Dose of Doctor Who!

Christmas usually brings the Doctor Who Box Set, and this year was no exception. Thank you Mum and Dad!


I was doubly excited last week when I saw an advert for the Doctor Who Christmas Special, to be broadcast on Boxing Day! Usually we have to wait a few months to get it here - they must post the film over on a slow cruise ship or something - but this year they managed to post it before the snows closed the airports.

You can guess what I was watching last Sunday night. Did anyone else catch it? What did you think?

I am going to try to ration myself on the box set, and make it last as long as possible. I am not sure though if I can manage. Whee!

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What the duck?

Today I caught up with my friend J, who is on a whirlwind trip back to Australia with her husband and their new baby daughter! It was lovely to see her, and meet her gorgeous girl, as well as catch up with a good chunk of J's family too.

J brought with her a gift for her niece LittleA. LittleA's mother K is a mad Star Wars fan and the duckies that were gifted were very cute and so apt! The names of the little duckies were Pondtrooper, Duck Fadar, Princess Layer and Luke Pondwater. Oh how cute.

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Pretty pottery

My sister E is always two steps ahead of the crowd, and her wedding gift to us was no execption. No, we didn't get the whole menagerie pictured, just one of these lovely Sharon Muir planters, complete with its own saucer! Actually ours might be a herb pot, as it has holes in the bottom. Our mother tried to suggest that it could be used as a salad bowl, however dad and I really couldn't see the practicality of that.

E actually did buy us a gift off our registry as well, just in case we didn't like the planter. Bless.

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MERRY CHRISTMAS

I hope that you have an excellently awesome Christmas!!

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BUILD: Making a home

It has taken us a year, but finally work on our new house has started! The process has been long and drawn out, but the boys are finally on site and have started work on the foundations and slab.

The photo you see is our block of land before work began. It is pretty bleak! However hopefully soon we will have a new home.

The block is much steeper than we realised when we bought it. This did not deter us however it has meant that there is some mad earthworks to be done in order to build the house.

I am planning to post progress photos and updates as we go, so stay tuned!

Crab season!

It is crab season again! The boys went out last Friday in search of the creatures. Pickings were slim - they only found six crabs that were sized - and for some reason we ended up with all of them. I was not complaining!

Even though they were not overly large, the crab meat was sweet. When I eat seafood I try to pick as much out fromt he crab as I can - no wastage. My sister E gave me a handy set of tools, they never saw any use until I met C. Now I have found many uses for them!!



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WWotW: Column

The word colum struck my notice this week. It was part of a document template at work, and if they had only used it once I might have let it pass without comment. Twice though on the same document indicates misspelling rather than mistyping.

Otherwise whoever wrote the template was actually talking about a person.

Column noun any vertical block of words or numbers =

Christmas cards

It feels like Christmas has crept up on us this year. Do you send Christmas cards? For years I felt guilt for receiving cards from friends and not sending any in return. A couple of years ago I got myself organised, wrote a list of friends and their addresses and by the first week of December I had posted out forty cards or so.

The following year it was even easier as I already had my list!

This year however I feel very disorganised, at least as far as Christmas is concerned. We have only just (nearly!) finished writing thank you cards for our wedding, and suddenly Christmas is in three days time!

I have started. I have sent cards to our overseas famly and friends, and I will slowly go through my Christmas card list. Some may not receive theirs until after Christmas, but I figured that it is the thought that counts!

My list will be somewhat expanded as well, as I will endeavour to send a Christmas card to all of the family and friends who shared our wedding celebrations with us, in one way or another!

The cards that I buy every year are from the Oxfam Shop, so I am supporting my favourite charity as well as the ideal of Fair Trade. The cards are printed on recycled paper, using soy based inks and the process is chlorine free.

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Fruit mince pies!

I love fruit mince pies. They are one of the things about Christmas that I look forward to every year! Last year I attempted my first ever home made fruit mince pies and I enjoyed them so much that I wanted to share them with my friends!

Two weeks out from Christmas though and most people already have plans. Still, I managed to scrounge up four friends and we enjoyed an afternoon of fruit mince pies, apple custard glen, white christmas and vanilla slice!

