My brother is very proud of his house, Coimbra and it's garden. Although it's officially autumn here, the weather is positively summery.
The garden is a little perplexed though. The winter vegetables are on the vine but the roses are still in full bloom.
The agapanthus have been and gone but their seed pods are so sculptural I think I prefer them to the flowers. I'd intended to shoot some film during the weekend but didn't get the chance so I converted the images into black and white and tried to make the images as film like as possible,
See you all again soon,
Jillian
I'm a bit tired after the long drive to Dungog and back so this will be a short post. I spent the weekend in Dungog visiting my brother. Last year he won the inaugural Dungog Film Festival Trivia Night. I was invited along to boost the numbers and hopefully to ensure another win. It was a late night but we were victorious. I'm not sure how much help I was except for my embarrassingly phenomenal knowledge of popular culture. All those trashy waiting room magazines filled with gossip, half truths and reports from a "close source" finally came in handy.
Since my last visit to Dungog my brother has built a chicken run complete with the Chicken Hilton.
He is the now the proud owner of 5 Isa Browns who have managed to lay 9 eggs in their first week.
They're quite endearing things and I've named them all - Noelene. Doreen. Eileen. Jolene and Maybelline. Maybelline is my favourite. She is suffering from a terrible case of moult so is not the prettiest of birds but she can lay eggs and that's all the matters. Breakfast this morning was scrambled eggs on toast, fresh from the girls, with mushrooms .
I'll post more photos of Dungog and a nectarine cake I made using eggs from the girls,
Jillian
It's my brother's birthday today so I baked him a cake. Unfortunately he lives in the country and I won't be able to catch up with him until next weekend, so I'll be taking the cake into work tomorrow instead. I could have frozen the cake I suppose but I only have a tiny freezer and my work colleagues do like it when I bake.
As this cake could make it into the cookbook I dutifully measured everything/timed everything and even remembered to write it all down as well. When I last made these, I halved the recipe and made Hummingbird Cupcakes.
I thought they were scrumptious but that may have been because I topped them with cream cheese icing, which I love.
If my brother is lucky I may bake a cake for him next weekend. Limes are in season at the moment and I picked up a bag at the fruit shop yesterday so the cake will be lime inspired.
Happy Birthday Andrew!
Jillian
I had a busy weekend but I managed to try out this recipe for chocolate pistachio meringues, which I found on the internet. I had all the ingredients in the cupboard but when I found some lovely fresh pistachios at the fruit market on Saturday, my decision was sealed. Aren't their skins an amazing colour?
I sandwiched the meringues together with a salted caramel ganache recipe I found on Aran's blog Cannelle et Vanille. The ganache was pretty wicked and I had plenty left over so it's now resting in the freezer to be used at a later date (to prevent me from eating it all).
The verdict - very good. Next time I'll make the meringues much smaller so I can use more of the ganache but otherwise it was a definite winner.
Jillian
Bill Granger's recipes always work. I was invited to lunch at a friends place and I couldn't go empty handed so I turned to bill. I made the Coconut Lime Macadamia Cake from bill's open kitchen.
The cake was a hit and the recipe was requested, a sure sign of success.
Thanks Bill,
Jillian
It's plum season at the moment and I buy some from the fruit shop most weeks.
I was inspired by the plum tart I bought at the Bourke Street Bakery last week and decided to create my own version. I used my almond pastry recipe for the shell and found a recipe for frangipane from Jamie Oliver, using quantities I found in a Martha Stewart Pie book.
One of my work colleagues is celebrating a birthday this coming week and I was given strict instructions not to make cake.
Well I didn't make cake, I made a tart instead.
Jillian
