If the first few days of 2015 are any indication of how the year will progress the next 12 months are so far looking glittery and warm -- filled with equal quantities of vegetables and ice cream, underscored by full on work and much needed play, but a bit hangry and punctuated by laughable (as in I'd laugh if I weren't so hangry) service. On New Years Eve, roughly a half hour before midnight, we landed the best last minute fireworks viewing spot we've had in years. Nothing in front of us … [Read more...]
Summer Salad #1 – Radishes, Nectarines, Beans & Cherries
It arrived on my doorstep like a gift from the heavens. An overflowing box of seasonal produce, celebrating the start of summer fruit and veg and saving me from myself. As soon as it hit the table I unpacked every piece -- and then did what any slightly OCD normal, possibly colour-obsessed, person would do... I created a rainbow of course. I didn't realise until it was all packed away again that the fennel should have been turned the other way and now that's all I see when I look at … [Read more...]
Strawberry & Blood Orange Frozen Margarita
There I go again, making summery, freezing cold treats in the dead of winter. Ironically this delectable beverage is, well other than the frozen bit, entirely seasonal. You see while strawberries are ripe for the picking (pun entirely intended) in NSW during late spring and early summer, they roll out of tropical Queensland by the tonne all winter long. They are sweeter and juicer and less expensive now, even being shipped a state down, than they are coming from only an hour or two away … [Read more...]
Inspired by Ombre: 17 Gorgeous Ombre Desserts
Have you heard? The Sweet Adventures Blog Hop is back! I'm hosting this month and in the process of coming up with a theme I've been completely inspired by everything Ombre. I used to associate Ombre solely with towering layer cakes -- both cake and icing -- and reasonably artificial colour... And while that covers off a fair portion of what's out there it certainly isn't everything. As a bit of inspiration for SABH (and to feed my new Ombre obsession) I've created a collection of 17 … [Read more...]
End of Summer Sandwich & the Union Square Green Market – NYC
I don't do winter well. I'd take sweltering over cold any day -- and the fact that the lowest Sydney winter temps are still significantly higher than the north-east America-land ones I grew up with matters little when I have to get out of bed each morning to an un-heated apartment. Now Sydney has been gracing us with well above average late-autumn temps this year, but even so we are looking straight into three months of cold before things begin to look up again. It's about this time … [Read more...]
Rainbow Whole-Fruit Popsicles (Ice Pops)
Sitting on the concrete floor of my mother's friend's flowershop I sorted and searched through the little plastic pieces for the right colour. Pop, pop, pop the little pegs broke through black paper, twinkling as they released the light. I followed the Lite Brite patterns until I used them all up and started making up my own designs -- swirls and zig-zags and 5-year-old interpretations of trees -- from the little points of colour. And then a question, asked casually and without … [Read more...]
6 Natural Food-based Easter Egg Dyes
It's official, this whole need-to-create-things is hereditary. Not only the creativity gene bit but the comfort found in just making stuff. I was at mum's house for a few weeks during our last trip and one day she brought out a lovely, frilly, very colourful apron, "Look! I saw this and had to get it for you. Thought it may be a bit of inspiration... you could make these!" It was a cute apron, and it did give me a few new ideas, but in the midst of packing our already busting suitcases … [Read more...]
