French onion soup.

Jamie and I have both been struck down by nasty bugs recently, Jamie more so than I. He has been suffering badly from a flue that doesn't appear to want to leave his body. There seems to be a few nasty bugs floating around Sydney at the moment, and I think it might have something to do with the cold weather and rain we are having at the moment. For the past week I have left for work while Jamie makes his way from bed to couch where he curls up under a blanket. It is here that I find him, still lying, upon my return some 9 hours later :-(

By day 5 I decided to resort to a hearty home cooked soup that would warm his belly and hopefully encourage his body to finally kick that bug.

I made Donna Hay's French Onion Soup, and it turned out to be delicious! Her recipes never seem to fail me.

~ This soup made me cry - a lot! All those onions! ~

~ Donna recommends this soup should be served

with toasted cheese sandwiches ~

The verdict? Jamie is back to 100% health (though the jury is still out on whether this soup fixed him).

You can find the recipe here.

Hope you're all having a brilliant weekend!

Sam xox

Bicycles and living greener.

I have had a very bicycle themed weekend!

Last night Jamie and I hosted a 'Tour de France' party at our home. We invited two couples over who we know are fans of the Tour. I cooked Julia Child's Beef Bourguignon, had Edith Piaf playing, and laid a table with white linen and candles. It was a fabulous evening with much talking and red wine. I honestly do not know how the French get anything done. The meal was delicious and coupled with a glass of wine, I was ready to fall asleep!

In an effort to live greener I am considering riding a bike to work when I begin my new job. My new office is fantastically close to home, literally a 10 minutes drive from my front door, and I am hoping there will be somewhere I could leave my bike safely during the day (perhaps in the office?).

I am in love with the cruiser step through styles of bike, especially ones with a retro feel to them. They are surprisingly comfortable to ride and not too heavy to handle. These two are my favourites, but I am leaning towards the first one (lucky for Jamie as it is much less $ than the second).

Sam xox

Cooking, crocheting, and crafting.

I have been a busy lady these past few days. It began on Sunday morning. Michelle had slept over and we were sitting chatting over a cup of tea while rain poured down outside. We were joking around and I was quite dramatically explaining to her that my style had officially changed after last weeks vintage shopping experiences. I informed her that I would now be decorating my house eclectically, with a combination of English vintage, Cottage, and French styles. Ha!

Well, Michelle lamented how she didn't have a style either (are you getting a picture of how board we were being locked up indoors?) and we proceeded to google away until we found an interior decorating style that was her.

It's now official, Michelle's style is "Modern French" and she didn't even realise. Dark timber furniture, cream/white carpets, walls and furnishings.... yes very French.

I am sure by now you are wondering where on earth I am going with all of this. Well, to hold true to my newly discovered eclectic style I decided my loungeroom cushions needed a make over!

Michelle and I headed to Spotlight Sunday afternoon to see what we could find there. Now, Spotlight is a store in Australia that is a massive homecrafts store. It is pretty mass produced and often it is hard to find fabrics that are not nasty to the eye. I was very excited when I came across two fabrics I loved! One was a beautiful ticking with dark cream and browny-green stripes, the other a very thickly woven burgundy and gold design.

I took them home and this is what I made... (one ticking cushion is missing from this picture).

Luckily I have plenty of the burgundy fabric left, so I am trying to think of something else to do with it...

I visited a thrift store on Monday, and I came across two gems.

The first was a tiny square cushion in wedgewood blue and white. It had some stains on it, so they were selling it for $3, but I took the risk. After a soak in stain remover and a wash, it is as good as new.

It has the most beautiful hand quilting detail on it.

The second gem was this gorgeous crochet blanket. Now I have tried and tried to crochet, but all my squares, well, it would not be polite to describe to you what they really turn out like :-)

This blanket was only $6 and in perfect condition.

I thought you might like a closer look.

Now for the Cooking part of this blog. Two weeks ago I ordered Mastering the Art of French Cooking Volumes 1 and 2 by Julia Child from eBay for super cheap. I was so excited when my little parcel arrived today to find the Volume 2 book had arrived (still waiting on V1 to arrive). The book is great, perfect condition, beautiful cover, except for one small detail.... the seller forgot to mention that the book is only 8 inches tall! Magnifying glass anyone???

It does have super cute diagrams though :-)

Sam xox

Coq au vin.

On Saturday night Michelle and I donned our gingham aprons and decided to try out our first ever Julia Child recipe. Michelle has the cookbook Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child, and we decided to make her classic Coq au Vin (literally translated to Chicken in Wine).

The recipe was very complicated and involved using every frying pan and saucepan I own. We followed her instructions to the letter, even the part where we boiled, iced, fried, then boiled white onions! It seriously took almost an hour from beginning preparations to serving on the table, but oh it was worth it!

The dish has chicken and bacon - yum!

A printed copy of the recipe...

In the middle of the cooking, we had to flambe! This is when you pour in brandy (or any alcohol) and set it alight! You can see we are exploding with excitement!

A classic French dish, complete with bread, white linen table and French candles.

If you would like to try making this dish yourself, either purchase Julia's book, or visit this link below for the recipe:

http://whatscookingamerica.net/Poultry/CoqAuVin.htm

Sam xox