huge fan of this work by fabio ongatara design for baker d. chirico.

be sure to stop by the artisan bakery next time you’re in melbourne.

might be physically back from summer holidays, but my mind is still in the maldives…

dedicated to two very dear friends journeying through the u-s-of-a right at this moment. have fun you guys! don’t go getting married in las vegas without taking a hundred thousand photos for us back home

click images for sources.

wow. how did i miss these when i visited tokyo? read about super blogger sea of shoes’ recent trip to a cat café where for 1000 yen she got to sip tea and pat some kitties for an hour. heaven!

in other cat-related news, i’m considering a pet bow tie for my own furry friend. thoughts?

off to stay at a friend’s farmhouse in legume for the long weekend. we’re doing wine tasting in nearby stanthorpe, taking walks through the bush, eating home baked scones with jam and cream, drinking beer at sunset, and singing and dancing like fools around the fire. *cannot wait!*

i’ve been thinking a lot about where to take my next overseas holiday. revisiting paris is topping my list…

images via cherry blossom girl.

stumbled across kristín sig’s flickr stream which has totally renewed my interest in travelling to iceland. breathtaking!

i got myself a beautiful new book of cake recipes from an nyc bakery specialising in gluten-free and vegan baking. based in the lower east side, babycakes has been voted one of new york’s best cupcakes and has some pretty famous vegan and food-intolerant fans: zooey deschanel, natalie portman, pamela anderson, jason schwartzman…

once i get over the initial hurdle of sourcing some pretty far-out ingredients (what in the what is xanthan gum!?!), i’m pretty excited about trying out the corn bread, blueberry crumb cake and, of course, their famous frosting (which according to the book they sell unaccompanied inside tiny paper cups because customers love it so much – ew).

and i wonder if i’ll get better results if i do my hair real cute and bake to rock’n'roll tunes?

second, tommy has recently posted photos from a recent trip

stumbled across this gorgeous flickr set from paris, 1962

and finally, listened to a great podcast by abc national radio on the differences between french and english interpretations of rudeness (thanks, dad!)

saturday was a boozy barbeque with the extended family at wategos beach, byron bay. by far the standout was my sister’s rendition of donna hay’s semifreddo, scooped into waffle cones and devoured under the hot afternoon sun.

ingredients
* 3 eggs
* 2 egg yolks, extra
* 1 vanilla bean, split and seeds scraped
* 1 cup (220g) caster sugar
* 1¾ cups (435ml) pouring cream
* choice of toppings: sis did one batch using 400g frozen raspberries, another with a large block of roughly chopped dark chocolate

method
1. place the eggs, egg yolks, vanilla and sugar in a large heatproof bowl. place over a saucepan of simmering water and whisk the mixture with a hand-held beater for 4−5 minutes or until heated, thick and pale.

2. remove from the heat and continue whisking until cool. whisk the cream until soft peaks form and gently fold into the egg mixture.

3. if using frozen raspberries, puree around 3/4 in a small food processor until smooth. take 2 cups of the custard cream mixture and fold through to combine.

4. stir through the raspberry puree mixture or 3/4 of the chopped chocolate (or both! imagine!) into the semifredoo mix and pour into a 3 litre-capacity dish.

5. sprinkle the unprocessed raspberries or the remaining chopped chocolate on top to decorate and freeze for 4-6 hours or until firm.