a silver spoon in your mouth
well, almost in your mouth. i bought these adorable garden markers for my herb pots….made from old silverware. i do like re-purposed stuff. and from where did they come? from monkeys always look, at etsy. they were custom made for my herbs, and the seller generously included a free marker that says: patti’s garden.
our soap now at tribe in mossman
folks on the far north queensland coast who are hankering for some of our soapy goodness can now head into TRIBE (in mossvegas!) and pick themselves up a selection of fragrant skin-worshipping bars. and on the same note: the beautiful spa by the sea at the tradewinds hotel, cairns, is also now offering a great [...]
pure may chang bars
i lost my head under production pressure recently and i made a bit of a mistake with a mis-labeled bottle (entirely my fault) and ended up creating a soap with pure may chang oil and nothing else. it smells just gorgeous….a fresh lemony scent with grassy/herbaceous undertones. i added some petals and green tea to [...]
ear tufts
our littlest cat, fennel, has developed the most delightful tufts on the tips of his ears. i’m not normally overly keen on excess ear hair, but he does it beautifully. the hairs lend a graceful curved extension to his soft little ears….much like the false gold fingernails on the hands of a balinese dancer. of [...]
paanch phora potatoes with chicken
maurice made the most delicious dinner tonight! it all started with the bengali paanch phora mix of five seeds: nigella/fennel/black mustard/cumin/fenugreek in equal quantities, with some added garam masala/turmeric/chilli. he fried up an onion with the seed spices, in mixed butter and oil. then he added chopped fresh coriander and mint and salt and some [...]
finding an omelette pan
getting hold of a really good omelette pan is starting to feel like an impossible dream to me. i loathe teflon and all it’s little chemical friends with thinly disguised names. from ebay, i bought a gorgeous american lodge pre-seasoned cast-iron pan, but it turned out to be hopeless for omelettes. the eggs stick like [...]
today’s soap display
i love setting up new wholesale displays! it’s fun to play around with the combinations of colours and textures and find a balance for a new customer. from the right: thalassa, limerance, caraboo, sea flower, blood orange + patchouli, chai guy. and from the left: perihelion, green tea + silk, inflorescence, lavender + mint, amarantine, [...]
meltem soap
this soap was made for meltem’s wedding bonbonieres. she has such a beautiful and evocative name! meltem are the strong, dry north winds of the aegean sea, which blow from about mid-may to mid-september. during hot summer days, this is by far the most preferred weather type and is considered a blessing. doesn’t that just [...]
soap name winners!
many thanks to everybody who made suggestions. there were so many wild names i had great difficulty in making a decision. i suspect there are a lot of frustrated paint-namers out there…..just like me. (if i ever quit soap, i’m going into paint naming). winners: soap 1….mapleccino (thank you chinalilly!) a perfect name….sweet, warm, fun [...]
blog miminalism
in the interests of paring things down and keeping it simple, you’ll notice i’ve introduced some cleaner lines around this blog. i’ve kept a few things. i use the search button a lot, as i hunt down previously-posted recipes and photos. i like to know what the phase of the moon is, so i’ve kept [...]
grinding and baking
i finally got my beautiful flour mill set up and obtained some organic grains to play with and i’ve been on an absolute baking tear. i decided not to sift anything to start with….just use the finely ground flour as it comes, bran and germ and all. first up was some vanilla biscuits…and instead of [...]
red sun
about 6pm yesterday, i took this photo of the setting sun. so much smoke and dust is still in the air, that it made for quite a filter over the sun.
omelette
we had quite a lavish lunch today: soto ayam, an indonesian chicken soup. it’s a clear turmeric-y sour-ish chicken broth filled with noodles, cooked potato cubes, boiled egg, chopped tomato, scallions, bok choy, fresh herbs. well, that’s how i make it, anyway. perhaps the bok choy isn’t strictly correct. very colourful and very delicious and [...]
recent soap pics
maple syrup soap stack of maple syrup soap sandalwood, silk & spice stack october moon for those despairing souls who missed out in august stack
wednesday night soapmaking and win a couple of bars!
feeling quite creatively stimulated after a fabulous theatre experience last night, i came home and had a bit of a look around my stash of ingredients and decided to make some completely new bars. there are no photos until after the weekend….i am having a temporary camera fail. soap 1…..i haven’t named it yet, but [...]
a new ABBA song….thirty years later
my abba-freak (really, borderline obsessive, but we all act as though it’s quite quite normal) friend waved a shiny new CD at me today and said, listen to track three, it’s pure abba gold. the CD in question is from the benny andersson band: story of a heart. mr abba didn’t lie: the title song [...]
a simple butter cake
i spotted this recipe yesterday morning in the weekend australian magazine…..in the always-excellent column by david herbert. i love his recipes….usually very simple and unpretentious and they cut right to the heart of things. you can flavour this cake as you like. i used a tsp of vanilla extract AND a tsp of vanilla paste [...]
help a soapmaker in ghana
i belong to an online micro-lending thingamabob called kiva. i lend to all sorts of entrepreneurs….women, agriculture and handicrafts seem to catch my attention most of the time. today, a soapmaker on one of my teams, left a message about a soapmaker in ghana. here she is, naomi. if you’ve got USD$25 in your paypal [...]
climate smart
yesterday, we had the long-anticipated climate smart appointment. i swear the flyer was dropped in our letterbox six months ago…..and as soon as i walked down the drive and into the house, i had read enough to pick up the phone and book us in. because we live a bit remotely, it was only now [...]
progress and growth in the white garden
we’ve been watering this garden religiously…..it hasn’t rained for weeks and weeks, plus it’s been dry, windy and smoky from bushfires, so we are very pleased with how this garden is doing. august 6th: this morning:
