Life Things

Winter is starting to creep in, and its filling me with so much joy. On my days off my housemate and I are going for bike rides through the cold crisp air to visit local cafes, and at night warming dinners are being cooked to accompany rich red wines. I always think everything feels just a little bit more special in winter. To me winter feels like everyday is sunday, it just has this glorious sleepy feeling to it where you could stay in bed reading all day or potter around the house for hours while drinking tea. 

This week I've decided to embark on a few new projects. Im going to made some ginger beer and apple cider. I'll keep you posted with how they both go. I've also been considering a woodwork project, to make a apple crate for my bike. I've never really done wood work, so I pre-emptively feel a little sorry for whoever serves me at the hardware. I'm really going to bombard them with questions. 

My little vegetable patch is coming along nicely. Im really enjoying learning all about growing food, and watching how the seasons take effect on the different plants. I bought a whole heap of ornamental kales to plant in my front garden from a new nursery that opened up not far from my house. Just as a side note, I would like to add that the nursery was stocked with not only glorious plants but also the pretties lovelies boys to help serve. I felt so very grateful for the wealth of knowledge my father has been pouring out to me about growing plants, so that I could go in and not look silly. 

I best be off, I have all my projects to start on, a pot of tea waiting for me and some very good books to read.

Easter Treats

It is Easter weekend and I've been having such a lovely and interesting time working out what that means to me. My life these days does not include much organised religion (disorganised however sounds so much more lovely, and I envisage it including much more wine and cake?) however I feel its a shame to miss out on all the celebrations. People who know me well will know I have such a fondness for rituals and tradition. Growing up in and around churches meant that lots of different traditions were woven in my day to do life, and as an adult I found I needed to work out how to integrate my own rituals into my life. Some of these traditions are silly, like believing that on sunday you can eat whatever treats you want without any ramifications (a lot of chocolate gets eaten before breakfast, and I have been known to drink a whole bowl of coffee.) While others involve special places I go with my friends once a fortnight for breakfast and a shopping trips. A lot of my traditions revolve around ethical purchasing of food,  such as going specifically to an artisan bakery for bread, supporting local farmers by buying my vegetables at local organic stores, or buying wine from my favourite cellar. These tiny things bring beauty and significance to daily life and I love the routine of visiting all these different places to buy treats. 

This year I wanted to celebrate Easter with the people I care about without having to buy a heap of mass produced chocolate. So this is what I did. Firstly, I made my own hot cross buns, which is something I do every year. I left them in my house for the whole household to eat. Next instead of giving chocolate I made jam and gave it to friends as gifts. It was so nice to have a token of celebration without needing much more than strawberries, sugar, jars and a bit of time. And lastly of course, there were feasts. Over the weekend I got together with different friends at different points and just enjoyed each others company, some good food and a decent amount of good wine. 

After all these celebrations I was left feeling so full and blessed. What are your Easter traditions? Hope they are lovely and filling your heart up to the very top. 

Luxury Time

Lets have a little chat about the idea of luxury. This year I've taken a little step away from the conventional burn out pace of chef life to do a little more freelance style work. I work for a few places designing cake flavours or baking new recipes for them to sell. A lot of time is taken up simply riffling through old cook books and magazines and dreaming up the sort of cakes I feel like making that week. Its pretty great, I'm not going to lie. The best thing about this lifestyle though is that I have free time, something that last year I next to never had. "I'm so tired" became my catch phrase last year, and has now been replaced by statements such as "Shall I ride my bike to the shops and buy some wine?", "Do you want to come over for dinner", "I read this amazing book", and "I think I'll take up french lessons." Its glorious to say the least. 

This life at first took a little getting used to after being a wee bit of a workaholic. I really had to sit myself down a few times (with a glass of wine) and sternly tell myself to relax. So thats exactly what Im doing (right now at 8am in the morning drinking coffee and eating the chocolate chip cookies I blogged about in my last post....delicious.) 

