Groovy guitars

I stumbled across this fabric on Ebay quite by chance. As soon as I saw it I thought it would make a great pair of shorts for a boy. This discovery coincided with a friend in Melbourne asking for something "a bit different" for her 15 month old son, Eamon. So these shorts are off to Eamon and I'll be making a matching t-shirt with some cut out guitars appliqued on it also.

Fabric is Michael Miller's "groovy guitars".

Dress ups

I was recently asked to make some clothes for Tom's kindy. And better still, they were going to pay me (not a huge sum but you have to start somewhere!).

So I've made two wizard capes, two fairy skirts and two aprons so far. I'm now working on a doctor and nurse outfit. They have all taken next to no time to make but I think (read=hope) the kids will like them.

How do you like your pineapple?

I like mine like this!

We recently had an exquisite evening at Gianni restaurant in Brisbane. It was a special event that teamed Javier Codina from Gianni with Philip Johnson from E'cco Bistro to plan an extravagant menu for the PwC function for non-Executive Directors. Anyway.......

We loved the dessert Philip created SO much! As a special treat each guest took home a signed copy of his fabulous book, "Decadence - desserts by Philip Johnson".

A couple of weeks later it was Steve's birthday so I decided to try and recreate the dessert for him. Now, given I don't have an industrial ice cream machine (I'm not kidding, it actually says that in the recipe!) I have adapted the recipe slightly. Don't be fooled though, it still took all day to make, doing bits here and there, but the result was well worth it.

Coconut sorbet with pineapple and lime salsa and a sesame wafer

Serves 4

For the coconut wedge - make day before or 8 hrs before needed

60g (1/4 cup) caster sugar

250ml coconut milk

juice of two limes

1.5 gelatine leaves (or 3g gelatine powder)

grated zest of one lime

Put all ingredients apart from the gelatine into a sauce pan and bring to the boil. Stir until sugar has dissolved. Take off the boil. Soften the gelatine in a separate bowl (with a small amount of water) and when soft add to the mixture. Stir thoroughly until combined with no lumps.

Pour into a shallow baking dish or small square mould. The height of mixture should be about 2cm so use a smaller mould if necessary to get the required height. Put in fridge for approx 8 hrs or overnight.

Pineapple and lime salsa

1 pineapple, peeled, core removed and finely diced (no bigger than 2cm)

Juice of 1 lime

grated zest of 1/2 lime

1 kaffir lime leaf, very finely sliced

1 teaspoon very finely diced red chilli

1 few mint leaves, finely sliced

Combine all ingredients, stir well and set aside in the fridge

Sesame wafers

80g caster sugar

zest 1 orange

3 tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice

40g (1/4) plain flour

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

40g (1/4 cup) sesame seeds

40g unsalted butter, melted

In a bowl combine the sugar, orange juice and orange zest and stir well until sugar starts to dissolve. In another bowl combine rest of the ingredients starting with sifted flour and ginger then add the melted butter and orange mixture. Stir well. Now place in fridge for 1 hr until it goes hard.

Preheat the oven to 170 degrees celcius. Place a layer of baking paper on a tray. Take approx 1 teaspoon of mixture and roll into a ball. Flatten the ball on the tray so it forms a circle. Make 1-2 wafers per person (in case some don't turn out!).

Bake for 10-13 minutes or until golden brown. Allow to cool. If baking paper sticks simply brush a little water on the underside and it will peel off.

Assemble the dessert by spooning pineapple salsa onto a place, topped by the coconut wedge, then a sesame wafer and finally a scoop of coconut sorbet or ice cream (good delis will stock this).

Top with some fresh shaved coconut.

Such an effort but it will be the most delicious dessert you taste this year! And yes, I mean 2010.

Loving this fabric!

I picked up this gorgeous new fabric during the week and just couldn't wait to use it! At first glance it's 70's inspired loud and proud but it's actually really cute with little birds on it.

So it became another dress in Mia's wardrobe. I know the day will come where she'll have quite the opinion on what is cool and what is NOT but until then.......

Merry Christmas and now I need a lie down!

I recently took on the massive task (willingly) of making a mini Christmas cake for all Steve's work colleagues as a way to say thank you for a challenging year. It took longer than expected over a few very hot days and I was up late a couple of nights - but - it was worth it. Very satisfying to achieve and I hope the cakes will be enjoyed!

Here's the recipe for a full size cake. Can make the same mixture and divide into muffin cases or mini loaf tins. Muffins will cook for about 20 mins and mini loaf tins about 25 mins at 170 degrees.

Christmas cake

Best made up to 1 week in advance and will keep in an airtight container for up to two weeks

It is ideal to soak the dried fruit and cherries in brandy overnight (at least) in an airtight container. I soak mine for about a month and it makes a difference!

750g dried mixed fruit

150g mixed peel

150g glace cherries

150ml brandy - for soaking

250g softened butter

1 1/4 cups brown sugar

5 eggs

2 tablespoons honey

1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest

2 cups plain flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon allspice

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

150g slivered almonds

Preheat the oven to 150 degrees celcius. Line the base and sides of a 22cm square cake tin with 3 layers of baking paper. As the cake cooks for a long time you need the 3 layers to ensure the cake doesn't get too brown around the sides and bottom.

Beat the brown sugar and butter until creamy. Add the eggs one at a time and beat in between. Add honey and lemon zest and beat in.

Carefully add 1 cup flour, all the spices and 1/2 of the soaked fruit mix. Mix well. Add the other cup of flour and the reminder of the fruit mix. Add the almonds and mix well.

Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin and smooth the surface. Bake for 90 mins then cover the cake with a layer of baking paper to prevent the surface from over browning. Cook for a further 60 minutes and check with a skewer to ensure it's all cooked through.

Allow cake to cool completely before pricking cake with skewer all over the top and brushing an extra 3 teaspoons of brandy on the cake. Wrap cake in cling wrap and leave for 48 hrs before serving. Can ice with Royal icing or dust with icing sugar prior to serving.

The kitchen bench got quite a work out during the process (spot the empty wine glass). Overall I went through 3 kilos of dried fruit, 1kg of butter, 1/2 bottle of Chatelle brandy, 18 eggs, 1kg flour and 1kg of royal icing.

Oh, and not forgetting 10 metres of cellophane, 18 metres of ribbon, 48 Christmas baubles and 48 gift tags!

The end result!

Getting back to nature

How sweet are the birds that tweet! And not that kind of tweeting (honestly, what's going to be the next big thing? So over Twitter!) Anyway......

Spent a couple of hours at Spotlight during the week and finally found some patterns that are cute and very versatile. I love the birds on this dress, really changes it from a little denim dress to something special. The fabric came from Peppermint Stitches at Toowong - all the best stuff comes from there, and they'll happily take your $$ too as it's not cheap!

The buttons are faux closing and there's press studs underneath for easy changing. The contrast lining sets it off nicely.

Will be making the same dress in a 70's inspired loud paisley next for Mia.

Summer is in the air

When I look at this top it just makes me want to go to the beach and smell the salt air. Maybe it's the rope (rather than ribbon) but it has a distinctly nautical feel about it. Literally took about 1 hr all up to make and I love that it looks girly but isn't pink!

On the down side, as my little cherub is such a grub, I'm guessing it won't stay light coloured very long.....