Dandi Blog

This Christmas Dandi have been having fun styling  our beautiful linen tea towel range with a lovely neutral colour palette with just a touch of Christmas red to add festive cheer. Our Linen tea towels are screen printed with hand stitched detailing and appliquéd leaves. Available in two designs, Christmas Wreath (above) or Partridge and Pear (below) they make the perfect gift this Christmas. 

 Almost too good for the kitchen, we like to use them to style up the Christmas table alongside our berry red napkins and new bamboo entertaining range of platters, side plates, and ever so cute dip bowls.

Put your hand up if you love weekend crafts? Pick us!!Last weekend we received some lovely press in the Victorian Herald Sun Home liftout magazine. The project showcased was our simple yet effective method of dressing up a stock standard white paper lantern. We were pretty proud we even made the front cover!! You can download the instructions by clicking here

On the weekend a special celebration was held for the impending arrival of Caroline's bub. The shower was organised by three very dear friends of Caroline; Jane, Edwina and Tess, and had an overall theme of doilies and high tea. More photos will follow soon but in the meantime we are showing you the gorgeous handmade invitations (above) which included fabric bunting sewn on, a Polli wooden Doily brooch and were posted in these yummy envelopes by Poppies for Grace, as well as the bunting made for decoration.

The bunting was lovingly made by Tess, using Dandi's Doilie fabric in both Berry and Wisteria. It is double sided and sewn together using bias tape.

We think it turned out so beautifully! Thanks Tess for making such a beautiful project out of our fabric!
If you want to make your own simpler version of bunting we have a tutorial here

Above: One of the garlands hanging above Mindi and Caroline, photo taken by the lovely Nadine of Nadine Prentice Photography. More photos to come soon... stay tuned!

Just in time for this gorgeous pre- Spring weather our new Limited Edition Lilly Pilly has hit the shelves and is receiving rave reviews! Lilly Pilly is a design based on the small, fragrant white flowers found on the Australian native lilly pilly shrub. The base cloth is a beautiful raw linen union making it the perfect compliment to any sophisticated setting. 
See the full range here.

 

Its the perfect weather for indulging in high tea, so we thought it the perfect time to share with you two of our favourite treats to bake and share, Caramel Slice and Chocolate Brownies. Not great for the waistline, but amazing for the soul!

A little secret, we made the caramel slice from scratch but the brownies are from Donna Hay's food range and they are absolutely AMAZING!

Chocolate Caramel Slice
Makes 16 Slices

Base
1 cup plain flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup dessicated coconut
125g melted butter

Filling
395g tin sweet condensed milk
2 tbsp golden syrup
60g melted butter

Topping
60g Copha
125g cooking chocolate

Preheat oven to 180°C. Line a 28x18cm lamington pan. Combine all base ingredients in a bowl thoroughly then press into prepared pan. Bake for 15 mins or until golden. Remove from oven and cool.
Combine filling ingredients in a saucepan over medium heat. Whisk for 8 minutes or until caramel colours. Pour over base and cook for 12 mins until firm. Cool completely then refrigerate for 4 hours til set.
Place topping ingredients in a heat proof bowl over simmering water and stir until melted and combined. Pour over caramel and refrigerate to set before slicing. 

Caroline baked up this delicious pie to share at a lunch a few weeks ago. The pinks and greens of the prosciutto and zucchini worked perfectly with the Marshmallow and Pistachio colourings of the table setting (pure coincidence!). It also tasted so good that there wasn't much left by the end! 

Delicious Prosciutto and Zucchini Pie

(Adapted from this recipe)

This recipe is great for a picnic or lunchtime get together. It looks super impressive but is easy to make and throw in the oven whilst you do more important things – such as socializing! Can be enjoyed hot or cold. Serves 6-8

Ingredients:

4 zucchini, thinly sliced into rounds, salted for 30 mins then rinsed, drained and patted dry.
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 red onion, finely chopped
250g goats fetta, crumbled
250g fresh ricotta
1/4 cup plain flour
1/2 cup chopped parsley
1 tbs thyme leaves
1/2 cup chopped mint
8 free range eggs, lightly beaten
12 – 15 slices prosciutto (depending on width!)

