sunday suppers

Okay then, so, it's almost the start of another week. Honestly? When we get back from holidays we're hoping to start the long process of a kitchen renovation - so I thought I'd start sharing some of our inspirations as we go. We've got three windows very similar to this in our kitchen, that look out into the pool {our pool's raised in our terraced backyard so you basically look over the water - very soothing.} I'm only asking for two things in the kitchen: a butler's sink like this one, and a 900mm freestanding oven. Luckily we can position a nice big sink in the middle window - just like this! Happiness!

But, in the meantime, in my present kitchen, I'll be making these meals.

Sunday: Chorizo and canellini bean pilaf {no roast dinner tonight as we had roast vegies with our duck confit last night, including carrots roasted with garlic, honey and thyme - mmmmm}

Monday: Pork casserole with green beans.

Tuesday: French lessons, so I'm making chicken bolognaise for dinner I think.

Wednesday: Netball training: burritos.

Thursday: I'm in Sydney, so hubby and daughter will have to prepare dinner. Home-made pizzas are the best option I think.

Friday: Barramundi, oven-roasted chips and green salad.

Saturday: Paella. Oh boy have I had a hankering for paella lately - best make some huh.

farmer's best

For some reason, we go through a lot of milk in this house. It could be the coffee addiction, or the fact that my husband and child tend to snack on cereal, but it's the one thing we're always low on. It made me pine for the olden days when the milkman would deliver milk to your door. In glass bottles {yes, I am that old}.

So I did a bit of a happy dance when I saw that the milkman was doing a comeback - just when I had my cranky pants on about the milk discounting and how that was impacting our farmers. When the dude knocked on our door we signed up and have now had two deliveries.

Yep, milk, bread, vegies and barramundi{!!} all delivered in a box on our doorstep.

The quality has been awesome. We went with the mixed box and aside from a rogue green capsicum, the quality's been brilliant {the green capsicum was fine - I just don't do green capsicum...}

If Aussie Farmer's Direct is operating near you go check them out. It's a great way to support Aussie farmers - and get food delivered to your door. Next week I'm doing the full shop with vacuum sealed meats and deli meats - I'll let you know how I get on.

bellisimo

Three curvalicious models on the cover of Italian Vogue.

Bella, bella, bella.

flowers for friday

I think I always go back to a classic petal pink flower. I love a bunch of happy yellow blooms, can admire the simplicity of white, adore the dramatic richness of red, but really, if I had to choose one coloured flower for the rest of my life, well, it'd be pink {but I'd be sneaky and want all the shades on offer...}

You?

yeah baby

When I happened upon this over at Chalk and Talk, well, I thought it was perfect. It's too easy to get bogged down in 'stuff' that obscures the true beauty of the day and our life in general. So I'm hitching that cute lil caravan to my wagon and taking a ride on the happiness train. Wanna come along?

the people you meet

I've written before about the power of community with blogging - it's one of the things that makes my heart sing. I've 'met' so many people through blogs who are kindred spirits.

One of these is Kakka from Menopausal Mumma. Kakka's been a sweet, consistent voice in both comments and blogs and she's just one of those people who makes the world a nicer place to be in. So when I discovered that Kakka's mother blogged, well, I had to go see.

Unsurprisingly, Mimsie, Kakka's mother is just as lovely as her daughter. I love checking in on Mimsie's blog {not in the least because we have the same blog design - kindered spirits indeed}. I think it's so important that we're exposed to the voices of different generations, with respect and understanding. Mimsie always gives me something to think about - and for that I'd like to thank her.

So here's my virtual afternoon tea setting for my on-line friends - with a place for Kakka, a place for Mimsie - and one for you if you'd care to join us.

hot diggity

There are two types of people in the world: those who find dogs in costume hilarious, and those who don't.

I fall into the former category, and when it's a pug in costume? Well, hello, it's doubly hilarious obviously. Two pugs? Let's not go there...

sunshine always makes me smile

Oh, it's all sunny outside - that makes me ever-so-happy. I've finally washed my gal's sports uniform {let's not discuss how many times the tracky dacks were worn before washing...} and I have a dark load flapping away on the line. Love.

I'm also plotting a wee floral arrangement like this in my living room - can you imagine the heart-soaring whenever you wandered into a room like this? Pretty is as pretty does - especially in your home...

new scentsation

I'm almost out of my favourite perfumes. What a shame. I estimate that I have about a month's worth of two of my favourites, and will run out just about the time I hit Paris. Guess I'll have to buy a few newbies while in Paris....

This one's sounding pretty spesh, and very Parisian don't you think?

washed out

I feel like I'm in an episode of Hoarders at the moment. Except instead of 'just-in-case' stuff, I'm at risk of being crushed to death by mountains of laundry - dirty and clean...

When it rains, and rains, and rains, and you're busy, busy, busy, things tend to fall by the wayside. This week, in this neck of the woods, it's the laundry. Oh yeah, I've been doing the 'sniff-test' with monotonous regularity. Eeek! And looking at the weather forecast for the next week I can't see that pile diminishing, well, not without the drying running 24/7 which just isn't an option.

I know I'm not alone though, gee, we're only a household of three! Please tell me that you also have a washing pile that sniggers at you every time you walk by it...

shoes with a splash of shiny

It's all grey, drizzly and erky outside, and I have PDLIT {post dancing like I'm twenty} injuries. So I thought I'd best pop up some Jimmy Choos to brighten up the day. Luckily I wasn't wearing these when I was dancing like a maniac on Saturday night, I'd be walking around in an even more sad and sorry state than I am now.

