Baked London Cheesecake

Baking is a really relaxing way to spend your day off and my absolute favourite thing to bake is a Nigella Lawson London Cheesecake. 

It's a layer of crumbed biscuit then cream cheese, topped with sour cream. Add some blueberry syrup and you've got yourself a pretty yummo way to spend your night off as well. 

I adapted this recipe from 'How To Be A Domestic Goddess' and cut everything in half so as to make a little 18cm diameter cake. It's a cake for one. I also use a handy dessert ring I got from Target which expands so you can vary how big your cake will be. 

Ingredients

100g milk arrowroot biscuits (half a pack)

70g unsalted butter (room temp)

250g cream cheese (room temp)

65g caster sugar

2 large eggs

1 large egg yolks

1 tbsp vanilla extract

1 tbsp lemon juice

300ml tub sour cream (room temp)

1/4 cup caster sugar

2 tsp vanilla extract

Method

1. Pulverise the biscuits (I use a bowl and the end of a rolling pin) but you can use a food processor if you want to get all fancy about it. Add the butter and rub into the biscuits till they resemble breadcrumbs.

2. Line the bottom of your cake tin and press the biscuits down firmly with the bottom of a spoon, making sure to compact them right into the edges. Put the base in the fridge to set and preheat the oven to 180 degrees C.

3. Beat the cream cheese til it's as soft as creamed butter, then add the sugar and beat in again. Beat in the eggs and egg yolk, then the vanilla and then the lemon juice. Put an almost full kettle on to boil at this stage.

4. Pour the boiling water into a roasting dish so it comes up halfway around the cake tin and place this in the oven. This water bath is apparently supposed to make your cake velvety smooth and technically you're supposed to wrap the cake in foil and put it IN the bath but I can't be bothered and found this that technique very likely to give you third degree burns. Take out your cake tin with the breadcrumbs from the fridge and pour in your cream cheese mixture.

5. Place the whole thing in the oven next to your dish with water and bake for 30 minutes till it feels set when you lightly touch the surface, and it wobbles like a set jelly.

5. Whilst the cake is baking, beat together the sour cream, sugar and vanilla. Once the cake has set, pour the sour cream mix on top of the cake and bake for a further 10 minutes.

7. Remove the cake from the oven and let it cool. Once it has cooled completely, leave it to set in the fridge for about 4-6 hours as it helps to make the cake more solid and the flavours meld together. Unmould and use a knife which has been run under hot water to cut and top with syrup and fresh berries or not (sometimes you just can't wait, I know the feeling).

Blueberry Syrup

1 cup frozen blueberries

2-3 tbsp caster sugar

1/4 cup water

Blend the blueberries with water and run the puree through a fine sieve to remove the seeds and skin bits. Pour the sieved puree into a small saucepan and stir in the sugar. Turn the heat up to medium and bring the liquid to a simmer while stirring constantly till the sugar has dissolved, then leave the liquid to simmer till the mixture has considerably thickened and become sticky and syrupy, and tastes like blueberry jam. 

Spaghetti Bolognese Recipe

I am not a good cook by any means. And certainly not an Italian maestro. But I can do a pretty awesome spag bol. The boyfriend is a big fan and I think the secret is fresh herbs. I'm also very haphazard with quantities and guesstimate everything. Scales are for sissies. Here's the recipe and I'll put it in a language that even Kevin can understand (maybe he'll even surprise me and make it on his own one day).

Word of warning, this takes about 2 hours in total to make so don't start making it at 7pm like I did where then both of you are almost passed out on the floor from hunger at 9pm. Luckily it makes A LOT of spag bol so be ready to carb it up for dinner and lunch the next day!

Ingredients

500g veil mix pork mince

1/2 cup of extra-virgin olive oil

1 large onion, finely chopped, diced into 5mm cubes

3 teaspoons of minced garlic

1 large carrot, diced into 5mm cubes

1 teaspoon black pepper

100g diced bacon

Pinch of sea salt

1 cup full-bodied red wine (I use just a cheap cab sav)

400g Bolognese tomato sauce (about 1/2 the usual sized bottle)

200g tinned diced Italian tomatoes (about 1/2 tin)

2 tablespoons of tomato paste

2 heaped teaspoons dried oregano

2 heaped teaspoons dried thyme

about 15 basil leaves (to cook and to serve)

400 gm spaghetti

Method

1. Add extra virgin olive oil on a medium to high heat pot.

2. Add the onion, garlic, carrot, celery, bacon and a little sea salt and cook for 15 minutes over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until it caramelized. Then add all the mince and cook for another 3 minutes.

3. Add the red wine and bring to boil.

4. Add tomato sauces and paste, thyme, oregano and 10 basil leaves (loosely shredded). Add seasalt and black pepper. Simmer for 30 minutes with the lids on and stir occasionally.

5. Take the lid off and cook for another 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

6. Cook your pasta and drain it.

7. Prepare pasta and the bolognese sauce into a plate.

8. Sprinkle with Parmesan and scatter with 2-3 fresh basil leaves

P.S. Leftover tomato sauces can be frozen and defrosted for the next time.

Nice to Meetup

In the past 12 months I've been flying solo with my sewing and just developing skills in my own way and time. I haven't bothered with formal classes and liked to try to muddle through different projects on my own. I've finally built up the confidence to joint a group of some sort in search for like minded crafters to swap tips and inspiration.

This inkling led me to meetup, a great website to connect people who share similar interests. It's free to join and just my luck, there was a sewing meet up happening soon in Rozelle on Sunday from 9am-1pm. It was $10 to attend and we could work on our own projects or sew quilts for the charity. 

