Pecan, Chocolate and Bourbon Tart

Posted on May 15, 2013 by Kara

©Kara Rosenlund

This recipe is a really quick and simple one. I love recipes that make you look like you have gone to a lot of trouble ~~when you really haven’t~~. Something sweet and lazy for a Sunday afternoon treat. I even used store bought sweet pastry, that is how lazy I was on Sunday, however you are most applauded if you have the extra time to make your own pastry.

Ingredients

Store bought sweet pastry
2 large eggs
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
5 teaspoons unsalted butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup chocolate pieces
1 1/3 cups pecan halves
1 tablespoon bourbon

Preheat oven to 180 degree and grease a 22cm tart tin with a removable base.

On a lightly floured surface roll out pastry to cover you tart tin and to be about 3mm thick. Press pastry into the bottom and up the sides of the pan and trim around the edges. Fill with a piece of greaseproof paper and fill with baking weights or rice to blind bake for 12 minutes. Remove paper and weights.

In a large bowl whisk together eggs, sugar, light corn syrup, 4 teaspoons of melted butter and vanilla.

Scatter chocolate pieces evenly over the base of the tart shell. Pour whisked filling over the chocolate and then arrange the pecans on top.

Bake until filling is set, 45 to 60 minutes. If pecans are browning too quickly place a piece of aluminium foil on top of the tart foil. Remove from oven; while still hot, drizzle with bourbon. Let tart cool completely before serving.

Yum x

Weekend in Pictures

Posted on May 15, 2013 by Kara

©Kara Rosenlund

It was so lovely to be back at home after a few weeks away…. I spent most of Saturday unpacking ute loads full of bits… including this ‘new/old’ mirror’….

… plus this beautiful old oil painting which I found at Hen’s Teeth Trading in Tocumwal…. a great shop I can’t wait to return to again….. ~~just realised the mannequin with my hats on it looks a bit like that scene from E.T… ha~~

Lots of beautiful old glazed stoneware bottles which made their way here to Australia on clipper ships in the 1800′s…..

It was actually a cold and drizzly day and when you live in humid hot Queensland you don’t want to miss any opportunity to light the fire and put a cardigan on…. so we did just that….

A very good friend of mine surprised me with a very generous gift of Koto Bolofo’s ‘La Maison’; a volume of 11 beautiful books. Koto Bolofo is the first and only photographer to have been granted unlimited access to the secret workshops of the luxury goods house Hermes. Hours were poured reading these detailed books….

Our floral forager friend Phil dropped in and hung out with us at home… I made a lunchtime feast of trout and vegetables… while Timothy O and Phil dug holes in the backyard for a garden project…. ~~thanks Phil. I got out of that muddy job~~ ….then the afternoon turned into the evening….

… then Sunday arrived and of course it was Mother’s Day… so much love for our girls….

I received this amazing set of crocheted egg cosies from ~~Timothy O~~ the girls…. specially made by Vanessa Ion…. I came across her just recently while in Sydney…. my friend MM took Timothy O and I to another friend Nadine’s amazing bakery / cafe Flour and Stone and insisted we have the ‘Boiled Eggs and Soldiers’…. which came out with little crochet egg cosies… Terence the Fox was keeping my eggs warm…. I lost the plot with pure excitement! Thank you Trixie, Gigi, Bettina, Coco and Nigella….. how thoughtful of you.

Bettina looking at her crocheted self…..

…think she was a bit disappointed to find an egg under there….. ha….

… Mum and Dad came over to celebrate Mother’s Day and we made a casual long lunch together….

I then made a Pecan, Chocolate and Bourbon tart….. the perfect dessert for a drizzly, chilly weekend. Recipe tomorrow. It is so easy.

K xx

Melbourne in Pictures

Posted on May 14, 2013 by Kara

©Kara Rosenlund

Where to begin….. what a big two weeks it has been since my last post…. I am so sorry about the minor posting lapse…. ~~thought you wouldn’t mind too much…. this post will make up for it I hope… xxx~~ Grab yourself a cup of tea… it’s a long post today….

