Cafe Gorgeous

Steeped in Steampunk

2012-02-03T09:44:00.002+11:00

Steam what? Steam-punk? What is that? Oh, it's an artistic and lifestyle movement that's been going on for yonks, but it's so hot right now. Catriona and I just got the bug. We've smashed up some clocks looking for cogs and stuff. We went to see Hugo (that is WAY steampunk, and a top flick too). But mainly, I sorted through the Lego for a Steampunk Kit. With it, I made this - the Steampunk Pizza Drivethrough!

Here we see Lord Fotheringale in his steam driven Navigator-Mobile 3002. But inventing all day is very hungry work, so he's arriving at ...

Master Percy's Esteemed Pizza to the Gentry, (serving the Steampunk community since 2012) where even the chefs wear goggles.

And let's just get one more look at Lord Fotheringale's vehicle - yes, that all seems to be in order. Damn fine. He was in the military, you know.

Not the face!

2012-01-22T10:31:00.000+11:00

A little Lego art from the top of my computer screen at work. The artist has painted the soldier green, and wants to finish the job.

Lego minifigs series six in Australia at last!

2012-01-15T15:10:00.000+11:00

Here they are at Target at Forest Hill.

Watch out, aliens have invaded!

2012-01-05T16:36:00.001+11:00

I made some UFO cupcakes, complete with gummy bear pilots. I do believe the kids are getting a bit old for this, but who wouldn't say yes to a cake with lollies on top?

In other news, sprinkles come in gold and silver now!

Happy belated new year!

2012-01-05T16:33:00.001+11:00

Here's the fireworks from Perth on New Years Day. Yay! Yay for a camera that takes cool shots like this.

Perth made macarons

2012-01-04T22:20:00.000+11:00

Yes, I can do it in Perth too! Of course, I used a packet mix (Donna Hay has a good one). I followed the instructions IGzactly, and got pretty good results. Not much worse than usual. Donna, the chocolate ganache needs a little more cream, and a longer standing time might help, but apart from that, nice work!

And for extra points, please admire the plate these treats are displayed on. It's hand painted by Jeff's mum Elaine!

For big words

2012-01-04T17:56:00.000+11:00

I found this giant Websters dictionary in an op shop in Perth. Can I buy it Jeff?

Where Michelle should go on holiday in Paris

2012-01-02T21:46:00.001+11:00

Here's some notes for Michelle, who's soon to be visiting Paris, as well as other European hot spots, with husband and kids. She's an artist, as well as an engineer, and they want to find plenty of attractions that will satisfy the kids as well as the grow ups.

Meanwhile, I'm on holidays, and have time to look over my last Paris photos. Here's my notes on what an artistically inclined mum might like to see in Paris.

- Climb up Notre Dame catherdral to visit the rooftop and gargoyles. Do this first thing, it's very crowded later. Then feed the sparrows outside the cathedral.
- Go to Galeries Lafayette (the department store) to see the dome from the inside. Visit the toy department for fabulous Lego and Playmobil displays.
- Go to Printemps, the other department store, and travel up to the rooftop terrace for a great view. There's a cafe there (big and not posh, the kind of place office workers get lunch)
- Go to the zoo at the Jardin de Luxemburg - the are armadillos and flamingos!
- Buy some butter (the kind with salt crystals in it) at a supermarket, and some good bread, and eat it in your hotel or a park.
- Marche Aligre is a trash and treasure market, at least on some days (better check the days), and the rest of the time there's excellent things to eat. There's a park nearby for loo breaks, playground and drinking water, and eating the fruit you just bought. And there's free wifi in the park. And a splendid pastry shop called Sucre Ble just off the park has a fabulous sugar sculpture on display.
- I'd pass on the flea markets (gasp! And you know I love markets - I had a way better time at Aligre, and it's an easier visit)
- Go to the Pompidou art museum, and enjoy the buskers in the square at the front. Great gift shop too.
- There's a toy shop called Joue Club in an arcade. Each shop in the arcade is a department of the shop. One shop is all Lego!
- there's an awesome sculpture of a huge head at the front of St Eustache church - you'll get to use that great line "What's that in the road? A head?". Kids climb on the sculpture. It's near an amazing haberdashery shop called La Drougerie.
-Sainte Chapelle is one really amazing tourist attraction to see. Read up about it first, so you can tell the kids that THIS is what the king insisted on for his private chapel.
- walk up the steps to Montmartre, and enjoy the fabulous graffiti and yarn bombing along the way. Take in the view from Sacre Couer. Don't go in - there's a priest who spends his whole day telling people to shush, and it's too sad. Watch out for all kinds of cons and scams, and don't donate to the "deaf" girls!
- down the hill from Montmartre you will find the fabric district. Brilliant!
- take the metro out to La Defense to see the modern arch. Some cool modern public art, including a giant thumb. Places to run. A huge Toys r Us, which is worth seeing. Best Lego display ever! Then hurry back to real Paris.
- take the RER to Versailles, and you don't really need to pay to go into the palace. You can go into the gardens the back way - its free on non-fountain running days. AND stroll around Versailles the town. We saw some of the best baking there. Do go into the palace if you want to - its awesome, but allow heaps of time, and it's so crowded.
- take the RER to St Germaine en Laye - a smaller town not far away. Go on market day. There's a huge bookshop called Univers de Livre (I think). Art supplies upstairs.
- teach the kids to order their own Pain au Chocolat - quite cheap and delish.
- Order hot chocolate anywhere. Its honestly not that good everywhere, but the kids will love it. Go to Angelina's for a real treat, but maybe save that for another visit.
- Take photos of movie posters
- Take photos of interesting door handles
- order crepes with nutella or with cheese

ME swimming in the harbour

2012-01-02T20:13:00.001+11:00

And I got to have a good swim too. Catriona even agreed to take a photo of me!

