jillian leiboff imaging

beetroot, spinach, walnut and feta salad

2012-02-01T17:11:00.000+11:00

I am a creature of habit and I eat the same thing for lunch just about every day. On Australia Day I decided to change things up and made this salad for my lunch.

I came home from the gym, toasted the walnuts, made the dressing and put the salad together.

I didn't have any goat cheese so I used some feta that was lurking in my fridge.

I'd roasted the beetroots earlier in the week so the salad was a snap to put together and very tasty to boot.

Originally I'd planned to serve the salad with steak for my dinner but in the end just had the salad for lunch with some bread. Next time I'll use balsamic vinegar when I make the dressing. I still have 2 large beetroots in my crisper drawer so expect another beetroot creation in the near future.

I know it's been a while but I'll be back again next week with my first shopshoot for the year. Have you missed them?

See you all next week,

Jillian

semolina yoghurt bundt cakes

2012-01-30T18:57:00.000+11:00

I found this recipe for semolina yoghurt bundt cakes in last year's Delicious magazine diary. The recipe doesn't contain any eggs so I was really intrigued.

Lots of my colleagues have been on leave so I had to wait until there were enough people to do justice to the cakes. I halved the recipe but it still made 4 mini bundt cakes.

The end result is more pudding-like than cake but the combination of yoghurt and ginger was very yummy. I wasn't quite sure if my test audience would approve though.

I don't normally decorate my cakes with flowers but the little daisies were so so sunny, I couldn't help myself. I had some candied lemon peel left over from my Christmas baking, so that went on the tops of the cakes as well.

I took 3 of the cakes into work and one is still in the deep freeze which in theory is for the cook, but I'll probably take it into work this week for morning tea. I was surprised to find my colleagues really loved them, despite or maybe because of their pudding consistency.

Did you have good weekends? I took Friday off and went to the country to see Farmer Andrew. He whipped up one of his famous pavlovas and I made use of his farm fresh eggs to make a cake, which will be up on the blog in the next week or so. It was a very busy weekend and I have another very busy week ahead of me at work.

I'll see you all again on Wednesday,

Jillian

lamingtons

2012-01-25T17:37:00.002+11:00

Tomorrow is Australia Day so I wanted to make something traditionally Australia. Last year I made a lamington cake but this time I went with the original lamington, a chocolate coated and coconut covered cake. I found them in every cake shop when I was in Croatia last year and apparently, they're popular in Hungary as well. Lamingtons seem to have taken over the world.

A lamington drive was a popular fund raiser at our school. We always ordered a few dozen lamingtons which we'd then place in the deep freeze. Mum thought they'd be safe there until we discovered that frozen lamingtons taste pretty good!

I last made lamingtons when I was in high school and I remembered it being a messy task which ended with all my fingers coated in chocolate icing and coconut. I haven't had a home made lamington in years.

A day before you need the lamingtons, you make the base using either a butter cake or a sponge cake recipe which is then baked in a special lamington tin. I didn't have one so I went out and bought one specially. Once the cake cools you store it in the fridge. Cooling the cake makes trimming the edges and cutting the cake into squares a whole lot easier. Here's a recipe close to the one I used except I added 50 grams of melted dark chocolate to the chocolate icing mixture.

The process was as messy as I'd remembered.

It took close to an hour to coat the 24 lamingtons so next time I'd leave half the cake in the fridge until it was needed.
Using a fork to dip the cakes into the icing is what's recommended but the cake tends to crumble. I found dipping the cake by hand was more effective but that meant I had to wash my hands 24 times.
I stirred the chocolate icing in between each coating and added boiling water to thin out the icing when needed.
The coconut needs to be renewed regularly as it gets stained brown pretty quickly. I only used enough coconut to coat 4 lamingtons and then would replace the coconut.
Desiccated coconut is suggested in most recipes but shredded coconut looks prettier.
I had one for my breakfast on Sunday and it tasted even better than I remembered. I don't normally eat cake for breakfast but I'd just been to the gym and by the time I'd finished photographing the lamingtons it seemed rude not to try one....

Happy Australia Day,

Jillian

pronto - sausages with lentils

2012-01-23T17:41:00.001+11:00

I was helped in my quest to find some new food favourites, when a cookbook arrived in my letterbox last week. It was the Slow Food Cookbook from Gourmet Traveller, a magazine I've been receiving for more than 10 years courtesy of my good friend Nat. I flipped through the pages on my way to work last week (I catch the train to work for those of you wondering) and spotted this recipe for sausages with green lentils.

When I was growing up sausages were kind of special. We used to order them from Melbourne and Dad would return from the airport with a box wrapped in brown paper tucked under his arm. I've loved sausages ever since then.

I thought I had some French style lentils lurking somewhere in the back of my cupboards but bought another packet just in case. I knew there were some black peppercorn and beef sausages in the freezer and I already had the other ingredients in my pantry, so I made this for my Sunday night supper. The recipe states you don't have to soak the lentils but they took hours to cook so next time I'll be soaking them before cooking.

The lentils were lovely and would be great as a vegetarian meal if you swapped the veal stock for a vegetable stock and skipped the bacon, as I did. I'll certainly be adding this dish to my winter repertoire.

See you all again on Wednesday,

Jillian

pronto - ricotta and cherry tomato tart

2012-01-18T18:26:00.000+11:00

Last summer I was talking to my friend Jenny and we were discussing how difficult it is to find things to make for dinner when it's summer. It's too hot to make our usual stand-by casseroles and roasts but salads just don't fill me up and stir-fries do pall after a while.

I was looking through the Donna Hay 2008 seasonal diary and came across a recipe for ricotta and cherry tomato tarts. I adapted it slightly to produce what you see here.

As the recipe is so simple, it relies on the best and freshest ingredients you can buy. I used Careme all butter puff pastry and my favourite low fat ricotta cheese from Paesanella.

The recipe is below but I think of it more of a suggestion than a recipe. I'm sure you could use other vegetables like par cooked asparagus or thinly sliced zucchini with a different flavoured pesto or olive tapenade.

Ricotta and Cherry Tomato Tarts

Ingredients
375 gram packet all butter puff pastry
300 gm low fat ricotta
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh oregano leaves
2 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese
Sea salt and pepper
2-4 tablespoons tomato pesto
12 cherry truss tomatoes
Olive oil spray

Method

Preheat the oven to 190ºC/375ºF
Line a tray with baking paper.
Combine the ricotta, parmesan cheese and the finely chopped oregano in a small bowl. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Cut the puff pastry in half along the wide side.
Score a border 1 cm in from the edge taking care not to cut all the way through the pastry. Repeat with the second pastry half.
Prick the pastry bases all over with a fork and spread half the tomato pesto over each base.
Gently cover the pesto with the half the ricotta mixture, keeping within the scored edges. Repeat with the second base.
Spray the cherry truss tomatoes with olive oil spray and season. Top each of the tarts with 6 truss cherry tomatoes.
Place the tarts onto the prepared baking tray then bake in the preheated oven for ~ 45 minutes or until the tarts are puffed and golden brown.

Serves 4 for lunch or 2 hungry people for dinner.

See you all again next week,

Jillian

fruit and nut loaf

2012-01-16T18:40:00.001+11:00

Do you have any blog crushes? My food crushes for 2011 were David Lebovitz and Ottolenghi, so don't be surprised if a few more of their recipes start appearing on the blog. This fruit and nut loaf recipe comes via David's blog. When Christmas was over I realised I had a whole stack of dried fruit and nuts left in the cupboard and wanted to use them before the nuts went stale. I normally store my nuts in the freezer to keep them fresh but I'd run out of space. I have a tiny freezer.

When I looked through the recipe, I had everything I needed including the dried apricots. When I opened the packet, I discovered I'd inadvertently bought turkish apricots instead of the local product. I never ever buy turkish apricots as they don't have any discernable flavour but when I'm not wearing my glasses I come home from the shops with all kind of surprises. Some good and some, not so good.

So back to the shops I went in search of the real deal. Before I made the cake, I piled all the fruit and nuts into a small loaf tin and it fitted fine so I decided to make a fruit and nut loaf rather than fruit bars or squares.

There's barely any cake mixture, just enough to glue the fruit together, so I mixed the whole thing with my hands before packing it tightly into the tin. The loaf took about an hour to bake and I couldn't wait to try a slice.

The apricots make the cake, so I'm so glad I made the return journey to the shops. As there's been so much over indulging recently and I've got some Christmas cake to eat, I've packed the cake and placed it back in the freezer to be consumed at a later date.

See you all again on Wednesday,

Jillian

sweet and spicy souvenirs - orzo with lamb meatballs

2012-01-11T17:41:00.000+11:00

I was looking through my cupboards and realised I still have a few goodies I bought last year that have yet to appear on the blog.

I decided to make my new favourite recipe, orzo with lamb meatballs, which is based on a recipe from Gourmet Traveller magazine. I paired the meatballs with my new Cote Bastide linen tea towel, which I purchased from Sissy Boy in Amsterdam.

The tea-towel is very large so sometimes I only show the white linen part of the cloth in my photos.

The original recipe used pork, which I don't eat, so I used lamb mince instead. I also added an egg to the mixture which makes for nice light meatballs. The cumin and touch of chilli make these meat balls very yummy.

I hope you like them,

Jillian

blueberry muffins

2012-01-09T17:31:00.001+11:00

I bought Ottolenghi: The Cookbook for my friend Mandy for Christmas. My own copy lay unwrapped because I'd just been so busy in the lead-up to Christmas. Mandy told me these blueberry muffins were the best ever, so I thought I'd better try the recipe for myself.

Blueberry Crumble Muffins from Ottolenghi: The Cookbook

Makes about 18 regular sized muffins.

Muffins:
540 g plain flour
5 tsp baking powder
2 large eggs
340 g caster sugar
140 g unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
380 ml milk
grated zest of 1 lemon
1 Granny Smith apple (unpeeled), cut into 1cm dice
200 g fresh blueberries plus extra for topping

Crumble:
150 g plain flour
50 g caster sugar
100 g cold butter, cut into small cubes

To make the crumble:

Put the flour, sugar and butter in a bowl and mix with your hands to work into a uniform breadcrumb consistency. Make sure there are no large lumps of butter left.
Transfer to a plastic container and store in the fridge. It also keeps very well in the freezer.

