Bird With The Golden Seed

Looking Back on The Year of Reading Backwards...

2012-03-07T12:00:00.006+11:00

I know it's a cliche but can you believe it's March already! Before the year runs away with me completely I thought I might do a bit of a year-in-review to round up last year's Year of Reading Backwards . Some of you may remember that my aim was to:

- read more of the books already on the shelves
- catch up on some modern classics
- have a go at re-reading some favourites

So how did I fare? Well, I'd say it's a bit of a mixed score-card. I read 26 books in total (not including about a million kids books!) of which 14 fitted into the 'Year of Reading Backwards' category. Of those I'm particularly glad I finally caught up with The Woman In White by Wilkie Collins, 1984 by George Orwell and I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith. After reading such gems of course I wondered why it had taken me so long to get around to them!

As for the re-reading well I'm afraid to say the year just served to confirm my suspicions (or so I thought...). For much of the year I just couldn't bring myself to pick up a book I'd already read. It just seemed like such a waste of time. For the sake of the experiment I did re-read, A Room With A View by E.M. Forster and The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera but I must say that as much as I enjoyed them I didn't enjoy them as much as I had on first reading (perhaps that's because I was in Paris just having visited Florence when I read the former and read the latter when it was a much anticipated and acclaimed new release). Perhaps my pleasure in reading, like many people's, is tied up with time and place? Having said that, my year in reading ended somewhat surprisingly when I found myself so engrossed in Erin Morgenstern's The Night Circus that having finished it I immediately flicked back to the first page and read it through again!

I'm still intrigued as to why people choose to re-read (or not). In her article, The Pleasures and Perils of Rereading , Lisa Levy discusses quite of few of those reasons chief among which seems to be the pleasure and security derived from returning to a book as an 'old friend'. For others it is the satisfaction that comes from pulling apart a text to really get behind the authors craft and intent. The perils include the very real possibility that you may return to the 'old friend' only to find that it no longer 'speaks to you' bringing to an abrupt halt a life-long love affair (perhaps this is my secret fear?).

So this year I'm challenging myself in a completely different way and have signed up to the War Through The Generations Reading Challenge. The theme for this year is World War I so I'm giving myself another chance to finally read Pat Barker's Ghost Road trilogy which was on last year's list. I'm also planning to read Ernest Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms, Vera Brittain's Testament Of Youth and Max Egremont's biography of Seigfried Sassoon. Perhaps you might like to join in too? You can read as little as one book if you like and there is a great reading list to help get you started.

P.S: I mentioned in a previous post that I am now 'tweeting' as well so if you would like to follow me you can find me @Birdwiththegold.

EDIT: I've just discovered the Australian Women Writers 2012 Reading and Reviewing Challenge and signed up for that too. More details soon...

Letting it all go...

2012-02-22T17:46:00.008+11:00

Wildlife in suburbia!

Out there in the Twitterverse...

2012-02-15T12:43:00.000+11:00

Image via Broadsheet

Dear little blog,

It's been a while since that last cuppa hasn't it? I've been waiting for that fabled day when you and I can spend some time together alone but just as I catch sight of it it slips away. When I have had any spare time it's been away from the computer with iPhone in hand and without really knowing it I've allowed myself to be seduced by the sexier, faster world of micro-blogging that is Twitter.

Now, I know what you're going to say, 'isn't Twitter that place where people let other people know they're thinking about maybe having a coffee'? No, that's Facebook. Yes, there are people who tweet about the minutae of their lives and people selling products, ideas and ideologies but there are also eminent cultural theorists, artists, authors, musicians, film-makers, publishers, journalists, critics, historians, archeologists, educationalists, designers, celebrity chefs, home cooks, crafters, digital mavericks and just about anyone else you can think of. You and I have been getting a bit complacent lately and I really think it's time we started seeing other people. I think it will be good for us and then we can come back together and share what we've found with our blog-friends. What do you say? Not convinced? Well, here's a couple of interesting blogs I'd like to introduce you to.

Look at this great post about an amazing art bombing project that captured the imagination of the people of Edinburgh last year. Throughout 2011 an anonymous artist left a series of 10 exquisite paper sculptures at various museums, libraries and cultural agencies around Edinburgh. There are still no clues as to the identity of the artist outside the notes they left with each work, a love-letter 'in support of libraries, books, words, ideas'. I found out all about it and saw all the wonderfully intricate paper sculptures on the Central Stn blog, you might like to start there.

Or what about Flavorwire :Cultural News and Critique ? I've found lots of really cool things there including Five Recipes Inspired by Your Favorite Novels.

Then there's Retronaut: The Past Is A Foreign Country. This Is Your Passport.
I don't even know where to start with this one. Such an incredible source of historical photogarphy and imagery, you'd love it there.

Looking for something easier to navigate? You could try Paper and Salt: 'part historical discussion, part food and recipe blog, part fangirl-ing'. It's a new blog that 'attempts to recreate and reinterpret the dishes that iconic authors discuss in their letters, diaries, essays and fiction'. Maybe we could make Elizabeth Bishop's Chocolate Brownies ?

And once you're really limbered up and feeling like some brain food why don't you head over to Brain Pickings where Maria Popova is 'curating eclectic interestingness from culture's collective brain'? You never know what you might find there, everything from Vintage Valentines to A Brief History of To-do Lists.

See there is life outside these pages and it's time we got out amongst it. Be brave little blog, be brave!

Fancy a cuppa?

2012-01-25T11:10:00.003+11:00

Is it strange to have your recently deposed Prime Minister design a cup of tea for the nation? I'm not sure but I must say Mr Rudd makes a damn fine cuppa. Rudd was one of 40 prominent Australians asked by Twinnings to create an original Australian Afternoon Tea. Like many Australians I like a strong brew and this one certainly hits the spot with its blend of Irish Breakfast, Russian Caravan and Ceylon Orange Pekoe (although for me it's a bit more of a breakfast tea).

I do realise it's all a big marketing ploy and it won't tempt me back from my daily Dilmah tea but sometimes it's nice to try something new isn't it? What's your favourite tea for daily consumption? Do you make a distinction about what you drink morning, afternoon or evening?

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it's Monkey Man!

2012-01-11T17:01:00.006+11:00

Happy New Year everybody! Did you have a lovely festive season? We certainly did. Relaxing has the been the name of the game at our place, so much so that I've had trouble convincing the kids to leave the house! We've had several 'pajama days' and I've played more board games in the past few weeks that I've placed in my entire life leading up to this point. We've also been enjoying having the time to make things together including this fabulous Design Your Own Superhero Cape kit my sister sent Henry for Christmas.

The Seedling brand kit came with a ready-made cape and lots of great things to decorate it with including felt, foam and glitter-glue. Henry is already a bit of an eco-warrior so he quickly decided he wanted to be Monkey Man, a superhero who encourages people not to buy products that contain palm oil (which ruins the habitat of the South East Asian orangutans)! Quite a specific superhero I agree but he saw something on TV about the Melbourne Zoos Don't Palm Us Off campaign last year and ever since he has been my supermarket vigilante always asking if things have palm oil in them. Bless...

NB: If you're a bit of an eco warrior too you might like to watch this short video about the plight of the South African rhino.

Sweet treats...

2011-12-21T22:08:00.007+11:00

One of the great benefits of finishing your Christmas shopping early is that it gives you time to make all those little sweet treats that make the festive season so special. Today I managed to make three different kinds of chocolate truffles (hazelnut, orange and peppermint); a batch of Rocky Road and two batches of Snowballs.

The first batch of Snowballs I made using cup measurements and I could tell they were spreading too much as soon as they had been in the oven for just a few minutes. So I made a second batch using weight measurements which resulted in a much stiffer paste and rounder 'snowballs'. If you like ameretti biscuits you'll love these. They are incedibly easy to make and if you use pure icing sugar rather than icing sugar mixture they're gluten-free to boot!

Snowballs

60 grams almond meal
60 grams hazelnut meal
120 grams pure icing sugar, sifted + extra to coat
1 egg white

1. Preheat oven to 160 degrees celsius and line a baking tray.
2. Add almond meal, hazelnut meal and sifted icing sugar to a large bowl.
3. Add egg white and stir until mixture forms a stiff paste.
4. Take teaspoons of mixture from the bowl and roll into approx. 18 small balls.
5. Roll each ball in icing sugar to cover thoroughly.
6. Place balls on baking tray and bake for 10 minutes.
7. Allow to cool on tray then store in an airtight container.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Return of the Christmas Spirit...

2011-12-09T21:59:00.009+11:00

I'm feeling very Christmassy this year. I've finally found the right settings on my oven and have been baking every chance I get. I've been shopping locally and early to avoid any unnecessary present-buying anxiety and I've even given in to neighbourly pressure and installed some solar Christmas lights!

This resurgence of Christmas spirit has really bought home to me just how hard the past few Christmases without Mum and Dad have really been. When I look back now I've endured the last three Christmases rather than celebrated them. I've put on a brave face for the kids but in all honesty I've been relieved when the day itself is over and I've managed to hold it together. Things haven't been made any easier by having to spend parts of the past three Christmas/ New Year periods in the Emergency Department of the local hospital with Henry battling to breath after severe asthma attacks (a tradition I'm really not that keen to continue!).

So this year I'm hoping to start afresh. Rather than trying not to think about Christmases past I've leapt right in and bought a real Christmas tree for the first time in years. Surely nothing smells more like Christmas in Australia than a good old pine tree? Last year that smell would have reduced me to tears but this year it's helping me bridge the before and after grief gap. Decorating the tree with the kids is also balm for the soul. It's such a special time especially as we bring out each ornament and talk about where it came from, who made it or who gave it to us. I have a soft spot for two ornaments (a stocking and a bauble) that I made using a 'stained glass' craft kit when I was about eight but my favourite decorations are these funny little reindeer. The reindeer faces were made by tracing around the kids feet and the antlers by cutting around an outline of their hands or stamping them in paint. Henry's was made when he was only one year old so it is teensy tiny and it reminds me how important it is to grasp every moment of their childhood before it slips away.

So how are your Christmas preparations coming along? Do you have any favourite rituals to help kick-start the Christmas season? Any fabulous Christmas baking recipes I should know about?

You know Christmas is coming when...

2011-12-03T14:59:00.005+11:00

:: the agapanthus burst into life...
:: you can finally put the hot water bottle away...
:: the first day of Total Fire Ban is announced...
:: there are butterflies just like this one all over the place...
:: you have an unstoppable urge to preserve things in jars...

Little Dancing Queens

2011-12-01T13:52:00.005+11:00

I cannot tell you how many times my sisters and I listened to this album with when we little.

When I was about eight I used to 'choreograph' routines to my favourite ABBA songs then I'd rope my friends into performing them with me in front of the class (and any other class who'd let us in if I remember correctly!). Never in my wildest dreams could I have imagined that one day I'd have a daughter of my own who would be doing the same thing. Well, it seems some things never change. Today Bella is playing out the same scenario performing 'Dancing Queen' to her classmates with her her friends from the ABBA Club.

Bella and her friends started their own ABBA Club some time ago so they could write out lyrics at lunch time, talk about their favourite songs and do the odd performance. It intrigues me to think that ABBA still holds sway over little girls after all these years. What's really interesting is that it's all about the music. They don't seem to attach themselves to the personalities the way we did (I was definately a Frida girl) and I'm sure they must wonder why on earth they're dressed that way!

They love their Lady Gaga, Katie Perry and Adele too (I'm glad they're not writing down some of their more colourful lyrics!) but there is just something about ABBA that they all love. Is it the music, the lyrics, the harmonies? Perhaps I'll never know but it is a lovely link with the past for this aging ABBA fan who doesn't mind joining in when no-one is looking...

Books vs apps...

2011-11-23T16:06:00.022+11:00

You may (or may not) have noticed that things have been a bit quiet here in Golden Seed Land. That's because I've been busy teaching one family member to read and spending seemingly endless hours setting up iPods and Kindles for the other two. It's been an interesting time caught between an old-fashioned school reader and navigating the e-reader world (which has so far failed to excite much enthusiasm!).

Do you remember a time when you couldn't read? I must say I really don't and I can't imagine looking at a page of English words and not being able to interpret their meaning. Ours is a reading family. We live in a house with books in every room and spend many hours a week reading, visiting bookshops and thinking and talking about books so you can imagine my excitement when the jumbled letters on the page suddenly started to make sense and Henry started reading.

Henry's favourite book to read is Book 1 of the Victorian School Reader (pictured above) which was used by all Victorian children from 1928 to 1950. It's not like we don't have any other books to read but there is something about the way the story builds with a mixture of familiar and new words that both Henry and Isabella have found irrestistable.

Sure you can teach your kids to read with any number of apps on an iPad but for me it just wouldn't be the same (KJ Dellantonia seems to get what I mean here and I wonder if the Silicon Valley moguls sending their kids to no-computer Waldorf schools do too). I love books as things as much as for what they contain and I want my kids to know about dust-covers, endpapers and fontispieces. That's why I love the idea of the Dolly Parton Imagination Library. Imagine getting a free book in the mail (personally addressed to you not your mum or dad) every month from birth until you turn 5 - bliss!

Obviously, we're aiming for the best of both worlds here. Isabella loves her new iPod Touch (which she saved for two years to buy) but even though she knows she can download books onto it she hasn't shown any interest in doing so and far from taking up reading time she has read more books in the past couple of weeks than ever before (thank you Roald Dahl , Jeff Kinney and Megan MacDonald.) Tom's Kindle, however, lies idle and yesterday we bought 6 new books between us so we're not there yet!

How about you? Book, e-reader, both or neither?

My new kitchen...

2011-11-15T14:54:00.023+11:00

'On days when warmth is the most important need of the human heart, the kitchen is the place you can find it'.

(E.B White)

Welcome to my new kitchen! It's not quite finished as you can see (still needs painting and a bit of decorating) but I couldn't be happier with it especially the way the new bamboo floor contrasts with the all-white cabinetry and the way the oven is given prominence by doing away with any overhead cupboards. I'm not so convinced about my choice of a smaller pantry (what was I thinking?) as I didn't realise just how much room you lose with those nifty slide out shelves. Still, it has led to some pretty ruthless culling (way past its use-by-date fish sauce anyone?) which can't be a bad thing.

One of the things that used to really depress me about our kitchen was the view from the front door. You'd open the door ans see a blank paling fence out the window and a freestanding dishwasher with a basket on top that we used to put recycling in. You then had to shimmy past that dishwasher to get to the toilet (before we closed off the doorway as part of the bathroom renovation). All most unsatisfactory!

Now I see this when I come in the front door at night...

So much more satisfactory! Some of the best changes have been small ones . The view out the window is so much more welcoming now that it includes a burst of colour from a hanging basket and some little red window boxes. The window boxes are full of my favourite herbs which means I don't have to go out into the backyard in the dark anymore to pick those essential last minute herbs. I also love my new sink and tap (really!). Again it's not a big thing but the previous one had hot and a cold twist taps which always seemed to end up covered in cake batter or schnitzel crumbs especially when cooking with the kids. It also had a fixed faucet so you couldn't swing it out of the way when you were washing up (many a plate met its maker after accidently colliding with that damn faucet!). Now we have a mixer tap with a flick control and a double sink with strainer plugs and it's amazing how much more streamlined that little detail makes things.