Yes swimming in the boat harbour

2012-01-02T20:11:00.000+11:00

We've visited Hillary's boat harbour for the second day in a row - this time prepared for swimming. This is why we were determined to go back - there's a floating platform in the harbour, with steps and a slide! Kids can freely climb up and slide in (on the other side they are jumping in too). There's life savers nearby, but basically it's just an unregulated activity, and it was running really smoothly all day! Good long swim to get to the slide too.

No swimming on the boardwalk

2012-01-01T16:54:00.000+11:00

... in the water, though, sure.

A Perth maze!

2012-01-01T14:43:00.000+11:00

At The Maze in Bullsbrook, Thomas meets a peacock!

Happy new year!

2012-01-01T00:04:00.001+11:00

From the sparkler-mad Laings! Best of luck, health and happiness for 2012.

Collage project part 4

2011-12-30T21:11:00.001+11:00

Here's another collage - these Derwent tinted charcoal pencils are nice. I found out that my set is missing white, and has two dark blues instead! Horrors! It was a sealed set, too. Have to grumble to someone. But hey, we'll cope. The little square stamp is a Cathy Daulman one from My Stamps. Abstract stamps are A Good Thing.

Collage project part 3

2011-12-30T21:06:00.001+11:00

And here's the ice cream scoop again, paired with pen, water colour paint, gesso, and small stamps I've brought.

Christmas collage project part 2

2011-12-30T21:04:00.000+11:00

Jeff was sweet enough to give me a cute stamp set he'd seen me admiring - an ice cream cone and scoops, from Kikki K. Here's my take on it (made with the basic materials I'd brought along, and found along the way).

All of the text comes from the Doctor Nurse trashy romance novel I bought here last year.

A Christmas treat

2011-12-30T21:00:00.001+11:00

Being the only vegetarian at Christmas lunch does come with some responsibility. It's not enough to say "all those vegies look great, that's enough for me" even if it's true! And it is. Nana's vegies are world class. You have to make something, and it has to look awesome, so everyone knows you are having a treat.

So this year I had a go at making a spinach and ricotta filo spiral, and it looked JUST like the one in the recipe. Totally easy to make. But don't tell anyone.

Ooh, that reminds me, a little filo pastry left, we can make an apple turnover too.

All the Laing kids

2011-12-27T18:28:00.000+11:00

It's one of those things that's supposed to be easy to achieve - all the kids are playing here at Nana's house, so why not get a nice photo of all of them? Problem is, if you ASK them all to line up and pose, you have no chance of genuine smiles all round. Unless you are an actual good photographer, anyway.

So when I was cooking and noticed all eight kids playing various games in one room, I pounced. Left to right, we have : Xanthe, Catriona, Jonathan (on floor), Mitchell (on chair), Jessamy, James, Thomas and Connor.

My work here is done.

And the it goes

2011-12-26T19:21:00.001+11:00

For reference, everyone promised to take a break from snacking after this. I know I will.

Next year' project? Suggestions have been a Mexican pyramid, or the leaning tower of Pisa.

Gang's all here 2

2011-12-26T19:18:00.001+11:00

And here's the group with Jonathan, but now I've managed to miss Xanthe. Sigh.

The gang's all here!

2011-12-26T19:16:00.001+11:00

And it only took a pyramids load of lollies to do it. Here are all the Aussie Laing kids in one place. Umm, kind of. I'll be posting two photos today, and between them they include all the kids.

Here from left to right we have : Jonathan (hiding), Thomas (in crown), Mitchell (green top), Connor (tall), James (white shirt), Jessamy (pink shirt), Catriona (green shirt), and Xanthe (black bathers).

Do admire the pyramid - it didn't last long after this!

Gingerbread pyramid - the other side

2011-12-26T16:14:00.001+11:00

Here it is from the other side - there's a treasure chest ( I made that, but Catriona assembled it for me). In the bottom right corner we can see a cactus. You know, those Egyptian cactuses.

Gingerbread camels

2011-12-26T16:11:00.001+11:00

Here's the two camels Catriona and Thomas cut out by hand. One has three wise jelly babies riding it, and the other has a green passenger.

The gingerbread pyramid - finished!

2011-12-26T16:10:00.001+11:00

Here's a view of the gingerbread pyramid. There's some stuff going on on the other side too.

Gingerbread pyramid - more Lollies!

2011-12-26T16:08:00.001+11:00

Catriona, Xanthe and Jessamy stick Smarties, freckles, jelly babies and jelly snakes on the four sides of the pyramid.

Gingerbread pyramid - decorating the outside

2011-12-26T16:05:00.001+11:00

Here's Jonathan, James, Catriona and Jessamy placing decorations on the outside of the gingerbread pyramid. We're using royal icing of course - it sets hard like glue - delicious glue.

Gingerbread pyramid under construction

2011-12-26T16:01:00.000+11:00

We have all the nieces and nephews here again, so it's time to finish the gingerbread pyramid.

Here it is under construction. You will notice the inside is full of treasure, and also SNAKES! They are getting sealed inside.

Gingerbread pyramid well on the way...

