homecoming

good afternoon!

well so much has happened. i have had little time for blogging - and no internet because i have moved house! finally internet has been reconnected and we will be moving again after christmas - yay... so more packing and cleaning and all those fun and exciting things. that said, it will be a fun adventure.

in the mean time, i have been attempting to do uni work without much success, and making loads of delicious goodies. my boy is in afghanistan at the moment, so i have the place to myself and far too much spare time. as a result, much cooking (and weight gain) has ensued. he will be home in a couple of weeks though - and it will be fantastic to have him back home safe and sound.

while i am here i thought i might share a small selection of what i have been up to lately. i am looking forward to summer break so i can get into sewing again, too. not that i think there will be much opportunity as life looks like it will be busy until february next year!

first things first, food!:

homemade wholemeal crumpets


my new favourite breakfast food: baked eggs with mini hash browns - the baked eggs are filled with herbs and tomatoes that i grew in my vege garden


for a gallery opening on friday the 13th i made these delicious spider cupcakes


the cupcakes are pumpkin spice with cream cheese icing spiderwebs, and the spiders are maltesers with hand piped legs and eyes. i had to hand pipe 256 spider legs!


the next most important thing is my vege garden! there is debate about whether or not it will be able to move into our new place with us in january, depending on where we end up (most probably on the other side of the country, so perhaps not practical to move). i have been growing it for about 3 months now and the tomatoes are taller than i am!

the whole garden consists of 2 large pots and 2 smaller pots, i use only organic local potting mix and water every second day - there are strawberries, rocket, beetroots, basil, birdseye chilis, sage, garlic chives, parsley, mint, and cherry tomatoes growing in there and they are thriving


first strawberry - it was tiny but delicious and sweet


first tomatoes which were also sweet and delicious, and perfect in my baked eggs


and lastly, i thought i would share some photos of flowers - i love taking photographs of nature, i am constantly amazed by the beauty around us that so many of us take for granted

these tulips were from the supermarket - they didn't look real and made a beautiful centre piece for my table


i was surprised on our anniversary by my wonderful mister with these most beautiful flowers who organised them all the way from afghanistan (with a little help from his friends and mine). he did very well - all my favourites, orchids, gerberas and roses, and even some double gerberas and snap dragons which were lovely as well


well, i had better get back to the grind and continue on with the uni assignments... i hope i will find the time to write and share again soon!

much love,
frankie.pleure

lovely lovelies!!

just a little bit of loveliness to share on a friday. this beautiful short film explores a fleeting moment between two strangers, revealing their brief connection in a hyper real fantasy. cinematographically amazing. enjoy.

Nuit Blanche from Spy Films on Vimeo.

much love,
frankie.pleure

i have missed you, dear friend..

well hello again, blogging world. oh how i have missed you! somehow i managed to get distracted by all of the bright lights, and shiny things and have been neglecting posting for so long now. it is crazy how easy it is to get side tracked - i even have a couple of half written posts saved in my drafts file. i will have to catch up and fill you in on all of the things that i have been making (well some, all would be an immense job)!

right now is not the time, though, as i have work to do. but i promise that i will be back soon!

much love,
frankie.pleure

a brief catch up on what I have been doing for the past few months:


groovin' at music festivals


camping with my boy


travelling to cairns


seeing angus and julia stone


picnics at the beach

just another ordinary day

i got so excited about having 3 days at home alone - just me and Zollie relaxing and not having to put up with anyone else. unfortunately about 6 hours into our mini holiday, my brother arrived, announcing that he was moving back several days early from housesitting... it kind of worked out okay because we got to spend a couple of days playing super mario on the wii!

soon as he left to visit his girlfriend i got busy cooking and made some kofta balls and rice pilaf. definitely one of my favourite meals, but i had to hide the left overs (i made enough for about 6 hearty meals) in the fridge and freezer so brother would not find them. it takes a fair amount of time and effort to cook but is definitely worth it - and great for making in big batches and freezing for those nights that i am on the late shift and dont feel like cooking something in the middle of the night. delicious, healthy and comforting - the recipes i use are adapted from "a higher taste" which is a hare krishna cookbook that i bought at a music festival. side note - hare krishnas make fantastic organic vegetarian soap too so if you have the opportunity, buy some soap and one of their 'meal deals' (which is like $10 for a huge plate of kofta balls, rice, vegetable curry, and halva). so delicious!

