cake and sand

On the weekend my family celebrated a 61st birthday with carrot cake - decorated with lime icing, jaffas and gold dust - and washed down with champagne.

And last weekend we improvised a sandpit for our granddaughter. Digging and running seem to be very important things to do. I remember how I used to love making mud pies when I was about six or seven years old. I used to decorate them with flowers and then sprinkle sand on the top to look like icing sugar. I can't wait to get into that again.

Reading: Smoke gets in your eyes & other lessons from the Crematory by Caitlin Doughty
Watching: The Sopranos season five

hanami 2014

Today we celebrated hanami - a glass of pink champagne under the cherry trees in the front garden then inside for brunch. We finished up with coffee and Rose pound cake. I found Trine Hahnemann's recipe on The guardian here. Unfortunately I couldn't get the essential rosy ingredients - the rose jelly and pink rose petals - so we had Pound cake with pink icing and a few pink sprinkles instead. And it tasted great.

Reading: That uncertain feeling by Kingsley Amis  
Watching: Project runway season 13

jam

A little bit of something to brighten up a winter's day - biscuits made from this Yotam Ottolenghi recipe published online in The Guardian. I made the recipe as given but substituted limes for the orange and lemon (as I didn't have any) and I used spelt instead of regular flour. You press your thumb into the uncooked biscuit to make a little hollow that you fill with a spoonful of warmed jam when the biscuits come out of the oven. They were delicious. Such a lovely treat.

And here's a little tribute to Rik Mayall - clever English comedian and writer and star of the hilariously funny television series The young ones - who died last week.

Reading: Far from the tree by Andrew Solomon - insightful book about raising children who are different and their parents whose lives were changed forever. I'd like to give this book to everyone I know.

lemon and rosemary

The recipe for these delicious cookies is from martha goes green published in the latest autumn edition of extra curricular. I was able to use rosemary from my own garden and I modified the recipe a bit to make mine gluten-free. They were really good.

May there be some sweet moments ahead for you this week.


Reading Out stealing horses by Per Petterson + Watching Design for living (1933 film starring Gary Cooper)

round things

It's been a busy week. I've been on jury service which was interesting and a bit surreal.

I found time though to bake these delicious macaroons. I'm afraid I can't share the recipe with you but it was a lot like this one.

And inspired by Renilde de Peuter's mobiles and this tutorial at Henry happened I made myself a simple necklace using wooden beads. I threaded them onto hemp cord although I think ribbon would look nice too.

How's your week been?

Last chance baking

Our builder is about to start work anytime now on our new kitchen and bathroom. We're in a limbo state - trying to pack up the kitchen but wanting to leave it as functioning as possible until it's absolutely necessary to abandon it. Ironically the cookbook I ordered, Cake angels by Julia Thomas, arrived on Friday. I thought today might be my last chance to bake. During the rebuild we will be cooking out of a makeshift kitchen using only a barbeque, electric frypan and a rice cooker. No oven. So, even though I should be wrapping plates in newspaper and packing them away in cartons, I made Julia's carrot bar recipe instead. And it was so worth it.

If you grow fruit and vegetables then this is the apron for you. I found it in Sewing made easy, first published in 1950. It's a big scoopy apron with a drawcord that you can tighten to form a large pocket - or basket - to collect all your ripe produce. Or maybe you could use it to hold your clothes pegs. Isn't it such a simple and wonderful idea?

Eating tomatoes from the garden + Reading At home : a short history of private life by Bill Bryson

and other things

Making a variation of the Banana, cranberry & pecan muffins in Julia Thomas's book Cake angels - gluten, wheat and dairy-free baking of delicious wonderment + Listening The harrow and the harvest by Gillian Welch + Reading No one belongs here more than you by Miranda July. You might remember her from her film Me, you and everyone we know + Watching Tomboy

Friday favourites

Making: White Christmas slice using a very easy recipe from Australian Women's Weekly The cake stall. I made this for a shared morning tea at work and it was a big hit.

Watching: Beginners. Oliver (Ewan McGregor) comes to terms with his mother's death, his 75 year old father "coming out" and his own relationship issues.

Reading: The knitter's life list by Gwen W. Steege. This is not a book of patterns but a book of possibilities - techniques, inspiration, challenges, resources.

Listening: Wounded rhymes by Lykke Li.

Take five eggs

Today was my brother's birthday and I was charged with making the cake. I used a new favourite recipe, chocolate almond cake, from a New Zealand cookbook - 'A year's worth : Dunsandel Store' by Sam Mannering, Annabel Graham and Rebecca Law. It's an easy recipe that's gluten-free and delicious. What more could you ask for in a cake? I decided to go a bit mad with the decorations getting as many lollies as possible on the top. And sides.

The quilt is progressing. I've now completed 30 out of 40 rows of hand quilting. That's 75% done! This obsessive counting and calculating makes the project sound tedious but I actually enjoy hand stitching. It's quite soothing - sitting and sewing and listening to the radio. Time just flies by. But it's also satisfying to track my progress.

Baking and sewing

After a brilliant start to summer the rain has settled in so what better time is there to bake? This is my mother-in-law's variation on a coconut chocolate slice. It's one of those very simple melt the butter and add the dry ingredients recipes. It was one of her morning tea staples back in the day when she baked for the shearing gang when they worked on the family farm. It has become a family favourite and my mother-in-law called it Ross's Special after one of the shearers who loved it so much.
Here's the recipe so you might get to love it too.
125 gms of butter
1/2 cup of sugar
1 cup of flour
1 tsp baking powder
2 crushed Weet Bix
2 tbsp cocoa
1/2 tsp vanilla
Mix dry ingredients together. Melt the butter, add vanilla and stir into the dry ingredients with a fork. The mixture is fairly dry. Tip into a tin* lined with baking paper and press the mixture down to fit the pan. Bake at 180 C (350 F) for about 15 mins. Ice with chocolate icing while it's still hot. Leave to cool before cutting into bars or squares.
*I use a square tin 19cm x 19cm.



Last week - when it was sunny - I finished these napkins. I'm especially proud of the mitred corners.