To make the muffins:

Preheat the oven to 170°C /325°C. Line a muffin tray with paper cases.
Sift together the flour, baking powder and set aside. In a large mixing bowl, lightly whisk together the eggs, sugar and melted butter. Whisk in the milk and lemon zest, then gently fold in the fruit.
Add the sifted dry ingredients to the blueberry mixture and fold together very gently. Make sure you stir the mix just enough to combine; it should remain lumpy and rough.
Spoon the mixture into the muffin cases to fill them up. Generously cover with the crumble topping to form small domes over the batter then dot with a few extra blueberries.
Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the centre of a muffin comes out clean.
Take out of the tins while still warm.

I already had some leftover crumble mix in the freezer, so I used my own oaty version rather than making a fresh batch.

I made half the recipe and it still made 12 muffins, so they must use huge muffin tins at Ottolenghi's. I did have one of the muffins for my breakfast following the first cycle class for 2012 and yes, it was very good.

I hope you enjoyed the weekend. See you all again on Wednesday.

Jillian

meet the boss

2012-01-04T18:30:00.001+11:00

The family cat has not been well lately and I was expecting to find her all pale and wan when I was home at Christmas. Nothing could be further from the truth. She's as feisty as ever and she runs a tight ship.

Miss. M doesn't like having her photo taken and somehow manages to duck whenever she sees a camera coming. All I wanted was a photograph of her bell not her face. It didn't matter how often I explained that to Miss. M, she wasn't having a bar of it. In the end Dad had to wrangle her into position so I could get the shot. Then she shot me 'the look'.

She was clearly unimpressed and yes her eyes really are that shade of blue,

and her tail really is so luxuriant.

After 10 days at home whipping up more gingerbread men and 2 batches of mince pies, it's time to return to more normal programming so I shall be returning to the kitchen this weekend. No idea at all what I'll be making, so you'll have to come back next week to find out!

See you all next week,

Jillian

2012

2012-01-02T20:47:00.000+11:00

I spent Christmas with my family in Brisbane. On Christmas Day, I found this gift waiting for me. Look what I found inside.

A whole box of goodies from Bespoke Press, a gift from a thoughtful friend. Wasn't that sweet?

I hope you all had a good break from work and are looking forward to the New Year. Tomorrow is my first day back at work for 2012 and I'm wondering what the New Year will bring?

Jillian

the christmas collection - seasons greetings

2011-12-25T05:59:00.000+11:00

florentines - the christmas collection

2011-12-24T06:42:00.000+11:00

Florentines are little sweet treats that I remember from my childhood. One of my workmates Cathy, contributed this really quick and easy Florentine recipe.

Feel free to alter the mix of nuts and fruit because that's exactly what I did.

I've never been a fan of glace cherries so I used some dried sweetened cranberries instead. I finely chopped crystallised ginger and mixed peel and added that in with the sultanas for a bit of variety. There were no peanuts in the house, so I used toasted flaked almonds instead. It's that kind of recipe.

Florentines are very yummy and the one you see in the picture lasted about 20 seconds after this shot was taken. The cute gift tag is from kikki-k.

Florentines (from the Australian Womens Weekly)

Ingredients
1 cup cornflakes
30 gm (1 oz) red glace cherries
½ cup sultanas (golden raisins)
½ cup raw peanuts
80 ml (1/3 cup) condensed milk
60 gm (2 oz) dark chocolate

Method

Combine in a bowl the slightly-crushed cornflakes, finely-chopped cherries, sultanas, peanuts and condensed milk and mix well.
Line oven trays with baking paper.
Drop tablepoonfuls on to oven trays.
Bake at 180°C/350°F for 8 minutes or until edges begin to turn brown.
Leave on trays to cool. Use spatula to remove when cold and place on a wire rack.
Melt chopped chocolate in top of double saucepan over simmering water.
Using a spatula, spread chocolate on base of the cooled biscuit.
Mark wavy lines in the chocolate with a fork.
Let chocolate set before storing in an airtight container.

Makes 24.

That was the last of my Christmas posts and I do hope you enjoyed them. I'm going to take a week or so off from blogging so have a great Christmas and I'll see you all back again some time in the New Year.

Jillian

shortbread - the christmas collection

2011-12-23T06:48:00.000+11:00

I have to thank my friend Geoff for this shortbread recipe from David Herbert's 'The Perfect Cookbook'.

I've been making shortbread for as long as I can remember but I've never used rice flour before. Now that I've tried it, I realise it's what gives the shortbread it's unique texture.

I decided to make shortbread stars with my new star shaped cookie cutters.

Then I decided I needed to make a cookie garland using the shortbread stars threaded on baker's twine.

Shortbread from ‘The Perfect Cookbook’ by David Herbert

Ingredients
250 gram (8oz) unsalted butter, softened
½ cup caster (superfine) sugar
2 cups plain (all purpose) flour
½ cup rice flour

Method

Preheat the oven to 150ºC/300ºF.
Line 2 oven trays with baking paper.
Beat the butter in a bowl with a wooden spoon until soft and smooth.
Add the sugar, plain flour and rice flour and work the mixture with a spoon until well blended.
Knead the dough lightly on a floured surface to form a firm dough, wrap in plastic wrap then chill for 20 minutes.
Divide the dough into 2 portions and roll out each half between 2 sheets of baking paper to a thickness of 5 -7 mm (¼ - ⅓ inch).
Cut the dough into shapes with cookie cutters.
Place the shapes onto the prepared oven trays and bake for 15-20 minutes or until pale and dry.
Store shortbread in an airtight tin for up to 1 week
Makes 35-40 biscuits.

I bought this shortbread mould in Edinburgh many years ago and it's been in my kitchen drawer unused ever since. I put a bit of the shortbread mixture aside and used the press for the first time and it turned out perfectly. Shortbread keeps really well, so I've put it aside for the cook to eat in the New Year.

Now I'm off to meet the very same Geoff who sent in this recipe, for brunch. See you all again tomorrow for the last post before Christmas.

Jillian

fruit mince pies - the christmas collection

2011-12-22T04:32:00.000+11:00

For those of you who've followed my blog for a while, each year my fruit mince pies appear here. I really do make them every year as they're a great favourite both at work and at home. They fill the kitchen with the smell of Christmas baking.

I like to dredge icing sugar over the little pies just before serving.

I couldn't resist buying the little red reindeer when I was in Noosa last month. You can see him lurking in the background.

I normally make the pies using bottled fruit mince but this year I made my own. Fruit mince can be a bit cloying so adding grated apple and lemon rind to the mix helps to tone it down. That hint came from Maureen Simpson, who was formerly the food editor of Australian House and Garden magazine. The pastry recipe is my own and I've never ever shared it with any-one before, so consider this my Christmas gift to you.

MINCE PIES (makes 15)

Pastry
125 gm (4 oz) butter
⅓ cup sifted icing sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
1⅓ cup plain flour
⅓ cup self raising flour
⅓ cup corn flour (cornstarch)

Filling
1¼ cups fruit mince (home made or bottled)
1 green apple, peeled and grated
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon rind
30 gm (1 oz) melted butter

1 additional egg, lightly beaten
Caster sugar
Shallow round based patty tins
Icing sugar

Method

Cream the butter with the icing sugar. Add the egg and beat well. Sift the flours together and stir into the creamed mixture. Knead lightly on a floured board. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and chill for 1 hour.
Put the fruit mince into a mixing bowl. Add the apple, the grated rind then the melted butter and mix until well combined. You’ll need about half of the fruit mince mixture for this recipe. Store the rest in a tightly sealed jar in the fridge. It will keep for ages.
Preheat the oven to 190°C/375°F. Roll the pastry out thinly between 2 sheets of greaseproof paper and cut into rounds. Line the lightly greased patty tin with the pastry rounds. Cut the same number of slightly smaller circles to fit the tops of the pies.
Put 1 teaspoon of fruit mince into each pie then moisten the edges with the beaten egg. Make a small slit in each pastry lid or cut out with a small star cutter. Top each filled pie with a lid and press edges of pastry well to seal. Glaze with the remaining beaten egg and sprinkle caster sugar over the top of the pies.
Bake the pies in the preheated oven for 20 – 30 minutes or until pale golden brown. Cool the pies for 10 minutes before placing on a wire cooling rack.
When completely cool, store the pies in an airtight container. Dust with icing sugar before serving.

I'm heading home to Brisbane for the holidays today and I'll be baking a batch of these once I'm home. My gingerbread cutter has also made it's way into my luggage so I guess I'll be making a batch of those as well.

I'll be back again tomorrow so see you all then,

Jillian

dark chocolate, pear and pistachio cakes - the christmas collection

2011-12-21T04:35:00.000+11:00

I love letterpress and Alischa from Bespoke Press is an expert in the field. Alischa sent along this recipe for Dark Chocolate Pear and Pistachio cake and mentioned she often baked individual cakes for Christmas gifts. I thought that was a great idea and baked the cake in little bundt tins.

I'm not sure what it is about mini cakes but they just look so appealling!

Topping the cakes with the ganache was a bit of a labour of love. I was covered in chocolate and went out for dinner last Saturday night with chocolate stained fingers. Actually they're not looking that much better today.

