Up to my elbows in chocolate

I ended up really enjoying preparing Jbird's birthday cake.  I used the recipe I said I would for the cake, filling it with chocolate mousse, and covering it in a dark chocolate ganache, with white chocolate ganache streaks for effect.  I loved the way it looked when I was finished, as though it could sit in a shop window drawing customers into a chocolatier/bakery.  

Assembly was very messy.  The cake had sunk a little bit in the middle when it was baking.  This could possibly have been because I opened the oven a few times after discovering a drip through the spring form sides of the cake tin which I need to put a tray under.  The reaction of the hot/cold air in the early stages of baking left the middle section of the top of the cake with brain type bumps in it.  So I sliced the top of the cake off to flatten it.  There were chocolate cake crumbs everywhere.  Of course, I had to try a few.  I managed to make the mousse thick enough that the heavy top layer didn't squish it all out, but there was mousse everywhere.  I have a weakness for chocolate mousse so I tried 'some' of that too.  I was also happy with my ganache consistency.  Although it didn't have the extremely smooth quality I was going for, it didn't drip and pool either, but sat comfortably as I spread it over the cake.  Afterwards, there was dark chocolate ganache everywhere.  Including in my tummy.  The white chocolate was runny enough that it made very dramatic streaks across the top.  I added some diagonal stripes too.  Only one bit of white chocolate ganache dripped over the side of my icing bag onto the top of the cake which cleaned up pretty nicely.  Still.  There was white chocolate ganache everywhere.  And yes, I tried some of that too.  I tasted so much during the afternoon that almost didn't think I would be able to stomach a piece when we cut it it later that night.  Almost.

Soph brought berries which were a lovely decoration and added something special to the flavour of the chocolate.  We served it with yoghurt on the side*.  

*I think having yoghurt with cake is part of the New Zealand cafe culture because my American friends have made other suggestions when I mentioned having yoghurt with cake.  Like cream cheese.  When I first had yoghurt I thought it was too tart. Now I think it tastes perfect as it tones down the richness of cake.

Patio on the grass

I find myself 'stooping'* on the concrete ledge that surrounds our garden several times a day while I eat lunch, take a study break, or merely take a moment to mull.  Recently, we procured two foldable picnic chairs for our imminent camping trip so I've set them up next to our garden with a few flowering pot plants and voila, we have a nice little patio area to sit in.  Soph leaves for Europe this afternoon so we'll have her over for lunch and to test our new patio before she goes.

*stooping - to sit on your front stoop or stairs, chatting, smoking, or greeting passers-by.  A commonly used term in Baltimore, MD., where stoops hit the footpath of busy city streets.

Faure at peace

Jbird just put up a video of one of the pieces from his recent recital on his website.   This is Faure's first nocturne, it's very pretty.  Listen out for the bass line (left hand) theme that repeats throughout, giving an ominous feel to an otherwise calm rhetoric.  I told you about his recital here and here.  You could previously just listen but now you can watch too. 

Carcassone insanity

I got Carcassone the big box for my birthday - it has five expansions.  To get free shipping on Jbird's anniversary gift, I bought him a sixth, the river.  Have you played it?  Do you love it?  

I'm a farm conqueror.  I tend to become fixated on having as many as possible, at the detriment of my roads, villages, and cloisters.  I find myself becoming very competitive and have taken to putting some rescue remedy in my water to help me calm down.  Because it's summer time, people have plenty of time for a game or two at the moment.

*If your item costs more than $25 on some Amazon items within America, you are offered free shipping

The B-Line

The Bloomington Bike Gang has had a chance to reform because two of the members are on new relaxed summer vaca. schedules.  We have often been told to experience the recently opened B-line trail.  It's a flat 3-mile trail on what used to be a main train line into town.   The downtown area is nice with some some locally made artwork, and just less than 2 miles of it is a pretty field with grasses, wild flowers, and trees, ending at a river. It doesn't compare to New York's ex-rail park The Highline which is an amazing feat and work of art.  The first time we went to that park it was newly opened, wintery and quiet.  The second time, even though it was a work day,  there were queues just to get up to it and then every spare inch was taken with people (ahhhhh....New York).  The B-line was lovely and quiet with just a school group visiting the science lab and a few other adults walking or running it.  I'd like to get my hands on the rather neglected man-made gardens in the downtown area.

