Move aside Cake Boss...

Not sure that I am feeling this blogging thing so much anymore but in the interests of public safety - I will try to prevail. You may ask why public safety - well, there will most surely be riots in the street should I stop, my gazillions of followers will gather enmass in protest.

Here below are snaps of my first ever properly decorate two tier wedding cake. Need to take it to class tonight. It has been a major source of panic in my life but turned out quite ok..... My sponge cake is awesome! It has a caramel buttercream filling and a vanilla butter cream iced on the outside of the cake - covered with pettinice.....

I have not got pics of my assembled two-tier cake. I have not as yet stacked them on top of each other but I have no fear :-)

BOTTOM TIER

TOP TIER

ICED FLOWER ARRANGEMENT

C'mon, tell me that is not awesome for my very FIRST ever pettinice covered cake. First ever wedding cake. First ever two tierd cake!!!! First ever iced flower arrangement! 

I must be honest - I am quite proud of myself! I could cover a cake in butter cream before and that was about it.

Last class tonight :-( Will get to see the other girls' cakes. Sure they have turned out some masterpieces. I veered away from the fine piping - was too sh*t scared :-) So decorated my bottom tier as creatively as I could. Think it turned out quite cool after not having seen it done before....

Later  ya'll,

Me

Miss me???

Geez - the days just seem to be running away from me. Still trying out this blog thing - I enjoy it when I get the chance but the issue is to make time and carry on regardless of how busy things get  - that's when I don't enjoy.

Also hard to keep writing everyday - so I want to be realistic about the whole thing and try and ensure I still enjoy blogging while still writing frequently. So, new rules - I am going to attempt to blog at least every second day. Lets see how this goes - hopefully that means we will be on 3 posts a week....

On the weight loss front I am making progress - 5kg down!!! whoop whoop! Another 5 to go by next weekend :-) Ok ok, so that it not possible but maybe 1??? Pretty please Mr Scale! Pretty please Mr Dress! Pretty please Universe. I need to look smoking.... The way I look at it, is that I could have looked thinner (I know this because I have been thinner) but then again, if I hadn't stopped the bus on 23 Aug and told all the fat kids could get off -  I could have looked a lot worse too!!!! :-) Also, it is the younger cousin's wedding so in order to try and avoid the pitying stares and comments like the "ag shame, your time will come too" or "ask your cousin for some tips" - I am attempting to look super hot.... Als, will being seeing some "ex" family (still family but I couldn't care too much if I never saw them again) that have not seen in years (long story). Or just as classy as all hell. Hair appointment booked. M.A.C make-up appointment booked. I found a dress today but if it isn't quite right then I will keep looking....

Don't get me wrong. I am in a happy and committed relationship, so at least I can skip the "shame, one day you will find your Mr Right" comments. Of course, like most chicks, I want to get married. But not just because my cousin is - when we want to. Oh, and when he asks :-)

Anyhoo - this weekend is a whole lot of cake decorating and flower making. Going to the Triangle to show my mommy all that I have learnt - so that she can leverage off my really expensive course that I had to pay for, that she can learn for free...... And Sunday I will be baking and seeing if it is at all possible for me to decorate something that kinda-sorta resembles a wedding cake of sorts......... My intention was to have a cake full of iced roses but holey smokes am running out of time - so am cutting back on the dream :-)

I hope to have some pics for you next Monday, latest Tuesday of THE CAKE. I hope it doesn't look too crappy. Trying something that I have not been shown how to do and not sure if it is going to look like a 5 year old got hold of the cake, or just plain awesome. This NEW, never seen before technique is to try and disguise the fact that I am the world's worst fine icing piper person!

Have a jol,
Me

Helllooooo

Apologies, I have been MIA for almost a week now. It has just been a busy week!

I have had every intention to write but time has just not been on my side.

I promise to blog tomorrow and keep you posted with the goings-on? or going-ons? of what is what. No - nothing monumentally exciting just the usual!

