tsk tsk

girl's day out

Up super early yesterday to fly to Melbourne.

Good friends suggest good ideas.

What a perfect day it was too.

I think we spent 3 and a half hours roaming around Dockside at Finders Keepers Markets. There were so many stalls. Lovely to see some familiar faces but even more special to finally meet some people I've known through this crazy blog world for awhile.

Some really great finds.  Sadly an empty wallet for awhile, but happy that I have officially started my Christmas shopping.

Then it was lunch. We treated ourselves to some sparkles and fine food. Then turned a corner to discover the most magical  and imaginative new shop called 'Magic Lantern'.

Walked a bit more...oohed and agghhed at windows and finally landed ourselves here.

then it was home again home again to record breaking rain and floods.

what a great day and great friends.

 

wrapped}{infused

Monday.

I wrapped.

To say thank you. long overdue.

I infused.

{vanilla pod, orange slices, lemongrass stalk, handful of mint leaves. boiling water.}

ginger would also be nice.

I then added lots of ice and drank.

I painted....

Just a little. I'm trying to everyday.

Melbourne by day

Yesterday I woke super early and flew down to Melbourne with a friend of mine. The main reason for my indulgence was to view the latest works of a much loved artist, Rosetta Santucci at the Green-wood Gallery in South Melbourne. The moment I walked into the gallery I was blown away by the beauty of her work. Infact I was a little over excited and the lady at the gallery probably thought I was a complete nutter.

Apart from this, we discovered South Melbourne (not Brisbane as previously written) and Albert Park shops before a late lunch, then a quick flyby Fitzroy. Our day ended far too quickly with a celebratory drink at Cutler and Co.

Loved Avenue Bookstore, and  Empire Vintage.

Simply had the best Sunday in quite some time. Lucky to have good friends and supportive family.

Lazy French toast mornings

I'm loving  grey skies;

Freshly picked gifts of organic citrus.

Small moments of artistic pleasures.

Woolen socks.

Mohair blankets.

Popcorn afternoons.

Good books arriving in the mail.

Smells of freshly baked bread.

Lazy French toast mornings.

3.12pm to about now

so each afternoon I do the mum thing. Pick up the kids from school. Ask them a million questions about their day, mostly to get very little response.

It's the same every weekday and it will be for quite some time. So I thought I would join on the hipstamatic trend and record a typical weekday afternoon in my house.

There is homework to adjudicate. This week Milena has been working on the letter F and Ari on his times tables.

(Are you still here?)

Then there is dinner. Oh dinner! The Joy of cooking certainly hasn't been here this week. But I did make the effort to roast an extra chicken last night so tonight it's chicken again..maybe chicken and bean garlic tortillas with coriander and avocado. Nic even made chicken stock with the frames...how good is that?

But first there is the baking. I HATE TO BAKE. Milena wants me to make a plate of  something to take to school tomorrow for her assembly day. We chose white chocolate chip cookies. Mostly because I had white chocolate chips in the fridge.  I didn't take a pic of the results....because they ended up looking like  fried eggs.

And I have to say that not even these green tinged hipstamatic pics would have hidden how bad they are. I could look at buying a new lens from the iphone apps...but honestly I think I'll stick to photoshop for now.

5.28pm.....better start dinner!

good

yes it is a good friday. so far.

woke early because my alarm clock wasn't smart enough to know it was a holiday.

We are here this weekend.

I hope to spend some time in the kitchen and studio.

Made muesli bars already from Nigella's book. Adjusted the dry ingredients to what I had...and that included choc chips.

I'll post again tomorrow I think. I love this weekend. In fact I love April.

trigger treeding and jacorandas

It seems in this house our kids have discovered Halloween. My generation never celebrated Halloween as the Northern Hemisphere does. Infact it was't an event at all!  But I'd say that tonight  just about every neighbourhood across Australia there will be little dressed up terrors knocking on doors tonight. M calls it 'trigger treeding" She has no idea what it is all about. I think she will just be happy with green hairspray in her hair.

I was too lazy to buy a pumpkin to carve. the local ones are too hard and the imported ones too expensive. (You can see I'm really getting into the spirit of things). Pardon the pun.

