afternoon tea

This weekend I assisted in the creation of a family birthday tea party. The preparations were the fun part for me as I learned how to make all manner of different pastries and fillings from scratch. I might have been a little overenthusiastic however as I have sustained a few baking related injuries!


Homemade shortcrust pastry filled with creme patisserie and topped with strawberries before being glazed.


Almond macaroons filled with rose cream


Injecting the home made choux with coffee cream before adding a melted chocolate topping.


strawberry tartelette, frangipane tarts, custard tarts and chocolate coated strawberries


cherry cupcakes


finished macaroons






tea pots




and some of the decorations.


On a side note I finished my mantilla doily...



If anyone is interested in making one I found the pattern here

humble crumble

I picked some apples last week from an English apple tree laden with fruit. English apples tend to be a little bit sharp and too sour for my taste but perfect in a crumble with seasonal fruit like blackberries. See below the photos for the recipe...





For the filling:

3 large apples
3 tbsp brown sugar
as many blackberries as you like

For the crumble:

75g brown sugar
75g butter at room temperature
170g plain flour

1. peel, core and chop the apples
2. place them in a baking dish with the blackberries
3. sprinkle on a little sugar
4. put the flour in a mixing bowl with the butter and rub together
5. add the sugar and mix
6. sprinkle the crumble mixture over the fruit and bake in an oven preheated to 180C for 30-45 minutes.

eine kleine nachtmusik

I am one of those people who can never sit still without fiddling with something or other so I find that crochet is the perfect way to keep my hands busy. Also I have become increasingly fascinated with the social history of Victorian needlework and so become more encouraged to keep this type of crafting going. The instructions for this mantilla doily were certainly confusing but it is taking shape nicely so hopefully the stitches will work themselves out.





Also this week a very good friend returned to London from Sydney where he was living for a short period. To celebrate and catch up we decided to see the Royal Philharmonic orchestra perform an evening of music in the grounds of Chiswick House, an absolutely incredible example of neo-Palladian design created by the third Earl of Burlington and completed in 1729.

rosemary and garlic bread

I haven't baked for a while, extra hours at work leave little time for such niceties although as I had the day off today, and because we needed bread (no pun intended), I decided to make some. There is nothing like warm bread straight from the oven, I ate the first slice with a little oil and vinegar. The results and recipe are below:





4 large cloves of garlic crushed
2 tbsp finely chopped rosemary
1 cup warm water
1/2 cup dough starter
1 tbsp sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp yeast
3 -3 1/2 cups bread flour

1. Mix the water, dough starter, sugar,and yeast together.
2. Stir in one cup of the flour. Stir in the garlic, herbs, and salt.
3. Now add the rest of the flour until you have a soft slightly sticky dough.
4. Knead a couple of minutes then let rise 2 hrs.
5. Fold the dough over itself a few times then let rise 1 1/2 hrs.
6. Fold it over itself again, and then let rise 1 hr.
7. Gently shape the dough into a round loaf and place on a greased baking sheet.
8. Let rise 1 1/2 hrs. Score the top with a sharp knife.
9. Bake in a steamy oven at 400 degrees for 35-40 min.

I half-inched (cockney rhyming slang for pinched aka stole!) the recipe from a blog I found a while back, sorry I couldn't provide the direct link but I loved the recipe so much I had to put it up.

the city is my home

I have been a bad blogger as of late... sorry about that. There has been a lot going, especially in London recently. For all its flaws (which I complain about often) London is a great city; a city with a rich past yet one which is open to change and one which will come through these hard times because that is what it has always done.

Anyway apart from being a bad blogger I have been a bad quilter too. Here is my progress on the quilt to date. I am determined to finish it all by hand although it is proving a little tricky to muster up the motivation to sit down and do it.



All of these squares were cut and sewn by hand using English paper piecing which is a really good technique for creating accurate shapes - I recommend it for anyone wanting to quilt by hand.