Hope you're having a good start to the week.

sunday suppers

Wow, what a weekend - and another busy week ahead. So menu-planning will save the day!

Monday: I have a netball committee meeting, so we'll need an early dinner. Grilled barramuni, rice and salad greens sounds like a good option.

Tuesday: Late ballet night, salmon patties, mash and broccoli.

Wednesday: Netball training, steak and vegies perhaps.

Thursday: Chicken pot pies for late ballet {again}. Mash and lots of peas alongside I think.

Friday: Caramelised pork, sticky rice and wilted greens.

Saturday: It's duck night! Friends over for duck confit, potatoes in duck fat and some kind of greens.

Sunday: Roast beef and vegies.

Yep, that'll do.

this one goes out to the one i love...

You know the only thing better than a coffee? Coffee in my cute, new silicone takeaway cup. Oh, and you know what's even better than that? Lovehearts in my coffee! In fact, I think I managed to make a loveheart within a loveheart which is about as awesome as it gets.

I'll be taking this little pretty with me to the netball courts this morning - my girls are umpiring again. Please let them have an easier match than last week!

can't wait/can wait...

Noooooooooooooo. And Yesssssssssssssssssssssss. I'm a Harry Potter tragic, and so I can't wait to see this, but, let me tell you - I'll be sobbing ugly tears at the end. Oh, I don't want it to end!

Wild, wild, WILD about Harry.

flowers for friday

Do you think that the people who work at Martha Stewart weddings ever respond with a "Shut UP!" {you know, because that's a completely appropriate thing to say whenever you're overwhelmed... or is that just me?} Anywho, when I saw this garland of lillies - well, I may or may not have uttered the briefest of shut-ups...

I do believe that that may well may the most exquisite thing I've ever seen in my life. Can you IMAGINE the scent? I am so doing some form of this for my gal's birthday party this year - you betcha.

thank you for the music

After nearly 20 years of music, silverchair have announced they're on 'indefinite hiatus'...

my dream self...

Do you have a dream self? I do.

My dream self rides a Vespa - an awesome, vintage green one. I tootle around town on it, hair tied back with a red scarf with white polka dots. I think I look a bit Audrey in Roman Holiday.

Do you know that there's a store in town that's obviously been perfectly designed for my dream self? It's called Greg & Audrey's Garage {named after Roman Holiday - cuteness!}. It's so, so very pretty, and they stock scooters. Oh my yes they do. And cute clothes and accessories. It's a damned fine idea for a store - and just one of the many, many reasons why I love this town.

Apparently they also have movie nights where they screen Roman Holiday - hello - fabulous!

I don't understand why more people don't ride scooters. They're pretty much the ideal commuting vehicle: cheap, cute and easy to park. And they make the world a happier place. I remember driving into the centre of Rome, in our hired Fiat, when all of a sudden we were converged upon by dozens of scooters. Oh, it was an awesome sight to behold and was just so roman!

Scooter riders have to be stylish. They hang out in cafés. They're social and they're fabulous.

I think I need to make my dream self a reality - don't you?

mean-girled

I was mean-girled the other night.

Now, as most of you know, I've been studying French for the past year and a half. I love the country, and love the language and am determined to become fluent by 50. However, this aim is being seriously messed with by my teacher.

She and I have differing views on encouraging students to learn: I believe in the carrot method {praise, encouragement...} while she believes in the stick {a bloody big stick}.

Every now and again she'll pick on someone, just for the fun of it. She'll deride their pronunciation, or their inability to think of a third person pronoun... Anything really. This week it was my turn.

We have to do dictation, where our teacher speaks in French and we write it down. This is hard. Really hard. Usually they're not only sentences we're not familiar with - but words too. Whole new, unfamilar words. Try doing that in English let alone French... This week we had six people in the class, and six sentences. The last two were tough - the final one, impossible. Guess which one I had to write on the whiteboard...

So, there I am, writing word by word. And with every word my teacher's snickering, 'Hoo, hoo, ha, ha"... I'm incredulous - seriously, is this happening? Next word: actual laughter, and encouragement for the class to join in - which, as is typical in a bullying environment, there are a few nervous titters {of the "thank god that's not me" variety.}. I finally get my long, complex sentence up and she comes up. And tells a story. A story of how I remind her of a school student she once had. A student who had many ideas, but, oh, she wrote a story and the teacher said "Is this in French? What language is this?" Because oh, silly child, it was all written phonetically! Um, if you don't know how to spell a word don't you write it phonetically? Isn't that precisely how our children learn?

Then she proceeded to tear every word apart, asked me what the tense was, who the subject was - asked me why I'd written 'e' when she'd so clearly said 'e'. {I kid you not, I still haven't been able to differentiate between those sounds...}

At the time I just fumed silently, but days later I'm still furious. Next week I'll be refusing to write on the board and I'll tell her why. I'm in the class to learn, not to be derided.

I will keep going as I do want to learn the language - fingers and toes crossed that she doesn't teach next year's level. If so, well, I might have to look elsewhere.

Mean-girling sucks at any age.

ou est mon parapluie?

Oh, it's bucketing down in this neck of the woods. It poured all night and we awoke to an overflowing pool and rain that wasn't keen to stop flowing. It's grey, it's dark - and oh, I need a pretty umbrella like this Lulu Guinness number - I do love a clear umbrella! It'd make the soggy school run a much more pleasant experience.

every day...

I plan on taking 30 minutes each day to just sit, in silence, with a book and a cup of tea. Just to be... No laptop, no television, just words and the warmth of a good cuppa.

Sound like a plan?