My own birthdaycakes

Lately I've enjoyed an awesome piece of chocolate cake as a dessert while on a date with Marc. It looked very good and tastes fantastic. An idea was born; this is what I wanted to make for my own birthdaycake. But since not everyone likes chocolate as much as I do (serious!) I came up with a red fruit and a yellow fruit version too in the following days. And that's how this triplet was born:


The result looks quite nice, but it didn't go smoothly. Don't think I whip these cakes up without trouble; I got some trouble on the way too... These were the little dissasters I met while making the dome cakes:
* the cream didn't get stiff
* the bavaroismix got too stiff because I substituted water for strawberry fruitspread
* the jelly got too thick too soon, so didn't spread well over the cake
* the ganache was still too warm when I poured it over the chocolate mousse dome (aka mousse melts)
* I didn't make enough strawberry bavarois, so I instantly had to whip up another portion
Anyway, enough to learn from for a next time!

And the taste? Oh my, I don't want to bragg, but it was sooooo gooooood! Imagine soft chocolate biscuit, with layers of Belgian chocolatemousse and a layer of caramel. Covered in pure chocolate ganache... Or vanilla biscuit, with layers of raspberry fruitspread and cherries and fresh strawberries. Covered in strawberry bavarois and raspberryjelly... Or what about the orange biscuit in orange bavarois, with layers of apricot fruitspread. Covered with white chocolate ganache and decorated with slices of peach.

My oh my... I'll definately make this again!

More pictures on my website http://www.bacolientje.nl

No taste, no smell

Due to a heavy cold I don’t smell and I don’t taste anything. I mean; nothing, zero, nada, niente! I just cut up a white onion and didn’t smell anything! It’s been for over two days now. Since I don’t sense smell and taste I find myself craving for food/drinks, but since I don’t taste it I think it’s a waste of calories. So I drink water and tea (tastes like hot water) and I eat my meals just to feed my body. I skip all things yummy, since it doesn’t bring me the pleasure of taste. And this brings me all kind of thoughts:

Thoughts:
-I notice how much I eat and drink during a day mostly for the pleasure of tasting it (I don’t think I need it all)
-I notice the different textures of food; it’s all that’s left when you take away the smell and taste of food!
-I’m wondering if a calming scent like lavender still works, even if you don’t actually smell it
-I feel very sorry for people who lack smell and/or taste due to a malfunction of their body. Like forever!
-I am wondering if I will lose some weight during those days; that will be nice!
-Eating and drinking is very boring if you don’t smell and taste it
-I keep finding myself seeing something yummy, wondering if it will taste as good as I think it will. And then I am disappointed for not being able to try it.
-I’m planning out our meals, but then I’m rescheduling, since I seriously want to taste the yummy spaghetti & meatballs. So it’s boring beans & potatoes today.


Hoping for a better day tomorrow!

Spring in the windowsill

In between doing laundry and cooking onionsoup, I brought some spring into our house. Imagine those bulbs bursting into bloom!

My new bedpartner: Max

Isn't he cute? This is Max, my new bedpartner. Max started of as one of Lara's zillion cuddles. But some time ago she dumped him and Max became one of Mika's million cuddles. About two weeks ago Mika decided that Max is "stupid" and he threw him out of his bedroom. Lara didn't want Max back into her bedroom and both kids said Max had to hang out in the hallway from then on. How harsh is that?! I told the kids that I felt sorry for Max and that he would stay in my bed... So here he is!

But we are not in love with each other. Marc is my hubby and sometimes that makes Max a little lonely. He kept smiling, but I could see his loneliness in his blue eyes! Untill I started reading a new book (The Guernsey Literary and potato peel pie society), with the card I received with the book as a bookmarker. That was the start of Max's lovestory:

It's such a cute couple...

Headache & Happiness

I have a headache, but still I find myself enjoying little things that make me happy:
- the soft pre-spring weather
- the pizza we're about to eat
- the daydreaming of starting my own Cake Decorating Business
- the book I am currently reading (The Guernsey Literary & potato peel pie society; this title alone makes me smile)
- the familiar faces I see when I go into our village for groceries
and more...

But now I'm going to take a painkiller...

And a nice Sunday

After a relaxed Saturday, we celebrated Sunday today. I started with another cafe latte, milkfoam and a cinamon flavoring. And a piece of carrotcake (whole wheat, no frosting, so that counts as breakfast for me!).
Went to church with Mika and Lara. And Mika went to his children care group without crying! Wohoo, we have a breakthrough, after a whole year of heartbreaking tears when I left him...

And then I baked the roof for the gingerbreadhouse I'd already baked last week (I forgot to bake the parts for the roof...). So now we're decorating it. It's become quite a crooked instable house-kinda-thing. But decorating it is fun and yummy anyway...

A relaxed Saturday morning

We're hanging around in our PJ's. The washingmachine and the dryer are working hard! I started my day with a Cafe Latte, some milkfoam on it and a caramelflavour in it. And a slice of bananabread.

The kids have been busy drawing, coloring with pens, pencils, crayons...

We also made an elefant and a lion with "iron on beads". I'm still wondering if that is relaxing or just a pain-in-the-a** - job...

And we had baked cheese sandwiches on our cute circus plates. I love the sight of those...