Goodbye 2012, Hello 2013 + Chocolate mousse

Welcome to 2013. My new years eve consisted of flying back to Sydney and catching the train for what seemed like forever, 'out west' to where I live. I was worried about getting stabbed/robbed/mugged/abducted my evil aliens on the walk home so Alan's mum kindly offered to pick me up from the station. As I took a late flight, I only made it home at 23.15, which meant I did not wake up early enough to do what I normally do on new years day - early morning walk:( Really upset about that. Walking is such good exercise for your body and mind! And, on new years day, you also have all of the footpath to yourself; everyone else is still sleeping.


Goodbye 2012
2012 was a good year for my blog/cooking/food stuff:)

People actually read this little blog!
People liked me on Facebook!
Organised a food bloggers meet up in Adelaide. Not many people attended but we still had a great time!
Baked the most wonderful grain and processed sugar free carrot cake.
Went to Jamie's Italian and Guillaume's at Bennelong.
Made macarons which turned out quite well.
Discovered how to make a grain free cake in two minutes.
Made appearances in GRAM Adelaide magazine.
Was somehow placed second in a home cookery competition.
Attended Eat Drink Blog 3, held in Adelaide - post 1, post 2, post 3
Made personalised business cards thanks to my Dad:)

Well done, little blog! I can say that I do not have big plans for my blog in 2013. Nothing along the lines of quitting my job and blogging full time to earn an annual income of $5.50. I will simply keep blogging the food I make, taste and see. I enjoy doing that, so that is what I shall do.

If you would like to see more of something on this blog, or if you would like to give me a blogging challenge, then let me know in the comments section:)


I also moved to Sydney in 2012

As you know, I moved to Sydney in mid November 2012. I have not written a post about how I am going, so I shall write one now. In story form; everyone's favourite.

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Kim's move to Sydney

One day there was a girl called Kim.
She was an accountant.
She decided to move to Sydney.
It was time for a change and she was sick of her job.
She applied for jobs and found one in Sydney, in just over a week.
She started her new job in a big building in Sydney.
She had a view! :)
She liked Sydney as it was often warm and humid.
The trains took her to and from work in an efficient manner each week day.
Sometimes there were strange people on the train and they would stare at her and/or invite her to the RSL club for tea.
Kim always declined and walked away briskly.
She had to learn to do house chores, such as ironing, killing spiders and taking heavy wheely bins out on Tuesdays.
Kim cannot iron properly.
She bought lamb chops in bulk to save money and individually wrapped and froze them each week.
She attempted to make a garden on her balcony but failed thanks to a stray cat that dug everything up!
Kim lived happily ever after.
The end.

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That is pretty much what has happened so far.

I like Sydney:)

Goal setting
I have a goal.

As I only became determined to achieve this goals in the last few days, the most logical place to start these just happens to be 1 January. Ahhhh that's new years resolution day! I do not like the words 'new years resolution'!!!

So, goal:

1. Learn to swim
Why:
I am weak and look weak. I walk a lot but I am not strong. I think I look malnutritioned even though I eat copious amounts of butter, eggs, bacon and red meat, Swimming will hopefully make me stronger.
Goal:
To swim 50m freestyle by 1 March.

I also think I will not eat sugar for the next 8 weeks.....

That is all:)

Recipe time!

I made chocolate mousse some days before Christmas. I thought the end result looked quite Christmas-ey and was very proud.

Quick chocolate mousse with cinnamon cherries
Serves 5
This recipe is basically the quick chocolate mousse with boozy cranberries recipe from Delicious Magazine, January 2012, page 174. I swapped the cranberries for fresh cherries and cooked them in blackcurrant tea, instead of alcohol.

What you need

• 2 eggs, separated
• 1/2 cup caster sugar
• 100g dark chocolate melted and cooled
• 300ml thickened cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 2 large handfulls fresh cherries, cut in half and seed extracted
• 1 blackcurrant tea bag in around 100ml boiling water
• 1/2 - 1 teaspoon cinnamon

What you need to do

1. Whisk egg whites in a large bowl until soft peaks form. Add sugar, one tablespoon at a time and continue whisking until stiff peaks form.
2. Add egg yolks one at a time and beat after each.
3. Continue whisking and pour in the melted chocolate and beat until well combined.
4. In another large bowl whisk the cream, vanilla and nutmeg until stiff peaks form.
5. Fold the cream into the chocolate mixture until no more white streaks remain.
6. Divide the mixture amongst 5 small glasses, bowls or ranekins.
7. Cover and place in the fridge for at least 30 minutes (I waited around 5 hours).
8. To prepare the cherry topping: Place cherries, tea and cinnamon into a small saucepan or frypan. With heat on high, simmer the fruit until it becomes freyed at the edges. One cooked to your liking (you may want to cook longer until cherries begin to fall apart), place into a bowl in the fridge to cool.
9. Serve the mousse with cinnamon cherries, grated chocolate and grated hazelnut.

This was the best chocolate mousse I have ever made!

It was so creamy. It did contain 300ml of full fat thickened cream after all.

It was wintery. Although we have warm Christmases here in Ausralia, it does not mean we have to go without cinnamon, nutmeg and blackcurrants.

This is definitely a mousse to be made again and again. Once I have achieved my eight weeks without sugar, mentioned above under my goals.

Have a good day everyone and for those returning to work tomorrow (like me), have fun:)