Favourite Photo Friday - 13/2/15

I mentioned in a post a few weeks ago about how I was tidying up my photo catalogues and found a heap of photos that needed sorting and keywording. Well I've now reduced that number from 36,000 down to 12,000.  In the process I found a tonne of photos of Astrid as a tiny baby that I had misplaced and never edited, and some photos from Astrid's one and only visit to my grandparents farm before it was sold.  Plus, a heap of other photos that I have rediscovered and now need to actually edit!  See, now I've made more work for myself........

In the meantime I have have not done a lot of blogging. I am half way through a post about all our zoo visits in the past year. That will be in the next couple of days.  As a bonus of going through all the old photos, I've reminded myself of how much Astrid and Søren do look alike. Søren is 16 months today!!! At the same age we were touring Europe with Astrid.  Søren has heard all the stories about pain au chocolat and is very jealous, but we've promised a similar trip to him one day. In the mean time both kids get a trip to Thailand next month.

Here are 2 of my favourite photos of the kids giving their trademark grins at almost 16 months old........

Astrid (at Jardin du Luxembourg, Paris, watching the ducks)

D80 with Nikon 50mm f1.8

ISO 100 focal length 50mm

Exposure: 1/2500 @ f1.8

Søren (waking up from his sleep and happy to see me)

D7000 with Nikon 85mm f1.8

ISO 500 focal length 85mm

Exposure: 1/125 @ f2.8

I really must do an updated comparison post of the two kids at various ages! Maybe when I get all that photo sorting done :)

Chocolate and peanut butter cheesecake (now with two baking assistants)........

It feels like we only just finished Christmas but it was time for Trevor (aka Grandpa's) birthday. As per tradition we decided to go out for a dinner and bake him a cake.  This years cake was to be a baked peanut butter and chocolate cheesecake, from my new 'Delicious' cookbook.

Now that Søren is walking confidently he has become a big fan of the helper stool. Not only is it good for babycino drinking, it's also great for him helping with food preparation.  This of course means I now have two helpers with all baking activities. Twice the fun but twice the mess! Søren is a huge fan of the food processor it would appear!

Of course the best bit of baking is the bowl licking. Astrid has this process down pat and has indoctrinated Søren into the bowl and spoon licking club.  Not that he at all minded! He didn't even complain about Astrid holding him down and forcing him to taste different mixtures.  I have no idea how Søren ended up with so much cheesecake mix in his hair, but they both had a wonderful time and all the parts of the recipe were appropriately taste tested and given the kiddy seal of approval......


 

Trevor had decided to go to Kusina for dinner, a local Filipino restaurant that we are big fans of. The food is yummy and it's very kid friendly.  Astrid was beside herself with excitement about dinner, and Søren was pretty pleased to be running around in his 'grown up boy' outfit, even complete with new shoes!

Once at the restaurant, it didn't take us long to order and for the kids to get stuck into their food.  Both of them love to eat out and are fans of pretty much every type of food.........

Yep, my kids, they love a good restaurant dinner!

Back home,  not too late and it was time for cheesecake.  The cheesecake had come out of the oven and cooled very well overnight. I even managed to get a perfect finish on the top, no cracks!  Of course this is the one time it was meant to be covered up with cream and chocolate, so no one got to see it anyway.  As the peanut butter cheesecake wasn't quite unhealthy enough on it's own, we added some cream and choc-honeycomb.  Astrid declared her Grandpa to need three candles, and given that was less likely to melt the cake, we agreed.

Søren and Astrid were both in on the candle blowing out. Søren of course thought the pretty bright things might need touching....... luckily he didn't manage to do himself any damage.  He was a bit too eager to get into that cake!

 

It certainly didn't take either child long to get stuck into the cheesecake. See, my kids they so hate food! I think it was Søren's first taste of cheesecake. Despite it already being past both their bedtimes, and neither needing dessert after a big dinner, it was only fair to let them have cake on Grandpa's birthday.  Especially when they had done such a good job baking the cake

The cheesecake was pretty good, not at all too sweet, although very rich.  There might have been an awful lot left over, much to Astrid's delight!

If anyone would like the recipe let me know.........