Stranded and aimless

It sounds dramatic, but really it isn't. It is Easter Monday and we were booked to head back from Nelson to Wellington this morning. The fog that surrounded Nelson airport (and really nowhere else) had other ideas. It didn't take long for our flight to be cancelled and it took even less time to learn that there were no available seats until Wednesday afternoon. So this post comes to you from the South... plan free, care free and... exhausted. It has been a busy weekend up until now..... party preparation and secret squirrel cake making was the name of the game.

This party wasn't all about cake though and I find the following pictures equally as drool-worthy as any cake:

So what do I say about this cake? After it being suggested to me that I do a bunch of small cakes, I found this idea online and decided it was something different and fun for a birthday cake. I really liked it, and amazingly (with the help of the family), I managed to keep this cake a secret which for those that know my mother-in-law, is quite impressive. Suffice to say she was stoked and ended up sending some of the cakes off with people as little 'gifts'... very sweet:

Its time for a nap, and its Easter Monday - you all need to get back to your naps too. Happy Easter people!

Weekend cookfest

Without the responsibilities of having any cakes imminently due I have been prolific in the kitchen over the weekend. I guess this could been considered a little crazy, but to explain... for me, time spent in my kitchen when I have time to myself and the freedom to cook whatever I like is about as relaxing as it gets in my world. I also enjoy feeding people, so the cooking love gets shared to whoever might be nearby. This post is more pictures and less words, which for some is probably appealing.

I think I am most proud of my bread... actual ciabatta that looked and tasted like it came from a bakery. It just goes to show that if you follow a recipe good things happen - not something I do terribly often (except for my cakes of course).

Then there was the pasta... this was actually for a purpose though. Some friends have a wee one week old baby, and this is my way of helping out:

Oh and then came the hot cross buns... while I'm into this bread business I was curious whether I could pull off some hot cross buns (it is the season and all). I have to confess that I actually tried to make them a weekend or two ago and they could have been like little cricket balls. Who knows what happened... but second time lucky anyway:

So I've been thinking for some time that I really need to learn how to pipe designs on to cakes... I think its probably one of the toughest skills to learn in the whole cake thing and I need to start out slow. So I decided to decorate some cookies with royal icing as a first test run. Still a long way to go, for sure, but its a start:

Now its Sunday afternoon, exercising has been done, laundry has been done, nap time is approaching and.... there is a roast in the overn... aaahhhhhhhh.

Meet Ralph...

Meet Ralph, the new member to our family.... family of inanimate items ('people') we keep around the house (I haven't introduced you to our cacti named Mork and Mindy):

If I hadn't previously mentioned, I decided I wanted to be able to make bread from scratch... not just with yeast, but from scratch-scratch... like, grow and feed my own starter. This is how Ralph was born. You can't keep something on your kitchen bench that you feed every day without naming it.... by the way.

So the key to keeping Ralph healthy and happy during his growing days is feeding like clock work. Not enough and not regular enough and Ralph will go out and look for 'bad' bacteria rather than the good stuff, which generally will sadly be his demise. So here is what Ralph looks like after a week of careful nurturing and good bacteria:

So after this week, which was a challenge, it was time to see if my smelly little friend could be turned into bread. For those that know me I do not look after our house plants, its not my forte. Somehow through an intense desire to grow my own food I manage to keep vegetable plants alive. So a whole week of feeding something regularly was a feat.

Here is how it all went:

I forgot to take photos of the first part where you make a 'sponge', which is really a wet mixture of Ralph and flour. But after I had left that overnight I turned it into a dough.

 

Dough is now kneaded and ready to start growing in a nice warm spot:

I will admit now that I was VERY excited to find my dough had puffed right up overnight. You can tell by now this is a relatively long process... theres no waking up one morning and deciding you want bread that day. A homemade starter takes much longer to rise and do all those usual things.

 After creating a nice traditional loaf shape, off Ralph went again to his little sleeping spot in the hot water cupboard. Sshhhhh sleeping....

 

 Cooking, cooking, cooking.....

And ta-daahhhhhh........... bread!

 To review, all fairly successful really. It grew, it baked and it tasted like sourdough. I probably should have left it to rise a little longer before I baked it, but I was getting impatient with repeatedly putting Ralph to bed... lazy bastard.

This may disappoint you, but this is the end of the Ralph saga, a slightly sad demise:

I will be honest, the day after I successfully made that loaf I forgot to feed Ralph one night. He didn't go out right away and feed on bad bacteria but it did made me realise I'm not totally cut out for keeping something alive on my kitchen bench and I had managed to achieved what I set out to do. I know I can do it if I ever decide to again. Ralph shall live on... Stuart says all bread that comes out of the oven is a little bit of a Ralph from now on.