My Bloggable Day

Ferrero Rocher cheesecake

Posted on March 11, 2015 by Bec

It’s been a while since I’ve made a cheesecake, but I’m back. In a big way. I made this for my boyfriend to take to work for his birthday, so devastatingly, I didn’t get to try it. But from all accounts it was a winner. Basically I just adapted my oreo fudge cheesecake (which in turn was an adaptation of my chocolate cherry cheesecake) to suit the delicious and hazlenutty Ferrero Rocher.

For the cake and base:
– 250g chocolate biscuits for the base (I used Arnotts chocolate ripple)
– 80g butter, melted
– 500g cream cheese, softened
– 3/4 cup caster sugar
– 2 eggs
– 300g sour cream
– Teaspoon vanilla extract
– 8 Ferrero Rocher chocolates for in the cake mixture

For the topping:
– 1 small jar of Nutella
– 8 Ferrero Rocher chocolates

Preheat oven to 160°C/140°C fan-forced. Grease a 5.5cm-deep, 24cm base springform pan. Process 250g of chocolate biscuits until mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs, I used a hand-held blender. Add butter. Process to combine. Press mixture over base of prepared pan. Cover. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Using an electric mixer, beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating to combine. Beat in vanilla and sour cream until just combined. Fold in broken Ferraros. Spread over biscuit mixture.

Bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until centre is just firm. Turn off oven. Cool in oven for 3 hours with door slightly ajar. Refrigerate overnight.

For the topping simply spread Nutella all over the top of the cake (this will help fill cracks, if your cheesecake has cracked like mine always seem to…) and down the sides if you wish. Then arrange the remaining 8 Ferreros on top.

I kind of crumbled the Ferreros around. To make a delightful tower of chocolate.

Isn’t she a beauty?

No go forth and bake!

Posted in Food | Tagged Cheesecake, Ferrero Rocher Cheesecake, Food, Recipe | 13 Comments

Sculptures by the Sea in Cottesloe

Posted on March 10, 2015 by Bec

If you hate crowds, but love art, I don’t recommend heading to Cottesloe on a sunny Sunday morning to check out Sculptures by the Sea.

Andrew and I spent the weekend in Perth ahead of a (successful!) trip to the US Consulate on Monday morning. We were sorting visas and the like for our upcoming period of extended travel. Thank you, by the way, to everyone who sent lovely messages on social media and comments here regarding my last post. We are very excited!

Anyway, we arrived in Perth on Saturday evening and went to Ace Pizza with some excellent people to sample the deep fried macaroni and pizzas. A good time was had by all.

On Sunday morning I met former Kalgoorlie resident Jordan for breakfast at Kettle Cafe in Lathlain (amazing! I do recommend). And then we went on to Cottesloe to get some culture in our faces.

The sculptures were outstanding.

Loved these flamingoes

These green metal windmill things made a delightful rain sound when you walked in between them.

There was one thing though, and it’s my own fault for living in the country for so long and forgetting what city life is like:

All the punters! I also think the deserted Esperance beaches may have spoilt me for life. I’m just not used to sharing the sand anymore.

I’m usually very proficient at avoiding photographing the hoards at touristy spots, but here it was impossible:

That said, it was a really cool exhibition and I do recommend you check it out. Jordan and I both enjoyed it. Maybe the crowds will die down a bit.

Silver must be a thing this season for modern art?

Kids were bouncing all over these fit balls, it looked really fun

Later in the afternoon, Andrew, his friend Osty and I went to the chilli festival in Fremantle. It was nothing like I imagined, which was the Chili Cook Off from The Simpsons. There was no chilli con carne to be seen.

But there were brisket sliders:

And delicious beer:

I had lemon & lime lager

Still I’m not sure it was worth the $20 entry fee? Not to worry, on to the Sail & Anchor to drink beers with a view:

I had never really spent time in Fremantle before, and I enjoyed it immensely.

The next morning we did our Consulate stuff and then went to the Mary Street Bakery for breakfast. I’ve seen the cafe all over instagram for months and couldn’t wait to get there.

