Inside some of us is a thin person struggling to get out, but they can usually be sedated with a few pieces of chocolate cake. ~Author Unknown

Or in my case… cupcake!

1. Gerbera Cupcakes, 2. Let them eat cupcakes, 3. Cupcakes, 4. Mini Mini Flower Cupcakes 1

Want to see more Flickr Faves, or even submit your own, head on over to ArtMind!

It’s not often I sit and gape at the television, but this week on Top Chef I did just that.  It was a wonderful piece of reality television.

For those of you that aren’t familiar with Top Chef it involves established chefs battling it out in cooking challenges to become the Top Chef.  So unlike Masterchef the contestants in this show should know how to deliver when it comes to food.

This is season seven of Top Chef and it’s being filmed in Washington D.C.  The location is providing some great visual accompaniments to the series.  It’s also show casing the role of the American Public Service.  As someone who lives in the capital of their nation it’s great to see what life is like in another nation’s capital.

But back to the show.  We’re up to episode nine in this series and it’s been a good series up to now, but this week it got juicy.

Reality television is addictive because it relies on human nature and interaction.  However, I prefer reality television that delivers more than just human interaction which is why I prefer the cooking, design and skills based shows to a format like Big Brother.

It’s inevitable in each show that there is a target player.  A target player is a person who is living with a target on their back, whether from their own actions or from the editing in the show. They are the person we all love to hate, and they make us tune in.

The only downside to having a target player is that statistically that player ultimately goes home without the title.  But while they’re on the show they make for some great television and viewer engagement.  It’s usually just down hill for viewers once that player leaves.

Image source: Bravotv.com

In Masterchef Australia the target player was Joanne.  Her target was set by the audience through the editing of the show.  In this season of Top Chef the target player is Alex.  Unlinke Joanne Alex has set the target himself and it’s been wonderful television viewing.

It started a couple of episodes ago with ‘pea-gate‘.  In a nutshell, pea-gate happened when a fellow contestants pea puree went missing and Alex was the only contestant to plate pea puree.  The show was edited to give it maximum drama and it started the roll against Alex.

This week saw the challenge that separates the real chefs from the wannabe chefs, restaurant wars.   The contestants are split into two teams and tasked with setting up their own restaurant.  They’re responsible for the menu and front of house.  In past seasons it’s been the biggest source of drama and often the one challenge where the most mistakes happen.

This season the restaurants performed well and there was minimal drama in the actual restaurants.  The contestants waited until they were under the pressure of judging to lose the plot.  It was beautiful.

The team with Alex made the decision to keep him out of the kitchen and limit the amount of cooking he was involved in.  They made the decision to put him in charge of front of house.  Which provided an insight into Alex‘s character that has not been seen before.  He can be a bit of a pr*ck.

Image source: Bravotv.com

In the end the decision paid off and Alex‘s team was safe from elimination.  However, that didn’t stop the team up for elimination from throwing Alex under the bus.

It was a beautiful piece of reality television.  The team up for elimination decided that Alex should be up for elimination because his team carried him.  Unfortunately the team acted within the rules and therefore couldn’t have Alex up for elimination.  That didn’t stop it from making some great television viewing though.

The way the team turned as one and crucified another contestant was magical.  It just goes to demonstrate that people under pressure can find a scapegoat when they need one.

It has however set up next week for an amazing episode.  There’s been anger and accusations and those things will come home to roost.  Needless to say, I can’t wait for next week’s episode.

After weeks of slicing, dicing and julienne(ing) the Masterchef Australia contestants the final is airing on Sunday 25 July. The success of this season is epitomized by the fact that the Australian Federal Election Debate was moved from it’s original scheduled time so as not to clash with the finale.  Seems even the politicians don’t want to compete with the wanna be chefs.

I didn’t watch season one, nor do I watch or follow anything to do with the contestants from season one.  For some reason I just didn’t get into it in the first season.  I wasn’t so fortunate to miss the bug this time around.

For the past few weeks I have been captivated by Masterchef Australia and the Masterchef Twitter Feed.  Seems I haven’t been the only one to notice that the popularity of this season is being, in part, fueled by those on Twitter.  Natalie Hambly wrote about the phenomena on 23 July 2010 in the Sydney Morning Herald.  

