wing by sea

Pear and Oat Cake

2012-05-07T19:58:00.000+10:00

Today I was in a baking mood, and had some lovely pears needing to be eaten. Pear cake! Perfect! We love a fruit based dessert here, and I knew a freshly baked dessert would make everybody here happy.

This recipe was based on my strawberry cake recipe, with slight modifications because I wanted to use pears, and have it be more of a dessert cake than a tea cake. Plus I love sticking rolled oats in things. It's an ad hoc recipe, and has only been tested once, if you decide to try it let me know how it goes!

Pear and Oat Dessert Cake

100g of butter
half cup of brown sugar
a quarter cup of golden syrup
half a cup of rolled oats
1 tsp cinnamon
1 egg
one and a half cups of self raising flour
about half a cup of milk
two ripe william bartlett style pears
an extra tablespoon of rolled oats
raw sugar for sprinkling on top of cake before baking

Preheat the oven to 160 degrees, fan forced. Line a standard loaf tin with baking paper.

Soften the butter, mix it with the sugar. Add remaining ingredients except the milk and pear. Mix to combine, gradually start adding milk, until the consistency seems right. (Sorry about the vague instructions!)

Peel and roughly chop the pears into inch dice. Gently fold the pear through the mix, and tip into loaf tin, smooth the top and sprinkle with extra rolled oats and a sprinkle of raw sugar. Bake for about 60minutes, but keep an eye on it and check with skewer when it appears done. The skewer may not come out clean if you pierce a lump of pear! So check a couple of spots.

I intended this cake to be quite dense with fruit, quite 'desserty' so it was lovely served warm with a dollop of plain yoghurt.

I love me a plan!

2012-04-16T13:07:00.003+10:00

view full image

On the menu planner this week:

The arrows are due to me changing my mind as I go. I changed it back, Pumpkin Tagine with Olive and Parsley Couscous tonight.

yellow still rocks

2011-07-10T19:55:00.000+10:00

And because yellow still rocks we have our party 'theme' sorted. It's just got to be yellow. I've started to get preparations underway, although I think I should have got more done by now! Pretty sure I need way more straws too. A visit to Little Paper Lane helped my Loot Bag ideas crystallize, I picked up those snazzy little brown paper bags with windows and I'm going to make some tags to match the invite and sew them to the bag as I sew the top of the bag shut. I'll have to take a photo and show you that later, hope I'm making sense!

Wooden forks for the fruit salad, from The Party Studio
Biodegradeable gelato cups for the fruit salad, from The Bio Packaging Company on Ebay
Adorable polka dot baking cups (not sure for what yet, chocolate crackles?) from The Party Studio
Yellow stripey straws, from The Party Studio
Mini yellow chevron snack bags for my smartie cookies, from The Party Studio
Loot bags from Little Paper Lane
Scalloped kraft paper baking cups for blueberry and apple oat muffins, from Little Betsy Baker

the fluffy kookaburra

2011-07-03T10:49:00.000+10:00

I captured a few (okay about 50) photos of a kookaburra that had decided to perch awhile on our deck railing yesterday. So fluffy! And big! We wondered whether or not it was okay for a bit there, as it seemed completely unconcerned as I gradually sidled closer and closer, trying to get a better view. In the end it sat there long after I took all my photos, just keeping the occasional eye on the young fella as he showed him various toys that may have been of interest to a kookaburra.

"yeah, close enough lady..."

a quick status update on blankie

2011-06-12T13:57:00.000+10:00

Believe it or not, 80 squares are now done! I'm slower than I hoped, but not too surprised - I always hope I'll get more done than I can. I've introduced some more colours since the last update - but have been quite frustrated in my search for a good range of colours in cotton yarn. Does no-one else find wool itchy?

At this stage I am planning to do the final join-as-you-go round in the same grey that edges all of the squares. I think introducing white at this stage would be a bit jarring, or better suited if it was a babies blanket. Here's a quick photo of my stacks of squares - there are ten squares per stack, and then I'd better get back to it!

mmm macarons!

