sweet and spicy souvenirs - home made cookies

sweet and spicy souvenirs - home made cookies

12 Sept 2011

I bought a few bits and pieces when I was overseas and today I'm going to feature one of my purchases, a cookie stamp. I actually bought my stamp at Merci but you can buy it online in Australia.



I had some leftover chocolate pastry in the freezer and tried out the stamp using the instructions that came with the stamp but I found I was left with very thick cookies. I played around and found I preferred to roll the dough out thinly first before using the stamp. I had a round cutter which pretty much matched the size of the cookie and although it was an extra step, I thought it was worth it.



I used this recipe from Canadian Living but only used half the dough and left out the cinnamon. I made 18 cookies from the dough and I'll show you what I did with the remaining half later in the week or next week.



The uncooked dough is delicious and the cookies disappeared in the blink of an eye. I kept 2 at home for the cook and I've only just eaten them. They're pretty nice and were still fresh after a week. I'll definitely make these again.



I can't believe another weekend has been and gone. Spring momentarily left us in Sydney and I shivered all weekend. I was back to using my electric blanket and wearing fluffy bed socks.

I hope you enjoyed your weekend,

Bye for now,

Jillian

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in the garden

in the garden

7 Sept 2011

It's been a while since my last 'In the Garden' post but a few weekends back I drove up to Dungog for a special family birthday celebration.



The weekend was pretty miserable but I still made my way into the garden to see what was in bloom.



I found this pretty symphony of green. I also visited the chickens, known collectively as 'the girls', who'd freshly laid 5 eggs for me to collect on Sunday morning. It wasn't quite spring but the blossoms didn't seem to realise.



I was just leaving Dungog on Sunday when I saw this scene. I pulled over because I was sure I wouldn't see anything like it on the remainder of my drive back to Sydney.



P.S. I'm loving the new blogger makeover. Not only can I now check my stats, it's cut my blogging time in half!

Jillian

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lemon cake with passionfruit syrup II

lemon cake with passionfruit syrup II

5 Sept 2011

I made a version of this cake a few months ago and I wasn't happy with the result. I made the cake again, this time using my favourite lemon cake recipe (it's on the last page of the pdf) and making up my own recipe for passionfruit syrup.



The cake came out of the mould perfectly so I was pretty happy.



I poured half the syrup over the cake whilst it was still in the mould and poured the other half over the cake while it was cooling.



I took the cake into work and it was all gone by the end of the day. One of my workmates Michael dillied and dallied and missed out on a slice and you should have heard his grumbles. So many people came up to me complimenting me on the cake so I'll definitely be making this cake again.

I hope you all had lovely weekends. I went to see the movie 'Red Dog' which I thoroughly enjoyed but then again our family dog dog was a kelpie labrador cross, called Coco, so I'm a bit biased. Sometimes we called her by name but more often we called her 'naughtybadwicked' which was a truer reflection of her nature.

See you all again on Wednesday,

Jillian

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shopshoot - labour and wait

shopshoot - labour and wait

31 Aug 2011

Last year when I was in London, I visited Labour and Wait and loved just about everything they had on the shelves. I would have loved to have taken photographs but the store was so tiny and so packed with shoppers that I had to wait for people to leave before I could squeeze into the shop. I knew there were plans to move to a larger store so when I knew I'd be visiting London in 2011, I emailed the owners asking if I could shoot their shop. 



Luckily the answer was 'yes' so I made my way to their new premises in Redchurch Street and promptly got myself very, very lost. I'd managed to leave my copy of the London A-Z back home in Sydney so I followed my nose and eventually found myself at the beautiful old building on Redchurch Street.






An eclectic array of well made items for the home with a bit of fashion thrown in for good measure.







Last year I came home with a vintage tea towel just like the one in the photo and it's featured quite a few times on my blog.






I was tempted by about everything in the shop but with limited space and 3 more weeks of travel I bought something small that could be tucked away. I've not had a chance to photograph it yet but it should appear in the next few weeks.



 Who would have thought taps, buckets and brushes could be this stylish? 



I'd love a milk pan just like this one. If any of my friends who read my blog are planning a trip to the UK any time soon, you know what you can get me!



Many thanks to the kind folk at Labour and Wait for letting me shoot their shop. Unfortunately, that's the last of my overseas shopshoots so I guess that means it's time to start hunting down some local places for you all. 

Happy Father's Day for Sunday Papa.

See you all again soonish.

Bye for now,


Jillian

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Dutch Apple Tart

Dutch Apple Tart

29 Aug 2011

Miss B is growing up and fast. She can now ride a bike without training wheels, something I can't do, and she was happy to show off her skills for me.



Whenever I visit Miss B, I bring dessert with me. Miss B's brother Ruin is my harshest critic, so it's always a challenge coming up with something that will please his palate. If it's not apple or lemon, he won't eat it.



I decided to try out this recipe for Dutch apple tart similar to the ones I saw being served at Cafe Winkel in Amsterdam.



I prepared the filling the night before I baked the tart.



I'd planned to go the gym Sunday morning but the tart took a lot longer to prepare and bake than I'd anticipated.



In fact, the tart only came out of the oven about an hour before I was due to
leave.



The verdict - Ruin ate a massive piece and Miss B had a second helping so it must have been okay.

Did you have a nice weekend? I spent Saturday at home chained to the dining table while I finally completed my tax return. Life has been so busy that I've yet to finish unpacking from last weekend's trip away and I'm struggling to fit the gym into my schedule. Some days I need another me... It wasn't all work though as I made it to the gym Sunday morning and met one of my friends for dinner on Sunday night.

See you all again on Wednesday,

Jillian

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petersham nurseries

petersham nurseries

24 Aug 2011

As you know I love food and subscribe to a few foodie magazines. It was through one of those magazines that I first learnt about Skye's restaurant, Petersham Nurseries Cafe. Petersham Nurseries Cafe is located within Petersham Nurseries, so when I knew I was going to be in the UK in 2011 I decided I would take a trip out to the nurseries at Richmond.


I'd not been to Richmond before so I faithfully followed the directions on the Petersham Nurseries website, alighting at the Dysart Pub stop.



To get to the Nurseries you walk along Church Lane past the pretty St. Peter's Church.




I don't quite know what I was expecting, but Petersham Nurseries is huge!



As well as loads of outdoor plants and potted colour, there are a large number of glass greenhouses. Now remember I'm from Brisbane where mangoes, paw paws, hibiscus, frangipanis and avocados grow so a glasshouse in a nursery is a novelty to me.



My first stop was the Tea House.



Isn't that a sweet idea? Table numbers in terracotta pots.



Some produce destined for Petersham Nurseries Cafe.



Seating for the restaurant and cafe is located in the greenhouses.



A bit of a mauve, green and white theme happening here.


I spent quite a bit of time in the fabulous shop, which has everything from soap, trugs, glassware and furniture to Astier de Villatte ceramics.





Not mention bird houses, terracotta pots and pretty gardening gloves.








As you can see I visited Petersham Nurseries on the most gorgeous of English summer days.



Thanks to the kind people at Petersham Nurseries for letting me roam around the property at will and thanks to the ladies at Remodelista for featuring my images.

2016 edit - Skye has moved to a new restaurant called Spring which can be found at Somerset House.

Jillian

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