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 ♥

sister-in-law hits twenty-five

happy birthday to my favourite and my best... dominique! you were just a crusty teenager when we met all those years ago but i have been able to watch you grow up and i am so freaking proud of the absolutely awesome person you have become. madeline and joseph are so blessed to have their cool aunty living with us... and doug and i feel blessed each and every day to have you here. thank you today and always, for all you do. love you more than you'll ever know. you're way better than a real sister. xx

i posted this on instagram and facebook for my sister in law this morning. she's twenty-five and i can hardly even get over it. it seems like just yesterday that i met this shy little girl that was my new boyfriends little sister. i've loved her from the beginning with her wicked sense of humour that only got better with age. she's like a real sister, we argue, we joke, she steals my things and i steal them back... and we all play nicely.

 i can hardly believe that she'll be leaving us soon (she arrived the week before maddie turned one) to serve a mission - it's been amazing having her here and i am going to miss her so much. maddie has learnt so much from her (mostly good things thankfully) because she is so clever and so good at whatever she puts her mind and talents to!

i love you niques - have the best birthday yet!

epiderm skincare

a few months ago a girlfriend of mine called me and asked me to this new product she had discovered. i of course said yes, (how could i possibly not trust her - she has been in the beauty industry for the last 13 years...) so she gave me above products which she swears will rid me of the ghastly stretch marks that master joseph has left me with. ever more annoying seeing as i didn't get a single one with madeline.

instructions were simple: apply the microdermabrasion scrub to damp skin and rub in circles until it dries out and begins to ball up and fall off. then once you have washed your skin and removed any remaining scrub, pat dry and apply the balm. so easy - and so worth the five minutes max that it takes out of my morning.

today marks 5 weeks since i began... and i'm converted - my skin is so smooth and although i am yet to compare my before and now photo - i swear my stretchmarks are lighter. i've also tried it on my face and after a good scrub and using the balm to follow - my skin felt amazing!

bianca is the sole distributor in australia... and i am sure she will do well, as it speaks for itself. i sent a few samples to a few other girlfriends, so i am curious to see what they have to say - although one of them has already bought the full pack after trying her samples.

if you're curious and want to try some for yourself (you can use it anywhere that your skin isn't the best... i even tried it on my terribly dry hands as a scrub!) there are sample packs (and of course the full kits) available online at www.epidermskincare.com do it! x

sister kendall

dominique and i have a joint pinterest board - called sister kendall, which is mostly inspiration for mission clothing. the description for the board says, "i refuse to look like an idiot..." and she is doing well to ensure she doesn't. seeing as her papers will be going in soon... today she had a trial run of packing, ensuring that everything she packed could be worn with multiple other items... so it was a fashion show in my bedroom.

she has certainly done well though... with the cheapest sister missionary wardrobe the world has ever seen... between random things she has, hand me downs, things from my closet (mostly also from the opshop and hand me downs) and opshop finds

from top left...

1. cardigan a hand me down from a past sister missionary to me, dress from the local op-shop

2. dress and cardi from the op-shop

3. cheap $3 cardigan from supre, op-shop dress (worn as a shirt) and restyled skirt (bit of running in on the sewing machine, really not bad for a first attempt)

4. dress from 3, cardi from 2

5. dress from 1, worn as a skirt, shirt $10 from valleygirl, hand me down scarf from a friend of mine

6. cardi from 1, shirt from 5, $10 maxi skirt from dotti at harbourtown

i can't wait to see what else she comes up with... but there'll be 18 months worth of opportunities! 

sister kendall here she comes!

big girl room...

we picked this up today! well, not this exact mattress - but a custom made version of the sealy posture premier "kirra"  for miss madeline's big girl bed, that she'll be going into sometime really soon! 

