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[[Monday
10 05 2010
22:10] |
Hello, I'm Taz. I like underexposed photographs, cake, and frilly clothes. I probably like you too.
My journal is mostly my food pictures and my musing about food. Food is my current obsession, if you could call sweet things food...
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| chocolate earl grey shortbread |
[[Tuesday
01 12 2009
19:42] |
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music |
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radio national |
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I made these the other day, they weren't very nice. I absolutely loathe earl grey tea, though I imagine if I did like it these would be amazing. The texture is fantastic, the taste is horrid. I don't know why I thought I would like these, I know full well I can't stand earl grey. Other well!
I have made other things that have been enjoyable recently. Including white chocolate macadamia biscuits, rice pudding, and rosemary butter biscuits. This doesn't change the fact that failure disappoints me. At least the photograph is okay :]
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| chocolate ganache tart |
[[Wednesday
30 09 2009
10:47] |
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music |
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Kings of Convenience - Winning a Battle, Losing the War |
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Recipe, rambling, and stuff coming soon. Off to meet my tutor now, no time to write! Wish me luck, I hate being nervous :(:(:(
Recipe can be found here
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| pear and almond tart |
[[Monday
21 09 2009
18:35] |
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music |
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The Jam - All Mod Cons |
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I started this last night after having a real hankering to poach pears, as well to retry the French tart dough recipe by David Lebovitz. I only managed to poach the pears last night, and worked on the tart crust before breakfast this morning. The tart crust works very well, but it's unfortunately not the prettiest thing in the world. Luckily, taste trumps looks any day.
I'm a big fan of pears, which is funny because in the past I would never eat them. Recently I've been wanting to bake pears into everything. There's something wonderful about baked pears that, for me, apples lack. So I headed out, bought some almond meal, and began my adventure. This tart isn't the prettiest in the world, I mostly put it down to my lack of experience so maybe someone else can do better? It's not really a worry though because it still tastes rather good!
I also bought this book on baking the other day, I haven't used it yet but it seems rather nice.
(also, I suck as self promotion but I started a blog for my cooking, check it out.)
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| strawberry jam |
[[Monday
14 09 2009
16:19] |
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music |
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Florence and The Machine - Blinding |
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Today I made jam for the first time, it was a fun experience. The winter strawberries are plentiful at the moment and incredibly cheap and, though I've never been a fan of strawberry jam, I am definitely a fan of strawberries. So, I thought to myself "maybe home made strawberry jam tastes better than the stuff from the shop" and sett about finding out. Sure enough - it does! I'm not about halfway through a stick of French bread covered in strawberry jam and I'm feeling pretty content. Home made strawberry jam, it turns out, tastes like strawberries! It also turns out Jam is very, very easy to make. Admittedly I didn't make a large amount as I have no need for more than 2 jars of jam so maybe it's more effort to make it in large batches. The two jars of Jam I made took 500g of strawberries and less than an hour - this includes finding jars, drinking tea, sterilising the jars, drinking more tea, hulling the strawberries and everything else. I completed my jam this morning before getting dressed and having breakfast, I felt quite accomplished by the time I was done. I bet you can guess what I had for breakfast..
I stole my picture styling from Donna Hay because I didn't know how to make jam look interesting, luckily she did! I'd call it being 'inspired' except I had the book open next to me the whole time. Thank you, Donna Hay!
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| caramelised apple tart |
[[Tuesday
18 08 2009
16:40] |
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music |
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The Waifs - SunDirtWater |
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It's the middle of the afternoon and I should be at uni but instead I am not. Whilst I know this is bad I'm not feeling too guilty, it's hard to feel guildy when you're skipping a 3 hour tutorial that finishes at 6:30.
So, instead I've been working on assignments and making food. I made this for lunch after my sweet tooth got the better of me. I wanted something quick and easy and this definitely fits the bill. The reason its quick is because I didn't make the pastry myself - if I'd done that it would have been an all day effort. When the holidays come I'm going to venture into the world of puffy pastry because I know homemade pastry is so much better than the frozen stuff but for a quick dish it's alright.