It was such a nice day, we were all in summery clothes, and we were relaxed and happy.  It felt like a scene from the movie My Girl except that we're at least 20 years her senior.  The trail itself isn't hard but combined with the route there and back, it made a pretty decent trip, out and about on our bikes just for fun.

Breaking Away

Would you like to see a little picture of where we live?  Find and watch the movie: Breaking Away.  

I want to talk about it in more detail than I can without giving away too much of the story line.  It's based in and around Bloomington and the Indiana University campus (here in Bloomington) in 1979.  Dennis Quaid is one of the young actors.  He manages to come across as a fairly angry sort, I didn't enjoy his performance very much.  If I were to give an award for best actor, it would be to Dennis Christopher.  He's gorgeous, naive, funny, true to his friends.  I guess I'm unsold on whether the award would go to him or to the person who wrote his character but surely a lot of it was him.  The little 500, a historically important bike race at IU, is a big feature of the film, and more specifically, the inequalities between townies (or 'cutters' as they were called back then) and the students.  It felt very appropriate for me with all this talk on democracy I've been doing with a couple of my classes.  Oh, and the scenery is just what I see every day so if you find this movie, you won't even have to come visit, you'll see it all there.  I guess it's the 1979 version of what we see and walk in, but it's very similar.

Watch it, if you can find it, and tell me what you think.

What's in the tape player?

When we were little, my dad drove a Mercedes.  I believe it was in this very car in which he once lost his driver's license because of too many infringements.  They were mostly speeding, but he also wouldn't wear his seatbelt.  Don't worry, none of his kids have lost our licenses, even with that fantastic role model.

It was also in that car that I was introduced to some Violin Concertos by Great Masters thanks to one of the tapes he'd put on repeat in the tape player.  The Mendelssohn Violin Concerto in E minor was on there and so was the Bruch Violin Concert in G minor, among others. 

Last night I went to a concert put on by the European Union Youth Orchestra.  Soph's teacher, Mark Kaplan, was their guest soloist and he played the Bruch Violin Concerto in G minor.  You can listen to the three movements here, here, and here.  It was such a delight to hear Soph's teacher play live, in the flesh.  I got to see him teach recently, and I've heard him on the radio a number of times.  

It was also a delight to watch a tune I know so well performed live.  Isn't it lovely how music can bring back a different time in your life? 

For your listening pleasure

Jbird's a pretty swanky guy.  The day before spring break, he played a solo recital as part of his degree requirements.  I wrote about it here.  He finally received the recording of the recital from the sound engineers and you can listen to the entire thing here.  If you get dressed up in your finest outfit and close your eyes while you have it playing, it will be as though you were sitting right there next to me.  It's a pretty nice listen, huh? 

The Petar Jankovic Ensemble

I shared a little bit about Jbird's sister, Soph, a while back.  That post has a link to some work she did with the Petar Jankovic ensemble this year.  For your added viewing pleasure, here is their promo video, and a beautiful Andante.  

They're finally back from touring around the States and...they went somewhere in Eastern Europe.  I can't remember where.  We saw their final concert here in Bloomington on Saturday night.  They were on fire that night.

The CD they made is due to be CD of the week on our local radio station in May and she and Mr. Jankovic were recently interviewed.  There is a little play button on the top of that link if you want to hear her voice but the story's also there for you to read.  It's neat hearing a kiwi on the airwaves in amongst all those Americans.  Even better when you're related.

Those unusual traditions

Whilst we Birds vaguely follow a few NZ Easter traditions, there are some US customs which I have observed and are a little unusual to me.  Mind you, we've never eaten at an American's for Easter so I can't really comment on their food.  

