Nutella that twists my arm

my little person + crying = frustrating times... baking + me and jack johnson = realxing times... chocolate + pastry = happy times... when i need to relax i bake... when i'm slightly tipsy i bake... when i have nothing to do i bake... i love to bake... i love the kitchen... the kitchen is definitely the heart of the home and my favourite place to be in the house...

This recipe is for my dear friend Amanda aka Manuel...

Nutella twists... yummmmm

Ingredients:

• 2 rolls ready-rolled puff pastry
• flour for dusting
• 1/2 cup nutella
• 75g sprinkle nuts, toasted
• 1 egg (lightly beaten with 2T milk)
• 1t cinnamon
• 2t sugar

Method:

Preheat oven to 200 degrees celcius.

Roll out the pastry on a floured surface.

Spread the nutella over one sheet of pastry and sprinkle nuts over.

Top with a second sheet of pastry and brush on egg wash.

Sprinkle cinnamon and sugar on top. Cut into 2-3cm wide strips. Take hold of each end of a strip and twist it so it makes a spiral shape. If you not to amped to do the twist at first then simply cut out shapes using a cookie cutter or cut into squares. Transfer to a floured baking tray and bake for 10-15 minutes or until puffed up and golden brown. (my twists weren't perfect but when baked they were beautiful)

They go down so well with a cup of hot chocolate. Chocolate on chocolate mmmmmmmmmmmm......

Inspirational love

So my one and only, my better half, my melon head, the one person who knows me best is also the person who's made me more in touch with the environment and made me more aware of natures beauty. He's a real tree hugger... he could spend all day and all night in the garden- potting, re-potting, clipping, watering, giving his plants love... he inspires me.

Being in the garden with him makes me want to put everything I see and feel onto canvas.. or paper... and translate it into something wonderful.

He doesn't know this, and neither did I until I thought deeper about it, but I think that when I decided to start this piece I sat down, looking at the blank canvas, and thought about what would impress him most.

While busy with the piece I was always checking out the corner of my eye to see if he was taking note of what I was painting, what changes I'd made, to see if he liked what I was doing... very school-girlish of me! But thats what love does, no matter how old you are or how long you've been together.

I was trying to sell this piece but I think I'll keep it and dedicate it to my person, to our love thats as strong as a tree that's been standing for ages and will stand the test of time, to our loyalty to each other thats like the roots of an ancient tree, so deep no-one or nothing will uproot us... lovies you 

Phyllo Fun

I love love love phyllo pastry!!! anything made from phyllo is scrumptious- desserts, pies... even pizza...

A while ago I read a recipe for a phyllo pizza but can't remember where... so I came up with my own...

And the best thing about this recipe is its so basic, quick and tastes oooohhhhhhh so good.

Ingredients:

• 7 sheets of phyllo pastry
• 5 tablespoons butter, melted
• 7 tablespoons finely grated parmesan cheese, divided
• 3 tablespoons tomato passata  
• 2 cups grated mozzarella cheese
• crushed garlic (amount depends on your personal preference)
• 2 cooked chicken breasts, roughly chopped
• feta cheese
• salt, pepper, dried oregano to taste
• avocado (optional)

Method:

Brush a baking pan with some melted butter

Lay a sheet of phyllo pastry in the pan, folding the edges in to fit (keep the other sheets of phyllo covered with a damp tea towel to avoid drying out)

 Brush phyllo with melted butter and sprinkle evenly with one tablespoon of parmesan cheese

Repeat layers five times folding edges in every time, top with last sheet of phyllo; folding edges in, brush with melted butter

Spread tomato passata evenly, sprinkle  with mozzarella cheese and garlic, arrange chicken pieces and feta over the mozzarella. 

Sprinkle with salt, pepper, oregano, mozzarella cheese and remaining parmesan cheese.

Bake in preheated oven at 200 degrees celcius for 18-22 minutes or until edges are golden brown.

Add avocado to serve.

This recipe can be easily altered to meet your desires. Get creative and play with different toppings.

DIY Cupboard make-over

I hate the thought of throwing anything away, be it glass containers, old books, pieces of pretty paper, ribbon, wood, you name it and I store it (some would call it hording but not in my eyes)... everything deserves to be restored, reawakened and re-embodied, even if its reincarnation takes place in a few months when I finally come up with an idea of what to do.

This project is so easy, even for a person with no artistic flair, it's also easy on the pocket and could be applied to almost anything.

Materials

• Pages from an old book
• Podge
• Paintbrush
• Black paint for decorative images (optional)
• Object you wish to apply this too (cupboard, wall etc) 

Instructions

1. Once you've decided or chosen a piece you wish to "make-over"clean it making sure there is no dust, dirt or grease on it. If it's a wooden piece smooth the wood with sandpaper, if needed, and wipe the dust off.

2. Using your paintbrush, paint the back of a page with a layer of podge and place on the cupboard. Repeat with remaining pages, overlapping pages until the entire cupboard is covered.

3. Paint another coat of podge over the top ensuring a smooth finish.

4. (Optional) Paint a desired image on top of your pages once the podge has dried completely.

Bits and pieces of mosaic

My first mosaic I did was done in high school, a project I loved and thought I had a knack for, but never did again... until last year. When I was pregnant I was forever inspired by anything and everything I saw. I had tons of projects planned in my head that I wanted to do but didn't know when, where or how to start and like my usual self I was procrastinating, until I walked into a tile shop. Joy! I knew where to start.

 My crazy cool little family and I live in a small town where I don't have much choice of tiles. So with a small budget and a small variety of tiles to choose from I came up with this- my first mosaic since school days.

Then came Cape Town... I had found my mosaic rapture. I happened to stumble across Mosaic Works, a shop with everything a mosaic artist could ask for. I ended up spending 2 hours walking around the store ooohing over all the beautiful ceramics and tiles not knowing what to buy. I was there so long I even had to use their office to breastfeed my 2 month old baby! So hours later and my purse hurting I walked out of there with 3 boxes full of goodies! Below are some of the works that came out of all the wonderful tiles I bought.

Bem Vindo

This is my very first post- YAY! Welcome to my blog where, over the next who knows how long, I'll be sharing with you my artwork, crafts, recipe's, all my trials and errors in different things and thereby hopefully putting some inspiration into you too, to get your creative juices flowing.

I will be trying my very best to post as often as I can, and am hoping that by starting this blog I'll be more motivated to get into my art rather than procrastinating like I tend to do.

I am wanting not only to share my work with you but also wanting to get feed back from you. Tell me what inspires you, what feelings my work brings to you and what you'd like to see on my blog. Lets do this together.