This is essentially a tart tartin under a different name. The apples turn an amazing orange colour, you could almost mistake them for nectarines. Come summer I'm going to try it with nectarines or peaches. Yummo! It's very sweet but currently I feel like that.
I'm craving sweets, I must be feeling a little guilty about not going to uni..
( recipe time! )
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| chocolate coated honeycomb |
[[Monday
10 08 2009
18:26] |
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music |
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radio national |
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Made these in the two and a half hours I had to myself before running off to uni. They're chocolate coated honey comb even though you can't see the honeycomb. By the time I got home it was far too dark to take pictures of the deliciousness that was inside. These are essentially crunchy bars that are a) tiny and b) shaped like a heart. Crunchy bars are without a doubt my favourite shop bought chocolate so I'm not complaining.
The honeycomb was fairly difficult to get into the moulds as it set so quickly. I'm not sure if I did something wrong or if I'm just slow. Out of 12, eight were heart shaped and 4 were just odd because they honeycomb had set before I got them into the moulds. I coated them in chocolate anyway because they still tasted good but they sure were ugly. The instructions said to pour the mixture but pouring didn't happen because the mixture set quickly and was far too sticky. The stickiness of the mixture was similar to unset marshmallow and, let me tell you, that's incredibly sticky.
First time using my new thermometer, much more accurate than my old one. My future cooking adventures can only get easier!
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[[Sunday
09 08 2009
21:58] |
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music |
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Sufjan Stevens - Seven Swans |
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The other day I made chocolate chip cookies, I don't really have much to say about these except they're delicious and the good quality chocolate makes all the difference. I've given up on chocolate chips from a packet now because it tastes so much better to cut eating chocolate into bits. You may not get the pretty chocolate chip shapes but the taste is what matters in my books. It's also cheaper due to the fact that I bought a bulk load of chocolate
Tomorrow I'm make caramels, yumyum! I'm tempted to coat them in chocolate too because I just bought a thermometer that I can use for tempering.
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[[Thursday
23 07 2009
17:05] |
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mood |
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cheerful |
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music |
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Regina Spektor - Genius Next Door |
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Over the past couple of days I've been making candied orange peel, yesterday I coated it in chocolate. I don't know why I've never done it before because it's delicious even with my ugly untempered chocolate. Tempering just can't be done when you don't have a thermometer that goes low enough, next time I make these they'll be covered in lovely, glossy chocolate... assuming I can find a thermometer that will do the job!
The Picture isn't so great because there's not much left to photograph. I ate it while photographing it so there's maybe... 5 pieces left and it's dark(ish) now so I have no opportunity to redo the photos. Ahh well.
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| Raspberry Muffins |
[[Wednesday
08 07 2009
13:56] |
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music |
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Depeche Mode - In Sympathy |
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These were fun muffins, they're fun muffins because they were supposed to be blueberry and sour cream muffins but they're in fact raspberry, every type of cream I had in the fridge, and yoghurt muffins. They were also only supposed to make 6 texas muffins but I'm a firm believer that texas muffins are far too big, the trouble is the standard muffin tin now seems tiny. What I need is something somewhere in the middle of standard and mega, ahh well.
Anyway, off to make humus and crackers now. I'll post up the recipe for the chocolate macaroon tarts later today!
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| chocolate, raspberry, and macaroon tarts |
[[Tuesday
07 07 2009
11:26] |
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music |
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Eskimo Joe - Let Me Down |
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I've been meaning to make these for a while now and yesterday afternoon I finally got a chance. I made up the macaroon base and began cramming it in to the tart tins and what a challenge it was, there was so much macaroon and so little tart tin. I have a feeling that in the recipe they used deeper tart tins than mine because it can't possibly have meant to be such a struggle. I ended up having to flatten it with a spoon, and then my fingers, and then the spoon again. I also ended up with macaroon all over the bench. Next time I'll just grease another tin.
Then came the chocolate mixture. In the original image the chocolate is all sunken down, in mine you can see that it's... not. I'm not sure why this is the case but it's possibly due to the size of the tart tins I used. I personally think mine looks better, the roundness of the chocolate with the sunken raspberries looks better than having both sunken raspberries and sunken chocolate.
These are very rich, I think if I ever find smaller tart tins I'll make 12 instead of just six but until then they're a dessert that needs to be shared.