Learning how to stop is a big deal. Learning to accept the beautiful different phases of your life is important. Sitting on the other side of a relationship (yeah yeah, again) and simply saying "well at least I have more time now, and I can eat cookies in bed without judgment" is so damn precious. So this is what I plan to do for a while now. Winter is settling in in Melbourne, and I must say, I am one content lady. Im going to spend the next few months doing all the things 'busy me' couldn't do, like growing a garden and reading books on wine making. 

Hope your feeling glorious and luxurious today too. 

Doughnut time!

Life has been changing so much lately. Suddenly everything is different and I have been flung head first into the festive season. I am constantly running around at the moment, covered in flour, with chocolate on my face, just trying to fit everything in....and make time for some sneaky afternoon wines. 

I've been having so much fun working at 'Little Cupcakes' once a week baking treats and coming up with new cupcake recipes. This week I made pecan pie cupcakes which were pretty delicious. I may have eaten one or two of them while cleaning up after my shift. 

Another pretty exciting thing is that one of my friends is having a little baby pretty soon. Its so strange to think that a little version of two of my favourite people is about to come into the world and grow into being an adult. One of the chefs at work recently asked me if I wanted to have a baby anytime soon. I looked at him shocked and said "What are you talking about?! Im still a baby myself!" He laughed at me a lot. 

Today I had a glorious time making doughnuts. They are for a little project Im helping out with. They really are pretty delicious. I was so excited to cover them in sprinkles and take some photos. Im pretty happy with how they turned out and I'm looking forward to trying out a few different variations and coming up with new flavours.  

Work has recently handed over the responsibility of the 'official macaroon maker of the hotel.' This is wonderful and frustrating all at once. Who knew that a tiny cookie could bring so much joy and fear? The days I make huge batches of them, I look forward to so much, but when I put them in the oven I silent prayers of "Please do not crack! Please form proper feet! Please please work!"

Today is my day off and I have 100 recipes to practice and ideas to work on, so I must depart. I promise to put up a doughnut recipe soon. 

Much love to all my readers! 

On Life and Macaroons.

Over the last few months life has become incredibly, insanely busy. Life just got a little too large and I took a little break from writing. So I'd like to say a little sorry to my readers for not posting up and rants or recipes lately. 

So lets talk about life. Lets talk about cake. Lets talk about how funny life can be, but most importantly please lets talk about macaroons! 

My story of the macaroon is a bit of a bitter sweet one. I never felt like I quite mastered those tricky little beauties, so I decided to work on them for a month as a gift for a special someone. The macaroons where such a trial, and I made batch after batch and just as they starting looking a wee bit better life took a funny turn and I found I no longer has a recipient for all these lovely cookies. 

So what did I do? I went for some long runs, I listened to some soulful music, I drank some cocktails, I ate a huge steak tartare and talked on and on and on to my friends. My boss looked at my sternly one day and said "You must not do what most people do when faced with the end of a relationship. You must not drink, and you must not smoke. You should however eat some wonderful food." I took this

advice, as it came from one of the wisest pastry chefs I know, and took myself out to dinner. I ate at all the places I have wanted to eat out at. 

The thing that helped most of all though turned out to be making macaroons. My boss let me take charge of the operation and I made 300 in two days. Three hundred of the most beautiful macaroons I have ever made. They were lovely and glossy and smooth. So this is what I learnt...... making macaroons and dealing with your heart are both very fragile things. Both can be cracked, both are sensitive, and both are tricky to know how to handle, but if you really embrace them....there is really nothing at all to be afraid of. 

So that is my story of the macaroon, and it turns out to be not such a bad tail at all.  

Chef Life.

"So you want to be a chef?" A stern man once said to me as he looked down at the tiny slip of the girl I was at sixteen. We were out the back of one of the most well known restaurants in the coastal town I grew up in and it was my first day as a 'trainee chef'. The chef looked at me patronisingly and I had the feeling he thought I would never make it.

