First Annual Cheesecake Bakeoff

Yesterday was the first Annual Cheesecake Bakeoff at the house of my friend Venerable. The premise was promising, the event was well organised, the competition was fierce, the cheesecakes were amazing and now I am slipping into a sugar induced diabetic coma.

There were about 10 cheesecakes in the competition and we had to taste each one and score it. At the end of the afternoon, scores were tallied and the winner was announced.

Here's my entry - a Mixed Berry and Ricotta Baked Cheesecake. I scored well but unfornately didn't manage to squeeze into the top three placings.

Jodi made a Mars Bar Cheesecake Slice.

And Becc made a Black Forest Cheesecake that won her second prize.

Test this for me would you, love?

Buster has been working on a new project and he needs people to test it and send him feedback. If you are so inclined, please try it out so he will stop nagging me to do it.

Mark's Buddy Finder

Here's one I prepared earlier

14_3_07 025, originally uploaded by susebaptista.

Because today is my Mum's birthday, we made her a special roast chicken birthday dinner. I also made this fabulous cake for us to eat afterwards. I wanted to make a cake with a syrupy topping and pears are coming into season here so I thought I'd give it a try (bear in mind that the last cake I made was referred to as "the rubber cake" due to its interesting texture). To help with the forgetful thing, I had to get out all the ingredients and measure them before I even started so I didn't leave anything out. It wasn't too difficult although we did have a slight drama when the power went out and then Mum came home from work early and I hadn't even got it in the oven so it wasn't really a proper surprise cake, but it looked and tasted fantastic.

When I was making the cake, I cracked the eggs into the batter and each of the three eggs had double yolks - I'd never seen a double-yolker before let alone three. And, even more bizarrely, we had a poached egg each for breakfast this morning (eggs are good for Squirmy McBaby) and both of them were double yolks too. So we've used 5 out of the dozen and they are all double yolks - I should start a betting scheme on the number of yolks in the remaining 7 eggs in the carton.

But back to the cake - the brown sugar and the butter go all gooey and toffee tasting which is awesome with the sliced pear. I think I need a bit more practice slicing and arranging the pears as it was a bit haphazard, but this is still the most fabulous cake I've made this year and well worth eating despite the hideous amount of butter and sugar it contains.

If you want to give it a go - Pear and Almond Upside Down Cake

House news

I think we've found a house to buy. Well, I mean we have found a house we both don't hate, we've agreed on a price with the vendor and we are waiting for financial and lawyerly stuff to happen. Hopefully this means that we will be installed in a house of our very own (partly ours and mostly the banks obviously) in early April. I'm very relieved and Squirmy McBaby is very excited at the thought of not being born a gypsy.

Actually, a lot of things are exciting Squirmy McBaby at the moment. Every time I sit still for more than ten minutes it seems to be the international baby signal for either tumble-turn practice or general toe-twinkling and Mexican wave rehearsals. I swear it feels like an enormous goldfish going round and round my stomach shaped fishbowl (or is that fishbowl-shaped stomach?).

I will be pleased when my brain starts working again too. It's getting difficult to cook things because I forget where I'm up to and usually leave out some crucial ingredient. Or if we go somewhere, I generally forget to take something small but essential. And please don't ask me work out anything to do with money or counting - my brain feels like it has been removed and replaced with fried cotton wool.

The time to panic is approaching

Only 14 weeks are left before this rapidly growing fetus has to exit my uterus and become an infant.

Weighing in at about 750-800 grams and measuring around 23 cms you will begin to notice a distinct pattern of your baby’s sleep and wakeful times. These will usually coincide with your active and resting times of the day.

Your baby is developing taste buds and may already have a preference for certain foods. Her adult teeth are forming high in her gums, and her nerves around her mouth are becoming more sensitive. She also practices swallowing amniotic fluid, all of this occurs in preparation for when she has her first feed after birth.

Old Wives Tales

1. Don't hang out the washing as raising your arms above your head can cause the umbilical cord to wrap around the baby's neck and strangle it;

2. If you are carrying high then it's a girl, if you are carrying low then it's a boy;

3. If you get a lot of heartburn, then the baby will be born hairy;

4. Find a new home for the cat - cat's can smother a baby or give it diseases;

5. Don't look at a mouse when you are pregnant or your baby will be born with a hairy birthmark;

6. Adding Drano to a sample of your urine can reveal the gender of your baby;

7. Don't drink coffee or your baby's growth will be stunted; and

8. Don't eat strawberries or your baby will be born with a red birthmark.