Apricot and almond tart

For me, an apricot tart means that the world is as it should be.  As a child I always wanted apricots in desserts rather than apples.  I appreciate apples far more these days and now understand that apricots have a short and wonderful season.  Yet I still glory in a baked dessert that revolves around apricots.  Hence my excitement to see Bill Granger's recipe for an apricot and almond tart in the The Age just before Christmas.

I had grand plans to make the tart on New Year's Eve but we were swimming in food.  Then I thought I would make it for our picnic at the Wind in the Willows.  However it just seemed totally impractical.  How do you keep it upright and serve it neatly at a picnic!

Bill Granger says a picnic isn't a picnic without a sweet tart.  I think his picnics are different to mine.  He probably has the servants run around with wicker picnic baskets of the good china and best silver cutlery with which to serve slices of tart.  Not us!  I don't know that I have ever had a tart at a picnic.  But I digress!

Then fate intervened.  My brother has so many apricots on his tree that he has considered charging people to pick their own.  My mum gave me a generous bag of them.  Sylvia and I enjoyed most of them before they were ever squidgy chin-dripping ripe.  But I did manage to use some in a tart on an evening where we were running behind because we had a late visit to the park.

I had been promising the tart for so long that it seemed only fair that I let Sylvia stay up late to eat a slice of the warm tart with us.  After all it is the school holidays and we had an episode of the Nowhere Boys to catch up on.  She loved helping to make it and loved eating it even more.  Even more surprising was that E - who always says everything is better with less fruit - loved the pie and the fruit filling.  Nobody can resist the spell of the magnificent apricot!

Sylvia ate all of her apricots out and then ate the pastry shell like a biscuit.  It impressed me that it kept its shape and was both soft and crispy with a marzipan-style layer of almonds.  Both E and Sylvia agreed I had made the right decision in leaving the chopped almonds off the top of the tart. 

Despite my claim that this was brilliant with apricots, I am sure this would work well with other fruit.  I always feel a bit awkward with pastry but had no problems with this one.  Perhaps a plum tart in late summer or an apple tart in autumn might work.  I would also love to try the pastry without the egg yolk because I hate having egg whites hanging about.  (Perhaps like this pastry.)

Sadly we are approaching the end of apricot season.  My mum has some more from my brother's tree in her fridge for me.  So even though I don't make fruit tarts very often, I can still dream that might make this tart once more this summer.  (Not over the this week though.  I am be at the beach at Ocean Grove and offline.  However a few scheduled posts should pop up, including this one.)

I am sending the tart to these blog challenges:

• Ros (and Caroline) for Alphabakes.  It challenges us to bake with ingredients and dishes starting with a different letter.  January is L for lime - the flavour was quite noticeable.
• Janet at FarmersGirl who has just started a new challenge called Recipe Clippings to encourage bloggers to share recipes from clippings they have kept from magazines etc.
• Sarah at Maison Cupcake who is hosting this month's Simple and in Season on behalf of Ren Behan.

Previously on Green Gourmet Giraffe:
One year ago: Ocean Grove beach house and what we ate
Two years ago: Baked brie with cranberry sauce and walnuts
Three years ago: Malabar Hut - why it is our favourite Indian takeaway
Four years ago: Fruit mince scrolls and muffins
Five years ago: Gado Gado with Marmalade
Six years ago: NCR How My Chowder Fed the Dalek!
Seven years ago: Scrumptious Sugarfree Slice

Apricot and almond tart
Adapted from Bill Granger in The Age Sunday Magazine 21 Dec 2014
Serves 6

Pastry:
1 1/2 cups plain flour
125g butter (I used margarine)
2 tbsp castor sugar
1 egg yolk

Filling:
4 tbsp almond meal
finely grated zest of 1 lemon (I used lime)
2 tbsp brown sugar
8 apricots (mine were about 400g ) stoned and quartered
Milk for glazing (I used soy)
2 tbsp raw sugar

To make the pastry: Mix flour, margarine and sugar in food processor until crumbly.  Add egg yolk and enough water to make the pastry hold together.  (Bill Granger suggested 1-2 tsp and I used 2 tbsp.)  Bring pastry together into a ball, kneading briefly and wrap in clingfilm.  Chill in fridge for about 30 minutes.

