Icecream, sorbets oh my!

I recently received an icecream maker for Christmas and have been rather keen to use it.

First off we made vanilla icecream, we made up a custard and waited for it to cool before putting it into the icecream maker. We waited in anticipation and watched the paddle stir the mixture slowly freeze to become icecream. It turned out to this beautiful golden colour and so creamy! Yay our first batch was a success.

Second we tried making a ruby grapefruit sorbet. Now that took a little bit longer as I think I put way too much in and conked out the motor on the icecream maker. Luckily I had my handmixer to help out and just kept putting it back in the fridge to freeze and now we have a yummy sorbet to celebrate new year's eve with. Can't wait to sprinkle in the campari though=)
 

I've included the recipes for the vanilla icecream and ruby grapefruit below.

Vanilla Icecream (makes about a small tub 500mL)

• 4 egg yolks
• 250mL milk
• 250ml thickened cream
• 100g caster sugar
• a few drops of vanilla essence

Pour milk into saucepan and bring slowly to boiling point but don't let it boil. Put in vanilla essence.

In a bowl beat and mix egg yolks and sugar until thick. Pour milk into mixture of egg yolks and sugar whilst stirring. Pour mixture back into pan and heat gently until the custard thickens. When you see a film form over the back of the spoon it's time to remove the saucepan from the heat to cool. When custard base is cold, stir in the cream. Transfer the whole mixture into the icecream maker.

Ruby grapefuit sorbet (makes about 800mL)

• Juice of 8 pink grapefruit
• 250g caster sugar
• 1/2 cup (125ml) Campari, plus extra to drizzle

Strain the grapefruit juice into a saucepan, add the sugar and stir over low heat until sugar dissolves. Cool, then stir in the Campari. Pour the mixture into a shallow container and freeze until frozen at edges. Remove from freezer and beat with an electric beater. Pour back into the container and refreeze. Repeat 2 or 3 times. (Alternatively, use an ice-cream machine following manufacturer's directions.) When firm, place scoops of sorbet in serving cups or dishes and drizzle with a little extra Campari before serving.

Christmas and all that jazz

The lead up to Christmas has been crazy, you notice that the shops suddenly become jam packed with people, the streets are even more crowded than usual and there are queues to use the parent's room?! It's been tricky trying to navigating with a pram with so many people about but luckily this year I haven't had to do too much Christmas shopping.

This year's gift to the family was a 12 month calendar of James. I titled it the 12 weeks of James so you could see the progression of changes taking place and it just happened to fit in that James would be 12 weeks by Christmas. It was difficult to choose only 12 photos as I had been taking photos of him everyday since he's been born so I think there would be a few thousand shots by now. I was really impressed with the final product too.

We also made a couple of batches of orange marmalade with Cognac to give as presents as well. As the creative one, I created labels for the jars Jaemin's Jam with his footprints shrunk to fit. These turned out to be a hit with the family too. Recipe is courtesy of SBS food -orange marmalade.(http://www.sbs.com.au/food/recipe/1387/Orange_marmalade)

The weather on Christmas day turned out to be perfect for an Aussie Xmas. As always there's reigning chaos with preparing food, kids running around, stereo blaring, Dad trying to time the BBQ so that the meat is still hot on the table and of course some Korean soap blaring in the background. As the dining area was west facing it was stinking hot so the only way to cool down was to jump into the pool. It was James' first dip in the pool and he wasn't too fussed, think he was more preoccupied with trying to eat his fists. It was a great day with lots of feasting with Korean, Romanian and Aussie dishes to choose from. I know an interesting hodge podge of cultures.

Boxing day was spent up at Wentworth Falls with about 20 extended family members. We had an impressive 7 course degustation menu which was dedicated to James. By the end of it, I was stuffed. Worked off the feast with a few games of badminton before the the rainclouds descended.

As this was James' first Christmas, I was taken aback by his collection of presents. My husband commented that this would be the only year that I would be able to open his presents, next year he'll probably open them himself but probably be excited by the wrapping paper rather than the gift itself. Who knows?!

Insomina

I've been meaning to start a blog for awhile and I thought what better time than whilst I'm suffering from insomina. Its been something that has recently occurred with the birth of my son 12 weeks ago. My sleep pattern has been governed by the needs of my little man and once I'm up, my head starts buzzing about what things I should do.

I think about making a start on culling a few thousand photos I have taken of the little man or trawling through my contact list and updating it or just general pottering around.

At the moment, I'm doing all of the above and I'm hoping that I can at least finish one thing before the little man is up in a few hours for the next feed.

