Her Travel Romance

Llama, Llama, and Duck, the desk chickens

2011-08-04T16:32:00.000+08:00

Desk Chicken [desk chik-uhn] noun:

Widely mistaken for a domestic fowl, the desk chicken is in fact wildly untamed and will upend your paperclip basket and sticky tape your mouse to your mousepad at the slightest provocation. Their stealthy antics almost always go unseen by the human eye, however it is a strongly held belief that if your stapler ever jams, or your hole-punch empties it's confetti-like innards all over your office space, then the desk chicken is usually to blame.

Despite their spritely antics, the desk chicken warms the heart of anyone who is lucky enough to have them nest on their work desk, and they will quite often trick the hard working office dweller into thinking their day has passed much more quickly than it really has, just by the sheer brutal force of their cuteness.

H.T.R 4 J.O 4eva

2011-08-02T19:35:00.000+08:00

Whilst I was in Brisbane a while back, I bought myself a copy of Jamie Oliver's 30-Minute Meals. I cannot begin to tell you how much I love this book already! The way this book is set up is completely different to every other cook book you've ever owned. Rather than giving you one dish, and the ingredients and method for that one dish and leaving it up to you to put it all together, Jamie has created a book that mirror's his TV show - each 'recipe' is a complete meal plan, and he guides you through each part of each dish step by step, so that everything comes together ready at the same time at the end. I love it!

I decided a few weeks ago that every Sunday night would be 30 minute meal night, but because I was a bit too tired on Sunday, and was making my first ever plasma donation last night, tonight became this week's 30 minute meal night. We decided on pork chops and crispy crackling, crushed potatoes, minty cabbage, and peaches 'n' custard.

Out of the three meals I've made so far (#1 = roast beef, baby yorkies, little carrots, crispy potatoes, and super quick gravy. #2 = piri piri chicken, dressed potatoes, rocket salad, and quick portuguese tarts), this was by far the closest to being made within the 30 minute time frame. I'm not sure if that's because it was easier, or I'm just getting used to the game!

I did want to take photos of each 30-minute meal I've made and post them up here, but I have to admit, my food photography skills leave a lot to be desired (please refer to prime examples of brilliantly terrible photography skills provided above). I'll try harder next time though, promise!

Special mention has to go to our dessert wine of the evening - a delightfully 'datey' muscat by Jones Winery. Delectable.

Past lives

2011-07-28T19:46:00.001+08:00

I think in a past life I may have been a man, and the one feature I've retained from that life into this is that the way to my heart is most definitely straight through my stomach!

Last week His Travel Romance and I ventured down to the Yarra Valley for two nights, before a quick trip into Melbourne for a few hours (to pick up Baby Blue), and we quite successfully ate our way there and back!

Chicken and goat's cheese arancini with dukkah - Brown Brothers' Epicurean Centre

Black pepper gnocchi, oyster mushrooms, hazelnuts, brown butter and pecorino - Brown Brothers' Epicurean Centre

Pipsqueak cider at the White Rabbit

Chicken liver pate - Tokar Estate

Bombe Alaska - Tokar Estate

Goats cheese - Yarra Valley Dairy

Fresh cut chips with garlic aioli - Little Creatures

Cheese kransky, sauerkraut, and home made chutney - Little Creatures

Waffle, vanilla bean icecream, and pot of melted Lindt milk chocolate - Lindt Cafe

Champagne, salted caramel, passionfruit, hazelnut, rose water, and pistachio macaroons - Lindt Cafe

Baby Blue

2011-07-24T19:51:00.001+08:00

I would like to take this opportunity to welcome Baby Blue to my family and my garage...

He likes being zippy, hugging corners, and playing albums by artists such as Seeker Lover Keeper and Hey Marseilles via his clever bluetooth connection.

Apparently, smoke grenades will also fit nicely into his cup-holders, and he'll do just fine if I'm being chased around a shopping complex by baddies in a Corvette. Good to know.

Harboring delight

2011-07-17T14:24:00.000+08:00

The other week, on my way home from Brisbane, I snagged a day of wandering and shopping in Sydney between flights. As it turns out, it was the most beautiful day to be in our unofficial capital city - the sun was shining, the sky was blue, there were camels at Circular Quay...

My beautifully sunny view of the Sydney Opera House

Camels at Circular Quay, helping to promote tourism in the Northern Territory

A view of the bridge from the Rocks

Very complimentary sign in Fleur Wood

Tasty, but very overpriced fish and chips from Doyle's

Beautiful vintage light shades in Fleur Wood

Two blokes called Hume & Hovell

2011-07-13T18:14:00.002+08:00

The Hume & Hovell Walking Track is a 440km-ish stretch of track (find it or not!) that stretches from Yass to Albury in New South Wales. I've been feeling a strong itch to get out and do some hiking/walking lately and the other week, His Travel Romance managed to secure the collection of maps that cover the entire track for me. Booya!

On Wednesday last week I took the opportunity to walk a 16km-ish stretch of the track about 80km out of Albury and, after walking 22km through five and half out of six hours of rain, I finally managed to make my way to the car we'd left at the drop point that morning! I'll be the first to admit that I wasn't thoroughly enthralled with the walk whist I was doing it. The weather, even though I knew what I was getting myself in for, was terrible. The lighter I took to start a fire so I could eat my lunch decided it didn't want to play any longer, so I survived on Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and a few almonds (because it was too wet to stop and open up my pack for more food). The track requires some maintenance in order to prevent walkers getting lost three or four times and backtracking 3km (twice!) on the off chance that the obvious route wasn't the right one after all (I've provided feedback on that too)... In all honesty, the first two times I lost the track had me mildly panicked - Australian bushland is not the best place to be lost in by yourself, especially in the middle of winter**.

But, having said that, it was a pretty awesome walk. The variety of land was interesting - thick bushland and hills, creek crossings, open farm land, plenty of wildlife and stock to be seen including kangaroo's, wild dogs, beautiful native birds, and sheep, and almost seen (wombats!)... in better weather, with lunch, and minus the whole getting lost thing, the stretch I covered would be quite an enjoyable day out. It's definitely on the 'to repeat' list!

**Not that I was unprepared. I had means to construct a shelter, a thermal blanket, GPS, basic first aid kit, my leatherman equipped with handy wine bottle opener, and my phone. In reality, I could have just pointed myself towards a road found on the GPS and walked in that direction until I reached civilization/a pub. I could also have whistled for Skippy for instant rescue at any point in time, but where's the fun in that?

Weekend to do list

2011-07-08T19:44:00.000+08:00

About a month ago I stumbled across Gretchen Rubin's The Happiness Project on a blog (which I cannot relocate for the life of me!), which I bought not long after, and started reading last week. It wasn't until after it arrived that I realised it fell into the dreaded 'self help' category but, I have to admit that I'm already loving it. It feels like talking to a friend about your own revelations and half revelations, and realising that someone else out there thinks and feels the same way you do and, better yet, has greater insights into some of those thoughts and feelings!

I've already acknowledged to myself that I will have to read through this book again, this time with pen and paper and/or highlighter, in order to capture and remember everything that I want to, but two things that I am already trying to put into action are to not put off little things that will only take a minute or two (de-cluttering life), and planning fun into my days (being more light hearted). As such, this weekend I have a 'to do' list that tackles both of these things.

Write a post on HTR (check!)
Reply to a friend's email.
Go through one of my new cookbooks and plan some future dinners.
Plan a Dutch and Mexican themed dinner for Monday night to honour a friend that recently passed away - I knew her family was from Holland, but only today discovered that she was actually born in Mexico. I can't attend her funeral, so this is my way to say goodbye to, and celebrate, a wonderful young woman.
Import and edit photos from my day spent walking some of the Hume Hovell track (check!)
Upload my GPS data and provide feedback to the coordinator of the Hume Hovell track so that they can make some improvements for future walkers.
Check out the Hume Murray Farmers Markets, then sit in La Maison, read the paper, and drink coffee.
Get a pedicure.
Work out a new work out routine that fits in with my new job.
Buy some stockings and foundation for work.

... If there was an item #11, it might be to waste many, many minutes playing Cut The Rope, which my good friend Yak recently put me onto...

Time in the sun

2011-07-05T12:12:00.000+08:00

I just got back from just over a week in Brisbane, where I spent time with my folks and my big bro and his family. It was a fabulous break, filled with great food, fun excursions, and many, many cups of hot water infused with dirty sock (so called by my brother... I generally refer to them as cups of peppermint tea personally).

I didn't take a camera - deciding that my iphone would be sufficient for a few happy snaps. Such as these ones, from a brilliant farmer's market we went to on Sunday morning, where we saw giant lammingtons, delicious French delights, and kids in rabbit hats.

Old Hollywood

2011-06-21T14:53:00.000+08:00

Our finale to the fabulous Rutherglen Winery Walkabout a few weeks ago was a delectable six course dinner at Tuileries, hosted by the lovely Campbell family and featuring their magnificent wines, including their 40th vintage of their delicious Bobbie Burns Shiraz. The Bobbie Burns Shiraz was the first Rutherglen wine I ever tasted, and it immediately shot up to be one of my all time favourite wines. We feasted on duck gyoza and freshly shucked oysters, prawn and dill ravioli served with king prawns and a citrus butter sauce, and crisp Eurobin chestnut dumplings with vanilla mascarpone sabayon and honey caramel... Just to name a few items! I was even lucky (some might say greedy!) enough to score a second plate of the chestnut dumplings, as our new friend Ben, sitting opposite me, wasn't as big a fan as I was! Aww yeah!

The theme for the night was 'Old Hollywood' which, to be honest, was the main reason I wanted to attend in the first place! I got to bring out my fabulous beaded dress, drape my decolletage in jewels, curl and pin my hair, wear red lipstick and seamed stockings and, most importantly, I got to wear my Nanna's beautiful faux fur coat that never gets to see the light of day because it is just too fabulous! His Travel Romance obliged by slicking down his hair, pulling out a pin tucked shirt and bow tie, and draping a grey scarf around his neck in a very smart and austere fashion. For all of our efforts, we were rewarded by being announced the best dressed couple for the evening! Complete with a complimentary three course meal for two back at Tuileries before the end of the year. Huzzah!

Warming

2011-06-18T14:06:00.000+08:00

Today, there was no better way to spend the rainy, cloudy morning, than by sitting all toasty-like by the crackling fire in a cosy cafe, with a copy of The Weekend Australian, and some orange pekoe tea. It was so good, we sat there for hours and had a delicious lunch whilst I nutted out 38 of the 45 'quick' crossword clues. Me: ricotta and spinach ravioli with burnt butter and homemade sesame dukkah. Him: chorizo and chicken salad with a honey mustard dressing and an affogato. Folks... I think I may have just discovered my Saturday morning winter ritual.

Winery walkabout

2011-06-14T12:51:00.000+08:00

This weekend was the Rutherglen Winery Walkabout, which we had heard was quite the festival! We decided to go racing head first into it and had an absolutely fabulous Saturday quaffing amazing wines, eating delicious foods, and wishing we lived on a vineyard!

We started off in the morning with a three course breakfast with matching wines at Cofield's, which was quickly followed by an amazing Muscat Masterclass run by winemaker Dan Crane at All Saints Estate. Dan was a pleasure to listen to as he showed us around the winery, built in the 1800's, and he did a fine job of educating us in the differences between a few-years-old muscat, and one the exceeds sixty years! Surely there are not many better ways to spend your Saturday than in a lovely refurbished old stable, listening to a lovely Englishman talk about wines, whilst you quaff something that's almost as old as your parents!

The wineries and wines continued after lunch, including a delicious selection of chocolates to match sweet durif's at Scion, and good times wearing parrot hats and feather boa's in the vintage photo booth at Campbells Wines.

Plonk, the resident cat and box inspector at Cofield Wines

The lead up to All Saints Estate

All Saints Estate

The gorgeous old stables at All Saints Estate

Pre Muscat pouring... Oh the anticipation!

Having fun in the vintage photo booth at Campbells Wines

In my belly

2011-06-10T16:06:00.001+08:00

It's been about twelve weeks now since I started concentrating seriously on eating healthily and exercising regularly. If we knock out the two-and-a-half week break I had over my birthday whilst I was holidaying in Perth (there's no way I was going to give up Little Creature's chilli mussels or the wines of the Margaret River!) then we're talking about nine whole weeks of allowing myself only one treat meal a week. For someone that was used to having three or four... or five... such treat meals a week, this was a radical change in food perspective!

As such, I find myself fantasizing, reasonably often, about the foods that I would love to shove into my mouth by the truckload and stuff myself stupid on until I resemble a giant elephant that has swallowed the world's biggest blimp whole. Some of them I think about a lot, others are old staples in my old, unhealthy diet, that I find myself longing for every now and then. Rather than making me stare longingly into the fridge for hours on end, I actually find thinking about these treats quite cathartic. So, I did what any... Ok, I did something stereotypically me... I made a list!

