by VioletLeBeaux | Sep 2, 2011 | Baking, Cooking-Tutorials, Tutorial
I’m totally going to make an adorable graphic of me in my chef’s outfit for these posts as soon as I dye my hair again 😀 Until now you guys have to put up with…. a text stick figure with kind of a chef hat… just pretend it’s me ok?
….M …/O\ —-/\—-? .. / \ . ——- .. ||
Ok it looks more like a crown than a chef’s hat… also the question mark is totally a wooden spoon… just use your imagination ok?
Fried rice is my favorite comfort food and seeing as the weather has been so chilly lately I like nothing more than curling up on the couch with an episode of Buffy, a bowl of fried rice, a cup of tea and some knitting.
So as a completely random post, here’s my current favorite recipe!
What you need:
- Onion (diced)
- A couple of cups of old rice (I usually use 1 day old rice because I’m impatient)
- Ham (diced)
- Egg
- Anything else in your cupbord, my favorite add ins are peas and leeks!
- Oil
- Soy sauce
Cut up all of the ingredients and fry the onions in a little oil.
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Once they have cooked 80% add in the ham and any other bits you want like peas. If you want to add in leeks (which is damn delicious) you should do it along with the onion because they take around the same time to cook.
Mix them all together and allow to cook for a minute.
Now make some room on the middle of the pan and crack in an egg. Stir it around with the spatula and scramble it. Keep stirring until it comes apart into little pieces.
Add in some more oil and then the rice. Stir it all until it’s hot and add a little soy sauce.
Serve and enjoy with a good movie 😀 And next time I will get James to take the photos for me so you can see how awkward I am in the kitchen! What are your favorite comfort foods? I need more midnight snack ideas!
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by VioletLeBeaux | Aug 26, 2011 | Baking, Life
So following on from my chef’s hat yesterday it’s Food Friday today 😀 Fridays will now be full of baking, favorite midnight snacks, yummy cafes/restaurants I visit and other food related things. I preface by saying I don’t know much about food or cooking, but I know that I like eating it! James does most (all) of our cooking at home because I’m usually working but I do enjoy making things (mostly sweets) when I have free time. So this is going to make me get away from the computer a bit more and start enjoying it again 😀
This post is about a cute cafe I found so it might not be too useful for overseas readers. If you are still in the mood for food then check out some of my old baking posts, here’s one for macarons, mochi/daifuku and chocolate fudge!
So let’s start with a discovery. I am terrible at directions and I don’t have a lot of time to explore, we’ve lived in the Melbourne CBD for over a year and haven’t eaten out much because of the expense. James and I don’t go out much ourselves we usually go out with a purpose eg. to get to an event or meet someone for a work. So even though I’m right in the middle of it, if you asked me where a good place to eat in Melbourne is I would probably look at you blankly and suggest McDonalds and then frantically text my food blogger friends for suggestions 😛
That’s why my first non-friend-referred discovery was so exciting! My Dad was visiting for the day and after we went to dinner at a Greek restaurant he and my step mother wanted to go for coffee. James and I had only been in that area of town twice and no where else seemed to be open. We wandered back down to the Bourke St mall and headed up past Target hoping something would be there on the way to the hotel. Everything was closed until I spotted a cute little cafe from across the road, eagle eyes for the win!!
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So that long and convoluted story is how we discovered Puccino’s. As it turned out they had just opened 3 days before so I didn’t feel quite as bad for not knowing it existed XD The cafe is adorably decorated with a quirky feel, spindly chairs, flowers everywhere, lots of lights and water in jars with lemon and mint. A little like the kind of faux French cafes you find in Japan, very cute and lots of little details. |
James had a hot chocolate and a lemon tart. I went for a green tea chai latte. Dad and Beth had coffee, some little tart and a donut which I forgot to get photos of.
I can’t comment on the prices or taste of the coffee because I don’t drink it and have no clue about it but both Beth and my Dad are avid drinkers and they said it was as good as their favorite place back home.