I will see you tomorrow and until then, if you have an awesome Vanilla Sponge Cake Recipe - please send it this-a way! I need one! Got to make that two-tier wedding cake this weekend and quite frankly I am poop-ing in my pants.

Chat soon
Me

**YAWN**

Happy Springbok Friday! Quite a festive mood here at work - we are having a champagne breakfast and watching the Samoa vs South Africa world cup game on the big screen in one of our conference rooms.... Another tough day at the Stock Exchange.... Then this afternoon we have Heritage celebrations with Castle Lager coming to pop in......

Problem with this is - food and alcohol unfortunately contain calories! Eish! I will try to instill some self-restraint.... I have finally broken the 4kg barrier today. Holey smokes - these 4kgs have taken their sweet time. The first 3 were easy but this 4th one had really seemed to grow on me. In fact it seemed to love me so that it found it really hard to part ways. We have now parted ways.... Bye bye Mr 4kgs!!!! Good riddance to bad blubber :-)

The weekend is here and unfortunately having a full time job means that weekends are often (and usually) filled with admin... Tomorrow I need to go and paint a room at my place - I have a new tenant moving in who does not seem to think that colour is cool and would prefer a white wall - hmmmm. Sucky! Taking My German with me so hoping we can sort that out chop-chop. The quicker I am out of that complex the better, the body corporate, specifically the chairwoman (chair-dragon) are the spawn of satan and my blood pressure does not handle it well..... There is more to life.... If only my poor tenant nknew what he was in for.....

Started the prep-work to make iced flowers the weekend. Let us see if I can actually do at home on my own-some what we were shown in class..... Going to start planning my two-tier wedding cake, our final project. It's not so easy - hmmm, what kind of cake, what kind of icing under the pettinice, decoration, colour, theme, etc. All I know is, is that I am not going to cheat by using fresh flowers - iced flowers all the way baby!!!! And probably roses - they are so pretty.

Looking forward to catching some extra zzzz's the weekend - I am still pretty exhausted today. My eyes are so puffy it looks like I have the world's biggest hangover. Trust me, all I had last night was some sparkling water and a cup of java....

Alas, no gym last night :-( I only finished work at 6 and drove home with My German - too tired to even contemplate much. Decided if I am so tired to take it a bit easy and not over-do it. Don't fret kids - my gym bag is packed and waiting here behind my desk - ready for tonight. Yes, you heard right. Gym on a Friday night. A girl has to do, what a girl has to do!

Hope you have a kick-a$$ weekend,
B

The green, green fields of grass....

Today I am feeling tired. I just want to go home and have a nap..... A loooooong nap. Can the first springs rains fall already - my allergies are acting up again. It is my "late" day at work today - we take turns.

The thought of still having to go to gym tonight is making me sad. I however hope to prevail and have gone to get my tog bag out of the car. I am going to apply the 20min rule today - 20min of exercise and see how I feel. If I still feel like I do now - then I have reached my target and off to home I go **patting myself on my back**, if I carry on and do more - it is a double bonus :-)

Funny story - I found out when I was in my teens that I am extremely allergic to grass - but I thought it was the weedy, veld type grass that looks like something similar to the below, you know that weed with the the 3

"stamens"

However, it apparently turns out - I am EXTREMELY allergic to grass that looks like this:

whahahahaha - look familiar????? Other than living in a bubble - I am kind screwed..... :-) Allergy desensitisation is a possibility - an expensive, weekly (for 2 years) possibility. Medical aid OF COURSE does not pay for it. Why would they???? That would mean medical aids pay for medically related procedures.....

Anyways - have a super duper eve ya'll and spot you on the grassy side :-)

Flower Power

Hello all!

Yesterday was Tuesday, so we all know what that means.... CAKE DECORATING!!!! Whoo hoo!

I include some pic of what we made. Please note that I look like a bit of a tart in class taking photos all the time - so these are real quick snaps taken from my phone. We finished our lilies and daisies, made blossoms, made trumpet flowers and got shown how to cover a cake with butter cream and then pettinice, by the master herself.. She is truly awesome! Her website is  http://www.sugar-n-ice.co.za go and have a look at some of the cakes that she has made.


