Monthly Update #1: January

Another new series here we go.

2018 has gotten off to a seriously busy start - I really cannot believe that it is February already!!

We welcomed in the new year in Victoria, at a music festival with a group of friends.  The whole festival was small (ish) and intimate, and just generally had lots of happy vibes.  We (Mack and I) taught a dragonstaff workshop there, which was a lot of fun.  The whole weekend was really hot (I got so sunburnt), but I had a really beautiful time with a lot of really beautiful people.

We arrived home after the festival, looking forward to a super chilled out and quiet January... only to receive a call from a friend asking us to work at their festival working on the site decor.  There will be a blog on this after the event so I won't say much on that now, but it meant that January turned into a crazy month!!

That weekend after new year, we headed up to Capertee Valley to do a bit of recon for the festival.  It has to be the hottest weekend ever!!!  We spent the afternoon in the pool on the property, and successfully organised everything in between trying to cool down.  By the time we got back home that Sunday, our house was pushing 50 degrees - insane.

In between all of the crafting and building we now have to do, I found time to attend a really gorgeous backyard wedding in the Blue Mountains.  Congratulations Jess and Josh :)

The sign I made for the happy couple.

The Australia Day long weekend saw us heading down to Melbourne again, this time to see Brain Candy Live.  What an amazing show that was.  Adam Savage (Mythbusters) teamed up with Michael Stevens (v sauce), with front row seats.  Really educational, really funny and such a great experience.  We met them both after the show, and they are both just so smart and funny.  It would be great to be able to sit down with them and just talk about random things - I imagine they are very very similar to Mack!

Our roadtrip home from Melbourne (yes we chose to drive... again... there will be a number of blogs on this in the coming months!) was just beautiful.  We selected the back roads, and adventured back to the border the long way.  Totally worth the time it took - the highway for 8 hours is just so boring.

We began in a whisky bar we found just outside a town called Yea.

We found a spectacular lookout point, on a random side road we decided to take a detour down.

Met the world's smallest puppy, that was so young it didn't even have a name yet.

Realised that we had taken probably the most gorgeous, but also the longest possible route back to Sydney, and headed out onto the highway to finish the second half more quickly!

I then rounded out the weekend, with a Foo Fighters concert with my dad and sister!  I have never seen them before, and they are just incredible!

And that's it!  One crazy start to the year.  Super great though, with lots of exciting things to come.

See you next month for the February update.
Hx

Cook with Hannah: Lemon Curd.

Happy New Year! :)

Thought I would kick off the new year with a new look and new name on this page.

It then only makes sense to make 2018's first blog an oldie, but a goodie.

My lemon curd recipe!

This was posted my my dessert blog a looooong time ago, but here it is again.

You can still find my dessert recipes here. :)

My lemon curd doesn't have water in it [I do have another one with water in it, but it uses cornflour to help thicken it... this one is more OK for lemon tarts to help their shelf life.. the following recipe is more flexible], and I don't use a double boiler.  A double boiler takes a little [OK, a lot] longer to make lemon curd, but it requires much less attention, and is less likely to split or burn [hence why most recipes call for it].

You start by whisking eggs, yolks and sugar together in a pan, over a very low heat.

Actually, you start by juicing and zesting the lemons, and then start heating the egg mix.

Once the sugar has dissolved, add the lemons, and butter and stir. A lot.

At this point, I'm going to add a a little tip ... don't preheat the pan before putting the eggs in. Apparently it creates some kind of weird egg yolk omelette. :)

So you stir.  And stir.  And stir. 

Until the mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.

If you do it straight in the pan, like me, make sure you stir right to the bottom to ensure it doesn't burn.

If you want a super smooth lemon curd, strain it to remove the zest [you can leave it in.. to be honest it's nice either way].

And that's it - the totally addictive guilty pleasure, I call lemon curd.

Lemon Curd.

Makes about 280-300g.. if you are making a pie, I would double/triple this [depending on the size]

Ingredients:

2 eggs, plus 2 yolks

165g caster sugar

80g unsalted butter

zest and juice of 2 - 3 lemons [how lemony do you want it?]

Method:

Step 1: zest and juice lemons into a bowl

Step 2: put eggs, yolks and sugar into a pan, mix together, and heat on a really low heat until sugar dissolves

Step 3: add lemon juice and zest, and butter, and stir continuously until thickened [until it coats the back of a spoon]

Step 4: strain if desired

Step 5: refrigerate until required

And that's it.  Make a lemon meringue pie, a zesty lemon tart, or simply just eat it all with a spoon!

Until next time.

Hx