Method:

Preheat oven to 180C (160C Fan Forced) Heat oil in a small frying pan and cook onion for 8-10 minutes over medium heat until very soft. Set aside to cool then transfer to a bowl. Combine all ingredients except prosciutto in the same bowl. Season to taste with salt and pepper and stir until well combined. (Remember the prosciutto will add lots of salt so go easy here!)

Lightly oil a 22cm springform cake tin. Line base and sides with prosciutto slices, working in a circular fan allowing prosciutto to overhang sides by about 5cm and taking care there are no gaps. Pour in zucchini mixture then fold prosciutto over top, scrunching it slightly around edge of tin. Place tin on an oven tray and bake for 50 minutes or until pie is just set in the centre. Cool in tin for 20 minutes before releasing. Slice and serve straight away with a simple green salad or serve at room temperature. 

The gorgeous sunny weather last weekend in Sydney was the perfect backdrop for enjoying a casual ladies lunch for the Dandi team and friends. 

The table was set with our pretty Marshmallow Petal Tablecloth and we each had two napkins (one for main, one for dessert!) one in  Pistachio Olive Branch and one in Plain Dyed Pistachio. The green and pink combination worked perfectly with the gorgeous blooms on the table.



With eight ladies to gush over him, little Jasper was as taken with our Apple Fabric decoration as we were with him!
Shown above with super mum Maja from Polli



We enjoyed champagne and Sonoma bread along side a delicious lunch prepared by Caroline. Following lunch (and pass the baby) we enjoyed yummy home baked caramel and brownie slices baked by Leezar and Mindi. Recipes will follow soon! 

We are excited to release 3 new products to our Bamboo Range - Salad Servers, Kitchen Utensils and Petit Spoons.

To complement the existing Large Bowls we now have a gorgeous set of Salad Servers. The set of 3 Kitchen Utensils is not only practical but makes a sweet gift item due to the pretty heart cut out in the slotted spoon. Also a great gift is the set of 6 Petit Spoons - these can be used for stirring drinks, feeding babies or eating luscious desserts! 

All our bamboo range now also comes packaged in beautiful natural gauze bags - so grab them now!

We recently decided to have a DIY challenge amongst the four Dandi ladies, and wanted the challenge to be one that was environmentally friendly, fun and useful!After throwing around a couple of ideas it was decided that each of us would go home and find a pair of old shoes that we no longer wear (everyone has some of those right?), and do them up to make them super cute and irresistible! Today we'll show you the before and afters created by Manny and Mindi.



Manny Started with a pair of very worn but comfortable red leather peep toe wedges.By adding wide stripey ribbon to the front and small ribbon to the heel the shoes have a new nautical lease on life! Manny also put new red lining on the interior and gave these a good polish. Ahoy there, these be treasure!



Mindi started with a pair of black round toe suede pumps. To these she added some felt and beaded flowers and tweed leaves. The pop of purple makes these otherwise boring shoes into a statement piece with a bit of vintage appeal. Mindi can't wait to take these out dancing!
 

Caroline has recently returned from a trip to France and has lots of lovely photos to share. Over the next week we will post a few images with inspiration captured during her travels. First stop is Paris of course!

It all starts with a view from atop the Eiffel Tower, you can't go to Paris and not have a cliche romantic photo with your loved one in front of this city's main icon. The view from the top is stunning, the city streets seem to radiate out from the towers beautiful gardens. Everything seems so perfectly laid out, inviting you to explore.



Inspiration is everywhere in Paris, these intricate stone carvings are just a small part of the elaborate decoration of the famed Notre Dame Cathedral.



Paris certainly has a mix of old and new to rivaled than anywhere in the world. The most recognised building aside from the Eiffel tower would have to be the Louvre. Caroline also spotted this amazing wall garden that sits nestled amongst two old architectural beauties - its such a contrast but works so well, mother nature is taking over!



Walking the streets of Paris is a highlight in itself, anyone who's been will surely agree that getting lost amongst tiny streets is a wonderful experience- and very easy to do mind you! Whilst trying to find her way back to the hotel Caroline stopped to smell the rambling roses spilling out from door steps and snapped some brightly coloured geraniums on window sills in the Saint-Germain district picture perfect streets. Parisians are so very stylish!