newcastle!

 

newcastle baths

 

nobby's beach

 

estabar

 

sprocket

 

colliseum antique centre

 

 

betty mim

wow my classes are fast approaching! it is really great that so many people are making the trip to newcastle to attend- thanks so much!! i thought i would do a little blog post about how wonderful newcastle is so that you guys know what to do while you are here... and maybe to encourage a couple of more people to come aswell...?!  

newcastle is such a fantastic place to live, it is just so so beautiful and such a relaxing city. over the past few years there has been a really amazing change in newcastle, there has always been fantastic beaches and a relaxed cafe culture but with the renew newcastle project there has also been a real creative buzz growing.

to be honest, i dont want too many more people to know how fantastic newcastle is but it was kind of given away when it was listed by lonely planet as one of the top 10 cities in the world to visit in 2011... damn! but anyway, here is a little summary of my favourite things to do...!

relaxing

the best thing about newcastle is definitley the amazing beaches- a swim, jog or walk around the beach is just the best. and i always love a picnic! king edward park is my favourite place for a picnic or to just lay under a tree for the afternoon

coffee, coffee... more coffee...

there are so many really cute coffee shops with fantastic coffee, my absolute favourite is estabar- they have the most amazing coffee and simple, really delicious food. some of my other favourites are scotties, sproket, good brother, suspension

eat, eat...  eat

breakfast at estabar, sunday morning farmers market, fish and chips from scotties,  dinner on darby st, japanese at honeysuckle, fine dining at bacchus ...

cute little boutique shops and antique shops

darby st, betty mim, high tea with mrs woo, emma soup, the centenary centre, colliseum antiques...

day trips

the hunter valley vineyards and port stephens are both about an hours drive and a really lovely day out.

there is also heaps more to do, i found a really fantastic website- precinkt, with a great summary of things to do in newcastle here!

inpired by... greece!

 

i was so excited when i was asked to make a grecian inspired cake, i have had this design in my head since i visited samos island earlier this year. i was so inspired by all of the shades of blue and aqua and all of course all of the beautiful hydrangeas! the cake design ended up being quite simple, but i like it like that... everything was just so beautiful and simple there... *sigh*

and i have been sighing over this lovely pic in my pintrest collection for a while now...

Source: prettystuff.tumblr.com via hello naomi on Pinterest

my classes at fair cake london- part 2!

london was just so fantastic, it still feels a bit unreal that i was asked to teach .. sometimes i still feel like a bit of an amateur ... but everyones results were so fantastic and i was so proud of what they achieved and so proud that i taught them! many of my students hadnt worked with fondant before, never piped before, never piped on the side of a cake, never ganached and/ or never covered a large  cake before... i didnt realise how exhausting it would be- it took alot of energy running around the class room trying to catch people before they made mistakes, but in the end it was just so rewarding!

the pics above are from my daily walk to work through the cute suburb of greenwich to fair cake's vanilla workshop *sigh* i was lucky enough to arrive at london during a 'heat wave' which meant a week of totally glorious weather- i didnt understand what everyone always complains about! oh and i had the best lunch made up from products i picked up at the cute delicious bread, cheese and fruit + veg shop... swiss cheese, avocado, tomato and fig sandwiches- yum!!

and below are some more photos from my classes... these pics are from my second cookie class and my 2  day wedding cake class- i only had time to snap a few pics in between my running around, but i think they still capture everyones concentration, what a fantastic workspace vanilla workshop is and how fantastic their results were ... !

 

 

 

while i was in london i also had the chance to catch up with some of my internet cake friends! i was lucky enough to meet up again with my lovely flickr friend chris (abbietabbie), i had the pleasure of meeting her when she visited sydney a few years ago and it was so nice to see her again! she has always been so encouraging, she is just so lovely and really is one of my most favourite people!

i also had a chance to meet up with natasha from nevie pie cakes at the fancy department store selfridges where she was delivering her sweets to. we have been friends on flickr for ages, i have always admired her beautiful hand painted sweets and it was so nice to finally meet her.. oh and she gave me  a gift!

it was also so lovely that some of my friends were able to attend my classes!! i was so happy that my long time flickr friend louise (swissy missy) was able to come to my wedding cake class! it was only her second time covering a large cake in fondant and piping on the side- her results were amazing!! louise wrote a great blog post about the class here!

 

and my super lovely, sweet french friend eloise also came to my wedding cake class! i met eloise earlier in the year when i traveled to paris (a little blog post here) she has the cutest blog la dinette and is just one of the cutest, sweetest people i have met! she wrote a really lovely blog post about my class here!

i had such a fantastic time teaching at fair cake, i feel so lucky and honored that i was asked to visit! i feel so lucky to have met all of my wonderful students and make so many new friends! i am also so lucky to have worked with such a wonderful team at faircake- shikhita, jess and jess are just the best, i really miss them already and can't wait to head back there...  soon... !!

my classes at fair cake london- part 1

 

 

ok i am preeetty, really, super behind in my blog posts! i thought that i should finally write my post about my fabulous trip to london and the super amazing time that i had teaching at fair cake's vanilla workshop! firstly i will let you know about the amazing space that is vanilla workshop- it is soooo sooo sooo fantastic, it has been purpose built to be a super cute and practical workspace decked out with 4 ovens, so many mixers, a really cute little supply store, a fantastic work bench and plenty of tea! definitely my kind of place!

then there is the fair cake team- shikhita, jess and jess! they are just the loveliest, sweetest bunch of girls and so much fun to hang out with, thanks so much guys for making me feel at home! here is a cute pic of us all before heading for a night out!

 

THEN there is my super fun classes and my amazing students! i was so honored that people traveled from all over the uk and europe to come to my classes, i had so much fun meeting everyone and teaching everyone. i was so amazed by their results... i shared as much information as i could about my methods and techniques, things that i have spent years figuring out and i was so impressed how quickly everyone learnt to work with colour and fondant, cut out shapes by hand and absolutely perfect piping- wow, wow, wow! below are some pics from my cupcake class and first cookie class, i will share some more pics soon!