On Friday night, I sat down at the dining room table and wired up crystal angels.
Over the years, I’ve made hundreds of these, and being able to create something with my hands always soothes my soul. Some of these vintage Swarovski stones date from as early as 1935. It had been a long week, and I needed the time out…
Big Boy, bless his heart, saw what I was doing and offered to cook dinner. He made a completely delicious tuna and lemon pasta, which looked almost exactly like this (I didn’t take a photo). It was an excellent start to the weekend…
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On Saturday morning, the lovely Ella Dee, her hubby the Gorgeous One, and I went to Eveleigh Markets to visit Beth from Burrawong Gaian. This high end producer of pasture raised poultry was having its first stall at the markets, and ED and I were keen to meet Beth in person. Needless to say, she was every bit as gorgeous as we’d expected…
Burrawong Gaian were offering poussins, poultry pieces, as well as confit duck rillettes and an assortment of homemade pâtés. I bought a bag of pasture raised chicken wings and four duck marylands…
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At the markets, I had a great conversation with the folks from Olsson’s Salts.
It always surprises me how many people don’t know about Olsson’s. They’re Australia’s oldest family owned salt producer and their sea salt is harvested via solar evaporation from the Great Australian Bight and (I think) far north Queensland.
Most of the salt I use in cooking and bread baking is made by Olsson’s – I buy it in 1kg bags from Chinese grocers for just $2. That’s a ridiculously cheap price compared to most imported salts. For some reason, they’re not available in the big supermarkets, although the lovely lady at the markets did tell me that Olsson’s are the producers behind Aldi’s homebrand salt.
I particularly like their Pure Cooking Sea Salt because, unlike many table salts, it doesn’t contain any anti-caking agents…
To support them, and because it tasted delicious, I bought a bag of their macrobiotic sea salt ($7). We’ll use it as table salt…
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Another superb Eveleigh find – a charming bearded hipster sold me this bottle of Serious Deliria cold brewed coffee concentrate. It’s incredibly smooth – the cold processing over 12- 20 hours greatly reduces the acidity in the finished product. It also concentrates the caffeine, which means I can only have tiny sips of it.
Big Boy and Monkey Girl however, are all over this. It makes the best ice coffee ever…
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After my morning visit to Eveleigh, Pete and I raced out to Annandale to check out the biannual Artisan craft market. There I finally met the irrepressible Valentina Jones and her adorable hubby Peter (we’ve followed each other on social media for some time now). We took this photo just for you, Jaqi…
Val is a graphic designer and ceramic artist. Here are a few of her quirky, extremely appealing cake stands…
I came home with a couple of her vintage china pendants – I love it when upcycling is done so well…
A few more pics from the Artisan markets…
I took this photo as we left, which was nearly at closing time. When we arrived an hour earlier, the place was packed…
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For dinner on Saturday night, we ate Beth’s chicken wings in a chipotle chilli barbecue sauce…
Earlier that afternoon, I’d been given a fior di latte (fresh mozzarella) ball by my friend Dotti at the Paesanella cheese shop. It was approaching its expiry date, so I used it to make Nagi’s crack bread…
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On Sunday morning, I had my usual quiet potter in the kitchen.
I experimented with baking my sourdough loaf upside down (seam side up) rather than slashing it, to allow it to burst naturally. I was quite happy with the result…
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Pete and I then popped into the Brewery Yard Markets in Central Park. The weather wasn’t particularly welcoming, and by the time we arrived it was raining quite steadily. They were fun markets to visit though – our steampunk jewellery friends from Times Flys were there, along with another twenty or so speciality stalls.
I thought these wrapped hanging succulent balls were great fun. Hilary from Tiny Paradise teaches classes in making them if anyone is interested (her IG feed is @tiny.paradise)…
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Hope you all had a brilliant weekend as well! ♥
Fig Jam and Lime Cordial 
That pasta looks amazing…and the bread I am drooling!
Evie loves the little angels too, so pretty!
Thanks Lori! I love making them! :)
What a busy weekend! We still have most of Sunday yet to go. Rooting for Jason Day. What a performance yesterday. I have suffered from vertigo in the past, and I know how difficult it can be just to walk across the room, never mind playing championship golf. Hope he wins. He is already a champion in my books.
