birthday dessert ideas: August 2010

Flower power

São meus, meus e só meus! Adoro estes papéis-de-parede dos anos 60 que chegaram esta semana! Preciso de ideias para a sua utilização. Quem me ajuda?

They're mine!! I'm in love with my new wallpaper... well, not exactly new, as they are back from the 60's! I need ideas for their usage! Can somebody help me?

Busy

buzzing

growing

building and playing

reading and writing

How have you been keeping busy?

Weekend Project: Bookcase for a Girl's Bedroom

After five months living in this house I decided it was time I bought my daughter a bookcase. The poor kid still had a packing box in her room because she didn't have anywhere to put her books.

On visiting our local furniture store I was amazed to find that unstained bookcases were $75 less than the stained ones. Knowing that there were several pots of paint in the back of the garage left by the previous owners, the decision to paint ourselves was a pretty easy one.

Good girl that she is, my daughter painted the bookcase herself as a weekend project. The first coat of paint went on yesterday and the second today. I l.o.v.e. having kids who are old enough to do these sorts of things for themselves!

Once the paint dried, the fun part began - decorating! I wasn't allowed to help. The door was shut and Miss 13 set to work. (I did peek in through the window to see what she was up to.)

Do you like the results?

Our next project will be the bedside table below. We found it by the side of the road during a hard rubbish collection and have been planning to fix it up for ages. We're going to paint it and add new knobs.

I'll post some pictures when we're done..

Backyard Harvest: Rosemary

As for rosemary, I let it run all over my garden walls, not only because my bees love it but because it is the herb sacred to remembrance and to friendship, whence a sprig of it hath a dumb language.

Sir Thomas More (1478-1535)

It took me quite a long time to get the above photo of a bee on one of our rosemary bushes. The bees refused to pose and either flew away before I could photograph them or else gave me shots of their rear ends as they dived into the flowers!

In Australia, rosemary grows beautifully as a perennial. It is well suited to our hot, dry climate.

Today a picked a few sprigs and use them to make a rosemary, lemon and garlic marinade for some chicken thighs, which I later cooked in the wok with red capsicum strips and sliced onions.

What did you harvest from your garden this week?

Norwegian gems

Olá a todos!

Hoje escrevo sobre a Blafre, uma marca norueguesa que existe desde 2005 e que vende produtos com um toque retro: papéis de embrulho, caixas de lata, termos, convites, etc. As imagens que anexo são da loja e também da casa dos seus donos, a Ingrid e o Remi: ambas fantásticas! Adoro o pormenor das prateleiras forradas a papel no quarto de criança. Bem, algo me diz que tenho mesmo que conhecer a Noruega um destes dias...

O que é que vocês escolheriam na loja da Blafre?

Hi everyone!

Today I'm writing about Blafre, a norwegian design brand you probably already know. I love their retro products: the lunch boxes, thermoses, greeting cards, everything is lovely! These photos are taken from their shop and also from the home of Ingrid and Remi, the owners of Blafre. I particularly like the white shelves with their gift paper! Well, something tells me I must really get to know Norway one of these days...

Which products would you buy from their shop?

I'm dreaming of a white home...

Hoje a Holly Becker, do Decor8, fez um artigo sobre um blog que acompanho desde que o conheci através do Fryd+Design (aqui). Não quis deixar de partilhar convosco 5 das ideias que me inspiraram na maravilhosa casa da Ingrid, do blog Fjeldborg (Noruega, uma vez mais...). Até já mandei vir uns papéis-de-parede vintage para a minha próxima casa (quando chegarem, eu mostro!!)! Não vejo a hora de ter uma casa maior!!!

Holly Becker, from Decor8, did a wonderful post today about this blog that I have also been following since I saw it first time on Fryd+Design (here). I would like to share with you 5 of the ideias that inspired me most in the lovely home of Ingrid (Fjeldborg - Norway, once again...). In fact, I have already ordered some vintage wallpaper for my next house (I'll show you when I get it!). Can't wait to find a new home...

Tapete de pele-de-vaca (há no Ikea)

The cow rug (saw one at Ikea)

Pormenores pretos numa decoração all-white - quem diria!
Almofadas em crochet + lilás e amarelo - adoro! Lilás é das cores de que mais gosto!
Black details in a all-white decor
Crochet pillow covers in lilac and yellow - I adore lilac!

Lilás e amarelo novamente... Na próxima casa, vou deixar de ter medo de pintar os móveis.
Lilac and yellow once again... I mustn't be afraid of painting my furniture in my next house.

Papel-de-parede vintage usado em armários (vou fazer um post sobre isto)
Closets covered with vintage wallpaper (I'll be posting about this soon)

Que acham destas inspirações?

How do you like these ideas?

Lemon Love

This morning I awoke to a first-grader with a sore throat and croaky voice who was too sick to go to school.

