“When the dog swims”…

I’ve had a minor writers block and a serious lack of time to write. Today, while out walking, I was listing in my head, a few of my favourite things. So then

Marvellous Mother’s Day

I’m a smidgeon late posting and reflecting on my first Mother’s Day as a grandmother.

Whole Hearted

The concept for this blog post came from three random “encounters” so I feel the need to give the backgrounds to lay the ground work. 

Piecaken

I had a request from my son for a special birthday cake. I was so pumped it wasn’t an angel food cake (see previous posts about how much I dislike making, icing and eating this “cake”) that I instantly said yes to the challenge.

He wanted a piecaken. Never heard of it?  You know the turkey stuffed with the duck stuffed with the chicken. I think it was created by the same crazy person who invented turducken. It could also have been invented by someone who just couldn’t decide if pie or cake was their favourite for dessert. Obviously we live in a world of over indulgence.

So the flavours chosen were raspberry and chocolate. Works for me as I have lots of garden raspberries and make a killer chocolate cake. I did do a little bit of internet research about creating one of these. Retrospectively not enough! 

We made a small pie it had to fit into the 9″ springform with space along the sides. It cooked up well and the parchment paper meant it was going to slide into the cake easily.

Chocolate cake is like one on my signature dishes. So the next part of making the cake is easy. Until you get to the part where you marry them together. There are no photos of the actual process because all hands were kind of busy.

So that was the tough part right? Now to pop it in the oven, pull it out and ice it. Or so it seemed. But if you have ever cooked a cake you know it can be tricky to get it cooked perfectly. If you over bake it then it’s dry, too little and it will fall and be gooey. So I checked it several times in assorted places. All seemed to be cooked so I left it too cool in the oven. The hash tag on Instagram was #whatcouldgowrong. Ah yes well…

It was interesting to note that the middle and outside were cooked and the ring of the pastry was gooey. Hm. Not good. We cut the top off, patched the hole with cake from the top and put on the ganache toping. The theory we worked off of — we’ve all eaten raw cake batter off the spoon.

The verdict was that it tasted good but more work is required to get it perfected. I suspect strongly that my next dessert club offering will be a piecaken. More research is a prerequisite to the next attempt though. If you’ve successfully made a piecaken please share your tips with me. If you want to come for left overs of this one let me know!

Bernie 

Bundle of Joy – Second Additon

We finally have the bundle of joy we’ve been waiting for. Such delight. Arriving exactly when promised and in perfect condition.  

Final advent act

I am significantly late posting the final advent calendar activity. The one that said be kind to yourself and enjoy your Christmas Day.

Now my Christmas Day involved being

Re Made with Love

10 years ago, out for a birthday lunch with my cousin, I saw something that compelled me to act. It was a

Honoured but not remembered

….and in the setting of the sun we will remember them….

I’m saddened that I know so little about this particular veteran’s  story. I can fill in a few details but really the

Our Family Veterans

….and in the setting of the sun we will remember them….

Tonight I am going to write about stories that are close to home & heart; stories we grew up hearing.

Ten Twisted to Twelve

A year ago I wrote a A Twist of Ten  and reflecting back on it makes me add a couple more to make the number a twisted twelve.

• 11. Live within your means as you never know when your job status might change. Trust me on this. Give your best but don’t give them everything.
• 12. Really appreciate life as its fleeting; many are taken far too young. Don’t wait for things to be perfect. Perfect is an illusion.

Hug lots, laugh a lot, reach out and touch those you care about and for your body’s sake keep moving.

Bernie