Best-ever chocolate raspberry brownies | BBC Good Food
These are really, really good. Really
Sunday, June 15, 2014
Sunday, March 11, 2012
Weary Sunday evening
Aaaah. The end of another busy busy weekend. A beautiful Sunny early Autumn day - how clear it is that Autumn has a arrived - the cooler mornings and evening, the change in the light, the first browning leaves on the London Plane Trees down along New South Head Road.
I am enjoying:
*my Dirty Granny Apple Cider from Matilda Bay Brewery in WA
* my almost completed set of fingerless mits in so soft possum-merino
* watching my almost 5 year old daughter discover the delights of lego sets and the joys of time spent with her Dad (it has taken a while!)
* listening to my 12 year old battle and battle with a Mozart Rondo and sound better each time and loving it.
* Smelling Lamb Rogan Josh cooking on the stove for dinner. Yum Yum.
* thinking of all the progress I have made today in cleaning up the house
* avoiding thinking tooo much of how much more there is to do
*looking forward to attending the Supreme Court Tomorrow to see our friend Robert Beech-Jones SC inducted as a Supreme Court Judge.
*how terrific the house looks now it is painted. Why did it take us so long?
*looking at my newly planted lavender and gaura plants and pretty pink Mandeveillea, along with the pots of gardenias and moruya and hoping they will be looking a little more established by the time of the open inspections in a month or so.
I am enjoying:
*my Dirty Granny Apple Cider from Matilda Bay Brewery in WA
* my almost completed set of fingerless mits in so soft possum-merino
* watching my almost 5 year old daughter discover the delights of lego sets and the joys of time spent with her Dad (it has taken a while!)
* listening to my 12 year old battle and battle with a Mozart Rondo and sound better each time and loving it.
* Smelling Lamb Rogan Josh cooking on the stove for dinner. Yum Yum.
* thinking of all the progress I have made today in cleaning up the house
* avoiding thinking tooo much of how much more there is to do
*looking forward to attending the Supreme Court Tomorrow to see our friend Robert Beech-Jones SC inducted as a Supreme Court Judge.
*how terrific the house looks now it is painted. Why did it take us so long?
Friday, March 02, 2012
The housemoving files
Another day on the road. Michael the Ukranian painter has been here all week and has done a marvellous job touching the place up. I have been in his employ moving furniture, Things and more Things out of the way as directed, finding buckets, power points, old paint tins which might or might not (NOT as it happens) match the walls and making coffee and providing cakes sufficient to keep Michael's substantial appetite content. Brings joy to a baker's heart.
So tonight, Friday night, I am sitting in the kitchen which is a shadow of its usual burdened self, breathing in paint fumes and unable to find anywhere comfortable to sit. The furniture is piled into the middle of the room pending the Final Coat in the morning. All available surfaces are playing host to the displaced contents of the rooms being painted. Needless to say, it was takeaway tonight.
Despite the hassle, I find myself strangely bouyed by the experience. Possibly the thrill of visible progress that I experience when making good progress in a craft item in production.
Speaking of which I must confess to indulging in a wee bit of showing off this afternoon. Under the somewhat lame pretence of wanting to find a backing for Kaffe Fasset's Gridlock Cushion, I took a detour after picking the children up from school, to Calico and Ivy in Birchgrove. That shop is truly a tonic to my frazzled brain. Sue (I think it is her name) is delightful and shamed me not at all when I produced my latest FOs and UFOs from my felted crochet bag. She further indulged my vanity by insisting on photographing my bag and suggesting she would blog it!! I did insist that she mention that it was inspired byAttic 24. I also showed her the PJ bottoms that I'd made for Eva from her fabric and she was suitably impressed. Eva, who is showing enormous promise in her early craft apprenticeship became healthily excited by the mass of wonderful fabrics and chose not less than three new pieces for more PJs and another library bag (this one in pink with small bambis on it - only a 4-5 year old could get away with it). I will post photos tomorrow.
We spent a gratifying period of time choosing some plain shot cotton in a delicious peacockish blue as backing and lining for the KF cushion and I checked my progress on the Japanese flower shawl (doing well). Eva managed to slip 3 more skeins of the Debbie Bliss Andes into the basket for a skarf.
