rainbowtatt - Part 18

Bake swap: Mint Slice cake

Published 29 May 2011

My friend Nykke lives about 90km away, but we share our baking efforts without even seeing each other regularly.

Our husbands work for the same company and they regularly take on the arduous task of ‘cake-mule’, lugging our treats on buses and trains, just for us (how good is it having husbands?!).

So Nykke and her fam are getting a huge chunk of this tomorrow night – Mint Slice cake.

I first tried this a few weeks ago – but in cupcake form – and loved the choc mint combo (who doesn’t? It’s fab). This is actually my trial cake in preparation for Australia’s Biggest Morning Tea fundraiser that I’m hosting on Wednesday.

A good baker is a prepared baker, no? And I’m so glad I did this test run – hopefully there’ll be less swearing on Tuesday night when I’m making the presentation version!

The concept is based on Steph’s fabulous Mint Slice cake, but I used a different cake recipe because I didn’t have access to Dutch cocoa. I actually used Julie Goodwin‘s mother-in-law’s choc cake recipe. Noice. Then made buttercream icing with peppermint essence. Then added chocolate ganache on top.

Apart from using a smaller cake pan next time (and making two cakes), I’ll work on creating a more obvious “dome” with the buttercream icing to better mimic the actual mint slice. See the way Steph did it?

Who needs dinner when you’ve got Mint Slice cake?

Posted in Food |

4 Comments

Caturday: the Baby Bear

Published 28 May 2011

Today’s kitteh photo is inspired by THAT mama cat video that’s gone viral in the last couple of days:

Even a non-cat person’s heart will melt at the 35sec mark.

So here’s a photo of Bear the night we brought him home from the pet shop, 23 August 2003:

My baby Beaaaaaaaaaaaaaaar! He was a right PITA before we’d even brought him home… he jumped out of the box while still at the pet shop and he piss-bolted up the display of cat trees and ended up near the ceiling. Took about 10min of coaxing to get him down.

He’s still a PITA. Even this morning he tricked me and scarpered out the door and into the backyard.

But he’s still our favourite Bear :)

Posted in Crazy Cat Lady |

Tagged Bear, Caturday |

6 Comments

Wanna win a JAG dress worth $129.95rrp?

Published 24 May 2011

If you’d like to win this size 16 JAG dress, worth $130, read on :)

When I was approached to buy myself something pretty from the new Westfield online shopping experienceâ„¢, I jumped at the chance to try fitting my size 16/18 boobs, bum and thighs into the ladies dresses on offer.

I chose a pretty, practical and appropriately-styled-for-my-shape-and-size JAG 100% rayon printed drape number that I had hopes of wearing to work.

As lovely as the dress is, it’s not destined to live in my wardrobe â€” the size of my arse is just too much for theÂ Westfield online shopping experienceâ„¢.

But I want you to have it… if you are what JAG consider to be a size 16 :)

I’ve been doing my homework on giveaways (a.k.a. asking everyone on Twitter) and whatnot and it turns out that I have to set this up as a game of skill to make this a non-illegal, avoid-getting-in-trouble-from-the-man event.

So, to be in the running to win the pretty (click here for the info on the dress), tell me your best joke in the comments section below. (That’s a skill, right?)

The joker that makes me laugh the most, wins :)

This is my firstest ever giveaway, so be part of history… /sarcasm

P.S. Australian residents only; sorry to my 5 international readers x

P.P.S. TheÂ Westfield online shopping experienceâ„¢ is actually pretty good as far as online fashion shopping goes, well worth a look

A list of thing that I should probably mention again, because I’ve never done this kind of thing before and I just want to be sure:

The prize is a size 16 JAG dress (i.e. this one)
Enter by posting your best joke in the comment section, below
The joke that gets the biggest laugh from me is the winner
I’ll post the dress to the winner, so there might be an extra surprise in the satchel
Entry is open to Australian residents only
I’ll pick a winner on Wednesday 1 June 2011 (a.k.a. my birthday)

GOOD LUCK!

Posted in The Life Generic |

9 Comments

Popping my Sunday Selections cherry

Published 22 May 2011

Sunday Selections is the brainchild of the loverly Kim. She gave me a Freddo at the Aussie Bloggers Conference :) Sunday Selections is a simple but clever idea – to share photos that normally wouldn’t see the light of day.

I’m making an executive decision and NOT posting the photo I took of Elvis’ poop yesterday. And before you think I’ve totally lost the plot – I’m a tad worried about him and have Elvis on Poop Watch in case we need to take him to THE VET (dum-dummmmmm) to get his bum looked at.

Sorry, TMI?

*ahem*

So, here are some not-of-poop photos, taken at Balmoral Beach yesterday