So I carved a rockmelon instead. Not sure how our Jack O Lantern or as it is called by M as Jacoranda, is going to light up, but I don't think they will mind. Perhaps I should have filled it with red jelly instead.

In the meantime, I'm all ready for tomorrow. My little helpers this morning were great at packing some of the greeting cards, while I snapped some shots of work I'll be taking.

Went to the Finders Keepers today and it was really great. So happy to see lots of like minded people there. Glad Brisbane is really starting to support these events.

Best go green paint to be sprayed!!!

my weekly obsession

This week its all about dinner. the daily decision I find so utterly boring to make. Thinking about what to have for dinner takes about 15 minutes of my day, then shopping for it, and then finally cooking it whilst listening to the "but I'm still hungry mum" in the background, and making sure it is all ready by a civil hour!

Gone are the days of last minute gourmet dinners served after 8pm! I used to love cooking with a passion. Now I'm not saying that my kids have bland tastes. Tuna Sashimi, Penang chicken curry, French Brie, and Chinese dumplings are amongst their favourites. It's just the process of thinking, cooking, and eating with cranky kids who like pumpkin one day, and hate it the next, that takes all the fun out of it.

So how does this become my obsession of the week?

Well, I still love good food and every few weeks I go through stages of trying to cook new and exciting meals and so I have become obsessed with food sites and blogs. I usually end up cooking the same old thing, but occasionally......I have a good night.

Two of my first favourite blogs were (and still are) Cream Puffs in Venice, even though I don't have a sweet tooth i love this site.

Orangette led me on a walking tour of Paris and Brussels last year to find the perfect Macaroon and Croissant. And i am now passionate about her French Chocolate Granola. (pic botom left)

And in recent times I am always clicking over to sites like, 101 Cookbooks, (cashew curry, top) Tartelette, (2nd pic shows the spiced quince crumble recipe). Not Without Salt, showing here oven fried onion rings

Steamy Kitchen, bottom right showing how to make bacon and blue cheese butter.

Now not all of these are dinner recipes of course, but each site offers great ideas to meet my obsession with food and food blogs. Quality food, quality photos and quality information.

I can quite happily waste an hour looking for something inspiring to cook for dinner, and come away with nothing. Oh well, at least there is wine in the fridge to get me through the whining whilst I make one of the regular favs!

Fiona jumped aboard 'my weekly obsession'  last week, feel free to share yours.

Delightful Days

I've had a very productive week.Today my monsters come home and my house will be destroyed. And yet, I still need to clean it before they arrive.

I have to give back the kitchen table and I suspect that my parents and children will want a meal cooked for them tonight! And I'll have to hide the rest of the Turkish delight from their tiny paws.

I've been up since about 5am making lists and finishing jobs. I have a few odd jobs to complete for work, but I have a pile of bills and paperwork that need sorting. Vacume cleaner to be fixed, car to be cleaned before the booster seats go back in. OH that sounds like such an inspiring day to you all I bet. I might squeeze in a pedicure as sandal season is now approaching.

yes, a nice few days of peace and some work crossed off the list.

I am happy.

I bet my parents are exhausted.

girl's weekend in sydney

I just got back from Sydney. A friend and I have been wanting to escape for such a long time and we thought Sydney was a great place as both of us know Melbourne well and being an hour closer by plane, we'd get more shopping time in. Our one night away turned into two nights, and all we did was shop, eat and drink.

In short my shopping highlights were dropping in on Samantha Robinson's studio to see her beautiful ceramic works, the Kinokuniya bookstore where we spent close to 2 hours! I didn't even get near to the children's section. This store makes Borders look like a mobile library on the back of a truck! The other great bookstore was Ariel in Paddington, I had to leave quickly before buying too many wonderful things. And then there was Cloth and Ici et la...oh I could go on but then there is food.....

We went to some fab restaurants, including Longrain and Zushi, Bill's for breaky. OK so I'm eating thin this week.

It was just 2 days of jam packed, girly fun. Both of us have returned to sick kids (still) and husbands and me to school holidays.

But the weekend will be one to remember for a long time!