sadly this was my last day at student works :(
I have really enjoyed my time there and I will miss them dearly although Im hoping to see them quite a bit through my work placement at full-a beans (ANOTHER thing to blog about!) but as per usual I have come home with the cooking but and I am hoping to make a little something - as long as I dont take to long with this post!
so more on my last day at studentworks to come but what Im thinking about making is a teramisu slash sponge cake inspires caramel thing (did you get that?) so what Im thinking is making the sponge cake that I very proudly made today, cut it up and instead of putting a coffee syrup over it, add my delicious caramel hot chocolate mix stuff from aldi's (yes, I smuggled 30 odd satchets of them here from last time I went to Melbourne!) Id then use the usual marscapone filling stuff but Im thinking that mabye a nice caramel sauce would compliment it well?? anyway, thats what Im thinking (I have no idea how I got onto that train of though but any way!)
Will let you know how it turns out!
P.s my mum doesn't like teramisu's hence the blog post title so I am out to please her! :)
Tuesday, 31 May 2011
Sunday, 29 May 2011
exhibition :D
so basically I had my exhibition on Friday, I am really happy with how I went and I surprised myself with how nervous I was not beforehand! unfortunately I didn't take any photos of the set up - I was way to busy and it didn't pass my mind until now but I will say that I was pretty pleased with how it looked! I had a table for all of my work, a little corner for my food and then another table for the coffee machine and drinks etc. It went for about an hour and 15mins I think which was about what I had guessed. As it turned out I ended up with 15 people there. so much for that moment when I thought I wasn't going to have anyone there! and to add to that, 3 of them were strangers and on was Viv white who had something to do with big picture Australia so no pressure or anything! I was actually glad that they were there and it almost made me feel a bit better "they done know me so they can't really judge me" - although I really enjoyed getting feedback from them and it also helped me to looked at them while I was talking rather that the people I knew. I am really happy with how it went and the feedback that I got - or of what I could read of it anyway! so now I'm of to watch the video of it and see how I went . . . umm . . . wish me luck?! I hate hearing my voice so seeing myself as well . . . !
Saturday, 28 May 2011
creative cupcakes
once again, this post is a little delayed but the event is still fresh in my mind!
so I have offically started on my individual project and the first recipe that I start working on . . . ofcourse its cupcakes!
I guess Ive always had a bit of a love afair for cupcakes, there so cute and dainty and as our oven was extreemly hot, all of the cake mixtures that I wanted to make became cupcakes as cooking normal cakes always fails . . . burnt outer, runny centre . . . not the nicest pair!
so I was having alot of trouble getting my head around the fact that I was pretty much designating myself my own asignment and I really had no idea where to start. I tried to write proposals for it but I wasnt exactly sure what it was that I wanted to do and even then, how was I suposed to word it? So eventually I just desided to think about cooking, what recipes I had tried latly, what I know about and what I would like to make and I cane up with this idea. Its like a choc fudge cupcake where it is a base recipe of a chocolate cupcake and a "side" recipe for a fudge/brownie which gets spooned in the middle of the cupcake mixture. It will be a bit of a skill to get the to mixtures right, they will need to compliment each other in both taste and also weight/denceness as logic tells me that if I have a lovly fluffy and light cupcake mixture and put a spoon ful of a dence fudge in the middle then obviously they will clash and it wont work proply.
so far, the cupcakes are based on three different recipes, the Idea for the brownie filling comes from the apple tea cake (custerd tea cake) that I made through prospect which has half of the cupcake mixture, a spoon ful of custerd and then the other half of the cupcake mixture and the Icing is a buttercream that I found on the internet that I used to practice the rose swirl from vintage cupcake. The cake mixture itsself if out of a little womens day chocolate cook book that I got however I did change the quantities and also the ingredients a bit so that I can hopefully call it my own. in saying that, I would really like to look into copy right and what rules there are about recipes, owernership, re use etc.
so I have offically started on my individual project and the first recipe that I start working on . . . ofcourse its cupcakes!
