I have a confession.... I'm in love with another man.

I only know of him as Will and of his true love as Annie and well, I fell in love on a rainy Sunday afternoon in my shop. You see - a young lady came in wanting to sell a whole lot of old postcards among other things that she had inherited from her family that belonged to her great great grandfather. She had no interest in keeping them. This was always the challenge I faced. I love the history of the old and part of my business is to sell rare and beautiful finds but the other part of me wants to convince them to keep their heirlooms.. But - with most things, money is the root of all evil and they want what they think it is worth. Anyway - enough about business.

As I sifted through the postcards and there was well over 50, I started to see a pattern, it was the correspondents between two sweethearts during the war. As my eyes started to well with tears, I asked again if she was sure she didn't want just a few. Not one was kept. As the day was coming to an end, I sat down in my office and arranged them in order as best I could. It looks to have started in 1916 (WW1) and the last stamp that I can make out is in 1943 (WWII)... 

We start with them courting through to marriage. How could I separate these postcards? I couldn't, and now they live in my drawer beside my bed. I often pull them out and read through them, it's a great leveller to my problems, I haven't gone to war, I haven't been separated from my love ones for months on end. And I haven't had to see things in my lifetime that will chill me to my core. I am blessed and these postcards sometime remind me.

Will traveled through Egypt, England, Langland Bay, Palestine, Paris, to name just a few.

And Yes - I love this man, for all that he represents. I wished I could give him a hug. I loved that he showed his heart in these cards to his Dear Annie.

 They often started with " To Darling Annie" or "Dearest Annie" and ended with "From Yours Will" or "Love Will" made out in X's to symbolises his love.

I will leave you with a passage on one of his Postcard;

"I send you love, my own dear wife,

From the longing of my heart,

You're dearer now to me,

Though we're so far apart:

I think about you day by day,

At night I dream of you,

Though war may take me far away,

You'll know I'll come back true.."

Bless this man and his dear Annie.

Oh My Gosh....

So, this afternoon I was blog surfing and stumbled across this great aussie blog called “Hello May” and as I was scrolling through my heart skipped a beat, there staring straight back at me were Luke & Jen, a truly beautiful couple who purchased their engagement ring (antique of course) and both their wedding bands from me last year at Dural Antiques

I can’t tell you how excited I am to see the final chapter of their union in the form of their wedding day. I was lucky enough to know about their relationship from my conversations with Luke and Jen, but it was how Luke was going to propose and that Jen didn’t know he was going to give her ‘The Ring’ she really wanted, that made me love this couple. A timeless Antique Diamond Solitaire that matched her in every way…

I wished I could reach through my monitor and tell them how incredibly beautiful they looked. Jen showed me pictures of her gown and her trial headpiece but there are just no other words to match this couple other than soulful and connected.

I wished there was a picture of their rings to complete the story.

True Love….

To read their love story. Click here (Hello May)
Visit Dural Antiques

The Quintessential Aussie Dessert

Recipe From: The Hungry Australian

Layered Pavlova with Pomegranate and Flowers

I know there has been a glut of desserts on The Hungry Australian lately but I just had to bake a cake to celebrate this award. After considering several ideas, I decided to do a version of Pavlova, my favourite Australian dessert. I've previously blogged a Raspberry and Pomegranate Layered Pavlova recipe and this is the same recipe with some minor adjustments. It was a bit of work to prep the flowers but a special occasion calls for a special cake.

INGREDIENTS

• 10 egg whites
• Large pinch salt
• 2.5 cups sugar
• 5 teaspoons corn flour
• 2.5 teaspoons white or red wine vinegar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla bean extract
• 725 mls thickened cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla bean extract
• 2 large pomegranates, seeds only
• Assorted flowers to decorate

