cupcakey goodness

I made cupcakes. D and I both had morning tea commitments at work - what better excuse to bake?! These ones went down a treat - the green ones have green tea icing which everyone loved! This surprised me as when I talk about green tea flavoured stuff, everyone goes 'yuk'.

There would have been a lot more cupcakes if a certain kitchen disaster hadn't happened! Something went very very wrong with my vanilla cupcakes. Though, for the life of me I cannot figure out what!

I also made D some cupcakes with a red bean paste and green tea icing. Red bean paste is a traditional asian sweet and D loves it in the sweets he buys from the asian food store. D was very impressed and now wants me to try and make mooncake......

Bedtime for me...

M

vege bean soup + green tea custard...

Today I made some yummy vege soup for dinner, and also to freeze for lunches. I basically just threw in all the veges we had in the fridge into a soup. This includes; celery, carrots, capsicums, canned tomatoes, and spinach! Once it had simmered away, I pureed it up and added some cannelloni and butter beans. I made enough for 6 servings - and only 1 WW point per serve! (That is, if you don't add that teaspoon of ricotta....)



It doesn't look that pretty - but its tastes damn good.


While I was on such a domesticated bender, I made some green tea custard for dessert. (Low in points too!!) The photo REALLY doesn't do it justice - it was much brighter green in real life.



I have plans for green tea related things... and also for adzuki bean related things....



M

random blossom

I don't have any pictures today, so have a photo of a random blossom I took in Spring.

Life has been a bit 'arrrggggh' lately. I have so much to do and find myself re-prioritising every five mintues.

I'm still obsessed with making cupcakes, though I've realised I have to find people to give them to BEFORE I make them. Otherwise I end up taking truckloads of cupcakes into work and pissing off all the people on weight watchers!

Speaking of WW, I have started going to the actual meetings. I probably won't stick at the meetings - but it is a good start to get me motivated. (I'm too stingy to pay forever.. and I am more than a wee way from my goal weight when it will be free!) We'll see how it goes.

M

baby shower cupcakes

I am just heading off to a baby shower for a good work friend of mine, Mariana. Mariana and her partner Dan are expecting a wee baby girl in about three weeks. I'm very excited. I baked these cupcakes for the baby shower. Aren't they cute. The photo doesn't really do them justice - the two types of pink are much cuter in real life.

I've planned a few games for the baby shower including pictionary/scupltionary where the items are baby related. (E.g nappy). So that should be entertaining. I made the playdough a nice bright pink colour.

I also bought Mariana a wee book (kinda like a visitors books) where friends and family can record their comments/suggestions/advice. I've noticed on several occasions, first time mums friends getting overwhelmed with all the 'helpful' advice given by their friends and family. I think that new mums need to be treated carefully as it can be quite daunting and upsetting they way people offer their advice. At least with the book, Mariana can read it in her own time with her new beautiful baby girl.

M

bloomin' tea

Oh my god. This tea is awesome. I'd heard about teas that bloom when you pour hot water on to them, but I had no idea how cool they were. AND it tasted great! This particular tea is called Good Fortune and came from T Leaf T in Wellington. I did some googling and apparently there a heaps of different types of tea! You can refill your cup for maximum value (this tea was quite pricey).

I really need to start drinking more herbal tea - would be a good excuse to buy a box of this... (if only it didn't cost $40 for a 100g tin!!!)

So pretty:

M

congratulations to my dearest K

Last weekend one of my dearest friends got married. Congratulations Kate & Richard!

D and I flew to Nelson for the weekend to be part of the celebrations. Kate looked gorgeous in a beautiful blue dress. I am so happy we were there to share the day with them.

We held a Hen's night for Kate, which was quite entertaining, especially as Scone and I were the only sober ones! We had great fun dressing Kate up in all kinds of bride-to-be gear. (You like the fishnet stockings? the bride2be sash? or perhaps the abundance of wedding veils and garters??)

There were also several typical hens night games that were most entertaining... Luckily for those involved I have a no face photo policy on my blog... (the internet is a scary place you know!)

It was of course also fantastic to spend some time with my Nelson friends and family and just relax! I really love going back to Nelson and wish we could afford to do it more often. Mum has had their house renovated and they now have a fabulous (and huge) kitchen/lounge/dining area. It was lovely to chill out in.

D went on the whole weekend about how he wants to move to Nelson! I don't want to ruin my perfect holiday destination!

So to those Nelson lovelies who actually read my blog, (yes I know I ramble) it was wonderful to see you and I can't wait to see you soon!

And huge hugs and kisses for my mummy who had an operation yesterday and is at home recovering.

Oh - I forgot to say what fantastic weather it was:



M