Would you believe in blog-land there's such a thing as a blogiversary? And that I completely missed mine? I've been posting to Inner Pickle for over a year now! May 4th last year was my first post.
Never being one to turn down an opportunity for cake, here's to a year that I never expected and totally adored!
THANK YOU!
Thank you for reading and commenting and supporting and getting it. I'm so incredibly happy to be here in this little spot and that you come back daily and be part of it. I wish I could serve you all up a slice of delicious 4-egg chocolate cake (recipe at end of post), I seriously do. Just to sit down with you and a cup of tea and a cake fork.
Instead, we're going to play a parlour game. I'm going to tell you a few things about me that you might not know and then you have to tell me something about you.
OK, here goes.
1. When I first met Adam I may have pretended to be more outdoorsy than I actually am. (Although I don't believe he was fooled by my shiny mountain bike for a second. Might have been the black beret/9-hole Doc Martins that gave me away.)
2. I keep talking about learning French but never get around to it.
3. I have a partially researched PhD topic that I would love to go back to one day. It was on the food supply of the armies of the Crusades. I may have been the only person on earth who thought it was terribly interesting.
4. A small piece of my heart lives in a small town outside Frankfurt, Germany (one of my beloved sisters moves around a lot.)
5. Turns out pregnancy number three is a total breeze. If you've got two and you're considering a third, I'm a big advocate for the pregnancy bit. Let's review "breeze" in six months time.
6. In high school I wanted to be a composer. I started writing a musical with a friend of mine when I was 15. (He's gone on to become a very accomplished composer. I now compose silly songs to amuse three year olds.)
7. My favourite novel is Middlemarch, by George Eliot. I think. Or maybe it's a trashy Sharon Penman historical fiction. Or The Little Bookroom, by Eleanor Farjeon.
8. My favourite food has been variously baklava, cheesecake, grilled cheddar on toast, marinated goats cheese and a really good apple or blackberry pie. I am a fickle, fickle lady.
9. The job I've held down longest was in corporate marketing and communications in financial services. My shortest job was as a private investigator reporting on a medical professional under investigation for fraud. My favourite (and lowest paid) job was for four months only, as a cook for a big preschool.
10. I've lived in Gerringong (country NSW), Sydney, London, Brisbane and Edinburgh for the duration of the Fringe Festival for two seasons. Of the places I've visited I'd most like to go back to Jerusalem and Istanbul. Of the places I've never been, the one I'd love to go to most is India. Or Nepal. Or Tibet. (Hoping our kids like travelling.)
OK! Please tell me something about you! Go on! One or ten things, whatever you like!!
And meanwhile, here's the Chocolate Cake recipe.
It's from the Country Women's Association of NSW and I found it on the side of the White Wings flour bag!
INGREDIENTS
2 cups self raising flour
125g softened butter
1½ cups caster sugar
4 eggs
½ tsp bicarb soda
1 tsp vanilla essence
½ cup cocoa powder
1 cup milk
METHOD
1. preheat oven to 180°C (160°C fan forced.) Grease and line 20cm round cake tin.
2. Place all ingredients in large bowl and use a mixer if you have one (I don't) - I used hand beaters - for 3 mins, on medium speed.
3. Pour into tin and bake for 1 hour 15 mins - 1 hour 30 mins, or until cooked. Cool for 5 mins in tin then turn onto wire rack. Ice cake when cool (if your kids are leaning on you for icing!)
xxx
