Inspiration...transformation...pt 1

Yesterday I was inspired to bake...Raspberry and Apple Crumble/Crisp...by reading a post on Molly Wisenbergs blog Orangette, (click here)...I'd been reading her book, "A Homemade Life - Stories and Recipes from my Kitchen Table"...wonderful read....realised she had a blog..HELLO!!...and promptly rushed upstairs to my computer, dropping the book somewhere between the Banana Bread with choc chunks and ginger pieces and the Couer a la Creme...and began to scroll thru her recipes...and came upon a recipe that debated the cobbler verses crisp...well in NZ we don't really make 'cobblers' and maybe some people make crisps, but I certainly make Crumbles!!...and my mouth watered at the thought of one...so off I went...intending to make wholly berry crumble, but I threw in a couple of apples that looked terribly unappealing as they languished at the bottom of my fridge awaiting TRANSFORMATION..awaiting an occasion just such as this!...amazing how those soft, almost floury apples that you wouldn't dare let past your lips in their raw state are transformed into delicious, golden lusciousness with the mere application of heat and a sprinkling of sugar...mmm..

My pics are all out of order...grrr...well above was how it appeared in my daughter Beths dish, with vanilla icecream to grace its head...but mine...


I prefer my puddings to swim in cool, loose ('runny', we call it) cream...fresh, cool, cutting the sweetness of the fruit with just enough richness to make it lipsmackingly good!!

This Pic was meant to be at the top! The cooked apple and berries, doused with sugar, ready to be enveloped in the crumble mix and hidden away in the oven :)

And then today there's been a transformation of a different kind...a non-food kind! Thanks to the inspiring blog over at Dreamy Whites, I took great delight in transforming my chest coffee table into a distressed, white french-inspired thing of beauty!!...Forgot to take before photos until I'd already begun, but hurriedly went and grabbed the camera once I remembered...and so began the TRANSFORMATION...cant make the pics go down here so...see my next post :)

ciao bellas

jessie (for some reason, i'm getting double line spacing!! weird! what is happening in blogland?!!)

Oh beauty on a plate...

Oh my...check out my niece Katey's fabulous looking Rainbow Cake that she made for her sister's birthday yesterday...HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARISA! mmm...just beautiful! Multi hued layers all hidden beneath the delicious cool whiteness of Vanilla frosting...mm..mmmm!! Go Katey...remember, my birthday's in February...just sayin'... ;)

And And finally...last of Christmas decorating pics...maybe ;)

And finally...this is my front entranceway... red theme...

Detail on the twig/willow cone...with the words of Oh Holy Night made into paper garland wound around the cone...

And our Christmas Dinner table...

My mums beautiful silverware out for the occasion...

Thanks for looking! If you're anything like me, I LOVE looking at other peoples ideas and things they did...and if not, you're probably not even reading this now! haha...

Happy Holidays one and all - May the Lord bless you and keep you safe, warm, loved.

jessie xx

..but wait...there's more!!

I suddenly realised halfway thru Christmas 'tea' (Christmas 'dinner' was at lunchtime..with half the 'children'...and then the other half came for tea...Emma and Beth were at both of course, because they do not have inlaws to go to!...so this was a 'happy shot' for dad, who is away in the middle east and not home for Christmas! ..sniff..sniff...haha Claire is mid-mouthful so not the best of her...ah well..
And then there's the 'sad' shot cos dad is not here...MISS YOU DADDY!!!!... wish you were here!!..awesome sad faces...don't you think??

Moving on...back to our decorating... hehe...a lovely shot of Beth's FIRST EVER Pavlova...traditional Christmas dessert in NZ and Australia (a much debated topic - whether the Pav (as we all them) was an Australian or New Zealand invention...WE, OF COURSE, SAY THE LATTER!!...

I found a branch blown over the fence from the neighbours! on my deck! (gotta be something good come out of all this dreadful wind!!) so i wired it to the chimney guard and hung my homemade baubles from it, above the willowy cone trees...

