Pear & Apple Crumble with Vanilla Bean & Elderflower Icecream

After a few of Sydney's warmest July days since 1928, the weather has turned chilli once again. And what better way is there to warm up than with a yummy crumble for dessert.

I had a few overripe pears that needed to be used, so after a google search for pear crumble I based my recipe on this one.

For the stewed fruit:
2 Granny Smith apples
3 pears (not sure of the variety but they were very sweet)
250ml water
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 tsp cinnamon (I used ground)
100g brown sugar

Combine all but fruit. Simmer until slightly syrupy (about 8min). Add fruit and simmer until slightly tender. Drain and put the stewed fruit in a pie dish with a little of the syrup.

For the crumble:
80g unsalted butter
120g plain flour
80g brown sugar
40g rolled oats
65g walnuts, coarsely chopped
1tsp cinnamon
1tsp baking powder

Preheat oven at 180*C. Combine butter and flour with your fingers to make 'crumbs'. Add all other ingredients and mix.

Top fruit with the crumb mix and bake until golden brown (about 25min).

I served the crumble warm with Maggie Beer's vanilla been and elderflower ice cream. It was the perfect accompaniment to the crumble. Along with ginger, lemongrass and rosella tea :)

I hope you are all finding tasty ways to stay warm this winter. 

Luv Neen x

Op Shop Tieke Tour

I love days that take you places you didn't plan and that's what happened to me today. I woke up planning to do uni study and perhaps a bit of house work. Instead I ended up in the car on a 'tieke' tour of op shops around the northern beaches suburbs of Sydney.

Op shops in this area can be rather expensive ... especially once you reach Narrabeen. So instead we stayed south and explored Manly, Balgowlah and Forrestville ... and found some bargains :)

This beautiful crochet doily was in Manly with a price tag of $5. 

$5!! I couldn't believe my eyes. It would cost a lot more just for the cotton, not to mention the time it takes to make such an amazing piece. It reminded me of doilies my grandmother made. She favoured the 'pineapple' design.

While searching the op shops, John and I head straight for the crockery section first. For a while now I have been wanting to make up an 'odd' dinner set of random plates ... I was thinking of having flowers as the common feature as I inherited a few pretty china violet plates from my grandmother. While I love them, John is not keen on a full set of china plates :)

However ever since being introduced to the vintage Johnson of Australia stoneware by Zara I have started to collect them. And the bonus is they appeals to both John and myself. While we have found a few random plates in our search, today we struck gold!

An 'almost' complete set of Johnson of Australia.

It is a huge frill when you are looking for something specific and find it. It is an even bigger frill to find it at a bargain price! Turns out this little op shop in Forrestville was having a 50% off sale! So we bought this lovely collection for 60 cents a piece :)

Naturally I put it to use straight away. I swear dinner has never tasted better :

Luv Neen 

Minnie's Lemon Butter

In the backyard of the old country house, where I stayed (and worked) during my holidays, grew a large lemon tree, whose branches were loaded with lovely juicy lemons :) Naturally I came home with a bucket full so had to look around for ways to preserve them.

My grandmother, Minnie, was celebrated for making lemon butter (especially by my father who loves the stuff). So I looked through her old recipe book and came across this recipe. 

With the internet providing conversions from pounds, ounces and fluid ounces (fluid ounces???), I filled up Minnie's double saucepan and produced 4 jars of lemon butter. 

I call it lemon butter but it is also known as lemon curd and is apparently good on toast, in tarts, and how about a lemon pie?? While I was never a fan of lemon butter as a kid, I might just be converted with this sweet tasting jar of sunshine :)

Luv Neen x

Holiday snap shots

Here is a bit of what I've been up to on my two weeks off work ...

Photos 1&3 - house renovations in the country

Photo 2 - putting a bucket full of lemons to good use

Photo 4 - crochet cookies and wallpaper envelopes

Luv Neen