Di, the meetup coordinator was so lovely and was showing us some owl bags that some previous crafters had done and kindly offered us fabric and sewing machines to do our own. The people I met were fantastic and were so varied and interesting. 

Look closely

My owl bag I made

Elwyn, a software developer, had no previous sewing experience but had joined the group to achieve his goal of sewing a Star Wars costume to wear on the Sydney to Gong bike ride. Maddy was on a mission to sew what seemed like an endless amount of fabric napkins made from gorgeous Amy Butler fabric for her wedding. And Eve was there for fun, just like me, and we made some pretty nifty owl bags. I'll definitely be meeting up more often!

Di's vintage Singer machine
- it still works

Cool vintage machine carrier

I love the robin egg blue
caravan in the yard

Our only male. Hurrah for Elwyn!

Vintage machines

Artspace is a 
great space!

Love Kitchen By Mike

84 Dunning Ave, Rosebery.Open Mon-Sat 7am-6pm; Sun 8am-5pm 

So I'm never one for super fancy restaurants. There's always a bit of pomposity to those places that make me feel a bit uncomfortable but I do love really good, fresh food. 'Kitchen By Mike' is owned by the ex chef from 'Rockpool'. Situated in an industrial suburb known for outlet stores, parking is plentiful. It's pretty much a wide open warehouse space with a cafeteria on one side, a funky furniture/homeware store on the other.

Thanks Mike!

Blink and you'd miss it.

The food is served buffet style and the portions are perfect for a small person like me. The menu changes daily and everything is really fresh and delicious. I also love the glass bottles that the freshly squeezed juices come in! I'm putting this place on the high rotation list.

Roast pork, roast pumpkin and
corn with chilli salt.

Ice Coffee

The furniture is lovely to look at but are obvious investment pieces (in other words, expensive). 

What a massive space!

Wool cacti - how ironic.

$1500 bike, so pretty.

Gigantic wooden wombat.

Inspiration for my future house.

Painted wooden boxes.

That's alotta herb!

You might have heard it through the grapevine that had I decided to give gardening another shot. A few weeks after the initial pain of carrying a big 15kg bag of soil 1km home from Bunnings on my shoulder in the heat of the day, oh wait...that was my boyfriend. Well I have to say that his blood, sweat and tears were worth it. Look at these babies grow! 

From zero...

To hero!

All they needed was a bit of sunshine and the fresh water I could collect from my shower when I'm waiting for it to warm up. Captain planet would be proud.

Lychee Mint Frappe

The aforementioned herb garden is going splendidly. I'm watching my mint plant grow with the loving eyes of a mother. Albeit a cannibalistic one. Maybe it's more like the witch fattening up Hansel and Gretel. 

My favourite thing to do with mint is to whizz it with some ice and canned lychees for a fresh summer drink. 

Here's the ridiculously simple recipe:

Makes 1 large drink.

1. Place 6 lychees with 125ml of the syrup from the can in a blender.

2. Add 15 large mint leaves. 
3. Add 1 tablespoon of lime juice (optional).
4. Add 10 ice cubes.
5. Blend until smooth and pour in chilled glasses.
6. You could add vodka for a fun night out too. 

Coloured Bow Dress

I was walking around Cabramatta last week and this bright, fun print caught my eye. At $2 per metre I couldn't resist buying two metres not yet knowing what to do with it. 

For the whole week I had it draped on my mannequin staring at it, waiting for inspiration to hit me. What do you want to be? A skirt, a dress, a top. Bows, pleats, cut-outs? I found this dress on modcloth I thought would be pretty, especially if I used a contrast material for the bow. And hence a project was born. 

Since the last dress I made which had a very annoying invisible zip which I still struggle with, this one has an elastic waistband. The material is a bit sheer so lining was a must. I used the turquoise fabric just to break up the pattern a bit and the asymmetrical hemline I threw in just for some extra flow.

Top Three Tips:
1. Stretch out the elastic when sewing an inelastic fabric to it so you get that nice stretch at the waist.
2. Make sure you use a very long piece of fabric for a bow (mine was 3 metres). The knot takes up a lot of fabric.
3. Fold material in half and cut out your shapes from the midline. This will ensure complete symmetry.

This dress makes me want to go on a romantic row boat ride a la 'The Notebook'. Preferably with Ryan Gosling. 

Love My Lunch Box

OK so it's actually my sister's lunch box I nicked from her after she moved to the UK but I was the one that gave it to her for Christmas.

It's a Black+Blum Box Appetit Lunch Box. Sounds pretty awesome already. Its got a lot of design in one small package. A lid that turns into a sauce container once flipped over and little watertight sauce containers, perfect for my sashimi salads! 

Just looking at my salad in this new setting has given me a whole new enthusiasm for lunch. Did I pay $32 for a lunch box, yes I did. And it is pretty freakin' awesome.

You too can pick up some lunch time cred from Peter's of Kensington or Hart+Heim.

Have A Heart!

It's a bit late for Valentine's day, but when I saw this Topshop dress, it perked my sewing curiosity and I wondered if my self taught skills would stretch far enough to include cut outs in dresses. 

Well there's no time like the present to give it a go! As usual I started out with the familiar and got the skirt organised. Most of my time was spent on the top. I made a heart template out of paper just to make sure I got the dimensions right and based the dress dimensions on one of my old dresses.

I had to sew in some padding as this dress clearly isn't compatible with a bra. The front has four layers of fabric to cover the padding. Other tricky bits were the zip and the front armpit area. I had to put some darts in as the front armpit drooped a bit. 


It's my first attempt at a lined dress and without a pattern too. It took me a weekend to complete it. Now to find somewhere romantic to wear it.