The top ten foods I think about... a lot:

1. Hot jam donuts covered in sweet, sweet sugar. The jam piping hot so that you have to blow furiously on it to get it below red-hot-magma levels. The donut steaming so that you can't even think about picking it up in your hands. Nope, this is a bowl and spoon job all the way.

2. 10kg of hot, crunchy, thick cut chips. But that's not all. Cover them in around 20kg of chicken salt, and then give me two big bowls - one filled with smokey BBQ sauce and the other with delightfully creamy mayonnaise, and I shall take my 10kg of chips showered in 20kg of chicken salt and dip each one of them in both bowls several times!

3. Lemon and prosciutto pasta. This may not sound like a real treat meal, as it's reasonably healthy, but believe me, this dish is to die for. Originally made for me by my dear friend Donna, this combination of prosciutto, tagliatelle, rocket, olive oil, and lemon juice (plus other ingredients if we feel like it) is a dream sequence for your taste buds.

4. Milk chocolate rocky road from the Margaret River Chocolate Factory. Their chocolate is oh so creamy, and with fluffy marshmallows, nuts, and jubes all rivaling for a place in your mouth, their rocky road is just divine.

5. Approximately one ton of Ben & Jerry's ice cream. I first discovered this taste sensation in Plymouth, England, at the movies, where I treated myself to a scoop of cherry garcia with a scoop of chocolate fudge brownie. This was closely followed by my friend Mara and I devouring a whole tub of phish food (sans bowls - just spoons in the tub!) on my return to London. Oh my stars you have never had ice cream this good!

6. Hot, hot, hot, just out of the oven bread rolls, in a variety of delicious gourmet flavours (olive and sea salt, walnut sourdough - you get the picture), ripped apart with your hands then thickly smeared with creamy, melty butter. Sprinkle a few salt crystals on top and you will just about swoon from the pleasure of it.

7. Piping hot, chunky apple pie cooked with lashings of cinnamon and cloves in sweet pastry, served with a giant dollop of too-thick-to-fall-off-your-spoon cream. Team this with a delicious dessert wine and you have one of the best reasons to unbutton your pants at the table.

8. Plain and simple, crepes with lemon and sugar. My most enduring favourite meal of all time.

9. A giant cheese platter including brie, stuffed with rosemary sprigs and baked in it's wooden wheel, strong blue cheese, goats cheese rolled in ash, quince paste, lavosh, crusty white bread, and a selection of pates from Maggie Beer.

10. Fried chicken! When I was in London, just ten minutes walk from my front door, was the best fried chicken shop I have ever come across. Their spicy fried drumsticks were like a party in my mouth (and the accompanying chips were scoffed down in a fashion closely resembling item #2 on my list) and it wasn't unheard of for me to have a meal of fried chicken two or three days in a row! I suspect that it was around this time that my jeans started to fit quite snugly...

Make myself

2011-06-07T07:18:00.000+08:00

A while ago I downloaded the Nike Training Club (NTC) app on my iphone, not quite sure that I'd ever use it, but thinking that it had the potential to be handy.

As it turns out, I love it! I tried it for the first time yesterday and was pleasantly surprised at the level of effort I had to put into the half hour toning workout. This morning I've woken up feeling achey in all the right places - man I love being sore after a workout!

The NTC is designed for women, and has four categories of workouts to choose from - Get Lean, Get Toned, Get Strong, and Get Focused. Yesterday I chose the Body Remix workout from the advanced section of Get Toned and holy sheep snorkles, did you think I could keep up with it?! I may have to drop myself back to the intermediate level for tomorrow and stick with that for a wee while until I build up some stamina. Who knew you could hurt so much with just a set of 4kg dumbbells? From the other routines I've flicked through, it seems most can be done at home with just a set of 3-4kg dumbbells and a medicine ball, so I may be scooting off to a sports shop sometime in the near future to get myself the latter. In the meantime, improvisation is key.

Look, you even get little badges you can stick up on your Facebook wall as rewards to show off how many minutes you've worked out!

This little fellow means I've done thirty minutes of training. Woot!

The app is free, and I highly recommend it, so any gals out there looking for a little personal training in the privacy of their own home should definitely go and snap it up! Here's an example of what you might find yourself doing in the near future...

Water water

2011-06-05T08:18:00.000+08:00

It's a cold, cloudy, and rainy weekend. Perfect for sitting outside on the patio in the swing-chair, wrapped in a cozy blanket, drinking cups of tea, and watching the rain fall.

Also a good opportunity to play with my camera lenses too, as it turns out.

Now that the weather is decidedly turning wintery, my thoughts are starting to fill with things like hot chocolates with Bailey's and warming soups served with hot, crusty bread fresh out of the oven. Meals cooked in a slow cooker and porridge served with cinnamon and a dollop of cream for breakfast. Damn winter and it's delicious comfort foods!

Friday

2011-06-03T14:17:00.000+08:00

Today I:

- Excitedly bought the just released Seeker Lover Keeper album on iTunes! Twice. The second time was as a surprise gift for my good friend Yak but unfortunately, despite the time difference between us and Yakmum telling me she was still asleep, she had already woken up and bought it herself! Fail.

source

- Got a little obsessive with the above album and, after discovering I'd accidentally had the album on shuffle and, after stopping and starting the music a few times, noting that this had resulted in some songs having been played twice whilst others were yet to be played, sat down and sorted the album by the "plays" column and proceeded to ensure that all songs had been treated fairly and equitably. I am pleased to report that now all songs on this lovely album have each been played exactly three times.

- Ran 6km in my Vibram's for the second time ever, and recorded my second best ever time for the distance, according to my Garmin Forerunner 310XT. These two items are inspiring to run with. The Vibram's for the natural running style they promote that causes less jarring up through your body, and the Garmin for being able to get all geeky with my running data once I'm back home! Seriously - I need to know what my heart rate was like at the 24.3 minute mark, and what my elevation and speed were at the same time! And, just getting back to the Vibram's, I just want to say that I am so proud of my calf muscles! When I first ran with these on, I ran 2km on a treadmill and then couldn't walk for three days afterwards due to the pain! Now look at me go :-)

- Came across this article on the top five regrets people have on their death beds, and thought that I know a couple of people who may suffer from these, including myself. I will try to remedy this.

- Saw the below lovely blanket on Etsy in Verity Kizek's shop, the light garden, and wished so much that I could make one myself. But, apart from the fact that I have never crocheted in my life, the cost of buying the yarn for such an endeavor means that I'm really better off just buying one!

- Decided that my dancing shoes have not seen anywhere near enough action since my return to Australia. So, I put them on and did the Jitterbug Stroll and the Shim Sham in my dining room.

Two presents in two days

2011-06-02T08:14:00.000+08:00

Over the last two days I have been lucky enough to receive two belated birthday presents in a row! Both from my long list of favourite things on Etsy.

The first to arrive was this beautiful screen print of birds and branches from PoetryAndCloth in New Zealand. I was about to go out to run some errands when I noticed a big red and brown box sitting outside by the front door! The box was promptly ripped open to reveal the lovely parcel wrapped in brown paper and string (these are a few of my favourite things!), and the print was, within the space of a minute, in pride of place above my cream leather lounge.

The very next day I visited the post office to check the mail and lo and behold, there was another box waiting for me! The customs form told me the box, which had travelled all the way from the USA, contained books, so I knew straight away that my three vintage, black, hardcover books from ErieStreet, were nestled safely inside!

These babies are now sitting happily on my coffee table, which sits in front of aforementioned cream lounge, right next to a vintage vase that was hand painted by His Travel Romance's great aunt, a jar containing three of my birthday moustaches, and some candles. Love. If it wasn't already, the lounge is now most definitely one of my most favourite places in the whole house! I may even sit with a nice cup of tea and do some knitting there later today.

Sought for, loved, and keeping

2011-05-31T14:40:00.000+08:00

Over the space of the last two weeks, from the moment I first heard Light All My Lights on Triple J, I have been in the process of falling completely and utterly in love with Seeker Lover Keeper - the collective effort of Sarah Blasko, Sally Seltmann, and Holly Throsby. So much so, that I just had to share their three debut videos with you, each starring lovely Australian actors. If you haven't already dipped your ears into the deliciously shiny sounds that these three ladies produce, please pour yourself a lovely cup of tea or a glass of your favourite wine, sit back, relax, and enjoy...

Slow lane

2011-05-29T09:43:00.000+08:00

Life has hit the slow lane and I feel like I'm crawling along at a mundane pace where the scenery doesn't change very often. That's not a complaint, it's just where I am, and why I don't have a terrible amount to say lately.

I've started looking for work, but the fact is that there are no jobs on a par with what I was doing back in Perth. In fact, there are relatively few jobs full stop. In the month and a bit I've been looking (where we define looking as searching on Seek every day) only two roles have come up that I would even consider applying for - one of them I'm still waiting to hear back about, and the other I got an immediate rejection for which I can only assume is because the role was filled prior to it being advertised but, being a governmental role, they had to advertise anyway. I assume this, because I ticked every single box they wanted ticked, in pretty multi-coloured pens, folded the checklist up and created a beautiful origami crane with it, and then the crane came to life and flew around the room leaving rainbows in its wake. I can only say that frustration levels were rather high when an application that should have hit right on the recruiter's dream list didn't even warrant an interview.

My fitness and nutrition regime continues, although I'm starting to look at challenging myself a bit more now. It's been nearly three whole months since I've had a cup of coffee (excluding the traditional black coffee with rum in it on Anzac morning prior to the Dawn Service), and I'm still not sure why I'm avoiding it other than the fact that I have been for so long now. His Travel Romance and I visited Cofield Wines last weekend where we discovered a new red we'd never heard of before - the mighty Durif - which was described to us, most accurately, as a Shiraz on steroids. Delicious. This weekend we made a quick trip to Melbourne where I obtained my Responsible Service of Alcohol certificate so that, if I decide to, I can try to get some casual work in nearby wineries. I also remembered how much I love the city of Melbourne...

Beautiful buildings, an amazing atmosphere, cozy little lane ways full of the most amazing cafes and shops, museums and art galleries you could spend weeks wandering through... It's enough to make a girl want to go back again next weekend for the Good Food & Wine Show AND the Melbourne International Jazz Festival which are both on at the same time...

Wafer bake

2011-05-12T18:10:00.000+08:00

About a kazillion years ago, or possibly roughly two months ago, I made some delicious choc-studded honey wafers for HTR. I took photos of them, and then my camera battery went flat before I could get the photos onto my MacBook, and it was then that I realised my camera battery charger was in all likelihood, still in Paris.

Oops.

So today, my new battery charger arrived from Hong Kong! Huzzah! So here are the photos of the lovely choc-studded honey wafers.

And if you would like to make them, you'll need to do the following:

Obtain...

50g of butter, and chop it
2 tablespoons of honey
60g of brown sugar
50g of plain flour
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract or essence
2 egg whites
1/2 cup blanched almonds, and roast them and chop them
1/2 cup dark chocolate, and chop it

Then...

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees celsius.

Heat the butter and honey in a small saucepan over a low heat until melted.

Place your sugar, flour, vanilla, and egg whites into a bowl and whisk in the butter mixture until it's all lovely and smooth.

Place two teaspoonfuls of the mixture onto a backing tray lined with baking paper, which you may have to (as I did) spray half to death with cooking spray, and then spread the mixture out to be around 10cm in diameter. Sprinkle the mixture with nuts and chocolate, and then bake for 8-10 minutes or until golden.

Devour.

My, what a lovely moustache!

2011-04-28T05:31:00.000+08:00

As any self-respecting almost-30 year old knows, the only way to celebrate turning the big three oh is by getting a group of amazing friends together at a beautiful winery, slapping fake moustaches on them all, and drinking and eating until you pass out from the pleasure of it all!

The moustache bus!

A tremendously, stupendously huge thank you to everyone who helped to make my birthday one to remember - the weather was perfect, the food and wine were delicious, and the company could not be beat! An especially tremendously, stupendously huge thank you to His Travel Romance, who took me out for a delightful breakfast before the day's festivities, and who not only organised the moustache bus, but helped decorate it, and then drove it, along with 16 of my friends, to the Swan Valley for the day. What a man! xx

Hullabaloo Hop

2011-04-24T09:59:00.000+08:00

A few more photos from two very talented Perth-based photographers: Dabs and Jason.

Jason Chong Photography

Dabelyn Photography

Hullabaloo 2011!

2011-04-17T11:56:00.000+08:00

Hullabaloo for 2011 has commenced and I am having the most fabulous time catching up with good friends, eating good food, and dancing my nights away. The weather has been amazing (and hot!) and I cannot begin to tell you how great it is to be back in what I now consider to be my home town. Ahh, it's good to be 'home'.

Friday saw us riding a big white bus on a whimsical wine tour of the Swan Valley where we drank wine and ate chocolate to our heart's content...

After which I needed a little nap before heading out to the Perth Dingy Club for more dancing fun.

These photos by the very talented and lovely Dabs of Dabelyn Photography

Last night we headed to the Hula Bula Bar for some pre-dance cocktails however, decided that $20 spent on dinner might be a tad more sensible than $32 spent on a cocktail!

