20/20 Hindsight

When the cake pops book came into work I promised a friend at work that I'd make some to share when I got the book - but I'm still the third person down the reserve list, and it's her last day working with us tomorrow. So I found a recipe on this site and made them anyway. In three colours! Most of them worked - you can see one of the two notable failures in this photo... but all said I'm pretty pleased with the end result! I might have to try some fancier ones someday :)

I made cookies! They are delicious.

Also, today I got onto google+ and am thus far really liking the system. It has the potential for me to amalgamate my various sites - facebook, twitter, livejournal, photobucket etc etc. into one location due to the versatility and ease of sending messages to different groups of people. I'm not going to do that just now, but if things continue well it might well be an option in future. It'd be nice to monitor one place instead of half a dozen. It's a sleek and simple design (to be expected from google) and generally more user friendly and less irritating. (And no need to block random app invites!)

For now, if you want to find me on google+, https://plus.google.com/u/0/106765038422602519112/posts

If you want an invite, send me your email address. Preferably gmail address. I should be able to get you one. My gmail address starts as confusedcious , and you should be able to work the rest out if you need to ;)

Lots of baking tonight - buttermilk carrot cake and viennese biscuits, one tray of biscuits out of the shot too... now I really must sleep.

Tomorrow is day 365 O.O

Delicious gluten free brownies, slightly out of focus and still too warm to take out of the tray. They smell amazing, and with luck and the extra chocolate I put in, they will be.

If you want some then they'll be at the Australia's Biggest Morning Tea event at the Parks Library - Council Office in the Parks Community Centre at 11amish tomorrow, 27th May 2011, 10:15 if you want to catch preschool storytime. Come along, bring a donation for cancer research, and have some fun AND delicious brownies. Parks Community Centre is on Cowan Street in Angle Park. Loads of carparking, the library's near the middle of the centre.

Making jam-like things is really sticky... but at the end of it I have eleven jars of quince jelly. Sticky stuff ended up everywhere despite attempts to contain it. The worst of it was when a rubber band broke while I was sealing a jar - my hand suddenly had no resistance, and I knocked another jar over and lost most of the steaming hot contents across the bench, down the front of the dishwasher and onto the floor. In my defence, I've never done anything like this before! I've helped preserve fruit but that's a different process altogether.

It's ended up tasting really good and tomorrow I'll know for sure how well it's set. It took longer than I thought and boiled down from six to four litres (or thereabouts). Ultimately I should have taken it off the heat about one minute earlier. All of a sudden, after two and a half hours of being a honeyish orange it went dark. It still tastes good, nothing's burnt, but it's not quite the colour it should be. I'll still put it down as a victory though - for a first time I made something jammy and edible without exploding the kitchen. Next time I'll let myself be fussier.

So tomorrow I think it'll be this with bread and cream for dessert. Mmm...

P.S. When seeking suitably sized jars I found several long-forgotten jars of home made chutney in a cupboard. It's positively ancient, perfectly preserved, and powerfully delicious.

Tonight the Festival Theatre went green for Wicked! The production had some subtle differences from the show I saw in London - a bit more dialogue, I'm sure, and I'm convinced the ending was given more explanation. Not better or worse - just a little different. The cast were very good, particularly Elphaba (Jemma Rix). And I was surprised by how well Bert Newton could sing and dance. Who'd a thunk it?

We took Grandma for her birthday. She really enjoyed it too, and afterwards we went back to her place and had cake. It was all very nice. And now while I do this I'm listening to the soundtrack.

When we got home the house smelt wonderfully fruity. I've been stewing/poaching quinces today to make quince jelly and quince paste. I've got both slow cookers running to handle the volume (eight quinces and almost three litres of sugar syrup and a couple lemons worth of juice). I tried to fit it in one but it just wasn't working. Just short of six quinces I had to concede it wouldn't fit. The second slow cooker with less in it has finished cooking and looks and smells great. The second batch are quite pink but haven't got to the deep red they need to yet so that's being left on overnight. I'd hoped to drain them overnight to separate fruit from juice so I could get cooking again tomorrow. I'm not sure if the finishing processes will blow out to Sunday or even Monday. The quince paste in particular needs some four or more hours of work yet, and I'm working Sunday... but Monday is my regular day off so I'll have plenty time then if need be, and the quince will keep well for that long if necessary.

Now that I've written a small essay on musicals and quinces, it's time to get to bed.

Here I give you the winning Grand Final team... we did it! Everyone in the photo above (including injured players/scorers) are certifiably awesome. Next season we're rising from F grade to D grade... it'll be a challenge!

Also, today I baked cookies. Lemon Butter cookies I joined together with lemon icing melting moments style. Between work, friends and home they've all gone. I suspect they may have been considered a success.

And at work I did just under half of my shift before a call from another site which was low on staff meant that I did one shift in two places...

This delicious dessert was made by Mum. Raspberry Jelly (not out of a box) with almond cream. Many thanks go to her for this!

The first day back at work was a bit hectic, particularly at my first shift but I enjoyed it still - I do maintain that I prefer to be busy!

Also, we played a game of 500 after dinner. We didn't actually go all the way to 500 due to tiredness, but cutthroat 500 is always fun even if it's only a few hands. That today, Cribbage yesterday... this is a trend I could really get to like!

Fresh out of the oven and still hot as I type.

Apples and Brandy are involved.

And it and a pot of cream will be joining me when I go to a BBQ tomorrow.

The photo that I didn't upload yesterday... more onde onde, four flavours this time. Pink is azuki bean paste, black is black sesame. Very pleased with the outcome. Took them to movie night... also tried some thismorning that had been refridgerated overnight.... definitely better fresh.