A good time was had by all.
Whilst I could fantasise about spending the weekend sewing endless pairs of PJs for my dear daughter and for half of her soft toys, as she has requested, I expect it will be occupied in more mundane matters. The council cleanup is on Monday and I will be purging. There are books to sorted and boxed into 'Keep on shelf', 'Store', and 'get rid of'. and so much more....
In the meantime, I have cast on the second possum merino fingerlesss glove in Touch Yarns Possum for my darling grandmother who does get such very cold hands and who turned 95 last Sunday. This is my current mindless knitting project.
I am trying to have a car project (the mindless one) that is portable and simple and can be dragged to school meetings, waiting rooms, coffee shops etc. Then a Complicated project for when I am feeling like being challenged and then a couple of other projects which can reside at home in a convenient spot.
So tonight, Friday night, I am sitting in the kitchen which is a shadow of its usual burdened self, breathing in paint fumes and unable to find anywhere comfortable to sit. The furniture is piled into the middle of the room pending the Final Coat in the morning. All available surfaces are playing host to the displaced contents of the rooms being painted. Needless to say, it was takeaway tonight.
Despite the hassle, I find myself strangely bouyed by the experience. Possibly the thrill of visible progress that I experience when making good progress in a craft item in production.
Speaking of which I must confess to indulging in a wee bit of showing off this afternoon. Under the somewhat lame pretence of wanting to find a backing for Kaffe Fasset's Gridlock Cushion, I took a detour after picking the children up from school, to Calico and Ivy in Birchgrove. That shop is truly a tonic to my frazzled brain. Sue (I think it is her name) is delightful and shamed me not at all when I produced my latest FOs and UFOs from my felted crochet bag. She further indulged my vanity by insisting on photographing my bag and suggesting she would blog it!! I did insist that she mention that it was inspired byAttic 24. I also showed her the PJ bottoms that I'd made for Eva from her fabric and she was suitably impressed. Eva, who is showing enormous promise in her early craft apprenticeship became healthily excited by the mass of wonderful fabrics and chose not less than three new pieces for more PJs and another library bag (this one in pink with small bambis on it - only a 4-5 year old could get away with it). I will post photos tomorrow.
We spent a gratifying period of time choosing some plain shot cotton in a delicious peacockish blue as backing and lining for the KF cushion and I checked my progress on the Japanese flower shawl (doing well). Eva managed to slip 3 more skeins of the Debbie Bliss Andes into the basket for a skarf.
A good time was had by all.
Whilst I could fantasise about spending the weekend sewing endless pairs of PJs for my dear daughter and for half of her soft toys, as she has requested, I expect it will be occupied in more mundane matters. The council cleanup is on Monday and I will be purging. There are books to sorted and boxed into 'Keep on shelf', 'Store', and 'get rid of'. and so much more....
In the meantime, I have cast on the second possum merino fingerlesss glove in Touch Yarns Possum for my darling grandmother who does get such very cold hands and who turned 95 last Sunday. This is my current mindless knitting project.
I am trying to have a car project (the mindless one) that is portable and simple and can be dragged to school meetings, waiting rooms, coffee shops etc. Then a Complicated project for when I am feeling like being challenged and then a couple of other projects which can reside at home in a convenient spot.
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Spring!
Saw the first hint of purple on a jacaranda tree yesterday and today they are out! It must be exam time.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Saturday, September 24, 2011
Friday 23rd September
I am writing this on Saturday morning as I was too tired last night to write anything. Yeterday (Friday) was Mark's birthday and he sounded like he was having a very stressful day trying to get everything done before flying out Friday night Sydney time after a very big day of work and almost no sleep and a busy week on call. We spoke to briefly on Friday morning Sydney time to wish him a happy birthday and we'll look forward to meeting him at the airport in a few hours time. Hopefully he'll have had lots of sleep on the plane and will be able to relax and recover his energies whilst in France.
It is another beautiful day today. We have been very blessed with the weather - mild, sunny days. Very comfortable for sight seeing. I accompanied Carolina to Gare Du L'est this morning and deposited her on the TGV to Frankfurt. We both felt rather emotional. It has been such an adventure together. We've been a very good team. If her new job comes through it may have been the last time she will have been with us in a work capacity too.