Meanwhile chop the apricots and mix the almond meal, lemon zest of brown sugar.

Preheat oven to 200 C (this worked for my slow oven but 190 C like Bill did might be better for regular ovens).

Roll pastry out into a 25cm diameter circle on a large piece of baking paper that is spread over the baking tray you will use.  Sprinkle the almond meal mixture over all the pastry.  (It will seem like a lot but that is fine.)  Arrange the apricots in the middle leaving a generous inch of pastry around the edges.  Fold the pastry edge over the apricots.  Brush the pastry and apricots with milk.  Scatter the whole tart with raw sugar.

Bake for about 35 minutes or until the pastry is golden brown and the apricots have softened.

On the stereo:
Storybook: Kasey Chambers

Lego biscuits for the birthday boy

If the weather had been kinder and cooler, I might have made a cake for my nephew's birthday.  It was forecast to be a scorcher (38 or 39 C) and so biscuits seemed more practical.  And I couldn't think of a better theme than lego.  When I was told the day before his birthday that he spent his waking hours doing lego, I felt I had chosen well.

I wanted to make vegan biscuits (cookies if you live in America) but decided the family would appreciate butter rather than margarine.  I usually stock and bake with Nuttalex vegan margarine and am sure it would work here.  However it does help to get the quantities right.

When I made the dough it was really really soft - like butter with a little flour.  I blamed the hot weather and went off to the pool while it chilled.  Out of the fridge it was difficult to handle and the biscuits spread like wildfire (or a bushfire if you live in Australia).  I checked and double checked and found I had put in only three fifth of the butter.

Once I fixed the quantities, it looked like a real dough and the biscuits mostly kept their shape.  It was after dinner and Sylvia was just about ready for bed by the time I started decorating.  She helped sort the m and m's into colours and mix some of the icing.  We may have even sampled a few.  Knowing what was going on in the kitchen did not make for a settled child that evening but she slept eventually.

Meanwhile I kept icing the biscuits and arranging m and m's on them.  I know that some people would pipe a square outline and fill it with royal icing.  I prefer my icing without egg white, I don't like piping and I didn't want to lose part of my icing in piping bags.  So I just used thick icing and a knife.  It wasn't fast work but it looked close enough for jazz.

When I took the biscuits to Geelong, everyone was impressed.  How did you match the colours? they asked!  Just luck, I replied.  Then I remembered that the yellow had been all wrong and I had added more dye.  So I guess it was a bit of trial and error.

When I found that there were not enough yellow and red me and m's, I mixed red and yellow which matched the orange.  I also discovered that there is only an m on one side of the chocolates but by the time I noticed, I was too far gone with the biscuits to take much care.

It was such a hot day that the party started at the pool.  It seemed that all of Geelong had turned out for Dash's birthday.  I have never seen it so crowded and crazy.  Sylvia ran into someone on the water slides and got a blood nose!  Back at my parents' house, the party food was quite traditional which meant lots of meat.  My sister made a great lentil salad for me and cheese sandwiches for Sylvia.  And I really loved these dips.

There were lots of party games.  My sister had found a pinata that just need to be filled.  It was so hot that going outside in bare feet for herbs was very painful.  Which meant the pinata had to be in the shade of the back porch.  And done quickly before all the little chocolates melted.  There were no shortage of volunteers to give it a hefty thwack with the cricket bat!

The kids also played Pin the Tail on the Donkey.  No one knew where the donkey was so a makeshift donkey was outlined by yours truly.  Then the kids took over.  They all had a go at colouring in.  My niece Ella made it into a unicorn donkey.

We found a scarf, tied it around each child's eyes and spun them around.  Then they had to blu tak the tail on the donkey.  (That's right!  No pins on my parents' doors!)  You can see where we wrote each initial.