Last bit of my trip

I know that I'm back at home but I just wanted to finish off my travel stories in Lyon and Paris. 

We caught the TGV to Lyon and hubby managed to book us second class. He learnt his lesson to check in early so we didn't have to sit in different seats. As I left hubby to book the hotels, I was impressed with his choice of the Carlton Hotel. We had this awesome, massive room with 3 french doors opening out to the verandah looking onto the city.

After a filling breakfast, I went on 'Hubby's sh*tty tours' and caught the funnicular to see the remains of 2 roman amphitheatres which are still being used for concerts today and continued onto Fourviere, an amazing castle on the top of the hill where the view is stunning which looks over Lyons all the way to Mont Blanc. We then went on a memory lane adventure where hubby managed to find his abode during his stay in Lyon and before checking the old town. 

Using wifi in our hotel, I had trouble logging on and had no idea why. Then I locked myself out the account and so I had to ring the operator to unlock my account when I discovered that hubby's handwriting for 2 is actually a Z. Learn something new everyday.

Onto the TGV to Paris, we travelled first class baby. Very nice seats, very quiet carriage, even ok toilets on train. Of course there would be a silly moment, as we were coming back from the food carriage into our carriage, I stood in the middle of the electronic doorway and assumed that it would stay open. It did not so as hubby was telling to move, the doors closed on me and my tummy and I was stuck for a moment. Hubby helped me then laughed at me.

Shopping at Careforre supermarket for essential ingredients there was a priority queue for pregnant ladies. As hubby lined up he called for me to get in the queue, but there was a yuppie in front of us with a pile of groceries and I thought it was going to take awhile but the checkout chick ushered me forward and as I saw the contents of hubby's basket, it was mostly alcohol- 2 beers, half bottle of champagne and a punnet of strawberries, hmm wonder what she was thinking.

We joined a free walking tour at Monmarte and visited Moulin Rouge, the most famous cabaret, Van Gogh's house, Moulin de la Gallette, where Renoir found his inspiration, Saint Denis, protector of France and first Paris' bishop Dalida, famous French star Lapin Agile, famous cabaret artistique Churh Saint Pierre de Montmartre, Place du Tertre, place where big paintings were painted. Also spotted some space invader artwork, very funny stuff.

We also checked out Museum D'orsay and whilst admiring Monet turned to see Christy Turlington, the supermodel standing beside me. She is gorgeous with no makeup and I think she's 40 now. 

On another day we followed the lonely planet walking guide of the latin quarter and as hubby remembered having a really good falafel and I was looking forward to eating one too. But he couldn't find or remember where it was, luckily the iphone was at hand and we found the Jewish quarter and found a place that made the best falafel wrap with garlic sauce, I've ever eaten.

Nearly forgot to mention, we went on a chocolate and pastry tour where we visited 4 chocolate shops, 1 bakery, 1 olive shop and ate a stack of macaroons and dark chocolate. So good but walking for 3 hours was tiring stuff.

We fitted in watching the soccer match between France and Uraguay on the big screen under the Effiel Tower, soaking the atmosphere in.

Think the most memorable was the baguettes- don't think I've eaten so much bread before in my life and the desserts from Lenoart.  

Other things I picked up on, the keyboards have letters a, m in the wrong place. Hot and cold water is known as c & f. But c is chaud-hot and f is froud-cold, so the first day I was staring shower trying to figure it out. There's supermarket dedicated to frozen goods only, only in France. 

Well its time for bed and to hangup my travelling boots for now, it may be babytalk from now on hahaha.

Thanks for reading peeps and replying. Can you believe only 13 weeks to go!! Eek time is flying past.

Nice and Cannes

Its hot and feels like summer here, Nice is full of police due to the Franco-African summit with all the African heads of state and French President meeting for discussions.

Being in Nice brought back memories when I was last here, went to the market place where I bought lots of jewellery, the cobblestone beaches and alfresco dining. Enjoying it alot more now and been listening to hubby using his french. He's pretty good=)

Have been enjoying the sun and nicoise salads. Haven't had my fill of pastries or chocolate and Will commented that this was the best time to eat these due to my expanding girth. Hmmm, men come out with the best comic timing about weight.

Funny story, I told hubby to grab me a panettone whilst he got himself a baguette. He gets parma ham on his baguette and comes back to the table sheepishly saying he forgot that I was I pregnant and couldn't eat that. Not sure how you could forget but it made me laugh.