I was excited too that I was able to pull out some of my pretty china. Clockwise from the bottom left corner are Royal Albert Moonlight Roses, Royal Albert 100 Years 1900s Regency Blue, Royal Albert Silver Maple (vintage), and Duchess (vintage). The two vintage sets were Kitchen Tea gifts from my friend L and my sister E. Yay!

I was also able to use our new Noritake Toorak Noir teapot, sugar bowl and creamer. So very excited to use our pretty crockery.

Recipe, tips 1 and tips 2.

Market days

It has been a few weeks ago now since E and I checked out the Christmas markets on offer. I was late meeting her for the Subi market - our original plan was for me to go to her house around 4.30pm and then we would walk down for the start of the festival at 5pm. Our plans were thrown out of the window as C and I needed to meet a man about a retaining wall for our new house. These things happen and eventually he dropped me in Subi at 7pm to catch up with my sister.

We popped into Mr Sparrow, a shop with an eclectic mix of old and new and all things beautiful. It was then onto the Subi Festival and Subi Upmarket for a power shop! There were many beautiful items but I had no excuse to buy many of them so I was in admiration mode. See here for my purchases.

We tried to find a restaurant to eat dinner at, unfortunately for us they were all packed due to the festival and so we ended up heading away from the crowds and into town to eat! It ended up being our first of three Chinese meals in the space of a week. Not that I was counting.

The Sunday afterwards E and I went to Fremantle to check out the Bazaar at Fremantle Arts Centre. It was a fairly mellow event, with a mix of familiar and new stalls! The flavour was definitely Fremantle. We also browsed through the Home Open exhibit. It features selections from the private collections of a range of Fremantle artists, and the display was fascinating. I definitely recommend a look if you're down that way.

We topped off our day with a visit to the new B&M Store, where they stock a delightful range of all things felt and beautiful objects. They are another reason now to visit that part of High Street Fremantle.

Sleeping well while camping

Chad and I are off camping in the new year for a few days. Last time that we both went we borrowed his parent's camp bed. This year he wanted our very own!

Here 'tis. It looks much more comfortable than a mattress on the ground, and comes complete with a valance to make it look more homely. There is a bedhead too so that our pillows do not fall off the end!

To be honest I always thought that camping was about doing it rough, but apparently it is all about the comforts away from home. We have two car fridges to take with us (40L and 60L) and will be running one as a freezer and one as a fridge. Last time we went one couple even brought their deep fryer. I thought that was taking it a bit too far...

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This picture is my wallpaper at work...

This week I went back to work after taking time off for our wedding and honeymoon. Everyone was interested to hear how the day had gone and whether or not we had a good time in Bali!

I changed the wallpaper on my computer to a wedding shot. It seemed the appropriate thing to do. Usually my wallpaper is a scenery shot that I have taken on my travels, to remind me that once in a while I get to leave Perth.

I quite like this shot, even if the boys at work said that it was taken in the "boob garden", due to the naked nymphs in the fountain that you can just see in the background.

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New Edition

E and I attended the launch party - "an evening of fun and frivolity" - for the New Edition Bookshop on William Street in Northbridge.

I have been a fan of New Edition in Fremantle for a while, ever since I wandered in one day and saw the prominence that they placed on Booker Prize nominated books and all things literary. This was while they were still on the main drag (Market Street).

My sister E, usually sharp on all of the trendy stores in town, initially believed that it was a religious bookstore (due to the name!) but has since revised her assessment.

Never judge a book by its cover!

They really know how to put on a party, with the wine free flowing, yummy nibbly things and live entertainment.

We were both keen to buy a book but the press of the crowd was too much. I like to browse well before I make up my mind on what to buy, so we will definitely be back later when there are less people and more room to move!

We also wandered past the newly opened Fox Hunt and tu. C was with us by this stage so we saved those stores for another occasion.

Go Gorillaz!

E and I went to the Gorillaz concert last night at the Burswood Dome. It was AWESOME!! The concert itself was such good fun, the music flowed for a couple of hours and there were some awesome special guests.