2011-05-26T20:47:00.000+10:00

It's been all about macarons lately! You know when that coincidence thing happens, when you hear about something or bump into someone three times in a row? Well that's what happened to me with macarons! First I spotted the Donna Hay Macaron Kit in the local supermarket, and couldn't resist. I've been wanting to try making them but been too intimidated, the kit provided the perfect opportunity.

Not too shabby for my first macaron!

Yes, they were completely and utterly scrumptious!

Super easy to make, and impressively delicious, I'd highly recommend giving it a go unless you already know how to make them! Here's a tip from a pro if you do - instead of waiting the ten minutes recommended on the box before putting them in the oven, wait until they don't stick to your finger when you lightly touch them. And here's a tip from me - check out the instructions on the website because I think they instruct you to make the ganache filling after baking the biscuits, rather than on the box where they tell you to make it before. I made the ganache first, and I took so long doing the biscuits I had to add more cream over low heat to the ganache to get it back to a spreadable consistency.

Then, I received the Woman's Weekly Macaroon and Biscuits cookbook for my birthday! I'm so loving my Woman's Weekly cookbooks, (and my Donna Hay ones too actually), and this new cookbook not only has macaron recipes, but loads of other traditional biscuits too, like Monte Carlo biscuits, just like my grandma used to make. Watch this space, I'll be reporting back on recipes from it soon! Meanwhile checkout the cover and the chocolate macarons inside, lovely right?

And finally, on my birthday my son and I went to Manly and stopped in at Adriano Zumbo's, and took home a selection of five delicious little crispy treats. Salted caramel was by far our favourite flavour! Unfortunately I didn't take a photo of the Zumbo macarons, but follow this link to his website for the Manly patisserie, and check out the super cool floor detail in the shop. Monkey was completely impressed with the miniature building site under the clear section of floor, which gave me lots of time to make up my mind about which macarons to buy!

So that was the week that was all about macarons!

grey blue green and yellow

2011-04-15T15:05:00.000+10:00

I said I'd blog my second crochet project, and here it is! The plan for this one is that it will be a blanket for my son's bed. When I first started crocheting up some left-over cotton I hadn't thought that far ahead, but looking at the colours I think it will be good for his room. If he gets too old for it then it would probably suit our bed too, as a blanket across the bottom of the bed.

Just looking at this photo I'm realising how different in size some of the squares are! Because I'm using leftovers, and buying odd balls here and there, the yarns are quite different thicknesses, even though they all recommend the same needle size. Some of the yarns I've used so far are:

Jo Sharp Soho Summer dk cotton in Fog (I need so much more of this! It's the grey every square will be finished in!)
Jo Sharp Soho Summer dk cotton in Shamrock
Heirloom cotton 8-ply in denim blue (I have some of this in a dark navy blue too)
Heirloom cotton 8-ply in yellow
Heirloom cotton 8-ply in pale lime (the heirloom yarns are by far the thinnest yarn)
Sugar'n'cream cotton 8-ply in turquoise (very thick, would love more of this in various colours)
Twilley's of Stamford Freedom Denim - desperately seeking more of this discontinued yarn, it's the middle colour in the top right square
Some unknown yellow cotton, middle of bottom left and right squares
Katia Mississippi, the dark lime/pistachio green, which is actually only 60% cotton

What I'm craving is more yellows! I have an interim solution for this, and that is to dye some plain white yarn. We'll see how that idea pans out after the Easter break.

My plan for this blanket is to do 10 squares of each colour combination, and then finish the blanket off by doing a final round in white, joining as I go. I have roughly estimated I will need about 192 squares, which quite frankly is terrifying! It seems an awful lot of squares! I'll need 15 more colour combinations! I'm hoping to have something about 1.5m x 2m, so it will be a large single bed blanket. I just hope he still likes it by the time I've finished it!

Here is how far along I am - as of today, I have 26 squares done, roughly an eighth of the way.