They don't seem to give Easter eggs to people.  If you have children, you are likely to partake in an Easter egg hunt.  They like to use plastic shaped eggs filled with treats.  Sometimes smaller eggs, sometimes toys.  I guess the plastic protects them if they're not found, or a squirrel gets them first.  I'm not saying we don't do this tradition at home, but it seems a bigger/more common occurrence here, churches organise hunts for all the kids.

Females wear a new dress to church on Easter Sunday.  Not a new skirt, a new dress.  In fact, men wear their best suit.  It's a pretty thing but I've never quite remembered to go out and buy one and then it's often slightly chilly so I don't even want to put a dress on.  I'll try again next year. They* get really dressed up for Good Friday, too.  Soph's friend told her off when she showed up to church to play violin in jeans and a top, she had to get her friend to deliver some clothes to the church.  Phew.  Jbird and I were on sound and tech.  It was the Friday evening service so we went in end of the week clothes, real sloppy.  Looking down at the congregation - we could have been at a wedding.  Everybody looked gorgeous!  I'm glad we could sit up in the sound box and hide.

Everybody invites their friends and family to church so it's a really busy service.  My tradition in NZ (is this true for you too?) is to go away at Easter time.  It's a four day holiday so I guess it makes sense to get out of town.  I know I've been to church on Easter.  Or...I think I have?  Not to say we're not celebrating the reason for the season - a lot of the time I was either at a youth camp or a Christian camp of some kind, culminating in some of my most spiritual experiences.

All the pagan traditions which we like to link to Jesus fit really well here because it actually is spring time.  Eggs, bunnies, spring flowers.  They all make sense.  Especially after a brutal winter.  Our first winter in Bloomington, there was a lot of snow, it was dubbed Snowmageddon.  Spring came at Easter that year.  It was delightful and a far less abstract reflection. 

* They? Them Yanks! I don't really like being 'us' and 'them' - it's not good for culture shock - yet I have turned this post into just that.

Happy Rising Day!

It's Soph's birthday today - HAPPY BIRTHDAY SOPH - and Easter Sunday.  As a child, we had an Easter tradition of staying at Peter Snell's Youth Village over Easter with members of my Great Aunty Mary's church.  We had some Cook Island friends that came too and they'd always bury an umu early on Easter Sunday morning.  It's basically a roast with all your usual meats, potatoes, and kumura* buried in the ground under hot coals. 

Last year Mum and Dad were visiting us in Baltimore over Easter.  We found a reasonably priced lamb chuck at the farmer's market sired by a New Zealand lamb, and couldn't resist.  I am trying to carry on the tradition, it's the only time in the year that Jbird and I fork out for lamb.  I didn't buy a whole roast - it would have more than doubled our usual budget - I decided chops would suffice.  Delicious looking chops they are, too.  I will also steam some buttery asparagus and roast baby red potatoes with rosemary and garlic.  

Drinks will be equally exciting tonight.  We were in the mood for strawberry daiquiris and pina coladas so I've dusted off the blender, made an excess of ice, and prepared the sugar water.

I can't decide on her birthday cake - she needs a birthday cake - but we have home-made chocolate mousse for dessert.  Yum Scrum! 

*Kumura - NZ Maori name for sweet potato.  Generally purple skinned.

Disqus? for better or for worse

Quite a few people have told me this space is sometimes resistant to letting them comment.  They try signing in with a google username and are denied.  Then they try to comment anonymously and it still doesn't work.  So they give up.  

I tried to get to the bottom of this.  Searching on blogger help, I found out it's  a common problem with blogspot. Why hasn't someone fixed it!?  I was referred to something called Disqus for all my commenting needs.  I didn't know what this was - would I be moving away from blogger?  Would my blog be somehow...different?  Worst of all...would I be allowing a virus into the folds of my computer?  That's the ever present fear of any un-tech savvy gal such as myself.  I decided that the best case scenario was that the program...or software...whatever it is, might help people who are frightened to comment, <clears throat no naming of names>, find it easier and jump right in there.

