The almond cake recipe

Almond Cake

250gr sugar

250gr almonds without peeling

6 eggs

Line the bottom of a 28cm round cake pan with butter and after put  a round parchment paper, also greased, and dust it lightly with flour, tapping the excess.

Then mix the six egg yolks with white sugar, stir this mixture very well until making bubbles, ground  very well the almonds without peeling and add to the previous mixture. Using the electric mixer beat very well the egg whites and start incorporating very lightly. Bake around 35 minutes at 180º or until tooth pick inserted into the center comes out clear, do not let it dry too much. There´s no need of adding Baking Powder. Bon apetit... 

A cup of tea to my new followers

I invite my new followers to take a cup of tea.  Thank you - Mina - Lori - Evelin - Debora - Glenda - Angeles - Norma - Vane - Marivigano - The old maid - Michelle - Anneke  and  Irene for following my new Blog

And a slice of Almond Cake (it´s real)  decorated with mini polymer cakes (scale 1/12), and real nuts

I love desserts and I regret I have no time to do more miniature cakes because It´s a work I love to do, but I take some "revenge" following marvelous Blogs of miniature delicacy.

Here I´ll show you only a few of my miniature desserts

Next time I will give the recipe for the almond cake

My working space - Part III and Memories

Here are some of my projects waiting patiently to be done:

I have a few miniatures that I bought in Thailand and I would like to decorate an interior inspired on the Jim Thompson House on the Klong, the problem is that this House is precious and unique and I think I need one year to make this interior, it is an ambicious project.. As soon as I can I will put here a few photos of this lovely house.

Traditional Thay Roof

Precious tiny basket hand made and a fragment of the gold leaf used by Thay people to make offers at the temples.

A few of the miniatures I have to decorate the Thay Room, over thay silk from Jim Thompson.  I confess I would like to go ahead with this project, but one thing at a time....

   Jim Tompson House on the Klong

The interior of the House, as no photos were allowed, these are postcards. But it is profitable to visit the site and know more about this lovely house and its owner: http://jimthompsonhouse.com/

 I made  a few 20  trips to Bangkok  and I have so many good souvenirs  of these voyages and I  keep  lovely miniatures as little treasures.

With all these I intend to do a little fruit and vegetable  market - with photos on the walls of the Floating Market were these articles are sold in small canoes.

Floating Market - Bangkok.

Amazing selection of Thai fruits

Vegetables inside the typical thai baskets

My working space - Part II

As I told you I have a long list of projets to be accomplished in my studio, but I work very slowly, and I´m affraid some of them will never be finished.

For the moment I have in hands the Country House  (you can follow it in my blog)  http://am-ambientes-em-miniatura.blogs.sapo.pt/  at the same time I will try to finish the "Fine Arts Gallery"

At this stage the shop is being organized by its owner

I decided to paint the ceiling inspired by the carpet.

Detail

Plan of the Chippendale chest, decorated with     chinoiserie motifs. Materials: Acrylic gesso, acrylic paintings (not less than 10 layers) , and liquid gold

The chest almost finished

The Shop is already finished but I stopped here with the façade, because I´m not quite satisfyed with it, I wanted to maintain the colours I had inside, but I need to make a few changes.

Some pieces for the shop

Antique porcelain cup of tea

Two sets of silvery cutlery - scale 1:12

Detail of the original watercolours inspired on Portuguese landscapes

I would like to substitute the lamp and I balance between these two:

I would like to put this one and the respective table lamps that I bought from Mzia Dzamia in Spain, but it is too big for the space..

Welcome New Followers

To my New Followers:  Debbie - Casiti Mini - Vicky - Lara - Mags Cassidy - Ana Anselmo  I send a little sign of the arrival of Spring here in the South. Today we are being presented with a little glimpse of sun.

Detail of the flowers of the Almond Tree, which are abundant by this time at the South of Portugal

And nice birds that came to our veranda:

A sparrow so cute but feeling a little cold I think....

Upupa - Nice bird with a crest, they are also abundant here at the south, I find them  so beautiful
and suddenly I remembered that I had a pair of porccelain biscuit  crests I bough several years ago in New York - Royal Worcester Porcelain

My working space

I´ve been away from my studio since November, last year I worked hard for the Fair in Madrid , it was my first Fair, and everything had to be perfect, so I decided to rest for a while, now I hope to return to my studio next month, and start working.

I invite you to take a look.

Bellow a detail  of a chest  I decorated 30 years ago, and went to  the studio for small repairs, by the time I made these photos.

All the furniture is from IKEA

On the wall an oil painting inspired on the Ancient Syria, on the table two shops and two greenhouses awaiting to be decorated.

Lots of materials which are not always so organized

 Lots of miniatures and tissues  inside the boxes awating to be used

Some of my brushes, and old china to be repaired, the dish on the right, was my first work done with modeling clay when I was 12, it is now broken and I hope to have time to repair it.

My garden outside the studio, but in the early summer, now I have no flowers, and hope they will show up again with the arrival of spring

Searching for good weather

I came to the South searching for a better weather but we were not very lucky, we found rain, cold and strong wind.

This is "our" beach as we left it for the last time, and  now I was expecting a long walk by the sea side, but I was wrong.

I profit to show you one of my oils inspired by this seascape.

Oil on canvas - scale 1/1 - year 2007

It´s easy to transform

Sometimes I look at a piece of furniture not very graceful, and all of a sudden I realize that may be with a little imagination I may turn it in a really nice one.

The original   in raw wood

Which I transformed in a console, making a good use of the lower structure, making also new drawers. After these changes I proceeded with the decoration which took long hours of detailed work. But for me  the final result was worthwhile. 

To match with the console I decorated a screen with oriental flowers painted over real silver leaf.

Another perspective and one of the special brushes I use to paint detail, they are made from feathers.