2011-12-24T14:02:00.001+11:00

Here's some of the pyramid sides, all baked. Looking good so far.

The 2011 gingerbread house project

2011-12-24T14:01:00.001+11:00

It's Christmas in Perth, and once again we're making a gingerbread house! It's a favorite kid project. We're spinning it out to maximize the fun and involvement.

Yesterday Catriona, Xanthe and I shopped for the decorations - Dollar Sweets make sprinkles in gold and silver this year! We discussed the shape of the house. Jonathan wanted it to be full of lolly snakes. Like, FULL. We hit on the idea of a pyramid!

Also yesterday, I made the dough and popped it in the fridge for chilling. We were going to bake too, but Jeff and I decided to go to the movies. Like you do.

Today Catriona, Jonathan, Thomas and I rolled, cut and baked.

The holiday collage project begins

2011-12-23T19:12:00.001+11:00

Last year in Perth I had fun making ATCs (that's artist's trading cards). This year I'm trying again. All I've brought from home is neatly cut cards, glue, scissors, pencils, a little tub of gesso, and what's left of the trashy romance novel I bought at an op shop last year. And some small stamps. And black ink.

All the other material I'm using is scrounged here - newspaper magazines and the like.

This is the first finished card (not counting the one I don't want to show). No, her grumpy attitude is not mine, it's just a good phrase I found in the book.

This years pencils are Derwent tinted charcoal pencils, so we're going to have a rather earthy palette. And messy fingers.

Jessamy the easy photography subject

2011-12-23T19:05:00.001+11:00

Some kids like smiling for the camera, some can't handle it. Jessamy is a dynamo of energy, but will smile prettily on cue any day.

Thomas and Jonathan yinning and yanging

2011-12-23T16:05:00.000+11:00

Here's Thomas (13, in white) and Jonathan (also 13, in black). There's no symbolism to the white and black - these guys are both pretty wicked.

Also, Cheese and Vegemite rolls for lunch today!

Three girls jump!

2011-12-23T15:57:00.000+11:00

Here's Xanthe, Jessamy and Catriona doing a synchronized leap.

Shhh Jessamy!

2011-12-23T15:56:00.000+11:00

Here's Jessamy (10) taking a brief break from talking ( well, she does have excellent talking skills, and you have to go with what you're good at).

James and Mitchell cool off

2011-12-23T15:55:00.000+11:00

Here's James (7) and Mitchell (12) with that bane of summer holidays - a computer game! It's a constant struggle to get them doing Other Stuff, but there are some games they play together, which is cool.

Xanthe leaping

2011-12-23T15:52:00.001+11:00

Here's Xanthe (12) leaping into the pool. This lady is fabulously well read - she liked Pride and Prejudice more than Sense and Sensibility. But likes Twilight too.

Connor by the pool

2011-12-23T15:50:00.000+11:00

This is Connor (14) about to jump in. Barbecue for dinner tonight!

Thomas in the pool

2011-12-23T15:49:00.000+11:00

The next few posts will be photos of kids in Perth, specially with Aunty Sandii in mind. It's an Aussie Christmas, hot and humid. Here's Thomas (13) cooling off in the pool.

What do Aussies like to eat?

2011-12-22T18:21:00.001+11:00

Well, chips, and also Vegemite. So let's combine them - we can't lose!

And yet this flavour of chips seems to be going down in history as the least popular ever. The sign says discounted from 50c to 20c, but before that they were $1, and before that $1.50.

Poor Smiths. Next time stick with salted.

Nice coffee in Fremantle

2011-12-22T18:15:00.001+11:00

Pretty cup and saucer too!

Tablet for Christmas!

2011-12-18T13:18:00.001+11:00

Time to give Tablet - and I don't mean tablet computers, either! This is proper Scottish fudge (way better than 'normal' fudge, this will spoil you for life).

Today I tried making it in the usual slice tray, and the last little bits into mini muffin pans. They have set perfectly!

I monitored the temperature as I stirred, and turned the heat off when the mixture got to about 116 degrees Celcius (240 degrees Farenheit). That's a bit hotter than recipes normally state, but I think that's the way my thermometer skews.

Oh, yes, and THIS is my thermometer. It clicks into a silicone spatula, and of course comes apart for washing. I bought it in Paris. I hope you are envious!

Fancy the recipe? Here it is, exactly as my Mum wrote it out for me.
Recipe for Scottish Tablet (Fudge)
Ingredients

1 kg sugar
1 cup milk
250g butter
tin condensed milk
vanilla essence

Method

Place sugar and milk in a large saucepan, cook over a gentle heat until all the sugar is melted. Stir as you go but not too vigorously as the sugar should not coat the side of the pan.

Add the butter and the condensed milk, return to boil and boil vigorously with stirring until the fudge is ready. This takes about 30 minutes, and you must stir all the time. Test a little trickled into a cup of iced water – it should make a soft ball.

Remove from stove, add vanilla essence and beat like crazy till it is lovely and fudgey looking (half a minute or so will be enough). Pour quickly into a greased tray and mark into squares. Leave to set.

Variations : you can add a couple of teaspoons of cocoa powder if you want chocolate fudge, also you can add crushed walnuts.

Court Jester Catriona

2011-12-14T22:12:00.001+11:00

Just to show how annoyingly talented my daughter is, here she is in her hand made Court Jester costume. SHE hand made it all, bought the fabric with her pocket money, everything.

Bleah. I was supposed to be the talented one.

Oh well, nice work, I suppose, Catriona.

