Tooth Decay

This afternoon i whipped up some peanut brittle. I've had a craving for a while, i used to love the darrell lea chocolate coated stuff when i was little. It was actually surprisingly easy to do without a candy thermometer (I hate all the talk about soft crack and hard balls! This recipe just said 'cook till golden brown'-brilliant.)

I know now why mum didn't ever let us make sweets when we were little, this stuff is like napalm, you could do some serious damage...

But it did turn out nicely, just the right shade of golden brown...

...and shattered perfectly into delicious, crunchy shards.

The only question that remains is: to chocolate coat, or not to chocolate coat?

(Thanks sarzie for my new scales-love love love them :-)

What a slacker!

Wow, so much has happened in the *gulp* 2 months since i have posted. There have been birthdays, christmas, new years, and a couple of engagements! I got one year older but not much wiser, i got on planes and trains, and i got uproariously intoxicated. All in all, it was a nice end to the year!

Party season started with my housemate's birthday. It rolled around while his love was overseas, so the rest of the house took it upon ourselves to spoil him a little. We set up a picnic in our favourite park with blankets, balloons and bunting, and lots of icey cold drinks for the hot day.

Each of us indulged in an incredible eggs benedict from the cute little cafe across the road, which has the some incredibly spunky staff by the way ;-)

For my own birthday i decided to book a lane the the local lawn bowls club. It really does seem like the ultimate summer afternoon activity, i reckon the old-timers have hit the nail on the head: a sport you can play with a cold beer in one hand.

There was also a couple of rounds of tequila sunrises. Now that is Trouble with a capital T.

My love baked me a cake

We scoffed warm brownies and cold strawberries in the same mouthfull

and of course, we played bowls.

So, 26 hey...?

My Place and Yours- My Secret Weapon

This week mybricole wanted to know our secret weapon, and this was a very easy call for me.
You see, i bake. A lot. For friends and family, for myself, even just for the love. And up until relatively recently i'd been using one of those hand-held beaters, which was ok, but then this happened:

Isn't she a beauty? She was a suprise from my mum and my boyfriend. It wasn't my brithday, it wasn't christmas, they just knew how much i would love it. I think 'just because' presents are so lovely, i feel absolutely spoiled :-)

We cook together a lot, so far we've made cakes and biscuits, tarts, ravioli, pavlova, and the most incredible sponge cake. But what i would really like to tackle next is bread. I love dense, chewy sourdoughs. And fruit loaf really floats my boat too. Is homemade sourdough starter YOUR secret weapon? I'd love to hear your recipes :-)

Let's pop over and see pip to check out other people's secret weapons.

Yarn Bombing

Wandering round my neighbourhood yesterday, i discovered some lovely knitted graffiti.

What a great idea! It's amazing to think that somebody has invested so much time and effort to brighten up the day for passers-by. How generous!

I think the tree-cosy above would have to be my favourite. I love the colours, and just check out those ruffles! Cuuute!


If i could knit like this i'd be yarn bombing all over the place, then wandering past to see people's reactions :-) Have you ever been a gurilla knitter??? I want to hear some stories.

It's nice when such a small thing can make your day, thankyou mystery yarn bomber!

Melbourne Cup hat for a seven year old

This is for a very sweet little friend of mine, who has a Melbourne Cup hat parade at school tomorrow.
I hope she likes it!
Now to organise something equally over the top for myself...

My Place and Yours :: Bedside

This week Pottymouthmamma came up with 'bedside' for the new My Place and Yours. And i had some tidying up to do. My bedside table is generally the place where old receipts and bobby pins go to die. Being just inside the bedroom door, it's where pockets are emptied upon returning home.



After a good dust and a quick tidy it still seems quite cluttered, but these are the bare necessities i promise.

Some things to make me smell nice; perfume and deodorant (his too)
Some things to make me feel nice; pawpaw ointment, a massive bottle of sorboline, and some water
Some things that just are nice; a good book, a magazine, and some pretty flowers from the markets
Please note that the vodka bottle is actually our water bottle, we've used it ever since waking up one morning with a moth in the water glass.

I love having flowers in my room, and the markets at Carriageworks have heaps of them for really cheap. I have been treating myself each week. These beautiful roses were only $5, and they smell delicious too. I just love the pink buds, they look like an old fashioned painting. Ahhh, such simple pleasures :-)

My Place and Yours :: On the Shelf

I'm playing along with a game that pip came up with, called My Place and Yours. The first theme is 'On the shelf,' so here is what is on the shelf in our dining room.

Ahhh, teapots. Can you ever really have too many? Most of these little guys were brought home from the op-shop or adopted from the side of the road on council clean up days. I don't know why people wanted to throw them away, but i guess i'm glad they did. It's always fun to think about the former lives of your second hand treasures; somebody bought these teapots brand spanking new in the 1970's, they're older than i am! what have they been up to all these years i wonder?
One of my favourites is the bright yellow enamel number on the far right. He was a birthday present a few years back, and came filled with home baked cupcakes :-)


The little albino glove bunny was a christmas in july present from my friend lisa. One day she's going to teach me how to make him a little girlfriend.
The outrageous glass teapot and cups on the left were hand blown by my housemate zoe for an Alice in Wonderland inspired artwork a few years back. She's currently in sweden for a glass blowing internship(Hi Zo!), and i'm sure she's making some amazing work.

So it turns out my shelf is pretty full, i don't know what i'll do next time i see a teapot that tickles my fancy. But i am curious to know what you keep on your shelves, check over here if you want to play too.