Jikana Damaru: 05/23/10

Choc Chip Heaven

My 'Sydney Food' (Bill Granger) recipe book falls open to page 11. It's the home of the ULTIMATE Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe. I'm not sure where you stand on Aussies calling biscuits 'cookies' but these babies ain't no biscuit. They're lush, chocolatey, melty, chewy cookies. I hope Bill won't mind me sharing his divine recipe (I noticed that there are many, many other postings of it all over the 'net so I don't feel so bad). I've added my very helpful commentary. The bad cookie photography is all my own.

Bill Granger's Chocolate Chip Cookies

125 g. (4 oz.) unsalted butter, softened

1 1/4 cups tightly packed brown sugar (don't substitute whitey sugar as brown is the key to the divineness, me thinks)

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

1 egg, lightly beaten

1 ½ cups plain flour

½ teaspoon baking powder

a pinch of salt
1½ cups of chocolate bits (but, you know, the more the merrier!)

Preheat the oven to 180 C (350 F). Put the butter and sugar in a bowl and beat until light and creamy. Beat and beat and beat because the lighter and creamier, the better the cookie. Stir in the vanilla and egg. Add the flour, baking powder and salt and mix until just combined - this will seem like way too much flour, but just keep folding and folding, it will all come together. Fold through chocolate chips.

Place spoonfuls of cookie mixture on a lightly greased then lined baking tray, allowing room for spreading. Bill says to cook for 15-20 minutes, until they turn pale gold, but (depending on oven hotness) I say cook for no more than 11 mintues so you get the light crunch on the outside with the doughy, softy yummo on the inside. Experiment to see what you like best.

Allow to cool on the tray for 5 minutes before putting cookies on a wire rack to cool further. Makes about 16, depending on how big you go! Will keep in an airtight container for a week.

I made a double batch yesterday (that's Cappers devouring the wooden spoon in the photo above). Cook half right now and then roll the rest of the dough into a cylinder shape, wrap it in baking paper then cling film and then put it in the freezer to keep for up to a month. When it's time for cooking, just slice the dough, put on the baking tray and into the oven for 14 minutes instead of 11.

OMG, I need to go and eat a CCC immediately!

Point + Shoot: 15

I had a few different photos for Point and Shoot this week, I wanted to show all the pretty things I got from our travels to the Robert Gordon outlet or where I spent my Saturday walking around town.

But ....

This is a special photo of Lou, you see about half an hour after this, the sun goes down and we are at the local supermarket doing the normal Sunday night stuff - I pop into the fruit and veg shop to get some fresh flowers, hubby runs outside to check why our dog is barking, both of us thinking the other has Louise.

Don't know what makes me look out the window - but as I bolt out the door and swoop her off the busy road, it suddenly clicks how quick bad things can happen. It was nobody's fault, we were rushing because we had spent too much time having fun in the park, Lou didn't want to sit in her pram and the shops were chaos.

So here is a photo of what I love most about this weekend - my sweet, smiley girl in her new beanie and dress, running in the park.

Because right now I feel so lucky.

I'm a Cosmo Cover Girl!

hahahaha no I'm not... I wish!

But tonight as hubby is watching 'Angels and Demons' (ugh) on the tv, I'm taking the opportunity to visit some blogs I've never read before... Ebonies Mummy is one such blog, and I've decided to join Amba in making like a Cosmo Pregnancy cover girl by responding to the q&a featured in each issue!

So here goes, the dirt on my pregnancy:

Finding Out:

Falling pregnant with Fern had been such a long, heartbreaking and emotional experience and I expected the same arduous journey falling pregnant with baby #2. I stopped breastfeeding in November last year, and we - well - you know. I waited for my period to arrive, and on New Years Eve, it suddenly occurred to me that those cramps I'd been having intermittently were a lot like the ones I'd had once I fell preg with Fern. But what were the chances?? I journeyed immediately out to buy a pregnancy test and when it came up positive I was stunned. I rang the doctor immediately and went to get a blood test. Being NYE, I wouldn't get the results until the next day and I spent my evening at a party like a social leper, unable to talk to anybody or have a drink and I really couldn't think about anything else. Could I really be pregnant?? The next day, Fern, Dan and I went to the only medical centre open on the public holiday and begged for the results to be faxed over so we could find out for sure. And they did and it was. Positive. The very cool Indian doctor must have seen us as a breath of fresh air from all the ingrown toenails and phlemy chests and sat with us for a good half hour, just chatting about babies and pregnancy. I felt strangely calm. As though it had always been meant to happen this way. And perhaps it was.

Fashion:

I sort of consider 'fashion' and 'pregnancy' a juxtaposition in terms. Last pregnancy, I was in tears with nothing to wear and no clue where to go and eventually scrounged what I could off friends and the Kmart/ Target maternity racks. With Fern I was working full time and struggled with professional clothing that was fashionable AND suitable for pregnancy. I always felt frumpy and unattractive. This time being at home, its a lot easier and I have been living quite comfortably in black leggings and stretchy tops and even some skinny maternity jeans from the line at Jeans West! I've packed away most of my 'normal clothes so I can't torture myself, and I've resigned myself to three/four more months of clothes I wouldn't be seen dead in otherwise. Why spend $200 on a pair of maternity pants I'll want to burn the moment the baby comes out?

Cravings:

The Natural Company jelly snakes, Rice Bubbles (for dinner), coffee (my bad), and sushi (tuna and avocado rolls with a heart stopping amount of soy sauce).

Morning Sickness:

None to speak of! Felt a bit queasy at the thought of some of my favourite foods the first coupla months but that's about it!

Fitness:

I still like to get to Spin classes 3 days a week (I'm a junky), walk my dog most days, lift light(ish) handweights, swim occasionally and run on the treadmill. hmm sounds rather a lot but trust me, that's scaling back!!

Beauty

Nothing much different to usual... though a rather unflattering photo of myself taken earlier this year had me scampering for the foundation bottle and now I won't even fetch the paper without a bit of cover on my face! Last pregnancy I was lucky enough to get that lovely skin pigmentation you can get - a 'mask' - all over my face. Can't wait for that to set in again....

Best Advice Received

hmmm tough one. I guess the most pivotal learning moment was in the post-natal first mothers group session, where the nurse told us that the 'woodpecker' (when a newborn sort of taps their head against you making a eh eh eh noise') isn't in fact a demand for a nipple to be put in their mouths... but rather a plea to go to sleep. Who knew??

Most Unexpected Surprise about Pregnancy

That pregnancy is more than just a cute Malteaser bump out the front. There's skin pigmentation. And fat bits that appear everywhere. And hemorrhoids (don't ask). And bloated boat feet. And an overwhelming urge to urinate every 2.5 minutes. And vaccuum the blinds at 7.30am on a Sunday morning. And a feeling of LOVE for your unborn baby that you can't quite define.

Advice for Pregnant Women:

If its your first pregnancy:

Sleep. Now, while you can. And sleep IN. Trust me on this one.

So now you know all my pregnancy dirt!! Are you pregnant too? Want to play along? If you do, please make sure you comment back to me so I can read about YOUR pregnancy journey!