Fun in the Kitchen

Made some American cookies today..I say American, cos our 'biscuits' (NOT the american biscuit)...are not like these cookies. Our biscuits tend to be generally a crisp item...I TOTALLY prefer the slightly softish chewy centres and crisp outside edges of the Amerian variety of Choc Chip Cookie...tho mine were Choc Chunk and Toasted Almond Cookies (would've been Macadamias if I'd had any..mmmm)...anyway..they are divine and I've already eaten a weeks worth!..haha..just kidding..ahem! ;)...also made Gevulde Koeken (!!)..delicious Almond Rounds...a kind of almondy cookiedough/pastry encasing homemade almond paste (marzipan)...I remember a cafe in nearby Motueka used to sell them and they were TO DIE FOR!!..so tried to recreate...haven't quite perfected them I don't think, but that's ok..will try and try again ;) Meanwhile, they're still delicious!
So here's my Double Choc Chunk Cookies with Toasted Almonds (white and dark choc in there!)...




And the Gevulde Koeken...aren't they gorgeous? all golden and crispy with moist marzipan in the middle..and that wee toasted almond on top...I LOVE ALMOND!!!





And just a quick pick of last night's Spicey Vietnamese Chicken Noodle Soup...reheated for today's lunch...oh I do think it's even better the next day!!!...



thanks for stopping by...
happy times in your kitchen!
jessie xx

"Cake-ing"..its in the blood

Meant to include in todays post a couple of pics my sis sent me of her darling daughter Sally (on the right) with her friend happily showing off their delicious creation! And below them is another pic of a cake Sally made...ooooh be still my chocolatey heart!! Don't you love it when your children love to do what you do? My sister is a wonderful baker too..we all love to cook and 'feed people' in our family..one sister even has a restaurant of her own...very successful too. But back to at home baking...I love it that Beth loves to bake..it warms my heart. And when my girls and son just love to come into the kitchen, lured in by the delicious smells...it's so encouraging, rewarding and heartwarming! Even when they just come to visit, invariably they make their way thru the kitchen first...you know...just in case!! (with a quick whip open of the fridge and pantry for at least one of them...you'll have to guess which one ;))
Anyway..without further ado...Sally and friend...and divine cakery!!!




Thanks for stopping by :)
Must find some pics of Beths cooking too to share with you all.
Bon Appetit..and happy blogging!
luv jessie x

Mmmm...Asian Flavours!

My darling daughter Emma requested a deliciously tasty Vietnamese Chicken Soup for tea tonight...i love cooking for people who love to eat!! I found this recipe one day whilst bloghopping...and found French Fridays with Dorie...a wonderful site for all you foodies out there...anyway...I got daring and decided to make this delicious soup...funny you might think a Vietnamese soup is not very french!!..but I learnt something I didn't know by reading about this recipe, that Vietnam was once a french colony..so many recipes will feature on french tables (i never was much of a one for geography or history, sadly...and don't think that would've reached our nz curriulum anyway!!)...
ANYWAY...the soup...YOU HAVE GOT TO TRY IT!!...google the recipe, as her blog doesn't list it...CHOCK FULL of fabulous flavours - coriander (which incidentally I've hated forever but actually enjoy in this dish..it must the the perfect teaming of flavours I think)...fresh ginger root, GARLIC, fish sauce - who'da thought fermented fish (aka rotten fish!!) could make something taste so gooood!! (just don't smell it or you'll NEVER eat/use it!!!)...star anise, coriander..and silky rich coconut milk.
It really is worth trying...lots of ingredients but an absolute doddle to make! DO IT! You won't regret it...
Here are a couple of pics...sadly not of my own dish as darling baby daughter Beth, whose camera I use (since mine is broken :( )...has deemed to go camping with her friend and TAKE her camera with her! what was she thinking???..sigh...anyway...the lovely picture of the spices, exactly as I had, is from eatlivetravelwrite.com and the pic of the finished dish from tasteologie.com...fantabulously delicious!!!




Thanks for stopping by...hope I've inspired you to try a little asian fusion dish for dinner...well, not fusion at all, I just liked the sound of that!! haha
bon appetit!!
luv jessie xx

Ladies Lunch..take 3!- the Big House

So..the end of our ladies lunch posting...you may wonder why I've done it in three posts...the first I posted without actually writing anything..haha..oops! The second..when i went to upload pics...my blogger posting window had changed (has yours?) and now all the pics load as text and you can't see what they are...usually they are photos sitting in my text box once uploaded..and I go down under each one and comment on them...this way I have NO IDEA what they are...so second post was a bit hit and miss. But third time lucky! I decided to upload one pic at a time (SOOOO SLOWWWW!!! AAGHHH!!!)...but at least that way I could write above (or is it below!lol) each one...
So there you are..hope you enjoy the last of my lunching pics. :)



The FABULOUS bathroom...OH MY GOODNESS...so beautiful...wouldn't you KILL for that chandelier??? ..well, I WOULD!! haha...