I was curious to see how they handled the fact that the Gorillaz are cartoon characters, and it seems that a massive screen and huge band were the way that they coped! We were treated to Little Dragon and De La Soul as the support acts, and both acts made it back on stage during the Gorillaz to join in the fun! De La Soul in fact are part of the Gorillaz performance group and it was awesome to see songs being performed live!

Damon Albarn, the main voice behind Gorillaz, was in fine form and he bounced his way around the stage and tried to get the crowd enthused. At one point he commented on our "weird" venue - I cannot remember his exact words - but what he said rang true! Getting into the Burswood Dome is fairly straightforward but exiting through the airlocks is a pain in the rear, as the crowds bank up behind the revolving door bottle neck.

It was such good fun and E and I were buzzing as we made our way home! I half joked that we should fly to Adelaide tomorrow for their next concert. Woo!

Locked out

I managed to imitate my sister today and lock myself out of the house!

I grabbed my keys and pulled the door shut... then realised that the one key that I needed to unlock all of the doors was still inside the house! I had taken it off my keyring this morning to take with me to the gym (rather than lugging the 7 keys plus torch that I usually carry), and hadn't managed to put it back on my keyring.

Thank you to my father who kindly drove over to let me back in!!

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To market!

E and I are off to the Subi Street Festival including the Subi Upmarket tomorrow night. It should be a blast! We went last year and I ended up buying three pairs of shoes. Hmm... anyway we will have our eyes open for Christmas gifts! I have not been thinking too hard about what to buy people but with less than four weeks to go I shall have to get my thinking skates on!

On Sunday we are planning to head to Fremantle to check out the new B&M Store and I think that a visit to the Bazaar at Fremantle Arts Centre will also be on the cards!

Almost forgot - I must put up our Christmas tree! Tradition has it being put up up on the 1st December, do you think that anything bad will happen to me if I defer it until tomorrow morning?

WWotW: Marriage

I thought that today's word was topical on a few fronts, given our recent wedding (yay!), the current debate here in Australia about same-sex marriage and the recently announced royal nuptials.

I find it interesting that the dictionary definition specifies a woman and a man, part of the wording being debated with respect to same-sex marriage.

Marriage noun a legally accepted relationship between a woman and a man in which they live as husband and wife, or the official ceremony which results in this =

Domesticity

We bought a new iron today. Yay! I have been using a second hand one that I acquired about seven years ago, along with a clunky ironing board.

My sister described the ironing board as "hardcore". I would describe it as "heavy" and "every time I pull it out it marks the wall".

So, a new iron has to call for a new, lighter, and non-marking ironing board, right?

Or at least a new ironing board cover.

Dandi have some lovely covers, they are very tempting but I will resist until I have a new ironing board!

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Getting back on the track

I like to exercise but I struggle to keep the momentum going on regular* sessions. When we got back from our honeymoon on the weekend I had not done anything for two weeks, and was feeling flabby and unfit. I have managed to motive myself to run on the last two days.

On Monday I felt slow and unfit and it was a struggle to finish 23 minutes! Yesterday I fared better. I ran my summer circuit in a reasonable time of 35 minutes and my foot feels fine so it is all good!

We have been threatened with hockey preseason timetables so I am expecting the mad exercise to begin in earnest again soon.

* By regular I mean maybe five times a week. I can usually manage once or twice a week but that is not enough!

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Wedded bliss

We have been a bit busy on the home front recently, with franctic organisation leading up to our wedding! We were married on the Swan River Foreshore and had an awesome lunch reception, followed by a party at our local pub and honeymoon in Bali. What larks!

We are now in the closeout stage of wedding shenanigans with thank yous and photos and christening of wedding gifts still to sort out, and life should slowly get back to more normal proportions!

Although... Christmas is coming so maybe it will just get even madder.

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Green tea cupcakes

The large quantity of tea that I received as kitchen tea gifts has inspired me to make green tea cupcakes. The link is somewhat obscure, but I got there in the end.



I started looking for some inspiration. Recipes are not that common so here are the top three for later use and experimentation.

• Not Quite Nigella


• Betty's Bites


• Daydream Delicious

Abalone love!

The abalone season here in Perth runs for one hour on a Sunday morning over five weeks. Yep, there is limited opportunity to bag your catch. In previous years it has been a six week season - this year it has been reduced to five due to an increased number of licences.

