the sunday session 24 - jani jam drop

winter is well and truly here and i am loving the clothing challenge but i'm still pretty sure i am going to need some more layering staples to keep me going so my trips to the op shop will only increase till i've got all my bases covered.  the 5 minute walk to work is great, but once i get there it's so hot inside, that i just feel like stripping off till i reach a more reasonable temperature.  of course that would get me fired, so for preservation of my pay packet, i shan't do that!

i feel like i have so much to share today but before i get to my favourite outfit, i want to share how easy it was to make the fringed look in my middle bottom photo.  i bought the fringing from darn cheap fabrics at port melbourne (they have a great online store). I got enough fringing to go around my hips and secured it with 2 safety pins to hold it on.  easy and effective and can be worn over a variety of options.  as my love of salsa dancing heats up, having outfits that are floaty and twirly is also going to be on my radar and this one was fun, fun fun.

my favourite outfit of the week was this gorgeous two piece floral one that i made. i got this fabric a long time back and it survived the hail storm in brissy, thank goodness. i still still still can't believe i am finding glass and debris in some of my sewing stuff.  this fabric has has been very patient just waiting to be bought to life.  it's a stretch sateen from spotlight and i never realised how truly gorgeous the fabric was till it was made into an outfit.

i had quite a lot of it, so decided to make an a-line skit and an open sided tunic.  i figured that this style of top would be far more user friendly in both winter and summer. it's open from under the sleeve to the waist. I sewed a small seam at the waist and left it open again till the bottom.

there is even enough fabric to make an additional piece, so im thinking either a pair of gouchos (so 70's) or another pair of culottes with an elastic hem.  who knows!

I styled this look with a blue top from target, my black jo mercer boots and a vintage woven belt found at an opshop in Prahran.

As i was getting ready, i decided that this look had so much good stuff happening that to make it even better, i would style my hair with the beaded bobby pins i made which made me look as though i was wearing a floral headband.  these were made for a show in Fiji and they are super simple to make but so cute.  you only need some fine wire - from a craft shop, and various seed beads. grab a pair of craft pliers and start twisting. 

so i hope that has inspired you to get crafty.  if not, then i hope this can inspire you to get cooking.

jam drops - or as i love to call then.....JAN Drops!

these are super simple and super yum and here's the recipe.

Jam Drops

2 cups self raising flour
1 cup coconut
1 cup sugar
200g butter - melted
1/2 cup milk
Jam - your choice of flavour or use a combo of flavours.
oven to be moderate - 180 degrees.

Combine dry ingredients in a bowl and mix well

Mix in melted butter and milk.  

You want it to be a little crumbly, but not too dry. Use a little extra milk if the batter is too dry. Somethings were never meant to be dry - okay maybe a martini...

Roll small balls from the mixture.  i used tablespoon size, but even a little smaller would be good. Oh god, imagine if you made a giant ball and made a massive Jam Drop....i might try that next time. the communal jam drop.

use the end of your wooden spoon to put a hole in the top of the ball.  this will squash them a bit.

put some jam in the hole.  when it comes to jam, i like to over jam, instead of under jam.
these do spread, so don't squash them together on the tray.

bake for 15 minutes until golden brown. and then cool on a rack and store.

enjoy the delicious that is the jan-drop.  these are a slightly chewy one, but they were a massive hit in the office with a number of people asking for the recipe.

share the love and the jan-drop i say.

the sunday session 19 - what a tart

how's things lovely fashionistas. hope you had a lovely week. i did - but then, i always try to find the shining light every day.

i loved my looks this week - a mix of thrifted, home sewn, upcycled, some classic, some modern and of course colour. i never like to find myself locked into one look, it messes with my sense of adventure.

i think my favourite look was this one - the one i likened to a big dollop of whipped cream with strawberry.  i find this one quite out of character for me, but it felt amazing.  it felt quite classic and old fashioned and i really just wanted to go somewhere with equally stylish ladies and enjoy a high tea.  who am i!

the skirt was made by me using fabric from darn cheap fabrics at port melbourne. they have a few stores around melbourne and their fabric has a mix of low and high end quality and pricing, including fabric from dolce gabbana and other designers.  there is a price tag attached to some, but they do have a good bargain area, which is where i found this fabric.  it's a textured piece and it cost $6 per metre. the blouse was thrifted in the brotherhood of st laurence op shop in the city.   i teamed this with my red mary janes from jo mercer and a thin red belt from a $2 shop at south melbourne opposite the markets.

what i loved about this fabric was its texture and rather than cutting the skirt with the stripes across - the way they were meant to go - i let them run down and used the edge of the fabric as the hem detail. if you were ever wanting to make a super simple skirt, this is the one.  just requires the side seams and elastic around the waist.  it's super simple, super spunky and it worked a treat  i didn't have a slip to go underneath it, so i just used a satin flowery skirt which gave the skirt and extra hint of mystery.

now speaking of strawberries and cream, i have another recipe share..... and it's for these super fun tasty yumbo jumbo mumbo strawberry tarts.

get some medium size strawberries
some puff pastry
a bit of castor sugar
a hot oven
some icing sugar for later
and some whipped cream if you feel so inclined.

