My Bloggable Day

LEGO Travellers in Esperance

Posted on May 20, 2014 by Bec

I love this. What an adorable way to take holiday snaps! LEGO Travellers is run by a Scottish couple who are road tripping around Australia photographing their pint sized counterparts in iconic destinations. They have a Facebook page and an Instagram account (@LEGOtravellers) and were recently on Buzzfeed Community.

And the best part is they’ve been in my neck of the woods lately:

Hellfire Bay in Cape Le Grand National Park, Esperance

The 90 Mile Straight between Norseman and Eucla

Craig frustrated with the average phone signal at Lucky Bay in Esperance. We’ve all been there buddy.

Overlooking Thistle Cove at Cape Le Grand, Esperance

I really want to steal this idea, but that would be highly unoriginal. I think it’s a much cleverer version of the photograph-a-teddy/garden gnome/soft-toy-around-the-world tradition. But I guess I’ve have to come up with my own idea. I also love these stunning Photographer’s Girlfriend Leads Him Around the World travel photos.

Do you try to take original travel snaps? Or do you have 100 photos of you and your friends in mid-air in front of the Eiffel Tower?

Posted in Art, Misc | Tagged LEGO, Photography, Travel, Travel Photos | 5 Comments

30 thoughts I had during yesterday’s trip to Medicare

Posted on May 20, 2014 by Bec

Yesterday I had to go to the Medicare (NHS for you Brits) office to update my address. Why this can’t be done online is beyond me. I was dreading it because usually visits to public service offices involve a lot of waiting. To their credit I was in and out in 20 minutes, which has to be a record…

1. Well this is going to be more painful than stepping on a piece of Lego.
2. There appears to be a lady with an iPad allocating people into lines, she will determine my fate, shine favourably upon on me blonde lady.
3. I’M NUMBER ONE IN THE MEDICARE LINE. Everyone else is here for Centrelink. HA! NUMBER ONE.
4. These are very green chairs.
5. I’m suddenly craving a granny smith apple…

Crunchy

6. Ooooh look there’s a TV! Some kind of Australian period drama…
7. With Noni Hazelhurst! Didn’t she and Bourke from Bourke’s Backyard used to have a thing? Saucy minx.
8. I’m bored. It’s only been 5 minutes.
9. OMG the other woman waiting just spoke to me. She just broke the cardinal rule of waiting rooms.
10. Don’t make eye contact.
11. The Centrelink line appears to be moving faster, WTF?!
12. I really shouldn’t have eaten so many Clinkers today.
13. My tongue feels funny.
14. I wonder if I can whisper the entire alphabet in one breath?
15. Nope.
16. This granny smith chair is actually quite comfortable.
17. Where does one purchase such hideous furniture?
18. Remember when beanbags were a thing! HA.
19. I think my housemate has I beanbag… Note to self: don’t put this on the blog.
20. I should definitely take a selfie, a waiting room is a pretty high risk selfie environment.

Looking rather jaundiced.

21. Waiting does not look good on me.
22. I wonder if all these people will lose their jobs under the new federal budget?
23. Maybe they will just hire a troll to stand at the door and yell “NO MONEY FOR YOU!” HA! How witty I am.
24. MY NAME JUST GOT CALLED.
25. I’m being served by a lady named Kerry, her top is green like the chairs.
26. It also matches a file on the desk labelled ‘Kerry: TO DO’, it’s a pretty thin file. Kerry is on top of shiz.
27. It seems I’ve had two cheques sent to an old address, yet again winning at adulthood.
28. Kerry is typing. She has a box of tissues on her desk with ‘Kerry’ written on the side, no doubt daring her coworkers to steal them.
29. Should I eat lunch if I’m not hungry? Probably.
30. Kerry just finished typing, I’M DONE!