For various reasons (wedding, honeymoon, work) the first weekend of the season is the only one that C will be home and able to fish for the abolone; he made sure to go out and get his quota. Yum! I have never been as spoilt as I am with C, he makes sure to keep me happy with fresh fish and seafood.

Pretty flower

My knowledge of botany is limited, so I do not know what this flower is. That does not stop me from enjoying it. This speciman is in my front courtyard and I admired it on the way to work one morning. I see it around the area, many people also must admire its beauty!

WWotW: Procrastinate

Procrastinate verb to keep delaying something that must be done, often because it is unpleasant or boring =

Ricotta and coconut flatcakes with banana and honey

Yum! For breakfast this morning I felt like ricotta flatcakes. I knew that I had a recipe somewhere and dug it up! The original recipe served four so I thought that I would halve it and keep any leftovers for snacks during the week.

It was not too difficult to do - except that I forgot to halve the milk and only realised while I was halfway through pouring it into the dry ingredients. What a dopey girl I am! I bulked the batter back out again with additional dry ingredients and they still tasted great.

I served mine up with some ricotta, banana slices and a drizzle of lovely White Gum honey.

I have nine leftovers now, and they should make a great morning tea snack during the week at work with some cream cheese or even ricotta.

Recipe here.

Updating Austen

I love this take on the modern email Inbox of Miss Elizabeth Bennet. I am guessing that it is set after Elizabeth's trip to Huntsford to see the Collins' but before she has set off for Lambton to check out Pemberley.

I wonder what Emma would have had in her Inbox...
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A slice of France

For weeks before Jean Pierre Sancho opened its doors, I would walk past and wonder at what tasty treats we would soon be able to eat! Since it opened, I have never quite organised myself to try those treats, until this weekend.

I have a few friends who love their food, and K is at the top of the list. Selecting a suitable venue for food is always fun! We get to try new places and sample different foods. It had been an aeon since we had properly caught up and after changing our minds about breakfast, lunch and afternoon tea, we settled on afternoon tea at JPS.

There was a bit of miscommunication about our meeting time but thankfully I brought a book and had something to do to keep me occupied. There was only so long that I could wait however without ordering food so I started without K.

The food was delicate and tasty and I will definitely have to brave the crowds for a workday lunch!

The view while I waited...

I was ravenous and ordered myself salmon and spinach quiche. Yum! The quiche was lovely with flakes of salmon and the pastry light. It was larger than I had expected and the salad was a welcome touch.

Still hungry, so had the most gorgeous coffee eclair and a hot chocolate. The chocolat chaud was served European style, at a temperature to drink immediately rather than having to wait for it to cool down.

K also ordered a slice of quiche and coffee eclair. Great minds think alike... although she did mention that quiche is BabyA's choice...

BabyA picking up the sultanas that she had thoughtfully decorated the floor with.

WWotW: Pronunciation

One word that is often mispronounced is "pronunciation".

The word pronouce has "ou", and pronunciation has only a "u". Therein lies the confusion!

Pronunciation noun how words are pronounced =

Even Google knows the correct spelling. When I typed in "pronounciation" its response to the search request was:
Showing results for pronunciation. Search instead for pronounciation

19 slice pudding

My uni mate T is not often in Perth. He has been working overseas now for nearly four years and so when he comes back the uni crew have reason to celebrate! This time around was a fairly low key affair and he dusted off his culinary skills to impress us.

Impressed we were, first by a smooth and creamy chocolate mousse and then by his truly unique apple and currant bread and butter pudding. T was not content to follow the recipe in its recommended quantities. Six slices of bread was not generous enough! So nineteen slices later we had a pudding. Luckily he had bought two loaves of bread, otherwise he could have been in strife during the construction process.

You can see T proudly displaying his pudding. M is pointing out the fact that T bought THE WRONG BRAND OF CUSTARD!! Our friend P who also enjoyed mousse and pudding is employed by one of their rivals, and we really must support his employment.

Oh no! Not a puncture...

This morning I was all geared up to ride to work. As I made my way down the driveway I heard a noise. It sounded like paper was hitting my spokes. I looked behind me. I looked around. I looked down, and realised that my tyre was pancake status.