Mini Dark Chocolate, Pear and Pistachio cakes (makes 4)

(adapted from Gourmet Traveller magazine, April 2010)

Ingredients
150 gm (5 oz) dark chocolate, coarsely chopped
½ cup pistachio kernels, plus extra to serve
100 gm (3½ oz) softened butter
100 gm (3½ oz) caster sugar
½ tsp vanilla essence
2 eggs
100 g (⅔ cup) plain flour, sieved
Scant 1 teaspoon baking powder
½ Packham pear, peeled, cored and coarsely chopped

Chocolate ganache
75 gm (2½ oz) dark chocolate, chopped
75 ml (⅓ cup) pouring cream

Method

Grease and flour 4, 1 cup mini bundt tins.
Preheat the oven to 160ºC/325ºF.
Process chocolate and pistachios in a food processor until coarse crumbs form and then set aside.
Beat the butter, sugar and vanilla essence in a bowl until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating until well combined, then stir in the plain flour and baking powder. Stir through the chocolate and pistachio mixture then the pear before spooning the mixture into the prepared tins.
Bake until an inserted skewer withdraws clean (35-40 minutes) then cool in the tin for 10 minutes. Turn out and cool on a wire rack.
For the chocolate ganache, place chopped chocolate in a heatproof bowl. Heat the cream in a small saucepan over medium heat to just below boiling, add to the chocolate and stand until the chocolate melts, then stir until smooth.
Set aside until slightly thickened before pouring over the top and sides of the cakes. Scatter with the remaining pistachios before putting the cakes aside to set.
Cakes will keep stored in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

I don't really 'do' Christmas so here's one of the little cakes in front of my version of a Christmas tree.

I hope you're enjoying the daily posts. See you all again tomorrow,

Jillian

gingerbread - the christmas collection

2011-12-20T05:51:00.000+11:00

I've always loved gingerbread men. If I find myself in a cake shop that has gingerbread men on the shelf, one always seems to come home with me. I think I may have made them once when I was still at school but that was a long time ago. I vowed I was going to make them this year so hunted for a recipe. The first one I tried was a bit of a disaster as the addition of the baking soda turned the mixture into honeycomb. I found another recipe and tried again.

This one worked like a charm and in a short while I was using my new gingerbread cutter to turn out some of these little men.

I didn't want to ice the gingerbread men so I used currants for eyes and glace cherries for the mouth then placed them into cellophane bags sealed with bakers twine. All my friends will be getting one of these tucked into their Christmas gifts this year.

Gingerbread Men (makes 14)
Adapted from Good Taste Magazine December 2007

Ingredients
50 g butter
100g (½ cup) firmly packed brown sugar
125 mls (½ cup) golden syrup
1 egg, lightly whisked
300 g (2 cups) plain flour
75 g (½ cup) self raising flour
2 teaspoons ground ginger
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
¾ teaspoon ground cloves
¼ teaspoon ground white pepper
½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

Glace cherries and currants to decorate

Method

Place the butter, sugar and golden syrup in a small saucepan over a low heat.
Stir until the butter melts and the sugar dissolves. Set aside for 10 minutes to cool slightly.
Combine the butter mixture and egg in a large bowl.
Sift the combined flour, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, pepper and bicarbonate of soda over the butter mixture. Stir until well combined.
Turn onto a lightly floured surface and gently knead until smooth. Shape into a disc. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge for 1 hour to rest.
Preheat the oven to 180ºC/350°F. Line 2 baking trays with non-stick baking paper.
Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface until 5 mm thick. Use a 12 cm gingerbread man shaped cutter to cut out shapes. Re-knead offcuts and chill before rolling out again.
Place the gingerbread men on the lined trays leaving room to spread. To decorate, press in currants to make eyes and buttons and a sliver of glace cherries for a mouth. Return trays to the fridge for a further hour before baking.
Bake the gingerbread men for 10-15 minutes or until golden. Set aside on the trays for 5 minutes to cool before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
The gingerbread men will harden as they cool.

See you all again tomorrow for Day 3 of the Christmas Collection.

Jillian

hazelnut cookies - the christmas collection

2011-12-19T05:48:00.000+11:00

As promised, I'll be bringing you 6 days of recipes and here is the first recipe from the 'The Christmas Collection'. The lovely Juliana sent me this recipe for hazelnut cookies from 'A Piece of Cake' by Leila Lindholm.

I made the cookies a few weeks ago and they still taste great, so they store well. Best of all, they're really easy to make.

Hazelnut Cookies

Ingredients
50 gm butter
200 gm ground hazelnuts
80 gm sugar
1 egg
Toasted hazelnuts for garnish
Optional – icing sugar

Method

Preheat the oven to 175°C.
Cover a baking sheet with baking paper.
Melt the butter.
Mix the ground hazelnuts with the melted butter, the sugar and the egg.
Make little balls and place on the lined baking sheet.
Gently press one hazelnut on top of each cookie.
Bake in the middle of the oven for about 18 minutes until golden.
Cool on the baking sheet.
Roll in icing sugar if desired
Store in an airtight jar.
Makes about 18 cookies.

Wouldn't a big jar of these cookies make a great gift especially if they came with one of Kylie's lovely porcelain ornaments?

See you all again tomorrow and thanks once again for the recipe Juliana,

Jillian

the christmas collection

2011-12-16T05:18:00.000+11:00

Do you remember a month or so ago I asked if you could send in some of your favourite Christmas baking goodies? Well a few of you did, so I've been madly baking and photographing the past few weekends.

I'm going to contribute one or two of my own closely guarded recipes as well, so there'll be a recipe a day from Monday through to Christmas Eve. I've been double checking quantities and re-writing text and I can confirm I'll be including the recipes for you as a special Christmas treat.

I've included a sneak peek of some of the goodies I'll be sharing with you next week.

So until then,

Jillian

centennial parklands

2011-12-14T17:23:00.000+11:00

Last weekend I met my friend Jenny and Miss. B for a stroll/cycle through Centennial Park. The weather had other plans and after 10 minutes the heavens opened and we ran back to my car and huddled inside waiting for the weather to clear. The weather didn't clear and there's only so much you can do to entertain a 5 year old inside a car, so soon after we admitted defeat and went our separate ways.

I did manage to take a few photos before the heavens opened.

I'm very lucky to live so close to this amazing park founded by Sir Henry Parkes, the stern looking gentleman you see above.

Notice the threatening skies?

Even the dogs were looking noticeably windswept.

For a split second the sun came out to illuminate the calla lillies then just as quickly disappeared again. Is summer ever going to arrive in Sydney?

I'll try popping back later in the week with a sneak peek of what's in store for you every day next week. It's a bit of a Christmas baking bonanza.

So until then,

Jillian

sweet and spicy souvenirs - antique chopping board

2011-12-12T18:42:00.001+11:00

When I went overseas this year, I had a very short shopping list. It went something like this - antique wooden board and ceramic spoons. I found the bread board in Van Weerde at Herenstraat 17 in Amsterdam and posted it back home to Australia. Jeroen packaged the board so carefully it arrived without a single dint or scratch but you should have seen me struggling to get it back home from the post office.

I now have quite a collection of boards but none quite so large or distressed as this one. But what to cook? I work in a hospital and our waiting room is filled with out of date magazines. Whilst leafing through one of them I found this recipe for a spinach and ricotta tart. I knew I had some puff pastry and spinach in the freezer so I went down to the local fruit shop to buy the fresh herbs.

It's very quick and simple to make and my dinner was on the table in no time at all.

The finished product topped with some extra dill and mint. I only made one of the tarts so I had leftover filling and with a bit of smoked salmon it makes a very tasty sandwich filling. Next time though I think I'll crumble in some feta cheese to make the filling a bit more spanakopita like.

I had such a busy weekend. I went to 2 Christmas parties; I've arranged all the Christmas presents and written half of the cards and managed to complete most of my Christmas baking. You should have seen me up to my elbows in chocolate, butter and nuts. Can you believe Christmas is almost here?

How are you going with your Christmas preparations?

Jillian

min and sharon's wedding

2011-12-07T18:11:00.000+11:00

The weather in Sydney has been pretty ordinary so far considering it's supposed to be summer. I've been wearing my winter pyjamas most nights. Thankfully Saturday was a gorgeous day, which was a good thing, as Min and Sharon had chosen to marry outdoors.Their wedding was held in the Eternal Garden at Curzon Hall in Sydney.

The groom looked very dapper and didn't stop smiling the whole day.

Here comes the bride.

Doesn't she look gorgeous walking down the aisle on the arm of her father?

A few images in black and white.

Getting married in the Eternal Garden.

Doesn't Sharon look like a little China Doll?

Sharon's very pretty sister Karen was her bridesmaid.

Some details in black and white.

Just a few more of the bride.

I put down my cameras down at this point and concentrated on being a guest. It's quite interesting attending a wedding as a guest when you're used to being the photographer up at the front of the pack. I knew I wouldn't get my usual access so I bought along my long lens, which I rarely use. It does give you quite a different perspective of the day.

Min and Sharon are now in Malaysia having another celebration with their Malysian relatives. We're looking forward to seeing them both back at work following their honeymoon in Saba.

Another weekend filled with Christmas parties so I'll see you all again next week.

Bye for now,

Jillian

little lemon polenta cakes

2011-12-05T17:14:00.000+11:00

I made this sweet little cakes a few weeks ago but haven't had a chance to show them on the blog. I used this recipe by Manna from Heaven.

I'd just bought some pistachios and decided to pretty up the cakes with a little splash of green.

I only used half the recipe but it still made lots of these little cakes. I was meeting a friend for lunch and took a few with me and still managed to take plenty to work the next day.

These little cakes have loads of flavour and an interesting texture and best of all, they're gluten free.

I've had a really busy weekend and next weekend will more of the same. I've been out and about, baking and photographing like crazy so hope to bring you a full week of Christmas baking treats in the week leading up to Christmas.

See you all again soon,

Jillian

lunchbox session 2

2011-11-30T20:15:00.000+11:00

Do you remember a week or so I ago, I answered one of Michelle's questions in the first lunchbox session? Well Michelle posted 2 questions and here's the second of her questions.

When I look at your travel shots, I really like the way the lighting appears - rich and vibrant but not too contrasting like lots of difference in shadow and highlights. Nothing burnt or washout, both indoor and outdoor, really nice and even lighting. Is it possible to ask you for any tips that you would share for achieving the rich and even tone?

A simple question but one that isn't all that easy to answer because there are so many different elements involved, so here goes.

Camera
When I bought my new camera I did a bit of online research looking for the best way to set up the camera. I followed their recommendations and now have a few pre-programmed settings for portraits and landscapes. One is a bit more colour saturated than the other.