Some of my favourite moments from the season have come not from the show but from Twitter.  It’s provided an outlet for my snark and outrage at some of the decisions made in relation to the contestants and their performance.  I’m still smarting over the elimination of Marion, and thanks to Twitter I know I’m not alone.

Twitter also provided Chef Neil Perry (Twitter ID: rockpoolgroup) with an outlet to express his feelings about being misquoted by Jonathon Moran in The Sunday Telegraph on 18 July 2010.  The article attributed the following quotes to Perry:

“If you leave MasterChef and think that you are now one of the great chefs of Australia, I think you are probably up for a pretty rough ride,” Perry told The Sunday Telegraph.

“These people are just nobodies with very little experience, and [aided by the show] are able to be exposed and have opportunities. That’s why people go on the show.

“Most of them don’t go on the show thinking they will be opening a restaurant … most go on there to get enough media fame to be able to go on and do more media things.”

“You’ve got to have a really good palate and you’ve got to understand the process if you want to put your own spin on it rather than just put your name on it,” he said.

“And writing a cookbook is a really difficult thing to do.”

In fact, I received this direct message (DM) from rockpoolgroup after posting a tweet about Perry doing a backflip on his comments:

People seemed to be shocked by the comments as they came from a chef that had been a contributor to a number of episodes this season.  Unfortunately people also took it as an opportunity to sink the boot into Perry.  Which is a shame as Perry has done a lot of positive work for the food industry both nationally and internationally, regardless of his personal opinion about a reality television show.

One of my favourite television blogs, Reality Ravings, also posted about Perry’s comments and the majority of the readers seemed to be  in agreement with Perry’s comments.  In fact the comments on the original article seemed to support him in the main as well.  However it didn’t stop him from emailing Matt Preston, Masterchef Host, to clarify his position.  Matt Preston then took to Facebook and posted the email.

Regardless of whether he said it or not, I happen to agree with the comments.  Masterchef Australia is not a trade qualification; it’s a game show.  None of the contestants, even those that win the show, can call themselves Chefs.  They’re just glorified cooks.

The fact that they leave the show and start their own sauce ranges, restaurants or cookbooks is more about putting a celebrity face on a product then being qualified to do something.

The performance of the final two contestants, Adam and Callum, who will battle out on Sunday 25 July, merely supports this position.

Adam has been a consistent performer.  He’s produced quality dishes and always been in the top of the contestants.  However at crucial times his pallet and tendency to overstretch himself have caused him to stumble.

Callum on the other hand has stunned Australia by making it to the final two.  Admittedly, as a 33 year old that did some time in a professional kitchen I would struggle to produce some of the dishes he has delivered, it still doesn’t detract from the fact that he has consistently ignored expert advice, failed to plate dishes for judging and stumbled over simple recipes such as custard.

Let none of us forget the Country Women’s Association challenge where they all failed miserably to make traditional recipes such as lamingtons, fruit cake and jam.  Something that should have been fairly straight forward and basic caused major pitfalls for all the contestants, least of all Adam and Callum.  Interestingly, it was this challenge that pitted Adam and Callum against each other to make lamingtons.  Adam was triumphant in the end plating some of the best food on the day.  However Callum failed to even make a consistently sized product.

It will be interesting to see whether history repeats on the finale.  If I was a betting lass, and history and my bank balance has shown that I am, my money would be on Adam to win.  He has the maturity, calm nature and eye for detail that Callum is missing.

Regardless of the outcome, I’ve had a blast with this show and the interaction on Twitter.  I know my week nights won’t be the same without it, and I’m not alone there.  In fact, Jane over at Life @ Number 8 has posted about this exact problem.  She’s gone so far as to suggest alternative ways to fill the void that will be left by Masterchef Australia. For me, I’ll be replacing one reality television addiction with another and tuning in to Masterchef USA.  Bring on the Ramsey!

Currently Australia is obsessed with the 2010 series of Masterchef Australia, and I haven’t been immune to it’s charm.  (Unlike last year…) I’m totally wrapped in the food and drama.  (Although I’ve reached my limit when it comes to tears and stories about dead parents, nana’s or children.)  If only it included my love of craft and art, then it would tick all my happy boxes.

Thanks to the wonder that is Twitter I happened to find a blog that incorporates food and art; They Draw & Cook.

Images from They Draw & Cook.

It’s brilliant – so brilliant in fact that if I was a publisher I would snatch it up in a moment! I would definitely be buying copies of the book to give to those I love and like.