Christmas Macaron Magic!

2011-12-14T22:09:00.001+11:00

Purple Macarons to say Merry Christmas!

And it would be a Christmas miracle if I managed to bake a whole batch I was happy with, so here's a cautionary illustration:

This shows 10 minute, 11 minute and 12 minute cooking times. When I say they are delicate, I'm not kidding!

Oh no, smashed bike helmet!

2011-12-03T15:21:00.000+11:00

Poor Jonathan!

Of course, it got broken when he dropped it on the floor in a shopping centre. We'll get a new one before we ride home!

Christmas specials!

2011-12-03T11:53:00.000+11:00

I love those Christmas prices!

It's green, you know...

2011-12-03T11:16:00.001+11:00

What do you want to see first, the work Christmas party, or a cool bug?

Yeah, me too!

This is a cool cicada Jonathan found on the Green Waste bin this morning. Made my day, just a little bit.

Put on your party shoes, paint the town ... green?

2011-11-30T23:06:00.001+11:00

Work Christmas party tomorrow night! Jeff and I work together, so we are both double-invited! Always a pleasure to go to these events - the boss enjoys good food, and MAKES good wine (Gentle Annie boutique winery, look it up), so we always enjoy the night.

This year is special.

First, it's on a boat.

Second, we have lots of female employees this year. It's been a good year for recruitment. Naturally, all the tech women had a meeting today to discuss the important issue of - what to wear! We agreed to go for dresses, as elegant as possible.

I nipped out to my fave clothing shop at lunch time, not expecting success, but found a terrific silky green dress. My favourite green too.

But I don't have any suitable shoes. Really not a big shoe person. I do have these sort of silver flats that are very comfy. But they don't match at all.

So I whipped out my tiny bottle of Golden Paint's "Green Gold" and gave these shoes a quick green makeover. I'm delighted with the results!

Happy Birthday John!

2011-11-29T20:42:00.001+11:00

It's John's birthday today, and I made HIM a card too. Had to make it last week to get it in the mail.

I had fun colouring this with Copic markers.

Happy Birthday John!

Happy Birthday Emma!

2011-11-22T21:05:00.001+11:00

Emma's birthday - and that's a nice opportunity to make a card. What would she like, a pretty one? A funny one? One with a pun?

Actually she's so nice she would say nice things about anything sent to her, so I decided to indulge and make a SUPER GRUNGY one!

I've used my Belgian stamps, some new Aussie stamps by Kaiser (fabulous backgrounds), and some Stampin' Up ones too (the bird, eggs, bug and cage). And that grid-patterned tape is Japanese Washi tape, which I brought back from Paris! I'm sure you can get it here now, but THIS is from Paris.

Best of luck with the freelance writing, Emma!

Snail Pellets - STAT!

2011-11-22T21:00:00.001+11:00

Got home late on Saturday and tiptoed into the kitchen for a glass of water. THIS MONSTER was at eye level. An icky, urky, ooey, gooey, SNAIL (one of many, I might add) all over the glass door that leads to the garden.

All on the outside of course, but still...

It was hard to recover and get to sleep...

Jeff comes out of the tunnel

2011-11-13T11:10:00.000+11:00

We are almost done on the Eastlink ride!

About to start the Eastlink ride

2011-11-13T09:11:00.000+11:00

Destination Ringwood

2011-11-06T11:37:00.000+11:00

Yes! We managed a good long bike ride, all the way to Ringwood. There's a new Maccas here so we get a treat, refill the water bottle, and head home. Well done boys! One day we'll manage it with less treat and more ride.

Release Ninja!

2011-11-05T19:44:00.000+11:00

I work at a software company - we write awesome software that cable TV companies would use. This week was a release week - we spent all week testing, fixing, and preparing everything. The dude who comes to the fore in Release Week is Kai, who actually builds the release.

Now, a computer program is made of heaps of bits, and many people work on them. And we keep every version of every bit. So at release time, someone has to pick out which version of each bit is set to go right now. That's Kai. It's not straightforward, because people are making last minute changes, and some are working ahead on the next version already.

We decided Kai needed a great title. "Release Manager" was taken - that's a whole different job, negotiating with customers about who wants what feature, and when. Management. Yawn. Kai needed a way more exciting title for his interesting IT job. So he's now the :

RELEASE NINJA!

I made him a card, and Jeff and I game him a little present - the ninja in this Lego set is called Kai!

An otter

2011-11-01T15:48:00.001+11:00

Not running in this year's Melbourne Cup.

An armadillo...

2011-11-01T15:01:00.000+11:00

... Missing the Illo - it's running in the Cup. We're at the museum, by the way.

It peels SHARKS!

2011-10-29T10:00:00.000+11:00

Oh, wait, it's a vegetable peeler. I'm not so interested now...

Anyway, why would you want a vegie peeler that peels vegies the way a shark would? Sharks don't!

And there they go

2011-10-23T11:30:00.000+11:00

Currently in second place! In this race of two! Both cars going well though.

The sun's out!

2011-10-23T11:24:00.000+11:00

We're at Scienceworks racing solar cars- Go Hell's Angles!

Raven Meets Mrs Swan-for-a-Head

2011-10-22T20:00:00.000+11:00

I've lately been making an art doll for a swap. She is supposed to represent an animal - "The Animal in Me". I achieved this by taking the head off a Barbie doll, adding a head from a swan, and adding an elaborate costume made of paper, and a cool paint job. It's been fun. My doll is ready to send to the recipient, but due to a twist of fate, I still have her here. And the doll sent to me has already arrived! She is Raven, a devastatingly elegant creation in black.

