happy birthday to my blog

Oh my goodness, it's my blog's birthday! Eeeeeep! It's now six years old - all grown up.

So, to celebrate, Martha Stewart totally made me this cake.

Well, she didn't, but she would have if she could have… I just borrowed her image.

Wow, six years huh? Who would have thought when I started blogging all those years ago that I'd still be here six years on? Not I. I have loved it though, which is why I keep going, no matter how busy I am. It's for you guys, I love the community I've found through blogging, and the fact that I get to share cool stuff with you. Thanks for coming by.

Here, have a slice of virtual cake!

French word of the day: gateaux - cake!

farmer's best

One of the things I love the most about France is the markets. Base yourself in a town and you can pretty much plot out your week attending a local market each day, a short drive away. At these markets you'll be overwhelmed by the glorious produce. Ripe, heady with delicious scents. And local.

I can't imagine a French person abiding by imported foods at their markets, let alone out of season foods. They live in the moment, buying food each day for their meal - and oh, their tastebuds are richer for it.

I've noticed in Australia we're finally getting the message with our fresh fruits and veg. Now foods are marked with their place of origin so we can avoid the lemons shipped over from the US, or the Mexican garlic, and choose locally-grown.

However, as we've seen in the news, this isn't the case with our canned goods. Our local growers and producers are in trouble due to competing low-priced imported goods, and whole regions are at risk. I've been saddened by this plight, and wondered what I could do. Naturally, choosing to buy locally next time I shop will make a difference - but I think it needs to be bigger.

So, last night on Twitter, a chat came to this: SPC Sunday - this Sunday choose to eat an SPC product and share it online. Using Facebook, Twitter and Instagram people are encouraged to use the hashtag #SPCsunday and share their peaches and ice cream they're having for dessert. Show us the pear crumble you've made. Take a pic of the baked bean jaffle.

It's very popular. From one tweet there are now hundreds who have shared. I also set up a Facebook page for those not on Twitter. It's a small step, but one that we can all take quite easily. I'm looking forward to reliving my childhood memories of tinned fruit and ice cream. I'm not sure if I'll have peaches, pears, two fruits, plums or fruit salad. Perhaps I'll buy them all and see what tickles my fancy.

I hope you'll join in. Our farming regions and all the people whose jobs rely on it need us to offer this sweet bit of support. What will you be eating on SPC Sunday?

fill in the blanks

image: Jonathan Adler for Paperless Post

I do not care for blank spaces. In my ideal room, wherever eyes should alight, they should receive delight. So imagine my surprise when I realised that there is a wall in my kitchen that is blank. BLANK. It's not a wall you'd normally notice, which hopefully it explains why it's escaped my concern. In fact, it did have some rather lovely pics on it that migrated to my study when I redecorated. But now I have noticed that it's nude, and it's disturbing me.

I must rectify.

Don't you think I need a wall of travel pics interspersed with lovely text like the one above?

Onto it.

French word of the day: cuisine: kitchen.

meal planning monday

Well, I have a really odd schedule to plan for this week. It's the first full-week back at school, I have to attend two night's worth of netball grading (hold me) and my husband's going down to Thredbo on a cycling trip from Wednesday to Sunday.

Hmmmmm.

So this week is likely to change a fair bit - but we'll start with this shall we?

Monday: grilled chicken breasts on the bbq. I'll marinate them in olive oil, lemon zest and thyme before going to netball grading at 5, then they'll be ready to whack on the grill at 6:30. I'll prepare a couple of salads too.

Tuesday: husband's last night here, he'll want steak and salad, so that is what we shall have.

Wednesday: just me and my gal. I think I'll do a green chicken curry earlier in the day and serve it up when I come home from grading. With steamed rice and wilted greens (I do like to serve my greens separately to the curry, makes for prettier colours).

Thursday: hubby hates couscous, but my gal does like it. I'll serve a couscous salad tonight - with lamb backstrap, roasted vegies and chickpeas.

Friday: my gal and I can go out to dinner!

Saturday: mexican sounds like a good option to me. Grilled chicken burritos perhaps?

Sunday: husband home (I think). So I'll make a roast beef dinner tonight to celebrate.

Whew. You?

French word of the Day: imparfait - imperfect {I do like things that are imperfect, don't you?}

image: from housetohome.co.uk

so sweet

Oh hai, here I am, raving about my city and how awesome it is again. I don't mean to - it just keeps leaping up into my face being fabulous all the time.

