kangaroo blue invasion
the lovely folks who own kangaroo blue are visiting australia (kerry is from melbourne originally and has been transplanted to chicago). they’ve been staying at the beach in cairns and yesterday they drove up to our neck of the woods for the day and we had a fabulous time with them at our place. kitty [...]
kitchen reno with pix for toni
the whole thing was hand-built out of single slabs of queensland maple and coated in a sealer. our floors, ceiling and walls are all uneven, so things are a bit rustic. the walls are mini-orb, with a wood trim. the pantry and oven benches are all on huge industrial castor wheels, so we can roll [...]
strand markets, townsville
we’ve got a new market partner and as soon as she decides on a snappy domain name, i’ll post a link for her website. nadine is selling fabulous jute kurtas that she designs and has made in mumbai….and we’ve decided to throw our market resources together and hit some new markets in the region. and [...]
the easy way to clean copper
i grew up cleaning enormous piles of old copper, with rags dipped in smelly brasso that blackened everything they came into contact with, and dried your hands out horribly. there was a lull for a couple of decades when i moved out of my parent’s place (and they got the whole lot lacquered at last) [...]
miss pettigrew lives for a day
this delightful novel arrived from the gorgeous persephone books yesterday. i made it as far as my kitchen table, where i sat down with a cup of green tea and a bowl full of vanilla icecream with fresh passionfruit scooped over it and i proceeded to read. and read. and read. what a wonderfully frothy [...]
a built salad
my usual method of making a salad is to hurl everything into a bowl in a strict order, toss with dressing and serve immediately. but from time to time around here we enjoy a structured salad built right onto the serving plate…..like tonight. i obtained some beautiful fresh yellowfin tuna on friday and this was [...]
dust bubbles etsy treasury
i was lucky enough to be picked for another gorgeous etsy treasury. this one was curated by xistance, who makes the most divine chaine maille jewellery from her base in the blue mountains of NSW. check it out:
view from the back door this morning
after a very chilly night (for us), i woke up to catch the last bits of a heavy fog melting away down into the valley. it looked a bit like a bowl full of cream.
the mock-turtle’s lament
from alice in wonderland ~~~~ lewis carroll Beautiful Soup, so rich and green, Waiting in a hot tureen! Who for such dainties would not stoop? Soup of the evening, beautiful Soup! Beau–ootiful Soo–oop! Beau–ootiful Soo–oop! Soo–oop of the e–e–evening, Beautiful, beautiful soup. Beautiful Soup! Who cares for fish, Game, or any other dish? Who would [...]
three beautiful things
1. another four kilos of fresh zucchini! the plants just will not quit! 2. a lovely clear crisp night with a big moon outside and wood fire inside. 3. cats learning to share a space. caramello checking out miss mousie:
oil spill
i thought i’d blog about this because it’s going to happen to most soapmakers sooner or later. today it happened to me. i was lifting my usual 11.4 (that’s just a squeak over 25 lbs for the imperial measure folks) kilo bucket of oils across the floor and up onto the bench where i do [...]
zucchini pasta salad
the zucchinis are still coming thick and fast. zucchini pasta salad …………………………. this will make a really huge bowlful of salad. shred a large zucchini or a couple smaller ones (i used a an 850g monster), salt it and leave it in a colander to drip for an hour. press juices out when you are [...]
more persephone books! and some cooking.
i’m so excited…i’ve just ordered two more persephone books: miss pettigrew lives for a day and plats du jour won’t plats du jour be a treasure trove? i’m dying to compare it to elizabeth david’s french provincial cookery, which is my father’s favourite cookbook (if anyone ever mentions cooking a chicken, no matter what part [...]