Lighting
I prefer nice even lighting so I look for the best light.

If I can't find it in one direction, I turn around and shoot from the other direction, or I look for shade. If I can, I'll come back later when the light is better. I wait for people to move so I can get the cleanest shot I can.

I shot this image at Carriageworks, an old railway maintenance building flooded with beautiful light. All I had to do was point and shoot.

Window light is also nice light, which is how I light all my food photography.

For my food photography I control the light. I move around my apartment as the lighting changes during the day. Sometimes I'll shoot by the window in the kitchen, later on I shoot in the living room or in my sunroom. I usually shoot food either back-lit or side lit. I use white foam board to either block or reflect light. If it doesn't look right to me, then I change the set-up.

Colour Management
You need to make sure your monitor is colour calibrated so what you see on the screen is what you see if you get your work printed.

For print I use the colour space recommended by the lab or printing company and soft proof in Photoshop if they have a specific colour profile.

For the web I prepare my images using the sRGB colour space. If you don’t, your images will look very washed out once uploaded.

Processing
I use an old version of Photoshop, CS2, which suits me fine but I am thinking of investing in Lightroom 3. I shoot in RAW and make adjustments in Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) if needed, then export as jpegs.

I've made a few presets in ACR which adjust brightness and add a vignette.

If I don't like the outcome from the presets, I make some adjustments manually.

You can always save those as presets, which you then apply across a number of images shot under the same lighting conditions. That helps to speed up the image processing saga.

Once the jpegs are exported I do little else except resize for web and sharpen, though sometimes I might adjust the levels.

Apart from a Nikon black and white conversion action, I don't use any other Photoshop actions other than resizing actions I've made myself to speed up the blogging process. I want my images to look as much like film as possible and still shoot black and white film when I can.

Before uploading the images, I use Boutwell Magic Glasses from Totally Rad Actions at ~25%. It's a sharpening action which I got it as a free download from their website.

Advice
I've always loved photography but didn't take it seriously until my Dad bought me a Nikon film SLR many years ago. I took some camera courses but pretty much shot everything on AUTO. Then 9 years ago I bit the bullet and enrolled in a Certificate in Photography course.

It took me 2 years to complete the course and everything I learned was film based. Each week we shot on film, which we then developed and printed in the darkroom. Whatever processing I do is similar to what I did in the darkroom.

I had to learn how to use Photoshop and a digital camera after I graduated.
I took some courses; looked for answers online and practised, practised, practised. I shoot every week and have done so for the past 3 years. That way I have stuff to show on my blog but it's enabled me to know my camera's strengths and weakness/how it meters/what it's focus is like.

I still shoot as though I'm using film. I try to get the image as right as I can in camera to avoid too much post processing. I consider what I'm shooting/why I'm shooting that scene and how best to shoot it. I then try to put my own spin on it. I don't want my images to look like every-one else's and that's why I've attached this image of Sacre Coeur, shot from behind. It's a different point of view which I think is just as beautiful.

My style developed through shooting weddings as weddings involve fashion photography/documentary photography with a bit of food and interior photography thrown in for good measure and there are no second chances!

I've got a busy weekend ahead with another wedding, though this time I'm going as a guest. I'm sure one of my cameras will be coming along with me though.

So until the next time then,

Jillian

sweet and spicy souvenirs - jeanine eek keizer plate

2011-11-28T17:45:00.000+11:00

I bought this beautiful plate when I was in Berlin. It's a redipped Rosenthal Maria plate, part of the colour tableware line by Jeanine Eek Kezier. I carried it back home to Sydney carefully wrapped in bubble wrap.

But what to make? Well naturally it had to contain something blue, so I made a blueberry crumble cake inspired by a Belinda Jeffrey recipe I found in Delicious magazine.

I used my 'go to' butter cake recipe flavoured with cinnamon and lemon, folded through the floured blueberries and topped the cake with the crumble mix a la the recipe. It smelt delicious.

My gas oven has been causing me problems since June. I had it 'fixed' but now it goes out at will and usually at the worst possible moments. It went out about halfway through the baking of this cake, which caused the cake to sink ever so slightly in the middle.

I took the cake into work and it disappeared in a flash, which is always a good sign. I've been so busy, my own slice sat in the freezer until last Friday. So what did I think? The cake was very moist and not particularly sweet. The crumble topping was delicious so I'd certainly use it again though maybe with some other fruit.

Meanwhile, what happened to the weekend? It just disappeared in a flash and here I am back at work again. How does that happen??

See you all again on Wednesday,

Jillian

Sweet and spicy souvenirs - salted chocolate caramel tartlets

2011-11-23T18:37:00.000+11:00

Today's sweet and spicy souvenir comes from E. Dehillerin in Paris. I was looking for some straight sided tart shells and came home with 4 of them. I don't think anyone has ever bought such a small quantity from there because the sales staff kept asking 'is that all?'

But what to make? Well actually I knew exactly what to bake - these little chocolate caramel tartlets based on this recipe by Valli Little.

Istead of chocolate pastry, I decided to make some chocolate flecked pastry by grating about 40 grams of chocolate into my shortcrust pastry recipe. You have to be careful not to overwork the dough or you'll lose the flecks.

My favourite part of the whole process - the caramel. I sprinkled a little bit of pink sea salt over the caramel before topping it with the chocolate custard mixture.

I was going to gussy up this picture but I decided that simple was best, which pretty much sums up my approach to styling.

How did they taste? YUM!

See you all again next week,

Jillian

adam and vanessa

2011-11-21T20:36:00.000+11:00

I've been busy working on Adam and Vanessa's wedding photos and I thought you might like to see a few of them.

As I wasn't meeting the bride and groom 'til later in the day I started the day with a walk to Noosa National Park. Next stop was the Sheraton Hotel, where the boys were getting ready.

We went down to the lobby to take a few portraits of the boys before I made my way over to the girls place.

Here is the lovely Amelia, Vanessa's bridesmaid.

The gorgeous bride, Vanessa.

Off to the ceremony site to take some detail shots before the arrival of the guests.

Adam waiting for his bride. Doesn't he look so happy?

The bride on her way. I think the back of her dress is even prettier than the front.

The wedding ceremony was conducted by the lovely Lisa Blackmore from I-Do Weddings

We didn't have a great deal of time, so after the family photos we made our way down to the beach for a few portraits.

My favourite photo from the day.

The bridal party -

We were joined by some bush turkeys for this photo. I did tell Adam and Vanessa that I wanted their wedding photos to be different!

We walked back along Hastings Street on our way to the Sheraton. Vanessa looked so gorgeous that she literally stopped traffic.

We made our way through the Sheraton to the jetty and stopped for a quick photo or two. We had about 2 minutes spare before the bridal party had to catch their speedboat to Ricky's so I quickly took these photos of Vanessa.

What a great way to travel to your wedding reception.

I had a few moments before Adam and Vanessa were due to arrive, so I took some photos of Ricky's.

The sun sets really quickly in Noosa but we managed to catch this image just in time.

Just a few photos from the reception.

An image I shot on film.

The cake cutting.

Technically a disaster of a photo when my flash failed to fire, but I love it.

The bride and groom partied on with their guests til the wee small hours but this photo chick (not how I would describe myself but that's what one of the guest's called me) needed her beauty sleep.

To Adam and Vanessa, I hope you're having a great time in Bali. Love to you both,

Jillian

Noosa

2011-11-16T19:32:00.000+11:00

I went to Noosa last weekend, one of my favourite destinations.

My good friends, Adam and Vanessa, flew me up from Sydney to shoot their wedding.

They chose Casuarina Gardens overlooking Noosa's Main Beach for their ceremony location and Trudy from Lovebird Weddings made sure the day ran smoothly.

The bride chose a gorgeous dress from Mariana Hardwick and flowers from Mondo Floral Designs.

We took some photos on Noosa's Main Beach before an amazing dinner at Ricky's on Noosa River.

I hope you enjoyed the sneak peek of my Noosa trip,

Jillian

blueberry chocolate chunk cookies

2011-11-13T14:50:00.001+11:00

I should be editing a whole stack of images, but I've snuck a way for a few moments to write this blog post. I've been away for the weekend and came home last night to the washing, the ironing and the grocery shopping. Oh for a domestic elf!

When I was in London I dropped by the Notting Hill branch of Ottolenghi one evening. I was so taken with the food there I vowed to buy one of their cookbooks when I returned home.

The cookbook arrived last week but this Ottolenghi recipe is not from the cookbook. I found it online here. I'd not used dried blueberries before, so I was interested to see what they tasted like. I found them way too sweet eaten straight from the pack but they tasted fine in the cookie.

I made a batch and used white chocolate chunks in one half of the dough and made the other half using dark chocolate chunks. I really don't know which flavour I prefer.

I baked a dozen cookies and since then I've been so busy, the remaining cookie dough has been in the freeze waiting to be baked. Maybe I'll have time this coming weekend.

I hope you all had great weekends. Got to fly,

Jillian

lunchbox session

2011-11-09T17:22:00.000+11:00

A week ago I received an email from one of my readers asking for some advice. Michelle asked 2 questions and they were such good questions, I thought some of you might be interested in both the questions and my responses. I coined my photographic training course, the Lunchbox, so I thought I’d call this Q & A session, the lunchbox session.

I’m going to address the first question this week and tackle the other question in the next week or two. Now please remember, there are no hard and fast rules to photography. There is no right or wrong, this is just my approach to photography.

Here's Michelle's first question.

I'm thinking about getting a standard lens EF50mm f1.8 or f1.4 (if I can afford it) for all table top shooting. Is this lens any good for travel shooting?

I shoot with Nikon cameras, both film and digital, and only use Nikon lenses.The only fixed lens I own is the 50 mm 1.4D. All the images posted on the blog today were shot with the 50 mm lens and I've posted the settings I used for all the digital images. I used to document all my settings when shooting film but I’m a bit lazy these days and haven’t for a while.

I use the 50mm 1.4 lens for all my details shots and for most of my food photography.

