Afghans

The biscuit bake off resumes again after a slight pause. Today, I baked afghans. Afghan biscuits tend to polarise baking connoisseurs; people either love or hate them. Aside from the walnuts on top (which I personally like but know many people who pull it off before eating the biscuit), I think the biggest problem is that afghan biscuits tend to be overcooked, leaving a burnt aftertaste. With that in mind, I set out to bake my first ever batch of afghans.

One of the best things about baking biscuits is eating raw dough. How is possible to taste so good? I must have eaten the equivalent of a full afghan in mixture alone. Yum! So, how big is a 'mound' of mixture? Certainly smaller than the ones I made - I ended up with 15 medium sized afghans (plus the raw one I ate), meaning that we'll only eat them one at a time instead of two at once. Yeah, right!

Afghans

Ingredients

• 200 g butter, softened
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 1/4 cups flour
• 1/4 cup cocoa
• 2 cups cornflakes
• chocolate icing
• walnuts (optional)

Method

1. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
2. Sift flour and cocoa. Stir into creamed mixture. Fold in cornflakes.
3. Spoon mounds of mixture onto a greased oven tray, gently pressing together. 
4. Bake at 180°C for 15 minutes or until set.
5. When cold, ice with chocolate icing and decorate with a walnut (if desired). Makes 24. 

Afghan biscuit

Life's too short

I've been doing a lot of middle of the night contemplating/worrying/fretting thinking in recent months. My current work climate is literally making me sick, leaving me physically and emotionally drained for far too long. It has got to stop!

At the start of this year, I developed a recipe for living. Although I have all the ingredients on hand, various nasty things are getting in the way of me following through with the method. Believe me, it is no way to live.

I came across this today and took a moment to enjoy it.


Life is indeed short. Too short, in fact, to not enjoy it. After all, tomorrow is not guaranteed for anyone and none of us will get out alive! I got to thinking about all the things that life is too short for. There are some good suggestions on this site and now I have come up with a few of my own.

Life's too short:

• to read a bad book. So many good books have been written that I won't have time to read, so I'm not going to fuss about finishing bad ones.
• to iron clothes. Just buy clothes that don't need ironing. Problem solved!
• to listen to crappy music or bad radio stations. Buy an iPod and only listen to the stuff you like.
• to drink bad (especially instant) coffee. This goes without saying.
• to wear makeup every day. Really, who can be bothered?
• to blow dry your hair. See above. (I don't even own a hairdryer - or an iron for that matter!)
• to go to shopping malls. *shudder*
• to read trashy magazines (or magazines at all). Why waste time when you could instead read a good book?
• to work inside on a sunny weekend. Get out and enjoy every moment you can.

What would you add to the list?

Sculpture at Weta Cave

It was a stunning day in Wellington today - the extreme opposite of last weekend's weather bomb. Some friends and I decided to go for a walk around the bays in the Eastern suburbs, beginning with brunch in Miramar before heading around to Scorching Bay.

Along the way, we popped into the Weta Cave, home to Weta Workshop and a showcase of movie art, sculpture and creativity. I hadn't been to Weta Cave before (although have intended to visit for many years) and enjoyed briefly looking around the mini exhibition and sculptures on display. Next time I will try to catch the behind the scenes movie.

Today and tomorrow, sculptor Craig Campbell is giving a live demonstration as he creates a sculpture out of what started as a big slab of clay. I really enjoy seeing creative people at work and Craig seemed so relaxed as he expertly twiddled bits of clay between his thumb and fingers, all the while casually answered the questions of those watching. I see he has done a fair bit of work for the newly opened Roxy Cinema, too. If you're in the area, pop in and say hi.

Craig Campbell creating a ... not sure what

I see that creativity is fuelled by coffee!

Weather bomb

The weather is often a leading conversation starter but the subject on everyone's lips tonight has a pretty extreme name: weather bomb. Wow! We had lots of rain followed by a great weather bomb a couple of years ago and last year it snowed in Wellington. (Yes, we're still talking about it.) Tonight, we have been promised a spectacular storm that seems to be gaining speed, rather than petering out as it crosses the Tasman Sea on its way towards us. Imagine the stories that we'll be able to tell in a few days' time! Anyone silly enough to venture outdoors with an umbrella this weekend is likely to end up looking like this poor woman.