I feel slightly embrassed about the size of my enormous new oven (900mm) in such a small kitchen but it's so much more efficient than the old one (so much so that I've already burnt my first batch of biscuits!) and I figure if you love cooking as much as I do (and increasingly the kids too) it's worth the investment.

There's still plenty of room for improvement - I haven't worked out where to put the recycling station yet and we have a space on one wall for a nice dresser/ sideboard or bookcase but for now I'm just going to enjoy getting to know my new oven and using up all that new bench space...

What Lies Beneath...

2011-10-31T22:53:00.012+11:00

It never ceases to amaze me just what's lurking beneath the surface of our everyday surroundings. While ripping out our old hot water service last week we found this amazing remnant of floral wallpaper underneath the pelmet of an old sliding door (the romantic in me likes to think it might be from the original 1950s version of the house but of course it could be from a little later) and when we had our fairly revolting 1980s kitchen ripped out we discovered all sorts of goodies including yellow and green striped enamel paint and lots of 1970s faux-tile lino.

The archaeologist in me loves unearthing these reminders of past lives but also shudders at the destruction. There wasn't much I could do about the floor (and let's be honest it wasn't any great loss) but I made them leave the wallpaper which now lives happily behind my new pantry. No-one can see it but I know it's still there which makes me very happy. Thankfully, not all urban archaeolgy ends so brutally. I recently came across this amazing online project The Greenwich Village Bookshop Door: A Portal to Bohemia 1920-1925 in the New York Times. If you love that period and its eccentric writers, artists, poets and entertainers you will love this site. The door is signed by over 200 bohemian types who frequented Frank Shay's bookshop during the early 1920s and the University have slowly been identifying and linking all the signatories. Like all good 'discovery' stories the door could so easily have benn lost. When the shop closed in 1925 the manager took the door home where it stayed until 1960. It was donated to the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas after 'a dealer spotted an ad in the Saturday Review asking 'Want a door?'

Old-fashioned or not...

2011-10-30T22:31:00.004+11:00

The tiles went in today and I love them. I chose them against all advice to the contrary (all the tradies told me they'd make a new kitchen look too old fashioned) but the way I see it it's an old house and a totally contemporary kitchen would look out of place. Only three more sleeps until it's all finished!

Surprise lunch...

2011-10-21T10:41:00.001+11:00

The other day the kids offered to make me a salad for lunch. Lovely I said thinking that they were playing their favourite game, 'cafes'. About 15 minutes later I wandered into the kitchen only to see Henry cutting up carrots with a sharp paring knife and Isabella cutting up a tomato with a butter knife! Not wanting to rain on their parade (but praying that no fingers were going to end up in the salad) I allowed myself to be shoo-ed away. A few minutes later they brought me a lovely salad of tomatoes, carrots and marinated fetta finished off with french dressing and some basil they picked themselves. It was the best salad I've ever tasted...

Twinkle, twinkle little star...

2011-10-19T22:10:00.003+11:00

Over the weekend my little star won her first ever award. Her team placed 2nd in a state aerobics championships and she just couldn't get the smile off her face. Well done baby!

Parties, pancakes and chocolate cake...

2011-10-09T15:43:00.011+11:00

Yesterday we celebrated Henry's 5th birthday and although we went to a well known pancake house out for his party we stuck with tradition and made our own cake. It's taken a few years for the lesson to sink in but I know realise that for most kids cake is simply a vehicle for icing and candles. With that in mind I trawled through my recipe folder for a suitably simple recipe. My standby is usually a Chocolate Fudge Cake made with no diary or eggs to cater for any children with allergies but as that wasn't a problem this year I decided to make a variation on Stefano de Pieri's Chocolate and Olive Cake. It's a lovely close-textured, moist cake but nowhere as rich as a chocolate mud or flourless chocolate cake which I think is sometimes a bit much for little ones. Stefano uses drinking chocolate in his recipe which gives the cake a lightness of flavour but as I like a bit more of a chocolate hit I've opted for cocoa.

Here's my version...

EDIT:: I've added metric and imperial measurements for those who prefer them

Chocolate Olive Oil Cake

Ingredients

6 eggs, separated

1 cup (200g/ 7oz) caster sugar

1/2 cup (110ml/ 4 fl oz) olive oil

1 cup (140g/ 5oz) self-raising flour

1/2 cup (50g/ 2 oz) cocoa

50ml (2 fl oz)warm water

Method

1. Preheat oven to 160 degrees celsius and grease and line a 24cm springform pan.

2. In an electric mixer, beat egg yolks and 3/4 cup caster sugar on a high speed until light and fluffy.

3. Turn the beater down to medium and add olive oil in a steady stream. Add sifted flour and cocoa and water and beat on a low speed until combined.

4. Wash and dry the beaters thoroughly and in a separate bowl, whip egg whites to soft peaks. Add remaining 1/4 cup of caster sugar and beat to combine.

5. Using a metal spoon, gently fold egg whites into chocolate mixture then pour into prepared pan.

6. Bake for 45-60 mins depending on your oven (check at 40 minutes by inserting a skewer into cake - skewer will come out clean when cake is done).

As you can see I iced my cake and decorated it with white, milk and dark chocolate discs but it is equally good dusted with a mixture of icing sugar and cocoa or crowned with chocolate ganache if you like your cakes a bit more grown up...

The First Time - Silk Scarf

2011-10-04T10:18:00.004+11:00

Images via

Many years ago I remember my boss telling me excitedly that he had just had his first martini. He was close to 60 at the time and he told me how glad it made him to think that that even at his age he still had lots of 'first times' to look forward to.

I thought of him again recently when I bought my first silk scarf. I've always had lots of scarves but most of them I've received as gifts - a beautiful black devore one from my sister, a pink pashmina and a graduated pink raw silk one from my mother-in-law, and a wildly coloured cotton one on a black backgound that has been a wardrobe staple since my best friend gave it to me as a 21st present. As a die-hard devotee of the all-black wardrobe scarves have come to the rescue many times allowing me to change the look and feel of an outfit without changing the basic black building blocks.

But a silk scarf is something else. I think I'm in love. The weightlessness, the drape, the 'floatiness' and suprisingly the warmth have all taken me by surprise - I never want to take it off! So here's to 'first times' at any stage of life. May they always be this simple, pleasureable and surprising.

The right white...

2011-09-28T14:07:00.005+10:00

Image via

I feel like I'm slowly going insane. Have you ever tried to choose the perfect white paint? Who knew there were so many options? Pink whites, yellow whites, blue whites and even black whites? Do I go Antique White USA, Whisper White, Natural White or White on White? Really I feel like I'm going mad...

Luscious Lemon Yoghurt Cake

2011-09-17T14:27:00.004+10:00

Feeling much better this week so I decided to celebrate by baking a cake. With the exception of chocolate, lemon would have to be my favourite cake flavouring. There have been some lovely lemon cake recipes whizzing around lately especially here and here but I went back to a tried- and-true recipe for my return to health celebration. This is one of those incredibly reliable cakes that always seems to work out the same way even when you use different tins or slightly under or over cook it. You can dress it up with a lemon syrup or a thin lemon icing glaze but as often as not I just dust it with sprinkling of icing sugar. It has a lovely moist, dense texture which means it can also be used as a dessert cake accompanied by some fruit and double cream. Who would have thought that a cake made without butter could taste so good?

Luscious Lemon Yoghurt Cake

Ingredients

280g Greek yoghurt

180 ml vegetable oil

330g caster sugar

335g self-raising flour

3 eggs, lightly beaten

2 teaspoons (or more) lemon zest

80ml lemon juice

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsius

2. Grease and lightly flour a 24 cm bundt, round or square tin (even if it is a non-stick one as this cake has a tenacious crumb that likes to stick to the sides!)

3. Beat all ingredients together - really, it doesn't seem to matter what order you combine them. If that seems a bit anarchic you can just add the wet ingredients to the dry.

4. Pour mixture into prepared tin and cook for 50-60 minutes (check at 50 minutes by inserting a skewer into the cake - when cooked it will come out clean.)

5. Allow to cool for 5-10 minutes before turning out on a wire rack.

6. When cool dress up or down as you please...

Hungry for more...

2011-09-06T09:30:00.008+10:00

Do you ever feel busy, sick and hungry all at the same time? That's how I feel at the moment - dizzy, nauseous and trying to ignore a very loud ringing sound in my ears. I had to take a couple of days off work last week which I hate doing both because I love my job and because I know I'm behind on a few projects. Somehow I've also managed to embark upon a kitchen renovation and while I was feeling very sorry for myself in bed on Friday the designer called to say that she had mis-measured the kitchen and it all had to be re-designed (mainly by me - more about this later...)

When I finally did manage to put myself to bed I took along two very beautiful new books for company. The first was Melbourne, a gorgeous little book by editor/ publisher Sophie Cunningham whose idiosyncratic view of Melbourne bought back many memories of my younger years in Melbourne (there's a nice review here). The book opens with the 2009 Black Saturday bushfires and ends with the freak hail storm we experienced in 2010. While I'm not likely to ever forget either event I'm glad I have Sophie's version of events on the shelf to give to the kids when they're older.

The other book was Hungry: Food From The Heart by Guy Mirabella. I must admit I'm a bit in love with this book. Not only is it beautifully designed with luscious colour photos by Earl Carter throughout by it is full of delicious-looking Sicilian inspired salads, pastas, risottos, soups and desserts. Salads are a bit of a bete-noire for me so I'm always looking for inspiration. If you'd like to try Guy's 'Red Salad' featuring radicchio, red cabbage, peaches and pomegrante among other delights you'll find a recipe here.

Now is I can just get the nausea under control...

A cry for help...

2011-09-01T09:39:00.001+10:00

Really must get back out into the garden!

The Neglected Garden...

2011-08-30T14:05:00.006+10:00

Look at the sorry state of my neglected garden. After so many years of drought I think I'd just really given up on the whole enterprise. Not being able to water the garden except with a bucket and watching things wither and die year after year was so deflating. The only things I've really had any success with have been my herbs and a few vegies.

This winter, however, has been amazing. So much rain! Lush green grass is growing where there used to be brown, brittle little shoots - and the weeds! A small magnolia that has never flowered is suddenly abloom, the blueberry has little pink flowers and no matter how many times I pick up the dead camellia heads there always seem to be more within a few days.

I feel quite inspired!

National Bookshop Day...

2011-08-20T10:23:00.000+10:00

The Paperback Bookshop, Bourke Street, Melbourne by Diego DeNicola via Flickr.

Today is inaugural National Bookshop Day in Australia. It's been a tough year for bricks and mortar bookshops this year so today is a great day to get out there and treat yourself to a book (or two, or three). Here are a few of my favourite haunts...

I love the Paperback Bookshop because it has a great selection of titles (particularly fiction) and because its open until 11pm most nights which makes it a great place to rendezvous with friends especially if you're on your own. The only problem is not buying too many books that then become a burden for the night!

Readings, Lygon Street, Carlton by Snipergirl via Flickr. Ah, Readings...my home away from home. I also love the store in Hawthorn. Amazing range and palpable love of books radiating from the walls...

Hill of Content, Bourke Street, Melbourne by Michael Coghlan via Flickr.

This little gem has had a number of new closures in past years but has somehow managed to hold on. I remember my Dad telling me about the Hill of Content when I was little. The first shop on the site opened in 1922 and was known form its 'quality antiquarian, second-hand and fine new books'. There are no second-hand books there now but its still a great place for high quality hardcovers of the 'coffee-table' variety especially in art and design, gardening and travel.

Image via

These days if I come over all antiquarian there is only one destination for me and that's Kay Craddocks Antiquarian Bookseller in Collins Street. Time Out Melbourne has described it as 'the sort of proper ye olde shop you expect to find magical ammulets...a fantastical place full of the finest, rarest books and probably a gateway to Narnia if you look hard enough.' See how exciting bookshops can be?!

Early Spring...

2011-08-09T17:21:00.024+10:00

Fresh Laundry by Chiots Run via Flickr

See-sawing stockmarkets, sovereign debt out of control and and rioters in the streets. Not the best of weeks was it? I'm not really in any position to fix the worlds larger problems so I've been sticking pretty close to home this week and trying to take more notice of the changes happening in my own backyard.

I've been reading a very interesting book called The Comfort of Water by Maya Ward which chronicles her walking pilgrimage up the Yarra River from the port of Melbourne to its source up near Mount Baw Baw. In it she mentions how the local Wurundjerri people recognised not four but six or seven seasons. This makes a lot of sense to me. I think 'Early Spring' has definately arrived. Not only has the weather been a little warmer lately but there is lots of cheery golden wattle blossom about as well as the more European prunus and cherry blossom. I haven't had a chance to take any photos but I don't think I could top Sophie's images over here. (I haven't seen many wombats about but I'm sure they're out there doing their thing! )

Even closer to home I've been on a bit of a health kick drinking lots of Madame Flavour Green, Jasmine and Pear Tea. I love the pack and the little silk pouches that hold large tea leaves. I think it's also lovely that it comes with a little letter from Madame Flavour letting you know that you can use each teabag three times. What a generous spirit!

We've also been enjoying this delicious Raw Broccoli Salad found over at Stonesoup. The great thing about this recipe is that there is rarely a time I wouldn't have all these ingredients in the house. I was a bit unsure about all that raw broccoli but it was really quite delicious and it was so simple to make that I made the kids do it! We were playing cafes anyway and they often make weird and wonderful (and sometimes inedible) flavour combinations so this made a welcome change. I love Stonesoup's five ingredient philosophy but in Bella's world more really is more so she added some baby spinach leaves and marinated fetta with great results. We'll definately be making this one again.

Raw Broccoli Salad via Stonesoup

Let's hope things settle down a bit this week and that certain members of the global community step back and take a good look at themselves.

Cumquat Jam

2011-08-03T14:15:00.013+10:00

Recently, two of my lovely work friends raided their mother's cumquat trees for me. I do have two of my own little trees but they are not yet producing in jam-making quantities. I absolutely love cumquat jam and the fact that it's not easy to find commercially means that I never tire of it (as I do when I OD on cherry or apricot jam!).

Having made my first batch I couldn't wait to tuck in but I'd forgotten that citrus and I have not been getting along so well lately and one teaspoon of this jewel-like jam left me with an ulcerated tongue and skin that felt like it was on fire. I can't tell you how depressing that was...Maybe you'd like to make some and I'll live precariously through you?

Cumquat Jam

1 kg cumquats

1 kg sugar

1 lemon (juice and peel)

1 litre of water

Method

1. Slice the cumquats as finely as possible.

2. Peel the lemon with a vegetable peeler then julienne the strips so you have nice thin strips of peel.

3. Place cumquats (seeds and all*), lemon peel, juice and water in a large saucepan. Bring to the boil then simmer for 1 1/2 hours or until skins are tender.