Yesterday we all woke up feeling very tired, and on my part rather flat and grumpy. We did manage to get out of the house by 10 and walked up to Les Halles to tackle the sim recharge task for the iPad - I really want to get some 3G availability for we reach the south of France so we can use it as a GPS to find our house. I had wanted to take Carolina and the children out for a proper French breakfast as I remembered it from my first visit to Paris at age 14. I was entranced by the beautiful milky coffee and hot chocolates served with fresh croissant, baguette, unsalted butter and jams that had been served in the breakfast area of our little hotel. I thought I was in heaven and nothing had ever tasted so good. I haven't found the same thing this time and the breakfast we found yesterday morning was no exemption unfortunately. It was fine, but not mind blowing. The hot chocolate was of the thick, custardy variety that I don't like but that Carolina and Alex did, so that was OK. We will keep searching. Recharge achieved, we walked back down through the back streets of Les Halles and into the Marais to the Jewish Museum which is situated on Rue de Temple, appropriately enough. It is located in a beautiful old building set around a large sunny courtyard. It was very interesting and differently set out to other museums we have seen. They included a collection of photos of current members of Parisian Jewry with brief comments on what being a Jew in Paris meant to them. These photos with their commentaries were interspersed amongst the other areas of the museum which dealt with the history of French Jewry, the Shoah, Jewish festivals etc. The little ones were not very interested but were very well behaved. We had again ventured out without the stroller with less protest this time.
The children were anxious for the morning dose of nutella crepe which we fulfilled en route to San Michel station where we caught the train to Versaille. Eva has eaten little except nutella crepes, salami sandwiches and ice-cream all the time we've been here but seems none the worse for wear. Carolina fell sound asleep in the train and I had to work very hard not to. Once again, this travel business, is hard work. We slowly observed the change in landscape as we left the central Ille de France area, with the gradual change from apartments to houses. The boys commented that they hadn't actually seen a house in France until now.
It was a perfect day to visit Versailles - a first for all of us. It really is quite extraordinary and sickeningly lavish. Eva enjoyed the different colours of the fleur de lys wallpaper and happily found herself a corner in each room to draw. Much to the delight of the Japanese tourists who seem to always enjoy photographing her, particularly when she is covered in nutella or chocolate ice-cream (i.e. more often than not). (Forgot the wipes again). Wonderful to see the David painting of the Coronation of Napoleon and Josephine. I realised again how little I know of French history. The reading list for our return is getting longer everyday.
We loved the gardens and spent some time running around exploring. It was already well after 5pm and hence too late to explore the garden in detail but we enjoyed it nonetheless. As in the Tuillieries and around Notre Dame, there was a wonderful contrast between formal garden and profuse and apparently randomly planted flower gardens of the country garden variety. Very, very pretty.
We arrived back to a glorious evening and walked slowly back along the Seine through the Ille de la Cite and across to Ille Saint Louis. A wonderful jazz band was playing near the bridge as we crossed over to the 'mainland' and we stopped to listen for a few songs. The lead seemed to be American but clearly living in France and their group included an elderly and rather eccentrically dressed lady who danced joyfully along with the music. Sam was transfixed and the boys talked avidly about how they might form their own band for some time afterwards.
We meandered through the Marais towards Pl de Vonges where we found Cafe Hugo, as recommended in Lonely Planet. It is situated on 'the most beautiful square in Paris' according to The Guide and it was indeed very pretty, with a colonnaded arch all around the edge - rather Italian actually. There were a several cafes and restaurants scattered around the edges of the square and we eventually found ours. It was busy but they found us a table out the back (a good judgement on their behalf) and we had a lovely meal. Carolina and I had French Onion Soup which was delicious and Alex and I followed that with Duck and sautéed potatoes of perfect crispness. Carolina ordered an enormous steak. Sam and Eva had plain pasta and bread and cheese respectively and all the children finished the meal off with MORE crepe with nutella. I enjoyed a Kir Sauvignon - the first since our arrival - I had forgotten what a nice drink it is - white wine with creme de cassis. The menu offered various other combinations of wine plus liquor which I hadn't seen before. We walked home, tired but happy after another big day of stimulating sights and food.
