The Perfect Crime

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Believe it or not, avocado is one of Layne's favourite foods

It is the perfect crime. Chocolate cupcakes that have two vegetables cleverly concealed within: avocado and the oft-reviled cauliflower.

I have written about my love of the Deceptively Delicious philosophy and recipes previously. Actually, I’m a raving fan and should be getting a commission on those books!

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Let them eat cake

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(The then) Miss2 checking out potential birthday cakes

I wrote in my bio that my family doesn’t have any food traditions, but my very young blog is already showing me that we do. Nice!

One of these is I think a very common one in Australia. And that is the Australian Women’s Weekly Birthday Cake Book. I remember looking at this book year-round and agonising over which cake I would have for my next birthday. I’ll have to go through my childhood pics at Mum and Dads and work out what I had. I do recall the piano, the maypole and the blackboard. My soccer mad brother had the soccer field and my sister had the swimming pool several years in a row. My husband’s family had the same book (not surprising, the book has sold half a million copies), and he had the fort multiple times. Apparently we aren’t the only ones: there’s a Facebook group.

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Best. Ingredient. Ever.

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More passive than passive?

Can you get more passive than passive? Obviously I can!

It’s been 11 months (close enough to round up to a year) since last posted. Why? Well, for one thing, I originally started this blog in hope that it might get my PhD writing juices going. It didn’t, but I’m pleased to say that I attended a wonderful workshop that did. So things were going well. I was cooking, doing a bit of blogging and making some genuine progress on my thesis.

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Hugh’s Pear & Almond Cake

I’ve got a bit of a crush on Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall.  His River Cottage series’ are just divine. Uplifting.

But the food always seems a bit hard. Even some of the  ingredients that aren’t gathered from a hedgerow are a  bit hard to obtain in regional Australia. Continue reading

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Two Dads’ Chilli Mud Crab

Both my Dad and my Dad-In-Law love Chilli Mud Crab.

The recipes (and their origin) are quite different.

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Going all the way with Bread

I have made this basic bread recipe a few times before, but I can’t remember ever having gone all the way.
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Eating, drinking and being merry

I am trying to do two things this year. Well, that is apart from submitting my PhD thesis on sport event legacies, doing some great new consulting projects in sport management and being a Mum.

One is that I want to cook more. I didn’t cook much at all last year. This is mostly because we moved into a role in boarding at my husband’s school.

This meant we could eat meals in the dining hall. With a small bub and no shortage of things to do, this was great. The food is good, it saves us some money and it a great social event each night for our daughter (and the boarders who love their ‘little sister’).

But I love cooking. And I own shelves of cookbooks and 10 years worth of Gourmet Traveller magazines. But I realised that unless I actually cook from these (sadly I have read them all), they are really just fiction. I sadly am also a cooking show tragic.

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Chicken Tikka Masala

The week before last I made a Chicken Tikka Masala. I love Indian and we eat it all the time, but I don’t cook it at home all that often – it just seems easier to buy. I picked a random cookbook off the overburdened shelf. It was Jamies Dinners. It might not have been completely random. I follow Jamie Oliver on Twitter, and I must admit that I couldn’t recall cooking anything from this book. Ever. Continue reading
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Asparagus and Potato Tart

This week I was watching Jamie [Oliver] at Home, and saw him make this tart. I love asparagus, so I thought I would give it a go.

I have only used Filo pastry for Spinach and Feta pies before, so this was new. I am more of a puff pastry girl. But this endeavour is about getting me out my cooking rut, so it’s all good.

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