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| doopdoopdoop |
[[Wednesday
03 06 2009
09:41] |
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I just revealed that I have no self control and bought myself a wide angle lens :D
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| caramel slice |
[[Friday
24 04 2009
12:16] |
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music |
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Bright Eyes - Lover I Don't Have To Love |
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Not the best photo in the world but yesterday I made caramel slice. It's pretty delicious but I'm struggling to take a good photo of it, this photo will have to do. I cut the slices all wonky and the chocolate kept cracking when I cut through the top. Is there a trick to cutting thin chocolate that I'm completely oblivious too?
I've made a vow to myself that over the next couple of weeks I'm only going to bake with ingredients I have at home already. I have many things around so it's silly that I should keep buying things to make specific recipes. Especially when those things are out of season. I've also accepted that I may have to stop buying my favourite chocolate because I can't justify the price and the fact that it's mostly likely picked by children. It's from the ivory coast, you see. If I'm going to buy expensive chocolate I should be able to shell out the tiny bit more for the fair trade stuff. It is purely an indulgence after all and my indulgences should at least be a tiny bit ethical. So, until I find out whether or not the cocoa beans are picked using child labour, I'll be having less chocolate in my belly. It probably won't be a bad thing.
( recipe time! )
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| lemon cake with chocolate ganache |
[[Thursday
16 04 2009
17:59] |
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mood |
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hungry |
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music |
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Emiliana Torrini - Birds |
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It's been ages since I've made cake, mush less cake by choice. Unfortunately this cake doesn't break the drought. As everything with everything I'm making at the moment, it was made for school. Yes, I'm still working on the damn magazine.
Anyway, this a lemon cake with chocolate ganache. It's pretty yummy, or so I think. Lemon and chocolate isn't a combinion I normally go for but I had no choice. I had intended on making an orange cake with chocolate ganache but I had no oranges and no money. Yes, I can afford expensive chocolate but not oranges. I have no priorities and that's how I like it. Anyway, it's a fairly nice combination. The cake is light and cake-y and I am happy.
( recipe time )
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[[Sunday
22 03 2009
19:43] |
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mood |
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content |
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music |
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Radio National |
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Battlestar is over, now what do I look forward to?!
Life, I guess.
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[[Friday
13 03 2009
11:55] |
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mood |
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cranky |
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music |
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Iron & Wine - Carousel |
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Motion is seriously the dumbest program I have ever used. What sort of program has an undo button that doesn't actually undo? Or moves the WHOLE OBJECT when you move the anchor point, who thought that was a good idea???? When I move the anchor point I want to move just the anchor point and nothing else, if I wanted to move the object I'd move it!
Maybe I'm just incompetent.
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| the strange case of muffins |
[[Thursday
12 03 2009
14:34] |
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music |
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Iron & Wine - Carousel |
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this is the second time I've made this muffins but the first time had very different results. When I originally made them they were dense and cake-y - the kind of muffin that wasn't really a muffin at all. They called to be thrown into a ramekin, covered in chocolate sauce, and heated up. Basically, they wanted to me pudding but they weren't - they were muffins.
This time they're totally different. They don't have the same dense cake-like qualities. They don't call for rich chocolate sauce, they don't even call to be eaten warm. Instead they're light and... muffin-y. Same recipe, same muffin pan, same brand of ingredients - the only difference now is the oven. The oven the second batch is cooked in is an oven that actually works, an oven that heats up to the correct temperature, an oven that doesn't confuse the oven thermometer by being 180 in one part and 150 in another. An oven where you can turn the fan force on and off (amazing!)
In short, if you compared the first batch of muffins with the second batch you wouldn't even know they were the same recipe. Maybe there are other variables but I'd like to put it down to the oven!
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| chocolate pudding |
[[Saturday
28 02 2009
14:13] |
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music |
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radio national |
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My day today has consisted of making chocolate pudding, thumbing through cooking magazines, typing recipes, photographing chocolate pudding, thumbing through more (non-cooking) magazines, and finally eating chocolate pudding.
What's better is that it's all in the name of 'university'.
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[[Wednesday
25 02 2009
20:40] |
should have painted the sky
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