Last night was the Hullabaloo Hop - a frou frou extravaganza for which we spent the entire afternoon and evening preparing a car full of tissue paper pom poms in order to decorate the North Perth Town Hall - more photos to come of that one in the next few days.

New discoveries

2011-04-08T07:13:00.000+08:00

I've been searching through new blogs recently to get inspiration for little crafty projects, and have come across two little gems that I am adding to my regular reading list.

Courtesy of Smaggle and her article on jealousy, I discovered yes and yes, which is a fabulous blog about anything and everything that I could possibly be interested in reading.

And, via some random searching of pictures and ideas on my own, I stumbled across a little bird told me. so, which I have instantly fallen in love with, mostly because I just love kt's style. I'm a little sad that she hasn't updated her blog since January, but fingers crossed she gets back into it soon!

Oh - and I got bored with how my blog was looking, and decided a little change here might be nice too. Just a little.

Still here

2011-04-05T15:32:00.000+08:00

It's not that I've decided not to blog. I haven't decided that, since I'm now home, nothing I write will be of relevance to the reason I started this blog in the first place. I was actually thinking that I would like to keep it going, and that it could evolve into an every day life sort of blog. But, I'm finding that my recent days do not provide me with a lot of fodder for writing. It's not that I consider my life to be boring - I'm actually thoroughly enjoying it (apart from the fact that His Travel Romance is currently away) - but, the reason I am enjoying it is exactly the reason why I have no fodder. I have a routine. It focuses on me and what I want to achieve over the next few months, ie - get a smoking hot body and a smoking hot home! As such, my week days generally go a little something like this:

1. Get up, have breakfast, drive HTR to work by 0730.
2. Come home and do a weights routine/go to the gym and do a cardio session.
3. Take Wallace for a walk.

4. Shower, do some general cleaning around the house, ie put dishes away, do the laundry.
5. Do some 'get a smoking hot home' tasks around the house/run errands/do grocery shopping/research our next holiday/whatever other things come up.
6. Go and pick HTR up from work by 1630.
7. Spend time with HTR, have dinner, watch a movie/talk, go to bed.

So - with this pattern occurring nine times out of ten, or five times out of seven if you want to get really technical, it's no wonder I've been a little quiet. But - I did go to Melbourne last weekend to visit Pony and her family, which was a wonderful break from my house of solitude. Pony is the one who has gotten me onto my 'get a smoking hot body' routine so it's great visiting with her as we're both eating the same things and not eating the same things! I was lucky enough to be staying at her place for a gourmet BBQ feast on Saturday night when they had a few friends over and I had a great time chatting and laughing and sipping my treat glass of red wine whilst gnawing on my treat gourmet BBQ meats and devouring my delicious treat potato salad, the recipe for which was graciously provided by my dear friend Yak... It occurs to me that I seem to have a collection of four-legged human friends covered in hair... For dessert, I also made these bad boys: white chocolate ganache sandwiched between two chocolate biscuits, served with whipped cream and berries.

And, if that's not exciting enough, next week I'm off to Perth for Hullabaloo and my 30th birthday!! And I promise - I will come back and tell you all about that :-)

Australian travels

2011-03-22T08:16:00.000+08:00

There is a Kookaburra balancing tentatively on a branch outside my window, and beyond him there are clouds rolling over tree-covered hills. Although I can't see them from here, I know that within walking distance of where I sit, there are cows grazing by a creek, and nearly every house on my street has a dog running around the yard. I'm back in my new rural home again, after two weeks of driving around South Australia and Victoria, visiting family and friends, and having a fabulous time doing it!

I went to Adelaide Fringe shows, had BBQ's, picnics, and amazing breakfasts, visited Maggie Beer's Farm, met new boyfriends and new babies, helped Dad celebrate his birthday and Mum and Dad celebrate their anniversary, started a new fitness and nutrition plan, and created a fourth anniversary present for His Travel Romance, just to name a few things.

Sunday morning breakfast, as only my lovely friend Yak can do

Picnic basket and wine at Maggie Beer's Farm

Toby snuggling with new little Lachie in Melbourne

My anniversary present to His Travel Romance - a collection

of B&W photos of us and flowers picked from our garden

Now that I'm home, my 'to do' list is quite expansive. I will be sorting through clothes and selling quite a few things on ebay, re-arranging the house, and working out what new furniture we need to buy to make up for the lack of storage space we have here. My new fitness regime has me eating every 2-3 hours, drinking three liters of water a day, and juggling three weights sessions and four cardio sessions each week. I am working with our dog, Wallace, and getting his training up to scratch which means lots of walks, and as HTR cannot drive due to a broken toe, I drop him off at work, pick him up afterwards, and am his on-call chauffeur during the day. The garden out the back is getting very weedy so that needs attention, and at some point I will have to learn how to mow the lawns - I voted we get a pet goat for that but that idea didn't fly very far...

But, first things first - into my wardrobe I go!

Returned to sender

2011-03-01T07:16:00.003+08:00

New York - London - rural England - London - Mallorca - London - rural France - New York - London - Bansko, Bulgaria - Paris - Wodonga.

After nearly nine months of tripping around the northern hemisphere, I have landed safely back in the great ~~sunburnt~~ flooded/cyclone-ravaged land. Whilst I was away, His Travel Romance packed up our house in Perth in Western Australia, and we are now in the rural city of Wodonga, in Victoria. I'm not quite sure what I'm doing here yet (work? study? executive home assistant to HTR?), but I'll work it out. In the meantime, I have trips to South Australia, Melbourne, and Western Australia planned already - just because I'm back in Oz doesn't mean I wont still get around!

My flight home from London had an afternoon stopover in Perth on Sunday, which gave me the chance to share a few hours with good friends in Kings Park. Apart from the many long hugs, it felt like I'd never left, and I had the best time just sitting under a tree, overlooking the Swan river, and being around some of the best people you will ever meet in your life.

My work husband asked me to list my top three experiences from my travels which, surprisingly, didn't take me too long to come up with.

1. The Binissalem Wine Festival where I got to eat traditional Mallorcian food, share wine with fabulous people, and dance with demons.

2. My burlesque New Years Eve in New York, which I got to share with fabulous friends and HTR.

3. Paris, in general, because it is just so beautiful and romantic.

So, now what? I have a couple of ideas but I really don't know - but that's part of the fun, right?

You had me at bonjour

2011-02-25T02:04:00.000+08:00

Tonight is my fifth and final night in Paris and whilst it has been a short love affair, it has been one to remember. The Seine, Notre Dame, Tour Eiffel, Musee du Louvre, the Arc de Triomphe, the escargot, the pain au chocolat, the cannard, the creme brulee, the cognanc, the vin rouge... a girl could go on and on and on.

I love the romance of the city - it's everywhere, from the buildings to the stories, to the vibe. Yes, that could partly be me reading into everything I see but honestly, I have not come across any of the rude and arrogant Parisians I had been warned about, only people willing to battle through pseudo-French with me to find out what I want, and lovely walking tour guides who explain the stories behind the facades with such grace that you fall in love three times over before your tour concludes. I cannot wait to come back here for a summer and experience (and join) the Parisians drinking wine by the river, watching the sun set over Notre Dame, and learning how to tango by the banks of the Seine.

Squonk time

2011-02-21T04:10:00.000+08:00

Normally I would write a few paragraphs about a family member on their birthday but, for this one, only one word needs to be said...

AWESOME!

To my youngest nephew: I hope you have a birthday that is every bit as awesome as you are - hard, I know, but if anyone can do it, you can! I can't wait to see you in less that a fortnight - we'll do something totally awesome for your birthday then so start thinking :-)

Awesome.

;-)

Happy birthday Jont!

Long John's

2011-02-19T00:20:00.002+08:00

If there was an award for the person who could eat the biggest chocolate filled chocolate iced donut in the world, it would have to go to my second eldest nephew.

If there was an award for the person who has eaten the most cheeseburgers from McDonalds restaurants all around Europe, it would probably also have to go to my second eldest nephew.

If there was an award for the person who was 23 kinds of awesome at a Christmas Day snowball fight last year, it would go to me, but I'd give special acknowledgement to my second eldest nephew, who did try hard, even with snow in his ear...

Drivers on the roads of Queensland, beware... Today, Jonathan, my anime-addicted nephew, turns 16. I'm sure he wont be watching anime whilst he's driving through... Well, I'm pretty sure.

Jonathan is a brilliant sportsman, a brilliant student, an above-average snowballer, and a nephew I wouldn't swap for any other, and I hope he as an amazing day today filled with everything that makes him smile, and nothing that doesn't.

Happy birthday shorty!

Day three of learning to become a snow queen

2011-02-17T05:43:00.000+08:00

Day three, yesterday, was a much, much, much better day than day two. Certain people had me worried that day three was going to be more horrendous than day two (not mentioning anyone based in the US currently MG...) but fortunately, after a few goes on the baby slopes with the lovely Di-bird guiding me, and after some strong persuasion, I sat petrified in the chair lift heading back to the top of the mountain.

There had been some fresh snow so not quite so many patches of grass and rocks to navigate around, and this time my efforts were concentrated solely on control and the ability to stop myself whenever I so wished. I managed to navigate past the location of my previous yard sale (a term given to me by Star and MG meaning when you stack it and everything flies everywhere) and beyond, falling, if not rarely, then at least far less often than I feel previously, and much more softly - a good thing considering I'd forgotten to bring along my wrist guards that day. We made plenty of group stops along the way, taking our time to take in the mountains and allowing the stragglers (ie, me) to catch up.

I will admit to still walking down the final part of the run - it scares the bejeebers out of me, with a sudden drop off one side of the relatively narrow run, and a rock wall on the other. With my limited ability to control my board I don't fancy the outcome either of those two options offer, so I find it best to take the slow, easy way down. But, I'll get there. Persistence is key.

Today was a rest day. I did go up the mountain to take some photos but the weather was bad and the mountains were shrouded in cloud, affording very few photo opportunities.

Cross on top of the mountain

In the afternoon we explored the old town of Bansko, saw some shaggy goats, played in the playground, and had some flaming lunch...

... Followed by a Bulgarian dinner, complete with folk music.

Day two of learning to become a snow queen, otherwise known as 'bring the pain'

2011-02-15T03:45:00.002+08:00

I had been told by several people in the lead up to this ski trip that whilst skiing is relatively easy to pick up and run with, it takes quite some time to then actually get good at it whilst snowboarding on the other hand, is somewhat difficult to pick up, and you will hate it because you will be hurting from all the falls you take, but that once you've got it, you kick proverbial.

Today proved the hurting and hating part quite satisfactorily with a bend towards being an over-achiever. I spent a great deal of Valentines Day in quite an unpleasant amount of pain, coming close to tears on several occasions due to frustration and my sore knees and coccyx.

After a two hour lesson this morning where I practiced descending straight down on my toe edge, and going down on the heel edge in the falling leaf, I ascended with the group to the top of the mountain to have a go at my first blue run. After a few minor falls initially, I managed to get quite a bit of speed up... completely unintentionally... and then managed to pull off what I can only imagine was a spectacular forward somersault with a half twist that left me on my back, head down the mountain, with my beanie and glasses scattered some meters behind me. At this point I came to realise the value of having a ski helmet... Head Vs Mountain came up in a definite win for the mountain.

After a few self-pitying moments I managed to pick myself up, clean off the snow that had been hard-compacted onto my glasses, and carry on down the slope to where the team were waiting for me. We carried on for a bit (only a few uninteresting falls following) before a tricky left-then-right turn came up that I navigated disastrously. Coccyx, meet hard, compacted, thin layer of snow upon hard mountain-top... Coccyx Vs Mountain came up in another definite win for the mountain.

At some point further down the mountain, as I was nervously navigating my way down a reasonably easy slope (multiple falls, and an inability to control the board properly combined with a sudden drop off the cliff on one side of the run and a wall of rocks on the other makes for a nervous descent) right near the end of the run, a man on ski's, who I'm hoping can blame his ineptitude on his beginner-status, came up behind me and, in order to pass me, grabbed me by the waist and moved me out of the way, throwing off my precarious balance and slamming me down onto my knees. Knees Vs Mountain; yet another convincing win for the mountain.

So all in all, today was a day filled with pain, frustration, and almost-tears. But, a hot chocolate with Bailey's did help a little, and the great group of people I have managed to fall in with certainly made the day much better than it otherwise would have been. Now, laying in bed with my aching head, bruised knees, and bruised coccyx, I'm psyching myself up to tackle the mountain again tomorrow. It can't get any worse right? And besides, I have new ski gloves and goggles - that's got to make a difference!

Day one of learning to become a snow queen

2011-02-14T00:34:00.000+08:00

Today was my first day on the slopes at Bansko in Bulgaria, and I am definitely not at queen status yet!

But, let's start at the very beginning - I've heard it's a very good place to start. My dance husband and I were up before dawn yesterday to get ourselves to Heathrow for our flight to Sofia. Half asleep, we clumsily made our way from bus to bus, to the airport, and after a speedy check in (it seems not that many people are at the world's busiest airport at six in the morning) we settled ourselves down into the British Airways Executive Club and proceeded with a tasty breakfast of pan au chocolat and cognac - that's how we roll.

