for the road - pea, feta & mint muffins

Aaah what a lovely week!! We've just returned from several lazy days spent on the Tweed Coast, swimming, reading and eating..

Even better, this beautiful part of the world is practically on our doorstep (an hour and a half drive away). Still, like my Mother and my Nanna used to, I baked some road trip munchies to take along just in case...

Peas with fresh mint is one of my favourite things, add a little crumbled feta and you have a very yummy combination indeed!  I used Stephanie Alexander's failsafe muffin mix recipe as a base, all too easy..

• 2/3 cup of peas (I normally use frozen but fresh would be lovely if you have them)
• 1/2 cup of crumbled feta cheese
• 1/4 cup of finely chopped mint
• 1 egg
• 3/4 cup of milk
• 3/4 cup of grape seed or light olive oil
• 220g of self raising flour (I like to use half wholemeal for this recipe, for added texture)
• generous pinch of salt

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees and grease a 12 muffin tin.
2. Mix all wet ingredients together in a bowl.
3. In another larger bowl sift the flour and salt.
4. Add wet mixture to flour and mix until combined.
5. Spoon batter into muffin tray until 2/3s full and bake for 20-25 minutes until golden brown on top.
6. Remove from oven and allow to stand in tray for 5 minutes before turning out onto wire rack to cool.

Perfect for a little snack on the road, washed down with a lemon iced tea...

Have a lovely weekend and to those who hail from the Emerald Isle, Happy St Patricks Day!

El xx

ps. Here's a sunny little tune for my Dad, who no doubt will be enjoying a couple of favourite Van albums today..

I heart Anthropologie!!

It's officially Autumn here but the weather doesn't seem to know that... Today it's bright blue skies and 31 degrees!

Our mailbox is stuffed full of catalogues advertising black and grey winter coats, scarves and flannel sheets and yet here I am sipping an ice tea and drooling over Anthropologie's Spring Collection..  

Sooo much colour, sooo much gorgeousness!! Maybe we can just skip Autumn/Winter this year..

Hope your weekend is bright and breezy too!! xx

M is for Monogram

We reached a small but important milestone recently, Thom started daycare.. 

Aside from mentally preparing for my little one venturing out into the world for the first time, sans me or his dad, I had a list of stuff to organise in preparation. 

He had a little kit to pull together, for which I sewed this little bag and then everything had to be labelled..  Scribbling initials everywhere with a permanent marker is the easiest solution, but far from the prettiest. 

Luckily I already had a bunch of simple iron-on letters left over from some forgotten project, so that took care of Thom's new bag.
It also got me looking for ideas for more inspired ways to identify your stuff..

Who could forget the bespoke L.V. luggage featured in Wes Anderson's

The Darjeeling Limited

or posh Goyard..! I snapped these beauties stacked outside their historic

Rue Saint-Honore store.

A monogrammed stamp of ones very own would be pretty special. I love the deco feel

of this one, found here on Etsy.

Or maybe a pretty monogrammed pendant like this one, in case of amnesia..?

On another Typographic note.., a friend sent me a clip of this young and super talented Brooklyn artist's work (in motion) . Her name in Dana and she works exclusively in chalk. 

Click here to see Dana in action, chalking up this whimsical mural at the Ace Hotel in NYC..

I'm in love with Dana's style..  She also created this gorgeous series of alphabet paperweights for West Elm.. You can check out more of Dana's work on her website.

What's cooking through the round window..

Not so long ago a quick flick through the latest Delicious mag would be what inspired a new culinary adventure in the kitchen..

Yesterday I picked up a recipe idea from a slightly different source.., Thom's favourite show, Playschool!!

In between all the singing, dancing around and the pretend play, Playschool sometimes throws in the odd 'cooking' segment, you know pizza with toppings arranged to make a face.. 

In this particular episode, they made Cheesy/Vegemite Scrolls. They looked pretty yummy and really easy, so I thought we'd try a batch..

25 minutes later my happy little Vegemite was very much enjoying his tasty new snack.

I tweaked the recipe we saw a little bit, like using wholemeal flour instead of white and the result was not half bad..

Here's our version -

• 2 1/3 cups of wholemeal self raising flour
• 40g of butter, cubed
• a pinch of salt
• 200mls of milk
• 2/3 a cup of colby or mild cheddar cheese, grated
• 2 tablespoons of Vegemite
• extra butter and Vegemite melted to brush on.

1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees.
2. Mix flour, salt and butter together in a food processor to form a fine bread crumb like texture.
3. Add milk and mix until combined.
4. Turn out dough mixture onto a well floured board and lightly knead into a ball.
5. Roll out dough to form a rectangle approximately 30 x 20cm.
6. Add a teaspoon of boiling water to the Vegemite and stir until smooth.
7. Spread the dough with the Vegemite and then sprinkle the cheese top.
8. Roll up the dough length ways to form a log.
9. Slice the log up into 2cm thick pieces and place on a tray lined with baking paper.
10. Brush scrolls with the melted butter/Vegemite and bake for 15mins or until lightly browned.

This is a good easy recipe to modify too.. Next time we might try herb and feta or aged cheddar and mustard etc. 

Who knows where this new source of inspiration will lead, decorating ideas via 'The Night Garden' perhaps..?

