One does Nigella

One's love affair with Nigella (one sided though it is) is well known.

Today one undertook a rather complex baking process to make this little number from Nigella's Forever Summer.

Now why this cake is a slightly sad story that began which such high expectations and ended with rancid meat...

Muz & Em were coming for lunch and one was determined to bring out the Le Creuset for its debut, Juniper berries were found, a couple of kilos of beef cheeks were purchased, and a menu was planned. That is planned until the beef cheeks came out to be prepared and marinaded, the first packet smelled a little funny, although they had been vacuum packed so it was possible this was just due to the vacuum process. Packet 2 smelled fine, but Packet 3 was RANCID. So much deflated, it was time to go back to the drawing board and that is when a rare fillet of beef was decided upon and a nice, light spring dessert in order.

SO out came the Kenwood to help some Tupperware and Nigella bowls and some inherited sponge cake tins. One had never made a meringue before, neither had one made a sponge. Both were in the realm of old-school baking that one hadn't attempted to conquer. So why not throw them into one delicious dessert of a Sunday?!












Now one doesn't claim to be an expert in meringue, but seriously, are these not perfectly formed peaks?
















and VOILA, here it is!!




and yes it was DELICIOUS

The List

One has been renovating for some time now and there are now really no 'big ticket' items to finish off. Now one knows one's limitations and one of these is the loss of inclination to finish things off when one can comfortably live around the little tasks...

Also knowing oneself, one is creating a list so that there is a sense of achievement when the list is finished. One estimates that it will take about 3 months to finish all the items on the list, so all going well, aflatofonesown will be complete by the end of 2009.

And here starteth the list:
1. paint doors;
2. paint skirting boards;
3. paint the patched kitchen wall;
4. lay floorboards in the dining room;
5. order blinds for the living and dining rooms;
6. unpack the last of the boxes.

Spag Bol

One has decided to attempt to play with some classics in an attempt to increase the nutritional value of some fav classics. The first to get said treatment is Spaghetti Bolognaise.

Tonight one has made a big pot of spag bol and instead of one's traditional recipe which involves just onion, garlic, tomato, mince and some stock one has increased the vege content to include carrot, broccoli and capsicum.

It smells delish and looks pretty good, one will be reporting back on the flavour tomorrow night!

Things one does not endorse

While there are many things one loves, there are also, quite understandably, things one cannot endorse for the simple reason that they are ugly. Its scary enough when there is an obviously not mass produced item that one dislikes, however when it becomes apparent that a new so called fashion trend.

This is how one ended up on the bus staring at this little plastic hair clip. Now one must admit that this is not a cheap little plastic hair clip, actually its from Mimco, who ordinarily produce very nice handbags and leather goods for the ladies.

This little plastic hair clip offends one for the following reasons:
1. it has purple bits;
2. it has sparkly bits;
3. it is a plastic hair clip.

Asparagus!

Yesterday one had a special delivery all the way from Torbay of the most deliciously fresh Asparagus. There was probably about 5 kilos so one of course took a fair load of it to work to be distributed to the A team.

Of course one kept a good stash for oneself. The big question is what to do with it.

So far one has enjoyed asparagus fresh, in a salad, blanched and sprinkled with lemon juice and parme, roasted (with a chicken kiev) nom nom nom!!

There's roughly 750 grams left and one thinks a batch of soup could be on the cards. Although the thought of wrapping it in prosciutto and grilling it is also tres tempting!!

But one is putting it out to the readership for some suggestions for this lovely bunch of asparagus

Nothing says love like...

This past weekend one attended a country wedding, not to be confused with A Country Practice, the long running country-medico-soap that aired on Aussie TV for many years, but A Country Wedding in Brookton.

Now there are many things to be excited about at a wedding, the love, the dress, the happiness and of course the food. Now this wedding had not just the love, the dress, the happiness and the celebration, but it had not one, not two but three spits!

One loves a spit roast of beef, or even pork if its been done well. But this wedding had beef, pork and lamb - something for everyone indeed. Check out this, nothing says love like a whole animal on the spit.


Mmmmm YUM! Now that I have dished on the delicious meat, I can continue to blog.

So being the country wedding, the ceremony and reception were held at the Bride's family home which quite frankly ticked all the boxes - long winding drive way, some sheep in the paddocks, fields of flowering canola contrasted against fields of lupins, white picket fence around the farmhouse, big wide veranda - check check check.

Importantly, the dress code was cocktail, so there were many fab cocktail frocks and killer heels. One is always worried for the ladies when at a function involving booze, lawn and killer heels. But fear no more for check out these babies:

Gone are the days of collecting bottle caps to fasten to the ladies' heels, hello Heel Stoppers! They come in black and clear and as modelled here by Megs - the clear ones even have a little sparkle to them.

These must be one of the most needed inventions for ladies of our time. While one was skeptical to begin with, the Heel Stoppers survived the test of time and the test of the boogie well into the early hours of the morning and at $10.95, one thinks they're a bargain!