Dance Husband on the bus to the airport

The flight itself was uneventful - I managed to score us emergency aisle seats (huzzah!)... the ones that *don't* recline (un-huzzah)... Upon arriving at Sofia we then saw a sign being held by a guy for Bansko, and jumped eagerly into the van. It wasn't until the party of 12 joining us couldn't fit all of their people in that we realised we were in the wrong van and had to pull all of the luggage out again to get to ours... Who knew there'd be more than one van going to a popular ski village? Back in the airport, we managed to find our correct driver, and settled in with our fellow Mila-ites - Di, RJ, Kev, and Nick. I chose to make friends by buying them all beer; Having now spent the entire day with them, the ploy seems to have worked!

First clear view of the snow-capped mountains

The drive from Sofia to Blansko took a few hours, and we were greeted upon arrival with white chocolate chip cookies and mulled wine - oh sweet heavens yes! After afternoon tea, we sat and chatted the hours away until dinner, which was a delectable feast of spinach and stilton soup, sausage pie with peas and carrots, and black forest cake for dessert. I went to bed so full last night, I could not sleep on my stomach!

This morning we were up for breakfast at half seven, and were on our way to the ski hire shop by half eight. Snowboards in hand and snowboard boots on feet, we bought our ski passes and headed up the mountain. Dance Husband, having decided that having two feet stuck to a plank of wood is somewhat similar to dancing, headed off on his own to teach himself to snowboard. A few others were already proficient and went off to do their own thing, leaving the complete newbies - Nick, RJ, Kev, and I - to our first two hour lesson for the day.

For the first half of our lesson we learned how to gently turn and come to a stop (theoretically), first using our heels, then using our toes, with the lead foot strapped in whilst the following foot was left loose in order to save yourself (if you could) from falling over. After that, the natural progression was to have both feet strapped in - I was mildly panicked by this idea at first, but gradually managed to suffer only minute levels of panic at not being able to save myself from falling onto the ice cleverly disguised as snow.

After lunch, we headed back for our second two hour lesson, this time on the beginners slope, where we had to go down the slope face forwards on our heels, the board parallel to the slope rather than perpendicular to it. This is pretty much where my advancements in the art of snowboarding plateaued for the day. Whilst I kept working on this skill, Nick and Kev progressed onto doing the same thing backwards, on their toes, and then Nick went further still onto doing the falling leaf. RJ had decided he'd had enough for the day whilst I continued worked on my heel-edge decent, going down several times with the instructor, and once with Di who kindly volunteered to be my counter balance. I gradually worked up to a solo decent and finally, on my last run for the day, nailed the entire slope without falling down!!! Go me! So no broken bones or dislocated shoulders (although I think on one fall I may have come a *little* close to doing that) after day one. So far, so good!

Afternoon tea back at the chalet was a delicious lemon poppy cake and hot chocolate, and now it's rest time, before pate, pork chops, and apple crumble for dessert. I must say - I'm liking the lifestyle so far :-)

Our room at Chalet Mila

The mountains from our balcony at Chalet Mila

King of stones and oxes

2011-02-12T06:37:00.000+08:00

Seeing as how it's almost the weekend, it must be time to talk about last weekend!

'O' is for the way you get 'old school' with me.
'X' is for the x-cellent sights to see.
'F' is fairly freakin', extraordinary.
'ORD' is a ridiculous thing to rhyme with. But, Oxford is beautiful and I had such a brilliant time there! Gorgeous old buildings stand stoically along almost every street and make you feel more intelligent just by being in their shadows.

Unfortunately, being winter, there was no punting to be had, but the river is ever so lovely and I can only imagine how beautiful this place would be in summer with boats and flowers and Harry Potter look-a-likes roaming the streets.

Better than all of this though, was seeing some old friends of mine from way back in my 'younger' traveling days!

Jan and Al (aka green beanie girl and stripy scarf boy) and I first met in Vietnam circa 2005 and after some fun Beer Hoi sessions we became friends. A few months later, I hosted the pommy couple in Adelaide, where I was living at the time, and we had a blast doing wine tours, going to footy matches, and eating delicious Al-cooked roast chicken dinners. Apparently Al's roast chicken dinners have improved somewhat over the last six years, but alas, he didn't love me enough to cook me one... *le sigh* But, they did take us out for cream teas, and to see CW Stoneking play, which was awesome!!

It was a fabulous weekend, and I really didn't want to leave, but my last week of employment was calling... I do hope though, that it will not be anywhere near another six years before I see these guys again. In fact, I'm pretty sure they promised to come visit me again later this year... right?

Frocks on rocks

2011-02-08T05:28:00.000+08:00

Friday at work I made the executive decision to get a little romantic and take myself out on a Friday night date. A three course French dinner including oysters, white wine, and baked cheese in Soho? Yes please. A ticket to a musical playing in the West End? What fun!

Priscilla Queen of the Desert starring Alf Stewart - how much more Australian can you get?!

I have to admit to screaming (just a little bit) when Ray came out on stage - I hadn't actually looked into who was cast in the performance, so it was a flamin' surprise to see an Aussie icon walk out onto the stage!

I had an absolutely brilliant night out and have decided I am definitely one heck of a date. Maybe next time I'll go a little bit crazy and date someone other than myself...

It ain't too much for me to jam

2011-02-04T04:47:00.000+08:00

Things are going to get sketchy. Not that they aren't already Miss Last Post Was Over A Week Ago, you say.

Well - times-a-runnin'-out and things need to be done, Dance Husbands need to be entertained, bags need to be packed, weighed, re-packed, re-weighed (etc), and trips to lovely places need to be taken!

The weekend just gone, for example, Dance Husband and I rented a car along with Miss Revival and Curly Haired Canadian Rob, and we drove up to the beautiful city of Durham for DJAM 2011. It was a fabulous weekend and so much fun - I highly recommend this event to any swing dancers looking for a highly organised and excellently put together program! The weekend was run like a university - you could choose to do whichever 'course' you liked and could switch around at any time. Dance Husband and I mostly concentrated on blues, but I also attempted to learn the Tranky Do before my head imploded.

The location itself was oh-so-lovely. Durham has a gorgeous river wrapping around its centre, a stunning cathedral, and beautiful bridges. The hotel was lovely, the food was delicious, DJAM rocked, and this was certainly the most relaxing weekend I've had in while.

This coming weekend we're off to Oxford, followed by my last week of work, then a ski trip to Bulgaria, and finally, five nights in Paris before I do a final pack, final weigh, final re-pack, final re-weigh (etc), off-load some of my excess stuff to my lovely Dance Husband who has been ever so kind as to let me use some of his weight allowance, and we head home to the great ~~brown~~ ~~flooded~~ windswept land!

Dot points of happiness

2011-01-23T01:28:00.000+08:00

A few things that are making me smile (and not able to sleep due to my excitement) lately:

My Dance Husband gets here next week.
This is my last weekend in London. Next weekend I'm in Durham, UK, the weekend after I go to Oxford. After that it's Bulgaria, then Paris, then home!
I'm going swing dancing next weekend... AND I have a dress for the movie premiere night that was on sale, and will double as my long-coveted black day maxi dress!
I now own this ski jacket and salopettes:

I got the above ski outfit for only £40!
I now know that the fancy name for "ski pants" is "salopettes".
His Travel Romance moves into our new house next week, and I'll be there just a month later.
His Travel Romance booked my ticket home recently, and I get to fly in an A380 via an afternoon in Perth catching up with everyone I miss so dearly!

Thank you cat, for giving my tongue back

2011-01-17T01:04:00.000+08:00

I realise there has been a scarcity of words on this blog over the last few weeks, but who can blame a girl for being absent from virtuality when in reality, she's seeing His Travel Romance for the first time in seven months?

So, my luck with flights continued to a strong degree when it came to my flight out of Charles De Gaulle for JFK - I was only delayed by a couple of hours, and can now say I've been to Canada as our flight stopped in Montreal to refuel before attempting to land in the Great Blizzard of New York! By the time we landed at 9pm local time, we were only the second flight to have done so for the entire day. It took over three hours for the ground crew to get our bags off of the frozen plane and across the icy tarmac, during which time the great majority of us sat on the floor around the baggage carousel and waited. I emerged from the terminal to find that, due to the conditions on the roads, hardly a yellow cab was in sight so myself and two others paid $70 each to share a private car which dropped us at our respective hotels... A yellow cab from JFK to Manhattan is a flat fare of $45 plus tolls and tip so, all in all, not a bad night to be a hire car driver.

His Travel Romance arrived the following night after similar baggage delay issues and actually waiting the hour and a half in line for a yellow cab, and a visit to the wrong hotel room at two o'clock in the morning when the hotel gave him the wrong room number and a swipe card to someone else's room... Oops? And there commenced just under two weeks of remembering what it was like to be in a relationship when the person you're with is actually with you. It's a novel idea, this being with the one you're with!

There were fabulous dinners and delectable breakfasts, long walks on snow-compacted sidewalks, lots of shopping and browsing, and lots of catching up with good friends. We went to Duane Park for New Years Eve, mocked the tourists who continually feel the need to hold certain parts of the Charging Bull's anatomy, and saw the Statue of Liberty from a dinner cruise. The Statue of Liberty was lovely lit up at night. We stayed at the New Yorker and I fell in love with Art Deco, we had a horse and carriage ride through Central Park, visited Tiffany's on 5th Avenue, and ate a Candy Apple in the snow. We also took a day trip to Washington DC which was a long day, but well worth the early morning... Especially when I got to have a staring competition with Johnny Depp and play the piano with Duke Ellington...

Vietnam Memorial

The Lincoln Monument

The White House

Will Smith watching on as Johnny and I stare it out

Duke and I at the piano

Her and His with the Washington Monument in the background

We skated around the Rockefeller Center's ice rink, saw the NYC skyline from the top of the Rock at sunset, and had a minor Australian celebrity moment when we saw Scott Cam coming out of the Rock with his family!

We had such a great time, and it was so lovely to see each other again, that we've decided we don't want to keep doing the long distance thing. He's decided he can't do without me, and I've decided Europe would be much better with him by my side. We are both very excited about the prospect of a little less travel (for now!), and a lot more romance :-) In roughly six weeks time, after a ski trip to Bulgaria and some holiday time spent with my dance husband in a yet-to-be-decided location, I will be hopping back to the land of the Kangaroo and wearing corks on my Akubra once again! Ok... maybe no Akubra, and the corks will be coming out of the bottles of wine, but you get the picture ;-)

A touch of red in the apple

2011-01-09T23:06:00.000+08:00

2011

2011-01-02T03:00:00.000+08:00

Happy New Year! I hope 2011 is as fun for you as last night was for me. x

The family from snowy Fayl Billot

2010-12-27T21:56:00.000+08:00

We had gathered at the fire, for the word had passed around
That the temperature had dropped to minus four.
And the snow had not stopped falling - there were three inches on the ground
With the powder slowly creeping through the door.
All shades of scarves and beanies were adorning us that night
And thermals were the order of the day.
For ne'er had an Aussie seen a winter half this cold
And the Saffa's joined them wholly in the fray.

There was Micheal, whose knees were aching, he was closest to the flame
With his sister, oh so tiny, by his side.
Caroline and Liz, busy cooking in three rooms
Were the hardest of all the party to try to find.
And Charles was always stoking, running madly room to room
In his effort to keep four fires burning bright.
Whilst Christopher sat patiently, conversing with his aunt
As his brother sat alone in laptop-light.

But there was laughter, there was fun, there was more food than we could eat
And a snowball fight the likes we've never seen.
And a very merry Christmas was had by one and all
As we received the crisp, white Christmas of our dreams.
So thanks to Liz and Charles for their kindness and their warmth
For the croissants and wine that made our belly's grow.
For I'm sure we'll ne'er forget the coldest we have been
Nor the merriest of Christmas' in Fayl Billot.

Frenching

2010-12-24T06:50:00.000+08:00

In a week where over a million people have had their Christmas plans delayed, or cancelled completely, due to Heathrow not being able to cope with a bit (30 tonnes roughly?) of snow, after allegedly having spent less than half of what their Chief Executive earns in a year on preparing for this winter, I must admit to feeling all kinds of lucky when not only was my flight not cancelled, but the trains to get me to Heathrow all ran perfectly, my out-of-date Qantas Club card got me into the British Airways Club Lounge, my flight left on time, I got an emergency aisle seat, AND the plane arrived in Basel early!

Of course, I did arrive in Switzerland to find that my brother had parked the car in France but, these things happen!

After a lovely evening spent wandering through the Christmas Market in Mulhouse (sadly, pronounced "Muloose", not "Mull House", which I imagined implied streets flowing with mulled wine, or at least streets filled with houses in which one could drink mulled wine) and admiring the beautiful buildings lit up with beautiful Christmas lights, we filled our stomachs with crepes filled with boeuf before heading back to our cosy hotel for hot cups of good ol'Aussie-style Lipton tea.

