Pretty Paris Pastries

A few photos of some of the pretty pastry displays that continually tempt me as I'm walking around Paris. It's a good thing I walk between 6 and 8 hours per day while in this city.

These photos are all my original work and are embedded with watermarks. Please enjoy, but refrain from licking your screen.

 

A Year of Pretty - February 13, 2014

I'm not a huge fan of Valentine's Day. I never have been. I guess because I'm not a fan of hearts and cupids and red roses. And any day is the perfect day to be romantic and tell someone that you love them, you don't need a special day to do that.

That being said, I do like making cookies or cupcakes and decorating them for Valentine's Day. Who am I kidding; I like doing that for any occasion.

So I thought this centrepiece would be cute on a table if you were hosting a little afternoon tea on Valentine's Day. While not exclusively hearts and cupids, it does have that "love is in the air" feeling about it.

You could put whatever you like in the teacups; cinnamon hearts, chocolates covered with red foil, red heart marshmallows. I think it would be easy enough to make. An candelabra, some old teacups and some super glue. You could paint the candelabra whatever colour you like, but I think it looks nice with the vintage white and the white porcelain from the tea cups.

Either way, enjoy your Valentine's Day tomorrow, whether you are a fan of the day or not.

A Year of Pretty - January 13, 2014

Today's Pretty Post is this collection of silver cutlery handles. Originally a flickr photo post by queenofheartsart. I find the Keats Poems background a nice addition, as well as the antique looking fabric rose. These silver handles would make for interesting silver jewelry, such as rings or bracelets. A while back I did a post about turning silver spoon handles into rings, one of which I now wear quite regularly. 

A Year of Pretty - January 05, 2014

Okay, okay . . . I know I've been posting a lot of cup and saucer and high tea photos this past week. But just one more tea party themed post and then I'll move on to something else.

Today's Pretty Post is from one of my FAVOURITE design inspiration sites called Design Seeds. First, I think it's a really awesome name for a design inspiration site, since each idea for design does indeed start with a seed of sorts. The seed grows and changes and grows some more until the designer arrives at the end product; the manifestation of the original design seed.

So what is Design Seeds? Basically, it's a palette search tool based around colours found in an item, such as shown in today's post. Think of it as an elegant version of paint chips you'd find at Home Depot or Rona.

Created by Jessica in 2009, Design Seeds began as a way for her to incorporate her love of colour with design blogging. Throughout her art school training at the Center for Creative Studies and her extensive design career working with companies such as Ford, Reebok and Timberland, Jessica has created original colour journals. Design Seeds is a modern interpretation of these journals.

While the colour palettes shown do not have any specific paint brands associated with them, there are many paint stores that will scan a colour swatch and create a corresponding paint colour. Just keep in mind that what you see on your screen and what is printed from your desktop printer may be slightly different.

Design away my friends .  .Design away !

A Year of Pretty - January 04, 2014

Today's Pretty Post is this collection of pink and gold Marie Antoinette inspired china cups and saucers. The original photo source was from Pinterest, but I traced it back to an Australian website called The Vintage Table.

Established in 2010, The Vintage Table is a boutique vintage china rental and and styling company that you hire to help you stage an elegant tea party. Basically, you call them up and arrange to rent their glorious vintage china and they come and set the table and make it look all fancy-schmancy and high class. Great for bridal parties, corporate events and special celebrations. Or even just because you want to get together with some special friends in the garden over a good cup of tea.

The company began with a woman named Alison collecting delicate and pretty vintage bone china for over 30 years. She began loaning her collections to family and friends to host high tea parties, and thought maybe others would like to do the same. And so the idea took hold, and she has now worked with hundreds of brides, high tea hostesses, photographers and food stylists.

I am inspired by Alison and her company because she has taken her life long passion for collecting and turned it into her dream job. Everyday she gets to continue to do what she loves and share her joy with others to help them create wonderful memories of their own.

A Year of Pretty - January 03, 2014

First, I would like to say I would like to say I survived the year end staff party with no ill effects and no embarrassing stories in circulation.

Here is a gorgeous hutch makeover from Design Sponge. I love, love, love the colour palate chosen; the gold highlights accentuate the details on the doors so nicely. It reminds me a bit of a Marie Antoinette colour theme, n'est pas? That french je ne sais quoi? or as one comment states; Alice in Wonderland.  I agree.

