Tuesday, August 07, 2007

My new home (and some food)

Before I show you my house, some chocolate cake:

A cooperative effort by Andy and me, this cake is super cocoa-y, and features some orange zest and juice. Andy was in charge of the spices, so he added a bit of nutmeg, about a T. of cinnamon, and then a butt-load of wattle seed. The wattle seed was part of an "Aussie bush spices" pack we got for Christmas. It has an earthy flavour that went as well in a Tofu Loaf as it does in this cake.

The cake was made in the new kitchen, which is bright and sunny and has views of the fishtank in the living room, and some greenery out the window.

From the kitchen window we see a handful of palm trees. Out that back door is a mini-laundry room, and the back patio.

At night we pull shut the ugly curtains to keep people from looking in as I wash up in my sweat pants.
The new house is much longer than the old one. Look how far it is from the front door to the kitchen!Down the hall from the kitchen is the bathroom, which features a bathtub--a relaxing change of pace from our old squishy bathroom which only had a shower.

The bathroom has another really cool feature: a skylight. Not a traditional one, but a little dome that lets in so much light. Whenever I go in there during the day, I forget the light isn't on and go to click it off, only to remember it's actually natural light coming in.


Back to the food. I made some salad sandwiches on this 50 cent baguette for lunch. Accompanied by a big fat Sunday paper and a cuppa tea, this was the perfect way to waste an afternoon.
Here's my sandwich with its top off. Scandalous! Hummus, basil leaves, cucumber, tomato, and beetroot. And soy mayonnaise. Yummy!

8 comments:

LizNoVeggieGirl said...

what a great new home - and great food as well!! looks like you're all settled in there

LizNoVeggieGirl said...

just saw your comment on my blog - I've actually never had Life® cereal before (I've heard of it, just have never eaten it), but it's slightly sweet and crunchy and tastes like wheat. It's quite good! I highly recommend it.

Amy said...

Ooo! SO JEALOUS you have a new home (which is lovely by the way)!!! Yummy looking cake too (might have to get me some of that wattle spice, they have a shop here that sells a whole heap of new bush spices and stuff but I never knew what to do with them, all the serving suggestions are omni-blech).

vko said...

Congratulations on your lovely new home! It's great & so exciting (i love the two stuffed toys scattered on the kitchen floor- evidence of playful companion animals or maybe you have a stuffed animal collection?)

What does wattle spice taste like?
Cake looks good.

Kumudha said...

The cake looks delicious!

Theresa said...

Unfortunately, VKO, the only companion animals in my life are not furry. We've got a fishtank, but they don't really seem to fetch, for some reason. Neither does Andy. I wish I could adopt a dog or cat, but the life of a renter (and one who has moved every six months so far) is not conducive to living with animals.

The balls on the floor are for me and Andy to throw at each other :)

Wattle spice has a really earthy flavour, similar to coffee or maybe some nutty goodness. This is the first time we've baked with it, and I'm happy with the results. The cake is really yummy!

Anonymous said...

Those rolls look DELICIOUS!!!

bazu said...

Congrats on your new house and your pristine huge new kitchen! It's fun to think of everything you'll be doing there... cooking-wise, I mean! ;-)

Wattle seed- man, I learn something new in every one of your posts!