It’s beginning to feel very festive at our place!
The Christmas Elves have set up the tree – as always, Small Man dragged the tree up from under the house, assembled it, then added all the lights, before asking Big Boy and his girlfriend Monkey Girl to help him with the decorations. I think they did a wonderful job!
I’ve pulled out my Christmas sunnies…
…and paired them this year with red Indian happy pants. Yes, I went walking in this outfit. If elastic waisted, hand printed cotton pants are your thing, I can highly recommend buying them from Parvez on Ebay. He’s been excellent to deal with and ships directly (for free!) from Jaipur, but you need to buy ten pairs at a time (I gave five away as early Christmas presents). Here’s the link.
My Chatbooks have arrived and they’re awesome.
Edit: I’ve discovered that as an existing customer, I can give you a referral link. If you use it, you’ll get your first book free and I’ll get a $5 credit! Here’s the link.
I made two Christmas cakes and gave one to my mum…
This year’s Christmas spirit is Drambuie 15, made with aged malt whisky…
…and a batch of homemade Chivas Regal irish cream (or “Mummy’s Little Helper”, as my girlfriends call it…)
Last week, chef Steve Manfredi offered me some of his gorgeous stone ground Italian flour to bake with. Molino Quaglia Petra flours are the secret behind the amazing pizzas being produced at his restaurant Pizzaperta at The Star Sydney. The Petra 3 is stone ground and wholemeal…
I took him a furoshiki full of cime di rapa and purslane from our garden as a thank you…
The flour was sheer joy to work with, producing a bouncy, pillowy dough that baked to perfection…
I’ve always found local stone ground flours heavy and unresponsive, but the Petra loaf was light and crispy with an elastic, open crumb. Thanks Steve! ♥
Speaking of bread…I’ve been baking like a madwoman.
Yesterday, I had three batches on the bench before 9am. The baguettes were straight from Emilie’s book, and the chocolate sourdough was a variation of her recipe as well, with two types of Belgian chocolate and added cacao nibs…
The three loaves at the top left are filled with walnuts and Lebanese fig paste. If you’re a bread baker, the paste is well worth seeking out (you should be able to get it at Arabic grocers). Each jar has a mountain of figs, sesame seeds and a hint of anise, and it works brilliantly in a filled focaccia or walnut loaf. Good for just eating with cheese as well.
The 800g jars at Harkola were just $5.50 – my preferred brand is the Salloum Bros. one on the left. Here’s the formula I used for my three loaves:
- 100g bubbly starter
- 1kg bread/bakers’ flour
- 200g walnut halves
- 200g Lebanese fig paste
- 750g water
- 18g fine sea salt
Our garden is full of leafy greens at the moment! We’ve planted shiso for the first time…
…and we’re harvesting this much cime di rapa every day for dinner…
We have a seasonal dinner with close friends every three months. The final one for 2017 had this amazing entree of bought and garden greens (purslane, shiso, basil and mint) on a green mole sauce…
The recipe came from Bread is Gold, a wonderful book by the amazing Massimo Bottura. All the recipes in the book were created by internationally renowned chefs who cooked at the Refettorio soup kitchen that Bottura created to use up waste food from Expo 2015 in Milan. There is a documentary about it on Netflix called “Theater of Life” – well worth watching if you get a chance…
My gorgeous neighbour Jane went on holidays to the Northern Territory and brought me back a grab bag of beautiful scrap fabric designed and printed by indigenous artists and craftswomen at the Bábbarra Women’s Centre in Arnhem Land. My friends know me so well!
The scanning of old photos continues. This one of Pete and Big Boy is priceless…love is letting your wife dress you and your toddler in matching homemade jungle print shorts…
Our hydrangeas have been stunning this year…
…and our daily walks have been blessed with views like this…
I hope you’re all enjoying the festive season as much as we are!
Much love from our house to yours! ♥
Fig Jam and Lime Cordial 
What a fab post. Love the cotton pants. And thanks for that sweet bread recipe with fig paste. Will definitely give this a go. xx
What a lovely Christmas post Celia! This week I made a batch of your “Mummy’s little helper” using Cointreau – simply delicious and very addictive!!! It’s grown up chocolate milk – yum. Good over icecream too…
Wishing you and your family a wonderful Christmas and a happy, healthy and fun 2018 🎄
Love those sunnies and pants! Your tree looks beautiful with loads of decos. :) It’s been lovely seeing the photos being digitalised, how lovely to book them up. Cheers to you and your family for a happy, safe and loving Christmas. XX
So interesting seeing how different the season is for you. While you wear sunglasses, we are wearing gloves, hats, and coats in Maine. And, it’s snowing. Classic New England!
This is a lovely taste of the season, Celia – have a wonderful Christmas with your men. xxx
You never fail to share your bubbles of brightness, enthusiasm, creativity and encouragement to all on the planet. Bless you and thank you so much Celia 😘 you are one in a trillion 🙌
That is a stunning Christmas tree and this is a wonderful post. I just love your happy pants!
With all going on here in the States, I read news constantly and it’s been impossible to keep up with all of the wonderful posts but I drop in and do quick reads when I’m not on the phone complaining to my congressman about the goings on here.
We are in the midst of our first winter snowfall which is expected to be about 6″. This is one of those soft, quiet snow storms as opposed to the blustering Nor’easters that we can get. Perfect day for wrapping czhristmas gifts.
Just wanted to stop in and wish you and your family a very merry Christmas and holiday season.
Your wayward friend, Diane❤️
What a great tree! I just made Drambuie Cream (a molded pud) and it is SO good. We call cime de rape broccoli de rape and I have finally found a store that stocks it. I have been buying a large bunch EVERY week since August!
Cannot get enough of it :) Can’t decide if I am going to make Black Bun or not this year. Your fruit cake is similar to mine but will consider the fig loaves. thank you as usual!!
wonderful, cheerful post )
Happy Holidays to you and your family
Your energy is incredible. I made two cakes too, one is destined for my mum as well! I need to check out those trousers…My mum, my bestie and I would all enjoy a pair 😀
The pants and sunglasses win my heart. I think of you so often and I’m pleased to see how well you are doing.
that last shot is a whoopee wow and wow again!
Wonderful post Celia, love those hydrangeas and the picture of your husband with ‘big boy’. Pinning the bread recipe for when I have time. Dash is still alive and doing well but I haven’t had the time to do much experimenting. Maybe once the move is over.
I thought of Small Man and the Christmas tree on Friday when we unearthed our tree which, it seems, we only put away such a short while ago. Your tree looks like quiet magic. So many things to follow up on this post, especially the flour – that loaf looks magnificent. Bless you and your sunnies and happy pants :) warm Christmas wishes from our house to yours xx.
Oh, yes, and those gloriious hydrangeas and the lovely jug.
Merry Christmas, Celia! Love your pants, love your post, love YOU! xo
We spent the month of November in Arizona so I’ve been a bit off commenting on my favourite blogs. Your breads look awesome, I’d love the baguette recipe. Thanks for the foodie movie reco.
Happy Christmas, Celia! And thanks for the inspiration and beautiful pictures. I”m loving “Artisan Sourdough” Muwah!
Another lovely post Celia. All of your photos are gorgeous, and i wish we could all smell (and taste!) your bread. I’m still testing recipes from Emilies book – and my sister asked for it for Christmas 😃. She’s so nice i took it to her with a lump of my Sydney starter when we visited last weekend.
Thanks for the link to the chatbooks. I ordered one when your first posted about them but will give the link a go once the first one arrives. Such a great idea and so affordable!