I had smoked salmon on toast fingers with a poached egg and delicious toppings. Andrew had fried chicken on a pancake. Seriously.

Lets go in for a closer look:

Fried chicken. On. A pancake.

It was all kinds of right.

Then we jumped in the car and drove to Kalgoorlie. A great weekend and a step towards convincing people that I don’t in fact, hate Perth. Not at all!

Posted in Art, Food, Misc | Tagged Art, Food, Perth | Leave a comment

Some BIG news

Posted on March 8, 2015 by Bec

Going to miss these sunsets

On Tuesday I quit my job.

Which is a very dramatic way of saying that I handed in my notice of resignation with 7 weeks to go before my last day.

I do not hate my job. In fact, I love it. My job involves (among many other things) putting content online, taking photos and looking after social media accounts. ALL of which I choose to do in my spare time. In fact, one time my editor emailed me my own blog post saying it would make a good story for our website. It was this one. And this was the story I did. Now obviously the work version required a lot more effort and I’m not saying my job is as easy as writing a hobby blog but, yeah. Now I have no idea what I’m saying. Except that I didn’t resign because the job is no good.

I quit my job because my boyfriend Andrew and I are going travelling. Forever. Kind of.

On May 15 we will fly one way to Los Angeles where we will collect a car and go everywhere. Then we will fly to South America and repeat (only not with a car). Then the UK and repeat. Then when the money situation is somewhere between comfortable and uncomfortably low we will get jobs. Somewhere.

As you can see I’m not big on details (yet). We have a lot of planning to do, most of which rests on the visa situation. So until we know how long we can spend where, it’s a bit hard to plan. Thankfully, a lot of the money has already been saved. But we are still squirreling away all we can.
I’m experiencing a roller coaster of emotions. Obviously I’m mostly excited, but also sad to leave behind Kalgoorlie and the friends I’ve made there and anxious about jumping into joblessness and the unknown. But I know it’s the right move.

Looking forward to blogging from many different locations in the near future.

Posted in Misc | 24 Comments

Hopetoun for the weekend

Posted on March 4, 2015 by Bec

We spent the long weekend just gone down in Hopetoun, on WA’s south coast. After completing our heroic hike up Mt Barren (see previous post), we went back to the house and did not much of anything really. The boys went fishing and brought home a feast:

Well, not really. Luckily we had plans to go to the pub that night!

Having heard the surf and turf was all that I went ahead and ordered it.

It was pretty good! Certainly better than the one I had in Exmouth, but also not the ‘rare’ I had ordered. You win some, you lose some. At least the prawns were great. The boys had ice cream sundaes and I had desert envy.

So I ordered myself a sundae and Andrew a slice of Oreo cheesecake. It was pretty bland (I don’t feel bad saying that, because it clearly was not made onsite), and nothing on my version.

Feeling rather full and jolly we went back to the house and sat around the fire.

Biz, hot contender for the most eccentric dog in the world, was mesmerised:

Apparently she just loves fire. And champagne corks, and bacon. Oh and bubbles.

After falling asleep in a rather unflattering way on a beanbag I dragged myself off to bed.

The next morning we were greeted with blue skies:

So we postponed breakfast and headed down to the beach post haste to engage in all manner of seaside activities.

Such as chasing after escapee dogs:

Lolling around in the water:

And digging:

Adorably, Robbie’s three-year-old son tried to save a dried out piece of cuttlefish by throwing it back in the water. Maybe it lived? Definitely not.

When stomachs started growling we walked back to the house to fly the breakfast flag.

The United States of Breakfast.

The plan had been to return to the beach, but the weather took a nasty turn and we were obviously tuckered out from eating.

So Dave and Emily moved the couches under cover and we took shelter there.

Dave, Emily, Robbie

Dave had instructed us to bring a variety of beers we’d never tasted before, so a beer sampling session commenced.

Obama Honey Ale is brewed locally at Beaten Track Brewery. It’s Obama’s home brew recipe that he once tweeted.

A few cheeses? Why not?

