Time for a new blog...

I'm no longer running my craft business Polka Dot Rabbit, haven't been for some time, and after a long hiatus, I've decided to do some blogging again.

You can read my new blog, Consuming Cate over at http://consumingcate.blogspot.com/.

What will I talk/write about:

• Daily happenings and a few pics
• new recipes, with an emphasis on plant based recipes
• Travelling
• The process of writing a novel
• New workshops and creative projects.

Maybe you'd like to join me? 

Brunswick Artists Society, Sydney Road Brunswick

I was starving hungry on Saturday morning after a busy appointment and not a minute to breakfast or even take my pills so after shopping for groceries for Sunday's brunch, I popped into the Brunswick Artists Society for breakfast. Formerly known as Red Butterfly, a cafe which I always considered a bit daggy (in a good way) it's now stripped back to basics with exposed wood and bricks, sanded back tables and large glass food cabinets. Much more aesthetically pleasing. I'm not sure how much of the food is made on site but the cabinets were full with various lasagnes, frittatta, salads, gourmet filled rolls and cakes. Not much for vegans but there were a few vegetarian options.

I took a seat and looked at the breakfast menu. The menu was nicely laid out attached to a wooden block. Nothing outstanding except perhaps the beetroot relish which I love as I like to make my own. I sat waiting for someone to take my order (there were no signs to suggest otherwise) but despite looking hungry, no one came near me. I popped up to the counter and order. Confusing. Surely an attached menu on each table suggests table service? Having a sugar craving, I opted for french toast, the only way I eat eggs and the kind of food I eat perhaps once every few months and a long black with cold milk. Considering only two other tables were occupied, the coffee took ages. The women behind the counter seemed more interested in adjusting their hair and rattling coffee beans. But the coffee was nice, I had two cups.

The french toast was a bit of a shock. Described as hearty french bread dipped in egg milk and fried until golden with a topping of maple syrup yogurt and apricots I was bemused to receive two very thin fried slices of bread, topped with cold runny unsweetened yogurt with perhaps a half teaspoon of maple syrup and three half canned apricots. Far from great, especially as it didn't appease my sugar craving. Considering I live five minutes away, I could have done better myself! Next time I'll stick to Jellystone Park cafe.

-And in regard to the name of the cafe, I heard the owner telling someone they are planning on running an art space out the back in the future. Hope it goes well.

Brunswick Artists Society
669 Sydney Road
Brunswick

Things I like today

I think this chair is rather lovely, such beautiful fabric!



Rather enjoyed this article on seasonal eating out of season? (I spied chocolate eggs in the shops on Boxing Day). What's your view? ps-keen to make my own hot cross buns again this Easter!




I'm keen to give these vegan potato tacos a try...with plenty of chilli sauce! Avocados are cheap at the moment, and it's also great to find new soy free recipes.


Wonderful embroidery!

Hope everyone in Melbourne is enjoying the cooler weather today!

Things I like today

I'm quite intrigued by this recipe for pickled nasturtium pods!

I actually think these Christmas decoration would be great any time of year!




Insanely cute tattoo of a Gemma Correll illustration, surely the ultimate flattery!



In respect to yesterday's welcome chilly weather here in Melbourne, I whipped up a batch of scones. I'm most definitely a cool weather person!


I'm quite taken with this bag

Christmas gifts from the kitchen

I love making people gifts and this years I was keen to make my gifts homemade. I didn't have much time for crafting unfortunately so I decided to make some goodies from the kitchen.

Reasons I like making gifts:

• No shopping at horrid shopping centres full of piped Christmas music, just a trip to the grocer and spice market
• I can make rather than shop
• I enjoy cooking
• It's usually cheaper to make than buy (especially if fruit is acquired through gleaning)
  
• It's always lovely to receive something handmade
• My collection of jars (and those hoarded by others) are of good use!
  

Here's a series of recipes that I made, complete with a few pics!

