home.

I thought I would share a few quick photos from our home. This is the second place we have owned and we have been lucky enough to have bought places that have only needed a lick of paint! This house had a different colour in every room and when we moved in we painted everything in ocean pearl and had the ceilings professionally painted in a crisp white. Nearly 3 years later, everything still looks lovely and fresh and I'm so happy I went with a neautral tone. In our previous home we painted a feature wall in the loungeroom an apple green. I loved it for the first year but then it kind of took over. Because it was  a small unit it felt like everything had to revolve around this green tone. It really became a headache after a while! Needless to say, it's nice to add colour through pillows, artwork and all those little treasures we find along the way....

 A little rustic collection above the stove

 I bought this old frame at The Bower years ago, attached hessian to the back

and now it hangs in our kitchen with recipes I use the most.

I bought these old hessian sacks only recently. I've kept 2 for us

and the other 2 are in the shop. Perfect seating for little people!



Here's our lounge room. Not sure if you can see it but there's a round mirror

in the bottom left cabinet. We used them as platters at our wedding.

another view. To the left is a metal tissue holder that I bought for 55c!

The lamp at night gives a beautiful soft light and during the day the sun

shines in. I found the olive toned floral fabric in Vinnies and my Mother

in law made them into pillows for me!



The lounge looking through to the kitchen.The beautiful mirror was a gift

from my Mum's friend Louise and to the left is a page from

an old german cookbook that I bought from Percival Road   It's a picture of a woman in an apron, I call her the domestic goddess, who welcomes  all who walks through the door.....

home.  :-)



Pumpkin, Thyme and Fennel Soup in bread bowls

I really do love this cold weather! I've been thinking about this for a while. I've done the pumpkin and fennel combo before but this time I thought I would make it into a soup! Chuck in some thyme and garlic and make my own bowls too! This would be a cute little starter for a small dinner party of 6 to 8 people or even something wintery to add to your High tea instead of sandwiches.

How to make your Pumpkin, Thyme and Fennel Soup in Bread Bowls

Ingredients

1 small fennel (about 100g after taking off fronds) finely sliced
1 garlic, peeled and halved
a small handful of thyme (kept on the stalks) about 2g
small piece of pumpkin (about 300g after slicing off skins) chop into small cubes
extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper
8 slices of fresh white bread
approx 60g  salted butter melted
sour cream, optional

Method

Set oven temp to 190C. In a baking dish throw in the first 4 ingredients then add salt and pepper and good dashes of extra virgin olive oil. Pop in the oven for 45 minutes or until pumkin is cooked through.
At the 30 minute mark, Grab a muffin tin and your slices of bread. Cut off crusts plus a little extra so they will fit nicely in the muffin tin (don't worry about being neat) Now melt the butter in the microwave or on the stove. Using a pastry brush apply a light coating of butter on both sides. Then slowly push them into their muffin holes. Bake for 10 mins or until slightly browned then take out and leave in their tray so they will harden up.
Puree the soup  (keeping aside all the thyme stalks) and if you think it's too thick just add freshly boiled water a little at a time. Be careful though, you don't want it too runny or it will go straight through the bread bowl!
Garnish with the crispy thyme leaves pulled from the stalks and a dollop of sour cream and freshly cracked pepper. Enjoy warm.

The suitcase at the top is a new listing in my shop, the fox & the spoon on Etsy. I bough the gorgeous Guest hand-towel from the gorgeous vintage shop, Frou Frou. The lovely owner, Parisa use to run Frou Frou in Lilyfield many years ago. We lived right down the road from her and any given opportunity I was in there! I loved her window displays and her gathering of interesting things. I bought many beautiful things from her shop and the last item I remember, before she closed up to head back to the Mountains, a pair of vintage pillowcases. I still use them today. I bumped into Parisa a few months back and she told me she had opened a new Frou Frou in Springwood. During the School Holidays we decided to pop in and say hello and of course buy something! I saw the hand stitched Guest towel and fell in love.....How adorable is it!

Vintage Giveaway Winner - Vegas and Rose

Thank you to Penthea for entering my little competition. She is the new owner of a lovely pair of Vintage Christian Dior Hosiery.....they are in the mail!