It is another beautiful day today. We have been very blessed with the weather - mild, sunny days. Very comfortable for sight seeing. I accompanied Carolina to Gare Du L'est this morning and deposited her on the TGV to Frankfurt. We both felt rather emotional. It has been such an adventure together. We've been a very good team. If her new job comes through it may have been the last time she will have been with us in a work capacity too.
Yesterday we all woke up feeling very tired, and on my part rather flat and grumpy. We did manage to get out of the house by 10 and walked up to Les Halles to tackle the sim recharge task for the iPad - I really want to get some 3G availability for we reach the south of France so we can use it as a GPS to find our house. I had wanted to take Carolina and the children out for a proper French breakfast as I remembered it from my first visit to Paris at age 14. I was entranced by the beautiful milky coffee and hot chocolates served with fresh croissant, baguette, unsalted butter and jams that had been served in the breakfast area of our little hotel. I thought I was in heaven and nothing had ever tasted so good. I haven't found the same thing this time and the breakfast we found yesterday morning was no exemption unfortunately. It was fine, but not mind blowing. The hot chocolate was of the thick, custardy variety that I don't like but that Carolina and Alex did, so that was OK. We will keep searching. Recharge achieved, we walked back down through the back streets of Les Halles and into the Marais to the Jewish Museum which is situated on Rue de Temple, appropriately enough. It is located in a beautiful old building set around a large sunny courtyard. It was very interesting and differently set out to other museums we have seen. They included a collection of photos of current members of Parisian Jewry with brief comments on what being a Jew in Paris meant to them. These photos with their commentaries were interspersed amongst the other areas of the museum which dealt with the history of French Jewry, the Shoah, Jewish festivals etc. The little ones were not very interested but were very well behaved. We had again ventured out without the stroller with less protest this time.
The children were anxious for the morning dose of nutella crepe which we fulfilled en route to San Michel station where we caught the train to Versaille. Eva has eaten little except nutella crepes, salami sandwiches and ice-cream all the time we've been here but seems none the worse for wear. Carolina fell sound asleep in the train and I had to work very hard not to. Once again, this travel business, is hard work. We slowly observed the change in landscape as we left the central Ille de France area, with the gradual change from apartments to houses. The boys commented that they hadn't actually seen a house in France until now.
It was a perfect day to visit Versailles - a first for all of us. It really is quite extraordinary and sickeningly lavish. Eva enjoyed the different colours of the fleur de lys wallpaper and happily found herself a corner in each room to draw. Much to the delight of the Japanese tourists who seem to always enjoy photographing her, particularly when she is covered in nutella or chocolate ice-cream (i.e. more often than not). (Forgot the wipes again). Wonderful to see the David painting of the Coronation of Napoleon and Josephine. I realised again how little I know of French history. The reading list for our return is getting longer everyday.
We loved the gardens and spent some time running around exploring. It was already well after 5pm and hence too late to explore the garden in detail but we enjoyed it nonetheless. As in the Tuillieries and around Notre Dame, there was a wonderful contrast between formal garden and profuse and apparently randomly planted flower gardens of the country garden variety. Very, very pretty.
We arrived back to a glorious evening and walked slowly back along the Seine through the Ille de la Cite and across to Ille Saint Louis. A wonderful jazz band was playing near the bridge as we crossed over to the 'mainland' and we stopped to listen for a few songs. The lead seemed to be American but clearly living in France and their group included an elderly and rather eccentrically dressed lady who danced joyfully along with the music. Sam was transfixed and the boys talked avidly about how they might form their own band for some time afterwards.
We meandered through the Marais towards Pl de Vonges where we found Cafe Hugo, as recommended in Lonely Planet. It is situated on 'the most beautiful square in Paris' according to The Guide and it was indeed very pretty, with a colonnaded arch all around the edge - rather Italian actually. There were a several cafes and restaurants scattered around the edges of the square and we eventually found ours. It was busy but they found us a table out the back (a good judgement on their behalf) and we had a lovely meal. Carolina and I had French Onion Soup which was delicious and Alex and I followed that with Duck and sautéed potatoes of perfect crispness. Carolina ordered an enormous steak. Sam and Eva had plain pasta and bread and cheese respectively and all the children finished the meal off with MORE crepe with nutella. I enjoyed a Kir Sauvignon - the first since our arrival - I had forgotten what a nice drink it is - white wine with creme de cassis. The menu offered various other combinations of wine plus liquor which I hadn't seen before. We walked home, tired but happy after another big day of stimulating sights and food.
