Sewing Project

It's been a long time since I have completed a sewing project, due to a lack of motivation, and total lazyness. I have a huge pile of half finished garments which have been put in the too hard box, a few half made toiles, intended to test the fit of vintage patterns I have (it's so hard to put a lot of effort into making something that you can't actually wear).

Hopefully today that will change, and I will finally finish something!

I am making this 1950's dress, from simplicity pattern # 2444  (I'm not making the jacket at this stage)

It's called the "Answer Dress" because it is "the answer to day or date wear"! I am making it in the fabric below, hopefully it works out, the sizing is a bit big, but hopefully that can be easily fixed while I am sewing (again, I am far too lazy to make a toile of even the bodice!).

Fingers crossed this one gets finished and works out, I am aiming to finish it in time to wear for my new years celebrations.

Have a very merry new years,

xx
Lucy

Yumbots & the best vegan mousse EVER

For Christmas, not only did my man get me a pair of beautiful pink flamingos for the garden (as shown in this post), but he also got me these great novelty silicone cupcake holders called Yumbots!

Aren't they cute?

It made me want to do some baking asap, but since I had already planned to make a delicious chocolate mousse for some friends who were coming over for dinner, I thought I would make it in these instead, and was quite pleased with the outcome!

The mousse (or pots de creme as the recipe calls it), is rich, creamy and delicious. Although I am only vegetarian, my man is vegan, so when I found this recipe he was really happy, it's incomparable to any other vegan mousse recipe I have tried, and is something that non-vegans will also love!

The original recipe is from the Voracious Vegan (sadly the blog is currently down for maintenance), however I have made a few very small changes, and converted it to metric for you.

Vegan Chocolate Mousse (makes 3-4 servings)
This dessert needs to be made 1 day in advance to ensure it sets.
Ingredients:
 400g Coconut Milk
150g dark chocolate (the better the quality, the better your dessert, but don't use anything over 70% cocoa)
1tsp (heaped) instant coffee
Splash of vanilla
Pinch of nutmeg
Pinch of cinnamon


On the stove, bring the coconut milk to a simmer, then add the coffee, vanilla, nutmeg and cinnamon.
Turn the heat off, break the chocolate into pieces and add to the hot coconut milk, stirring constantly until chocolate is mostly melted, then using a stick blender, blend it all up to fully combine the chocolate and milk.
Pour mixture into ramekins/teacups/a bowl and chill until firm (preferably overnight).

The original recipe suggests using a blender to combine the (unmelted) chocolate with the hot coconut milk, so if you have a blender, you could do that instead.


Enjoy!
xx
Lucy

Afternoon at the Beach

Every year after Christmas, my extended family meet up at my grandfathers for afternoon tea and a beach visit!  This year was no exception, although sadly it was super windy on the beach.

xx
Lucy

Cartel

The other night I went for a drink to this great little bar called Cartel, where my brother works. Cartel is a small, intimate bar which is known for it's fine bartenders, who make amazing cocktails! (Unfortunately it was also my brothers last day of work, as he is off overseas for a few months)

I had a Sazerac cocktail, which was quite delicious!

xx
Lucy

Christmas Part 3/3

My third Christmas celebrations were with my boyfriend's family. This included lots of champagne, and more food of course!

Champagne

Roast vege with vegetarian sausages and falafel
(the rest of the family had Christmas ham)

My man and I relaxing on the sofa after dinner.

I also made chocolate mousse for dessert, but it got a bit squished in transit, so I don't have any pictures!

xx
Lucy

Christmas Part 2/3

Christmas part two was lunch on Christmas day at my house with my sister & her partner, and my father and step mother.  I got up nice and early to bake a lemon-sour cream cake for dessert.. This cake is super moist, and has a perfect balance between sweet and sour. I have given the recipe below.

Sour Cream Lemon Syrup Loaf
(Recipe adapted from a Cuisine magazine)

Ingredients
For the loaf:
125g softened butter
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
grated rind of 3 lemons
150g sour cream
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the Syrup:
Juice of 3 lemons
1/4 Cup sugar

Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
In a food processor, cream the butter and sugar. Add the eggs, grated lemon rind, sour cream and vanilla. Then add the flour and baking powder.
Grease either a 20 x 10cm loaf tin, or an 8inch baking tin, lining the bottom with baking paper, before pouring the mixture in.
Here the recipe says to bake for 30mins, however my cake is usually still too soft in the middle, so I tend to bake mine for about 45mins, or until a knife comes out clean.
Cool the cake for about 5mins, and then turn out onto a cooking rack.

While the cake is baking, heat the lemon juice and sugar in a small saucepan, stirring until the sugar has dissolved. Turn the cake upside down, and spoon half this mixture onto it, then let it stand for about 10mins. After 10mins turn the cake over, and spoon the remaining syrup on.  This step is important, as it ensures the cake is evenly soaked in syrup!

Enjoy!

Here are a few more pictures from my Christmas lunch.

The white stack at the back is Injera, a sour Eritrean flatbread. It's eaten with many Eritrean dishes and is one of my most favourite foods!

Dress: Second hand
Belt: Vintage (Christmas gift from my Aunt)
Shoes: Sportsgirl

Pink Flamingos! By the front door to greet visitors.
The tall one has been named Diego,
but the short one is still name-less! Any ideas?

xx
Lucy

Çhristmas Part 1/3

Merry Christmas!!

I have celebrated Christmas three times this year (and am totally Christmas'd out!), and I have so many pictures I thought it best to split it into separate posts.

Firstly was Christmas eve celebrations at my Mum's. Christmas is traditionally celebrated on Christmas eve in Germany (I am half German), and this tradition has been continued in my family. This means our traditional Christmas involves a big dinner, and then once it gets dark, everybody gathers around the Christmas tree and opens presents.

Although we don't have a traditional Christmas menu, things usually involve using the barbeque! This year we decided to have a Thai themed meal, and then Cherry Trifle for dessert, yum!

It doesn't nearly look as good as it tasted!

Cherry and Chocolate Trifle

After dinner and dessert, it was off to the tree to open some presents, and eat some cookies we had baked a few days earlier.

An assortment of Christmas cookies

I received some amazing gifts, among them being a pair of Don Featherstone pink lawn flamingos and a big hat box to store my beautiful vintage hats in!

Hope you had a wonderful Christmas,

xx
Lucy

P.s. Sorry about the crappy picture quality, I am too tired to bother touching them up!

Christmas Preperation

 Every Christmas, there is a selection of various traditional family Christmas cookies. A few days ago I went to my Mum's to help bake! It was great fun, although it was very hot and humid... Not ideal baking weather!

Dress: Heartbreaker Fashions
Apron: Made by me
Shoes: Melissa

Two cookie types are covered in chocolate (yum!).

Today I have been busy trying to make my own house look a little more festive.. We decided not to have a Christmas tree this year, however I have some family coming over on Christmas day for lunch, so I felt we needed at least a little bit of Christmas in the house!


With no budget, I had to make do with what I already had... So I made a wreath from styrofoam, covered it in gold crepe paper and leaves, strung some lanterns and added some crepe paper streamers. At least we have a littler bit of Christmas spirit now!

Now I must clean the house, - I somehow managed to get Styrofoam snow everywhere!

xx

Lucy