Penthea is also the owner of a wonderful Vintage shop on Etsy and a Cafe in Ballarat, both named Vegas and Rose (and you can find out on her website how that fantastic name came about)
I secretly think Penthea is Super Woman as she also has 2 small children - I don't know how she does it! But she always has a smile on her face and she is probably one of the lovliest ladies you will ever meet. So if you live near Ballarat, drop in and grab a fantastic cup of coffee, a delectable home-made treat and buy yourself some gorgeous vintage!

Photo by Penthea Marshall-Radcliffe of Vegas and Rose/ Vintage 1960s Coffee Pot and 4 cups. Made in Japan

vintage giveaway

Maybe you would like to wear them to your wedding as part of your, “something old, something new….” Or maybe you just like pretty things! And these are oh so pretty. I just love the packaging, the simple but classic design. The little, Made in France; so exquisite!  They have never been used and I don’t want to open the pack so I am unsure whether they are stockings or the full panty-hose but they are in a gorgeous silvery grey tone.  At the top of the package it says Collant Dior Slim 10   Polyamide 98% Soie Naturelle 2%  12 Dtex Made in France Tourterelle 8 Christian Dior Bas- Collants. On the back it says, Christian Dior Paris.

All you have to do is like my facebook page here and where I have posted about the giveaway just leave a note to say you would like to be in the running. Entries close April 22^nd AEST. A name will be picked from a basket on the 23^rd April and the winner will be notified straight away (as I will need to get their address to send them their beautiful vintage hosiary!)  Entry is open to anyone, anywhere!

Best of luck to everyone!

maria xx

Easy Peasy Morning Tea for 8

A few weeks ago my Mum asked me if I would have a friend of hers over for Morning Tea. She was turning 70 and she’s been a friend of my Mums for a long time so I said, “Of course!”. Little did I know that she also wanted to invite a bunch of other friends over to help celebrate! So the last week I have been devising a menu consisting of the following: Food that the birthday girl would like; Food that could be made ahead of time and food that would look pretty! It ended up being a lot of fun to put together but as usual the photos are a little dodgy as I always forget to take them until the last minute!  Big apologies!!

 The menu for 8 adults  arriving at 10am for Morning Tea –

   1) Leg ham and tomato relish sandwiches on rye bread (12 triangles)                       
   2) Chicken and mayonnaise with butter lettuce on white bread (12 triangles)
   3) Smoked salmon pinwheels with crepes, crème fraiche and chives (12 pinwheels)
   4) Rhubarb and currant tarts (24 mini muffin size)
   5) Buttermilk Scones w/ clotted cream and 2 jams (12 small muffin size)
   6) Anzac Slice with Passionfruit icing (makes approx. 18 squares)
   7) Individual Chocolate cupcakes with vanilla icing – The birthday cake! (makes 24 )

The Prep -  We bought everything the day before; even the BBQ chicken! The table was completely set the day before. Everything was washed and dried; glassware, china, etc. napkins were laid. Platters were placed were they were going to sit for the morning tea with name tags on them (which was lucky as it wasn’t until a few hours later that I realised something didn’t have a plate!) I made the chocolate cupcakes and once they cooled down I popped them in an airtight container in the fridge. I then made the anzac slice with passionfruit icing (this recipe is from the cook book, Take 4) wrapped it in glad wrap tightly and kept it in the fridge.
That night I prepped things like: Sifted icing sugar and popped it in zip lock bags ready for the vanilla icing; put non-perishable ingredients out on the bench that I would need for the morning; Sifted flour for the scones and popped it a zip lock bag; weighed the butter for the scones and popped it in an airtight container in the fridge; measured out  other ingredients like currants and sugar and popped them in zip lock bags on the bench.

