After a restless night's sleep, I thought perhaps the gym would be good. I go around three times per year, and it is only in our basement car park. I lasted eight minutes on the cross-trainer (I think that is what that contraption was!) before collapsing on the floor. The only solution was to come back upstairs and read my newest magazine!
Peppermint Magazine came out during the week, and was a wonderful surprise. I had subscribed months ago and not heard back from the publishers. I feared they had taken my money and run. That was me totally
overreacting of course. My mind is still not made up about the mag - I'm wondering if it lacks a little something. But in saying that, it had a big article on the rise of handmade, and has a list of interested blogs who are concerned with creating,
eco-
ness, op-shop clothing, etc. So far I've been a fan of
Vegan & Vintage and don't mind
Little Green Stilettos.
Through my blog trawling, I followed a link to a link, etc and have found this fellow -
Closet Cooking. His
recipe for lemon and blueberry breakfast cake sounds delicious. I'm keen to read him more regularly and get on with the cooking.
Speaking of cooking, here's a recipe for the Orange and Chocolate Cake I dabbled with last week. It is a mix of a number of recipes, and a take on the traditional non-leaven orange cake of Jewish culinary traditions.
Everyday Ingredients Orange & Chocolate Cake
2 oranges
200 g melted butter or margarine
3 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 ½ cup self-raising flour
¼ cup cocoa powder
Beginning the night before ideally, place the two oranges into a saucepan & cover with water. Cover, bring to the boil & then simmer for 2 hours. Leave in the water until cool, ideally overnight – your house will smell delicious!
Pre-heat oven to 180⁰C. Line a round 23 cm (or so) cake tin with baking paper.
Remove the oranges from the water, quarter & place into the bowl of your food processor – skin & all. Process until no chunks remain. Add the remaining ingredients to the bowl, process until well combined. Pour into cake tin. Bake in oven for 45 minutes. Test to see if cooked by piercing the cake with a skewer – will be free of batter if cooked. May need a further 10 minutes. Enjoy dusted with icing sugar. Some thick cream is nice too.
Whipped up a headband and finished it in the past week. Used up scraps of wool from a tea cozie made recently. Endeavouring to keep my ears warm while playing netball outside on a Melbourne night. So chilly! What better solution than a snowflake patterned headband to warm those frozen ears... 
