She’s Off to See the Wizard!

November 3, 2011 By Paola 1 Comment

I FINALLY managed to persuade the Minx not to dress as a Disney Princess. Oh happy day!

I always get very curmudgeonly about Halloween as I hate getting dressed up myself (and believe me Halloween provides lots of opportunities to humiliate the parents of six year olds). But the people of our neighbourhood put on the most fabulous display of Halloween decorations yet again and there was something very fun about skipping through the autumn leaves in the dark singing ‘We’re Off To See the Wizard’.

Hope you all had fun.

Desperate Housewife

October 20, 2011 By Paola Leave a Comment

As an often frustrated stay at home mum who loves colourful things, this gorgeous editorial from Vogue Italia spoke to me at a visceral level. After all I do spend an awful lot of my time hiding under the sink wearing killer stilettos and a cocktail dress.

Welcome to my world.

Thanks to the ever fabulous Tom and Lorenzo for this dose of pretty.

Things I Am Loving – Stripey Kenwood Stand Mixers

October 19, 2011 By Paola 5 Comments

After the the Husband, the Minx and the wedding album, I do believe my Kitchen Aid stand mixer would be the next thing I’d rescue in a fire.

However, that’s not to say that I can’t still admire these Kenwood Stand Mixers from afar and be grateful that someone is having a little fun with kitchen design.

Would you have one in your kitchen? Or am I just succumbing to my inner five year old again?

The Firecracker colourway is also available from John Lewis. Unfortunately I don’t think Kenwood has arrived in the US.

Adventures in Knitting – Missoni for Me Scarf

October 17, 2011 By Paola 10 Comments

If you’re still feeling battered and bruised from the whole Missoni for Target experience, you may want to take solace in a nice soothing knitting project. This is delightfully simple but an incredibly satisfying knit which I think ended up being a little Missoni-esque in flavour.

As with so many other knitting projects, I have Ravelry to thank for this. Someone organised a swap whereby twenty-two of us sent in one skein of gorgeous Sundara sock yarn and then received back twenty- two little mini skeins in different Sundara colours. I mixed these colours in with my own sock yarn leftovers to create a random pool of about thirty colours. You don’t need so many though. Others on Ravelry have created the scarf with a much more restricted colour set and it still looks fab – you just need leftovers in the same weight of yarn throughout.

After that came the really fun bit. I then just wallowed in the colours choosing one colour per row and combining them using a stitch called ‘linen stitch’ which is not hard and ‘weaves’ and mixes the colours together ending up with an approximation of woven fabric. It was fascinating to see how the colours changed and interacted and looked so different depending on the other colours near them.

I knit through the back loops on the first and last rows and then pulled the ends tightly to create a self fringe.

Take that Target!

Full details here on my Ravelry page. Come and be my friend.

Orla Kiely for Babies

October 6, 2011 By Paola 6 Comments

I’m wondering if the Minx would still have such appallingly bad taste if I’d started her off on these?

These great new baby gifts are available here. I WISH Orla Kiely would open a US online store.

Neon Bright Satchels

October 5, 2011 By Paola 8 Comments

These satchels, yes or no? And if yes, what colour?

I’m old enough to have had one of these in chestnut to take to school when I was very tiny. Why on earth didn’t I keep it? It was deeply and BEAUTIFULLY distressed too.

Adventures in Knitting – Mystery Shawl Clue 3

October 3, 2011 By Paola Leave a Comment

The clues are coming thick and fast and I’m really liking how this one’s shaping up. The pattern is reminding me a bit of Turkish carpets and I think the two bead colours work well with that idea.

There are apparently three more clues to come, so it should all be done and dusted this month.

Look here for clue 2 and clue 1.

Corners of our House – Missoni Cube

October 1, 2011 By Paola 6 Comments

I thought you might like to see how nice the Missoni for Target cube looks in situ.

I am so pleased with it. It’s sturdily built and covered in printed cotton canvas with a cool contrast piping detail and provided a useful extra bit of seating at a recent dinner party. If Target manages to get more in stock it seems well worth the money. In fact I’d go as far as to say that it might even be worth braving eBay to get hold of one (or one of the other fabulous designs). Apartment Therapy agrees with me.