Our table..my mother-in-law Eleanor in the middle, and sis-in-law Julie on the left, and Julies friend Fiona on the right. The tables were faux stone and lovely..but were terrible for glare in the sunshine! Nice wrought iron chairs tho..a little shabbychic white goin on.. actually, not too shabby! haha


Front entrance to the 'big house'...not what it's actually called, but to differentiate between what was the actual restaurant and is now the teahouse..and this being the 'actual' restaurant...and it's a HUGE house!! so there you go.. ;)

Thanks for stopping by ladies :) love you comments..feel free to leave them...and if you're not a follower...I'd love you to be! (even twice Carla!! haha)
blessings!
jessie x

oops...BEAUTIFUL LADIES LUNCH..take 2!!

some views of the tables...and their christmas tree which was adorned with floral garlands...and...hanging teacups!!




Sooo...blogger having a fit!! cant upload what I want...hence the earlier post with four pics and no writing..(not like me..no words! what the??!!) Anyway, I went out for lunch with my mother-in-law and sis-in-law and her friend, to a place about an hours drive from Nelson...Monterey House...a beautiful setting...big house has been built to look like a really old one...fabulous. Anyway...it's just reopened after changing hands, and the 'big house' used to be private, but is now the restaurant (top storey still private)...and what used to be the restaurant is now a tea house..with high teas a specialty. So we had lunch at the restaurant (unbeknownst to us cos we booked what we thought was the old place...but got there to find no booking, and redirected to the new 'big house'...and proceeded to have a restaurant lunch, rather than a quaint cafe lunch (ouch to the pocket!)...then went back to the teahouse for coffee/tea and cake...in my case, I had the devonshire tea and others had the cakes etc.
Now as I'm having trouble with blogger...my pics are not loading into my posting windows as actual pictures, but simply has all the text info for each pic...I cannot scroll down and add text to each cos I don't know what they all are...it just looks like a huge body of text...HELP!! ANYONE KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON???
So...hope you enjoy the pics of our LADIES LUNCH...this part is the teahouse...
luv...lady lunchalot!!
(aka me..jessie ;)

Beautiful Ladies Lunch...

The last two pics are the takeaway box they gave me to take home my lone scone..I had devonshire tea and the two scones were a bit much after my 'real' lunch at the Big House...I just loved how they put it in a box with a beautiful paper lace doily and lavender and roses! Which is how they adorned each plate...just beautiful!
Hope you enjoyed the pics...
jessie x
jessie

HAPPY NEW YEAR...continuing the 're-do' of my furniture

Welcome to 2011 downunder...thanks for stopping by :)

I spent new years eve distressing my dark stained sideboard!! (of course, what else would you be doing on NEW YEARS EVE??!!)...sigh...ah well. My hubby is still away in the middle east and Beth had gone to her own new years eve party at a friend's house...so i was HOME ALONE!..you might think that's sad...but no! (well, i was sad when I thought of seeing the new year in without my honey...then I got over it and got on with some painting!! lol)...

So...my distress bug is working overtime...(THANKS MARIA!!)and here are the results of the last two days elbow grease....Oh so out of order...grrr...I just can't get this blogger to load the pics in the order I want just now...never mind...you'll get the gist of it...

I have no before of this chair...it was one I got second hand and was a kind of leaf green with shiny poly finish...oh yeah I hear you sighing...not!...so now it is shabby chic white...quite pleased with it tho must say painting furniture with lots of twirly, knobbly bits and pieces can be a bit of a drag!!...still...worth it ...

BUT THE MAIN THING...WAS...MY (possibly oak) SIDEBOARD...was VERY DARK stained (scroll down a couple pics...the one with the christmas decos, bit blurry and can hardly see the sideboard, yet you see how DARK it was...)..here's a little downward shot of the corner...(don't you love my wee antique babies leather shoes? (original white finish...apparently it was shoe paint and they'd get a fresh coat every year, whether they needed it or not! a bit like they'd have a bath once a week, whether they needed it or not!!haha!!)... ANYWAY...I digress...