**
wash the cooties off the strawberry's, get rid of the green stuff and make the bottom flat, then turn them upside down and with a sharp knife, score the top - start to cut the strawberry like you were going to slice it in half from top to bottom, but stop about half way cause you don’t want to cut it in half. then cut it the other way like you were going to slice it in half from top to bottom, but stop, cause you don’t want to cut it in half right!

line a baking tray with baking paper.

cut some pastry into rounds a bit bigger than the strawberries (i did have to use 2 layers, cause i wanted extra puff). use a scone cutter, or a glass and a knife, or make a little template from paper if need be.

sit a strawberry ever so delicately in the middle of one of the puff pastry rounds (flat side down) and give it a good sprinkle of castor sugar. repeat with all strawberries.

whack them in the hot oven, for about 15 mins

and if you are like me, then keep opening the door to see how they are doing, and make sure they haven’t slid off the pastry

after the 15 mins, if the pastry looks puffed and a bit coloured, then those little tasties are ready. if you find that your oven has a mind of its own, then by all means adjust the cooking time.

and voila

if you are an eager beaver like me, you will try to eat one straight away, which could end up with a mouth injury, so wait a while, then sprinkle them with icing sugar before serving.

if you want to add a little dollop of cream before serving, then go for it.

here's to strawberries and cream, for both clothing and for the mouth. till next time xxxxx @janijans

cacio e pepe

last year we watched a program from Anthony Bourdain and he was in italy. I love italy and anything to do with italy, including the food and the language.

i studied italian for many years, but sadly i rarely get to speak it.  when i did show an interest in the language, it became quite apparent to me at the time, that i should learn the language after i began having dreams in italian, where i was talking to old italian women and in my dream i was speaking the language, even though i had no idea what i was saying.  so i took myself off to the Dante Alighieri and then onto study at university and then it all just fell by the wayside.

so back to anthony bourdain and the show.  he was in a particular town and ordered what he said was a very traditional pasta dish called cacio e pepe, which is just basically pasta with cheese and pepper. i was quite intrigued by this and set about googling till i found something that looked like it did on the good old telly, so i decided to give it a try. (not my photo by the way)

when making this dish, the aroma is quite intoxicating, as you have to fry the pepper on its own, similar to what you do when tempering indian spices.  I love the smell so much that i actually got some pepper oil from perfect potion and use it in a burner. apparently it promotes confidence and focus.  what's not to like about that!

i caught up with some girlfriends on the weekend and we went to lunch at the spaghetti house in south bank and there was so much great vegetarian food to choose from but i was instantly drawn to the cacio e pepe.

 

I would know if i was on the right track having tasted it from an italian establishment.  mine came served in this parmesan basket which was super tasty and the spaghetti was lovely - with all the right flavours, and it hate to say it but there is a but....one thing i found when making mine was that if you put the cheese in while it's too hot, it goes sticky, not saucy and my dish at the restaurant had this happen - but it didn't stop me eating it.

I am going to share my version of cacio e pepe, cause i was right on track with what i made taste wise, as to what i had at the restaurant.

You need spaghetti ( i used about 2/3 pack of barilla spaghettini 3, which takes 5 minutes to cook), pepper, butter (about 2 ounces) and quite a lot of grated parmesan cheese (about 3/4 cup or more if you love it) and a little bit of olive oil.

Trick for new players - you can either cook the spaghetti slightly beforehand and keep some of the pasta water or hot water to dunk it back into to wash the starch off, or cook the spaghetti and sauce simultaneously and drain the pasta straight into the sauce.

 

start by dry frying the pepper - you will want quite a bit to give it the warm flavour that it creates. and it will only take a few minutes for this. once it begins to give off the aroma, you can then turn down the heat and add the butter and let it just melt into the pepper and then let it start to sizzle a bit.  even add a little bit of olive oil here just to add extra moisture and let it heat as well.

turn the heat down and it's now that you add the pasta - either straight from the hot water, or from what was cooked earlier.

gently stir it through to coat the pasta with the pepper sauce.  if you intend to put the cheese in at this point, don't do it while it is still really hot, or it will split and not become sauce like.  last night i added the cheese in 2 goes, off the heat and stirred one section trough then let the next lot just sit on the top and slowly melt.

the first time i made it, i served it with rocket as i thought the peppery flavour of the rocket would enhance it, but it didn't, it just seemed to make it a bit bitter. so now, i either have it by itself, or like i did last night with baby beets and tomatoes and a flat bread i love to make using flour, yoghurt and topped with garlic and oil.  sadly that picture must have happened in my mind, cause i can't find it anywhere.

enjoy. and my plan is that if i go back to italy, i will be testing cacio e pepe in every village or town and i hope that it's something that you might try to make.

buon appetito, mangiare sempre e buona fortuna!

the what i wear project

I thought it might be a nice thing for me to do a bit of a wrap up of my week - really it's a wrap up of what i wore, because i'd love to think that maybe there is something that i wear and share that may inspire someone to think differently about how they style an outfit or even decide to wear a look that they may not necessarily think works.

