feeding my magazine addiction...

i am a sucker for pretty pages in magazines... homewares, shopping, cooking, decorating, making... there is nothing better than sitting down with a cuppa and a new, shiny magazine, no?

...which is why i love my zinio app on my iPad (also for iPhone, pc or mac). a year subsribtion for $10ish? without having to leave home? thankyouverymuch!

currently, i'm loving elle decor (usa)... i'm thinking i might need to invest in a dwell subscribtion too! i would love to see some more aussie content come through for purchasing - real living, and delicious, perhaps?

what do you think of my my dream new bathroom... (thanks ralph lauren!). with a view over the central park reservoir in NYC, no less... *sigh*

it's lovely flicking through the pages, and you can store back issues also. i'm addicted! the added bonus is i'm not buying hard-copy magazines that i have to store somewhere, and think of all the trees i'm saving!

this was part of the blog this challenge... head on over and join in the fun.

do you have any must read online magazines, or have a zinio subsription??

a spring sky

spring sky, originally uploaded by bec hem.

new shoots on the frangipani tree

a beautiful blue sky with wisps of clouds

today is a good day... my other half comes home after a week long work trip to the other side of the world. it'll be nice to have him home

what's the sky like in your neck of the woods?

this is part of the blog this challenge for this week. why don't you come and join in the fun!

50 things...

50 things i'm dreaming of... seeing/doing/learning/cooking/reading right now.

blog this's 50th challenge is to write a list of 50 things. any things! i did contemplate "50 things i need to cook" but really, i didn't think that'd be great reading!

so i'm breaking my list up. into little groups of 10. have a read.... get to know me a bit better... and make sure you check out the rest of the amazing aussie bloggers out there who are making lists of their own! and, of course, make your own!

...things i'm dreaming of seeing...

...the eiffel tower. just one more time... pleeeeese?

...penguins in the wild. which would mean a trip to tassie... i heart tasmania...

...some films - 500 days of summer, Paris, je t'aime, the september issue

...scotland. those rolling hills. and this house.

...norway. in the summer, preferably.

...my veggie patch growing healthy... and fast!

...australia becoming a nation full of  organ donors.

...a little letter in the mail from ABC Classic FM offering me a job...

...a puppy in my backyard!

...Heaven

 ...things i'm dreaming of doing...

...being a mum. i think that'd be pretty fun...

...becoming australia's next tv chef. (dreaming? perhaps...)

...some more bushwalking. i just need to find the time...

...getting a good hair cut. (i know this is impossible. but a woman can dream, right?!)

...filling my huge dining room table with friends for an elegant dinner party

...making a wall feature out of framed holiday pics

...wearing a beautiful ballgown at least once in my life (*sigh* i watched high society last night!)

...buying a scandinavian summer house. stat.

...sewing everything from this book

...blogging something fantastic!

...things i'm dreaming of cooking...

...macarons. yes, i'm obsessed

...schiacciata con l'uva. michael klausen's recipe please!

...pork belly. and wontons. oh my!

...rhubarb. in any way.

...salt & pepper squid. 

(are you hungry yet?)

...chicken pot pie - kudos the green table

...peanut butter biscuits - kudos city bakery

...chorizo. all ways.

...lemon curd.

...tarte tartin

...things i'm dreaming of learning...

...quilting. i'm thinking like this. and this. move over grandma. contemporary is HERE.

...more chopin. his nocturnes make me swoon. 

...how to be slightly more of a "morning person".

...the secrets to cleaning a shower. mouldy grout? you are my arch nemesis. 

...a little more french. oui?!

...the secrets to interior decorating.

...balance in life.

...the art form of milk frothing & latte art.

...where my favourite book went. lost for 2 years. never forgotten.

...to say no.

...things i'm dreaming of reading...

..."A perfectly kept house is the sign of a misspent life" now that sounds like my kinda book.
...cookbooks... heston. jamie. stephanie. that's happiness!
...persuasion. for the hundredth time.

... more books & magazines on my iPad. i love that thing

...my bible... one inspirational book. it's pretty powerful.

..."the elegance of the hedgehog". it's title jumps out at me...