Two weeks ago I hit the road from Brisbane to drive down to Melbourne to host my ‘Vignette Workshops’ with Megan Morton’s ‘The School’... I also had a little capsule ‘Travelling Wares’ market pop up at the workshops…

I headed out to Toowoomba, through to Goondiwindi, down over the border on to The Newell Highway, through Moree, Narrabri, then out to Gunnedah for my first evening stop.

I came across this very sweet cottage on sunset at Gunnedah …. the matching candy striped chairs made my heart sing…. I imagined a sweet old couple who come out at dusk, sit down on the chairs and listen to the radio together or Slim Dusty and watch the cars and life drive through their town…

The next day was much of the same; out to Coonobarabran, down to Gilgandra, Dubbo, Parkes, Forbes, Narrandera, Jerilderie, Finely and Tocumwal…

I just loved how much the landscape changed…. Cotton country, cattle country and dairy country… so inspiring to see the changing colour palette of all these different regions…

One very classy Motel I called home for a night in Tocumwal…. even the 1970′s shag pile carpet was original in the room… eewww…..

The landscape just covered me with the goosebumps….. the beauty was electric….

Then I finally arrived in Melbourne Town… and was greeted by a beautiful array of autumnal colours…..

I arrived at my girlfriend Amy’s house which was such a comfort…. after being on the road for three days it was so welcoming to share a beautiful home cooked meal with her and her gorgeous little family of boys….

Amy’s rooftop at dawn….

I then made my way over to Small Giants in St Kilda which hosted The School’s Melbourne Roadshow by Megan Morton…. a stunning sprawling mansion in St Kilda, one of the last remaining, with grand proportions and extravagant art deco finishes….

An exquisite chandelier…..

Preparing the room for the evening ‘Vignette Workshops’…. it was so wonderful to meet so many people… thank you so much to all who came to the classes….. I had the best time and I hope you did too xxx

Foraged branches and flowers all made their way into the Small Giants residence… courtesy of my wonderful new foraging friend ‘A Floral Frenzy’ Phil….

The heady fragrance from the flowers was captivating…. and the sheer beauty of foraged wild garden roses ~~as opposed to farmed roses~~ was breathtaking…. seriously…. I now want to plant a rose garden in the backyard… ~~and maybe sleep in a hammock amongst them all at night…~~

Branches and branches of foraged crab apple for the classes….

Part of our market pop up…..

Timothy O flew down for the workshops and on one morning we had a few hours spare, so we went for a little walk around Prahran where we were staying….. we came across Wootten….. this amazing guy named Jess who makes the most incredible crafted leather wares…. more coming on that later…. he needs a whole blog post dedicated just to him….

Timothy O and I then headed over to see Sue from Trove…. we share such a similar eye…. I just fell in love with her shop on High street Prahran…..

Early the next morning Timothy O and I hit The Camberwell Market….. founds lots of treasure for home….

Then before I knew it Timothy O had flown out and I was back on the road…. me and my ute, being so in awe of the beauty of Australia….

Loved this little cottages’ nook out the front……

Some amazing sale yards outside Gundagai with early morning fog…

Dawn on a foggy morning near Goulburn amongst the golden gumtrees….

So, that was Melbourne….. the next School Roadshow with myself and Megan Morton is in July, I have just released another day after the first and second days have sold out. If you would like to come along click here.…. then The School’s Roadshow goes to Tasmania….x

Normal ‘Weekend in Pictures’ coming tomorrow;

Sounds weird, though I really missed you guys! Glad to be home and back to blogging.

K xx

Inside Out Magazine

Posted on April 29, 2013 by Kara

©Kara Rosenlund

Have you see in yet?… Have you seen our little cottage on the front cover of this month’s Inside Out Magazine? I can’t believe…. I really can’t….. there is even a really beautiful story on the inside on page 70 about our journey with our house and our general lifestyle…. the talented Megan Morton wrote the story and I photographed it only recently…. you should check it out… even if I do say so myself…. it has been such a long journey renovating…. we feel ever so proud…..

House, I love you, you did well and you shone…. Timothy O, Mum and Dad, what an amazing ~~exhausting~~ journey we have all been on together…

When I get back from the Melbourne road trip I will share some of the ‘back catologue’ ‘before’ shots with you all…. you will shudder… I promise! She wasn’t always beautiful….