And here it is in all it's glory, back with my family pics onboard...really very happy with the end result which actually took WAY MORE time and effort...because...I learned a valuable lesson....YOU CAN'T PUT ACRYLIC PAINT OVER OIL PAINT/STAIN...OH DARN!!! ...I painted a coat on...and this brown was kind of seeping thru...odd, I thought...another coat...same...another...not really taking that well....oh..no..! don't tell me...bet that's oilbased under there...the realisation that my 'instant gratification project' had become far from instant began to dawn on me. I visualised my first purchase of 2011 was going to be a tub of paint stripper...oh joy. But the more I looked at it - glared more like it, over my cup of 'what am I going to do now coffee'... the more I was SURE I could do something about it...so I made the decision to scrape the white off...all three layers...with a bladed scraper...BAD CHOICE...managed to gouge bits of wood here and there out of the surface...very distressed now, both me and the sideboard!!...Some paint came off like slicing cheese on one of those wire cutters, just rolling up at the touch of the blade...but some wouldn't budge. So I ended up with this horrid patchy dark/white 'thing'...bit like a leopard spotted sideboard...only with squareish spots!!...so, wasn't too happy with that. As I pondered it all over a(nother) cup of tea (had to switch to tea as the coffee was going to keep me up all night...oh I could've..it's new years eve!!)... I decided that maybe 'rubbing' thin layers of paint on might work, it might take better than the thicker application of painted layers...should work, right? cos it was sanded and all, so should've 'taken'...and then began about 4 layers of rubbing the paint on in swirling movements...making it look cloudy. And VOILA!! It became a thing of beauty! (well,except for those gouges...but we'll keep that our little secret!)...

This morning I got up...went to a friend's for brunch even tho I was dying to get into it...(really, all this furniture transformation could turn one into a hermit!!)...returned home and sanded all edges etc, 'polished' with my french polish to give it a smooth touch and sheen, and slightly aged tone...now you be the judge :)

Oh here is the 'before'...you totally cannot make it out at all! lol...but there beneath the cone tree and garland, under the wooden venetians, was the sideboard in it's original stain...as you CAN SEE...it was DARK! Oh and on the left side of the table is the top of the green chair, now white, at the beginning of this post...looks duller there, in real life was a vibrant slightly aged looking green!! Anyway...back to the dark sideboard...

And now it's not :)

I particularly love this shot below...don't know why...but I'm sure if I had a GOOD camera, this pic would have been outstanding! haha...as it is, it's not too bad...

Ah the door pulls...after the first coat of PAINSTAKINGLY not getting any paint on the metal pulls AT ALL...once I realised I was going to have to do 400(give or take!!) coats of paint if I was lucky (!)...I decided to paint them and distress them back after...and I'm actually really glad I did...love the look and feel of them...it was one of the first things Beth commented on when she saw the 'reveal'...'ooh these are nice mum'...:)

And finally, a bit more of the detail...

So there you are...very pleased with my endeavours. My friend Rebeka now feels no furniture in my house is safe...she could be right!! THANKS SO MUCH MARIA...if I hadn't found and read your blog...I think these furniture pieces would have stayed much as they have since I bought them...AND I'm so happy with them...inspiration (from Maria's blog..and her emails) partnered with fresh confidence is truly a match made in heaven! :) God bless you! :)

ciao for now bellas

luv jessie xx

p.s. DEAD tired now that I've stopped! lol...cup of tea and an early night...with just a little bloghopping before I go...teehee ;)

Goodbye 2010...you were a good year :)

Reflecting on 2010, it was a big year for me...I BEGAN BLOGGING!! oh yeah!!...I went to Dubai and Asia with my darling husband, one of my daughters married, one went flatting, one came home, my son got married, and I contemplated life beyond daily mothering as I began to focus on the future when all my babies will have flown the coop. :(...thankfully, my darling Beth is still around for another year of school :)....but then...?

But all in all, a big year...lots of other significant things took place ...but BY FAR...the most significant things that happened in our lives...the lives of our family...were the weddings of our son Evan and our daughter Claire...(...not to each other! two separate weddings, you understand!! lol)

Our son Evan married his sweetheart Renee on October 23rd, 2010

Fabulous shot in the trees at a local beach, Rabbit Island...just beautiful...

And the 'whanau'...our beautiful family...so blessed :) (don't you LOVE the fairy light drop in the background?!)

And back in April, on the 25th, our daughter Claire married her sweetheart, Rob...

A fabulous shot at a deserted house in a paddock (farm) in Brighwater near Nelson...arent' they beautiful?!

And the family again...
Thanks for sharing with me this year as I have begun blogging about my life, my family, my dreams, my interests, my love of FOOD, and crafting...and just 'being'! I have so enjoyed 'meeting' all you fellow bloggers...the 'blogging sisterhood'!...it's a privelege to read about you all, your lives, YOUR dreams, your loves...long may it continue.

May God bless each and every one of you this coming year, and your families ...bring on the possibilities and opportunities of 2011!!

luv and blessings...jessie xx