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.