Copenhagen - part II

Copenhagen - part II

23 May 2014

For the second part of my trip to Copenhagen I thought I'd take you to Assistens Cemetery. I've always had a thing about cemeteries. They're often peaceful places, lush with greenery and the headstones have such interesting inscriptions.



I spied these beautiful lilacs.




The cemetery is the resting place of Hans Christian Andersen and Soren Kierkegaard. 



It's just a short bus ride from these markets. The produce was gorgeous but I admit I came here quite often for the pastries.




Here are some of those flowers I warned you I'd been photographing. There seems to be a beautiful flower shop around every corner of the city.




I couldn't help myself.


Some cute places in Fredericksberg.





Like Granola and the one room Central Hotel and Cafe and this lovely flower shop I found next to Granola.







I'll leave you with this dash of street colour.



I still have so many more photos to share with you because Copenhagen is such a photogenic city. So stay tuned!

Bye for now,

Jillian

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copenhagen part I

copenhagen part I

21 May 2014

Hi every-one,

greetings from Copenhagen. I've been here a few days already and tomorrow I'll be leaving for Scotland. Time is flying past way too quickly. The weather was a bit dreary the first full day I was here, so it slowed down the photo taking quite a bit.



I'm staying in an apartment on Sankt Paul's Gade, not far away from the main shopping area. The apartment features many Danish Design classics mixed in with some IKEA. It's an historic area with the Amalienborg Palace just a stones throw away.



The Marble Church is just around the corner, close enough for me to hear the church bells ringing.




The interior is very spare with a beautiful ceiling.



Simple columns



Some church graffiti



And just a short distance away is the buzzing Nyhavn.



I've gone a bit mad taking flower photos and did a quick shopshoot in Hay one day, so there are plenty more images to come.

See you all in another day or two,

Jillian

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amsterdam - part III

amsterdam - part III

17 May 2014

It's not quite summer here in Amsterdam but the weather has been getting warmer each day. Amsterdam is a lovely place when it's sunny and there are pops of colour all over the city with hydrangeas, tulips and rhododendrons in bloom and loads of pretty flower boxes.



I visited the Begijnhof a few times. It's a lovely peaceful oasis in the middle of the city just behind the Amsterdam Museum.



It's a popular place for tourists to visit, which apparently riles some of the residents.



It's a ladies only enclave.



I had a morning free before my conference so I walked over to the Museum Willet-Holthuysen.



I read that the gardens were a highlight so as soon as I arrived I made a beeline out the back.

The garden is laid out in a very formal French style. It's the tail end of tulip season here and most in the garden were overblown but I still went a bit crazy photographing them. Here's a single image for you.



Cafes seem to be very popular in Amsterdam and as soon as the sun comes out, people sit outdoors. 



Living in Australia, I've spent most of my life trying to avoid the sun so this seems quite weird to me.



I'll leave you with one last image that best represents Amsterdam to me.



Next time I post will be from Copenhagen. I'm really looking forward to my time there.

Enjoy your weekend.

Jillian

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amsterdam - part II

amsterdam - part II

16 May 2014

Hi every-one,

well the jetlag is settling and I've been able to prepare some images. There are quite a few so I'll divide them across a few posts.



The first few images are from the area around the old church where the church sits cheek by jowl with sex workers. I guess that's Amsterdam.



I love the old cobble stones and the bikes, which are everywhere.



On my first afternoon in Amsterdam, I visited Rembrandt's House.



My jet lag was at it's worst but I did enjoy the etching demonstration. I did an etching course once and let's just say I'm a better photographer than I am an artist.



The following day keeping with the Rembrandt theme, I visited the Rijksmuseum along with every other visitor to Amsterdam it would seem.



The museum is set in beautiful gardens.



Rembrandt's famous, Night Watch.



The tranquil library.



Some of the gallery spaces.



From there I wandered all over the city, ending in the Jordaan where I photographed these flowers and these wonky old shops.



It's time for me to make a move so I'll finish here. Tomorrow I'm off to Copenhagen but I'll be back with some more images from Amsterdam before I fly out.

So until then

Jillian

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amsterdam 2014

amsterdam 2014

15 May 2014

Hi Every-one,

I know I went AWOL on Monday, but I've been a little bit busy and a lot jet lagged since I arrived in Amsterdam. When you fall asleep at 8.00 it doesn't give you much time for blogging.



