My light bulb moment...in a small-big way.

Wow! How time flies! It's been totally crazy few months. But good crazy. We had an awesome time in Perth. WHat an awesome city Perth has become! And then it was back to reality in Sydney.....and I still do love Sydney.

The girls have started mainstream school for about a month and a half now. Unlike them, I'm still getting used to the style of teaching there. I'm biting my tongue and keeping (or trying to) an open mind. And watching Ken Robinson's talks on YouTube doesn't help in keeping this mind open. But let's leave that topic to another time.

One thing I'd like to talk about is childhood friendships. Am I wrong or are kids more mature now at their age? The things they talk about, their expressions, the clothes they wear! Ok, I know, I'm beginning to sound like an old bag now. But I never had huge friendship problems in school. Like Zara, I switched schools at the age of 9 as well. Besides being overly nervous when I started, I ended up having an awesome group of friends and we all thought we were too cool for school. Zara recently had some trouble with a friend at school. My protective mother instincts kicked in and I started giving her advise on how to cope with the snide remarks in school - positive thinking, avoid the negative energy and play with someone new, etc, etc. In the midst of my psycho self-help-book babble, Zara said, "Mummy stop! I wish it was all easier!" I gave her a hug and we never spoke about it eversince. I got the hint that I was probably overwhelming her.

 My girlfriend sent me an article recently and then it hit me like a ton of bricks! I've been doing it all wrong! All those books I have read and I didn't even see it! In the article, Carrie Goldman talked about how we ask questions make a whole difference to how our kids view the world. We can lead them to focus on the positives no matter what a downer their day can be! A simple question like, "What's the best thing you did today?" made a whole lot of difference. So simple and so much change in the after-school conversations we've been having. And it also makes me think about what the best part of my day was because we all know that we always forget to give ourselves the same "best" as we give our kids. And sure Zara will have good days and bad days. But being the amazing girl that she is, I know she will give her best shot at everything.

Ju'eta....xox

When times gets tough, things change...

In the last week or more, we have had to make some major decisions in our family. One that is currently affecting me most is pulling my girls out of their currently Montessori school.

Anyone who knows me will know how passionate I am about Montessori education. To make this decision (due to mainly financial constraints and our possible relocation to WA) has been heart wrenching. We visited a few mainstream schools in the area and found that the local public school was a lot better than I had expected. Public schools aren't the way they used to be when I was younger. They have composite classes and along with a focus on academia, they also focus on other activities like chess, music, community gardens, etc. I was pleasantly surprised.

If you are wondering what exactly Montessori is, you can read about it here.

But why am I still feeling so hesitant?

Perhaps, I feel terrible for telling my teary almost-8 year old that she can't join the school band next year and would most likely need to connect with new people. And there's a part of me who is embarrassed that I'm finding it hard to pay the almost $30K school fees for both girls and then having to explain to other parents why I'm leaving. So trivial and juvenile, I know.

Plus when you have to let go of something you are so passionate about, it can be tough.

But this will be our new journey. And I'm hoping to make the most of it for the sake of my girls. We'll make sure that we have a ball!

Sexy Pistachio Cake with Sexier Rose Buttercream

Pistachios.

Don't you just love pistachios? It's a nut of sophistication. Mario thinks I'm a nut myself for holding it in high regard....what does he know eh?

I was given the honour to bake my gf's birthday wedding cake - long story, beautiful but long. She wanted a Pistachio Rose Cake so I was on the hunt to find the perfect pistachio cake, with REAL pistachios.

Three weeks of search and I stumbled upon Paige's blog.

Oh. My. God!

Rich, buttery and pistachio-ey. It's a cake for adults. Here's my adaptation of it.

Sexy Pistachio Cake with Sexier Rose Buttercream


The Sexy Cake:
180g unsalted butter

225g caster sugar

1 tsp vanilla
85g almond meal

90g pistachio meal

4 eggs, at room temperature
80g cake flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
Pinch of salt

MAKE 'EM:

1. Preheat oven @ 165°C.
   Grease and line a 9" x 2" round tin.
2. Sift cake flour, baking powder and salt in a mixing bowl and set aside. 
3. Cream butter, sugar and vanilla in a stand mixer on high till light and fluffy.
4. Turn speed to low and add almond meal and pistachio meal. Increase speed to medium-high and cream till pale and fully - about 3 minutes.
5. Add eggs one at a time, creaming the mixture on high speed.
6. Gently fold in flour mixture till well combined.
7. Pour mixture into lined tin and bake for 35-40 minutes at 165°C till golden and cooked through.

