Beautiful Colours of Australia

First let me say "Happy Australia Day"! I know it's over now, in Australia, but we're celebrating here today.

The scent of eucalyptus, and the soft pretty colours are two of my favourite things about Victoria.   Pale greens, grays, blues, gold and pink with a little rusty tin thrown in. Absolutely beautiful and calming. 

I'm feeling a little homesick for my adopted country, so I created some soft, pale floral arrangements using vases in blues and grays. Just wanted to share them with you!

 

I've been adding images to my Flickr page, so for some more Australia click here!

That's that for today. Have a lovely day all! Back soon.

janis

Baked - Coconut Bread

Hello Monday! Hope you all had nice weekends. I baked a loaf of Coconut Bread from the fantastic Bills cookbook, yesterday. It's the perfect Sunday morning (or any morning) treat!

Coconut Bread - makes one loaf, 8-10 slices (depending on how greedy you are)

2 eggs
300 ml (10 oz) milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 cup berry (caster or superfine) sugar
150g (5 oz) shredded coconut
75 g (2 1/2 oz) melted unsalted butter

Preheat oven to 350f/180c. Together, lightly whisk eggs, milk, and vanilla.
Sift flour, baking powder and cinnamon into a large bowl, then add coconut and sugar and stir to combine. Make a well in the centre, and gradually stir in the egg mixture until just combined. Add melted butter and stir until mixture is just smooth, but be careful not to over mix.

Pour batter into a greased and floured 8 1/2"x4" (21cm x 10cm) loaf tin and bake for about 1 hour, or until a skewer, inserted in bread, comes out clean.
Leave in tin to cool for 5 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely. Cut into slices, and serve toasted with butter. Outrageously good.

Happy Monday! Back on Wednesday.
janis

Shopping in Kyneton

I've been going through my pics of our trip, and thought I'd share some great new shops and cafes in Kyneton, Victoria. Such a pretty place. Nothing but rainbows! Really. I still can't believe how many great shops and restaurants are packed into this very small town. I could live in any of these shops.

Prunella is a beautiful flower and gift shop. We bought a piece of the lovely pottery and an olive tree for my in-laws. Caris and Vanessa, the owners, make a talented duo!

The Vintage Yard Sale is a brand new shop on Piper Street. Lots of collectibles, and some fantastic re-worked furniture. Their mid-century pieces are almost free compared to the cost of that particular style here in Vancouver. What's up Vancouver?

We went to Steam Mill Cafe pretty much every day. I loved their avocado and dukkah (an Egyptian spice) and their scones and Devonshire cream.

While away, I did a post for Poppytalk about another amazing shop in Kyneton called StockRoom. Click here for the story. You'll want to move right on in!

Have a lovely day! Back soon.

janis
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Back Home and Baking

Hello everyone. Hope you're all well! To those of you in Queensland, Australia,  my heart goes out to you. We just returned from Australia, and just missed the flooding that is now occurring in Victoria. Such a disaster. Damage is massive, so if you are interested in donating, click here.

I'm slowly getting back into the swing of things, now that we're back, but it didn't help that we had Christmas decorations to dismantle upon our return.  I baked some cookies this weekend as I needed something to clean the house by. The best part was that I had all the ingredients in the cupboard. They're pretty flipping good - hope you like them.

Double Chocolate and Sour Cherry Cookies - makes about 30

8oz/250g unsalted butter, softened
12oz/350g light brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs, lightly beaten
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup chopped white chocolate
3/4 cup dried sour cherries

Preheat oven to 350f/180c. In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar until light and creamy. Add the eggs and vanilla and stir well. Sift in the cocoa powder, flour, baking powder and salt, and mix to just combined. Fold in the cherries and chocolate.

Place large spoonfuls of dough on parchment paper lined baking sheet, and flatten the dough slightly. Make sure to leave room, between each spoonful, for spreading. Top with an extra piece of white chocolate.  Bake for about 15 minutes, until the bottoms are cooked. Cool on wire rack.

I will definitely be back soon! Now to catch up on your lovely blogs.

I leave you with a picture of my new Australian friend. He walked right up to us. Love him.

Brighton Bathing Boxes

I wanted to share one of my favourite spots in the Melbourne area; the Brighton Bathing Boxes. We made a quick pit-stop on our way to Phillip Island.

There are about 80 of these happy little boxes dotted along Dendy Street Beach. It would be fantastic to hang out on the front stoop of your bathing box, sipping a cold beer. Sigh. Apparently, if you would like to own one be prepared to dole out around $200,000. I'm out.

That's it for today. Looking forward to really catching up with you all when we get back to Vancouver!
Have a lovely day! 
janis
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Hello 2011

An image from our New Year's celebration in Kyneton. Wishing you all a fantastic 2011!

Back soon. janis x

Baked (in Kyneton) - Orange Blossom Friands

Have you all survived Christmas? Anyone brave the boxing day sales? I'm not one for boxing day shopping...I think I'd lose it ;)

We're having a fantastic time, just hanging out with family, but this morning I felt the need to bake. After flipping through my mother-in-law's Australian Women's Weeklys, I came across these Orange Blossom Friands. Holy delicious, and really easy to make.

Orange Blossom Friands - makes about 28

butter for greasing
6 egg whites
185g unsalted butter, melted
2 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon orange blossom water
1 cup ground almonds
1 1/2 cups icing sugar
1/2 cup plain flour
1/2 cup flaked almonds

Honey syrup
2 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon water
2 teaspoons orange blossom water

Preheat oven to 180c/350f. Grease patty tin with butter.
Place egg whites in a medium bowl; whisk lightly with a fork, until combined. Add butter, honey, orange blossom water, ground almonds, sifted flour and icing sugar, and stir until combined. Fill each patty cup with about a tablespoon of mixture. Top with flaked almonds.

Bake for about 12 minutes. Let stand in pan for 5 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool. Repeat with the remaining mixture and flaked almonds.

Honey syrup: combine the honey and water in a small saucepan and bring to boil. Remove from heat and stir in the orange blossom water. Cool.

Serve friands drizzled with Honey Syrup. I might add that these are delicious paired with champagne! Enjoy.

Back in a few days with some images of Victoria! Have a lovely day.

Janis
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