new lens

Just before the end of the Financial year (2010-2011) I bought a prime lens. I did what I thought was the pragmatic thing to do - I bought it second hand. I must say, I am extremely chuffed with my purchase. Not only is the lens made in Japan (no offense China or Thailand but I still associate Japan with quality goods) it was worth the investment.

What lens did I buy? I bought a 50mm f1.4. I cannot stop raving about this lens. It is seriously fast, fabulous in low light and the bokeh effect is amazing. The depth of field you can achieve with this lens is out of this world. Seriously.

Here are a couple of shots I took over the weekend to tide you over until I take more adventurous shots with my parents in town this weekend.

on hiatus

Well. I knew this would happen. A minor setback really. I tend to get really excited about new projects and ventures and then either slowly tumble off the wagon or fall at full speed with a thud to the ground. I’m choosing to treat this as a slow tumble.

I’ve come to realise that the amount of spare time I have directly correlates with how busy I am with my day job. For example, if I have a focus group on a Monday and/or Tuesday night, by the time the end of the week is upon me, the last thing I feel like doing is sitting at a computer, bashing out a post. If, like me, you spend most of your days in front of a computer screen, I’m sure you’ll agree with me here. It is not my lack of discipline or motivation that stops me from sharing stories, it is the fatigue and weariness after a long day at work. (That’s my story and I’m sticking to it).

So, July was a month of madness that has completely flown by – focus groups coming out of my ears, holidays, Splendour in the Grass, falling sick... definitely an eventful start to the beginning of FY012. Can you believe that we are in the second half of the year already? Christmas is four months away! Yes, I went there. We’ll probably start seeing Father’s Day paraphernalia in stores now (if not already) and everything Christmas will probably start merchandising in a month’s time. Fun times.

So, with Winter moving behind us, days getting finally getting (albeit only a little) longer and a slow start to FY012 work wise, I am back on the wagon. I have, at the moment, more time to bake, read, and if I stop making excuses, blog. I pledge to you, dear reader (thanks Mum for reading my blog), to blog more regularly in the month of August. Afterall, I’m all about baby steps.

chicken pot pies

Oh winter. How you’ve come so quickly. The days are short, the nights are cold and the gusty wind howls. Judging by the recent bout of Melbourne weather, you’re planning on sticking around for awhile right?

One of the (many) good things about winter is I would have to say, is the food. Winter food is warm, comforting, rich and creamy. I can just about hear you gasp at the thought of eating fat loaded content that makes up winter food. But it’s ok, you have to eat these kinds of food to stay warm. So jump for joy (it will keep you warm) and rejoice in pulling out your slow cooker, large pots and casserole dishes. Embrace the cold I say! Type into google “winter food recipes” and revel in what your search comes up with. Cook up soups, hearty casseroles, beautiful roasts, warm self-saucing puddings, deliciously moist cakes or brownies, whatever tickles your fancy.

I personally think nothing beats a chicken pot pie. Tucking into your own little pot pie, made just for you is special, warm and soothing. They are fantastic also for when friends come round for dinner. I think there’s something quite special about individual serves. There is nothing better than seeing your guest’s eyes light up when a little pot pie is presented to them.

A while back I bought some lovely white ramekins because I was on a mad hunt to make little chocolate puddings. I unfortunately haven’t been bothered to try making them (they always seem to be a lot of effort, but I will tackle them one day) so decided to christen my ramekins by making chicken pot pies instead!

I must say, definitely winning.

 

Chicken pot pies

preparation time | 15 minutes

cooking time | 30 minutes

makes | 6 pot pies

6 smallish potatoes

4 medium carrots

1 medium zucchini

1 handful of green beans

1 brown onion

3 garlic cloves

1 tbs chilli powder (optional)

300mL thickened cream

150mL sour cream

1/4 cup white wine

2 tablespoons corn flour

Dash of olive oil

2 single chicken breasts (or 1 double breast)

2 sheets of puff pasty

1 egg yolk (to make egg wash)

1| Preheat oven to 180°C, or 160°C fan forced. Using a sharp knife, cut your vegetables and chicken into smallish cubes. It doesn’t matter if they aren’t all the same size, it adds a somewhat “rustic” quality to your cooking. Push the cloves of garlic through a garlic press, or cut super fine if you prefer / can be bothered.

2| In a pan, add the dash of olive oil over a medium heat. When hot, throw in the garlic and onion and brown. Add in the chicken and brown for a few minutes before adding in the vegetables. Stir so there’s a bit of colour on the vegies and chicken. Season with salt and pepper and chilli powder.

3| Pour in the cream, sour cream and white wine, stir to combine. Turn heat down to simmer so the sauce can thicken. After a few minutes, if you feel the sauce is not thick enough, in a small bowl combine the corn flour with a bit of the liquid mixture to form a smooth paste and stir it back in to the chicken and vegie mix.