The Sexy Rose Butter Cream:
300g caster sugar
5 large egg whites
455g unsalted butter, cubed
2 tsp rose water or 1 tsp rose essence


MAKE 'EM:

1. Place egg whites and sugar in a heat proof bowl and set over a pan of simmering water.
2. Whisk until sugar dissolves and temperature on thermometer is 70-75°C.
3. Remove from heat and whisk on high speed to cool mixture. *This step is very important as if the mixture is still warm, it will melt the butter.
4. Whisk egg whites till stiff peaks - about 6 minutes.
5. While mixer is on medium speed, add butter one cube at a time. Mixing well after each addition.
6. Pour in rose water or essence and mix well.

I topped my cake with Rose Pashmak and chopped pistachios.

Sexy adult's cake. Lovely.

It's all about the love....isn't it?

We celebrated our 10th Wedding Anniversary on Saturday....hold the applause. I was horrendously pressured to do something special that I planned nothing for it. My sister exclaimed that she's going overseas with her family for her tenth next year & my gf commanded me to plan something special. So out of peer pressure, we made dinner reservations the day before and arranged for my gorgeous sister in law to mind the girls.

Why do we always place such importance to numbers? 18th and 21st birthdays, 10th anniversary, 25th anniversary, etc....I think all numbers should be celebrated especially wedding anniversaries. 11 years must be definitely more important than 10...isn't it? And shouldn't it ultimately be about LOVE and not the number?

Mario, being as nonchalant about the whole thing as I am, decided to break the tradition and celebrate a not commonly celebrated number - our 13th anniversary!

So here's to you babe and your "out-of-box", quirky ways and for always pushing beyond my boundary! Happy 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th,  5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th & 10th anniversary! Love you to bits!

The Not-Quite-Oreo-But-Still-Pretty-Awesome Cookies

Oreos.


Don't you just love them? In my quest to not feed my girls any ingredients I don't know, we decided to be brave and make it ourselves. I prowled the net and found a recipe on Food Network site but tweaked it a little, as I usually do.The verdict? Well........not quite Oreos but pretty damn good!

I also learnt that taking photos with the down light on is a big no-no - see above. Sorry I diverge, just needed to add that in.


These cookies are insanely chocolaty with a slight salty bitterness that contrasts beautifully with the sweet filling. Without the tongue twisting ingredients, the cookie texture was not quite the same as the real thing. The filling however tasted really close. I reduced the sugar in my recipe but feel free to up the sugar to get it closer to the real thing.

Here's possum stealing a cookie mid shot.

For the Dough:

• 1 1/3 cups Dutch-process cocoa powder
• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 250g unsalted butter, softened
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the Filling:

• 125g unsalted butter, softened
• 125g vegetable shortening
• 3 cups icing sugar, sifted
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Make 'em:

1. Sift together the cocoa powder, flour and salt in a large bowl.
2. Using a mixer, cream the butter and sugar. Add the eggs one at a time, then the vanilla, incorporating each ingredient before adding the next. 
3. Add the dry ingredients and mix just until incorporated, scraping the bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula.
4. Divide the dough into 2 pieces; place one piece between 2 lightly floured sheets of parchment paper and roll into a 1/4-inch-thick rectangle. If the dough is too sticky, place in the freezer for a 15 minutes so it's easier to handle. Repeat with the other piece of dough. Refrigerate both rectangles, covered with the parchment sheets, until firm, at least 1 hour.
5. Using a cookie cutter, cut the dough into your desired shape. I used a 2" frilled-edge cutter. Place the cookies about 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheets and chill for 20 minutes. Preheat the oven to 160 degrees.
6. Bake for about 20 minutes.
7. Meanwhile, prepare the filling: Cream the butter and shortening until light & fluffy. Add in the icing sugar and vanilla.
8. Flip half of the cookies upside down and top each with 1 level tablespoon of filling. Press the remaining cookies on top to make sandwiches. I got over 50 cookies for this recipe.

Welcome You, Welcome Me! - The Sequel

About over a year ago I wrote this blog to mark my entry to the blogging world.

It lasted one entry and another one a year later.

So yet again welcome!

About a couple of months back I was made redundant from my work. I wasn't upset. I found it liberating. I was in a job to pay the bills and had no passion for a place that had little value for their employees. I did, however, learned a lot from my experience there and enjoyed it while it lasted. When I announced my redundancy to my GF Christie, said, "...the universe is trying to tell you to do something more meaningful in your life!"

So this blog is my journey. My journey to break boundaries and dare to be anything that I want to. I'll be writing about the things I love and the things that may possibly irk me. At 33, I don't think it's too late but a part of me is still a little nervous.

So here goes something.............: )