It was decided to let the kids run under the sprinkler in the backyard before the storm started brewing.  By the time they all had their bathers and the sprinkler was creating a mist, the sky was grey and the cool change was well on the way.  Which made it more like an Irish summer's day than an Australian one.  Perfect for my little Irish nephew!

And there was cake and fairy bread and little pink iced cakes and chocolate crackles as well as the lego biscuits.  Dash ended the day by putting together a lego monster truck he got for his birthday.  To paraphrase The Lego Movie, everything was awesome!

I am sending these biscuits to the following blog events:

• Ros (and Caroline) for Alphabakes.  It challenges us to bake with ingredients and dishes starting with a different letter.  January is L for lego biscuits. 
• Janie (and Karen) for Tea Time Treats.  This month Janie has asked us to send something that would be suitable for packed lunches.  And everyone loves some fun in their lunchbox, right?
• Alexandra is hosting The Biscuit Barrel on behalf of Laura.  The theme she has chose is innovation and discoveries to encourage bloggers to try something new.  I tried making these biscuits without eggs and also doing the lego decoration for the first time.

Previously on Green Gourmet Giraffe:
One year ago: Dashing Car Birthday Cakes
Two years ago: NCR Spring onion soup
Three years ago: Scienceworks - history meets science in Spotswood
Four years ago: CC Nigella's Sugar Roasted Peaches
Five years ago: Airplane Cake for Dash
Six years ago: Curry traditions – of sausages and potatoes
Seven years ago: You say biscuits, I say scones!

Lego Biscuits
Slightly adapted from Betty Crocker

Biscuits (cookies):
1 1/4 cups icing sugar
1 cup vegan margarine (I used butter)

1/4 cup soymilk
1 tsp vanilla
2 1/2 cups plain flour
2 tbsp cornflour (cornstarch)
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
1 teaspoon cream of tartar

Decoration:
4 cups icing sugar
4 tablespoons soy milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
food dye
smarties or m and m's

To make biscuits: 
Stir together margarine and icing sugar until creamy.  Add remaining ingredients and mix until it comes together into a dough.  Briefly knead into a ball and chill in fridge for at least 2 hours.  Preheat oven to190 C or 375 F.  Roll out dough on a lightly floured surface to about 0.5 to 0.25cm thick.  Cut into squares or rectangles.  Bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until edges are golden brown.  Cool on a wire rack.

To decorate:
Make icing (frosting) by mixing icing sugar, milk and vanilla until you have a thick spreadable paste.  Add extra spoonfuls of milk if required.  Divide icing into 4 or 5 small bowls and colour each to match one of the colours of the m and m's or smarties.  Carefully ice the biscuits in a square and then position smarties to be evenly spaced like lego blocks.  (NB: if you use m and m's it is best to position the chocolate with the m side down!)

These kept for a few days in an airtight container but the fresher the better as they did get a bit soft.

On the Stereo:
A: Agnetha Faltskog

Beetroot and lentil salad with random moments

My big sister is eating healthy these days.  I have been impressed at watching her salad making.  Perhaps it was the inspiration for this salad.  It was just the sort of thing we needed after a hot summer day.

It was a busy day.  Sylvia had her first sleepover at our place the previous night.  Her little cousin Ashy was just lovely.  In the morning they dressed in their princess dresses and played shops.  Then we went to the outdoor pool with a school friend where Sylvia found just how cold the water is when it is stinking hot.  (There were screams!)  In the evening we watched Star Wars.  It now always makes me think of a little swimming friend of Sylvia's who wanted to dress up as Jabba the Hut for her birthday party.  (Sadly she never did!)

I didn't watch all of Star Wars.  I was making salad.  But I kept an eye on it.  A classic movie.  I have watched it many times but always feel I was never paying enough attention the previous time.  (Why don't I remember the bit at the start with the uncle and aunt?)

The salad also seemed like the sort I have made many times and was easy to put together.  I had everything in the kitchen.  The capers were inspired by a friend who recently made us pizza with them on it and raved to me about using capers.  I really loved the yoghurt dressing.  I dolloped genteel amounts on my salad for the dressing.  But once served I added heaps more.  Even so there was leftover dressing to use for another salad.  This was a most satisfying yet light dinner with just a few other vegies on the side. 