Some strawberry daiquiris? Sure!

After a while we decided that despite the weather, some fishing was in order. So we braved the pouring rain and went down to the beach.

Can you believe it’s the same beach from the morning?!

Unfortunately I have the attention span of a small child, so promptly gave up after some mean fish took off with my bait. But more dedicated anglers stuck to it and brought home entree:

A pile of delicious battered herring (and one garfish). Yum.

For dinner we had a BBQ followed by real American smores (apparently they must comprise of Hershey’s chocolate and Graham crackers), made by a real American.

Squeeeeeze

The next and final morning we decided we hadn’t possibly consumed enough food already… Also we needed something sweet to counteract a long drive back to Kalgoorlie.

The solution? Pancakes with bacon and maple syrup! Robbie dutifully made an epic stack of pancakes with his amazing recipe using brown sugar and cinnamon. I most procure it from him.

Try not to drool.

What a delightful pair.

So. Good.

In a pancake haze we packed the cars and hit the road for an uneventful ride home.

Such a great weekend. I’m jealous of you east coasters who still have the long weekend ahead of you, enjoy it! West Australians, how did you spend it?

Posted in Misc, Travel | Tagged Beach Weekend, Food, Hopetoun, Long Weekend, My Weekend, Weekend Away | 4 Comments

Climbing Mt Barren

Posted on March 3, 2015 by Bec

I’ve just come back from a glorious long weekend in Hopetoun with friends. Hopetoun is located at the very bottom of Western Australia on the south coast next to the Fitzgerald River National Park. About 5 people live there and all of them seem to be relatives of my friend Dave. Just kidding. There are also some Irish backpackers who work at the pub and grocery store.

We drove down on Friday night, leaving behind awfully muggy and uncomfortably hot weather in Kalgoorlie. It was such a relief to experience cooler temperatures (low 20s) that I took to wearing a down jacket for most of the weekend. Emily wore a beanie.

On Saturday morning we fueled up on bacon ahead of our mountain climbing.

Sizzle.

A mountain climber’s breakfast… Probably.

Dangling scrambled eggs above the dogs.

Before tackling the rugged peaks of East Mt Barren we took a drive through the Fitzgerald River National Park.

Such hospitable coastline…

We practiced our explorer poses:

Lauren, Dave, Scot, Andrew and Emily

A more visibly pregnant Lauren, Dave, Scot, Andrew and Emily

And nailed a fake laughter photo:

Someone’s excited to climb Mt Barren

Then we drove to where we would climb the East Mt Barren Summit, which the Department of Parks and Wildlife website describes as ‘moderately difficult’.

It doesn’t look so bad in this photo

About a quarter of the way up

It got steeper and rockier up the top.

Some legit rock climbing was required:

But it was well worth the view. To the east was Hopetoun:

View from the top

And to the north was a large glacial looking boulder with a sheer drop on one side:

Scary.

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Selfie rest stop

Proving my adeptness at mountaineering.

The entire area is known for its wildflowers which are abundant in spring. But I found a few hanging around:

Showy honey myrtle (… I think)

Dave recreating 127 Hours on a much smaller scale.

Heading back down the mountain was worse than going up. Every step suddenly seemed more slippery.

But we made it and saw some more interesting flora on the way down.

Royal Hakea. Looks like a mutant cabbage.

After our hike we headed back home for chicken sandwiches and to regale the others with tales of our heroic ascent. More to come.

Posted in Misc, Travel | Tagged Beach Weekend, Hopetoun, Long Weekend | 8 Comments

A very teal Wednesday

Posted on February 25, 2015 by Bec

I’ve been feeling pretty unmotivated to blog lately. It’s probably due to the fact that a) nothing exciting is happening and b) I’m no longer surrounded by the epic natural beauty that is Esperance and thus I have nothing spectacular to photograph. Unless you guys are hankering for a gallery of dusty mining town photos? If so don’t be shy! Ha.

Today is Teal Ribbon Day, which raises money and awareness for ovarian cancer. It’s obviously a damn good cause and if you’ve read this blog for a while you will know I love a theme and take themed and costumed dressing quite seriously.