4. Add sugar and stir to dissolve then bring to a rolling boil for about 25 minutes.

5. While jam is boiling sterilise your jars by washing them in hot soapy water and drying them in a low oven for about 30 minutes. Alternatively you can just put them through a hot cycle in the dishwasher. I never really know how much jam a recipe will make so I usually prepare 5-6 jars just in case.

6. Check whether or not your jam has reached setting point (to test, place a small blob of jam on a cold saucer. Once the jam has cooled a little it should wrinkle up if you push it with your finger). You need to be brave at this point. Don't let the jam boil for too long or it will become progressively darker and will set like a rock. If this does happens don't despair. As long as it is not burnt you can still use it. It will just be hard to spead on bread but will be lovely warmed up as a glaze for meats or a sauce for ice-cream, pancakes etc).

6. Take jam off the heat and allow to cool for 15 minutes or so to allow the fruit to distribute itself evenly. Skim off any foamy looking bits and lift out any seeds you see.

7. Pour the jam into sterilised jars making sure that there are no air bubbles. You can fill jars right to the top as the jam will shrink as it cools. Make sure you clean the inside and outside lip of jar with a hot cloth to remove any spilt jam.

8. Seal while jam is still hot, label and store in a cool, dark place for as long as you like!

* you can take all the seeds out, put them in a muslin bag then add the bag to the mixture but I find that they generally rise to the surface while the jam is cooling so I just skim them out then!)

Enjoy!

Frazzled and 'frurled'...

2011-07-31T16:00:00.009+10:00

It's been a long couple of weeks but we're nearly there! Henry has had a lovely time watching the builders and spent almost an hour watching the wall tiles going up. At the end of the day he said, 'I don't know Mum, that bathroom is pretty fancy, I'm not sure I can handle it!'. Bless.

The 'fanciness' hasn't come from nowhere and I've spent a lot of time running around looking, choosing, changing my mind, taking things back, swapping things over and generally getting very confused. On Tuesday I even forgot to go to Isabella's parent-teacher interview and when I collected Isabella from school she said I looked very 'frurled' (I think that's somewhere between frazzled and flustered?).

By Friday the bathroom was really starting to come together. It just needs sealing and painting before we can start using and enjoying it. I really had no idea how big a job it was going to be and I think I was very, very lucky to have found the builder I did. The only real hiccups have been with the crazy 1950s plumbing and with me not checking off my deliveries properly and ending up with two different styles of mixer taps (which were duly installed one day when I was at work). I've also conveniently forgotten that I have children and have nowhere to hang their towels! I'm sure there will be other things I've forgotten to include but hopefully nothing that can't be fixed (or fudged).

So for what it's worth, here are a few things to keep in mind if you're planning your own bathroom renovation...

Take your time researching your taps, mixers and spouts and accessories (towel racks, robe hooks, toilet roll holders etc) and order them all at one time. This is actually quite a lot harder than it sounds as you often have to order things based on catalogue or internet images and the first time you see them all together may be when they are delivered at your house.

Try and close doors or hang drapes across doorways throughout the rest of the house (the dust is incredible!

Stretch the budget a little and hire a portable bathroom rather than just a portaloo (especially if you have a family and it's the middle of Winter!). More info in the comments section of this post.

Get at least three quotes before you decide on a builder. We ended up with three very different prices and ideas for what we could do. We went with the builder who seemed most sympathetic to my 'unusual' plan and whose quote was in the middle of two rather extreme ones. We had to wait for him to start the job but I think it was worth the wait.

Always remember, a good builder and his trusty sub-contractors are worth their weight in gold.

A Bit Of A Circus...

2011-07-23T17:15:00.010+10:00

Well the bathroom is almost complete and I have lots of photos to show you but I can't find the photo cable to upload the images! Life's a bit like that at the moment - it's a bit of a circus here. Things are not where they should be. Books have gone missing as have shoes and vital paperwork but by next week things should be returning to a more manageable kind of domestic chaos. In the meantime I thought I'd up date you one what else I've been up to...

Marvelling at what the human body can do. You know how they say we only ever use about 10% of our brains? Well, after seeing the awe-inspiring Nederlands Dans Theater and Circus Olympia recently I'm convinced I'm only using .0001% of my physical capabilities!

Reading two great books about Australia in the 1930. The first one 'The Lost Mother: A Story of Art & Love' by Anne Summers is a memoir centred around a portrait her mother sat for as a child. The book explores the life of the artist who painted the work, Constance Stokes and the collector who held onto it for many years, a mysterious Russian emigre, Lydia Mortill.

If fiction is more your style and you're looking for some quirky local colour you might like 'A Few Right Thinking Men' by Sulari Gentill, the first in a planned series of mystery novels set in Sydney during the 1930s and starring gentlemen artist and amateur sleuth Rowland Sinclair. Very snappy dialogue and a colourful cast of characters. Sulari has a pretty nifty website over here.

Listening to Debussy. Many years ago I bought a CD called 'Debussy for Daydreaming'. I usually play music to the kids as they go to sleep and this CD is the current favourite.

Coverting this gorgeous glass Babushka drinking jug and glass.

Waiting patiently for the bathroom to be finished and the midnight treks to the outside portable bathroom to be over!

What have you been up to?

Oh, my!

2011-07-19T13:57:00.008+10:00

This is what I came home to after work last night. There's my little 50s pink toilet and check out that creative plumbing. Looks like some sort of surrealist sculpture! There used to be a wall enclosing all those pipes but really, I ask you, how has it been functioning all these years? The builder claims never to have seen anything like it in his life and I'm just waiting to see the plumbers face when he arrives tomorrow...

A Change Is As Good As A Holiday...

2011-07-18T10:24:00.000+10:00

Image via

School holidays + bathroom renovation = no time for blogging. Happily for all concerned school is back today and the bathroom is being demolished as I write (including the 1950s pink toilet!). Stay tuned...

The Year of Reading Backwards: Books 3 & 4: 'Animal Farm' (1945) & 'Nineteen Eighty-Four' (1949) by George Orwell

2011-06-28T14:19:00.000+10:00

Image via

I've been a bit slack keeping you up-to-date with my reading progress this year haven't I? I've been reading furiously as usual but somehow finding time to write about the books has been more difficult than finding the time to read them! You may remember that some time ago I decided to read George Orwell's anti-totalitarian classics, 'Animal Farm' and 'Nineteen Eighty-Four'.

I have a bit of a phobia about reading 'syllabus books' so had avoided reading these titles for years. I've always resented being compelled to read a particular book and I've never been really into the idea of pulling a book apart and putting it back together. Instead I like to experience a book as closely as possible to the way the author intended - I even wait until I've finished the book before reading the introduction and endnotes!

Anyway, I think I left my run too late to read 'Animal Farm'. The characters, plot and moral of the story are just so well known that I had a strange sense of deja-vu all the way through it. Reading 'Nineteen Eighty-Four', however, was a revelation. I was hooked from the first sentence...'It was bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen'. Although Orwell has been criticised for not writing very rounded characters, I really warmed to the main character Winston as he struggled to carve out a little piece of happiness for himself in a world where individuality and privacy are outlawed. The moments of happiness he shares with fellow worker Julia in the countryside and above the quaint old second-hand shop are like moments suspended in time as we are always aware that the life they have set up is as fragile as the glass paperweight Winston carries around with him.

As the reality of their situation starts to catch up with Winston and Julia, the second half the book develops a more serious, philosophical tone (I can well imagine my 16 year old self throwing the book aside at this point) and the sense of inevitablility that has built throughout the book comes to a climax. Will they or won't they agree to follow the party line and admit that 2 + 2 = 5?

More than sixty years on 'Nineteen Eighty-Four' is still shockingly relevant in both its description of totalitarian rule and its investigation of what makes us tick - the pull of memory, the need to connect with others and most importantly the need to have a place where we can feel 'utterley alone, utterly secure, with nobody watching you, no voice pursuing you, no sound except the singing of the kettle and the friendly ticking of the clock.'

If you haven't already read it perhaps 2011 should be the year you do...

Favourite lines...

'Winston was gelantinous with fatigue'. (I read that sentence while I was in hospital with Henry having not really slept for two nights so it really hit home!).

'He wondered, as he had many times wondered before whether he himself was a lunatic. Perhaps a lunatic was simply a minority of one'.

'It was a heavy lump of glass, curved on one side, flat on the other, making almost a hemisphere. There was a peculiar softness, as of rain-water, in both the colour and texture of the glass. At the heart of it, magnified by the curved surface, there was a strange, pink, convoluted object that recalled a rose or a sea anenome...What appealed to him about it was not so much its beauty as the air it seemed to possess of belonging to an age quite different to the present one. The soft rain-watery glass was not like any glass he had even seen. The thing was doubly attractive because of its apparent uselessness...'

Trip to Daylesford

2011-06-22T09:58:00.015+10:00

One of the things I really love about living in Melbourne is that you can jump in the car, drive for an hour or two and end up in the most beautiful country towns. Last weekend we left town and headed for the hills. We have family living in lovely seaside climes so often get away to the coast but it's been a long time since we'd been truly land-locked. I can't tell you how long I've been wanting to go to Daylesford. Having grown up not all that far away as the crow flies I have circled it for years visiting Kyneton, Woodend, Macedon, Hanging Rock and Trentham without actually making it to the 'Spa Capital of Australia'. Was it worth the wait? Oh yes! Daylesford is my kind of place - beautiful mountain scenery......this is the view from the Convent Gallery...

Great secondhand bookstores and market stalls -we particularly liked the Paradise Books (14 rooms of books!) in the Vincent Street where we were greeted by this lovely black cat...

Fabulous local produce prepared and served with love at places like Cliffy's Emporium (below)which has a daily/seasonal/ local produce menu and Koukla where we had great wood-fired pizzas using local ingredients including some delicious slices of Tuki lamb sausage.

We also visited Lark whose fortunes I've followed for a number of years through Alison's blog. The kids absolutely loved the place and Isabella discovered swap cards ( she'd never even heard of them!) and bought an album and 18 cards to start her collection.

Inside the oh-so-sweet retro world of Lark...

But the piece-de-resistence for me was definately artist David Bromley's extraordinary, 'A Day On Earth', an enormous old factory shed full of industrial antiques, quirky set pieces (including an army tent and several rooms displaying mid-century modern furniture) and, of course, his own remarkable paintings and sculptures. We visited 'A Day On Earth' on our last day when the fog was so thick that you could hardly see your hand in front of your face. The wind was freezing so we rugged up in hat, scarves and jackets and made a dash from the car.

While I was in element from the moment we arrived it was interesting to note Henry and Isabella's reactions. Henry loved it and literally had to be restrained from touching and exploring everything...

A mini cover inside and out with Bromley's children's paintings (it also had a little half size trailer!)

Isabella on the other was what she described as 'a bit freaked out'. The poor love just didn't know what to do or think about such a seemingly random accumulation of 'stuff'. I tried to explain to her that an artist is someone who has a particular way of looking at the world and that we were actually quite lucky to see what went on in David Bromley's head. That just seemed to freak her out even more! I assured her that it was OK to feel uncomfortable sometimes because it reminds us that everyone sees the world in a different way. She seemed to settle down a bit after that but she complained of a stomach-ache for the next half hour (an anxiety sufferer in the making I'm afraid):(

Over-sized blocks featuring David Bromley's nostalgic children's series...

...this section reminded me of a play set and I half expected actors to emerge from some hidden door...

If you do get the chance to visit 'A Day On Earth' I highly recommend it - my photos really don't do it justice. If you're in Melbourne he also has a studio in Chapel Street, Prahran which is even bigger!

Happy Birthday Big Issue!

2011-06-16T11:11:00.002+10:00

Fifteen years ago today the first copies of The Big Issue hit the streets of Melbourne. Since that time the plucky little magazine has sold millions of copies, gone national and enriched the lives of 1000s of homeless and marginalised street vendors and their customers. Long may she reign (and don't forget to buy a copy next time you see a vendor!).

Happy World Wide Knitting In Public Day

2011-06-11T21:17:00.008+10:00

After a week of very cold temperatures we were blessed with sunshine today so we headed into town to be part of the Light In Winter Festival. This year the festival is centred around an enormous pyramid-shaped 'light sculpture' which the community has been invited to decorate with lanterns, fabric, knitting and crochet. Today was also World Wide Knit In Public Day and the first ever International Yarnbombing Day so there were plenty of knitters out and about which was great to see. Bella was mortified when I whipped out my needles but Henry entered into the spirit of things by creating a very handsome lantern for the pyramid.

In search of further woolly inspiration we also went to one of my favourite wool shops, Morris & Sons. While I was running maniacally from one beautiful yarn to another Henry and Isabella made themselves comfortable in 'Manland' - a corner of the store furnished with comfy 1950s armchairs where the menfolk can relax while they wait for the wool manics to make their final choice!

Winter Fare...

2011-05-28T22:19:00.012+10:00

As Autumn slips into Winter I've been busy in the kitchen cooking all my favourite comfort foods. Earlier in the week I made my first apple pie of the season this time using an Australian Women's Weekly recipe. I wasn't all that happy with the pastry (it only had 1 tablespoon of sugar in it so was more savoury than sweet) but we all agreed that the filling was our best one yet. The recipe called for 10 apples (I used a mixture of Granny Smiths which hold their shape so beautifully and Pink Ladies which cook to a silky smooth mush) which I flavoured with sugar, lemon zest, cinnamon and ground cloves.

I was also lucky enough to be given some lovely organic beetroot by a friend at work. I thought about making Sophie Dahl's Borscht but then I remembered Jane Clark's Beetroot and Sweet Potato Soup which is always such a hit with the kids. Unlike the more traditional earthy beetroot soup, the addition of sweet potato gives this soup a wonderful sweetness and the colour is just amazing.

Breakfasts have also undergone a bit of a makeover with porridge back on the menu. We've been experimenting with different toppings (honey, cinnamon, nuts, dried fruit compote) but I'm dying to try this Carrot Cake Oatmeal perhaps with a Rhubarb Smoothie.

What's cooking at your house?

The good old newspaper...

2011-05-19T21:23:00.007+10:00

Photo by [emb] on Flickr

I may be one of a dying breed but I still read the newspaper everyday. Here's a few things I've learnt from my reading this week...

It's not my imagination. According to the a Melbourne University arborist the autumn leaves in Melbourne this year do have a deeper and richer hue. Apparently lots of rain followed by a fairly extreme cold snap has increased the sugar generated by many species. More sugar = richer pigments in the cells - who knew?

I came across the word 'procrastibaking'. What a fantastic word, I can't believe that such a word has only just come into being! I procrastibake all the time! It was given as an example of an appropriate evolution of the English language as compared to the many new text-speak abbreviations such as LOL, u and da.