madeline will be having the bed i had when i was a child, that is an odd size (we found out recently that it's king single width, but double length...) so we had to have a new mattress made just to fit, as the one i had is about to give up the ghost. my mums brother used to work for the sealy factory in belmont and spoke to someone to have one organised, i paid for it over the phone and it was ready four days later. four. days. i could not believe how quickly they were done! doug and a friend of ours collected it and it is perfectly made, sized to our measurement and was such a reasonable price! i expected it to cost so much more, but it was great. i am thrilled.

i can not recommend them enough - if you need a new mattress, get a sealy!

being an eight cow woman

tonight at our relief society additional meeting, our presidency had based our activity around the movie johnny lingo. it was such an awesome night and we were privileged to be able to listen to sisters with experience speak on the topics listed above. grazy talk was one of my favourites - explaining the need of conversation between you and your husband, not about work and not about the kids. about you and him and your future together. mad cow was also good, a reminder to take time out from the daily pressures of life in general and to get some "me" time to not go crazy. another thing i certainly needed to hear. 

the final sister that spoke "udderly fantabulous" was incredible, she had so much life experience and suggestions on how to stay grounded, stand for something strong and to make a difference in your own life and the lives of others. it was a great night!

***

spoiler alert...

i have had a life long obsession with the lds short film johnny lingo, produced all the way back in 1969. as a youth, i grew up in a very small branch, 100kms north east of perth, western australia, in a town called northam. it was a frequent occurence that our youth sunday school class would be without a teacher, due to lack of numbers in the branch to fill every position and my dear older brother isaac took it upon himself to ensure that we had something to do, and were quiet enough to ensure no one noticed.

following sacrament meeting each week he would race to the library and grab the small tv (a dual setup with a vcr attached) and usher the lot of us into our classroom where week after week after week, we would watch the movie johnny lingo. until we all knew it by heart. there was on average 6 of us - give or take, but being that a few of us remain close friends, when we see each other these days, one of us only has to mention "mahana you ugly", or utter any other line from the many available and the lot of us can keep each other entertained, in stitches for hours.

johnny lingo tells the story of a young woman believing herself to be worthless and unattractive because she is told only as much. she lives with her father in the polynesian islands and spends her days working and such, until the day that johnny lingo arrives to meet with her father and bargain for her hand in marriage. the bargaining takes place in front of the village and the family are given cows as a reward for their daughter. 

the women of the village are seen boasting to each other prior, of the price their husbands paid for them - but when the bargaining begins, mahana is nowhere to be found. she assumes that johnny will not want her, or not want to pay much for her, as she is worth nothing in her own sight.

johnny, however shocks the pants off the entire village by offering her father eight cows for her hand, an amount that is completely ludicrous and unheard of. he then returns to pay the price and mahana and he are married.

due to his huge offer for mahanas hand and constant show of her worth in the future, she begins to see herself in a different light and blossoms to become a true beauty. it is well worth the watch and you can watch it here.

5 months old!

i cannot even begin to tell you how delicious this baby is. joseph is five months old today and what a heartbreaker he is. i mean seriously, look at those huge bright blue eyes and dimples. i cannot get enough of them. he sleeps all night without a drama, smiles non stop and just loves to be loved. 

when he is upset, he is already making a mummmmmmm mummmmmm noise, which i love! especially seeing as madeline's first word was dad. (my turn!) he loves to laugh and when you give him big kisses he giggles away and makes his big throaty gurgly noises at you.

we started him on solids this month and he's currently having a teaspoon of rice cereal mixed with cooled boiled water. some days he seems to like it, others not so much. we'll see how that goes. being that he's a bit of a tank, i am sure he will learn to love his food... he may be the spitting image of me, but he definitely has the polynesian genes when it comes to size and food (judging on his milk intake!)

joseph is now wearing the same size clothes madeline was wearing when she turned one. i know that for sure, as friends gave her an all blacks onesie as a birthday gift and joseph is now rocking it like no ones business. i am dreading how tall this kid is going to be (and yes, how much he is going to eat as a teenager). 

we love him so much and are so glad he is here in our little family! ♥