sophia and the hippo teach us how to play

when little sophia came to visit us a couple of weeks ago with her grandmother, sandy, she taught us a thing or two about serious playing ...

question one: how do you know when you've had a really good play?

answer: when you've tried out every single toy at your disposal and made a really big mess.

question two: once you've had a good look at all those toys, how do you decide which is the ultimate one to play with?

answer: that's easy, silly. it's the hippo. of course. and then you have to ROAR like he does.

question three: seeing as - what with all that playing and roaring and mess-making - you're going to get pretty tired, you'll need some kind of sustenance. what is the playing fuel of choice of a little blue eyed hippo-imitator?

answer: hot chocolate!

we look forward to seeing sandy and sophia and all their friends again (and the hippo has been asking when his new bff will come for another playdate).

XX

meet ruby and ben

a couple of days ago we heard the words "cupcake! cupcake" waft through the little brown house door and we knew it could be only one person: ruby, our cupcake queen.

lo and behold, two minutes later, ruby came through the door with her brother ben (who we will dub lord of the thunderbird planes) and her mum debbie. ruby was wearing a truly marvellous knitted coat made especially for her by her grammy. can we just say: ruby's grammy, you are very clever to knit a coat so worthy of cupcakely royalty. can you please make us one?

XX

p.s. please forgive us for the photo which doesn't do justice to ruby's marvellous coat at all. we tried, but the big complicated camera (which was the only one we had on hand) got the better of us. you'll just have to let your imagination fill things in for you. which is always more fun anyway.

yum yum gingerbread

with the onset of the cold weather, we're experiencing an onset of cravings for soul-warming foods. along with crumble, gingerbread is one of those foods. just the smell of it baking in your home will be enough to scare away the chillies tapping at your window.

eat it warm with lashings of butter or, if you have the patience of mother teresa, let it cool and leave it in the tin for a few days so the flavour intensifies. then, to reward your saintliness, place a hearty slab of blue vein cheese on an equally hearty slice of gingerbread and float away to your happy place.

little brown house gingerbread

250 grams butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup treacle
1 cup milk
3 cups plain flour
a little salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 dessertspoon bicarbonate of soda
2 teaspoons mixed spice
1 tablespoon ground ginger

preheat your oven to 180 degrees celcius. cream the butter and sugar together in an electric mixer until light and fluffy. then add the treacle, followed by the milk. stir in the remaining ingredients (add a little more milk, if you need to). pour the batter into a greased, shallow tin and bake for 45 minutes. leave to cool for 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack. when cool, store in an airtight container.

and, if you're feeling adventurous and want to make your gingerbread look pretty, you can ice it with lemon icing (lemon juice, icing sugar and hot water) like we do. yummy!

XX

cookie monster #1

the other afternoon we had ben, one of our well-loved little regulars, in for a chocolate chip cookie with his mom erin and it was as much a pleasure to see them both as it always is (and we love seeing cookie monster #2, a.k.a josh, with them when he's not at preschool). as you can see, the cookie was apparently a good one.

you guys are awesome. you always make us smile (and we love that you love our dinosaur book as much as we do. dinosaurs totally rule).

big love XX

little brown house carrot cake

this yummy scrummy little brown favourite is influenced by the spice mix in our hildegard cookies.

be warned: this cake is darker than wuthering heights and completely irresistible (it has been know to induce intense, moody cravings).

enjoy! xx

ingredients

250g flour (use wholemeal spelt flour for an extra nutty taste)

1 tsp baking soda

1 generous tsp mixed ground spice

1 generous tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp freshly grated nutmeg

a pinch of salt

a pinch of ground cloves

4 free range eggs

170g brown or unrefined sugar

250g white sugar

370g light olive, grape or sunflower oil

3-4 biggish carrots, grated (you should have roughly 200g)
150g of walnuts, almonds, brazil nuts (or whatever you're nutty about)

method

preheat your oven to 150 degrees celcius.

sift all the dry ingredients together and enjoy the spicy aroma.

lightly blend the eggs together and then add these with the two sugars to the sifted dry ingredients. stir gently until just combined and then beat with a cake mixer or (or, if you're an enthusiastic purist, by hand) for around 4 minutes - but be careful not to overbeat or you will toughen your batter.

this makes quite a big carrot cake so find a round 20cm cake tin that is deep enough to allow for some rising. line the base with baking paper and oil the sides. pour the batter in and bake for approximately 90mins to 2hours (check regularly after 90mins until wooden skewer comes out clean)

when done, remove the cake from the oven and allow it to cool before icing.

the cream cheese icing (oh! la la! the very best bit!)

