Interior of Spring Easter Egg

I thought you might enjoy seeing this - it's one of Emma's Easter pieces from yesterday. I turned the camera up to 11 today because I don't think that the photos that I took yesterday adequately showed the detail inside, which for this particular piece is very important. I think this one is better and shows the amount of fiddly work Emma put into it!  It's even glittered on the inside (pretty much like our house - the damn stuff gets everywhere!)

I do wish that I had some way to show it to you in 3D but, you'd all need to wear Joe 90 style 3D glasses!

Si je résume, Neil  s'est bien amusé avec son appareil photo chéri, pour qu'on voie l'intérieur de l'oeuf...oui, même l'intérieur est recouvert de paillettes : IL Y EN A PARTOUT DANS LA MAISON!!!!!

Neil en a deux sur le front, chut ! ;-)

Click on the photo to see the enlargement.
Encore plus gros si vous cliquez sur la photo...

Currently listed on Etsy

All that glitters...

...are these three new miniatures!

These and a few others will be on Etsy soon if we can keep our electricity for more than five minutes at a time.  One of the joys of living in a small village - a bit of heavy rain and wind and you find yourself cut off!

Click here to see the listings

Today's Easter Miniatures...

Four for you today.  Just listed them in our Etsy store...

Click here to see the listings.

Sorry for the minimalist postings recently.  We're just coming out of hibernation...but will hopefully find time to write something more substantial soon - unless you're happy just looking at the pictures....?!!! ;o)  

Why not a macaroon-masterclass (real macaroons!), so many of you have asked for the recipe for these!

C'est un peu minimaliste, ces temps-ci, n'est ce pas ?....eh oui, mais nous sortons tout juste d'hibernation, alors patience, dès que possible, nous prendrons le temps d'écrire pour vous, les gens....pourquoi pas une leçon de macarons (des vrais!!) ?

Pink Easter Miniatures

Just a quick post to present some cute spring babies who were born in our workshop earlier today....Shhhh!

They will be on Etsy ASAP...click here to see them.

Bon weekend!

Easter Egg Hunt! / La chasse aux oeufs est ouverte!

Where are they?
Mais où sont-ils doncs?

...they're not too well hidden....

...ils ne sont pas très bien cachés....

They'll be in our Etsy store (with some more Easter items) in a few minutes - see them here.
Ils sont là!!
Hope you like the new look blog :o)
On a changé le look du blog, ça vous plait ?

Chicks and Bunnies - Easter Miniatures

We've been working on some Easter miniatures this week - here's a quick look at some of the pieces: 

They should be on Etsy soon!  A few people wrote to say they were disappointed to miss out on the last series we put on Etsy, so you now have a head start!

On dirait que pâques s'approche (si le printemps voulait bien faire de même....!), nous voici donc en plein atelier lapins et poussins (et cloches, mais Neil ne tolère toujours pas les cloches volantes....;-)

"Marie Antoinette Tea" Pink Macaroons and Cupcakes / Macarons et cupcakes au thé Marie Antoinette Ladurée

This weekend I prepared some pink macaroon shells but wasn't saying how I was going to fill them, but now...

The suspense is over!!!  I'd been thinking about trying it for a long time, and now I have...macaroons made using "Marie Antoinette" tea from Ladurée....and they're good!

This aromatic tea is perfumed with flowers and citrus fruits, which isn't usually my...cup of tea (sorry!), and generally flowers are better in the garden than in a dessert....and often this kind of tea smells more like a air freshener than a drink!

....Fin du suspens!!!

J'y pensais depuis longtemps, ça y est, je l'ai fait, des macarons au thé Marie Antoinette de Ladurée...et en plus c'est bon!

C'est un thé aux arômes de fleurs et d'agrumes, ça aurait pu mal tourner,...et généralement, nous préférons les fleurs dans les jardins plutôt que dans les desserts....

C'est vrai quoi,  ne nous voilons pas la face, exception faite de la fleur d'oranger et de la violette et bien sûr de la vanille le reste évoque davantage la bombe désodorisante qu 'un enivrant bouquet !

To add a note of acidity, I added some raspberries - yep, I was pretty pleased with myself!

Pour donner une petite acidité bienvenue dans ce voluptueux cœur de macaron, quelques morceaux de framboise.......à vrai dire je suis pas mal fière de mon coup :-)

La recette? Infuser deux cuillère a soupe rases de thé Marie-Antoinette dans le lait pour la crème mousseline, (sorte de crème pâtissière "montée" au beurre) et ne pas hésiter à forcer sur le colorant, sinon, la couleur est proche du thon mayonnaise, et ça, ça ne va pas du tout....

After making the macaroons, I had some of the cream filling remaining...so I made my first ever real cupcakes!!  Sweet, don't you think?!

Il restait de la crème , j'allais pas gâcher...alors j'ai  fait les premiers cupcakes de ma vie.....il est pas  mignon?

I'll confess:  they're "French fashion style" cupcakes, without sickly butter cream (yuk!) and made with recipe for a French "financier" cake, not sponge...again, delicious!  (ok, so they're not "strictly" American style cupcakes, but I decided to improvise - after all, it was us that were going to eat them!!!)

J'avoue: ce sont des cupcakes "french fashion style" sans crème au beurre (beurk!) et avec de la pâte à financiers...et c'est délicieux! (..ok c'est pas vraiment des cupcakes, mais on fait ce qu'on veux, c'est nous qui les mangeons!!!!)

I'll not put the full recipe here, because this isn't a cooking blog....for now!!  But if you want it, just ask!  Bon appétit!!

