continuing on through rajasthan
we spent yesterday walking through the magnificent jain temple at ranakhpur….solid white marble and every last bit of it carved within an inch of it’s life. 1444 columns, 45 feet high, all carved intricately and no two the same. the ceilings were domed masterpieces. truly it was humbling and mind-bogglingly beautiful. you take your shoes [...]
mumbai
we arrived last night after a slightly delayed take-off, to a smoky, hazy cool evening in mumbai. the night before, in sydney, we saw slumdog millionaire at the movies, so the whole thing was set to be slightly surreal from the start. getting through customs and immigration was rapid and efficient, as was the currency [...]
some soap scraps
i was fooling around with some samples yesterday and each batch had slightly too much soap in it…..so i poured the excess from each batch into a mould. there was no plan, but the excess stuff sliced up very nicely. then i chopped it all again for confetti to go into my floralia bars. eos: [...]
valentines day flowers
a startling bouquet of native grasses, heliconias, leaves and gingers:
kitchen herbs, pot project.
we had five nice big terracotta pots delivered yesterday, and they are arranged and ready for planting. they are right outside the kitchen door for easy access and maintenance. now that i look at them, i think we’ll need seven smaller pots in between and flanking….filled with marigolds. it’s very wet and humid here, but [...]
soggy garden pix
it stopped raining for a few minutes today, so we all piled outside to do some weeding. i took a few pix, of course. first up…2/3 of the rainforest planting is mulched. then a shot of the huge quantities of mulch straw required. luckily they are rolling these things downhill to the mulch area! my [...]
breadmaking for the time-pressed
after some fiddling about with different styles, i have finally arrived at a technique that is cross-pollinated from jim lahey’s no-knead bread , artisan bread in five minutes a day , and some traditional sourdough techniques, such as using a proofing basket, combined with a desire to do as little actual work as possible and [...]
a pink treasury
michelle latham from sierra snow soaps put this wildly pink and girly treasury together today. check this out: i especially liked the fight club soap.
organic clay
i’ve always wondered how suppliers can list clays as “organic”. clay isn’t an agricultural product, therefore it isn’t available for organic certification. today i received some information about this and i’m passing it on. i use argiles du soleil clays from the town of apt in provence. this particular brand is recognised by international certification [...]
please keep off the grass
a friend sent this today….her friend sent it from china. such poetry and brevity.
gift certificates
well, you learn something new every single day. today, i learned how to generate gift certificates. click on the button, select an amount, choose your lucky recipient and bob’s pretty much your uncle. here you go!
