photography – Page 20 – helenthura.com

October 8, 2008

Caramel Chocolate Baked Cheesecake

For my birthday at work I had a few requests for the cheesecake I had made before for other birthdays. Yes I am blogging about my birthday oh almost a month after it. Oh it was so delightful.

This is the photo of the wind. I had the photo all planned out in my head. My cake stand on an upturned vase covered by a scarf. It all looked so good through the lens and then as I pressed my finger on the shutter, the wind lifted up the scarf and the cake stand went over the balcony, the cake went onto the table and I just sighed. After nipping down stairs to pick up the broken cake stand, I took the photo again in a slightly more simple manner.

The recipe is almost exactly the same as the cheesecake recipe I have posted before but I added a tin of caramel (either Top’n’Fill or Caramel or a tin of condensed milk converted to caramel)

Caramel Chocolate Baked Cheesecake
Crumb Base
1 250g packet scotch fingers
bit of all spice
50g butter/marg
50g copha
2 tbsps or so of cocoa if desired

Melt the butter/marg and copha together.
Crumb scotch fingers till they resemble fine breadcrumbs. Stir through the all spice and cocoa if using. Stir in the melted fat mixture. The mixture of dairy and vegetable fat is used to give a better “crumb” and how it holds together. Press in to the bottom (and sides if desired) of a greased 20cm spring form pan (line the bottom with foil) and chill in the fridge whilst making the filling.

Filling
500g cream cheese
1 x 380g tin caramel
bit of lemon juice
bit of vanilla
4 eggs
2/3C sugar

Cream the cream cheese and caramel till smooth. Add in the vanilla and lemon juice. Beat in the sugar till smooth and then beat in eggs one at a time till mixture is smooth. Pour on top of the base and cook in 160deg oven for 40 mins or until cooked. Run knife round edge of spring form pan and cool overnight.

Topping
idea very loved from Smitten Kitchen
50g butter
100g+ chocolate – dark or Cadbury Energy or Lindt 70% etc – Mix it up with a few different chocolates, increase the flavour or use up those half used blocks…
2 tsp honey
You could also very easily add some flavours here such as peppermint extract, mmmm.

Melt all ingredients together in a bowl over a saucepan of barely simmering water. Pour over top of cooled cheesecake and place in fridge for 30mins to set the chocolate topping.

When cutting this cake (due to the chocolate topping) if you want a clean cut you must dip the knife in a glass of hot water after each and every cut.

Enjoy!

September 30, 2008October 11, 2008

No aphrodisiac like a Casio keyboard

Holly Throsby, man oh man what I can say about her and her duo of support (Bree van Reyk and Jens Birchall). I went on Friday night for The Dwarf and I went back on Sunday night to see her again. I have known who Holly is for quite a few years now and have adored her version of Not the Girl You Think You Are from the Tim and Neil Finn tribute Album She Will Have Her Way. However I have never gone to a concert, I have thought about it many times nor I have listened to much of her work. I did have a brief listen on Myspace before the gig on Friday night to brief myself a little but in all honesty listening to them on Myspace didn’t sell me on her. Clare was hoping to come along on Friday night as she was already in the Valley but by the time she got to the door the gig was sold out. I grabbed some floor space down near the front and caught the last bit of the support band Firekites and in all honesty I can’t remember much of their set three days later. By the time the support had finished the Troubie was filling up nicley and the security man walked through the sea of people sitting on the carpet and told us all to stand up and with much protest we all stood up. Then Holly came on stage and after she had said hello, a few people yelled out “Can we sit down?” to which she answered “I don’t care” and on that last word, everyone collectively sat down again. To which Holly made a few comments about that now she feels really tall.