Mo, how did he go? I don’t follow golf, but it’s nice to have an Aussie out there with the best of them! :)
Oh, Celia! You have done it again, overloaded my mind with lovely food and craft ideas…I am going to call my friend over to read your blog and get inspired. Wonderful writing and pics, as always. Thank you.
Hahaha…sorry Joanne! Thank you for taking the time to read! :)
What a nice picture of Ella Dee. Now I have a face when I read her blog. Thank you.
No no, that’s not ED, that’s Beth! :) Ella Dee is camera shy! But she’s extremely gorgeous too!
Wonderful photos! Thanks, C! We are preparing for Father’s Day brunch here. I’ve got two loaves of sourdough ready to go in the pots, a regular and a dried cherry and dark chocolate (per request of my niece.) I love my little crystal angel. Big hugs, Maz.
Maz, dried cherry and dark chocolate loaf!!! How did it go?
PS I’m a doof. I wrote a In My Kitchen post for June and forgot to tell you. http://thetoymakersjournal.blogspot.com/2015/06/in-my-kitchen-for-june.html
Yay Bread!
What intresting markets you have there. If I ever get to Sydney for a visit, the markets will be a must visit on my itinerary! Lol! I find the variety very appealing. I love visiting farmer’s markets. Lol!
Love your post…from the angels to the delicious pasta to the bread and the hanging balls. Which reminds me, I have to try making cracked bread. Your seam side up bread looks quite nice.
We were visiting yesterday. Relaxing today.
Enjoy your week!
Manuela, you have to plan to come for an entire month, because most of the markets are only on weekends! :)
FUN FUN FUN….thank you.
Thank YOU for reading! :)
The loaf looks fab! I think that market would have cost me….?!!
You know, hon, I didn’t get a heap at the Artisan market, but I reckon you’d do some damage on Juan’s steampunk jewellery stall.. :)
Me too!!! ;)
Wow what a great weekend – you packed in so many wonderful things! I love the markets you visit and it’s wonderful to support all these local, talented folk. Your angels are beautiful…I hope they’re all watching over us right now! I know what you mean about finding activities such as this restful – I am making yet another patchwork quilt by hand…all beautiful summer flowers and colours. Big Man calls it my “mind breaker” …sorry, the expression doesn’t translate well from Spanish – but it allows me to disconnect while creating something lovely! Just taken another “Herculean” loaf out the oven…ooh the house smells good so it’s bread and cheese and salad tonight as we went out for lunch with my parents for Father’s Day :)
It’s “meditative”, T – I reckon hat’s the translation for “mind breaker”! :) SO happy Hercules survived and is behaving well!
We had a most eventful “weekend”. It started on Thursday with a tree on our property falling over the power lines. We spent the day from 12 oclock lunchtime till 8.30pm without power. We had a ball! We made a huge vat of soup on Brunhilda and I made bread to go with it. We had candles and softened the bases in hot water before we stuck them into old wine and beer bottles. I had found a Matteus round rose bottle left on an outdoor picnic table on one of our dog walks that I took home that looked particularly fetching adorned with a candle. We played snap and go fish because they were all we could remember how to play! We were almost sad when the power came back on…almost…the rest of the weekend was spent raking leaves for our elderly next door neighbour and working through studies. We did make 2 most excellent chocolate cakes yesterday and Saturday night was pizza and stromboli making night so I guess we did have a rather eventful and enjoyable weekend. LOVE your weekend. Your angels are lovely Ms Celia :)
Fran, that WAS an eventful weekend! You really do know how to make the best of any situation!! I love the image of the candle in a Matteus bottle – aahh, the eighties, how we all miss them..hahaha
What a fun weekend! I love all the fun items and vendors you find at the markets. That is something I miss living in a small city. I love,the,look of the loaf seam side up, I may have to give that a try. I’ve spent my weekend driving back home, unpacking, doing laundry, picking the first tomatoes in the garden and getting settled in back home. Now it’s time to start preparing Father’s Day dinner, a bed of pesto zucchini with salmon on top. Summer is great for the fresh basil and zucchini right out my door, I waited all winter for this!
