throwback thursday

I've been listening to a lot of 90's mixes lately. I'm not sure why... possibly because that's when music was good?

I think in almost every mix I listen to (thanks 8 tracks), they feature Third Eye Blind's Semi-Charmed Life. I'm pretty sure this was the song that introduced me to other artists other than Hanson (please forgive me, I was 12 when this song came out).

Looking up the song lyrics, the song is actually about drugs. Now as a back-then 12 year old, I'm pretty sure I didn't know this. That's ok, still an awesome song that despite its sad lyrics, gets me in a good mood. One of those songs that's good when you have a mundane task set in front of you. This'll liven things up.

lemon cupcakes with lemon curd and cream cheese icing

Right. I dont' think I've ever made anything with such a long name, and with more than two elements. I usually stick to a cake base and icing. Nice and simple. That's kind of my thing.

And then I watched an episode of Cupcake Wars.

Talk about mind blowing. Now that show separates the amateurs from the hard core professionals. The creativity that some of these contestants exudes was amazing. The confidence was something else but believe me when I say, they certainly upped the ante of cupcakes. Who would have thought - goats cheese frosting? Baked apple cupcakes? Maple frosting topped with crisp bacon? Salmon cupcakes topped with cream cheese icing and capers?? Yeah, not sure about that last one, but amazingly, the lady that dreamt that creation won.

If anything, when it comes to baking cupcakes, this show has pointed out at how much I still have to learn. Ok, I know what some of you may be thinking. These guys on the show, they're professionals (or at least bake cupcakes for an actual living). But these people all started from somewhere. Probably from their home kitchens. Sweating it over a hand mixer. Or even whisking by hand (I saw a lot of that on the show which really surprised me).

So, as it was, a Thursday night. Late, on a Thursday night. I live with a quiet housemate, in an apartment block of 8. I didn't think a kitchen mixer whizzing up cakes would be a welcome sound at the time of night I actually got my act together so I went hunting for an easy mix cupcake recipe. Viola - I found this lemon cupcake recipe that was originally seen on Junior Masterchef. I was surprised at how quickly it came together and how lovely they turned out. Easy peasy. I did however got the mixer going for the cream cheese icing but hey, with a KitchenAid, hey presto, done in minutes.

So here it is, my first attempt at a cupcake with an extra element (lemon curd in the cakes) and I think it was pretty successful. Maybe not Cupcake Wars material but still, I was pretty happy with the end result. As a market researcher, naturally, I welcomed feedback from my colleagues. I am happy to report that the most negative comment was that they were too small.

lemon cupcakes

1 cup of thickened cream
3/4 cup of caster sugar
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 1/2 cups of self raising flour
finely grated rind of 1 lemon + its juice

1| Preheat your oven to 180 degrees (160 if fan forced). With the eggs, pour the cream and sugar into a large mixing bowl and whisk until nice and smooth.
2| grate lemon rind over the top and squeeze the lemon to get the juice out.
3| Sift your self raising flour over the bowl and whisk the batter until thick and smooth. The consistency will be like a thick pancake mix.
4| Divide mixture into cupcake cases.
5| Pop into the oven and bake for 15-20 minutes. Don't over bake them - they won't be spongy and moist!

lemon curd

3 egg yolks
zest of 1 lemon
1/4 cup of lemon juice
6 tablespoons of caster sugar
4 tablespoons of cold unsalted butter cut up

1| Combine the yolks, lemon zest, lemon juice and sugar in a small saucepan. Whisk up to combine. Set this over a medium heat and stir constantly with a wooden spoon, making sure you stir evenly - don't forget the sides and bottom of the pan. Cook until the mixture is thick enough to coat the back of the spoon (around 5-7 minutes).
2| Take the saucepan off the heat. Add the butter, one piece at a time, continuously stirring with the wooden spoon until the consistency is smooth.
3| Transfer the mixture into a medium bowl. Lay a sheet of plastic wrap on the surface (this will help the curd to not form a skin). Let the curd cool, refrigerate until firm and chilled (at least 1 hour).

cream cheese icing

250g cream cheese at room temperature
125g butter at room temperature
icing sugar (about 1 cup, but that depends on how sweet you want it)

1| Get the cream cheese going first. Place it into the bowl of a mixer or using a hand mixer, start the beating.
2| After a couple of minutes, add the butter and whip that up.
3| After a couple of more minutes, add the icing sugar. Use 1 cup first, add more if you want it sweeter. Beat until thick and fluffy.
4| Try not to eat the whole icing out of the bowl. Top cakes with lemon curd with a swirl.

