rah

Head this way instead.

Shamelessly stolen from fifikins

Where is your cell phone? · handbag front pocket
Your girlfriend/boyfriend/hubby? · aka Magic Dan
Your hair? · it needs trimming
Where is your father? · grafton lawn cemetery
Your favorite thing to do? · laugh out loud
Your dream last night? · yelling at mum
Your favorite drink? · COKE
Your dream car? · Pink Mazda SP-23
The room you’re in? · overlooking enmore theatre
Your fears? · turning into mum
Who did you hang out with last night? · dan elvis bear
What aren’t you good at? · no PMS tantys
Muffins? · i prefer cupcakes
One of your wish list items? · expensive macro lens
The last thing you did? · nommed vegetarian pizza
What are you wearing? · got any blacker?
Your pet? · cupcake-eating cats
Your computer? · piece of crap
Your life? · ignoring most family
Your mood? · better than before
Missing? · slash emgee girls
What are you thinking about right now? · i hate cleaning
Your car? · dirty black mazda2
Your work? · jesus is king
Your summer? · will be hot
Your relationship status? · contemplating teh marriage
Your favorite color(s)? · pink, pink, pink
When is the last time you laughed? · at penis joke
Last time you cried? · amazingly, don’t know
School? · riverside girls’ high

I’m allowed to be late on this since I’ve been away, but you should all be totally going pink for October for Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

I know too many people who have been affected by breast cancer - and cancer in general - and always make a point to support cancer initiatives. We gotta stop the damn thing now.

I’m going away for a fundraiser (I think that’s the nicest way to describe what I’ve gotten myself in for!) and I’ll be putting together a breakfast or morning tea-type thing at work as well. Needless to say, there will be pink cupcakes

I’ve pinkified my wordpress theme for the month and I’ve gone pink on my Twitter and Plurk accounts, too. Get into it!

Heading 6 hours west for 4 days of this

Mucho needed-o. Seeya on the flipside.

Yes, I know it’s bootie in this context, shaddup :o)

I keep telling myself that when I get time I’ll have a go at modelling with fondant (or “fondahhhnt”, for those to want to pronounce it properly) and finally got inspired enough to get my act together when I saw Not Quite Nigella make it look easy.

So to mark the start of my week-long break from work, I gave it a whirl.

I made about half a dozen before my attention span waned. Already I know what I’ll do differently next time, but am pretty chuffed with myself for at least pulling my finger out and giving it a go.

Major props to my Wilton icing colour pots, awesome job with the blue colouring, although I now have some lovely patches of azure on my fingers :o)

Shamelessly stolen from Manda:

Porn star name (first pet, first street where you lived): Duke Pound

Rock star name (favourite pet, current car): Bear 2

Gangsta name (favorite ice cream flavor, favorite type of shoe): Cookies ‘n’ Cream Ugg

Native American name (hair color, favourite animal, favourite hobby): Blonde Cat Baking

Soap opera name (middle name, city where you were born): Rose Grafton

Star Wars name (first 3 letters of last name & first 2 of first name, last 3 letters of middle name): Kanla Ose

Stripper name (favourite perfume, favorite candy): Angel Jelly Snakes

TV Newsreader name (grandparents first name, any town that starts with the same letter): Moynie Maroochydore 

Spy name (favourite season, favourite flower): Spring Gerbera

Cartoon name (favourite fruit, article of clothing you’re wearing now): Passionfruit Singlet

Hippie name (what you ate for breakfast, favourite tree): Toast Jacaranda

I’m going to need some time to process what’s going through my head…

Taken on Cockatoo Island, Sydney Harbour

Last week I made some choc chip cookies from one of the many AWW books we have on our shelves, but they ended up too flat and not the scrumptious, country-style cookie we were hoping for.

Dan being the one most desperate for the cookies, he found this recipe during the week and we whipped them up this afternoon.

I say whipped up, when really it took forever. 2 emergency trips to the corner shop for butter and chocolate, the need to cool the melted butter (wtf?) and the hard labour involved in mixing the ingredients proved to be a giant bitch. BUT THE COOKIES ARE YUM, FTW!

So this recipe is courtesy of Country Living dot com and you can always rely on Americans to have awesomely fat/sugary treats.

The ingredients

Vegetable oil cooking spray
4.5 cups plain flour
1tsp salt
1tsp baking powder/soda
12oz (so about 320g) unsalted butter
2 cups firmly packed dark brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
2 large eggs
1 egg yolk
1.5 American Tbsp (so about 4 and a bit Aussie tsp) vanilla extract
2 cups milk choc chips or chopped choc
1 cup dark choc chips or chopped choc
1 cup chopped walnuts

The putting-it-together

Make the dough: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (about 180 Aussie degrees). Lightly coat two large baking sheets with cooking spray (we needed four!). Set aside. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, salt, and baking soda. In a medium bowl, combine cooled butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar. Whisk in eggs, egg yolk, and vanilla. Stir the butter mixture into the flour mixture. Fold in chocolate chips, chopped chocolate, and walnuts.

Bake the cookies: Using a dry measuring cup, scoop 1/3 cup of dough for each cookie and shape into a ball (we found this to be too huge, so try half this amount per cookie). Place on prepared baking sheets, leaving 2 inches of space between dough balls. Bake until edges are lightly browned and centre is set — 20 to 25 minutes. Cool on wire racks. Store in an airtight container.

Just be prepared for the arm-workout when getting the flour mixed in and the chocolate distributed; it really was a bitch.

Makes: 24 cookies according to the web site, but we made 32 and would easily make 48 next time round.

When these babies were finally ready, Dan made coffee and we nommed on a couple of cookies each. To say they’re filling is an understatement, but nom-licious and much closer to what we have been looking for in a homemade cookie. Just with that much sugar and butter, we’ll only be making them every blue moon.

I think Cookie Monster would be proud :o)

I’m back to see Ben The Dentist this morning to find out the fate of my wisdoms.

Ben The Dentist thinks he can pull 3 of the bastards out in the chair, but because one is sideways impacted, he thinks at least that one will need to be done under a general with a surgeon.

I’m trying to not notice how much tooth/root is actually in the gum and how painful the whole process will be.

After we work out what we’ll do to get the wisdoms out, he’s giving me some fillings. Must remember to pack the iPod and the AC/DC playlist.