mag must have

How beautiful is the July 2010 Vogue starring Marion? Just so utterly exquisite...

tasty tuesday

Here's what we're eating this week:

Tonight: due to popular demand - beef stroganoff. Thank you MasterChef for putting the cravings deep inside our family's bellies.

Wednesday: we might be checking out Cassolet night at III Bean

Thursday: chorizo pasta bake with salad

Friday: home-made burgers

Saturday: Chicken Schnitzel with lemon baked potatoes and a green salad {my first ever schnitzel were a huge success - my gal's been asking for them every day since Saturday night. Recipe below...}

Sunday: Roast dinner

Monday: early game of netball - tuna chilli pasta sounds good

My first-ever chicken schnitzel. Now, this is a bit of a no-brainer - but the girls were so enthusiastic in their praise {niece apparently raved about it when she got home, husband also besotted} so I'll share. Cheap and easy.

Serves 4.

Two Lillydale freerange chicken breasts, or organic chicken breasts

Flour

Egg

Panko Breadcrumbs

Olive oil

Salt and pepper

Lemon

Cut the chicken breasts in halves through the middle from end-to-end then place between two sheets of clingfilm and bash with a meat mallet {or a rolling pin if you're like me and don't have a meat mallet. They'll look messy, but they'll taste great. I bashed mine out to around 1cm thick.}

Next, dip the chicken breasts in flour that's been seasoned with salt and pepper. Then pop them into beaten egg. Finally, press them into the panko crumbs - ensuring they're completely covered and that the crumbs stay in place.

Heat around 1cm of olive oil in a frypan and put two schnitzel in at a time. Cook till golden brown and then turn, cooking the other side. It should take around 4 minutes in total - and mine were completely cooked through. Check by cutting a little off a thick end and tasting - cook's prerogative. When done, pop them on a tray and place them in an oven to stay warm.

I served them with chunky potato and sweet potato chips - baked in a hot oven sprinkled with a little olive oil, chunks of lemon to squeeze over the top and a green salad.

please explain

Just how does Helen Mirren always manage to look so hot, elegant and yet still age appropriate?

shiny shiny

When it comes to fashion Cate the Great can do no wrong. Who else could pull off a plunging silver pantsuit? And c'mon - it's for the Tony Awards, talk about event-appropriate.

shoe business

I may have mentioned before that I don't do boots - haven't done them since my Doc Martins died a very slow and horrible death in my mid-twenties. Since then I've just been a shoe gal. However, if I could justify the expense, these would change my mind. Pretty! The zip, the ruching, the baby-soft leather - oh my!

Now, let's not discuss the Australia vs Germany match that I woke at 4.30am to watch with hubby. Man, I knew Germany would have to win, but c'mon - that was a shocker. And that red card for Tim Cahill? Poor poppet, his world cup dreams are now shattered that he's out for the next two matches. Boo hoo. Let's hope we can get back on track in six days time.

Long weekend Monday today and husbands playing in a golf comp, gal and I have just finished our omelettes and I have two articles due. I know - public holiday {generally speaking journalists don't really get public holidays - just a longer annual holiday}. They're virtually done, just need editing and tweaking so shouldn't take long. Gal's off for a playdate at 1pm and then I'm hoping to do a little in the garden. My darling husband spent ages yesterday dividing the irises and moving them to more suitable locations so now we have some plants to give to our friends whose garden just needs a few spots filled in.

Oh, and did I tell you about our delicious afternoon tea on Saturday {HUNGER SPOILER ALERT}. French cheese, blueberry cupcakes topped with whipped cream, raspberries and crushed meringues {just like Eton Mess - mmmmm} and a superb flourless chocolate cake served with mascapone that had an espresso shot and coffee liquer stirred through. Perfection.

Best get on with it. Tell me about your long weekend. I'm dying to hear about all the relaxation and quaffing that went on...

ma macarons

Well, here they are - our first attempt at macarons. Now, while they're not perfect {oven temperature too hot} they're glossy, chewy in the middle and damned delicious. Some have lemon curd filling and others have rose buttercream and we ended up just making rose flavoured macarons. We had fun and now we're looking forward to trying again next time in search of perfection!

cuteness incorporated

Isla Fisher is just utterly adorable. Last night, hubby was in the study plotting his world cup viewing so I thought I'd watch a wee bit of fluff. Luckily for me, for once Foxtel heeded my call and was screening Confessions of a Shopaholic. A fluffy film saved by the absolute delight that is Isla Fisher. It was a fine film, a few cute ideas, cute lead, cute clothes - but Isla's just mesmerising. So gorgeous, with that HAIR and with a delightful sense of comedic timing.

