I could be writing a long blog post about how gorgeous it is down here in Victoria, Apollo Bay to be precise. It is, and I’ll post photos when I’ve got more battery reserve… I’m running a little low and am in a dodgy internet cafe getting a fix clearing email.
Holidaying is lovely. Hope you’re getting a chance to do it…
Oh, and as it’s New Years Eve may I wish my Grandma Mabel a Happy 99th birthday and to the rest of you?
HAPPY NEW YEAR… see you sometime in ’08.

I can relax…

1. My job list at ‘real job’ is ticked off with two teeny ‘can fix from home’ exceptions.
2. The staff Christmas Lunch (which felt a LOT like a wedding, given the speeches we sat through) is done and dusted and was gorgeous.
3. There’s enough money in the bank not to stress on holiday… if we eat lots of salad (and make it ourselves).
4. The flat is being well looked after (and eagerly anticipated) by Ooh La La who’ll be great company for the cat… They were introduced today and will have lots of lovely fun together… (she says hopefully).
5. The Christmas fudge is made (I have photos for you but haven’t had time to tweak and upload… will do on the w/e) and mostly delivered.
6. The weather is warm.
7. The library is open tomorrow.
I still have a bunch of things to do
1. Make Cheesecake for Christmas Dinner, will have to do that on Christmas Eve… which reminds me…
12. … buy ingredients for cheesecake, and other holiday requirements.
13. Buy Christmas gifts for those I’ll be seeing before Christmas. (saving others for sneaky post Christmas Sale shopping).
14. Go to the Library and get lots of lovely holiday reading.
15. Buy film for the Ultra-Wide and Slim…
… but these are all low stress items. I’m shooting two events this weekend so am looking forward to having that over but by and large I’m feeling the relaxation creeping up on me… to the point I’m sitting here yawning my head off… pity I’m on my way out for the evening… I could conk out right now!!!
Won’t be a late one then.
** Image captured at the Christmas Lunch – beautiful restaurant called Orso. On Middle Harbour.

I got productive today, eventually.
I ended up staying late the office because I wasn’t going to get anything done unless I knuckled down and committed to it. Too bad it took until 4pm to get it going on.
I’m getting a bit excited, I’ve got a guy coming in on Sunday to give us the keys to a new CMS for our website and I am ecstatic that I’m finally going to get a chance to clean up and to play with some proper code… at the moment the back end is really embarrassing (if you’re a code head, of course…).
So, in spite of the fact there’s a major exodus going on at work, things are not ideal right now and I’m not sure what the future looks like there.
It was a good day.

I’ve been after a bit of baking lately, the cupboards are a bit bare as I’m not partial to shopping and come dinner time, after I’ve done away with my main I’m often after a bit of something sweet to finish.
I know, hardly good for the upholstery but good for the soul, I’m sure you’ll agree.
So this week I’ve been hit by the bakery bug twice and to salve my conscience just a little I’ve eaten my fill of my chosen treat and taken the rest to work to share, because I might as make my workmates souls a bit lighter, even if their butts won’t be…
So this week’s offerings were Hokey Pokey biscuits and Coconut Chocolate Brownies, recipes courtesy of that bastion of good NZ home cooking, the Edmonds Cookbook…
The Hokey Pokey biscuits were rather lovely but the Brownies? Sublime. So, because I love you, I’m going to share the recipe here…
125g butter
1/4 c cocoa
1 c sugar
2 eggs
1tsp vanilla essence (5ml)
1/2 c coconut
1/2 c plain baking flour
1/2 tsp Baking Powder.
Now, the Edmonds book says use Edmonds flour and Edmonds Baking Powder… that’s bogus, but allowed because it is the Edmonds book after all… you can use whatever the heck brand you like. I sure did. Because I don’t live in NZ and can’t get hold of the ‘proper’ brand…
Anyway…
Melt the butter in a medium (sized) saucepan. Add cocoa and stir over LOW heat for 1-2 minutes. (I used a balloon whisk to stir it to make sure there are no lumps).
Remove from heat. Stir in sugar. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition (the balloon whisk works well at this point too!!). Beat in vanilla and coconut (I used coarse shredded coconut rather than the common or garden variety dessicated coconut, it added great texture). Sift flour and BP. Stir into mixture. Pour into greased and lined shallow 20cm square cake tin. Bake at 180deg C for 30-35 minutes. Leave in tin for 5 minutes before turning out onto a cooling rack. Cut into bars when cold and dust with Icing (confectioners) sugar.
Makes 16 (which of course, depends on how big you cut it… I used a round tin as I’d nothing else and cut it up v small, they were so awesome, I’m all set for round 2).
So there you go, NaBlo day 10 and a free recipe for all… aren’t you lucky??!!