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Sunday, July 31, 2011

Some Chem for the end of the Weekend

I'm pretty sure for most of you, you dread Sundays. That's because the next day is Monday and we must all return to work or school. So to get you into the mood to get back into school or work here is this weeks Chemistry Joke...
Want to hear a joke about Sodium Hypobromite? NaBrO

Sunday, July 24, 2011

It's never to late for a Chemistry joke :)

Sorry for the fact that this Joke is 2 days late but I have been partying it up in Melbourne. Well worth the trip if anyone is wondering.
So here it is (in honour of Louise)

"Hey, know any good jokes about sodium?" "Na."

Sunday, July 17, 2011

In the Kitchen with Mel- Lemon & Chocolate Tart


So one of my really good friends is getting married at the end of this year and today was her engagement party. She requested that everyone bring a plate of food so I decided to get into the kitchen and cook her something amazing. What I created, even if I do say so myself, was pretty yummy. Here's the ingredients and method so you can try to recreate it yourself.

Ingredients

Base
  • 115 g/4 oz plain flour
  • 25 g/1 oz cocoa powder
  • 75 g/2 & 3/4 oz butter
  • 25 g/1 oz ground almonds
  • 50 g/1 & 3/4 oz caster sugar
  • 1 egg beaten
filling
  • 4 eggs
  • 1 egg yolk
  • 200 g/7 oz caster sugar
  • 150 ml/ 5 fl oz double cream
  • grated rind and juice of 2 lemons
  • Block of Dark chocolate, for the chocolate caraque, for decoration

Method

Shift the flour and cocoa into a food processor. Add the butter, ground almonds, sugar and egg and process until the mixture forms a ball (this can also be done in a Mix Master or similar, using a dough hook). Gather the dough together and press into a flattened ball. Place in the centre of a 20cm/8 inch, loose based tart tin, and press evenly over the base of the tin with your fingers, then work the excess pastry up the side with your thumbs (allow excess pastry to go over the edge0. Cover (with plastic wrap) and chill for 30 minutes.

Pre-heat the oven to 200ºC/400ºF/Gas mark 6. Remove the base from the fridge and trim off the excess pastry. Prick the bass lightly with a fork, then line the tin with baking paper and fill with baking beans (if you don't have baking beans a heavy bowl or similar can be used). Bake in preheated oven for 12-15 minutes, or until the pastry no longer looks raw. Remove the beans and the pastry and bake for a further 10 minutes, or until the pastry is firm. Reduce the oven temperature to 150ºC/300ºF/Gas mark 2.

To make the filling, whisk the whole eggs, egg yolk and sugar together until smooth (once again can be done by hand or in a mixer). Add cream and whisk again, then stir in the lemon rind and juice. Pour the filling into the pastry case (be careful not to over fill, as I did) and bake for 50 minutes, or until just set. When the tart is cooked leave to cool and then remove from tin. Decorate with chocolate caraque (best done by scraping a knife along the back of a block of chocolate) before serving.
ENJOY
Mel

Saturday, July 16, 2011

The End of an Era


So I have just come back from watching the final Harry Potter film ever and I am a tad depressed. For many of us we have grown up with this movie, grown up with the characters and the world of Harry Potter. Although we may be able to watch the film over and over again this does not change the fact that there will be no more adventures of 'Harry Potter the Boy Who Lived.'
However I believe it was a fitting end to the series and that the movie was seriously fantastic. I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did.
Much love
Mel

Friday, July 15, 2011

International Year of Chemisty- My Kind of Year

As my mum kindly reminded me this morning, this year is the International Year of Chemistry, so I highly suggest you get your lab coats and safety glasses out and celebrate in style, by laughing at my once weekly chemistry jokes.
Here is the joke for this week:

I have just decided that if I ever discover a new element I will call it Surprise, just so the Periodic Table can have an Element of Surprise :)
Mel

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

In the Cucina With Mel and Louise- CROSTOLI





Today my friend Louise came over and we decided to get into the kitchen and make a cake. After discovering that we only had one egg in the house, this idea was quickly changed to making Crostoli. For us, Crostoli bring back memories our year 12 Italian class, where these light airy biscuits were a staple study aid, although we had never actually made them ourselves.
For Louise, the making of these biscuits uncovered her love of deep frying, and for me, I learnt to never turn down an apron when working with flour and icing sugar.
The pictures of the Crostoli above are taken by Louise, who is a fantastic photographer and you can follow her blog at www.raspberriesinwinter.blogspot.com
Mel

Hello World, This Is Me!

As the Saddle club once sung, 'Hello World, This is Me' (if you don't know what the Saddle Club is then your life has been sadly deprived of joy and horses)...and taking into life their theme song I use this post to introduce myself to my random, invisible, fellow bloggers.
As you can see in my about me, my name is Mel (although strictly speaking it is Melissa). I live in Australia but would love to live in Italy (because I can sort of speak the language and because I have some amazing friends from there).
The name of my blog comes from the fact I have my black belt in Tae Kwon-Do and am often referred to a girly ninja.
I also am in my first year of Science, hoping to major in Chemistry.
Some of my favourite things include:
  • Reading
  • Cooking
  • Doing Tae kwon-do
  • Hanging out with my friends
  • And trying to do Chemisty experiments in my kitchen
I hope you enjoy my blog. hopefully I will keep it updated.
Mel