One day when I was lying on the couch with some illness or other I came across another of her films, one with Ryan Reynolds. And again, she was just so danged gorgeous in it. She's my new crush.

welcome weekend

Sleep-in: check. Leisurely coffee: check. Now, just have to wait for husband to awaken {he got up at 4am to watch a World Cup game} and get outside and garden. The sky's blue and there doesn't seem to be too much wind, so hopefully it'll be good gardening weather. We should fit in a chunk of work before going to afternoon tea and then we're picking up our niece so the gals can have a sleepover.

Oh, before I go, I must tell you about last night's dinner. The most tender scotch fillet steaks cooked meltingly medium rare, with a shallot and red wine jus and garlic mashed potatoes. But that's not the best bit - no, the best bit was that after I'd bought the steaks to room temperature I seasoned them with a little olive oil and then some thyme salt. Yep, thyme salt. I stripped the leaves off three sprigs of thyme and put them in the mortar and pestle with some pink murray river sea salt and ground till it became the most delicate green powder. I sprinkled it over the steaks, pushed it in and then cooked the steaks. Now, I'm not sure if they were just good steaks, or if this salt had special magical powers - but you could cut them with a butter knife they were so tender. Mmmmmm.

Tonight I've decided to attempt to make chicken schnitzel {yes, you read that right, I've never attempted it}. I'll make it with a similar crumbing to my panko/gremolata pork cutlets and serve it with chunky home-made chips and an iceberg lettuce. That cheese fondue on MasterChef last night has me feeling all retro... And as my niece is younger than my gal, and lactose intolerant, I reckon this'll be a child-pleasing meal that'll make everyone happy.

Enjoy your day x

blog redecoration

My blog make-over is well-overdue. Hope you like it! I think it's still pretty, and while it needs a tweek or two, I think it's kinda cute and classic.

long weekend woo hoo

I don't know about you, but I'm dead excited about this here long weekend. Three whole days with nothing to do. No netball so we can sleep in on Saturday. No plans so we can sleep in on Sunday. And no work or school so we can sleep in on Monday. See a theme here? Oh yes, there will be sleeping in!

There will also be gardening. Just a spot of weeding, some pruning and a lot of fertilising. All that rain's washed away all the nutrients in the soil and my leaves are all looking a wee bit on the yellow side. Luckily we've got bags of manure ready to lay down. Stinky, but essential.

My gal's also got a few playdates planned for the weekend, which will keep her entertained. And we will be making a date with Where the Wild Things Are on Foxtel at some stage over the weekend. We're also going around to visit some friends and check out their architect's ideas for their home and offer up a spot of garden advice. French cheese will be on offer which always makes me happy.

This weekend is also the time when I'm intending on making macarons. There's a few ingredients I need to track down, but surely I'll find them somewhere. I will be photographing and blogging.

Enjoy your long weekend. Hope it's filled with happy times and champagne x

floral fantasies

So far as I'm concerned there is no such thing as too much floral. Flowers make me happy. Inside and outside I need an abundance of blooms. So that's why I think that this weekend we need to make the trek to our favourite nursery in Maitland to buy some flowering plants to fill a couple of gaps in the garden. Or maybe the farmer's markets will be an option.

Now, quick question - how cold is it? Last night I returned home from netball training actually physically chilled to the bone. It took me ages to warm up - despite my home being nice and toasty. Winter's certainly burst into our lives with all the verve and vibrancy of Liza at a gay wedding.

who's your audience?

I love to take the phrase, "Life's not a dress rehearsal" and run with it. Why live life tentatively and not to its fullest? So following on from that it's best to ask "Who's your audience?"

When you do something, anything, who are you doing it for? To impress some random passer-by? To make your friends' envious, to live up to an ideal? Or for yourself and your loved-ones? When you clean and tidy your house who's it for? When you dress who are you dressing for?

Let's make our audience an appreciative one. An audience that understands what we're trying to achieve and says "Bravo" to our attempts. An audience that sees beyond the superficial and gets where we're coming from.

And while we're at it, let's make it an audience that isn't afraid to rock up in a cool costume and get involved in a little bit of audience participation. I reckon we could all do with a Rocky Horror audience in our lives don't you?

something swishy

I do love a frock with a bit of swish and swoosh, and SJP's gown for the Alexander McQueen tribute hits just about every single one of my buttons: amazing pattern, divine colours, interesting neckline and fabric that's just aching to be touched. And the swooshiness? Perfection.

whistling for it

I'm not sure if whistling while I work will help, but tell you what, I could quite do with a team of enchanted critters to help me get my house into order at the moment...

little lessons

I'm off to my gal's class today to give a writing workshop to a bunch of year five kids. Eek! I've gone along before and it's been fun - let's hope they're open to it today.

