Posted on

The Wedding

Well I’m back in Brisbane for about 24hrs before jetting off to Japan tomorrow morning. The wedding was fantastic on the weekend. It was a wedding that very much fitted the bride and groom (my cousin Erica and her now husband Ash). The wedding weekend was at Coles Bay in the Freycinet National Park area of Tasmania. It was where Erica and Ash decided to get engaged a couple of months ago and a place where they’ve spent a lot of time.

3 pictures for now because everything else will have to wait till I get back from Japan.

Saying hello to Grandad after the ceremony
Erica and Ash

This photo just about sums up the wedding 100%. The beach, playing in the water, having a picnic and a wedding as well.
Erica and Ash

and the cake, mmmm flourless chocolate cake and a very very good one at that. With the mountains of Freycinet in the background
Erica and Ash

Posted on

the next few days

The next six days are going to be slightly manic.

Tomorrow – I have work (of course), I get my tooth implant, I’ve got postgrad orientation stuff to do at uni and then I have The Whitlams with the QSO tomorrow night.

Friday – Work and then straight to the airport to catch a flight to Hobart.

Saturday – Wedding of my cousin on the beach at Coles Bay/Freycinet

Sunday – Post wedding activities and flying home Sunday night.

Monday – Work and first uni lecture

Tuesday – Fly to Japan for 2 weeks. (Yeah, I’ll be missing four classes – two for each subject, whilst I’m away)

I’m so crazy looking forward to going to Japan. G (one of my best girl friends) and I are going to have a blast (literally as they having a bit of a cold snap at the moment and it is forecast to snow for the days we are up in the alps!!!).

It’s going to be crazy. I bought a new lens the other week, the 28mm 1.8 which will be one of the two lenses I’m taking to Japan, the other will be the 50mm 1.4. I was thinking of taking my 16-35mm 2.8 but it is a heavy piece of glass. I took a few photos with the 28mm the other day and I’m impressed

Multi use Figgjo
Yep, some more of my Figgjo Flint Lotte. Here you see a creamer which doubles as a bobby pin and nail utensil holder, a sugar pot that holds bracelets and hair clips and my soufflé dish which holds jewellery.

Playing with the 28mm 1.8

Playing with the 28mm 1.8

Playing with the 28mm 1.8Playing with the 28mm 1.8Playing with the 28mm 1.8

Posted on

Macarons at last, a promise delivered.

A very dear friend and co-worker has her last day at work on Friday before jetting off to the other side of the world to join her fiancé. For months and months she has been pestering me to make macarons and for months and months I’ve been delaying. Well I made them on the weekend and took them to work on Monday. I met my deadline and I made macarons for the first time. I made two types. Pistachio with a chocolate butter cream filling and chocolate with a double chocolate filling (chocolate ganache and chocolate butter cream).

Pistachio Macarons
Can you spot the Figgjo Annemarie plate? I also put a little surprise in these with a spoonful of crushed pistachios in the centre. Also I only used pistachio meal in the shells instead of blend of almond and pistachio meal that I saw in some recipes.

The pistachio ones looked the most like commercial macarons, they had a better foot and the top was glossier but some of the tops were domed and cracked. My reading would indicate that this is because I may have over mixed the pistachio meal and sugar into the egg white mixture. The chocolate ones I believe I the eggwhite mixture was too stiff and thus they mixture wasn’t as quite as runny as it should be. This is all a big learning curve and most importantly I can say that they all tasted delicious.

Chocolate, Chocolate and Chocolate
Double Chocolate Macaron Stack
These of course are on a Figgjo Lotte plate 🙂 Some of these had a squirt of ganache in the centre and then butter cream round that or vice versa with butter cream in the centre. My favourite ones to look at though are the ones where I piped ganache on one side and butter cream on the other side.

I ended up with 60 odd macarons and they certainly didn’t last long at work.

Posted on

a few recent photos

November 1, where on earth has the year gone?

The other week at the farm I took the 135mm, sigh that is one lens I sure do love.

135mm at the farm

135mm at the farm

135mm at the farm

My exam is on Friday, this is what my desk looks like at the moment.
Study

Do you spy that plaque near my tea cup? This is a scan of it. It’s a Figgjo (my favourite Norwegian company) Utfart wall plaque. The discolouration in the glazing is most likely from where it has been hung with a wire which has leached into the glaze. If I ever hang this baby it will be with good strong string or similar.
Figgjo Utfart wall plaque

And that is the end of this short post of pictures