4| Divide the mixture up into 6 ramekins and place on a tray (a baking or cookie tray will do), leave to cool for a bit.

5| Using a sharp knife, cut the sheets of puff pastry into squares.

6| Rub a bit of butter around the rims of each ramekin, place a puff pastry square over the top of each one and squish down a bit around the sides. Make a small cross on the top of each pie with a small knife.

7| Brush the tops of each of the pies with the egg yolk wash – this makes the pies nice and shiny!

8| Pop pies into the preheated oven and bake for about 15 minutes or so, or until tops are nice and golden brown.

9| Leave to cool for a few minutes before tucking in – they will be extremely hot and may burn your tongue (I am, of course, speaking from previous experience).  

cookies and cream cupcakes

Cookies and cream. What a winning combination. I'm a massive fan of cookies and cream. Think Oreos, Ice Cream, mmm.

There are so many recipes online for cookies and cream cupcakes - some from packet mix, some from scratch. Some with a vanilla base, others chocolate, ones with choc chips, crushed oreos, an oreo in the bottom, filled with marshmallow, ones with crushed wafer, some with cream cheese frosting, others with buttercream, crushed oreos throughout and of course, the icing of the cupcake – the oreo on top. There is variance in this too – a big oreo, a mini oreo, a big oreo cut in half.

So where do I start?

I thought I’d make my own up. 

cookies and cream cupcakes 

preparation time | 25 minutes

cooking time | 20 minutes

makes | 16 cupcakes 

chocolate cupcakes 

1/2 cup (50g) dutch processed cocoa powder

1 cup (250ml) boiling hot water

1 1/3 cups (175g) plain flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 cup (113g) salted butter, at room temperature

3/4 cup (175g) white sugar 

3 eggs 

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

6 Oreo cookies

mini Oreo cookies

vanilla icing

1/2 cup salted butter, at room temperature

2 cups icing sugar mixture

milk at room temperature 

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1| Preheat oven 190°C (or 170°C fan forced). Line the muffin / cupcake tray with pretty paper cases. Halve the Oreo cookies and place one half in the bottom of each cupcake liner.

2| In a small bowl, stir the hot water and cocoa powder until smooth and let it cool to room temperature. In another bowl, sift the flour and baking powder. 

3| In the bowl of your electric or hand mixer, beat the butter first for a couple of minutes. Then add the sugar, bit by bit and beat until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating until smooth after each egg. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as necessary. Beat in the vanilla extract. On the lowest speed of your mixer, add in the flour and cocoa mixture in thirds alternating, starting with flour and ending with flour. Stop mixing when incorporate - it's important not to over beat the mixture, the cake won't be very moist! 

4| Fill each cup with batter, on top of the Oreo cookie (about 1 oversized tablespoon of batter) and bake for about 16-20 minutes or until risen and springy when touched, and a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Don't over bake the cupcakes - they'll become dry!

5| Remove from the oven and patiently wait for them to cool on a wire rack. 

6 | To make the icing, beat the butter with an electric mixer until creamy and slowly add in the sugar, vanilla extract and milk until it's of a smooth thick consistency (so you can pipe it). You can either pipe it or spread it on to the cupcakes, and then decorate the tops of your cupcakes with a mini Oreo cookie. 

vivid sydney

Talk about great timing. The weekend I was in Sydney, Vivid was still on – bright lights, clever animations and the Opera House prettied up – who could pass this up? Unfortunately, it was raining so this also meant large crowds vying for undercover space and large umbrellas obscuring views. 

Our Vivid Sydney walk started off at Hyde Park. Hyde Park at night, I find, is quite a mystical and mysterious place. That’s probably because of the lights. 

Then we kept walking and saw this place. I think it’s an aquatic centre (don’t quote me on that). But it very much looks like a church doesn’t it?

 Then off to Circular Quay where we were met with large crowds overcrowding undercover areas. We made our way over to the Opera House, trying to dodge extremely large umbrellas, prams, strollers and large groups of tourists. My sister and I had a bit of a laugh, attempting the art of ghosting (and consequently failing). 

 There were some fantastic light installations / displays at Circular Quay but given the rain, and our unpreparedness for it, our trip downtown didn’t last very long, though I managed to take a few pictures. But note to self, when shooting in low light and rain, using a tripod will give you the best results. Must add that on my list of things to get...

breakfast @ bills

I’m very fortunate enough to have experienced breakfast at bills earlier this year, on a short trip to Sydney, courtesy of work. So when I found myself in Sydney again for work and had the opportunity to stay for the weekend, I knew I just had to take my sister to bills for breakfast. In her 4-5 years of living in Sydney, she has never been. I was gobsmacked. I had to rectify this. Stat.

I remember how, on my first visit, I instantly fell in love with the place – the lovely clean lines of the interior, the large communal table, the bowls of fresh fruit, the magazines laid out by category, the somewhat open kitchen, the service, my pot of chai tea, the general buzz of breakfast. All this and I hadn’t even seen the menu yet.  

