oh hello skin

I’m still on a high from my lovely weekend of doing a whole lot of nothing in my very own house all by my very own self. Not having commitments is fantastic sometimes and I filled my weekend with baking; cookies, caramel slice and chocolate brownies,


making cheese and butter (a trial for Brownies last night, which went very well and the girls loved it almost as much as I did.)



I also made up a little home baking pack for a friend who had moved into a new flat and the neighbour who fixed our sky dish (major dramas) and went and visited them.




While I didn’t get around to scrapbooking I did buy myself a new one. Isn’t it so sweet...

The rest of the time I filled my day with reading (online and offline :)), getting to the gym and the Sunday market. I have a similar schedule on the books this weekend, however there are a couple of wild cards thrown in there... ha you know who you are. A relaxing weekend does really make a big difference; I feel like my old self, I haven’t felt like her... me, properly for ages. It’s good to be back in my skin.

Oh and the cheese recipe is here and super easy if you want to give it a go!

social innovation

A few Saturday’s ago I attended New Zealand’s first Social Innovation Camp. A lot of these happen around the world but wellington was the first to hold New Zealand’s. There is a post on idealog that talks about how it was run and what came out of it.

In whole a whole I was super excited about this meet; getting together with other members of the public who were interested in making a difference socially. The topic was based around “how to innovate our way out of the recession” and while the ideas that came out were strong I have to say I was a little disappointed. Everything was so focussed around business issues (understandable due to the topic) but I was hoping there would be some solutions that were more focussed specific groups of society and making a difference with in them. I felt that the topic of financial crisis over road what we (will I) was trying to achieve.

There is one in Auckland coming up in the start of July so if you are up that way and interested make sure you check it out here.

better late than never...

Yes I have been a bad at keeping my blog up to date. I’m going to post a few things that are a bit old but I thought I would share them anyway as there seems to be lots of fun exciting things happening locally that I would hate you all to miss out on.


Anyway it is freezing in little Wellington, with snow on the hills and even in the suburbs! WOW! My favourite thing at the moment is my hot water bottle, oh how you comfort me. It sits under my cardi for most of the day like a little winter pot belly. I sometimes wonder if this is what it is like to feel pregnant. People assure me it is not but I can’t see how it would be much different.

Image source: weheartit

recording travel

Today I came across The Interview Project (c/o my creative director). Basically it’s a team of guys travelling around the US over 70 days and interviewing people that the meet along the way. The explanation behind the project is a bit weak, well really it’s limp and piss pour but I think that i”m drawn to it because it’s about people, their experiences, hopes, dreams and thoughts. And I love the individual.



It reminds me a little bit of this post by daydream lily on the disposable memory project (pics above)– where people are leaving disposable cameras around the world, taking photos, passing them on and then sending them back to their owners to be printed and posted. Well kinda the same but not really, just similar concept of recording travel. But still both very cool ideas... Same, same but different.

domesticated 101 : Sewing and Craft

Yes during the weekend I also tackled that never ending pile of clothes that were to be mended; buttons that need to be sewed on, hems that need to be taken up and threads that needed to be pulled back through. I also cut up some old shirts I had tying around and used some gorgeous material that my friend got my for my birthday and did up some picture frames. I’m not sure what I’m going to do with the rest of it but I’m sure that I will find some use.

domesticated 101 : baking

So the first 3 days of my long weekend I spent drinking wine, eating divine cheeses and gossiping while we listened to music and the bitter thrusting wind outside.

So when Monday rolled around I pulled myself together and got domesticated as it’s not every Monday that you get a Monday off! Not that drinking wine and eating is domesticated. I expect that the average house wife experiences the odd wine on more than one occassion a week ;)

Domesticated 101 : Baking

I decided to get stuck into some of my new baking books I have recently received. The first bake by Alyson Gofton. The second cupcakes, cheesecakes and cookies put out by the Australian Women’s Weekly. Both books are fantastic but are quite extremes of each other.


A month ago I went along to the annual charity fund raiser for Plunket which took shape in the form of a bake off and a spell from Gofton; raising publicity for her new book bake. I made my fantastic lemon muffins which unfortunately didn’t place anywhere despite being a favourite in our office here at work. I personally think it was rigged as Gofton was more excited seeing men had done some baking. She ended up awarding a man with the overall prize, she was very excited to be able to plant her lips on his check and hands around his waist when the congratulatory photo was taken :). But hey, what can I say, it’s not like I haven’t used my womanly charm to my advantage.
I have to say while her speech was a bit lengthy and some of the things that came out of her mouth were not exactly appropriate for tea and biscuit conversations she did make some bang on points about the role of a woman in the kitchen and how things have changed in the last 30 years.
She mentioned how magazines used to feature articles on how a woman was to feed a hard working man; the number of potatoes he needed for dinner and how to make a decent cake to feed all the shearers at smoko. In later times it was how working mothers could make quick and easy food and then there was the turn to the delicate, fine dining food style that was served on the white on white on white table settings. Today food is expected to be all of these things; filling, quick and attractive as well as being cost effective and of course healthy. Gofton went through all of these stages through her career as a chef to cook to critic. Her career involved writing for cuisine magazine, hosting food in a minute, working on the nutrition advisory board and of course being a mother and wife.