Seven years later and I find myself so deeply entangled in this world of cooking and loving it so dearly. At five a.m I wake up most days before the sun. I have this wonderful morning ritual where I have worked out the perfect timing of poaching eggs by how long it takes for me to apply foundation and dry my hair. I make a large pot of coffee and head back to bed to feast on toast, spinach and eggs while I read foodie blog posts and the news. I know all of my friends will still be tucked up in bed unaware that 5am is a time that actually exists for being awake. On weekends they may be nursing hangovers from adventures out to the city or dinner parties in their little homes. I however will be running out the door with a big woollen coat wrapped around me for protection from the icy Melbourne wind and still thinking fondly of how warm bed felt.

This is the life of a pastry chef......busy, tiring and busy. Did I mention its busy? Half way through the day today the head pastry chef I work with turned to me and said "You know Cherry, being a chef is such a stressful job." This was coming from someone with thirty years experience. So it's safe to say I don't think it every really gets easy. It is however lovely.

There is something so satisfying about making something with your hands, and of earning a living from doing something creative.

Here are some pictures of some deserts I've been working on lately. Hope you enjoy a little peek into my kitchen/life.

Winter treats

Today I have gone back to bed. I have turned on the heater to warm up a bread dough I was resting in the fridge over night, and decided that maybe I'd just take a rest along with it. Melbourne winter has really settled in and I've realised how much I love this season, with its clear sunny days, crisp air and freezing nights to curl up under loads of blankets. Everything is prettier in winter and I have taken to baking some beautiful treats to keep my little house warm, and my friends full. 

Last week one of my good friends had an engagement party and I was lucky enough to be able to get envolved by making a cake for the night. I had such a wonderful (and stressful) time working out how to cover the cake in ruffles and keep all the tiny pearls from falling off.

Winter has really felt like the perfect season for making bakery goods. After spending my last two days off fussing over a cake, I really wanted to get stuck into making some rustic breads and pastries on my weekend. Making bread is just so very wonderful, and a bit like falling in love, as you watch your dough puff up all light with air, get knocked back, puff up again, get shaped, and then finally be baked into something so beautiful.

I also made a batch of homemade pies with a rough puff pastry which was surprisingly easy to make. I have to say though....this is NOT a diet food (but then little of the food made in this house is.........actually none of it is.) There is so much butter! While making it I felt a little bit horrified, but after I tasted that flakey pastry, I sort of forgot. I have adopted a new strategy to dealing with such things lately anyway. I have decided that if I gain a little bit of winter weight I will simply buy a new dress. In turn if I loose a little bit of winter weight I will also buy a new dress. See where Im going with this? New dress! And of course.....if I just stay the same, I'll probably just buy a new dress? 

I've also ventured into the world of ice cream making lately. It was something we used to do a bit at culinary school but only recently since finding a little ice cream maker at the second hand shop have I really started to get back into it. Whenever I make ice cream I always thing back to the scene in the movie 'Its Complicated' where the fifty year old leading ladies' ex husband comes to visit, and sadly tells her how much he misses her lavender ice cream that she made from scratch.This scene always makes me laugh, and reminds me of my boyfriend from when I was twenty who still calls me from time to time to say "Cherry I've fallen in love with this beautiful girl, she is so pretty and funny......but she cant cook. Wont you come back and cook me dinner? I miss your cooking. I love this girl, but I miss your cooking." To me this was the greatest compliment. 

Im not quite sure what recipe to leave you with this week, as I have been testing out so many new ones. I think for now I best get back to curling up in bed with a book and cup of tea. I promise to post something yummy for you to cook soon.....bed bed is calling. 

Autumn and Weddings.

My life lately has been so very consumed by work (and dating) and I fear that I haven't had as much time as I would like for some of my favourite things (such as this blog) and people (such as you.) Its crazy how much of your life gets taken up being a pastry chef. Its such an all consuming job at times. Putting in ten hour days and doing seven day weeks is fast becoming the norm for me. Its such a strange burn out existence at times. Speaking of burning, I am not officially covered with the marks of a chef. I come home nearly every day with a new array of burns, scars and cuts. Secretly I like them. They feel like a physical reminder of how much passion I am putting into this job. 

