112 points goes to our friends and neighbours...

What is with the BBC Eurovision guy???
Every year England are rubbish and every year he has a big whinge about how nobody is voting for them because all the Scandinavians vote for each other etc etc blah blah blah!
I always wish I could mute him, but keep the "Good evening to you Helsinki, this is Nicosia calling!"
He's neither funny nor clever, he just sounds like a big sookie-la-la sore loser!!
Seriously, I think we should petition SBS to find some other coverage to broadcast.
(it isn't just me is it???)

Any-hoo, as I guess you might have gathered from the above, I did manage to catch some Eurovision action tonight (between Grey's, and with Rove taping), and a little last night to (oooh, Denmark, the shame! why?)
While I do enjoy the spectacle of the performances, the reading of my votes is my favourite part =)

As well as the Eurovision, I managed to get a couple of other things crossed off my list too.....

My freezer is now empty of anything unidentifiable or prehistoric (we just moved over everything that was in it at his mum's place) and has been filled with a couple of serves of potato and leek soup, a dozen little sausage rolls, and several dozen mini-quiche.

The quiche came from a recipe in the Essential Fingerfood Cookbook, and turned out perfectly!
I know I've said it already, but I just think these books are great!
This one moves through a number of different sorts of fingerfood - canapes and anti-pasto through asian to mediterranean and 'tex-mex'.
The recipes are all (well, as far as I can see) easy to follow, and there are great pics too.
What I especially liked, too, was that many of the recipes have info about what you can do ahead of time or freeze - which is handy if you are planning for a party or if, like us, you would like to have a try at making (and tasting!) home made curry puffs but couldn't get through 73 of them (or however many the recipe would make).

Speaking of new cookbooks and making stuff from them, I baked a batch of 'Marrakech Moments' cupcakes from Cupcakes Galore.
This book was a little different from most of the other cupcake books I have (and yes, there are a few of them) in that the focus was all on the recipes, and less so on the decoration and photography of the finished products. I have found that often the recipes are a fairly standard set from one book to the next, with the intrigue being in the decorations.
Cupcakes Galore takes the flavours to a whole new level, including cupcakes based on cocktails (Mint Julep, Pina Colada, Margarita, Cuba Libre (ooh yes - rum and coke in a cake)), desserts (Peach Melba, Crepe Suzette, Creme Brulee) and teas (Earl Grey, green) to name a few.

I'm sure you're wondering what exotic experience the Marrakesh Moment lends the palate - good old choc-orange =)
(so even if the flavours aren't out of the ordinary, their names are! ;))
Again, I was really pleased with how the recipe came out - you divide half of a chocolate batter between your papers, then put a spoon full of cream cheese favoured with orange juice in each and then cover with the rest of the batter.

I will say, though, that whilst this recipe was a quick easy mix it all together recipe, lots of the recipes in this book are pretty fussy - with beating of eggwhites, folding through etc.

There's a couple of the finished products, hanging out with my newly cast-on second squirrelly mitten (yay) on my newly tidied up trestle table!
Hurrah =)

And, of course, at the same time as I baked I could Scrub too =)

There was also the opportunity to get a few rounds done on each of the footy granny-along square blankets whilst watching a couple of pretty close games =)

Oooh, and there was washing too - those are fresh clean Spongebobs and Patricks pillow fighting their way across our bed =)

Aah a weekend well done, I think.
So, now I just have to wait til the next =p

besos =)

Comments

  1. Well done on getting through that list. Great freezer stash! I love the "essentials" cookbooks too, always reliable.

    They got rid of the eurovision commentator a few years back and there was a huge public outcry. So be careful what you wish for!

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  2. I think the BBC commentator is pure gold - his comments are absolutely my favourite thing about it all! (My take on it is that he knows the UK entry is always crap and is playing up the self-pity in a humorous vein.)
    I was really disappointed that Serbia won. My favourites were Sweden, Ukraine, Hungary, and Romania.

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  3. Terry Wogan is pretty weird and funny - yeah, I reckon he knew the UK entry was crap... I think he's mostly being pretty sarcastic about everything. He's been doing Eurovision for a million years, so has seen it all. The best commentator I've seen, actually, was Des Mangan (the SBS guy who used to do the Cult Movie show).

    I was disappointed Serbia won, too - I really liked Bulgaria and Georgia...

    You've done about *everything* on your list - I'm impressed! Love that clean freezer feeling - and all stocked up with yummy foods! And those cupcakes - mmmmmm :) PLUS knitting. Did you sleep at all?

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  4. eek, maybe it is just me hehe
    I think I've heard the SBS guy and liked him better.
    I thought the Serbs were pretty good - but the French bald guy was absolute gold =)

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  5. I find the amateur nature of Terry Wogan's complaints amusing. He's been using the same whingeing material for years, whereas I ... hmmm, something about glass houses ...

    And if the UK had spent its time invading Europe instead of building its empire elsewhere it might have a few more friends who'd vote for it!

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  6. Glad to see others are continuing the Eurovision spirit! I think I'm about the only person who is actually glad Serbia won. After I watched the semi-finals, I actually downloaded Molitva before the final (sad, i know *s*)...so at least I can say I picked the winner! I agree (partially) with jejune- I wish Georgia had have done better...had a very cool Bjork-y kinda vibe to it, but Bulgaria lost any chance with me after the tone deaf semi final effort :-)

    Oh yeah...a certain Mr Luke "I need to be chaperoned on a date" Johnson was in my store today randomly, and said to say hi, so...hi :-)

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  7. Hey dude, are you stocking up with those sausage rolls and party pies because you're expecting to be snowed in some time soon????
    Re Eurovision, I actually watched semi finals and finals - what the? It was wierd and crazy as usual, my vote was the hungarian entry, but the Serbian
    KD Lang was OK too.
    N

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