Raw Beetroot salad etc

Raw beetroot, green apple, walnut and chive salad with a lemon vinaigrette. 

Potato salad made with soy mayonnaise, lemon juice, pinenuts and pesto cream 

(photo makes dish look very unappealing)

Garam Masala chickpeas with zucchini, tomato and coriander sauce. 

Long weekend (thanks Queen)

Thank you your Majesty for this lovely long weekend in Queensland - much appreciated. We are meeting some friends for lunch today and taxi-ing it into the city tonight to partake in the 'River Fire' celebrations but aside from these events - the below photos display predominantly what we will be doing this long weekend in percentage form (please don't judge us).

85% will be spent laying here: ordering take-away and watching movies

5% wil be spent finishing laundry

0% will be spent finishing the progress we made on our garden

10% will be spent organising what jewellery to take to Hamilton Island next week

Good news

We had some pretty devastating news about Rainbow on Thursday. He had a lump on his chin that needed surgery, we were initially told that it was just cat acne however halfway through the surgery the surgeon thought it looked a little odd so pre-emptively took away a lot more of the affected area (pretty much the whole area from his mouth down). We were told that the mass might be malignant. We were devastated and spent Thursday night in tears. Rainbow is such an integral part of our family and we just couldn't face the possibility that he might be extremely sick. We begged the Vet to get us the biopsy results by Friday so that we were't waiting through the weekend and (thank God) they pushed it forward and we were told at 3pm on Friday that the mass was benign. Rainbow came home on Friday and we have spent a wonderful weekend with him and Tuesday - taking care of our little patient and just enjoying having him back with us.

The patient

Siblings reunited

Tuesday attacking our records

Useful storage idea

Vintage suitcase housing our massive DVD collection

Uh oh. We bought more furniture

This has a bit of a background story. Here we go - many months ago we hired a removalist company to send all our much loved goods interstate. Upon entering our new home for the first time we found all our newly deposited property strewn about the house in the most horrendous fashion. It was so terrible that I initially thought we had been robbed and simply broke into tears immediately. I was inconsolable. Our record player (which we had purchased only 6 months previously and driven 2 days to collect) was laying on its side. Boxes were ripped open and almost all our vintage furniture had been scuffed, gouged or sliced. What was meant to be a happy and exciting moment had been utterly ruined by this company. 

Our 1963 record player was such a great find that we were devastated to think we wouldn't be able to get it fixed however after much searching we finally found someone to restore it (which I will take a photo of once its been delivered back to us in 2 days- yay!). The man we found is literally one of a kind and managed to fix our record player for a quarter of the price we were initially quoted in Melbourne (before the incident above and further damage was inflicted). In celebration of our returning record player we have found a matching piece of furniture to compliment it - this wicked record cabinet. And look how much more room there is to fill - yes we will now focus all our time (and money) on growing our record collection and believe me - this fills us with immense joy!

By the way the removalist company was called 'The removalist Professionals'. Avoid this organisation like its the plague!

Our new record cabinet

Records!

Saturday night lanterns

Found it very difficult to sleep in on Saturday morning so we rose at a time that only old people, children and clubbers see - 6am. We finally tried out 'Fundies' in Paddington - a well-known organic supermarket and cafe. We got there quite early (obviously) and it was already quite busy (filled with old people, people with children and clubbers). I had scrambled tofu on rye and a broccoli and beetroot juice. I couldn't work out how or what they put in the scrambled tofu to replicate at home (it was a reddy colour and full of spicy flavours) so I focused on the juice and promptly decided that we should purchase a juice maker and start experimenting with fruits and veggies. Anyway we strolled through Paddington and had a look at some op-shops and vintage stores (and bought nothing but three handles for our newly restored dresser). Later on in the evening we went to Tibetan Kitchen for dinner in West End then made our way to Southbank to see the hundred hanging lanterns for the 'Brisbane Festval'. We saw, we took photos, we went home. Meanwhile unbeknown to us - Tuesday had destroyed another plant in our house. The joys of having children.

What to cook, what to cook....

I am so excited about this 'sweet treat' recipe book that I have it permanently sitting in my flower napkin holder on the window sill.  Not only are dishes old school and easy to make (and can easily be converted to vegan) but the pictures inside are adorable. 

Home made musk sticks, candy toffees....

Y

U

M

Salad days

Made with spinach, spring onions, black carrot, zucchini, cucumber, pine nuts, goji berries, corn and coriander with a lime chilli dressing

The lime cost $2.50

Really

Art: Thailand style

My husband found this painting in a little store in Phi Phi Island and we have finally had it framed. The chimp is pensive.

New Dining Room

Restored cabinet donated by parents 

New (vintage) couch 

View from doorway