Now I have a couple of random moments to share:

• I recently had a dream about a snake and a crocodile outside the house.  When I woke I was compelled to read the Drover's Wife by Henry Lawson.  I was horrified we didn't have a copy of this classic Australian short story.  Thank goodness for the trove of literature online.
• E really wanted to go and buy a CD on sale while on leave between Christmas and New Year.  Then he worked out he would save about $4 and pay about $6 to go into the city by train and decided it was not a bargain after all.
• Sylvia has been very keen to clean out the cupboards.  She told me I had promised to do it another day and didn't.  Then came the killer line: "You broke a promise and that's illegal."  Imagine how full the gaols would be if the police arrested everyone who didn't get around to their cleaning!

I am sending this salad to:

• Lisa for No Croutons Required, the monthly vegetarian salad and soup blog event that she hosts with Jacqueline.
• Shaheen for Eat Your Greens, an event for bloggers to share dishes using green vegies.
• Elizabeth for No Waste Food Challenge, an event to share dishes using ingredients that might otherwise have gone to waste.  I find salads great for using up odd vegies.  This salad also used up leftover yoghurt from a tub I had opened for haggis nachos.

Previously on Green Gourmet Giraffe:
One year ago: NCR Vegan caesar salad
Two years ago: Weekend samosa, nectarine marmalade, raitia and slice
Three years ago: What vegetarian is that?
Four years ago: Chocolate cake - the way mum made it
Five years ago: Tetris, the Foolish Hedgehog and Brunch
Six years ago: Miso Soup for after the feasting!
Seven years ago: Scrumptious Sugarfree Slice

NOTE TO WORDPRESS BLOGGERS: I seem to be having problems with commenting on WordPress - I know of at least one bloggers who says my comments were in her spam.  I am not sure if this is just me or a glitch in WordPress.  Any advice on this is welcome.

Beetroot and lentil salad with yoghurt dressing
Adapted from Gourmet Traveller
Serves 2 as a main meal

2 handfuls of baby spinach leaves
2 tbsp capers
400g tin of brown lentils, rinsed and drained
2 cooked and peeled beetroots, chopped
1 spring onion, chopped

Dressing:
1/2 cup yoghurt
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp seeded mustard
1 garlic clove
1-2 pinches salt
freshly ground black pepper

Arrange salad ingredients on large shallow salad bowl (I layered in the order they are written).  Whisk together all salad ingredients.  Drop spoonfuls of dressing on the salad and serve with more dressing on the side.

On the Stereo:
Country Christmas: Loretta Lynn

Cashew cheese stuffed dates for a picnic

There are times I feel I could live without cheese.  Like when we have plenty of nice cheese in the fridge and I still want to just slather my bread with this cashew cheese spread.  I actually made the cheese because I decided to make a simple picnic lunch and wanted something a little fancy. 

Cadry's bacon wrapped cashew cheese stuffed dates sounded very fancy.  I didn't soak my cashews for as long as Cadry did.  Nor did I wrap facon around mine.  I was too busy baking Celia's overnight sourdough for our cheese sandwiches and making grubs.  My blender doesn't bother too much if I don't soak the cashews much but I did find I needed more water to compensate.

I'd love to recommend this cashew cheese to everyone but I suspect that nutritional yeast flakes and vegan cheese are an acquired taste.  I can hand on heart tell you how much I love it.  I wasn't quite sure how much to stuff the dates and was a bit stingy.  You need to stuff them as much as possible for the cheese to make its presence felt.  It is milder than the recent cashew cheese I made for a salad but equally good.

Sylvia and I had a lovely time arranging dried fruit in the top photo because I feel that the dates would work well on a platter at the end of the meal.  However we really put them in a plastic tub to take to the Botanic Gardens to see a performance of The Wind in the Willows.  We got there early and had time to explore the gardens and get grass stains on shorts (not mine).