METHOD

1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celsius.
2. Line three baking trays with baking paper and draw a 20cm circle on each.
3. Wipe mixing bowl with vinegar and then beat egg whites with salt until soft peaks form.
4. Add sugar in five batches (1/2 cup at a team), beating thoroughly between each addition until meringue is thick and shiny. Try holding the bowl upside down - if the meringue doesn't move, it's thick enough!
5. Add cornflour, vinegar and vanilla extract and gently fold in.
6. Divide mixture equally between three baking trays and spread gently to fill in the circle shape (an offset spatula is great for this). Smooth the top and the sides.
7. Place the trays in the oven and immediately reduce heat to 120 degrees Celsius. Bake pavlovas for 90 minutes and then turn off heat, leaving them to cool in the oven.
8. When ready to assemble, whip cream with 1 teaspoon vanilla bean extract.
9. Take one pavlova and spread with a third of the cream, leaving a 2 cm gap around the edge. Decorate with 1/3 of the pomegranate seeds and then repeat with a second layer.
10. Place the final pavlova on top  and cover with cream.
11. Decorate the top layer with fresh flowers as prepared below and half of the remaining pomegranate seeds.

NOTES

• I suggest you read my previous Raspberry and Pomegranate Layered Pavlova recipe before you begin this one for some extra assembly tips.
• Fresh flowers are not food safe unless they have been organically grown and are free of pesticides. And some flowers are poisonous and/or dangerous for human consumption even if they have been grown organically. So unless you are certain of the flower type and its source it's best to prepare all flowers with a barrier between the flowers and the cake.
• Gently wash and leave flowers to air dry. Work out where you want to place the flowers and then cut stems accordingly.
• If inserting the flowers into the cake, wrap the stem completely in florist tape (available from florists, naturally) before inserting the wrapped stem into the cake.
• For flowers that will be placed onto the cake, place small  and unobtrusive discs of cling wrap on top of the cake before you carefully place the flowers on top.
• To insert flower stems into pavlova, use a sharp knife to pierce the cling wrap to make a hole and then insert the flower through.
• To serve, remove the flowers and cling wrap and then scatter the top of the pavlova with the remaining pomegranate seeds.

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I have just stumbled upon this amazing blog site, of which just won the Best Australian Blog Site 2014. I think it’s going to become a favourite.

Check out The Hungry Australian Blog Site:

Enjoy Life....

Today - 70 years on....

June 6^th 1944 – known as D-Day, the invasion of Normandy… The world remembers World War II, the allied forces landing in Normandy.

Photographer Chris Helgren heads back to Normandy to create a comparison image of the photos that were captured 70 years ago.

Juno Beach in Saint-Aubin-Sur-Mer, France 1944and a 2013 picture of Juno Beach

The image of a destroyed Rue Saint-Pierre 1944 and Shoppers Strolling down Rue Saint-Pierre 2013

Although 70 years may have passed, I would say the pain and memories of that time live on in many.. It is a stark reality that we are still a world that goes to war. 2014 maybe a different time but we are still unfortunately challenged with the same global issues

I will spend today thinking of those who lost their lives on both sides and for the prisoners of war that may have survived but with the tremendous cost, memories.

I leave you with this song that rings true… If only we could all get along.

Click to read the Full NBC Story...

Reminiscing

Pure Sunshine… Little Miss Liv on her first birthday. Oh – where does the time go?? She is all we need, she warms our hearts and puts a smile on our faces. Thank you my little Darlin’

Woman of Style

I’ve decided to start a series on Woman of Style for my “Love to Sparkle” page. As I am a lover of all things beautiful and rare, I thought it would be fun to see what has stood the test of time, how jewellery really does complete your look when stepping out and how it’s worn today.

Being patriotic to my Australian roots, I have decided to start with wonderful Nicole Kidman….

Nicole Kidman

Her style in my eyes is Vintage chic, she has this amazing ability to team classic gowns and outfits with bold jewellery compliments. I love that she takes risks and wears what she feels great in..

Nicole is wearing a stunning pair of earring pendants from Fred Leighton. They look to be a pair of vintage gold and black enamel ear pendants. 

