Bake off winning: Apricot & Walnut Caramel Tarts

The most exciting attractions are between two opposites that never meet.  ~ Andy Warhol

According to pop psychology most people are either Type A or Type B personalities.

Type A's being highly organised, time-conscious, stressed out, and competitive and Type B's being laid back, relaxed, casual and not having a single organisational bone in their bodies.  So it was rather hilarious, and not completely surprising, to discover over new years that the entire group of boys were, you guessed it, Type B, with their partners/wives/girlfriends all being exclusively and emphatically Type A.   Leave the boys to decide on what to do next and we are still sitting at the beach hours later.  Get the girls together and we're all planning out the next couple of days in minute detail: spreadsheets, packing lists and all.  It seems opposites do attract.

I think it would be hard to argue I am anything but Type A: I like everything neat and organised, things to be planned well in advance, getting to places way early. C in his more cheekier moments has dubbed it Type A.R.  But for a Type A, I don't think I'm that competitive.  I don't even like competitions and while being last is never fun, being first seems to me like an awful lot of pressure.

And I most definitely don't like being in bake off's.  If people actually like my baking that's enough of a win for me.  I leave it to the truly talented to enter in baking competitions and then go about collect the winning recipes to try.  Here is one of those winning recipes from a bake off C had at his work a wee while ago: Apricot and Walnut Caramel Tarts.

Edamame, fennel & orange salad and a huge Happy New Year!

Happy New Year beautiful people!  May 2012 bring you all success, happiness and deliciousness.

We've just come back from our action packed South Island adventure.  It was rugged.  It was amazing.  It was hardcore.  We camped, tramped and road tripped our way through the deep south, visiting some of the most beautiful places on the planet. Cannot wait to post some of the gazillion photos I took on our trip. I can barely lift my right arm 'cause I took so many.  Don't know if you heard me counting.  I took over a thousand. (I actually did!!)

{sneak peek from our south island road trip}

I also have loads of new recipes I've tried out from our Christmas festivities which I'm dying to share with you so am mucho excited bout being back to blogging.  Bring on twenty twelve baby!

Since it's a fresh new year, let's start off with a fresh salad recipe: Edamame, Fennel & Orange Salad.

Merry Christmas & fairy lights ♥

What is Christmas?  It is tenderness for the past, courage for the present, hope for the future.  It is a fervent wish that every cup may overflow with blessings rich and eternal, and that every path may lead to peace.  ~Agnes M. Pahro

White chocolate eggnog fudge

Last Christmas, my White Chocolate Eggnog Truffles went down a treat so this year I thought I'd stick with the winning flavour combo but in fudge form: White Chocolate Eggnog Fudge. 


Following the raging success that was the Salted Caramel Fudge, I felt like a fudge ninja.  I was on a fudge making roll.

'Tis the season for sweet noggy eggnog

Marge: [Opening the refridgerator] Homer, didn't you get any milk? All I see is eggnog.
Homer: 'Tis the season, Marge! We only get thirty sweet noggy days. Then the government takes it away again. [pours some on his cereal] 
~ The Simpsons (Marge Be Not Proud, season 7, episode 11)

Sweet noggy eggnog.  The best holiday beverage. Smooth, creamy and full of spices; it's like a chai milkshake but boozey.
 
According to legend (aka wiki), eggnog has its roots in medieval England having developed from "posset", a hot beverage made of sweetened hot milk spiked with ale or wine.  Over the years eggs were added and more potent liquors like brandy, sherry and Madeira used. The drink was popular among the aristocracy as dairy products and eggs were expensive and did not keep well.

The "nog" part of the name may be referring to a small carved wooden mug used to serve alcohol which was called a "noggin" in Middle English or perhaps is a shortened version of "egg 'n' grog" alluding to the name for drinks made from rum.

I love the stuff and I really wanted to make eggnog fudge and eggnog macarons this year for Baking for Hospice and all our Christmas parties coming up.  However, despite our colonial heritage, eggnog isn't a terribly common drink in New Zealand.  Not many of my friends had tried it before and when I went out in search of premade eggnog in liquor stores I couldn't find it anywhere!  So I made my own Sweet Noggy Brandy Eggnog.

Candy cane mint chocolate cupcakes

Chestnuts roasting on an open fire 

Jack Frost nipping at your nose 

Yuletide carols being sung by a choir 

And folks dressed up as Eskimos ~ The Christmas Song

We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give ~Winston Churchill

C and I were discussing what our favourite Christmas carols were the other day.  It was a surprisingly difficult decision to make.  Do you pick the well known, often sung "Jingle Bells" or "Rudolph"; the local carol "Te Harinui", an oldie but goodie: "Feliz Navidad", hippy fav "Happy Christmas (War is Over)" or a pop anthem like "All I want for Christmas"(Yes, I'm a Love Actually groupie, loud and proud).

In the end I went with the classic: The Christmas Song.  Maybe it's because I grew up down under where Christmas time = summer time so we don't get white Christmases, but there's just something awfully romantic about spending Christmas curled up next to a roaring fire.  Sigh.

But whether you are celebrating a winter or summer Christmas in your part of the world, the season of giving is universal.

Baking = Love.  Giving = Joy.

And it was an absolute joy last week for Baking for Hospice to start baking for Totara Hospice South Auckland.  As a test run last Sunday (the main run being this Sunday),  we delivered baking for their Volunteers' Christmas Morning Tea and as my contribution I indulged my mint and choc obsession and made Candy Cane Mint Chocolate Cupcakes with Peppermint Cream Cheese Frosting.

 

Salted caramel fudge: russian fudge's creamy cousin

Fudge, it seems, is rather difficult to fudge up.

They used to let us tackle it as kids to keep us occupied: just throw everything in a dish, microwave and stir, and voila you have fudge!

Making a grown up version however, proved a tad more challenging.  I seriously stuffed the recipe up.  I zapped it on too high a heat, didn't keep track of how long I microwaved it for, and generally didn't pay enough attention to the recipe.  At one point I had laid out my just-starting-to-set fudge into the pan, then turned around to see the white chocolate that was supposed to go into it, still sitting on the chopping board.  Then the white chocolate seized.  This fudge really could've been an utter disaster, but miraculously, I still ended up with a delicious creamy fudge.  Go figure.

A Nessie proof fudge is a fool proof fudge.

Lemon sorbet: when life gives you lemons, make sorbet

Every white will have its black, And every sweet its sour. ~ Thomas Percy

This year hasn't been the smoothest of years.  A bittersweet roller-coaster ride of a year.  It's crazy coz so many people I've talked to have also had a lemon of a year too.  Illness, marriage problems, family dramas; not to mention earthquakes, tsunamis and riots: you name it, its happened this year! What was it about twenty eleven?!

This year I've gotten married, passed my first year of med school and celebrated NZ's historic RWC victory but also said goodbye to a dear family friend, my grandma and my uncle. This topsy-turvey year has really driven home for me two important truths:

Fact 1: Life really is like a box of chocolates....dark chocolates.  The bitterness only makes you appreciate the sweetness all the more.  The deeper that sorry carves into your being, the more joy you can contain ~ Kahil Gibran.

Fact 2: Everything happens for a reason so when life gives you lemons, make lemonade...or Lemon Sorbet.