The show was lots of fun.  Sylvia loved Toad falling out of his boat in the lake.  E like watching Weasel exploring picnic baskets when the kids ran off the The Wild Wood.  I loved the weasel fight at the end.  I also was amused by the mother beside us who gave her kids cheese sticks and the opened brie for the adults.  We all had cheese sandwiches (yes dairy cheese), dips, vegie sticks, BBQ shapes  but I was alone with the stuffed dates.  For dessert we had grubs, grapes, nectarines and cherries.

I made it towards the end of December for a picnic and thought how good cashew cheese stuffed dates would be to celebrate New Year's Eve.  But sadly I was too busy to share it.  However this is an everyday cheese.  It will dress up for a special occasion but is happy to be relaxing at home over breakfast or dinner with its pjs still on.  I loved having it for a sandwich filling as much as I loved it at the picnic.

I am sending these cashew cheese stuffed dates to:

• Cakeyboi for Treat Petite (and co-hosted by The Baking Explorer) with the theme of healthy treats.
• Healthy Vegan Fridays #30 hosted by Kimmy of Rock My Vegan Socks. (Sadly her co-host Robin of Vegan Dollhouse has retired so she is looking for a new co-host.)
• Gluten Free Fridays #124 which is run by Vegetarian Mama.

More vegan cheeses on Green Gourmet Giraffe:
Balsamic garden salad with cashew cheese
Chickpea and hemp seed cheese
Pepper-crusted cashew goat cheese
Sharp vegan cheddar cheese with sauerkraut brine 
Vegan cheddar cheese

Cashew cheese 
Adapted from Cadry's Kitchen and Spabettie

1 1/4 cup raw cashews, soaked*
1 Tablespoon white miso paste
2 Tablespoons nutritional yeast flakes
2 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp lemon juice
1/4 to 1/2 tsp french lavender salt
2-4 tbsp water*

Blend until you have a thick paste - but not so thick that your blender is struggling.  (*I added water as I assume soaking for 1/2 hour to use in a high speed blender meant the cashews took on less water than if I had soaked them overnight.)

Cashew cheese stuffed dates
Remove the stone from medjool dates and use a teaspoon to stuff a generous amount of cheese inside.  They last well in the fridge for a day or two.

Cashew cheese is also great in sandwiches or as a dip.  Ours lasted in the fridge for a few days.

On the Stereo:
A Cool Crazy Christmas: Homer and Jethro

Tropical orange and carrot smoothie

The weather forecasters say it will be 35 C.  We had to cancel a day at the zoo because it is too hot.  The pool is looking more likely.  It is just the sort of day to enjoy a smoothie for breakfast.  I usually make smoothies with milk and oats.  But right now all that summer fruit is too tempting and needs to be used.

We had oranges leftover from Christmas morning, lots of apricots from my brother's tree and lots of passionfruit just because I bought a bag of them. 

Adding the carrot was inspired.  A friend who has been doing a low carb diet told me that it make carrots taste like lollies.  They taste good to me and I still love the novelty of my high speed blender making fast work of them.

The smoothie was so delicious.  Thick and creamy but a little tropical too.  Not too sweet.  Sylvia wouldn't touch it.  Probably just as well.  I only made enough to fill one glass.  And I wanted it all.

Previously on Green Gourmet Giraffe:
One year ago: Mixed berry jam
Two years ago: Edinburgh Cafe: Scottish Storytelling Centre
Three years ago: Christmas cheese muffins, icy poles and the beach
Four years ago: On being a vegetarian
Five years ago: New Year's Raspberry Punch
Six years ago: Summer Fruit Salad, Darling!
Seven years ago: Summer salsa and quesadillas

Tropical orange and carrot smoothie
Serves 1

juice of 2 oranges
1/2 carrot, thinly chopped
1/3 banana, chopped
pulp of 2 small passionfruit
1 small apricot, stoned and halved
small handful of ice

Blend in a high speed blender for about 30 seconds.

On the Stereo:
Different Class: Pulp

In My Kitchen - January 2015

Welcome to my new year kitchen.  Hard to believe it is 2015.  Yet it also feels like life goes on.  My kitchen is full of summer fruit, glitter and the last of the festive clutter.

