Lobster Love

My friend Sally is obsessed with J Crew and lobsters after scoring herself this gorgeous bag on ebay.

So Miss Sally, this hastily pulled together board (with your bag in the corner) is for you. I'm sending you as many positive thoughts as I can poppet.

First Row: J Crew, My Recipes, J Crew, Amazon

Second Row: J Crew, Juicy Couture, Shop Style, Kate Spade, K is for Katie

Third Row: Kate Spade, Victoria's Secret, Documents & Designs, Ralph Lauren

Fourth Row: J Crew, J Crew, Katy Elliot, J Crew

Let the Devil wear Black, for I'll have a Suit of Sables

Doubt thou the stars are fire;
Doubt that the sun doth move;
Doubt truth to be a liar;
But never doubt I love... your sweater
Is it Cashmere?
And you're using that whitening toothpaste I see. I must say, it is doing wonders for your smile.

Poster for a Swedish production of Hamlet, via Sydney Arts Journo

It is Nicer to Leave a Note....

It is now officially waaaaaay past my bedtime, yet I am still here.
Damn you Passive aggressive notes, one needs to sleep, but one is now addicted to your archives.

Oh Office fun

Droolfest #1

I just saw the trailer for the new Bond flick; Quantum of Solace

Hose me down.

Daniel Craig is just pure sex.

Another photo please you ask.

Well, as you were so polite, I am forced to oblige

Weeping Willow

Tears on my pillow

Pain in my heart

Caused by you...

Kit Willow

Oh the melancholy because I do not own these

or the body to wear these

Three Ps

Did anyone see these on Etsy's handpicked items today? Gorgeous Pillows, Purses and Passport Holders from Bridget Davies.

Tuesday Tunesday - No Sex for Ben

What is the etiquette in calling up a Ben when this is on the radio and singing it to them? Methinks High.

A Second on the Lips, Forever on the Hips

I did not realise how deliciously sinful diet-wise cheesecake actually could be, 'til I made my first one from scratch (not packet) for Father's Day dinner this weekend. Everyone ate it and my brothers did not pull faces like they were dying from the agony of it all, so I think it worked. I used this recipe from Notebook magazine. My fave part of it was the passionfruit curd which I had made once before and it worked beautifully - this time, not so good, but no-one seemed to notice.

Passionfruit Curd Cheesecake

250g butternut biscuits

200g digestive biscuits

120g butter, melted

500g cream cheese, at room temperature

1/2 cup (100g) caster sugar

300g sour cream

2 eggs

1 tsp finely grated lemon rind

Passionfruit curd

2 passionfruit

50g butter

2 eggs, lightly whisked

1/2 cup (100g) caster sugar

1 tbs lemon juice

Line the base of a 20cm (base measurement) springform pan with baking paper. Place the biscuits in a food processor and process until finely crushed. Add the butter and process until well combined. Transfer mixture to the pan and use a glass to press the crumb mixture firmly over the base and side of the pan. Place in the fridge for 30 minutes to set.

In the meantime, to make the passionfruit curd, place passionfruit pulp, butter, eggs, sugar and lemon juice in a saucepan over low heat. Cook, stirring, for 5 minutes or until mixture boils and thickens. Remove from heat and set aside for 30 minutes to cool.

Preheat oven to 160°C. Use an electric mixer to beat cream cheese and sugar in a bowl until smooth. Add the sour cream and beat until smooth. Add eggs and lemon rind and beat until just combined.

Pour half the cream cheese mixture into the biscuit base. Dollop spoonfuls of half the passionfruit curd over the cream cheese. Pour over remaining cream cheese and dollop half of the remaining curd. Use a bamboo skewer to gently swirl passionfruit mixture and cream cheese to make a marbled pattern.

Place on an oven tray. Bake in oven for 45 minutes or until centre is just set. (here is where I went wrong - make sure you oven is on the cooking setting, not the defrost setting when you go to check your cheesecake 45 minutes later). Turn oven off. Leave cheesecake in the oven, with the door ajar, for 1 hour or until cooled completely. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and place in the fridge to chill. Spread over remaining curd to serve. Shovel into mouth like the little piggy you know you are.