Apricot lavender jam





Ingredients

• About 2o fresh apricots
• 1/2 cup water
  
• 3 cups sugar
• 1 tablespoon lavender flowers
  
• freshly-squeezed lemon juice ( I used the juice of half a lemon)

Directions

1. Cut the apricots in half, extract the pits and discard (no need to peel them).
   
2. Place the apricots in a large stockpot with water, sugar, lemon juice and lavender flowers
   
3. Cover the pot and cook, stirring occasionally until the apricots are cooked into oblivion.
4. As the mixture thickens and reduces, check the hot jam frequently and stir just to make sure it isn’t scorching.
5. Several sources suggest placing small saucer in the freezer. When the jam looks thick and is looks slightly-jelled, turn off the heat and put a small amount of jam on the chilled plate. Put back in the freezer for a few minutes, then do the gel test: If the jam mounds, it’s done. If not, continue to cook, then re-test the jam until it reaches a thin jam texture.
   
6. Once done, ladle the jam into clean jars.

Dukkah


Dukkah is a wonderful middle eastern spice mix that is ridiculously easy to make. It's traditionally served with olive oil and flat bread but also can be added to curries, salads, meat dishes etc. The ingredients list is quite forgiving, open to a variety of culinary substitutes in regard to the type of nuts and spices. We live near a fabulous middle eastern spice grocer and it's fantastic to go and buy loads of different spices, herbs and other dry goods. Here's the recipe I like to use:

Ingredients

• 1 cup almonds
• 1/4 cup coriander seeds 3 tablespoons sesame seeds
• 1/4 cup tablespoons cumin seeds
• 1 tablespoon black peppercorns
• 1 teaspoon salt

1. Heat a non stick pan over high heat, add the nuts, and dry-toast until slightly browned and fragrant, being careful that they don't burn. Remove from the heat and cool completely.
   
2. Repeat the procedure with each of the seeds and the peppercorns. Allow each of them to cool completely.
3. Place the nuts and seeds, along with the salt into a blender and pulse until broken down but not until it becomes a paste.
   

Store in an airtight container in a cool place .

Capsicum chutney

Ingredients

• 3 large Granny Smith apples
• 6 capsicum (red or green is fine)
  
• 1 onion
• 115g raisins
  
• 115g fresh or dried dates
• ½ tspn mustard seed
  
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup white vinegar (I used brown which was fine)
• 2 gloves garlic
• chillies to taste
  

1. Mince apples, capsicum, onions and garlic.
2. Add remaining ingredients and boil on a low heat for 4o mins until thick
3. Spoon carefully into sterilised jars.

And well. as for the tomato sauce, I can't go past Pip's Nanna's awesome recipe! You can find it over here






photo of tomato sauce and chutney, all ready to be labelled

What have I been up to?

This year for the first time in several years, I am not doing any christmas crafty markets. Basically I was overseas when the call went out and I missed it completely! I'm quite annoyed with myself!

What I'm watching:

The Hour

and



We Need to Talk about Kevin (I preferred the book, predictably)

What I'm reading:


The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen
Live to Tell by Lisa Gardiner


Things I'm busy organising:



Green Renters Garage sale/pop up shop (date TBC) and our Sustainable Christmas event. If you're in Melbourne, I'd love to see you at both, all funds go towards our work at our little not for profit.

I went camping on the weekend and there was so much mud! But it was great to have an enforced technology break for a few days!

I'm also busy making comic wallets, working on a very special embroidery project for the new year and enjoying lots of (cheap cleanskin) red wine whilst I impatiently wait for the veggie patch to grow! I've attempted to make my beloved hydrangeas turn blue (with limited success) and I have a veggie pie in the oven right now.

So yeah, life is pretty good.

Things I like today

Such a gorgeous collage!
Who doesn't love a spotty raincoat?

Such a lovely platter!