I'm starting off with Best Opening Lines in Literature. I think a killer opening line is essential. It's why I always start off my articles by coming up with a great headline, sell and going from there. I can't just start off with the main body of the text - I need context.

So I've got some of my fave lines and we'll be discussing what we can expect from these opening lines - then I'm going to get them to write a paragraph to follow their chosen line. Should be fun.

Afterwards, well I'll be coming back to do a little work, wash my new sheets I bought yesterday {hurrah!} and maybe pop on the Morrocan Meatballs I saw over at frills in the hills.

What are you plans for today?

the triumphant return of sandy b

In five years time there won't be weepy, tragic magazine covers featuring Sandra Bullock bemoaning her lost love, or pairing her with co-stars {um, Jennifer Aniston, that side-eye is facing your direction}. After such a poopy experience Sandra's handled herself so well. Here she is last night in her first official appearance - looking smoking hot {Her hair! Her cheeks! Her frock!} and here's what she had to say. Bless. "Let's be honest here, just for a moment. We're all going to be honest, right? Did I win this for being entertainer of the year, or did I win this because of the spectacular I.E.D. [improvised explosive device] explosion that became my personal life?! No, it's okay. Because I would do it over again if it was to entertain our troops , and our extraordinary troops deserve something much more than some actress in a tight dress talking about herself."

rock and roll babe

Mondays are never an easy way to start the day, but I'm pretty sure that a glimpse of these Roger Vivier Rose 'n' Roll heels will put some spring in your step. Aren't they just the most amazing things you've ever seen? I'm pretty sure that scarlet and purple are my two favourite hue combinations - the perfect way to warm up a winter - and when you add a satin rose, well, I'm in heaven.

The sun's shining today. Honestly! The sky's blue and everything just seems that little more do-able. I've got a load of washing to hang out {a black load that I added something a little extra to, a tissue...} and another to wash. Let's hope the rain stays away long enough for them to dry out.

How's your week looking?

i found my thrills...

A weekend in the vineyards with the girls was just the medicine I needed. I'm recharged and ready for whatever the week has to throw at me. I also broke down some of my barriers. I can be a wee bit of a snob. And one thing I'm particularly snobby about is any form of organised tour - large or small. But my friend who organised this weekend was keen on organising a wine tour - so I went into it with an open mind {and a wee bit of trepidation}.

On Saturday morning, after a fun friday night with scallops, pork belly, chorizo and prawns {and much champagne and pinot grigio...} we awoke and were greeted by a mini bus filled with nine strangers and a jovial driver. We hit the first vineyard where I proceeded to consume more wine before 11am than ever before. By the end of the day, much wine, a big lunch and a bit of a shop I was won over by the wine tour. I went to vineyards I never would have visited and me some interesting people {Pat the Us Marine and his gorgeous girlfriend were the highlights!}. But the piece de resistance was the vineyard that Mike saved till last. Blueberry Hill was not only a gorgeous little vineyard, with a vingeron and owner who was as dry as the perfect glass of champagne - but home to exquisite wines. Seriously - if you go to the Hunter Valley promise me you'll visit there? If not, go to their website www.blueberryhill.com.au - they also have accommodation that looks mighty nice.

Oh, and the best thing? The neighbour, a pilot who owns a Red Baron style plane, who took it out for a few spins and loop-de-loops while we stood watching, the sun setting over the vines. Priceless.

I came home with a car-boot full of wine, sated from much giggling and chatting with my friends. Ah, recharging - what a delight.

ou est mon parapluie?

Oh rain, seriously, can you sod off about now? The only good thing about this continual sogginess is that I get to use one of my favourite French words - parapluie - so much cuter than umbrella non? It's right up there with pamplemousse - which kicks the butt of the english word grapefruit.

I'm off to the Hunter Valley for a girls weekend this afternoon. Bliss. There'll be wine tasting, fine dining and relaxing on the sofa with a nice glass of red and some dark chocolate I'll be thinking. Let's hope the rain calms down enough so that we don't get too saturated getting from place-to-place.

Last night I came home from French lessons to overflowing gutters and a good 30cm depth of water that spread from the curb to a metre and a half onto the road. Even the most energetic of long-jumps wasn't going to allow me to span that. Instead, I took off my shoes and waded through the water in my Leona Edmiston opaque stockings. Sog city. I think I need a pair of wellingtons for weather like this.

deadset gorgeous

I've yet to succumb to Twilight fever, but I love this shot of the gals that's appearing in Vanity Fair. Delicious isn't it?