Blindly, I hit the download and install now buttons requested and something happened, I wasn't exactly sure what.  Things looked great.  There was a new feature to like or dislike the different posts, I was excited for that.  Excited to see who might be the first to dislike me.  But somehow, nothing quite worked properly. Worst of all, the program recognised me as Jbird when I tried to reply to comments.  I don't have the patience to really get in there and fix it.

Now it's been uninstalled/removed, hopefully to never cross my path again.  Come on blogspot, fix your commenting problem, it's your job.

Please read Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Diaries for an excellent philosophical outline conveying why we really shouldn't try just to give up like I did, why we should get to the bottom of such annoyances in life.  It's also an alluring story about a long motorcycle road trip, and one of those books which I always find reasons to recommend.

Recital Number Two

Last semester, Jbird played a chamber group recital with Soph and another girl.  It was pretty neat, I wrote about it here.  This semester he put together a solo recital and he played it two nights ago.  Even though I had a few things to do and was out or teaching for a lot of the day, I felt as though the hours went by really slowly.  Jbird treated it like he normally does, he never lets my nervous tension get in the way.  A little bit of practice, a sleep in the afternoon, and a light meal to stave off hunger.  We were both pretty confident for him - the concerts last week had gone so well - so there was no "oh no, he's not quite prepared!" type tension.  

The concert itself was a success.  He played Beethoven Sonata Op. 90, Brahms ballades, Chabrier village dance, and a Faure Nocturne confidently and charasmatically.  Our Scottish buddy read the ballad Edward, Edward which Brahms had in mind when writing the first of the Ballades which Jbird played, and the audience was able to relate.  The pieces didn't have a particular theme but they seemed to sit well together.  Now the pressure is off, Jbird can enjoy spring break and concentrate on his teaching and classes for the rest of the semester.  

His professor took us to a pretty fancy restaurant to celebrate - Restaurant Tallent.  I had the beet salad, trout, and panna cotta - and a little too much white wine. Jbird had the rabbit and the oatmeal.  We were there well after closing and went to bed stuffed yet satisfied. 

Fancy Husby and His Sis

Have you seen much of my fancy little-sister-in-law, Soph?  (Click on her name to see the link).  She's the one in the black top, with the blonde curly hair.  It's always nice to see her and/or Jbird involved in any great musical opportunity like that one (he's not in that group).  The competition is fierce for them both, and they work hard for it.  My heart actually swells with pride when I get to view anything like this, in the flesh, or on tape.  I'm glad to be here and I can't wait to find out what this semester has in store for them.

And that's all I have to say about that. 

Icy Winter Wonderland

I know I have been posting about the weather a lot recently but it kind of rules my life at the moment!  The passed two days have been still, heavy sky days.  Snow was forecast constantly but never came through, it was just cold.  So cold I couldn't go out without mittens on.  Then last night it rained and froze.  The pavements are frozen over, our bikes have icicles hanging off them, the grass snaps when we walk on it.  Soph had to go to a rehearsal and she spent ten minutes trying to get up a little hill outside her house.  She kept sliding down so she gave up and went back inside.

It's kind of a bummer for Jbird and I as this is our busiest work day.  We normally have students in the morning and this afternoon I'm babysitting.  Unfortunately, our students had to cancel - they couldn't get here safely.  I don't know if I'm more disappointed about the loss in income or the fact that my little one practiced, a lot, and might have had a great lesson.  

Here's hoping for a slight rise in temperature so that everything can defrost, and life can continue.

Tetchy to get out

Rain and snow has the ability to dictate our movements at the moment, especially as we don't own a car.  Yesterday it unexpectedly snowed.  The weather forecast was unable to predict the amount of snow there would be so I kept thinking it would clear and I'd be able to keep the date I'd made with Soph to go downtown.  It was a really windy day so even though there was snow for most of the day, not much of it piled up. But it was the worst kind of weather to be out in.