I learnt all about Wovenspoke fabric designer Amy Carr Bottomley's stylish scarves and wristbands made for cyclists using retro-reflective thread. Now you can be chic AND stay safe.

I learnt that star anise is reputedly good for people with asthma and bronchitis so Henry and I have been drinking a delicious concoction made by steeping a star anise in boiling water for 10 mins then adding the juice of half a lemon and a heaped teaspoon of organic honey. Could be my imagination but I started the week with a cold and sore throat but after drinking many of these drinks I'm already starting to feel much better.

EDIT:: After a little more sleuthing I found that star anise is the main source of shikimic acid one of the main ingredients in the flu vacination, Tamiflu. This led to a worldwide shortage of the spice in 2005 and again during the swine flu epidemic in 2009!

The week that was...

2011-05-11T13:47:00.007+10:00

Best photo under trying circumstances!

What a crazy week we've had! The weather has swung from the 26 degree days we've been enjoying recently to single figure nights and early mornings so we have had to quickly re-jig wardrobes and sleeping arrangements. Henry and I spent two sleepless nights (felt like two weeks) in hospital after he had another severe asthma attack. Tom spent the week in agony with a toothache before finally giving in and heading to the Dental Hospital and poor Bella just hung in there not really knowing what to expect next. This morning, however, I had a lovely early morning phone call to say that I'm an aunty again so although it's dark and blustery outside I'm feeling very sunny on the inside!

All these goings on have meant not much time for cooking so once the immediate crises passed I headed for the kitchen and whipped up several batches of soup and my favourtite, comforting winter casserole. Perfect for those convalenscing from unexpected hospital visits. If you're feeling a little under the weather you might like to make some too...

Beef Casserole with Gremolata

1 kg chuck steak, diced
2 onions, cut into eighths
2 cloves garlic
3-4 carrots, roughly chopped
2 tablespoons plain flour, seasoned with salt & pepper
3 cups beef stock
2 tablespoons tomato paste
2 springs fresh rosemary
1 tablespoon fresh oregano, leaves only
1 tablespoon fresh parsley, chopped
2 bay leaves
2 strips orange rind

Gremolata

zest of 1 lemon
1 garlic clove, finely crushed
2 tablespoons parsley, finely chopped

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 160C.

2. Dust beef in seasoned flour and brown (in batches) in a large frying pan over a medium heat.

3. Remove beef to a plate and add a little more oil. Brown onions, garlic and carrot until onions are translucent and carrots have some clour.

4. Return beef to pan then add tomato paste and cook for a few minutes before adding stock and herbs. Bring to the boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes before transferring to an oven-proof casserole dish.

5. Place dish in oven and bake for 3 hours (give or take a bit). You'll know it's ready when the meat just falls apart and the kitchen is filled a wonderful meaty, herby goodness (sorry vegetarians!).

6. Just before serving make the gremolata by mixing all ingredients together. Sprinkle a little on each serve for a little extra zing.

I usually serve this with polenta or mashed potatoes (sometimes some greens) but a buttered wodge of sourdough wouldn't be a bad companion either.

2011-05-01T13:12:00.008+10:00

Image via

I hope you all had a lovely time watching the royal wedding (or successfully dodging it that's more your thing). After such a terrible start to the year for so many people globally it was nice to see so many people gathered (safely) in joyful celebration rather than in protest, revolt, panic or despair. I'm no monarchist but they do put on a good show don't they and I do like traditions such as leaving the bridal bouquet on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

Here's a few other things that caught my eye this week...

This remarkable Pulp Fashion: The Art of Isabelle de Borchgrave exhibition in San Francisco. Belgian artist de Borchgrave uses historical costumes from great European paintings and museum collection as inspiration for creating amazing three-dimensional responses in paper. Hard to explain but click on the link above and check out the photostream and video - well worth as look.

This short but sweet post about fashion designer Jean Patou on Colette Patterns, which also features some great retro-inspired sewing patterns.

These mouth-watering cake recipes posted by the Malthouse Theatre to coincide with their production of Porn.Cake

Hope you're enjoying your Sunday. Masterchef starts again tonight so you know where I'll be...

Seven Things...

2011-04-27T21:53:00.000+10:00

Not me but I wish it was! Image by magic74 via Flickr.

Tracey at Quiet Paws has kindly tagged me with the Versatile Blogger Award - thanks so much Tracey! As part of the deal I'm to share seven things about myself and I'd like to tag Estelle, Katie and Rachele if they'd care to play along too.

Here goes...

1. I used to be a flamenco dance addict. Before I had children I used to train three times a week and did several masterclasses with international teachers. Words cannot express how much I miss it.

2. I've never been to the snow.

3. When I was little I really, really wanted to be a witch - pointy hat, black dress, cat and broom - the whole shebang.

4. I only eat eggs when they are mixed together (fritatta, scrambled, in cakes) never when they are separate (fried, poached, boiled).

5. I tend to make up words when I'm in full flight. I find that if I deliver them with enough gusto most people don't seem to mind.

6. I trained to be an archaeologist.

7. I'm always on the look out for signs and omens. I hadn't seen my flamenco teacher for 7 years and this week I ran into her twice (see No.1!)

So there you go, seven random facts about what makes me me. Hope you all had a lovely Easter...

Food, family and fun...

2011-04-22T20:56:00.014+10:00

Image via

Image via

One of the things I love most about Easter is the tradition and symbolism surrounding the food we share - hot cross buns and fish on Good Friday, lamb on Sunday and, of course, all those chocolate eggs. There is something so comforting about preparing and eating the same food at the same time of year, year in, year out. It gives the year a certain rhythm, allows us to look back and compare with other Easters and gives us the chance to pass family traditions on to the next generation. This week I discovered three beautiful new Australian cookbooks, that in their own individual ways, gave me a privileged insight into the way in which food traditions have shaped other people's family lives.

When I first saw Keepsakes, Recipes, Momentos, Miscellany by Frances Hansen it was love at first sight. This exquisite book is so much more than a cookbook. Nestled among beautiful drawings, painting, photographs and collages are handwritten and typed recipes collected by Hansen and her family. The original book was made by Hansen for her sister's wedding and although it is an intensely personal book in one way, its evocation of food and family in 1970s Australia and New Zealand really struck a chord with me.

Similarly, while Teresa Oates and Angela Villella wrote Mangia! Mangia!: Authentic Italian Food Rituals and Family Recipes to honour and preserve the food traditions of their Italian parents and grandparents, there is so much in this book for the rest of us to enjoy. The book is teeming with stories, personal photographs and family recipes and lovingly descibes important annual rituals such as preparing and bottling the passata, preserving the olives and making your own proscuitto and salami.

And then there is the delightful, My Grandma's Kitchen by Louise Fulton Keats. This gorgeous children's book features bright illustrations, a sweet story about cooking with Grandma and a selection of never-fail recipes to inspire the little ones. As if that wasn't enough, the Grandma in question is none other than Australia's original domestic goddess, Margaret Fulton (the author is her grand-daughter) so you can be sure that the recipes are tried and true!

May you and your family enjoy many happy hours around the table this Easter...

The Year of Reading Backwards - Book 2: 'The Woman In White', 1860

2011-04-16T14:23:00.014+10:00

Image via Yowser! What can I say about Wilkie Collins' The Woman in White except that it's a cracking good read? If you like a bit of 19th century mystery, madness and mistaken identity then this is the book for you. The story was first published in weekly installments in Charles Dicken's, All The Year Round before its publication as a novel in three volumes in 1860. As you would expect from a story that originated as a serial there are plenty of twists and turns and cliff-hanger moments both large and small. The book also features the redoubtable Marion Halcombe (the very antithesis of all those silly, simpering 19th century heroines) and the wonderfully vainglorious villian, Count Fosco. I'd read the book again just to feel Marion's righteous indignation and to re-acquaint myself with the charmingly manipulative Fosco and his pet canaries and white mice. Intrigued? If you haven't already had the pleasure (or should I say thrill?) maybe this is one to put on your list... Next books in The Year of Reading Backwards take me firmly back into the 20th century as I tackle George Orwell's 'Animal Farm' and 'Nineteen Eighty Four'. Sorry about the lack of paragraphs - can't seem to change the spacing!

Link love...

2011-04-13T09:31:00.007+10:00

Image via Etsy

Autumn is here, there's a chill in the air and Henry has decided that 5am is an appropriate time to get up every morning. To say I'm a bit sleep deprived would be an understatement. I'm seriously thinking about just getting up and dressed at 5 and being done with it rather than pleading, begging and coaxing Henry back to sleep (with very little success). Maybe I could use the time to find some more gems like these ones...

Alexandra Nea's lovely blog The Art Of Afternoon Tea presents fabulous weekly recipes for cakes, biscuits and sweet treats with a twist. The twist is her amazing hand-drawn illustrations of the recipes laid out on her own seemingly limitless collection of china. I love the sound of this Chocolate Garam Masala Cake

Romance is not dead! Check out this literary proposal.

Some people are so clever. Check out Debs's gorgeous, hand-knitted couch cover. No pattern, just intuition!

Wouldn't you love a pair of embroidered stockings like these ones ?

Love these great 1950s illustrations on wood blocks and this new project at Bricolagelife.

War Horse...

2011-04-07T21:32:00.004+10:00

This week I've been fascinated by the amazing puppetry of the Handspring Puppet Company - the powerhouse behind the award-winning theatre production, War Horse. If you don't have time to watch the whole thing, scoot through to about the 10 minute mark to see the horse in action - it will take your breath away.

The Year of Reading Backwards - Book 1: 'The House of Mirth', 1905

2011-03-31T21:27:00.011+11:00

You may remember that I've decided to make this The Year of Reading Backwards. For my first book I chose Edith Wharton's heart-breaking story of socialite Lily Bart, The House of Mirth. Set in New York during the 1890s poor Lily just can't take a trick - in fact you'd be hard-pressed to find a greater self-sabotager in the whole of English literature. Although she arguably meets her perfect match in the very first chapter her inability to choose between marrying for love or money leads her to make a string of unfortunate choices that lead her further and further from her goal of security and happiness. I wanted to throttle Lily much of the time but Wharton's insightful and sympathetic prose kept me reading long into the night.

No sooner had I finished the sad tale of Lily Bart, however, than I found myself backsliding into the world of new releases with Franklin and Eleanor: An Extraordinary Marriage by Hazel Rowley - and I'm so glad I did. Eleanor Roosevelt was everything the fictional Lily is not. Like Lily, Eleanor was a member of the New York 400 and was bought up to make a 'good marriage'. Unlike Lily, however, she married for both love and money making a formidable match with her distant cousin, Franklin D. Roosevelt.

What an extraordinary couple they were! Both as a couple and as individuals they continually challenged themselves and each other to fulfil their individual destinies. Imagine becoming the president of the United States without anyone realising that you couldn't walk (Franklin was struck down by polio in his 30s and his minders ensured that he was never photographed being carried anywhere - how times have changed!). Eleanor herself was a remarkable woman championing civil rights, helping to draft the Universal Declaration of Independence and transforming herself from a shy young woman to an inspirational national figure. Sadly Australian biographer Hazel Rowley died just months after her book was released to critical acclaim. She was 59.

Next book in 'The Year of Reading Backwards' is 'The Woman In White' by Wilkie Collins. Have you read it?

Feeling small...

2011-03-23T13:01:00.005+11:00

A person's a person no matter how small... Horton Hears Who via

With so many momentous civil and natural disturbances going on all over the world at the moment I've been feeling like a very small speck indeed. My world seems smaller than usual revolving around kids, school, swimming lessons, work, cooking, reading and sleeping and as humdrum as that may sound I'm acutely aware that there are many, many displaced people out there who are desperately missing that sense of homely routine.

If you feel you'd like to help you might like to donate here, here or here.

Woollie Weather...

2011-03-10T21:29:00.007+11:00

Image via. It's by Japanese manga artist Junko Mizuno (I'm sure that a heart she's knitting from!!!)

There's a nip in the air this evening so knitting/crochet season can't be too far away...

Supporting The Shop Around The Corner...

2011-03-02T21:55:00.008+11:00

Storytime at the delightful 'Shop Around the Corner' featured in You've Got Mail (1998)
Image via

Tomorrow is World Book Day but many book-loving Australians may not feel that much like celebrating. Last week Angus & Robertson, one of Australia's oldest bookstore chains (first opened in 1884) went into receivership following a disastrous marriage with megabook empire Borders. While it would be easy to just blame growing internet sales and the rise of the ebook for the group's demise the truth, as always, is more complex. Angus & Robertson should never have joined forces with an already ailing Borders as explained here and here and while the demise of Borders may seem like a victory for the little guy, the people who'll suffer most are those who live in the suburbs and regional areas of Australia where most of the A&R stores are located.

I remember when Borders first breezed into town in 2003 with their superstores and price discounts. We all watched in amazement as they opened an enormous store right across the road from Melbourne's favourite indie bookstore, Readings. Things looked pretty grim for the little bookstore but it fought back and today the Readings stores are bigger and better than ever. So how did they do it? They did it by employing staff who live and breathe books, by supporting important community projects and by stocking the best damn selection of books in the city. They have no loyalty program and offer no discounts at the till but they are still my favourite place to shop.

Don't get me wrong I've certainly bought the odd book at Borders over the years (and A&R and Dymocks and lots of other places) and I've even bought a few books online but there is something so wonderful about shopping in an independent bookstore where you can 'feel the love' that it's a ritual I refuse to give up (even if it does costs me a few dollars more). Imagine a world where you can't just nip into a bookshop, soak up the ambience, browse the shelves, check out the new releases and find and fall in love with a new author/book. Makes me shiver just thinking about it! So go on - celebrate World Book Day by going out and supporting your local independent bookshop. I'm sure there's someone working there who's dying to recommend a great book...

Barnabus lives on...

2011-03-02T21:34:00.003+11:00

Autumn is here already and we don't seem to have had any summer at all which feels a bit strange. But not as strange as the fact that Tom saw my old car whizzing down the highway yesterday. I was so sure the car dealers would sell it for scrap and I'm so glad they didn't. Barnabus lives on...

The Year of Reading Backwards...

2011-02-22T21:48:00.008+11:00

Image via

I'm not a re-reader. I could actually count on one hand the books I've ever re-read (well certainly no more than two hands). Life has always seemed too short to be going over old ground when there are so many new books being published every day. Of course, it's totally unrealistic to think that anyone could ever keep up with this deluge of books yet I still feel a niggling pressure to somehow keep on top of major new releases (a legacy from my bookshop days, no doubt ,where 'keeping up' was part of the job description).

There are many inherent dangers in only reading 'new releases'. The most obvious is that you're often reading ahead of reviews and have to wade through a lot of very bad books to find the gems and, let's face it, life's definately too short for that. How short I hear you ask? Well, I recently found 3000 Books which helped me crunch the numbers. If I read 30 books a year and live to the average life-expectancy of an Australian female (83) then I only have time to read another 1200 books before I shuffle off this mortal coil! Now, that really pulled me up and stiffened my resolve to stop wasting time on books that really don't deserve my attention.

