Lemon Curd, And My Little Matthew Evans Crush

I've got more lemons than I know what to do with, but I'm giving it a red hot go.

If you've been playing along at home, you'll know this isn't my first go with the Lemon Curd. The last time I made it though, I fell in love with it and so it makes sense that the millions of lemons I am always in possession of get made into this beautiful balm.

While the fabulous packaging (if you ask me) is all my work, I can't take credit for the recipe. It's my boyfriends recipe.
Mr Frog knows, don't worry. At least I think he does. Although he forgets anything he doesn't take seriously.
Anyhoo, the recipe comes from the gorgeous, and heavy, tome "The Real Food Companion", written by (my boyfriend) Matthew Evans.

I realised I had the hots for him somewhere near the middle of the original Gourmet Farmer t.v series. I'm not sure what it was... the way he narrates, cooks or talks to his pigs. When I saw his book during my Angus & Robertson days, I had to have it. Aside from the crush, the book really is beautiful. It's all about how our food is raised, grown, killed and harvested and the best practices for all of these methods. It's not preachy, it just tells you how it is and how it could be if we all made better choices. Beautifully styled and shot, it's one of those books you can read from cover to cover, and if you're familiar with the series, you can hear Matthew reading to you.

Is it getting creepy yet?

Sadly, unbeknownst to me, during the filming of that first series, Matthew had already hooked up with his extraordinary wife, Sadie. This is a woman who stuck with a bloke who had not only just bought himself a little farm he had no idea how to run, but was being filmed while doing so. Since then there has been another couple seasons of G.F, a series on the labelling of Fish for consumption, and then he filmed him and his mates traveling around Tasmania on a boat. All the while Sadie has been running not only the property where they live, but also the other farm they own a few k's away. (I'm not actually sure how far, I'm not a stalker!)

Did I mention they have a little boy?

So, as much as I enjoy your shows and adore your books Matthew, you'd better hang on to that Sadie. She's a keeper.

So, back to those lemons. I use Matthews recipe. It's super simple, and I always feel better when he says "Don't worry if there are lumps - that just proves it's homemade".


Ingredients:

Finely grated zest of six lemons and their juice
8 eggs, lightly beaten
200g unsalted butter, cubed, softened
400g (1 2/3 cups) castor sugar

Sit a large bowl (Matthew says stainless steel, I use glass) over a saucepan of boiling water. Add all the ingredients, stirring occassionally with a wooden spoon until melted. Cook for a further 10minutes or so, stirring and scarping the bottom as you go, until the mixture thickens slightly. Remember ot to worry about the lumps, Matthew says it's ok! (And so do I!) The curd will continue to thicken as it cools. Transfer to sterilised, airtight jars and once cool, store in the fridge. It'll keep for up to two weeks.

Excellent on crumpets, pancakes, your favourite bread, turned into little tartlets, or even dolloped into your yoghurt.

Bon appetit!

MC

P.S Matthew, please don't sue me for sharing your recipe... it's an act of crush!

Baby Shower Bonanza, Part 5, Girl Or Boy Guessing Jar

This was just a little something extra. A "just because". I also have a problem with jars.

Take one jar.

Pick a fat one.

Next, decorate with a paper doily, a piece of leftover invitation paper and a ribbon.

Keeping it simple.

Then, on pieces of "scrap" paper left over from the printing of said invitations, stamp "Boy" and "Girl". Repeat.

It's a 50/50 shot...

Here's the deal: Guests choose which sex the baby will be, and the name the parents will choose, write their own name on the paper and pop it in the jar. After the Bub is born, the brand new mum and dad open the jar and see what crazy ideas people had. Oh, and if someone actually guesses right... I'll send them a prize.

(This will not work if the mum and dad to-be blab about the names on their list. Although, people aren't always listening to crazy-about-to-be-parents.)

Voila!

What's your guess?

Next, I wrote a book.

Kinda.

MC

Baby Shower Bonanza, Part 1 : Invitations

Here begins the craziness of my sister Sadie's baby shower.

She's my little sister. My only sister. And she's having a baby.

OH MY FUCKING GODS!!!

Anyhoo, Sadie has gone above and beyond the call; for my Canberra wedding, My French Wedding, My Canberra Baby Shower, my Melbourne Baby Shower, and then a few days after the birth of my actual Tadpole, she flew here and back in one day.

So, I kinda owe her. Plus, I haven't always been a very good big sister. Pretty crap at times to be honest.

She's a bit of a control freak, (A LOT of a control freak... she's a Virgo, just like Mr Frog), so I gave her plenty of choices to make a long the way. Handy, because I suck at making decisions, especially small ones that feel very important.

She'd already booked a High Tea venue while I was eating France so with that in mind we tossed around a few ideas for a theme. I constantly kept talking myself down from the crazy. I don't know why, but it's the place I go to first. We both did some perusing of Pinterest (EVIL PLACE! LOVES CRAZY!) and managed to head in a similar direction. Once I knew the vibe she was hoping for, elegant and pretty, combined with her own vintage style, I needed colours. She told me the theme for the baby's room would be "Woodlands" using leaf green, or pistachio. I headed to the Kaisercraft website and got to hunting for something that might fit. I sent her a few suggestions, she sent back the papers she liked the look of and I made a choice.

For the invites, I chose this:

"Expression" from the Kaleidoscope range.

After much faffing, I decided to keep things simple. Unfortunately, I forgot to take photos of my progress, so this isn't a tutorial, but as you'll see, when I say simple I mean it.

Simple, Elegant AND  a tiny bit of bling.

A little more than half the card is Kaleidoscope paper, stuck down with some double sided tape. The other half has my printed piece, also stuck with tape. We then get a little fancy with some lace and ribbon. The lace has a raw edge and only the ribbon is tucked under, for a less bulky but still finished look. After a few days staring at my prototype I decided it needed a little something. These sparkly hearts are just big enough to be pretty but not blinding. (You can find them at Officeworks).

Now, my original plan was to used craft cards from The Dollar king, the ones I always use for birthdays and a bargain (because I have to do everything as cheaply and as fabulous as possible). Of course, after I pre cut ALL OF MY PAPERS I realised I couldn't get them in time, so I bought a few sheets of white card and cut them to size.Even cheaper. Instead of opening the card, guests just flip it over.

I even downloaded a new font.

Popped in an envelope and sealed with a larger sparkly star (also from Officeworks, and excellent value) they were good to go.

And so ends the first chapter of the Baby Shower bonanza.

Next up, Thank you gifts.

Stay pretty,

MC