Mãos à Obra | A Book Review

Today, my post is not sewing-related. I would like to introduce a new book, “Mãos-á-Obra” published by a (very) talented friend, Constança.

Constança blogs at Saídos da Concha and she describes herself as a “rafter, seamstress, baker, trees and flowers lover, experimental homemaker”. She’s Portuguese and is currently based in New Zealand. If you don’t know her yet, you should take a peek at her blog (I actually mentioned her blog here as one of my favorites).

“Mãos-á-Obra” is a such a delightful reading and truly a labor of love. The pictures, notes and projects included are a extension of Constança family life. I’m a firm believer of simplicity living and Constança book echoes this feeling and way of living.

As you can see by the book cover above, the book is published in Portuguese, but if you love crafts and the simple life pleasures (and can understand Portuguese, of course) you might want to check this book.

The book features almost 50 projects distributed by seasons (spring, summer, fall and winter) ranging from sewing, baking, preserving, gardening, flower arranging and decorating. I’m presenting a couple of baking projects, but there’s no shortage of inspiration in the book 🙂

Although I think I’m better with a sewing machine than in the kitchen (disclaimer: I must add that my husband and kids would disagree as they both love my cooking), me and my little a”helper” (yes, she’s that helpful) decided to put some of Constança’s receipts to test.

First, and because we had an anniversary this weekend, we started with the “My Great-Grandmother’s Muffins”, a simple receipt that falls into the Summer category. The receipt makes quite a large batch of muffins – we baked 38 muffins!

I got distracted cleaning the kitchen (couldn’t help it) so by the time I got to the party table (like 5 minutes later), these were the only ones left 🙂

When the book was released, over two months ago, one of the first receipts I tested was the “Cream Cake”. It’s a simple sweet (but not too much) cake that reminds me so much of my childhood cakes (you know, the ones your mother used to bake for lunch in a blink of an eye). The Cream Cake quickly become a favorite in our house.

When my kids found out that I was “baking to blog”, they immediately ask for this recipe. And so we did another cake (2 days after the initial batch of muffins) 🙂

This one didn’t last much longer as well – again, by the time I fetched the machine there were 2 slices already missing.

I would say this cake it’s the perfect companion for a late night cup of tea (while browsing the internet).

This (surprise) book review was planned with a couple of sewing friends. Click on the links bellow to read what they say about it:

Conversas de Hermanas

Fairies, Bubbles & Co. 

House of Estrela

Made by Sara

Pequeno Mundo a 3

Rita Pirolita

And if you live in Portugal you can also win a copy of this book. There’s also a give-away in Sara’s blog (thank you Sara!!).

Now, I need to hurry with some sewing projects from the book. I’ve received a few special requests for Christmas 🙂

Happy reading 😉

xx Ana Sofia