So this year I'm approaching my reading from a completely different perspective.

I'm going to join Anglea over at Literary Minded in reading 20 classic, modern classic or cult books in 2011 (I've never read any Henry James, Evelyn Waugh or George Orwell)

I'm going to read things that have been waiting patiently on my shelves for many years (I'm looking at you Vikram Seth's A Suitable Boy and Pat Barker's Ghost Road) and...

I'm going to re-read some of my favourite books (like The English Patient, The Unbearable Lightness of Being and Middlemarch)

That doesn't mean that I won't sneak in the odd new release or thriller but I like the idea of having a little project to guide me. Perhaps you'd like to join me? If you're looking for a little inspiration you might like to check out the new range of specially priced Vintage Classics at the official site here or here where you can see more books per page.

Are you a re-reader? Are you in the grip of the 'new release'? Do you have any good classics you'd like to recommend?

Berry Nice...

2011-02-21T17:57:00.005+11:00

Originally uploaded to Flickr by D Sharon Pruitt

Summer has been a bit of a fizzer here so far - a few ridiculously hot days but most days barely making it out of the 20s (I've got longsleeves and jeans on today). Having said that, the berries have been great this season (we've even had a handful of bramble berries from a rose that's gone wild in our front garden!). The raspberries are particularly good - red, juicy and velvety and while I'd happily just eat them straight out of the punnet (and quite often do) I've also been enjoying them in these two incredibly simple recipes.

I first came across this Hands-Free Raspberry Jam recipe in Nigella Lawson's 'How To Be A Kitchen Goddess' but I think the original source is probably Elizabeth David's 'Summer Cooking'. If you've never made jam before you really must try this one - if you have you may never go back to the old way. Basically you just heat an equal weight of white sugar and fresh raspberries in two separate pie plates in a medium oven for about 20 minutes. Remove both dishes from the oven, add the sugar to the raspberries, stir et voila, you have the most delicious raspberry jam in the world. Because the jam has not been boiled you will need to keep it in the fridge rather than in the cupboard but it will keep in sterilised jams for some months.

The other thing I've been making with gay abandon is Jamie Oliver's 1 Minute Berry Icecream. I really love this recipe. It is equally good served immediately as a kind of 'soft-serve' or the next day when it has had a chance to harden in the freezer. Normally I'd leave the mint out of a recipe like this one (I always worry the kids won't like it) but it really does add another dimension to the finished dessert so be brave.

Busy, busy, busy...

2011-02-17T21:09:00.013+11:00

School holidays have been over for nearly two weeks and I still can't seem to get back into the daily routine. The days just seem to whizz by. Here's how I've been spending them..

Reading the Millenium Trilogy by Stieg Larsson. I'm a bit late on the bandwagon but they've been worth the wait.

Listening to lots of classical music. Henry has discovered classical music in a big way. He listens to it when he's going to sleep, in the car and anywhere else there's a player. He's especially in love with anything by Bach but also likes Beethoven's Piano Concerto No.5 and Mozart's 'Jupiter' symphony. He said to me the other day, 'Mum, I've gone crazy for this music, I can't stop listening to it and it won't get out of my head!'. Bless (keep in my he's only 4).

Making this Lucy's Tomato, Walnut and Pomegranate Molasses Salad (with our own tomatoes and the pomegranate syrup Deb sent me - thanks Deb!) and this Lucy's Apricot Almond Chews. Delicious...

Re-organising my kitchen cupboards. Over the past fortnight I've broken two glasses, two mugs and a vase. My cupboards are so crowded that every time I open them something jumps out at me. I've been meaning to do it for a while but these recent losses spurred me into action. As a result I now have three lovely new fying pans (replacing six dreadful ones that can now be found in the local daycare centre sandpit) and room for all my many, many, many baking trays and tins.

Researching bathrooms - we need a new one.

Looking forward to the launch of two of the websites I've been working on for the past 18 months - not long to go now...

Marvelling at the Google Art Project. Have you seen this yet? Check out this post first and then go and have a play yourself - you won't be disappointed.

What have you been up to lately?

Five Daily Essentials

2011-02-05T12:12:00.009+11:00

Do you have certain things you really must have to get through the day? Some daily essentials without which your day would just not be the same? Tracey at Quiet Paws has tagged me to share my Five Daily Essentials and after careful consideration I plumped for the following five:

1) a good strong cup of tea:- without a good strong cuppa first thing in the morning I'm useless. Coffee can come later at morning tea but first I need my tea.

2) my trusty lipstick:- I don't really wear much make-up but I rarely if ever go out without a slick of lipstick. I just feel naked without it. People are so used to seeing me with lipstick on that if I do forget to put it on I'm always being asked if I'm unwell! (I'm a bit on the pale side at the best of times).

3) a notebook:- there is absolutely nothing worse than being caught short without a notebook. I like to have one with me at all times to jot down fleeting ideas I know I'll forget otherwise, or to make a note of interesting books, websites, recipes or ideas for blog posts. I usually like fairly utilitarian notebooks rather than fancy ones which I find a bit intimidating but I've had this one languishing for years and I've decided it's time to use it.

4) a crunchy apple (preferably Pink Lady):- I really do believe there's something to the saying, 'an apple a day keeps the doctor away', so I usually have an apple or two stashed away in my bag or car.

5) a good book:- I'm one of those crazy people who always carry a book around with them even if they know that there is only a slim chance they'll have time to read it. To me a book is a security blanket, a suit of armour and a damn good companion.

So there you have it. How does that compare with your list? Don't forget to check out Tracey's post and those of the other people she's tagged. I'd also like to invite Estelle, Sandra, Manuela and Francesca to join in if they've got the time and/or inclination.

Am I reading too much into it?

2011-02-02T16:37:00.025+11:00

Images courtesy of the ever-inspiring Maybe Next Week

School holidays are finally over so last week we spent some time ticking a few things off our 'oh, we should do that on the holidays' list. On Saturday we braved the heat and made for the cool confines of the truly amazing State Library of Victoria. It's hard to remember a time when I didn't know and love the Library. When I was small the building was shared by the Museum of Victoria and the Planetarium two of the most wonderful places on earth to a small child fascinated by history and the natural world. When I was a uni student I spent countless hours in the Library's magnificent Reading Room devouring books on everything from Etruscan archaeology to World War II in Melbourne.

I've been waiting until my own children were old enough to experience the 'wow' factor provided by the Library and the Look! The Art of Australian Picture Books Today exhibition gave me just the pretext I needed (here are just some of the 100 or so lovely images in the show). Once the kids had finished admiring the illustrations from their favourite books we strolled across the foyer for a quick browse in the Readings bookshop before indulging in a delicious brunch at Mr Tulk, the Library's very cool cafe.

Now the Reading Room was beckoning... As so often happens in life the Room was not at all as I had remembered it. It was a bright, hot day so the Room was flooded with natural light bouncing off the pristine white walls. It was spectacular in its own way, of course, but for some reason it seemed so much more clinical than I'd remembered it. When I got back home I 'googled' the Library and was reminded that before the recent renovations the dome was actually covered with copper sheets. That explained it all! The Room used to be quite dark with the green reading lights glowing softly throughout the Room. It was always crowded and you always felt a sense of history sitting at those amazing 1850s desks.

Sadly, on that bright, sunny day there were only three people there while in the Information Centre below (with no natural light and lots of computers) the place was jumping. Maybe things are different during the week and, of course, all the uni students are still on holiday but I had that strange melancholy feeling you get when you feel you may well be witnessing the end of an era...

In My Backyard...

2011-01-28T21:03:00.008+11:00

I have a tiny backyard that scarcely accomodates a fold-out clothesline. Despite its size (or lack thereof) I've been growing a few hardy edibles there over the past couple of years - tomatoes, rhubarb, rosemary, parsley, mint, oregano and marjoram. I can't tell you the joy this little strip of garden gives me. I give it very little attention and yet it rewards me not only with delicious food but with amazing natural phenomena like truly bizarre rhubarb flowers which grow as high as the fence and wonderful St Andrews Cross Spiders that spin web that would make Charlotte proud. What's lurking in your backyard?

Shake Your Gluteous Maximus...

2011-01-26T09:24:00.008+11:00

Today is Australia Day that happy/sad day when we celebrate all that is great about Australia while simultaneously feeling guilty about the fact that we displaced an entire race of people to get where we are today. As a defence against excessive patriotism Australians love to laugh at themselves (before someone else does!). Queenslanders call us Mexicans (living south of the border) and we refer to their capital as BrisVegas because of their propensity for wearing gold strappy sandals but it's all in good fun as Evil Eddie will show you. Queenslanders may be having a bit of a rough trot at the moment but they sure know how to party...

Dreams Come True...

2011-01-23T10:14:00.008+11:00

Disney Studio Artist, Sleeping Beauty, 1959 'Briar Rose Dancing with the Animals' (reproduction).
Dreams Come True: The Art of Disney's Classic Fairy Tales, Australian Centre of the Moving Image, Melbourne

This week we've been in Disney-overload. It's school holidays so going to the movies is mandatory in our household. Yesterday we saw the new Disney offering, Tangled and, wow, that step-mother is a quite a piece of work - manipulative, emotionally abusive, vain and just down right nasty. Tom and I cried several time during the movie while the kids gave us embrassed, slightly worried sideways glances. We've always been suckers for a great animated kid flick and used to go to them even before we had kids -there's just something about a universal story and the knowledge that good will always triumph over evil that I find incredibly comforting.

Earlier in the week I took the kids to see, Dreams Come True: The Art of Disney's Classic Fairy Tales, at ACMI and what a wonderful experience that was. This beautifully curated exhibition explores the development of seven of Disney's groundbreaking fairy tales including Snow White and the Seven Dwarves (1937), the first feature-length cel-animated film; Sleeping Beauty (1959) made in Technirama 70mm format; The Little Mermaid (1989), the last Disney film made using hand-painted cels and Tangled (2010) with its digital animation of 27 metres of hair!

While there's been lots of huff and puff about Disney's depiction of women, the exhibition actually focuses on the artistry and technology behind each film. Over 600 sketches, paintings, storyboards, maquettes, and original fim cels from the Walt Disney Animation Research Library are used to glorious effect to explore the journey of each film from concept to finished design. While it would be tempting to go overboard in the use of film excerpts in such an exhibition the footage has been carefully curated and placed at the end of each section after you have seen all the preliminary design work and read about the many design influences and challenges that led to the final product.

What I found most interesting was reading about the enormous range of influences the designers drew on - from the broad sweep of early European storybook illustrations, Persian, Arabic, Medieval, Baroque, Roccoco, 19th century French and Japanese art to individual designers such Erte (one of my favourite deco designers).

To round off our Disney journey we watched Snow White in all its digitally enhanced glory on DVD this morning. The comparison between the ultra-flat Snow White and super-3D Blythe doll-like Rapunzel from Tangled was stark but you know what? The kids still loved it and so did I...

PS: If you'd like to see some of the concept development behind Tangled you can go here or if you'd like to read something more serious about the world of fairy tales and their tellers Marina Warner's fascinating, From the Beast to the Blonde is a great if hefty read.

Holiday Snaps...

2011-01-15T11:36:00.019+11:00

Well, we're finally back from our seaside holiday. Thank you so much to everyone who left a message and sent good wishes for Henry's speedy recovery - it was a very scary couple of days. I think the sea air must have done him some good though as he was given a clean bill-of-health by the doctor when we got back a couple of days ago.

School holidays feel very long this year (this is only our second year so only 14 years to go!) but it has given us a chance to have two beach getaways so far - to Phillip Island over Christmas (where we saw the pelicans above) and then after the hospital stay to Barwon Heads where we spent a week with my two younger sisters and their families.

The time spent with my sisters was wonderful beyond words. We haven't had a beach holiday together since we were kids and of course life has taken us in very different directions since then. Rachel has made a permanent seachange while Angela has been living in San Francisco for many years now. For the past few years we've only seen Angela in the context of funerals and bedside vigils so it was lovely to be able to spend some stress-free time with her and her young family. In fact seeing all the little ones together was one of the best things about the holiday...

Best laid plans...

2011-01-05T22:01:00.014+11:00

Henry getting very excited about the 'World's Largest Chocolate Waterfall' the day before he ended up in hospital.

I don't want to sound paranoid but this is the third Christmas in a row that I've spent part of the Christmas season unexpectedly sitting beside a loved one in hospital. Last year I spent much of Christmas Day night sitting in the emergency department of our local hospital with Henry after he had a massive asthma attack bought on by suspected pneumonia.

This year we managed to get through Christmas and the weekend but by Tuesday night I found myself in a familar situation when Henry woke up gasping for air at about 3.30am. Off we rushed to the hospital again where he was put on oxygen when his oxgen saturation levels were found to be very low. Many doses of Ventolin, a chest x-ray, saline masks and vomiting later he was admitted to the short stay unit where we spent another two nights (with me on a very narrow fold out couch). He was released on New Year's Eve and we saw in the New Year (at the child friendly time of 10pm) with sparklers, party poppers and bubbles and it was lovely to see him smiling again free from oxygen tubes and with the colour returning to his cheeks.

As you can imagine it has been a very stressful time for all of us and I still find myself watching Henry breathing for signs that he is relapsing. All routine in the house has been thrown out the window. We seem to be sleeping and eating at weird times and counting the days until we can finally go on the holiday we were supposed to leave for three days ago. The fridge has been bare for days as we've been taking things 'one day at a time' and the kids have been packing on and off for days so it will be a relief to finally leave tomorrow for some sun and sand and the company of my gorgeous sisters and their families.

I hope your Christmas and New Year was a little more predictable than mine (in a good way) and I'm looking forward to hearing all about the exciting plans you have afoot for the coming year. I think plans and I are going to keep their distance for a while...

Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas...

2010-12-23T12:33:00.005+11:00

Thanks Francesca for reminding me about this lovely Christmas treat!

What a lovely surprise I had when I logged on this morning and saw this post over at Cooking Up A Storm in A Teacup. I think you can tell from Deb's words just how much we value the friendship we've forged this year. When I first started this blog 12 months ago I really had no idea that I would meet so many wonderful, warm, talented and generous people. People like Deb, Lucy, Francesca, Tracey, Sandra, Estelle, Fourth Daughter and katiecrackernuts who have inspired me, made me laugh, made me feel welcome and most important of all taken the time to regularly comment on my posts. In fact, a big thank you to everyone who has read, commented or glanced at these pages over the year.

As the days and hours whiz by I'm thinking this may be my last post for the year. There's a pavlova to make today; roast chicken, stuffing and vegetables to prepare for Christmas Eve; presents that still need wrapping and children whose excitement is so contagious I can think of nothing more wonderful than just sharing this precious time with them.

I'm pretty sure we all want the same thing for Christmas - a day filled with love, laughter, good food, an afternoon nap and no family faux pas so that is what I wish for you. Have a happy and safe holiday season and I'll see you all again very soon.

