Caesar Stone

The kitchen is nearly complete. I checked out the caesar stone bench tops. It was all covered up so I had to remove some of the coverings to get a photo or two.

Tiling

Last Wednesday I went by the house to see that most of the tiling was done. The tiler was just finishing off the floor in my ensuite, but the rest of the house was done. Neat!

GUEST BEDROOM


TERMITES' BATHROOM


MY ENSUITE

LAUNDRY

Eddie Bells - A Nice Story

I search a lot of baking blogs looking for baking inspiration. A came about the blog of The Repressed Pastry Chef and she posted a nice looking cake called Eddie Bells. It looked very lemony. I like baking with lemons, but as I read on, I discovered that that particular post wasn't about the cake but rather the story behind the cake.

Here's her story:

Many years ago, when I was still interested in climbing the corporate ladder I worked for a very dynamic woman “L”. She was a great boss and I learned a lot from her. Not just career-stuff, but life-stuff too like “quite often you’ll find it’s your attitude, not your aptitude, that determines your altitude“. L was a single mother and used to talk about her son J quite a bit. At the time, J was in his late teens or early twenties and an extremely talented artist on his way to a fabulous career. One of those stories has stuck with me all these years.

When J was small, I think about 3-4, he would talk about his friend Eddie Bells all the time. Everytime J wanted to be like all the other kids and ask his mother if he could do it to, if L said no little J would pout and say “but why not mom, Eddie Bells is”. This happened on quite a regular basis where J would come back with “Eddie Bells can” or “Eddie Bells did” or whatever. Eddie Bells was a part of all sorts of things that went on with J but his mother L had never met him.

One night when J was told no to something he got very upset and in tears said “it’s not fair! it’s not fair! Eddie Bells gets to do EVERYTHING and I never get to do ANYTHING”. Pretty upset herself L responded “well, I don’t know who this Eddie Bells is and I’ve never met his mother but I’m sure she doesn’t let him do ‘EVERYTHING’”. Turns out “Eddie Bells” was little J’s way of saying “everybody else” :) So when he wanted to do something and his mother would say no, J was trying to explain that “everybody else is”… and it was coming out as “Eddie Bells is” :)

About a year or two after I stopped working for L, her son J tragically passed away very unexpectedly following a very brief illness. At his funeral I remembered many things that L had told me but what I kept thinking about was the Eddie Bells story. It’s been about 15 years ago now and I still think about “Eddie Bells”. Last Friday night I had my very own “Eddie Bells Moment”. You see, I was making the rounds of my favorite food blogs and checking out what had been posted on both Tastespotting and Food Gawker and was feeling kinda blue. It seemed like everybody else was baking something fantastic! Everybody else… but me :(

Well… that’s the story of my Eddie Bells cake… a cake I made just cuz everybody else was making something. I simply didn’t want to be left out and since Eddie Bells had baked something I wanted to bake something too. Sure it’s a little bit “competitive” and a little bit like “peer-pressure” but isn’t it funny what Eddie Bells can make you do :)

A Very Late Birthday Cake!

It was Termite 3's birthday 18 days ago and I just didn't get around to making him a cake. Well, today I did! I kept it simple. I made a fudge cake that has no butter, milk or eggs, but it is rather delicious. The cook at his preschool used to make it all the time to cater for his allergy needs. I found out that I actually have the book the recipe came out of (I've started to pack to get ready for my move!).

I enjoy baking. I have rediscovered this 'hobby' of mine. But what I have also discovered is that I like recipes that do not require beating the butter until it's light and fluffy. Why? Cause I don't have to wait until the butter has softened that little bit first. Recipes that don't require any butter are quicker to bake.
I found an idea for a simple cake using jelly beans. The Termites quite like the jelly beans we buy from the chemist so I thought I'd go and get those to decorate the cake. Of course they had a sampling of them before I could get any onto the cake, but would you believe it, they wouldn't eat the jelly beans off the cake. Unbelievable!

Kitchen Is In! (now caught up with updates)

So I went by the house this morning on my day off (being Wednesday) and just walked into my house to see the kitchen has been installed. It is basic but I have chosen black and white for it. I will be getting ceasar stone for the benchtops.

Here's some more snaps:

Entrance - Before & After

I like trying to take the comparison shots. I posted the entrance shot of the frames being up, but now that the gyprock is up it gives the house a new perspective. So here's the before and then after:

Go To Bed! (12 May)

The termites are now getting that this will be our new home. Termite 3 particularly asks on a daily basis that perhaps he can move in now cause the workers have finished. They like visiting their rooms and they're obliging me by getting their photos taken.

Anzac Day (25 April)

Oops, I nearly forgot about Anzac Day. Me and the Termites had a nice morning out watching the parade and going to the service (we're still working on the attention span for this part).
Termite 1 loves his Teddy and takes it with him to lots of places. He remembered that some of the soldiers have vehicles so he wanted to take a car for Teddy to go in.
Termite 3 (in the middle) has just seen some really cool old army vehicles go by.

Termite 3 Turns 4! (4th May)

How quickly the time goes. My youngest Termite is now 4. I'm a very slack mother and didn't get around to making him a cake (which reminded Termite 1 that he, too, didn't get a cake - he did have a nice day out though... go here). Here's the traditional "holding up that number of fingers photo":
Since Termite 3's birthday fell on a Tuesday, we decided to make Sunday before the day of activities. We went to the Berry Markets where the local VW club had a display of various cars. Some of them were just so cool. It actually made me want one.

After the markets we went to the Penrose trains. These are scale models of trains which a bunch of guys make from scratch and then put on the track for the public to ride on. So much fun.
The group used to rely on people making a donation to help support the club but of course there was no way of policing that. It had been a couple of years since we had been and I was surprised (and pleased) to see that someone was now at the gate and charging $5 per person for entry. This price is for unlimited rides. Lots of people pack a picnic lunch and spend the day there.

Roof Delivered (28 & 30 April)

Things are moving quickly and I have to go to the house nearly every day so I don't miss a thing! The roof has now arrived and when I go back two days later it has already been nearly completed.
I like the colour of this roof. I picked blue cause Bluscope Steel don't make red!
With the roof on I took another look inside. Here's a shot from me standing just inside the front door:

The BIG Mistake! (23 April)

It was Good Friday and I went by the house to have a look and this is what I saw:
See that wall on the right hand side near the garage? IT'S NOT SUPPOSED TO BE THERE!!! So for the next three days as it was drying, I had to just wait until I could get onto someone on the Tuesday morning to tell them of THE BIG MISTAKE.

But it did get fixed. This is how it's supposed to look:

Brick Are Going On! (22 April)

Seeing the bricks start to go on was pretty exciting. I thought they were darker than they appeared but I still like them. It is so hard to choose from such a small wall sample.
Here's an internal view of my room! I'm impressed and I'm pleased that I picked the little windows.
Do you think Termite 1 is happy with his room?
Termite 2 in his room. So much different now that it has walls.
Termite 3 was acting out being a worker in his room. Oh, how many times did he want to take stuff from the site home so he could play 'workers'!

Bricks Delivered (16th April)

The bricks were delivered next. It wasn't long before the builders got them up and around the house.

Gutters Are On! (15 April)

OK, I haven't posted for over a month now cause it is no longer school holidays and I'm back at work. So I'll do a catchup on the house cause in the last month a LOT has happened. Talk about progress!

The gutters and faschias went on.

It makes the "house" look better.