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Make It Perfect

Make It Perfect

.Macaron Quest.

If you do a bit of blog-hopping, I’m sure you are more than familiar with the French delicacy, Macarons. These are not to be confused with the egg white/coconut dollop biscuit, Coconut MacarOOns.

I’ve been keen to do some Macaron baking for quite some time, but fancy recipe blogs keep putting me off after they go through tedious step-by-step instruction with lots of caution and warning about how difficult these biscuits are to master. I’m ready to give it a go though, ready to fail and try again if needs be (although I hope not!) and ready to sink my teeth into some Macaron deliciousness.

When we were in Sydney last month we visited the Lindt Chocolate Cafe where I was lucky enough to actually taste my first Macaron…OH MY!!!! They are 100 x better than I even imagined and it is a good thing that there is no where around here that I can buy them from!

I bought this cookbook awhile ago and after reading it through am ready to start baking…but thought before I dive in I would see if any of my blog readers have had Macaron experiences, good or bad, to share?? If you have had a go at making Macarons, PLEASE give me some tips…tell me what did/didn’t work – even share some recipes that you have successfully tried?

If you are Macaron-clueless, then here is a visual treat to drool over – and stay tuned…I’ll share my Macaron trials with you soon!


1. lime and coconut macarons, 2. Christmas Macarons, 3. Mini Macarons, 4. French Macaroons, 5. strawberry and vanilla bean macarons, 6. Pistachio Macaroons, 7. macaroon ou amores de paris, 8. pistachio and grapefruit macarons, 9. Pierre Herme’s box of Macaroons, 10. Matcha Tea and Chocolate Macarons, 11. Macarons!, 12. My First Macarons!!, 13. Macaronlicious, 14. La gourmandise, 15. Dominoes, 16. balancing act 8367

August 30, 2010
Make It Perfect

.Recipe Monday.

This is one dinner that I can pretty much guarantee is enjoyed by everyone in my family. Something that doesn’t happen all that often. In fact, just about every night (unless it is toasted sandwiches) we find ourselves saying, “3 more chickens, 2 more carrots and 2 more potatoes and you can leave the table.” I’m looking forward to the time when family meal time includes more general chit-chat and not so much negotiating! This recipe is one of those ones that I don’t have accurate measurements for, just make it up as you go!

Chicken Fried Rice
2-3 cups cooked rice
sesame oil
500g chicken thighs, cut into small pieces
1 onion, chopped
garlic
bacon, cut into small pieces
4 eggs
frozen peas
corn
celery, chopped
sweet chilli sauce
oyster sauce
soy sauce

Heat sesame oil in wok. Stir-fry chicken pieces in small batches until cooked through. Remove to a plate and set aside.
Heat sesame oil in wok. Stir-fry onion, garlic and bacon until cooked. Remove to a plate or push right to one side of the wok.
Add eggs to the wok, stirring continually until cooked and scrambled. Stir through onion mixture.
Add rice, chicken peas, corn and celery. Stir over high heat until warmed and peas are defrosted.
Finish by adding a dollop of each of the sauces (add more to taste if needed). These sauces are the “magic ingredient” and make your chicken fried rice taste fabulous 🙂

August 30, 2010
Make It Perfect

.Big Uptown Girl.

This Big Uptown Girl jacket has been hanging around unfinished for 2 months. Why is it that finishing a garment – in this case, making a button hole and sewing on two buttons, ends up being put off for so long when it only takes 10 minutes to actually finish it when you finally work up the motivation to get it done?!

Or is that just me? Am I the only one who pushes the “finishing off” jobs aside?


Anyway, it is done now and I love it. This is a girl’s size 10 – the biggest size that the Uptown Girl jackets come in. I can actually put it on – but the sleeves are too short and it is a bit tight across the back/chest…just a thought for those of you who keep begging me to produce a women’s Uptown Girl…if you are a little bit confident with your sewing I reckon you could probably make a few adjustments to the largest size to make it fit yourself 😉


I really like how the fabric combo turned out. To be honest, I didn’t think that they worked that well together before sewing it up but I was keen to get a size 10 sewn up to make sure it all worked okay and had limited larger pieces of fabric in my stash to choose from. These are two of my favourite fabrics though, I love Saffron Craig’s Fields range – I don’t have any of the yellow dandelion in my stash but think that I need to get myself some to do something with for summer. I’m always drawn to Amy Butler’s “coordinating” fabrics too – Sunspots, Happy Dots…I always stock up on them because they are great for mixing and matching with busier prints.

So, the only question now, is what to do with this Big Uptown Girl?? I could hold onto it for Lil to wear in 7 years or maybe I’ll put it up for sale with my other sample garments that I am about to sell off?? Hmm…


SUPPLIES:
Make It Perfect, Big Uptown Girl pattern
Saffron Craig, Fields, Dandelion in Pink
Amy Butler, Love, Sunspots in Turquoise

August 28, 2010
Make It Perfect

.A Blog Announcement from Lil.


Lilsy (who prefers to wear nothing but undies and a singlet) would like to notify you of a couple of changes around the blog…

1. On the left-hand sidebar we now have a handy link to Leanne’s Free Art Prints so that you don’t have to hunt around for them anymore.

2. If you click on the Recipe Monday link underneath the header at the top of the page, you will be directed to a new fancy pants Recipe Monday page – including a complete index of ALL of the recipes that have been published on my blog along with a photograph of each recipe 🙂 It is highly likely that I have stuffed up some of the links on the page, so if you are looking for the homemade marshmallow recipe and end up at the recipe for easy fried rice – let me know!

That’s all. Thanks Lil 🙂

August 27, 2010
Make It Perfect

.Meet TOMS.


My love affair with TOMS began about two years ago. I think I may have read about them on a blog somewhere and thought that they looked pretty cool. Then when I read about their One for One movement I thought they WERE pretty cool. It goes like this…with every pair of TOMS that you purchase, TOMS donates a pair of shoes to a child in need. Awesome, huh?


So, I’ve kept an eye on their online store over the last two years and they have always been on my wishlist. I have this funky friend, Laurelyn (she is 18 and such a spunk and makes me feel young!! Hi Laurie!) and a couple of months ago she started telling me about these cool shoes she wanted to buy…I cut her off mid-sentence and said, “they are TOMS right?” (I could just tell Laurie would be a TOMS-girl) and she excitedly replied, “yes! How did you know?!” I don’t actually know how I knew, but it was freakishly weird and I knew it was a sign that TOMS would be purchased this season.


We ordered online together and saved a ton on postage. They arrived within a couple of weeks and are 10 times better than I expected. Extremely comfortable, perfect fit and I can see myself wearing them with just about everything I own. I will definitely be purchasing more in the future and have learned from this shopping experience that some styles/sizes sell out fast and lots of styles are limited release and once they are gone, they are gone. I was quite partial to a lime green pair they had in their Summer range, I missed out but will be keeping a lookout for them in the future as they bring out new designs each season.

I’m not one to spend a ton of money on shoes for my children, but seriously…how cute would a pair of Tiny TOMS be on my little Tommy???!!!

August 26, 2010