To begin this post, I’m going to share a recipe I created this week for delicious Berry & White Chocolate Muffins. It’s not the most exciting occurrence for my week, but my family devoured them and reported back with a “thumbs-up”, so I thought I’d get this out of the way before I share all my other exciting happenings. I still haven’t found the perfect cupcake recipe, but I may have stumbled across the perfect muffin one?! So here it is…
Berry & White Chocolate Muffins
Makes 12
125g unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup castor sugar (I use xylitol natural sweetener)
2 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons natural vanilla extract
175g berry yoghurt (I use Yoplait Berry Bliss)
1 cup self-raising flour
2/3 cup wholemeal self-raising flour
1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
150g white choc chips
Preheat the oven to 180°. Line 12 muffin holes with paper muffin cases.
Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition, then add the vanilla and yoghurt and mix well. Sift in the flour and baking powder and mix until almost combined. Add the choc chips and gently fold through the mixture. Spoon into the muffin cases and bake for 25 minutes until golden.
There’s a wonderful blog I follow, 52 Suburbs, by Sydney’s Louise Hawson; and I remember being so excited when I discovered that she had been discovered! Last year she was commissioned by the City of Sydney to take 100 portraits of Sydneysiders for the Art & About Festival….I saw them on banners in full glory all over the city streets and they were magnificent!!
But if this wasn’t exciting enough, Louise has just launched her 52 Suburbs exhibition and book at the Museum of Sydney over the weekend. Being a loyal sister blogger I just HAD to attend, and I really encourage you to go have a look too – the exhibition is on until October…
Being a sucker for a success story, particularly a blogging one, I gathered up the troops and we made our way to the Museum of Sydney to show some support…
Little did I know that there would be so many other people across Sydney feeling the same way, and I was a bit disappointed that I didn’t get to hear Louise speak, as the auditorium was packed to the rafters! I managed to calm down after glancing over at this poster though…
And off we went upstairs to witness Louise’s artworks come to life from blog to museum walls…
Of course, the highlight of the day was meeting the beautiful Louise face to face…
The whole thing got me thinking about “fidelity”. Fidelity is defined as faithfulness to a person, cause, or belief, demonstrated by continuing loyalty and support. I’ve come to the conclusion that I’ve become loyal to all things “blog”!
At first, when most of us think of the word “fidelity”, we often think of the promises of fidelity declared in marriage vows, but there are other situations in which fidelity is of utmost importance as well.
In fact, I believe fidelity is vital to ALL our relationships. It goes without saying that my greatest allegiance in life is to my husband. To me, that’s what love and marriage is all about, and sadly, why infidelity is the beginning of the end for many marriages. But I also endeavour to be loyal to my children; loyal to my parents and my family; loyal to my faith and my friends; loyal to my employer whenever I’m working; and loyal to my country!
Even big business has cottoned on, with loyalty programs popping up all over the place. My purse is filled with loyalty cards…FlyBuys, Myer One, Gloria Jeans, and even a loyalty card from my local chemist, to name just a few. Brand loyalty is what these businesses rely on for their continued success.
Without loyalty, could a happy marriage exist? Could a child feel safe? Could workplace morale be high? And could soldiers have a heart to defend their country?
Without loyalty could a blogger’s talent go from cyberspace to museum wall? I think not.
In a similar way, loyalty is what our relationships rely on for their success. Instead of a gift card or a free coffee though, the reward for our fidelity is love, peace, security, joy and happiness….gifts that, in my opinion, are priceless!
High fidelity is really worth striving for!