K xxxx

Weekend In Pictures

Posted on April 29, 2013 by Kara

Happy Monday! Here we go… Weekend in Pictures…. let’s just say this weekend flew past.. I didn’t get up to my usual cooking or recipe experimenting, or even hanging with the girls ~~bad chicken muma.~~.. It was just a ‘Wham Bamm, Thank You Mamm’ kinda of weekend….with lots of loads of clothes washing from our last road trip…. On Saturday I attending my friend Lulu Lucky’s debut calligraphy class at the upstairs studio of Anna Spiro’s shop ‘Black and Spiro’… it was divine…. there was one moment where I swear I felt like I was up in a roof top studio above Paris, in the 5th arrondissement, circa 1940 and all the ear could hear was metal inky calligraphy nibs scratching on heavy weight paper….practising and writing letters to loved ones… while perfecting our kerning along to the musical talent of Edith Piaf ….. what a joy Saturday was….. I came home with my calligraphy tester sheet and shot this image….. let’s just say I’m much better at photography than I am at calligraphy….

Come Sunday morning Timothy O and I had a pot of tea in bed… we never do this….. and how much of a luxury it felt…….

… we discussed my driving route for Monday morning’s ~~today’s~~ road trip down to Melbourne to host my ‘Vignette Class’ with The School….. If you are in Melbourne you should totally come along!

My new friend from Sydney James Gordon ~~and his dog Bob~~ made this amazing paper rose for us while we were there last week…. I am absolutely in love with it…. I found the perfect place to hang it….. he is a paper genius….

I walked into my local secondhand book shop while waiting for my coffee Sunday afternoon and I found this book…. I only just recently discovered this book after staying with a good friends’ mother in Tamworth, enroute to Brisbane last week….. (more to come of this story soon)…. am in love with this book G.E. xx

Late Sunday afternoon I built up this pretty vignette…… I drew upon my pressing road trip for inspiration…. I can’t tell you how exited I am to get back out onto the open road and witness all the beautiful colours and landscape once again! Melbourne I am so exited to meet you all this Thursday and Friday in St Kilda! If you too would like to come along to one of my Vignette workshops you can book here.…. tickets are $120 and I promise you it will be a night filled with inspiration, laughter and joy! The best kind of cocktail.

Kara xxx

Sydney in Pictures

Posted on April 24, 2013 by Kara

….

©Kara Rosenlund

It has been quiet around the blog for the past few days hasn’t it… bet you thought we decided to pick up sticks and stay on in Sydney…. truth be told I actually would of loved that… Sydney was so kind and generous to Timothy O, Frankie the caravan and myself… we had the ultimate time and are in fact having the Post Sydney Blues…. ha….. Well, here we go… our road trip ‘Sydney in Pictures’….

There really is no better feeling than escaping the city and driving off into the country… Timothy O and I decided to take the ‘country route’ to Sydney, going through towns such as Tenterfield, Armidale, and Tamworth….. everywhere we went people were beeping their horns and waving to us with Frankie on the back or calling us up to see where we were headed…. the response was remarkable…

At every fuel stop I would come out with a fist full of these…. can’t go past a Summer Roll….

We saw and felt so much that made our hearts sing; the faded colours of the land, the changing climates. the livestock…. all whizzing past us as we drove down the national highway with Frankie…

The thing I love most about this time of year are the leaves changing…. the reds, oranges and yellows are electric, almost as though the trees are on fire…

rosenlund_011

Natures ‘colour kaleidoscope’….

This was just in between Armidale and Tamworth ~~I think~~ …. I love how faded the landscape was….

Had a little pitt stop ~~and ‘Summer Roll’ break….~~

The most beautiful subtle colours imaginable…. I love you Australia…..

Getting closer to Sydney….

We arrived in Sydney and decided to stay with Timothy O’s grandmother – Audrey O…. Timothy O and I made a roast for dinner for the three of us, Timothy O’s grandmother set the table all proper… slices of buttered brown bread to accompany dinner, served on pretty bread and butter plates, warmed floral fine china plates for the roast and a big pot of leaf tea for afterwards with apple pie…..nothing too flashy, just the way it’s meant to be done…. Audrey O lost her husband late last year, so it was very sentimental to be able to stay with her in her warm home and keep her company….