I’m going to start putting together a list of recipes that I want to try off the site and then make them.  It should be a hoot.  Let me know if you decide to make any, we could do a cook off ala Masterchef Australia.

One of the meals from my childhood that I’ve wanted to make since becoming an “adult” is Tuna Mornay.  My Mother made a mean tuna mornay and so I’ve been trying to get the recipe for the past couple of years.  I always seem to forget to get it when we’re together, but not this holiday.

Turns out the family secret recipe actually comes from the Day to Day Cookery – a book that all highschool students are forced to purchase for Year 8 Home Economics.  So I put pen to paper and copied out the recipe.  There is no Tuna Mornay, but there is a Salmon Mornay which Mum just tweaks.

With returning to work looming HUBBY and I have decided to cook up some meals that we can take to work throughout the coming week.  Inspired by my Dad’s camping version of Savory Mince I cooked some of my own up last night, and then today I decided to make Tuna Mornay.

I’ve been pleasantly surprised with how much it actually looks and smells like what my Mum makes.  It’s in the oven now just browning up, so I thought I’d take the time and share the recipe with the interwebz.

Mornay Sauce

60g Butter

4 Tablespoons Flour

2.5 Cups Milk

1 Cup Grated Cheese

Salt, Cayenne, Nutmeg

1. Melt butter, add the flour and cook over gentle heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon.  Cook for 2 minutes.

2. Remove saucepan from heat and gradually add warmed milk.  Stir constantly until well blended.

3. Return saucepan to the heat and cook until mixture thickens.  Continue to stir so sauce will be smooth.  Cook for 2 minutes longer.

4. Remove from heat and add grated cheese and salt, cayenne and nutmeg to taste.

Tuna Mornay

1 quantity of Mornay Sauce

1 Onion

1 Tablespoon Butter or Margarine

½ Teaspoon Dry Mustard

A Little Lemon Juice

1 x 880g Tinned Tuna

6 Hard Boiled Eggs

2 Tablespoons Grated Cheese

2 Tablespoons Soft Breadcrumbs

1. Fry chopped onion in a little hot butter and then add to mornay sauce.

2. Season with Lemon Juice and mustard

3. Fold in tuna and 3 sliced eggs.

4. Turn into an oven proof dish.  Place sliced eggs over the top of mixture.  Sprinkle with cheese and breadcrumbs.

5.  Bake in moderate oven until sauce bubbles and cheese melts.

6. Served with boiled rice.

So there you have it Mum’s Tuna Mornay.  If you make it let me know how it works out.  In the meantime I’m going to run off and enjoy the fruits of my labour.

For this weeks Flickr Faves Mitsy set us some homework.  This week’s theme was set for us; Self Portrait.  We were tasked with finding images that represented who we are.  So without further ado here’s the 9 images I chose to speak to who I am at this moment in time.  The lists is by no means definite or exhaustive. It’s just 9 somewhat random images.

1. gnome – This one is a no brainer in some ways and yet in others it’s surprising.  My gnome “fetish” was well over a decade ago and yet I still have this link to gnomes.  It’s one that I propigate through my own choices, but it still amazes me that these little guys keep coming up in my life.  Sometimes the gnome thing is really random and then at other times it seems apt.  I’m sure when I move on to the next stage in my adventure a gnome will adorn my body’s final resting place.  I just hope it’s a tasteful one, like this one, and not some $2 Crazy Clark’s job!

2. Colored Pens #8,- I love stationery.  I’m a mad pen collector.  I might not drink coffee, but I have a coffee mug collection that grows just to house all the pens I acquire.  I love notepads, blank paper, wrapping paper, envelopes, cards, stickers and the list goes on and on.  There’s nothing more thrilling than a fresh notebook.  That first beautifully empty page.  I love the beginning of a school year when school supplies litter all the shops.  I love stationery!

3. Groovy Rainbow Cupcake,- Food.  I’ve had a constant battle with food.  I love to bake and I love to eat.  Two things that have not been conducive to a healthy lifestyle.  My relationship with food is changing and evolving and I want to be able to still have fun with my food and enjoy my life through my enjoyment of food.

4. star dust and rainbows. 156:365, – I love rainbows.  I love colour.  Lots of colour.  Bold colour.  I also love Converse Chuck Taylor shoes and mad socks.  Rainbows are happy.  I love to be happy.  Happiness is a state that I want to be in for the largest chunk of my life.   I love this image.