Melbourne is starting to feel a little bit more chilly.....which means sumer has departed us and its time for the anual Ceres Autumn fair, which I'm really excited for. Its a little celebration on a community farm where they have bands, markets and food stalls. Best of all though they have a cake competition. Last year I entered a cake and got third place (I was beaten by two old ladies who have been baking cakes all their lives) and was sorely disappointed. This year I'm planning to win, and give those old ladies a run for there money. Apart from my ego getting involved, I really just like entering to support the event. The farm does some amazing work, and after they judge the cakes they sell them by the slice and all the money goes toward supporting their projects. Its such a fun tradition and I love the idea of celebrating the coming of the cooler weather. If you have any suggestions for what sort of cakes I should enter I would love to hear from you. 



On much more important news, my sister got married recently. It was one of the most magical weekend of my life. There really is something so amazingly inspiring about witnessing two people promising to spend the rest of their lives loving and supporting each other. I cried so many tears of joy for my beautiful sister. I loved getting to share this day with her and contribute in the way of cakes and cookie, and to spend some time with some of my favourite people. My best friend back home was kind enough to let me use her kitchen to bake the cakes in, and supplied my with a constant supply of coffee and wine (she knows me too well) and didn't at all mind when I got 'cake stress.' 


I hope you are all enjoying the change of seasons. I'm off to have a small drink, wrap myself in a blanket and read recipes. Enjoy the wedding photos! 

In The Freezer

Can I let you in on a little secret? I am unbelievably, irrationally afraid of the deep freeze at my work. I'm not exactly sure why yet but every time I go in there I find myself in a fluster. Im not sure if its because I can never find what I'm looking for or the fact that after ten seconds in there I can no longer feel my fingers. One time I was in there for a good two minutes looking for some back up pastries before I found them on the top shelf which I could only reach with a small step. By the time I got out I was so cold that my body felt like it was going into shock. It took me five minutes before I came back to a normal temperature. 

My biggest fear though is being locked in the deep freeze. Last week I panicked when I thought I had locked myself in. Its lucky those freezers are sound proof.....I swore so loudly, only to find that there (or course) is a handle on both sides of the door.....like a normal door....like a normal person would presume. 

This week I've been thinking about how life at time can be a bit like a deep freezer. You find yourself in a situation and before you know what's going on your whole body goes numb and you find yourself in a pannick. I guess the lesson is, that there is always a handle, always a way out. You just have to take a moment to look for it. My aim for the coming week is to look for these handles. Take a few deep breaths, and maybe put on some gloves. 

With all this freezing going on....and a decent chance of hyperthermia, I'm off to have a glass of wine (to bring up my body temperature.) Or something like that. 

My two favourite places.

I think its so important in life to have a place where you feel you belong. A place that is simply your own. A world that no one can touch. I personally have two of these places. The kitchen and my tiny bedroom. One of my favourite writers once wrote "we live this life simply to go to the table, return to the bedroom and go back to the table." When I first read this, it made perfect sense to me. I think I live life for these two pleasant sanctuaries. 

This last week of starting back at work was at times insanely stressful. On my own for three days I managed to run the pastry kitchen of a five star hotel. Its something I have dreamed about for years, and its so amazing to finally be living this life that I have worked so hard to create. I had to call one of my best friends from back home yesterday just to yell down the phone "I'm doing it! I'm actually doing it! All those crazy plans we made, all those hours we spent talking about what we would do with our lives, have actually become a reality."

Apart from all the stress of long hours, no breaks, and huge prep listes I actually had a lovely time. The kitchen always feels like a home away from home. It was nice to be able to turn off my phone and just cook for nine hours. I felt like I had escaped the world in my tiny kitchen under the ground where I decorated cakes all day and plated up high tea for guests in the restaurant. Sometimes cooking feels a bit like falling in love. You know how you want it to work out, or how it 'should' look in your head, but it doesn't always go the way you plan. It is beautiful, and scary and intense, but you love every minute of it, even when you dont know why. I remember making my first croissant as vividly as I remember my first kiss. Its a private world that you can dive into and watch as something beautiful appears. It was almost a relief just to push everything to the side this week and say "This here, at work, is my time." There was no drama, no tention, no tears, but just me, a couple of cakes and a spatular. Honestly it was bliss. 