So despite the fact that teal is a very obscure colour and I own nothing appropriate I decided to embrace the theme. I borrowed a teal top (thanks Lauren), painted my nails teal (thanks Michele) and frosted some cupcakes with vanilla flavoured teal frosting (thanks Betty Crocker). It took a ridiculous amount of dye to achieve the desired Pantone Teal 329 hue… God knows what our insides will look like after eating them. But they are delicious and most importantly, look good.

For more on ovarian cancer and who’s at risk click here.

In completely unrelated news, Jillian tagged me in a Sisterhood of the World Bloggers post which is essentially like a chain email for bloggers. You tag a bunch of bloggers and get them to answer your questions. Jillian’s questions are really great so I’m going to answer them:

What’s the funniest thing that has happened to you lately?

Ugh, I wish I could think of something good for this! The funniest thing that happened lately was at work and I don’t want to incriminate anyone so I can’t share that… This morning after my spin class the instructor asked me if I was ok, because apparently I had been shooting her weird and confusing faces at her from the front row. I have no idea what she was talking about, but it was pretty embarrassing. So now as well as having to worry about resting bitch face I have to worry about bizarre gym class face… Is that funny? Probably not!

Is there something you’re putting off doing that you could start today?

Pretty much everything. I’m an extraordinary procrastinator and can’t do things until they are flashing red. I never miss a deadline though!

If the average human life span was 50 years, how would you live your life differently? OR If you had five more years to live, how would you live your life differently?

It probably sounds lame, but I wouldn’t live differently. I’m really lucky to have an amazing family, great friends and excellent health. I’ve had access to education, have held a great job and I’ve travelled extensively. What more could you want? #blessed

If you had to move to a new state or country, where would you move and why?

Well if I couldn’t afford New York City (which, lets face it, is the harsh reality) I would probably move home to Melbourne. I’ve lived on the other side of the country for 3.5 years and I miss everyone and everything.

What’s the weirdest thing you’ve ever done on a date?

Run into an ex boyfriend. On a first date. It wasn’t pretty.

What was the last picture you took on your phone?

A photo of teal coloured cupcakes.

If you see a dog running around alone by the road, do you stop to help the dog?

Definitely. When I was a child my dog Lexie used to get out frequently and every time it happened I would cry and sob as we drove the streets calling her name. We always found her, but I couldn’t believe the number of people we passed who said they saw her “run in that direction”. Why didn’t they help?!

Do you have a favorite sports team?

Carlton, an Australian Rules Football team also known as the Blues. I was born into it and wouldn’t change teams even if I had a choice (which I don’t thanks to my dad).

Would you want to be famous and rich, knowing that you would lose all of your privacy?

Heck. Yes.

What was your first job?

Well I had a paper round delivering the Melbourne Weekly and junk mail. It was awful. I think the most I made in a week was $20 and it took hours or sorting the catalogues, getting them into a wheelie trolley thing and then actually delivering them. I ditched it when I inherited my sister’s waitress job at a local Thai/Vietnamese restaurant. The owners were so lovely and used to make me dinner on the nights I worked AND lunch for the next day.

Thanks for the questions Jillian! I’ll have to get on to posting my own soon, but for now I have a rare eye fillet and a glass of wine in front of me so… Speak soon!

Posted in Misc | Tagged Misc, ovarian cancer | 6 Comments

Friday links

Posted on February 20, 2015 by Bec

Welcome to Friday! What’s on for the weekend? Tonight I’m seeing 50 Shades of Grey… Wish me luck.

Some things from around the internet:

More glorious photos of Taylor Swift and BFF Karlie Kloss (like the one above) in this Vogue spread.

There’s a new Doctor Seuss book coming out in July.

Artists create distinctive city skylines wedged into delicious brunch foods.

This Spanish photographer has photoshopped celebrities to look fat. Cruel or hilarious?

An interesting article on why men always think women are flirting with them.

48 times Tumblr was funny about animals (I lost it at number 20).