This is so cool - they are playing together and getting along so well. Let's sneak into the art room and watch...

Mrs Swan-for-a-Head: "Hey, Raven, wanna hear a secret?"

Raven: "I suppose so..."

Mrs Swan-for-a-Head: "HOOONNNKKKKK!!"

Raven: "You're leaving soon, right?"

In a side note, I really need to think of a better name for my doll.

Mrs Swan-for-a-Head

2011-10-22T18:34:00.001+11:00

I have finished making my art doll - she's for a swap. She has the head of a swan, and the body of a Barbie.

Here she is being made :

The ribbons and stuff are all materials I was considering using. The skirt is here in half-done form. Torn dictionary pages and paint (of course).

And here she is done - WOW! She few right up into that tree in my garden!

My favourite detail - a natty bodice!

How can we not love that swanny face? Delicate lace collar hides the inelegant seam... And all topped off with a smart button hat.

Nice Torso!

2011-10-16T16:52:00.002+11:00

I went to Picture to Page, the local scrapbooking show, yesterday, and met Cathy Daulman. She had been telling us (at SERS) about a great new mould she'd made. Yes, a mould, for casting shapes in. That meant she'd carved the original - it was a lot of work. But this the result - a classy torso, cast in quality plaster, for sale at the show, and, I'm sure, from My Stamps.

See, nice classic look, not too anatomical.

So far I've painted it black (just a good base colour - it won't stay black)...

And I've selected a few bits and bobs that looked like they wanted in on this project.

This is a small cake tin, suited to making Financiers and other fancy cakes - it was a bit rusty when I rescued it from trash and treasure-dom, so I never did use it to bake. Just had to add that, because I want to assure you that my reverence for all baked goods is intact. Here it's roughly painted, but that'll get covered.

And here's a swan. Well, most of one. The head got used in another project , which I must post pictures of properly...

Swanny came from a garage sale too. While elegant, he was pretty messy, and definitely ready for the altering table.

A little crusty bread for dinner

2011-10-14T18:00:00.000+11:00

Who's coming over? I baked!

Tupperware develops kitchen iPad holder

2011-09-25T11:08:00.002+10:00

Just thought I'd share the latest kitchen gadget - a Tupperware Fridgesmart "long" container holds an iPad really nicely when you are referring to a recipe.

Thomas made a Narwhal

2011-09-25T11:05:00.002+10:00

And he didn't even have to, he's just awesome like that.

Yes, we do keep a supply of googly eyes in the house at all times for just such porpoises.

I made a card!

2011-09-05T21:49:00.004+10:00

There ya go, threw every technique I know at it. I had fun. Used it to justify buying a few more Copic markers.

Creative Weekend part 2 - a comic!

2011-09-05T21:45:00.003+10:00

Thomas and I did a comic - I did the first three frames, he finished it. Now, I thought this was going to be a comic about "Brontus the crime fighting Brontosaurus" (which locally makes sense). But it turned out to be about Bronty. Who got shot. Ah violence.

Creative weekend!

2011-09-05T21:41:00.004+10:00

Well, it was Trash and Treasure at the scout hall. $3 bought me a bag of goodies, including some bulldog clips, a working fountain pen with ink, three excellent artists pencils, and some ratty old crayons. Which I recycled into pretty new crayons! A fun project, but a little messy, might not do that one again...

Oh, and a creepy giraffe toy with removable head. Hmmm.

Barbie's swan song

2011-08-20T19:40:00.006+10:00

I'm working on an altered doll (why? Too hard to explain, just go with it). Here's a little progress.

I started with taking the head off a Barbie doll (had to learn how to do that - here's my handy notes).

Next I sorted through my collection of creepy toys (click on the Creepy Toys tag in this blog to see some of the main offenders). I picked a darling swan, which came with me to a Michael De Meng workshop in 2008, and emerged unscathed.

Now it's 2011.

Uh-oh, this isn't going to end well...

Oh, yes, I can see where this is going now...

This doll has a special feature I wasn't expecting though. Funny looking nubbins on her back. It's going to be a bother to file them off. Luckily I took the time to find out what they were...

Turns out this particular doll can FLY! I've made her new wings already.

More orange glut ideas

2011-08-06T10:40:00.005+10:00

Just to show I'm serious about eating my way through the orange glut ... orange macarons! I've made a few batches of orange ones now.

I've added an "oranges" tag, so click on that for all the orange ideas I've thought to post so far.

Dealing with the Orange Glut

2011-08-06T10:33:00.005+10:00

Did you know we have an orange glut in Australia right now? All that rain in summer caused top growing conditions. Orchardists are backing trucks up to their trees and driving them away fully laden with prime, juicy oranges.

Which is awesome.

Except that people tend to eat the same number of oranges as they did last year, and the year before. Folks, we have to help! Oranges are cheap and excellent, and we can all afford to eat more wholesome fruit, eh?

Here's an idea. I zested an orange (with a really fine zester), dried out the zest just a little (an hour sitting on a plate), then dropped it into a sealed canister with some tea leaves. I I made a pot of tea this morning with it, and it was quite yum. I think I need a canister of lemon, one of lime, and one of mandarin now.

Like my gorgeous vintage spoon? It's actually a fork, but hey. Makes the photo look extra cool.

