100 years "old"

today, if he were still with us, my grandfather joseph would have been 100 years old. one hundred. and what a legacy he's left behind. one of the proudest moments of my life was being able to name my first born son after him and watching him now, looking just like him, with that same fiery temper, is more than just a freaky co-incidence.

to celebrate we had a j party at jared and donna's place over the weekend. all our j's are born in an 8 day period... starting with joseph on the 20th, jared on the 21st, grandad joseph on the 24th and jared david on the 27th. how's that?! mum even made this epic 100th birthday cake and brought it out for everyone to enjoy after dinner. (and it was delicious, oh my gosh.)

i often wonder what i would say to grandad if i had the opportunity to see him and chat. i hope he's watching over us and proud of what we do. i am forever grateful for eternal families and look forward to the sweet reunion we will get to experience one day, because he is still, after all this time, 100% my favourite family member. 

 

yellow roses

as we were walking back to the car yesterday after the temple, i paused at the roses and took a snap to share here, because the yellow roses at the temple hold a wonderful memory for me. thirteen and a half years ago, my husband broke one off of the bushes, knelt before me and said, "jade i've loved you from the first time i saw you and i promise i'll love you forever. will you marry me?" 

nine months later, at the same place, the perth australia temple of the church of jesus christ of latter-day saints, we promised to do just that - and somehow, we are still loving each other, even though sometimes it's hard. but seeing those roses each time i go to the temple reminds me of those two youngsters, madly in love that knew a future together was ahead of them and totally possible. that's when i know that we will always make it through ♥

throwback thursday

my sister in law dominique sent me this picture this week of a very little madeline. sometimes i still can't believe that when she was just 12 months old i braved the world and went back to work, leaving her with niques. she was still just a baby and maybe i should have stayed at home with her and been that mum. but... seeing this picture reminded me how happy she was... she was in her house, with her toys, with her aunty she loved - having a fabulous time each day. 

i am so and forever grateful to niques. she taught this little girl to say please and thank you, how to count, to say her prayers... and never once asked for anything in return. she and madeline are the best of friends and that is a wonderful blessing to me in itself. 

how lucky she is, how lucky we are, for her love and kindness. for her efforts to make madeline the sweet girl she is today. and most of all, for spamming my message and email inboxes all the day long with precious photo moments of this sweet girl. i can't thank you enough.

serenata de amor cake

i spent 2001 on student exchange in brazil. i lived in a city called natal, 6 degrees off the equator - where is was always hot and very hot. i didn't always love it, in fact - most of the year was spent wishing that i could go home... i didn't see eye to eye with my host family and ended up having to change, just a few months before i was due to return to australia. i can honestly day that i really struggled. with homesickness, with the language, with my host family, making friends and with most of the food. there are some things that i really and truly loved... my second host family, the laid back lifestyle, the constant music and chatter, and the friendliness of those i came to know well (but to be honest, there wasn't really a lot of those either...)

but i learnt so much. i learnt that life is what you make it. you can be in what seems to be the worst situation in the world and still find peace. you can be miserable and find hope and you can be far away from your family, and become closer to them. i learnt that people aren't always who they claim to be, that the people you trust can betray you... but those who defend you and lift you up will remain a friend no matter how much time goes by between conversations.

but enough on that... one of the foods i adored in brazil was a chocolate bon bon (wrapped chocolate) called a serenata de amor. it's a cashew cream centre, with a wafer coating, dipped in chocolate. i had always liked them and would buy them on the odd occasion, but never imagined that i would ever have one again, until i found them this week in the local international food store kakulas sister, that's about 500m from our house! i snapped up a box and enjoyed a few... before wondering if i could possibly find the recipe for the cake i've had made with them. 

there was a cafe a km or so from my home in brazil, that sold a cake made with the serenata de amor chocolates making part of the filling. it was incredible!!! but i had never had it anywhere other than this cafe, so i didn't know who to ask about it... so i asked my friend mr. google. who actually came up with a recipe, in english, on an australian website. so i gave it a whirl.

(recipe can be found here)

serenata de amor cake


ingredients:




base
1/2 pack arrowroot biscuits 
200g roasted peanuts
50g butter
1/2 can condensed milk
200mls milk


filling
3 cups milk
2/3 cup of icing sugar
4 tablespoons cornflour
3 egg yolks
20 bonbons (i used 15 and the remainder for topping)


icing
3/4 cup milk
1 tablespoon cocoa
3 teaspoons sugar
1 tablespoon butter


directions:
pastry: mix the peanuts and biscuits in a food processor then place in a bowl and add the butter, condensed milk and milk. Spread the mixture in a cake tray (i used a springform tin) and bake for 5 minutes (more like 7-8).
filling: in a pan, mix milk, icing sugar, cornflour and egg yolks. cook on low heat stirring constantly until it thickens. place the chocolate bonbons on the base and pour the filling mixture over it. cover the cake with cling wrap and leave it in the fridge till cold.
icing: In a pan, mix milk, chocolate powder, sugar and butter. allow to boil until it thickens. (this is where I ran into a problem. it did not thicken. at all. i eventually had to add a teaspoon and a bit of cornflour to thicken the topping.) leave it to cool down. 
before serving , spread the chocolate icing and decorate with bonbon pieces.

 so my verdict? it's not the cake. which is a giant pity. but it wasn't bad. the base was amazing! so yummy. i am considering that may actually be a good go-to option from now on when i am making a biscuit base for a cake/cheesecake and the likes. the middle was good and the amount of bonbons i used more than sufficient. but the icing was yuck. wasn't sweet enough and would not thicken - and the cornflour made it not as smooth. i followed the directions perfectly, so i would say there's an ingredients missing. i think next time i'll go for a chocolate ganache instead of what the recipe says. but there will definitely be a next time. it was well received by it's audience... and dominique (who got to enjoy it as her birthday cake at family dinner in baldivis) loved it the most. phew!

i would say on the whole that makes it a success. 7/10 ♥