things i'm making/have made

Last week I made Anzac biscuits. I had to explain a million times what these are because it’s an Australian/NZ thing. These are biscuits/cookies that were first made in WW1 to send to Australian and NZ troops who were collectively known as ANZACS (Australian and NZ army corps). They’re made from nonperishable things like golden syrup, coconut, oats, flour and butter so they would withstand the long journey to where the troops were stationed. We antipodeans have Anzac day on the 25^th of April to remember the troops who died in Gallipoli. It’s common for kids to study this in high school, and the “Anzac spirit” is a big deal for Australians. For some reason, this particular day, when the troops landed at Gallipoli, is remembered as when our national identity was founded. I think because it was the first major thing we did as separate from the Empire. Anyway I’m not very patriotic, but it felt more special making these and telling everybody about it.

I have started crocheting again, spent Saturday morning in bed crocheting and watching Stepmom (tearjerker starring Julia Roberts & Susan Sarandon). I’m making a hat even though, as somebody at work told me yesterday, we’re going into summer. Feel like in England we can wear hats all year round due to unpredictable and generally mild temperatures. I will upload a picture and pattern at some point I guess, it’s my favourite hat pattern and it’s super super easy and pretty.

Aaaaand last night I made hummingbird cupcakes for my manager at my internship’s birthday this weekend. Hummingbird cake usually has pineapple and banana in but for some reason in my mind I figured it would be better with peach or perhaps I made one ages ago with peach.. so I decided to substitute that instead of pineapple which I don’t like very much to be honest. I used this recipe and this one as inspiration. I just used SR flour because in particular recipes I think it’s legit to skip the plain flour and baking powder/bicarb/baking soda game, and I used walnuts instead of pecans because they are cheaper. By the way, if you ever need to cross reference recipes, I would definitely recommend using tastespotting. The best website for inspiration/ideas/food porn. Something I noticed about hummingbird cake is that although it's apparently a "southern" food, nobody really knows where it originates from. MYSTERY CAKE. It's really good anyway.