Now, I actually love a good storm - but under certain conditions. There is nothing quite like lying in bed, snug and warm while the rain taps down on the roof. There's even a pretty cheesy song about it. I remember wet, wintery days when we were kids; we'd close the curtains, sit by the fireplace reading books all day, drinking hot chocolate and eating vegetable soup - very cosy.

So normally I'd look forward to some extreme weather, provided that I was planning to be at home and had enough coffee and books to last the distance. But this time it is different. We have had plans for many months to be away for the weekend, with some of those plans involving outdoor activities. We will be driving in the direction of the storm and it is expected to be intense for most of our time away. No doubt it will last until we arrive home and head back to work on Monday. Typical.

Are you in the path of the weather bomb? What are your plans for the weekend?

Yoyos

I've never made yoyos before. For some reason, they looked like they required some kind of special trick or knack to master but thankfully they were just as easy to bake as most of the other biscuit bake off recipes I have tried so far. The secret is custard powder: my new favourite baking ingredient. Much like the ginger crunchies I made last week, custard powder gives yoyos a slightly 'short' texture.

Once again, I meticulously followed the recipe and rolled exact teaspoonfuls into balls then flattened to cook. I ended up with lots of teeny tiny bite sized yoyos (and way more than the 20 stated in the recipe), leaving me with some leftover mixture to experiment with bigger sized biscuits. Success!

Yoyos

Ingredients

• 175 g butter, softened
• 1/4 cup icing sugar
• few drops vanilla essence
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1/4 cup custard powder

Butter filling

• 50 g butter, softened
• 1/2 cup icing sugar
• 2 tablespoons custard powder

Method

1. Cream butter and icing sugar until light and fluffy. Add vanilla essence.
2. Sift flour and custard powder together. Mix sifted ingredients into creamed mixture.
3. Roll teaspoonsful of mixture into balls. Place on an oven tray. Flatten with a fork.
4. Bake at 180°C for 15 to 20 minutes.
5. When cold, sandwich together in twos with butter filling. Makes 20.

To make butter filling

• Beat all ingredients together until well combined. 

Yoyos

Should We Stay Or Should We Go?

I went to my first Fringe Festival show for 2012 last night. Should We Stay Or Should We Go? is the classic story of an intercontinental relationship (played by a real life couple who are engaged to be married in April) where each half of the couple is literally from half a world away. So where should they settle down? In her home country or his? How about somewhere halfway between the two? Either way, someone is going to be missing out and some serious compromising is called for.

The show was well conceived, funny and generally work well. There were varying levels of success in the parts requiring audience participation but the couple's warmth and humour were apparent throughout. All in all, a great night out.

I saw the show with a very old friend. [Hold on - that doesn't sound too good.] I saw the show with someone I have been friends with for a very long time. (I am in no way suggesting she is very old; she wouldn't be impressed!) It seems like only a short while ago that she and I asked ourselves this very question as the couple in the show. At the end of our student days, we had similar goals: spend two years getting established in our chosen career then move to the UK for the great kiwi OE.

And then both our circumstances changed. She wanted to leave earlier than planned while I wasn't sure whether even our original timing was right. (OK, that's code for "there was a guy involved".) She left; I never made it out of the country apart from a few short trips. (The guy is long gone.) She came back to visit her parents every few years and we'd catch up briefly. "When are you coming to join me?" she would ask. It never happened.

Now, thirteen years later, I'm thrilled to have my friend back in my life after she moved back 'home' permanently a few months ago. Did it matter that I stayed while she went? Not at all! Our lives have taken on drastically different paths and she is finding her feet back in a city that has changed so much since she left but I am really enjoying us getting to know each other again at a time in my life when good friends are worth more than gold. In the meantime, there are coffees to be drunk, shows to be seen, dinners to be shared and many more years of friendship to look forward to.