Inspiration for rainy days … and sunshiny ones too
It’s been bothering me for a while that every time I go to grab a necklace I have a battle untangling the one I want from the dozen or so others knotted up with it.
I was in the right place at the right time and found this bucket of door knobs for 75% off at a closing down sale.
I grabbed a handful and screwed them into the side of my closet.
Now I have all my necklaces easy to find, easy to see, out of the reach of little people and they look pretty too!
I’m annoyed with myself. I broke all the rules that I usually stick by when thrifting, and I let a fabulous item get away. It was mine for the taking, it was a done deal, well, almost.
This morning I arrived a little late to the market (7am). It was cool and overcast which meant it was really busy, we’ve been having such terribly hot Sundays that it’s kept the punters away but today was crowded. The first thing I saw was a beautiful floor rug, in Indian Numdah style. It was hand-made, all natural fibres, white felt with embroidered leaf patterns in bright turquoise and emerald, cerise and magenta.
I ummed and ahhhed. I have been looking for a rug but this was not quite fitting with anything else in my house. It was beautiful and I loved it as an individual piece, but I was trying to imagine how would it look with everything else I have. I couldn’t picture it matching. The price was good, about a quarter the retail value. I was a little worried that it was a bit pretty and delicate for a house with two boys tearing up and down the halls day in day out. Nevertheless, it was unique, exquisitely crafted and a bargain and I’ve never let practicality stand in the way of buying things before. I told the guy i’d be back with the money. I went to the ATM, and got a little sidetracked. I ran through all the things in my mind. Maybe I shouldn’t spend that much at the market today. Maybe it’ll get ruined. Maybe it will look out of place. I dawdled along and then I snapped out of it. I thought, you know what, I do really, really love it, I will go get it, absolutely. I was five steps away from sealing the deal and a guy walked off with it rolled up under his arm. Jipped at the post. I’ve been awfully morose about it all day. Serves me right for not following my own rules for the swap-meet. Which are as follows;
1. If you see something you like, don’t deliberate. Buy it, or someone else will.
2. Don’t over analyse – Will it suit my shabby chic French buffet? Maybe it won’t go with the antique dining table? If you like it, then it’s your style, buy it. It will suit your home because like everything else, you chose it.
3. If you are unsure about it, but you know it’s a huge bargain and it has good resale value, there is no risk. Buy it. If the asking price is $50 and you know it’s really worth $600 then take it home. If you regret it later, sell it on eBay and double your money.
4. If it’s unusual or unique and you like it, buy it. Chances are you may never see one again.
The other day I rushed into Woolies at around closing time to grab a few bits for dinner. In the fruit and vege section there were a couple of shopping bags loaded full of a medley of fresh produce, marked for sale at $3 each. Needless to say I was very excited! I grabbed two of the mystery bags and when I emptied them at home was delighted to see I scored a dozen or so limes, along with potatoes, raspberries, lychees, purple carrots and capsicums. There was nothing that I could see wrong with them, for some reason they didn’t make the quality cut.
So I was inspired to make lime tarts. E helped me to squeeze the juice, though it was a little tricky for him, he gave it a good go. We made the pastry which is always so worth doing for desserts like this. I couldn’t find a lime tart recipe that I felt comfortable with, so I used my lemon curd recipe that I have made a dozen times and substituted lemon juice with the lime juice.
On my little wander down Wray Avenue for breakfast this morning I took these snaps. The cushions and the geometric triangles are at Wild Poppy café and the little mural is painted along the window beam at a shop two doors down. I have a bit of street envy for Wray Ave, it’s looks a very cheery little corner of Fremantle.
There is a lovely Nonna who lives on our street who has the most enviable food garden. She has a tiny plot of land but she has used every inch of it to plant herbs, fruit trees and vegetables. Just a few of the delights of her garden are apricot, mulberry and fig trees, coriander, thyme, oregano, tomatoes, capsicums and cucumbers, and basil. As she put it with her melodic Italian accent, ‘plenty, plenty basil’ whilst gesticulating for us to come in and take handfuls. So we did!
