A long, long weekend in Radelaide

So what do you do for a 5 day weekend? Go to a wedding in Adelaide.  And what do you do in Adelaide for a few days I hear you say, well... lots. After getting in from our early flight and just missing the check in at our hostel we headed for the Central Adelaide Market for lunch, cheese and hot cross buns. 

After wondering through the streets checking out some of the beautiful old sandstone buildings we checked into annie's place, a nice little hostel with clean basic rooms and a great travellers vibe.  Not being as hardcore as we once were we booked a double room with an ensuite, dorm beds are a bit past us these days!

Having only one full day to ourselves, we took advantage of the free city bikes and rode to the Glenelg beach front and had lunch.  Weather wise it was an awesome day.

The next day was my cousin's wedding at the historic Ayers House, a former residence of Henry Ayers, 5 time Premier of South Australia and the man that had a rock named after him.  We had a few hours to kill between the ceremony and reception so we took a relaxed stroll through the Adelaide Botanical Gardens.

Nice way to spend a long weekend, and as my cousin saids "Adelaide...it's ok".

Hot Cross Buns time

Yep, it's that time of year and this recipe came curious of the Gourmet Traveller website.

Here's the run down with a few notes of ours in brackets:

Serves 16

Buns
750 gm (5 cups)	plain flour, sifted
55 gm (¼ cup)	caster sugar
2 tsp (14 gm)	dried yeast
1 tsp	allspice
½ tsp	cinnamon
250 gm (1½ cups)	sultanas
100 gm	candied orange peel, coarsely chopped (we used mixed peel)
1	orange, finely grated rind only
300 ml	milk
100 gm	unsalted butter, coarsely chopped
1	egg
Glaze
55 gm (¼ cup)	caster sugar
¼ tsp	mixed spice

1	Combine 700 gm flour (note, not all the flour as I did, save 50gm for the cross!), sugar, yeast, spices, sultanas, orange peel (or mixed peel) and rind and 1 tsp sea salt in a bowl. (Now not everyone likes mixed peel in our family so we divided the dough in two at the knead stage and adding the mix peel to half) Gently warm milk and butter over a low heat until butter melts and mixture is tepid. Add egg to milk mixture and whisk. Make a well in the centre of flour mixture, add milk mixture and stir. Turn dough onto a floured surface and knead for 10 minutes or until smooth. Place dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap and stand in a warm place for 40 minutes or until doubled in size. Knock back dough and cut into 16 equal pieces. Knead each piece into a ball, place in a lightly greased 22cm-square cake pan (put them nice and close to each other to make them a nice shape when they come out of the oven), cover with a damp tea towel and stand in a warm place for 40 minutes or until doubled in size.
2	Preheat oven to 220C. Combine remaining flour and ¼ cup water and stir to a smooth paste. Spoon into a piping bag fitted with a fine nozzle. Pipe lines down each row to form crosses. Bake for 10 minutes, then reduce temperature to 200C and bake for another 10 minutes or until golden. (They’re ready when they sound hollow when tapped).
3	For glaze, combine ingredients with ¼ cup water in a saucepan over medium heat, stirring until sugar dissolves. Bring to the boil, reduce heat and simmer for 1-2 minutes. Brush glaze over hot buns, then transfer to a wire rack to cool.

The buns turned out pretty good for a first try.  Next time I'll place them a bit closer together on the tray. I Think I'll give this recipe 8/10.

Gulf Station, Yarra Valley

We recently took a trip to Gulf Station just outside of Yarra Glen to see Bob demonstrate traditional blacksmithing. Gulf Station www.gulfstation.com.au is a National Trust listed pioneer working farm built in 1850's with original farm building.

Bob hard at work in the black smith shed

There's No Place Like Here: Hindsvik from Etsy on Vimeo.
Join Daniel and Valeria a.k.a hindsvik on a video tour of their home, where Scandinavian and Japanese vintage pop in a minimalist environment.
If you like this I highly recommend there blog, http://hindsvik.com

Wedding Day part 1

We got married last April on a beautiful sunny Autumns day in the Yarra Valley. 

As we are both designers we spent the proceeding 6 months collaborating with one another on our invites and setting the tone for the overall theme for the day.  We made hundreds of paper cranes from brightly coloured paper squares, and planted tiny succulents which our guests took home as keep sakes from the day. Here are a few snaps from our DIY wedding.

Picnic, Lake Burrumbeet and Barkly

Home made devonshire tea served on a cardboard box

Barkly's lochness monster impression

Wet dog

Barkly in action

10/4/2010