D190-200! Persistence and indulgence

Two hundred?! I thought I'd be doing something special for this little milestone. But no, we're just chugging away at the moment.  Anyway...

Last weekend I had some much loved friends from my teaching degree visit for dinner and some telly.  For quite some time now (4 years?) we've been meeting at my place every few months and catching up on episodes of Supernatural.  It's marvellous, indulgent, cheesy and so good for the soul.  This time was our first evening catch up.  Previously, they've been during the school holidays, but Bub can no longer tolerate such a long time of me being so distracted and her nap doesn't occupy her enough.  We managed to organise delivered Thai and bringing a dessert each.  Genius.  Supernatural evenings may become more common :D

Next to the ice-cream and the apple & rhubarb and apple & apricot crumbles (yum!) was my bread pudding.  If you happen to be on Pinterest, and you happen to follow my board for food, you may have seen my pin for this recipe.  It is a beautful looking website and the photos are gorgeous, but there're lots of them and they're huge.  I found it very frustrating to have to wait for the photos to load; every time I'd scroll down to get the recipe a few more pics would load and it would shuffle down again!  I'm copying the recipe here, exactly as it appears, to save you small-device grief while you cook.

It went really well, although I used some surplus wholemeal bread and my new cinnamon is Dutch Cinnamon, which has a subtly different flavour to regular cinnamon.  I'm not sure I won't replace it soon and keep the Dutch stuff for beverages, or something, or find specific recipes for it.

Ugly, messy and yum

I also managed to make the butterscotch sauce, which I've never attempted before.  I'm very happy with it!

All my other days have been spent keeping on with my secret project, less the two I used for completing my tax return. (Ugh. I seriously considered subtracting creative days from my count, it was that uncreative.)   The project is going well, about 40% done if I do all I hope to do.  More like 60% if I skip a step.  It's not exactly as I'd like but I'm not sure it could really have been any different, all things considered.  I hope the recipient likes it anyway.

Today I'm doing the bread pudding again, but using left over crusts and a layer of maple syrup on the bottom with sultanas mixed throughout.  It probably doesn't need the syrup on the bottom as well as the butterscotch sauce, but when has less been more with desserts like these?!

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"Recipe: Classic Bread Pudding with Vanilla Sauce
Ingredients: 
4 Cups Dried White Bread (I used a french loaf, crust removed and cut into cubes)
2 Eggs, Slightly Beaten
2 Cups Milk
1/4 Cup Butter, Melted
1/2 Cup Sugar
1 Teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
1/2 Teaspoon Ground Nutmeg
1 Teaspoon Vanilla
Vanilla Sauce:
1 Stick Butter
1/2 Cup Sugar
1/2 Cup Packed Brown Sugar
1/2 Cup Whipping Cream
1 Tablespoon Vanilla
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 Degrees.
Bread should be stale. Either cut into cubes and let sit out overnight or preheat oven to 300 degrees and place cubed bread into oven for about 15 minutes or until they feel stale to touch.
Grease a 1 1/2 quart casserole, or 9×13 pan and set aside.
In a bowl, combine eggs, milk, melted butter, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and vanilla.
Pour mixture over bread cubes and let sit about 5 minutes. Pour into greased pan and bake, uncovered for 50-55 minutes or until puffed and browned on top.
Remove from oven and serve warm with vanilla ice cream and sauce.
Sauce Directions: 
Combine all sauce ingredients except vanilla in a small saucepan. Heat until melted and begins to boil. Once it comes to a rolling boil, remove from heat and add vanilla. Mixture will bubble up, this is normal. Stir in vanilla and let cool. Pour over ice cream and bread pudding and serve. Store in a jar for up to 2 weeks and use as a topping on all your favorite desserts!
Recipe adapted from Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook."
from http://mikeysinmykitchen.com/2013/03/22/classic-bread-pudding-with-vanilla-sauce/ by Bee of Mikey's In My Kitchen

D103: Mug'goodness!

Tonight I tried this recipe - Five Minute Chocolate Mug Cake -  from Not Quite Nigella.   Please don't think of my pictures when you see her photography. [*cringe*]

Oh so rich and steamy... mmmm.

True to the recipe, we had a good amount of goo in the bottom, which Hub was delighted about but it reminded me of uncooked batter too much.  I did ours on medium for 1min, 30sec and 30sec.  I donated mine to him in defence of a possible sore tummy! (He scoffed it down, licked his lips and said "Yeah, that's prolly gunna give me a tummy ache.")

Ours ended up a little different in the end, and I'm not sure why.  Dividing the dry ingredients between two mugs was easy, but they were different by the time I'd added the milk and butter, and then I'm not sure the egg was divided evenly.  The flavours were comparable though, which is the most important thing.

My changes included replacing the oil with 60g melted butter and using broken choc melts.

I highly recommend it for a quick dessert. :)

Day 17: Give me some Base!

Buoyed by my completion of the protein strands, I began the base pairs today.

I used 4ply for this project because that's what I had, and using a baby yarn (Shepherd Baby Wool Merino) seemed pretty appropriate for a toy. I didn't double it to make 8ply as the pattern required because gauge was unimportant.

However, now I kinda wish I'd used 8ply because these base pairs are really fiddly! Only 9 stitches to work in the round makes it so easy to fumble at the start. Only now, at row 5, am I sure I haven't twisted the work. It's very hard to get started on them. There'll be three in pink/green and three in blue/orange. Part of me wishes they were stronger colours, but I suspect it will all look better once put together.

In other creations, I made a self-saucing chocolate pudding for supper. It's from the marvellous Cookery the Australian Way. I love the mild and fluffy cake part and the rich sauce. Lots of puddings are rich all over, but this one is lighter, with a lovely chocolate flavour that doesn't overwhelm you. It's not a new recipe for me, but I reckon it counts. My sister is coming to collect her daughter / our guest and will be here for dinner tomorrow night. What's left is what I'd call enough for me... Awkward.

Maybe I'll make something more...