I guess Ive always had a bit of a love afair for cupcakes, there so cute and dainty and as our oven was extreemly hot, all of the cake mixtures that I wanted to make became cupcakes as cooking normal cakes always fails . . . burnt outer, runny centre . . . not the nicest pair!
so I was having alot of trouble getting my head around the fact that I was pretty much designating myself my own asignment and I really had no idea where to start. I tried to write proposals for it but I wasnt exactly sure what it was that I wanted to do and even then, how was I suposed to word it? So eventually I just desided to think about cooking, what recipes I had tried latly, what I know about and what I would like to make and I cane up with this idea. Its like a choc fudge cupcake where it is a base recipe of a chocolate cupcake and a "side" recipe for a fudge/brownie which gets spooned in the middle of the cupcake mixture. It will be a bit of a skill to get the to mixtures right, they will need to compliment each other in both taste and also weight/denceness as logic tells me that if I have a lovly fluffy and light cupcake mixture and put a spoon ful of a dence fudge in the middle then obviously they will clash and it wont work proply.
so far, the cupcakes are based on three different recipes, the Idea for the brownie filling comes from the apple tea cake (custerd tea cake) that I made through prospect which has half of the cupcake mixture, a spoon ful of custerd and then the other half of the cupcake mixture and the Icing is a buttercream that I found on the internet that I used to practice the rose swirl from vintage cupcake. The cake mixture itsself if out of a little womens day chocolate cook book that I got however I did change the quantities and also the ingredients a bit so that I can hopefully call it my own. in saying that, I would really like to look into copy right and what rules there are about recipes, owernership, re use etc.
Wednesday, 18 May 2011
scones jam and cream???
 |
| yummo! |
one of the problems that I have with scones it the taste/smell . . . to me it smells like off flour and they don't taste much more appetising then that (unless there hot!)
but hopefully I will be able to try them again soon!
 |
| the good . . . |
 |
| the bad . . . |
 |
| . . . and the ugly! |
Tuesday, 17 May 2011
custard tea cake
so the first thing I mad during this hectic weekend was a custard tea cake, I got the recipe from when I went to Prospect High school at the start of the year to try out their cooking class. after going there twice (once for a visit, once for a lesson) I decided it wasn't right for me and that's when I started looking into student works. At prospect They made this recipe as cupcakes and the two other people trying out prospects class and I made them back at the city campus kitchen. They tasted amazing however I took it upon my self to change the name from apple tea cake to custard tea cake as I found this more suitable to the taste of them.
I have been hanging to make these again but in the form of a cake so I was waiting for a family dinner (as i am now the usual desert suppler - unless of course its Poppy's pancakes!) so finally I was able to make my cake and it was a massive hit! I also made the apple bird that I learnt whilst at prospect (which made everyone speechless!) however next time I would like to use a red apple instead of green as i think it would compliment the cake better. I am glad I got the chance to make the cake before exhibition (as I am planning to make it for morning tea) because it seamed a bit small. Next time I make it - depending on how many people I'm making it for - I would probably double the cake mix and triple the custard mixture as there wasn't much custard left in the cake centre. The whole cake tastes amazing and it will defiantly be a keeper :D
Monday, 16 May 2011
my weekend of madness!
now this long weekend has been a very hectic few days! I have been cooking non stop in between family get togethers, cleaning my room so that mum can get an agent out and everything else that I needed to do!
now I will be doing an individual entry on each thing that I made - some in detail, some not so much (to try and get the journal entry's up before exhibition!) but before I do that, I would like to give a personal thank you to my nan for letting me use her mix master!
I'm sure that I have done a good 40+min of mixing over the weekend and lets just say that without the mixer . . . it would have been impossible! although my dreams of owning a kitchen aid mix master are creeping ever so closer to me, it was great not to have to stand over the bowl waiting for it to mix in . . .
Finally I can multitask!!!
now I will be doing an individual entry on each thing that I made - some in detail, some not so much (to try and get the journal entry's up before exhibition!) but before I do that, I would like to give a personal thank you to my nan for letting me use her mix master!
I'm sure that I have done a good 40+min of mixing over the weekend and lets just say that without the mixer . . . it would have been impossible! although my dreams of owning a kitchen aid mix master are creeping ever so closer to me, it was great not to have to stand over the bowl waiting for it to mix in . . .
Finally I can multitask!!!
student works - entry 1
OK, so I must admit that this should be "student works - entry 3" as today was my third time there but I have been . . . well . . . lets just say busy - flat out busy!
so as previously mentioned, I have been to this place called student works . . .
