The Big {A Piece of Lisa} Year Review - 2011

Today is the last day of 2011... It was a very exciting and important year for me - and this blog - in many ways. Let's take a look at the best highlights throughout the year!

January started off with a new design for A Piece of Lisa, I made these illustrated navigation buttons and a new layout for the blog.

February brought a little adorable new life, James' niece rachel was born!

I also posted this extremely yummy recipe: Chocolate and Cheesecake Muffins.

March was all about food, James and I explored Borough Market, the largest food market in London...

And I showed you how to make Swedish Semla.

April was a fun month, I got a photography assignment...

And made Easter Fortune Eggs.

But the most important month of the whole year was definitely May, because on May the 20th James asked me to marry him!

In June I showed you my new pattern design "Sailor Bird"...

Celebrated Swedish Midsummer in Hyde Park...

And our engagement of course!

In July I started to look at some wedding inspiration blogs, I showed you a few favourites from my wedding board on Pinterest.

I also went with my whole family and James to the South of France.

August was exciting because James and I went to Sweden to look at wedding venues.

I also created the most viewed post on A Piece of Lisa to date; a Photoshop tutorial that teaches you basic photo editing. This page has been viewed over 40.000 times!

In September I looked at wedding dresses...

And showed you how to sharpen your photos in another Photoshop tutorial.

October was when I went to Sweden for a design meeting with a big department store. I showed them my pattern designs, one of them was this Bullfinch Pattern.

I also shared my best tips on how to attract more visitors to your blog.

In November my friend Lauren had a great night out at a fashion party, and then we went to the best pasta place in London.

I showed you how to add a dreamy bokeh effect to your photos...

I also presented this new autumn-inspired pattern "Peacock and Figs"

Talking about figs... December brought you this recipe on Fig and Parmesan Nibbles...

My Christmas Sumo Pattern...

And a lot of Christmas hats!

That was my 2011, it was an amazing year! I am even more excited about what adventures 2012 will bring, and I would like to wish you all a very Happy New Year and thank you for reading A Piece of Lisa!

The Answer is Pavlova!

The dessert I made for last night's dinner was a winter fruit pavlova, it turned out really good! Pavlova is a meringue that is chewy inside, topped with whipped cream and fruit. I used blueberries, physalis, kiwi and passionfruit.

We had such a lovely time with our friends, here's Sofia and Tove...

and Jonas who is making the starter.

Sofia and Arman.

We were three couples, and each couple made a course. The starter made by Tove and Jonas was delicious, hash browns with creme fraiche, onion, dill and red caviar.

Then there was lemon chicken by Sofia and Arman, with potato wedges and youghurt sauce and pumkpin seeds. So good!

And finally mine and James' dessert which also went done really well judging by everyone's empty plates!

Meringues and Physalis

Tonight we have been invited to dinner at Sofia and Arman's place. I'm bringing dessert, meringues and fruit are two of the ingredients. Can you guess what I'm making?

A Few Days in Sweden

We've had a lovely and relaxing time here in Sweden since Christmas Eve. On Christmas Day we had a yummy turkey dinner with my family, we read books and watched movies.

On Boxing Day we went to a cute little town called Mariefred.

In Mariefred there is a beautiful old castle called Gripsholms Slott.

Yesterday my friend Sofia came over with some home made truffles, which I have yet to taste since my parents are saving them for a special occasion!

In the evening we went to see "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" with Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara. I thought it was brilliant, Rooney Mara was superb in the role of Lisbeth Salander. But I would recommend reading the "Millenium Trilogy" books by Stieg Larsson first, they are amazing!

Christmas Eve

Yesterday we celebrated Christmas at my parents' house, there was lots of good food, pressies and family fun!

I decorated our tree, how cool is this dinosaur decoration?

In our family, we have a tradition of wearing silly christmas hats, the collection keeps growing each year!

In Sweden it's tradition to eat roast ham on Christmas Eve...

As well as smoked and "gravad" salmon.

James was very excited about the food!

Then of course we have lots of different types of amazing herrings...

My sweet cousin Julia.

I made more mintkisses...

As always, it was wonderful to come home and spend time with my family, that's the most important thing about Christmas after all!

Merry Christmas from A Piece of Lisa!

God Jul and Merry Christmas dear friends! I hope you all have a wonderful time with your loved ones!

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Cuddly Mini Christmas

Last weekend James and I celebrated pre-christmas with his family since we'll be in Sweden on the actual day. We got to cuddle and play with James gorgeous niece and nephews, so much cuteness!

Here's me helping little Rachel opening her gift...

she was more interested in the wrapping paper than the actual gift, bless!

James' cheeky nephew Sam with James' mum, aka Grandma Gloria.

I was so pleased with myself because I came up with the idea for the perfect present for James' dad Mike, a book that he absolutely loved and was so excited about reading. It felt like such an achievement because dads are impossible to buy for!

James with his littlest nephew Ben, such a cutie!

I made a chocolate cake that's gooey in the middle ("kladdkaka" in Swedish). I tried to decorate it like a snowflake, it didn't really work since I forgot that the pattern would be reversed, but at least it tasted delicious!

Mint Kisses {Homemade Gift Idea}

These sweet little treats are fun to make and so moreish! Wrap them in a cute box and they make a lovely homemade gift.

Ingredients:

• 2, 5 cups [4 dl] icing sugar
• 1/2 cup [1 dl] cold water
• A few drops of vinegar
• 10 drops of peppermint oil
• 100 g dark chocolate

Mix icing sugar, water and vinegar in a pot, bring to boil and let it simmer for about 10 minutes.

Check if it's ready by cooling a little bit of the mix in a glass of cold water, and then "roll" it between your fingers. If the mix becomes like a thread between your fingers it's done. Otherwise boil for a little longer.

When the mix is "thready" add the peppermint oil while stirring. Then let it cool down a little while continuing to stir. The mix should now be a white opaque colour.

Using two spoons, form small, round pastils on a sheet of baking paper. When the pastils have set, melt the chocolate and pour into a plastic bag. Cut a small hole in the bag and decorate each pastil. Let the chocolate set, and enjoy!