What a striking 1920’s black enamel and Turquoise brooch Nicole has teamed to accessorise her gown, classic, timeless and spot on. From Fred Leighton

Wow – now this is a stunning cuff bangle. Made of gold and set with Emeralds and Diamonds. This 1970’s bracelet is a show stopper. From Fred Leighton

Classic in every sense of the word.. These Gold and Turquoise Earrings are the perfect touch to her elegant and whimsical makeup. From Fred Leighton

Spectacular is all this necklaces needs for words – a rope-like sautoir necklace is reportedly set with 7600+ diamonds of different types, including rough, faceted, and polished stones. The piece was designed by L'Wren Scott

These are seriously gorgeous – a pair of Diamond Drop Pendant Earrings. From Fred Leighton

 Another beautiful example of a classic Fred Leighton piece. A Stunning Floral design set full of luscious diamonds makes me want to cry. Notice that she wears nothing on her ears, I like that she keeps statement piece jewellery as just that – statements.

Oh Please can I have these.. Another pair of classic vintage earrings.

Now – just so you know that I’m all about keeping it real, here is Nicole looking like the rest of us, a working mother and wife.

Enjoy Life…

Gotta Love The Baseballs..

I have some really beautiful clients that mean more to me than the word “client”, they have become like friends. I was lent this cd to play in my store, you see being an antique store I play classic music from the 20’s, 30’s & 40’s.. I sprinkle a bit of Bublé, Harry Connick jr and a few jazz singers but mostly stay true to what my business feel is.

That was until the boys gave me Strike – by the Baseballs. Have you heard of them? I hadn’t but I just love their sound. Who are they you ask? They are a group of guys from Germany that are known for their twist on modern day songs transformed into rock n roll style covers. Let’s just say Rhianna’s “Umbrella” done by these guys is amazing.. Not to mention “Love in the club”, “Bleeding Love”… They have been around since 2007

Check out their sound and you decide….

 

I’m off to order “Good Ol' Christmas & Strings 'n' Stripes Live”. . All I need is a lazy Sunday afternoon, good wine and great company, we can chill to the sounds of these boys..

Enjoy Life….

Can I Please Have More.....

We had a dinner party with family over the weekend and I must say my sweet boy and I really stepped up to the plate and delivered a killer meal.. We go to an amazing certificated organic butcher and we picked up beef cheeks not knowing we would be having the family over. What a great decision that was.

So – with no recipe, I went searching online for a show stopping recipe and found just the one.

Slowly Braised Beef Cheeks in Pedro Ximenez

Recipe from Movida

Book: MoVida Rustica: Spanish Traditions & Recipes

Another revelation was that we had all the ingredients in our pantry much to our surprise. This was an amazing start – not having to go out and spend money, we were ready to go..

Sweet boy was going to do mains and I was going to do dessert with Little Miss. I then decided that we needed a side of greens and I had this great recipe for beans that is always a hit, so I got onto that. Recipe from Pinterest: Green Beans Gremolata

Voila  

 Dinner is Served

We had a potato puree rather than the cauliflower as I can’t have cream nor milk… 

Let’s get to the sweet stuff. Before I start, I need to set the scene, we had dancing, tasting and tears. It was a jammed packed dessert making experience.

Oh My Lordy Chocolate Dessert

Creator: Yours truly 

Ok Ok – it’s a cheat’s dessert. Anyone that knows me, knows I am all about home designed more than homemade.. Presentation is everything people.. I will say this though, it required a mixer, piping bags, smashing of Oreo biscuits and careful placement of fresh Raspberries.

As I said before, dessert making didn’t come without some tears, why, you ask? Well – butter isn’t it’s own food group.        

 Ok – we got back on track and headed for the finishing line with some laughter.

Super easy to make, grab yourself you favourite chocolate cake mix, I like Betty Crocker chocolate fudge cake mix (divide mixture into 6 ramekin dishes) and bake according to instructions, grab some pre-made chocolate mousse, I like nestle chocolate mousse, Oreo biscuits, ice-cream and fresh Raspberries. 

Now – construct to your liking, that’s it, you have a really impressive dessert that looks as though you have slaved in the kitchen to create. It really is a crowd pleaser… 

Enjoy Life….