Archive for January, 2009
Peach Melba
When your dad “unknowingly” buys peaches thinking that they’re nectarines, and then having to worry about what to do with 5 ripe peaches on your fruit basket, what do you do?
Why, make peach melba, of course! (I used Nigella Lawson’s recipe)
Nigella Lawson’s Peach Melba
2 1/2 cups water
5 peaches, halved and de-stoned
2 cups white sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence (or 1/2 tsp vanilla extract)
2 tbsp lemon juice
1. Put water, sugar, lemon juice, and vanilla essence in a shallow pan. Bring to boil until sugar dissolves, then reduce for about 5 minutes.
2. Put the peaches in the pan, sliced side down. Turn over after 2-3 minutes (depending on how ripe they are). Check if the peaches are cooked by piercing the exposed flesh with knife. If soft, then take them out of the pan and into a plate to cool.
3. Once cooled, peel the skin off. Serve with vanilla ice cream and raspberry sauce.
Halved and de-stoned
And… 15 minutes later, skinned and blushing in its wonderful, sugary vanilla syrup
Now all I need is vanilla ice cream and a sweet, tangy raspberry syrup. Mmmm…
Vanilla Babycakes
Oftentimes, when a recipe is so good and things work out well between you and “it” from day one, there’s no reason for you to change it, tweak it, or make it your own. Leave the recipe as it is and enjoy its perfection, and you and “it” will have a perfect, happy, harmonious life together.
That is the case with Nigella Lawson’s trustful vanilla cupcake recipe.
The fundamentals of the recipe is just sheer genius: why bother with tedious, painstainkingly hard-to-remember recipes when you can have a simple step-by-step recipe as simple as 1 2 3?
I think I’ve posted the recipe before but I’ll do it again just for repetitions sake. Because I’m OC like that.
Nigella Lawson’s Vanilla Cupcakes (as babycakes!)
125g self raising flour
125g caster sugar
125g unsalted butter, softened
2 eggs
2 tbsps milk
1 tsp vanilla essence (or 1/2 tsp vanilla extract)
1. Pre-heat oven to 170 deg C. Line muffin tray with paper cases.
2. Mix all ingredients together except for milk. Once well combined, pulse while adding milk.
3. Divide into muffin tray and bake for 20-23 mins. Cool before frosting.
Simple, divine, and utterly delicious!
NB. The buttercream frosting started melting because it was such a hot day!! But nevertheless… it still tasted good!
Oh, and just another photo of a take away cake from the party. It’s a chocolate mousse cake that I enjoyed (more like devoured ha ha ha) with fresh strawberries as soon as I got home. Yum! I love birthday parties, and I love birthday cakes!
Happy 2009!
For NYE, we decided to do the unthinkable – secure a spot in Milson’s Point and wait for the countdown. In the 5 years I’ve been living in Sydney, this is the first time I’ve been brave enough to go to the city and mingle with the millions of people to watch the fireworks. And boy was it all worth it! – the long 10 hour wait (we were there from 2pm!), the glare of the sun (I got a nice tan though so no need to go to the beach now!), the back and butt pain from sitting down in a flat, hard ground, and the tedious, hard work of commuting home along with millions and millions of people.
But, this photo of the Bridge taken by the genius that is my good friend, Miss Pia Villarama says it all. We had an awesome vantage point in Bradfield Park, the fireworks were just spectacular, I am so proud of my awesome city, I thank God everyday for the beauty of all that He has created, and I wouldn’t want the NYE to go any other way – IT WAS THE BEST!!!
Sugarcream 