Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Baking Brioche

Last month I went to another class at the Essential Ingredient Cooking School. This one was a brioche class taught by Alison Thompson. Again it was fabulous! Alison was fantastic - very helpful and gave great tips - and at the end of the class I got her to sign a copy of her cookbook for me :)

I've already spent a whole day experimenting with sweet brioche and fully intend on exploring savouries soon.

Here's my experimentation in pictures...

starting out

the dough and fillings

chocolate swirl rolls

rhubarb crumble babka

the swirls inside the rhubarb crumble babka

Sunday, June 10, 2012

Crochet

I think I mentioned previously that crochet was my new hobby... 

It's coming along pretty well. I've completed a scarf and a shawl for myself, two hats for baby Morgan and I'm currently part way through a blanket and another scarf for myself.

Here's the shawl. It's crocheted in a 2ply 50% silk merino blend and hand dyed. It feels amazing.



This is the scarf. It's a spiral pattern, so it's kind of a cross between a scarf and a wrap. It's crocheted in 2ply 100% merino and is so soft. 




When I first started learning to crochet, I started out making granny squares for a blanket. I got a bit sick of them, so stopped. I've gone back to them a couple of times between other projects. They just get a bit tedious - mainly because my tension was so tight when I first started, so it makes my hands sore trying to match the tension. I do really like the colours though, so I do want to finish it... one day :)



My latest project is a scarf for myself. The yarn is an 8ply alpaca silk blend and is gorgeous. A friend from work bought me a skein to say thank you for helping her out. I started out making fingerless gloves with the yarn, but I wasn't happy with the pattern and after ripping it back twice, I decided that a small scarf would be better. It's kind of evolved from there as I went and bought some more yarn and will now make a longer scarf and edge it in silver scallops.



And this last picture is for Mum.... I ordered 200g balls of machine washable wool from Bendigo Woollen Mills online shop. The first order has arrived and I'm now waiting on the second. Dad, if you're reading this - the yarn is at bargain prices, so I'm saving you money here!


A Farewell to Friends

Ali and Carter, who have featured heavily in this blog, have left us and moved back to the US. 

We knew that this day would come, but we had buried our head in the sand and hoped it was a long way off. Alas, it was sooner than expected. But they can't get rid of us that easily - we're already planning our gigantic US adventure to visit them. 

We decided that our final day with them should be as awesome as the rest of the time we'd spent with them, so Paul and I took a day off work and we all headed out to the Yarra Valley for some wine tasting.

Helen's Hill and Punt Road before lunch, then lunch at Innocent Bystander and finishing up at Madden's Rise. Three great wineries a tasty lunch and awesome company - what a fabulous way to say goodbye.

Here are some family pics to end with...