Oh dear. So back inside my bike and I went, and a quick change of outfit - no sexy lycra for the bus passengers - and I was out the door again on my trusty feet.

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Quiz for a cause

On Saturday evening we caught up with some friends for a quiz! The money raised all went to a good cause, the Breast Cancer Network Australia. This group provides support for those affected by breast cancer and much more.

Back to the quiz. There were questions, and lots of pink, and cupcakes for sale and all things good! We were not a standout, coming in the middle of the pack - back to studying for us! - but a good night was had by all and it was great to catch up with friends for a bit of a laugh.

Thank you P for organising the table and let us know when the quiz rocks around next year. I promise to study up on my trashy teen and reality TV in preparation for the quiz.

Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow

There is a pretty tree in my front courtyard. The scent is sweet and the flowers change from purple to white! It is lovely to be welcomed home during the spring.

I was told that the common name for this plant is Yesterday-Today-Tomorrow. The fact sheet tells me that it is a shrub, although mine is shaped like a tree with a thin trunk!

Three Red Letters

I was intrigued to see these gaily decorated letters in the foyer at work. On closer inspection I realised that they were works of art, decorated by some of Australia's designers. They were done for the Australian Red Cross to raise awareness for blood donations and blood types. For more information and to see more letters, click here.

Wayne Cooper and Akira Isogawa

Bettina Liano

Ken Done

Girls Night In 2010

Last weekend saw our Girls Night In for 2010! The girls were trying to remember how long I have been doing it for, I think we have had five so far. The first one I am sure was a cheese night but the afternoon tea just seems a lot easier especially since a lot of my friends have children and I think that it is easier for them to drop in and eat cake!

In a contrast to last year, Sunday dawned as wet and windy. (Last year was very sunny and we had to keep moving the cakes on the table as the sunshine was melting the icing!)

Thank you to everyone who came and ate and also those who could not make it and donated. Our total raised for the Cancer Council so far is $545 with a couple of donations still to be received.

Mum pulled out lots of random pink sheets to adorn the tables, and one of her friends dropped around some lovely pink flowers to brighten up our tables.

This year there were seventeen of us to eat the yummy goodies! There were a few friends who baked for the occasion and we had the best spread ever this year.

Tasty treats included a P's pink pavlova, N's red velvet cake, Mum's spinach and ricotta rolls, M+S+M's mum's carrot cake, M's lemon slice, pink doughnuts, chocolate cupcakes with (pink!) white chocolate icing, lemon tart, cheese scones, musk sticks and salmon and cucumber sandwiches.

There cannot be a party without punch! This is a simple recipe, two litres of tropical punch juice, 1.25L each of lemonade and dry ginger ale and some strawberries. The ice block is actually half of the juice that mum froze.

I borrowed these poms from M, she made them for her daughter's first birthday and the colour was just right for us! Dad put them up for me before escaping the pink to go and visit his brother.

I think that Y was very optimistic in bringing her hat. Still, it made a pretty picture!

Wednesday Word of the Week: DEFINITELY

In the last week I have had at least three emails from people containing the word "definately". I eventually got to the point where I doubted my recollection of the correct spelling of the word and resorted to my favourite dictionary website, Cambridge Dictionaries Online.

The visit put my mind at ease and I have decided to try motivate myself to have a Wednesday Word of the Week to pick up on some of the quirks and inconsistencies of the English language. I will not pretend to be on a level with Kate Burridge (Can We Help, ABC TV) however I will do my best to clarify some common irritants!

Definitely adverb without any doubt =

Oh, and if you were curious about the other spelling:
Definately Idiot-speak for "definitely". One of the most common moronic misspellings found on the internet =

Seven questions

The Lovely Lorta has put the challenge down, to answer seven questions. See here for her seven questions and answers. Thank you for the challenge Lovely Lorta!

1. What are you looking forward to doing this summer? To be honest I have not thought too much past the wedding. However... camping down at Peaceful Bay after Christmas will be great! N&D are joining us this time around and N and I can go trawling through cheese factories and wineries while the boys are catching fish.