He was not, however, too sick to help me bake lemon butter cupcakes. He helped mix the cake batter then decorated all the cakes. He also licked the spoons and bowls afterwards, as all helpers should do.

I made lemon butter because I was given a bag of lemons yesterday (thank you Cathy) and lemon butter - or lemon curd - is one of my favourite foods in the whole world. It's sunshine in a jar. I quadrupled Molly's recipe and made four jars, but I bet they don't last long.

Home is where the heart is

Olá!

Hoje deixo-vos umas imagens que fazem parte dos meus sonhos e da casa que um dia gostaria de ter... Apesar de ser citadina, gosto da calma dos jardins, do sossego do lar e da liberdade que conseguimos sentir quando estamos no campo. Lanchar no jardim, lavar as mãos em água fresca, dormir uma soneca na cama de rede, uma noite à luz das velas... Encontro essa inspiração nas imagens da Decorative Country Living.

Apaixonem-se pelo campo!

Credits: Decorative Country Living

Hello!

Today I'm showing you some pictures that represent my love for country living. Although I am a city girl, I also love some aspects of country life, such as having tea in the garden, washing our hands with fresh water from a jug, snoozing in a hammock and spending the night by candle light... Decorative Country Living makes me dream with that and much more!...

Fall in love with country life!

Sunday Bike Ride

Do you ever feel that winter is never going to end? We have felt like this and our winters are really very mild. Just cold and rainy. We get almost all the year's rain in a three month period from June to August.

After a wet and windy winter, however, Sunday felt like spring. It was warm and sunny and breezy. We were even able to dry the washing outdoors.

I finally got around to finishing pruning the roses (we have 16 in our front yard alone) and my husband took the younger boys for a bike ride along the river into town. They usually buy an ice cream once they get there but sadly the kiosk was shut so they rode all the way back again.

Today was cold and wet and wintry again but we have the memory of beautiful, sunny yesterday to remind us that spring is almost here.

Cake delight

Hello!

Adoro bolos e decoração de bolos. Que vos parece esta ideia para enaltecer a beleza de um bolo? Eu sou suspeita, até porque gosto imenso das cores e a mesa que estou a preparar para a festa de aniversário das minhas sobrinhas vai ser baseada nestes tons... Onde a encontrei? No melhor mercado virtual do mundo - o Etsy.

Credits: KikiLaRu

Hello!

I love cakes and cake decor. What do you think of this garland idea to enhance your cake's beauty? I loved it and most of all it matches the colors that I chose for my niece's birthday table... Where did I find it? In the best marketplace in the world: Etsy.

Enjoy!

Hung Parliament

Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power.

Abraham Lincoln(1809 - 1865)

Australians have awoken this morning to the news that we still don't know who our new Prime Minister will be.

Rather than get into any political analysis, I thought I'd share a couple of spoofs of the Australian political situation.

Pretty in pink

Isn't she? I would definitely buy one of these. First time I saw these beautiful lamps was here. Then they crossed my path again here. Then here. And here. So many paths and crossings! Is it a sign? :-)

Oh, the pink one with that golden inside is my new obsession!

Credits: Nika Zupanc

I love lamps. And pink lamps in particular, or so it seems! :-)

Have a nice weekend!

.

Backyard Harvest: Cos (Romaine) Lettuce

I found out for the first time today that the type of lettuce we call cos is what Americans call romaine. I have wondered what romaine was every time I read about it in a recipe!

I like cos lettuce because it has a stronger flavour than iceberg and grows better in dry conditions than many other varieties of lettuce. It is the variety traditional used in Caesar salad.

Rather than buy seedlings, this year I sowed cos lettuce seeds and they have germinated well in quite cold conditions. Sometimes I pick a whole plant if the seedlings are growing too crowded but mostly I pick the leaves rather than the whole plants. The young leaves are lovely mixed with rocket (arugula) in a simple green salad.

In the past (in Melbourne) I found cos to cope better with frost than other lettuces - but we don't suffer from severe frosts so I can't guarantee this for all situations.

I think salad is going to be on the menu at our red house quite a lot over the next few weeks!

What did you harvest this week?

Bugged

This bug keeps appearing around our house. He appears on people's pillows. He appears on people's plates. Especially mine.

Once he even showed up in a bowl of chocolate brownie mixture that I was preparing. That really made me scream.

I know he's plastic. And I've seen him dozens of times. Yet somehow, he always gives me a shock, every time he pops up - which is probably why he does keep popping up.

Back to work...

... back to reality. My maternity leave has ended.

But I have enrolled in this exciting blogging e-course, starting in September, so I can't wait for it to begin! Thanks Holly for sharing and teaching.

By the way, when will I have this Birkin to go to work? :-)

Have a nice week!

White Flowers at Dusk.

As I pruned some of the standard roses in our front yard this afternoon, I noticed a tree completely covered in tiny scented flowers.

One of the joys of living in a new (to me) house is discovering the changes each new season brings to the garden.