I use the zooms for travel photography, interiors and weddings. All the black and white travel photos I took on my last trip were shot exclusively with the 50 mm 1.4, so yes you can use it as a travel lens.

It’s a nice light lens as well which is a definite bonus when you’re travelling. For someone like me who’s used to using a zoom, having to use one’s feet to get in close with the 50 mm lens is a bit of a challenge.

For many years, a 50 mm fixed lens was the only option for a 35 mm film camera and the optimum aperture with that lens is f8.

Using different apertures will change the look of your image. For most of my landscape images, I use an aperture of either f8 or f5.6.

For my food or interior shots, I often want selective focus, so I might shoot anywhere from f 2.5 to f 4.

The 50 mm f1.8 is a much cheaper lens, so is the 50 mm f1.4 worth the extra money for the extra stop of light? For me the answer is ‘no’, because I’ve never used the lens at 1.4. With my lens, it’s very hard to get the image in focus if I use anything under 2.2 . I have one memorable shot where I was trying to get the bride’s eyelashes in focus and instead have her eye brows in perfect focus!

Why then did I buy the 50mm 1.4 rather than the less expensive 1.8? I bought the 50mm 1.4 lens because it’s a D lens, which means I can use it with both my film and digital cameras.

If you try using a digital lens on a film camera you get 'cut off' where you can see the outline of the lens in the frame. As my digital cameras aren't full frame the 50 mm acts like a 70mm lens on my digital cameras. That's quite a nice portrait lens, so the 50 mm lens has become one of my favourite lenses.

I hope that’s been of some help. I’m always happy to answer any photography or baking enquiries for that matter, so please feel free to email me with your questions.

I'll see you all again next week.

Have a great weekend,

Jillian

sweet and spicy souvenir - blackberry tart

2011-11-07T19:12:00.000+11:00

Today's sweet and spicy souvenir is a little storage jar from Habitat in London. Habitat went into receivership when I was in London so I made a pilgrimage to the Tottenham Court Road shop just in case it isn't around next time I come to London.

As I warned you, I've been on a bit of a pastry kick of late. Don't know why. Here's a blackberry tart I made for work a few weeks ago. I felt a bit guilty not sharing the mulberry tart with my workmates and as I had some leftover pastry, I remade the recipe substituting blackberries for mulberries.

I love making frangipane tarts because they're so easy and every-one loves them. If you don't feel like it, you can skip the pre-baking of the pastry case and the tart will still turn out fine.

The tart was all gone before I could snaffle a slice but that's always a good sign.

I hope you all had good weekends. Apart from a trip to the movies to see Midnight in Paris, my weekend was quiet. As I've got a hectic few days coming up, I like to think of it as the calm before the storm.

See you all again on Wednesday,

Jillian

christmas baking

2011-11-02T18:55:00.002+11:00

Don't forget, you've just got a few more weeks to get those Christmas recipes to me.

All you have to do is email me (info@jillianleiboff.com) your favourite Christmas baked goodies recipe and why it's your favourite and I'll pick one or two recipes to bake and feature on the blog. December has just become hectic, so ideally if I could get the recipes by mid November I'll have a chance to sort through them and get my favourite recipes baked and photographed before the festive season gets underway.

How did Christmas suddenly sneak up on me like this? I normally buy my Christmas cards at the post Christmas sales but didn't last year. Without any cards, I'm wondering whether I should make some this year using my Christmas baking photos. Any thoughts?

I have a huge day at work tomorrow so it's time to good-bye. I'll be back next week with some more baking and something new for you, a lunchbox session. I'll explain more next week.

So until then,

Jillian

a passionfruit tart

2011-10-31T18:41:00.000+11:00

I've always loved the taste of passionfruit. Passionfruit are quite expensive at the moment but when they're on special at the fruit market I buy up big and freeze the pulp. I've been making passionfruit tarts for many years and I've always used the same recipe. A year or two ago the recipe suddenly stopped working for me. The pastry shell would split and half the filling would leak out creating a big mess or else the filling would turn out really frothy.

I'm kind of known for my paper thin pastry but after way too many disasters, I decided to adapt the recipe slightly and made my pastry a teensy bit thicker than usual. This Matt Moran recipe from Gourmet Traveller is very close to the one I used. In addition to the passionfruit juice, I used some blood orange juice to maintain the vibrant colour of the filling.

Eureka! The tart came out perfectly. I took the tart into work and when it was discovered by the throng, I could hear squeals coming from the office. They do like this tart.

I took my slice home and decided to pretty it up a bit with some passionfruit syrup and slices of just ripe mango. I probably like mango even more than I like passionfruit. Yum!

I've gone a bit pastry crazy the past few weeks. I've got one tart post in the wings and another one or two in the pipeline, so stay tuned.

I hope you all had lovely weekends. See you all again on Wednesday,

Jillian

mini lemon poppyseed cakes

2011-10-26T17:49:00.001+11:00

Which flavour do you prefer, lemon or chocolate? We were talking about this at work the other day. Personally I love lemon desserts and I seem to have been baking lots of lemony flavoured treats recently.

I found this recipe flicking through one of our old magazines at work. The recipe calls for whole lemons, which are first cooked in water, then pureed.

I thought that sounded interesting so I made a half quantity of the recipe and whipped up some mini lemon poppyseed cakes.

I took the cakes into work and the test audience gave them the thumbs up. They liked the cakes because of their dense texture. The cake was all gone before I had a chance to taste it but I kept 2 aside for my friend B and she also gave them the thumbs up, so I guess the recipe is a keeper.

I'm off to meet a friend for dinner so I've got to fly. Ill be back again next week with some more baking, so until then,

Jillian

Christmas baking

2011-10-26T08:32:00.000+11:00

I love Christmas baking and usually I whip up a batch of mince pies as well as a Christmas cake and some kind of shortbread cookie. Each year I make something special for the blog and last year it was these cranberry and shortbread stars.

How would you like to email me (info@jillianleiboff.com) your favourite Christmas baked goodies recipe and why it's your favourite and I'll pick one or two to bake and feature on the blog? I've been thinking about this for a while, inspired by this feature by Sweet Paul. I'd need the recipes by the end of November by the latest so get cracking!

I hope you're enjoying your weekends,

Jillian

sweet and spicy souvenirs - labour and wait measuring spoons

2011-10-24T18:34:00.000+11:00

Here's another purchase from my trip, some porcelain measuring spoons from Labour and Wait.

Labour and Wait had lots of things I wanted to buy but with limited space, anything I bought had to be small. These spoons filled the bill.

Last month, I ran out of home made chutney so I put the new measuring spoons to use. The chutney recipe I use has loads of spices in it - cayenne pepper, ginger, dried mustard and turmeric.

I've been making this recipe for years and serve it as an accompaniment to curries. It's called Delhi chutney and it's a spicy chutney made from apples, dates, mangoes and onions. I've tried to track the recipe down for you on the web without any luck at all. I can find mango chutney and apple and date chutney but nothing that combines all three ingredients.

The recipe makes quite a chunky mix and like a good wine, the flavour matures the longer you store the chutney. I'm planning to serve the chutney with a chicken korma curry that's on the menu for this week.

Another busy weekend with lots of baking, Sunday lunch with a friend and a successful shoe shopping trip.

See you all again on Wednesday,

Jillian

Sweet and spicy souvenir - Mulberry Frangipane Tart

2011-10-19T17:42:00.000+11:00

Today's souvenir is a confiture jar I picked up in Paris at BHV but what to match it with? Last week one of my workmates handed over a small container of mulberries. When I was growing up, every-one had a mulberry tree in their back yard. We didn't, but the branches from the next door neighbour's tree conveniently overhung the back fence. I love mulberries and my fingertips were often stained with the tell tale mauve evidence of my pilfering.

I was meeting friends for lunch last Sunday and it was my task to bring along the dessert, so I pondered for a moment and decided to make a mulberry frangipane tart. I made up my own recipe but based it loosely upon this one here. I didn't have enough time or mulberries to make my own mulberry jam but bought some French blackberry jam instead.

I get up really early each Sunday to get my baking underway before a 9.15 a.m. cycle class. It's pretty early but the light is so nice then.

I topped the tart with slivered almonds. I'd planned to sift some icing sugar over the tart before serving I but forgot to take it with me.

I took a little slice home with me to taste, as I'd not made this before.

When it was time to taste my slice, it was pretty nice and soon after, I received an sms from my friend thanking me for the yummy tart. I'm sure I'll be making this tart again next Mulberry season.

Bye for now,

Jillian

Chocolate Stout Cake

2011-10-17T17:46:00.000+11:00

Last year I made some Chocolate Stout cupcakes with cream cheese icing. Whilst they were tasty, I couldn't get any-one to eat them. I ate most of them myself and gave the rest to my workmates with sons. I thought I'd try making the recipe again but this time I made a cake rather than cupcakes. Once the cake was baked and cooled, I put it into the deep freeze and pulled it out last week for a friend's birthday morning tea.

Whilst I liked the flavour of the cupcakes, I didn't like the texture very much. I hunted down another recipe (they're all very similar by the way) and settled on this one on Smitten Kitchen but I changed the recipe substantially.

I ditched the melt and mix method instead creaming the butter and sugar before combining the eggs. I reduced the sugar substantially and added some yoghurt with the sour cream to lighten the mixture. The cake came out sky high and very moist. Of course when the time came to ice the cake, I had to use my favourite cream cheese icing recipe, using a bit of sour cream to tie in all the flavours.

I'm not really a chocolate cake fan, so I didn't have a slice but I tasted the crumbs and scraped the bowl and can tell you its a pretty tasty cake. What did my work colleagues think?

I think to say it went down well was a bit of an understatement. As the word went around that I'd baked a chocolate cake, people came out out of the woodwork. The recipe was requested and I was told it was the best chocolate cake they'd ever tasted. There's another farewell morning tea coming up soon, and I've made a small version cake using this recipe but this time I'm going to ice it using some leftover ganache I found in the freezer. I'll let you know what the test audience thinks.

