dis dressed

aha!!! a game!!!!!

spot the massive tear in
my favourite dress:
*sniff*
mmm, i fixed-it-self.
am rather proud of my
fifteen quadrupillion
teeny tiny stitches.

couch plonking

we're having such a long, glorious, indulgent and luxurious summer. it's all about the sunshine hours, decadent food offerings, and my personal cocktail waiter.

my gym subscription finished three months ago, and since then i have been for a grand total of four runs around the block. my sneaky suspicions about becoming a faht luhmp (the h's make those words sound like i have a posh blighty accent) were confirmed this morning when i coughed up eleventy billion bucks to hop on the scales at... the beloved gym. yep, i decided that i am naff at running and need gym classes to trick motivate me to moooove. cos five nasty kilos have wound themselves back around my expandingness, and i have 4% more body fat than three months ago. plus, my abs are not P!NKish at all.

but it's not all doom and gloom. it turns out that i can swap carbs from my dinner plate for a glass of wine...

saturday at two

lunching on best-ever
sweet hot sunshiney corn
picked five minutes ago
from our very own garden.
that's zero food miles, baby.

the holiday:

seven people. four nights. tent. sleeping bags. pillows. cooking gears. clothes. towels. ridiculous amount of other shiznit. one seven-seater vehicle. no trailer.

the trip:

the breathing space:

the view just outside the door:
the beach:
the beach walk to oyster island:the intrepid explorers:

the only photo with Bulldog in it:

the best thing to do with a flat airbed:

the next day:

the really crazies:

the races:
the overtaking manoeuvres:
the rollercoastering:

the day after:
our sunflowery homecoming greeting:
loved every second!!!!!!!
(definitely taking a trailer next time)

the sisterhood of the travelling quilt

the story goes like this:

raych's dahling friend nelly

is suddenly ditching for oz in a week -

*sniff*
so we've made the sisterhood

of the travelling quilt:

canteen bandannas. triangled. hearted.

sewn with much love.

and it will travel. from here to there,

from there to here...

oops. i just found the christmas day photos from 2 weeks ago. oh, and some half-digested lines stashed in my bag.

completely disjointed strands of jotted journallings

little wordstrings hastily untangling on pieces of paper

toes hippityhopping across heated sandcastles
icy berry fruited yoghurt pirouetting in waffle cones
pohutukawa tree picnicking with avocadoes and red strawberries
daddy's chapter finishings becoming summer's timepiece
salt encrusted curls demanding hot scented oil revival
the intrepid early evening dangerita is the new margarita
they say the sky is always blue above the clouds

the year that was, according to random facebook status updates.

ratty twee

during my childhood, this wee french concoction went by the affectionate name of 'ratty'. the correct spelling/pronunciation is
(not the more recent 'rat patootie', although my kids find this hilarious) and it became a family staple. mum was even known to whip some up to take ashore for beach barbies, in the boating days when dad and uncle eric would make a fire pit on the shoreline, and the meat would be cooked by the time it took the tide to come in and put the fire out. brilliant. this summer, bulldog planted courgettes and aubergines in our garden and we've set about concocting our own perfect ratty recipe. i think i have it.

sweat 2 sliced onions in olive oil with a sprinkling of salt until nearly clear.
add a huge tin of chopped tomatoes and a handful of fresh herbs from said garden. easy on the basil or olly the chef will disinherit us.
add a spoonful of raw sugar (it makes magic with the tomatoes)
simmer gently 15 - 20 minutes until thick and dreamy.

chop up
1 aubergine
2 capsicums
6 courgettes
4 fresh tomatoes, wedged (pfft)
a drizzle of oil and a grind of salt
a clove or two of garlic, top chopped off, olive oil drizzled inside.
roast in the oven at 200 celsius for about 20 - 30 mins until looking a bit char-grilled. but don't burn it lol - whip the garlic out earlier if needed. squeeze sweet little garlic pods out of the clove and discard all that tissue paper stuff.

pop roasted veggies into tomato goo and stir very gently.
makes enough to share at the new year's eve partay...
and there's even some left over for breakfast the next morning.

(the bacon is from a happy pig,
the portobello mushroom is
one of my fave breakfast tastes,
and um, i didn't eat the banana)

mum's miraculous mascarpone

squee!! i fell in love with *mascarpone* the instant i heard hugh jackman say the word in kate and leopold. during christmas week, for a fraction of the cost of the stuff in the shops, mum and i (well, mum actually... i took the pics and she did the making and commentarying) made our own:
it's so easy peasy and takes about 24 hours (most of which is spent languishing in the fridge)

all you need is love
1 litre of cream
1/2 tsp (generous measure) citric acid
stir cream over gentle heat
until it NEARLY boils.
remove from heat and add citric acid.
cool. the mixture thickens.
pour into jerry-rigged
muslin cloth-lined sieve
which is propped in a saucepan.
pop in fridge overnight.
lift sieve from pan and
*look!* whey... and mascarpone!!!!!
tip mascarpone into bowl
and give it a stir.
voilà!!!

ah... perhaps one day when you've awoken from a pleasant slumber to the scent of a warm brioche smothered in marmalade and fresh creamery butter (or in this case, mum's amazing orange cake and mascarpone), you'll understand that life is not solely composed of tasks, but tastes.
i think that shall be my new mantra.

happy happy joy joy

oops, it's already january

but here's wishes

from me and mine for a

hippy happy christmas and
a happy new year…

our front door is a
a jingle jandal jumble

yes, a jingle jandal jumble

in the beachy dinner mumble

with our people and their people

a-coming and a-going

with a bubble and a sparkle

and a jumble of the mumble.