For example, look at this. This is the back courtyard at the Bank Corner café. How gloriously
European and fabulous is it? For a start it's in one of my favourite buildings in Newcastle - a gorgeous corner building that makes me sigh with delight every time I see it. The café itself is also an Art Deco delight. And now there's this - a courtyard that makes me feel like I'm in New York, or Berlin, or
hey, Newcastle!

Speaking of sweet, Hello Naomi is the newest kid on the cupcake block. Residing in my favourite stretch of King Street, a plane-tree lined series of cute terraces right near the Tower Cinemas Hello Naomi serves up the sweetest series of cupcakes and cookies with damned delicious coffee in the cutest little space.

I am a BIG One Penny Black fan. These guys were one of the first to recognise the potential of Newcastle Mall after Renew Newcastle came in and started populating empty storefronts with awesome. After a few years in their little corner space, they've moved down the mall and into a much bigger space that's still not big enough to cater to the crowds who come for the delicious coffee and tasty treats. See this? It's avocado on sourdough, a classic, but oh, with such a twist.

My meal came with a fresh beetroot relish and feta. YUMARAMA! And the great tastes didn't stop there, oh no. It was the little things, such as the drizzle of chilli oil, and sprinklings of herbs, seeds and other yummy additions that made this such a tasty treat.

Tea?

Now, I'm a coffee drinker, and I don't drink nearly enough tea, but that's probably because I don't hang out often enough in cool tea houses like Madame Mo's. Located on Maitland Road, Islington this is THE spot for a pot of tea to wash down your dumplings.

Oh yes, I said dumplings.

For my tea I chose Fairy Tale - for the name alone. But the flavour was something else. Green tea, rose and marigold make for a magnificently-scented tea - and a surprisingly light, refreshing brew.

Delish.

Now, I have waxed lyrical about Alice from Baked Uprising for yonks. The things that this woman does with a cake/tart/sweet defy belief. But, just when I thought she couldn't excel herself any more she did. She and her partner Christo have opened Uprising in Maryville.

Oh my.

Now the fabulous sweets are accompanied by bread that dances on your tastebuds - they do the rhumba, the samba, a bit of dance and some classical ballet. Not since Paris have I swooned so hard at a loaf. The crispy crust, the fluffy insides, oh yeah baby. On a weekend morning the line stretches out the door almost to the street, and it's so worth the wait.

My aim is to cycle over so I can justify all the goodies I'll have to stuff myself with. Choosing is ridiculously difficult, everything looks so amazing, and tastes even better.

Newcastle - I love you. And all the awesome people who conspire to keep me eating well.

fabulous friday

Oh my goodness, it's a really lovely day today. Fresh air, blue sky and it's FRIDAY! I've also realised that I've developed quite the fetish for the colour green on these chairs - I need to paint something this weekend in this colour. Or blue. I'm looking at my dining chairs actually.

Yes?

Yes.

So, plans for the weekend - do you have them? We're pretty free so far, but I'm sure it'll fill up. There will be swimming. And cycling. And visits to the markets. You?

French word of the day: béatude - bliss

image: MarthaStewartWeddings

meal planning monday

Sorry this is late - it's a public holiday here today and I've been chilling out with my gal, swimming, lolling etc while hubby's been on a loooooooooon bikeride.

But we're now getting back into the swing of things for the new school year - my gal goes back to school on Thursday {and cannot wait!}. Here's what we're eating {at my gal's request}:

Monday: I have some chicken sausages from Aussie Farmers Direct, and I'm planning on cutting them in thirds and roasting them with potatoes, sweet potatoes, capsicum, zucchini and corn cobs. YUM!

Tuesday: homemade pizza.

Wednesday: Mexican fiesta as a back-to-school feast.

Thursday: chicken kebabs and salad.

Friday: duck confit to celebrate the end of school week!

Saturday: salmon on the bbq with salads.

Sunday: roast beef on the bbq with warm potato salad and greens.

Plus we'll be doing lots of back-to-school goods - banana muffins for breakfasts on the go, potato and chorizo pasties, bean salads and whatever else tickles my gal's fancy.

image from housetohome.co.uk

French Word of the Day: école - school!

bill henson - across time

It's very rare that a person is afforded the chance to meet an idol, let alone the opportunity to interview them in a room with their work. For me, that once-in-a-lifetime opportunity occurred with Bill Henson when he came to Newcastle to generously offer his time sharing his wisdom with an enraptured audience. I arrived early which gave me a chance to settle in to a back row seat while Henson spoke to over 150 high school students who'd come to listen to his lecture.

Lucky kids.

He was so generous. He obviously wanted to share his talent and his passion - calling regularly for questions and spending an extraordinary amount of time giving detailed, intelligent answers.

I hope most of them went home inspired. 

