Who ate the spoon?

I actually made these cupcakes a few weeks ago, just after I had finished my spring cleanse and the funniest thing happened.. they were too sweet for me to eat! Imagine that.. a week and a half without refined sugar and my whole sense of taste had changed (for the better I think).

Of course, the rest of the family was more than happy to have my share, and making them with Sophie is half the fun anyway.



Sophie cleaned the bowl and spatula with her tongue (of course), until I decided that she had had enough chocolate and took them away from her.. That is when I noticed that there was a bite missing from the SPATULA! Yes, that's right, she had started to take bites of the plastic cooking utensil! I grabbed another spatula from the draw only to discover that it had a bite missing too!! What the!?

Harvest

There is nothing like spending the afternoon in the garden, especially if you happen to be collecting dinner at the same time..

She's got the magic

I know I am always the last one to join the party, but have you seen this video?
I LOVE it! The music is pretty cool too.. I downloaded the song from itunes and it has been played several million times already!

Any excuse will do..

The best thing about doing lots of sewing for the Kids Clothes Week Challenge...





Is that you have an excuse to buy lots of lovely new fabrics...



How cool is the teacup print?


Hope you all have an excellent weekend!

Rustic Greek Pie

There are a handful of recipes that we call the 'Porter family favourites'.. and this is one of them. Its so delicious and very easy to make..



Ingredients:

450g packet of frozen spinach
1 sheet of shortcrust pastry (or you can make your own)
3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
100g haloumi cheese, grated
120g feta cheese, crumbled
1 tablespoon oregano sprigs
2 eggs
60mls (1/4 cup) cream
lemon wedges, to serve

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 210 degrees Celsius
2. Squeeze the excess liquid out of the spinach
3. Place the pastry on a baking tray and spread the spinach in the middle leaving a 3cm border around the edge
4. Sprinkle the garlic over the spinach followed by the feta and haloumi
5. Sprinkle with oregano and season well
6. Cut a short slit in each corner of the pastry and fold each side in to form a border around the pastry
7. Lightly beat the eggs with the cream and pour the mixture over the spinach and cheese filling
8. Bake for about 30 minutes or until the pastry is golden and the filling is set
9. Serve with lemon wedges (and a big salad)

This recipe now takes me about 5 minutes to make and you can also try other variations like feta and ricotta (I usually use whatever we have in the fridge at the time)..

I hope it become one of your family favourites too..

And so, we sew

I usually save all my sewing for after hours when the little one is fast asleep and I can relax with a cup of tea, Cat Power and my sewing machine.
But, lately I have been very busy with the sewing (remind me not to volunteer my novice services for a pre-school fete again) so I have been trying to fit in some sewing during the day.



The problem is that Sophie is not happy to read books or play blocks while I sew, she wants to do exactly the same thing as me (of course). So, I have been setting her up next to me with some felt, some thread, a few bobbins and a jar of colourful buttons and she happily plays for about, oh, 5 minutes or so!



Then last week, I saw this wonderful post over at Childhood 101 about a toddler friendly sewing basket. We rode our bike up to the shops and bought some supplies for 'Sophie's special sewing basket' straight away..

And so, now we sew.. together!

Too much of a good thing

I made one of the first mistakes of an amateur gardener.. I planted all our broccoli seeds on the same day about 4 months ago.. So, you can guess what has happened, Right? Now we have all our broccoli flowering at once!



I have eaten so much broccoli in the last few days. You name it, I have eaten it.. steamed broccoli, mashed broccoli, broccoli pasta, broccoli salad.

This broccoli, chickpea and goats cheese salad was one of the highlights, But lesson learnt.. Don't plant a whole packet of seeds at once!

Kids Clothes Week Challenge

I have decided to participate in the Kids Clothes Week Challenge where you have to sew kids clothes for at least 1 hour each day for a week (oh gee, do I have to? Really, oh okay then.. you've twisted my arm..)



Its just as well, because I just signed up to do a handmade stall at Sophie's pre-school fete in 3 weeks and I have alot of sewing to do before then..

If you have any ideas for easy things to make and sell, please let me know!

We craft this city..

I will definitely be checking out this exhibition in Sydney and hopefully even attend the 'crafternoon'..

Lunch date

After a morning of fabric shopping yesterday, I asked my 2 year old if she would like to go out for lunch, "oh yes" she replied excitedly "I want sushi with pink fish inside". So we drove to Balmain and found a little Japanese restaurant.



We sat down together and ordered our food, she told me exactly what she wanted and as we waited for our food we chatted about the highlights of our morning (She found fairy fabric and I found peach coloured bias binding), we chatted about what we would do after her sleep today (art and craft), what we would do on the weekend (see Justine Clark in concert) and what we needed from the supermarket (milk and apricots according to her).

As I was sitting there, across the table from my little girl I realised something.. It was only a few months ago that I had a loud, wriggling toddler who would not sit still or eat her lunch without it ending up on all over her, and me, and the floor.

But now, here is a little girl sitting in a chair, having a conversation with her mummy and eating her lunch quietly and carefully.. a grown up little girl!

It was not a stress or a production, I was not eating with one hand and holding her plate down with the other, I was not apologizing to the table next to us because they just got rice flicked all over them, I wasn't collecting serviettes ready for the big clean up.. It was just easy and fun.. It was just me and my little friend having lunch.

Soundtrack of the month

This was more like the soundtrack of last year, but I am still listening to it (almost) daily..