Been sitting in sun lounges in Cannes getting a nice tan and I don't really want this holiday to end ever. We've been staying at the Intercontinental, very swish.

The markets here are amazing with such beautiful looking produce. I can say that the tomatoes are so sweet and are like nothing I have ever tasted, wishing I could ship it all back home with me.

Okay enough writing for me as these french keyboards are hard work and plus the baby is moving around so much it must be time for dinner. We're off to Lyon next and then to Paris.

London -second stop

Left rainy Edinburgh for sunny London. Found that it was a lot warmer yet again. We still hadn't learnt our lesson and were overdressed again. Managed to navigate our way to the tube station to catch a train to Winchester. Battling with  2 suitcases was not fun for hubby but he managed to carry both up and down stairs without complaint. After an hour of seeing the English countryside we arrived to a quiet country station.

Admired the small quaint town of Winchester; walked past Jane Austen's house and the amazing Winchester cathedral. Seeing the cathedral and hearing the history was one of the highlights of the trip I must say. Will's friend also introduced me to duck confit and cassoulet with potato gratin. So good, annoyed that my taste buds are turned off red wine.

Once back to London, I had 2 instances of pregnancy brain moments.  We bought day tickets on the tube and about an hour into our journey I lost my ticket. Lost all ticket holding privileges after that. Checked out the biggest toy store Hamleys where we bought our first teddy for our bub. Hubby was getting rather nostalgic about it all. I couldn't believe the number of demonstrators on hand to show you how the toys worked. Also made it to Harrods where we contemplated getting a baby outfit but the price tags were out of this world expensive so we opted for Baby Gap instead.

With all the walking taking a strain on my back, my good friend Kirsty booked me in for a massage. The best 45 mins ever, took all the stress out of my back. Poor hubby, he has been my on call masseuse for the last few months so this was the only time off he got. Second stupid moment was somehow managing to drop my wallet on the street after my massage and was lucky to have some good Samaritan return it to the physio place. Lost wallet holding privileges as well.



Checked out Richmond in the rain, crazy weather here whilst my friends went ring shopping. Funny how the little arguments about guest lists are universal for all couples getting married. We caught a performance of pyjama men at Soho and as it was the same night as the Euro vision song contest, London was alive and buzzing with drunkards on the tube.

Off to Nice and Cannes and hopefully some better weather, can't wait.

Scotland

Hi all,

Just spent an amazing 3 days in Edinburgh. We arrived to bright sunny blue skies and rather warm temperatures and we were dressed for the cold with our coats. Let's say they were quickly replaced!

Met up with uni friends Jacquie and Mark who are staying not far from the city centre in a quaint apartment in Stockbridge. It was good to see no high rises but beautiful Georgian architecture, sandstone buildings with big open windows, I've fallen in love with the place.

Wasn't feeling too jetlagged so we embarked on a walking into town for lunch, saw lots of people sunbaking in the park. I was amazed by the scenery - beautiful stone walls, bridges, lots of green trees, bright coloured flowers, creeks and the cobblestone paths. Those cobblestone paths were probably the reason why my feet have been killing for the last few days too.

Took advantage of the sun and had a picnic down at the nearby park, amazing how it remains light for so long here.

Joined in a walking tour the next day and learnt more about the history of the town, where JK Rowling sat whilst she wrote the Harry Potter books, even found the tombstone of Tom Riddle. Also the weather turned abit cooler than I expected so I'm now an owner of an 'I love Edinburgh' sloppy joe. I wasn't the only one caught out in the cold but it was alot more bearable. We stayed on the walking tour to hear about the history behind the 'stone of destiny', love the stories that they have here. Not finding the Scottish accent too bad to understand.

We discovered Waitrose, the exclusive oh-la-la of shopping which was literally round the corner from my friend's place. We decided to make dinner that night and had troubles with finding a few things just because none of the brands we were familiar or in the likely places you'd find at a supermarket. Let's say that our dinner menu kept changing as we couldn't find key ingredients.

Our menu consisted of chicken braised in white wine and vegetables with potato mash and for dessert, a lemon tart with butter pastry.  My hubby was attempting a dish he hadn't attempted before and I was sticking to my crowd pleasing dessert. Luckily, the dinner was a smashing hit=)

On our last full day, we visited Edinburgh castle, heard the 1pm cannon blast which scared the birds in flight and the crowd.  Saw the remnants of the town at Mary Kings Close via an underground walking tour. My hubby got scared by a creaky door, funny to see.

Sad to say bye to Edinburgh, Scotland but its next stop to London.

Catchyou all soon