Having had a delicious sleep in... until 8:15am... (accordingly to my brother, this is quite a late sleep in!) we managed to cram our five-selves into the car along with our mountainous pile of luggage, and made the short journey to Fayl Billot where my sister-in-law's husband's mother-in-law and her husband were busy trying to cram two days worth of cleaning and preparation into two hours.

Sitting down to local bakery delights for lunch

Liz and Charles (said sister-in-law's husband's mother-in-law and her husband) are the owners of a renovators dream in Fayl Billot - an enormous French house that could easily have been a small hotel in a past life, it's that big. They are determinedly working their way through the three stories they now own, each of which need a lot of work done but each of which will be absolutely lovely once done. I have fallen completely in love with my room, which has three different kinds of wallpaper peeling off the walls and a ceiling mottled by sections of plaster having fallen off, burn marks evidencing a fire from a few decades ago, and the odd glimpse of wooden beams. I have a lamp that looks like a flower, a bed with an electric blanket, and a fan heater that imitates a fire burning over hot coals. I love it!

Since tomorrow and Christmas Day will both be filled with lots of quality kitchen time in order to produce our two-day Christmas food bonanza, tonight for dinner we went out and ate at a gorgeously rustic French restaurant run by a family that lives in the same building. In fact, it was almost like you were sitting in their rather large lounge room (complete with comfy recliner and fleecy blanket in front of the TV), in which they had conveniently placed several tables and chairs, and a bar. I ordered what I thought was pate, and instead enjoyed a delicious liver and red cabbage entree, followed by peppered boeuf steak and frites for main, fromage, rouge wine, and flambéed bananas for dessert. Frites, fromage, boeuf, flambéed, rouge... See, been here less than 48 hours and already sounding like a local. Beauty mate!

Wimbledon winter collection

2010-12-20T03:01:00.001+08:00

A few photos from my walk this morning through the winter wonderland of Wimbledon Common...

Making hay

2010-12-18T02:15:00.003+08:00

Today it started snowing again, and, once again, I was grinning like an idiot whilst staring out the window from my work desk.

As such, I thought it was an opportune time to show you some photos from when the last lot of snow started melting away, and the squirrels decided to make one last dash for food before they all ran off to tuck themselves into their cosy trees with their Cath Kidston duvets and hibernate for the winter.

Aren't they the cutest little things? Rat's in a better outfit? I say nay! That is one point on which Miss Bradshaw and I shall just have to differ (because obviously, she and I are identical in every other way...) Look at the little fluff-ball holding onto his precious little nut. Naw...

Knit like a fox

2010-12-12T04:43:00.002+08:00

A few months ago I signed up for le cool's weekly email magazine, so that I could keep abreast of the coolest and quirkiest things going on in little old London Town whilst I'm here. Mostly I've browsed through the magazine and wistfully imagined how great it would be to have the money to be able to go and do everything I want to, but this week, I found something that was in my neighbourhood (relatively), and was free!

The ever so lovely and talented Sinead of Galavant is the brain mother (well, where there's a brain child, there'd have to be a brain mother right?) of The Crafty Fox Pop Up Market, which took place today in the Dogstar Bar & Cafe in Brixton.

Brixton, from what I can gather, seems to be London's attempt to merge Harlem with the back streets of Bangkok; with it's street markets filled with electric toys that crawl, walk, bark, and cry, and hunks of meat on display on fold-out tabletops, and it's gospel music shouting from various trailer-vans; I will admit to being slightly confused as to where exactly I was. But, I managed to navigate my way to the Dogstar and immediately fell in love with this market which made me feel like I'd just walked through my computer screen and into a real life version of Etsy! So many amazing stalls were cosily nestled into the pub, it was hard not to try on everything I saw! But, I had gone with a purpose, and that purpose was sitting up by a window on a comfy cushioned bench, surrounded by wool and knitting needles!

Tamsen, from Community Knitting Club, was kind enough to host a free two hour knitting workshop as a part of Crafty Fox. After picking up some cheap wool (hard to find over here!) and a pair of 3mm needles, I settled in and happily spent two hours surrounded by smiling, sharing women (and one man momentarily!), learning a new and speedy way to cast on, how to purl, how to do stocking stitch, and finally, how to create my very own little knitted Christmas decoration - my first ever knitting project that involved a pattern!

So, who else is up for a hot Saturday night in with a bottle of Bailey's and a ball of wool??

My world in white

2010-12-01T05:42:00.003+08:00

IT SNOWED TODAY!!!!!!

Oh my bees and possums I am so freaking excited!!!! I've never seen snow before and it's just amazing - so incredibly beautiful and it just floats and falls from the sky and dances in the air - snow sways and twirls in all different directions at the same time. It brushes up against your face and gets stuck in your eyelashes and on your lips, in your hair and on your coat, making you look like a walking white marshmallow!!

It crunches underfoot and makes you slip and slide your way along the pavement. It lets you leave perfect, crispy footprints all over the place and makes the grass look magical!

Snowflakes come in all different sizes and can be so tiny you think they're rain drops, or so big and fat you spend your time staring out the window or out from the tram stop shelter, watching them lazily twirl and fall to the ground, sticking your tongue out to catch one, and laughing as they coat your hat and scarf with their big, fat, iciness.

Most importantly though, the snow clumps together like a ball of frozen dough, and lets you create retarded looking miniature snow-creatures in your lunch break, with one green smartie eye and one blue one! How freaking awesome is snow?? Seriously!

A marsipan day

2010-11-29T03:39:00.001+08:00

What better way to celebrate the 30th birthday of one of your childhood friends, than to take her to a sumptuous chocolate and champagne afternoon tea at the Winter Garden?

Surrounded by palm trees and elegance, we stuffed ourselves silly on a delicious selection of sandwich fingers - organic egg mayonnaise and mustard cress, chicken, tarragon, and creme fraiche, oak smoked Scottish salmon, and the classic cucumber sandwich on fluffy white bread.

We quaffed sparkling glasses of Rose Tattinger Reserve Brut Champagne, sipped warming cups of the Winter Garden's bespoke tea, and then gorged ourselves into stupors on our tower of chocolate! For those not in the know, the tower of chocolate includes such delights as a white chocolate and mint macaroon, chocolate dipped strawberries, chocolate and raspberry creme brulee, a milk chocolate and banana pot au chocolate, and a dark chocolate and mango 'dream'...

There were also chocolate chip and fruit peel scones served with jam, clotted cream, and chocolate hazelnut spread but, our poor little tummies could take no more! So, we had them packed up for this beautiful lady to take them home for later in her special Landmark shopping bag.

An assortment of London

2010-11-24T05:31:00.000+08:00

So here a few of the things I've been up to in London over the last two of weeks...

I had a dinner date with the lovely Miss Mara, and we ate baked cheese that had a use-by date of her 30th birthday!

I went to the Sunday Up Market and indulged in a Kooky black forest cupcake and a coffee...

... And later, in a Kooky peanut butter whoopie pie and a mulled wine!

I experienced my coldest day yet in London this year - one degree, with much evidence of Mr Jack Frost on the ground!

I lost the Thames. I'm sure this is where I left it last time.

And, I wondered down Oxford Street two hours before the shops opened on a Sunday, when there were no crowds, and found some fun Christmas display windows!

The shoes of huzzah!

2010-11-20T03:31:00.000+08:00

These are lovely swing dancing shoes.

These are lovely swing dancing shoes that I bought.

These are lovely swing dancing shoes that I bought because I could afford to.

These are lovely swing dancing shoes that I bought because I could afford to and I was celebrating.

These are lovely swing dancing shoes that I bought because I could afford to and I was celebrating because I have a job!!!

Finally! A a little pre-Christmas miracle happened in the shape of the perfect opportunity met with perfect timing. On Monday, not more than an hour or so after I bombarded a wide selection of recruitment agencies with my CV, I received a call which lead to an interview on Tuesday, which led to a job on Wednesday! Huzzah! Said job is with an events company (huzzah!) and goes through until around mid-April (huzzah!), and they're absolutely fine with my pre-booked Christmas holidays (huzzah!). It's in a location where I don't have to contend with delayed trains on the tube (huzzah!) and therefore save money on transport (huzzah!), the team seem to be quite fun so far (huzzah!), they finish early on Fridays (huzzah!), and today, they invited me to their Christmas party next week!

Suffice to say, I'm just a bit happy at the moment.

Oh deer

2010-11-16T02:34:00.000+08:00

Things have been reasonably quiet for me here in London town. I managed to score two weeks of work at a medical practice which was a saviour because heaven knows the agencies I'm registered with aren't helping an awful lot with keeping me in bread and milk!

So, I've been working 8:30am-6pm for the last two weeks, which means I've been out of the house from 7:30am-7pm for the last two weeks, only to come home, head out to the gym for another hour or so, then come home, cook and eat dinner, and fall into bed. The weekends I don't seem to remember overly well. Not due to me getting up to exciting adventures, but moreso because they've been filled with necessary things like grocery shopping, cooking, cleaning, and shopping for a coat.

I did manage to have a lovely girl date with Mara on Sunday, during which we scored a free bottle of wine due to the bar staff's incompetence! Huzzah for bar staff who forget to add bottles of wine to tabs!

So - I don't have any photos to show you from my recent weeks, however, I did wander down to Richmond Park a little while ago, and was lucky enough to stumble across the deer that run wild throughout. The park is huge and wild and roaming, and is a brilliant place to relax as long as you're nice and toasty warm!

What did I say? Wild and roaming.

My very first deer spotting!

Unfortunately, I hadn't come equipped with my SLR, so these point and shoot mementos are all I have at this stage, but future wanderings to this park may produce some closer shots.

Now, I have a couple of interviews with agencies lined up this week... wish me luck!

Thank you

2010-11-11T05:19:00.000+08:00

They shall not grow old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years contemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

Lest we forget.

Mothers day

2010-11-06T06:53:00.001+08:00

I think we can all agree that mum's are pretty special people. My mum, however, is even more special because she makes the best cake in the world - a banana sponge roll, which is a home made sponge, wrapped around some fresh cream and bananas, and covered in a delicious chocolate icing topped with desiccated coconut. Mmmm.... I used to have to beg and plead for this cake to be made but, since I've moved out of home, my requests get results at a much higher success rate! It appears absence makes the mum cook favourites. Either that, or she's finally realised that I am indeed her favourite child... (Don't tell my brothers!)

Today (again, in Aussie land) is Mum's birthday, and I hope that she is being treated like a queen! I'm not going to blather about the usual soppy stuff Hallmark says you should say about your mum. My mum is a strong, stubborn, loving, argumentative, caring, and beautiful woman with gorgeous red cheeks, a habit of dying her hair odd colours, and a secret softer side that not everyone gets to see. I know that my mum's heart is choc-full of love for her family and on her birthday I want her to know that my heart could just about burst with how much I love her back.

I love you Mum, even more than I love your banana sponge rolls (and that's saying something!), so I hope you have a fabulous day, and that you get at least five extra hugs from everyone you see today to make up for the ones that I can't give you in person (Dad - please make sure they deliver).

Happy birthday my dearest Mum!! xx

Orange season

2010-11-02T03:57:00.001+08:00

The area in which I live in London is surrounded by gorgeous parks and is therefore completely enveloped by beautiful deciduous trees at this time of year... I couldn't resist taking a few photos of all the autumnal colour on my walk the other day...

I had my first day at work today! Actual office work - huzzah for not having to stand on my feet for eight hours straight, cleaning up after shoppers who can't be bothered putting things back where they got them from! It's so toasty and warm and the girls I work with are lovely and I get to sit down if I want to - it's the simple things that make me happy right now :-)

Wonderful darling, just wonderful

2010-10-31T23:29:00.002+08:00

When I woke up this morning I was so excited to see some sneak peak photos from a friend's photoshoot up on facebook!

The gorgeously vivacious Miss In Wonderland has, for the last few months, been developing herself a little empire of hats, hair pieces, accessories, and all things gorgeous, which you can check out at either her Made It store, or on Etsy. She is incredibly talented and I can't even begin to tell you how freaking proud I am of her for giving up her job of five years and following her dream to create and design.

Ashliegh puts in such a lot of care and love to her creations and you can certainly tell - I can't wait until I have one (two, three....) of my very own to start wearing around London town! After all, you never know want Santa may get me... Especially if Santa is going back to Perth before meeting me in New York... Ahem... ;-)

So, this photoshoot, shot by the ever-so-talented Dabs (yet another gorgeous Perth lady pursuing her dream!), looks oh-so-amazing! The models are gorgeous, the photos are absolutely stunning, the hats and accessories are to die for and, well, I'll just let them speak for themselves!

A perfect breakfast and a bit of dosh

2010-10-30T17:54:00.001+08:00

On Monday I started a new health regime/detox eating plan (spot the girl who hates the word "diet") to kick myself into the realm of health and fitness after those five food-filled weeks in Mallorca. My breakfasts have been a definite highlight of this new eating plan as I've stumbled upon a brilliant fruit salad combination! Try banana, apple, strawberries, blueberries, walnuts, toasted seeds, orange, and mint with lemon juice squeezed over the top - divine!