5. Tattoo pioeuvre 9,- Much to the misunderstood amusement of my friends and family I love tattoo’s.  I have four.  Two rather large and prominently placed and two smaller pieces.  I will get more.  I love them on other people (when they’re done well); regardless of their age, race, size or subject matter.  To me they’re like a living canvas.  I love the images that people chose to carry with them.  The stories behind them.  The technique that is used to make them.  I love them.  I will continue to think that people that have them are beautiful in their own way, and that the tattoo doesn’t distract from that.  I don’t regret mine, and I hope that those that get tattoo’s don’t regret theirs either.

6. I Want To Read: cover,- I’m a bookworm.  I love a good book.  Although I suspect what I consider to be “good” is not to everyone’s taste.  I love getting lost in a book.  I love the sense of accomplishment when I finish a book.  I love listening to people read from books.  I love going to bookstores and wondering the story picking up and caressing various books.  I’m a bibliophile and proud of it!

7. Girl Painting a Rainbow,- First off, I love the name of this image.  It sounds like it should be a Rollingstone’s song.  I love being creative.  I love to take objects and re-purposing  them.  I love the imagination.  I love seeing what others come up with.  I love the design revolution that’s happening now.  I love spending hours looking online at what people have created and how they incorporate the design trends and their own quirky style into their homes.  I love getting my hands dirty in the creative process.

8. A-Maze-Ing Laughter, – A day without laughter is like a day without sun.  It’s not right.  I can’t get enough of laughing.  I love to laugh; I love to make others laugh.  I love hearing a child just cracking up with their own laughter.  I love watching other people laugh.  I love infectious laughter that flows from one person to another.  I love a good joke.  I love a smartarse comment.  I love a witty insight.  A good pun.  I love a fart joke.  I want to laugh.  I believe our bodies were built for laughter.  I believe laughter is the sound of love.  I want to see this sculpture in person!

9. Macro Game Piece Monday – I’m an online gamer.  I’m addicted to playing an online game.  I love it.  I love playing board games and card games with my friends.  I love strategy and I love the escapism.  I love games.  I love nothing more then a good meal, great company and a few rounds of various games as a good night in.  I love trivia nights.  I love competition.  I love playing.

I loved this task so much it inspired a redesign of my blog theme where I chose photo’s from my life that I have taken that I feel represent all the great things in my life.  (With the exception of friends and family because I didn’t want to use their images without permission.)  I also realised that I used ‘love’ a lot in this task and I think it’s reflective of where I am at the moment.  I’m loving life.  Are you loving your life?

♣♣♣♣♣♣

Wanna see more wonderful self portraits?  Or maybe you want to submit your own.  Head on over to Artmind where Ms Misty is hosting the Flickr Fave party.  Happy St Patrick’s Day!

Image source: Gnomeangel, In Game – World of Warcraft

Who said nothing brilliant ever came from playing World of Warcraft?  Tonight my fellow Guildies helped me out with a domestic crisis; what to have for dinner!

I was talking (i.e. whinging) in Guild Chat that I didn’t know what we were going to do about dinner; “The cupboard is bare and I don’t want to head to Woolworths.”

A few minutes later Cromonztro tells me he’s sent me a recipe in game.  I thought he meant a WoW recipe.  No, he meant an actual recipe.

Turns out we had everything, with a few minor tweaks, that I needed to make what I called “Cromonztro’s Dalaran Delight” but is actually known as “Impossible Pie”.  It’s like a quiche without the carb and calorie loaded pastry.

When I’d gotten it ready to go in the oven I sent my Guildies a little preview.

It came out of the oven golden and perfect.  HUBBY was so impressed that I’d managed to whip up dinner without him knowing, or without having to send him into Woolworths.  It tastes awesome and it’s so filling, even if you’re not missing 80% of you stomach.

For those of you that want to try it out at home here’s the details:

Ingredients

6 x Eggs

1 Cup Milk

1/2 Cup Flour – sifted

1/2 Cup Grated Cheese

Handful of Bacon Bits or Cooked Chicken (I used diced ham as we had no bacon or chicken)

1/2 Diced Onion (We didn’t have an onion so I just skipped this bit)

1 Sliced Tomato (We only had about 10 grape tomatoes so I just halved them and used that instead)

Directions

Combine Eggs, Milk and Flour and mix well.

