Sweet paul

Crafty friday! Wait, its a cocktail!

No my dear readers, I have not lost track of the weekdays.

It is friday and fridays are crafty friday.

But its because it is friday Im giving you a cocktail instead.

Because............THIS IS THE COCKTAILS OF ALL COCKTAILS.

I promise you that you have never had anything like this, ever!

And it has celery and cilantro in it, yeah I know.

Had this for the first time on a cocktail shoot for The Cocktail Kitchen a few weeks back, love from the first sip.

So darlings, its friday, its summer, many of you have time off.

So make the cocktail this weekend.

Again, you will love it!

Celery and cilantro cocktail

1 glass

1 1/2 oz Grey Goose Le Citron

1 oz fresh lime juice( squeeze it yourself)

1 oz simple sirup( 1 cup water and 1 cup sugar, bring to a boil and let boil for 10 minutes. cool. Ready to use)

2 small pieces of celery

1/3 cup cilantro, lightly packet

In a mixing glass, muddle together celery and cilantro.

Add the remaining ingredients.

Add ice and shake well.

Strain through a fine tea strainer into a glass filled with ice.

Garnish with some celery greens and cilantro.

Photo by Colin Cooke

Pasta, parmesan and a hot glue gun!

About a year ago I worked on the Dean&Deluca catalogs.

I did the props for this shoot, but I guess my crafty skills was knows, because they asked me to make a tower of parmesan and pasta.

So I sat down with my good old glue-gun and started gluing the pasta on top of the huge piece of parmesan.

It kinda looks like the pasta is floating on top, but its all glued to place.

No strings, just glue.

Im really happy with the result.

Love doing stuff like this.

Photo by Frances Janisch.

Recipe monday

Today I'm kinda blogging "on the go".

Stuck in Fort Lauderdale Airport with only one food option.

Dunkin'Donuts.

What has the world come to?

Anyway, I have been some days at Key West.

It was hot, hotter then hot. And there is one thing I really crave when its hot.

Strawberry milkshakes.

I really don't know why, but I just have to have them when its hot outside.

But we are talking the real deal. Milk, ice cream, real strawberries and a little vanilla.

Nothing is better on a hot day.

And if you ad some marshmallows to make it polka-dotty, well then you made my day.

Strawberry shake with marshmallows

Serves 2

 1,5 cup milk

2 large scoops vanilla ice cream

1 cup pitted strawberries

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

6 marshmallows, cut in half

 

Place milk, ice cream, vanilla and strawberries in a blender and bland until smooth.

Press the cut part of the marshmallows onto the inside of the glasses.

Pour the shake and serve. 

Photo by Alexandra Grabewski

A little break.

Off to beautiful Key West for a few days under the sun.

Back monday.

See you soon!

Recipe monday

When I was a kid my birthdays was always a big deal.

I was a only child until 7.

Then my sister was born and all of a sudden I was not the star of the household any more.

I did try to outshine her, but have you ever tried to outshine a baby?

Not easy!

Anyway, my mother used to make this cake for my birthdays.

She filled the middle with scoops of ice cream and pour a ton of chocolate sauce over.

I loved the way the ice cream melted into the cake and made it soft.

So when I did this ice cream story a while back, I had to use my moms recipe of course.

Moms ice cream cake

Seves 8 grown ups or 12 kids

 100 g soft butter

1 1/3 cup sugar

3 eggs

3/4 cup crème fraiche

1/2 cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

2 1/3 cup plain flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

 

Heat the oven to 350F, 180C.

Place butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat until light and creamy.

Add the eggs, one at a time, beat well between each one.

Add crème fraiche, milk, vanilla, flour and baking powder.

Mix well.

Pour the batter into a buttered bundt pan.

Bake for about 45 minutes, or until golden and set.

Cool and turn over on a serving platter.

Add ice cream and chocolate sauce.

Ready to serve.

Photo Alexandra Grablewski

Crafty friday!

You guys should know by now that I'm one doilie crazy dude.

This is a bed spread I made for Country Living a while back.

I sewed vintage doilies onto a linen fabric from The Conran Shop.

Pin them in place and then hand stitch them onto the fabric.

The effect is really beautiful.

Please note my rug on the right thats made of huge old doilies I have sewn together.

Photo by Frances Janisch

Have a fab weekend all!

Time for cocktails!

A sneak peak from the Cocktail Kitchen shoot for Wine Spectator.

Photos by Colin Cooke.

Recipe monday

When it comes to tiramisu, its been love from the first bite.

A while ago I though about making tiramisu chocolate.

So I came up with this recipe thats a mix between truffles and tiramisu.

And wow, they came out really good.

Between you and me, a bit to good. I ate the whole thing.

Tiramisu squares

Makes 30

1 cup whipping cream

1 pound good quality dark chocolate

1 tablespoon amaretto

8 ladyfingers

Cocoa powder

 

Place cream in a saucepan and bring slowly to a boil.

Place the chocolate and amaretto in a bowl and pour the cream over.

Stir gently to dissolve the chocolate.

Pour the mixture into a small square cake tin that’s covered in wax paper.

Press the ladyfingers into the chocolate.

Leave to set,

Dust with cocoa powder.

Cut into squares and serve. 

Photo by Studio Dreyer Hensley

Crafty friday!

Who says you have to frame your family pictures.

Why not turn your loved ones into plates?

Find your motive and print it out on lazertran ink paper on your own home printer.

Cut out the motive and place it in water for 15 sec. It will then become a decal that you can place on plates, vases, everything china.

You can even burn it in the oven, so you can eat off your relatives.

Or just place them on a shelf like I did.

Photo by Frances Janisch

Have a fab weekend all.

Behind the scenes, cocktails

Some behind the scenes photos from the least two days.

Been working on a cocktail shoot for Wine Spectator.

Made so many good cocktails these last days, and might I say I have been leaving every shoot day a bit tipsy!

My wonderful assistant Claudia, also known as BangBang. And little old me.

Please note my stylish style kit in the background. Its a Louis Vuitton train case from the 30's.

Very proud of it.

Photographer Colin Cooke, master of his craft!

BangBang again, isn't she the cutest thing ever?