Bohemian Beautiful ~making life beautiful~ February 2012

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PhotoADayFebruary Challenge | Week 4

Wednesday, 29 February 2012 - 11:46 am

What also happened this week….

Dan was late picking me up from the train station on Friday afternoon, and it was stinking hot so I ended the working week with a mango gelati (my favourite) and several glasses of wine when I got home =D

I’ve been re-connecting with my best friend from high school via email for the last few weeks which has been so lovely, we talked all weekend! Dan and I went shopping on Saturday {which is always dangerous for the health of our credit card} as I was on the hunt for a wireless keyboard/mouse for work. I spent a large sum of money on one that I absolutely love, it is the comfiest keyboard I’ve ever used!

We came home with two new tennis rackets, 9 tennis balls, a margarita shaker, (my keyboard) and a 30 pack of cookie cutters I picked up from Harris Scarf for $10 (bargain!).

It was a stinking hot summer weekend here for a change (which I have to admit I was secretly loving, despite being a puddle of sweat all weekend!), but I thought it would be a great idea to stand in my hot kitchen next to my oven leaking hot air while I made some gingerbread men, but they were delicious and I decided they were worth all the extra sweat.

We were cleaning out our fridge the other night, and I realised all my eggs were out of date. Dan doesn’t cook much, and he was not really sure how to crack eggs until a little while ago so instead of throwing the eggs out he was cracking them down the sink when he said “Did you know it’s impossible to crack an egg by squeezing it in your hand?” I didn’t really believe him, but then he decided to use his manly strength to prove it to me. Dan is really strong and he couldn’t break it, and trust me his face was turning bright cherry red with effort. I had a go even though I knew I wouldn’t be able to if Dan couldn’t. I even used two hands and still couldn’t do it, but then Dan decided to copy my idea and he was able to do it that way (with a great deal of effort still) and when he managed to pop it he was using so much force that it.went.everywhere. It even landed on the roof! So kids, don’t try that one at home

It started raining on Monday, but we ended February on a high tonight by finally getting to test out our new tennis rackets at our local courts. I have struggled for ages to find a good exercise regime I can stick to, and I’m so wrapped that we have these free tennis courts only a short walk from our house! We had to wait a while to get a court, but it was worth it! Neither Dan or I have played tennis since we were young kids, but it has always been one of my favourite sports to watch on TV and I’ve always wanted to play.

We had such a blast, and it was a really good workout. I can’t wait to go back again! Dan should be starting up football training again next week though, which is three nights a week (boo for me) which means we won’t get to play much during the week. I’m so wrapped in this idea, I think I will be able to stick to this which makes me happy =D.

In other exciting news, my best friend is finally moving to Melbourne in 16 days HURRAY!!!!!! She’s been planning to move to Melbourne even before Dan and I were, so I am just glad the day has finally arrived! I miss her. �

Hope you all had a good week! xo

PS: This is my 100th post! Huzzah! Congratulations to me!

How to bake Gingerbread Men

Sunday, 26 February 2012 - 9:47 am

Ingredients

125g butter
100g brown sugar
125ml golden syrup
1 egg, separated yolk
2 1/2 cups plain flour
1tbsp ground ginger
1tbsp mixed spice
1 tbsp bicarbonate soda Icing

Directions

1. Beat butter and sugar with mixer until pale and creamy. It should end up looking something like this!

2. Add golden syrup and egg yolk, beat until combined

3. Stir in flour and other dry ingredients, your dough should end up looking like this.

4. Spread a little flour on your kitchen top, which will help prevent the dough from sticking to the bench. Dust your hands in flour too until they are covered in flour, particularly your fingers and knead until smooth.

5. Cover in gladwrap and refrigerate for 30min.

6. Preheat oven to 180 degrees C and line some trays with baking paper.

7. Sprinkle some flour onto some grease proof baking paper and roll your dough until it is about half a centimetre thick, if it is too thin it will be too hard to lift off and place on your tray as they will fall apart. The flour is needed so the dough is a bit easier to lift off the paper once you’ve cut it out. I cut out all my shapes, lift away the excess dough and then use a knife to help lift them off and onto the tray.

8. Bake for 7-10 minutes or until slightly golden brown. Don’t leave them in the oven for longer than ten minutes, because they set harder as they cool down and if they are crisp coming out of the oven it will be like eating bricks once they have cooled! I cook mine for about 8-10 minutes.

9. While you are waiting for them to cool down, start making some icing.

I use:

1 egg white
1-2 cups of sugar
a little bit of water

Beat your egg whites until they form soft peaks a but like below. You get soft peaks when you lift your beater away and the egg whites form little soft mountain peaks. If they are really stiff and don’t collapse back down, your egg whites are a bit stiff and you will need to add some water once you’ve added the sugar to combine everything.

Then you can separate your icing into separate bowls and add your desired food colouring. I use Americolour gel paste which I love. It’s much better than liquid food colouring which you buy from supermarkets as you can add heaps of colour to icing sugar without making it runny. The colours are also much stronger, and you get a better colour for using less colouring. If you use liquid food colouring you have to use more to get a strong colour and the more you use the runnier your icing gets!

Once coloured, add it to your icing bags. I use plastic disposable bags rather than the ones you keep as they are much to hard to clean! I bought a 100 bag for about $15-$20 and they’ve lasted me forever. I bought them online at Cakes Around Town.

The easiest way to add icing to bags is to grab a tall cup and place your icing bag in it, folding the top of the bag over the glass like a cuff. Once you down, fold it back up and then push all the icing down the bag by pinching the bag on either side and pushing the icing down towards the tube. Once down, I always twist the bag at the top and hold the twisted bit in between my thumb and fingers and use my palm to squeeze/apply pressure using my other hand to help steer.

10. Decorate!

PhotoADayFebruary Challenge | Week 3

- 7:55 am

I’m still managing to keep up, but I had another crazy week at work and am starting to realise this is a common theme! I’m looking forward to Fat Mum Slim’s March challenge, I think I have just been struggling with the list this month! Have to see how we go!