Have a lovely weekend!! xx

and in other news..!!

I have something rather exciting to share..

There's going to be a wee addition to our family this year. Yep, bambino number two is on the way!! 

We're all very excited!! Even Thom points to my ever expanding belly regularly, exclaiming 'Baaayyybeee'. I have no idea what he could possibly imagine that means however..

Now 17 weeks up the duff and thankfully over some pretty horrendous 'morning' sickness, I've reached that happy, slightly more energetic stage...  

I'm soo hungry too!! I've had some ferocious cravings this time... Anything pickled (I know, such a cliche), naughty quite disgusting things like chicken nuggets and really hot/sour foods, like Vindaloo and jalapenos straight from the jar.. 

I'm sure all this acid can't be good for my poor stomach, but I can't help myself! 

pickles, pickles, pickles!!

A couple of weeks ago, I couldn't stop thinking about the spicy Buffalo Wings.. 

It got so bad, I nearly convinced my husband to drive an hour and a half down the coast so I could satisfy my craving.  Luckily he brought me to my senses and suggested I try making my own..

I found this recipe on the web had a crack. They turned out quite well, maybe a tad to sticky. I would use a lot less butter next time and bake them again, basted with the sauce. Still they did the trick..

 

Anyone else with crazy cravings to share??

dear photograph

Have you seen this?? It's a site called Dear Photograph where old family photos are revisited in the locations they were originally taken, sometimes many decades later..  

This is such a sweet concept, don't you think?  Some of the comments made by the contributors are really moving too.. It's made me feel quite warm and fuzzy actually... Check it out for yourself here.

Have a lovely weekend all! xx

my January, hot, wet but not without inspiration..

Well hello and happy (much belated) new year!!

The first month of 2012 has been lovely although, pretty low key for me..

It began with a couple of blissful weeks in the mountains, soaking up the country air and catching up with family and old friends.

Christmas Day Petanque. Thongs are not obligatory in case you're wondering...

Lunch under the plane tree

My stained glass window cake turned quite well I thought..

Dad's very creative cake decorating. Cute!

We played farmers for a week too, as caretakers for my parents property. Initially a daunting task for a couple of city slickers, considering the menagerie of animals entrusted to our care, but we soon got into the swing of things.. In fact Andrew was in his element, setting off across the paddocks early each morning, on the quad bike to feed the animals and collect the eggs. I think access to the bike was definitely a motivating factor.

 Meanwhile I had a lovely time chasing Thom around the property (he's very mobile now) and hanging out in the kitchen baking bread. I rarely had my apron off...

Thom making new friends

Then it was back to the city and the heat..!

It didn't take long before we were heading for the air conditioned refuge of one of my favourite city oasis's and sources of inspiration, GOMA and The Queensland Gallery.

In my opinion, the Gallery/Library precinct at South Bank is really Brisbane's star attraction. There's always something new and interesting happening and with a lot of the exhibitions being free, it's the perfect place to grab coffee or lunch with friends and then while away the afternoon in the cool of the gallery.

It would have to be the most kid friendly gallery I've ever been to as well. Almost every major exhibition has an interactive component created especially for kids. These installations are just as fun for big kids too..

Yayoi Kusama's 'Obliteration Room' before and after..

 Photo's courtesy of GOMA

I've visited there twice in the last couple of weeks.. The first time was to see the contemporary Japanese artist with a penchant for dots, Yayoi Kusama and then I was back to see the much anticipated Matisse, Drawing Life Exhibition.

An absolute highlight is 'The Drawing Room' (and cafe), a interactive space where one could spend hours..

Easels, paper, pencils and high tech tablets are set up in front of vignettes of various beautiful objects, sculpture and even live models, all artfully arranged to bring to out the inner artist. 

photos courtesy of GOMA

Here are a couple of my attempts on the tablet.. You can email your scribbles home or to friends and then continue playing with this sketching program on your own computer. Highly addictive!!

And it's not just me that's got the drawing bug...

Thom's first 'masterpiece'. He's into dots... Very Yayoi Kusama.

And don't you just love washable markers..

Then it rained and rained and rained.., which meant only venturing out for supplies or to keep Thom & I from going stir crazy (The cabin fever was definitely beginning to set in..). 

My friends did drag me out of the house this last (very soggy) Saturday night though and I'm so glad they did! 

Thanks to a tip off on the Fun and VJs blog (which I somehow missed), they whisked me off to the book launch of Australian Modern, a local publication devoted to the best of Australian modernism. You can bye it here. 

The launch was hosted by creative director and publisher Chris Osbourne and his partner Susan at their incredibly fab house (featured on the cover).

It was really terrific night,  catching up with friends I haven't seen in years and making new ones..  I finally met Fun & VJ's gorgeous Anita in person too, looking fab in her paisley mini. A girl of many talents, Anita also did a great job editing Australian Modern. 

Everyone got in the spirit of things too, frocking up in their retro vintage best...

my mate Ange hamming it up in her mod frock...

And today, the last day of January, the sun is finally out and a coastal breeze has blown away the clouds revealing the first blue sky in what seems like ages.. 

The change in weather has me looking forward to February and what it might have in store. I've a feeling it's going to be a tad more up tempo, probably a good thing..