Extremely cute baking cases

PS-I forgot to tell you that I've signed up for Blogtoberfest! You too can sign up over here

Holidays: Beijing-part one

Beijing is a fascinating place. It's more urban than we found Shanghai, yet is still a combination of modern technology and rural basics. Add millions of people, building sites everywhere and massive parks with grass you aren't allowed to sit on and you'll see it's a place full of interesting contradictions.

Our flight to Beijing was literally sickening in that it was woefully hot on the plane and constantly turbulent. Quite challenging and I was extremely glad to depart the plane!
We stayed in the suburbs which gives a great insight into local life outside of the tourist precincts. The area included massive apartment buildings of over 2000 apartments per building and a communal park area.


Our host grew her own vegetables in pots in the window, a great idea!

Modern phones in Beijing


Eating out in Beijing was certainly a challenge. Our greatest successes with veggie food were when we had our hosts with us, otherwise we'd point at a vegetarian dish on a menu and they'd come back with beef noodle soup! I found very few people speak English (fair enough too) which made daily transactions quite exhausting. Pointing, smiling and please and thankyou only get you so far. The dish above was a cold tofu and vegetable dish which was delicious. In general, most vegetable dishes were cold salads or sides rather than a meal in their own right, assuming you could decipher the pictures and chinese characters on menus.

In general, the Chinese food (which differs from region to region) bore little resemblance to what we eat in Australia bar the rice. Meals were often bland or heavily oily which sides of chilli oil and vinegar, no soy sauce in sight. Tofu was typically used only a thickener and served with something else, goose pate anyone? Alcohol at most places was limited to Chinese beer so I had to stock up on Chinese spirits which tasted similar Jaegermeister. The chronic heat meant I was dying for a gin and tonic to no avail hehe.

We did visit a middle eastern restaurant which had a bizarre fusion of Chinese and Middle eastern food. Delicious bread! There were also plenty of roadside bbq carts with omelettes, sausages and the like in the morning, (ahh the joys of not eating eggs either)!

As always, I struggled with the guilt and shame of not speaking the language. I feel embarrassed that I do not learn languages easily.

I found Beijing less frenetic than Shanghai, roads had traffic lights and pedestrian crossings and there was generally signage. Public toilets were amusing, taps and soap (where available) would be operated by a sensor motion yet all the toilets were squat toilets. Somewhat precarious after drinking lots of rice wine and spirits! It was odd, I saw very few western women walking around alone and it was a challenge being stared at and talked about constantly, we even had people taking our photos at some of the tourists site as they are visited by all kinds of people, some of which may never have seen an anglo person in the flesh.

I'll write about some sights and such in my next post...

Things I like today

Love the wall hanging and the hankies!

This is another room from their house that I love

How good does this recipe of Mushrooms Bourguinon look? Yummy! If you're in a cooking mood, I recently also made pear crumble and bean loaf!

The work of photographer Julia Hoersch as featured here

How I adore the work of Misako Mimoko!

Cute Jan Goeting pic from here

Things I like today

hahah this made me laugh

Beautiful picture of jewellery designer Michelle Jank by The Sartorialist


Great idea! Gotta make these one day

I've been getting patchwork cravings lately. This is just lovely.

This is clever hey?

Things I like today

I think I might make this over easter, being the time for chocolate and all. Wonder what fruit would work well instead of bananas?

Chicken or egg?
I love cloche hats to the extreme

Hand embroidered badges, a great gift for any embroidery lovers, just $4 each from here

What a simply stunning window and view!

Things I like today

I love this pic of Jeanne Moreau and Henri Serre riding bicycles. Sadly, Australian photos with our compulsory helmets never look as carefree!

Something about this picture really appeals to me...from here


What a stunning entrance of books!


Cute robot cake via Swiss Miss


Apricot jam made by me! We're having a garage sale fundraiser here to raise money for the RSPCA in Queensland. Lots of books, cds, clothing, magazines and of course, apricot jam! We'd love you to come along on Saturday if you're in Melbourne. You can find out more by going here