Chocolate and orange pinwheels

I made these yesterday and they were so good! The recipe does have a lot of waiting time, which is needed, but it's a good time to get some cleaning done ;)

I think I got everything changed right for the American, if not the friendly google will tell you :)

Enjoy!

INGREDIENTS

1 cup (250g) unsalted butter
1 cup (160g) icing sugar, sifted (powdered sugar)
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
grated rind of 1 orange
1 3/4 cups (260g) plain flour, sifted
2 tablespoons orange juice
1/4 cup (25g) cocoa powder, sifted

METHOD

1. Beat butter and sugar together with an electric mixer until pale and creamy. Add vanilla essence and rind and mix well. Divide creamed mixture in half, keeping in two separate bowls.

2. Add 1 cup of flour and 1 tablespoon of orange juice to one lot of creamed mixture and mix to form dough. Turn onto a lightly floured surface and knead gently to form a ball. Wrap in plastic and chill for 30 minutes. Add remaining flour, orange juice and cocoa to remaining creamed mixture and mix to form dough. Knead gently to form a ball. Wrap in plastic and chill for 30 minutes.

3. Roll each piece of dough out separately between two sheets of baking paper to form a rectangle about 24cm x30cm (about 10in x 12in). Place orange sheet of dough onto a baking tray, leaving baking paper underneath. Lay chocolate dough directly on top. Chill for 15 minutes.

4. Starting at long edge, roll dough up very tightly, using baking paper as a guide. Chill for another 30 minutes or until very firm.

5. Meanwhile preheat oven to 180°C (350F). Line 2 baking trays with baking paper. Cut roll into 4mm (0.16in) slices and arrange biscuits on prepared trays. Bake for 13-15 minutes, until pale golden. Cool on wire racks.

recipe and photo taken from:

http://recipefinder.ninemsn.com.au/tablerecipes/732560/chocolate-and-orange-pinwheels

New car

Got our new car yesterday! Mitsubishi Lancer 2000 model. In most ways it's an upgrade, no blown head gasket, cd player that works all the way (unlike the one in the Camry that worked when it wanted to) looks sporty, few less dents, and no stupid security thing that I have to worry about setting off. It is smaller, so a bit different to drive, also a it's not a V6 so less power. I already have it booked into the mechanic for a service, and to make sure there is nothing wrong with it. Over all very happy with it, and got a great deal on it which makes it even better!

Engagement Party

Saturday was Sarah and Dave's engagement party. After a day of cooking I was ready for a day of fun! So we got to play some volleyball, which made me very sore , but for once I almost got every serve over the net! Small victory I know, but for me that was very good. I was only able to get two games in, since I was helping with food, but thankfully the net is up now which means there is plenty more games to come :)

Now onto the food, here is everything that me, Sarah, and mum worked on the day before.

It all turned out really good! Even though there was hardly any left at the end!

Now here is just some shots from the party, enjoy!

The engagement cake :)

Ice cream and all the toppings.
Tiramisu cake, Key lime Cake, Cupcake (not sure what kind) and Jackie's Carrot cake.

Showing some love, I think.

The happy couple :) Along with the spread of desserts :)

All the gifts before.

My little friend, Bethany, who thought she should hold onto my legs the whole time they were unwrapping gifts.

A gift from Dave's Brothers.
They really do love each other!

The after. Which is now taking up my spare room :-p

Well that's the lot of them! Ended up being a really fun and relaxing day :)

Engagement Party Prep

Tomorrow is S* and D*'s engagement party, so today was all about cooking for it. After fighting our way through the mall to get everything (it really was like fighting, you'd think it was Christmas or something with so many people out!) we finally got it all home.

First up, lunch! Hey, everyone has to eat and after fighting the crowd in the mall we needed it!

Now lets get cooking. First up, peel, cut, cook, and cool potatoes (I got out of this since I had better things to do :-p)

As that was being done by S* and Mum I was busy starting on my cake.

Then we had the pasta to cook.

So as all that was cooling, it was onto the next task, chopping the many vegetables!

Since then it has all been mixed up into the 7-layer salad, Garden salad, Potato salad, and Pasta salad. As well as the Tiramisu cake assembled and the Key lime cake baked to be assembled tomorrow.

Photos to come to our finished products! For now it's time to put our feet up, and try not to look at the pile of dishes that no one wants to do!

Coffee and friends

Now as most of you know I love coffee! But one of the best things is a cup of coffee and a good friend. One thing I love about living here, is that this is a small church, everyone really is friends with everyone. So quite often, about twice a week for me, some of us will meet for coffee and a bit of shopping. I love my coffee trips to town, most of the time I'll walk part of the way there, and met up with someone else then walk the rest of the way. It's a great time to get to talk to each other, it was my best way of getting to really know everyone here. So if anyone from back home ever makes it out here for a visit, I'll be sure and take you out for a coffee! :)

Car Searching

So I know this is going to sound bad, but me and hubby are looking for what will be the third car we have owned since we have been married (which has not even been a year!)

So this was the first car

Ford Laser '91

Good on gas, not so good on everything else, decided to die when we went shopping :( but have to say I was happy for an upgrade! ;)

So then we bought this

Toyota Vienta '96

I have to say I love this car! It's roomy inside, drives great, and the V6 engine is quite nice ;)

Problem is, the head gasket (?) is about to go :( my mechanic has put some sort of sealer in it so we can still drive it, but said we should try and replace it before it goes since it cost a lot to fix a head gasket in general, and even more on a V6.

So now it's on to car searching! After looking around all weekend, and talking to the mechanic to see what he recommends I think we are down to two different cars (to bad for hubby that his BMW 3 is not one of them.)

Toyota Corrolla

Pretty much like the Vienta just smaller, which will save us on gas, and cheaper to fix since it's not a V6.

Or a Mazda 323

Again smaller then the Vienta, but cheap to fix and run.

Now we just have to find one of these two cars, at a price we are willing to pay!