A "Pure" Designer

Hope you're all having a good week so far. It's gone by so fast, or is it just me?

Thought I'd share a recent shoot with you. I shot the lovely Ami Mckay, of Pure Design, for Chatelaine Magazine  in this month's issue. I've had the pleasure of working with her a number of times, and it's always heaps of fun. Ami's a talented furniture designer and interior designer, and she's just about to launch her organic bedding line for Bed Bath and Beyond. Exciting times! Read more about her here.

A little look into what inspires her. She's a nature girl all the way. 

A sample of some of her new soft furnishings. 

The beautiful view from her studio. Lucky girl. 

If you recognize Ami, she was on an HGTV show with the lovely Erin Cebula, of ET Canada, a few years back. Multi-talented girl.

On a final note for today, I did a post over at one of my favourite blogs, Poppytalk, about a couple more very talented women. Girls clearly rule this week. ;) Here's a peek...

Back soon!

janis

Baked

Happy Monday! Hope you all had a lovely weekend.

I've only made Pavlova a couple of times, and I don't know why I haven't made it more. It's the national dessert of Australia, and my sister-in-law (Australian) makes a fabulous one, so I think maybe I'm nervous! It's fairly easy, but if you try to rush things, it will only end in disappointment and, possibly, tears. ;)
It should end up with a crunchy "crust" and a marshallowy (new word?) centre. Mmmm.

Pavlova with Lemon Custard and Berries - makes 6

Meringue:
3/4 cup berry/caster sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
3 large egg whites, room temperature
3 tablespoons cold water
1 teaspoon white vinegar

Lemon Custard:
1/3 cup sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
small pinch of salt
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
1/2 stick unsalted butter
3 large egg yolks
2 teaspoons lemon zest
1 cup whipping cream
4 cups of berries (I used blackberries and blueberries)

To make meringue:
Preheat oven to 300f with rack in middle. If you like, you can trace six 3" circles, with a biscuit cutter, on a piece of parchment paper, and place on baking sheet. You can be more loose with your meringue and omit the traced circles if that's your style. ;)
Whisk the berry/caster sugar and cornstarch together, in a small bowl. In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites, at medium speed, until soft peaks form. Add water and beat again until soft peaks form.
Beat in sugar mixture, 1 tablespoon at a time, at medium high speed. After all sugar has been incorporated, beat for another 2 minutes.
Add vinegar and beat at high speed for about 6 minutes, until meringue is glossy and stiff peaks form.
Carefully spread meringue inside circles, or go freeform, making edges slightly higher so it can hold the custard and berries. Bake until the meringue is a light golden colour, and a crust has formed, about 45 minutes. Turn oven off, prop door open a little, and let meringue sit in oven for one hour.

To make lemon custard:
While meringue is baking, make the custard. Mix together the sugar, cornstarch and salt in a medium size saucepan, then add lemon and butter. Bring mixture to a low simmer, over medium high heat, whisking, then continue to simmer whisking constantly for one minute. Lightly beat egg yolks in a small bowl then mix in 1/4 cup of the lemon mixture, then add to the saucepan. Reduce heat to low and cook, whisking constantly, until custard has thickened. This should take about 2 minutes. Do not let mixture boil. Transfer custard to a small bowl and stir in lemon zest. Cover surface with parchment paper, and refrigerate for 1 1/2 hours.

To assemble:
Beat whipping cream until still peaks form. Fold in about 1/4 cup to lemon custard. Spoon custard into the "crater" of the meringue and top with berries. Voila. Eat and enjoy!

This dessert is certainly not "heart healthy", but it's sooo good.

Back on Wednesday!
Janis
x

Sunday Observations

I hope you've all had nice weekends, where ever you may be!  We had a lovely day, and I wish it was Sunday again tomorrow. Here are a few things I observed today...

This happy tin camper of happiness, happens to be sitting beside our house right now. I read about "Tin Can Studio" in issue 6 of Uppercase magazine (a fabulous Canadian publication). Recently Tin Can hosted a fantastic dinner, serving local organic foods harvested just hours before. Must check it out next time! Such a great idea. For more info click here. 

