A House I Designed

Chinoiserie

 

The link will take you to a video from the Better Homes and Gardens TV show. The segment is about a lovely garden surrounding a house I designed in the NSW Southern Highlands. If you watch the video carefully, you can catch glimpses of the rear of the house.

BTW, the name wasn't my idea, but then neither were a lot of things! Gorgeous garden though.

Confessions of a Cakeaholic

I love eating cake but I also love making cakes. I like it when I know someone is going to visit because it gives me an excuse to bake a cake. I also like to take a cake when I visit, and something still warm from the oven usually goes down a treat.

This recipe is one of my favourites.

Orange and Almond Cake 

This is a real orange cake, not one of those trendy, bitter ones.

Ingredients 

1 Cup (220g) caster Sugar

250g marzipan, cut into small chunks

5 large (70g) eggs

280g butter, chopped into small pieces and softened

finely grated zest of 2 large oranges

1 tsp of orange essence

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp almond essence

190g plain flour

1 1/4 tsp baking powder

pinch salt

4 tbsp marmalade + 2 tbsp water

Method

Preheat oven to 170C. Butter or spray a 23cm round spring form pan and line with 2 layers of baking paper.

1. Put caster sugar and marzipan chunks into food processor and whiz them together until thoroughly pulverised. Add the eggs to the processor and whiz again for 1 min. Scatter butter chunks on top and whizz for another 40 seconds or so until the mixture is light and creamy. Don't worry if the mixture looks a little curdled. Add the orange zest, essences and vanilla extract and whiz briefly to combine.
2. Sift in flour, baking powder and salt and pulse to just combine. Do not over mix at this stage.
3. Pour mixture into prepared tin and smooth out top. Bake for one hour or until a fine skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cool cake in tin on a wire rack for 10 minutes before turning out.
4. Place marmalade and water into small saucepan and heat until syrupy then pour over warm cake.
5. The cake is best served warm but keeps well for a couple of days.  

Climbing Roses

New Dawn

I love climbing roses and find them easy to grow. I can't think of a prettier way to decorate the outside of a house, garage or shed than with a gorgeous, repeat flowering, perfumed, climbing rose.  

 William Baffin

Climbing roses resist fungal diseases better than shrub roses because they are up away from the worst of the humidity where the air can circulate freely. 

This is 'Pinky' and 'Minata' growing both sides of the trellis in the garden next door to us. I can smell their lovely perfume through my kitchen windows.

 

And this is 'Lamarque' growing over our house. Since taking this photo we have pruned it severely so we can paint, but it will only take a year or two to reach this size again.

  

Lamarque is a big rose with a fresh citrus scent and blooms the colour of clotted cream.

 

Also growing in my garden are 'Crepuscule' (on the left) with 'Red Pierre' on the right. There's a light blue clematis growing with Red Pierre and a dark purple one with Crep. Both are in bud and should flower soon. As I said, I love climbing roses!
 

Companion Chair

 

On the weekend Mr Gingham and I took this chair up to Russell and Nelly's at Orange. It's an Australian Jarvi chair from the 1950s which Russell bought a few months ago and I had re-covered. I forgot to take a 'before' picture but suffice to say it was covered in peach velvet!

Forgive me for not moving the old blanket box, which is currently doing duty as a coffee table, out of the way before taking the picture.

 

The table had been kicking around our loft for at least the last 10 years so I gave it to them on the condition that Russell paint it black. I was surprised to see he'd found time between work and uni to do so but was pleased he had. I love to see old furniture given a new lease of life.

 

 

Russell and Nelly have rather conservative taste and weren't sure about the little bit of green and turquoise (which I find somewhat tame) in the cushions, but as is so often the case, they liked it when they saw it.

 

 

Russell bought the cow hide during his jackarooing days but had never used it. I was delighted when he dragged it out (boy is it big) because it really brings the room together.

The other side of the room still needs some attention but all in good time. They were only married a few months ago so I think they're doing pretty well.

 

Flowers for my Friend

Yesterday morning I was out in the garden deciding which flowers I would pick to take to Colleen, my friend and hairdresser of 15 years. Four weeks ago, Colleen was admitted to palliative care and I planned on visiting her again today.

When I came inside, there was a message from Colleen's daughter to say that my dear friend had passed away.

Colleen was diagnosed with cancer in August 2011. Before she had finished her first round of chemo the cancer had spread and early this year she was told she had about 2 years. In July came the devastating news that her time had been revised to just a few months.

I felt so cheated for her and can only imagine how she and her family felt. With one daughter getting married in April and another expecting a baby in January, she really needed and wanted that extra year. But it wasn't to be.

 

I decided to still pick the flowers (she loved apricot and yellow roses) for Colleen and think of her everytime I look at them. I will miss her so much.

Favouring Fuschia

 I don't particularly like fuchsia plants but I adore the colour.  I've always loved pink and any pink heading towards the shade of fuchsia is fine by me, especially when it's in...

 

these gorgeous Coniston towels which are available here 

 

and this cute print of a pink mini from Annechovie

or this lamp from Furbish
(I know its not practical to buy a lamp from the US but Furbish has heaps of other stuff so go have a browse) 

 

and Peonies which come in many shades of pink as well as white. They are flowering now, so if you want to buy some for a reasonable price, head to your local flower markets.

 

 

and fuchsia pink Ikat print cushion covers from my store

 

plus Sedum 'Autumn Joy' pictured in my garden last Summer. 

 

Summer Cushions

 

 

I resisted making outdoor cushion covers for some time because I didn't like the idea of working with polyester. But when sourcing some fabric for Tracie, one of my lovely Brisbane customers, I put together an order and was so surprised at how soft and unplastic feeling the fabrics were.

 

 

Now I love them and find whenever I put them outside to photograph, they really enliven the space.

 

The above are available in my store as cushion covers.