Today is day six and whilst I'm not craving anything that I can't have (dairy, grains, alcohol, caffeine) I can't say that I've noticed a remarkable difference in my energy levels or general feeling of well being. If anything, I've probably been a little tired but I don't blame that on my food, I blame it on the two shifts at Top Shop earlier in the week and my resulting sore leg, along with the continuous struggle to get some work.

I was put forward for a 3-6 month role earlier in the week which would have been perfect for me and which I could have done easily with one eye closed and a hand tied behind my back whilst wearing a pink bunny suit, however the company hiring decided they didn't want to go with an Aussie candidate purely because we Aussies get scared of winter over here and turn tail and head for home... This makes me a little sad - not only because I didn't get the job despite my skill set being a perfect match for it, but also because I therefore assume that within a few months, I will be the only Aussie left in London! Who will I be able to borrow vegemite from in December??

Luckily however, one of my flatmates works at a doctor's surgery that need an admin person for one, possibly two weeks starting Monday, and the lovely Stacey thought of me! As such, I have a whole week of office work lined up for this coming week, with the distinct possibility that it will evolve into two weeks - TBC later next week. Huzzah!!

Cultivating excitement

2010-10-23T02:55:00.001+08:00

So the girl is back in London, and she's cold!

She had two interviews with two different recruitment agencies today, so all in all it was quite a productive day. Now she gets to sit back over the weekend and wait for the work to start coming in!

Well... Not really. It still seems to be a hard market in which to find work so I'm a little concerned about it, but am trying not to worry about it too much as history has shown I tend to be ok. Fingers crossed that this trend continues! One agency told me that the temp work is starting to come in quite nicely - the other told me it starts drying out in the lead up to Christmas. I look forward to proving the first agency right and the other wrong, but in the meantime I will be making a concerted effort to be in close contact with the three agencies I am now registered with, hassling them as much as possible until they're so sick of me they give me work to get rid of me!

I'm also trying not to be concerned about the fact that funds are very low right now. After a day of stressing yesterday, today I have decided to cultivate a sense of excitement at the fact that I'm living on the edge! I have friends that will keep me stocked up on bread (hopefully!). I have some dried apricots and a few pieces of licorice in the cupboard. I have a roof over my head and the funds to pay for another month of that roof, AND, I have a third of a bottle of scotch in my room, to help keep me warm as winter edges in!

I'm putting my faith completely in idea that I will land on my feet - after all - I always seem to have done in one way or another, and going through these times is part of the fun of traveling, right?! Besides... I do need to loose some of those Mallorcian pounds ;-)

Mallorcian finds

2010-10-20T00:22:00.001+08:00

Here in Mallorca I have managed to find my own boat...

People who share my concern for the feelings of bugs...

A new way of decorating the front of my house...

And a pair of slippers that make you feel as though you are walking around on a pair of sheep!

SGH

2010-10-17T05:17:00.000+08:00

Today one of the most beautiful ladies I know turns 50.

It's hard to believe, because she in no way acts, looks, or appears in any way to be a lady of such a fine vintage. To be honest, I think she may actually have discovered some sort of elixir of youth or be caught in a time warp of some description, because the way we've been going I'm sure that within the next few years we'll appear to be roughly the same age.

This lady is the brilliant mother of my niece and my youngest nephew, the wife of my youngest brother, and my amazing and gorgeous sister. She is my sister by marriage technically of course, but I could not love her more if I had grown up with her by my side... In fact, I did grow up with her by my side! It's just that she was a few years ahead of me which, as a sister, I can rub in a little every now and then... ;-)

Shelley is the bubbles in my champagne, the see in my saw, and one of the best sisters a girl could ever ask for. She's always been there for me to talk about love, life, and anything else that comes up in casual or not so casual conversation, and has always been 100% supportive of me, which I am immensely thankful for and appreciative of.

She is generous to a fault, exceedingly caring, infinitely beautiful - both inside and out, a superior hostess, hilariously entertaining, and she is one of the most loving women I know.

She actually gave us a bit of a scare not too long ago, and surprisingly, to me at least, expressed a little surprise herself at how much everyone gathered in around her, expressing their love and care for her. This, my dear sister, should come as no surprise what-so-ever. You are loved adoringly by anyone and everyone who knows you, and for very good reasons. You are gorgeous. GAW-JUS! So, on your birthday, lets all eat a little bit of dust and celebrate one of the most fabulous women any of us know!

Love you sis.
xx

Palma Cathedral

2010-10-15T21:51:00.000+08:00

A few more photos, again, from a few days ago. This time of the marvellous gothic Palma Cathedral.

Sorry for the lack of words - will be back to normal programming soon.x

Port de Soller to Sa Calobra

2010-10-12T15:07:00.001+08:00

These are a few photos from about a week ago when I journeyed from Port de Soller to Sa Calobra (the snake) via ferry boat. The torrent at Sa Calobra is quite a famous Mallorcian walk but does require some technical gear which, sadly, my Diesel street shoes were not up to. The water was an amazing colour, and the scenery just stunning, but I'll let the photos speak for themselves...

Crossing the bar

2010-10-08T04:01:00.005+08:00

The last week has been incredibly hard.

Last week my Poppa was taken to hospital and we were told that he only had 24 hours to live. I woke up on Friday morning to an email from my Mum telling me this news and there commenced a frantic scramble to try to get a hold of family back home to see what the latest update was. Since then, it's been an emotionally exhausting existence, trying to work out if I could get back home and accepting the fact that I couldn't, calling the hospital every night and every morning to see how Poppa had gone over the last few hours - fearing before each call that I was about to hear news I didn't want to hear, and checking in with my Mum and my brother every day to make sure they were also ok, and so that they were I assured I was "ok" too.

The first time I spoke to Poppa after he was hospitalised, he was barely there and couldn't speak. Our conversation wasn't helped by the fact that I was sobbing on the other end of the line, trying to tell him how much I loved him and that I hoped he wasn't in any pain. The next few days he was always asleep when I called.

The second time I spoke to Poppa, he was sounding much better. He was still weak, but was able to carry on a conversation with me, and we spoke about my travels, the postcard I had sent him from Mallorca, and his morphine-induced hallucinations of water flowing on the ceiling.

That was the last time I spoke with my Poppa.

I have received some lovely emails from friends offering support from afar, but one in particular gave me a quote to which I have been clinging... "Don't cry because it is over, smile because it happened." I'm not done crying yet, but it does warm my heart when I think that Poppa is now back with Nanna again, caught up in the whirlwind of their youth when they first met and were just starting to fall in love - Nanna beautiful and glowing with happiness, Poppa dashing in his navy uniform.

Today, as my Poppa is laid to rest back home, I cannot help but cry because his time in this world is over and my heart aches with missing him, but I do promise to raise a glass of Scotch for him, and I will smile because I knew him, and because the life of Harold Douglas Coleopy, my Poppa, happened.

Bi-stingual

2010-10-02T01:13:00.001+08:00

Back home in Australia, I pretty much gave up on swimming at the beach. Not for fear of killer Great White Sharks, but because nearly every time I went in the water, without fail, a bastard of a jellyfish would sting me! Sure it doesn't kill you (the ones I swam with anyway), and the pain fades reasonably quickly, but it's a minor irritant I can do without.

Today Deanne took me out with her niece and her husband for a lovely walk down to a little swimming area between Valldemossa and Deia, known as 'hole in the rock' (can you see why?) and with much excitement I launched myself out into the beautiful Spanish waters and started swimming around with nary a care in the world.

I was so excited to be swimming in Spain, and felt so safe in such beautiful waters, that as I stroked out towards my friends it came as a huge shock when my chest and neck suddenly exploded in stinging pain, along with my hand when I instinctively tried to swipe away whatever creature was attacking me! As I back-paddled, I saw the nasty and not-so-little mauve coloured fellow jellying off towards the cliffs, as my hand (and probably my neck) started looking as though my veins were about to start erupting from my skin. Little fudge monkey!

We stayed in the water a good while longer, albeit slightly nervous. No other jellies were spotted. No one else was stung. I feel it is entirely likely, and highly probable, that the Australian jellies seamailed the Spanish jellies and told them to look out for me and make me feel at home by sending out a bi-stingual ambassador if I ever did dare wade into their waters.

El bastardos!

Day trip to Valldemossa

2010-09-28T23:29:00.000+08:00

Today I had a day trip up into the mountains to visit the beautiful village of Valldemossa.

In 1838, Chopin and his lover rented a former monk's cell at the monastery in Valldemossa, and Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta Jones own a house not far from the village. But, celebrities aside, the village is just stunning...

Dancing with demons

2010-09-25T17:33:00.001+08:00

One thing that has always appealed to me about traveling is the chance of you being in the right place, at the right time, and seeing something absolutely amazing that generally only locals get to see. Last night I was lucky enough to have an invitation to dine in the streets of Binissalem with a small group of expats to celebrate the end of the Binissalem Wine Festival, and it was one of the most amazing nights out I have ever had whilst traveling!

The entire village is closed off to traffic - even the locals have to ensure their cars are off the streets and out of the way - and everyone lines their streets with tables and chairs that they decorate with grapes, figs, cheeses, meats, and flowers.

In every street you can smell the traditional mutton fideua (noodle) soup simmering away in preparation for the hundreds of people who will emerge to eat, drink, and laugh together throughout the evening. Whilst anyone can come along to Binissalem to witness the feast and the ensuing pagan festivities, you can only dine by invitation, which was why I was so unbelievably lucky not only to be in Mallorca at this time of year, but also to have a friend of a friend to issue me with an invite to this traditional Mallorcan feast.

Dessert is another traditional Mallorcan dish - ensaimada - which is a warm, sweet bread cake, fashioned into a coil. Ensaimadas can be made plain, with cream, or with a custard filling (which ours was), and it is absolutely divine. My only regret for the evening was that I ate too much fideua and couldn't fit in a second slice of ensaimada!

Dinner carried through from around 8pm until nearly midnight, after which we retired back to Ruth and Martin's beautiful house for a glass of Baileys and an espresso to keep us going until the pagan demons came out at 1:30am!

With sleepy full-belly eyes successfully re-opened, we wandered around the village for a bit, stopping in to listen to some musicians playing at another house, until it was time to head to the village square.

Hundreds of people were already crowding around the "zone of fire" and the atmosphere was charged with excitement and anticipation! Then the lights went out, fires were lit, and a band of demons started drumming whilst a giant she-demon gave birth to a baby demon that later killed her! The she-demon disappeared and a horde of demons exploded out into the zone of fire, tridents blazing, sparks flying, and blood dripping from their tongues!

Those dressed for the occasion (ie wearing protective clothing so that their limbs and hair didn't get burned by the sparks flying everywhere!) swarmed into the zone of fire to dance with the demons to the crazy underworld drum beat. It was completely wild and pagan and brilliant! I couldn't resist!

For Christ(opher)'s sake!

2010-09-23T03:40:00.000+08:00

Today is a day for multiple celebrations. Today is the 18th anniversary of my parents becoming grandparents for the very first time. It's the 18th anniversary of my big brother Micheal, and his lovely wife Caroline, becoming parents for the very first time. It's also the 18th anniversary of my becoming an aunty for the very first time... This, of course, means that today is the day that my eldest nephew officially becomes an adult, can vote in political elections, and can learn the pleasures of a glass of good wine or a fine spirit in public... Today, Christopher turns 18.

I can remember the very moment I found out that Christopher had arrived - I was sitting in my classroom at school, working on an assignment quietly, completely absorbed, when all of a sudden my mother's head was right next to mine, and she was telling me that Micheal and Caroline had had a little boy. She was so excited she'd driven right to my school to tell me. Being at quite a finicky age, when parents weren't so cool, I acted nonchalantly and responded with something like "... So...?" But of course, as only a pre-teen myself, I couldn't possibly have known that one of the most brilliant people I would ever know had just arrived in the world.

One of Christopher's stand out qualities, well known amongst our family, his peers, and anyone who meets him, is that he has an exceptional mind. I have quite often joked (very seriously!) that I look forward to the day when Christopher, by then a self made millionaire, will hire me on a ridiculous salary as his personal assistant! But there is much more to this incredible young man than his distinctions and scholarships. Christopher has a good head on his shoulders - and by this I mean he has the rare ability to know who he is and what he wants, without succumbing to peer pressures. He has the great gift of being able to pursue his own dreams without amending them to fit in with the passing fancies of others around him and I only wish I had his self confidence and self assurance, not only when I was a teenager, but even now!

With a gentle spirit, and a willingness to help others wherever he can, Christopher is already a young man to be admired; I can't begin to tell you how excited I am to see what happens next with my eldest nephew. I am so proud of all of his achievements to date, but more than that, I am proud of the amazing young man he has become. Today, I hope that he has a day filled with nothing but fun, happiness, laughter, and love, and I hope that his future is everything he wants it to be and then some. May all your dreams come true Christopher... Except maybe the one about the rabid turkeys...