Above are apricots from my brother's tree.  I took this photo a few days ago and already they have ripened in the heat.  There is nothing like apricots from a backyard tree.  We have been scoffing many and I made a lovely tart with some (on my blog soon).

The kitchen is smelling wonderful thanks to this kind gift from my friend Heather.  We had planned to go to the Fitzroy Market just before Christmas but spent time looking for missing keys instead.  Heather had planned to see us in Fitzroy but changed plans and had a coffee at our place.  She gave us this candle with a gorgeous cinnamon and vanilla scent from the market.

You know that moment when you look at something new in the supermarket and say do I want to buy it?  Yes.  No.  Yes.  No.  And you decide not to buy it.  Yet you arrive home and find it in your groceries.  Well that was how I found I had bought these roasted coconut chips.  They were crispy and delicious but rather sweet.

I bought these herbal teas with great hope.  Such pretty packages.  The teas were not quite as fruity as I had hoped but quite refreshing.  I think I prefer the Apple and Pomegranate tea (Coles own brand).  The Calming Peach is nice as long as I don't leave the teabag in too long.

I don't buy calendars until after Christmas because sometimes we receive some with our gifts.  This year there were none under the tree.  So on New Year's Eve we headed off to Readings bookstore where all calendars were on sale.  I really like the bright foodie images in this calendar for our kitchen.

On the same shopping trip we decided to buy a Christmas cake from Bakers Delight.  I hadn't intended to.  In fact I had considered making one but felt we had so much food anyway.  Then I was tempted by these cute cakes in the shapes of Christmas trees.  It pleasingly moist and soft with lots of spices.

Our kitchen has been loaded with food.  Here is a glimpse of my fridge on new year's eve.  It was packed to the rafters.  (The middle shelf is my nuts, flours, seeds etc.)   You may notice Sylvia's fringe.  Her photobombing made it challenging to photograph the fridge.

I also had intended to make an apricot tart on New Year's Eve.  Again, I was beaten by the amount of food in the house.  Instead we ate gingerbread and butterscotch ice cream and I added a slice of chocolate salami.  Scrumptious!

I have now made Celia's amazing overnight sourdough loaf twice.  It is so easy and so delicious.  Who would have guessed you could have soft spongy sourdough bread with so little work and in less than 12 hours.

Coles Supermarket was big on the Heston Blumenthal products this year.  There were huge piles of the hidden orange pudding.  I wanted to try the Christmas pudding with hidden chocolate sauce.  But again too much food in the house!  Hard to justify buying a pudding to serve 8.

We went to my mum's on New Year's Day to see my sister and nephew who arrived from Ireland a few days before.  Mum served the hidden chocolate pudding for dessert.  It was very rich with a sludgy chocolate filling.  Nice but I think I prefer regular Christmas pudding.  Mum sent us home with some leftover pudding which we have been enjoying.  She also gave me a box of Heston's spiced shortcrust mince pies.  I find the exceedingly spiced pastry a bit much for me.  E is enjoying them with brandy cream.

On the same visit, my sister Christine gave me some nested canisters.  She said mum had asked her to give them to me.  They belonged to my nan and bring back memories of being in her kitchen with these canisters above the stove.  When my mum saw them she said they were for an op shop.  By then I was already attached.  I have no room for them, no lovely spacious shelf to welcome them.  So one of my summer challenges is to fit them in the kitchen by hook or by crook.

Christine also brought me a souvenir apron from Dublin.  She knows how much E and I have enjoyed visiting the Queen of Tarts cafe.  I have already been wearing it in my floury baking adventures!

I am sending this post to Celia at Fig Jam and Lime Cordial for her In My Kitchen event.  Head over to join in (by 10th of each month) and/or check out what is happening in other bloggers' kitchens.

Reflections on 2014

It has been a year of huge changes, some challenges and lots of good times.  As always there is a lot to reflect upon so grab a cuppa and make yourself comfortable!

Life was busy in 2014.  Here is a brief summary:  Sylvia started primary school.  We rode bikes to school a lot.  Sylvia and I got new bikes,  Lots of swimming, mostly in the pool, some in the beach.  Packing lunchboxes.  New friends.  School forms, fundraising and events.  Local connections, Frozen.  Loom bands.  Holiday in Port Fairy.  Sourdough baking.  Trip to Adelaide.  Stolen car,  New car.  Sylvia has learnt to read.  New blender.  Ukelele performances (E).  Ukelele lessons (Sylvia).

I spent too much time on my blog and not enough.  I updated the header and made the background all white.  I diversified my social media platforms, made more effort with my photography and posted more street art photos.  And when I got time I tinkered with my main pages.  I got into a good pattern of three posts a week after my May blog break.  However I am so behind with posts after the festivities, I think I need to churn them out before the blog settles back into familiar patterns.

Sylvia on her bike wearing her lovely duffel jacket that was in our car that was stolen

 Blog statistics

On my blog, the number of posts (176) was down a little compared to previous years.  I have found myself so busy that I took a blog break in May.  It was my month of Street Art posts.  I even missed noticing posting my 1500 post a few months back.  At the end of 2014 I have 1542 posts on my blog.

My apple slice post was the star of the year as far as blog stats went.  I guess the is the power of a good photo (below) and a simple recipe.  At the end of the year Google Analytics chalked up 17,139 hits for the post and Blogger more generously put it at 28,782 hits.  This is far more hits than any other posts in my seven years of blogger.

However the apple slice had a life beyond my blog.  It has now 2708 view from FoodGawker.  In August 2014 it was number 16 (out of 10,250) for most favourited on FoodGawker.  It was popular on Pinterest.  Sew Much Easier shared the photo and recipe with a link to me on FaceBook.  At the end of the year it has been shared 112,420 times and liked by 9507 people.  Pretty amazing!  Especially for a recipe buried in a long rambling post.

My most popular recipe of 2014 - Apple slice

Top 10 2014 blog posts 
So it is no surprise to see what was my most popular post for the year.  Here is the top 10 blog posts of 2014 according to Google Analytics

1. Apple slice, Gluten free pastry, Strawberry and haloumi salad
2. 5:2 diet - vegetarian meal plans, reflections and recipes
3. Toadstool birthday cake, cake pops and party in the park
4. Oat and seeds sourdough bread
5. Spinach, sundried tomato and chive chickpea scramble
6. Vegan flourless almond choc chip cookies
7. Mostly raw double layer fudge
8. Black bean cacao fudge
9. Sweet potato, zucchini and olive quesadillas 
10. Gwyneth's Apple muffins and the rainy school holidays

Zinc the cat: fierce explorer!

Blog achievements and good stuff
Other than the apple slice photo/recipe being so popular, there have been other moments when my blog has made my proud and/or happy:

• This year I have been making more of an effort with photos and have had 42 photos accepted by FoodGawker.  
• I have diversified my social media platforms this year.  I opened a Green Gourmet Giraffe FaceBook page this year and have 142 Likes.  I also started an UrbanSpoon account to share my posts on cafes more widely and because I find myself using UrbanSpoon so much when I eat out.  I have also started a Goodreads account which I am only using sporadically but enjoy the list making.  I am still finding Pinterest useful but use it when I need rather than for much browsing.
• I did VeganMoFo for the fourth year in a row.  I love the inspiration to make interesting vegan food but it is a tiring month.
• Included on Jac's Top Ten Vegetarian and Vegan Blogs on Tinned Tomatoes for National Vegetarian Week.
• I did recipe testing for Ricki Heller's forthcoming cookbook (Living Candida Free) earlier in the year.  I can't wait to get a copy of the book because I just loved making the recipes from it.  I also did a guest post for Ricki on a Tomato Nut Roast with Buckwheat and Seeds.
• I also did a review for Janet at the TasteSpace on an e-book Culinary Quandries: A Vegan Dinner Party - e-book.  It was another opportunity to cook some fantastic food.
• I have just seen on Noodlies listings that this year my Green Gourmet Giraffe blog was listed as number 6 food blog in Melbourne and number 62 in Australia.  Wow!

