Weekend Walkabout + Life Saving Tips
Bastille Day will forever be marred for the people of Nice. It's absolutely disgusting what happened there overnight, the news image showing the people who were mowed down and killed and still lying on the street is imprinted in my mind. If you haven't seen it, try to avoid it. The whole event is sickening and sad. I don't have solutions or answers but I do have some advice for you... It may be useless but with terror attacks becoming sadly more common it never hurts to be aware.
After last year's Paris attacks my ex-military Dad had this advice for me and Pete before we travelled overseas. He emphasised the importance of being aware when in a public place:
- Always have eyes on the exit (i.e. In a restaurant choose the chair facing the front door, that way you can be aware of any suspect characters who enter)
- When you walk into a venue (restaurant, cafe, museum etc.) look around you for a cement wall or similar. Guns can shoot through plaster but it takes a serious weapon to shoot through cement/brick.
- Also identify an alternate exit in case the worse happens. Through the kitchen perhaps?
- And finally, if you are unlucky enough to be caught up in something horrific: listen out - the shooter's gun will generally jam, the bullets will stop for a few seconds and that's your moment to run like the wind, just go.
It's dramatic and scary - but these things take all of 30 seconds to scope out and then you can relax knowing you have a plan. It's kind of like how airline hostesses ask you to count the number of seats to your closest exit on a plane. It's preparation.
So let's move on... today's post is the 'icing on the cake' of this week, quite literally, see below the matching Chocolate Fudge Icing recipe from my Nana's archive. It truly is the only match for the balanced (not too rich, not too light) Chocolate Fudge Cake recipe I shared on Wednesday.
I tried to be fancy last weekend making a Food52 frosting to ice my Mum's birthday cake. It proved too rich and quite expensive (450g Lindt chocolate cost set me back $15), so while my Mum's definitely worth it, the end result was not. So stick to Nana's, okay? Nana know best (complete with her typed notes, as usual).
PS - Why a photo of Flo above? Well why not? She's an Australian cooking icon known for her pumpkin scones of course.
FUDGE FROSTING:
50 grams unsalted butter
2 tblspns water
1/4 cup caster sugar
3/4 cup icing sugar mixture
2 tblspns cocoa powder
60 grams milk chocolate chopped and melted in the microwave - Medium to low heat stirring every 15 seconds until smooth (ABOUT 1 MINUTE TOTAL. THIS OVERCOOKS VERY EASILY BE CAREFUL)
METHOD:
COMBINE BUTTER, WATER AND CASTER SUGAR IN A SMALL PAN, STIR OVER A LOW HEAT WITHOUT BOILING, UNTIL THE BUTTER IS MELTED AND THE SUGAR IS DISSOLVED. ADD MELTED CHOCOLATE AND STIR WELL.
SIFT ICING SUGAR AND COCOA INTO A MEDIUM BOWL, GRADUALLY STIR IN THE HOT BUTTER MIXTURE. COVER AND REFRIGERATE FOR 1 HOUR OR UNTIL MIXTURE HAS THICKENED. BEAT THE CHILLED FROSTINGMIXTURE WITH AN ELECTRIC MIXER JUST UNTIL IT IS FLUFFY AND SPREADABLE ---- DO NOT OVERBEAT.