Je n'affiche pas la recette complète, parce que n'est pas un blog de cuisine...pour l'instant!!

mais si vous la voulez, ya qu'à demander, bon appétit ;-)

Pink Macaroons / Macarons roses

I can't help but get a little excited when Emma announces that she's going into the kitchen to do some baking. Last night she was keeping tight-lipped about what she was up to, but this morning I was happy to see that in my rôle as official taster / guinea pig, I'll be force fed (yeah, right!) macaroons later today! 

Je ne peux pas m'empêcher d'être curieux quand Emma me dit qu'elle part aux fourneaux.  Hier soir inderdiction formelle d'entrer dans la cuisine.  Mais ce matin j'etais content de voir qu'il y avait de petits trucs roses que, en tant que cobaye officiel, je serai "obligée" de gouter plus tard....qui dit que des macarons sont uniquement pour les filles....?!!

It does seem that Emma has once again mixed real life with miniatures and has made the shells for the real macaroons v-e-r-y small!

Mais là, on dirait qu'elle a tout mélangé car même ces vrais macarons sont miniatures !

Can't wait to see what these cuties will look like once they've been filled with cream (still a mystery as to what it will be!)

J'ai hâte de les voir terminés !  Voir....et goûter !  Et pour la crème...aucune idée pour l'instant...


Neil

French Savoury Miniatures/ C'est l'heure du casse-croûte!

A couple of days ago we looked forward with anticipation to our next "High Tea" in the UK.  But let's not forget that we're very happy with the traditional nibbles that France serves up!

C'est vrai que c'est dur de se passer du "High tea" comme on l'aime en Angleterre...mais ne crachons pas dans la soupe!!!

For example a crusty baguette with some farmhouse pâté and a glass of red wine or a few slices of saucisson sec with some crunchy pickles!  Deeeeelish!

Une bonne baguette croustillante, avec un bon  pâté et un verre de rouge, ou quelques rondelles de sauciflard avec des cornichons...hmmm!

If you're looking for a bit of savoury to balance out all those miniature pastries, head over to Etsy where these items have just been listed!

Pour équilibrer toutes les récentes pâtisseries miniatures, voici donc quelques variations salées, pour changer, et c'est là qu'on a mis la table!

Made some scones while looking forward to the next High Tea! / En attendant le prochain "High Tea"

As we we come to the end of winter, our thoughts are turning to our next hop over the English Channel to visit family and friends in the UK.  We didn't find time to make it over last year so the craving for seaside fish 'n' chips and cream tea with scones is at an all time high!

On dirait que l'hiver veut finir...(mais si, mais si!!!) et nous commençons à penser sérieusement à notre prochaine balade outre manche...Ça fait trop longtemps, et nous sommes officiellement en manque de fish 'n chips et de cream tea au bord de la mer...

Other UK goodies such as McVities Digestives are now available here in France (so that'll save some space in the back of the car next time!) but scones are harder to come by.

C'est très bien que les digestives McVities soient disponibles en France, mais ça ne suffit pas, et les scones, on en a jamais vu nulle part...

So we made some!
Alors on en a fait!

We've showed them with one of our "High Tea" miniatures.

En voici deux, avec un "High tea" sur un serviteur muet miniature.

Warm from the oven and spread with butter and a big dollop of strawberry jam they were delicious, but they did lack the all-important clotted cream and seaside air!

Encore tièdes, avec du beurre et de la confiture de fraises, c'est pas pour me vanter, mais c'était une tuerie!!

Il ne manquait que l'air de la mer, et la clotted cream, qui est une sorte de crème fraîche très très lourde et très très bonne, qui rappelle le mascarpone en texture, et un beurre sublime en goût....si quelqu'un sait par quoi le remplacer, par pitié, dites le nous!!!!

Here's a closer look at the High Tea - based on a real one we enjoyed last time in the UK.

Un plan plus serré du serviteur muet miniature, basé sur un vrai, que nous avons englouti lors de notre dernier séjour en Angleterre...

It's Award Season! We Got 4!!

The awards season is well and truly here; Golden Globes, BAFTAs, Brits, and the Oscars this weekend hosted by Alec Baldwin (excellent in "30 Rock") and Steve Martin (whose "Born Standing Up" is a lovely heart-warming read).

But seeing as how the Academy didn't see fit to nominate me for "Halloween Miniatures" or "Cute Teddy Bears" this year, they can stuff off...I don't need them, because I received FOUR awards this weekend!

So BIG thanks to Kiva, Jody, Geneviève, and Ana.

You probably all know the drill by now - nominate seven blogs, tell seven things about yourself, pass it on....

Well it seems that everyone we follow and would have given it to already has it...so forgive us for not nominating anyone here.  They are nice to receive, but they do make me think of those dreaded "chain letters" that did the rounds when we were kids.  They used to threaten all kinds of unpleasantness if you didn't pass them on!!!!

And there's no way we're going to find 4 x 7 "secret" things about ourselves either!  They're secret for a reason :-p

So we'll do one lot of seven "secrets", and hopefully no curses, poxes or plagues will come our way as a result of not passing this on.  We do what we like :-p

1.  Neil holds a valid UK forklift driving license.

2.  We love anything with "iron" in it - "The Iron Giant", "Iron Man", "Ironbridge Musem" "ironing".  That last one's a lie.  Ironing is the devil's own creation.  FACT.  And don't you find that "iron" is one of those frustrating words that gets more bizarre the more you say it...?

3.  Emma may be a Cylon.  Some days neither one of us is sure.

4.  Two things are sure to stop Neil dead in his tracks - the music from Star Wars and seeing a chimpanzee with clothes on.  This video makes him very happy!

5.  Neil was head of a team that had a number one selling Playstation video game in the UK!  For a WHOLE WEEK!

6.  We haven't seen Twilight yet!  But we love Buffy and Angel so doubt it'll be as good.  Send hate mail to youarewrong@idontcare.com

7.  It's a secret...

So there you go...now to make some minis!