I hope you all had great weekends. I did a bit of shopping, lots of baking, met a friend for sushi and watched the Australia vs New Zealand Rugby World Cup semi-final. Congratulations to New Zealand who were certainly the better team on the day.

See you all Wednesday and don't forget to send me your favourite Christmas baking recipes,

Jillian

Austrian Coffee Cake

2011-10-12T17:44:00.000+11:00

I was home in Brisbane recently, visiting my parents and of course, the cat.

I hunted through the cupboard under the oven looking for some old baking tins. The first thing that fell out was this kugelhopf tin. Dad used to make butter cakes when I was growing up, and this was the tin he used. We figured it's probably older than I am, which would make it vintage!

I rifled through an old cookbook, Margaret Fulton's Creative Cookery Course and found this recipe for Austrian Coffee Cake, which I've been dying to make for ever. The first time I saw the cake pictured in a magazine, it had been baked in a kugelhopf tin so that's what I used.

Now the thing is, I don't like the taste of coffee at all but my Mum does and as today is her birthday, I thought I'd make something that she likes. Dad also has a whiz bang coffee machine so I knew he'd like to use his barista skills.

The tin might be vintage but the cake came out perfectly.The cake is a simple butter cake which is soaked in a coffee syrup (I skipped the rum) then covered in whipped cream. Mum can't eat cream so I left the cake unadorned and when cut, the cake was very moist and had a 2 toned appearance.

When I left for Sydney, the cake looked like this -

I'm not sure if there's any cake left but a big Happy Birthday to my Mum in Brisbane.

Happy Birthday Mama,

love,

Jillian

whole lemon squares

2011-10-10T17:58:00.001+11:00

How did the Wallabies win that game? How did I not have a heart attack whilst watching the last 4 minutes of the match? Back to the matter at hand. Although I love cooking, most of the blogs I follow are wedding photography blogs, a few design blogs and friend's blogs. I only follow a few food related blogs but I do like David Lebovitz's blog, which I dip into from time to time when I need a bit of inspiration. October is the month in which the Sydney Crave Food Festival is held. When I looked through the list of chefs presenting at Crave, there was David's name. When I checked the date, I realised I'd be out of town that particular weekend. Of course.

A few weeks ago I made some mini lemon and poppyseed cakes, which have yet to make it to the blog. They're sitting in a plastic container in the freezer as I write this. The cake recipe called for whole lemons simmered in water for 20 minutes. I only used one of the lemons and was wondering what to do with the other lemon, when I checked David's blog to find this recipe.

So I whizzed up my cooked lemon, skin and all and added it to my regular lemon squares recipe without making any other changes and kept my fingers crossed that the mixture would set. There was clearly more topping, which is a good thing and the top didn't dry out as usual. I took the lemon squares into work and didn't say a word.

I tried a corner of one of the squares and they were a little too bitter for my taste. Next time I make the lemon squares, I'll remove the peel and reserve it, then remove the pith from the lemon first before quartering pureeing the flesh. Lemon squares are always a favourite and I felt sure someone would notice a difference as the whole lemon squares certainly had a bitter edge to them. No-one said a word.

I hope you all enjoyed the weekend. I tried to finish some half completed projects; bought this bag on sale to use as a stylish shooting bag and had lunch with a friend. All in all, it was a pretty good weekend.

See you all soon,

Jillian

sweet and spicy souvenirs - a ladle

2011-10-05T18:11:00.000+11:00

When I was in London I spied a slightly retro looking enamel ladle in Pedlars at Selfridges. It was so appealling, before I knew it it was wrapped in aqua tissue paper and had found it's way into my backpack where it stayed until I returned to Sydney. But what food to match it with????

Well I found this simple looking recipe by Neil Perry in the weekend paper and went on a search for shoulder of lamb.

I prefer to slow cook dishes in the oven rather than on the stove top so I cooked the lamb at 160 C for about 1 and 1/2 hours and it was delicious. I also oven roasted the eggplant slices for 40 minutes at 200C to try to reduce the fat content of the dish. If possible, I prefer to make casseroles or stews the day before I serve them.

Casseroles taste so much better on the second day but it also means I can remove any excess fat from the dish. As suggested, I've made the recipe using beef but it's nowhere near as nice as the lamb version. I'm yet to try making the dish with chicken but I will.

I hope your week has gone well. I'm back from my 4 day trip to Brisbane so I'm working a 3 day week this week. I have to say, so far I'm really liking it!

Thanks to Juliana for coming up with an idea for the title for today's post. I'll be back to see you all again next week,

Jillian

upside down pear and ginger cake

2011-10-03T20:32:00.001+11:00

It might be spring in Sydney but autumn fruits are still in the fruit shops. I bought some corella pears a few weeks ago and I've been waiting for them to ripen. I've been making this upside down pear, ginger and hazelnut cake from Gourmet Traveller magazine for about 10 years now. The recipe I've tracked down has been adapted slightly from the original. I'm sure there should be 1/2 teaspoon of coriander somewhere in the mix and it certainly wasn't served with pomegranate syrup. The original recipe makes a 23 cm cake but I knew I hadn't bought enough of the tiny pears for a tin of that size.

I also wanted to use a loaf pan that's been in my pot drawer for a year now. It was one of the vintage tins I purchased from etsy some time back. I had enough mixture left over to make 2 texas muffin size mini cakes. So into the oven they went and into the shower I went. The brown sugar and butter layer bubbled over and someone hadn't placed a tin under the cake pan, so it hit the base of the oven and started to burn, creating a pall of smoke in my flat.

Off went the smoke alarm and before I had time to get out of the shower, change and deal with the smoke alarm, my next door neighbour had switched the alarm off in the hallway then knocked on my front door to check I was okay.

I thought it was so sweet of him that I took the 2 mini cakes over to his flat as a thank-you.

I tinkered with the recipe a bit (now there's a surprise, not) by adding an extra teaspoon of ground ginger;using crystallised ginger instead of the more mild glace ginger specified in the recipe and some extra buttermilk. From past experience this is one of those cakes that must be allowed to cool completely before turning out, otherwise it will break into pieces.

I took the cake into work the following day and and there was about 1/4 of the cake left by the end of the day. The following day I was told the ginger flavour had intensified further which I think is a good thing. I've not tried the cake yet as I'm in Brisbane at the moment, visiting the family. My slice of cake is still at home in the freezer.

Thanks for the nice emails and facebook comments on Tiff and Gareth's wedding photos.

I hope you all had great weekends. See you all again on Wednesday,

Jillian

a wedding - tiffany and gareth

2011-09-28T19:03:00.000+10:00

It's been a while since I last photographed a wedding, so when my friend Bruce asked if I'd like to help out at this wedding, I jumped at the chance. Tiff and Gareth were married at Ravensthorpe, a beautiful old house at Albion Park near Wollongong.

Warning - there are quite a few photos in this post.

I'd not met Tiffany before but she was fairly easy to identify

Tiffany had 3 gorgeous bridesmaids on the day- her sister Mel and best friends Jess and Shelley.

Here's some of the secret women's business that went on before Tiff walked down the aisle.

Tiff looked absolutely gorgeous and I loved all the details she selected, especially the Badgley Mischka's!

There were lots of beautiful places to photograph around Ravensthorpe. How's this for a bridal party?

Tiff chose beautiful lavender coloured gowns for her bridesmaids.

The shoes deserved their own special photo.

Was there a more lovely bride than Tiff?

I was told Tiff had a smile that could light up a room and indeed she did.

My first look at the boys waiting to hear if the ceremony was going to take place in the rotunda.

The weather wasn't looking good but Tiff decided to go ahead with the outdoor ceremony.

It was a little bit damp.

Another view of the pretty bouquet.

Don't they look so excited?

Married at last.

I always like photographing the receiving line. Every-one is always so happy.

Then it was time for some photos of Tiffany and Gareth.

My favourite photo.

Whilst Bruce photographed Tiff and Gareth, I played with the bridesmaids and groomsmen.

Then it was time to have a peek inside the reception marquee.

I looked high and low for the cake, which was brought out just as I was about to leave. I'm sure it tasted as good as it looked.

I'd like to thank Tiffany and Gareth and their family and friends for allowing me to play a small part in their wedding day. Despite the wet feet, I had so much fun! I only take on a small select group of wedding clients each year. If you'd like to be one of those clients you can contact me here for the details.

See you all again next week,

Jillian

carrot layer cake

2011-09-26T16:40:00.001+10:00

Can you remember when you first tried carrot cake? My first slice was a very long time ago. Carrot cake seems to have fallen out of favour but I'm determined to bring it back into the spotlight again because you know what, it's a really nice cake.

I found this recipe a few years ago and modified the cake by using grated pumpkin instead of carrot. The cake was a runaway success but I always wondered if it would taste as good made with carrot. A few weeks ago, I gave it a try. I fancied the thought of a layer cake so I baked the mixture in two 8 inch layer pans then split each of the layers into two.

I completely stole the idea of decorating the top of the cake from this site, Call Me Cupcake.

This cake is an absolute winner and even people who claimed they didn't like carrot cake managed to scoff 2 pieces of this little gem. I'm not sure why it's so delicious. Maybe it's the dates in the mixture but this very yummy cream cheese icing helps.

I had a very busy weekend and I'm aching all over. If you check back on Wednesday you'll be able to see the fruits of my labour. Meanwhile, I hope this post inspires you to retry this retro classic,

Jillian

sweet and spicy souvenirs - rice pudding with oven roasted rhubarb

2011-09-21T19:25:00.000+10:00

When I went on my holidays, I had a wish list of things I wanted to buy - an antique wooden bread board, some ceramic spoons, a french milk bottle and some confit jars - all the things that are hard to find in Sydney or else just too expensive.

Well I managed to track down most of those goodies and I posted the items home to Sydney from Amsterdam, London and Paris. Everything arrived home in 1 piece and you should have seen me struggling home from the post office with all my parcels. In my new Wednesday feature, which hasn't got a title at this stage, I thought I'd match food with my new purchases. As always if you have any bright ideas for a title, I'd love to hear them.