Friday, September 23, 2011
Thursday 22nd September
We promised the children a focused and brief tour through the Musee Dorsay today. After battling with the stroller in the metro all week, we decided to brave it without today. Eva was Not Happy. I WANT MY STROLLER alternated with CARRY ME for the entire distance on foot and metro to the museum. We gritted our teeth and stayed firm. Eventually she calmed down with the assistance of an ice cream and brotherly diversions on the steps outside the museum.
She didn't make it easy though. She certainly is a young lady of opinion. It is such a beautiful museum. Again I wished we'd been able to be more leisurely. Eva was so excited to see Degas' little dancer. Carolina, Alex and I were so excited to see all of it. Eva did really well for the rest of the day and it was so much easier without the stroller. Carolina took off on her own in the afternoon to see La Defence and climb the Arc de Triomph. I thought it was time that we did something for Eva so we headed back to Les Halles where we had seen a lovely playground. She and Sam had a great play and were so happy to be outside in the sun. We walked slowly home through the back streets on a beautiful warm evening. After all the exercise, Eva fell asleep within minutes of reaching home and slept for 12 solid hours. I found the makings of a sort of spaghetti bolognese at Monoprix and it was surprisingly good - a bottle of Barilla pasta sauce (Basilico) with a small packet of mince.
She didn't make it easy though. She certainly is a young lady of opinion. It is such a beautiful museum. Again I wished we'd been able to be more leisurely. Eva was so excited to see Degas' little dancer. Carolina, Alex and I were so excited to see all of it. Eva did really well for the rest of the day and it was so much easier without the stroller. Carolina took off on her own in the afternoon to see La Defence and climb the Arc de Triomph. I thought it was time that we did something for Eva so we headed back to Les Halles where we had seen a lovely playground. She and Sam had a great play and were so happy to be outside in the sun. We walked slowly home through the back streets on a beautiful warm evening. After all the exercise, Eva fell asleep within minutes of reaching home and slept for 12 solid hours. I found the makings of a sort of spaghetti bolognese at Monoprix and it was surprisingly good - a bottle of Barilla pasta sauce (Basilico) with a small packet of mince.
Wednesday 21st September
Louvre Day. Deep Breath. Snacks packed. Good supply of coloured pencils, drawing paper, colouring in books, charged iPs (pods, pids, pads etc).
To preserve strength we took the metro to the Louvre station. This has been transformed since I was last there, which was almost 20 years ago. The station exit opens into an underground modern cave filled with the remains of ancient walls and filled with modern shops. Never miss a retail opportunity. We queued for our museum passes in a queue that must have been almost as long as the one we were trying to avoid by buying one. We then proceeded with the crowd through underground passages through more retail opportunities - tantalising Louvre related shops including an entire shop devoted to the most magnificent art books and toys for children - finally emerging into the Light under the pyramid which is central mission control for processing visitors and distributing them via ancient and modern means into the various wings of the building. All rather magnificent. The queues are reduced by having multiple opportunities for ticket purchasing and weren't too bad at all.
As advised, we focused on the highlights. The audio guide caters quite well to this with various choices of tour or the option of just picking out the (selected) pictures as you find them. Unfortunately information about pictures not included in the guide is all in French and brief at that. Eva switched off very quickly and descended into the drawing and cyberworld, raising her head for a brief nod at the Mona Lisa, with which she seemed distinctly unimpressed after all the hype. The rest of us still got quite a kick out of seeing it. I had forgotten that there are quite a few other Da Vincis. Wonderful to see. Also really enjoyed the big romantic French revolution paintings and our increasingly rushed foray through the Dutch masters. Unfortunately the audio guides ran out of batteries before we did. Irritating.
All utterly exhausting but hopefully something sunk in.