See the first pic. Daisies! They are awesome (if you ignore the few petals that are missing -they may have accidentally been broken off :-)). See the calyxes on the roses (the green stuff). See the trumpet flower at the top of the pic.

Daisies, Trumpet Flowers & Roses

Kate (teacher's finished lily)

My finished lily (pretty damn awesome, right???)

Trumpet Flower

I now present you with Kate's cake she demo'd to us. This was an un-iced sponge (bottom layer), the top tier was iced already. She covered the cake with butter icing, pettinice, and the "petals", assembled the two and added the flowers (first fresh, then iced flowers) in about half an hour.... WTF!!!! The pics below is of the cake and her flowers she made in class - the purple ones are the blossoms (I unfortunately did not get a pic of my blossoms - they were still drying upside down). Let me remind you - half an hour people!!!! Half a freaking hour!!!!

  She is awesome! 

Have a super fab day and chat soon,
ME
P.S. Project weight loss and health was on hold for a while - and back on track again this week. Back to the 4kg mark (which is where I was 2 Saturday's ago). Now to somehow healthily and unhungrily lose a shed load of weight in 18 days - the cousin's big day! I want to just resemble a semblance of normal Bronwyn. Here is hoping :-)

Photo Bonanza Monday

So how goes it???

What a week last week, I didn't get a chance to post after Wednesday last week. Well mainly because I was out of the office on Thursday on a "team building" called STRAIGHT TALK - it was all about having conversations, I kid you not... Friday was a half day and then I spent the rest of it cooking and baking...

Saturday was National Braai Day (Heritage Day in SA) and we decided to conform to society and braai. It was so busy that I didn't get a chance to take a pic of the food on Saturday :-( It was awesome. There are some photos but apologies, most of them are rather poor. Some of them were taken the next day when My German and I were snacking on left overs and the others are just badly taken photos taken in a hurry....

Remember to just click on a pic to make it bigger. There are so many today that I did not want to take up half the internet of space...... :-)

Hmmmm so I made the following foodies:

Snacks on the table:
Homemade: A kick ass salsa with a nice bite, a roasted red pepper hummus, sour cream and chives dip
Bought: Crackers, chips, incl tortilla chips.

Salsa

Red Pepper Hummus

 

Lunch:
Homemade: Greek salad, beetroot, rocket and goats cheese salad, a lentil corn and pepper salad, the most fantastic vegetarian lasagne (included roasted baby brinjals, roasted peppers, roasted butternut with a tomato, zucchini and mushroom sauce), mielie bread, my famous potatoes (roasted in oven with onion and garlic)
Bought: Matured rump , various flavoured chicken kebabs, boerie (My German braai'd them perfectly)

Beetroot, Rocket and Goats Cheese Salad

Greek Salad & Lentil, Corn & Pepper Salad

Dessert:
Homemade: Oreo Crumb Crust Chocolate Brownie Cheesecake with a Chocolate Ganache Topping and a Pineapple Marshmallow Fridge Tart

I have no dessert pics :-( and these were AWESOME!

All I can say was that it was awesome and I had too much wine and I am trying to hail down the wagon so I can somehow climb back on it.... In my favour - I woke up on Sunday morning feeling half ok and managed a kick ass hour of cardio at the gym - I started feeling fragile thereafter.....

Also, on the gardening front it is coming on nicely (still lots to do) but I am starting to enjoy it and I have some of lots of ideas on how to make it better... You may remember from last week that we bougtht a hippo last weekend, so we started making the area around him pretty :-)

Its bonus photo day today - so here is one of me and my labrobear, Chelsea, what I have failed to mention thus far is that I am dog CRAAAAAAZY!!!! Chelsea is not on my lap - it is all an illusion :-)

And below is the latest addition to the family, Tansy our pound hound :-) She is such a sweetie. This is her on Mr Japerica and Miss America's laps.