parcels and what Sesame Street calls "sometimes foods"

It's been a good parcel post this week.  I bought a selangor pewter jug and goblets on eBay, partly for more upper class regency reenactment and partly cos it reminded me of Game of Thrones.

It will get used, so it's not entirely impulsive and just for the pretties.  However another parcel that arrived the same day was Buried in Treasures: Help for Compulsive Acquiring, Saving, and Hoarding.  The co-incidental timing didn't escape me.  There's hoarding in the family, and I know I've a tendency to find it hard to let go of things.  This is to help me not get to the level of stuff that it becomes a problem for me. It started to while I was so sick if only because it had become disorganised, because you can't organise too much stuff.

Most of my stuff is sewing & costume related, but I can do an overall cull. I've done it in the past when I moved home a lot, however staying in the one place for so much longer has meant a build up of things.  Plus I can learn to think about objects differently.

The other thing that arrived was the costume patterns. I spent time this evening reading them and might even use the Tailor's Guide stays pattern as the base for my hobbit bodice.

I'm off my food today - there's a bug going around work and I came home at lunchtime yesterday and slept til 5.30pm.  I was ok enough to go to work today but didn't want brekkie.  I did get to eat a chicken quiche for lunch, and it was very chicken tasting. That is rather than faint hints of chicken I could see the pieces and taste it.  I'll buy it again, though it was fairly pricey, simply cos the filling was quality.  I got it at from the frozen section at an IGA on the way to work, and it's by a Queensland company Glutenfree Bakery.  I don't have a photo of it, cos it's in my tummy.  As it was frozen I heated it in the microwave at work, but if I was at home I'd take the time to heat it in an oven after defrosting. Last week I bought a twinpack of their Chicken Pies. YUM. This is something I've wanted repeatedly in the past 5 months and I finally found one I could eat.

a delicious gluten free cake

I first tried this recipe back in September, and it was definitely successful then. 

Last week we were having a morning tea at work and I operate on the theory that if I make it I can eat it .... it's easier for me to ensure something is gluten & soy free.  I can now have dairy so that's one less thing to dodge!

The recipe comes from: http://soursaltybittersweet.com/content/pear-upside-down-almond-cake-gluten-free

This time around I was able to use butter instead of nuttlex .... mainly cos it's what I now have in the fridge. I had great success with nuttlex and may well use it again.  I failed to whip the egg whites into a properly stiff peak, so my cake wasn't quite as light as it could have been.  The first one was about 1cm taller (3/8ths of an inch).  Also I might have slightly burnt the syrup, but it wasn't noticed by anyone once the cake was done .... or so they told me.  It was enjoyed by all.

mmh cake is baking in the oven

I've been a patchy blogger this year - I've been plagued by ill health although that seems to be turning the corner.

I'm very happy with my new hand held blender, it's making baking much easier as my tennis elbow means I can't whisk or beat eggs/mixes by hand for long enough.


Today I've got a pear upside down cake in the oven - gluten free and I used nuttlex instead of butter for the topping.

This is it ready to go into the oven.  I could never have beaten the egg whites until they were stiff peaky.

The recipe I'm using is this one, although I used 4 eggs as mine were small not large
http://soursaltybittersweet.com/content/pear-upside-down-almond-cake-gluten-free

the good and the bad of packet mixes

I needed to make another cake to take to work .... if I want to join in the morning tea then I need to make it myself!

first the bad - a cup cake packet mix.  It looked like it would be good, but it turned out to be so hideously sweet that I could only eat 2 mouthfulls and then chucked the cupcake away.  Hideously, sickly diabetic coma inducing sweet. (even for a non diabetic)

Never to be tried again. Ever.

















the other mix I tried was the buttery sponge from the range I've successfully used the chocolate cake mix

Now this was a success!  Even using nutlex instead of butter it was delicious.  I ended up not going to work the next day as I had a migraine, so I took it with me to Ironfest and fed it to my re-enactment group who happily declared it tasty and you'd never guess it was special for silly innards.

I've already bought another packet for the pantry just in case I need it again

at last, bread I can eat

It's very expensive, at least I think it is at $6.20 for a smallish sliced loaf. But it's made interstate & shipped here, so that accounts for some of it. Plus to make it without wheat/gluten/soy/potato/dairy/yeast and it still be tasty, well how can I complain, even if I can't afford it every week.