Have you been watching the latest season of Girls? How great was the last episode?! So devastating. I love these ‘inside the episode’ videos with Lena Dunham.

Have a great weekend! Rock on with your bad selves.

Posted in Misc | 4 Comments

Weekly movie night: Four Weddings and a Funeral

Posted on February 19, 2015 by Bec

I’m pretty sure I have these glasses

Last night I finished watching Four Weddings and a Funeral. It was another film from which I remember only snippets of. The film came out in 1994 and although I can’t find an academic reference (and thus would fail were this an essay*) to it being the gateway film for all following romantic comedies, it definitely is.

Four Weddings follows follows the adventures of a group of friends through the eyes of Charles (Hugh Grant), a good-natured but socially awkward Briton, who is smitten with Carrie (Andie MacDowell), an American whom Charles repeatedly meets at four weddings and at a funeral.

A few observations:

Spoiler alert: both Carrie and Charles are horrible, unlikable characters. Carrie cheats on her fiance like it ain’t no thing and Charles slinks back to an emotionally unstable ex-girlfriend, proposes to her and then dumps and her and her giant white puffy sleeves at the alter. Certified douchebag behaviour.

four_weddings_and_a_funeral_david_objects

NOT OK Hugh

It’s a very funny movie. A great script and well acted.

1994 fashion is well and truly back. There were many outfits (save for a few ankle grazing hemlines) that would not be out of place in 2015. I would pretty much wear anything Fiona (Kristin Scott Thomas) wears. All of the wedding dresses are predictably hideous though.

kristin-scott-thomas-fourweddingsandafuneral-1

Amazing hat

Hugh Grant was rather dishy. I can sort of understand why he was such a heart throb now.

I like the movie’s message about friendship. All of the romantic relationships are portrayed pretty badly, but the enduring friendships are something to take away from all this.

Your thoughts? Have you seen Four Weddings?

(*I’m actually rather surprised I never wrote an essay on this movie at university. I did complete a Bachelor of Arts after all.)

Posted in Misc | Tagged Movies | 4 Comments

Summer on the salt lake

Posted on February 17, 2015 by Bec

I’m at that point with summer when I can’t even remember what it’s like to be properly cold. My coats hang like foreign instruments of torture in a cupboard. The tap water at home never quite reaches cold and blow drying my hair after 6:30am is out of the question.

Last week we really pushed the boundaries of stupidity by heading out to Lake Ballard (a large salt lake) where the temperature was sitting at about 46 degrees (that’s 114.8 fahrenheit).

We last visited in June, wearing beanies and heavy jackets and boots. Winter is the recommended time to visit Lake Ballard in order to avoid sunburn, dehydration, heat exhaustion and flies. We only spent a very short time out of the air conditioned car but it was amazing to see the contrast between winter on the salt lake and summer. (If you’re wondering about the weird, alien-like sculptures see my original post here.)

For starters it’s a lot more white.

It’s almost cruel in a way, you look like you could be surrounded by frost or light snow. But really the heat has knocked air out of your lungs.

Retreating back to the car you start to lose the white and hit red dirt again, far more appropriate for the weather.

Bye Lake Ballard.

Bring on winter.

From my Instagram account @mybloggableday

Posted in Misc, Travel | Tagged Goldfields, Kalgoorlie, Lake Ballard | 12 Comments

Very nice lemon slice

Posted on February 16, 2015 by Bec

When I was a kid I used to munch on lemons as though they were oranges and as though acid tooth decay wasn’t a thing. 15-20 years later it seems the lemons didn’t have much of an impact on my teeth (At 26 I only just had my first ever filling!) but I still love sour and tarte foods. Well I love all foods. And that includes the sour and tarte variety. And the sugary variety.

On Saturday I made Phoodie’s lemon slice and gave half of it to a friend and kept half of it for myself. Call me stupid but I was pretty shocked to discover the thick white icing is just sugar with a tiny amount of lemon juice and butter thrown in. Four cups of sugar! No wonder it’s so delicious.

Perfect with a cup of tea.