and all the way to 42

Days 29-42

I am still going strong with my photo a day challenge. I have loaded a few onto my Facebook page the following day, but I still haven't missed a day. Some days I struggle to think what I  should take a photo of . I fear a few too many food photo's are slipping through.

Day 29:

My jewellery tree arrived from Modcloth. I set it up and did a mini jewellery purge.

Day 30:

Enjoying a nice cup of tea and some biscuits after 2 kickboxing classes, 

in my favourite mug.

Day 31:

Took my car through the car wash on the way to a boxing class. I love car washes.

Day 32:

Making Dulce de Leche for a cheesecake to take to a friends barbecue.

Day 33:

Playing with Stirling at the barbecue just after I woke him up.

Day 34:

I went shopping for some cute stationary for my French lessons. I love kikki. K.

Day 35:

My breakfast. Homemade Sourdough bread from my own starter with homemade

mandarin marmalade. I was feeling very domestic. 

Day 36:

A beautiful bouquet of flowers I brought for my Nanna who

had to spend a bit of time in hospital.

Day 37:

Relaxing after kickboxing with a book and a snuggle buddy.

Day 38:

I met up with some old friends and hit the street for a dinner ride.

Day 39:

Another Friday night push bike ride from Fremantle to the city. This photo is of

the arches inside the Fremantle train station.

Day 40:

Drinks with friends at the Queens. I love how deconstructed the old building is.

Day 41:

Sunday afternoon cliff jumping with work mates.

Day 42:

I love how Dallas is sticking her nose out from under the coffee table in this photo.

I was studying for French and enjoying a homemade pretzel baked

by my plus one.

Well it has been another busy fortnight and I am really enjoying capturing my days.

Until next time.
Love, love Elle.

and Blackwall Reach

and on Sunday I jumped
Blackwall Reach

Blackwall Reach is a cliff on the Swan River, which is popular with rock climbers and cliff jumpers. A group of work mates organised to meet there on Sunday for a bit of extreme action. I was pretty timid about it and after I jumped and climbed back up again, I was shaking with adrenaline for quite a while. I waited for a bit before I jumped a second, and final time.

Me.

Swan dive

Back flip

There were lots of people jumping off where we were and along further. I never knew it was that popular. My plus one and some of our friends often go rock climbing there, but I never realised that the cliff jumping aspect was as popular. At another part of the cliff, some people had set up tripods with a video camera and a DSLR. They had also set up a bouncy castle pontoon thing in the water below. Their friends then jumped from the cliff and on to the pontoon, they then catapulted another friend, who was sitting on the edge of the pontoon into the air, and then the water.

Floating bouncy thing...

MASSIVE DISCLAIMER TIME NOW: Cliff jumping is dangerous. Please consider all of the dangers. Before I did it I searched the internet and found out that a person had actually died in 2006 from jumping off and hitting the water. He was attempting a back flip, slipped and hit the water at a bad angle, breaking his neck on entry. The depth below is however, quite deep and there are no submerged rocks. Surrounding the area there are signs put up saying, no diving. So again, if you chose to cliff jump, you are doing it at your own risk. Feet first is always the safest option, sans not jumping at all.

I have done it now, and I am not going to rush back anytime soon to try it again.

Afterwards we headed to one of the guys house for a barbecue. It was a terribly hot day yesterday and by 3 in the afternoon it must have been over 40deg C.  Well that was my extreme weekend. I hope everyone else had a great weekend and didn't suffer too much from the heat.

Until next time.

Love, love Elle.

and all I want for Valentine's is you

Valentine's Day

To us, Valentine's day is more about celebrating us and less about the commercial side, which makes a lot of people despise the whole notion. But I can't despise something that is all about love. Don't get me wrong, I love presents, but a nice box of chocolates, and maybe a card, is enough. I don't wan't teddies and roses and little devils. Instead of braving the restaurants we stay home and make ourselves dinner.

We haven't looked into what we will be making yet. We try for something different and more difficult from standard on Valentines day. But I have been doing some recipe searching and have found some really nice contenders from across the web.

First, starters:

Fried Haloumi

Strawberry and Goat's Cheese Bruschetta

Champagne Risotto

Main:

Venezuelan Chocolate Chicken Chile Chicken

Pork Tenderloin with Figs and Onions

Steak au Poivre

Drinks:

Sparkling Strawberry Cocktail

Chocolate Covered Strawberry Martini

Bailey's Chocolate Martini

and most importantly, dessert:

Dark Chocolate Creme Brulee

White chocolate & Raspberry Tart

Chocolate Fondue

I think the fondue might be a winner. It's fun, easy and made for sharing.

I hope everyone has a great Valentines day, be you alone or with someone you love!

Until next time.
Love, love Elle.

and 28 days since the start

Days 15-28

Well I am happy to say that I have made it almost a whole month without missing a photo. As well as my DSLR I have a little hand held Canon Ixus, which can easily fit in my hand bag or in the back of my bike. So at the moment I don't leave the house without a camera.

