Paradox Art

My friend Hannah is an awesome artist, but she doesn't spend enough time on her art, insisting instead to pursue a normal career as a lab tech (I'm jealous, can you tell?).  Her limited time painting means her art work is one of a kind.  She has a website here where she sells her paintings and photograph prints.  Go and have a look and tell her I sent you when you buy something (I don't guarantee YOU'LL benefit from this, but I will definitely get kudos!).

Easter's Coming

We don't 'celebrate' Easter, but we have always done the Easter egg giving and the hot cross bun gobbling that is inseparable from thoughts of Easter.  One thing I would look forward to over all others was Cadbury Cream Eggs.  They were delicious and sickly and stickily sweet.  Why do I speak of them in past tense, you ask?  Well, because, since Cadbury decided making an even bigger profit was more important than continuing well loved lines.  They also decided to put palm oil in their chocolate, a move that backfired on them and lead to their removing it and going back to the old recipe.  But after that, we very rarely ever eat Cadbury chocolate, and have moved to Whittiker's, a New Zealand owned and New Zealand made chocolate I'm sure I have babbled on about before.

So, you can imagine my excitement when I saw this post at Not Martha, that lead to this post at Not Without Salt, that offered the possibility of recreating a favourite yummy at home.  Of course I forgot that cream eggs outside of New Zealand aren't gooey and sticky...  But this is a great alternative.  Now I'm inspired to figure out how to make the New Zealand version, but don't expect that this year!  I think I will try making chocolate hot cross buns this year.  Mum tried a recipe a few years ago that we agreed was not very nice - way too yeasty for our taste.  Our new (Dame) Alison and Simon Holst bread book has a recipe for them.

But for the moment, I am making Mum a birthday cake.  Sounds straightforward, right?  Well, if you know me, you know I can't do anything in a straightforward manner.  So, I decided that I had seen somewhere a tiramisu cake, with sponge cake layered with mascarpone coffee cream.  But I couldn't remember where I'd seen it, and a search of the internet didn't really bring up what I wanted, so I'm putting four different recipes together to make one cake.  Edmond's cookbook sponge, ladies' fingers from Joy of Baking, traditional tiramisu from Epicurious, and (because I wanted to be fancy) the oreo truffles recipe from Chocolate and Carrots that worked SO well last time.  How will all of these go together?  Just wait and see...  Also, don't tell my Mum, it's a surprise.  No, she doesn't read my blog.  Yes, I know, she IS mean.  I agree.

Butch Bakery, New York

The Butch Bakery in New York is so cool (even if I do like girly girl things!).  The owner decided, upon losing his job on Wall St in the financial issues a few years ago, to make cupcakes for men.  Manly men.  The flavours that you can order sound so delicious, I really want to try them, but unfortunately they don't deliver to New Zealand (he he he).  So, if there are any Americans out there or people who are planning to visit New York, check them out!  To see all of the flavours, go here and click on Butch Box, I think my favourite would be the B-52 or Mojito!

Emily will play the part of Kim in this photo

Rather than tell you how I'm sorry I haven't posted in ages, and that the reason I haven't is because I have at least five projects at various stages of completion (including two started today), I thought I would post this picture that made me smile ear to ear.

I love Emily the Strange, to the point of a mild obsession.  I have a bag, a few t shirts, a smart top, poster, framed picture, mug, two pairs of earrings, ipod case, stickers, badges, and a zombie cat...  So I'm sure you can imagine how it pleased me that my friend Fi thought of me when she saw this and tagged me in her facebook album!

Everyone remember:

BE MORE STRANGE