also went back to gyo and had the japanese vegetable pancake and tempura icecream again - was hesitant that it might have just been a first time thing but again the meal was amazing. unfortunately haven't eaten out much lately, life has been too busy and i have been doing too many late shifts. though i am looking forward to going back to wayne and adele's garden of eating at some point in the very near future, just thinking about their menu makes my mouth water! i would also like to go to osman's again and try to get my coffee grounds read. a friend and i heard that they did tea leaf reading, so we thought we would go and give it a try, so we organised it then decided we should probably call to make sure. turned out that it was coffee grounds not tea leaves, and they only did it on nights when the guy was there, not in the afternoon like we had planned to go. so we went on jeremy's birthday and the guy told our waitress he would only do one per table, so we decided that because it had been her idea, my friend would get it done first. it was really interesting, jeremy had to go to the bar so that he wouldn't laugh the whole way through but what they told my friend was pretty true and he got her to make a wish then later told her what her wish was and that it would come true which was pretty cool. so then we decided to go back so that i could have a turn, and they brought me my coffee and i drank it (im not usually a coffee person, i am definitely a tea drinker - and turkish coffee is so strong, i wasn't going to sleep any time soon after that) and we sat there. and sat there. for ages and ages until our waitress came back and said 'oh hasn't he been over yet, i'll come and get him'. then she returned to tell us that he has since changed his story from 'one per table' to 'one per night' in the whole restaurant. so i missed out and we still had to pay for the coffees that we never would have gotten otherwise. was a bit frustrating, but hopefully it will happen the next time we go back.

anyway, thats enough of my ranting! see below for kofta recipes and pictures.
much love,
frankie.pleure

Spicy Kofta Balls and Pilaf with Pine Nuts

kofta ingredients
1.5 cups purple cabbage, grated
1.5 cups cauliflour, grated
1 cup broccoli, grated
1 small red chili, finely chopped (optional)
1 clove garlic, crushed
1/2 large onion, finely diced
1 cup besan (chickpea) flour
1/2 cup rice flour
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp garam masala
1/2 tsp cayenne
1 tbsp salt
pepper to taste
oil for deep frying

kofta sauce ingredients
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp butter
2 bay leaves
1/2 large onion, finely diced
1 clove garlic, crushed
4 cups of finely chopped tinned tomatoes
2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp sugar
handful fresh basil
pepper to taste

pilaf ingredients
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp butter
2 bay leaves
2 tbsp cumin seeds
1 small onion, finely diced
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 small red chili, finely chopped (optional)
1 1/2 cups basmati rice
4 whole cloves
2.5cm cube ginger, crushed
1 tsp orange zest
3 cups vegetable stock
1/2 cup pine nuts
3 stalks fresh thyme
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp fresh ground pepper
1/3 cup currants
handful fresh parsley

TIP: chop all ingredients before beginning so that the cooking process can go as quickly as possible


kofta sauce
in pan heat olive oil, butter then add bay leaves

fry onions and garlic until translucent

add tomatoes until boiling then reduce to a simmer and cover

finely chop fresh basil

stir through basil, salt, sugar, and pepper and leave over very low heat while you prepare the kofta


kofta balls
heat oil to medium-high temperature in large saucepan or wok, at least 5cm deep

mix together cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, chili, onion, and garlic

add in besan flour, rice flour, cumin, garam masala, cayenne, salt, and pepper then mix together with hands to form a wet dough

roll dough into 2.5cm balls and deep fry a few at a time for approx 8 minutes until golden brown and cooked through, remove from heat and drain on paper towels then repeat until all the kofta are cooked, making sure that the oil reheats between batches


rice pilaf
pre-heat oven to 180C then toast pine nuts in a single layer on an oven tray with a sprinkle of salt for 5-8 minutes until just golden

heat oil and butter in frypan over medium-high, add bay leaves and cumin seeds until aromatic, then fry off onions, garlic and chili until translucent

add rice and fry until rice is translucent

add ginger, cloves, thyme, orange zest, and vegetable stock and reduce to simmer

cover and simmer for 20 minutes without stirring until rice is tender and stock is absorbed

pick out cloves and thyme (they should be on top of the rice if you haven't stirred it) and mix through toasted pine nuts, salt, pepper, currants and roughly chopped parsley


pour sauce over kofta and let soak for a few minutes then enjoy!