Today I am in my second favourite place. My room. I've been a little sick this week so I've locked myself up in this beautiful space to sit in bed, read books and eat pastries. Its so perfectly indulgent, and another place when I can just unwind. I could just loose myself in how lovely it is being here. 

I will sometime soon leave my bed, leave the kitchen and return to the 'real world.' I'll see my friends and get on with life. I will get around to posting a recipe on this blog. For now though, I'm so blissfully happy here, and I might just stay for a wee bit longer. 

To The New Year!

Im not quite sure what happened to this year. It feels like just the other day that I was sitting on a balcony with one of my best friends drinking champagne and welcoming in 2012. This year, like most years of my life has been so full of interesting changes and constant growth. I feel like the person I started the year as is so very different from the girl I am ending the year as. 

This year I catered my first wedding, perfected my tart making skill, threw some lovely dinner parties and of course fell in love a couple of times. 

One of my clearest memories of this year was sitting in a bar with one of my best friends despairing, and saying "I'm just working so hard. All I do is work, and get no where. All I do is go to work, practice recipes, and read cook books with no promise of actually getting any work once I finnish my course." I wanted to cry with frustration. Then three months later I found myself getting a wonderful job, starting my cookie business and somehow fitting into my favourite skinny jeans. Everything just fell into place, suddenly. 

This year I did all the beautiful things I set out to do (apart from remembering to attend yoga classes) and I feel I became the person I wanted to be. This however was not without working the hardest I have ever had to work in my life. 

If I learnt anything this year it would be that you can always do the things you want with your life, if you don't mind a little hard work, and if you have the right friends to back you. 

So here's a little recap of my favourite parts of this year. Hope you're year was beautiful too. x 

A very late blog post

I know, I know its been soooo very long since I wrote last. I really don't want to spend another blog post telling everyone how busy life is for this tiny pastry chef.....but goodness, its been crazy. I think its coming up to nearly two weeks since I've had a day off.  I'm actually not sure how I'm doing it at the moment, but can I just say, I'm kind of loving it. Yes Im tired, and yes I do want to sleep in past 5 am so badly, but at the same time I feel like everything in my life is falling into place.

It never quite happens how you expect it does it? I've spent so much time pushing at life these past few years, and now finally its like life is saying "ok ok if you are going to be so persistent, you can have all those things you wanted," and I kind of feel like I do. Despite the fact that my new job is insanely stressful at times I have so many moments where I'm just like "Your really going to pay me to bake cakes all day? Really?" Its so very beautiful. 

Lovely things just keep happening in my life. I feel so ready for this new year thats so quickly approaching. I feel so joyful for this new life that is approaching. 

I have some really lovely Christmas recipes to share with you...and I really cant wait. I hope your lead up to Christmas is lovely and without stress. 

Being brave......

I'm not going to lie......I have been crazy nervous about starting my new job. This however isn't a surprise. I get nervous about a lot of things. On my first date my hands shook so hard I was worried that this blond, long haired, beautiful boy would think I was crazy. I lost countless hours of sleep over the wedding I catered this year. When I launched my first range of cookies I was terrified that no one would buy them.

The strange thing is though, Im no scaredy cat. I just doubt the things I can do at times, and don't we all? 

My dad called me this week and told me a story about a small girl named Cherry who cried on her first day of school. Apparently she was too scared to go because she couldn't read. He had to explain to her that thats what you do at school......learn to read. 

Sometimes I get so ahead of myself. It can be hard to go fearlessly into the world holding our gentle and sometimes scared hearts in our chest. This however is exactly what we must do.

So this is what I have been doing.....and my first day at my new job was kind of lovely. 

Also, my new range of Christmas sugar cookies is in store. I had such fun making them. I'm starting to get excited about Christmas cooking, and crafts. 

So if I can give you any advice for the week it would be: 

1. Be brave.
2. Eat some cookies
3. Listen to the song 'candles' by daughter (I would not be exaggerating to say I listen to this everyday on repeat about 20 times.....sooooo soulful!) 
4. Have some faith in yourself.