This year Easter and ANZAC day were so close that we had 5 glorious days off in a row! I don't hink that will happen again for a long time. As much as I loved it, after the third day I didn't really know what to do with myself. It probably didn't help that we didn't go away, but we did get up to some lovely things:
- Easter baking on Thursday night. Miss S and I put our aprons on and made a double batch of gingerbread dough. Gingerbread is messy but VERY worth it. I love it so much I typset the recipe and laminated it to protect it from spills. We decided we would make egg-shaped biscuits, but there were no egg-shaped cutters in the shops so I took a round cutter and pinched it. We tried icing some bunny-shaped biscuits too but they looked pretty crapola. Check them out!
- Lunch at Kim & Stu's
We were invited to have lunch with Kim and Stu on good Friday. We met Kim and Stu when we were on holidays in NZ, they sat at the same restaurant as us at Sweet Mother's Kitchen in Wellington and we started talking and it turned out that they lived a few suburbs away from us. We ended up all going to a pub after dinner. I love it when you randomly meet awesome people!
Anyway, back to my story - we were invited for lunch and I offered to bring dessert. Kim heartily accepted when I told her I was bringing trifle.
Here's a photo collection of the trifle making experience:
I made it that morning so it didn't get too soggy. I first got the recipe here but have modified it over time. I can't stress highly enough to never use cream-filled jam rolls. The long-life, sugary cream in those things comes up shabbily against the fresh whipped cream you use to top the trifle with. So just don't do it! I've also found it's easier to stack the jam rolls up on the edges as you go. So after you've done the first layer of cake/jelly/custard, then put the next level on. Makes it much easier!
AND one more thing - if you whip your cream using a kitchen whizz stick with a whisk attachment and use a long skinny container like a milkshake cup, it only takes about a minute to whip up.
So with the trifle carefully balanced in Miss S's lap, we made our way over to Kim and Stu's for lunch. It was the most perfect and glorious autumn day, sunny bit with a chill in the air, and we ate outside on the deck. Kim had set up a japanese style dining table with their coffee table, the lounge room rug and all of the cushions from the sofa. Stu cooked some meaty delight on the barbecue and served it with a fresh fancy-pants lentil salad. The trifle was a hit.
TaDa!