Me, Jonathan, and Christopher at Edinburgh Castle, Dec 2007

Happy 18th birthday! xx

North for the Tuesday

2010-09-21T22:37:00.001+08:00

Today I pulled out a map of Mallorca and decided to travel to it's northern-most point - Cap de Formentor!

The highest point of the Cap is a shade over 380m above sea level and the views are spectacular - both on the drive there, and once you've arrived! The twisty narrow roads with sudden drops off the side however - not so picturesque!

However, it did seem to be a mecca for cyclists, and I even found a pair of half-marathon runners... presuming they weren't going to turn around and run all the way back too... Crazy Germans.

One of the things that really struck me, coming from the land of the windswept cliffs back home, was the fact that the seas were so calm. No waves rushing in and smashing up against the cliff faces - the sea serenely comes in to meet the land and they carefully kiss each others cheeks (both sides) in greeting.

The lighthouse at Cap de Formentor was built between 1857 and 1863 and because the terrain was so harsh, special dispensation was granted by the Bishop of Mallorca for the men to continue working on Sundays and special holidays.

On the way back down from Cap de Formentor, you can see the village of Port de Pollensa, where I stopped for some lunch and a wander before heading home.

Celliebration!

2010-09-20T05:06:00.000+08:00

I just have to say that my niece is awesome to the power of infinity.

Today however, she is especially awesome, because today it's her birthday :-)

Ellie is the milk in my tea, the lemon and sugar on my pancakes, and the llama in my hat. In short, she makes life supremely fun and is one of the most delightful young ladies you could ever have the pleasure of meeting.

She is the sweet little shortbread that the Smart Cookie was named after, and would give Julia Child a run for her money in the kitchen (as long as they were making chocolate souffles or semi-raw pancakes!).

She is a complete drama queen in the best possible way, who laughs with me at all the silly things we find on Youtube, and who is working with me closely on perfecting the art of growing up without growing up.

Without her, there would be no toe-sucking frog at my feet, Perth would be located no where near Canberra, and clouds would not be made out of fairy floss. So, on her birthday, I wish my darling niece the happiest, sparkliest, shiniest of days - may her hair be perfect for the entire 24 hours, may her teachers give her a cupcake with every piece of homework, and may the little somethin' somethin' I left for her brighten her day as much as she brightens my life.

Happy birthday Ellie! xx

Casa sweet casa

2010-09-17T16:06:00.002+08:00

On Sunday I received an email from a friend of mine asking if I would be interested in flying to Spain, living on the island of Mallorca, and looking after her aunt's gregarious ten year old girl, two dogs, and a cat for three weeks... Oh heck yes!! Within twelve hours I had my flight booked to Palma and now I find myself back in summer clothing, drinking Spanish wine, and hanging out with afore-mentioned friend for a few days before she and her partner continue their European adventure. Could life be any better right now??

Charlie

Shanty, post operation and a little moopy

Tom, a bit annoyed that I'm disturbing his siesta

View from my bedroom window

An M T day

2010-09-15T14:37:00.002+08:00

Tomorrow is my oldest brother's birthday. Tomorrow being the 16th of September. We could say that Micheal, being my oldest brother and my parent's first born, is therefore my number one brother. 16 minus one is 15 which is the date today. So it is for this extremely befitting reason that I pen his birthday blog on this day, and has nothing at all to do with the fact that I fly out of England this afternoon and am not sure if I'll get the chance to do it again before his birthday is over...

Micheal, not wanting to get girl germs (or so I presume), pretty much left home as soon as I was born. He joined the Royal Australian Air Force and lived far, far away - out of easy visiting distance - and as such, I don't have a handy plethora of young childhood memories of my big bro laying around inside my head. I do, however, have memories of him helping me with my maths homework over the phone when no one else could, and of receiving presents of Beverly Hills 90210 merchandise he posted to me for Christmas one year when I had a huge adolescent crush on Luke Perry. The latter he teased me about mercilessly for months!

Micheal has always been my go to person for logical advice, and that hasn't changed as I've gotten older. The questions may have changed from queries about cosines and matrices to mortgages and tax returns, but Micheal has always been there to guide me through life's assignments, paperwork, and contracts, giving me the benefit of his experience and knowledge.

Three years ago, my big bro was also the inspiration and catalyst for my finally visiting the UK. He had planned a fabulous trip for his family to the UK and Europe for Christmas and, like all good little sisters, I decided to tag along! Traveling to the UK and Europe had always been high on my to-do list so, with the knowledge that I could not only travel, but have Christmas overseas with my brother and his family, I just couldn't resist the pull. I love that I was able to explore a bit of London and Edinburgh with my big brother, sis-in-law, and nephews, and to share my first winter Christmas with them all. The photos I have of us all from this time together are some of my most treasured, and I cannot wait to do it all again with them this year, this time in rural France! (And yes... I may have tagged myself onto this trip too... It's what little sisters do when awesome big brothers let them!)

So, on this very auspicious day before his birthday, I want to wish my brilliant big bro a very, very happy birthday. I hope that his morning rushes past in a flurry of birthday hugs, kisses, coffee, cake, and presents, and that his afternoon is filled with a dream round (or two) of golf played under a clear blue sky. Failing that, and erring towards the assumption that he'll be off to work like any other week day, I hope that it's at least as carefree as possible, that his secretary has at least organised a birthday morning tea for him, and that he takes time out at least once every hour to remember that his little sister loves him more than she ever loved Luke Perry, and that she'll be thinking of him and sending him love at least once every minute today (tomorrow... you know...), if not more.

Happy birthday bro! xx

Thames Festival

2010-09-13T02:24:00.000+08:00

Today I popped into town to check out the Thames Festival. A short commute, because I've actually moved back to London! Ahh London... where even scary sheep men can get girlfriends, and where it's ok to wear flowers on your top hat or dye your hair bright orange.

The sorry tale of the chocolate monkey

2010-09-10T00:07:00.000+08:00

Once upon a time there was a chocolate monkey that cleverly disguised himself as a girl in a purple dress and lilac wellies, in order not to be eaten.

The chocolate monkey (cleverly disguised as a girl in a purple dress and lilac wellies) had been running away from hungry children and chocoholic ducks for so long that he decided his best chance of survival (and a rest!) would be to climb to the very top of England's highest waterfall, where the hungry children could not reach him, and where even the ravenous chocoholic ducks dare not fly for fear of buzzards.

So, off to Canonteign Falls the chocolate monkey skipped (quite a feat in wellies, even for a monkey, let me tell you). The waterfall was very high - a good 220 feet which is at least double that in monkey feet. Triple if the monkey is wearing lilac wellies as this chocolate monkey was.

The chocolate monkey (cleverly disguised as a girl in a purple dress and lilac wellies) eventually made it to the top of the waterfall and was as pleased as pineapple punch served in a pumpkin pepper-pot! The view was spectacular from the top and such was the chocolate monkey's sense of accomplishment on this gorgeously sunny day, he decided that he would go back down to the bottom of the falls and, being cleverly disguised as a girl in a purple dress and lilac wellies, he would attempt to convert the chocoholic ducks from chocolate to Devonshire cream teas.

At the bottom of the falls, the chocolate monkey (cleverly disguised as a girl in a purple dress and lilac wellies) carefully selected a sitting spot with a good escape route, and a plump and tasty scone, and sat down to show the chocoholic ducks just how good a cream tea could be.

One by one the chocoholic ducks realised that chocolate had nothing on a Devonshire cream tea. Chocolate melts in the sun and in your wing-pocket and they quite often had issues with their beaks getting all sticky and messy when they tried to eat it (they have no tongue with which to lick their beaks you see). Scones, on the other hand, broke apart quite easily and were quickly downed with no mess and no fuss. The chocoholic ducks renounced their chocoholicness and cried "huzzah!" in duck-speak for their new found addiction!

The chocolate monkey (cleverly disguised as a girl in a purple dress and lilac wellies) was well 'appy! She and the ducks danced around their scone crumbs in a turbulent torrent of excited glee and were so completely absorbed in their combined happiness and future plans for scone-worshipping ceremonies that none of them noticed the very rare, but very deadly* cocoa-and-duck-eating pirate swan creeping up behind them... Alas, cocoa-and-duck-eating pirate swans are renowned for being able to see through purple dresses and lilac wellies and so knew immediately that the girl thus dressed was not a girl at all! With his long and super bendy neck, the cocoa-and-duck-eating pirate swan quickly lassoed the sconeoholic ducks and the chocolate monkey before they could say "take us to Johnny Depp, we demand the right of parlay!" and thus our heroic chocolate monkey was no more.

*The cocoa-and-duck-eating pirate swan is, of course, only considered deadly by those creatures made out of chocolate, or duck. The cocoa-and-duck-eating pirate swan's deadliness increases tenfold if it happens to stumble across both it's forms of prey in the one setting... If this happens, not even a chocolate-smudged feather will remain...

The End.

Sunshiny happiness

2010-09-01T03:25:00.003+08:00

The last few days have been so beautifully warm and sunny that it's impossible to be sad or grumpy once you're out of doors... Perfect, heaven-sent weather for spending some nourishing time at the beach and dipping ones toes in the sea!

Blackpool Sands is, apart from misleading (sands??), a beautiful little sheltered beach surrounded by grassy cliffs on which white sheep with black heads were doing some sun-baking of their own (having recently rubbed factor 15 over their wooly whiteness - sheep don't like freckles you see). I had a lot of fun watching pasty white English folk frolicking about in the frosty water (suffice to say nothing beyond my ankles got wet!), and listening to children creating the life of an imaginary pirate called Captain Nobbles, who apparently lived just around the edge of the cove, just out of sight, and sometimes left spare keys in the ocean!

Melons

2010-08-30T04:05:00.000+08:00

The thing with traveling is that it seems to magnify everything. The highs are ecstatically brilliant, but the lows seem to hit just that little bit harder.

It's been a rough week or so, with bad news winging it's way to me on tarred feathers, leaving dark, smeary blemishes on my doorstep. I have been struggling a little with the news of not one, but two family members being hospitalised recently, and although I have been told they are both fine, I cannot help but worry about them and mourn the fact that I cannot see them in person, or touch them to know they are real and warm and ok.

Compounding the issue is the fact that I cannot talk to those I feel closest to, those I would normally confide in, because none of them are close to me at the moment. So, I'm feeling a little disconnected, and a little lost, and a little alone.

His Travel Romance tells me that I need to tell people how I am feeling, so that they know, and so they can respond. I have a problem with this because it's not about me, and I feel selfish by feeling sad because I'm not the one that was, or is, in hospital. But, in case he's right, just this once, this is how I'm feeling, so if you'd like to email me to say hi and tell me about your boringly amazing and normal day, to let me in and let me feel a connection with you, well, that would be nice. I'd appreciate that.

A weekend in Cornwall in three parts... Part Three!

2010-08-27T22:16:00.000+08:00

On my way home to Diptford on Sunday, I called into a little town called Marazion, home of St Michael's Mount. I just love how in England, a family can live somewhere that was built in the 12th Century... I think the house I grew up in was built in the 1960's!

To get to St Michael's Mount, if the tide is out, there is a path you can walk along.

If the tide comes in however, the return journey is a boat ride - just as much fun!

I arrived at the Mount at around ten in the morning, so by the time I wandered around the castle and arrived at the church, the morning's service was about to commence. Having not attended a church service since I was about four or five years old with my grandmother, I thought it would be lovely to experience one in such a lovely setting, and I was so glad I did. To take time out to reflect, and think, and on a solo journey to not feel alone for a little while, was such a nice feeling.

Whilst I was at St Michael's Mount, I decided to join the National Trust - 48GPB for free entry into any National Trust Building and car park in England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland? Deal! I'm already a third of a way to it paying for itself - especially since my second stop on Sunday was worth a tenner.

Lanhydrock is a beautiful country estate house and garden and I was just blown away by how ridiculously rich some people were/are! This house had a huge main kitchen, a smaller kitchen, a bakery room, a dairy room for making and storing cheeses, a meat hanging room, plus a few kitchen essentials storage/standing rooms, and these were, of course, all located within the staff's section of the house - the residents wouldn't even see these rooms!

I spent hours just wandering around the beautiful old house, imaging what it would have been like to live there, to spend afternoons reading and eating cream teas in the ladies sitting room, evenings in the drawing room, or in the billiards room...

Oh, I could do this life!

Boythday!

2010-08-25T03:52:00.001+08:00

Although it's still the 24th here in sunny SW England, it is now officially (by around four hours) my youngest brother's birthday in Australia, which is where he is, so that's what counts!

On a river winery cruise in Perth, March 2008

Now when I say youngest, I mean he is the youngest of my two older brothers... Just to clarify... I am clearly the younger and better looking one!