A little bit of Italy for Christmas...

2010-12-21T15:17:00.008+11:00

A bit fuzzy but you get the idea!

Like many people I decided to make sweet treats as Christmas gifts for friends this year. It's been was touch-and-go as to whether or not I'd be able to find the time so I wanted to make something quick and easy (preferably made from ingredients I already had in the cupboard) but exotic enough to stand out from all the gingerbread and shortbread. For some reason I seem to have an enormous variety (and quantity) of nuts in the house at the moment and I always have cocoa and spices at hand so panforte seemed the way to go. Then I read Lucy's funny post about her panpepato experiment gone wrong and remembered how good (if ugly) panpepato can be.

I didn't have time to shop for specific ingredients so I adapted Antonio Carluccio's Panpepato recipe from 'Carluccio's Complete Italian Food'. I didn't have any hazelnuts so I upped the amount of almonds I used and as I'd bought some glace apricots last week for some unspecified Christmas cooking I used them instead of mixed candied peel.

Panpepato (Peppered Bread)

170g blanched almonds, toasted & chopped

85g walnut halves

55g pine nuts

55g raisins (soaked in a little Muscat then drained)

60g cocoa

100g glace apricots, chopped

1/2 tsp each cinnamon, ground coriander & nutmeg

1 tsp freshly ground black pepper

125g honey

enough plain flour to bind

Method

Preheat the oven to 160C/325F. Mix all ingredients together in a bowl adding enough flour to form a stiff mixture. Using wet hands form mixture into a round loaf and place on a tray lined with baking paper. Bake for 30 minutes (you'll know when it's cooked because your kitchen will be filled with the a wonderful spicy aroma) and leave to cool, dust with cocoa and serve in thin slices with coffee or dessert wine.

How easy is that? If you need a last minute gift to take to someone's house over the holiday season this could be just the thing.

Four Simple Goals Update III

2010-12-17T21:06:00.003+11:00

Image via

Time for another update on the Four Simple Goals Project. Way back in September my first goal was to 'bring music back into my life'. I'd envisaged doing that by finally getting the iPod I got LAST Christmas up and running but that still hasn't really happened. Instead I've found inspiration in some unlikely places.

The first place was my car. For the first time in my life I have a car with a CD player (sure it has iPod-compatability too but I digress...) so I've been able to drag out all my old, unloved CDs and play them end-to-end to see if there is anything worth saving. Turns out there is and I've been mentally compiling flamenco, big band, 60s and indie pop playlists ever since.

The second place was watching Glee and listening to the Glee CDs with the kids. The great thing about kids is they have no pre-conceived ideas about what's cool and what isn't (Henry took a 'Chicken Dance' CD to daycare last week and a Debussy CD this week). Through Glee they've become very excited about KISS, Madonna, U2, Lady Gaga, The Beatles and Ella Fitzgerald which I think is great.

The third, and perhaps most unlikely place, was the Rock Chicks concert where I saw Nat Allison wielding the most beautiful guitar in the world - the Gretsch White Falcon. I simply could not take my eyes off that guitar (which is almost as big as Nat!) and went home and dragged out my own acoustic number for a bit of a strum. Like many things (the tennis racket, sewing machine, flamenco shoes...) my guitar has spent way too much time in the cupboard over the years. I used to love playing guitar alone in my room and it seems my newfound enthusiasm has rubbed off on the kids because they've both asked Santa for guitars! Who knows perhaps we'll start our own retro band...

You Know Christmas Is On Its Way When...

2010-12-15T17:45:00.005+11:00

...the kitchen is filled with the heady aroma of ginger and cinnamon, cardamon and cloves...

Roll Up, Roll Up!

2010-12-08T12:57:00.009+11:00

Images via Windham Fabrics

I've been doing a lot of work on circus lately so it was a lovely surprise to see an article about circus history (and puppetry, toy theatres, pantomime and the Ballets Russes) in the recent Selvedge magazine. One of the things they mentioned was this incredible range of fabrics inspired by the circus poster collection at the Shelburne Museum in Vermont, and made by Windham Fabrics. Aren't they just gorgeous? A bit of digging also led me to this fascinating story about how the Museum acquired some of its nineteenth century posters. They were pasted to the side of a house in 1883 when the circus came to town and found during renovations in 1991 (they had been covered over and protected from the environment). If you're at all interested in how paper conservators go about there business you can find out more here.

Vanilla Choc-Cherry Cheesecake

2010-12-07T21:36:00.012+11:00

One of the things I love about Summer is the arrival of stone fruits - nectarines, peaches, apricots and especially cherries. It just wouldn't be Christmas without cherries. A few years ago I bought this cherry pipper (or is it pitter?) and my life changed for the better. You know how it is when you find a fabulous gadget and you wonder how you lived without it?

Recently I was asked to bring a cheesecake to a Christmas party so I decided to make a vanilla and chocolate swirl one. Being a novice cheesecake maker the top of the cheesecake cracked outrageously so I improvised a cherry topping and if I do say so myself it was the right decision. The cheesecake itself was quite sweet so the cherry topping gave it some much needed bite.

Vanilla and Choc-Cherry Cheescake

200g Nice biscuits (any sweet biscuit would do)

105 g unsalted butter

500g cream cheese (room temperature)

200g light sour cream

3/4 cup caster sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

150 g dark chocolate

Topping

500g cherries (pitted and halved)

1 tablespoon cold water

1 tablespoon cornflour

Method

1. Line a 22cm springform pan with baking paper.

2. Melt butter in a small saucepan over a low heat. Crush biscuits in a food processor then combine the crumbs and butter. Press into base of pan and refrigerate for 20 minutes.

3. Melt chocolate in a bowl over hot water (don't let water touch the bowl). Allow to cool.

4. Preheat the oven to 160C (140C fan-forced). Beat cream cheese, sour cream and sugar until light and creamy. Add eggs one at a time beating well after each addition then mix through vanilla extract.

5. Pour half the cream cheese mixture into base. Spoon in melted chocolate then top with remaining cream cheese mix. Use a skewer to swirl the chocolate around without over mixing.

6. Bake for 40-45 minutes or until cheescake is just set. Turn off oven and cool in closed oven. Chill for at least 3-4 hours (or overnight).

7. Place water and sugar in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Add pitted, halved cherries. Mix one tablespoon of cold water with one tablespoon of cornflour (or arrowroot). Add to cherries and stir unitl thick. Allow to cool slightly then pour over cold cheesecake. Refrigerate for 30 minutes or until set.

As this was the first time I'd made this recipe (and it was a boiling hot day) I took it to the party still in the tin so didn't get any good photos but here it is with its enormous cracks...

and with its glossy topping...

I'm pleased to say that when we did unmold it it stood up proud and was roundly praised by all who tried it so if cheesecake is your thing keep this one in mind?

Do You Remember Bruce?

2010-12-04T10:19:00.009+11:00

Traveller, bon vivant, writer, collector, fantasist - Bruce Chatwin was my literary idol in the late 80s/early 90s. I was at university at the time studying archaeology and art history dreaming of becoming a curator (perhaps after I'd travelled the world and written a book or two) so you can see why Bruce was my man.

Chatwin was a bit of a literary rock star at the time, 'feted for his looks as much as his books'. A true renaissance man he worked at Sotheby's as a porter as a young man and quickly earned a reputation for having 'the eye'. He became one of the youngest ever directors of the venerable auction house before leaving to study archaeology and pursue a career in writing. When he resigned from his job at the Sunday Times he reputedly sent a telegram simply stating, 'Gone to Patagonia for six months'. Knowing Chatwin this is probably an apocryphal tale - he was never the most reliable of narrators.

His first book, 'In Patagonia', ostensibly a travel book, is a slippery beast (as much fantasy as fact) and although the bookstores are now groaning with books of 'faction', Chatwin was one of the first writers to really push those boundaries. He took this to new heights in 'Songlines', the book he wrote in 1987 about his travels in Australia and his theories on nomadism. After that I remember waiting with bated breath for the release of his subsequent books and I felt the same way when I heard about the recent release of 'Under the Sun: Letters of Bruce Chatwin'.

It's been 20 years since Chatwin died from complications associated with HIV/AIDS. He was only 48. Unlike his contemporaries Iain McEwan, Martin Amis and Salman Rushdie who have been able to cement their reputations and ensure their legacies Chatwin was really only at the beginning of his career. Perhaps his early death and the fact that his books are devilishly difficult to categorise (his novels are punctuated with arcane facts and his travel/ autobiography/ history works often reads like fiction) helps explain why he has slipped into relative obscurity? I haven't read any Bruce for many years and I hope they really do stand up to the test of time. I think it's time I found out - perhaps you'd like to join me? Do you remember Bruce?

Surprise, surprise...

2010-12-02T21:14:00.005+11:00

Look what I found when I got home today! Is there anything better than receiving a 'brown paper package tied up with string'? My good blogfriend Deb sent me this bottle of pomegranate syrup just so I could try out her recipe for Fesanjoon or Persian Chicken with Walnut and Pomegranate Sauce. Wasn't that thoughtful? If you haven't already checked out Deb's site you really should. It's full of warmth, wit and a wonderful sense of joie-de-vivre (as I'm sure Deb is too).

You Know Christmas Is On Its Way When...

2010-11-30T21:19:00.006+11:00

...the deadline for getting your Softies for Mirabel to Pip is fast approaching. We just finished this little awake/asleep fella today. I did the sewing and Henry did the stuffing - most satisfying. While we were working we talked about the fact that not all kids have lots of toys/food/family to make their Christmas special. Henry thought that was most unfair and so do I. When we'd finally finished I wasn't sure whether or not Henry was going to make a fuss about keeping it himself (it's happened before) but not today. He simply held it at arms length and said, 'there, someone for a little kiddie to love'.

Let the book wrangling begin...

2010-11-23T21:42:00.009+11:00

Look at my lovely new bookcase. Tom made it a few weeks ago as part of our book wrangling project. Books have always been a bit of an issue in our house(s). With over 3,000 books between us we have so many 6 ft bookcases scattered throughout the house that we've basically run out of wall-space. That means limited opportunities to hang any kind of artwork, mirror, photos or whatever else it is that 'normal' people put on their walls. It also makes the place a bit dark.

This new floor-to-ceiling bookcase takes books from almost 3 of our standard IKEA bookcases so we now have a bit of breathing space in the house especially in the entry hall. Now we just need to re-paint the room and the bookcase the same colour (so that the bookcase recedes into the wall) then build 3 or 4 more. Once we've got this lot under control I'm planning on adopting the one in/one out principle to make sure we don't end up back where we started. How hard could that be??

Elegant cowls...

2010-11-17T14:54:00.001+11:00

Image via Loops Yarn

Image via katy elliott

Image via Nothing Elegant

Image via Whip Up

I realise that it is absolutely not the right time of year to be lusting after winter woollies (well not here in the Southern Hemisphere anyaway) but I keep running into these amazing cowls. To be honest I'd never even heard of cowls until recently but now I can't seem to get away from them! One of the things I really like about cowls is the way they use interesting buttons, corsages and decorative pins to keep them closed - very swish. I don't recall seeing people wearing cowls around the city this winter but perhaps I just didn't notice. We Melbournians do love our scarves but we seem to prefer long and loopy over short and neck-hugging.

If you're somewhere wintry now and would like to knit one there are hundreds of free patterns online but if re-purposing is more your thing you could try the clever 'Upcycled Scarflette' pictured above which is made from a re-fashioned cable knit jumper.

Four Simple Goals Update II

2010-11-09T14:09:00.006+11:00

Originally uploaded to Flickr by Flor A

You may remember that some time ago I pledged to complete Four Simple Goals before the year is out. One of those goals was to get more sleep. My aim was to go to bed by 10.30 every night. As any mother of small children will tell you chronic sleep deprivation becomes the norm after a while and you find yourself regularly struggling to get 6-7 hours a sleep a night (especially when a certain someone wakes you up at 6am every single morning). By this time of year, however, my body starts to tell me in no uncertain terms that that is just not enough - I start to feel more anxious than usual (and that's really saying something!), I develop eczema and I start to find the constant juggling of work, home and family more of a struggle than usual. At times I've been so concerned about not getting enough sleep that I've jettisoned reading in bed in favour of half an hour more sleep. Before long I realised that all I was reading were newspapers and magazines (and blogs!) and that it had been many months since I'd read a book cover-to-cover.

So what's changed? Well, I can honestly say that most nights I am at least on my way to bed by 10.30 (stopping to tidy the living room, take off make-up etc) if not actually in bed. Interestingly, what I've found since I've been reading in bed again is that I drop off to sleep much more easily if I've spent some time in someone else's head. Without reading I just turn off the light and lay awake ruminating over the events of the day and worrying about things that may never happen in the future - very counterproductive. It's still a bit of a struggle to keep myself from wandering around the house doing odd-jobs at midnight but I think just being conscious that I have a choice has to be a good thing.

Are you a bit of a worry-wart too? Do you ever worry about not getting enough sleep?

Posh Pram Blankie

2010-11-06T21:44:00.001+11:00

Now that my new little nephew has taken receipt of his blankie I can show it to you too. I used the same pattern as I did for this one but I made it a bit smaller so that it wouldn't be too bulky to use in the pram. Unfortunately I'm too far away to wrap my arms around him at the moment so this will have to do for now.

You Know Christmas Is On Its Way When...

2010-11-04T21:19:00.006+11:00

Image from dnamuse

...the shops are full of panettone. I know you can buy panettone at specialist places thoughout the year but my addiction is such that I wait until it is absolutely impossible to avoid. I like it for breakfast, morning tea, afternoon tea and supper. See my problem? I can polish off one a week if I'm not careful and I'm sure that's not how they were designed to be consumed. Should they be shared perhaps?

Maybe the secret to moderation is to only eat panettone (hot cross buns, mince pies) that you've made yourself. Perhaps this year I'll give it a whirl using this recipe from Australian Gourmet Traveller. What do you think?

Eat Your Vegies...

2010-10-28T08:53:00.002+11:00

Image via The Kitchen Maid

Recently I've come across some outrageously, delicious looking, sweet recipes using vegetables. Who could resist things like the Spicy Parsnip and Pecan Cakes from The Kitchen Maid or the Chocolate Zucchini Cupcakes with Sweet Potato Cream Cheese Frosting from The Nearsighted Owl? If that's not enough, just in time for Halloween, there's this spicy, sweet Pumpkin Pie I saw over at Petits Plaisir de la Vie.

I love my vegies anyway and would be just as happy eating this delicious dish from Cooking A Storm In A Teacup but we all know people (big and small) who need a little leg up with their vegetable intake don't we?

Spoilt rotten...

2010-10-27T11:51:00.014+11:00

Originally uploaded to Flickr by Theresa Thompson

Yesterday was my birthday and I had a lovely quiet day at home playing lego with Henry, reading and having a little nanna nap. Not that exciting for a birthday but as we tend to celebrate birthdays over a few days rather than just on the big day I felt free to do whatever I wanted. I think it's a lovely way to do things and as we all have October/ November birthdays it pretty much guarantees days full of happy celebrations from now until Christmas!

