Favourite Spaces

I've been following this lovely blog called Smile And Wave for a while now. I especially love the cute pics that Rachel puts up of her home and creative spaces within it.  One of Rachel's latest posts encouraged people to share the favourite places in their homes that make them happy, which I thought was a great idea! Having moved into my house nearly a year ago, I'm finally getting to the stage where my sewing/crafty room is organised just the way I like it.  It's mainly thanks to Frankie magazine, which always has sweet posters, but also my collection of fabric is growing and I have a couple of projects that I am really in love with (check them out here and here).   Mine are all taken in my sewing room, because the rest of my house is a renovator's dream and my tiny room is a prettier place I can get away from it all!  The photos are taken tonight, as is, during my nightly sewing stint.  Hope you like.

Wares for Sale

Well all my stuff is ready to go for my first market day tomorrow in Portobello, Dunedin and I am very excited. I can't believe how easy it is to be motivated when you really enjoy doing something. I have loved making my cards, heat bags and lovely rows of bunting flags, and I really hope that everyone at the market likes them too!  I am also in the process of setting up a shop on Felt, which you can view here. It's a bit (totally) empty at the moment but will have some stuff to buy by the end of the week, so keep looking.

Portobello Market, Coronation Hall, Portobello, Dunedin. Sunday 24 July 2011 between 10am and 1pm.

Production Line

I love making things, and always try to have a project on the go...it keeps me sane to be able to be creative after an arduous day of work!  I love that my job pays for me to do fun things, but sometimes the tiredness brought on by working full-time and the lure of trashy TV mean that my projects are neglected.

This time, however, I think I'm onto a winner. A lovely friend of mine asked if I wanted to have a stall at a market day with her, so for the past couple of weeks I've been spending my evenings locked away in my tiny cozy sewing room, with classical music for inspiration (nerd alert!) and cups of tea slowly going cold in the corner.  I've been making lovely heat bags with recycled and vintage fabric, some even have velvet which makes them extra snuggly.  Not only that, but my "art" (see: attempt at drawing) has officially been published...in greeting card form.  I've even used the paisley design that I started drawing a while back. I've had so much fun that I decided to set up a store on Felt, which is a New Zealand website that sells handmade products.  It's not ready yet but you can check out Felt here.

Copyright 2011

If you live in Dunedin, come and check out our stall at the Portobello market on Sunday 24th July at 10am.  It's run as part of the Cadbury Chocolate Carnival, and there will be lots of stalls and really cheap access to all the Peninsula attractions too.  Hope to see you there!
 

Cake

Given how much I like my food, it’s surprising that I still haven’t done a food related post.  I watch the Food channel a lot, and I especially love baking and dessert related shows like Ace of Cakes…mmmm…cake.  I would say I have more of a salt tooth than sweet, but I like making sweet treats more because they seem to make other people so happy!  As I said last time, one of my favourite things to do in the winter is bake, and I usually find time to make something on the weekend.  There’s something really comforting about baking – it’s generally pretty easy, and at the end of the day, anything is bound to taste good with enough butter and sugar!

If you’re not a confident baker you should still try the recipe below, you can basically make it in one bowl and it will only take about 15 minutes to prepare (with about 20-25 minutes baking time).  Plus it's super adaptable (see variant suggestions at the bottom).  Enjoy!

CHOCOLATE BROWNIE

Ingredients:

150g butter

¾ cup cocoa powder

1 ¼ cups sugar

3 eggs

½ cup flour

½ tsp baking powder

Few grinds of salt (optional)

Oil spray/baking paper

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 170°C.

2. Chop 150g butter into large cubes and melt. Either do this on low heat on the stovetop, watching carefully and stirring often OR in microwave on medium heat, 20 seconds at a time.

3. Stir ¾ cup pure cocoa powder into the melted butter until there are no lumps and it resembles velvety melted chocolate.  DON’T taste it. Trust me.

4. In a large mixing bowl, pour 1¼ cups sugar and 3 eggs. Beat with a hand beater or an electric one until pale and quite fluffy.

5. Add the cocoa/butter mixture to the larger bowl and gently fold through until everything is just combined.

6. Sift in ½ cup of plain flour and the ½ teaspoon baking powder. Fold through again until just combined.

7. Optional:  Add ¼ tsp or a few grinds of salt.  This sounds weird but makes the chocolate flavour way more delicious.  Just make sure you mix this in thoroughly!

8. Line a shallow brownie tin (approx 20cm square by 4cm high) with baking paper, or spray with oil.

9. Pour mixture in and spread flat with a spatula.

10. Bake in oven for approximately 20-25minutes or until a knife/skewer comes out  cleanly and the brownie no longer wobbles when you shake the tin gently.

Leave to cool before turning out (otherwise the brownie will fall to pieces and that would be a tragedy).

I recommend keeping in an airtight container and only cutting off pieces as you eat them.  Cutting it all up at once means that it can go stale more quickly.

Enjoy, and if you feel adventurous try adding some (or all!)of these to the completed plain brownie mixture:

Nuts:  I highly recommend a big tablespoon of crunchy peanut butter and some roasted peanuts, but macadamias are really good too.

Chocolate chunks: Whatever your favourite chocolate is...white chocolate is good!

Coffee:  Dilute 2 tsp of instant coffee in 2 tsp of hot water. Add to the plain brownie mix.  This amount won’t make the brownie taste like coffee, but it will intensify the chocolate to a dark chocolate flavour brownie.  I do this one nearly every time.

Alcohol: Try adding a couple of teaspoons of bourbon. (Chocolate chunks with this would be awesome too) YUM.

 Last but not least...add spoonfuls of soft pre-made caramel (eg Highlander Caramel) as a middle layer to the brownie and on top before cooking.

Something about Winter

Even though I usually dread winter, once it rolls around it never takes me long to appreciate all the lovely things that go hand in hand with frosty weather.  Of course I love the clothes - big warm coats, cute hats, bright tights and comfy boots.  But I'm more of a homebody than anything, and in winter I have no guilt whatsoever about spending most of my time inside reading, watching TV, baking, and drinking lots of tea!  And if I do go out, it's all about movies with friends and comforting pub food (and beer!).

But my favourite aspect of winter is the weather.  I love the way it transforms the city into a dreamy hazy place lit up by pale clear sun.  So during my walk to work over a few mornings  this week, rather than striding along head down like usual, I took the time to stop and take some photos.  I am in no way a photographer but I love my city so much at this time of year that I really wanted to share.