Therefore bake was made with all these things in mind but most importantly with the love that she has for food. The book is ideal for every family kitchen; it contains ingredients you find in the everyday pantry, at a basic skill level for every member of the family, requires minimum time and minimum equipment, all you need is a bowl and a wooden spoon. This is all reflected in the presentation of the book with old tea towel patterns being recognised for there timeless efforts and becoming design, simple presentations and items being photographed on Gofton’s family china (bit’s and pieces from here and there that you end up gathering and collecting). I like the statement she made later on; a home is place that is filled with odd mugs and cups, these tell you so much about the people that live there and what kind of family they are.


The CCC however is the complete opposite it’s all about decoration and making a conscious effort with presentation. It’s a lovely book to look at but makes you rather exhausted before you get started with so many choices and so much attention to details. I was tempted by the cup cake called Lemon Meringue Pie Cupcakes (Above firstly mine secondly the books, obviously) (Basically lemon/coconut cupcakes filled with lemon curd and piper with meringue topping) and while they were tasty little morsels they weren’t really worth the effort that went into them. However the baked white chocolate cheese cake with cherries was extremely delicious and left my flatmates ready to pop!



Last night I also wacked together the toffee, sticky date pudding (above) in about 10 minutes, topping and all! It was a hit and perfect for a winters evening with friends and flatties.

yogurt and coconut loaf with passionfruit icing- one word, amazing- bake


detailed little cupcakes-ccc

both books are avaliable in all good book stores at present.

being a home maker

I was emailed this cut out from the 50’s after I mentioned that I spent my weekend doing wholesome things; cleaning, baking, cooking, sewing and crafts. I may have also mentioned my love for ironing... probably not wise when working in an office...

My old flat mate and I use to joke about how we would love to be house wives, but only out of choice. If we were ever told we had to be we would through our iron’s aside and march into the work force J I can’t believe this kind of thing was actually in a magazine, it seems ridiculous.

straw

Sorry I haven’t posted for a while. I have just got back from Thailand and promise to post some photos for you soon. In the mean time there is a new post by us on the farmer’s daughters. xxx

celebrations = costume

So on Friday we had our work Christmas party. I love a good party and really any excuse to dress up so I thought it would be fun to come as a sack of presents. Yes I am a bit mad! It wasn’t the most perfect outfit to wear in windy Wellington I discovered but it was ideal for all the amazing food and booze we demolished at chow. Which can I say if a great place to eat. I go there often enough and it is great for functions, small parties or drinks. . They do an amazing banquette which is perfect for a function that will leave even the biggest over grown humans satisfied.

The photo below is a photo later on in the evening, I like it’s lighting and the movement is captured almost perfectly. It pretty much describes the festive atmosphere that lead the night away. However for once I wasn’t the one in the spot light and more the one paying back my dues for old times. It was a rather nice change, oh gosh am I growing up....

summer sundays

I love summer. Summer for me means strawberries, sunbathing, sleeping and seaside. But most of all I love summer on a Sunday. I usually head up to my beach house on a weekend and spend the day doing all of those things with the good company of family and friends, and this Sunday was the first of the year, with many more to follow.

And when I return home, back to the city I rub coconut oil all me skin and climb onto my lovely comfy bed to paint my finger nails and eat the last of the strawberries. With nice clean white linen I lie there absorbing the way the sheets feel so buttery against my salted, sun kissed skin, (thank the lord for Egyptian cotton sheets).


This weekend I also realised that summer had started to begin when I could finally use the Coconut oil that I got in Port Douglas, Australia. It has sat on my dresser for 8 months, with me waiting for the weather to be warm enough to liquefy the bottle of lard into a tropical dream and I last night I was finally able to rub the gorgeous product all over my skin. The smell of coconut and frangipanes is so intense and keeps your skin soft and fragranced all day. The smell brings back to me the story the Fijian lady who I brought it from had told me. She delightedly informed me that young Fijian women use to go into the bush at night, find the Frangipani flowers and rub the flower on their neck and place them in their hair. The scent was so strong that men could smell it from miles away and would come from villages afar to find the woman. I can believe it, this scent is so strong I can still smell it on me this morning and after my visit to Samoa earlier in the year I also believe this is so. Seeing and being introduced to small parts of the Samoan lifestyle, seeing the way they work off their instincts and still have a strong connection with their environment, their scene of the bush, it makes me understand and appreciate how this story/theory has come about.


You can but this beautiful oil online. It is only $8.50 (Australian dollars) a bottle. And they not only do they have Frangipani but a range of other scrumptious scents as well! It is made by the Banaha People. They describe themselves as the 'Forgotten People of the Pacific'. They have an amazing background of rich history that you can find out more about here.
This would make a great Christmas present that anyone who is going into summer will love.