Birthday celebrations started Friday night when I got home from work to find two lovely cumquat trees in half-barrel tubs on the verandah. Saturday we had dinner at a great local restaurant (they are few and far between in out neck of the wood). We had Red Snapper with celeriac remoulade and grilled asparagus; chicken roasted with fresh thyme and served with a quinoa salad; slow cooked lamb meatballs and homemade dips and breads. For dessert we had caramelised popcorn sticks with chocolate amaretti dipping sauce and an amazing creation called a 'Ginger Wagon Wheel' which consisted of two pieces of chocolate-edged gingerbread sandwiched with fluffy marshmellow and a shock of glace ginger paste in the centre - sensational. No kids menu, starched white napkins and great coffee. When we got home I was given this book:

On Monday my friends at work took me out for afternoon tea with homemade banana cake and last night we celebrated again with chocolate ripple cake and more books. I've been coverting these for a while now...

You can have a bit of a look inside 'Recipes From An Italian Summer' here and Tessa Kiros' new book here. Talk about spoilt rotten...

The Melbourne Reef

2010-10-26T14:35:00.005+11:00

Image via Style Wilderness

Have you seen this amazing feat of crochet? It's called the Melbourne Reef and it's been created using a thing called hyperbolic crochet (very mathmatical). I noticed that kootoyoo has been at it too. It's hard to believe that this thing of beauty and diversity is made from scraps of wool, recycled plastic bags and old video and audio cassettes isn't it? If it's captured your imagination like it has mine I suggest you pop over to Style Wilderness to see more amazing photographs and find out more about this mind-bending blend of maths and handicraft.

Five Faves - the Swinging Sixties

2010-10-21T21:58:00.004+11:00

Pip from Meet Me At Mikes is doing a musical Five Faves so I thought I'd sing along. Over the past year I've been working on an online Australian music timeline so I've spent lots of time listening to music from the 1950s onwards (pretty sweet job I know). Here are five of my all-time favourite 60s songs (not Australian I know - except the Easybeats - but my research takes me far and wide)!

God Only Knows - The Beachboys
Friday On My Mind - The Easybeats
No Milk Today - Herman's Hermits
Sunny Afternoon - The Kinks I Call Your Name - Mamas and the Papas

In My Pantry...

2010-10-20T13:34:00.015+11:00

My friend Deb over at Cooking Up A Storm In A Teacup has kindly invited me to take part in her meme, Orderliness and Harmony. In anticpation (and because I'm on a bit of a Spring cleaning binge) I had a bit of a poke around and threw out a few things that were past their use-by date (always the same things rice flour, custard powder and yeast). I'm certainly not into aen-like simplicity but even though it looks like everything is crammed in but I know exactly where everything is to make all my favourite foods - a very comforting thought.

1. Nigella Lawson keeps a secret stash of pigs ears in her freezer that she deep-fries for a crispy, solitary snack. Do you have anything similarly sordid in yours?

Well no, not really, but one of the things I love about Nigella is her willingness to expose her unbridled gluttony to the world. I have been known to partake in one of Nigella's other snacks (small handfuls of freshly grated parmesan baked in the oven until crisp) but my freezer is quite small and holds few surprises. Once you add some soup, casserole, chicken breasts, beef mince, frozen fish, icecream, raspberries, blueberries and icypoles it won't accept much more.

2. What foods would I always find in your fridge and why?

Eggs, parmesan, marinated feta, broccoli , tomatoes and bacon. There are other things but these are the universal family favourites - a mixture of fancy and commonplace. I also have a ridicuously large number of sauces and condiments. I try not to use too much bacon but we all love it so! I've never been much of an egg eater but the kids really love them scrambled, boiled, fried and hard-boiled and after many years avoiding them I've come around to their way of thinking. The parmesan and feta are their to turn simple into special and broccoli is the only green vegetable we all agree on (I'm a big fan of green beans too.)

3. Do you have a standby, never-fail recipe that you like to have the ingedients on hand for unexpected guests?

My favourite standby recipe is Honey-Roasted Sweet Potato and Bacon Risotto. In my experience a lot of people seem to be afraid of making risotto. I'm not sure why as I've always found it very easy and satisfying to make. I think the secret is realising that the rice should still have a little bite to it so you don't over-cook it. I roast the sweet potato tossed in honey while the rice is cooking and I also fry off the bacon separately then add them both towards the end of cooking. I find it can all get a bit too salty if you fry the bacon off with the onion at the beginning of the recipe.

4. What is your favourite comfort food?

It would have to be something warm. Revenge may be a dish best served cold but as far as I'm concerned that's about the only thing that is. There's something about cold food that leaves me, well, cold (although I am going to make an effort to improve my salad repertoire this Summer). Comfort food for me would be something lovely and warm served in a bowl - Lamb Shank and Barley Soup, risotto, tuna pasta, beef casserole on a bed of fluffy mashed potatoes - something like that. If I did have to nominate a coldish food dish I'd say something very simple like sun-warmed, vine-ripened tomatoes and basil on hot buttered toast (see how I got the hot in there?).

5. Do you have a chocolate drawer or secret hoard of sweet or savoury snacks?

You mean there are people who don't?! I'm going for quality not quantity these days and favour Green and Black's Maya Gold, dark chocolate flvoured with orange and spices. I'm also partial to Lindt's mint, orange or ginger chocolate blocks and I'd never say no to a Mint Slice. They're all kept on the very top shelf of the pantry so even I have to do some exercise to access them!

6. What's inside your store cupboard? I wonder if like me you too squirrel things away like a little mammal preparing for a hard winter? Or maybe you favour zen-like sparsity. Don't you just love nosing inside someone else's cupboards?
Another thing I love about Nigella is that she frequently takes us into her enormous walk-in pantry for a squiz. I'd love to have a walk-in pantry a la Nigella but what I have is one big cupboard. In it keep all the things I need to make all our regular favourites - tins of tuna, cans of diced tomatoes, chickpeas and beans and bottles of pasta sauce also rice (basmati, arborio, brown and sushi), pasta (spaghetti, fusilli, risoni), couscous, polenta, stock, onions, garlic and potaotoes. I keep spreads in here too (Vegemite, Marmite, peanut butter, honey and Nutella) and all manner of liquid potions (Worcestershire sauce, fish sauce, mirin, sushi vinegar etc) as well as things I use rarely but like to have on hand like orange blossom water and rosewater.

One whole shelf is, of course, dedicated to dry foodstuffs for baking... sugar, flour, rolled oats, coconut, dried fruits, seed and nuts. We also have an indecently large variety of breakfast cereals that perch on top of said cupboard. Zen-like sparsity? I think not but not incedible extravagance either.

So there you go a quick trip into my pantry. What's in your pantry? Do you keep your fruit and vegetables in the fridge or the pantry? What's the weirdest thing you've got in stock? I'll be tagging some friends soon to share the contents of their pantry with us too so stay tuned...

2010-10-17T21:07:00.004+11:00

'Kindred spirits are not as scarce as I used to think. It's splendid to find out there are so many of them in the world'.

Anne to Marilla in 'Anne of Green Gables'

I'm more than happy to agree with Anne when it comes to kindred spirits (as blogging teaches me everyday) but I'm not sure I'm as comfortable with the idea of multiple soulmates wandering around out there! Check out this new song by Ben Folds and Nick Hornby. Don't be fooled by the catchy tune - this song packs a punch. You can find out more about the Folds/ Hornby project here.

2010-10-14T20:57:00.007+11:00

Image via

Have you been following this story? This exquisite Roman bronze ceremonial helmet with full face mask was found on farmland in the hamlet of Crosby Garrett in Cumbria earlier this year. Until recently it has been on display at the local Tullie House museum just near Hadrian's Wall. When the owner decided to sell the helmet, Tullie House undertook a fundraising campaign asking people throughout the country to donate to a fund designed to keep the helmet in Cumbria. The estimated asking price at the Christie's auction was 300,000 pounds. Within weeks the museum had raised a staggering 1.7 million pounds much of which was made up of small donations by members of the public.

As a curator myself I would say the museum's representatives went along to the auction quietly confident. Imagine their dismay when the bidding soared past their best offer and the helmet was whisked away by an anonymous phone bidder for 2 million pounds? What a crushing blow for the people of Cumbria (and the rest of the country) who had tried so hard to keep the helmet where it was used in Roman times and where it lay in wait for hundreds of years until a man with a metal detector came along. Life just isn't fair sometimes is it?

The Circle of Life...

2010-10-14T13:33:00.004+11:00

Originally uploaded to Flickr bybill barber

On Friday I found out a friend has a family member in palliative care so I baked something nice for them - ridiculous I know but in the face of death everything seems a little ridiculous...

On Sunday I went to my youngest sister Rachel's wedding. It was a balmy Spring day by the beach and the bride and groom looked blissfully happy especially when they announced that another baby was on the way...

Today I'm waiting with bated breath for a call to say that my sister Angela has had her baby. They say that nothing is certain but death and taxes so the arrival of babies is always a welcome respite...

Songs I Can't Get Out of My Head - The Night Last Night

2010-10-09T14:21:00.007+11:00

I heard this song on TripleJ last week (you can hear Ronson here interviewed by Richard Kingsmill) and I can't get it out of my head. Not the best quality video but as it's only a new song there's not much out there yet. Mark Ronson is best known as a turntablist and producer of such people as Lily Allen, Amy Winehouse and Robby Williams and his new album 'Record Collection' draws on the talents of many of his famous friends.

PS: If you've received this post by email and can't see the clip just click on either the title of the post or the 'Bird With The Golden Seed' banner at the top of the email to go straight to the blog to view.

The dark side...

2010-10-07T21:30:00.001+11:00

I've gone over to the dark side... Not only am I crocheting instead of knitting but I'm using acrylic yarn. I've always been aware of a bit of an 'us' and 'them' thing between knitters and crocheters although hopefully there's not too many knitters in the world like the crazy couple in this hilarious clip. Many knitters - and I include myself in this - also have a bit of thing about using acrylic yarn (too squeeky, doesn't always wash and wear well) but the very talented Sarah London and Lucy from Attic24 have convinced me that the world won't stop turning if I indulge in a little acrylic stitchery.

Armed with this new confidence I headed down to Spotlight to buy some cheap and cheerful acrylic yarn. Acrylic yarn comes in a seemingly infinite range of colours and at between $2-$5 for a 100gram ball it's a steal. It's very difficult to find truly colour-saturated wool and when you do you often need to take out a second mortgage on the house to pay for it. So far so good. These are the colours we bought although we didn't end up using the yellow.

The blanket I made is Lucy's Granny Stripe Blanket made from continuous rows of treble stitch clusters. It's dead easy and grows incredibly quickly. I've made mine a bit smaller than Lucy's -more a large lap blanket than the double bed size she made. It only took a couple of hours a night while watching TV (box set of 'Bones') and voila, two weeks later I had this...

I haven't sewn in the ends yet or crocheted a border but it's already in high demand in the living room. I'm not used to buying such large balls of yarn (I'm used to wool in what now seem small 25gm balls) so I have oodles left for further projects...

The Swirly Scarf

2010-10-06T14:15:00.006+11:00

Thanks for all your great comments about growing blueberries! I think you should all go out and buy one or two and we can grow them together, comparing notes as we go. As I mentioned in my reply comments, the tag on the plant said that one bush can supply 3-4 kg in a good season - that's a lot of blueberries! I'll keep you posted about our successes/ failures and hopefully by mid-summer we will all have blueberries coming out our ears -or not.

On another subject entirely some time ago I mentioned that I wanted to crochet this swirly scarf - well here it is elegantly modelled by Isabella. As it is the first thing I've ever really crocheted (apart from edging on knitted pieces) I'm really thrilled with the result.

Four Simple Goals Update

2010-10-03T22:33:00.014+11:00

At the beginning of September I pledged to complete Four Simple Goals by the end of the year. I've been a bit slow getting started but this weekend I finally cracked Goal no. 4 - ressurect the vegie garden. Taking advantage of this weekend's glorious Spring weather weekend we traipsed off to Bunnings to buy some seedlings, seed raising mix and compost. I wanted to plant an edible garden so we only bought things we love to eat - tomatoes (Grosse Lisse, Sweet Cherry and Roma), strawberries, blueberries, rocket and dwarf lemon and orange trees. We also planted lettuce and beetroot seeds and added mint and parsley to our herb garden. The kids had a great time planting the seeds in yoghurt pots they'd been saving all week and I'm very excited about the possibility of keeping us in blueberries over Summer. Have you ever grown blueberries before? Any tips?

Stringing a few words together...

2010-09-30T12:58:00.001+10:00

Exterior, National Gallery of Victoria promoting the Stadel Museum exhibition (I haven't had time to see that yet either!)

Sometimes it's hard to find time to string more than a few words together (or worse still to take photos, upload them, find and insert links etc) while still having time to play with the kids, go to work, get some crafting done and keep the house running. It's been one of those weeks...

Kids In The Kitchen...

2010-09-25T21:31:00.015+10:00

Every school holidays we try and spend at least one day together in the kitchen. We choose a number of different things to make none of which take too long and all of which give us lots of breaks in between stages. Yesterday we started with cupcakes. I think you can tell from this photo just how excited Henry was...

Of course licking the beaters is one the best fringe benefits...

Although licking the icing off is pretty good too..

After a bit of a run around outside and a trip to the supermarket we made pizza dough. The kids loved the kneading process and kept checking to see if the dough had risen over the next couple of hours. Look at the concentration on those little faces - Junior Masterchefs in the making! The Hawaiian and Margherita pizzas they made were delicious...

...and we finished dinner with the kids favourite desert, 'Frog In A Pond' which we made earlier in the day while the cupcakes were cooling. We let the jelly set a little too long so they were more 'Frog On A Pond' but they do look sweet don't they?

Run Caz Run...

2010-09-25T21:02:00.006+10:00

Originally uploaded to Flickr by By id-iom

Today I went for a run. I've never been for a run before. Ever. Tom always jokes that in all the years he's known me he's never seen me break into a run. I always joke that he never will but lately I've had an unexplicable desire to feel the wind in my hair. I just couldn't work out how to fit it in. Henry already gets up at 6am every morning and I just can't bring myself to get up any earlier than that and I don't fancy running after dark so today we ALL went for a run. I was totally amazed by how far and how fast the kids could both run! We ran much further than I thought we would before the kids had to slow down but once they had a little rest they were off again. We all had so much fun that we've decided to make it a regular weekend activity. Who knows - maybe next time I'll even catch up to Isabella.

Spring clean...

