and 168 is the day gone

Days 155-168

I barely had a chance to recover from my holiday before I was thrown into birthday season. Namely, my birthday season. I had a birthday lunch, dinner and another lunch just for me. There was someone else's 30th plus two birthday cakes for me. So a lot of food was happily consumed and the days have been slowly cooling down around here.

Day 155:

My afternoon walks now look like evening walks.

 Day 156:

Cold night snuggles with Dallas

 Day 157:

I made a giant pot of vegetable soup to help fight an incoming cold. 

It must have worked because I didn't get too sick.

  Day 158:

My adorable niece Kayley came to visit. I love her freckles.

  Day 159:

My friend crocheted a Mrs Bean teddy for Kayley. I brought it 

back with me from Brisbane. My aunty decided to hide it from my 

niece at a family lunch for my and a few others birthdays.

  Day 160:

Last day of being 26 and my plus one took me out to tapas for dinner.

 It was a lovely last day.

  Day 161:

  

It was my birthday and I got my presents in bed. This huge gift was

an ice cream attachment for my Kitchenaid. Awesome gift!

  Day 162:

  

I was keeping warm in front of the heater with a cup of tea and 

my heat bag while my plus one played video games.

  Day 163:

I did a little bit of decorating, placing my tea cup candles 

around the lounge room. They were a gift from my family.

  Day 164:

  

I was given a birthday card and a free class from my boxing gym.

  Day 165: 

After making fun of my plus one for playing nerdy video games, 

he went out and brought me a red controller and a game 

so I could play too.

  Day 166:

  

I spent a bit of time in the garden weeding, mulching and planting seeds. 

I can't wait for the whole thing to be in bloom.

  Day 167:

  

It was my birthday lunch with friends (I like to stretch my 

special day outfor as long as possible) and I made this monstrous 

black tea and blackberry jam cake for us to share.

  Day 168:

I relaxed after kickboxing with a couple of Tim Tam slams. 

It is truly one of the best inventions ever.

So there it is. The fortnight around my 27th birthday. There was a lot of food eaten but I tried as best I could to balance it out with a lot of exercise. If you haven't tried a Tim Tam slam before, I suggest you give it a go.

To do a Tim Tam slam:

1. Get a Tim Tam. The best ones are the plain types with no fancy filling, such as caramel. The filling gets in the way of the drinking. But if you are feeling fancy or if it's all you have, give it a go!
2. Bit off small amounts in apposing corners of the biscuit. Enough to make a straw out of the biscuit.
3. Dip one corner into your tea, coffee, hot chocolate etc. and suck through the other corner.
4. When you feel the chocolate start to melt a little under your finger tips and it seems easy to drink through the biscuit, pop the whole thing into your mouth. This is the 'slam' part.
5. Enjoy!

Warning: You may miss judge the timing a little. You may go too early and the biscuit isn't soft enough, or you may wait too long and the bottom half may collapse into the drink. All you need to do is try again and again until you have perfected it. Also try different combos. White Tim Tams with hot cocoa or dark Tim Tams with Earl Grey tea. Mix and match!

Good luck!

Until next time.
Love, love Elle.