This left me feeling very unsettled.  I couldn't make myself sit still for very long and do any of the activities I know I want to do yet feel uninspired by.  By the time evening came I was a crabby goose.  I know I shouldn't be impatient, and instead feel pleased that I don't have to be anywhere.  There's nothing worse than being forced out on a day it's just too cold to be out in.  But this is the nature of my head.

Despite all this, I'm hoping for a big dumping of the stuff, with a beautiful clear day following the dump, making the outside world surreal.  That is my favourite type of snow.

A Wintry New Year's Day

Jbird and I worked hard on New Year's Eve.  We taught and then babysat five little ones.  It's a reminder of how different life is here.  At home, as teachers, we'd be at the beach on our Summer Holiday.  Work would not be on our agenda for either the 31st or the 1st. I don't have many opportunities to work here, so when I do, it is a privilege.   Even better: to be able to work with my husband.  We finished at 9pm and we had a party afterwards, with Soph.  It was a blast.  I didn't regret our decision to work on a day that might normally feel like a holiday.

I'm not good at making and keeping New Year's resolutions.  This year, I have only one but it hits all facets of my life.  It is to remain focused on the important things.  That may sound vague to you, but my life isn't too complicated so they're easy for me to see.  They are: my role as a wife, sister, daughter, friend, and teacher; being good with our budget; my study; church; and building new friendships.  Crafts, this blog, music, and making food, are incidental, lovely parts of my life, but they're not too important.  Sounds simple, huh?  I have a sense of excitement about this coming year.

Happy New Year!

Our Antipodean Christmases

This is the third Christmas us three Birds have enjoyed together on this side of the world.  Normally a couple other kiwis join us too but this year it's just us.  These are the only Christmases Jbird and I know as a married couple, it will be strange to return home one day and take back the summer traditions together.

So far it's been lovely.  We got up nice and early to get Jbird to church to play the piano.  It's always nice to celebrate the reason with other believers.  There have been a few nice surprises for everyone under the tree.  We are in a bigger kitchen than we're used to which has been fun for Soph and I: food preparation is that much easier and it seems less messy.  We made the panettone into French bread for brunch with bacon and maple syrup.  We haven't drunk or eaten too much, and haven't yet broken anything. We could only be happier if it snowed! 

It's time for a Christmas movie before we start cooking dinner.  Merry Christmas!

Christmas = Food

After a day of barely anything: mulching around, dinner at friends; today is pre-Christmas baking day.  Soph’s on Christmas mince pies and I’m making a cherry pie and maybe some focaccia bread.  I’m dieing to make a panettone but that will depend on time and energy.  Perhaps I’ll do it after Christmas.  

Our food on Christmas day has been loosely planned.  Breakfast will be a mighty affair with cinnamon buns, bacon and eggs, coffee, cider, eggnog.  Some of the easy to assemble items for later in the day are the antipasto, brie smothered in croissant pastry.  We’ve got asparagus to wrap and cauliflower with a cheese sauce.  A potato and ham bake.  Pork tenderloin is our meat of choice, it came in a delicious marinade.  We will wash it all down with the pie and spiked apple crisp shooters.

Don’t forget the Christmas fruit cake – this family traditionally starts eating that on Boxing day.  I hope I survive all the eating! 

A Wintery Christmas

It has taken a while to sink in that I have returned to winter.  The trees finally became bare while I was away and temperatures now hit zero or below frequently.  It takes me 5 minutes to undress every time I arrive somewhere.  Gloves, boots, hat, scarf, jacket, and a little bit later: sweater, are all peeled off so that I resemble a human instead of a lumpy snowman.  Our blinds are pulled at 5pm to ward off the cold.

Jbird, Soph, and I have been invited to house/dog/pot plant sit for the week over Christmas.  The perks are cable t.v. (holiday specials) and the loan of their car.  Their Christmas tree is about five times the size of ours.  To me, it's also the possibility of having a holiday away from home when we can least afford it.  Unfortunately, there is no snow forecast for Christmas.  Maybe it will surprise us?