Wednesday 30 March 2011

Caffine Hit...

Spent the afternoon yesterday stalking Brunswick and Smith Street and marveled at the scrumptous looking mocha my new New Zealand/Brisbane friend Sam enjoyed with a smile...

Thank you Doctor Coffee (Smith Street corner of Gertrude Street) for making my day with your general cuteness in location and coffee decoration!

Time Has Pasted and Over My Shoulder...

This week has been extraordinary in the most extreme ways... I seem to have daily bouts of overwhelming excitement about the possibilities of my final year at uni that ultimately and ALWAYS turns into some kind of other worldly anxiety about how exactly I plan to execute which ever possibility I chose to pursue... I have all these damn ideas but I'm genuinely struggling with which I like the most. I do however know what I want whatever I do to achieve - does that make sense? No matter what the outcome of this year I KNOW that I will be the storyteller of both my own story and hopefully the stories of other creatives. 

I have been thoroughly enthralled by developing, planning and executing (filming is in one week and seriously weeing myself with nerves) my fashion short film concept for the ASVOFF Competition. I love exhibits and I have (oddly) become reasonably bored by fashion shows and staring at static editorials lately. So for now I'm exploring the avenues that I resonate with (and that others hopefully resonate with as well considering I'm seriously hoping that other fourth years might want to collaborate with me) as a means of telling a story. The trailer for Yohji Yamamoto's doco 'This is My Dream' gave me goose bumps. It's simple and unfussy and something I find insanely inspiring for this year. 

Thursday 24 March 2011

Nothing Will Cancel This Out...

Sometimes I hate Facebook. Actually, most of the time I hate Facebook but today was a rare and beautiful day for Facebook appreciation! Kyra Power, my stomach THANKS YOU for posting this epic piece of scrumptious information - my hips however do NOT thank you... 

Image via: http://veryculinary.com/2011/03/22/oreo-stuffed-chocolate-chip-cookies/
Please meet the Oreo Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookie!!! And prepare to meet the new cellulite-y dimples that will appear on your ass very soon after consuming these mouth watering morsels... In case anyone is salivating at this image, enjoy the following recipe and salivate over the real thing.


Oreo Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies
Makes 24 gigantic cookies
Prep: 25 minutes
Cook: 13 minutes
Ingredients
• 1 cup (2 sticks) softened butter
• 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 3 1/2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1 package Double Stuff Oreo cookies
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a large bowl, cream butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar together with a mixer until well combined.  Beat in eggs and vanilla.
In medium bowl mix the flour, salt, and baking soda.  Slowly add to wet ingredients along with chocolate chips until just combined.
With a cookie scoop, form balls with the dough.
Place one ball on top of an Oreo cookie, and another ball on the bottom. Seal edges together by pressing and cupping in hand until Oreo cookie is fully enclosed with dough.
Place onto parchment or silpat lined baking sheets and bake cookies for approximately 13 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool for 5 minutes before transferring to cooling rack.

Saturday 5 March 2011

Sunday Afternoon Delight...

This afternoon I indulged in what I do best - procrastinating - by attempting something that I definitely don't do best - cooking and more specifically baking. I often find that a good place to start at something that you're lacking skills in is with the instruction of someone who knows what they're doing. Enter Donna Hay magazine issue 53. Somehow, with the wise words of a whizz in the kitchen I managed to pull off a number of taste bud enticing marshmallow honey puffs!! I am aware that my marshmallow spreading abilities leave a lot to be desired but all in all I think they are pretty damn cute... And just quietly, they taste like Heaven in a baked sandwich... 



Recipe: (for those who might also want to 'waste' some time...)
1 cup (150g) self-raising flour
4 eggs
1/3 cup (75g) caster (superfine) sugar
1/3 cup almond meal
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
50g butter, melted
200g white marshmallows
2 tablespoons creamed honey

Method:
Prehate oven to 180 degrees celcius. Sift flour 3 times and set aside. Place the eggs and sugar in a bowl and with an electric mixer beat for 8-10minutes or until pale, thick and three times its original size. Sift the flour over the egg mixture and fold in the almond meal, butter and vanilla. Spoon 2 teaspoons of the mixture at a time onto baking trays lined with non-stick baking paper (I just greased and floured a baking tray and that worked like a charm), leaving room to spread. Bake for 10minutes or until golden. Cool on wire racks.
     Place the marshmallows and honey in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water and stir until melted and smooth. Spread half the rounds with the marshmallow and sandwich with the remaining rounds. CHOW DOWN!!!

Thursday 3 March 2011

Colour Me Happy...

Today I stumbled across something, as I often do, via one of the multitude of blogs I follow. Just quietly, these images made me very VERY happy!! I've been chucking a bit of a sad since I returned home from Toronto and these images managed to bring a little sunshine to the corners of my mouth... A reaction otherwise reserved for a few special peeps and a small photographic exhibit located on my bedroom walls...








Really it seems nearly impossible to be a sad sack around the natural yummy-ness of these scrumptious Tulips...

And Counting...

9 days to go and while the donations are really starting to gather momentum I'm beginning to wonder if I might look like the picture below the moment the clippers begin to make their mark...

image via. ...etc