Summer Afternoon Tea with The Girls

In my last post, I mentioned that soon I would have a couple of things to share with you all. This is one of them! 

I am very excited to share, that in collaboration with Liveability, I have created an event guide for a Summer Afternoon Tea. 

I organised, styled, catered and photographed the event, and have put together the guide and mood board for the event which can be viewed on the Liveability site. 

A few of the recipes made on the day, and shared in the Liveability post are my own creations as well. 

I have always enjoyed a good afternoon tea. I love a good pot of tea, especially when the tea can be drunk from a lovely tea cup. Scones are of course, essential, as are a few sweet treats. As the weekend of this event was fairly warm, I opted to have more cold drinks than actual tea. I made an iced tea, a cordial and also provided water. 

Much of the tea ware and serving plates were vintage, mostly from my own collection. In the Liveability post I have listed my favourite shops to find vintage wares. My current favourite is The Lost and Found Department, which is based on Sydney’s Northern Beaches. 

To see the event guide in full click here. 

Many thanks must go to Cecille and Liveability for allowing me the opportunity to do this. I really appreciate it. Thanks! 

Thanks also to those who attended the event. Thanks for being my wonderful hand models for the afternoon! It means a lot that you came and made the effort for me. 

Thanks also to Jackielyn (Inside the Treasure Chest) for my head shot. I didn’t realise we were shooting one at the time, but I’m very glad you took that photo! Thanks for sharing it with me. 

If you are interested in my catering, styling or photography, please contact me at kulinaryadventuresofkath@gmail.com, or via the contact form on this site.

All baking, styling & photography for this post by Kathryn Vincent of Kulinary Adventures of Kath. 

A Little More from the Local is Lovely Workshop

Here are a few more photos from the Local is Lovely Workshop. I really tried not to post too many last time, but I just wanted to share a few more! 

I have also made a couple of Sophie’s recipes since the Workshop, all of which have been successful and enjoyed by all (except that attempt at pasta… don’t try make pasta from scratch with bread flour and no pasta machine… it won’t work!). 

Sophie's Zucchini Tart - Recipe Here

Sophie's Buttermilk Scrolls - Recipe Here

Mum also stopped by Willa’s bakery, Racine Bakery in Orange, as she was passing through. We all met Willa at the Local is Lovely Workshop, as she was helping Sophie with the food. Willa brought with her some breads and croissants from the bakery, and they were all so delicious! Mum bought some croissants, olive oil bread and an apple pie. All were lovely. The croissants were particularly good heated up in the oven and served with jam! If you are ever passing by Orange or staying there a while, Racine Bakery is definitely worth going to. 

Goodies from Racine Bakery, Orange

I have a few things in the works at the moment, and with Christmas fast approaching I am hoping everything gets completed in time for me to do some Christmas baking. This year will be the first that I haven’t been studying or working over the Christmas break, so I am looking forward to enjoying the time and actually being able to bake for us for once! 

Hopefully I will have a couple of things to show you soon! In the mean time, this is the gingerbread recipe I will be using this Christmas. I discovered it last year and it is one of the best, and easiest I have made. One batch makes quite a few biscuits, and they are nice on their own or with icing.

Local Is Lovely Workshop

As I’m sure many of you have already seen, last week I was lucky enough to attend an amazing workshop hosted by Sophie Hansen, of Local is Lovely. The workshop was held at her family’s farm, Kimbri, in Rydal. It was a lovely place, and I surprisingly enjoyed being outside and on a farm (for those who know me well, know that I am not much of an outdoors person!). It was calming being out of Sydney for a few days, and like always with such workshops, invigorating to be around like minded creative people. 

By now it must seem like I’m a bit of a ‘workshop junkie’, having attended 4 workshops in the last few months. I cannot properly explain how much I have learnt from these workshops. They have been exactly what I needed, and each has added to my photographic skills and most importantly, creative confidence. 

When I first saw Sophie’s post announcing the workshop, I knew that I 100% had to go. There are times when something like this comes up, and I just know that it will be fantastic and exactly what I need. One of those things that you get so excited about, that not being able to go just can’t be an option! This was especially so when I saw that the lovely Luisa Brimble was going to be at the workshop, along with stylist extraordinaire Stephanie Stamatis. I was also rather excited about getting an art lesson from Sophie’s Mum Annie Herron.

The time I spent at Kimbri was just amazing, and I had a really great time. It was wonderful meeting new people, and catching up with those I had met at previous workshops. The food Sophie cooked, with the help of her friend Willa, was amazing. Before attending the workshop, I was in somewhat of a ‘food rut’. I had no motivation to cook anything much, particularly things that would be appropriate of lunch or dinner (read: you can’t have cake for lunch/dinner every day). After enjoying a couple of cooking-free days where I didn’t spend half the day deliberating what to make for dinner (then giving up at about 5:30pm and just having Vegemite on toast…again), I felt ready to tackle the daily dilemma of dinner again. First point of call was re-creating the zucchini galette made for lunch on the first day of the workshop. Luckily, after an ok first attempt, Sophie posted the recipe on her blog, so I could make it again properly! 

Now, a week on, I am still in a slight workshop day-dream, re-living those couple of days through the photos and reading others blog posts about it. So now, I’ll add to those other posts, and go get myself a second helping of zucchini galette!

Stephanie making Turkish coffee.

Styling by Stephanie, photography instruction by Luisa.

Flower arranging with Amelia from Flower Era. 

The finished product. 

At Fabrice's Farm.

Styling by Stephanie. 

Sophie making pasta. 