They have two small groups of high school students who go there week on week off to do different things such as metal work, wood work, warehouse, reception and cafe and each week they rotate which area they work in and throughout the year they all work towards a certificate one in each area.
I remember that just after the first time that I got there I felt really queasy and dizzy, I didn't know why this would be so I sat down whilst trying not to look lazy but still, i had to, and luckily I quickly feel better because I really wanted to stay there! no body noticed and I soon felt fine . . . the way i figured, if i got to bad then someone would notice; until then, my mouth was shut!!!
I cant really remember what I done the first time, unfortunately I didn't write ti down but I think I just got to know the place and helped out with the recess and lunch orders. I also watched a food safety video and 2 or 3 work sheets, I really enjoyed my time but I didn't do as much cooking/practical stuff that I would have liked to but it did get better!
The next week that I went there I had already done all of the introductory stuff so we got straight into the cooking. I got to do more for the lunches and in the morning we made a chocolate cake. It was only a simple one but it was good to get to know the kitchen and how they work a bit better. Then in the afternoon I got to do something really fun; I had my first lesson on the coffee machine!
I learnt how to pack the coffee, make different shots and what makes different drinks.
along with learning all of that I got to make an espresso, a long black and a cappachino. I found the milk really hard to do and I still cant get it right but hopefully with lots of practice i will learn soon.
I feel like I learnt so much and I really enjoyed it!
I cant wait till next time!
so as previously mentioned, I have been to this place called student works . . .
They have two small groups of high school students who go there week on week off to do different things such as metal work, wood work, warehouse, reception and cafe and each week they rotate which area they work in and throughout the year they all work towards a certificate one in each area.
I remember that just after the first time that I got there I felt really queasy and dizzy, I didn't know why this would be so I sat down whilst trying not to look lazy but still, i had to, and luckily I quickly feel better because I really wanted to stay there! no body noticed and I soon felt fine . . . the way i figured, if i got to bad then someone would notice; until then, my mouth was shut!!!
I cant really remember what I done the first time, unfortunately I didn't write ti down but I think I just got to know the place and helped out with the recess and lunch orders. I also watched a food safety video and 2 or 3 work sheets, I really enjoyed my time but I didn't do as much cooking/practical stuff that I would have liked to but it did get better!
The next week that I went there I had already done all of the introductory stuff so we got straight into the cooking. I got to do more for the lunches and in the morning we made a chocolate cake. It was only a simple one but it was good to get to know the kitchen and how they work a bit better. Then in the afternoon I got to do something really fun; I had my first lesson on the coffee machine!
I learnt how to pack the coffee, make different shots and what makes different drinks.
along with learning all of that I got to make an espresso, a long black and a cappachino. I found the milk really hard to do and I still cant get it right but hopefully with lots of practice i will learn soon.
I feel like I learnt so much and I really enjoyed it!
I cant wait till next time!
Tuesday, 3 May 2011
hot chocolate anyone?
For the next few weeks it will be all about exhibitions, there will be a lot of planning, thinking and organizing going on and I already feel like i am behind. I have organized when and where it will be, what I want to show and next is the invitations. I have an Idea of who I want to invite and how I want it to look but Im not really sure what is next! At the moment it seems like I will have very little to do which is stressing me in its self.
One of the Ideas that I had was to make coffees for my panel depending on how well I go at student works tomorrow but it will be to hard to organize it so I will just do a “help your self” tea and coffee thing but it got me thinking about how I can turn it into a learning experiance and then It came to me . . . I will try to make a hot chocolate mix, that way I can have hot drinks to go with whatever I decide to cook and it can also be something that I’ve learnt from.
These are some of the things I am thinking of . . .
· Peeling chocolate to get flakes, adding powdered milk, sugar
· Melt chocolate, powdered milk, cream, brown sugar and setting in ice cubes
· Mixing cocoa (sweetened) powder, powdered milk sugar
I have no idea how they will turn out. With my luck it will probably be horrible! But I will be off to the supermarket after school and home to try it out!
Wish me luck!
2:47pm Tuesday 3rd May 2011
2:47pm Tuesday 3rd May 2011
Monday, 2 May 2011
yum!
now I know its not in chronological order or anything, but I must share this with you first.