Another shot of the same....

Our sideboard with another silver willowy/twig cone tree...and paper star...and I printed the words to a Christmas Carol, Oh Holy Night, and cut it in thin strips and wound around the tree like a garland...can't see in this pic but looks lovely...and adds a Christian note to the display...yay!...

Looking back the other way...

And then there was a little more Christmas food....well...these were meant to be delicious fresh raspberries for our table, but they went off...in the fridge!! I was so disappointed...so had to throw a punnet of them out. Picked up the punnet...and it promptly tipped out of my hand...half of them going all over my feet!! hahaha....yay...a good start to Christmas morning!! ;)

These were the berries previously...delicious local boysenberries on the left and the 'fresh picked' raspberries on the right...

And a last shot of their deliciousness...alongside some fudgebars all wrapped in cello ready to give...mmmmm....LOVE CHRISTMAS FOOD...AND GIVING...how about you??

That's it for now bellas...

have a lovely relaxing day...

Looking forward to a happy new year!!

ciao...jessie xx

Ahh...Christmas beauty...

Some Christmas gifts...ready to be sent away...
One of my little christmas corners...

Our table centrepiece...MAYBE it's mercury glass??? but I actually think it's a fake version of what I see on all my wonderful American blogging sister's sites....but hey! it's pretty close and looks just beautiful!!

The Christmas baubles I made to hang from our light fitting above the dining table..

Another shot of the same looking in the opposite direction, towards the kitchen...

I made gift tags from half baubles...only three patterned sides and a flat white side underneath to write on..they hun nicely from the gifts...

A wee shot of my gorgeous cast iron crown, with a pic of me as a child peeping over the top...

The Christmas star I made from some of my late mothers vintage sheet music...hung above her piano...

...I LOVE CHRISTMAS!! The beauty of candlelight can transform the simplest of things....

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Just wanted to wish you all a wonderful Christmas...filled with joy, peace, laughter, love and hope. May your families be blessed this Christmas as we remember our beloved saviour, who came, that YOU would have the choice to follow Him and live a life filled with hope, with purpose and with love. Love each other this Christmas...be blessed.

I have thoroughly enjoyed embarking on this world of blogging and it is YOU who make it so worthwhile! Thanks for following me, for reading my posts and for leaving lovely comments.

love you all!

God bless you richly this Christmas...and beyond.

your 'sister'...jessie xx

Lynn, my Christmas loving friend

Had to put in this pic of my friend Lynn and her FABULOUS gingerbread village...and a bit of her Christmasified home around her....soo beautiful! And those are the christmas baubles hanging in the foreground that she made when we got together...more making tomorrow as others are keen to create.

And the Christmas Star cookie tree too...too cool!!
ciao bellas
jessie xx

A bit of Glam for Christmas Morning tea with the gals

My friend Lyn has beautifully decorated her home for Christmas and today she had an 'open house' morning tea for any girlfriends who cared to drop by and see her little tribute to Christmas...with choc/raspberry tarts, fruit mince pies, white choc truffles, dark chocs, lemon tarts, fresh strawberries and cheese crisps! (it's ok, there was something savoury there!!)...so I added some red to a pink flower/rosette pin I'd made and voila!

Nothing like doing a quick bit of sewing before you dash out the door with your plates of delicious goodies to share...

Didn't quite get a great shot of it cos my darling daughter Beth's camera is not at hand and had to use the webcam...

But this is finished pin, on. didn't it go with my top perfectly? Pink and red and all frothy...I was also wearing a delicious red frothy skirt from Trelise Cooper, a well known NZ designer. A lovely morning was had by all...and now have 'bookings' for Fri arvo to make the stars and christmas baubles!(which Lyn had also made and were on display)...so we'll have a little Christmas high tea on Friday and create to our hearts content!!
Thanks for looking!
have a fab week
luv jessie xx