I know I did.

Newcastle Art Gallery is currently hosting Across Time, a collection of Henson's work stretching from around 1974 to the early 2000s. Breathtaking works from his Paris Opera Garnier series feature, as well as haunting landscapes with a saturation of colour that makes you sink deep into the frame, pondering what's in the richly-hued depths.

With a Bill Henson display there is one consistency - the walls. They're a special colour that Henson specifically mixed to showcase his work perfectly. It's a deep, dark, velvety brown. Rich, yet unobtrusive. On this background the works pop.

For an artist, it's rare that they have the chance to see their work in a collection once it leaves their hands. It's only when it's on display that they have the opportunity to explore it again, seen through a curator's eyes. I loved watching Bill Henson rediscovering his works in Newcastle, and discussing the cohesion of colour in all these works, as diverse as they are.

Henson says that darkness expands the suggestive potential of a photograph. "The palette is quite subdued in the Opera Garnier works - the light on the audience is the light that's reflected from the stage. And there's uplighting too - which we're not used to - they create an ethereal and unreal atmosphere. When they asked me to do that commission it was interesting as they told me it could be anything - I could design sets, photograph the building anything. But watching the audience gather together with a sense of anticipation, I found that fascinating."

These works are stunning - with a haunting quality that's beautiful and begs for closer inspection. Bill Henson has a very distinctive photographic style, it's considered more painterly than your typical photographs. I asked him how he came upon this style, and he said he didn't set out to develop one - everything's just determined by the individual picture.

He works in groups of photographs, considering each of them as they relate to the other - which is probably how this style is formed - we're seeing a world through his eyes.

That's a true artist, someone who doesn't work thinking about what an audience wants to see - but what he wants to show them. His final piece of advice to the students, and something that's still ringing in my ears, is: "Be true to yourself and don't stop working."

Seeing photographs like these hung in an exhibition is an experience that many deny themselves, "The funny thing about photography is it suffers more than any other artform in that if people think they've seen a reproduction somewhere they think they've seen it," said Henson. "But it's really important to have the experience of seeing the photographs in person - hung with so many others. Seeing an exhibition gives you so much scope for your imagination. Contemplation and deeper examination requires silence and a little bit of time."

Bill Henson: Across Time is on display at Newcastle Art Gallery until February 2 - don't miss it!

And what do you do when you meet an internationally-renowned photographer? You take a selfie with them and pop it on Instagram. Natch.

a place in paris

Well, in super-dooper exciting news we've booked our accommodation in Paris for a week! Yep, arriving on June 28 we get to spend a whole week in my fave city before driving way down south to The Lot for another week.

This time it's all about location. We really wanted to stay in The Marais, which is probably my favourite place in Paris {aside from Ille St Louis, which is teeny and only has limited accommodation}. We're staying with friends, the friends we regularly holiday with in the Southern Highlands, and we've found a glorious apartment with three bedrooms, two bathrooms, parquet floors, french doors with ironwork lace balconies and fireplaces. So pretty.

We're a mere 500 metres to Place des Vosges {pictured} a place I just adore. And then, in the other direction, 500 metres to Ille St Louis. Now plans just need to be made. On the essentials list:

• dinner at the Musee de Orsay
• a romantic dinner for hubby and I
• a day trip to the champagne region
• lots of shopping!
• climbing the Arc de Triomphe
• a guided tour of the Louvre with my friend G who's an Art Gallery Guide!

Squeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

French word of the Day: promettre - to promise.

my imaginary dinner party

For years I've been addicted to the TV show Come Dine With Me. Have you seen it? It's where a group of between four or five strangers each host a dinner party - and are scored in secret. It's been going for YEARS. It's a hugely successful franchise with versions from the UK, Canada and Australia. There are also celebrity versions (currently screening in Aus is our celebrity version, which I'm loving).

Anyways… ever since I started watching it I've been planning my imaginary menu - what I'd cook if I were ever on the show. Because it's been going on for years my menu's displayed a range of fashion trends - from lamb shanks to pork belly. But last night, just after going to bed, I think I've nailed it.

There's a fine line on the show. See, the people who talk themselves up as gourmets tend to be marked down for their arrogance. Similarly if your menu's too simple, or too healthy, you'll also lose points. Entertainment can be a cool way to notch up points, but it can also lose you points if you have a party pooper who hates dressing up in your midst.

You need three courses, some kind of cocktail on arrival - and then, ideally, after dinner entertainment. You need to have obviously spent a lot of time on the food - but don't spend too much time in the kitchen or you'll be accused of not tending to your guests.