...Lists :To-dos, Illustrated Inventories, Collected Thoughts, and Other Artists' Enumerations from the Smithsonian's Archives of American Art. this looks awesome.

...my google reader. total inspiration. everyday.

...twitter. it cracks me up. all. the. time. 

...any good novel, really.

thanks for reading!

a little festive cheer...

 

a little hand knitted plum pudding...

a plywood evergreen... i have an adversion to plastic green chistmas trees.

nothing personal if you have one, but they're just not my cup of tea.

Noel... a french word for christmas... makes me think of beautiful carols like the first noel, carol of the bells, Handel's Messiah...

there should be a lot of love at christmas...

and lots of mum's shortbread. mine will never be as good as hers!

how have you got into the festive spirit??

blog this challenge :: festive

{cooking} risotto

i'm not sure where my love for risotto came from. my mother, although the most tremendous cook, never cooked risotto. italian food is lost on her. pasta. risotto. parmesan. oh it's terrible just thinking about it!!! don't you think she is missing out on some of life's greatest enjoyments????

oh but risotto: i could write an ode to it. and not only can it make me swoon, but it is also my last-resort meal. the one thing i can cook when there is nothing to eat in the fridge. infact, risotto is the ultimate meal. it can be as simple or as elegant or as fancy as you like.

so, here is my risotto recipe. it's evolved over a few years... many thanks go to ursula ferrigno, curtis stone & jamie oliver for their little hints along the way.

image :: david loftus

 ...the ingredients

1 onion, diced very finely

2 cloves garlic, through a garlic press

1 tbs butter

1 tbs olive oil

1 cup aborio rice

a few cups boiling water

1/2 cup white wine

1 tbs chicken stock powder

multitudes & multitudes of freshly chopped herbs, salt, cracked pepper, parmesaan cheese.

the method...

fry onion and garlic with the butter and oil in a heavy based fry pan. cook until onion is transparent. add in the rice and stir for a minute or so, until rice goes a bit transparent. then add the wine, which will make a lovely bubbly broth for a few seconds until a lot of it evaporates. add in the stock powder here, and add half a cup of boiling water.

stir the risotto once, then let it sit for a few minutes until the water is all taken up. then add another half a cup of water. keep letting it all soak up, then add more... and so on until the rice is cooked until just a little bit crunchy.

here, add lots of freshly chopped herbs, freshly cracked salt and (lots of) pepper, and lots and lots of cheese. if you want to go really over the top, add a little knob of butter (or a tablespoon of cream) and just let the whole thing sit for a minute or two.

serve with an extra crack of pepper, a shredding of cheese, a dash of olive oil and a squeeze of lemon.

 delish!

and my latest variation-on-a-theme? pan fry some swiss brown mushrooms with plenty of butter, lemon thyme & pepper; and heap on top of the risotto. oh bliss!

what's your last-resort meal?? blog this wanted to know :: go on, you know you want to join in!

and, more importantly, what's in your perfect risotto dish??

{dreaming of} my dream house...

i need little encouragement to think about my dream house... my dad is a draftsman and i've been brought up around house plans! oh the dreams i have... one day hubs and i will live in our beautiful house, designed by us (don't we all have that desire?? will it happen?? i hope so!)

this is one house that caught my eye recently. located on stradbroke island, it's made by a team in Brisbane called happy haus. it's a series of small buildings (modules), connected by spaces and walkways. there's a living module, a sleeping module, and you just add what you need!



i love the idea of a not-so-big house. i read the book a while back and it just makes sense. space that is practical and beautiful. but only as big as you need. less cleaning, yes! but more together time with your family. you're near eachother, not at separate ends of a too-big house...



this little house is just that. unassuming. a small eco-footprint is important to me, and this ticks the boxes. a space that makes the beautiful landscape around it's focus. i want a house that will let me live openly with the outside. oh! i could go on an on...

you can see more amazing pics here ...

and i just love that it arrives on the back of a truck and gets winched into place!

all images :: happy haus website

this was part of the Blog This Challenge 23. Go on, you know you want to join in!

wish list

i get slightly freaked out about buying people presents. i love giving presents. but i want to give the perfect gift. always. so i get a bit obsessive about buying the right present.

of course, i am the easiest person to buy for *cough cough*. but right now i am going to give you a sneak peak of what's on my ultimate gift list. The BlogThis challenge this week is to write a list of 5 things that would be on the list of perfect presents for me. here goes...

