Around here

How is everyone going these days?  Covid-19 is so scary and out of control world wide even though here in Australia we are doing okay.  Sadly Victoria is not doing okay [better than the rest of the world] however not good based on the rest of the states in Australia.  They are now in Level 4 Lockdown for a further 6 weeks and many in aged care have got Covid-19 which will result in many more deaths and families loosing loved ones.  When I started posted the stats for Covid-19 back on the 25th March, 2020 those numbers seemed high to me however if you look at the numbers now it is almost unimaginable.  If only the outbreak had been contained in the first place the world would not be suffering physically, emotionally and financially.  It's like your worst horror movie being played out in real life.

WORLD WIDE

Wednesday 25-03-2020        World Wide Cases         417,348                Deaths      18,596

Thursday     02-04-2020        World Wide Cases         936,886                Deaths      47,264

Monday       03-08-2020        World Wide Cases    18,234,936                Deaths    692,794

AUSTRALIA

Wednesday 25-03-2020        Australian Cases               2,144                Deaths - not sure didn't look

Thursday     02-04-2020        Australian Cases               5,124                Deaths          24

Monday       03-08-2020        Australian Cases             17,936                Deaths        208

Things were contained in Australia up until the 23rd June, 2020 when Melbourne exploded with community based transfer as a result of the Hotel Quarantine and the less than reputable security guards who were manning the hotel guests.  Australia had 7,474 cases and 102 deaths at that stage, and now it has bumped up to 17,936 cases and 208 deaths and counting.

 

New South Wales started to have community outbreak as a result of infected people from Victoria travelling through New South Wales.  Queensland had been doing really well until three girls bought the virus back from Melbourne and entered Queensland under deceptive and misleading information resulting in our first community outbreaks last week.  The Health Department are onto it straight away however these people went to work, restaurants, shopping centres, cafes etc. in 11 different suburbs in Brisbane so next week is critical for Queensland.  

Luckily for us we are on the Northside of Brisbane and not the Southside of Brisbane where this break out occurred however I'm more alert at the moment than usual.  World wide it's so hard to think of where things will be in 6 months time.  I feel safe in Australia however both the Victoria, New South Wales and now the latest Queensland issue all could have been prevented which is the worst thing about it.  Stay safe everyone and here's hoping Victorians get through and break this cycle.  I have relatives in Melbourne and it's been a very long year for them all.

Now onto some brighter more fun things like food here's what's been happening at our place lately. 

Next time you have a movie night or just want to indulge in this Caramel Popcorn I can highly recommend it as it only took 10 minutes and it was delicious.  Using corn kernels from the bulk food store and butter and golden syrup to make the caramel and enjoying this snack with no preservatives and chemicals.  Just make sure you cook the caramel for the time so that it becomes sticky and sticks to the popcorn.  The recipe is on the Additive Free Lifestyle website.

Zucchini slice for dinner and school lunches.

Matt Preston's Chocolate Self Saucing Pudding and Kiwi Country Girl 10 minute no churn ice cream.

Dinner party and Pictionary Night.

Pictionary night...lots of laughs and the kids beat the adults twice around the board.

First time made this particular Chocolate Cake recipe.

Below is how it ended up shortly after cutting it.  Yes I do make flops...not very often however this was as a result of the mixture went into one tin when I should have baked two halves instead.  The cake was still hot when I put the icing on as it was for afternoon tea and to be honest this cake had way too many eggs, too much sugar and way too much butter in the cake and the icing so I won't be making this one again.  I've listed our family favourite Chocolate Cake recipe below.

I personally love this chocolate cake recipe which you put all the ingredients in any order and mix it together.  Then you can put the mixture into what ever tins you want.  One cake tin and muffin tin or two cake tins or all muffins.  This recipe freezes really well and doesn't need icing you can just sprinkle some icing sugar over the top.  You can also make it in a loaf tin and make slices for the freezer.

I made this "Soft Scrub Cleaning Paste" and used it on my pan after making Zucchini Slice as it always gets stuff stuck to it after cooking and nothing has been able to get it off until now.

Pan with cooked edges and some soft scrub paste.

Rubbing the pan with a rag and the paste I was able to get all the marks off which I was amazed at.