What does one do with fresh basil… make pesto of course!
Recipe from good taste.
45g (1/4 cup) pine nuts
1 1/2 cups fresh basil leaves
2 small garlic cloves, halved
60g (3/4 cup) shredded parmesan
5 tbs olive oil
Preheat oven to 180°C. Spread the pine nuts over a baking tray. Bake in oven for 5 minutes or until toasted. Remove from oven and set aside for 10 minutes to cool. Place the pine nuts, basil, garlic and parmesan in the bowl of a food processor and process until finely chopped. With the motor running, gradually add the oil in a thin steady stream until well combined.
This is my fall to recipe when I am short of time (or just short of enthusiasm) to make dinner. It’s very easy, only three ingredients, but oh so tasty. It’s the haloumi. I have a love affair with cheese and this is just scrumptious, fried salty cheese, crispy on the outside, soft on the inside. Mmmm Mmmm.
Haloumi.
Little tomatoes (cherry or baby roma).
Fresh green beans.
Salt.
Olive Oil.
Top and tail the beans, steam until done, so they still have a bite to them and are not too squishy. Grill holoumi (best done in a non-stick pan with no oil). Chop into little squares. Cut tomatoes in half, sprinkle with a little salt and drizzle with oil. Cook in preheated oven (around 180 degrees) for 15-20mins. (If you’re short on time don’t worry about the oven, just swirl them around in the hot pan after you’ve cooked the haloumi). Mix it all together and that’s it!
I had a berry dish a few weeks ago and I have been fantasising about it since. It is a heavenly berry salad with fresh raspberries, strawberries, blueberries and blackberries mixed with a little fresh passionfruit. Sometimes you don’t need to add anything to improve a dish when the ingredients are so delicious all on their own.
Just so you don’t think I am showing off. Here are the roast vegetables that we were supposed to have with our roast dinner. I just couldn’t salvage the ashen veggies in any way!
I did a quick project with my silhouette cameo today. Some paper hot air balloons to brighten up the wall in the boy’s room. You wouldn’t need a cameo machine to do this, it would be easy to cut by hand, it would just take a bit longer. I drew the shape in illustrator, if you want to download and print the pdf you can get it here. For each hot air balloon I cut out four balloon shapes, each from a different coloured paper. Then I laid them on top of each other and sewed them all together with a straight stitch on the sewing machine. Fold the paper along the sew line and they fan out to look a bit 3D. I think they look very sweet, I might cut out some clouds too.
I’ve been searching for a pastel coloured necklace for a while and haven’t found any, so I thought I’d try making one. I had some air-dry clay left over from making these christmas ornaments so I used it up to make some beads.
I rolled little balls with the clay and poked a hole through with a toothpick.
After they dried (a couple of hours later) I painted them with a mix of watered down PVA glue and acrylic.
I left the toothpick in to hold onto while I painted, and then stuck them all into an apple until the paint dried.
For the string I used dental floss, it’s brilliant because it’s cheap and very strong and it’s stiff enough to thread the beads onto without a needle, and as a bonus it smells minty fresh!
I finished the ends with seed beads. To make the fastener, on one side I threaded on a small button, I tied a knot in the dental floss and added dab of superglue on the knot. The other end I made a loop and secured in the same way. I thread the button through the loop when I put the necklace on.
I think i’ll make a few more with some brighter colours. I want to try and make my own clay. I have seen a recipe here and over here. I haven’t tried either yet, but when I do I will let you know how it goes.
A good thing about having kids is that I have a really good excuse to buy super nice artwork that I wouldn’t normally be justified in purchasing. Like this incredible ABC book illustrated by Paul Thurlby. It’s just gone onto my birthday list for the boys.
Is it bad that I buy them things that I really like? Even though they’d probably prefer an all-singing all-dancing dvd of in the night garden or some other inane thing? Sorry kids, until you are old enough to complain about it, I’m decorating your room how I like it!
