First world problems

I quite like the Twitter hashtag #firstworldproblems. Much like my #DailyBitch tweets, it is a way for spoilt brats the world over to realise just how they're behaving while still having a moan. Yep, we know that there are really tough things and unspeakable horrors happening out there. Some are closer than others; I can't begin to imagine how hard it would be living in Christchurch after all the earthquakes. So, #firstworldproblems is a fun way of letting off steam while quietly getting over ourselves. There's even a website dedicated to collecting all the moaning tweets using this hashtag.

I've had a few #firstworldproblems this week. The list includes, but is not exclusive to, the following:

• Our regular barista at work is on holiday for four days. Four days! (Work days, that is.) Colleagues brave enough to experiment with the replacement barista's coffee either poured theirs out or left their drinks unfinished. Some even resorted to drinking instant coffee. I know - unheard of! So, to recap, we've had four days of:

• bad coffee
• scalded milk
• no coffee at all. (I chose this option - I figure it's safer than being disappointed.)

• Cheese Scone Friday was thwarted not only by our barista's absence, but also because a catering order must have taken priority in the cafeteria kitchen meaning the cook resorted to using pre-made generic scone dough from the freezer and sprinkling some grated cheese on top. Most were left still unsold at the end of the day.
• Installation of our new kitchen is progressing slowly. Things always take longer than anticipated but, remember, I am coffee-free at the moment and without a hot plate at home to make coffee for myself.
• I will probably miss Wellington Open Day on Sunday because I'll be sorting out the new kitchen and making sure the new flatmate is ok moving in. His room is currently filled with the contents from our old kitchen and the lounge contains cabinets and finishings ready for the new kitchen.
• Our scenic helicopter flight has been delayed so many times since early May due to bad weather that we're now on a waitlist to be called at short notice if the weather is fine during the day each weekend.
• It's only just started snowing at Ruapehu, one week out from our ski trip next weekend. What is a ski trip without snow? Well, actually, this is my idea of a snow weekend, but you know what I mean.
  

Such a hard life! (I know - not really. In fact, I don't believe that at all.) What #firstworldproblems have you been suffering this week?

Travel envy

Over a leisurely coffee on a dreary and rainy Saturday afternoon, I read a column in The Dominion Post by writer Craig Cliff called Travel sickness. He's not talking about the various ailments including, but not exclusive to, Delhi belly or sunburn that can turn even the most lavish dream holiday into an expensive nightmare. Instead, Cliff was describing society's preoccupation with travel envy, where anywhere else but here seems like a better place to be right now. He refers to this as the 11th commandment: thou shalt not cover thy neighbour's OE.

Think about it. Yesterday, I learned of the travel plans of two colleagues. One is going to spend two weeks travelling around Israel and France while the other looks forward to 3 1/2 weeks in northern Argentina in September. This is on top of the workmate who is currently languishing in the UK for three weeks. Apart from an upcoming skiing weekend at a mountain that has yet to see any snow, I have nothing to contribute to these conversations except for a fleetingly envious drool. I'm doing it now! As we approach the winter solstice, warm and exotic destinations seem more enticing than ever.

On occasion, when I have had an exciting holiday to look forward to, I've been fascinated by the response from people I've told. Almost every time, I hear my pet hate comment: "oh, you're so lucky!" Lucky? Luck has very little to do with saving for, planning, booking and organising anything, unless of course I'd won the lot. Now that would be lucky. (I'm still working on it.)

As someone whose list of places I'd like to travel to exceeds even my TBR list, it's not hard to evoke a bit of travel envy in me. Give it a try; are you planning an exciting trip (big or small) right now? Or are you also experiencing travel envy? Go on - make me envious.

Skite cake

I made Russian fudge a couple of weeks ago and have had half a tin of condensed milk sitting in the fridge since then. Now, it would be a shame to waste it, right? I didn't necessarily want to make fudge again, but most baking recipes I've come across require a full 400 g can of condensed milk. A quick Google search using "200 g condensed milk" revealed something called skite cake from Ladies, a Plate. Sounds good. The finished product is a slice with a slightly chewy base, chocolate syrup icing and a layer of chocolate caramel in between. All good!

Skite cake

Ingredients
Base

• 115 g butter
• 100 g sugar
• 1 egg
• 140 g flour
• 1 tbsp cocoa
• ½ tsp baking powder

Filling

• 200 g sweetened condensed milk
• 55 g butter
• 1 tbsp golden syrup
• 2 tsp cocoa

Icing

• 3 tbsp water
• 45 g caster sugar
• 45 g butter
• 190 g icing sugar
• 3 tbsp cocoa

Method
Getting ready

• Preheat the oven to 180º C.
• Grease a shallow 12 x 8 in/30 x 21 cm tin and line the base and two sides with a piece of baking paper.
• Soften the butter and bring the egg to room temperature.
• Sift together the dry ingredients.

Mixing and baking

1. Cream the butter and sugar until well combined – you can do thin is a food processor or mixer. Add the egg, then the dry ingredients and spread the mixture evenly in the prepared tin. [I had to ditch the baking paper and press the mixture in with my fingers as it was very sticky, wouldn't spread and kept lifting the paper.] Bake for about 20 minutes until firm and cooked.
2. While the base is in the oven, combine the filling ingredients in a small saucepan and heat gently together, stirring until well combined.
3. Pour the hot filling onto the cooked base. Spread it out evenly and return to the oven for 5 minutes. Set aside on a rack until cool.