And again, I am still with the china teacups and saucers theme. This just shows a pretty place to store them all while still displaying the favourites.

This photo shows only the "after" transformation. To see the "before", along with other wonderful ideas for giving life to old furniture, be sure to check out the Design Sponge website.

I have a dresser with six drawers and a top shelf that I am using as a china hutch. My dad picked it up as a "big garbage day" find. I think it used to have a mirror in the open space between the top shelf and the set of drawers and it broke so that why it was being tossed out. It's white with black scroll knobs and has much the same shape of the hutch pictured here. While I think I will keep mine white, this photo has inspired me to sand it down, clean it and give it a fresh coat of paint; along with some contrasting accents like the gold shown here on the doors and drawers. Take the hardware off, clean it and spray paint it a matte black or with a pewter crackle finish. Maybe add some moldings along the top like those in the picture.

Darn! I think I just added another project to my list.

A Year of Pretty - January 02, 2014

In keeping with yesterday's Year of Pretty post, I'm continuing the theme of china and saucers and tea.

Here is a beautiful photo from Tanya and her blog dans le townhouse. Specifically, it's from a post called Tea for Twenty where she talks about and shares photos of a Royal Albert set of cups and saucers her grandma owns.

I've often thought about serving an afternoon tea for friends. People just don't host afternoon teas as much. True, there are a number of hotels and restaurants in Vancouver where you can go and have high tea, but it will usually run you about $60.00, and everybody else around you is doing the same thing, and there's a man in a tuxedo playing Gershwin in the background and it's just not the same relaxed atmosphere you'd have if you have it at home in a comfy home with a cat curled up in the corner.

I remember growing up and going to Oma's house for tea. Each of us had our own cup and saucer. Oma's was purple violets, Opa's was yellow daffodils, mine was pink sweet peas and my mom's was white roses. I think my brother's had a scene of an English hunt with hounds and men on horseback in red riding coats.

The tea cups and saucers are now gone, but the memories of those visits are still with me. There are a lot of good memories to be had over a cup of tea with friends and family.

Note: Tomorrow's post may be slightly delayed. Our staff year end party is tonight and expected to go into the wee hours of the morning. As such, I have high doubts I will be mobile before noon tomorrow.

A Year of Pretty - January 01, 2014

Today is the start of a brand new year. As such, I have resolved to be more inspired, to be more creative, and to share more. I also resolve to wear more dresses than jeans but that's another story.

I'm not gonna lie. Most of these posts are going to be from Pinterest. I will try to include original content whenever I can. But I'm finding a lot of posts lately just link to some sort of  holding tank for images and don't really give credit to the original source. ESPECIALLY with recipes (sooo annoying! I then type in the recipe name into Google search, find it and post the original link to the recipe in the comments of the Pinterest post . . I know, call it my good deed for the day).

So, to start, here is today's Pretty Post to share with you: A set of floral saucers from uncovet.com. The saucers are vintage and have some crazing and minor chipping. But I think they are still lovely. Being vintage, it also makes the set unique and one of a kind.

Makes me think of tea and crumpets and all sorts of wonderful conversations with my mom on the sofa in the big bay window of her home.

I'll Take the Cake

Looking for a beautiful way to show of your baking? Have a gander at these gorgeous cake and treat stands by vesselsandwares, sure to make your guests drool.

The colors are reminiscent of pastel icing and the eyelet lace edging of frilly lace, as displayed in this set of three cake stands (shown left). Custom colors are available on special request.

Or, you could opt for a more traditional white or off-white cake stand and thread a colored ribbon through it to match your theme or occassion.

Black and orange for Halloween cupcakes, bright red to highlight a prized Christmas fruitcake. Pale blue or soft pink to celebrate a new baby. Or choose the colors for your wedding and display tempting treats at your bridal shower. Again, you are able to request different colors of ribbon other than the aqua, yellow and green as shown in this set of three eyelet cake plates (shown right).

Based in Atlanta, GA; creator Jeanette Zeis has worked with clay for over 15 years and has operated a pottery wheel full time since 2007.

Her online store offers a wide variety of pottery dishware for the home including bowls, plates, cups and planters. You can learn more about her work at Jeanette Zeis Ceramics.