2. What is the best live concert you've ever been to? There are so many that I have forgotten! Standouts though are:
Ash at the Lookout in Scarborough: I went not really knowing who they were and realised at the concert that they were the band my sister had been playing constantly in the car on our daily drive to uni!
Greenday at Burwsood Dome (2009): They rocked! They got the crowd on their feet during the first song and we bounced for the next two hours.
Ben Folds with WASO at King's Park: That man is a genius and the orchestra -with ducks! - took it to a new level.

3. What is your favourite type of chocolate? Currently it is dark chocolate coated orange. Yum! Chunks of real orange coated in beautiful dark chocolate. My first try was Delicaseys from the Paddington Markets in Sydney and I have recently discovered that Whistlers here in Perth make it as well. (Image from Delicaseys.)

4. Where is the most interesting place you've been on holiday? Climing Mount Sinai on the Sinai Peninsula, Egypt. I think we started at about 1am. The idea was to climb to the top to watch the sunrise. The reality was that it snowed on our way up and the top was wreathed in cloud. We knew that the sun came up because it got lighter! It was the most amazing experience of my six month Europe adventure back in 2003.

5. What simple thing makes you the happiest? Good food and good company. Both at the same time and the pleasure is squared!

6. What do you want Santa to bring you for Christmas? Hmmm, a Kitchenaid Food Processor! I have been coveting one for a while now but have not been able to justify the cost to myself. I have Mum's old food processor that I regularly try to break however it is not really up to the modern demands.

7. Please give me a good book recommendation! The book that springs to mind is "Almost French" by Sarah Turnbull. An interesting and entertaining story of an Aussie girl who moves to Paris to live with a Frenchman. I found it easy to understand her story, and the isolation she felt in trying to understand and fit into the completely different culture.

Questions over! I believe that this is meant to be one of those chain type things, tag seven people and give them seven new questions. Here are seven questions if you would like to play the game!

1. What is your favourite baking recipe?
2. How do you relax?
3. Who was the last person you wrote a letter to? (personal, not business)
4. What is longest distance that you have run?
5. What is your favourite smell?
6. What is your favourite season and why?
7. Who would you most like to go on a holiday with and why?

LL: Growing tomato seedlings

Topic:Growing tomatoes from seed

Outcome:We had an indiffferent tomato crop last year. I attributed it to the fact that after we had germinated our tomato seedlings indoors, we kept them inside for too long, out of direct sunlight, and they were starved of light and fresh air. I went to the other extreme this year. I planted the seeds much later than last season and left the tray outside from the beginning.

Only two out of twenty seeds planted have germinated. That includes seven different types of tomatoes (I planted two seeds each), chilli and capsicum (total six seeds).

Lessons:

• Be aware of the overnight temperatures outside. I believe that the seeds failed to germinate as it was too cold at night.


• Germinate my seeds indoors, then sit them on a window sill to grow stronger before taking them outside to acclimatise. I think that this is the best option. It is how we did it the first time we grew tomatoes from seed!

Thankfully we have a long growing season and all is not lost. This weekend I will concede defeat on the seeds that I planted and will try again! I will nurture my plants through until they are strong enough to take outside.

PS How cute are those little eggshells? Coincidentally the gardener has used them to grow tomatoes!

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Planning to build

There are many exciting events happening in our lives at the moment! Our wedding is fast approaching and this is much cause for angst and anticipation. We are also going to build a house, and the process so far has been quite protacted.

Today we received our final documents from our builder, and, barring a few minor corrections, fingers crossed we will soon be on our way!

The next step is to go and ask the bank (nicely) to lend us the money to build. I am a little worried as the reports around are that property prices have dropped and this will affect how much equity we have to play with.

We are both looking forward to having our own space! Chad will be especially happy to have his beloved boat parked out the front, instead of 35km away at his parents' house.

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Master bedroom transformed

The transformation of our master bedroom was a subtle one. Nothing too dramatic that can be seen from these photos, just a change in paint colours! C had previously replaced the single light fitting and ceiling fan with four downlights, as well as adding two smaller downlights over my dressing table. Such a handy man.

I do like the darker brown though, it was selected to pick up the colour of the grain in the bedhead. The original brown I thought was closer to the colour of diarrhoea and I was very happy when it disappeared!