putting it all together

1| Make sure your cupcakes have cooled completely.
2| If you have one of those thin, long piping nozzles that you use for jam or things like lemon curd, load up your piping bag with lemon curd and stick the pointy end in the middle of the cupcake and inject it with lemon curd. Repeat with all the cakes. OR you could just scoop out a bit of cake on top and place a bit of lemon curd in the hole you made. Easy!
3| Admire your work. Then pipe, or spoon or swirl some cream cheese icing on top.
4| Eat until your heart's content, but probably best eaten shared with your friends / family.

throwback thursday

It's the remix to ignition, hot and fresh out the kitchen...

Yeps, a classic. In my humble opinion, the Ignition remix is much better than the original. I mean, with the original song you knew it was downright dirty. But with the remix, being all hot and fresh out the kitchen, it was a bit of fun.

Come on admit it. With lyrics like sippin on coke and rum, I'm like so what I'm drunk, it's the freakin weekend baby I'm about to have me some fun... You can't help but bounce, just like when R. Kelly tells us to, oh about 10 times. I'm not sure what he means by bouncin on 24's though...

I'd also just like to point out that this song is 10 YEARS OLD. Jeez. But let me just point out that RnB was so much better in the 90's.

Holler. Can I get a toot toot?

hump day afternoon dee-lights

Wednesday. It's the day that is smack bang in the middle of the work week. Good in many ways but the main reason why I love Wednesdays is you've already worked two days of the working week (good for you) and only have two days left after it. It's the midpoint. Neutral, neither agree nor disagree. You can tell I work in market research can't you...

Focus. See? Such an issue by Wednesday...

The Super Bowl was on earlier this week and whilst I haven't watched it, I bet Beyonce's performance was world class, and live. No lip-syncing in this one I assume. Another great thing about her performance (so I'm told) is the Destiny's Child Reunion. Yeah! Bring Michelle and Kelly back! I believe they're also releasing an album this year. I can't wait. They prove that even 10 years on, they've still got it. In spades.

Happy hump day!

cheesy vegetable and bacon polenta muffins

Now, I'm the type of person that loves my meat. I rarely shy away from a juicy slab of steak or a beautifully fragrant roast lamb or a succulent roast pork. Have I turned you off yet? Yet I'm also the type of person that finds extremely fresh looking vegetables enticing. Strange I know, but strictly for cooking and eating purposes only. Who doesn't want to cook with and eat the freshest ingredients they can find? When I visited the friendly grocery store that oddly sells a comprehensive combination of Asian and European products the other weekend, I thought to myself, I need to incorporate more vegetables in to my diet (and I do use the term 'diet' loosely. I'm on by no means, any sort of restrictive diet. Let's just call it 'an attempt at healthy lifestyle choices').

You have to know that while I may appear, at times, hard working and diligent (I can hear my colleagues cough right now), I am actually quite lazy. When I dug through my Women's Weekly recipe book and found a recipe for corn and bacon muffins, I thought, why don't I just add a whole heap of other vegies? I might as well, seeing as really, I don't have the time or energy to peel, chop, dice and slice a whole heap of vegies for one meal.

Here is the outcome: cheesy vegetable and bacon polenta muffins. I think they turned out alright. A bit ugly but tasty. And that's what counts right?

Give it a go - these are super easy to make. They're also like a meal on it's own, on the go. If you're one of those that is time poor, bake some of these and chow one down (or two) for lunch. I like to think of it as a balanced meal. Carbs, vegies and a bit of meat. This muffin (or bruffin, if you eat it between breakfast and lunch) covers pretty much all the food groups. A bonus: if you have kids that don't like vegies, I think this is a good way at "hiding those vegies" I hear so much about in my day job.

Cheesy vegetable and bacon polenta muffins

Adapted from The Australian Women's Weekly: Cheese, corn and bacon muffins

preparation time | maximum 30 minutes (depends how fast you are at peeling, chopping etc)
cooking time | 20 minutes
makes | 24 standard sized muffins or 48 mini muffins (good for lunch boxes!)