James’ lemon tart was quite sweet and balanced out the hot chocolate which had that slight bitterness dark chocolate lovers adore. He loves anything lemon flavored and really enjoyed the combination of the tart and chocolate together. I was more interested in how cute the display looked 😉
Green tea latte is one of my all time favorite hot drinks but I’ve never had it with chai before. I’m always on the fence with chai things because they are either really good or really bad, there’s not really any middle ground. Luckily this one was really good! $4 for a large is pretty good too so I’ll definitely be going back for more. I think I even liked the really milky chai version better than most of the plain green tea lattes I’ve had around Melbourne XD
While we were chatting the owner came over to see how everything was and if we had any problems or suggestions as they are such a new business. He came back with complimentary macarons for us to try! Such a sweet gesture!
The four flavors were pistachio, black sesame, rose and salted caramel.
There were around 10-15 different flavors in the displays, they were average sized and prices for Melbourne macarons. They had a deal for 4 for $10.
The texture was really nice, they were not the cakey rubbish some stores pass off as macarons but the soft melt in your mouth kind with a crispy shell. Of the 4 flavours the salted caramel was my favorite! The rose was sweet and buttery and the pistachio was very tasty but could have been a little stronger. The black sesame wasn’t something I was used to so I didn’t like it at first but as I kept eating it was grew on me a bit. I think I just don’t like the flavor in general not the macaron in particular!
On they way out I went to say thank you and goodbye to the lovely owner and he presented me with a take home box of 4 more macarons too :O So nice of him!
They were really lovely and accommodating and the beautiful girl at the counter even took a photo with me! So sweet 😀
The macarons were rose, salted caramel, raspberry/chocolate and passionfuit. The rose and salted caramel were again very nice, James’s favorites are always the super fruity flavors so he got the other two. His report: mmm yummy. After taking a bite too I will translate that to mean: these ones both had a very strong flavor, yummy and definitely for fruit lovers! I liked the raspberry/chocolate one the best… probably something to do with my love of chocolate… where as James loved the passion fruit one.
So in conclusion, friendly staff, lovely desserts and a *very* nice chai green tea latte means that I will definitely be going back again.
If you want to visit, I can’t give you the exact address because they don’t seem to have a website or any reviews up yet but if you’re in the Bourke Street mall, walk up past Target towards Russell St and it’s on the left side of the tram tracks. The Puccinos shop front is quite small and there is a sign on the overhang but keep an eye out because you might miss it. If you’ve reached Hungry Jacks you’ve got just a bit too far!
Definitely worth a visit!
Hope you guys enjoyed the first Food Friday, next week I’m going to bust out my apron and chef’s hat and get to some fun things to do with chocolate 😀 See you next time!
by VioletLeBeaux | Aug 25, 2011 | Baking, Craft, Other-Accessory-Tutorials, Tutorial
So to go with the new Food Friday thing I’m going to do I decided I need a spiffy new hat 😀 But I really didn’t want to spend a lot of time or effort on it. Scraps pile to rescue!
I used the top of a skirt which had stretchy smocking sewn into the waist band (the cut of which made it HIDEOUS when worn) and some lining out of another dress I’m planning to cut up. You could easily do the same with some white fabric and something stiffer for the band around your head.
My result:
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So what you need:
- White fabric for the poufy bit
- Shirred/smocked fabric for the stretchy thing or stiff fabric to use as the band
- Needle, thread scissors
- Ability to not spend a long time looking at your awesome new hat in the mirror
So what did I do? Measured around my head and cut that much of the smocking.
Needle and thread at the ready, I stitched up the sides to make it into a band. I also trimmed the top a bit so it looked more like a frill not a skirt.
To make the top poufy bit I cut out a big square piece of white fabric, the bigger the square the bigger the pouf. If you wanted to be correct it’s probably better to use a circle but I’m not going to lie: laziness was prevailing on my couch at the time.
Use the needle and thread to gather all around the edges of the white.
Pull it tight so it’s fits the stretchy band.
Turn the band inside out and stitch the pouf to the inside. You could finish everything off with machine stitching, overlocking etc but again… laziness because this is just a prop and I’m not a real chef XD
So you should have something along these lines. Haha I forgot to remove the tag from the inside >_<
Flip it the right way around and you’ve got yourself quite the spiffy hat there! Super girly and it matches my awesome apron too 😀
With a cute outfit now I have more motivation to bake!
