Christmas Cards

 Every year I try to make my own Christmas cards. - This year I used small holy cards we had lying around, together with my new lace border punch :) and some detail with gouache, 000 paintbrush, powdered bronze, sepia ink and my favourite dip pen I brought in Rome.

Hopefully this will inspire you to make your own too!

Wedding Cake Number 3

This one is white chocolate mud cake, with fondant and royal icing.

 The roses were all made by my younger sister from sugar paste

Still need a lot of practice making pleats with fondant!

More Wedding Cakes

Since that first wedding cake that I ever made when I was 16 I have made 2 more, one for my Uncle's wedding last weekend and this one, which was made for the best friend of my boss, he had his wedding reception at our restaurant.

Dark Chocolate Mud Cake, Chocolate Ganache, covered with fondant, royal icing butterflies and pearls with roses from modelling chocolate

As well as.....

Seventy Cupcakes!!

Some Nostalgia

Found pictures of the wedding cake I made when I was 16
(excuse the messy icing)

Stories from Cambodia

Well, I've been home from Cambodia for a few weeks now and what a fantastic trip it was.

After travelling 16hrs (mostly waiting at airports) we arrived in Siem Reap and headed to the Paul De Brule school of Hospitatlity and Tourism which is where I stayed for the two weeks.


It was the first day of school for the 100+ students and for the next two weeks I attended classes every day with them. Although mostly it was quite boring, I could help them learn how to cut and cook, and they taught me some Khmer food!

Fish Amok, Lemongrass pilaf and stir-fried Morning Glory

If you ever go to Cambodia, make sure you visit the 'famous' Red Piano and have a tomb-raider cocktail for me :)

View of the training restaurant at the college from my bedroom door

It is so lovely and warm in Cambodia - I hated coming home to the cold!

So every morning I attended classes and in the afternoon I went to 'town' which is about 10-15 minutes away by tuk-tuk. I just started heading along the road and sooner or later one would come along and you can either agree on a price or take one for the whole afternoon/evening (they'll wait for you) and pay them at the end.
I visited the markets (you need to have a strong stomach for the food section) and had dinner for about US$5!
At night all the geckos and frogs come out, which is alright, except when the geckos are the size of a goanna.

I soon learnt how to get to the nearest supermarket (Angkor market) for the important supplies of water and breakfast, and I could even direct the drivers to the Catholic Church over the river. It is a beautiful wooden church on stilts and there are no chairs or pews - everyone sits on the bamboo mats on the floor.

We visited the temples and they really are amazing! The best part was sitting on the back of the ute and driving through the rainforest.

During the second week of my stay I went to Phnom Pehn to meet four Chefs from Canberra who had won a Tasting Australia competition and were cooking for an Australian dinner at the Raffles le Hotel Royale. I met them at the hotel after being stranded at the airport for over an hour (note to self; buy a phone that has coverage overseas) we went and had lunch at the famous Friends training restaurant and visited the horrible Toule sleng (they call it a museum, but it is a re-education camp of the Khmer Rouge that the public can visit) And experienced a torrential downpour.
We tried to order crispy tarantulas for dinner that night, but they "couldn't find any"

The next day we hit the kitchen at 8:30, had 15 mins for lunch and didn't see the light of day until it was night and 10:30pm!
The longest day I have ever worked with all the usual dramas - 65 people turned into 81, we couldn't get beef long fillets anywhere, the beef stock turned out to be from a tin! Someone burnt the red wine that was supposed to replace the beef glaze, the oxtails were off, the air-con was broken, the terrine set, but didn't have any strength to hold the seafood (if that makes any sense) we had to cut it in the cool room and try not to pick it up! The polenta had to be made with UHT milk and cream (there's no such thing as fresh milk or cream!) and the pavalovas and caramel garnish started melting in the heat! And everyone enjoyed their meal immensely.

We finally got out of that kitchen before we melted and had a drink in the lobby (5 Star hotel, 5 dirty chefs) and decided that 12:30 was the best time of day to go for a swim (which it was).
We all went to Siem Reap the next day to hold an Australian cocktail party at the college.

So, Cambodia is awesome! Go there, if you ever have the chance.
The people are so friendly and hospitable, the weather is warm, everything is cheap (if that matters)

I would have stayed, but there is no place like home!Tuk-tuks

The Old Market

One day left..

Passport and Visa -check

Insect repellant -check

Chef jackets/aprons/hats/boots -check

Presents from Australia -check

US dollars -check

Knife kit -remember to take from work...

I'm going to Cambodia on Sunday! (one day of work left, and a day off on Saturday!)

With thanks to the Chef's long table lunch for sponsoring my scholarship.

Now if only I was going to be in Aus, I could help my boss competing in WA's Chef of the year competition..

More news in 2 weeks when I get back!

Things I'm going to do...

• Sew some aprons for work

• Finish the bags I'm making

• Practice more piano

• and also more flute,

• Research/get ready for my trip to Cambodia

• Learn (more) Italian

• Start learning French

• Finish my illuminated 'manuscript'

• Write letters

• Go riding with my 'baby' brother

• Finish reading 'Villette'

• Start a choir for church

• Update my blog more often!

• Especially with posts about World Youth Day

• Make/organise a dress for the Gold Plate awards

What I'm actually doing..

Working!!

and not much else.

Happy Feast Day!

Today is the Feast Day of my good friend and patron saint, Saint Clare

St Clare lived in Assisi, Italy in the late 12th and 13th Century. When her Mother was pregnant with Clare, and worried about the often dangerous birth of a child, she went and prayed in the Cathedral di San Rufino she distinctly heard these words: "Do not be afraid, woman for you will give birth in safety to a light which will give light more clearly than light itself." When Clare was about 17 or 18 years old she left her rich and noble family to give her life to the Lord as a follower of St Francis and with her sister Agnes, founded the Poor Clares. Clare is known for her joy, her love of the Poor Christ (and with it, poverty) and her love of Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament.

O wondrous blessed clarity of Clare!
In life she shone to a few;
after death she shines on the whole world!
On earth she was a clear light;
Now in heaven she is a brilliant sun.

O how great the vehemence of the
brilliance of this clarity!
On earth this light was indeed kept
within cloistered walls,
yet shed abroad its shining rays;
It was confined within a convent cell,
yet spread itself through the wide world.
Amen

If you ever go to Italy, try and get to Assisi -it is one of my most favourite places to be!

Basilica di San Francisco

Even the ATM's have pictures of St Francis!