My flight to Amsterdam was delayed by a few hours so as soon as I arrived and sorted myself out, I went out exploring the streets of Amsterdam with my new camera, the Fuji XE-2. All the images today were shot with the new camera. My trusty film camera came with me as well so once I'm home and get the film developed, I'll share those images with you.



I'm staying in a little apartment near the Flower Market which I booked through airbnb. It looks just like the photos, is light and airy and very central and I couldn't have chosen a better place to stay.



As it's tulip time in Amsterdam, I bought a bunch to decorate the flat and have photographed them where ever I've found them. I found these beauties outside the Tulip Museum.



Before I left Sydney last Sunday I wrote my May Delicious Bites column for decor8. You can find my recipe for zucchini lime and pecan cake here.

It's close to my bed time, so I'll post this before I fall asleep. 

See you all again soonish,

Jillian

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chocolate pear and hazelnut tarts

chocolate pear and hazelnut tarts

5 May 2014

As expected, I ran out of time to bake and photograph something new for you this week. I shot this story last year for my Delicious Bites column for decor8 but in the end decided to use another recipe. I thought the recipe was too good to sit in my archives, so I'm sharing my chocolate pear and hazelnut tart recipe with you today.



As it's now autumn in Sydney the apricots, peaches, nectarines and cherries have disappeared from the fruit shop and have been replaced by apples, pears, oranges and quince, so this recipe is timely. I've not made this with plums but I think that combination would be fantastic.



I used my favourite Isidora Popovic chocolate pastry recipe and the filling is my own creation, a riff on the classic almond frangipane.  



I used my favourite little corella pears to make individual tarts. If you wanted to make a 23cm tart, the pastry makes sufficient to line a 23 cm tart tin. You'll need to make 3 times the quantity of the filling to fill the tart. 

Here's the recipe for you.

Chocolate Hazelnut Pear Tarts - makes 5 x 8cm tarts

Chocolate Shortcrust recipe

225g plain flour

25g cocoa powder

125g unsalted butter, chilled and cubed

85g caster sugar

1 egg

Filling

50 gm unsalted butter, softened

50 gm caster sugar

50 gm hazelnut or almond meal

2 tsp plain flour, sifted

3 tsp cocoa, sifted

30 g dark chocolate, melted and cooled

1 large egg

2 tsp rum or orange juice

Topping

3 corella pears, peeled and halved 

a few roughly chopped hazelnuts

apricot jam, warmed and sieved

Pastry

You’ll only need half the pastry quantity for this recipe. This keeps well, so you can freeze the remaining pastry. 

Place the flour, cocoa, butter and sugar in a food processor and mix until you get crumbs. Add the egg and mix again. Take the dough out of the mixer and bring together into a ball. Wrap in plastic wrap or kitchen paper and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

As this is a sticky dough, I rolled the dough out on lightly floured greaseproof paper until it was 3-4mm thick. Line the tart shells with the chocolate shortcrust pastry and trim the excess dough neatly around the edges. Refrigerate the tart shells for an hour. 

Filling

In a small bowl or in a food processor, combine all the filling ingredients and mix until a soft mixture is formed. Place in the fridge until required.

Method

Preheat the oven to 190°C.

Remove the tart shells from the fridge and line with baking paper. Fill the shells with baking beans or rice. Bake for 15 minutes before carefully removing the lining paper and the baking beans. Return the partly cooked shells to the oven and cook for another 10 minutes until the shells are dry and lightly coloured. Allow the tartlet shells to cool a little before filling.

Spoon the chocolate mixture into the pre baked tart shell. Don’t overfill the tarts ~ ⅔ is fine. Gently place the halved pears onto the filled tart, cut side facing up. Sprinkle the hazelnuts over the top of the tart, avoiding the pears.

Bake the tarts on the middle shelf for 30 minutes at 190°C or until the filling has puffed and tests a bit squidgy, like a brownie.

Remove the tart from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool. When cool, gently remove the tart from the tin. If desired you can glaze the top of the tarts with 1-2 tablespoons of warmed apricot jam.

This time next week I'll have just arrived in Amsterdam and I'll be struggling with jetlag. I'm aiming to post while on the road but don't know what I'll be posting or when, so see you all again sometime next week.

Bye for now,

Jillian

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