Stay tuned tomorrow for the super cute cafe I visited!
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by VioletLeBeaux | Mar 21, 2011 | Baking, Craft, Storage/Utility-Tutorials, Tutorial
A lot of you have probably seen the tutorial I did on making an eyelash storage solution in the shape of a yummy cake. Well with the direction my house decorating kick is heading the whole cake thing doesn’t really go with my theme. The limited bench space also doesn’t leave much room for a several layered cake so time to find a solution which was pretty and also space saving.
This is what I came up with:
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It can be hung on the wall, I can see my lashes at a glance and it takes much less effort to put everything away. This is an awesome solution for girls that have a lot of lashesSo tutorial time! |
What you need:
- Cardboard
- Lace
- Sticky tape (the type of tape is important)
- Glue gun
- Clear plastic or plastic wrap
- Pretty wrapping paper or fabric
Cut the cardboard to the shape and size you want the finished product. Make sure there is enough room for all of your lashes, no point going to all this effort and then having no space for future purchases! ^_^
Measure and cut enough wrapping paper to cover the front of the cardboard. From this point the photos have a bit of glare on them unfortunately because the paper I was using is slightly reflective.
Fold the edges over and tape in place…
Fold over the other sides and tape too…
Now it’s time to cover the whole thing in clear plastic or cling wrap. This will protect it from any water that happens to splash there.
Tape the edges of the plastic over and around the back too.
Now you should have something like this:
Lay out your eyelashes and decide how many rows of pairs you have room for. I decided on three.
It’s now time add the part which will hold the lashes in place: wide strips of tape sticky side out. You need to be careful about what kind of tape you use, it needs to be sticky but not so sticky that you can’t get the lashes back off! Gaff and duct tape are too sticky, you want to use something like this clear plastic tape which is not particularly sticky. I suggest testing it out on an eyelash you don’t want anymore. It should hold the lashes securely when you put a corner on but it should not be at all hard to remove them by gently pulling the corner which is not attached.
For each row of lashes I put down 1 strip of tape, sticky side up.
Then fold the edges around the back and tape them im place. So you now you have 3 sticky stripes which are almost invisible.
To decorate it a little more I added a border of lace using the glue gun to hold it in place.
You could also do this same idea in an ornate picture frame just taking the glass out so you could access the sticky strips easily.
Last thing to do is add on the lashes! Lightly press the inside corners of them into the tape, you really don’t need much pressure at all and certainly not enough to disturb the curve of the lashes. Done!
And this is it in action in my bathroom!
It fits the current tone of my bathroom more than the cakes do and takes up so much less space! Do you all like the cakes or the board better?
by VioletLeBeaux | Mar 1, 2011 | Advert, Baking, Cooking-Tutorials, Tutorial
This post was sponsored by Nuffnang and BPAY
For more information on sponsored posts please click here.
BPAYis having a competition and you could win $3000 😀 I sure could use $3000 so I’ll show you my entry in a little bit!
What is BPAY?
BPAY is a payment method that banks use to allow you to pay bills quickly and easily without having to deal with many separate companies. For example I can now pay my water, electricity, rent, phone etc bill from internet banking through BPAY in about 10 minutes rather than the long boring task this used to be 15 years ago when you actually had to go to each place to pay. Therefore I can now spend more time filming nail art tutorials, yay!
About the competition!
Everyone loves things short and sweet. They put smiles on faces and give us a warm glow inside. So we at BPAY figured if we could take a long arduous task like queuing at the post office to pay a bill and make it a short and sweet process online, the world would be a better place. And so we did.
To enter, you need to write either:
1. A recipe
2. Give a film synopsis
3. Pen a love poem
4. Write a short fiction
BUT the catch is you need to do that all in 120 characters or less.I decided that I would write one of my favorite quick, easy, lazy fudge recipes. It takes about 5 minutes to make and is pretty much impossible to screw up! This is what I came up with…
Put butter, 1pack marshmallows+block choc in container. Nuke 30sec, cool in fridge, cut, STUFF FACE WITH FUDGE!
