BLOG: White Enamel Pie Dish

Mother's Day edit

This Mother's Day, Sunday, May 8th, make sure Mum doesn't take the burnt toast (or crumpet) for breakfast. Reciprocate Mum's generosity with a gesture of appreciation, whether it is breakfast in bed, a small gift, lunch out with extended family or a homemade meal. The emphasis here is on taking time out to be present, give thanks, say Happy Mother's Day, and raise a glass to mums no longer with us too. Here we bring together some new arrivals and proven favourites.

Summer thanks

Plum abundance

I do love a glut of produce and the opportunity it provides for trying out new recipes. It's a little inconvenient when the glut comes at Christmas time and you are a little distracted cooking and eating a Christmas feast, opening presents and being with family. That's why we found ourselves preserving apricots and plums on Boxing Day. For weeks we'd been watching the clusters of apricots and plums on the trees plumping up nicely, becoming ever so slightly soft to the touch, and tasting deliciously warm and sweet. But we couldn't do anything about it until Boxing Day.

Are you an apron wearer?

The world is divided into those who wear aprons and those who do not. To celebrate the relaunch of our online store Annabelle Hickson of The Dailys blog and I are hosting a giveaway on Instagram. My apron loving friends and I post to the hashtag #ApronAppreciationSociety. This week Annabelle and I invite you to tag an apron themed shot #ApronAppreciationSociety (old or new) for your chance to win an apron from our store. The winner will be announced Sunday evening Dec 6. 

I stumbled across this article from The Mercury listing Stephanie Alexander, Michelle Crawford and Sally Wise as apron wearers. In recent years I am a convert to apron wearing, having splattered too many loved shirts or dresses with oil or butter while cooking. I am guilty of wearing my apron to the dinner table because, well there's even greater danger of destroying clothes there.

Honey back on the shelves

When our shop honey supplier Middlebrook Honey of Nundle stopped producing earlier this year I wondered whether I might be able to fill the gap and produce honey on our eight acres. I bought myself a copy of Doug Purdie's Backyard Bees and Dad gave me more than a dozen back copies of The Australasian Beekeeper and other references to read. But it was Michelle Crawford's honest tale of beeking in A Table in the Orchard that hit a raw nerve and brought my plans crashing back to reality. Michelle wrote "My live and let live approach to beekeeping meant that the first year, the hive swarmed...Once the bees swarmed, that started a cascade of events that led to the end of our first hive...I was left with an empty hive and damaged honeycombs, a bit like the ruins of a lost civilisation." I could so easily see that happening to me.

Christmas planning

I had the hilarious experience of bring interviewed by ABC Sydney’s Statewide Afternoons presenter Fiona Wyllie last year about tips on giving the perfect gift as a token of your love and appreciation. The interview was hilarious because Fiona had just been given the joint wedding anniversary gift of a toilet. In the context of Christmas giving I suggested thinking about the people you’re buying for, what they like doing, and giving something not necessarily expensive, but a gift they may not buy for themselves. And keeping your calm. Our loved ones don’t want us to be anxious and frenzied. Give a simple gift, your company and attention. And keeping your calm. Our loved ones don’t want us to be anxious and frenzied. Give a simple gift, your company and attention. If you need inspiration or even reassurance have a listen here. Our conservative Christmas postage deadlines are Friday December 11 for WA, NT, QLD, TAS and SA, and Friday December 18 for NSW, ACT and VIC.

Introduction to cinnabuns

Fuelling creativity

Mornings start slowly at Local is Lovely's Winter Pracshop - creative story telling. I am keen for a walk and venture out into the atmospheric morning fog. I hear laughter through the mist and recognise the distinctive voices of photographers Luisa and Pip long before I can make them out on the gravel driveway. We are after moody morning pics before breakfast.

This is the fourth of Sophie Hansen's Pracshops, where people sign up for a weekend of creative learning, be it photography, styling, painting or writing. The Pracshops are held at Sophie's parents' Rydal property Kimbri, near Lithgow. They have renovated and extended the house over three decades, to accommodate Annie Herron's residential art classes and students. Now that concept is being stretched further in Sophie's hands.

Our favourite chocolate cake

It is our eldest son’s birthday at the end of this month, so the start of August heralds a month of birthday party planning; when, where, who, and, of course, which cake. With an older 22-year-old daughter I have been making children’s birthday cakes for two decades.  We’ve run the gamut of themed birthday cakes – mermaid, Pokemon, volcano, pirate’s treasure chest, rocket ship, castle, even Harry Potter’s broomstick (the pastry broom head was surprisingly popular). Old faithful The Australian Women’s Weekly Fantastic Cakes and a library of Donna Hay Kid’s Issues are the usual inspiration for our children’s birthday cake selections. Turning 10 is a significant milestone. I wonder if double figures will mark the choice of a more adult cake? With Father’s Day around the same time as our birthday boy’s party you might be looking to make a celebration cake of your own. Here’s our go-to celebration cake, Matthew Evans’ A very good, very chocolaty chocolate cake from Winter on the Farm. Making it, and licking the bowl and chocolate ganache icing pot, is a delight of its own. This cake is so deliciously rich it needs little adornment. Perhaps the best strawberries you can find and some wonderfully tall candles or sparklers to complete the sense of occasion.

Needing pastry

"Why are we so scared of pastry?," our friend Rebecca asks after hearing my spot on ABC Radio New England North West Food Journeys segment with Kelly Fuller and Anna Moulder. I used the opportunity to share two recipes for shortcrust pastry that have never failed me, Sour Cream Pastry (shared previously in a recipe for Greens and Ricotta Torte), and Boiled Water Pastry (below). I felt confident recommending the recipes to pastry novices in the hope they could overcome their fear and soon be serving homemade pastry to friends and family. It turned out that Kelly and Anna both suffered pastry angst and I challenged them to try the recipes. Our conversation about pie fillings, in particular chicken, leek and cashew pie, had me whipping up some Boiled Water Pastry as soon as I returned home.