Bag/Tart

Hello, lovely new bag. Made by moi! Out of some Ikea upholstery fabric and a vintage sheet from the oppy. Using the Everything Tote pattern from 'Weekend Sewing' by Heather Ross.

It replaces the faded old khaki thing that I've been using as my baby bag for the past 17.5 months, which I received as a little bonus with the lovely Bourke Street Bakery cookbook a couple of birthdays ago. (Thank you, Garbageman.) It was designed, no doubt, to carry home one's semi-sour baguette and Sunday morning croissants, but I've been hauling around nappies and wipes and other babyphernalia instead.

And speaking of the Bourke Street Bakery cookbook...

We were invited to brunch last Sunday and grabbed a pear and almond tart from a little French patisserie on the way. Somewhere between pointing to it in the glass cabinet and handing over my 20 bucks, I thought, "I should have made this." When the oldest child, having enjoyed her slice, asked if we could bake one, the deal was sealed. And I turned to the oracle, my Bourke Street Bakery cookbook.

Before we could even get started, there was a trip to the land of all things exquisite and divine for vanilla beans. $34 worth - oops!

Then back home to begin work on the four elements - the sweet shortcrust pastry, the poached pears, the frangipane and the creme patissiere. That was day one out of the way.

Day two - this morning we set to work on assembling our tart. Pastry was rolled. Tins lined and blind-baked. Frangipane and creme patissiere gently folded together. Pears arranged like a glorious sunny-day daisy.

The result? Unbearably good. Far more rustic than the one purchased on the weekend, but tasting just like the BSB ones I've purchased far too many times.

As the Garbageman would say, yumbo yumbo.