Styling by Stephanie. 

Art with Annie. 

Pickling. 

Many thanks to Sophie, Luisa & Stephanie for a fantastic couple of days. 

Some sites to look at: 

http://www.local-lovely.com 

http://artclasseswithannieherron.com.au

http://www.stephaniesomebody.com

http://www.luisabrimble.com

http://www.theflowerera.com.au

http://www.racinerestaurant.com.au 

https://www.facebook.com/firstfarmorganics

ABC Delicious Food Photography & Styling Workshop with Olympus and Megan Morton @ The School

Here are a few of the photos from the latest workshop I attended. The location was wonderful, right next door to Kitchen by Mike. The workshop was split into two areas, one shooting dishes made by Kitchen by Mike with the help of the ABC Delicious and Olympus Teams, and the other setting up and shooting props with Megan Morton. 

Raspberry & Rose Muffins and Like Minded People

I like making muffins. They are quick, easy and lend themselves to a multitude of flavour combinations. This recipe is slightly different to the one I usually cook with. I was introduced to it by someone I used to work with. We worked together one day a week, and the whole day would be spent talking about food, restaurants, markets and cooking. Oh and we did some work as well! 

I always find it fantastic to talk to like minded people who enjoy food. Many of my friends aren’t as passionate about food as I am, and I sometimes start to feel a bit of a weirdo when I get excited about food stuff. So, it’s nice to have these other people around me who are just as passionate and interested in food as I am. That is one thing I do miss about not working at the moment. While there were frustrations with working, some of the people I had the pleasure of working with were passionate foodies and I learnt a lot from them. Often when I worked with another colleague I would be met with lists of foodie go-to places I had never heard of, or food related newspaper articles about something we had recently discussed. 

Another dear work friend and I could always be found in quiet moments searching through the cookbooks for sale, and talking about what we could make for dinner. My friend’s dinners always sounded so gourmet, it put my dinner of boring pasta or a vegemite bagel to deeper shame than they already were. 

When new cookbooks arrived, my friend could always be heard calling to me, ‘hey Kath luv, you could make this!’ or ‘There is a cookbook out there I know you would like!’. Which usually meant the rest of us from the coffee shop scrambling to take a look at the new delivery and laughingly fight over who would buy the books (sorry customers!).

One time another friend & colleague of mine and I ran to each other each holding Bill Granger’s book ‘Easy’. We both were holding on to our copies for dear life, thinking the other would want to buy it too. We laughed when we each saw the other clutching our books saying ‘This is mine!’ Thank God someone ordered two copies of that one! 

This recipe yields about 10 (smallish) muffins. If you double the recipe you will get a good 20 or so (smallish) muffins or 12 seriously massive ones (similar to the size of from a texan muffin tin). 

Ingredients: 

220 g flour 

2 tsp baking powder

125 g sugar 

1/2 tsp salt 

1 egg 

3/4 cup vegetable oil 

3/4 cup milk 

200 g raspberries, roughly chopped

2 tbsp rosewater 

Method: 

Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Line a twelve hole muffin tin with cases (minus 2). 

In a large bowl add the flour, baking powder and salt. In a separate bowl whisk together the vegetable oil, egg and milk. 

Add the raspberries to the flour mixture and gently mix. Add the oil mixture and the rosewater and gently mix until just combined. 

Fill muffin cases about 3/4 full, then bake for about 30 minutes. The muffins will be cooked when they are golden on top and spring back when touched. 

Recipe Adapted from ‘The Cook’s Companion’ by Stephanie Alexander, p.123 (1996).

All baking, styling & photography for this post by Kathryn Vincent of Kulinary Adventures of Kath. 

For more recipes showcasing the best of rose, check out my eBook Baking with Rose by clicking the link below!

Prosciutto & Sun-Dried Tomato Risotto (Gluten Free)

This is my all time favourite risotto recipe. I have made many risottos in my time, and most of the recipes and flavour combinations I come up with are inspired by ingredients we have at home already. I know I have posted a risotto recipe before, and now I look back at it, the addition of quinoa must have been a temporary glitch in my risotto making system. I have no idea what I was thinking. 

I could happily eat this dish every night for dinner. Though I fear the daily use of prosciutto would drain my bank account rather quickly. Pancetta or (cooked) bacon would be great substitutes. Really, if you use the plain risotto recipe as a base, you can add just about anything. 

Ingredients: 

1 1/2 cups arborio rice 

1 cup white wine 

1 litre chicken stock 

garlic oil, for cooking 

30 g parmesan cheese, grated

150 g sun-dried tomatoes, drained of oil and roughly chopped

7-8 slices of prosciutto, roughly torn 

bunch of basil, washed, and leaves roughly chopped

parmesan cheese, grated, extra for serving 

Method: 

In a large heavy based pan on medium heat, heat the garlic oil (about 1 tbsp). Add the arborio rice and stir to coat the grains. Add the white wine. Stir occasionally, and allow the wine to be mostly absorbed by the rice. 

Once most of the wine has been absorbed, add the chicken stock. Turn the heat down a little, as you don’t want to stock to boil. Place the lid of the pan on loosely. Stir occasionally, ensuring that the stock does not boil. The rice should absorb most of the stock in about 30-40 minutes. You do want this process to be slow. 

Once most of the liquid has been absorbed by the rice, add the parmesan cheese, tomatoes, basil and prosciutto. Stir so all the ingredients are well distributed in the risotto. Turn the heat off and leave to sit for a couple of minutes. 

Serve with an extra sprinkling of parmesan cheese.