Cupcake Shapes!

To celebrate the conclusion of this semester's classes I put a few of my birthday pressies to good use and baked some miniature cupcakes for my class. As I had to fit them on to a baking tray they baked in the shape they were squished into on the tray:

Not picture perfect but I love the asymmetrical results. I call them cupcake shapes. Cupcakes are all the rage right now, even the Martha litmus test proves it- all week she has been featuring new cupcake flavours on her show in anticipation of her new line of product- Martha's Cupcakes. (Yes, I keep abreast of Marthaworld via her website). They all look soooo yummy but one really needs an electric mixer to make most of the recipes which my somewhat make-shift kitchen doesn't have (yet, maybe I will acquire one if the garage sale gods smile on me any time soon.) Anyway I managed to improvise and whipped up this batch of banana cupcakes from a random online recipe. They were ok, but mostly served as a pretty good vehicle for the yummy sour cream icing I made as a topping. I have to say, they were a hit! My classmates finished off every last one and I think I may have scored some much needed class participation marks from my civil procedure professor!

Kittens!

Congrats to one of my besties Anne at The City Sage and her hubby on the arrival of their two adorable kittens, Sophie and James Bond!! 

I'm sure the two adorable kitties are keeping them busy but just in case they wanted a new game to play, I thought I'd offer this suggestionclick here

Maroubra Beach

One of my favourite things about Sydney is the bounty of gorgeous beaches within a half hour drive of, well, anywhere. Yes everyone knows about Bondi but there are so many more gorgeous beaches that are just around the corner! This Sunday I was lucky enough to get an up-close view of Maroubra Beach, a beautiful, vast expanse of rocks, sand and ocean. Although it was a bit chilly to go for a dip, there were still plenty of diehard surfers willing to brave the chilly ocean. My new friend Georgia and I lunched at Pool Cafe, before stopping for a happy-snap by the beach. I thoroughly enjoyed my buttermilk pancakes with fruit compote,

but next time I will have to try the mushroom and Turkish toast combo that Georgia ordered- it looked divine! 

Thanks for a great day Georgia!

Happy Birthday to ME!

I have to say I think I may have outdone myself for my birthday celebration this past Saturday night. I wanted a fun Aussie BBQ with a cool relaxed, loungy vibe for people to mix, mingle, dance and eat. I have to say the whole night was a smashing success! I couldn't have pulled it off without the help of my new friends: Nissa, who woke me up at 8am Saturday morning for a trip to the local market, and the mall for supplies, Lucinda (pictured above) and her bf Daniel for doing the music and clean-up, and my housemates Ramona, Dominic, and Anna for helping with the lighting and clean-up. 

To get the mood right I bought some cellophane and we covered the potlights in the ceiling to get a blue and red light-effect- it was so cool! Nissa and I also decorated the party room with balloons and streamers for a really fun, festive vibe. We even put balloons at the door to help guests find the house- so 1985!! I wore a vintage strapless pink dress with a big bow in the front- very "birthday girl" I thought!

For dinner, guests started out on ore douvres - tortilla chips (NOT easy to find here), salsa, homemade guacamole, crusty baguette with dip, and a cheese platter. For dinner we had homemade gourmet burgers, shrimp and scallop skewers (fresh from the Sydney Fish Market), market-fresh sweet corn, homemade potato salad and a garden salad. My friend Kathy also brought some delicious vegan dishes to round out the spread. For dessert Nissa made some divine brownies from one of my favourite Martha recipes, and a vegan chocolate cake. The boys even pitched in- making themselves very useful at the barbecue!

Lucinda and another new friend, Chad were amazing DJs- mixing a blend of Australian dance music, with some French techno, and mellow beats. I couldn't believe it but we even had a bit of a dance floor going! Overall about 35 people attended the party and I had a GREAT time. We concluded the evening with popping party poppers and present opening, all in all a great night! 

Three Random Pictures

Howdy... we'll I'm officially overwhelmed. It's work work work and I'm meant to be planning my birthday party this weekend. It's nothing too over the top- just a barbeque- but still, I like things to be just so and I get anxious about the prospect of doing a half-hearted job. Hopefully I will still be able to pull off a reasonably decent evening for my friends. I have lots to blog about but I'm too tired to do it properly at the moment so I leave you with three random pictures I selected from my iphoto library...

Bailey and me in my friend Kristen's old apartment. It was the cutest little place above a bakery in Rosedale. 

A beach in Wineglass Bay, Tasmania. I took this while traveling there in 2005. 

My dad behind the wheel of our rental car in Cuba two Christmases ago. Has it been that long since that wonderful trip already?