1/2 cup of polenta
1/2 cup of milk
3 bacon rashers, rind removed, chopped finely
1 small to medium onion
1 cup of peas
1 cup of chopped capsicum (any colour you like)
1 1/2 cups of self-raising flour
420g can corn kernels, drained
420g can creamed corn
100g butter, melted
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup grated cheese of your choice
extra grated parmesan or pecorino cheese (to sprinkle on top)

1| Preheat oven to 180 degrees (fan-forced) or 200 degrees. Oil or spray with oil your muffin pans.
2| Mix polenta and milk in a small bowl and cover. Leave to stand for 20 minutes or so.
3| Get on with chopping your bacon! And then get on to chopping your capsicum. If you're really time poor, you could buy the frozen stuff but fresh is always better. Cook the onion and bacon in a frypan, stirring until fragrant. Add in your peas and capsicum. Watch the beautiful colours combine. Remove pan from heat and cool mixture for about 5 minutes.
4| Sift the flour into a large bowl, stir in the corn kernels, creamed corn and bacon mixture. Add the melted butter, egg, grated cheese of your choice and polenta mixture. Mix muffin batter only until just combined.
5| Spoon the batter into the muffin pan, dividing as equally as you can. Sprinkle the extra parmesan cheese on top.
6| Bake uncovered for about 20 minutes, or until the muffins are well-risen. Turn the muffins onto a wire rack.
7| Enjoy warm and pat yourself on the back for including so many vegetables in one serve.

You can substitute any of the vegetables (other than corn) so this is also a great way to use up bits and bobs of vegies in the fruit and veg chiller of your fridge.

Hello 2013

Wow. I didn't just go AWOL, I went postal. My last post was August 2012??!! Where did 2012 go?

It's now 2013. February 2013.

I pretty much blinked and there went January.

Though, not without some excitement. Let's recap:

• I visited Launceston and Hobart. Ate my way through the Taste Festival. I'll post up photos soon. Promise. 
• I had a birthday. I am looming closer to the big 3-0 and don't feel any more settled. I'm thinking this is a good thing. 
• My sister came to visit Melbourne and we went to the Tennis. In all truthfulness, it wasn't that exciting (so sue me). It might be because we went on Australia Day. All the hipsters were probably at Big Day Out. 
• I have officially passed my probation period. I've been at my current workplace for 7-odd months. Time flies! 
• I bought my first coffee card. You know, one of those pre-paid ones where you buy 10 coffees in advance. I have well and truly graduated from my mocha to a flat white, no sugar. Huzzah, I'm a Melbournian! 

Seeing it's the beginning of the year, it never goes by without some time (albeit minimal) of reflection, goal setting, etc. While I haven't made any firm new year's resolutions, I have vowed to be a bit healthier - cut down on chocolate, chips and soft drink (says she that is eating M&Ms as she types) and pick up exercising. This I've managed to do in January (I know, surprise surprise!) but I think it's because my sister bullied me into buying new exercise gear. I'm motivated by the ridiculous amount of money I spent. I must see results... I'll give it to the end of the year. 

I have made a personal commitment though to bake and blog more. So watch this space! 

And friends, feel free to hassle me if I haven't posted or baked in a while. I'm supposed to practice my baking weekly. I'm sure my work colleagues will hold me to this. 

Went AWOL, am back

Wow. So the last time I posted something on here was November last year. November?! That's almost a year ago! Ok not quite, but three quarters of a year, at least. I would like to say that a lot has happened since then, but I strive to be honest, so I'll have to say that no, not much has gone on. Well, except life, really.

Here's a rundown of the last 9 months:

• Christmas came and went, as did another birthday (edging closer and closer to 30 seems daunting but I try to forget that on a regular basis)
• I wrote a song. It's not very good. I've probably forgotten how to play it, it's been that long. 
• I signed on for another year-long lease which means I'm in Melbourne for at least another year
• I got a new housemate 
• I joined my choir's committee which means meetings, planning events, designs, input into which songs to sing, fundraising activities, etc
• I changed jobs which means no more dog walking, running around getting cigarettes, standing with others while they're on their smoko, getting lunch for others, answering printer, Excel or Word label questions and general office management tasks
• The two-man band (if you could call us that) has now expanded to five young hip women (me included haha) from choir. We still need a name though
• I replaced my sad Windows laptop and upgraded to a iMac. I don't know I waited so long. It has revolutionised my life. I am not kidding. 
• Most recently (like yesterday!) I bit the bullet and bought myself something I've been lusting over for years - a Kitchenaid Stand Mixer, in green apple. Whee!

Ok, so now you're up to date. Whoever you are. I maintain that I don't have many readers, but I don't blog for the readers, I blog (or try to blog) for myself. 

So, as they say, when you fall off the wagon, jump back on it. Or something like that. 

I'm back.