Wish me luck! I think I'm going to need it!

my first crochet project

2011-04-09T20:45:00.001+10:00

Not too long ago, I got the urge to learn to crochet. As with any newly learnt craft skill I quickly became obsessed, and approached it the usual way. Dive in head-first, avoid patterns, and learn only what I need to complete the first thing I decide to make. I really can't recommend this approach at all, it has resulted in far too many UFO's (unfinished objects) over the years! It is only thanks to the craft itself here that I did actually finish my first ever crochet project. Crochet has an addictive quality, and as my first project was granny squares, the bite size pieces give you lots of opportunities to feel a sense of accomplishment. The first square - AWESOME! First ten, YAY! A neat stack you can photograph, Woo Hoo! and so on.

This project came about because I am an awfully slow knitter. I have only ever finished simple scarves, and they take me about two months. Because of this I ended up with a lovely stash of yarn that clearly would be sitting there for years waiting to be knitted up.

For this project I went with some yummy Twilley's of Stamford cotton. I had only the vaguest of plans at this stage - perhaps it would be a little sofa throw? I didn't know how far the yarn would go until I had used a whole ball.

Oh the sense of accomplishment! My first little stack of granny squares! Now we have to fast forward this bit of the project, because I forgot to take any more pictures. I forged ahead and simply turned all the yarn into granny squares. I tossed about ideas like, should I buy more yarn and make it a nice big throw? How was I going to join the squares together? What colour should I use to join them, now that I've used up all the yarn?

Then I realised I'd better keep it short and sweet, and get something finished. Abandoning any plans to make anything large, after playing with the squares for a while I decided on one big cushion. So I just started sewing them all together, using my crochet hook. Now I really wish I had seen this tutorial over at Attic24 before I rushed into this step. Because then you wouldn't be able to see the joining yarn! Live and learn!

Fortunately I did see this tutorial at Attic24 just before I finished sewing the squares together. It inspired my final decision to make two cushions with envelope style linen backs. Because I couldn't see how I would finish the cushion quickly and simply if the whole thing was crocheted front and back, and still be able to remove the insert! I also decided the crochet would need a piece of backing fabric, it was too gappy to simply pop in any old insert.

And once again - as I rushed through the final stages we go from the above just sewn together cushion front to...

The final cushions! I did so many things wrong it's best you didn't see all that inbetween stuff anyway!
And the backs with their overlap envelope opening, easy peasy with no buttons, snaps, ties or zips.

I do love them, they are snuggly and feel lovely and huggable - with zero itch factor for this family full of wool-itchers. But most of all I am just so chuffed to have finished them! I have started my next project, initially learning nothing from my previous mistakes as I plowed straight in to my cotton stash. I will tell you all about it very soon, and you'll be proud of me - I have started planning how it's going to work!

walking home

2011-04-07T18:16:00.001+10:00

Sometimes I forget to just enjoy what's around me. I rush, try to get everything on my list done each day, use every moment. Even planning in 'relaxing' time. Last week, while heading home with the kidlet from preschool, I was starting to worry about getting home quickly, wishing I had the car. But I didn't, and I was tired, and he was super tired. And so I stopped for a minute, and thought instead of trying to rush and making both of us more tired, and then cranky, I could relax, take it slow, enjoy this bit of time alone with him, where all we have to do is walk for a bit. So that's what we did, chatting, holding hands, one of us eating ice cream, and the other taking photos. I'm so glad I stopped to think that afternoon.

sunshiney

2011-04-05T09:47:00.000+10:00

I just wanted to share a little drawing I did to cheer up my cubicle. Do you need a little sunshiney goodness too? Feel free to click on it and print for yourself!

spotted in peppermint!

2011-04-02T12:44:00.005+11:00

Spotted in the current issue of Peppermint Magazine? My sweet vintage glass bunnies! Thank you Peppermint!

from the other side of australia to my mailbox

2011-04-01T12:05:00.000+11:00

I received some Little Mo and Friends goodness in the mail yesterday! I was super lucky and won a print for naming one of two new characters in the Little Mo gang - YAY! As always, even the packaging was divine...

...and here is the adorable art print! Some frame shopping is in order I think! Can't wait to have this cutie up on the wall. Thank you Helena!

