2018 highlights week #21: busy weekend

Saturday was…

road trip in the fog to Sydney for 5×5. We won and I got to eat a cupcake.

Sunday was…

gym then out to the country

to see Zac perform cello.

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A year in the life 2016 #332: Red Ribbon cake

Who can resist cupcakes? Especially when they are to raise funding for HIV and AIDS related charities. As usual, the Department had an acknowledgement of Red Ribbon Day. I also got a red ribbon myself.

A year in the life 2016 #263: a cupcake a day…

Some days it is nice to find cupcakes on sale in the foyer at work – happy to support whatever cause it is today because cupcake.

Rainbow cakes

For some time now Sebastian had a high concept idea for cupcake decoration with rainbows. Today he finally put it into action. The base – royal icing dyed blue.

For clouds, piped whipped cream. And then the rainbow. Delicious and pretty.

 

A year in the life 2016 #50: afternoon teal

My best friend Natasha is a big supporter of ovarian cancer awareness and research and hosted an afternoon tea to raise both money and awareness.  Champagne and cupcakes for all!

PS the biggest problem with ovarian cancer is that it is usually detected too late, so be aware of the symptoms and get yourself checked out if in doubt.

Gin gin gin

So what better way to spend a Sunday afternoon than with a bunch of friends drinking gin and eating gin-infused or gin-appropriate foods? Really, I don’t think there is.

There was an obvious place to start…

This was a random Australian gin I had bought at the bottle shop in Berry earlier this year. Very smooth, but not very interesting with the botanicals, it did feel like we were easing our way into it.

We tried gins neat then converted to g&ts, martinis or whatever else took our fancy. As the afternoon progressed, the pours got more generous….

I think the kids were trying to escape.

Beautiful accompanying foods kept our stomachs lined – here is Rachel’s beetroot and gin cured salmon.

Staying Australian we tried Poor Tom’s – a gin I supported through Pozible. This was actually delicious – a zingy floral delight.

Sebastian alternated between chef and serveur.

We had all been hoping that the Tann’s would actually be purple, but were disappointed when we discovered it was just the bottle colouring. Nonetheless, a flavoursome gin with just a hint of sweetness at the end of the palate.

The Bulldog packed an alcoholic punch – not the most subtle of gins.

Sebastian supplied more scallops (with a little help from his father).

It was then back to Australia and Four Pillars which has become a g&t favourite for me.

We had bottles from two batches – 3 and 119 – so here Anna is sacrificing herself to science and trying both at the same time. Testing revealed that there was indeed a difference.

We moved next to the Bombay Sapphire family: the Star had quite an alcoholic fore-taste, but still was pretty easy to drink. I was surprised though that I found myself prefering the East which was peppery and delicious.

I finally made g&t cupcakes for the occasion. We’ll be making those again.

The desserts were fabulous with gin infused cheesecake, gin and lime truffles and Helen’s magnificent g&t jelly which tasted delicious and had a mesmerising wobble.

There was one last gin for the day – the Sipsmith which had lots of botanical deliciousness. Though, perhaps, by this time the palate wasn’t as sharp as it had started out!

A fabulous afternoon – it may have to become an annual event!

Weeks! #48: this is normal, well mostly

After my two weeks away, back to normality and walking the boys to school.

Was feeling more than a little tired at work though it must be said.

We also got to have stories. Sebastian has (finally) decided that he is no longer on the story team, so it was just Jude, Zac and I now.

It was James’ turn to be away this week – he was off to Adelaide for a conference. So I cooked boys bolognaise – our go-to meal when James isn’t home.

Continuing tired and more than a wee bit stressed.

On Wednesday I went to the skatepark with Jude and Sebastian while Zac was at cricket training. I even got on my own skates (though briefly).

There were some spectacular clouds about as evening storms seem to have become the thing in Canberra.

Even though James was away, it was Eldritch Horror night with the Andrews. We got horribly beaten.

Had an SES forum on Thursday and got to spend a bit of interesting time doing some future scenario planning. We got the above as a possible set of future scenarios. I didn’t rate it.

I never cook this much in a week. That’s what happens when James is away.

Friday evening was spent watching Zac play cricket. With Phil Hughes’ death, it was hard not to be a little sad and thoughtful watching the boys play. They had a minute’s silence at the beginning of the game and all had Phil Hughes’ test number 408 on their arms. Zac’s team was victorious.

While his brothers were at cricket the next morning, Zac and I played some of his extra special Uno game with added bells and whistles.

And then it was off to supervise some junior derby time.

Saturday night we got dressed up for Dave’s birthday. I guess I could look more excited. It was a lovely night.

There was team effort cupcake making on Sunday. Zac and James did the baking, while Sebastian lent his icing and decorating skills to the endeavour.

Then the big news for the week – I went back to derby training. I have had a lot of time to think about what I want. I may never play publicly again (stoopid 27 in 5) but I love the game and I love scrimming and I want to be involved in teams and so forth. And I have come to terms with that. So, there I was for an exhausting but super fun scrim with specific people I love playing with. Hooray for roller derby.