NEW Essensual Baking Soirées

Forgive my absence but I have been a little distracted with a new string to my bow! I'm so excited to present:

Essensual Baking Soirées

Perfect for hen parties and girly gatherings giving you a night that you are not likely to forget in a hurry. Lots of giggles and top baking tips and an insight into the wondrous world of aphrodisiacs. I will teach you the art of seductive baking using my aphrodisiac larder in a fun 2hour hands on soirée. Be they fact or fiction aphrodisiacs make eyes sparkle and set a certain oo la la in the air.

Minimum group size is 10 and prices are according to travel and numbers. I can come to your home or arrange a venue in the hen party capital, Brighton.

For further information email: artist@sharonelizabeth.co.nz

WARNING: Contains natural aphrodisiacs that may be beneficial to you love life!

"Thanks so much for the demonstration,

it was superb and everyone loved it" 

Victoria Gibbons,The Brighton Ballroom

April Thus Far!

I want to blog about so many things. April has been an eventful month so far and we are only on the 17th! So I'm going to attempt to do a collective blog about things that I am just dying to talk about.

1 Peggy Lee - or in fact Erna Ferry, who pays tribute to Peggy Lee in her fantastic show called 'Things are Swingin' which we saw on the opening night of the Tauranga Jazz Festival. You can tell she has really researched Peggy's life and at times you get the feeling that Erna actually knew her as she talks of her with such fondness and sings every song with such love in her heart. Thank you Erna. I love what I heard and I'm going to find some more Peggy Lee music. Touching on a previous blog "Music While You Bake," I get the feeling Peggy will be a new addition to the list. Other festival highlights for me: Tauranga Big Band, Brett's New Internationals, meeting Nathan Haines, Nigel Gavin and Richard Adams - the last two's new CD "Recent Works" is stunning.

2 Jazz at the Movies - our own contribution to the Jazz Festival was a blast. Paul was commissoned to write a new score for some rare New Zealand silent movies dating back as far as 1925. The film footage was provided by the New Zealand Film Archive. The Paul Lewis Picturehouse band consisted of myself doing vocals and percussion, Kate Candy - violin, Lynda Wing - piano, Chris Williamson -guitar and banjo and Bryan Holden on double bass. It was such a privilege to be part of a unique project and gave me enormous musical satifaction. Paul's music was of course brilliant and we can't wait to do it all over again!

3 Biscotti - thanks to Kate Candy in our merry little band who made biscotti to munch on in our intervals, I have become quite addicted. I've never bothered to make them before and now I'm experimenting with all sorts of interesting ingredients. Results to be posted soon!

4 Retro Cottage - we have had a heavenly summer in our little 1930s weatherboard cottage. It is filled with a collection of 1950-60s furniture, kitsch and general madness. Retro Cottage has allowed me to indulge my love for retro style and op shop (charity shop) shopping! I'm really enjoying collecting vintage cookbooks and love the social history that is reflected in them such as: "Men are always difficult to find presents for but, since most have a predilection for pickles and chutneys in some form or another, this selection gives you a chance to break from the rather more traditional socks, tie and book syndrome" - ("101 Presents to Cook" 1973.)

5 Star treatment - I've had to change into opera gowns in public toilets, I have had to spend intervals in wine cellars, I have had to trot through paddocks in my high heels, I have arrived at a venue and not even been offered a glass of water, I have had to share a portacabin with 15 other artists with only one mirror between us and I have had my knickers stolen from my changing room, but sometimes I get this:




Thank you to Mieke Fookes, entertainments director, for treating us all so well at a magical night at Vison Forest Lake retirement village in Hamilton, where we performed "Around the World in 80 Minutes."

6 Grieving for flat whites in advance - volcanic ash permitting, we fly back to the UK on the 3rd of May. While sipping my smooth, rich flat white in Grindz Cafe on Friday I felt a wave of grief waft over me, knowing I am heading back to a country "where coffee is like a chemical experiment."

7 Forget-Me-Not CD Launch - Saturday the 24th April. We are launching our first cabaret CD at another Tauranga top cafe, Alimento, 1st Ave, Tauranga. We open the doors at 7.30pm and the show starts at 8.00pm. Alimento will be serving coffee and counterfood and a bar is available. Tickets just $15 which can be purchased on the door. I will be performing songs from the CD in the first half and then by popular demand will be performing some Sharon Elizabeth favourites.

We are really proud of our CD. It's a real little cutie, just Paul and me. I sing some classic 1920-30s popular songs and Paul Lewis cabaret numbers. To hear a sample click the You Tube link.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?V=Rk2A5kAgx3s

Well that's all for now. Now for a cup of tea and a slice of brownie (made from another vintage book!)

A Yo-Yo Melting Moment Moment.