See what Helena is up to here on her blog - or visit her store on Etsy for lots of sweet papery goodness!

the most delicious lemon yoghurt cake

2011-03-27T12:20:00.001+11:00

I have found the most delicious lemon yoghurt cake! Not that I've eaten a lot of lemon yoghurt cake in my time, but still, it's pretty darn good, and the thing I truly love about it is the recipe worked beautifully for me, which doesn't always happen! I think it is a forgiving recipe, not too hung up on whether or not you do things exactly by the book. For example I didn't have a plain vegetable oil, I only had Flax Seed oil, which to me had a strong smell for a cake, so I only used a bit under a third of a cup instead of the recommended half a cup. Still an incredibly moist cake.

Also I could see this cake recipe being quite adaptable - add blueberries for a visual treat and a little extra goodness, make cupcakes to share. I could see a few different toppings working here too. I didn't actually put the finishing icing glaze on it, and it was still delish. So glaze it, and maybe sprinkle sugar over the glaze for a frosted look, try your hand at marshmallow frosting, or even cream cheese frosting might work here too.

Tempted? Of course you are! So run over to Chasing Some Blue Sky (loads of fab recipes!) and get the recipe here! Bake it today!

And the winner is....

2011-03-26T21:47:00.000+11:00

First of all I would like to thank all of you for entering! Thank you so much! Also thank you for tweeting, or following my blog, or liking wing by sea on Facebook!

Well I'm afraid there can be only one winner. I carefully went through the comments, and allocated each comment, and each comment about a tweet - even if they were in the same comment - a number, 1 through 77. I then used the website Random.org to give me a randomly generated number.

The winner of the sterling silver Shimmer earrings is.... drum roll please... Petaliferous!

Congratulations! I will be in touch with you shortly to arrange to send you your prize!

Keep an eye out for my next giveaway!

Cheers!

2011-03-19T15:12:00.000+11:00

It's time for a GIVE-AWAY! Yay! The crowd goes wild! I am giving away a pair of 'Shimmer' earrings to thank all my fans, followers and friends, for being so supportive of wing by sea. Seriously if it wasn't for all of you, it would not have been half the fun.

These are the earrings you could win! Sterling silver earwires, with a dangling sterling silver ball, beneath which shimmying strands of sterling silver chain sway. I hope you love them, I think they would be perfect for celebrating in!

How to enter:

Well it's super simple!

All you need to do to enter is visit either of my shops and come back here and let me know your favorite piece of jewellery! I'd love to know what you all love ;)

wing by sea on Etsy - http://www.etsy.com/shop/wingbysea

wing by sea on MadeIt - http://www.madeit.com.au/wingbysea

For a second entry, tweet my giveaway - include @wingbysea in your tweet, and come back here and let me know you did!

The winner will be chosen by a random number generator on Saturday the 25th, entries close at 9pm (Sydney, Australia time!). Please ensure to leave some way to contact you, or check back here Saturday the 25th to see who won!

Thank you and good luck!

This promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with, Facebook.

flirty skirty

2011-03-03T12:42:00.001+11:00

I had an urge and decided to run with it this morning. Lately I've been a bit mad about skirts, hunting skirts, dreaming up skirts, and desperately wanting to make a skirt. But I have no patience for patterns most of the time, and very limited sewing skills, so I decided to make a skirt using only what I had to hand. This satiny fabric has been sitting in my sewing box for years, I don't remember what I had originally intended it for.

The machine was already strung with some matching thread, and I had some thin black elastic, so voila! Five lines of sewing later and we have skirt! I won't pretend it is the most flattering item of clothing I have, but I had fun, and got the skirt urge off my back, for a while at least.

but wait there's more!

2011-02-14T15:36:00.002+11:00

Well after my little foray into washi tape and the adorableness of Little Paper Lane, I thought I'd bring to you today some more washi tape goodness with a V-Day theme. See below for some lovely locally made bunting by Paper Klip Design on Etsy. I also found this gorgeous blog - "i love pretty things" - with a fab interview from the owner of Little Paper Lane! So get over there and have a read, plus you'll get a tempting sneak peek of the storefront with it's ever-changing always eye-catching displays. Obssessed? Who me?

