Happy Birthday Jarrod!

Today is Jarrod's birthday.  He received many birthday wishes from home via Skype phone calls and email, plus joined me at work for a birthday lunch.  The boys and I also surprised him by making chocolate cupcakes last night while he was fishing (and catching lots of fish I might add).  This was harder than it sounds.  Keep in mind our kitchen is minimally furnished.  You can't exactly make a cake with a frying pan.  And cake mixes here aren't like cake mixes at home.  So first I went on a lunchtime shopping excursion with a friend from work (I have no car).  I bought a cake pan and cupcake molds from a discount variety store near the office. Then off to the grocery store.  I bought extras in the event things didn't work out on the first try, then smuggled it all home (including eggs) disguised as a laptop.  Thank goodness I found a cupcake kit.  It included a cake mix, frosting mix and cupcake liners.  Yes, I did say frosting 'mix', not frosting.  (Pre-made frosting was not available.)  The box was officially rated "Intermediate" for required cooking skills because it has multi-level instructions and requires a mixer, which of course I did not have.  But whipping margarine into a dry mix is possible with a spoon if you work at it hard enough.  And I even figured out how to not burn the cupcakes in our fan-forced oven, which is one amazing appliance (would love to have one at home).  I am pretty innocent in the ways of cooking so having eight different selections for turning on an oven is pretty daunting.  So anyway, the cupcakes turned out yummy, and Jarrod had a birthday to remember.

And heads up, we probably won't have blog entries for a couple/few days.  Tomorrow night we are going to an A-league soccer game with comp tickets from work, then the next morning we head off for the Great Ocean Road.  We'll stay over at least one night and possibly two.