12 hour roast pork

Don't be put off by the title, this truly is the best roast pork you will ever taste. I made this a week ago during a cold Melbourne holiday. Cold and wintery outside, warm fireplace inside and the smell of pork cooking for 12 hours made everyone anticipate dinner that little bit more.

2.5-3kg boned pork shoulder - may have to order or ask butcher
2 tsp sea salt
4 garlic cloves, chopped roughly
1 tsp dried chilli flakes (medium heat)
1 tsp brown sugar
1/4 cup sherry vinegar
1/4 olive oil
2 granny smith apples, unpeeled, halved and sliced 1cm thick (circle shaped)
2 leeks, outer leaves removed, well washed, 1cm thick slices (pale part only)
2 cups "Appletise" or apple cider

Preheat oven to 220C fan forced.

When buying meat from butcher, either ask them to remove crackling fat from top of pork or you can do it yourself before cooking. Keep the fat and bring it home!
Combine sea salt, garlic, chilli, sugar, sherry and oil and pound in a mortar and pestle (or place in a zip lock bag and pound with something heavy). Rub a little mixture on the scored pork fat and set aside. Rub the rest of the mixture on the pork meat, which should be unrolled and placed as flat as possible in a large baking tray. Roast uncovered for 20 mins at 220C. Arrange apples and leeks around and over meat and add all the cider to the pan. Reduce the oven to 100C. Cover the baking tray with a lid (this is essential) and return to the oven for 11 hrs. Around the 6 hr mark pour some of the pan liquid over the whole roast and return to the oven with lid on.

Half an hour before serving check pork and apples aren't dry. Pour some of the liquid from bottom of pan over the whole roast and set aside with the lid still on. The meat will be very tender and falling apart.

Turn oven right up to 240C and put the pork fat in. (on a baking tray sitting on a cooling rack so the heat gets under it too). Cook crackling for 30 mins, checking every 10 mins so it doesn't burn. The crispiest crackling is one that has been scored all over about 1/2 centimetre apart.

Loosely break apart pork meat and serve on a platter with the remaining juices poured over the top. Serve with roast or mashed potato with a little sage.

Now for the hair.......

Here's some gorgeous clips I made today while the kids were sleeping. I had a difficult time tracking down wholesale-priced clips and ended up getting the plain clips from the USA! Each clip takes less than 2 minutes to make (hot glue gun is essential) so I can make many quickly.

I'll be experimenting with different colour combinations now that I know they work.

They are about an inch long and have a non slip grip on the inside - perfect for fine baby or toddler hair. Just need Mia to start growing some!

Love this skirt!

We're off to Melbourne for a holiday in 5 days! So, today I went out to buy some tights for Mia. It's going to be bloody cold and she insists on pulling off her socks and shoes within 5 seconds of them being on. Hopefully tights will stump her (and keep her feet warm).

Then I thought it would be really gorgeous to have tights under a little denim skirt. Of course, no skirts are stocked this time of year. So I came home and rummaged through all my fabric and came up with this piece. 1.5hrs and about $4 of fabric later, here's a gorgeous personalised skirt!

Will summer be here soon?

Here's the latest tunic top and short set made for Mia. The shorts took about 30 mins and the top was about 2hrs including cutting out time. Still, with the fabric being only $5 a metre, this is a quick and easy way to dress up Mia!

It is a cotton fabric with vibrant watermelon and bright blue colours. Bring on Summer!

I'll be working on some winter fabric next - maybe a corduroy dress with tights and a long sleeved top underneath?

The easiest and yummiest dessert

If you're running short of time and need to impress with dessert this recipe is for you.

You need:
Vanilla ice cream
Toblerone bar
Shredded coconut
Thickened cream
Meringue nests

Toast 1 cup shredded coconut in heavy based pan or under hot grill. Once it starts to colour watch carefully - it will burn quickly.
Now scoop four ice cream balls and roll into toasted coconut and place on tray lined with baking paper. Put in freezer until you need to serve them.
Take 1/2 cup thickened cream and 200g chopped Toblerone and place in a heat proof bowl. Put the bowl over a pot of simmering water and and stir until it melts smoothly. Put to one side.

When ready to serve take the meringue nests and put the ice cream ball on top of each nest. Pour the warm chocolate sauce over and serve. Your guests will be lining up for more, so maybe have a couple of spares ready!

Best ever Carrot Cake

When I worked for the lovely Peter Dixon in Melbourne, he used to rave about my carrot cake. Rave, moan about how good but "bad" it was, rave some more, eat some more, moan some more, talk about needing to go for a run........ you get the idea.

2 cups plain flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon allspice
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
4 eggs, beaten
100ml vegetable oil
400g grated carrot
400g can crushed pineapple, well drained
100g coarsely chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 180 degrees celcius. Grease and line a 22cm tin, round or square.
Sift flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and allspice together into a large bowl and stir through brown sugar. Beat in eggs and oil and then fold through carrot, pineapple and walnuts. Spoon into prepared tin and bake 1hr and 15 min, until top is golden. Rest in tin for 5 mins then invert to a wire rack to cool.

Icing
1/2 cup butter, unsalted
1 cup cream cheese
1 1/2 cups icing sugar
1 lemon juiced and rind zested
1 teaspoon vanilla essence OR 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Beat until well combined. If ingredients are at room temperature this will make it easier to beat. Refrigerate for 1hr before icing the cake. Cake must be completely cool.

Top with 1 cup toasted flaked coconut.

Delicious!

So sweet they make my teeth hurt!

Here's my latest finished bloomers - gorgeous fairy floss pink with tulle ruffles. I'm getting better at these now and they are quicker to finish with a more professional result. Overall, still very easy to do. I'm going to experiment with satin ribbon as ruffles next.

I've also got my first official order - from a friend - and I'll be making her daughter a little tunic ribbon top like I made Mia. I hope she likes it as much as I do.