Spring Has Sprung, Birthday Fun and Rock-hard Cupcakes?!?!

Just a quick warning before I begin - BEWARE VERY LONG & VERY WAFFLY POST!

tee hee


Thursday - snow. Saturday/Sunday - gorgeous sunny, SPRING weather days. What's going on?!?! Not that I'm complaining. I love both!

The good weather did improve my mood a hundred-fold and it was really nice to get out and about after being stuck indoors all week due to the wind and rain. Well, that's what the doggies thought as they lay full stretch on the grass catching some rays! Wish I could show you a photo, but I forget because I'm so used to seeing them like that whenever the sun comes out. LOL

Pepper was also very hypo - releasing all her pent-up energy by doing continuous zoomies around the yard. I've not seen her so hypo since we moved in here! She'd run around, drop to the ground for a brief rest and off she'd go again, especially if I crept up to her saying "zoomie, zoomie, zoomie"! It was very cute to watch. I love it when they enjoy themselves like that. :D

I digress. On Sunday we decided we'd do birthday celebratory things since we were going to be at work on Monday and complete zombies by the end of the day (besides the fact that most restaurants are closed on Mondays as they only open for the tourist crowd!). So, we headed off to one of my favourite cafes in the morning, FRESH and had a yummy breakfast.

(Click on any of the photos for a larger view)

While waiting for our meals, I managed to be slightly creative with a mobile phone camera (I'm so hanging out to get THIS book, which has loads of great photos you can take with a mobile phone camera). LOL

Then after a quick trip to the shops to get a few supplies, we bundled up the dogs and headed down to the Nepean River at the bottom of the mountains. Testament to the gorgeous spring day was the amount of people out in the parks enjoying the sun. So much so that we had to go to the furthest park downstream in order to avoid the crowds. LOL

We were nicely rewarded with the sight of a small Spring wedding in the gorgeous gazebo (we didn't take any photos because we thought that might be a bit rude!) and sparse crowds scattered around the park. We had a picnic lunch, had a play on the oval and then took the dogs for a walk along the water's edge.

The funniest (and probably most pitiful!) thing of the day was when we tried to cross a couple of bridges/boardwalks that were made out of a metal grid, or grating or something like that (I'm sure there's a technical name for it!!)! Anyway, poor Falcon was scared out of his little brain because he couldn't see what he was walking on (the grid holes were quite large), and I guess for a dog who wasn't created to hover in mid air, that's pretty scary! LOL Moreso for Falcon because he's only got one eye so he NEEDS the safety of solid ground. He spread out his fingers to touch as much space as possible and crawled along the grate on his belly. Or more to the point, I dragged him along the grating on his belly!

Before you go screaming to the RSPCA for animal abuse - let me tell you that this is good socialising for him. He needs to be exposed to as many different situations and objects as possible. I cajoled and rewarded and by the end of the last bridge bit, he was a teeny little bit more confident. A teeny little bit. We did this three times in total during the walk, and we'll definitely be returning so that we can do it more times and he can build up his confidence. Pepper was also a bit nervous and was crawling along on her belly with fingers sprawled out too, but she was less fearful than Falcon and charged along at an almost normal rate as you can see in the picture above (Pepper in front, Falcon behind).

I find it amusing and fascinating when complementing what each doggie is frightened of, and they are definitely frightened of different things. Sometimes Falcon will be all gung-ho with something and Pepper will run like the wind the other way. And vice versa with other things. It's very strange considering they are sister and brother, but I guess like humans, dogs can have different personalities and fears too.

But I'm digressing again! LOL

After the nice walk in Penrith, we drove home and I did some baking. I had this grand idea that I'd bake some mini cupcakes and take them into work for everyone to share on my birthday. It all started well - the pretty little patty pans went into a muffin tin:

the cake mix was made up:

and the cakes went into the oven:

This was where things went haywire. I was following a recipe for regular sized cupcakes, not mini ones and had forgotten to adjust the timing for the smaller cakes. Hence the first batch came out as hard as rocks. *cry*

I wanted to start a second batch, but Gus had booked dinner at my favourite restaurant - Swiss Cottage, and it was time to go. So I had to semi-tidy up all the baking stuff, get dressed and make it up to Katoomba in five minutes!

Dinner was definitely a welcome diversion from rock hard cupcakes. We ate HEAPS of delicious Swiss food.

Entree - (Whoops, sorry! No photo. Wait, let me rephrase that - no GOOD photo. :( It was very yummy though. LOL)

For the main we had Raclette - a very delicious meal of grilled cheese (grilled right on your table!), potatoes, pickles and onions.

We were even entertained by a circus-performer-moonlighting-as-a-waiter!!

I guess the standards for waiters these days are really high if they need to be THAT multi-skilled. LOL

And dessert! Oh my . . .

Eventually we staggered home at 9pm and stubborn mule (or complete sucker for punishment) that I am, I started on the second batch of cupcakes.

At 12.15am, whilst watching me curse as I smear my thumb with cream cheese icing instead of the cupcake I was holding, Gus asks why I put myself through this. Good question. I cringe when I think of the answer/s, if I can even come up with a reasonable answer!

But luckily for me the second batch of cupcakes turned out . . . okay. Not the best, and they certainly weren't the prettiest (ever tried icing cupcakes after midnight and as the icing is starting to set?!?!), nor the best tasting, but by that time I didn't care.

Last cake iced and put in the fridge and I tumbled into bed just after 1am.

Sigh.

Must be the old age, or even early senility that is making me do such crazy things. Oh well, at least Gus enjoyed them. That's good enough for me. :D

Until next time my lovelies!

*hugs*




PS. If you made it all the way to the end of this post, CONGRATULATIONS!!! You deserve a really big hug!!  

*HUG*