Oh for the love of Mike they're playing it for the 4th time!

Happy birthday to me (for tomorrow)

etc.

I am making a date and apple cake with a coconut topping. Courtesy of Kath. I figure the recipe must be fairly fool proof as Tim made it for his birthday once (not that Tim's a bad cook or anything). I'm having issues with the oven, which always seems to be a bit cold... but then the temp (according to the thermometer) doesn't really change if I move the dial by quite a wide margin. So I don't know what is right and/or wrong. The annoying thing about our oven is that it only shows about 4 temperatures, and so it shows 175 (who ever cooks anything on 175 I ask you?) and 200, but in between there aren't any bars or anything so it's fairly hit and miss (and actually, it's not even very clear where 175 or 200 is).

(Strangely, as I type, neighbours turn down the music. It's even like they know...).

Oh dear, I just took the cake out o the oven and it looks very brown... but it requires an extra 15 mins to cook the topping.... so I turned it down.

I have presents, but I'm not going to open them now - as Ray suggested - because then I won't have any presents for tomorrow! I peaked though and I already know what one is (from Al - it's a book by Barbara and Allan Peese... and there is a note on it that says something along the lines of it's to help me understand Ray... I think it's about reading maps or something?).

Unfortunately I have a tricky work meeting tomorrow, however it's right before morning tea so I do it fortified with the knowledge that there will be cake with double cream (okay, they're now playing the same song for the 3rd time - seriously!!) afterwards. And in the afternoon there is a bit of a dry training session about something but it finishes at 4pm and then maybe I can knick off a bit early.

Cross fingers for cakey goodness!

It's easier said than done...

but my kitchen rules.

I've have started watching My Kitchen Rules, because I've discovered the joy of avoiding ads (if we start taping the show, then commence watching about 10 minutes later can fast forward thru the ads. WOO HOO).

In usual fashion, I start going off on an imaginary tangent along the lines of 'what would Ray and I do?'. Of course, we are famous for entertaining. And I have to say I think we've got a fairly good system. Although we don't have to work within the constraints of the show, which are:
- to buy all the produce on the day of the challenge
- to not commence any cooking or preparation until 3 hours before the 'dinner' (although it does look like you can have done stuff like organise the decorations and stuff beforehand, just can't start setting the table).
- cook something that is 'restaurant quality'. Not sure if you have to do 3 courses but everyone seems to. And the meals are meant to be rated in comparison to the sort of thing that you would get in in a restaurant. A good restaurant that is (not a chew and spew).

So far, it's been a little unclear because obviously you don't get the full picture during the course of the show, but it seems that the couples are all a little under organised and/or pick too many hard things? For instance, last night one of the women was saying that the rice would take about 2 hours to cook, and then later on, once the entree was served she hadn't even started it? And she could have done it in the slow cooker! Would have been so easy just to stick it on and leave it in the background.

I know it's easier said than done, but I reckon Ray and I could do it. Although usually with our dinner parties we try to do as much stuff in advance (like the day before etc). I also think with a 3 course menu you pick 1 thing to be an absolute stand out dish - that maybe has some degree of difficulty, and then make the other two things slightly less complicated. And also stay away from things that could go very badly wrong (like the need for things to set in the fridge, etc). I guess that sort of defeats the purpose of the show, which is to show off cooking technique etc. but there have to be some trade offs.

I suspect my chicken pie wouldn't really cut it - but it smells damn good. Only 10 minutes to go....

Fun in Daylesford

We went to Daylesford today to visit Tim and Kath, and also to go to the Producers Day at the Lakehouse.

Tim said to get there early cause last year it was really crowded, so I had planned to get there at 10am when it opened. Unfortunately, our best laid plans were thwarted. After stopping to buy a coffee (for Ray) and petrol (for the car) we set off on the freeway. Except for some reason I wasn't paying any attention and after a while Ray said "I don't recognise any of these shops" (after we past an ENORMOUS 'Ray's Warehouse' - which is obviously something we pay attention to). I realised all the signs were saying 'Geelong' instead of 'Ballarat' and it occurred to me that we hadn't turned off onto the Ring Road. Whoops.

Luckily Ray was able to navigate with iphone GPSness but we had to manoeuvre our way from Werribee to the Western Freeway, which meant driving through suburbs unknowns (like Werribee, Hoppers Crossing and somewhere called Melton). The suburbs are scary. The roads go on forever and it's hard to believe that people live all the way out there (which seems like the arse end of nowhere). Eventually we made it back onto the Western but it was already 10am. We we turned off at Ballan we hit all the Melbournites heading to Daylesford for the day which meant we were travelling about 80km on a 100km speed limit road. YAWN. When we got to d-ford I pulled over and we counted 13 days banked up behind us.

As luck would have it we quickly found a park but the place was heaving. So we had a sausage in bread (yummy pork with sauerkraut and homemade relish) and bought a loaf of bread and decided it was too hot and crowded, so we headed up to Tims.