Day 15:

I went for a dinner ride with a group of ladies. It was a lovely night for it.

Day 16:

I brought and potted a plant for my work space. Happy to announce that it is still alive.

Day 17:

My first day back to boxing after the holidays.

Day 18:

Furniture and decor shopping. The mummy is actually a moneybox we are using

to help save for our Japan holiday!

Day 19:

I took Dallas for a walk and allowed her to practice her modelling for me.

Day 20:

A beautiful horse I met on a morning pushbike breakfast ride.

Day 21:

Our fighting fish decide to pose for me next.

Day 22:

My first attempt at Candy Cane Vodka. Still to taste it.

Day 23:

I booked flights to see my friend in Brisbane. I have never been there before.

Day 24:

I went on a site visit during work and it was a stunning day.

Day 25:

Evening pushbike ride with friends from Fremantle to Perth.

Day 26:

Australia Day! I spent the day on a friends boat in Matilda Bay.

Day 27:

Recovery day. Lots of chocolate and doggy chocolate was involved.

Day 28:

I went on an afternoon ride with a friend through the hills.

Well I am almost 1/12th of the way through the challenge and I am still excited about it! I may not feel the same in a few months time. We will have to wait and see.

Love, love Elle.

and Chocolate and Jelly Lamingtons

the day to be Australian
Australia Day 2013

I hope every Australian had a great Australia Day. I know I did. I spent the day on a friends boat anchored at Matilda Bay. We watched the day go by on the boat and then enjoyed the fireworks in the distance over the City. For my contribution to the food for the day I made Lamingtons. A couple of years ago I brought the 'Blue Ribbon Recipe' book which is produced by 'The Royal Agricultural Society'. I learnt last year that traditionally Lamingtons were made using a butter cake and not a sponge cake, so I thought for my first attempt I would try to make them like the old days. The Blue Ribbon Recipe book provided the perfect version for me.

Lamingtons

Preparation:
Cake: 20 mins plus 1 nights cooling.
Decoration: 30 mins plus drying time

Cake:
Ingredients:

• 185g butter
• 250g caster sugar
• 3 eggs
• 3/4 cups milk
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 300g self-raising flour

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 140C fan forced. Grease and line a 20cm square cake tin with baking paper.
2. Beat sugar and butter to a cream.
3. In another bowl whisk eggs until combined and then add to butter mixture.
4. Add milk and vanilla extract, fold in sifted flour.
5. Mix well then pour into prepared cake tin.
6. Bake for 15 mins then increase temperature to 160C. This helps to produce a flatter cake.
7. Bake for another 25-45 mins or until a skewer comes out clean.
8. Turn onto a wire rake to cool before refrigerating overnight in an airtight container.
9. Cut the cake into desired size and decorate as per below.

For the best fit, cut the corners and over lap them.

Butter and sugar.

Lightly whisk eggs until combined.

Mix in milk and vanilla. Then add flour

Pour into tin. Shake the tin gently and those lumps will smooth out.

Tadaaa! I shook it a little more to get it even smoother.

Decoration:

Ingredients:

• 3 tsp butter
• 3 Tbs cocoa
• 6 Tbs boiling water
• 3 cups icing sugar
• desiccated coconut

Method:

1. Melt the butter and mix with the boiling water.
2. Stir in cocoa then add the well sifted icing sugar. Mix well.
3. Using a carving fork (I used 2 skewers) spoon the icing over the cake, coating all sides, allowing the excess to fall back into the bowl.
4. Roll in coconut or spoon coconut over each side.
5. Stand on wire rack to dry.

All lined up and ready to go.

2 skewers help stop the cake from turning over.

Add coconut.

My first lamington! Have something under the rack to catch any drops.

Tips: 

• If your cake pieces are small, up the icing mixture by using 4 in lieu of 3 and 8 in lieu of 6.
• The icing may stick to the rack. Push the Lamingtons from underneath to help lift them up and reduce the amount of icing left behind.
• Use soft icing not pure icing.

Variation:

Jelly Lamingtons:

Decoration:

• 1 85g pack of your favourite jelly flavour. (Raspberry and Strawberry are the most common)
• 400ml of boiling water
• desiccated coconut

Method:

1. Empty the jelly crystals into a bowl and pour boiling water on top.
2. Stir until combined and refrigerate for about an hour or until jelly is the consistency of egg whites or runny jam.
3. Using a carving fork or skewers spoon the mixture over the cake and roll in or spoon over coconut.
4. Stand on rack to dry.

I went for Strawberry.

Pour over jelly

Time for the coconut.

Onto the rack.

Tips:

• If your pieces are small, 2 packs maybe required. Double the water to suit.
• You want the mixture to stay on top of the cake, not soak into it. Test a small amount on a cake if you would like to be sure.

Don't they look pretty together?

They wen't down fabulously  The butter cake added so much more to the dish over the sponge cake. Don't get me wrong, I love sponge cake, but for me, I am not a convert to the butter cake lamington!

 Love, love Elle.