1. a handbag. i can never have enough!

it would probably be nice big one, so i can put everything i could possibily imagine i will need. and look a bit like this witchery one...

2. a bit of bling... and would hopefully arrive in a little blue box... *grin*

3. and then, to satisfy my magazine obsession... a lifelong supscribtion to real living magazine.
i just can't get enough!

4. i'm hopeful for a little bit of travelling next year... around the world?? why not!! a passport cover is definetly on my wish list... and i love this one by Aussie crafter Pepperberry & Co. So kitsch!

5. and finally, a fail-safe present for me. pajamas! I LOVE PAJAMAS! aren't these ones from deshabille beautiful!!

cute!

motherly love

family IS a very special thing to me. i have a fabulous Mum & Dad who i'm lucky enough to live near and see regularly...
(every Saturday? 11am?? lets just say the phone will ring & i'll know who it is...)
the Blog This challenge for this week was to share a memory of your mum or dad... Where do i start? there are so many great memories of me & my parents: mostly ones that make me laugh: and that's a good thing!

but here are a few pics of Me & My Mum this year on Mothers day...


a day where my mum got a new camera lens (because, you know, 4 isn't enough...) and then needed to take pictures of Josh's vegie patch... (josh then decided this would be perfect opportunity to weed. let's just say it was a productive morning!)



and then she had to steal a bit of the produce before going home...

(i've gotta say, that was a great crop of basil that made more than one batch of pesto!).

My parents are all about the outdoors... getting into the garden... taking photos in the outdoors... holidays in the bush... so this memory was a great one: we weren't sitting on the couch having a stuffy morning tea: we were outside getting our hands dirty and having a few laughs at the same time!

book club

i love reading. i do. i'm an obsessive reader. when i'm reading a book, everything else goes out the window: eating, sleeping, cleaning. So... that's why i thought we needed a book club on Cup Of Kitsch... and Blog This has a "what's on your bedside table" challenge this week. so: enter stage left, the first book club post!

i heard a beautiful quote recently from author Alexander McCall Smith, who was being interviewed for ABC Classic FM by Margaret Throsby. When asked "What's on your bedside table"... he replied

"towers of books.... my bedside table is actually a bit hazardous
to approach because there are large numbers of books..."

that imagery could just as easily applied to my bedside table. There you'll find my favourite books, ready to refer to when the moment calls. Books that i feel i should read, books i want to read.

some books i have read, and loved, and will love for all time...

Pride and Prejudice - J. Austen
Persuasion - J. Austen
Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis de Bernieres
Frederica - Georgette Heyer
A Walk in the Woods - Bill Bryson

some books i have sitting there, waiting to be read...
La's Orchestra Saves the World - Alexander McCall Smith
The Man who Ate the World: in search of the perfect dinner - Jay Rayner
Julie & Julia: My year of cooking dangerously - Julie Powell

but let me quickly tell you a little bit about a book i have read recently. this is a book that i had known about for several months. and i had an absolute aversion to it. DID NOT want to read it. and then i started dreaming about it, and it would come up in conversation. i felt i just had to read this book.

it's called the shack, by WM. Paul Young...
and it's a story about Mac, a father who's youngest child is abducted while on a family holiday. a series of terrible circumstances show this child was then abused and tortured in a small shack in the middle of the wilderness. and her body is never found.

sounds terrible? it is. i felt physically ill reading parts of this story. but you have to keep reading, because of what happens next.