111 characters, oh yeah 9 characters to spare=champion!
So want to see the long version of it?
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What you need:
- 1 packet of marshmallows
- 1 block of chocolate
- Some butter, around a tablespoon
- Microwave proof container
You can use margarine or real butter, I didn’t want to waste the expensive margarine so I used cheap block butter. |
So cut off a slice of butter.
And stick it into the microwave safe container.
Add the marshmallows…
Break the chocolate into pieces…
Add that too!
So this is what you should have…
Pop it in the microwave for 30 seconds. Mine is 1100w so if yours is different please adjust the time.
Use a spoon to mix it all up, the marshmallow should be liquid and sticky. Don’t worry if the rest of the ingredients are still solid because the marshmallow will melt them nice and slowly.
Mix until it looks like this:
If it gets hard before it’s combined just put back in the microwave for another 10 seconds and remix.
You want to end up with something like this…
Cool the whole thing in the fridge until it’s hard again.
Cut into squares…
And enjoy!
Deeeeeelicious!
So if you think you can do something awesome in under 120 words here’s how to enter…
You can enter via the BPAY competition website, SMS or by Twitter, with the best entry from each category winning $3,000. Not bad for 2 minutes worth of effort, just like paying your bills via BPAY.
To enter:
1) Online, visit www.bpayshortandsweet.com.au and follow the prompts.
2) Via SMS, text your name, category and your 120 character entry to 0427 777 743
3) Via Twitter, tweet the category and your 120 character entry to @BPAYSS
Category names:
Love Poem = POEM, Recipe = RECIPE, Short story = STORY, Film and Book synopsis = SYNOPSIS.Hope you enjoyed my superfast marshmallow fudge and give it a try! I only got that one piece because when I went to get some later it was all eaten *_*
Good luck in the competition!
by VioletLeBeaux | Jan 5, 2011 | Baking, Cooking-Tutorials, Tutorial
Iced tea is my favorite Summery drink and it’s so cheap and easy to make there’s not really an excuse to spend lots of money on other drinks!
Fruity teas work the best for this, my current favorite is the T2 Strawberries and Cream. Absolutely delicious!
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What you need:
- Jug
- Caster sugar (I use about half a cup for this size jug because James likes it really sweet)
- Kettle
- Loose leaf tea
- Tea strainer-dunking-thingy-that-I-can’t-remember-the-name-of
- Tongs
Fill up your kettle and boil it.
Make sure to store tea in an air tight container so it lasts longer.
For the size jug I’m using I needed two of the tea dunking things with around 1 and 1/2 teaspoons of tea in each.
You shouldn’t fill them too full otherwise the tea won’t have room to move around and you won’t get a full flavour.
Once the kettle boils add the plungers and the water to the jug.
You should be able to see the colour change very soon, use your tongs to give everything a stir.
Now herein lies a very important lesson… when you go to refill your glass jug with new tea after it’s been in the fridge for days don’t pour boiling water straight into it! Glass (especially crappy glass from a $2 store) can’t take sudden temperature changes and will crack. Then you will have super hot water all over your bench which is very irritating to clean up and also then you have to have an internal debate on whether it’s worth it to catch a tram all the way to the junk store and replace the jug to continue with the tutorial… it’s not pretty, it looks something like this in fact!
So after deciding you are too lazy to go buy a replacement jug and digging around under your bench to find a smaller one and remaking it all up to this point… leave everything to cool for around 10 minutes.
Then it’s time to add in your sugar. We like a huge amount of sugar (like probably 1/4 of a cup for the big glass jug above or 1/8th of a cup for the small pyrex one below) but the first time you make this I would suggest measuring and adding a bit at a time until you’ve got a flavour you like. Ours tastes kind of like un-set jelly XD
Now stir it all together so the sugar dissolves and remove the tea strainers. Leave it out on the bench for a couple of hours until it’s room temperature then pop in the fridge over night. The next day you will have some pretty delicious tea ready and waiting to go 😀
Do you guys have a favorite flavour of tea? I love strawberries and cream for the ice tea and at the moment my favorite hot tea is good old English Breakfast 😀 |
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