Anything & Everything

Yes~ No. YES. NO. YES. YES YES YES YES. NO. YES. YES YE- wait, what ? WHAT? Wait, WHY ? WHY. WHY. WHY. WHY. WHY. WHY. WHY. WHY.

As previously mentioned, it is an avid ambition of mine to fully perfect a recipe to call my own. There is no greater achievement than to have someone take a bite and say with utter awe and amazement, "Where did you get these? They're amazing!" followed by the smug satisfaction of proclaiming, "I made them myself," and blush modestly as they further compliment the sugary success. (This is, of course, ignoring the fact that their wonder means they would have had little faith in my skill to begin with. In all honesty, considering my previous non-successes with some self-altered recipes, I wouldn't blame them.) Recently, and entirely by chance, it seems that my destined product of perfection is far from the Perfect Brownie I'd hoped for (there was a last trial unworthy of publishing), but rather, the humble sugar cookie. I'm far from unhappy, however. Sugar cookies are not only more impressive when decorated, and though much more time-consuming, can b...

To my limited (possibly non-existent) fan base, this is a post to inform all that I am not dead. Instead, a reminder of how truly lazy I am. In fact, despite perhaps hundreds of blog-worthy occurrences over the past five or so weeks in which I have been absent from this site I have not yet bothered to recall a single detail, on the partial excuse that I a.) haven't the time and b.) have no photographic evidence. And while b.) plays a rather prominent role in my absence it would hardly excuse such a long and unnecessary break. Besides, this blog isn't to broadcast my deep and mushy feelings to the public (or, at least, those who find interest in reading small, pointless blogs which have no definite purpose), but rather an outlet in which I can rant over minor events and pointless details, many of which I am afraid to expose due to my irrational fear that I may be rejected for my own personal opinions. However, in a recent recollection of this blog's existence I made ...

I have had a recent and inexplicable obsession with cupcakes. Inexplicable due to the fact that they are extremely time-consuming and can require advanced skills when venturing to the regions of assorted cake types and, even more finicky yet, strange frosting flavours. The requirement time for butter softening, in addition to temperamental appliances and a grand lack of fundamental baking utensils, leads to the cute little dessert being the most unconventional baking basic in my very limited repertoire. However, that has yet to stop me from attempting. A balanced mix of incomprehensible stupidity and naive determination has convinced me that I can master every cupcake variation without requiring previous experience or the help of a highly experienced baker. And so, armed with misplaced confidence and inadequate knowledge I resolved to become a cupcake expert... and in the presently-ongoing process, failing miserably several times. My failures are documented in the forms of unused ...

Let it be made clear that I am not a professional baker (obviously), nor am I an avid baker, I am merely a baker due to a sugar obligation. I enjoy it as a hobby as some people might playing guitar, or painting pictures. In no way do I intend to pursue baking as a career, which is most likely a positive thing for the generic consumer public. Let it also be made clear that I am not a patient person. Which means that when I'd promised myself to methodically create the perfect brownie recipe I should have considered that I would have to endure long periods of trial and error and many, many, not-perfect brownies which I would have had to force upon my family until The One was found. Unfortunately, I am not good at methodical creation.   The only reason for this whole project is to be able to boast the best (anything) ever, and to perhaps have a recipe or two under my belt which can actually run smoothly.  I like instantly perfect recipes, and I scour the hundreds of pages...

With a cold snap in the area that I live that has lasted a while already I can fairly conclude that we are well into winter, kicking out the awkward autumn weather of chilly mornings and warm afternoons. And the presence of winter can mean several things: procrastinated showers that leads to extended periods of standing under hot, running water, fluffy slippers and continuously functioning heaters... and the dreaded black puffy Kathmandu jacket. Admittedly, I'm not sure whether this is an international trend. The Kathmandu brand (available in NZ and Australia) jackets are the general go-to for any outfit.  Black however, is just a guideline. There are those who sport other colours, and of course  there are the inevitable lesser-known brand versions that manage to creep by undetected. This style of jacket is sold everywhere, though in New Zealand  it's a fashion statement that skyrocketed in popularity only a few short years ago. I have no problem with the ja...

It's been frequently said that we learn something new each day. It's also frequently said that we should learn from our mistakes. From that, it should be rationally concluded that any daily mishaps are helping our brains improve rapidly by building extra neurons in order to prevent accidents occurring again such that we don't all kill ourselves in an act of utter stupidity... Fortunately, not all mistakes are life-threatening. Unfortunately, it's rarely the case I learn from mistakes the first time around. Evidently, practice makes perfect. And there's nothing like repeatedly doing stupid things to learn to do better. At the same time it's good to know I can avoid making the same blunders yet another time, especially if they happen to be particularly expensive. In light of that, I came to a decision to record a few things I've learned in the past week, not necessarily from mistakes, but in a period of boredom may be found vaguely interesting. 1.a.)...

I have all too many times experienced a disappointing recipe, and then gone out and tried a different recipe, to achieve an equally disappointing result. Frequently, I have concluded that the best way around it is to stick to one recipe with one component altered at a time so as to see how to improve the final result. But I was lazy. Thus it's a long term project that ends before it can begin. However, I reckon it's high time I started, with something that everyone likes differently: Brownies. There are so many recipes online, and none of them seem to be The One. All too often, I have had tips, recipes, recommendations, that declare one brownie recipe to be "the Ultimate Best Brownie Recipe, Like, Ever", but it's hardly the case for me. I had yet to find the perfect recipe for my cravings. The Perfect Brownie, to me, is a.) chewy. Not cakey or too fudgy, but like of those bakery cookies fresh from the oven (yet another thing to be perfected). It also has ...