Baci di Ricotta

These are little puffs made from Ricotta, eggs, cinnamon and lemon zest

deep fried

and dusted in sugar

crispy exterior

light fluffy centre

what more do you want from a dessert?

RECIPE

200g ricotta

2 large eggs

75g plain flour

1 1/2 tspn bak powder

pinch salt

1/2 tspn ground cinnamon

1 tblspn sugar

1/2 vanilla extract

zest of 1 lemon

Put ricotta in bowl, add eggs, stir until smooth

Add all other ingredients and stir to form a smooth batter

Heat a shallow frying pan with clean vegetable oil

when a small piece of batter sizzles and floats 

Drop tspn sized dollops of batter into oil and fry 4-5 at a time

turn when golden (this will happen pretty quick)

and fry for about a minute on other side

remove to a plate with paper towel and repeat with rest of batter

sprinkle with icing sugar 

and eat 

IMMEDIATELY

enjoy

x

Recipe adapted from Nigella Lawson FEAST

Etsy Home Accessories

I am doing some home improvements at the moment 

for 2 upcoming events, (more of which later)

I seem to have too much furniture and not enough accessories

Not a bad complaint I guess

and likely a symptom of having moved thousands of miles twice 

in the last 2 years, all unnecessary extras- gone

Anyway I am in the market for some new rugs and cushions 

These

Morrocan rugs

caught my eye on Etsy 

These are a little out of my price range though 

Also liked these Kilim cushions

and these Suzani Pillows

particularly like the colour and texture of this bottom one
that one might be going in my basket

while searching I came across this seller

who had some very interesting pieces

although some of it is a bit out there for me 

I do like the idea of 

covering dining chairs in floral fabric
edit - see a how to post here 

and 

appliqueing a pattern onto a plain background

in fact I have a chair in need of repair that might just get this treatment

Parrot Tulip

These are some images I took of a Parrot Tulip that I had posted on Instagram

I particularly like them so thought I would show them to all of you who are not yet instagrammers

x

Garden progress

For those of you not following me on Instagram 

here is my garden progress

To see before picture go HERE

This is what I have done so far

*Laid Pavers, this not only gives easier access to back of border and stops the kids walking on plants, but it also divided the border into 3 sections which was a much more manageable project 

*dug up weeds, pulling out roots 

*dug up plants and cleaned the roots (removed entangled weed roots)

*Split large plants and moved them

*Moved other plants

*Planted new plants including Lupins, Foxgloves, Daisies, Penstemons, Peonies (although these take a few years to flower)  and delphiniums

*Applied chicken manure

*Put down bark mulch between plants to try and discourage weeds

Here it is Mulched

 I have seedlings planted of Cosmos and Larkspur 

which i will plant out early June

Looking forward to a blooming marvelous summer

Peter Reinhart bagels

Homemade Bagels!

I love a good bagel

toasted, chewy, doughy goodness

In NYC ...... not a problem, nip out walk for 30 seconds,
order bagel

..... In the middle of Ireland
...... well, not so easy

so after seeing these pictures last week 

I couldn't wait to get stuck in and try my hand at making my own 

The results were delicious

This is a Peter Reinhart recipe

It is not difficult  

BUT 

it is time consuming,

although, worth it!

You could double the batch and freeze the majority

which I would highly recommend

 I didn't have any poppy or sesame seeds in house so I sprinkled 

sunflower seeds, 

just for decoration.

I recommend an egg wash before baking and after boiling

even if you are not sprinkling seeds, 

as it makes the surface glossy and brown

This recipe makes 8 large bagels 

next time i think i would make 10 slightly smaller ones 

I followed this version of the recipe 

but there is a great version here with step by step pictures 

I will add the note that my dough was not shiny and did not pass the window pane test

it was lumpy and ugly but I carried on and made the balls of dough 

and the end result was pretty great although it did take more than 20 mins of prooving for them to pass the float test , more like 40 mins 

good luck and let me know how you get on 

x

Instagram

It has taken me a long time to embrace Twitter

The same for Pinterest, although, I am warming up to it 

but Instagram had me at Hello

Are you an Instagrammer yet?

click on the button below to follow me

helenjamesdesign on Instagram

Christ Church Cathedral Tiles

The other night I was in Christ Church Cathedral in Dublin at an event
I was struck by the incredible encaustic tiles on the floor
I have been to Christ Church before
but somehow had forgotten the beauty of the tiles
The above geometric patterns were my favourite but the animal representations
 are quite famous and popular

birds

dogs

foxes

I would love to tile my kitchen floor
These tiles are quite costly
but they will last a lifetime, actually longer than a lifetime

Love this patchwork floor from HERE

and this one from HERE 

They are also used a lot in hallways

 image from Architect Design

was thinking these more geometric ones from
 Abbergavenny reclamation
for my kitchen floor?

one day !