Descoware Dutch Oven

Yesterday I went down to my local Lifeline looking for some glass jars, and came home with this little character.

I have had my eye on a french oven for such a long time, and really didn't expect to have one of my own so soon. 

I spotted this nestled in with several other pots and pans, stroked and lifted the lid half fazed and my eyes lit up! The beautiful clunky weight of cast iron! And for $8, surely not. I picked it up and carried it around the store checking the other nooks, bins and shelves thoroughly but without concentration. I proceeded to the check out with my $10 note still unconvinced of the price; I burst out with "I know!" when she quoted the price tag, waiting for me to pay the sum, she didn't seem to follow. As I stepped away from the counter another customer stopped me and said "That's beautiful, do you mind me asking what you paid for it?", "Eight dollars" I said, her jaw dropped, "I know!" I said again smiling. Such a great store, they had Christmas Carols blaring.

Form follows function

'A leaf has the form it has because it belongs to a certain tree and fulfils a certain function; its structure is determined by the veins which carry the sap, and the skeleton that supports it might have been worked out by mathematics. Even so, there are many kinds of leaf, and the leaves of any single tree differ slightly among themselves. But if we saw a fig-leaf on a weeping-willow we would have the feeling that all was not well. It would lack coherence. A leaf is beautiful not because it is stylish but because it is natural, created in its exact form by its exact function.'  Bruno Munari

Chocolate Espresso Cake

Rather than going for a long drive to pick one up, I decided to have a go myself.

I baked a dense, moist! chocolate espresso cake. I substituted 55g of unsweetened cocoa for finely ground coffee beans, which is probably not quite right to have coffee grounds throughout, but I thought added a chewy sticky texture. Mostly it packed a punch. It was ruined coming out of the tin so you just get to see a piece..

You can find the original recipe here, and here

Today I went and picked up a Collins dictionary, to use as reference for my own 2012 diary design.

Reading

Last night I started a new book titled Design as Art. Here are some extracts that caught my attention.

'Design is planning done without preconceived notions of style, attempting only to give each thing its logical structure and proper material, and in consequence its logical form'.
Bruno Munari

'The form follows function'
Jean-Baptiste Lamarck

A cake for Mum

I made this lemon and olive oil cake for Mum on her birthday Monday.

It is based on a recipe by Jay Patey of Pigeon Hole Cafe. I visited the cafe twice during my recent trip to Tasmania.

You can find the recipe here

Germane

Why this blog?
To document my pursuit for happiness, too document inspiring people who've found what they're passionate about in life and how they've gone about pursuing it, and too find my passion too - and learn how too just go for it.