In the meantime, help yourself to another serving of delicious cake plateware.

E is for Éclairs . . .

Mmmm . . .choux pastry, cream and chocolate.

I don’t make these often because my figure does not approve of the calories. Accept by way of adding to the waistline? yes . . .approve? not so much.

The French éclair is thought to have originated in France during the 19th century and quickly gained popularity due to its shape and ease to handle. Some food historians attribute its beginnings to the French chef Antonin Carême (1784 – 1833). The first recorded English – language recipe appears in the Boston Cooking School Cook Book by Mrs. D.A. Lincoln, which was published in 1884.

A traditional éclair is made with choux pastry dough, baked and then filled with a cream of some sort and topped with confectioner’s sugar, icing or chocolate. The dough is piped into an oblong shape with a pastry bag (make the shapes round and they become profiteroles) and baked until crisp on the outside and hollow on the inside. Once cool, the pastry is then either sliced in half or injected (remember, the pastry is hollow inside) with a pastry crème. Most common fillings are a coffee or chocolate (or both . . . making it mocha) pastry crème, though other fillings include vanilla custard, fresh whipped cream or chiboust crème. I’ve also had these filled with pistachio or chestnut custard. The top is either dusted with confectioner’s sugar, or glazed with chocolate. Sometimes the top is iced with caramel, but then the dessert magically morphs into a bâton de Jacob.

Éclair is French for "lightning," though the connection is obscure.

Ingredients (for 20 éclairs):

Éclair Pastry Dough:
2/3 cup milk
2/3 cup water
4 oz. butter
1 cup flour
5 eggs
2 tsp. granulated Sugar
pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 425°F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or Silpat mats.

In a pot, mix water, milk, butter, sugar, and salt and bring to a boil. Once butter has completely melted, take the pot off the heat and slowly pour in the flour, stirring constantly.

Put the pot back on the heat and continue to work it with a wooden spoon. Continue stirring and kneading with spoon until the dough dries out and stops sticking to the sides of the pot.

Take the pot off the heat (I know, on the heat, off the heat, . . .enough already!) Add the eggs, one at a time, stirring energetically. You must work quickly.

Transfer the dough into a pastry bag fitted with a medium sized round or fluted tip. The size of your tip will determine the size of the éclair . . .bigger tip, bigger éclair. Squeeze out "finger-sized" éclairs onto prepared baking sheet, well-spaced apart to give them room to expand while baking.

Bake for 10 minutes. Then turn oven down to 385°F and bake another 10-12 minutes with the oven door open. Remove from oven and transfer from baking sheet onto cooling rack. Allow to cool completely.

Voilà! Step 1 complete

Chocolate Cream Filling:
6 oz. Unsweetened Baking Chocolate, chopped
1 cup Milk
4 Egg Yolks
1/2 cup Granulated Sugar
1/4 cup Flour

Melt and milk in a pot and allow to mixture to come to a boil. Remove from heat and set aside.

In a bowl, whisk together egg yolks and sugar until it turns pale and light, almost whitens. Slowly add the flour, stirring. Slowly add chocolate and milk, stirring until homogenous (that means well blended).

Return pot to heat and bring mixture to a slow boil, stirring constantly until cream thickens and becomes smooth. Remove pot from heat and allow to cool.

Fit a pastry bag fitted with a long narrow round tip (the elongated narrow tip will allow you to piece the hollow pastry without causing a huge hole in the side. Fill pastry bag with cooled chocolate cream and begin filling the éclairs. Work slowly, you don’t want to have an éclair explosion on your hands. You will begin to feel when the pastry is full. If you don’t want to fill them with a pastry bag, you can cut the éclairs in half and just spoon the cream into the centers like a sandwich.

Et alors! Step 2 is complete.

Chocolate Icing:
5 oz. Unsweetened Chocolate
2 oz. Butter
1/4 cup Water

Melt chocolate with water in a small pot over a low heat. Add butter while whisking. Continue whisking until shiny and smooth.

Remove from heat. Spread a thin layer over each éclair, using an offset spatula or small butter knife. Allow icing to cool and firm on éclairs

Et enfin, c’est fini!

Dare you to eat just one. . . .okay, have one more