Have you read this yet? 30 thoughts I had during this morning’s coffee run

Posted in Misc | Tagged Internal Dialogue, Medicare, Waiting | 12 Comments

Earl Grey Cupcakes

Posted on May 19, 2014 by Bec

The first time I had Earl Grey tea was at my friend Tarn’s house when we were teenagers. Whenever I smell that heavily perfumed bergamot orange aroma it makes me think of her. When I lived in Vienna my good friend Claire and I used to drink mug after mug of Earl Grey in our apartment, always with a slice of lemon squeezed in. That was great until we started leaving dirty mugs with dead lemon rinds in them around the place…

I had been wanting to make these cupcakes for a while, so Sunday afternoon seemed like a good enough time. This recipe is the Hummingbird Bakery recipe from the Laura Ashley website. The Earl Grey flavour is very subtle, so I might try it again with another teabag.

Ingredients

Cupcakes:
3 Earl Grey teabags
3tbsp just-boiled water
80g unsalted butter, softened
280g caster sugar
240g plain flour
1tbsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
200ml whole milk
2 large eggs

Frosting:
50ml whole milk
500g icing sugar
160g unsalted butter, softened

To make the cupcakes:

Place the teabags in a bowl and add the just-boiled water, then leave to brew for 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 190°C (375°F) and line a 12-hole muffin tin with muffin cases.

Use a hand-held electric whisk or freestanding electric mixer with paddle attachment to mix the butter, sugar, flour, baking powder and salt on a low speed until the texture of fine breadcrumbs.

Pour the milk into a jug, add the eggs and whisk by hand. Add the brewed tea, squeezing every last drop from the teabags into the milk mixture, then set the teabags aside for the frosting.

Pour three-quarters of the milk mixture into the dry ingredients and mix on a low speed to combine. Then mix on a medium speed until smooth and thick. Scrape the sides of the bowl, add the remaining milk mixture and beat until all the ingredients have come together and the batter is smooth.

Divide the batter between the paper cases, filling each two-thirds full. Bake in the oven for 18-20 minutes or until risen and springy to the touch, then leave to cool slightly in the tin before transferring to a wire rack to cool fully.

To make the frosting:

While the cupcakes are cooking, place the used teabags in a small bowl with the milk for the frosting and leave to infuse for 30 minutes. Remove the teabags and give them a good squeeze to extract maximum flavour.

Using the electric whisk or freestanding mixer with paddle attachment, whisk the icing sugar with the butter on a low speed until no large lumps of butter remain and the mixture is still powdery. Pour in the tea-infused milk while mixing slowly, then increase the speed to high and whisk until soft and fluffy.

Divide the frosting between the cold cupcakes, I used a piping bag but you can just swirl the frosting on the top with a knife.

The cakes were really delicious, very moist and just with a hint of Earl grey flavour. Do you like how my patty pans say ‘cupcake’ on the side? Just to avoid any confusion…

I decorated my cupcakes with those edible flower things from the supermarket. Not sure the Earl would approve of such girly looking cupcakes. Oh well.

I’m going to take some to my friend who has had a baby, I can’t wait to meet him! This business of people-making; so odd and amazing.

Posted in Food | Tagged Cupcakes, Earl Grey, Earl Grey Cupcakes, Recipe, Tea | 4 Comments

5 hilarious things from around the internet this week

Posted on May 16, 2014 by Bec

This list of 21 Simple Hacks That Will Significantly improve your life (like the one above).

Rap tshirts for white people Why are we all so lame?!

This bizarrely detailed step-by-step guide on how to stop a wedding (bookmark, just in case).

This awesome (and amusing) viral video of a cat saving its boy owner from a dog attack (you have probably already seen this).

This video of 5 ways to know how you’re watching a Spielberg film (I’ll never be able to watch one without looking for these again).

IT’S FRIDAY! Welcome to the weekend my friend. Got any plans? I got some. In other news this little blog turned THREE YEARS OLD yesterday! I know! Crazy.

In other news again today I waved at a small child and he made a gun with his hand and ‘shot’ me. Read into that what you will.

