2013 is my ‘Year of Learning Stuff’, I have decided.

January was a Soldering Masterclass with Elizabeth Bone, and February has been an 'Enamelling for Beginners' course with Silvia WeidenbachMy dad taught me how to torch solder enamel when I was about eleven or twelve, and I've loved the technique ever since. I still have some of his enamels from ( Read more... )

( Read more... )

Made (or at least started the making of) today:

- Yoghurt
- Yoghurt Cheese (like awesome cream cheese)
- Duck Proscuitto*
- Confit de Canard*
- White Kimchee aka Baek Kimchi  (pickled tastiness without the afterburner of normal kimchee)

*both recipes from Micheal Ruhlman & Brian Polcyn's "Charcuterie: The Craft of Salting, Smoking and Curing"


( Read more... )

I rather enjoy cooking magazines - as long as I've eaten beforehand. They have a very visual appeal that goes straight to my stomach and tends to make me very, very hungry. Anyway, I bought an absolutely gorgeous eggplant the other week - firm and shiny and glowing white and the most beautiful shades of purple. It was almost a crime to eat it, but ( Read more... )

This was a Christmas gift for my big sister's partner. The pins and bars are commercial 'antique copper' findings, as I thought they were pretty - in a manly way of course ( Read more... )

Other people send you chocolate-flavoured candy - or if you're really lucky, real chocolate - for Easter. My mother sent me a whole leg of New Zealand lamb. Is she not awesome ( Read more... )

Aside from my never-ending spring cleaning and sorting of the craft gear (still only in the beginning stages for the latter), I have actually been doing some craft work; knitting and jewellery assembly.

I made the following necklaces as our Christmas presents to suzywuzy & Daughter. I was especially pleased with the green pendant necklace, which latches ( Read more... )

When I was about 10 or 11 my uncle Rocky, a chef at the time, told me that mixing coleslaw together with their hands was how chefs cleaned their fingernails. After that, I refused to eat coleslaw for years ( Read more... )

One of my favourite fast dinners is prawns tossed in a wok with a large splash of Thai Sweet Chili Sauce and some chopped spring onions. Mmmm - tasty (it works well for frogs legs too). When I have a little more time however, Crisp Stir-fried Small Aquatic Arthropod is also a favourite, especially when paired with egg stir-fried rice (as seen below ( Read more... )

Even the most devoted Musaphile must tire of banana bread eventually, and last week I realised I had reached the point where the prospect of eating yet another banana bread cupcake generated disinterest rather than delight in my heart. So, searching for a new cake + banana recipe ensued.

The wonderful Tastespotting photo-link blog (one of my ( Read more... )