New dinner table

Our new table was picked up and brought home today! We wanted a nice big table that was versatile enough for everyday and dinner party use. We are now ready for guests!

Melbourne

Next week I fly to Melbourne for one week for work and I cannot express how excited I am to be going back home (even if it is for only a week). Is it weird that I still think of Melbourne as home? I am even happy that I get to wear a huge jacket and scarf again (as it is currently 4 degrees in Melbourne right now as opposed to 17 degrees here in Brisbane). Things I am looking forward to in Melbourne:

• Freezing cold foe fur wearing weather
• Seeing my mum and dad
• Catching up with friends for dumplings and wine
• Giving my parents dog a huge hug
• Spending 5 nights in a hotel where I have no cooking, washing or cleaning to do

These are photos my husband took of Melbourne our last night there. They make me happy.

Melbourne - here I come!

Gnocchi Disaster (or as my husband calls it - Gnocster)

Tonight I attempted to make chickpea and ricotta gnocchi with a spicy tomato sauce. And I failed. Miserably. The gnocchi tasted like pay-doh. It was very disappointing.

I had the ingredients....

The gnocchi looked good...

But alas it was not meant to be. 

Instead, we trotted into town and enjoyed a delicious duck, mandarin segment, poached pear and rocket salad. 

Verdict? Gnocchi is harder to make then you think.

Happy...

In the restaurant

two of my most favourite parts of our house

Record player with Rainny's home-made blanket on top

(mother in law actually made this teeny blanet for him to keep warm)

All my most favourite things in one glass cabinet

Mt Warning

Things to report back:

1) We were meant to climb in time to see the sunrise (leave home at 2am) but slept in until 7am (oops)

2) It took 3 hours to get up and down (and we jogged down)

3) Just when I thought I was going to give up, a couple of 10 years skipped past us with ease

4) I did not fall over once (yes!)

5) The view is worth it!

Mt Warning in the distance

Husband 

Magnificent view

Working my way down

Kingscliff - Goldcoast

I am generally not a fan of burgers (as I actually do not like eating meat) but we found this great Moroccan burger joint in Kingscliff on our way to Tweed Heads. I had a lentil nut burger and (as usual) am going to steal the receipt, replicate it at home, then eat it consistently until it makes me sick. This burger was made with a lentil and nut patty, with homemade satay sauce, lettuce, avocado and tomato salsa. A little bit of hamburger heaven. THEN to make the morning even more enjoyable, we came across a seaside op-shop -where we purchased a vintage recycled wooden dining table. Since it is made entirely of heavy wood we have no means to get it home, so have to borrow the sister in laws ute and come up again next weekend. Thanks SIL! (although she doesn't know yet).

Yum, yum, yum!

Thanks for our dining table (as soon as we get it home, I shall take a photo)

Rows and rows of old school surf boards (i don't surf, but I still want one)

First Day. New job

Well my first day of work went very well, thank God. However (I cannot lie) I will most definately miss my day time soaps, lounging on the backporch in the sun and afternoon siestas. Tommorrow husband and I are off to scale Mt Warning on Sunday to see the sunrise. So - not only has my first day gone quite well but I can tick something off my 'To Do' list. Double win for the week!

Came home to find these 'hope your first day of work went well' flowers from husband 

(he is pretty sweet)

Back in the blazer (no more tracky pants)

Happiness

Yesterday I was finally offered my dream job! I start tomorrow which is doubly awesome as I am pretty eager to get back to work after such a long hiatus. Tomorrow actually marks exactly 2 months since we moved to Brisbane (which is a bit freaky). As today was my last unemployed day I really made the most of it. I slept in until 11am then laid in bed with Rainbow all day reading and eating garlic and cheese pasta. Ah bliss!

List

One of the best things about moving is that you have an entirely new location to explore. Today I wrote a list of all the things I want to do in Brisbane over the next couple of months. Some of it is fairly easy (like join a gym and yoga class) others are a little more difficult (go horse riding on the beach, climb Mt Warning and find a citrus farm so I can make gelati). We shall see exactly how much of my list will be accomplished...

Taste of India

Tonight I made a three course Indian meal - with no meat. Twas delicious.

Chucumber

Shebu Bhaji

Chole Chaat

If you could only watch 5 movies for the rest of your life....

What would they be? I laughed my head off at my husband's list. I think I married a 5 year old. Here they are:

Mine

Darjling Limited

Royal Tenebaums

Rosemary's Baby

Marie Antoinette

Waiting for Guffman

Husbands

Avatar

Planet of the Apes

Jurassic Park

Grizzly Man

Richie Rich

TGIF

Well it is not really 'TGIF' for me since I do not currently have a job - over the last 6 weeks everyday has felt like a Friday. However this week has actually been quite arduous (11 job interviews over 7 days). I feel like I am getting very close to being offered my dream role though - which is very exciting. To celebrate I made cherry cocktails and husband and I are enjoying our favourite food - cheese and dips. My diet starts tomorrow.