Inspirational is how i have been referred to for some aspects of my life and i used to cringe at the thought of having public compliments, but not anymore, i accept them graciously, and feel happy that maybe something i have done or am doing makes a difference to someone else's life - in a positive way.

Not only do i share my fashion, but i have been blogging my way through a book called Don't sweat the small stuff and this project came about at a time when a great amount of turmoil started occurring in my life and it seemed like a way to help me get through it and it's not only helped me, but others as well.

I was really surprised this week when somebody messaged me and complimented me on my style and told me that they were taking more risks, adding more colour and suggested we go shopping.  I was blown away.

So, my plan is every sunday to do a quick share (wrap up) of what i wore, which may be pieces from our huudaverti label, pieces i just made ad hoc or items that i pick up along the way.  I am a lover of wearing things over and over so don't be surprised if items pop up more than once - in a different incarnation of course.  So here goes......

well monday rolled around and i put on a tube skirt.  There's a blog coming about said tube skirt, cause it wasn't something that i was comfortable in, or so i thought.

i  wore huudaverti animal print tube skirt, teamed with black top from temt (really really old) and a floral over overshirt i made (also a few years old) teamed with a sequin belt, shoes from betts and earrings from fiji.

tuesday saw me donning another tube skirt.  white top or black top, white or black - it went on for ages and eventually the white top won the battle.

i wore skirt from best and less on sale for 10 bucks, tshirt from target, shoes from whittner and necklace gifted from a friend.  this look was a little out of my comfort zone - well the white top and shoes were, but i went with it.

hump day. i love the tree of life store - have loved it for so long as i really connect with some of their stuff, not all, but a lot of it. in the 70's when i was a teenager - crikey doesn't that sound wild - i had an original indian wrap around skirt and i have a photo of me wearing it but do you think i can find it.....NO!  i was on stradbroke island with my sisters and i know i shared it on facey, but i can't find it.  grrrr.

so i had tooed and froed with the indian skirt but was inspired to get one after the aussie curves post challenge about inspiration. I didn't think it would compliment me, but it did and it got complimented all day long.  it just required some simple styling, cause the skirt really did most of the work.

i wore skirt from tree of life, top from target, shoes from novo and earrings from dissh.

thursday - i was busting to wear this combo that was a look that we showed at the curvy couture roadshow.  it was fun, it was comfy and when people saw it on me at work, they were loving it. expect the unexpected.

i wore top and skirt from huudaverti, belt gifted to me, shoes from whittner.

TFIF - thank F it's friday and i decided to whip out the tie dye jeans i made and make it a little more formal for work.  and i was really happy with this look.  again unexpected, yet suitable.

i wore jeans from target tie dyed by me, dress/top made by me, love necklace from target or tarjayyyyy if you are feeling posh.

 

finally it was the weekend and it's then i can relax and put on whatever i like.

my weekend ritual/routine is going to the west end markets and this week i decided to frock up.  i had a lunch date with girlfriends at the spaghetti house southbank as well and felt it necessary to really frock up.

i wore assym dress from huudaverti, sandals from jo mercer and then gold dress and earrings from huudaverti, shoes from whittner. i need to make a mention of the earrings. at the curvy couture market, i was talking to nick holliday -yes, tess holliday's partner, and he had nice things to say about these earring, so of course a pair went in the goodie bag we gave her.

 

and finally it's sunday and it's still hot here in brissy, so i whipped on  a comfy kaftan for my morning outing.

i wore kaftan purchased in fiji, giant gold hoops from lovissa and shoes from nine west.

my weekend was topped off with an invitation from my son to have scones. i will never say no to making or eating them.

 

the day didn't quite stop there, because i decided that i needed a haircut.  he isn't a hairdresser but what can possibly go wrong with a pair of scissors and a couple of elastic bands.  well, i will wait and see tomorrow, after i open my wardrobe door and begin the "what will i wear today" pose and the "i can't do anything with my hair today" craziness following the much needed hair washing and either relief or horror as to what the cut looks like.  

have a great week and i am not wishing my life away, but i can't wait to see what makes its way out of the wardrobe and onto my body this week.