With the weekend dangling in front of my nose, here are my three thinks for today:
Cooking vs Baking - I don't enjoy cooking all that much. Now, before you start arguing with me, let me explain where I'm coming from: I used to be a disaster in the kitchen when I was still at school. I frequently set the oven on fire, stuff tended to explode in the microwave when I used it, and I once used chicken seasoning instead of bread crumbs over a pie (it was an honest mistake!). I'm much better at cooking now, but I still break out in a light sweat when I need to take something out of the oven and I absolutely refuse to touch raw meat.
Now, on the other side of the scale, I am completely in love with the art of baking. I can spend hours on end choosing the perfect confectionary to suit my mood, rolling out cookies and lovingly mixing a butter icing. There is something soothing about it. And the smells! You can't beat it. I love strolling up and down in the baking aisle at the supermarket, admiring the new blenders and the cute cookie cutters. It takes me ages to choose decorations and I'm always trying to find a new edge to an old recipe.
My favourite recipe of all time, though, is my mom's secret ingredient chocolate cake. It also goes much further than secret ingredients: you have to mix this thing with that one first, then sift this three times and that only twice, fold only a little bit now and the rest later... Baking that cake takes an entire day, but the result is worth it. The cake is moist and very dark. Best part is taking the first bite after letting it rest overnight - you can feel the sugar running up and down your arteries! Yay!
Recently, though, I've started to push myself. I'm trying to bake things that have always sounded impossible to me. This started about a year ago when Masterchef Australia was airing. The cakes those people knocked out were just mindboggling. The best of these: Adriano (freakin) Zumbo's V8 Cake. That is my goal. If I can bake that cake, successfully, I would be forever content. I'll not say anything more. Go check out the recipe below. If you manage to make this without a hitch, please let me know!
Adriano Zumbo V8 Cake
Dust - Where in the world does it come from?! I need to dust about four times a week to keep up with the wretched stuff. Does it run in when I turn my back, laughing to itself? Does it have a tiny commander who shouts instructions as it double marches through the sliding door? "Brown Dust - kitchen! Black Dust - bathroom! Red Dust - bookcase! Go go go!" One day, I hope to destroy this enemy for good. Until then - this means war.
Direwolves - For our first wedding anniversary, my husband gave me the entire Song of Ice and Fire series of books from George R.R. Martin. Wow. I am so hooked. I read on whenever I get the slightest chance, like the 4 minutes (exactly) in the morning when The Man is in the shower. The way that Martin reveals only small parts of the story at a time makes you run through those books like wildfire (for those who are reading it, excuse the pun). His style is such an inspiration to me, while I am writing my own fantasy series. Whenever I put one of his books down, I find myself with new ideas. I really hope my books can do the same for someone else one day, even if it only touches a single person out there. Only bad thing about reading this series: I now want a direwolf as a pet.
Great. Now all this talk about cake has gotten me hungry. Maybe I'll build up the courage and bake that V8 this weekend. I'll just get hubby to take it out of the oven.
PS I noticed that a big part of my audience is situated in the UK. I'm told it's because I have a slightly British sense of humour - don't know how true this is. Anyway, thanks for reading my blog! Maybe I'll get to know some of you.
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