How to take the head off a Barbie doll

2011-07-23T12:59:00.009+10:00

Maybe you are a Mum needing to mend Barbie after a "haircut". Maybe you are a fastidious collector wanting to make yourcollector doll pristine again. Or maybe you just need to replace Barbie's head with a lizard head. You will need to get Barbie's head off first, and it's not that easy. This post is for you!

Here's the photo you need - it shows what's going on inside the neck attachment. As you can see, we have a round base, then a "T" shaped hook. Barbie's head fits very snugly over these, and to get the head off intact, you will need to ease it over both obstacles.

The trick is to boil Barbie's head! Dunk the whole head into hot water to soften the plastic, and you will find it has just enough give to get it off. You could also try a warm hair dryer, especially if you don't want to spoil Barbie's 'do'. This should result in an intact head and a body. Special note - apparently Ken's head it quite differently attached, and this method won't work. That's gotta be a metaphor.

Once you have Barbie's head off, you can do fun stuff like this!

Nice day for a Drop Day

2011-07-15T14:03:00.011+10:00

It's the end of the school holidays, and I've challenged the kids to a Drop Day. That's like a Drop Night, something they do at Scouts (or at least, at Venturers, the older age group).

Here's how a Drop Night works. A leader drives you to an unknown location, an

d you have to make your way back to the scout hall. Where a delicious supper is usually waiting, of course. The participants use public transport, navigation skills, any maps they can find, and their general charm to complete the task.

Drop Day is similar, but 1. It happens in the day 2. Your mum drops you off 3. She picks somewhere nice.

It was a chilly, chilly morning when

we set out, but we weren't bothered. The forecast promised 15 degrees and sunny, which is an excellent winter day.

Jonathan (red) and Thomas (black) try to puzzle out where they are. Hint:

it's Prahran Market. Other hint: they'd heard a train whistle before I'd parked the car, so the transport will be no mystery.

Things we didn't know about Drop Day - we didn't think it would include ice cream! Fritz Gelato at Prahran Market has a terrific range. Catriona smugly enjoys her pre-Drop treat.

Mum's Drop Day treat - Cointreau and chocolate macaron. Lovely coffee, but the mac - oh my, it's hollow and dry inside. Try harder, bakers.

"So can we go now?" ask the boys. Off they went. They raced home, and made it in around an hour. Catriona took way longer, travelled to the city, browsed at Melbourne Central, and had Lord of the Fries for lunch.

I stayed and enjoyed the market. I met a pastrychef who used to work at Laduree in Paris (this is why you must say hello to everyone you meet!). He told me how to fix my flaky macaron lids - put some water UNDER the baking paper. Whoa. And tap the tray to get the bubbles out, but not one big bang for the whole tray, it needs to be more personal.

Fashion in Paris 2011

2011-07-07T22:20:00.008+10:00

I'm often asked "So, Pauline, since you have been to Paris, what are the fashion looks we must be ready for?".

Actually, no, people tend not to come to me for fashion advice.

But here's some anyway! I did take a few fashion photos, and I can tell you just what you will be needing this summer.

First of all, awesome printed fabrics. This cool skirt has tigers on it!

Cardigans are hot (we always knew they were cosy...)

Unmatching pieces seem to go together just fine this year...

This peacock pattern is another obvious "awesome fabric".

Orange is really big... even I bought an orange shirt.

Those awful bubble skirts are back, but only on pretty women who look great in them.

Beige is in... beige beige beige...

Men are wearing spectacularly effeminate gear, and getting away with it, but that's not so likely to take of here.

Children are in. As fashion accessories, and as excuses to redecorate your home. Saw some terribly well dressed kids, still managing to run and giggle like normal kids.

And here's another excellent fabric. This green is my favourite colour, so I do see it everywhere.

And as for shoes ... yes, they are in. I made Jeff very happy when we visited Printemps (that's David Jones) and I walked right past the wonderland of shoes, to get to the toys!

Mandarin Macarons - I think I've done it!

2011-06-25T10:50:00.002+10:00

After a few OK attempts, I think I have nice macarons now. These are shamelessly copied from a FABulous mandarin macaron Jeff and I had at Angelina in Paris.

There's reduced mandarin juice in the white chocolate ganache, and mandarin zest in the shell.

And I found out the secret of getting the really bright colours.

You use a lot of food colouring. Who knew? This is half a teaspoon or so of orange Wiltons gel food colouring.

And the way to stop the cracking was to turn the oven DOWN. I was using 140 (fan forced) and I dropped it to 120 degrees. I also popped a thermometer into the oven, to see what temperature it was REALLY at. Turns out that 120 on the dial, and fan forced, gives us 140 in the oven. And I baked only one tray at a time (there were 7 trays!). Watched Flash Gordon while I shuffled trays.

Now the issue is the big air pocket under the perfect top of the shell. Look at that top macaron in the stack - some of them you can see right through! So that's not perfect. We're in the right ballpark though.

Pretty, pretty stamp set

2011-06-19T18:29:00.002+10:00

I bought these new stamps from Stampin Up, cos they are so pretty. And, to make them worth while, I had a go at using them straight away. As you must.

I've used a little masking, and favourite colours, and apart from that, not much in the way of clever tricks.

A winter toadstool

2011-06-19T18:24:00.002+10:00

There's a cool toadstool in my garden. None of my kids were energetic enough to go all the way outside to look at them, so *I* was the only one who got to take the photo. Ha!

