On Saturday I invited the neighbour and his kids over for a movie-party up in my loft. It was a present for N's 9th birthday a couple of weeks ago. They brought 'The Cat In The Hat'. Which is an awfully bad film, but I had promised they could watch whatever they want. Apparently they had seen it a million times already, because there was giggling before every horrid joke. It's a good thing they have me as a neighbour now; they obviously need my guidance. *grins*



Don't worry, I hid my grumpy side well; a good time was had by all;)

Heh. Feels like I started another tradition: the Friday dinner experience:) Just like last week I started with a sauce and varied on the recipe. This was supposed to have broccoli and mushrooms, but I changed it to green beans and carrots:)


The carrots had dirt on 'm, that's how fresh they were! I cleaned them myself, I feel so proud:) Okay, so the beans came in a jar. But they were biologically grown (as were all the other ingredients), so I still get some good-little-cook points, right?


Boiled the vegetables for a minute or two, then added slices of ham. Added the sauce.


Instead of grated cheese, I made a pretty pattern *g*


In the oven for 25 minutes (180C)


Tadaah!


Served with mashed potatoes. Delicious.

I thought we were done with it, but today it started snowing all over again!

This morning (08.00)

Parked my bike at the busstop.


View at the busstop on my way to work: see? Snow!

This afternoon (17.20)

The place were I get on the bus back home (about fifteen minutes walk from my official busstop, which has not been in use since August 2009 because of -and I quote the buscompany- 'problems with infrastructure'. Apparently the citycounsel last week agreed 'something had to be done'. *golfclaps*)

...Anyway...

I'm freezing, but cheerful (If you can believe that). Bus was half an hour late, but at least if came eventually:)


Brave bike is still there. Cycling through the snow wasn't as difficult as last week. It was easier than walking;) I got home around 19.00, about 45 minutes later than usual.

Oh winter.

The CupCake Experiment
PART 4: Carrot/Walnut CupCakes with Creamcheese frosting
Part 3 was posted in my LiveJournal
I've learned so much these past few weeks I felt ready for a more complicated recipe. I feel much more confident making the batter. I can make the basic batter almost without a thought now. I chopped up the butter before whisking and used less raisins than last time before adding the other ingredients.

I remembered how to chop the walnuts from one of those cooking shows on tv. I'm quite proud I didn't cut myself.


I also managed to shred the carrot without injuries!


I had enough batter for a seventh cupcake.
Not enough space in my oven though. Ahw.


After experimenting for the past few weeks,
I chose to set the oven between 4 and 5 for twenty minutes.
(Receipe says 175C, but according to my oven that's about 210C)


Tadaah!


Ingredients for frosting: creamcheese, powdered sugar,
a spoon of lemonjuice, a drop of vanilla extract and a walnut topping.


Frosting was a little too thin (thanks to very fluid creamcheese) but it tasted delicious! And the inside of the cakes was perfectly cooked; nice and crumbly.
I had another person taste them for the first time; she loved them too - and I'm sure she didn't just say that because she's my mom;)