2010-09-22T08:47:00.006+10:00

Originally uploaded to Flickr by By Thoth, God of Knowledge

Things have been a bit crazy around here recently. The re-stumping is finished, we've had ducted heating installed and bought a new car. All these things have involved talking to lots of people, getting lots of quotes, making lots of decisions and spending more money than we would usually spent in several years! Both Tom and I are both a bit adverse to spending big gobs of money so we've adopted the bandaid approach (spending quickly to minimise the pain associated with indecision). The house now looks like a bomb dropped on it both inside and out but we no longer have dipping floors and we are toasty warm!

School holidays have started and there are activities planned for next week (movies, sleepovers, train rides) but this week is all about putting the house to rights. This afternoon the kids and I are going to go through all the toys and separate into 'keep, donate and chuck'. We're also going to clear out the cupboard under the kitchen sink and do the same to make way for lovely china and glassware I inherited from Mum. I've promised music, dancing and special snacks in direct proportion to helpfulness so we'll see how we go!

Ode to Barnabus

2010-09-16T20:43:00.008+10:00

Image via

Yesterday I bought a new car. Today I'm experiencing a little buyer's remorse. Not because I don't like my new car but because I miss my old one. I spent 10 years with my old car. He was bluey-green and we called him Barnabus (or Shrekky car). The new car is red and has more safety features than you can poke a stick at but as yet it has no personality or associated memories. I'm conflicted.

I did almost 200,000 kms in Barnabus. There were lots of memorable trips including one almost non-stop trip to Canberra to rescue Tom when he decided he desperately wanted to come home for good. Tom came late to driving and I remember vividly being driven to hospital to have Isabella when Tom was still on his 'L plates'. Now that was a scary ride and of course he had to catch a taxi home after the birth because he didn't have a licenced driver to accompany him! Barnabus also helped us move house four times and has carried more theatrical costumes and props than any small car in recorded history.

The story of how I bought Barnabus has gone down in family legend. I literally went down the street one Saturday morning to buy the paper and came back with a car. And a fine car he was too. I'll miss him but his day had come. Time to make some new memories...

Five Things That Made Me Smile...

2010-09-12T16:17:00.005+10:00

Image via

Here are some of the things that made me smile this week...

1. Finding a pink post-it note from Operation Beautiful on the back of a toilet door. It said, 'You are beautiful just the way you are'. What a lovely surprise!

2. Following Manu's lead and joining the Yate's Garden Club. The mess the re-stumpers have left has been a bit deflating and we still have more work to do outside so I'm thinking our 'vegie patch' might be more of a potted garden this year.

3. Buying new black jazz shoes from Bloch where I bought my first pair of dance shoes as a child.

4. Finding these great packed lunch ideas over at Lillabilly.

5. Finding out that my best friend Loretta is coming home to Australia to live!

Hope you've had plenty to smile about too...

Not for the faint-hearted...

2010-09-08T11:08:00.012+10:00

We're having our house re-stumped and what an dramatic process it is. First you have to clear out under your house. This is what we found (not the blue clam shell) and now have to get rid of. Tom also found lots of bones and shoes which completely freaked him out!

Once they actually lift the house and make it level this is what happens to your walls...

...and this is what happens to your garden. Isabella cried and cried when she saw what they had done to our 'lovely' garden. In truth the garden wasn't actually much chop but they did dig up the Snapdragons she planted last season along with everything but our two rosemary bushes.

...and this is what the house looked like when we went to sleep last night (that's our bedroom wall). Look Mum no hands!

So as you can see we have a lot of work ahead of us sanding back, plastering, painting and gardening. There's no going back now...

The Past Is Another Country...

2010-09-07T14:13:00.011+10:00

Image via

The weekend before last I went to my 25 year school reunion (I thought there had been a misprint but it seems it has been that long since I left school). Of course I agonised over whether or not to go. My year level consisted of 11 girls and 80 sports-mad boys (mainly boarders) and I knew that only one or two of the other girls were going. There was also the remote chance that my 'first love' would be there and I wasn't all that sure how I'd react seeing him after all this time. Would I be like Debi Newberry in Gross Pointe Blank...'What is this I'm feeling? Is it pain? Panic? Hunger? Am I hungry?'...and would he be like Martin Blank...'I freaked out, joined the army, went into business for myself, I'm a professional killer'?

Luckily for me the night went off without a hitch. No dead bodies, no 80s music to evoke unwanted emotions just a really noisy crowded pub where small talk was really all we could manage. 'First love' did not turn up (where are you now David?) nor did any of his close friends. There have been lots of emails and Facebook friend requests floating about since then but I'm wary about visiting this other country known as the past. No-one really seemed to have changed that much and while it was nice to be able to connect the dots and see what people have been up to, I didn't feel a burning desire to re-establish any old ties. I already keep in touch with the people who were really special to me then (as they are now) and I'm content to leave it at that.

How about you? Have you been to any of your school reunions? Have you ever run into your first love after many years of separation? What was it like? Do tell...

Four Simple Goals...

2010-09-01T13:03:00.013+10:00

Recently I visited Tracey over at Quiet Paws and saw that she had joined the Four Simple Goals project started by A Beautiful Mess. The idea behind the project is to think up four simple (easily achievable) goals that will make your life richer and happier before 2011. Who doesn't want that? So here are mine.

1. Bring music back into my life. I'm embarrassed to say that I've had an iPod since Christmas and have never really used it. I did set it up when I first got it but then I sort of forgot about it. A few months ago the radio in my car broke and I haven't replaced that either. Going back to dance classes recently reminded me how much I've been missing music in my life.

2. Buy some beautiful new bed linen. Tom and I have trouble agreeing on colours and patterns and as a result we pretty much do nothing and struggle on with whatever boring stuff we already have. Well no more I say! Beautiful soft linen here I come.

3. Get more sleep (in the bed with beautiful bed linen). The older I get the more I realise that if I don't get enough sleep over the space of a few weeks I get a bit (a lot!) ratty. With Daylight Savings just around the corner I know that Henry will be getting me up at 6am rather than 7am so this going to bed at midnight for no apparent reaon needs to stop. I'm going to aim for 10.30pm with some reading time on top.

4. Resurrect the vegie garden. I have tried, really I have but I just can't seem to keep the up the momentum. Yesterday I read that the best way to plan your garden was to make a list of things you like to eat rather than a list of plants and the lightbulb went on! So this Spring I'm going to plant tomatoes, strawberries and salad greens. I'm also going to add to my herb garden and buy a lemon tree.

Doesn't sound too hard does it? And I think I'll be happier and springy-er if I can get them all ticked off. Perhaps you'd like to play along too? More details are available at Elsie's blog here and I'll keep you posted on my progress as I reach each goal.

Haunting melody...

2010-08-25T17:16:00.007+10:00

Over the past few weeks I've been learning a wonderfully sinuous neo-classical dance to this beautiful piece of music by Lisa Gerrard. I just can't seem to get it out of my head...

This week...

2010-08-24T14:45:00.015+10:00

I finally got around to starting the swirly scarf I first mentioned way back here. I've had this wool for ages but have never been quite sure what to do with it (an impulse buy when it was on special). Even though I'm a crochet novice things seem to be coming along nicely.

I've also been checking out this lovely book by Silvena Rowe. I saw it reviewed in Epicure yesterday and loved the sound of Silvena's artistic take on Eastern Mediterranean cuisine. Recipes mentioned in the review include Pink Peppercorn Meringues with Mulberries, Rose Petal Ice-cream and a tomato salad flavoured with pomegranate seeds, sumac, cumin and pomegranate molasses - yum.

On the cusp...

2010-08-22T21:55:00.003+10:00

Originally uploaded to Flickr by Los Cardinalos

The events of the past couple of days have left me feeling quite flat. I like to know whose running the country when I go to bed on election night but no such luck this time. It's like going to the footy to see your team win and coming away with a draw -you haven't actually lost but you haven't won either. It's very unsatisfying for all concerned!

I'm not cool with this limbo thing. I like a bit of certainty. Today Spring was definately trying to make its presence felt but there was sun, rain, wind, clouds, blue sky and rainbows. The moon is just about full...but not quite. I'm glad tomorrow is Monday.

Idle hands...

2010-08-18T12:53:00.011+10:00

Image via the purl bee

You know what they say people, the Devil makes work for idle hands so I plan on keeping mine busy. Here's a few places I've found inspiration...

- I've already made three of these great crochet cuffs from over at kootoyou - one in black, one in orange and one in pink. I'm planning on doing some more in cotton and maybe 4 ply wool for a lacy-er look.

- I'm definately going to invest in Joelle Hoverson's (of Purl Soho) new book More Last Minute Knitted Gifts. You can see some of the patterns in the picture above.

- I've also been checking out iCrochet a new blog full of links to other people's crochet projects (I think it has been set up by the indefatigable Sarah London.

- Finally, I'm having difficulty deciding what to make from this amazing list of baby knits in the last Whip-Up newsletter. I really like the look of some of those kimono jackets.

What are you doing to keep your hands busy?

Do You Know Rosie Flo?

2010-08-14T20:02:00.013+10:00

Today the kids both got new colouring books. Not just any colouring books mind you but Rosie Flo's and Johnny Joe's colouring books. Illustrator Roz Streeton first started making these incredibly imaginative drawings for her young daughters. They have a lovely Victorian/Edwardian feel to them just like those amazing illustrated catalogues of household items people used to order things from last century.

Unlike other colouring books where all the drawing work is done for you, with Rosie Flo's children get to personalise the characters by drawing in their own face, arms and legs. It's amazing what a difference this makes - check out the Rosie Flo Gallery to see what I mean.

These cute drawings by Isabella are from the the 'Kitchen' book. Isabella likes to do the drawing first then follow up with a colouring session. Henry is all about colouring. He had so much fun creating this lolly shop.

I know what we'll be doing tomorrow...

Pin-up Girls

2010-08-10T10:17:00.008+10:00

I recently finished reading 'Our Girls: Aussie Pin-ups of the 40s and 50s' by Madeleine Hamilton, a fascinating account of the women who posed for pin-up photos both during and after World War II. The book looks at the changing motivations of these women and is full of wonderful details of the era gleaned from first-hand accounts, fan letters, photographs, newspapers and magazines.

What comes through most strongly during the Second World War section is that many girls posed for photographs out of a sense of 'patriotic duty'. These girls were not models but ordinary girls who were seen as representing 'the flower of our young womanhood' - fit, tanned, simple and direct. These were different, pre-feminist times. Names and addresses were published alongside photographs of pin-up girls and many girls recieved mail from servicemen both in Australia and overseas. Some were 'adopted' as company mascots and entered into routine correspondence with soldiers. They also received lots of local fan-mail which some girls found amusing -others found it intrusive.

After the War things changed somewhat. Some girls decided to pursue fashion and photographic modelling professionally although for most girls the beauty and beach contests sponsored by local newspapers during the 1950s merely represented a moment in time between 'girlhood and marriage'. Addresses continued to be published and girls continued to recieve fan-mail. Looking through some family photos yesterday I came across just such a letter! It was dated 6 May 1963 and was addressed to my 22 year old mother (before she met Dad). It was from a boy called 'Les' and starts:

'I hope that you will forgive me for writing this letter to you but I saw your photograph in 'The Herald' last week and as I will be in Melbourne next week I am taking the liberty of inviting you to come to the pictures with me on Thursday evening.'

The letter goes on with Les explaining a little about himself and suggesting that they meet in front of the Myer department store in Bourke Street at 7.30pm (I'm not sure whether or not the newspaper mentioned that Mum worked at Myer or whether it was just a convenient central meeting place). I'm pretty sure Mum would not have turned up for the date and I wonder what my grandparents would have made of it.

Ah, the secret life of parents!

Five Things That Made Me Smile...

2010-08-07T08:33:00.009+10:00

Image: bricolagelife

1. Seeing someone knitting in public. She was knitting a very fine blue-and-white striped sock quite unselfconsciously chatting away to her non-knitting friends while they ate lunch.

2. Going to a staff meeting where a digital presentation without sound was being played and having someone jump up and play an impromptu soundtrack on the piano.

3. Watching Henry's little face beam as he realised he could reach a whole range of shelves this week that were previously unreachable.

4. Dropping into Meet Me At Mikes to buy a crochet hook like this one only to find Pip in the window taking down all the lovely envelopes from The Envelope Project - we had a nice little chat.

5. Finding out a little more about Sandra from bricolagelife over here and visiting her shops over here and here. You should take a peek too.

Hope you've had a great couple of weeks too!

Apples Ain't Apples

2010-08-04T12:26:00.012+10:00

Originally uploaded to Flickr by *clairity*

'Australia smelt of apple. Ripe, green, crisp apples.

A smell so sharp and sweet it made my teeth tingle.'

Queenie visiting the Australian pavillion at the British Empire

Exhibition in the book 'Small Island' by Andrea Levy, 2004

I loved these sentences the first time I read them. For me childhood does smell of apples (and horses and freshly cut grass, dirt roads after the rain...). My mother always used to tell me that when she was pregnant with me she had strong cravings for apples. I'm not sure what kind of apples but there never seemed to be a shortage of Granny Smiths and Jonathans around the place.

I still love my Jonathans (although like many people I've been seduced by the delicious Pink Lady) so I was dismayed to read the other day that Jonnies are in danger of being phased out of production because they don't store well. I'd never really given much thought to natural things 'going out of production'. For some reason I've always been aware of new varieties coming through but not of old varieties disappearing.

Last week I stumbled across an article in the Epicure section of 'The Age' about the Santos Museum of Economic Botany at the Adelaide Botanic Gardens. The museum first opened in 1888 and was set up as an educational institution designed to show people what could be grown in the new colony. After a long hiatus the Museum was recently restored and re-opened. One of its chief attractions is a collection of almost 350 19th century papier-mache apples and pears with names like Schwarzenbach's Summer Pearmain, Coulon's Reinette and Beauty of Borshop. Lovely aren't they? But as the journalist explained,'They sit in a musuem case, and like the dodo and the thylacine, these apples are long extinct...these models are now ghosts of flavours and aromas we will never taste or smell.' What a melancholy thought.

So if you love your apples do try out new varieties but don't forget your old favourites and if you're planting fruit trees maybe give the heritage varieties a go? In the meantime you might like to make this 'Caramelised Apple Upside Down Cake'. It's kind of a cross between a tea cake and a Tarte Tartin and can be served hot as a dessert or at room temperature with a cup of tea!

Caramelised Apple Upside Down Cake

Topping

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 tablespoon butter

2-4 apples (depending on size)

Cake

1 1/4 cup plain flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

80 grams butter
1/2 cup caster sugar

few drops of vanilla extract

2 eggs, beaten

1/2 cup milk

Method

1. Preheat oven to 190C.

2. Peel and core apples then cut them into 8ths.

3. Melt butter in 20 cm round cake pan and spinkle with brown sugar. Arrange apple slices in a nice pattern on top of the butter and sugar making sure to cover the entire surface.

4. To make cake, cream butter and sugar together then add eggs and vanilla extract. Mix well.

5. Sift in flour and baking powder, alternating with milk. Mix to combine then pour mixture over apples .

6. Bake for 45 mins or until skewer comes out clean when tested.

Enjoy!