Perfect timing.

The 'celebration' theme coincided with one of my family members birthdays, so a celebratory cake was in order.

When I saw this particular recipe recently posted on a blog I love to read, I knew I HAD to give it a try as there was something about the pictures and the words "milk jam" that just sucked me in.

So hear goes, my version of Tartelette's...............

Let me tell you about one very special little cake!

It's moist, it's light, and it's oh so good........it's a Coconut and Mint Syrup Cake, of course!

Perfect for packaging up and taking along to a picnic, which is exactly what I did a few weekends ago when I headed down to the Yarra Valley with some friends.

So many choices for this fortnight's theme as there are so many things food things I love including anything French, anything wrapped in pastry - anything that involves the words "High Tea" - and the list goes on and on.

But as I was heading off to watch Shakespeare in the Park's - A Comedy of Errors a few weekends back (as previously mentioned here), which involved a great night out with two of my favourite people in the world, I decided to use the opportunity to dedicate dessert to this crazy little theme called love...

Dilemma #1

- Such an easy theme but it really stumped me as I cook a lot with noodles and rice and really wanted to do something a little different.

I spent days searching through my cookbooks for some inspiration when I finally heard the words “rice flour” whispered in my ear. Yay! I found my ‘something a little different’.

Dilemma #2

– What to make with rice flour?

Unfortunately, like many of you I barely get time during the year to read the magazines I have subscriptions with. I mean really read them - from cover to cover. They arrive and end up sitting on my coffee table for weeks on end. So whenever I go away on holidays (like my recent trip up to Newcastle) I take a load of unopened magazines with me and read every word within the pages.

This trip, I managed to get through the Nov/Dec issues of Delicious, Gourmet Traveller and Donna Hay - which is where this sweet little baby came from.

I needed a quick and easy dessert to serve to my cousins who were coming to dinner, which didn't involve a load of ingredients and didn't have me spending all day in the kitchen (especially as I was in a foreign kitchen without my own utensils at hand).

This recipe was perfect.

I'd been eyeing this cookbook off for sometime now since discovering it on my brothers bookshelf. Unfortunately, at $70 my purchase of it was going to have to wait. However a chance encounter at the Book Grocery saw me purchasing this little puppy for under $30 and it's been the best money I've spent it a long while.....I love this book and am planning to cook every single thing inside it.

Yep, it's that good!

At the beginning of this week, I made the decision that no matter what I made for this week's theme, it had to come from this book - even if I had to adapt the recipe, but when flicking through, I found something perfect for a Spring picnic.....

I was a bit concerned with this week's theme of ice.

It's still only Spring here in Melbourne which means it's still been fairly cold. I haven't given up my scarf just yet, so the thought of making something that represents ice just wasn't doing it for me.

But then the sun came out....along with my thongs.....and I was filled with inspiration.

What a vegetable!

In our family, we grew up eating potato with just about every meal. These days I tend to eat more sweet potato than the good old white variety, however whenever I do have it, it gives me such a feeling of comfort. All these warm fuzzy feelings just from one little vegetable!

The cookbook I decided to use for this weeks theme is one of the very first I ever received and it's one of the only cookbooks on my shelf that I've almost cooked every recipe out of it. I love it! This cookbook really introduced me to the whole dinner party scene, giving me the confidence to match foods together. As you can see by the photo, it has been very loved over the years.

I’m a bit 50/50 when it comes to muffins so I wasn’t too enthusiastic with this week's theme. If made well (and kept to a reasonable size), I really enjoy them, but most of the ones out there on the market these days are way too big and extremely dry. Scarily, I’ve even seen some made with artificial flavours instead of actual real fruit….ick!

I received this cookbook for Christmas last year from some wonderful friends at work, and as I haven’t used this book in The Cookbook Challenge as yet I thought it was about time, so I decided on…

It's been a long, busy and exhausting week! Work is busy with deadlines looming and everyone trying to get everything finished before the Christmas break, which is leading to lots of overtime. Followed up by lots of late nights getting into the Christmas spirit. Why do we do it to ourselves? Even though I'm exhausted, I have to say that this is still one of my favourite times of year, however, I would like just a little more time in the day to spend cooking so I can eat properly, which is why I chose this particular recipe...no cooking required! Yay! It even gives you the opportunity to pound out any built up aggression (by using a mortar & pestle) caused by all those people who insist on travelling into the city for a leisurely look around the shops during the busiest time of the weekday - lunchtime - when you only have a few minutes to dash out of the office and do all the things still left on your 'to do' list....sorry, got a bit side tracked there. Here's my choice for 'bean week', and probably my favourite vegetable of all time.....