It's been a few months coming, and can't really say it was something that I was really looking forward to doing. Especially when it meant I had to get up as early as a weekday and travel to Ultimo for a TAFE course. One that I had initially enrolled to do online but was told that it didn't meet NSW Authority requirements unfortunately... a little surprised that the class size was limited to 15. Since it was a theory-based class, thought they'd easily accommodate more (and therefore, I could have done this in the August class instead since that was full). The instructor was quite funny - but I think a lot of the people didn't get her rather awkward jokes. But it made the day a little more bearable.

What was horrible was that there were no trains and I hadn't even thought about driving. MISTAKE! It was fine in the morning since no one goes to the city at 7:30 a.m. on a Saturday but it was horrible in the afternoon. It was warm as well so people stunk. There were a lot of people at Central waiting for a bus and it was literally like the end of the world the way people were pushing and shoving against each other. I ended up having to stand the whole way and the guy in front of me reeked. :-( There wasn't any aircon and the windows were all sealed so it was really really painful.

That pretty much sucked my energy for the day (kudos to the single origin roaster coffee from Mecca across the road from TAFE in the morning). Although the cuppa was more than my daily $3 and it wasn't as good, it made my day. So did Donna and the picture of her holding a Giant Whisk looking thing the way King Triton held his trident.

Had always wanted to do a bit of personal baking this weekend. Today was the perfect day for it. . . have been asked by colleagues to make a cake which, despite its name, is actually from France. Japonaise Cake. Basically layers of meringue with light and fluffy coffee buttercream layers and finished off with toasted flaked almonds. Its actually quite fiddly and time consuming but it comes up really yummy. I think my meringue layers are still super crunchy so hopefully they'll soften up a little to become more chewy before people taste-test!

I also have for the longest time wanted to make melting moments but by piping them through a bag rather than just rolling and squishing. They look infinitely better piped! Mine were probably on the edge of over-golden but I think the thickness was perfect, not too thick and not too thin. Made Passionfruit with a hint of Lemon Buttercream to sandwich them together. And I even put a few on them in a nice box for gifts. :)

The next time I have an afternoon free (maybe next next time since I need to really think about doing my tax return now...), I'm gonna have a crack at making Salted Caramel Banoffee Pie... FROM SCRATCH. Like I do everything else. But who will eat it?