The Morning Tea – I put together the rhubarb and currant tarts and they were in the oven by 7.15am and were out just after 7.30am. These keep really well so I let them cool down completely on racks and then placed them on their platter. At 8am I got the scones in the oven. When they came out 15 minutes later I wrapped them straight away in a clean tea towel and popped them on their platter. Next up I put together the vanilla icing and began icing 19 cupcakes. I bought the cute muffin tree a while ago and still hadn’t used it; I couldn’t wait any longer! As I iced them I popped the first letter of the birthday girls name on each cupcake using a pink icing pen. Well, she was turning 70. I figured she would prefer an ‘L’ to a BIG “70”!!!!!

By 9am I had finished that and I was onto the sandwiches. I’d got my Mum to cut the meat off the 1/2 chicken, place in a bowl and add store bought mayonnaise (buy the best you can afford or if you are use to making your own, do that) She sliced the butter lettuce, buttered the bread and we put together the sandwiches. Cut them into triangles. Placed them on their platter along with the ham and relish sandwiches and covered the platter tightly with plastic wrap.

Mixing  ½ cup of crème fraiche with about 1 teaspoon chives. On each crepe lay a piece of smoked salmon (from the 100g packs you get about 3 pieces so we heated through 3 crepes) Over the smoked salmon smear the crème fraiche mix then roll up tightly. Slice both ends then cut into 4 equal pinwheels. Use a toothpick to secure and stand them on the platter. Serve with lemon wedges.  At 9.50 our first guest arrived so while my Mum was talking with them I popped the kettle on; Filled the milk jug; filled the water jug; popped the 2 different jams in their jugs and also filled the dish for the clotted cream. Slipped the tea towel off the scones and took all plastic wrap off sandwiches and the smoked salmon pinwheels.  The other guests arrived and I couldn’t believe it, we’d gotten everything done, on time.  Phew!

And here are just a few little things I bought recently. People often ask me if I regret selling anything in my shop. The answer is, no, not really. Most of the pieces I sell I’ve owned myself for many years or they are recent purchases that I think are very beautiful  but I don’t have a spot for them. So these 2 beautiful pieces are staying! This gorgeous enamel teapot with strawberries and this stunning Willow Flour sifter with roses. They’re living above my blue and white tea set and the contrast in colours is so pretty.  And how sweet is this little hand-held sifter? I always keep my tomatoes at room temperature during Autumn, Winter and Spring. They usually share a bowl with onions and garlic but this way they have their own little space. My tomatoes have never looked so pretty!

Have a wonderful Easter…..…Chocolate, here I come!

autumn inspired

I love this time of year! The fresh mornings, the still warm days and the cool evenings......it always inspires me, that change in the light. I thought I would share a few recent purchases that reminded me of Autumn and the cooler months ahead.

The purse -  I just love the tone of it. It's so rustic and pretty. Just like Autumn.

The beads and the game - Don't you just love olive green! Quoits make a fun display but you can also pull them off the shelf and use them. With the recent rain we've been playing them inside with the kids and doing silly things like hopping on 1 foot when we have a turn.....funny! The beads, well, they are a great length and I like that they are little chunky.....and they aren't rediculusly heavy which is a bonus!

The book - Laura Ashley Bedrooms, 1988 by Susan Irvine. Who doesn't love their bedroom in the cooler months! I love the cover on this book. So pretty. and inside, I love the chapter about, The Rustic Bedroom. Aren't those soft blue tones beautiful? I had to have this book when I saw this picture. It just reminded me of those cool mornings when we pull the covers up a little higher and delay the start of the day....just by a little bit....

the saying - I'm not normally one for sayings and things of this nature but I thought this was adorable and so beautifully made.......I couldn't believe someone had parted with it. It's now living in our kitchen, next to the stove, watching me as I bring in the harvest from the veggie patch and waiting then to see what I'm going to do with 9 capsicums and 1 tomato!

collector

Over the years I've collected various things - vintage tablecloths, enamelware, anything with birds..... about 3 years ago I began collecting Matryoshka dolls or nesting dolls.

My Mother in law bought me (or should I say my daughter!) a set when she travelled through Russia a few years back,(the beautiful red set) and ever since I've thought, "I need more of these beautiful objects!!"

As you can see, some are old, some are new, some are not complete sets and others are. I love how they are all different and have their own little personalities. My favourite set?  The little set of 3 that are all chippy. I think they are exquisite.

What do you love collecting?