Salad for lunch

2011-06-11T19:29:00.003+10:00

This is the kind of lunch I like to make myself on my days off. Ripe tomatoes from the window, real herbs, plenty of greens, and a poached egg on top.

I just learned how to poach an egg in the microwave - so far, perfect every time! You get a little microwave safe jug or cup (I use one that is big enough for my slotted spoon to dip into). Put in a little splash of vinegar, then fill it enough with boiling water. Crack your eggy into it, then cook for about 40 seconds on high (that may need adjusting in your oven, of course). Lift it out with a big slotted spoon, and there you go!

Using my Belgian stamps

2011-06-05T22:41:00.007+10:00

I'm fond of papercrafts generally, and that includes rubber stamps. And that includes (confusingly) clear stamps, that are made of polymer, not rubber. And that includes clear stamps from Belgium. I just never knew until my recent Paris trip that there was such a thing as a Belgian stamp to like.

Well, once I found a shop called "Le Temple Du Scrap" I knew I was on the right track. There, and in a surprisingly well stocked bookshop in the Paris suburbs, is where I found by Belgian stamps (they are made by Artemio - good luck with the website). I'll dig the actual stamps our for a photo some other day, but here's what I made just now:

That rotten old grid paper I've used is actually pristine new cardstock, stamped with two paper-aging stamps - one has a grid design, and the other has aged edges that match. Sigh. There's even a hole! And the fruit comes from another set.

Do you remember when pears were the "in" thing in stamping? Now it's all birds and owls, but pears had their day, and we thought it would never end...

Ann-Marie taught me a great tip too. When I first used these clear stamps, they were stamping pretty badly. Wait, I'll show you...

Bleah, nobody would want to colour in THAT yucky berry!

When your brand new, clear polymer stamps are stamping badly, just run over the stamping surface with an eraser! Then give it a little clean and see the improvement. I've not had this problem before (but then, all my clear stamps have come from

My Stamps here in Melbourne).

Here's the strawberry after its eraser bath...

Hand me some markers, I need to colour that one!

There's more Lego in Melbourne!

2011-06-04T15:06:00.001+10:00

There's a big Lego exhibition just opened in fed square- Art of the Brick.
This is a super cool mosaic, which WE made a part of. That's Ryan, who designed it - he's a Lego professional, and that's a rare thing. His mum is my travel agent!

Prize winning coffee

2011-06-04T13:58:00.002+10:00

Jeff and I are having a spur of the moment visit to the Good Food Show. This is the prizewinning coffee in the latte art competition. I drank it. Well, they asked for a volunteer, and you have to be quick!

More macarons part 3

2011-06-03T12:09:00.004+10:00

You'd better read part 1 and part 2 first.

After reviewing the data from the first two batches, I decided that the middle of the oven is clearly the place to be, but you obviously need some company. SO, for my final trays, I put the best looking tray in the middle, and they slightly shonky one (some of my trays are not very flat) on the bottom.

And what happened?

The middle tray rose to the occasion, and was perfect, just like the first tray!

And the shonky tray was no worse than any of the others.

So, what do we learn here?

- Ovens are weird

- I need some more flat trays

- I certainly can make enough pretty macarons for a plate, but I always get lots of lunchbox bikkies along with them!

- oh, and I should really learn how to use colouring

I'm going to fill these with ganache. Fun to make, fun to say. GaNASH!

More macarons part 2

2011-06-03T12:06:00.003+10:00

You'd better read part one first, OK?

I reviewed the data from the first batch of baking, and determined my plan for baking the rest of the trays (I had a whopping six trays in the kitchen).

I decided I like the middle tray best, so next round of baking only had a middle tray. Just one tray in the oven.

And they didn't come out perfect! They got these annoying cracks. Hmm.

Stay tuned for the third batch. Won't be long.

More macarons

2011-06-03T11:51:00.007+10:00

Trying to iron out the bugs in my macaron baking procedure (yes, it's my day off and I'm still debugging). This is tricky!

I baked several trays at the same time. The different trays came out so differently! I'm posting the photos so Jeff can get debugging too.

Here's one from the middle tray. Practically perfect in every way (well, it was supposed to be bright orange, but that's an issue for another day).

Here's one from the bottom tray. They should have been the same, but they are cracked - not all over, just single cracks on each biscuit. Hmm.

Whoa, what's with the top tray? They're curling up? They have spread out considerably more, and the edge ones ended up browned. I'm going to say the tip of this oven is too hot.

Stay tuned for part 2. Real soon.

Melbourne Made Macarons

2011-05-22T12:56:00.004+10:00

Well, apparently you can make them in THIS country too. So having recovered (a bit) from jet lag, Jeff and I had a go at making Paris style macarons at home.

The challenges :

- apparently Aussie almond meal is a bit wetter than european, so we dried it a bit in the still-warm-from-something-else oven. Can't say it made much difference.
- egg white in this country comes in EGGS, not (as in our class) in litre bottles. So we had to work out how many to crack to get 2 lots of 80 grams of white. Five, it turns out.
- what filling to use? Chocolate ganache promises good results, but surely this Caramel Buerre Sale (salted butter) can't be that hard to make?
- what heat and cooking time? Gotta adjust for the fan forced oven, and they are all a little different of course.

Everything went pretty much to plan - making Italian Merinque is a complete doddle if you have a good mixer, and a thermometer. Our almond meal is possibly more coarse than it should be - a whiz first would have helped.

The first tray got cooked for 12 minutes at exactly half way between 120 and 160 on our dial (which I hesitantly say must be 140, but it's not marked). Looked good, a little hard to get the bikkies off the tray. So we bumped up to 14 minutes, and it was perfect.