Hump Day Happy

Old school alphabet cards from my mum

Gold deer statue from Junk Bar

How to: unique shoes

I bought a pair of pretty ordinary suede shoes and decided to decorate them with some artificial flowers that I found at a market. I think they turned out quite pretty!

One of those days when 1 is just not enough...

Woolloongaba Vintage

Happy Queens birthday to all Australians!
Today husband, parent in-laws and I went to Woolloongaba to check out some vintage markets. Found numerous objects I loved but had the willpower to just say 'no!'(which normally never happens). I am always on the lookout for interesting vintage finds, today I was very tempted to purchase a 1930's floral swimming cap. Although highly impractical, it was extremely pretty.

Happy Birthday... to me!

It was my birthday on Friday- and I got the biggest surprise present ever. Husband said he was able to take the day off work but said he had to go into the office briefly in the morning. So I spent the morning lounging around in my tracksuit, drinking coffee and reading trashy websites. Husband came home and said 'your presents in the boot, come and get it'. Off I trotted to the car, opened the boot and out popped one of my very best friends from Melbourne. We had a stroll and lunch at Southbank, dinner at The Grove in Ashgrove followed by Cocktails at the Junk Bar. We finished out the night dancing like crazy people at Black Bear in The Valley (an alternative little place that plays very awesome soul music).

Thank you for coming and making my birthday truly memorable xx

By the way- this is a photo of me with my birthday cake at The Grove. Upon saying we had a reservation, the waiter replied 'oh yes you're the table that organised the surprise birthday cake'.
Thanks a lot waiter!

Homemade KFC mashies

We love KFC mashies in our house. If you don't know what they are, I shall tell you. They are little balls of potato-ey goodness rolled in KFC secret spices and deep fried. Very unhealthy but undeniably delicious. So you can imagine my excitement when I came upon a recipe in Brisbane's free 'Gram' magazine for organic 'Super Easy Potato Puffs', which combined feta, chives, eggs and mashed potato. Verdict? Winner. By the way, as you can see from the below photo, our kitchen is in fact so small that I have to sticky tape recipes to a cupboard to allow for more room. Ah the joys of teeny tiny houses.

Hump Day Happy

Metallic snakeskin collar necklace from a vintage shop in Mount Tamborine 

Retro sewing basket from a trash n treasure market that now houses my makeup

Mmm Mexican....

Ever since I was taken to 'Jungle' - an amazing Mexican restaurant in Coolangatta, I have been slightly obsessed with Mexican food. The dish I ate at Jungle was so unbelievably fresh and delicious that I began craving it about 5 minutes after we left the restaurant. It was called a supreme toledo and I have been making variations of it at home ever since. It is basically (and it is here that I apologise in advance to any Mexicans for the bastardisation of their classic dish) a soft corn tortilla topped with spicy beans topped with a myriad of salad things (such as apple, celery, walnuts, cucumber, lettuce, carrot etc) topped with home-made salsa, smashed avocado, sour cream with spring onions and cheese. Last night I made a meat version for husband -with organic mince. I love this dish because you can top it with anything in your fridge and it till taste divine. In fact, I think I may make it again tonight....

Kitsch Kitchen

Anyone who knows me, knows this: I love kitsch. And bright colours. So those two elements combined makes me very very happy. On the weekend, husband 'borrowed' an old wheelie table from his parents house, which he promptly painted white with 6 coats of paint (even though I was happy with 1, because he is a perfectionist and I am absolutely not). Anywho, as soon as it dried I went to work decorating it. His parents shan't be getting this back.

Swingin Safari

Was taken out to Surfers Paradise last night and felt very out of place. Average age of patron looked to be  18 and 2 months. Lots of clubs filled with lots of drunk bleached blonde girls and guys. Fortunately, we found Swingin Safari, an old Queenslander converted into a bar/emporium/live gig venue. Aside from the fact we were served drinks in plastic cups, it was quite good. The band belting out Hendrix songs more then made up for it! However, might not be going back to Surfers Paradise anytime soon...

7th Heaven

If you like shopping organically, then this place is for you. We went for a drive today to a little town called Murwillumbah where we discovered this little gem. So many jars of spices, nuts, lentils, flours and chocolates - all organic and fair trade. You filled up brown paper bags with your selected goods and then it was weighed. We got 2 kilo's of wholemeal flour, half a kilo of self raising flour, 4 handfuls of almonds, a bag of olive leaf tea and 4 tablespoons of garam masala for only $12.10. It was only after we paid that I saw the chocolate section. Must now go back...