Bright and early the next day we arrived at Megan Morton’s The School in Rosebery to set up Frankie…..

Frankie was decorated inside and out with everything for sale….

We set up the trestle tables in the drive way and filled them with all of our beautiful old wares for the Sydney folk to see for the first time!

Kitchen By Mike provided an almost European backdrop to our market stall with their olive trees and grape vines….

We have Travelling Wares tea towels - this isn’t such a great shot of them though… ha. In the online shop soon. x

One evening we even had a ‘Twilight Market’ before one of my ‘Vignette Workshops’…..

Me, in action, teaching one of my ‘Vignette Workshops’.... they were so much fun… three nights in a row to sell out audiences was such a rush of adrenaline and creativity….

My new friend Mario from Mario’s Kitchen supplied such an array of beautiful produce each evening for all of the attendee’s for the Vignette Class….. the brief was to look at my website and take the lead from there… he really did… I felt like I was at home….. ~~except with the most amazing filled pantry…. and perhaps somewhere in the South of France.~~

Then, after a week of being spoilt in Sydney it was time to come back home to Brisbane…. this is a shot of us going over the Harbour Bridge with Frankie on our way out….in the pouring rain… ~~see, Sydney was even sad to see us go…..~~

Thank you so much to all of our friends, old and new, who we were so lucky to spend time with in Sydney….. thank you to all who came out to see Frankie at The School in the glorious weekend sunshine and a very big thank you to all who came to my Vignette Class…. I don’t know about you, though I had an absolute ball!

Melbourne we are coming next week!

Much Love xxxxxx Kara

Vignette Video

Posted on April 12, 2013 by Kara

To celebrate my upcoming Vignette workshops I decided to shoot a video which encapsulates my sort of vignette…. there is always a balance of beauty, nuttiness and of course the unexpected. Click on the image above to be taken to the video to watch. Enjoy! Hope you like the music too…… this particular song feels like the soundtrack to my life!

K x

P.S – another Sydney workshop date has been released for Tuesday night for those Sydney siders who have missed out and another date for Brisbane has been released too…. gosh… I’m going to be busy! to book visit www.theschool.com.au

Frankie Does Sydney

Posted on April 10, 2013 by Kara

I can not wait! Timothy O and I are just about to leave for the road trip from Brisbane to Sydney with Frankie the Caravan….. I feel so exited ~~and a little nervous~~ … everything has been packed and wrapped for this weekend’s market pop up at The School….. I have had some amazing help this week to put the finishing touches on the trip…. my wonderful mother has been my assistant this week – thank you Mum, I couldn’t have got it all finished without you… The sewing guru Sally O from Studio Sixty lent a had to sew me up a storm and I also had the craft queen Lulu Lucky stop by and craft up some last minute crafty bits for the trip.

I’ll be updating the blog with ‘Postcards from the Road’… you can also see the trip unfold over on instagram and our Facebook page.

And here is a little sample of some of the music on our ‘Road Trip’ playlist. You can listen and download if you click here.

See you soon Sydney!

K x

Extra Sydney Class Added

Posted on April 9, 2013 by Kara

So, those Sydney classes for my ‘Vignette Workshop’ snapped up pretty quick and sold out…. never fear, we have decided to offer an extra class on Tuesday evening – that’s next Tuesday.

If you missed out pop on over to The School’s website to book your spot. $120

16th April, 7.00pm – 9.30pm at The School, 85 Dunning Ave Rosebery, Sydney

K x

Frankie in SYDNEY THIS Weekend

Posted on April 9, 2013 by Kara

So, this is where Frankie, myself and Timothy O will be THIS weekend….. parked fabulously at The School selling our wares, while celebrating my friend and super stylist Megan Morton’s ‘The School’s’ FIRST Birthday….. It will be like a carnival…..a crazy colourful mad carnival….

The festivities kick off at 10am until 3pm on both Saturday and Sunday….85 Dunning Ave, Rosebery (same place as my workshops) there will be loads to see and do…. besides Frankie there will also be free paper craft classes, a ‘Pav Party’, lots to eat and drink and so much more for words……so much more…. Click here to visit The School for more information.

Tell your friends… pass it on. It’s going to rock!

K x

P.S …. packing up Frankie today for the road trip….. super excited!