Got any links? To something funny? To your blog? Add ’em below. And have a wonderful weekend x

Posted in Misc | Tagged Friday, Funny, Links | Leave a comment

What would your last meal be?

Posted on May 15, 2014 by Bec

A few weeks ago I stumbled across this photography project by Henry Hargreaves called No Seconds. Intrigued by the tradition of offering Last Meals to condemned prisoners, Hargreaves set out to recreate and photograph meals requested by some of America’s most notorious murderers.

It’s morbidly fascinating, go look, I’ll wait.

….

The single olive with the pit in it! Outrageous! Which would you choose? Has to be John Wayne Gacy’s meal amirite?! So much fried chicken.

Anyway, it got me thinking about what my last meal would be. It would definitely involve this:

A warm poppy seed bagel with lashings of Philadeplia cream cheese (full fat if I’m going to die shortly after), layers of smoked salmon and capers dotted on the top, drizzled with lemon juice. Sometimes I like onion too.

I don’t remember when or why I started loving this meal so much. My Mum is Canadian, so fortunately we’ve always been around bagels. I remember loving smoked salmon from a very early age and I suppose everything just came together. I make sure I always have this for breakfast on my birthday.

Now if it really was my last meal I would probably have to throw in a basket of thick cut fries, some olives, blue cheese and a packet of salt and vinegar chips. Oh and some pulled pork sliders. And a chilli dog. All washed down with a bottle of Moet… Too outlandish?

Unfortunately I didn’t have all these things on hand when I photographed my breakfast last Saturday.

Now I’m handing it over to you: what would you last meal be?

Posted in Food | Tagged Bagel, Bagel with smoked salmon and cream cheese, Food, Last Meal | 6 Comments

Marshmallow, pretzel, peanut butter & chocolate slice

Posted on May 13, 2014 by Bec

This is the slice I made for Lauren’s circus party as mentioned in yesterday’s post. It was absolutely delicious, but very full on and not for those who aren’t a fan of the whole salty/sweet thing. The recipe is from here with a few adjustments (a biscuit crust and the addition of marshmallows).

Ingredients:

Crust
1.5 cups ground sweet plain biscuits (I used Marie biscuits)
3/4 cup ground pretzels (measure after crushing)
1/3 cup caster sugar
1/2 cup melted butter

Filling
2 cups dark chocolate chips
1 cup creamy peanut butter
1 cup pretzels, for topping

Preheat the oven to 170°C. Line a 9″ x 13″ pan with baking paper, leaving long ends to use to remove the bars from the pan.

To make the crust:

Whisk together the ground biscuits, ground pretzels and sugar until well combined. Mix in the melted butter using your fingers to evenly distribute it. You should have a soft but not wet dough.

Press the dough evenly into the pan and bake for 10 to 12 minutes. While the crust cooks make the filling.

To make the filling:

In a double boiler or using a microwave melt the chocolate chips, stirring every 30 seconds until smooth and creamy. Add the peanut butter and stir until well combined and smooth.

Pour the filling over the warm crust and spread out evenly. Tap the pan on the counter to allow air bubbles to escape (I forgot to do this and it was fine).

Sprinkle the remaining pretzels and the marshmallows on top and slightly press them down so they stick in the chocolate.

Put the tray back into the oven for 5-10 minutes or until the marshmallows melt and go a nice golden colour. After that pull the tray out of the oven and chill in the freezer for 1 hour. I then put the tray in the fridge until I was almost ready to go to the party.

Use the baking paper to lift the bars out of the pan onto a cutting board. Use a large knife to slice into squares or bars. Serve frozen, chilled or at room temperature.

So good! The marshmallows were sticky and sweet and contrasted really well with the crunch of the pretzels. As for the peanut butter and chocolate combination, how can you go wrong?! And because I took the slice to a party and shared it, I didn’t end up eating half the tray myself and feeling really guilty! That’s a win.

