Quick Update....

Only four weeks left until the SIMP show and as you can imagine we're busy preparing for that, so apologies for the lack of updates on the blog.

Like many other places, we're enjoying a mini heatwave which is so very nice after all of the miserable spring weather.

We've taken care of the garden so that we can enjoy end-of-the-day BBQs without battling against giant weeds, but obviously most of the time is spent squishing fimo and painting!  We're slipping a few pieces into our Etsy store from time-to-time and today is no exception.  Here are some new one-off pieces:

Gift box of cookies

Summertime cupcakes

Chocolate cake for a sweet-tooth!

Hand-painted French country kitchen chopping board

Hand-painted decorative plate

Hope you enjoyed seeing them :o)

Tarte au Citron / Lemon Meringue Pie

Thought you might enjoy seeing a close up of a tarte au citron covered with meringue that I've just finished...

Ca vous tente une petite part de tarte au citron meringuée...?

I wasn't that happy with it (maybe because I didn't want to eat lemon pie when I was making it!), but having seen the photo, I love it!  Now I want to eat some, but there isn't any :-( .....never satisfied ;-)

A vrai dire je n'étais pas ravie ravie du résultat, probablement parce-que ce n'est pas ce que j'avais envie de manger au moment ou je la faisais...(eh oui, c'est compliqué d'avoir de la mini-bouffe sous le nez à longueur de temps!!!)

...mais finalement, le test du gros plan m'a rassurée, et maintenant je l'adore, et j'en veux bien, de la tarte au citron, mais y en a pas :-(......jamais contente;-)

Close up of a miniature tarte au citron
Gros plan test :il faut que ça aie l'air vrai, sinon c'est raté!

From a bit further away...
D'un peu plus loin...

Some of the other pieces finished up today - all now on Etsy!  Now off to the kitchen, the real one, we're starving!

Et quelques bricoles de plus, à voir ici, et maintenant, hop! à la cuisine, la vraie, on a les crocs!

More of today's new creations

Back Home!

Some of you have noticed that it's been a little quiet round these parts lately.  We decided to take a short break in England...on the DAY OF THE VOLCANO!! So we stayed there much longer than planned :o) Pampered with glorious hot sunny weather (just 10 minutes of showers in nearly 2 weeks!), gorgeous countryside and delicious food, we wanted to stay for as long as possible!

On vous a terriblement manqué, n'est ce pas? ;-)

Nous avions décidé de prendre quelques jours repos en Angleterre.....nous sommes donc partis..LE JOUR DU VOLCAN!! (on est trop forts!), comme ça, pas question de rentrer trop tôt! (Merci , gros nuage d'Islande, t'es mon nouveau meilleur copain!)

...et puis....quand il fait ce temps là en Angleterre,...on y reste le plus longtemps possible, tout simplement!

We saw (and ate several...) MASSIVE scones!

On a vu (et mangé!) des scones GEANTS!

We saw (and ate....ooops!) TINY lambs! OK, we didn't eat these ones...

On a vu (et mangé....oops!), des MINIS agneaux

We enjoyed NORMAL-SIZED locally grown asparagus!

On a apprécié de délicieuses asperges locales de taille NORMALE !

But now we're back, the weather is crappy and we're running out of scones!!  Aaaaargh!
Et bien sûr, maintenant que nous sommes rentrés, le temps est pourri, et on a fini tous nos scones!  Aaaaarghhharhhrhhh!!!!

Thank you to everyone who has emailed us while we've been away.  We'll tackle the replies over the next few days, so please be patient...
A très bientôt pour de nouvelles aventures, les gens!

"SIMP"le pleasures! A bowl of fruit...

With Easter out of the way, it's time to knuckle down with preparations for June's SIMP show in Paris.

It's frightening to think that in a little over two months I need to come up with enough new pieces to fill our stand.  Panic and self-doubt set in and I'm like a rabbit frozen in the headlights of an oncoming car and not knowing which way to turn...

So I've been looking back through our pictures for inspiration and there are so many great pieces that I'd forgotten about.  It was as if I was seeing many of them for the first time!  That's the problem when you're only making one of each item - you don't remember all of them. :-p

This bowl of citrus fruit caught my eye...it's been ages since I made any fruit so maybe I should start there...this one dates from 2007 already...

In any case, I'm looking forward to the day of the show to be able to meet those die-hard collectors who visit every French show, no matter how small and far away from home it is.  I'm also really excited about meeting for the those collectors that I've only spoken to 'virtually' and who are coming to the SIMP for the first time!

Real miniature cakes / Petits gateaux

It's not yet warm enough here for a barbecue but why should we let that stop us from enjoying some kebabs?!

Comme il fait encore un peu frais pour s'attaquer à un barbecue, on s'est dit que ce n'était pas une raison pour se priver de brochettes!

Here they are:  mini cakes (chocolate, raspberry, lemon and poppy seed and....matcha green tea, which didn't make it on to the skewer....but why not?!

Les voici: brochettes de mini moelleux chocolat, framboise, citron pavot et....thé matcha, qui n'a pas mérité sa place sur une brochette...mais pourquoi donc?!

...because it was my first attempt with this famous green powder...and probably my last!  I did not like the taste.  Neil ate them, but I think it was just so that they didn't go to waste...

....parceque c'était ma première tentative avec cette fameuse poudre verte (oui, je sais, je suis "has been", c'est la fève tonka en ce moment, qu'il faut coller partout!)....et c'était peut être aussi la dernière, vu que le goût est à mi-chemin entre la poussière et l'asperge en boîte.....

So next time I'll stick to more traditional flavours; you can't go wrong with chocolate, coffee, vanilla, pistachio...and this evening.....rum raisin!

Finalement, je crois que les prochaines tentatives seront plus classiques; comme pour les macarons, nos préférences vont aux parfums de base: chocolat, café , vanille, pistache...ce soir, ça sera rhum-raisin ou rien.

The big advantage with these cakes was that because they were so small, wolfing down a dozen would only be the equivalent of eating a single slice of 'normal' cake. The soft, almost moist texture is really pleasant and quite unlike any other kind of cake. I think this is going to become a favourite recipe!

Gros avantage, ça se picore comme des bonbons,on en mange 10 et c'est même pas l'équivalent d'une tranche de cake, et le côté moelleux est fort agréable, ni des cakes, ni des muffins, ni des financiers....bref, c'est parti pour devenir un standard dans les parages:-)

The recipe can be found in this charming little book:

La recette est dans ce livre charmant: