the medium beef. I am not too sure what 3 ways the pig was cooked but I recognised pork belly, which happens to be my favourite and the dates went perfectly with it. I tried the outside edge of the steak covered in sauce and it too was delicious. Although I could not eat a whole steak cooked that way. I chose the Moroccan Spiced Roasted Pumpkin, pepitas, natural yogurt and coriander for my side and my plus one teamed his steak with some rosemary salted hand cut chips with aioli sauce as his side. The pumpkins were yum but could have done with being cooked more so they started to caramelise. The hand cut chips were also delicious but by the end the ailoi was getting quite heavy to eat.

Our second set of cocktails.

Suckling pig

Pumpkin side

Me with my dinner in my new 'Moments to Remember' dress from Modcloth. 

The name of which went perfectly with the night.

Chips

Steak

After dinner we ordered a third and final round of cocktails and ordered desert. Our waiter was great fun and was very passionate about his food. He recommended for me, after asking if anyone at the table liked chocolate, the warm Belgian chocolate fondant, white chocolate sauce and macadamia ice cream. Although  as you will see from the photo below it was milk chocolate sauce inside my dessert not white chocolate. Also from the waiters explanation of it he also said milk chocolate, so I believe that they have updated their dessert but not the menu. The plus one had the warm maple tart with pecan toffee ice cream. The Fondant was delicious. It was not sickly or bitter and the ice cream accompanied it perfectly. It was light and refreshing. I tried some of the tart and ice cream and it was sweet and delicious and the ice cream, I think, was even better than mine.

Cocktails!

Belgian Fondant

Maple Tart

So gooey!

I then finished with a pot of tea and then after paying we went for a quick walk along the boardwalk around the hotel to let our stomachs settle before we jumped into a taxi home. I recommend The Deco restaurant, especially for special occasions. It has a great view and the price and quality were great. The art deco era is in fashion at the moment and the hotel is dotted with little architectural features as well as decor to suit.

Until next time.
Love, love Elle.