Just a little something I whipped up

Yay for weekends, they generally don't disappoint. Mine started off very nicely catching up with a friend, eating delicious falafel at a new middle eastern restaurant near my apartment and then heading up to the Mile End to be introduced to a bar I hadn't been to before. It was great, really nice decor, excellent music, and we got there just at the right time, getting a table before the hordes descended. I am in love with the service you get here. Generally bars have table service (and they come often to make sure you have enough to drink/have a clean table etc) and they seem to just trust that you'll pay up before you leave.

I wanted a white wine so I asked the barman for a dry white and he suggested a Riesling. I wasn't so sure about this, and I voiced as much, so he said something to me that I didn't quite catch before walking off. My friend didn't catch what he said either, so I just assumed that I'd pissed him off or something. But no, he returned seconds later with three bottles of wine and three glasses to let me taste the white wines they had on offer! Can you imagine this happening in a pub in Perth? I ended up choosing the Australian wine strangely enough, my palate must be biased.

The place soon became packed with people, quite a few interesting looking one that kept us entertained. One guy in particular kept grabbing my attention because he was the spitting image of the driving instructor in Happy Go Lucky, though fortunately did not seem to have his personality.

Saturday was spent in more domestic pursuits, baking for the big birthday party on Sunday. I think I ended up spending 8 hours or so pottering around in the kitchen, more time than really necessary due to the fact that I hadn't baked in my kitchen or using my oven before, plus was using new cake recipes. A recipe for disaster perhaps? Ho ho. The first new cake recipe I used was really not up to scratch and I was unhappy with the results so I busted out another using a different recipe which turned out beautifully! Unfortunately this recipe produced so much batter that I had to make it in a big soup pot as my kitchen is somewhat bowl deficient. The upside of the amount of batter meant that there was enough left over for muffins, much to the joy of my housemate.

The result of Saturday was therefore 3 cakes (one subpar and not to be used), 9 chocolate muffins with Oh Henry!s hidden in the middle (they are kind of like Picnics), 9 vanilla muffins with M&Ms and chocolate covered sultanas hidden in the middle with cinnamon icing, and 15 M&Ms mini vanilla muffins.


And here's a bonus shot of the rainbow mix in the tin because it seems to interest people!


The fun bit came the next day when I got to assemble and decorate the cake. Doing this at my place and then carrying it to party central seemed fraught with danger so I took all the bits and pieces with me to their place and did it there. Walking through the city with a big bag of groceries over each shoulder, bags of cake in each hand and three containers of muffins was a little tiring but given the amount of tasting I did the previous night it was probably for the best.

Here is part of the assembly:


and then I started to stress out a bit because I didn't think I'd get it done in time so I stopped taking photos. So, here's the finished product:


and the most exciting part, revealing the inner secrets:


I had a great time at the party, and got to meet quite a number of Karyne's family, who were all lovely people, and who have insisted that I spend Christmas with them. I think that a good old Aussie trifle will have to be made for the occasion. Mmmm jelly.

Myriam also seemed to enjoy herself which is the main thing, and of course by the end of the day had an impressive pile of gifts. Her favourite seems to be one of those tablet things that you draw on with a stylus and then can erase by sliding the knob across. Like an etch-a-sketch but with a stylus. She might graduate to the etch-a-sketch by next birthday.

(Kelly, don't read this next bit)
In other non-cake news, I seem to have bought tickets to see Madonna tomorrow night!!! So exciting. I've had Madonna songs in my head all week as I've been trawling ebay and craigslist for tickets. I am a walking Madonna megamix at the moment. I can only hope she doesn't let the whole impending divorce thing get in the way, but she doesn't seem like the kind of person to let a little thing like a personal life to get in the way of business.

'tis getting colder still here, and my super-dodgy forecastfox is telling me that tomorrow will bring "a morning rain or snow shower". Perhaps Madonna will bring snow with her, like it is snowing in her heart right now...