Umm, yeah, sooo............

I think I might have recovered from the wrecking, although 3 hours sleep on Sunday night didn't help. I have no explanation. I was tired, I went to bed, and lay awake for hours. Boooring!!!!!

Its party central here, last night it was lights out at 8.20pm. Rock on, Jimmy.

Because people have asked, and because I am kind of proud of it, here is the wedding cake I made. For my sister. For her wedding.

Srsly, if one person did, 20 people came up to me and said "OMFG girl! That cake was teh awsum!!"*
5 cakes (although I actually made 7, which didn't last much longer than the 5 I used) of chocolate and chocolate-vanilla marbled, it stood about 40cm high and the bottom layer was about 35cm diameter.
The penguins were on the Chilean wedding cake as well, I made Carlos bring them over for my cake. Continuity, they call that.
This is the topper I bought and put on the practice ensure-that-the-bride-and-groom-actually-like-it cake I made a couple of days previously.
Emma wanted that on the real cake, but Dad wasn't entirely sold on the idea, if you get my drift.

And now I shall return to despairing of the state of this country's education system as reflected in the writing abilities of its first year university students. Head, meet desk. *THUNK*

*it is entirely possible that I somewhat elaborated on the language.

I know what I *said*.....

But for serious, I challenge anyone to sit down to a medium rare sirloin on a mozzarella crusted polenta cake topped with garlic, pinenuts, spinach and green beans without requiring a glass of cabernet sauvignon to wash it down with....

In other news, I got a dress for my sister's wedding. I think its appropriately pretty and respectable, as well as being appropriately understated and not-as-pretty-as-the-bride's dress.
At least I hope I have the balance right.

(On Joan Collins)...She thought that the price of the meal would be on the house. I told her that the only thing on the house was the roof....


Sitting here basking in the glory of BBC America (we loves housesitting) and the unlimited gloriousness that is "Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares" I am inspired to write a list.

Reasons why I love Gordon Ramsay:

- He can cook like a motherfucker.
- He calls bullshit when he sees it.
- He has twelve Michelin stars yet confessed to a reporter that he bribes his kids with jelly beans to say that they like his cooking better than their mum's.
- Every third word is fuck.
- He is a chef who recognises that the key to a successful restaurant is far less about the actual food that is served than most chefs would like to think.
- He takes on the stroppiest, foulest, worst tempered people in his quest for quality food and won't let anyone out-shout him.
- He would be one of the dozen people I would invite to my fantasy dinner party. I would sit him between Anthony Bourdain and Billy Connolly.
- He takes it better than most when people call him a twat.
- He reminds me so much of a chef that I used to work with and truth be told that I still have a bit of a crush on twelve years later.
........Oh great..... now I am going to have to figure that last one out.... Thanks, blog!

I watch the stars fall silent from your eyes

Gtalk message from Ben: "What happened to you Britney"
My response: "Ummmm....... crack.....fame.....being a mental case......."
We are glad that we are not famous.

Today was spent with the delightful Caleb, who is mysteriously way more well behaved for me than he is for his parents and apparently I am the only person in the entire universe who can get him to go to sleep in the rocking chair.

The election-where-they-choose-who-gets-to-run-for-President is on today, and its quite interesting watching it unfold. The American system is odd, I must say. From what I understand, they vote for their representative, who decides who is going to get the party nomination, and from there, the people vote again for their representative to again vote for who is going to be president, but as the 2000 election demonstrated, the popular vote and the electoral college vote are two different things.
The scary thing is that from what so many of my students say, they honestly believe that the rest of the world looks to the US as a model for democracy. Without wanting to offend the beliefs of my dear American friends, I remain unconvinced that there aren't seventy five better ways of doing it. Its a shame its so late and I am so sleepy otherwise I would list them all.*

This evening was spent with my peeps, for whom dear Shawn decided it would be a good Fat Tuesday thing to cook a whole bunch of proper Mardi Gras type feast, so we happily dined upon jambalaya and gumbo and etoufee and king cake and beignets and bananas foster (only one of which I had ever had before which was very exciting) and drank Hurricanes and Zombies and now its 11.05pm and I am full and a teensy bit tipsy so nighty night.

*yeah right

Mad Mad Skillz

I'm going through a pretty major omelette phase right now, I can't explain it. When it comes time to eat all I can think about is eggy goodness, and my creative juices just go wild!

Currently I'm sitting here with the post-prandial satisfaction of one who has yet again excelled in the omelette-making stakes. Today's effort consisted of broccoli, spinach, green peppers, sharp cheese, blue cheese, garlic and chilli sauce, complemented by a rasher or two of bacon. Ok, three.

The trick to a good omelette I have recently discovered is to not put any milk in with the eggs when you mix it up. Then, once you have all the ingredients on the omelette, put a lid on it and turn the heat down as low as it can go, and deliciousness shall ensue.

I also must stress the importance of using free-range SPCA/Humane Society approved eggs, because who wants a side order of cruelty in their meal?

This lesson in the culinary arts brought to you by the giant stack of exams I have to grade by midday tomorrow.