Then I started filling them. Hmm, this caramel is a bit tough, isn't it? Hope it's runny enough to be a filling.

A few minutes later - whoa, this caramel is runny, isn't it? Hope it's firm enough to be a filling.

A few minutes later - help, the tops are sliding off the bases!

Finally - well, they seem to have settled down now. Definitely need to make the filling a tad more firm. Here's a nice result.

And for future reference, here's what happens if the caramel is too runny. Drips all over the counter. Oh no, what shall we do (schlurp, schlurp).

What do they taste like? Pretty darned nice!

The future

2011-05-16T17:52:00.000+10:00

Actually this shot shows you the Future a bit. Note that in the Future, there will be Oracle. That's a computer programmers joke.

Heading home

2011-05-16T17:50:00.001+10:00

We're at Charles de Gaulle airport, better known as the cover of the Alan Parsons Projects 'I Robot' cover. I'm sitting under one of the tube escalators, in the Future.

Judging at the Fete du Pain

2011-05-16T14:56:00.001+10:00

Because it's near "home" for us, we had a second visit to the Bread Festival at Notre Dame. This is one of the bakers in the viennoisserie section getting judged. The judge weighed each and every pastry, and called out the weights to his scribe (who was noting it all into a laptop). Then selected pastries got cut in half for viewing. A very professional judge.

If it was me, it would have been :

"Now, cut that one in half. Now, hand me the left half. Oh, regarde over there! (om nom nom) Now hand me the right half..."

Paris flea markets

2011-05-16T14:46:00.000+10:00

Here's a sight from the very elegant part of the famous Paris Flea Markets. We used the market map, and made a point of visiting the different parts - there are a number of "marches". The one people usually send home photos of is full of gorgeous frou-frou stuff. Then we found the more quirky and recent vintage stuff. Then we found the the junk-y mixed old stuff. Then we found (along the street, and not actually in the market) an illegal market! As we passed through, the word went around, and all the vendors picked up their blankets of stuff and disappeared. Well. That was a nice mix of markets.
Didn't buy anything at any of them though. For me, Sunday at Marche Aligre was a proper treasure market.

At Parc Bercy

2011-05-15T23:56:00.000+10:00

Just stepped out of a fancy shop area to a pretty park. With Wifi.

Hotel room collage number 4

2011-05-15T17:05:00.001+10:00

Bought some kids stamps. Quite cute, hey?

Hotel room collage number 3

2011-05-15T17:05:00.000+10:00

This are tic tacs, by the way. Any sense made by any French words I paste on is entirely conincidental.

Hotel room collage number 2

2011-05-15T17:03:00.001+10:00

Keeping the hands busy while Paris wakes up...

Hotel room collage number 1

2011-05-15T17:03:00.000+10:00

See, you can make collages in your hotel room with no materials to speak of- I packed a pen and some Inktense pencils.

And now some art

2011-05-15T15:52:00.000+10:00

In case you think we are slacking off and eating food all day, we DID make time to visit an art exhibition yesterday. Pretty quick visit, there was only one sculpture, but it was a doozy! This is the fourth annual Monumenta exhibition, where the Grand Palais invite an artist to make one awesome thing that does justice to their awesome venue. Anish Kapoor from the UK has filled it with this inflatable gorgeous monster - you can go inside too! And walk all the way around. Wish we could be here on deflating day!

It looks like a huge student prank - "Yes, very clever Mr Kapoor, now YOU can work out how to get it out!".

Cool coffee cups!

2011-05-15T15:43:00.002+10:00

Seen the very cool porcelain crumpled cups from Revol? Go look them up now if you haven't. We bought some seven years ago here, because they were so ... unique. Now they are in all the posh shops, so not all that unique, but since they come in gorgeous colours and finishes now, they are still highly desirable.
Then we discovered this. McDonalds have commissioned their own line, and are giving then away if you buy enough food!

Tete a tete

2011-05-15T15:37:00.000+10:00

I admit, I didn't try everything at the food show.

A food show. In Paris!

2011-05-15T15:36:00.000+10:00

What's this? Free invitations to a food show? Sounds ok to me! We picked up a couple of postcards way back at the macaron class, and made a diary note about "Salon Saveurs". Turned out it was a quick ride on the metro, a little further than you would normally go, to the equivalent of Jeff's Shed. Or actually more like Caulfield Racecourse, except without the racecourse. And inside - just like food shows I've been to at home, but with gorgeous foods I haven't tried before. Alright, THIS photo shows Parmesan, which I do believe we've tasted in the past. But we tried artisan bread from Raoul Maeder (whoa!), and spicy cakes, and crunchy macarons, and fruit jellies, and Quernons d'Ardoise (praline coated in blue chocolate, but that didn't put me off one bit!). What a day!
These are a regular event - so, let's look up the next one when we plan our next trip, hey?

Unbelievably amazing patisserie

2011-05-15T05:36:00.000+10:00

Here's a "macaronade" from a small patisserie in Versailles. Yes, that is gold leaf on the garnish. The golden shell is actually just cardboard, but the whole base of the pastry is chocolate dipped. Its a good thing the excesses of Versailles are a thing of the past.

Tortoise and iguana fountain

2011-05-15T05:31:00.000+10:00

Yes, tortoises, iguanas and frogs, all ready to spit water for the King's pleasure. But today's not a fountain day at Versailles.