Décor Heaven

Some random things, spaces, ideas and feelings that I Love....

 

 

 

Chocolate Ganache Cake

I’ve made it at last!!  A few weeks ago, a friend and I went out for drinks and supper and found ourselves in the middle of a bachelorette party complete with giant chocolate penis ganache cake.  No, it wasn’t made of it…it was shaped like it ;)  Don’t ponder too long about it though.  The point is, the cake was absolutely divine and I must admit that raving about a penis cake is not something I thought I would find myself doing.

Nonetheless, here I am blogging about it.  I trawled the internet looking for a very easy recipe as I don’t really see myself as the baking type although admittedly, I’ve never really made a flop of something that I did try to bake.  Not counting the “herb” microwave cake once tried during highschool.  But moving swiftly along….

I found an easy recipe and decided that Easter weekend would be the perfect time to try out all things chocolaty. 

It did feel like a bit of an experiment.  Seeing the bicarb mix with the vinegar was quite… entertaining….and unconventional for a chocolate cake mixture.  My favourite part though was making the actual ganache with only two ingredients - dessert cream and Lindt!  The cake was baking away snuggly in the oven at this point. 

The melting of the Lindt…hmmmmmmm…I could have stopped here and called it a success ;)

Added the cream, took out the cake…

And the final result….chocolate heaven...there was nothing left by the time 4pm came around Easter Sunday!  This is for sure a recipe I'd try again....however next time I need to perfect the colour of the ganache.

Hope you all had a fabulous long weekend!

Much Love

X

Welcoming my little niece

My sister had a baby girl!!  Robyn Andrea.  She is just too adorable!!  And already has a cheeky and stubborn little personality – just like her mom and aunt. ;)  I swear it, even though she is only 1 month old.  Here’s my two favourite photos’ of her so far.

Just four days old….

 And taking a nap on grandma’s lap after dinner and a bath at about 2 weeks old…

I suppose there will be many more posts about her in the future...she is just too cute for words!

Have a Happy Easter all!

X

An Unexplored World

Wow, it has certainly been a long time since posting on here.  Things have really picked up since starting work back in mid January.  Firstly, the baby shower was a complete success.  I even managed to keep it a surprise from my sister who unexpectedly shed a tear at the sight of all her beloved female friends and family gathered together to celebrate her pregnancy.  It was a great day indeed.

Then of course I had a block week as a student – wow did I feel like an 18 year old starting her first day at university all over again.  Bag over shoulder, the anticipation of meeting all these new people, discovering an unexplored world…what bliss.  But with all honesty, post-grad studies are no walk in the park….the year has started off with a bang!

Of course, an extra item of clothing to make the studies more memorable is always welcome - so check out the new gear ;)

I know....I'm such a geek. :-)

Today, I was back in the office (sans winter hoodie) with added zest to life….able to tackle my latest re-engineering project with ample new ability from last weeks’ studies, and loving life even more.  

Aah, God does work in mysterious ways.

Till next time  xxx

Revamping 30 decades

In two days I’ll be returning to work, jumping into assignment mode, organizing my sister’s baby shower and starting a new part-time year at university completing my honours degree.  So this past week, I’ve decided to tackle a home décor project, not only to stimulate my right –brain, but also to make something new to inspire me to work harder at my studies.

As mentioned before, my sister is having a baby (Yippee!), and with a new baby, comes a new baby room.  And with a new baby room, comes cleaning out the old, and in with the new cute, tiny and cuddly things.  Therefore, when an old desk was about to be thrown out after many years of inactive service, I thought “Here’s a great opportunity to express my creative side”.   I also have to mention here that this particular desk has seen our family through many years of studious splendor and hardships.  It was there through my brothers’ university years, my sisters part time studies and even through my very own matric exams back in the year 2000.  So as you can imagine, this desk has quite the number of years on it and I might be speaking under correction, but it might even have been there through my brothers schooling years way back in the 1980’s.

So without further delay, here is a pic of the desk as I found it (ok, midway through the sanding already). 

And this picture of the drawer shows perfectly the state the desk was in, including the atrocious colour, and boring drawer knobs.

My aim was to create something that fit in with my current décor in my apartment but that also had a French twist to it.  It had to be small enough to store away when not in use, but big enough to comfortably work long hours into the night.  And of course, it had to look pretty.

So out I went, got some paint, some candles and some brand spanking new knobs….

It took me quite some time to decide between the two knobs, but I eventually picked one and with some creative painting, this is what I ended up with…also see the above pic for the detail on the desk top.

The final result with a make-shift stool in a nook in my apartment, is working wonderfully to type up this post.  Mission accomplished.

Till next time, Good night J

A New Year

What is the difference between being in love versus loving.  Someone recently asked me whether I was in love with them or whether I just loved them.  And I think the entire concept of that question is out of comparison.

Should the question not be whether I loved them or whether I was merely in love with them?  See, after some thought and of course some googling of the topic, I came across the following comment left by someone answering the same question:

I definitely agree with everyone that there is a difference..

I'm currently in a relationship for 3 1/2 years now.

Yes we fell "in love" together, but "in love" seems to be more about the infatuation stage of love. It's easy to fall "in love" but it's tough to just.. love.. if that makes any sense.

You can fall in love with many different people but there's only so many that you can truly love..

This type of love is the type where you can love the person regardless of the tough times, regardless of the time or distance, and regardless of the person's flaws. If you can pass the "in love" stage, this person is more than just a bf/gf, you begin to take it seriously, and the decisions you make start to involve them.

Now this answer got me thinking and nodding my head in agreement.  Unfortunately at the time the question was posed to me, I was not in this frame of mind and somehow thought that stress could be the reason for no longer being in love.  That with life being so tough sometimes, you forget that carefree feeling of being inlove but that it is indeed hiding somewhere beneath all the baggage.  AND that being in love was the begin and end all of a romantic relationship.

But, being in love is, as it seems, the beginning of a relationship.  But by no means the end of it.  Once the butterflies have died down, the heart not skipping that many beats anymore, if you lucky enough, what you’ll have left is Love.  Love, that as I’m sure many of you have heard at countless weddings, will be there through thick and thin, richer and poorer, through the good times and the bad.

Pure Love….that is my wish to all for  2012….Happy New Year!!

Almost there

There's this undeniable silence in the air which dictates that within the next few days, many people will either be starting their leave or are very close to getting there.

Take for example my colleague just behind me.  She goes on leave within the next 2 days...and although there might be some things to do - the mind has long gone and parked itself on the glistening shores of the holiday destination.

The colleague right next to her, who under normal circumstances is quite the diligent employee, is downright throwing his toys out the cot today.  Ranging from anything such as the aircon which now uncomfortably blows directly on him, to my bright blue exercise ball (which has now oddly found a new home in a cupboard), to the system testing project being a pain.  All of which normally wouldn’t be even the slightest problem.

Now honestly speaking, being any other time of the year, this reaction of colleagues toward the working environment and general attitude toward the actual work itself, could have left me feeling a bit dissatisfied and irritated. 

But being December, with a pleasant breeze flowing through my work window, and after a relaxed light buffet Woolies lunch with said female colleague and some Christmas shopping later…I’m feeling quite in the holiday spirit myself.

Hmmm…makes the work to be completed before going on leave that much more bearable.

Happy days J