Pinch Me

You know how some cheeks are just made for pinching...
Too adorable via Brooklyn Bride

This is me - Monday Night

I gotta get me some tissues

I've reached a century

100 Posts. Who'd a thunk it?
On a sidenote - it is 100 years (and a few days) since the birth of Don Bradman.

I feel privileged to share any sort of milestone (even just a numerical one) with such a legend.

BIG News

For those of us who do not have Pay TV, this is the most brilliant news ever.

Channel Nine will be screening Gossip Girl over summer.

Lets hope they don't pull another OC deal on us and yank it off air too early.

Wooooooo Hooooooooooo. So excited, I might pee my pants.

Off my Trolley

I currently have one of these trolleys for when I go to the markets (see Brown Button for the most gorgeous pics of the Central Markets)

But, I was flicking through an old Vogue and got a serious case of trolley envy.

There was the most gorgeous wicker shopper from Vicino in Sydney. I couldn't find a pic online so I did a bit of a search and came across these lovelies that I would be quite happy to have trailing behind me while I'm choosing my bananas.

Wicker basket from here. This is crying out for some baguettes and a bunch of hollyhocks.

Orla Kiely Pear Trolley from here. I want one. No, I'll take a pair (geddit -pear, heh heh)English Rose Trolley from here. Also good for when you need to hide your shopping in your neighbour's garden.

Trixie shopper from here. As above, but substitute garden for flannelette sheets.

Rolser trolley from here so I can work this look and literally stop traffic...

Um? Yum!

Peach and Marigold truffles from cake and commerce via tastespotting

Vale Wally

Today I went to the funeral of someone who, although not a blood relative, had been part of my family for over 60 years.

Following a lifelong love of horses, Wally got a job working on my grandfather's farm in his teens. He went on to be one of his milk men, traversing the streets with a clydesdale named Mickey and his milk cart, eventually becoming one of the last in the metropolitan area to do so. I heard today in his eulogy that he would often have a cup of tea with his customers and at the end of his rounds, he would go to the deli and buy Mickey a cake. There was a touching moment when the celebrant read out a fax from a former customer, who was just a boy when Wally did his round. He had read about Wally's passing in the paper and felt moved to show his respects, so he faxed the story of how he would wake up early and wait out the front firstly so he could pat Mickey, but also so he could run out his family's bottles so Wally wouldn't have to get off the cart and Wally would give him a couple of shillings for his help. Isn't it funny how how some people stay in your memory like that.

Image via here

After my grandfather died, Wally stayed on with my Nanna, choosing to live in a caravan at the back of her place until he fell and had to have a hip replacement. It was only after this that he accepted that he would have to move inside the house.

He lived his life simply and the way he wanted. He loved Cowboy novels and sport on the wireless. He apparently never had any obvious girlfriends, no children of his own and chose his friends carefully and sparingly, but to us grandkids he was always kind, gentle and quite the teaser. The celebrant kept referring to Wally as a character and I guess I never really thought of him that way. I thought every family had a Wally. I will miss his ready smile and cheeky jokes and I have the greatest appreciation for the loyalty he showed to my family.

Rest in Peace Wally.

Tuesday Tunesday - Ghosts

Love this.
Makes me smile, makes me cry, makes me sing

Can you believe Laura Marling is only 18?

Funny Face

Picture from here

You probably wouldn't know it from a lot of my posts, but I love grammar and good spelling is really important to me - I'm the kind of person who gets goosebumps when I see a preposition at the end of a sentence.

So, when I was double checking the spelling of Elizabeth Barrett Browning, I found a picture of her and immediately thought of her contempory celebrity look-alike: Ross Noble.

Check them out
Seperated at birth, oui/non?


I have seen Ross Noble perform at a few of the Adelaide Fringe Festivals and I think he might be the funniest comedian I have ever seen. He goes off on the strangest tanjents, but always comes back to where he started. He often describes his style as random and this spot on Rove's "Things we Love" is the most perfect example of this that I could find. Bizarre.