I love roses. The focal point of my garden is my dozen red hybrid tea rose bushes that are my pride and joy, and hardly surprisingly, my signature perfume is Jo Malone red roses. I also have a soft spot for vanilla, anything vanilla scented from The Body Shop.. you've won me over there and then!

A friend asked me to bake her some macarons for a lunch she hosted a couple of weeks ago, seeing it was so close to Valentine's Day I thought a little romanticism in order. What's more romantic than roses with a sultry vanilla twist for Valentines?

 Eek! Blue milk! Whats this all about Ziggy?! 

When you consider my introduction to macarons, it's really no surprise they quickly turned into my obsession. I was lucky enough to attend a cosmetics event hosted by one of Australia's top beauty PR managers, celebrating the collaboration with the brand and a talented French artist. Held at the majestic Taj Blue hotel in Sydney's Woolloomooloo, the invitees were treated to manicures, makeovers and that quintessential French delicacy - the Macaron. In the most magnificently luxurious setting we sipped champagne and nibbled on macarons from Baroque Bistro; forget the cosmetics, from that moment on my heart belonged to macarons.

Salted Caramel was the first flavour I sampled and remains my favourite to this day, here is my version:

Macarons are tricky, there's no disputing it, but once you've mastered the technique you can produce impressive results (almost) every time! I have no professional training in cooking, I can't even boil an egg! (I'm not kidding and I have photos to prove it), however I fell in love with macarons one day and made it my mission to produce my own. What I share with you is my experience and techniques as an amateur home cook, if I can make swoon worthy macarons, so can you.

The elf on the shelf is a relatively new thing here in Australia but having seen so many elvish antics on Pinterest (check out my elf on the shelf pinterest board), I knew we needed to adopt a scout elf for our house! For those unfamiliar, the elf on the shelf is one of Santa's scout elves who help compile the naughty or nice list. As told in the book accompanying each elf, your elf gains his magic when you name him, you mustn't touch him or he may lose his magic but you may talk to him and tell him your Christmas wishes. Each night the elf returns to the north pole to report to Santa on your children's behaviour. When he comes back to your home in the morning he hides in a different place, sometimes a shelf, sometimes somewhere sneakier.