Treats for a special visitor

My very special friend is coming to stay for a couple of days, so we whipped up some of these this morning. (As if I need an excuse!!) These are jaffa macarons - orange rind in with the shells, and a spot of orange essence with the dark chocolate ganache.


For the sake of quality control, I have taste-tested them and, just so you know - they are DIVINE!!!

A new decade full of hope and promise...

I can sustain positivity for at least the first few weeks; it's all down hill after that!
Happy New Year to one and all - I hope the next twelve months is a time full of laughter and love.

This year, breaking with tradition, I have not made a SINGLE resolution - after 25 years worth of unfulfilled ones, I decided I've had enough. And I feel a better person for it, too!

Christmas came and went, and for a change I was pretty organised. We shared a lovely long weekend with family and dear friends in Victoria, then returned, leaving the teenager to spend quality time with cousins and grandparents for a week. For the first time ever, he will make the 9 hour bus journey home alone. That's progress!!! And me and Mr G are spending some quality time, too. How nice!!

I enjoyed my two weeks break before Christmas, and found time to whip up a few more handmade pressies, like this set of pillowcases for my granny, from Alicia Paulson's Embroidery Companion. There are so many beautiful things in this book... I bought it mainly for the gorgeous skirt on the cover - perhaps I'll get to it while I still have holidays.


I'm loving this embroidery business, though... It's been quite a while since I did any, and I'm getting right back into it! I settled on a boring diary for this year, but have snazzed it up a bit with a new cover (my interpretation of one of the designs in this book).



As usual for the holidays, I have been enjoying some time spent cooking. My favourite new recipe is a chicken, fetta, sundried tomato and pesto pastry roll... they are delicious, and freeze really well, too!


I had to promise the young fella that I would wait until he returned to cook more macarons!
In the meantime, big plans for the next few weeks - continuing the lookout for a new car, camping at Goolwa, a nephew's wedding, and lots of these... happy days!

Making up for lost (reading) time...

Image from DiggWhat

Sorting out my enormous bookshelf trying to make room for more, I discovered that I have actually read a heap of books in the last couple of months. Usually the only real reading time I would spend is during the school holidays - first day of the break we would go to the library and stock up on novels for two serious weeks of bookwormyness!

Today for my birthday I recieved an e-reader, so my bookshelf woes are all but over! Peter works at a printers and all his colleagues were horrified that he would buy an e-reader, and put them out of business... I will still buy arty and crafty books, newspapers, read junk mail and so on... What are other people feelings on the matter?

So, on my recently completed pile, are:

The Effects of Light - Miranda Beverly Whittemore

Jasper Jones - Craig Silvey (author of 'Rhubarb'- both HIGHLY recommended!!)

The Messenger - Markus Zusak, one of my favourite authors

Under the Dome - Stephen King (trite... don't bother. What WAS I thinking??? Aaah, yes - airport lounges.))

Book of Lost Threads - Andiee Paviour

Household Guide to Dying - Debra Adelaide (Lovely, consume with tissues)

The No1 Ladies Detective Agency - Alexander McCall Smith

A Spot of Bother - Mark Haddon (Not as good as The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night, but still a decent read!)

I Have a Bed Made of Buttermilk Pancakes - Jaclyn Moriarty (My third reading of this... I love it!)



Currently underway and in the waiting pile, we have:

The Abstinence Teacher - Tom Perrotta

The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini

The Earth Hums in B Flat - Mari Strachan

A Brush with Mondrian - Yvonne Louis

and Sister of My Heart - Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni (I've read this before, too)

Any other recommendations?

Aah, holidays!

I love nothing more than being able to sleep in to 7.30, eat breaky outside, running my feet through the new Astro Turf, sit and watch the budgies with their new friends (Fred and Ginger) in their outside home, bake delicious yet healthy cakes, watch whales at Port Elliot, and spend time with my family..... simple pleasures...

Ginger, Monty, Fred and Zeph settle in...

I had five days with my parents in Rochester last week and enjoyed my time with everyone. I visited several dear friends and family members, played a lot of guitar with my folks and even got to join them in a Fig Jammers rehearsal (that's their music group!!). I even even had a chance to teach my sister-in-law, Jess, how to crochet. She was a very quick learner, too! When dinner was ready, myself, Jess and my grandmother had to be levered off the couch away from our handiwork!

My current challenge is to draw up some large silhouettes of the three wise men on camels for the annual Rochester Christmas Exhibition. This is a Christmas Extravagance which my mother is heavily involved with, which sees the little old town hall magically transformed into a wonderland.

Crafty!

New Adventures in Crochet!

Whipped these up over the weekend... They were surprisingly easy, but it shall remain a teaset for one. Didn't think to make a pattern!

Timewasting 101

My latest distraction...

When he was very little, Liam had a fascination with succulents. Not just the prickly kind, but anything plump and juicy. He would secretly snap cuttings off as we walked down the street, and hide them in his pockets to be found in the laundry at a later date. Some got planted, and after many years we still have a small collection, but now we agree that these new ones are the best!