I bought these sweet little ice cream bowls from Le Petit de Atelier in Paris and as it was too cold to contemplate ice cream, I thought I'd match the bowls with some rice pudding using the basic recipe mentioned in the article.

I had some oven roasted rhubarb with strawberries left in the fridge, so I combined the two to make my new favourite winter pudding.

I managed to carry the bowls across Europe without any breakages, then disaster struck as I was doing the washing up. I dropped one of the little ice cream spoons and naturally it broke. I tried gluing it back together but it looks a bit dodgy. What a pity I can't just pop back to Paris to buy a replacement spoon.

I'll see you all again next week. Bye for now,

Jillian

double chocolate sandwich biscuits

2011-09-19T17:51:00.000+10:00

The next few weekends will be busy and there'll be precious little time to spend in the kitchen. I seem to be doing nothing but baking at the moment and as a result, my tiny freezer is filled to bursting.

You had a little sneak peek of these biscuits last week. I think I've had this recipe tucked away since last Christmas and I've been dying to try it ever since. I even went out specially to buy the cookie cutters so I could replicate the recipe.

I followed the recipe to a 't' and they turned out pretty well. The cookies are sandwiched together with a wickedly good ganache made with both milk and dark chocolate. Unfortunately ganache is on the list of things I can't eat, so I wasn't able to try these cookies.

I made 18 cookies and they disappeared in a flash, so I think they must have tasted okay. I've no idea how long the iced cookies stay fresh but judging by how quickly these babies disappeared, I don't think you'll ever be faced with that dilemma!

I hope you had lovely weekends. I'll be back on Wednesday with a new little feature I've been working on.

Bye for now,

Jillian

gifts from the kitchen

2011-09-14T17:51:00.001+10:00

A few months ago I went to the Sydney Finders Keepers to say hello to some of my Brisbane friends including the lovely Kylie Johnson. Before I left, Kylie pressed a package into my hand which contained some of these sweet ornaments. Kylie wanted me to have the tags because she knew I'd use them.

Well it took little longer than I expected but here's what I did with some of the tags. For Christmas last year one of my friends gave me a pot of her home made tomato and chilli chutney. I liked it so much I asked for the recipe.

I spiced it up a bit with some extra chilli and now it's really hot, so much so I don't know if I can actually give it as a gift without attaching a health warning!

Kylie also included a packet of biscuit ornaments, so now you know what I did with the remaining biscuit dough from Monday's post.

I'll be back next week with some more photos of my holiday purchases and those double chocolate sandwich biscuits.

Many thanks again to Kylie for my lovely gift,

Bye for now,

Jillian

sweet and spicy souvenirs - home made cookies

2011-09-12T17:22:00.001+10:00

I bought a few bits and pieces when I was overseas and today I'm going to feature one of my purchases, a cookie stamp. I actually bought my stamp at Merci but you can buy it online in Australia.

I had some leftover chocolate pastry in the freezer and tried out the stamp using the instructions that came with the stamp but I found I was left with very thick cookies. I played around and found I preferred to roll the dough out thinly first before using the stamp. I had a round cutter which pretty much matched the size of the cookie and although it was an extra step, I thought it was worth it.

I used this recipe from Canadian Living but only used half the dough and left out the cinnamon. I made 18 cookies from the dough and I'll show you what I did with the remaining half later in the week or next week.

The uncookied dough is delicious and the cookies disappeared in the blink of an eye. I kept 2 at home for the cook and I've only just eaten them. They're pretty nice and were still fresh after a week. I'll definitely make these again.

I can't believe another weekend has been and gone. Spring momentarily left us in Sydney and I shivered all weekend. I was back to using my electric blanket and wearing fluffy bed socks.

I hope you enjoyed your weekend,

Bye for now,

Jillian

in the garden

2011-09-07T19:29:00.001+10:00

It's been a while since my last 'In the Garden' post but a few weekends back I drove up to Dungog for a special family birthday celebration.

The weekend was pretty miserable but I still made my way into the garden to see what was in bloom.

I found this pretty symphony of green. I also visited the chickens, known collectively as 'the girls',who'd freshly laid 5 eggs for me to collect on Sunday morning. It wasn't quite spring but the blossoms didn't seem to realise.

I was just leaving Dungog on Sunday when I saw this scene. I pulled over because I was sure I wouldn't see anything like it on the remainder of my drive back to Sydney.

P.S. I'm loving the new blogger makeover. Not only can I now check my stats, it's cut my blogging time in half!

Jillian

lemon cake with passionfruit syrup II

2011-09-05T17:19:00.000+10:00

I made a version of this cake a few months ago and I wasn't happy with the result. I made the cake again, this time using my favourite lemon cake recipe (it's on the last page of the pdf) and making up my own recipe for passionfruit syrup.

The cake came out of the mould perfectly so I was pretty happy.

I poured half the syrup over the cake whilst it was still in the mould and poured the other half over the cake while it was cooling.

I took the cake into work and it was all gone by the end of the day. One of my workmates Michael dillied and dallied and missed out on a slice and you should have heard his grumbles. So many people came up to me complimenting me on the cake so I'll definitely be making this cake again.

I hope you all had lovely weekends. I went to see the movie 'Red Dog' which I thoroughly enjoyed but then again our family dog dog was a kelpie labrador cross, called Coco, so I'm a bit biased. Sometimes we called her by name but more often we called her 'naughtybadwicked' which was a truer reflection of her nature.

See you all again on Wednesday,

Jillian

shopshoot - labour and wait

2011-08-31T19:19:00.000+10:00

Last year when I was in London, I visited Labour and Wait and loved just about everything they had on the shelves. I would have loved to have taken photographs but the store was so tiny and so packed with shoppers that I had to wait for people to leave before I could squeeze into the shop. I knew there were plans to move to a larger store so when I knew I'd be visiting London in 2011, I emailed the owners asking if I could shoot their shop.

Luckily the answer was 'yes' so I made my way to their new premises in Redchurch Street and promptly got myself very, very lost. I'd managed to leave my copy of the London A-Z back home in Sydney so I followed my nose and eventually found myself at the beautiful old building on Redchurch Street.

So what do they have in their store?

An eclectic array of well made items for the home with a bit of fashion thrown in for good measure.

Last year I came home with a vintage tea towel just like the one in the photo and it's featured quite a few times on my blog.

I was tempted by about everything in the shop but with limited space and 3 more weeks of travel I bought something small that could be tucked away. I've not had a chance to photograph it yet but it should appear in the next few weeks.

Who would have thought taps, buckets and brushes could be this stylish?

I'd love a milk pan just like this one. If any of my friends who read my blog are planning a trip to the UK any time soon, you know what you can get me!

Many thanks to the kind folk at Labour and Wait for letting me shoot their shop. Unfortunately, that's the last of my overseas shopshoots so I guess that means it's time to start hunting down some local places for you all.

Happy Father's Day for Sunday Papa.

See you all again soonish.

Bye for now,

Jillian

Dutch Apple Tart

2011-08-29T17:57:00.000+10:00

Miss B is growing up and fast. She can now ride a bike without training wheels, something I can't do, and she was happy to show off her skills for me.

Whenever I visit Miss B, I bring dessert with me. Miss B's brother Ruin is my harshest critic, so it's always a challenge coming up with something that will please his palate. If it's not apple or lemon, he won't eat it.

I decided to try out this recipe for Dutch apple tart similar to the ones I saw being served at Cafe Winkel in Amsterdam.

I prepared the filling the night before I baked the tart.

I'd planned to go the gym Sunday morning but the tart took a lot longer to prepare and bake than I'd anticipated.

In fact, the tart only came out of the oven about an hour before I was due to
leave.

The verdict - Ruin ate a massive piece and Miss B had a second helping so it must have been okay.

Did you have a nice weekend? I spent Saturday at home chained to the dining table while I finally completed my tax return. Life has been so busy that I've yet to finish unpacking from last weekend's trip away and I'm struggling to fit the gym into my schedule. Some days I need another me... It wasn't all work though as I made it to the gym Sunday morning and met one of my friends for dinner on Sunday night.

See you all again on Wednesday,

Jillian

petersham nurseries

2011-08-24T19:33:00.000+10:00

As you know I love food and subscribe to a few foodie magazines. It was through one of those magazines that I first learnt about Skye Gyngell and Skye's restaurant, Petersham Nurseries Cafe. Petersham Nurseries Cafe is located within Petersham Nurseries, so when I knew I was going to be in the UK in 2011 I decided I would take a trip out to the nurseries at Richmond.

I'd not been to Richmond before so I faithfully followed the directions on the Petersham Nurseries website, alighting at the Dysart Pub stop.

To get to the Nurseries you walk along Church Lane past the pretty St. Peter's Church.

I don't quite know what I was expecting, but Petersham Nurseries is huge!

As well as loads of outdoor plants and potted colour, there are a large number of glass greenhouses. Now remember I'm from Brisbane where mangoes, paw paws, hibiscus, frangipanis and avocados grow so a glasshouse in a nursery is a novelty to me.

My first stop was the Tea House.

Isn't that a sweet idea? Table numbers in terracotta pots.

Some produce destined for Petersham Nurseries Cafe.

Seating for the restaurant and cafe is located in the greenhouses.

A bit of a mauve, green and white theme happening here.

I spent quite a bit of time in the fabulous shop, which has everything from soap, trugs, glassware and furniture to Astier de Villatte ceramics.

Not mention bird houses, terracotta pots and pretty gardening gloves.

As you can see I visited Petersham Nurseries on the most gorgeous of English summer days.

Thanks to the kind people at Petersham Nurseries for letting me roam around the property at will and thanks to the ladies at Remodelista for featuring my images.

Jillian

chocolate cheesescake brownies

2011-08-22T19:53:00.000+10:00

Do you know what I make when I need to make something for morning tea and time is at a premium? Brownies.

A few weeks ago I whipped up a batch of chocolate cheesecake brownies when a last minute morning tea was arranged.

When I went to snaffle a piece to photograph there weren't any brownies left! I guess that means they must have been okay.