I am very excited about the possibility's of this and am very much looking forward to experimenting with it!
It is a deceptively good cinnamon loaf, I say deceptively as I wasn't to sure as to how it would turn out, in the past I have made banana loafs time and time again but they NEVER work . . . I think that may have something to do with my oven too, 30 degrees hotter than the dial, not the best of ovens for baking!
anyway, there was something about this recipe (that I found whilst searching the Internet for nothing in particular) that made me want to try it so the first free day back from my holidays and I was in the kitchen.
the recipe had sour cream in it which made it really moist, it can be found here . . . http://www.kulinarykidz.com/cinnamonloafrecipe.php
The idea is that half of the mixture (which has no cinnamon in it) is placed in the tin, sprinkled with half of the cinnamon sugar, topped with the remaining mixture and sprinkled with the rest of the cinnamon sugar. the raw mixture is then "cut through" with a knife giving it a swirl inside once it is cooked. I must admit I did then put a bit of brown sugar on top to give a caramelized look and was it delicious!
I now have all of these ideas of different flavours that I could substitute the cinnamon for but more on that will come later!
P.s. I am sad to say that the amazing camera has gone back (hence the poor quality of the photos!)
10:28 Tuesday 3rd May 2011
I am very excited about the possibility's of this and am very much looking forward to experimenting with it!
so what is it you may ask?
It is a deceptively good cinnamon loaf, I say deceptively as I wasn't to sure as to how it would turn out, in the past I have made banana loafs time and time again but they NEVER work . . . I think that may have something to do with my oven too, 30 degrees hotter than the dial, not the best of ovens for baking!
anyway, there was something about this recipe (that I found whilst searching the Internet for nothing in particular) that made me want to try it so the first free day back from my holidays and I was in the kitchen.
the recipe had sour cream in it which made it really moist, it can be found here . . . http://www.kulinarykidz.com/cinnamonloafrecipe.php
The idea is that half of the mixture (which has no cinnamon in it) is placed in the tin, sprinkled with half of the cinnamon sugar, topped with the remaining mixture and sprinkled with the rest of the cinnamon sugar. the raw mixture is then "cut through" with a knife giving it a swirl inside once it is cooked. I must admit I did then put a bit of brown sugar on top to give a caramelized look and was it delicious!
I now have all of these ideas of different flavours that I could substitute the cinnamon for but more on that will come later!
P.s. I am sad to say that the amazing camera has gone back (hence the poor quality of the photos!)
10:28 Tuesday 3rd May 2011
Where have I been?!
where have i been?? well . . . creating one would hope!
I have a list of things that i have been up to recently, cooking triple choc muffins, biscuits with beans, cinnamon loaf, finishing sewing projects, starting sewing projects . . . and it goes on!
I will be back tomorrow with the first instalment of a months worth of catch up but first, a photo of my Sunday breakfast . . .
OK, so they may have been packet mix pancakes (don't let my pop here that!) but I really like the photo!
I have been using my aunty's amazing camera as much as I can before she remembers it is here and needs it back . . . I've been taking snaps of everything and anything I can and i love it! It has made me realize how much I enjoy photography - especially food; I guess it goes hand in hand with my attention to presentation. What really surprised me was when my mum was telling me that she thought I was going to be a photographer as when i was a little girl I would line up my teddies and pretend to take photos of them . . . how cute!
8:53pm Monday 2nd May 2011
I have a list of things that i have been up to recently, cooking triple choc muffins, biscuits with beans, cinnamon loaf, finishing sewing projects, starting sewing projects . . . and it goes on!
I will be back tomorrow with the first instalment of a months worth of catch up but first, a photo of my Sunday breakfast . . .
OK, so they may have been packet mix pancakes (don't let my pop here that!) but I really like the photo!
I have been using my aunty's amazing camera as much as I can before she remembers it is here and needs it back . . . I've been taking snaps of everything and anything I can and i love it! It has made me realize how much I enjoy photography - especially food; I guess it goes hand in hand with my attention to presentation. What really surprised me was when my mum was telling me that she thought I was going to be a photographer as when i was a little girl I would line up my teddies and pretend to take photos of them . . . how cute!
8:53pm Monday 2nd May 2011
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