Wibbly Wobbly Walking Tiny Teddy Bear

My recent post What Christmas Means For Our Family, only written a couple of days ago tells of Rupert learning to walk and, taking odd steps unassisted here and there. 

Well yesterday the little guy walked! Not just 1 or 2 steps but he was walking short distances across the lounge room unassisted. Matty and I were very excited to watch Rupert wobble along on his own two feet. I was so excited that even after we put him down for bed, I wanted to wake him to experience the thrill all over again. 

This morning I was concerned he may have forgotten his triumph of the night before but it was not so, much to my joy. So here we have a [nearly] 10 mo (who looks more like a 6mo, hence why I refer to him as our 'tiny teddy bear') wobbling around the home.

Now, an update on the Christmas baking which I am having oh so much fun with!

Earlier this week I made my first Christmas Cake and it does look great but... I don't eat fruit cake and I can't stand the smell of it! I figured I needed to do it once in my life, and well, hubby can spend the next 6 months getting through it.

It's not particularly Christmas-sy but it did taste great so I'll give it a mention. On Monday I made a Chocolate Walnut slice in my new Tupperware silicone form and it tasted GREAT! I've never really been into making slices as they seem to be somewhat fiddly when moving from the tin to the container. With the silicone form I don't even have to cut the slice prior to moving it! I thought it was great. 

On Wednesday I spent the afternoon with my 2 sister in-laws decorating gingerbread houses and a gingerbread train. I felt like I was cheating myself a little as I have previously made and shaped the gingerbread from scratch but, this year I was not in the mood for 'complicated' and really only wanted to participate in the decorating side of things. We bought the gingerbread house and train kits from Coles and... well... they don't taste nearly as good as our homemade gingerbread but, they did look FABULOUS! 

To talk about something that does taste great would be to tell you that today I have made the first Pavlova for the year. Its actually still in the oven but looks to be doing great and the batter tasted amazing. I love making pavs and it was something I did a bit of when growing up in NSW. However, since living in Darwin I only ever make a pav at Christmas time (whats Christmas without a pav?). The humid weather here in Darwin is too often the cause of many flopped or flat pavlovas. Last year I made 2 successfully which I believe was the result of trying a different recipe, and maybe not cooking on an extremely warm and humid day. If you get the pavlova blues then maybe give this recipe a go. 

Marshmallow Pavlova

Taken from Women's Weekly Classic Cooking cookbook.

4 eggs

1 cup caster sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

3/4 tsp white vinegar

300 ml thickened cream, whipped

Fruit for topping

1 Preheat oven to 120c/100c fan-forced. Line oven tray with foil; grease foil, dust with cornflour, shake away excess. Mark 18cm-circle on foil

2 Beat egg whites in small bowl with electric mixer until soft peaks form; gradually add sugar, beating until sugar dissolves, Add extract and vinegar; beat until combined. 

3 Spread meringue into circle on foil, building up at the side to 8 cm in height. Smooth side and top of pavlova gently. Using spatula blade, mark decorative grooves around side of pavlova; smooth top again.

4 Bake pavlova about 1 1/2 hrs. Turn oven off; cool pavlova in oven with door ajar.

5 Cut around top edge of pavlova (the crisp meringue top will fall on top of the marshmallow centre . Serve pavlova topped with whipped cream, and desired fruit.

1 of 2 last years pav using the recipes 'marshmallow' design. Excuse the over-whipped cream!

2 of 2 last years pav, using my usual traditional design.