Finishing

1. Sift the icing sugar and cocoa into a bowl.
2. Gently heat the water, caster sugar and butter in a small pot until the butter melts. Simmer for one minute to form a syrup.
3. Beating all the time, pour about ¾ of the syrup onto the icing sugar and cocoa. Add the remaining syrup if necessary to make a smooth, fudgy icing. Add a little hot water if it's still too thick. Spread over the cooled base and leave to set for about 20 minutes before cutting the skite cake into about 32 fingers. 

Skite cake

Things to do when the network is down

The network has been up and down like a yo-yo this morning before finally crashing in spectacular style a couple of hours ago. Sure, it's frustrating for most people, but when you have the word online in your job title ... well, it's like trying to knit with one arm tied behind your back.

We started out pretending that we could work independently of the network for a bit, but that doesn't leave much when every single file is stored centrally. Emails are also down, along with our intranet, printers etc. Time to surrender to the machine and find other ways to amuse ourselves.

Things to do when the network is down:

• Cheese Scone Friday. Make it a good one.
• Arrange absent colleague's teddy bears into dodgy positions and/or hide them in questionable places around the office. Endless fun.
• Move stuff around randomly - walls, wires, furniture, desks. Yes, we're easily amused.
• Socialise - I mean, 'catch up with colleagues about important issues' over in the other block.
• Buy lots of random and unnecessary crap off the daily deals sites. All of them.
• Read the news. Again. 
• Clear your Google Reader RSS feeds until Outlook starts working again.
• Read a book - you know, of the paper variety. 
• Cross our fingers and pray for a big dumping of snow soon in time for a ski trip in a few weeks.
• Organise coffee dates for the weekend. Lots of them.
• Hold a meeting.

Any other suggestions?

Golf driving range

Mondays are not known to be big nights out in our household. However, last night, thanks to a Grab One voucher due to expire on Thursday, we tried something new and went to the Silverstream Golf Park driving range. I can be partial to a spot of mini golf but have never played golf for real (nor do I aspire to). Whacking balls is a different story, though. ;-)

I know the absolute basics in theory about how to swing a golf club. This doesn't guarantee that is actually works in practice. The closest I have ever had to a golf lesson was taking part in a Kiwisport golf session where the children were taught the technique for swinging a golf club by using a giant flag. If the flag made a 'snap' as it was swung, you're doing something right. With this in mind, my objective last night was simply to hit some balls. Distance, height or 'targets' would be a bonus.

I'm pleased to say that I hit most of the 100 balls in my bucket first time! A few were too low, most were wonky, but some hit the 50 metre mark (just) or rolled beyond. Yay! Here's how the night looked for me:

Wellington Food Show 2011

On a dreary Wednesday afternoon, I received a phone call from the lovely Karen at Menumania. Would I like tickets for the Wellington Food Show this weekend? Wow, would I ever! I'd been keen to revisit this mecca for local foodies ever since going to the very first Wellington Food Show ten years ago. Somehow, it became one of those events I'd go to 'another time'. Not any more!

Naturally, we chose the busiest time to arrive: Saturday lunch time. To my delight, I found whole stalls dedicated to each of the basic food groups: chocolate, cheese and coffee! There were also plenty of competitions to enter, allowing me to feed my inner competition junkie. @muffinmum had tipped me off that there was a stall selling waffles so I finally got to complete another 101 in 1001 activity: #89 - Eat waffles for breakfast/brunch, thanks to the Golden Malted stand. Yummy!

I spent some time with the lovely folk from Flight coffee and learned all about some different brewing methods. I sampled a Brazilian coffee bean brewed in three different ways: siphon, Chemex and the V360, time time blending the Brazilian beans with a Guatemalan dark roast. This one appealed most to my strong, dark, Italian coffee palette. On my next town day, I am definitely going to head to Memphis Belle Coffee House and try one for real.

We tasted so much food and wine that when we saw daylight through the windows, we thought we'd made it back to the beginning again only to discover that we were just halfway around the stadium! There was so much on offer that we left after about three hours feeling absolutely full, as well as sampling wines from several different vineyards. I chatted to the delightful Annabelle White about a breakfast event I attended with her several years ago and we both drooled over the latest Kenwood products on display. I finished the day with coffee from Caffe L'affare and came home with a bag full of goodies.

Here are some of my other delicious discoveries of the day:

• Donovans Chocolates. Rich and creamy, I especially liked their dark 80% cocoa bar, dark peppermint 80% cocoa bar and milk chocolate bar. These would make a yummy gift.
• Silk Road Foods. Fresh meals and sauces, locally made and ready to heat up. We bought pouches of butter chicken and Moroccan chicken stew to stock up our freezer.
• Rileys butterscotch vodka cream. This slipped down very nicely.

Wellingtonian foodies, if you haven't been yet, make sure you get down to Westpac Stadium on Sunday and catch the last day of the show.