Party bunting by Paper Klip Design

washi tape is lovely

2011-02-13T15:53:00.003+11:00

There is the most gorgeous little shop near me called Little Paper Lane. One of those shops you always turn to catch a peep at when driving past (as a passenger of course, ahem!). Well after months of saying "I must go visit, I must go visit", my need for a diary - yes, I know, it's already February - drove me to make the time to visit. And how fabulous, even with the little man in tow. Not only did I get a funky little diary, perfect for scrawls and scribbles, lists and notes, I bought washi tape! Silver washi tape! And some baker's twine in black and white. And this is what I did with it!

The silver washi tape looks lovely with the silver tissue I use for wrapping my jewellery, and I like the simplicity of the twine.

While I was in the shop I spotted lots of familiar works by Australian creatives Pocket Carnival, Benconservato, Little Mo and Red Letter Studio. I think I will be visiting again soon, this time without the kidlet so I can dawdle just a bit longer. Might need to take a packed lunch.

dandelions for the dining room

2011-01-29T12:09:00.000+11:00

When I first looked at our new home I was left with the impression there was a window in this wall. I was so surprised there wasn't one when we actually moved in! So instead I had a wall crying out for something big. I would have loved to have put a huge mirror up there, it would have reflected the french doors in the living room and brought in sunlight and trees. But instead I have gone for something I can achieve quickly! Because I am impatient and it had to happen right now! So voila, fabric covered canvas. I took a little time to think about how to do the corners neatly, unlike my first canvas attempt, and thought I may as well document it. Just in case there is a next time. Can you see my dining chairs? Covered in fabulous patterned vinyl? They are on my To Do list. As is the maroony-dusty-dark-mushroom painted floor. Yuck!

want!

2011-01-21T13:06:00.000+11:00

Black t-shirt fabric crocheted rug

How absolutely gorgeous, this rug would be perfect for in front of my new fireplace! Check out lots of other stunning up-cycled, re-cycled, custom crocheted rugs by EKRA here.

new beginnings

2011-01-12T08:14:00.000+11:00

The dust is starting to settle, I'll post photos soon! I also want to share my first pavlova and an awesome bbq beef salad I came up with recently. What's new with you?

my dream fixer-upper home

2010-11-16T15:14:00.001+11:00

[Image Source]

I have decided the search for rental properties anywhere remotely near where we would like to live, at a price we could remotely afford, to be too downheartening, so today I bring you a piece of pure whimsy. I don't dream that big, honestly. I could show you some beautiful homes, the sort of thing you might contemplate buying if you won an awful lot of money. But this funny green house above is truly the house of our dreams. We love this style, with the exposed timber battons, it's in our favourite suburb, and amazingly it has a lot of space inside, and some really cute original features. It has a lock up garage (well, potentially with a bit of fixing-up). And it is just crying out for some TLC and sensitive renovations. The next best thing would be if someone open-minded about d-i-y tenants bought it and rented it to us for the next ten or so years.

boxes, boxes, must find boxes

2010-10-28T18:01:00.001+11:00

I'm sure everyone in the known universe must know by now I'm moving soon. We don't know the "to" bit yet. We just know the "from" bit, and the deadline is drawing nearer. Frankly I'd rather hide until the whole damn thing is over.

in the mail recently

2010-09-19T12:26:00.000+10:00

I just love getting packages in the mail - it's like Christmas every time! So I thought I'd share just a few of the lovely things I have recently received.

Divine sparkly lemon quartz briolettes! I picked these up from Realisation Gems on Etsy.

Gorgeous fabrics from Saffron Craig! I actually WON these, amazing because I rarely win things, so it was awfully exciting! Now I get to sit and ponder what I should make with them! Any suggestions?

And this absolutely lovely print from Lemon Tree Lane, as a 'thank you' for helping to celebrate the Calico&Co blog's first birthday! I've added 'more frames' to my shopping list, can't wait to see this one framed. Thank you Amanda!

Giveaway time!

2010-09-06T12:44:00.003+10:00

You'll have to be quick, but today there is a great giveaway of a $30 voucher for my Etsy shop! Just visit Calico & Co, a gorgeous blog full of lots of inspiration, created by the lovely Amanda Fuller. I'm helping celebrate their first birthday!
So whether it's something for yourself, or great timing to choose a present for your mother, sister, cousin or friend, scoot over there right now and enter!

image source