Now this isn't exactly the recipe I use, but if you increased the butter to 125 grams and rather than using chocolate chips, added the equivalent amount of melted chocolate to the chocolate brownie mixture, it would be very close. If you give them a try please let me know how they turn out.

I hope you enjoyed your weekends. Mine was a bit hectic with a quick trip to the country for a family celebration. There was no time to get to the shops so the cupboard is looking pretty bare.

See you again on Wednesday,

Jillian

paris in black and white 2011

2011-08-17T18:20:00.000+10:00

It's really hard travelling overseas with film. I carry a lead lined bag with me to protect the film from scanners and each time I travel I end up arguing with security staff who tell me their scanner is film safe. There is no such thing as a film safe scanner! There is something special about the look of black and white film, which is why I persevere.

I really like the look of Paris in black and white, so each day I'd take my camera with me and would just shoot whatever took my fancy.

Some days it would be markets, other days it would be buildings or details.

I spent 2 years developing and printing black and white film when I studied photography and those photographic chemicals don't agree with me. Sydney is short on labs which still develop black and white film, so I'm lucky to have found someone who lives close by who develops the film for me.

I found this random piece of elegant graffiti in the Marais, I think. I shot it in colour as well but I think the black and white image is the better of the two.

I found this great clock the day I visited the Musée Marmottan Monet. I love the building reflected in the clock face and no, it wasn't a happy accident. I had to stand on my tippy toes to get the building in the frame.

Doesn't this image just scream Paris?

Still 2 more shopshoots to come and then the travel related posts will be over for another year,

I hope you've enjoyed them.

Jillian

summer strawberry cake

2011-08-15T18:13:00.000+10:00

My oven was repaired just before I went on holidays. I've baked fruit and made roast dinners and casseroles but this was my first attempt at baking a cake in the oven. I thought I'd try something simple just in case.

I bookmarked this recipe some time ago when I saw it featured on Aran's blog, Canelle et Vanille. Even though it's winter in Sydney there are plenty of strawberries at my fruit market. I picked up a few punnets yesterday to make this cake for work.

I haven't had a chance to taste the cake yet but I did alter the recipe a little as I always do.

I reduced the sugar by one third and used grated lemon rind to flavour the cake batter instead of vanilla.

I haven't had much success with Martha Stewart's recipes in the past so if this one doesn't come up to scratch, I'll remake the strawberry cake using the same base I always use for my plum/nectarine/raspberry or apricot cake.

After a 6 week break I also went back to using my Nikon d-300. The Nikon d-7000 performed amazingly well but I prefer the focus on the d-300 for food photography. I also wanted one camera not coated with butter sugar and flour. It's always so hard to explain why there's flour on the sensor when I take the camera in for it's annual clean.

Got to go and clean the kitchen....

My weekend was hectic. How was yours?

Jillian

merci, merci obscura magazine

2011-08-10T19:36:00.000+10:00

Have you heard of Obscura magazine? Well I hadn't back in June when I received an email asking if they could use some of my Merci images in their magazine. Since then I've discovered the magazine is produced by a team in Hong Kong.

My copy of the magazine arrived on Monday and here is the final lay-out.

It's always such a thrill seeing your work in print. I haven't had a chance to look through the magazine properly yet but I hope to this coming weekend. What the magazine didn't know - I was on my way to Paris to shoot more images of Merci.

Holly from decor8 has just done a lovely piece on her blog featuring my images. This is my take on Merci.

You may notice the images are a little different from my normal style. How different? Well those of you who've followed my blog for a while, know that it's all about the detail with my work, but not in this case. I received very specific instructions that I was to shoot 'panoramiques' only.

I tried my best to fulfil the brief, but gosh it was difficult.

I bought a few little treasures for myself from Merci and yes, some of the items are still waiting to be unwrapped, so no photos for now I'm afraid.

Lots more to come. I still have 2 more UK shopshoots to share with you as well as my black and white film images from Paris, so stay tuned!

Jillian

shopping in paris

2011-08-08T17:49:00.001+10:00

As you know, I love to shoot shops but when I travel I'm more of a window shopper than an actual purchaser. I travel with a backpack on wheels so that restricts what I can buy. Here is what caught my eye.

When I was in London, I paid a visit to Petersham Nurseries where I found this display of Astier de Villatte ceramics. Astier de Villatte was on my list of shops to visit in Paris but it took me 2 attempts before I found the store. Memo to self - take address with you when trying to locate a shop in a foreign land.

The shop is located in a ramshackle old building oozing with character. I hope they don't ever decide to renovate the store as it's just perfect the way it is. Their ceramics are gorgeous but expensive and there was no way anything purchased would survive the journey home.

Have you ever been completely intimidated by the staff in a shop? Well the staff in the flagship Bonpoint store had me quaking in my boots. Considering it's a children's clothes shop, they were terrifyingly severe in their demeanour. It's a gorgeous shop filled with beautiful children's clothes shoes and toys with amazing displays.

As I stayed in the 10th arrondissement again, I made another visit to La Galerie Vegetale. This time I was without my french speaking travel buddy so I was a bit hamstrung by my lack of French. The shop is as lovely as ever - part florist shop/part art gallery.

Of course I had to revisit le petit atelier de paris, one of my favourite shops. It has very limited opening hours so unless I raced from the train the day of my arrival it wouldn't be open again during my stay in Paris. So that's what I did and I managed to restrain myself and not buy out the shop. Le petit atelier de paris now has an online shop but unfortunately the shipping costs to Australia are prohibitive.

Two of the parcels contain gifts for friends and the larger parcel contains bowls that no doubt will appear on my blog sometime in the future. For now, they're still safely wrapped up in their brown paper packaging tied up with string.

Of course no trip to Paris is complete without a visit to Merci. I did a shopshoot there, so there are more images to share with you later in the week.

So until then,

Jillian

berlin in black and white

2011-08-03T20:30:00.000+10:00

I set myself a challenge when shooting film. I only used one lens, a 50 mm, which meant I had to get up close and personal with my subjects. I had one shot left on the roll of film before I flew home so I took this photo from my hotel room. It was a cold, grey and wet morning and you can just make out the twinkling lights of the television tower in the gloom.

My hotel was on Rosenthaler Strasse and this building was just around the corner.

I spent my last afternoon taking photos along Weinbergsweg where I found this sweet little birdie perched on a bike.

This gorgeous building was close to Kollwitzplatz.

I took this photo at Flohmarkt am Mauerpark. Doesn't it have a mod 60's vibe?

This wurst stall is just around the corner from the Reichstag. I was there a bit too early in the morning even for wurst.

I took this photo from the Reichstag Dome.

I snapped a few images of the Brandenburg Gate both when it was sunny and when the weather was dreary. I had to shoot high to avoid the American Indian and Marilyn Monroe look a-likes and various actors dressed in uniform all willing to have their photos taken.

I only took 2 photos of the Holocaust Memorial. The stones vary in height so I took this one where I was dwarfed by the height of the stones.

On my way back from Schloss Sanssouci, I left the train at Grunewald Station where I visited the memorial on platform 17. It's a very simple but moving memorial to deportations from the station.

I still have a roll of black and white images from Paris and plenty of shop shoots to share with you, which I hope to do some time next week. I hope your week is going well.

See you all soon,

Jillian

more from berlin

2011-07-31T18:50:00.106+10:00

There is still so much to show you from Berlin. As I'd not been to Berlin before, everything was new and different. I collected the black and white film on Friday so later in the week I'll have some film shots to share with you as well.

I had a Berlin travel pass so I used it to hop on and off buses number 100 and 200. The buses leave from Alexanderplatz, where you'll find this sign and the television tower.

The buses takes you past all these sights but not in this particular sequence. Here is the restored Marienkirche.

The bus also takes you past Museum Island. I purchased a 3-day museum pass and visited as many museums as I could. On the island itself, I visited the Old Art Gallery, the New Museum and the Pergamon. I was blown away by the renovation of the Neues Museum and Nefertiti was as beautiful as I'd expected.

The bus takes you past the impressive Victory Column

as well as the Reichstag,

the Brandenburg Gate,

and the Holocaust Memorial.

I was staying close to the old Jewish area so I visited a cemetery that miraculously survived the war.

The cemetery was a lovely peaceful place to visit.

I also visited the Jewish Museum one afternoon. The building was interesting but I don't know how well it works as a museum. I seemed to be running around in circles most of my visit.

I went to visit the now closed Templehof Airport. I was hoping to see inside the building but unfortunately, I had to be content with it's exterior.

On my last day in Berlin, I went on a tour of the Reichstag Dome designed by Norman Foster.

The weather that day was pretty awful, perfectly suited to black and white imagery, so I mainly shot film that day. The Topography of Terror was one of my last stops that day and the display was excellent. The display is housed under a small length of the Berlin Wall.

There isn't much left of the wall but this section was sufficient to give you an idea what life must have been like when the city was cut in two.

Another marathon blog post so I'll close here as I have a mountain of washing up to tackle.

I hope you all had lovely weekends,

Jillian

pronto - chicken with red cabbage

2011-07-29T17:44:00.000+10:00

I thought you might be a bit over all my travel photos, so here's a food post for you. It was a bit of a shock returning to Sydney after a few weeks of summer weather. When I woke in Sydney on Sunday morning, it was a chilly 7°C. Instead of the light summery Vietnamese dishes I'd been eating in Berlin, it was time to think about casseroles and stews.

Here is another of my favourite Marcella Hazan recipes - chicken with red cabbage. It's a perfect winter recipe. The recipe only calls for a few ingredients and the longer you store it, the better it tastes.

I'm planning to cook this during the weekend, so the photos you see here are of one I prepared a little earlier.

It might not be the prettiest of dishes but it's very tasty.

On the home front, I've survived my first week back at work, but only just. I've just been to the lab to collect the fim I shot whilst away. I need to edit those images, I'm going to see Belong and I really need to start thinking about doing my tax return so there'll be no time for baking this weekend. Perhaps next weekend?

See you all again next week,

Jillian