Tim has heaps of food anyway. He also took us to this art gallery type place (where he recently purchased an art investment)- unfortunately I can't find an internet link (I'm sure there must be one) but the place is extraordinary. The pieces of art are mostly HUGE (like, think living in a faux mansion on the Gold Coast type large) and are slightly bizarre. Mostly of children doing things but sort of 'post-war' Enid Blyton-y looking. Anyway, it reminded me of that episode of Dr Who were there were those statues that came to life, especially the ones that were sort of illuminated inside like a lamp. And just loads of old wooden furniture (but huge) and massive big bronze things. But best of all these was an old mini-van, with a cutesey mini-van trailer that was decorated in what looked like wrapping paper. I wanted to take it home.

Also went down to Jubilee Lake and regretted not taking my togs, cause it was baking and the water is apparently super cold.

I had a nap in the car on the way home. Ray made some bruschetta for dinner and we sat outside although it's a bit too hot and sunny out there at the moment and I feel a bit extra warm. Think we'll need the aircon on tonight.

Happy Waitangi Day

Ray is roasting a fairly non-traditional lamb roast as we speak (not on the bone - apparently Greg doesn't eat meat off a bone???!!!! what about KFC I ask you?), which is stuffed with some kind of bacon, basil and pine nut thingy. I am roasting potato and kumara. Deb and Greg are apparently making the Pav and Russian Fudge although I hear a whisper that there may have been some sort of culinary incident, so I'll be interested to see what we get when we turn up.

Ray and I disagree somewhat on the roast method of cooking. Normally I defer to Ray but in the area of roast cooking I believe that I am a bit of a 'dab hand' (I am my mother's daughter obviously, who isn't exactly known for her cooking skills but does cook a good roast - I don't roast mine in fat like she does tho). He has it in long, high and on fan bake, I'd put it in long, on a lower temp and only fanbake once the potatos go in, in a separate dish. I am not really for the veges in a separate dish but there were too many to fit. I also think personally that Ray's got it in for a bit long given that it's a boneless roast... won't take as long to cook as one with a bone in, but I shan't interfere any further.

Yesterday Angela and I tried to explain what Waitangi day was about, which evolved in a convoluted story about Hobson, and Governor Grey, and Wakefield (but then I took the Wakefield bit out because I decided he didn't have a lot to do with things), and 4 separate versions of the Treaty (as someone commented, they had version control issues even back then - it's not an invention of Microsofts), difficulty over accurately translating the word 'sovereignty' into a suitable Maori equivalent, issues with who actually 'signed' the Treaty and what they thought they were signing up to and so on. Makes me realise that I've forgotten an awful lot about NZ history despite having studied it for years at school and university.

Donna and Ray's silly adventure

We had a lovely dinner at Kamel with the Chairmans.

Just incase you were wondering, we had banquet 1 (I used my powers of persuasion). Everything was tres delicious. And such a good price!

Afterwards we were walking back to the car. So cut a long story short we couldn't find it and thought it had been stolen, but as it turns out we were too busy looking at someone's lemon tree and walked right past it the first time. PHEW.

The Chairmans are right though - Ray really is George (their cat). Because I was all 'what shall we do" and Ray is sort of "mmm, maybe we should call the police, I guess....".

Lucky wasn't needed.

Greg, get PING!

We had yum cha today at Dragon Boat Palace - all you can eat for $16.80!! It was FANTASTIC! Definitely will be going back there again.

Ahem - I have done some research on the interwebs about Pavlova. Whilst I've not done a lot to verify the sources, I think it's reasonable to assume that these are real people, who may have some credibility on the subject: (I have plagarised this from some website).

DR MICHAEL SYMONS, AUSTRALIAN FOOD HISTORIAN: New Zealand has had a recipe often called a meringue cake, but sometimes called a pavlova, before anything like that was known in Australia. And I think one of those places where the meringue cake changed its name to the pavlova was in Perth when Bert Sachse was cooking at the Esplanade Hotel. He's the person that has been credited in Australia with inventing it in 1935. And someone in the hotel gave it the name 'pavlova'.

PROFESSOR HELEN LEACH, FOOD HISTORIAN, UNIVERSITY OF OTAGO: I found a recipe book in my collecting of New Zealand compiled recipe books from a 1933 'Rangiora Mothers' Union Cookery Book' for a pavlova cake. Now, it's the correct name and it's also the correct ingredients and the correct method. This year, I found an even earlier recipe for a pavlova. It's 1929, and it's in a New Zealand rural magazine. So as you can imagine, I thought, "Well, there's clearly something wrong with the Australian claim."

so there.

Just thinkin' about, TOMORROW

We've got an action packed weekend planned. Tomorrow there's yum cha for lunch.

Then dinner at Kamel with the Chairmans (yom yom - I've been deciding what I'm going to have already!!). Then on Saturday we're going to Greg and Debs for Waitangi day celebration dinner - we're making roast lamb and Greg's making a pav (and Russian fudge). Then on Sunday we're going to Daylesford to the Lakehouse produce day and to visit Tim-Tam.

No housework - Hurrah!

The most annoying ever

I am stuck on a "hold" loop playing the most ridiculously annoying excerpts of hold music in the UNIVERSE (for all time).

It annoyed me so much I hung up.

I have better things to do with my life.