Chances are they'll throw a curve ball your way: if you say on your entry form that you're a big meat lover, then a vegetarian will be included in your dinner guest list. You've got to be prepared, and unflustered. So here's my plan.

Ready?

A 1970s theme.

Who doesn't love the 70s? It'd be easy to pick up some 70s style plates from an op shop or on eBay (not like my floral ones above - they'd be ideal for my Marie Antoinette dinner party!). Guests would have to frock up and wear 70s style clothing to get into the mood, obviously. And the food?

Okay, here's the menu:

Canapes - retro cheese cubes, cabanosi and red and green pickled onions on sticks with tequila sunrise cocktails.

Entree - prawn and avocado cocktails served in martini glasses.

Main - beef bourguignon with mash and greens (fancy French foods were big in the 70s) mushroom stroganoff if I get a vegetarian.

Dessert - creme de mente pie - this is a grasshopper pie with a chocolate biscuit bases and a fluffy green inside made with creme de mente.

For drinks I'd decant decent wine into Ben Ean Moselle or Mateus Rosé bottles. And have a punch bowl on the table too.

Afterwards - disco dancing! Yep, I'd get an instructor in, fire up a mirror ball and have everyone busting a move like John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever. Televisual gold and great fun!

And there you go. That's a good, solid 8 - 10/10 night there.

What would YOU do?

meal planning monday

Oh, I've been such a slack blogger. But last week I had an excuse, I was feeling poorly and could do no more than lay on the couch. And moan. But now I'm back baby and ready to leap into a new week - and back with the daily blogs and daily French Word of the Day. Now, here's what we're eating - healthy stuff!

Monday: green chicken curry with lots of green veg and sticky rice.

Tuesday: steak with beetroot, persian feta and walnut salad - and a green salad.

Wednesday: garlic prawns with a mango salad.

Thursday: cold meatloaf with salad (I love cold meatloaf even more than I love hot meatloaf, so I'll whip one up earlier and put it in the fridge to chill).

Friday: salmon patties with salad.

Saturday: I cannot believe that I don't have anything on tonight - after two weekends in a row in Sydney this is a very good thing. I might make chicken with 40 cloves of garlic tonight.

Sunday: bbq lamb, with chickpea and roasted capsicum salad and green salad.

French word of the day: s'imaginer - to imagine oneself.

image from housetohome.co.uk

meal planning monday

Forget sliders, Jaffles are the new kids on the food block. This sweet modified Kombi was serving Jaffles at the Sydney Festival on the weekend - cuteness! I was too Starvin' Marvin for just a jaffle, a burger was needed after a long day of public transport - but let me assure you that Jaffles will be added to my meal plans - with a wee side salad!

Another busy week in this neck of the woods. Here's what's on the menu:

Tonight: my gal's off to spend the night with her cousins, so it's just hubby and me. Steak on the bbq and salad will do it.

Tuesday: I'm off to see a French film, A Woman In Paris with my friend C, so an early dinner of bbq pork and lemongrass kebabs is called for. Served with udon noodle and veg salad.

Wednesday: my gal's keen to try Sloppy Joes - so who am I to deny her?

Thursday: bbq chicken with a shredded salad.

Friday: salmon on the bbq - with lemon potato salad.

Saturday: I'm off to Sydney again, to see one of my fave authors - David Sedaris. YAY! Opera Bar for dinner I'd imagine.

Sunday: home again. Sunday night Jaffles?

oh i do like to be beside the seaside

And we're back.

How cute is this almost identical pic to the one I took on our last holiday to Manly. Amazingly, we stayed in the apartment block right next door to the one we stayed in last time so I could replicate the image quite easily. How much the girls have grown! {see my last blog post}.

Manly was gorgeous. We had such a lovely, relaxing holiday - with lots of long strolls along this lovely beach. One of the things that struck me about the Northern Beaches were the fabulously painted surf clubs. They're all in lovely seaside colours that just sing of their heritage and make a fabulous pop of colour in photos. Sadly, all the Newcastle surf clubs have recently been painted - in beige. Blah. Beige doesn't belong at the seaside.

Manly council has also installed filtered water stations so you can sip from a bubbler or fill a water bottle with lovely fresh, cool, filtered water. What a fabulous initiative. Great for tourists and all the locals who walk, run, cycle, skate or scoot along the promenade.

The Sydney Festival is in residence, so we had to peek. We took a ferry to Circular Quay and had a fabulous lunch at Opera Bar. Love this installation of Summer Backyard themes! So cute.