A couple of seconds after she started singing, I sat up a little bit straighter and took a deep breath. Man oh Man, where I have been? Such an incredible sound, the little trio, soon to be known as Holly Throsby and the Hello Tigers (as of Sunday night) were just so tight in their sound, it sounded like there was just one person on stage. One of the sweetest things or perhaps I should say one of the nicest things was that at the end of the gig, it was Holly and Bree who were the merch stand and as I bought On Night on Friday, I told her that I had been meaning to go a gig for years but never got there and tonight she had blown the expectations I had for the gig by about 1000%. I was so sold that two nights later I bought the other two LPS A Loud Call and Under the Town and I would have bought a shirt but I don’t do black shirts.

The set list for Friday was as follows
1) And Then We’re Gone
2) A Widow’s song
3) Now I Love Someone
4) On Longing
5) Don’t Be Howling
6) The Time It Takes
7) One of You for Me
8) Would You?
9) Some Night Are Long
10) Warm Jets
11) Berlin Chair (You Am I Cover)
12) Things Between People
13) What Becomes of Us
14) Up with the Birds
15) Making a Fire
16) A Heart Divided

17) The Shoulders and Bends

Friday blew me away but Sunday was bliss, a lot slower, a lot calmer, more talking and the music just leading the night away.

Set list for Sunday was as follows
1) To Begin With
2) If We Go Easy
3) On Longing
4) Now I Love Someone
5) The Time It Takes
6) One of You for Me
7) A Widow’s Song
8) Don’t Be Howling
9) Come Visit
10) Things Between People
11) Berlin Chair (You Am I Cover)
12) What Becomes of Us
14) Up with the Birds
15) Making a Fire
16) A Heart Divided

17) The Shoulders and Bends

There might have been one or two songs that were changed around but my lists are from the set lists that I picked up off the stage at the end of the shows.

Throsby

The Troubie whilst I love it and love it and love it is not a venue that is at all friendly for people wishing to take photographs. The lighting is two lights and a floor lamp but I wouldn’t change the fact that there is comfy lounge chairs, carpeted floor to sit on and a trendy bar. There were just so many cute, quint, funny bits that just made me smile. At the show on Sunday night, Holly asked if anyone had come to the gig on Friday night and raised my hand ever so slightly and she said that she had been thinking about wearing the same dress tonight but decided against it just in case people such as my self from Friday turned up on Sunday as well. Next time Holly Throsby is in your town make sure you go! If you don’t and I find out, well it may not be pretty.

Here is a youtube video of Holly doing Berlin Chair, the You Am I cover at the gig on Friday night. This user also has a few more videos from the two Brisbane shows.

Another thing I can’t contain my love for is the design of the CDs. All three follow the exactly same design for the CD and sleeve artwork. It is just perfect! Such a tiny thing like the fact that the

The rest of the photo gallery is here.

September 25, 2008

Ship Visits

The past weekend the HMAS Melbourne and HMAS Leeuwin have been in town and of course on Saturday they were open for a looksie. We ended up having a Medical Section family afternoon out with three of us from Med and three other family members. We toured the ships, had some good laughs and ate way too much ice cream at Hamilton Portside afterwards.

There was a really impressive turn out of people for the afternoon and both ships put on really good tours. The Melbourne had people stationed at various points where the people accumulated waiting for people to climb stairs ready to have a chat about whatever they were near. On the Leeuwin we had good fun looking through the binoculars with which you could see a fly on a leaf 2km away, ok maybe not quite but they were slightly impressive.

On Monday the main deck of the HMAS Melbourne was the place where the enlistment ceremony took place for this months Navy intake. In addititon to the ceremony been on the Melbourne, it also saw the fourth son of one family enlisting. This meant that the Chief of the Navy was in town to do the honours and the press turned out for the occasion.

September 15, 2008

Pasta with Broccoli and Silverbeet

A few weekends ago I went to a Pasta Master class as part of the Taste of the Gold Coast Festival at Beaudesert with Desley and Pietro Agnoletto.

Whilst I didn’t learn anything in the making of pasta section, I have a reasonable understanding of that (though I would like to learn a lot more in terms of hand shaped pasta), I did pick up a few tasty and fast pasta dishes and this one is based on that.