125g cream cheese
100g butter, softened
200g icing sugar, sifted
juice and zest of 1 or 2 lemons (depending on how lemony you're feeling).

throw everything in a bowl and beat it until it begons to resemble the lovely, decadent icing it is. after lashing this creamy concoction on the cake with great flourish (this flourish is very important and cannot be overdone), you can garnish with roasted nuts, pumpkin or sunflower seeds, dried apricots, and dark or bittersweet chocolate.

XX

soiree with peta mathias

as many of you already know, last tuesday we hosted a soiree with peta mathias at the little brown house. there was so much we loved about the evening, not least the fact that you all came out in force supporting us by being there or by sending your love from afar. there were lots of other things we loved too and (so that we can try and keep the memory of them fresh!) we'd like to share them here. everyone loved peta because: her talk was impromptu – totally honest and obviously not rehearsed. she made us laugh. she helped us believe that it is never too late. she made us love red wrap dresses even more than we already did (as did the red wrap dress pip donned for the evening). when she sang one of edith piaf's songs, we cried happy tears and felt instantly teleported to paris. her energy and enthusiasm lifted our spirits, infusing us all with a "well, why not?" attitude we will all value and draw on for a long time/ her talk made us really, really, really want to go on a trip to marrakech with her. and it made us want to go to the south of france even more. but mostly (and here's the best bit), she helped us all to believe in ourselves that little bit more by having the ability not only to laugh at herself but by also putting on a little light in everyone's heart that evening. merci mille fois peta xx we've also got to add:

watching sharyn prepare the scrumptious platters and chatting with her as she did so was the perfect pre-event thing to be doing. her flair and enthusiasm was infectious. what a wonderful lady! many many thanks and big big love to her ... and let us not forget her husband johnny who thought it would be a good idea to have just such a soiree at the little brown house in the first place.

we love you all! XX p.s. we know some of you were disappointed on the evening that some of peta's books sold out. we'd like to let you know that the publishers have now sent more (youpi!) and if you would still like a signed copy we can organise a bookplate to be added easily enough. just email or call us and we'll sort it out for you! (but be aware that limited numbers are available).

jt on the big screen!

well, that might be somewhat of an overstatement ... but we are nonetheless very, very, very excited about this ad we made with the fantastic people from may e films (kaz and greg are truly amazing, they so got 'it'). it's screening as a preview at wanaka's very own cinema paradiso.

but that's enough talky from us. take a wander up the garden path and let us know what you think!

XX

introducing hildegard

there's a new arrival at the little brown house. she comes from a varied and far-stretching background although given that she's around 500 years old (and looking damn good for her age too, if we might say so) that isn't really surprising. in her time she's been a saint, a healer, a witch, a philospher, an arguer-with-mighty-fat-know-all-men, and cookie baker extraordinaire (to name but a few of her professions) and she comes to us with a killer eye for fashion and a feisty feminine wisdom we don't know how we ever did without. given all the things she's done and seen, it's hardly surprising she looks a little intimidating. but please, don't be shy! if you're in wanaka pop in and introduce yourself to hildy and if you're lucky she might even share a wry comment and a knowing wink with you. xx

what to do with plums

we've got a plum tree over our fence that has been producing plums like they're going out of fashion for the past few weeks. and because i couldn't bear to watch them all falling to waste on the ground, i dedicated around an hour this morning to pitting them (they're very small. it was a labour of love. or madness.) and then another couple of hours to slowly stewing them with a small amount of honey. and it was worth the effort, even if they did reduce to a quarter of the volume i began with! we're serving them with a banana and poppyseed cake and indulging in throwbacks to our childhoods every time we get a whiff of them. there's just something about them that takes us right back to bare feet on the grass, eating fruit straight off the tree and feeling the glimmer of sunlight on our backs.

bliss.

xxx

ladies of the hat

two days ago two very elegant women, dressed entirely in black and adorned with magnificent hats (complete with gorgeous handmade hat pins) came to celebrate the birthday one of them shares with edgar allan poe at the little brown house. they arrived in a limosine (what class!), came bearing scrolls, pictures of mr. poe, long-stemmed red roses and pierre the black poodle (he's really a stuffed toy but don't tell him that 'cos you'll hurt his feelings) tucked underarm. the birthday feast was very much in keeping with the mood of the day: french hot chocolate and chocolate almond cake.

what we learnt from these two wonderful "ladies of the hat"? that any day, but especially a birthday (even if it is someone else's) merits - no wait - demands a grand celebration. so follow the example of helen and sue - don your black lace dresses and wide brimmed hats and clinking bangles and toast to whatever-you-want with a hot chocolate and/or a glass of wine!

thank you helen and sue for your wonderful visit. you made our day xx

the secret summer garden

our garden is looking so beautiful at the moment that i went a bit mad taking photos yesterday afternoon. it's really taking on a life of its own ... i keep waiting (slash hoping) to see a wild thing leap from behind the poppies ...