family dinner.

bob, meg, mog and baby. wash-your-own-plate ceramics from Donna Wilson.

blondies have more fun.

yummmmmmy - yum - yum!! if you do like to treat yourself to a brownie over a cup of warm milk then you might - excuse me, you will like (very much so) these cakie desserts. it's true what they say, blondies are what fairy tales are made of! 

sipping sprinkles

mason jars. paper straws. edible confetti. whether you're a choccie cake kind of girlie or more of a fluffy sponge fan, i am almost certain you'll be making slurping sounds over this Cake Batter Milkshake recipe. see the sugar bowl do the tootsie roll with the big bad devils food cake over at Elsie's blog, A Beautiful Mess. 

oh, for the love of colour (and cake)

apricot jam, rose water, pinot noir... these are some of the cupcake frosting shades you will be able to dip your paint brush (butter knife) into with this handy-dandy icing colour chart. all you need is a friendship of red (r), yellow (y), blue (b) and green (g) food dye and you have yourself a rainbow of frosting opportunity. budding artists/bakers can get an itty-bit better of a look at the colour chart and DIY know-how over at a favourite of mine, Oh the Lovely Things. now to decide between mint chip: 3 drops (b), 1 drop (g) and blueberry yoghurt: 5 drops (b), 3 drops (r) as decorative deliciousness? isn't this chart the cherry on top?!

summer departing

fingers knicked from quickly turning page after page of The Hunger Games, i can't help but think heroines Katniss and Gale would down milky cups of hot chai cider with their stew and cheese topped buns amongst the forbidden woods that border district twelve. thank-you Erin Gleeson of The Forest Feast for allowing me to toast snuggled in flannelette, steaming mug on my dresser to such a bed-summoning read.

dear melbourne: (golly gosh!) a guest!

Twenty & Six Espresso

I am writing this on the eve of Daylight Saving ending, so am mindful that by this time tomorrow what’s left of the long Summer evenings will be gone. Soon the air will become crisp, the leaves will turn golden and out will come the socks, the crochet blankets, the casserole dishes and the red wine…

When Jessie asked me to ‘guest’ on She’s Leaving Home, she mentioned that with cooler weather approaching, featuring an all-day breakfast place or “somewhere to warm one’s tummy” might be appealing to her readers. Nice idea, I thought. What nicer thing to do when the weather turns cool than to meet up with friends for a hearty breakfast? I knew just the place… So come Saturday morning, I pedalled over to Twenty & Six Espresso in North Melbourne to meet my friends for breakfast. 

Twenty & Six is the brain-child of design-duo-turned-café-owners, Ned Rahmanovic and Majda Falon. The interior space is light and bright, and speckled with quirky design features like suspended light globes, whimsical little wall sketches, and wooden milk-crates. We sat at the communal table and ordered a round of coffee (blends courtesy of Proud Mary and Seven Seeds) and poured over the menu. I love how dishes here are named like they’d fuel you with super-human powers for the rest of the day. We were all very tempted by “The Hulk” (smashed avocado with lemon, chilli, mint, fetta and house-cured salmon gravalax), but in the end, the two ladies of the breakfasting party went with “The Traveller” (Baked eggs with lamb kofta and coriander salsa in a spiced tomato sauce), and the man just couldn’t go past “The Hunter” (Balsamic roasted Portobello mushrooms with spiced chorizo, crème fraiche and truffle oil). (With a name like that, I am pretty certain most men can’t!). Our baked eggs came in a skittle, hot from the oven and accompanied by two cigars of flat-bread and some hummus on the side. It was a fantastic combination – subtly sweet and salty (but not too much so) and deliciously flavoursome. The mushrooms and chorizo looked equally spectacular, and serendipitously the guy across the table from us was enjoying a sky-high pile of smashed avocado.

(Wow!)(Next time…).

 Tummy warmers? You bet! Super-human powers? Check! All day breakfast? Well, I forgot to ask… but if not needing to eat for the rest of the day counts, then yes!

Twenty & Six Espresso

(03) 9329 0298

594 Queensberry Street, North Melbourne 3052

dear melbourne

KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!

dear melbourne, set the table and clear away your weekend mess we have a guest. polly put the kettle on we'll all have tea. knock! knock! knock! who's there?? okay, i'll spill the beans. she almost always shares her melbourian caffeinated discoveries here. other trolley dollies, foodie fans, girls about town, as well as friends from afar and admirers of nice things are likewise invited. see you on wednesday then. p.s. knock three times. Jessie x x

say cheeeeese!!

cheese quesadillas

baked lime cheese-cake

cheese ball curry

 

(the best) egg and cheese sandwich

lately.

a whimsy campaign.

these cards with their colour-me-in envelopes. 

this ring.

a tutorial for your locks.

salad-for-breakfast, why not?! 

flaky biscuits

a recipe for flaky biscuits because it seems that today is a little crummy. nothing a savoury biccie with a smear of jam can't fix, right?! not when dunked into a mug full of feelings of warmth.