Unfortunately there’s nothing like putting taking photos of a corner of the house to highlight stuff that still needs to be done. Highest priority currently is replacing the ugly-ass front door and I still need to do something about the jellyfish light fixtures and find a striking bit of artwork for above the sofa. I’ve also been looking for a throw to cover up the huge telly (given that our basement with TV room remodel is not looking like it will be done any time soon). This could be the perfect opportunity to actually start crocheting the Babette blanket, instead of just hoarding yarn for it.

Still, it’s looking a heckuva lot better than it used to.

Adventures in Baking – The Best Chocolate Brownies in the World

September 30, 2011 By Paola 2 Comments

I seem to have been making rather a lot of chocolate brownies this summer, which is strange as I’m not supposed to be eating them on this diet (though one or two might have accidentally fallen into my mouth on occasion).

They were my contribution for the Food Bloggers Bake Sale and the Husband also requested some for his birthday, where I copied Nigella’s idea of piling the brownies up in lieu of a cake.

After extensive taste testing, I have found no better recipe than that for Chocolate and Sour Cherry Brownies from Unwrapped – Green & Black’s Chocolate Recipes which is a fabulous and much underrated cookbook. (I can’t get Nigella’s brownies to be anything other than dry and cake-y)

These brownies have just the right gooey interior and firm, crusty, satisfying edges, while the cherries impart an extra chewy dimension. And the sultry dark chocolate and sweet, tangy cherries are of course a match made in heaven.

It’s not surprising they’re so good, since the ingredients are insane. If you’re on any sort of diet, I suggest you walk away from the computer now and go get yourself a nice cup of cottage cheese.

Ingredients

300g (11oz) unsalted butter

300g (11oz) top quality dark chocolate

5 large eggs

450g (1lb) granulated sugar

1 tbsp vanilla extract/essence

200g (7oz) plain (all purpose) flour

1 tsp salt

250g (9oz) dried cherries*

Extra chocolate chips for topping if you’re greedy like me

*dried sour cherries are easily obtainable in the US but maybe not so easily in the UK, though I’ve definitely found them at Waitrose. However, I’ve successfully substituted dried cranberries and you could also use any other dried berries, nuts or just leave them out altogether.

Method

Preheat the oven to 180 C/ 350 F. Line a 34x25cm / 13x10in rectangular baking tin with baking parchment.

Melt the butter and chocolate together in a bain-marie or heatproof bowl suspended over barely simmering water.

Beat the eggs, sugar and vanilla until thick and creamy. Then beat the egg mixture into the melted chocolate.

Sift the flour and salt together and stir into the mixture until smooth. Stir in the cherries.

Pour the liquid mixture into the baking tin and then bake for 25-35 minutes until the whole thing looks like a giant brownie with a slightly cracked surface. When you start to smell them, it means they’re almost done.

Try not to overcook the brownies. If they seem too squidgy after you’ve taken them out, it’s not a problem to put them back in the oven for a few more minutes. But if overcooked they get cake-y.

Just after you’ve brought the huge brownie out of the oven, sprinkle the whole thing with chocolate chips. They will partially melt in the heat and slightly embed themselves into the mixture but then cool back down into chocolate chips again, imparting an extra chocolatey crunch to the surface of the already perfectly textured brownie. I got the idea from the brownies served at Pret a Manger, and it’s well worth the extra calories.

Leave the giant brownie to cool for about 20 minutes before cutting into large squares in the pan.

Adventures in Knitting – Mystery Shawl Clue 2

September 23, 2011 By Paola 2 Comments

I’ve just finished clue two (of five) of the Mystery Shawl knitalong and very much like how it’s shaping up.

If you remember I was thinking of knitting it with three different colours of beads, and with the pattern becoming clearer I swapped out the orange seed beads for larger coral Swarovski pearl beads (I’m lucky enough to live 10 minutes walk away from here).

I tried to incorporate the copper beads, but they seemed a bit too blingy for what I’m intending to be an ‘everyday’ shawl and not a glitzy evening affair. My plan now is to try and find one more place for the coral beads in the bottom lace section of the shawl, and also try to incorporate them in the lace edging which there apparently is along the top.

Next clue is due in about five days time. If you’re interested in joining the knitalong, it’s not too late. Full details here (Ravelry link).

It also looks fabulous next to our new Missoni duvet cover.

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