This whole being an adult thing is hard. I can barely wash my clothes without colours running left right and centre let alone feed myself and sorting out things like insurance (why cannot we be considered dependants of our parents forever?) as well as maintaining my role as a socially responsible individual.
I have been trying to make a conscious effort to 'look after myself' by trying to eat more than just eggs on toast and protein shakes. However trying to eat salad for lunch, going to the effort of remembering to make Bircher muesli for breakfast not to mention actually cooking proper dinners for one is a) exhausting and b) so expensive. Who decided that we needed to eat food? I mean don’t get me wrong, I love eating food but sometimes having to be imaginative (because I have to eat new and exciting food all the time) is tiresome and pricey. Most people have only a handful of vegetable varieties in their fridges, but not me, nooo not me at all. I buy peculiar products such as overly chewy snake beans a metre long and small radishes just for lols. I buy things with this grand intent of gaining inspiration for their use but end up just chopping them up and eating them in a salad.
Apparently we need sleep too. Who honestly has time to close their eyes for more than 8 hours a day? In between staying up late writing reviews, features and posts for this, that and everyone then getting up before even the crack of dawn to go to the gym I think there is a measly 5-6 hours worth of sleep. This lack of sleep then causes epic 9am sugar cravings and five cups of coffee before lunch followed by the 3pm crash which results in your head actually hitting the desk. The coffee then keeps me awake late at night and so the cycle perpetuates. I wish I had a time machine that could double the hours I sleep. I also want a time machine so I can go and eat delicious food then rewind back and eat it all over again.
Then on top of this whole looking after ourselves nonsense we then have to go about finding appropriate people to date. I can barely put a pair of socks together let along play matchmaker to my own non-existent love life. It’s like there is this expectation that we should be preparing ourselves to meet our ‘life partner’ and so as a result we find ourselves being overly critical of suitors that come our way. In the last year I have been on twenty something first dates and still no luck. Some may interpret that as being too fussy but actually on second thought it’s probably a good thing – why waste time and effort on below standard individuals when you could be raving around living up the single life. Why settle for less? Because then you have to go through the hassles of not only buying them presents (which you could buy for yourself instead) but also breaking up with them when the time becomes appropriate. So many hassles. We also are constantly heckled by family members to find a boyfriend/girlfriend. Luckily my parents are a little more sane and would rather me alone with sixty cats than pairing up with some loser just for the sake of ticking that game of life box. Mum did however remind me on the day I turned 23 that she was married by her 24th birthday. Was that a get-your-act-together hint or a mocking taunt at the fact I am just too weird for anybody to love? Or that I am so weird that I continually love the unavailable?
Then there is this expectation to be sensible when really all you want to do all day is to lie in bed hungover wearing a unicorn onesie that reeks of cheap tequila and Maccas mayonnaise (not to mention participate in all the antics that led to that mayo covered onesie). Do we have to grow up? What happened to nap times? Who thought it would be a good idea to cancel those? Why should I be saving for a house? I would rather go on raging trips overseas. Overseas trips are far more obtainable, have you seen Auckland’s housing market lately? Why doesn’t cake contain vitamins and so called proper nutrition? Why is fairy bread not a viable lunch option? Why can I not wear my gym gear to the office? These are the questions of life.
Basically I think what I am trying to communicate here is that your early twenties are hard. But not actually hard, but hard in a self-centred first world problems type of hard. So actually really easy and that we should actually shut the hell up for being so wingy because soon God forbid we might have children...
Comparing myself to my peers I don’t think I am failing too badly though. At the sprightly age of 23 I don’t live at home, I pay my own rent, drive my own car. I have a full time job full of future prospects and an honours degree which I have almost paid off. I have booked my second overseas adventure in less than a year and have zero debt (other than my student loan). Considering it is not even 8pm and I have made a brownie, fed myself a well balanced dinner and packed my lunch already I don't think I am failing at this so called life this too much. It does seem like a lot of continuous effort though..
To reward myself for not sucking too much at putting one foot in front of the other I made this cake. I originally saw the recipe link on the Dish magazine Facebook page. I thought I should probably make the most of stone fruit season before it exits our lives again for another year.
The original recipe called for nectarines and a batter mixture double the size. Peaches were super cheap and I figured hey they are related and who can be bothered waiting that long for such a large cake to bake? I want cake like now. So here is my 20cm cake version for those of you a little too broke and impatient to make a massive cake.
Golden Peach and Coconut Cake
Adapted from the recipe by Claire Aldous, Dish Magazine
Makes a 20cm cake
1/2 cup milk
zest and juice of one lemon
125g butter, softened
1 cup caster sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup desiccated coconut
2 ripe peaches, diced into 1cm sized cubes
Lemon icing:
1 1/2 cups icing sugar
30g melted butter
juice of one large lemon
Garnish:
Raw pistachio kernels
Fresh coconut shavings
Freeze dried raspberries
Lemon zest
Preheat your oven to 150 degrees and grease and line a 20cm spring form tin with baking paper.
Mix together the milk, lemon juice and zest and leave to one side for ten minutes until it curdles.
Cream your butter, sugar and vanilla together until light and pale the beat your eggs in one at a time until voluminous.
Sieve together the four, baking powder, ginger and cinnamon then add in the coconut.
Carefully alternate the addition and mixing in of the curdled milk and the sifted dry mixtures. Once the batter has roughly come together fold in the peach pieces.
Scrape the batter into the prepared tin and bake in the oven for 1 hour and ten minutes. Check after the first 50 to make sure the top isn't browning too much. Remove from the oven once an inserted skewer comes out clean and leave to cool for half an hour before turning out of the tin and leaving to cool completely.
Beat the icing ingredients together until a thick icing forms (loosen with a bit of hot water if necessary). Spread this over the top of your cake (or bottom if you're like me and flip them upside down) then garnish with all the bells and whistles.
Then you should probably try some. You will then realise how delicious this cake is then fear for the tightness that may become your gym shorts and run this cake into your work immediately where your colleagues can suffer the consequences.