golden

Today while shuffling my files around I have found the pictures of my delicious cardamom buns with cinnamon butter that I made earlier in the year.. so I thought I would share a few with you now just to show off!





Out of all the things I have ever baked I think that these are the most impressive, as they actually involved using yeast (which is something I have been a bit scared of for a long time after some failed attempts years ago..) The fact that my buns came out looking beautifully golden brown and oozing with cinnamon butter was not what I had realistically expected! I think I will have to try them again as soon as possible!

I have been baking today though, making a lemon cheesecake for tonight's dessert, so I should probably try to steer clear of the sweet treats for at least a few days after that!

On another note, I have recently been obssesively listening to You by Gold Panda. Quitters Raga has been one of my favourites for a while, and I decided the other day to give some of their other songs another listen.. and so the obsession began. I will probably keep listening to it non-stop for a week and then be so sick of it I never want to listen to it again! I am always ruining perfectly good songs for myself by doing that. Anyway, take a listen for yourselves..



xx Elly

cooking.

I have decided that as it is extremely cold (in Sydney terms) at the moment, to warm you up i've compiled some of my favourite sites on the theme of: cooking!
number one : whatthefuckshouldimakefordinner

So basically this is a site that will help indecisive people like me decide what they want to cook themselves for dinner. There is also a helpful vegetarian-only option for the herbivores/vegetarian fakers (that is just being mean to my eating-only-chicken-and-fish self, no offence intended!) among us. Just don't hand this site on over to your granny, unless she likes the work "fuck" a lot..

number two : eggwatchers

This site is one of my all-time favourites as it taught me how long to boil an egg for. Sad I know, but I do actually learn everything I know from the internet. Plus, this fancy gadget will not only tell you how long to cook your eggs for varying different sizes, temperatures, and outcomes but entertain you with fun youtube videos while you wait! So no more pacing around wondering why six minutes suddenly seems like years.. Some good ones i've seen have been crazy claymation zombie killing and a star wars dance-off. Awesome.

number three : recipelook

Oh my good, words cannot describe how much I love this site. Seriously. A combination of two of my most favourite things: cute illustrations and cooking. Heaps of yummy recipes have been hand-illustrated, creating a very long list of images that are both beautiful and useful. Here are a couple of my picks from the site:


short and sweet nutella tortillas by Emilie Boudet


roasted potato wedges by Rachel Rauch

number four : taste.com.au

Okay, so this one is a bit more boring than the others, but this is really my first point of reference when I want to find a recipe. They have pretty much everything I have ever looked for, although sometimes the search tool is a bit unhelpful and you might have to try a few different ways of wording what you want. Other than that, love it forever <3

And a one last thing for those who can't be bothered to cook:

Who doesn't love nineties one hit wonders..?

xx Elly

buns

Hello all,

Since my last post my motivational ideas seem to have diminished somewhat. However, I have upped my consumption of Swedish culture, mostly of their food! My grandfather lives in Finland (he is not Finnish, he is English, but that's another story..) and I remember when I visited about ten years ago we ate these really nice sweet buns that were flavoured with some sort of spice. Yum!

Anyways, so while researching Swedish food to get we into the swedish-learning mood (yes I am a poet..) I found these Swedish Cardamom and Cinnamon buns, cousins to the Finnish buns which are called Pulla. I have actually tried to make the Pulla before but it failed miserably so I was a bit scared to try it!

So I had a bit of a one-person baking party a few days ago and made them, with the yeast and everything! It was very exciting because I have never cooked using yeast before.. But it was so good! I felt like a real proper baker because there was actually a chance that things could go wrong, unlike with my normal biscuits and cakes where pretty much the only that can go wrong is that they have too much/not enough sugar..

I did actually take heaps of nice photos, which also showed off my sweeeet new dessert stand that I got from the Salvo's the other week, but you will have to wait a couple of days for them as I am a bit lazy with the uploading at the moment.

But because of my laziness what you do get is a couple of photobooth pics of my recent purchases (because I know you care!): my super-duper yellow tights and some new additions to my owl collection, which now looks quite sizable and needs a bit more shelf space I think!


Banana legs!
In a way they just make my legs look a little bit diseased but I like them anyway!


So many owls...

In more shop-related news I have actually added a few new items including a beautiful vintage typewriter and a spotless glomesh bag (which I really love but really I think four glomesh bags is enough for my personal collection!)

So I hope you have learnt something about Swedish cooking or maybe more about my laziness here today!

xx Elly

P.S. While researching Swedish food I found this picture of a Swedish Crayfish Party!
How crazy !! (Plus aren't lobsters kind of expensive?? Swedish people must have too much money..)

sickly

Oh dearrr,
Being the sickly girl that I always have been, for the past week or so I have felt even worse and as such have been completely unproductive and unmotivated to do anything.

As such, all useful activities have fallen by the wayside in favour of falling asleep under snuggly blankets, drinking hot chocolates and crying to ease the pain (literal pain not emo pain, for once..)

One of the main problems with this is that this week and next week are the two weeks before my uni break and are the two weeks in which a bunchload of my work is due. ISSUES ARISE.

Anyway, apart from my many woes, if you are feeling a bit down lately like me I have a sure-fire cure for you, and that cure is baking. Baking solves everything (except obesity I hear..) Try out this amazing chocolate torte from design sponge, trust me it is easy as pie (ha?)

Seriously though, a certain silly friend once grilled my mix instead of baking it and it still came out delicious, though I think it might be hard to go wrong with a melting pot of chocolate and butter.

(photo from design sponge, my one wasn't quite as beautiful!)

Take care,

xx Elly

baking

Gosh I have been so hot for the past few days. I really think that I should never have been born in this country as I really prefer cold weather to hot times a million billion. Plus, the weather keeps tricking me into thinking its getting colder but then it always goes back to baking me alive!

But that is not the point.

The point is actually just that  wanted to show off some of the sweet cupcakes I baked the other day.

They are supposed to be reindeer, in case like my father you thought they were "bug-men," whatever they might be.. but nothing will stop me from being proud of my cake decorating prowess!

In fact maybe i'll show you some previous attempts that are a bit more impressive so as not to seem so hopeless..

cupcake buns with brownie burgers! yummm...

special valentines biscuits for alice, my makeshift boyfriend/reciever of obsessive gifts..

Along with todays ironing and sewing efforts, I am beginning to believe that I am subconsciously training myself to be a 1950's housewife. Actually maybe it's not so subconcious. Now all I need is a dashingly debonair husband! (feel free to pass on any volunteers!)

Well there is one slight flaw in that theory, in that I am so lazy I have still not posted up the lovely clothings onto Etsy yet.. This will not do! Maybe I will offer a free cupcake to those who buy things, although you might have to live nearby because I don't think I can send them through the post..

 

xx Elly

P.S. I am meaning to sign up to this as soon as I figure out how to properly word my application (I tend to stress about these things!)

It's a lovely idea called the package project which aims to connect bloggers to other bloggers by having them send packages of crafty goodies to one another! I find things like this amazingly sweet and have always wanted to participate so I had better get over my anxieties quickly!

P.P.S. You might see the results of todays sewing endeavors up here soon!