Banana cake with passionfruit cream cheese icing...

I had some bananas that really needed using up... grated walnuts were folded in at the last minute... then there was a bit of cream cheese but no lemons so orange rind and juice were substituted and the passionfruit was added... the result was great!

Brisbane

I am off to Brisbane next week and would love to know if anyone had a restaurant or two to recommend please...

Christmas 2009

Food and family...

Friends in France...

My dear friend in France knows I love these biscuits and she was EXTREMELY generous to send me not 1 or 2, not even 5 or 6 boxes but no less than 14!!!!!!!! You have to love your friends in France - I know I adore mine!!! This is a painting I did to remind us of our time in Madrid... not bad for freehand and my first time... I am proud of me!

Childhood Christmas memories...

What I remember about the family christmas tree of my youth is the lollies that my mother used to decorate the tree... they were Italian and they had ruffled ends... these were of various colours and my mother would have us string them on the tree... we would then eat them after the tree came down... so there was never the usual unpacking of decorations really... we used to have a real tree that was then used for firewood and the ash was worked in to the garden bed... nothing was wasted and all was done and dusted very quickly...

Years later when we came to Australia we bought a plastic tree and mum always used feathered birds to decorate the tree and I remember at some point buttlerflies joined the birds as decorations...

The girls and I made our own decorations many years ago and spent a good few days of the school holidays busy at the dinning table, cutting, sewing, buttoning and beading these...

Merry Christmas to all...

Visitors of the feathered variety...

Just some of the little visitors that pass through...

Sunsets

St Kilda beach has the most amazing sunsets... we are lucky enough to live on the 5th floor and we get such a clear view of the sky... it's just magic...

AWOL...

Gone to Paris, London, Madrid, Rome, Lyon, Provence, Toulouse and Chantilly... see you soon... x

Bali

Just a snipet of my time in Bali... more to follow... I swam in the sea at Sanur...

Made lifelong friends...

Ate like a queen...

Watched beautiful sunsets whilst sipping cocktails at Ku De Ta...

I watched over a dozen of the world's best Karate black belts (and higher) and even took a class!!!

Watched a traditional ceremony (western ceremony took place the following day) which was so symbolic...

Took an indonesian cooking class run by a Melbourne girl in Ubud...

Smiled a lot!!!!!!!!!!

Stayed in a palace...

Bali was beautiful... I attended the most beautiful wedding on earth...

Bali

Seems these days all I do is ask for travel advice and here I am yet again, begging for more travel advice... I am off to Bali in July for a wedding... my dear friend Y is having a reception and I am lucky enough to have an invite... I have a little over a week in Bali prior to the wedding so I have plenty of time to explore...

This is where I am staying http://www.villabeji.com and I don't have any transport whilst there so would appreciate somewhere close by if possible.

I would love any advice anyone has to offer!

Vida x

Singapore here I come...

I am all ears to anyone with any advice on my adventure to Singapore... I will be attending a couple of cupcake courses there and eating lots of EVERYTHING... If anyone knows the wheres and hows of Singapore I would appreciate your advice.

Vida x

Some old, some new, some even Crabapple Bakery style...

Experiments in styles...

My favourite at the moment is the "clouds with stars and moon"... Vida x

Feasting on French Fare...

Can you believe that I got these at the little fruit shop in Carlisle Street... how good is this? French wild mushrooms (at wild prices) and they smell like the earth itself... just a couple of handfuls made my sauce the best thing ever... good fillet steak from Leon's (also on Carlisle Street) and a potatoe, sugar snap peas, tomato, bacon and pesto salad and dinner was divine... Oh and did I mention... I painted this plate myself!?!?!?

Vida x

Ella's Sweet 16th...

Ella turned 16 today and of course I was on cupcake duty... She had done work experience at one of Australia's most renowned restaurants and picture below was taken there... she had 20 friends join her for some dinner and lots of giggles... These were for a girl called Em who celebrated her 21st last weekend...

She wanted purple, pink and green as a theme...

I tried to vary the styles a bit...

I got lots of praise and my cupcakes were a hit...

Until next time... Vida x

Crabapple Bakery - forget them!!!

These are some designs I have been playing with lately... I like this colour combo...

Using lollies with texture for centrepieces...
These flowers and butterflies are handmade... I even made the sugarpaste from scratch!!!

Vida x

Crabapple Bakery - Big Shoes to Fill...

I am sure you have all heard the Crabapple Bakery went into voluntary liquidation earlier this month and so now there is a huge gap in the market where they left off... I cannot say that I am the one to fill that gap but I certainly will give it a shot... I have started to receive some commerical orders already and I am lucky enough to have access to a commerial kitchen in which to fill those orders... These are some cupcakes I made over the weekend including the handmade flowers...

My classes are getting lots of attention too with the school holidays commencing soon so I might be too busy to post over the next few weeks... Vida x

Las Chicas...

My cupcakes are now available at Las Chicas in Carlisle Street, Balaclava... a short distance from home and my favourite St Kilda haunt...



I hope your guys get a chance to see them there, my cupcakes are on trial to see how things go but I am hoping I will be supported and that they sell well enough to survive... Vida x

The Business Card Company...

Yippie, hooray, the Business Card Company have printed my business cards and I am so pleased... I did my homework for months and shopped around to get the best price and these guys were it...

The used one of my photos but they are very apt at doing whatever you need them to do!! Their prices were almost the same as if I had gone to Officeworks and done them myself... who wants to go through the trouble!!! I had checked out quite a number of the printers out there including the big chains and honestly these guys did it for less then half and almost a quarter to what all the others were charging... A lot of the work was done over the phone and through email and I believe you can pay to have it delivered even so if you are interstate it could work too... so guys I have done the leg work for you and all you have to do is call these guys and get your cards done... easy as 1 - 2 - 3.... Vida x

The Business Card Co. (Aust) Pty Ltd
Suite 2,

297 Bay Street,

Brighton 3186

Phone (03) 9530 8100

http://www.tbcc.com.au/

Email: inform@tbcc.com.au

A rose by any other name...

This is my "rose" pasta... I got this idea from a fellow blogger who sadly now has invited guest only to her blog... a loss for everyone...


I filled these with goats cheese, roasted pumpkin and amaretto biscuits...


There is no recipe as I just made the pasta and add the filling along the length of the pasta... with the rough edges coming together to look thinner and petal like when rolled around... I made these ages ago so my memory is quite vague but I think I used either water or egg wash to "glue" the ends together... I then popped them into the freezer whilst I got the water ready... Angelika was firm on this advice as they held together with the freezing and you could then cook them at your leisure or leave them in the freezer...


Alana plans to do them for a school project and I have suggested using beetroot to colour the pasta and laying them on a bed of leaves so they look a lot more like roses as such...


I will post those photos once she is ready...


Vida x

Birthday Photos...

Flowers from E,

Beautiful indulgent therapy at St Kilda Sea Baths from L,

Chocolates from A,

I made these,

This is me trying every pose in the book to avoid the "double chin"... am not too sure it worked but I did my best...


I had my spa treatment today and I feel radiant, silky smooth and I think I even dozed of at one stage but luckily my snoring woke me!!!

A funny point on the night - I invited three couples and ALL the women had names starting with V, there was me Vida, a friend of 28 years called Varinia, a friend for the last decade Veronica, and a more recent friend called Viviane - what are the chances?!?!? I mean there is not a Susan amongst us, V starting names are not common by any measure... just another oddity in my life... one I will never figure out I guess!!!

I had one of the best birthdays I have ever had in my life and I felt GREAT... life really is good at the moment!!!

Vida x