Mac is traumatised. why did this happen. what could he have done to stop this? what if's...

and then a letter arrives in the mail. a letter inviting him back to the shack where his daughter was killed. a letter from God.

wow. what a book. i can't tell you the whole story. you need to read it to believe it. it is a fictional book, just a story. but a very powerful story. and in some ways it answers the question of "why does God let bad things happen". i think it shows how faith can be relevant to us, today. it's a story of healing. of empowerment. and it IS just a book - there's parts in it that didn't quite sit right with me. but a fantastic read...

and i would recommend it if you haven't read it. if you have read it, i would love to hear what you thought, too.

happy reading!

image: The Shack Book

a little walk

let me take you for a little walk around my suburb...

along the path...

past the local bowls club.
(i will make good use of this in 40 years time...)




our local butcher.
Sunday special: a free smile...




there's some beautiful places to explore.
but please, enjoy don't destroy.
it's too precious!

the eiffel tower on a squiggly gum??

it's the sort of suburb where all backyards meet in the middle.
it's cosy...

disclaimer: this is not my letterbox...

there were others on their Sunday Stroll...

right now, the wattle is out...
there are beautiful clouds of bright yellow everywhere.
simply stunning!

the dinner party

the dinner party to end. all. dinner. parties.

Yes that's right friends, I'm hosting a dinner party. Thanks to Blog This for the reason.
i thought i might let you in on how preparations are going...

the guest list...

myself & hubby
hostess with the most-ess
Simon & Garfunkel
will that count as 2 guests?
seriously, they are still beautiful musicians 40 years later...
and i'm sure they've got a few stories to tell...
Joni Mitchell
if only so she'll play me an acoustic version of "river"...
and when that's done i'm sure her and S & G can talk about how things "used to be" in the music industry, like all old people do...
Mr (Fitzwilliam) Darcy
look mate, forget elizabeth bennett, i'm doing a bit of matchmaking with the following guest...
best friend ruby
(ok so i've changed her name!)
i'm not usually into matchmaking, but i just know they'd be perfect for eachother!
That, and I want to spend Christmas's at Pemberley!!!
Bill Bryson (author)
You've always gotta have someone to tell a hilarious story about anything...
and he's just the man!

Looking over the guest list i'm almost embarrassed to invite these beautiful people to my humble home, but that's what dinner party's are all about, right? humble and comfortable and sharing a meal together. (And also, i want to have a glass of champagne and not have to drive home!!!)

which brings me to the menu...
Masterchef? eat your heart out.
i have lamb shanks, and i'm not afraid to use them.

entree
caramelised onion tarts with persian feta
served on a bed of rocket
wine : Marlborough sauvignon blanc

mains
slow braised lamb shanks in red wine sauce
served on a bed of herb polenta
with steamed baby winter vegetables
wine: barossa cabernat sauvignon

dessert
Clafoutis
a beautiful french baked custard dessert
served with fresh berries
and thin cream
wine: dessert wine - Muscat
or sweet Champagne

of course, the bottle(s!) of french champagne will be served extra chilled throughout the evening.
I suspect the gentlemen will also retire to the lounge after dessert for a refreshing glass of port (well, that's what they do in the books, don't they? no pipes allowed in my house, though!)

I'm not setting a dress code, but it's an unwritten rule that i'll be wearing black. Not for the sophistication or the slimming nature. no, purely because i will undoubtedly spill something on me. Probably the red wine sauce from the lamb shanks. Even more undoubtable considering i'll have had at least one glass of champers by then.

the entertainment...
here is where my guests come in. Joni Mitchell. Paul Simon. Art Garfunkel. Need i say more?
haven't you heard the phrase: sing for your supper?
but seriously, i'm also hoping Bill Bryson will have us all mesmerised by his stories of travelling the world.
And, of course, Ruby & Mr Darcy will not notice anything but the beating of their hearts as they stare into eachothers eyes and realise they are looking at their soul mate. ok, so i'm just a little bit of a romantic!

And, like all good hostesses, i will have backup.

• Burn the dinner? my mum can save anything. and she's 2 minutes up the road.
  
• Someone turns out to be gluten-intolerant: didn't you know polenta is made from cornmeal?
• Joni lost her voice? I've got Kate Miller-Heidke's personal phone number... i need to hear that song!
  
• Awkward moments of silence: I'll just make some funny joke about the "Sound of Silence" which no doubt will impress Simon & Garfunkel to no end, and will undoubtedly have the table in raptures of laughter (...pun intended!)

It's sure to be a great night! I'll let you know how it goes...