Pasta with Broccoli and Silverbeet
Ingredients
Pasta
Broccoli (cut into fingertip size pieces)
Silverbeet (sliced into thin ribbons)
(this should be enough of each to serve the number of mouths you are feeding)
a few cloves sliced garlic
Olive Oil (a very generous amount – this is essentially an oil sauce)
a green herb to finish with eg. Parsley or Basil
Parmesan

Bring the pasta water to the boil, add pasta and broccoli. After a few minutes heat the oil in a pan and gently fry the garlic, then remove from the heat. Add the silverbeet to the pasta and continue to cook for a few more minutes till the pasta, broccoli and silverbeet are cooked. Drain, reserving a little bit of the water and pour in the garlic and oil mix.

Serve topped with some of the green herbs, parmesan and a little bit of salt sprinkled over the top.

So so so quick to make and damm so tasty, especially as broccoli is everywhere at the shops right now

That’s it. A few ingredients, a meal that takes as long to make as it does to cook the pasta and it is finger licking good!

September 11, 2008

Birthday Eve

I had a bit of flex time up my sleeve so I had a Birthday Eve day off (also because I was taking cake to work for my birthday and I wanted cake on my birthday not on the day before or after). I slept in till 7am!!! I did some washing, took care of the 1.8kg hunk of Pancetta I picked up last week, replied to some emails and then I headed off into the city. First off I collected my ticket for the Brandenburg concert and then I went to GOMA and checked out the Picasso exhibit at last (it closes on Sunday), that was everything I thought it was going to be and more. It was a really well presented exhibit. Getting a chance to see the works of Matisse, CÃ©zanne, Rousseau, Renoir and all the other pieces that Picasso had collected presented alongside his own work was really good. At the GOMA shop I picked up one of the spilt pain teacup sets, it looks so good (I will take a photo of it later)

Then I headed into the city and made a stop at Lush to buy my birthday present to myself and had a wander round the shops and I made the best discovery in Mountain Designs. Keen now makes/sells bags! Oh they had some cool bags. So cool!

After a bit more of a wander and a visit to Blue Cats for some chocolate goodies, I headed out of the city and home and then onto my parents home. On the way I stopped at the flower market and picked up some flowers.

Pabbi cooked skonsur for dinner which was quite enjoyable, it has been sooo sooo long since I have had skonsur. I got to the kitchen table at dinner and there was a package waiting at my place. I was not expecting any presents at all as the deal is after you turn 21 you don’t get birthday presents any more. I opened the package after tea and it was pack of hankies 😀 Nice lady hankies. I had commented to Mum a couple of weeks ago that I hadn’t been able to find nice hankies. Now I have some 🙂 After that I cooked my birthday cake (pretty much this recipe, photo coming soon) for work today as the oven at their place is just a little bit better than the oven we have at the flat.

Then it was home time to watch The Hollowmen(man oh man I love that show) and then bed 😀 so I would be ready for a busy as usual day at work today 😀

September 10, 2008September 9, 2008

Lamb Casserole

I rarely make a meal which just gives me one meal, I like to get at least three meals out of whatever I am cooking. This lamb casserole/tagine I made last week gave me six meals as there were six chops in the pot 😀 and I had the last one today for lunch at work

I mixed together a spice paste of turmeric, ginger, coriander, cinnamon and cumin with a little bit of oil and fresh garlic. I melted some ghee in my pot and fried off the spice paste a little, then it was in with the chops to brown them. Then a little while later the onions and fennel went in and were covered with water and a bit of tomato passata, then some apricots, dates, raisins, rose water, almonds and green lentils. Left to simmer for a long time I ended up with with the most delightful meal, the lamb was falling off the bone, the lentils were perfect and the sauce was just the right thickness. Served on a bed of cous cous with yoghurt and chives on top I had a a perfect meal to say goodbye to winter with 😀