Thursday, July 4, 2013

Ready. Set. Bake

Gold Coast is done and dusted for yet another year.

Not the race. Just the baking. That's a marathon in itself. I put aside a day and just bake till I run out of ingredients or energy. Put on the frilly apron. Crank up the baking music. It's so much more fun than real work.

Of course there's bound to be interruptions when you're on a mission. 

I had two. A call centre wanted to speak to the manager of the business. Technically I was the catering service yesterday so she didn't have any luck. And can I just say that it's pretty tricky to answer the phone with your hands covered in Anzac biscuit mix without getting it all over the handset. It's even trickier to text an answer to your sister with only your left pinky finger available.

The other interruption was a parcel delivery that needed a signature. The delivery men always look at you weirdly when you come to the door wearing a frilly apron - like you've stepped right out of the 1950s. 

The sum total of yesterday's bake-fest? 50 Anzac biscuits. A batch of brownies. Two dozen tangelo and poppyseed cupcakes. And two dozen chocolate cupcakes. Plus there's the 50 choc chunk/M&M cookies from the day before. And the golden retriever in a sugar coma. Toby has no staying power!


Toby's failure was Bubbles' success. It's not often that she gets to lick the bowl without getting shoved out of the way by someone bigger and greedier.


Hopefully the icing will cope with the weather okay. But if it doesn't I'll be able to show people photos of how they were supposed to look.


Wondering now just how many calories are in that lot. At least I'm not contributing to the obesity epidemic if I only feed them to obsessed runners.


So now all I have to do is drive to the coast and run this thing AND have a good time. 

Do I have any goals for the race? Sort of. I'd like to say that I picked the right starting zone - the sub 50 minute one. But if it all goes pear-shaped I won't throw a wobbly. I'm just delighted that running isn't so hard any more. Seriously, the last couple of years gave me a lot of perspective when it comes to racing. I'm a lot more Zen about my results these days.


Starting to get a bit excited. Should be a fun weekend.


19 comments:

  1. Good Luck, now get out there and run that sub 50, then for me... eat those cookies...

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  2. Wow, no wonder you can run marathons ... you're a superwoman in the kitchen too!

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  3. Good luck and have fun. You know you have good treats whatever happens.

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  4. Holy smokes that's a lot of sugar....those all look freaking DELCIOUS!!! It's 7am, but now I want to run out and get a dozen cupcakes lol :)

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  5. Does the delivery men look at you weirdly if you come to the door wearing a running outfit? :)
    Beautiful picture of that starting line. Good luck and enjoy!

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  6. God luck this weekend!!

    I want cookies now :(

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  7. So glad that you only feed those to marathon obsessed runners!!! That is a lot of baking!! I sometimes make cookies - they come off the tray and go onto the baking sheet - easy!!! For years (when my boys were little), I think they really thought that was the only way to make cookies - kind-of sad but I'm OK with that!!
    Have fun at the race!!

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  8. Best wishes at your race, but before you go ... I've got a couple of questions from me and the rest of America. What the heck does this mean, "but if it all goes pear-shaped I won't throw a wobbly". I sounds like something I'd really enjoy - but maybe not??? And what in the world is "baking music"??? I hope it rocks! Have a great weekend!

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    1. 'If it all goes pear-shaped' - if the plans go horribly wrong.
      'Chuck a wobbly' - throw a tantrum.

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    2. Oh, and baking music is pretty much anything on my playlist. There's a lot of big band, jazz, folky stuff (Newton Faulkner and others like him). Nothing heavy metal, grunge or 'angry boy' music

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  9. That is a feast I could totally get stuck into after a race ... you are making Aus look awfully tempting as a destination - all my friends that now live there have failed miserably. So uuuummmm where do you live exactly ;-)
    Good luck with the race, and enjoy.

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  10. How could you not have a great race with all that baking in tow? Your squad mates should carry you 10k in a rickshaw for all of that goodness!
    Love that apron! :)

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    Replies
    1. I love that apron too ;) I swear it makes a difference to how the cakes turn out.

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  11. Go you! I have no doubt you'll nail it.

    And then enjoy those amazing cupcakes.

    Seriously, I've never known anyone who can recreate professional fancy looking cupcakes at home. Probably because I end up eating half the icing before it gets to the cakes, meaning I only have a teeny tiny bit left for the cakes. No room for a swirl or flourish there!

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  12. Good luck on the race: run strong!
    Poor dog how tired he is!
    I love the brownies, they are my favorite cakes!

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  13. Yum, yum, yum! I have no idea how you stay so slim with all of the temptation. I'd be about 300 pounds if I could bake.

    It's not very often that you're thankful for not being able to do something!!!

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  14. OMG that all looks so delicious!!! Good luck...have a great race and a great time!!! :) You rock that apron Char!

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  15. Of course now I've already seen the results of your race but I am impressed by the marathon baking effort involved in pre-race activity.

    Did you think about going on that new Aussie show.... something about a Bake-Off?

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  16. I love baking every now and then but a whole day? That's a fulltime job. I can't believe how much delicious stuff you made. I bet they enjoyed it very much.

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