The girls had the best time ever, with loads of twilight walks and cartwheels on the beach. Thanks Manly, you were ace. We'll be coming back.

a wee beachside break

So, you may have noticed that yesterday's blog post was NOT about meal-planning. And I'll tell you why - it's because today we're headed off for a short holiday with the English rellos.

In 2007 we spent a few days with them in Manly {see pic above} and it was just lovely. So we thought we'd best do it again. I love this shot of the three gals, we'll have to recreate it now they're all so much taller!

We've managed to do plenty of touristy things in Newy while they've been here, so it's a good chance to get away from it all and explore some place a little different. There will be swimming, there will be dining out, and there will be a ferry ride to the mainland.

Hurrah!

Oh I do like to be beside the seaside.

French word{s} of the Day: en bord de mer {on bord d mayr} seaside.

girls just wanna have fun

I'm having a very girly night out tonight. One of my friends, who's been living in Canada for, like, EVER is back in Oz. Hurrah. So while she's here we're catching up for drinkies at a lovely bar.

Time for a little fabulous frocking up I'd say…

French Word of the Day: robe - frock!

PS: isn't this image divine? It's from a Calleija Jewellers promotion for pink diamonds. I need pink diamonds. And that frock. And that table setting...

summery sunday

If there's a flower that reminds me of summer it's petunias. While Frangipani are the obvious symbol, I remember my nana digging up the pansy beds and replacing them with petunias, so, for me, it's petunias all the way.

These purple pretties are currently providing a pop of colour on my back veranda and making me smile every time I walk out the back door.

What is your summer flower?

French word of the Day: floraison - flowering.

hello beautiful

While planning this year's trip OS, I'm also revisiting our holiday from 2006 - and swooning over some of the beautiful sights we saw. This was my favourite fairytale castle - Chateau d'Azay-le-Rideau - isn't it dreamy?

We've decided that after our week in Paris, we're going to drive down to our second French destination in The Lot. That way we can hopefully veer off and take in a few sights en-route.

I do love making dreams a reality.

French Word of the Day: Réve - dream.

holiday. celebrate.

Are you a quick unpacker? Or, when you come back from hols, does your bag sit sulking in a corner for a few days {weeks…}. I used to be the latter, now I'm the former. I love delineating that was now, this is then by the simple act of unpacking.

It's the same when we have people come to stay. We had the English rellos here for a couple of days, and boy, was it fun. There was much swimming in many locations {pool, Bogey Hole, ocean baths}, feasting {again, in many locations, Nobby's Beach, harbourside, back verandah, in the pavilion by the pool, the Beach Hotel…} And so much fun had  - the main one seemed to involve a sheet fort that took up 1/3 of our living room!

By the time our rellos had turned the corner from our street I'd stripped two of their three beds and gathered up beach and bath towels to wash. One hour later the fort was dismantled and back in the linen closet, loads of washing were chugging away and the house was back to normal.

Time for the next adventure {or aventure as they'd say in France!}.

French Word of the Day: lavage - wash!

whip it good

My gal requested a Blue Velvet cake for her birthday on Monday. It's like a Red Velvet cake, but with blue food colouring instead of the red. I used Nigella's recipe for Red Velvet, and, oh my, it was as delicious as you'd expect. Here it is {complete with wee French sugar teddy bears!}.

And here's the interior. It's more green than blue because of the cocoa, but nobody cared. It was delicious! One thing I discovered was this. I googled a recipe for Buttercream Frosting, which suggested whipping the butter on its own, for around three minutes, until it's white and fluffy. THEN you add the icing sugar a little at a time. Hello - revelation! This is the best icing I've ever made. Normally the icing sugar doesn't integrate very well, and the mix often splits before it's dissolved. This was light, fluffy and delicious {and very blue!}. Happy days.

We had three very content gals; the 14-year-old and her two cousins.

French Word of the Day: glaçage {gla sahj} - icing!

happy new year

Happy new year lovelies! This is where we spend a big chunk of New Years Eve {day} - having an adventure in the Bogey Hole. This fabulous ocean pool was carved out of rocks by convicts many, many, many years ago and is Newcastle's most wonderful swimming spot. Waves were crashing over the edge - but we decided to brave it and oh, how glad we were.

Afterwards, we went here.

To Nobby's. For lunch.

I know, hideously ugly isn't it?

Then we made our way to the foreshore for a lovely relaxing picnic, followed by fireworks before coming home to champagne and more fireworks on the telly.

This is the life.

Now, onto my 52 new things - both these shots were taken with my new baby - my Nikon digital SLR - I am in love. Secondly, here's my
French Word of the Day: Aventure - adventure. Shouldn't we treat our lives as an adventure? Let's!

Happy 2014 everyone x