Wednesday 28 November 2012

Willow trees and 3-day cupcakes


I love willow trees...they're my favourite kind of tree. They're beautiful! We have one over hanging our backyard :o) I actually found a lovely little nook of Armidale yesterday with willows all around.. it was so beautiful! Ok so I had to navigate across built up debris and kinda sank into the mud a fair bit but I got to where I was going eventually! Worth it!
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Ours provides lovely shade, gives a gorgeous green glow when the sun filters through the tendrils...ours has recently become home to a family of ravens. Two very young birds sitting on a bough outside my house happily carolling away waiting for mum to feed them. They sound a bit like Velociraptors from Jurassic Park (which by the way, scares the beejeebies out of me!)

I guess it wouldn't be so bad if my little dog, the protector of the universe didn't feel the need to bark at them. My little dog feels the need to protect the yard against ANYTHING at ALL costs. He has little man syndrome. Completely harmless, just thinks he's a big tough Doberman.

He's not exactly terrifying! He may lick you to death but that's about it!
Hmmm. the 3-day cupcakes. No, it was not some insane multilayered difficulty of 1000 cupcake recipe...in fact it was just a cupcake recipe on Junior Masterchef for cryin' out loud! But they still took me 3 days.
This is basically how it happened:
Find recipe with intentions of making awesome cupcakes to consume with gusto. Lose enthusiasm. Find butter cake packet mix in pantry...regain some enthusiasm and proceed to make cupcakes the cheat way. I.e. not from the actual recipe

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Scoop out a little of the centres, and put them away for the day. The next day I make the lemon curd and stick it into my cupcakes.... then they go back in the fridge...still unfinished. Why I couldn't finish them all at once on day one I have no idea. Anyhoo... day three (late last night) I pulled them out and finally made the meringue for them. The meringue for once in my life actually reached the right consistancy, but I burnt them under the grill....  I then ate 4 in a row they mustn't have been that bad; then again my standards for my own baking aren't that high and really I'll eat anything. So no problems eh?

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6 comments:

  1. Willows are my favorite also...they remind of a fairy silently, gently, flying...they are beautiful

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    1. I associate them with serenity and relaxation :) They're hard not to love

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  2. Willows are so romantic and beautiful. As a girl, I always imagined I'd have a beautiful garden with a pond and willows, a bridge, lots of bright flowers... instead I live in a townhouse with no patch to plant. lol. I would have stopped at day 1 and eaten the cupcakes as they were. I'm craving bread now! I'll have some Mexican sweet bread tomorrow and get cupcakes. I am not a baker ;)

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    1. Ohh me too! You've just described my absolute favourite imaginary happy place! *dreamy sigh* I have a willow tree overhanging my backyard, it's about as close as I am to my happy place for the time being, I'll just have to pretend the rest ;)
      hehe! I don't know what stopped me just eating them! I guess I was determined that one way or another I'd have meringue cupcakes :)

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  3. Lovely photo of the willows - am a big fan and agree thy are totally serene. What a great visual of a gently flying fairy!

    Where is this photo taken Tash?

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    1. There is a walking track here in Armidale across town that I'd never been on, my husband took me one day last week and me being me heard running water in amongst the trees and went on a little trek looking for the source. We found this beautiful little grove surrounded in trees along with a small waterfall and a creek. I was standing on a firm patch of debris and moss when I took that photo :)

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Thanks a bunch of bananas for the comments lovelies! I sure do appreciate it you spunky thing you :o)