balanced?

Yeha just noticed how long it's been between posts. That's because I'm busy training - you can read my training blog for an update (if you dont know the link them email and ask me...it's all 'secret squirrel')- and also beceause I've become a FACEBOOK WHORE. Yeah look me up...

This weekend was jam packed with fun - it convinced me that I'm still leading a balanced life sort of and not the insane feeling of having your life run away from you.

A combination of training (2 excellent DB training sessions), socialising (catching up with the girls and seeing jpeg for at least a few hours), eating (baking pineapple pie, home cooked meals and 'About Life') and cultural activities (watched '25th Annual Putnam Spelling Bee', the Bledisloe Cup, and went partying at a really cool club in Kings Cross which reminded me of being at a random houseparty!)makes for one tired but happy girl :D

Banned substances alert!

Big Dave has dictated that certain foods are no longer 'Sydney07 Compliant' which foods that will not make us win a GOLD MEDAL at the world championships in september. The list includes
- chocolate ( dark variety is okay in small amounts ON sundays),
- foods that are high in fat (such as all junk food and bacon and scrambled eggs with cream and butter)
- foods which are high GI value, and high in sugar (which is basically anything that tastes good including pumpkin soup)
and of course BAKED GOODS (which is of course a combination of all things non-compliant).

Which leads me to the topic at hand.... Today I found out that CINNABON has a store in Melbourne, but not in Melbourne city..in Fountain Gate shopping centre which is where Kath and Kim shop.

I've never had a real cinnabon before - they're basically cinnamon rolls with cream cheese topping from The States. Maureena and Red Ginger swear they are delicious...I've yet to try it but am almost contemplating going to Melbourne for the trip (oh and the shopping too). It's almost beginning to sound like the quest for the now not-so-elusive Beard Papa Cream Puff!

Of course I suppose I'll have to wait til after September to go and try one....

Tart for a Tart

A few weeks ago my cousins, Ben and Ed, brought over a bag of home grown mandarins - i'd love to say they were sweet juicy organic jewels of flavour sensation, except they were dry and sour and they were sitting there about to go mouldy. haha

So what to do with a bunch of mandarins that aren't fit to eat? I was thinking of making jam but that might require me to sterilise jars and take much more time and effort than I was willing to invest on a sunday morning, so I decided to take the easy option - mandarin curd. It was the first time I made it - I used a recipe for lemon curd from the Bill Granger recipe book that my cousins gave me for my bday (yay), except the mixture wasn't thickening and I ended up doubling the batch thinking it was some juice to egg to butter ratio. In the end I consulted Nigella's domestic goddess turns out I didn't have enough heat. I love her cookbooks!

Baked some left over pastry, spooned on the curd and it was great. I also ended up using 10 egg yolks and so had to make a double batch of lemon friands to use the left over egg whites. It was a baked goods daily double...not so good for the 'lean mean paddling machine' diet though.

brunch at Kazbah

It's my birthday - Let the feasting begin! Sat morning breakfast feast at Kazbah in Balmain with friends and lovers...

Update

So most of you know i'm pretty blind - i've worn glasses since I was in year 7 when my science teacher Ms Ratcliffe (affectionately referred to as Ratty) pulled me out of class to demand that I should stop squinting at the blackboard and go to the optometrist. ah the joys. Next thursday I'm finally biting the bullet - I'm getting Lasik eye surgery and i'm hoping I will be able to jump out of bed without first having to search for my glasses and jump into the water without having to scrunch my eyes shut worrying that my contacts will float away....I will miss my funky purple glasses though - I often get mistaken for a doctor when i wear them HA HA (okay I also work in Kogarah where most people either work for St George Bank or for the Hospital so it's not that unbelievable!)

I'm thinking of doing a photographic homage to my life with glasses...but the photos would be so dorky i dont think I could bear it hahaha (exercising my right to self-censorship!)