Pronto is a new restaurant located in my neighbourhood, near city hall. If you find yourself in the area, you should definitely check it out. One of those places that I could live in! Love the wood panelling, mosaic tile, and the soft green paint colours. Food is great, staff is lovely, and they're licensed too. ;) While you're on Cambie Street, be sure to check out Walrus, Shop Cocoon and Benton Brothers Fine Cheese as well!

I picked up a perfect prop from Land, here in Vancouver. Looking forward to using it, along with the tablecloth/blanket, from Birch and Bird, for a shoot with Gallant & Jones tomorrow!

That's what I got up to today. What did you do? I always love to know!

Back soon.

janis

Friday D.I.Y.

How are you all? Hope you've all had a great week!

I've had another bonkers busy shoot week, so lots of post production work as well. To take a bit of a breather from the computer, I decided to recover a lamp I've had for ages.

I started off by rolling the lampshade across a large piece of paper, tracing along as I rolled. I then pinned the paper template to the fabric, and cut out. I left about 1/2" on either end, then wrapped the fabric around the shade (wrong side out) and pinned. I then sewed the ends together, and slipped it over the shade. I've done this before with an even larger shade and it works really well. This is a lot less messy and toxic than using spray glue to attach fabric.
Thanks to Lili at The Spool of Thread, for suggesting I make my own binding and showing me how. I used white glue to attach the binding to the top and bottom rims of the shade. The whole process took about an hour.

I love these tiny air plants. I picked them up at The Hach, here in Vancouver. All they need is bright light, and a spritz of water.

Have a great weekend! Back soon.
janis
x

Baked

Happy Monday everyone! Hope you had a great weekend.

I really love baking bread (a great stress reliever!), but I'm finding it does take heaps of practice. I'm trying to make bread that has a little less white flour, so this weekend I attempted Kamut baguettes. This is the third go, and I'm finally starting to get the hang of it. Kamut flour dough takes a little longer to rise, and is a bit more dense than a white flour bread. This recipe is a mix of Kamut and regular flour. They are not a perfect shape, but they do taste good. For some more info on Kamut, click here.

Kamut Baguettes - makes four small baguettes (so they fit in my oven!)

The night before baking:
150 g all purpose flour
150 ml of warm water
1 teaspoon instant yeast

Mix all of the above together in a medium bowl, then knead for a few minutes. Cover bowl with a towel and let sit for one hour. Punch down dough, then cover bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate over night.

The next day:
200ml of warm water
1 teaspoon salt
100g of all purpose flour
260g of Kamut flour
1 teaspoon instant yeast
1 teaspoon sugar

Take the refrigerated dough out, and add a little of the 200 ml of warm water to it. This will activate the yeast. Let stand for 10 minutes. In a large bowl, mix together the salt, yeast, all purpose flour, kamut flour, sugar and the remaining warm water. Add the refrigerated yeast mixture and combine. Knead dough for about 5 minutes. Place dough in a bowl with a little oil in it, and roll dough to slightly coat. Let stand for one hour, or until dough doubles in bulk.

Divide dough into 4 equal pieces (mine worked out to about 200g each). At this point, I'll direct you to this site for a little baguette shaping lesson. It's really helpful! We might be here all day if I tried to shoot each step ;) This video is based on a regular flour recipe, so don't let it throw you off. Just be concerned with the shaping and scoring.

Once you've shaped and scored your baguettes, place them on a pan with a little cornmeal on the baking sheet, cover with a clean tea towel, and let stand for another 45 minutes. Bake in a 375f oven for about 23-25 minutes, or until golden brown. Enjoy immediately!

If you have any bread baking tips, feel free to pass them on to me ;) Back on Wednesday!
janis

Sunday Observations

Another long weekend comes to a close. It's been so nice. Hope you've all had a nice weekend!

A few things I spotted today....

Museum of Anthropology is located at U.B.C. This beautiful building was designed by the late 

Arthur Erickson. 

Check out their shop online, where you can find this fabulous blanket and heaps more.

Well, that was my world today. What did you do? To those of you in the U.S. I hope you have a fantastic, firework filled, 4th of July!

Back soon.

janis

Canada

I hope you're all having a fantastic day! If you're in Vancouver, quick, head outside, I see a ray of sun ;)

Have a great weekend everyone! Back soon.
janis