Thursday, May 23, 2013

Ignorance is NOT bliss...


Yotam Ottolenghi. Heard of him? Of course you have.
Confession time:
I'm a vegetarian - the lax kind that indulges in seafood.
Have been for over two decades.
Yet....
I had not heard of this vegetable genius until just recently.
(two months ago to be precise)

His famous cookbook Plenty sounded & looked familiar but all else was, as they say, 
news to me.

Wowsers!!
We are now the proud owners of both Plenty and his new release - Jerusalem.
Stunning with a capital S. 
S for sexy food, sexy photos and very very sexy flavours.

I'm making Daal .... 


...... I'm dry roasting veggies, 
I'm mixing up spice concoctions....


I'm INSPIRED.

If you love food peoples - and I know you do - then this one is a must.
What the man suggests possible with Beetroot alone will have you rethinking these
pink (tinned & brutalised) babies.

****

On another note - but still drooling over food.

(Yes it was once a working stable)


Funky setting, decor, feel, vibe? Check✓
Reasonably priced? Check✓
Vegetarian options? Check✓

I had the ...
Warm salad of Beetroot, Farro, Goats Curd and Candied Walnuts
Hubby had the ...
Salad of Roasted Cauliflower, Pearl Barley, Poached Quince and Dukkah
We shared a bowl of Eggplant Chips w/ Toasted Cumin salt (evil!) 

I'll give my final verdict when I sit down to a two/three course meal on a busy evening.
For now though I see real promise! 




Well people I'm off to Indonesia on Saturday morning.
I will try to cope with delicious food, massages, beaches, art and culture.
I will try.

It's only for a week (only she says sheepishly - she's truly VERY grateful)
Young Prince has never been, so we are excited to share this with him.
I have thought about all the photo opportunities and I'm pretty sure I'll have to force myself to 
just stop clicking and simply "be in the now"...

I have trouble with that sometimes (very often) so I'm going to set myself the limit 
of only one image per day. So 8 images that sum up my quick jaunt to Tropics.

Can I do it?
Hmmmmmm.....

Have a great week peoples.
A safe, special, cosy (southern hemisphere) bright (northern hemisphere) happy, loving, interesting and truly relaxing weekend won't you? 

♥♥♥










Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Everything is going to be ok...


Trying to remember that things always work out. Whether you enjoy the ride or not you're here and that's life. It's not a question of when. When is now.

Trying to remember that time is a construct. You cannot run out of it. Just construct some more.

Trying to remember that my daily gratitude journal is one of the most transformative acts I've ever undertaken - so putting it in a drawer to gather dust makes no sense.

Trying to remember that my dark days are like sun-filled vacations compared to some of the suffering that's happening globally. Right now.

Trying to remember that all the things I've ever asked for I HAVE RECEIVED. Sometimes they were disguised, camouflaged or incognito - but looking back they were still what I needed.

Trying to remember that blogging is privilege .... when people read what I share it's a miracle to me.


Thank you. 


Wednesday, May 15, 2013

The things that happen when your'e busy doing things....


Have you noticed that when you have your head up your bum trying to get important things done you often miss a whole lotta cool action going down? Yeah? Or is that just me? 


I look up from one of my missions only to find that the stuff *out there is waaaay
better than the stuff *in here ...


... so I looked up and I found that it had rained...


... a LOT....




...which made my chickens VERY happy....

... and possibly a wee bit crazy ....



... and my willow sprouted roots ....


... and I had a visitor greet me whilst cleaning my porch...

... and new fruits came into season... delicious fruits.

So I'm glad I looked up

What about you? Have you been really busy lately? Have you had crazy deadlines to meet? Are you looking forward to hanging out with your sister whilst your Hubby and Son trek down south on a male bonding expedition? Are you anticipating a weekend of lazing around in your pyjamas, eating chocolate, drinking tea and watching loads of period dramas with the pooch on your lap? 

Or is that just me?

* in here being my head  - where I get stuck when I'm pushing deadlines and scratching to-do lists
** out there being the wonderful wide world of living breathing fun


I read this the other day and just had to share it.

****

Have an awe-filled day peoples.....
(and look up!) 




Thursday, May 9, 2013

Good times....

Warning...

Gratuitous shots of adults at a birthday party. A dress up party. No theme. Just silliness....




































It was Hubby's birthday and as you can see there was silliness aplenty!
We were overwhelmed by every one's enthusiasm and there were even prizes. For the most unique  - our resident assassin with a briefcase full of murder! Our basketballer took best costume (sheer effort!  - although Papa Smurf made his own cap so it was a VERY close tie) and our french maid (aka my brother in drag) took worst - a title he was proud of!

Lucky I was a judge - just between you and me I thought my Mrs Havisham deserved a prize.

We finished off the weekend with our first visit to Jaimie's Italian. Amazeballs. My favourite was the Truffle Risotto and Hubby could not get over the Sour Cherry Bakewell. Young Prince devoured all three courses (as teenagers do) declaring it one of the best meals he's ever had.
If you're a *Perthon then I highly recommend a visit.

All in all a winning weekend.

What about you peoples? How was your weekend? Get up to much? Come to think of it we are fast approaching another weekend! Mothers Day weekend at that. Hmmm ... maybe a I can try and wrangle another meal at Jaimie's ... oooh yeah.

* A person who lives in Perth