Its the 'Dan in real life' soundtrack. I know, I know, soundtracks are usually not cool but this one is really good.. I saw the movie last year and I was watching it thinking the movie is good but the music is excellent. The soundtrack is almost all by a guy called Sondre Lerche. I am slowly collecting all his albums.. big thumbs up!

Just for fun..

I decided to interview my almost 3 year old this morning, here is what she had to say..

Me: How old are you?
S: 6 (She never tells her real age!?)

Me: What's your favourite colour?
S: Black and Pink

Me: What's your favourite food?
S: Aaahhhhhh (pause) Pasta (That is true and strawberries)

Me: What's your favourite game?
S: My favourite game is to play music (I thought she would say art and craft)

Me: What's your favourite book?
S: The Gruffalo (This changes every day)

Me: What's your favourite movie?
S: The Labyrinth (Well, no girl can resist David Bowie in tights!? Ek!)
Me: Isn't it a little too scary? (She once watched it with her older cousins)
S: Yes, when she falls and she forgot to go through the other door, and she went down, down, and, and there was pod..
Me: Pod?
S: Poggle

Me: Who is your best friend?
S: Matilda (her cousin. This also changes every day)
Me: Anyone else?
S: No, that's all I need

Me: Who is mummy's best friend?
S: (Long pause) Daddy

Me: Who is Daddy's best friend?
S: Ben (Daddy's mate, who she usually says is her best friend)

* She just walked into the room and picked up my notebook and pen and said "Mummy, what is your favourite friend?" and then pretended to scribble notes.. so cute!

Point & Shoot

Buying Tom a pasta maker for Father's Day was an excellent idea.. It has been a never ending stream of fresh pasta around here.. Sophie and Tom even picked brocolli from the garden yesterday to make green pasta! Next up is beetroot pasta..

More Point & Shoot over here.

Baby, Baby

Sigh.. I would do anything to be pregnant again..

Wishlist Wednesday

Here are a few of the things on my wishlist for Sophie..

1. Scruffy Dog.


I came across these gorgeous shoes on a little girl at the Bondi Beach playground one day last year, I asked her mum where they were from and went and got Sophie a pair the very next week! I love that they are all made locally too. I get mine from My Messy Room in Summer Hill.

2. Olives friend Pop.


I LOVE this collection of childrens clothes.. They are avaliable from Lark.

3. Mini-me dolls.


How cute are these personalised paper dolls? I want some for me too!

4. Belle and Boo.


These wall stickers would look so good in Sophie's room. Avaliable from Lark aswell.

An apple a day..

In an ideal world I would spend every Saturday morning at our local farmers market buying all the fresh produce we need for the week, but in reality.. I get home delivery! Every Tuesday we get a box of fresh fruit and vegetables delivered to our door..


If you don't already get a fruit and veg delivery then I highly recommend it.. It saves soo much time. I also order all our groceries online which means I never have to step foot in a shopping centre with a toddler if I don't want to.

We use to get our delivery from www.organicfood.com.au who deliver a box of local, organic produce every week. The company is run by a husband and wife who are really lovely. We referred 3 of our old neighbours and they were so grateful that we always got free products in our box like organic baby shampoo (and lovely long thank you calls!).. But unfortunately, we found it to be a little too expensive as we would always run out before the end of the week, even with the largest box. One day we will definitely go back to the organic box.. (maybe when I go back to work!)

So.. I found www.flemingtondirect.com.au which is brilliant. Its not organic, but it is super fresh and excellent quality, plus the small box lasts us well over a week..

There's no place like home..

We had some friends over yesterday with their kids for a fathers day lunch. Tom made Jamie Oliver's BBQ marinade from scratch and it was so delicious. (Think fennel seeds, orange zest and balsamic vinegar = Yum!)

We spent the afternoon in the garden tending to the veggie patch..


We pulled our first broccoli from the garden (that I had planted as a seed in Autumn).. delicious!


Cabbage is almost ready to eat..


We passed the thyme (I know.. hilarious)..


Tomatoes all planted for summer..


Carrots are getting bigger..


My favourite place to be as the sun is setting..


Some of us got a bit messy..


There really is no place like home..

Happy daddy's day..

We hope you like your pasta maker! xx

Kinokuniya

Have you been to Kinokuniya?



I discovered it last week after I was driving through the city and the car decided to break down. A few hours and a tow truck later, Sophie and I found ourselves in bookstore heaven!

If you live in Sydney and you love books, bookstores, design, craft or all things Japanese then you must visit this store.

The Japanese craft book section is amazing. All the Japanese sewing books that I have been ordering from overseas were right there in front of me.. I couldn't resist coming home with a few to add to my collection..



The kids section is also wonderful and it has these giant windows that look out over the street below. Both Sophie and I enjoyed sitting high above the street and watching the world go by (oblivious to the fact that we were watching them go about their day.)

After many hours in the bookstore we went and said hi to daddy in his office, then we got on the train to make our way home again car-less and care-less!

Thanks..

For the beautiful flowers my dear husband xx

Spring = my head hurts

I did something a little silly a few days ago.. I decided to join Nat (from The Pagoda Tree) on her 10 day Spring cleanse.


This is what sat in front of me this morning instead of my usual cup of tea and now I have a serious headache from caffeine withdrawal. I had no idea that it would be this bad, but I'm looking forward to feeling amazing in a few days time (right?).

And making loads of yummy things from these beautiful cookbooks (By Jude Blereau)that I bought a few months ago..



Full of super healthy recipes that are perfect for a spring cleanse..

1 day down, 9 to go..