Mea Culpa for the long absence

Ok folks, I have been offline for a loooong while. I was transitioning to my new role, work-wise, way back in Q3 2009, and becoming a manager whilst juggling 3 roles was an intense baptism of fire......so something had to give. Anyway, things are still abit mad, but have settled down just a tad, and while I may not be as prolific as in the past, I will nonetheless endeavour to post the occasional scribble.

This started out as a food blog, but I think restricting myself to writing merely on gastronomic delights and foodie adventures kinda cramps my style. So I've decided to start writing about anything that happens to saunter by and grab me by the eyeballs, yeah including things that pique me.

I'd have to warn you though, I am a largely non-conformist individual, always a rebel (Yay James Dean!), and proudly feminist (Go Gloria Steinem!), so you are bound to see streaks (make that large swaths!) of these characteristics in my pen-ladyship. Forewarned is forearmed! Grit your teeth and proceed.

Hubby and I have recently developed an addiction for Vienna Almonds, courtesy of Chocolatesuze's family who came down from the Oz recently (yes for her wedding dinner!). Apparently, this is a best-seller at The Nut Shop in Sydney. These gorgeous babies are toasted, honey-sweet, caramelised heaven with a buttery vanilla hint. Absolutely the best nuts I've ever had, that's for sure (And I'm not even a lover of nuts, so that's pretty telling.) We had 2 packs of 200g each, and both packs have been polished off faster than you can say "Nuts!" Since we can't get these in Malaysia (at least, not that I know of), we've gotta figure out a means of making them ourselves. Or at least attempt to.

Vienna Almonds, picture courtesy of The Nut Shop

Hubby and I are all ambitious this weekend, with plans for a big pizza cookout (made from scratch) and maybe even a little bit of experimentation at making our own batch of Vienna Almonds. I googled and found a recipe for Vienna Almonds here. Let's see how it goes. Be sure to keep ya'll posted if anything remotely resembling food results from our grand plans!