Here I am trying to keep the tide back from my blog!  Literally and figuratively.

Where my blog was featured
I love blog events and love to participate in them.  (Vale Ricki Heller's Wellness Weekends - one of my favourite events that ended this year!)  However occasionally I notice that my blog gets around in unexpected ways!  Here's where some of my recipes were featured:

• Haggis stuffed mushrooms on BuzzFeed for 24 ways to have the ultimate Burns Night Supper and Haggis nachos recipe on BuzzFeed at 9 'Better Together' ways to eat haggis.
• Cheesy Pumpkin Sausages on Top 10 veggie burgers and sausages for National BBQ Week at Baby Centre UK. 
• Roasted Potato Salad with Black Olives and Greens on 100 Healthy Vegan, Gluten-Free, Whole Foods Summer Salads! at Ricki Heller.
• Vegan Lamingtons on Around the World in 12 Desserts at Travel Freak. 
• My nut roasts were featured on The Peace Patch where National Nut Roast Day was celebrated! 
• Pea pancakes with sundried tomatoes on 21 savoury pancakes you need in your life at Student Beans
• Toadstool birthday cake in the Fairy Issue Party Tips and Ideas zine at All About Party Bags.
• Chocolate layered fudge on The Whoot.

Tempeh and corn soup - an oldie but a goodie!

What I have been eating
I know it would be great to do a list of my 10 favourite recipes of the year but I just love lots of what I have posted.  Here is an overview of some of the good stuff:

• Breakfasts - chickpea scrambles, vegan french toast, smoothies
• Smoky and chocolate - chocolate bark. doughnuts, zucchini brownie, choc chip cookies
• Australian - Tim Tam brownies, haggis chiko rolls, apple slice
• Showstopper cakes - ultimate chocolate cake with green ombre frosting, Creme Egg chocolate drizzle cake, chocolate cake decorated with strawberries and musical notes
• Children's cakes - cars, toadstool, owl, monster
• Nut roasts - with strawberry bbq glaze, golden beetroot nut roast, smoky cheese and barley
• Sourdough - pizza, oat and seeds sourdough bread, hot cross buns, focaccia and chocolate cake
• Finally made - mole sauce, baked cheesecake, great vegan pancakes
• Fantastic desserts: kale cake,  apple pastries with spiced red wine, peach crumble

Christmas Eve food and baking

Favourites
And now here are some of my favourites of the year (ie what I loved this year, not what I judge the best of 2014).

• Favourite Film: Wadjda
• Favourite Children's Film: Paddington
• Favourite Australian Children's TV: Nowhere Boys
• Favourite Overseas Children's TV: The Legend of Dick and Dom
• Favourite TV Drama: The Code
• Favourite TV Documentary: Brilliant Creatures: Germaine, Clive, Barry and Bob
• Favourite DVD: The Wire boxset (we are up to Season 3)
• Favourite CD: Oz by Missy Higgins
• Favourite Books: Burial Rites by Hannah Kent, Prep by Curtis Sittenfield, Life After Life by Kate Atkinson
• Favourite Children's Book: The Sunken Kingdom by Kim Wilkins
• Favourite Cookbook: Isa Does It by Isa Chandra Moskowitz
•  Favourite Cafe: Pope Joan, East Brunswick

E on the road to Port Fairy

Happy New Year
And so as 2015 begins and we still can't believer that 2014 is really and truly over, I thank you for reading my posts, taking time to comment and email, and for your support in keeping me enjoying my blog.  It has been a great year for meeting up with fellow bloggers and blog readers.  It always wonderful to see my blog having a life offline.  I think E for the music, the dishes and his company in enjoying good food.  I thank Sylvia for the challenges and letting me know just what she thinks of my cooking.  I thank family and friends for sharing so much good food and fun times.

Lastly I wish you, my dear readers, a happy and healthy new year.  May it be filled with gripping books, kind people and pleasing sights.  And to paraphrase Custard Pie's admirable food manifesto, may your food be compassionate, honest, surprising, curious and joyous.