Gretchen, I baked the loaf upside down inside my enamel roaster – it worked well, and looked a bit like (or so I’m told) a fossil. :) Hope Father’s Day was fabulous!
Jealous muchly of all your beautiful city markets!
We’re very lucky to have so many to visit!
We certainly had the best of the weather on Saturday. We really enjoyed wandering the markets with you, and I would have missed out on the salt had you not stopped to chat. I slow cooked the duck Marylands last night and OMG they were the best ever. My angel is wonderful, and brightens up my phone case :)
Super duper time, lovely lady, thank you!! I froze my Marylands, but I think they’ll make an appearance towards the end of the week!
Well done, Big Boy. Such a sweet and generous thing to do for his mum. The earrings are precious, by the way.
Misky, he’s a treasure. Thank you for noticing how lovely he is. :)
So much good stuff Celia, so much fun! Love those succulent balls and that coffee concentrate looks like the business x
Jane, the coffee concentrate has given me heart palps, so I’m going to stop drinking it..yes, I really am..but it’s soooo delicious… :)
You’ll need a weeks’ holiday to recover from your weekend. Hope it all goes smoothly for you.
Thanks A! I’m so pleased the lemons in the dishwasher worked!! :)
What a lovely weekend Celia. Looks like Big Boy is shaping up to be an excellent cook – handy to have some time off in the kitchen. The carbonara looks tasty. The fior di latte stuffed bread also looks very appealing.
I’m now on the hunt for Olson’s sea salt in Melbourne.
Fra, in Sydney, the Olsson’s cooking salt only seems to be available in the Chinese grocers. It’s extremely reasonably priced and I use it all the time!
I’ve had a hectic weekend, so am mildly pleased that Monday is here and all I have to do is take the dog to the vet and think about dinner!
I do love those ceramic pendants! I’m a big fan of blue and the Willow pattern china.
Amanda, I think the pendants are very reasonably priced – there are more on Val’s FB page (link is in the post).
love your posts, I always learn something (e.g. Olson’s Sea Salt at Aldi).
Hooray! I haven’t bought it from there, but I’m going to have a look next time I’m in Aldi too.
Celia, you are amazing. I usually add exclamation points to many of my phrases, maybe over-using them, so I wanted to keep this very straightforward. You are amazing.
You have my admiration and awe forever.
now, I should also add that The Handsome Stud got a little jealous knowing that there is a Gorgeous One around. ;-)
Honeybun, the Gorgeous One is ED’s name for her hubby. The Handsome Stud is my name for your hubby. Subtle difference, but he definitely shouldn’t be jealous…hahaha…
You should see the smile on The Handsome Stud’s face right now… like a young kid who got his best toy back
(sigh)
Phil is so funny… when he sees me browsing the net, he often comes behind my back and asks “what is Celia up to these days?”
I should smack him upside the head… ;-)
You have been busy with the arts and crafts. I also find making things with my hands very therapeutic. The chicken wings look good and what a wonderful son you have to see you’re busy and then go and make dinner xx
Charlie, thank you, yes he is fabulous. He was also kind enough not to make too much of a mess, so cleaning up afterwards was easy! :)
That sounds like a fun weekend Celia. I didn’t know about Olsson’s so thanks for telling us, I shall hunt this down. I was really annoyed to buy what I thought was Australian salt recently and then find it was “made from Australian and imported ingredients”.
I knit for therapy, which reminds me, do you need a cloth refreshment?
Rose, is it inappropriate to beg? Yes PLEASE – I use your dishcloths every day and they’re the best thing ever. Can I please pay you for them? x
Celia my dear I am delighted that you use them every day and thank you but no you may not pay for them. The very idea!
Seriously — it’s my pleasure.
Thank you SO much. Maybe I should send you the Bendigo Mill cotton.. :) Or something. I’ll think of something. x
Small simple things put nose to tail oft form the most wonderful times of all – glad you had such a ‘relaxing’ weekend! *smile* Glad you met up with Ella: remember her wedding photos up north . . . and our only seeing the couple’s backs whilst cheering them on!! Oh . . . and just love that photo of you!!