Posted in Food | Tagged Chocolate, Food, Marshmallow Pretzel Peanut Butter and Chocolate Slice, Party food, Peanut Butter, Slice | 4 Comments

Under the Big Top: Lauren’s Circus Themed 30th

Posted on May 12, 2014 by Bec

It’s pretty safe to say I’d been looking forward to this party for a long time. Two months in fact. That’s when I purchased the bulk of my costume online. On Friday night, the bearded man and I had another fancy dress party that involved dressing as school kids complete with packed lunches in our tiny backpacks. It was heaps of fun but I was really saving myself for Saturday night.

Saturday finally rolled around and Emily and I found ourselves wrist deep in fondant and delirious in a way only excessive cake making can cause. We’d been charged with baking the cake by Lauren’s husband Dave and decided on a two tiered chocolate mud cake. Having never used fondant before I left that part in Em’s capable hands (literally) and did the baking part myself. It was quite an operation and one that probably deserves it’s own post, if I can muster up the strength.

We were pretty happy with the end result, particularly with the addition of Circus themed Duplo:

Delightfully juvenile

But onto the night. Lauren hired a local bowls club, which was an excellent idea because it turns out a bowling green is an excellent place to host a giant bouncy castle (just don’t get me started on the logistics ~~and pain~~ of jumping in a corset).

The birthday girl Lauren, Em & I

I bought my corset and tutu online and added a second tutu underneath for modesty purposes (the one from my sailor girl costume). I bought white fishnets from a local dance-wear shop, ripped some disgusting feathers off the mini hat which came from a junk shop, my gloves also came from the sailor costume and the parasol I bought on ebay, but shouldn’t have bothered because it was a pain to carry around.

Everyone really made an effort with costumes and looked outstanding. Bec’s boyfriend Scott must really love her to don a full length pink onesie and a rainbow wig:

Dedication

I really must give a similar shout out to Andrew, who went as the bearded lady to a party where he barely knew anyone. He did draw the line at heading out to the pub afterwards though, which is fair enough.

Also dedicated.

We were well fed with mini hot dogs, pizza, curry in little noodle boxes, roast and gravy rolls, chips, cheese and lots of other party food I probably don’t want to remember eating. I could probably identify most of it by looking at my white gloves, which aren’t really white anymore. Classy!

Scott, SJ, Anthea and Em with some circus eats

‘Little boys’ as my Dad calls them… Gross.

SJ, Dylan, Chelsea, Alexis and I

No doubt using my intellect and persuasion to make a really important point.

Em, Chelsea, Ellenmary, Me, Lecki and Bec

Ellenmary, a bear tamer, decked herself out with amazing vintage tattoos that she printed and applied herself:

Ellenmary has graced several of my costume parties looking rather horrifying (one time her bloody frost-bitten face actually frightened people) so it was nice to see her looking so glam! And she mentioned it was nice not to have people recoil at the sight of her. Here’s a closer look:

All night I kept thinking how great it looked and how she really should consider getting each one of them permanently tattooed on. Then on Sunday I saw a photo of Ellenmary in regular clothes (still with all the tattoos on) and it didn’t quite look as romantic…

My bearded lady and I

Clownin’ around

Paula, Lecki and I

Scot, Dylan, Em, SJ, Owen, Ellenmary and Lecki

I have no idea what I’m doing.

Em, Scott, Bec. Ellenmary, Owen, Emma, Andrew and Laura

Meg, Dave and Paula

Bec and Bec

Lauren about to cut into her birthday cake:

The cake turned out really well! Pat on the back to Em and I. I was also really pleased with a chocolate, peanut butter, pretzel and marshmallow slice I made for the party. They were salty and sweet and delicious. Three people came up and told me how much they enjoyed them, which was nice. I’ll post the recipe this week.

