Thursday, March 14, 2013
Birthday party
My little boy turned one a week ago so there was plenty of baking and cooking for the celebration.
Monday, March 4, 2013
Bread pudding
Lately, I've tried a number of recipes from Small Plates & Sweet Treats by Aran Goyoaga of Cannelle et Vanille fame. I'm glad I bought the book, I like the recipes, the tastes, combinations, photos (scrumptious photos!!) - and most importantnly, the results.
Although this is the last one I tried, I'll mention it first. Aran has a recipe for a bread pudding made from brioche. I didn't have brioche to make it but I used stale bread instead. I forgot to take into consideration that brioche is probably a bit heavier than bread, so my first pudding was a bit dry. I rectified that by soaking it with coffee. I will always find an excuse to use coffee. ;-)
In my second attempt, I used less bread, and it was just perfect. Both times, we ate it in a day, so that says something.
There's just one thing - there are chocolate chips mentioned in the ingredients list, but they are not mentioned in the instructions. I didn't have them so I didn't use any, but I imagine you'd simply add them to the mix before pouring it into the model. But even without them, the pudding is delish.
Oh, and this was my first pudding ever. We don't have a habbit of making bread pudding in Slovenia. We mostly use stale bread for French toast. So this is a new, tasteful way of using stale bread. A recipe I'll use times and again, I'm sure.
Although this is the last one I tried, I'll mention it first. Aran has a recipe for a bread pudding made from brioche. I didn't have brioche to make it but I used stale bread instead. I forgot to take into consideration that brioche is probably a bit heavier than bread, so my first pudding was a bit dry. I rectified that by soaking it with coffee. I will always find an excuse to use coffee. ;-)
In my second attempt, I used less bread, and it was just perfect. Both times, we ate it in a day, so that says something.
There's just one thing - there are chocolate chips mentioned in the ingredients list, but they are not mentioned in the instructions. I didn't have them so I didn't use any, but I imagine you'd simply add them to the mix before pouring it into the model. But even without them, the pudding is delish.
Oh, and this was my first pudding ever. We don't have a habbit of making bread pudding in Slovenia. We mostly use stale bread for French toast. So this is a new, tasteful way of using stale bread. A recipe I'll use times and again, I'm sure.
Monday, February 25, 2013
Blogger award
The wonderful honigdesign thinks I deserve a blogger award. This really means a lot to me and it's an encouragement to keep finding the time to post when that's become a real struggle lately with my little boy keeping me insanely busy.
honigdesign has a gorgeous party dress on her blog now and she'll be giving away the pattern for it shortly. Go check it out, I promise, it's worth your time!
(Also, honigdesign, your comments are vanishing from my blog but it seems that the one I left on your post Peek-a-boo Pink disappeared too. If you read this, please, don't think I'm ignoring you, it's just the Blogger's silly trick. I really enjoy your blog and am grateful for this award!)
So, here are the award's rules:
1) Thank and link back to the awesome person who nominated you. 2)
Share seven things about yourself. 3) Nominate ten other bloggers and
comment on their blogs to let them know. Easy!
1) Thanks again, an awesome person indeed, and one with a stylish, inspiring blog!
2) 7 things:
- I work as a freelance translator, but have little work at the moment because of the financial crisis
- My mother tongue is Slovene
- I love everything Scandinavian (I gave my son a Swedish name) and Australian (two opposites in terms of the weather, at least)
- I love love love cooking (I guess that's obvious from my blog) and eating
- I used to collect celebrity wedding pictures
- Besides sewing and cooking, my other favourite hobby that I hope will one day become my 'day job' is writing, and you can read more about that on my other blog
- My favourite city is Paris.
3) I follow many blogs, but less than half of them are about sewing, crafting etc., the majority is about writing and stuff that has little to do with crafts, so I'll adjust the rules a bit and only pick seven blogs:
Thursday, February 21, 2013
Ocean skirt
Another sewing project from the same Burda issue as last time.
I needed a simple, A-line skirt (fits best). I had some left over fabric from my maternity dress from last year. Then I saw the pattern in the October Burda and decided to give it a go even though it was marked as difficult. It didn't seem too complicated at first sight, but it turned out the difficulty was in how exact you had to be with the seams for the pockets.
I used the wrong side of the fabric because it looks better (the right side is too shiny). I didn't follow the instructions but constructed the front part by myself. It wasn't very difficult but I made one mistake - I didn't topstitch the pocket openings and I had to do that once the skirt was already assembled. Difficult, I tell you.
I needed a simple, A-line skirt (fits best). I had some left over fabric from my maternity dress from last year. Then I saw the pattern in the October Burda and decided to give it a go even though it was marked as difficult. It didn't seem too complicated at first sight, but it turned out the difficulty was in how exact you had to be with the seams for the pockets.
I used the wrong side of the fabric because it looks better (the right side is too shiny). I didn't follow the instructions but constructed the front part by myself. It wasn't very difficult but I made one mistake - I didn't topstitch the pocket openings and I had to do that once the skirt was already assembled. Difficult, I tell you.
Monday, February 18, 2013
Ayse dress
Gosh, it's been a while, huh? Life's busy in my neck of the woods. I've been trying to sort out my job situation (no luck), deciding on the pros and cons of a PhD (major con is lack of time), having fun with my boy, reading, writing, and barely any sewing. :(
But ... but I finished this gorgeous dress back in December (just in time for New Year's).
I used this Burda pattern. I fell in love with it the second I saw it the October issue. I had the perfect fabric for it: Liberty Ayse Red from Tessuti. It's a wonderful wool-cotton blend that is terrific to work with. It's a bit scratchy on the skin if you're delicate, but I lined the dress and it's fantastic. I used Susan Kahlje's advice that she shares in her Craftsy class on couture dressmaking, such as I hand-stitched the zipper in, I used silk organza underlining, I made a muslin (first time ever that I bothered with it and it helped because I adjusted the back darts and the shoulder seams thanks to the muslin). It meant a lot of work, but it was worth it.
But ... but I finished this gorgeous dress back in December (just in time for New Year's).
I used this Burda pattern. I fell in love with it the second I saw it the October issue. I had the perfect fabric for it: Liberty Ayse Red from Tessuti. It's a wonderful wool-cotton blend that is terrific to work with. It's a bit scratchy on the skin if you're delicate, but I lined the dress and it's fantastic. I used Susan Kahlje's advice that she shares in her Craftsy class on couture dressmaking, such as I hand-stitched the zipper in, I used silk organza underlining, I made a muslin (first time ever that I bothered with it and it helped because I adjusted the back darts and the shoulder seams thanks to the muslin). It meant a lot of work, but it was worth it.
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