5-min chocolate mug cake

There's an email going around about making a 5-minute chocolate cake in a mug. Catherine and I decided to give it a whirl, since all the ingredients were on hand. Here are the photos (some a bit blurry, sorry).

Catherine mixing the ingredients:

The mixture in the mug:

After microwaving for three minutes:

The cooked result:

Taste test:

Our verdict: this is a wicked recipe! Main problem - as the email notes - is that we are now only ever 5 minutes away from freshly-baked chocolate cake :)

At the zoo again

Had a really lovely day at Australia Zoo, with tigers and snakes topping the favourites. Christopher ran himself ragged in the walker, and the trio of girls were fabulous. I spent the day juggling wheelchair, walker, wet shoes, jackets, backpacks and hats. Worth every minute! The girls are cooking dinner tonight - whoo-hooo!

Just a few photos:

The Flip Side

The flip side of our recent domestic pleasures is barely-controlled chaos. The renovations of Christopher's room continue and things are starting to take shape. Probably the hardest part is that Christopher isn't able to use his own bed. Anyone who has tried to lift a 12-year-old boy from a mattress on the floor will realise how difficult that is. Garry is valiantly fighting against the tracking of dirt and dust into the house... the back deck looks like something exploded... the washing line and dryer are right in the work zone so I try to use them 'after hours' (not very successfully).

nusquam est umquam simplex

Domestic Pleasures

What with all the rain and it being school + uni holidays, we've been getting domestic around our home this week. I set the boys to work helping me set up a craft cupboard, so all our scattered crafty things are slowly being reorganised. The cupboard was a dingy old thing - now has nicely burnished door handles, a fresh coast of paint and some nifty storage.

Meanwhile, I bought myself a (very early) birthday present - a pie maker. I bought it on the recommendation of a friend (thanks Nat!) and having owned it for only one day, I can say it's a surefire hit. Christopher insisted that we have pies for dinner last night, so I made mediterranean veggie pies for mains and peach pies for dessert. Both were delicious! Tonight we're having curried lentil and tomato pies. After that we'll need a break from pies I suspect.

The pie maker itself is great - you get four perfectly cooked pies in about eight minutes. It also makes quiches, damper, muffins, tarts and baked cheesecakes. Yummmm. Now that the rain has stopped I'll be getting back into the herb garden - hmmm... maybe cheese & herb dampers for lunch tomorrow :)

Susan Boyle

Well worth 7 minutes if you can spare the time (it's a youtube clip):

Click here