it may seem like an awful lot of effort but it really is worth it for such a delicious meal.

gingerbread characters

so this year i may have gone a little crazy with the gingerbreads, i made three batches, the first one was to share with family and friends, the second was for work (although not many of the gingerbread actually made it to work), and the last was with my best friend and her lovely little girl. the last batch were definitely the most fun to make, and probably the cutest too - my decorating techniques improved over the holiday season as you will see!

hope you enjoy!!
much love,
frankie.pleure

gingerbread characters

ingredients

400g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp ground ginger
2 tsp crushed ginger
100g brown sugar
4 tbsp golden syrup
1 egg
75g melted butter


icing ingredients
3 cups icing sugar
1 tsp lime or lemon juice
3 tsp water
red and green food colouring

sift flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and ground ginger together

add crushed ginger, egg, sugar, golden syrup and butter, mixing to form a smooth dough then chill until firm

preheat oven to 190C
turn dough out onto a floured surface and roll until approx 0.5 - 1cm thick

cut out shapes and arrange on baking trays

bake for 8 to 10 minutes then allow to cool


icing

mix icing sugar and lime or lemon juice, then add water until it forms a thick paste (consistency of play dough)
divide icing into thirds and add food green food colouring to one and red to another, mix a few more drops of water through white mixture until they are smooth and thick

pour each colour icing into a separate plastic bag, cut a tiny corner off the plastic bag and use to pipe designs onto your gingerbread

gingerbread batch 1

gingerbread batch 1 again

gingerbread batch 2

gingerbread batch 2 again

gingerbread batch 3

gingerbread batch 3 again

christmas croquembouche!!

this year i decided to make a croquembouche for christmas instead of doing a christmas cake which nobody ever eats. i didnt have a croquembouche stand (despite looking through heaps of shops for one) so after a failed attempt to make one from cardboard (which wasnt strong enough or wide enough, my croquembouche ended up being more like a profiterole stack, and it was too humid for my toffee which turned more to sugar as it hardened, but still tasted delicious!

christmas croquembouche



ingredients

choux puffs

3 cups water
225g butter
3 cups plain flour
12 eggs
4 tbsp cocoa
2 tbps boiling water

filling

900ml whipping cream
220g dark chocolate
1/3 cup icing sugar
custard (i cheated and used prebought custard because i was running out of time)

caramel

2 cups water
4 cups sugar
2 tsp vanilla
2 tbsp butter

choux puffs (can be made up to a month before and frozen, or kept in an airtight container for a week)

preheat oven to 200C
in a saucepan melt 75g butter

add 1 cup water

bring to boil, stirring until butter melts

add 1 cup of flour

stir until mixture forms a smooth ball

place dough in mixing bowl

lightly beat 4 eggs

when dough has cooled slightly, mix in the eggs a little at a time

spoon onto oven tray and bake for 10 minutes

turn the heat down to 175C and cook for a further 15-20 minutes until choux puffs are golden and crisp

repeat process - making different sized puffs means that you can fill in holes with smaller ones and use bigger ones for building blocks so don't try to make them all the same size

for the last third of the mixture to make chocolate choux puffs, mix together cocoa and boiling water

mix to make a paste

add to pastry mix after you have mixed through the eggs

spoon onto baking trays

and bake as per other choux puffs


filling (forgive me i forgot to take photos of this as it was rather messy)

roughly chop chocolate and melt with a splash of cream in a saucepan over a bath of boiling water, stirring chocolate until smooth
mix the icing sugar with the chocolate and allow to cool
in a separate bowl, whip cream
when the chocolate has cooled a bit, fold through cream and put in the refrigerator for a few hours or overnight

as close to assembly time as possible, use a pastry bag to fill plain choux puffs with chocolate cream, and chocolate choux puffs with custard

caramel/toffee

place sugar, vanilla, and water in frying pan and stir over heat without boiling until sugar is dissolved
bring to boil and boil rapidly without stirring until mixture turns golden
stir through butter

assembling the croquembouche

dip the choux puffs in toffee and build stack starting from the bottom, using the biggest puffs on the bottom
when you have assembled the stack, drizzle toffee over the top

sprinkle with icing sugar and admire/enjoy!!