Boy, so named by toddler-me when I couldn't pronounce his real name and which thereafter stuck, is the best whistler I know. He has an amazing ability to produce a warbling whistle that I have never heard anyone else do. You know when there is a change in tone or a pause in the lyrics of the song when most people would break off the whistle and start again? He doesn't do this. He warbles the sound so you know the break/change is there, but he keeps going with it... Oh, for an example to play you so I don't have to try to use words to describe a sound! It's brilliant. It's one of those little things that I absolutely love about him, and it's one of the things that I try to do myself and never can. It's a Boy thing, and it makes me smile whenever I think about him doing it.

When I was a toddler or thereabouts, and he still lived at home, I remember Boy taking me for a ride on a motorbike. I remember trips with Mum and Dad to visit him in Adelaide after he moved away and started playing footy for the SANFL and I used to squirm with impatience when Dad made a million kazillion stops to talk with people before we'd finally arrive at his house! I remember trips made on my own, when I was older, and him driving me around in his super-speedy red car and me wishing that I would be as good a driver as him when I got my license. I remember him coming to watch me in a swimming competition once, and making me feel like I was awesome even though I sucked incredibly (I came last) and had a ridiculous bathing suit on that was not made for a race meet. I remember when I was older still, and we started having adult to adult conversations, and I was so proud and happy that I was a grown up like my brother.

More recently, I remember the support Boy gave me when I was going through a really tough time personally, and whilst he has always been there to support me, I didn't expect my sporty, blokey, ocker Aussie brother to show such a sensitive and insightful side of himself. I feel so blessed to know him and to be his little sister. Although he doesn't know it, this time last year, pretty much to this very minute, he saved me, just by being him... and for that, I could never love him more.

So, on his birthday, although his present is already there with him wrapped, and awaiting his drinking pleasure, I send my youngest brother all the love and best wishes in the world, because he means the world to me... Even if he does sometimes have squid ink on his face...

Squidding on our Christmas break, Port Lincoln, 2009

Happy birthday Boy! xx

A weekend in Cornwall in three parts... Part Two!

2010-08-24T19:59:00.000+08:00

Treen, along the coastal path to Lands End. Approximately five miles each way. Beautiful cliff top views, being swept sideways off my feet, sea cows, hovering-mouse-slash-lizard-catching birds, life savers, slugs and snails, walkers, rabbits.

At Lands End, Cornish pasty, not a fan, cream tea, Dr Who, big fan, and no return buses... hence the 'each way'.

Return journey via the road to avoid traversing the coves, up and down, until Porthcurno where the coastal path beckoned again. Land cows walking home, feet and legs aching, messed up hair, rained on, warm, clammy, tired, happy.

A weekend in Cornwall in three parts... Part One!

2010-08-23T04:14:00.001+08:00

On Friday night I had an absolutely brilliant night at the Minack Theatre in Porthcurno! The entire outdoor theatre is carved out of stone and overlooks the Atlantic Ocean in all it's glory. Quite easily the most spectacular stage I have ever seen (Mr Best, you would die!). Rowena Cade built the theatre herself, with some help, over many winters, so that arts lovers could see live performances in a most spectacular setting.

One pound hires you a cushioned chair with backrest that makes the stone seats comfortable, and the smell of Cornish pasties and coffee fills the air, mingling with the sea mist and the sounds of gulls patrolling the cliff face below.

Gortex, gum boots, my hip flask, and a huge, folded over blanket ensured a warm, dry, and comfortable performance on my part, and I could not more highly recommend seeing a show, any show, at this theatre. Just being there made me want to flail my arms and run around in dramatic grandeur!

Eating adventures with Max

2010-08-20T18:37:00.003+08:00

Yesterday, from about midday onwards, was a brilliantly fun day, spent eating everything in sight with my friend Max, who was down in the countryside for less than 24 hours before his flight back to rainy Adelaide.

We spent a great deal of our time at Sharpham Winery - a beautiful spot with tasty wines, delicious cheeses, and a mouthwatering menu at their cafe, where Max shouted me to a scrumptious three course lunch of pate, crab, and creme brulee!

After stuffing ourselves silly, we took a little walk down to the river by the winery, found our summer holiday house by the banks, and managed to avoid falling over any stiles!

The winery was followed by cream tea in Totnes, and fish and chips and glasses of scotch by the seaside. So much food! Good times to the Max :-)

A room with a view

2010-08-18T03:22:00.000+08:00

With such a gorgeous view from my room, it seems only fair that I share it with some of my favourite things.

A warming glass of 12 year old Caol Ila late on a cool afternoon...

My runners after a record beating 16:43 Diptford circuit...

An afternoon pot of tea with a country chicken tea cosy...

And a glass of French red (chosen for the cat on the label) at sunset...

FYI - choosing wine based on it having a cute cat on the label seems to be an excellent indication of the quality of the drink. I recommend using this selection criteria.

Her Chefy Romance

2010-08-14T15:35:00.000+08:00

On Thursday I had the most fabulously fun day! Stella, who I am working for here at the Old Rectory, also happens to run the Ashburton Cookery School - one of the best cookery schools in the world as stated by the Waitrose Food Magazine - and I was lucky enough to get on one of their one day Modern Vegetarian courses!

The day starts off with a hot cup of coffee or tea, and introductions to the lovely staff, before heading into the kitchen and getting straight into it. We started off preparing our take home dish, a creamy parsnip, lentil and cumin soup, before going on to prepare our snacks which were to tide us over until the main meal was ready.

Our snacks consisted of celeriac, carrot, and feta cheese fritters (one of which had already found it's way to my stomach by the time I remembered to take a photo!) and baked courgette, mozzarella, and pesto rolls, served on a drizzle of balsamic. Oh heavens were they divine!

Our chef for the day was the lovely Joe Bartlett who was brilliant at what he did, making amazing food and making everyone feel so comfortable and happy to give everything a go at the same time.

Joe demonstrating the preparation of our main course

Next on the menu was a filo pastry tart filled with creamy leek, apple, wild mushrooms, and tarragon, with a soft poached egg.

This dish was just mouth-watering and I learned some handy little tricks when it comes to washing a cutting leaks and mushrooms - I can't wait to make this dish again!

Our main course was stuffed aubergine with griddled halloumi cheese, roasted vegetables, pumpkin seeds, coriander, and sweet chili sauce, served with a dressed watercress salad.

I am a huge fan of halloumi so anything with this on the plate I am guaranteed to love but putting that sentiment aside, this dish was just amazing! It's almost enough to make a girl give up meat... Almost!

Running around Diptford

2010-08-12T04:30:00.000+08:00

With all of the amazing food here in Devon (I'm working for a woman who makes amazing scones and jam, and who owns a cookery school for crying out loud!) I've decided that I definitely need to get on track with my running... The only problem is, the lane ways around here are tiny and a little dangerous considering the cars can't really see you from around slight bends, so I've had to find myself a little running circuit.

I start off on the slow road, just to be safe...

... before making my way to a public footpath (the only one I've found in the entire village).

The footpath is literally a little path for your feet... Nothing more...

I've discovered that long Skins are better than 3/4 Skins as half a calf exposed on this track is likely to be stung by some form of nettle... Ouch! At the end of the footpath, it's up and over the stile (trying not to trip over)...

... and onto a country lane way. Unavoidable, but at least my time on these is minimised and the two I go on are relatively quiet.

There's a left turn at the end, up the second country lane way...

... past the sheep...

... and I keep going until I see evidence of Diptford once again (not that far really).

Once I'm back in town it's up past the lovely pink house that never fails to make me smile...

... through the potted garden...

... and down the hill on the main road through town.

From there it's just a little turn around a bend, down past the big stone walls...

... and I'm home!

For a change of pace, I flip the run around. Doing it as I've shown above gives a short but tricky downhill run to ease into it in the beginning, and a long and gradual uphill from the time I step over the stile, until I'm in the potted garden. Very good for stamina. The problem with this though, is going downhill on the footpath requires a lot of concentration so as not to twist an ankle. I've discovered that even a momentarily lapse of awareness can be quite dangerous. The reverse however, provides a long and gradual down hill run (great for recovery on the second and third laps), to the stile, and then a mother of an intense, uphill, off-road run at the end - much better for interval training! This is what I did three circuits of tonight in 17:50. That ought to have worked off the white chocolate and malteser icecream I had this afternoon!

Laneways and slippy mud

2010-08-07T02:57:00.004+08:00

The last few days have passed by in a flurry of green fields, bleating sheep, and cream teas. I've moved to the English countryside!

Over the weekend I bought myself a train ticket to Totnes (my first ever train journey!) and arranged to live on a gorgeous estate in a small village called Diptford.

In exchange for working around 35 hours per week at the Old Rectory (providing breakfast for B&B guests and tidying their rooms in the mornings, and greeting new guests when they arrive of an evening), I get to live in a beautiful big room with views over a rolling green valley, I have sole use of a bathroom as big as the room I left behind in London, my own kitchen, a sum of money for food and spending, and I get the use of a car whenever I need or want it! I will also be working in a farm shop that sells delicious local organic goodies (marmalades, breads, cheeses, yoghurts, icecreams...) roughly 20 miles from here, for a bit of extra dosh. Nice one!

Since I arrived on Tuesday I've been settling in and getting used to what needs to be done. Yesterday I had some free time though, so I pulled on my lilac gum boots and went rambling over the estate, discovering beautiful dappled paths, flowers, and views.

My rambling then led me into the town of Diptford, where I smiled at tiny laneways barely big enough for two cars to pass each other, and where I found a playground happily devoid of children... Huzzah! The slippery dip was mine!

Today we had three guests in for breakfast and I was pleased as punch to have Stella tell me, and her husband, that I set up my first breakfast beautifully - just as she likes it - and in half the time. Top stuff!

Later today, however, the VW Golf I had been given to drive around in decided it didn't like our partnership, and stopped right on a round-a-bout, ne'er to start again. Well... that's what it's looking like. 'Cam belt', says the mechanic over the phone... 'not worth replacing' apparently. Hopefully it's just the starter motor, but we won't know that until tomorrow. In the meantime, I plan on lazing in my room, drinking my glass of red wine, eating my home-made fudge from the Broadway Markets, and... that's about it! Breakfast for five tomorrow - wish me luck!

Saturday in London goes a little like this...

2010-08-01T05:04:00.000+08:00

Today involved the Broadway Markets...

The discovery of a place that sold cream tea in London!!

A wonder around Little Venice...

... And the discovery of a Cath Kidston store, where I saw a million and three things that I wanted to buy for the lovely Miss Ashliegh In Wonderland (seriously Ash, you would go NUTS!), and where I spent a small fortune on some delicious smelling bluebell body lotion, hand cream, and soap! Mmmm...

From Perth to London

2010-07-30T02:40:00.000+08:00

This week has been rather lovely so far. Not only did I manage to score a whole four day's worth of work (at Top Shop, in the fraud prevention department - mind you it's not all that exciting - I'm doing receipts reconciliation and the most exciting part of my placement was when Jordan was spotted in the store... My response was to keep working on the receipts!), I got to have dinner with a friend from Perth!

Keryna was on the tail end of an extensive, "I've got long service leave and I'm using it!" European trip with her man-friend Matt, so we decided to celebrate our both being on the other side of the world by eating at a little French restaurant in Earls Court called The Little French Restaurant! My big brother had suggested it was the very best value meal in town, and I would have to say I agree - three delicious French courses for 10GBP on the proviso that you have a glass of wine is not a bad deal at all. (Thanks bruv! xx)

The restaurant is gorgeously quaint, and we even had a French waitress - I was impressed. We also got to enjoy a little old(er) couple snuggling and canoodling outside our window for a while... It was actually quite sweet and romantic. Of course, that's based on my imagining they've been married for 60 years and are still madly in love with each other after all this time. In reality, they may have each knocked off their original spouses and met in prison where they married just a few short weeks ago, prior to their release, and are still in the honeymoon phase. You never know.

To market, to market

2010-07-29T05:14:00.002+08:00

On Sunday I ventured over to Brick Lane and explored both the Sunday Up Markets and the Spitalfields Markets - in hindsight, wearing my heels wasn't the best idea... these markets are huge on their own, let alone combined!

In true HTR fashion, my only purchases for the day were a cupcake and some fudge! Mmmm....

Devonshire Tea me!

2010-07-24T02:31:00.000+08:00

One of the things I was looking forward to the most with coming to England was to be able to eat scones slathered in jam and dolloped with cream absolutely everywhere I went! Alas, it turns out that Devonshire Tea's are not that popular here Putney/Fulham...

After much frustration and many apologetic looks from cafe owners, I eventually managed to stumble across some scones! Albeit, in a Waitrose supermarket... The pre-prepared variety with whipped cream that are slightly stale no matter how quickly you get to them...

But, beggers can't be choosers! So, Waitrose scones, plus "super jam" (a jam made with only fruit and fruit juice, no added sugar - yum!) to add a bit of extra deliciousness are my bed buddies tonight as I lounge in Mara's room, watching Dr Who and looking forward to an early night...

Oh - and note the sunshine through the window? That's 7:30pm sunshine. It's quite similar to 4:30am sunshine... I saw both today - hence the quite night!