Baking and barbecues

Yesterday was a particularly good day! I was in full on domestic goddess mode and spent the day in the kitchen. I had a wee craving for soup so made a little pot of carrot and coriander and a humongous pot of ham and vegetable - yum! But the highlight of my afternoon was, once again, spending some quality time with Philippa! :-)

We were going to a barbecue in the
evening so I decided it was the perfect excuse to try making cupcakes with the mixer. I probably would have made them anyway, but this way I wouldn't have to eat them all. And I would have. Easily.

Once again, my beloved mixer proved she was worth every cent! My cupcakes could no longer be used as doorstops!! The sponge was light and fluffy, and the frosting was silky and smooth - I
was almost sorry I had to share them!


As I was on a roll, I decided to mix up some more cookies to take to the barbecue too. (I had originally planned on taking the ones I'd made on Friday, but sadly there were only two left ...) It was while sorting the ingredients that I realised I had accidentally made the previous batch using baking powder instead of baking soda. Now, I'm not really sure what the difference is, but the only difference in the end result seemed to be a whiter cookie. I would be very grateful if someone (Nancy? Kirstie?) could tell me why this should be .......



Anyway, the goodies were well received at the barbecue, and of the 12 cupcakes and 11 cookies (one cookie was consumed in advance for quality control ...) only one cupcake was left at the end of the night :-)





Much fun was had at the barbecue! Peter had marinaded a tritip (mmmm .... beef ......!) and Teo (pictured next to hubby) brought some yummy prawn skewers.









In addition to burgers and hotdogs, our hosts Cameron (left) and Katy (below on the left) made some divine chicken stuffed with homemade pesto and wrapped in bacon (Cameron - I want the recipe for your pesto!)








We ate, we drank, we tried not to piss the neighbours off, and after a wee round of Guitar Hero we retired to bed, drunk and happy!! :-)