We escaped into the Jardin des Tuileries and collapsed into chairs by the lake with beautiful ice creams from Amarino which are delivered looking like beautiful flowers and taste superb. The gardens are looking more autumnal every day but the cottage garden flowers are still going strong. So pretty.
Somehow, I managed to convince our exhausted team to undertake an ultra quick tour of L'Orangerie before heading off. All were suitably awe inspired by the Monet waterlillies and Alex, Carolina and I wished we could have spent longer in the down stairs area. We rushed through at criminal speed as they were closing. Well worth it. If I'd had the time again, I would have avoided the Louvre altogether - or just headed to the Mona Lisa and spent more time in the smaller galleries.
I then had the crazy idea of visiting the yarn shop I had read about which was 'sort of' on the way home, near Les Halles. It was closing at 6.45 and it was close to 6. I couldn't see when I would get there otherwise. We found it easily and it was HEAVEN. See photos. Could have spent hours there. Absolutely beautiful yarns, ribbons, buttons, accessories and patterns all beautifully displayed. I chose a modest amount of yarn for two cardigans for Eva and went to pay. My wallet was missing. I thought I'd been so careful but we think it was pinched on the metro which was horribly crowded. Such a bugger. We tried not to let it get us down too much.
We headed home, after a rather indifferent but nonetheless welcome meal from the Brasserie around the corner and collapsed in a heap. This travel business is tiring.
To preserve strength we took the metro to the Louvre station. This has been transformed since I was last there, which was almost 20 years ago. The station exit opens into an underground modern cave filled with the remains of ancient walls and filled with modern shops. Never miss a retail opportunity. We queued for our museum passes in a queue that must have been almost as long as the one we were trying to avoid by buying one. We then proceeded with the crowd through underground passages through more retail opportunities - tantalising Louvre related shops including an entire shop devoted to the most magnificent art books and toys for children - finally emerging into the Light under the pyramid which is central mission control for processing visitors and distributing them via ancient and modern means into the various wings of the building. All rather magnificent. The queues are reduced by having multiple opportunities for ticket purchasing and weren't too bad at all.
As advised, we focused on the highlights. The audio guide caters quite well to this with various choices of tour or the option of just picking out the (selected) pictures as you find them. Unfortunately information about pictures not included in the guide is all in French and brief at that. Eva switched off very quickly and descended into the drawing and cyberworld, raising her head for a brief nod at the Mona Lisa, with which she seemed distinctly unimpressed after all the hype. The rest of us still got quite a kick out of seeing it. I had forgotten that there are quite a few other Da Vincis. Wonderful to see. Also really enjoyed the big romantic French revolution paintings and our increasingly rushed foray through the Dutch masters. Unfortunately the audio guides ran out of batteries before we did. Irritating.
All utterly exhausting but hopefully something sunk in.
We escaped into the Jardin des Tuileries and collapsed into chairs by the lake with beautiful ice creams from Amarino which are delivered looking like beautiful flowers and taste superb. The gardens are looking more autumnal every day but the cottage garden flowers are still going strong. So pretty.
Somehow, I managed to convince our exhausted team to undertake an ultra quick tour of L'Orangerie before heading off. All were suitably awe inspired by the Monet waterlillies and Alex, Carolina and I wished we could have spent longer in the down stairs area. We rushed through at criminal speed as they were closing. Well worth it. If I'd had the time again, I would have avoided the Louvre altogether - or just headed to the Mona Lisa and spent more time in the smaller galleries.
I then had the crazy idea of visiting the yarn shop I had read about which was 'sort of' on the way home, near Les Halles. It was closing at 6.45 and it was close to 6. I couldn't see when I would get there otherwise. We found it easily and it was HEAVEN. See photos. Could have spent hours there. Absolutely beautiful yarns, ribbons, buttons, accessories and patterns all beautifully displayed. I chose a modest amount of yarn for two cardigans for Eva and went to pay. My wallet was missing. I thought I'd been so careful but we think it was pinched on the metro which was horribly crowded. Such a bugger. We tried not to let it get us down too much.
We headed home, after a rather indifferent but nonetheless welcome meal from the Brasserie around the corner and collapsed in a heap. This travel business is tiring.
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