Add cheese and mix well.

Add bacon/chicken/ham and onion and mix well.

Pour into a well greased tin. (I used a slice tin and just doused it in cooking spray)

Place tomato slices on top.  Be careful not to let them sink too far, they should “float” just don’t jiggle the pan too much.

Bake for 40 minutes in a 180 degree Celsius oven.  (I baked at 160 in a fan forced oven.)

Can be eaten hot or cold and served with green salad.

Serves 6. (Or 4 hungry people!)

Thanks to Rainie and Cro for the awesome dinner!

(Sorry for the quality of the dinner images, they were all taken on my iPhone.)

Today has been a hive of activity.  Inspired by the woman at Brown Owls I’ve started on my Ginger Beer Plant.  I’m following the very helpful instructions posted over at Meet Me At Mikes.  It’s kind of an interesting looking mixture.  It reminds me of the fluid that we put in the fly trap for the backyard.  The smell is rather potent as well.  I’m crossing my fingers and hoping that at the end of this adventure I’ll have twelve liters of drinkable fluid and not just something to pour over the plants.

I also got out the CWA’s cookbook and made some chocolate biscuits.  I just love and adore chocolate so I couldn’t resist getting this close up shot of the milk chocolate melts.  The biscuits were baked and ready in under an hour.  They’re not bad, but a little dry.  I’m going to make some ANZAC biscuits tomorrow.  I’ve been craving them for the past couple of days, I’m hoping they’ll be a little better than today’s batch.

I’ve also been working on my Dolly Donation.  I’ve finished the girl and I’m half way through finishing the boy.  Hopefully they’ll be done by Monday and I can put them in the post.

Today I’ve spent a lot of time amusing myself and avoiding the chores.  That’s going to have to change for tomorrow…

Wanna see other people’s Creative Spaces? Head on over to Kootoyoo.

These are an old school favourite of mine.  I just love them.  It’s been ages since I made a batch so I thought I’d wipe up a mix for an office afternoon tea that was being organised.  The recipe can be found on the back of Kellogg’s Rice Bubbles packets, but for those of you that don’t have access to our version of Rice Bubbles I thought I would share it on here.

Ingriedents

4 cups Kellogg’s Rice Bubbles ceral

1 cup desiccated coconut

1 cup icing sugar

250g copha

3 Tbsp cocoa

Method

1. In a large bowl, mix Kellogg’s Rice Bubbles ceral, icing sugar, coconut and cocoa.

2. Slowly melt the copha in a suacepan over low heat.  Allow to cool slightly.  Add to Rice Bubble mixture, stirring until well combined.

3. Spoon mixture into paper patty cases and refrigerate until firm.

Makes about 24.

I didn’t use the regular size paper patty cases, I used my Multimix Patty Pans Mini Coloured.  (Available at Woolworths for AU$1.99)  Using this size patty pan meant that I got 75 chocolate crackles and they were just the right size for a bite.  A nice little sample of chocolate crackle goodness.  It also meant that I had a wonderful rainbow of cool.

What do you do for one of your gaming buddies when it’s their birthday? Why you bake a World of Warcraft themed cake of course!

I’m quietly chuffed with how this turned out.  It’s really simple to do.  Just find a Horde insignia, like this one here.  Blow it up to the size of the cake.  Print it and then cut out the logo.  This leaves you with a stencil.

Position the stencil on top of the cake and then pour your sprinkles all over the stencil.  Gently push the sprinkles into the frosting and then tilt the cake and let the remaining sprinkles run off into a baking tray.

The trickiest part is lifting the stencil without doing too much damage to the frosting or spilling surplus sprinkles all over the cake.  Once you’ve managed to lift the stencil carefully using a knife to tidy up the frosting.  When it’s done put it in the fridge to let the frosting set.

This image is just before it went into the fridge.  Once the frosting has set I’ll move the cake to a clean plate and get ready to serve.  Thank goodness he plays Horde and not Alliance, their insignia would have been hell to do!

This will make a nice little addition to the day we’ve got planned to help him celebrate.  A LAN party – we’re all getting together to spend the day playing World of Warcraft.  Perfect!

Oh, and what do you give a World of Warcraft addict for their birthday…

Loved this gift so much, I got one for myself.  As I said to HUBBY when he accused me of being addicted to t-shirts, “I’m a t-shirt connoisseur!”.