Shopshoot - Black and Spiro

Shopshoot - Black and Spiro

21 Oct 2009

I'm very excited because I have the next two days off work and I'm going to treat myself to a little mini escape to the Blue Mountains. I bought a little toy film camera online which arrived last week and I can't wait to play with it. Of course the camera (s) will be coming with me on my journey but not I fear my laptop. I don't know how I'll survive without it. I'm planning on doing some bushwalking; exploring the beautiful gardens and shops in Leura and eating - a few of my favourite things.

I first heard about Anna Spiro and her blog, Absolutely Beautiful Things via my Mum last year. When I clicked on her blog I recognised her store Black and Spiro straight away as I'd visited it a few times before on my many trips to Brisbane. The store is housed in a beautiful old building in the suburb of New Farm.

For those of you who've not visited Brisbane, it's a major city like no other in Australia. It has a sub tropical climate; unique houses built on stilts that I love and the flowers in Brisbane seem to be larger than life and more colourful than in other parts of Australia. Anna has managed to capture the colour of Brisbane in all her work.

The store has lots of pretty goodies all characterised by Anna's use of colour- ginger jars, furniture, paintings, flowers' cushions, lamps, books on design and interiors and lots of pretty knick knacks. 

It's also the location for Anna's design business so fabric and wallpaper swatches abound.

I hope you all enjoyed my little tour of Black and Spiro.

Hopefully I'll be back in 1 piece Friday night from my little trip away,

Jillian

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Peanut Butter Caramel Cookies

Peanut Butter Caramel Cookies

19 Oct 2009

When I was growing up, I was firmly on the vegemite side when it came to the 'vegemite vs peanut paste (butter) as a sandwich filling' debate. In fact I still don't think I've ever eaten a peanut butter sandwich. A jar of peanut butter lasts me for years, as the only time I ever use it is as an ingredient in a Thai curry. That also means until a few weeks ago I'd never ever tasted peanut butter cookies.

A few weeks back one of my clients bought in some leftover candies from a baby shower. I assumed it was chocolate so left it until I had one of those days when I really needed chocolate. When I eventually decided to eat it, I discovered it was peanut brittle coated in chocolate and it tasted just like a scorched peanut bar. Scorched peanut bars disappeared from the shelves a long time ago but they were one of my favourite treats.



I started browsing the internet looking for a recipe that would combine peanuts, caramel and chocolate. I came up with a few that I've yet to try, but found this one from David Leibovitz and using it as a base, came up with my own version.



I used a different peanut butter cookie recipe that's studded with peanuts and instead of the salted caramel in the recipe, I used some caramel filling which I had stored in the freezer and sprinkled it with salt flakes. I decided to leave ½ the batch plain so I could have some regular peanut butter cookies to try and took the rest into work with me.  They didn't last very long.



Why didn't any-one tell me how delicious peanut butter cookies are? I can tell you they last 4 days in an airtight container and thereafter, who knows? They didn't last that long. I did store a small amount in the freezer so tomorrow I'll bake them so I'll have some tasty treats in the house.



Don't forget to check back on Wednesday for my next Shopshoot featuring Black and Spiro.

Until then,

Jillian

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A sneak peek - Black and Spiro

A sneak peek - Black and Spiro

14 Oct 2009

During my stay in Brisbane, there was a bit of drama involving CK the cat who was a bit out of sorts and needed to visit the cat clinic. I took this photo just before Dad wrangled her into her cat carry case. She's a hefty thing so I carried her down the stairs to the waiting car.

Earlier in the day I'd visited Anna Spiro of Black and Spiro to do a shopshoot. I won't have a full post ready until next week but I've left you with a sneak peek of her pretty store in New Farm.

Now it's time for me to watch Celebrity MasterChef, so I'll leave you here but before I leave you I thought I'd let you know that Nicky of the Near Future has written a lovely post about me on her blog, The Nearish Future (blog address no longer active).

Jillian

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