And what a menu! I find that at breakfast I am always faced with a dilemma - sweet or savoury? I am a lover of both. There's nothing better than soft fluffy eggs and crispy bacon, or a nice fat slab of toasted banana bread with berries and mascarpone cheese. Can you see my dilemma? Last time I was at bills, I chose sweet – the ricotta hotcakes with honeycomb butter. Drool. So I decided to do savoury this time, choosing the corn fritters with bacon and convinced my sister to try the hotcakes (it didn’t take much convincing!)

The corn fritters didn’t disappoint. I polished them off pretty quickly. And my sister loved the ricotta hotcakes, claiming this was the only time she would allow herself to smother her breakfast with butter.

I must say, everything about bills screams fresh, simple, homemade. I am in love. Oh if only there was bills in Melbourne.

it's time to get thrifty...

For the month of June, I set myself a challenge where I am not to spend any money on shoes or clothes until the next pay day. Well, I wasn't even past day one of the challenge and I failed. I went to a scarf sale in East Malvern and bought some beautiful wool scarves in bright colours. Can I say though, in my defence,I bought one for my mum. Ok, and the rest were for me... but they were 50% off the reduced price, so I got them at bargain-basement prices.

I then headed to a shopping centre, only because I wanted to get some ramekins so I could start experimenting with souffles, individual self-saucing puddings, etc. I came back home with 8 ramekins. Whilst not shoes or clothes, I was still spending money. Whoops. You know what I've done - I've transferred my spending on to something else! How terrible.

Right, that was yesterday. Today is a brand new day. I stayed in bed for as long as I could (it was a cold morning and I figured the longer I stay in bed, the longer I can fight temptation). I couldn't lie in bed all day so I got up and thought right, I still have about $30 on a David Jones gift card, why don't I use that up? It's like I'm spending money but money I already have. Plus, it's a shame and waste to not spend / use it. Off I went to the City in search for something worthy to spend my gift card on. I had already bought ramekins yesterday and was thinking I wouldn't mind some nice servingware. Off I trudged to David Jones. What a mistake. I pretty much fell in love with all things homewares.

There is something whimsical about homewares displayed in large groups, particularly when they are grouped by colour. I instantly fell in love with the Ecoya Metro candle jars and reed diffusers. Not only are the candles natural and made of soy, they smell divine! Unfortunately, I just couldn't justify spending my voucher on something that would melt. I wanted to buy something that I could keep and would last. I decided to head over to the cook books - I've been keeping my eye out on a couple of books (namely Jamie Oliver's 30 minute meals) and wanted to see if they were in stock.

Today, there truly is a plethora of cooking books. I sometimes think to myself and wonder who isn't putting out a cook book these days? Gwenyth Paltrow, Olivia Newton John, Lisa McCune, Sophie Dahl, Masterchef winners, actors, chefs, home cooks - it seems everyone has put out at least one cook book. It's quite inspiring actually. I must admit, quite a few cook books caught my eye - I am very much drawn in by rich vibrant visuals. Not wanting to make a hasty decision giving that I'm pretty much cutting off my right arm by vowing to limit my spending, I wanted to make the right choice. I kept ploughing through book after book.

I continued to wander around the floor and found myself in the servingware / dinnerware section and lo and behold I found a book by Bill Granger - bills sydney food. The book is beautifully presented in hardback and comes in a hardback sleeve. I opened it to the page that contained the recipe for his ricotta hotcakes. It was a sign - I tried the hotcakes not long ago when I went to bills earlier this year. I knew it - I had to get the book. This was the one. I remember coming out of bills thinking how wonderfully fresh and clean the place was. It would be silly of me to not buy the book. Off I went to the register. No cognitive dissonance here! I plan to make everything in the book and I promise to blog about it (eventually!)

So happy with my purchase, I decided to go for a bit of a wander into Myer, mainly I wanted to go through the gorgeous Perfume hall. I love looking at all the different shapes and colours of perfume bottles. On my way I got distracted and decided to have a quick look at the homewares section. Funny isn't it, I don't have a home to furnish with homewares yet I just love browsing through the section. I love how homeware displays have been put together. I always feel the stylist has put so much time and effort into putting different elements together.

I found the different products and colour / shape combinations put together quite inspiring and of course, pretty to look at. Hey, if I can't have the displays in my home, I might as well appreciate the installation display somewhere else.

After providing a feast for my eyes, I knew it was time to head home (plus, heading home meant that I wouldn't be spending any more money for the rest of the day!). I took a little detour and went through the back of Myer when my eyes caught a glimpse of the flower shop. Wow. Such beautiful flower installations on display! Such a foray of flowers in vibrant colours, shapes and types. It felt like being in an art exhibition of flowers.

And with that I leave you with a feast of flowers.