I love eating Melting Moments. It is the combination of oodles of butter, icing sugar and cornflour in the biscuit dough that creates a light, mouth dissolving treat, hence the name. They are my comfort food when I’m out for a flat white and I’m confronted with a counter full of cakes that frighten me with their lack of interest. With most of my baking focus being on cakes, I am ashamed to say that I had never attempted to make these iconic New Zealand biscuits. Also they are only part of my recent culinary history as I grew up in England. I turned to a Kiwi baker, Alexa Johnston, author of “Ladies, a Plate,” for a recipe. In her sequel “A Second Helping – More from Ladies, a Plate” I found what I was looking for. Alexa’s books are full of iconic New Zealand baking recipes; she has done all the legwork for me. Thumbing through the book you can see the hours of research with recipes predominately from New Zealand cookbooks that go as far back as the 20s, and recipes gleaned by and gifted to Alexa on the way.
To begin with, we get a little social history on my beloved Melting Moment and I learn that by simply switching the cornflour for custard powder it becomes a Yo-Yo! I got sidetracked and decided that because I love custard my Melting Moments should in fact be Yo-Yos!
The recipe was easy to use and I was thrilled with my biscuits except for the filling, which ended up a little runny. When I sandwiched 2 biscuits together as directed, the tops kept sliding off and the filling slightly dribbled out of the sides, not giving that perfect finish I desired. Funnily enough my baker’s instinct told me it was too runny but I wanted to be a good girl and follow the recipe exactly. This is a great discipline for me! I tried the filling recipe twice and concluded my tablespoon aint’ as big as Mrs Merrie’s of Pahiatua, the original contributor of this recipe in 1946. It needed more icing sugar. That’s the thing with old recipes, a tablespoon probably was some huge tarnished nickel plated spoon used to serve the veggies on a Sunday - not like our accurate measuring spoons of today. Or perhaps she has a very different idea of a “heaped” tablespoon, one requiring nerves of steel with icing sugar balanced precariously to such a dramatic height that you daren’t breathe.
I had fun in my kitchen this morning. Although I only ended up with 8½ finished biscuits when the intended amount was about 18 - (I instinctively made them the size they are in NZ cafés) - and my filling was a little soft, I really enjoyed using “A Second Helping.” It is a gorgeous book with a no-nonsense but loving approach. All the photographs are expertly taken by Alexa and as I am a fan of vintage kitchenware and paraphernalia this book is heaven; I not only drool over the baking but also all the pretty linen, plates and biscuit tins used as props. Well talking of second helpings, my daughter is on her second Yo-Yo .... I’d best get a cup of tea and enjoy one for myself before they are all gone!

http://www.ladiesaplate.co.nz/

Garters!

Touching on my last blog and the curiosities to be found in pockets and bags of avid Art Deco collectors, here we have some original, divinely cute and whimsical garters.

I was rather excited to see these and hold them in my hands, especially as a friend in the UK had sent me a newspaper cutting of similar garters that were being exhibited in London last year as part of a 1920s-30s lingerie display.

Their owner Inger, a "Sydney Flapper,"
does not wear them (the elasticity has gone!!!) but has found a supplier of some very pretty and practical replicas.

I have seen pictures of garters with a face opening like a watch front to reveal rouge to be used on the face and knees. So ingenious! Gets me wondering what would the modern gal want in her garter?????

Following is a link for replica garters- http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=30921800&ref=sr_gallery_6&&ga_search_query=flapper&ga_search_type=all&ga_page=2&includes[]=tags

“A Not-Too- Serious celebration of the Art Deco Style” it says on the posters.

In fact I found it a VERY serious business indeed!!!!!!

We’ve just returned from sunny Hawkes Bay, New Zealand, after performing my one-woman show “Forget-Me-Not” in the annual Napier Art Deco Weekend.
For anyone who hasn’t experienced a Napier Art Deco Festival I suggest you book your accommodation right now for 2011. The city bursts at the seams with everything Art Deco and visitors from far and wide make this annual pilgrimage to soak up the atmosphere and play at being flappers and dappers of the day. People collect and sew all year round to wear the correct outfits for the correct events, which extend to couples and families being totally colour co-ordinated with each other for the entire week-end. Phew! Dressing up is all part of the fun when people can take on another persona and enjoy being a character in their very own show.
Festival-goers are dressed to jaw dropping quality, in some cases even down to the correct underwear, and that’s because a high percentage of these clothes are the real thing. In some cases the garments being worn are as old as 80 years plus! To a lover of vintage clothes this is one mighty fine feast for the eyes. It’s not just the few that are making the extra effort but a huge proportion are going to extraordinary lengths to wear the correct clothes and accessories, including the odd vintage Rolls Royce to transport them in!
For someone like me who performs as a character from the period, it gives me a unique chance to indulge Forget-Me-Not in the sights, sounds, feel and even smells of the period. As with any club, you get to socialise with others who are passionate about the period, with fans of Deco proudly revealing their latest finds. Handbags open to reveal genuine compacts, garters, cigarette holders, purses, hip flasks and of course jewels darling! Under hats you will find freshly finger -waved hair or sharply cut bobs, and in our case, Pauly now has vintage glasses with prescription lenses so that he doesn’t feel out of place with modern specs. I think there is something very special about being able to wear and use genuine items in this context, and I swear people carry themselves differently wearing period clothes, whether they are genuine or not. Like elegant movie stars, people drift from soiree to soiree, and rather charmingly the men even behave with chivalry!

Here are just a few pics of a fabulous weekend.