Thanks Eha! ED is wonderful and the Gorgeous One is…well, gorgeous. :)
What a joyous weekend! Off to a great start with dinner cooked by your lovely boy :-) I’m so glad you and lovely Valentina Jones have connected. The photo is so cheeky and fun. Love it! I will definitely be on the lookout for Olssons sea salt. Thanks for the tip! :-)
Jaqi, she’s the bee’s knees, thank you for connecting us! Looking forward to catching up soon!
Those crystal angels look absolutely beautiful; happy to hear of your joyous weekend.
Thank you! :)
Absolutely loving your angels, b/b’s delish looking pasta, the markets & the crack bread has me craving : /’
Heather, the crack bread is easy to make and ludicrously popular – I take it to parties.. :)
Well what a lovely weekend that was! I have resisted the crack bread because, you know, who needs more fat in their diet? But I wouldn’t say no to making it if there was spare mozzarella going begging (just in case any Brisbane cheese vendors are reading).
Hahaha…well, yes, I didn’t think about the fat bit. Probably should have. But hate to waste, you know.. :)
What a wonderful weekend Celia, I love browsing through markets too, and great to know how cheap that great salt is – I’ll have to keep an eye out.
Beck, the salt is great, but ironic that you can only buy it in Chinese grocery stores. Not sure how the big supermarkets work, but it must be hard for smaller producers to get in the door!
Yes, I think they put a lot of barriers in place…
your weekend put a smile on my face :)…..I wanted to also just pop in and say a HUGE thank you for your overnight sour dough recipe…I made 2 loaves on Sunday and they were ah-mazingly great!!!!! I’ve thoroughly enjoyed reading your bread section and totally appreciate all the work you have put in to put it all into posts – so thank you, thank you, thank you :) xxxxx
Jan, thank YOU for letting me know that! How fabulous! I’m so glad it worked well for you!!
I’m hungry after reading this post!!! Let me get this right – did your son whip up dinner???
Mimi, I know. He’s a star. He whipped up dinner – without being asked!!
Thought my dates were out of whack for a bit and I’d missed IMK! How delightful your weekend sounds. So many interesting and unusual things you seem to stumble across or have networks for. Are they doilies on Val’s dress or is it fabric printed to look like crockery? Have to have a crack at that crack bread! Did you use the Falcon enamel roaster for the ‘Forkish style eruption’ (seam side up) loaf? Looks great :)
Maree, I think they’re china plates. Aren’t they fabulous? I must ask her if that’s her special market dress. :) And yes, I stuck my upside down loaf inside the enamel roaster as I would for a right side up loaf. It worked a treat! :)
Your angels are beautiful! I think it’s wonderful that you nurture your need to create.
That bread baked upside down is gorgeous. I admit that I wondered about doing that one day and convinced myself that I was nuts as it was against the rules. So I slashed instead.
I wish we had wonderful markets like these.
Now hon, when did you ever follow the rules? :)
I love your angels Celia. Isn’t it wonderful to just relax and create something special?
I don’t know if you live in the most wonderful area in the world for fabulous shops or if you just have a knack for finding them but I am so jealous of all the great places you find to shop in. I love smaller shops.
Diane, it’s such a rewarding thing to see things we’ve made with our hands. I know you understand that! (I told Pete about all the vases you made for the wedding!)
That was a project that I really loved doing. I thought about doing a how to post on that but it’s just so easy it would be a very short post.
Hi Celia
It’s Saturday morning here, and after reading your post about weekend markets in Sydney, I’m wishing I could spend some of my Saturday and Sunday visiting some of the spots you have described.
I wonder if you have heard of, or visited Hugonettes- a small recently opened creperie in Kings Cross? It’s owned and run by Hugo, a young Frenchman,and his wife Camille. Both Hugo and his older brother spent some time with us as young teenagers, and our son spent an exciting Christmas with their family outside Cannes when he was 12, learning to eat snails amongst other things!
So although I haven’t seen Hugo for many years, I’m excited about his new adventure, and would love for it to be hugely successful.
Enjoy the rest of your weekend,
Gill
Gill, it sounds fabulous! I hope it goes well for them! :)
Hi Celia, I have been following you for a while and I absolutely love your positive attitude towards everything. I originally was looking for gluten free bread when i came across you but reading your blogs for over 2 years now has made me realise that I aspire to your attitude towards life. Thank you for being so inspiring. I truly mean it.