After cake cutting there was dancing, more drinking and bouncing. There was also a few rather violent games of ‘stacks on’ inside the bouncy castle, which I don’t have photos of for obvious reasons. Let’s just say people emerged looking very haggard and that adults probably shouldn’t be allowed bouncy castles at their parties.

It’s a pretty good indication your night is nearing completion when the kissing photos begin…

It’s also a good indication when you fall asleep in someone’s lap and wake and asked to be taken home… not that I did that of course.

Before long the clowns packed into their tiny cars, the circus animals were re-caged and the acrobats came down from their high wires and trapezes for the night. Some of us were pretty sad it was over.

Sad clowns.

But we were happy to have been there. Thanks for hosting us Lauren and Dave! It was an excellent night. I wonder what the next costume party will be…

Posted in Misc | Tagged Cake, Circus, Circus Food, Circus Party, Circus Theme, Costumes, Under the Big Top | 8 Comments

Accidental salmon overdose: honey, soy & mustard glaze

Posted on May 10, 2014 by Bec

You know what I learnt this week? NO ONE likes salmon. I like salmon, maybe you like salmon? But NO ONE I know likes salmon. Or they are allergic. How selfish.

Unfortunately I only learnt this after defrosting a 4 pack of salmon steaks, and only 3 steaks in, I’m beginning to wonder how much I like salmon…

For rounds one and two of salmon groundhog day I just threw those fishy fillets in the oven and squeezed lemon over the top. By round three I needed something different.

Of course my honey has crystallized…

So I combined two tablespoons of honey, two of soy sauce, two teaspoons of mustard and a dash of lime juice. I fried the last two salmon fillets in a bit of olive oil on each side until cooked. Then I removed the fillets, put the honey soy mustard concoction in the pan and let it simmer away for about two or three minutes.

I made some cous cous (rice’s friendlier and easier cousin) and steamed some beans then poured half the sauce on top.

It was outstanding.

And today I get to have it again for lunch… Yay….

Do YOU like salmon? How should I cook it next time?

Posted in Food | Tagged Food, Recipe, Salmon | 12 Comments

The 3 most irresponsible things that happened this week

Posted on May 9, 2014 by Bec

You might have read before about my misadventures in the pursuit of finally morphing into a fully-fledged adult.

I am no closer. Here are some times I failed at life this week:

1. The purchase of this cardigan:

“This is a good idea”

Because a $7.50, 100% synthetic sweater is going to keep me warm all winter long, right?

Right?

Also, what’s a sweat shop?

2. The bins that never made it out of the driveway… again:

Being a grown up is hard

I can’t actually remember the last time they made it curbside to be emptied… Our driveway is probably a biological hazard. And to make it worse recycling collection is only once every two weeks. WHYYYY?

3. The consumption of these Nerds:

Food of the Gods

I thought my taste buds would have matured past these delicious little chemical beads by now, and yet I find them just enticing as I did when I was 8. As evidenced by the embarrassingly mauled packet… Can’t. Eat. Them. Fast. Enough.

Are you a capable adult? Teach me.

Posted in Misc | Tagged Adulthood Fail | 11 Comments

7 things I loved from around the internet this week

Posted on May 8, 2014 by Bec

This list of 32 hilariously accurate graphs and infographics (like the one above).

This video of Brazilian teenagers improving their English by Skyping with seniors in a Chicago retirement village (I may have wept a little).

This interview with Michelle Knight about her abduction and 11 year ordeal living as a prisoner in Ariel Castro’s house in Cleveland, Ohio (very moving).

This video of tiny hamsters eating tiny burritos (squeeeee!).

This photo of what everyone is wearing in NYC (I own all these items! Except that ugly bag. I am SO cool).

This recipe for lemon slice that looks not only delicious but kind of like my childhood.

This list of 40 reasons why local news is the best news. (I actually LOLed).

Got any to share with me? Please add a link in the comments!

Posted in Misc | Tagged Internet Love, Links | 3 Comments