hoorah! hoorah! ants nest cake

Sophie here, calling in from a little blog called Stovetop Revolution. i’m sweeping into Jessie’s wonderful spot on the internet to bake you girls something sweet for afternoon tea. if Jessie is a hearts and stars kind of girl, i’m the kind made of salted caramel and a little butter, with a penchant for picnics and outdoor cinemas. and cake, of course.

this here is a Malaysian Honeycomb Cake, or as its Malaysian name (kuih sarang semut) translates as, an ‘ants nest cake’. sugar is cooked and melted down to a swirly, sticky amber toffee, and is mixed with that magnificent stuff they call condensed milk, flour, butter and vanilla, and all that bakes up to a beautifully dark cake, with a sort of lacy, crackled toffee top, and hollow rivers that run through the insides (thus the antsy name) that you can spy when you cut a slice. it’s a little bouncy in texture, but i love the chewiness of it, it gets stuck in your teeth and also in your brain. i’ve been thinking about it all week. happy baking, and thanks to Miss Aylmore for having me over here even if only for a little while.

Malaysian Honeycomb Cake (ants nest cake)

adapted from Two Asian Kitchens by Adam Liaw.

serves 8-10

220g caster sugar

85g unsalted butter, softened

1/2tsp vanilla extract

4 eggs, at room temperature

125ml condensed milk

150g plain flour

½ tsp bicarbonate of soda

preheat a fan-forced oven to 170 degrees.

place the caster sugar in a medium-large frying pan mixed with about 3 tbs of water (to help the melting process) and heat over a medium-high heat, try not to stir it, until melted to a dark caramel. this will take about 8-10 minutes. turn the heat down to low, and add 250ml of water to the frying pan – stand back because it will spit and solidify, but it’s ok, just keep stirring with a wooden spoon over low heat until and the sugar has redissolved back into the water, and you have a thin liquid caramel. set aside to cool to room temperature, stirring occasionally.

grease an 18cm round cake tin with butter, and line the bottom with a bit of baking paper. in a large bowl, cream the butter and the vanilla extract together using an electric mixer until it is pale and fluffy.

in a separate bowl, whisk the eggs until well combined and add to the butter, along with the condensed milk and cooled caramel. sift together the flour and bicarb soda, and gently whisk them into the egg batter – careful not to over-mix the batter or the cake will be a bit tough. don’t worry if there are little globs of butter in the mixture, these are what cause the little “rivers” in the cake, they’re meant to be there.

pour the batter into the cake tin and leave to sit on the counter for about 5 minutes. bake in the oven for 50 minutes, or until the cake is springy to a gentle touch in the centre. leave to cool in the tin, and then run a knife around the edge before turning out onto a serving plate. wash down with a cup of Earl.

the ants go marching

do you remember the marvellous Sophie and her Stovetop Revolution? she taught me to make this 'put the love in the coconut' biccie and she's baked us a cake! not just any old cup of cocoa, stick of butter sponge, ooh nooo!! like a gentle wobbling caramelly flan or a soft springy lemon tart this virtuous surprise is an 'eat with the people you love the most and don't waste it on the dull' kind of dessert. i'll pop up the honeycomb ants nest recipe for you all tomorrow. try your best to mark it in your diary, i fear you'll be needing a heartbreak dispensation day off from your normal daily dos otherwise. the happiest of Mondays xx

to cook and rescue any dish

ooh, i long be a fabulous cook to get to know my oven and to bake without fuss still in my pyjamas, to dress up my vegetables and serve rice which is soft and soupy, to whip up that certain favourite something when there is nothing in the fridge! the list is as ever-increasing as my envy/'send a bunch of posies' for whizz with a whisk, Sophie and her collection of tried and true recipes. full to the brim with love and humour her precious manual of spoon and fork inspiration is a must-must for any girl about to embark on her first 'proper' dinnertime meal (to be eaten on the floor, wine in mugs), on impossible-to-satisfy chocolate afternoons and less hungry springtime eves. i long to fold floury dough into thin pasta ribbons, to say i simmered the soft fish in a grill pan... to have my very own one-pot Stovetop Revolution.

hold me close and sip me slowly

this lavender hot choccie looks like the yummiest cup of cocoa for fireplace snuggles. you might like to forget-me-not and bookmark the windy day warmer how-to here. notes on napkins seem to work well. mmmmm... mug me with a hot tottie. please.

hooray and up she rises...

good morning. if your a vegemite kid and likewise enjoy a mouthful of cheesy bread then you might like to visit tiny cafe as the sun rises. they serve a brekkie mouse trap that will have you claiming love at first bite. yes, my cheeks are rosy. no, i'm not blushing, its the salty spread. blink. blink. well maybe a little. i'm tired. and in love. a table for one please.

it's absolutely almost christmas

oh hello. salmon poached in champagne, tato salad, elderflower cocktails and stemmed cherry pud on the table has me thinking i would be lying if i said it wasn't beginning to feel a lot like christmas!? the high spirits menu can be found here on tasmanian foodie and photo blog island menu. there really isn't anything more cheery then a round-up of family and friends and a fully bellie now is there? fa.la.la.la.la. it's absolutely almost christmas lunch.