Cast iron apple pot

How amazing is this cast iron apple pot from Terrain? I've long wanted to invest in a big cast iron pot, and I think an apple-shaped one is just perfect! It looks like it belongs in my kitchen, yes?

Alas, Terrain do not ship overseas. I'll just have to keep dreaming...

Baked rice puddings

Last weekend I tested out my new ramekins and made some delicious individual baked rice puddings.

The Vinyl Living tea towel was a lovely birthday gift from a lovely friend for my birthday.

Solid wood

We recently became fed up with our old Ikea chopping board. It looked pretty, but needed regular oiling where it had warped and split due to moisture seeping into the joins. It probably wasn't the most hygienic chopping board, either.

I embarked on an online journey to find the perfect rectangular solid timber board (none of these 'freeform' types). My search led me to to the 'Rocky', a beast of a board made from sustainable camphor laurel, and with red gum handles. It also turns out that the seller lives close by, and was able to drop my board off to save on postage. I can most certainly say that the investment was well worth it!

I was also recently given this adorable strawberry chopping board from Freedom. I have a feeling that it will end up making an excellent cheese board!

Giveaway: Origami recipe hearts

As you may have seen a little while ago, I recently made some origami recipe hearts for the Brisbane ABCD Meetup. I went along on Friday night and met some super lovely and creative people (not to mention the super lovely and creative items they all made for the goodie bags!).

Would you like an origami recipe heart to appear in your mailbox? If so, please leave a comment and tell me what recipe you would put inside. You have until Wednesday night... good luck!

Origami recipe hearts

I'm excited to be attending the next Brisbane ABCD Meetup at the Powerhouse in a couple of weeks. The gatherings are for all creative types who blog, and as I've never attended one before I thought it might be a nice opportunity to put some faces to names! I've even ordered myself some business cards in anticipation.

The most exciting part of all is that everyone can contribute a crafty treat to goodie bags for everyone to enjoy. Not having my own crafty business, I had to think long and hard about what I might be able to contribute. I eventually came up with the idea for these colourful origami hearts.

Inside each heart is a personal recipe of mine, which can only be read if you're willing to unfold the paper to reveal it.

If you're a crafty blogger in Brisbane and want to know what the recipe is, you'll just have to come along to the meetup! Check out the ABCD Facebook page if you're interested.

Pear and banana pikelets

Yesterday afternoon I was flicking through some old copies of Mixtape zine and stumbled across a recipe for these delicious pear and banana pikelets. We had a bit of tinned fruit in the pantry and a couple of leftover bananas for the week, plus I'd already been thinking about making some pancakes or pikelets...

Marimekko splurge

A couple of days ago Brands Exclusive had a sale on a range of Marimekko homewares, and I couldn't resist indulging a little (considering everything was half price). Thankfully they didn't have any tea pots, because I may have gone a little crazier with the spending if they did.

I bought myself a tea cup and large plate from the Siirtolapuutarha range. I won't be using the cup for tea, though; I think I'll put something lovely in it instead. The plate will be used for cakes, of course!

There are still a few items left in the sale, which finishes tomorrow night. I happen to know that a certain other blogger has already indulged...

Pear and cinnamon upside-down cake

Baked in the searing heat this afternoon in preparation for John's birthday tomorrow...

Pears in sunlight

Remember the cute little pyrex bowl I acquired last week? Here it is holding my fresh organic pears as they ripen on the windowsill.

Thrift store treasure

For the third trip to Toowoomba in a row, I didn't make it to the St Vinnies store that I desperately wanted to visit. I've had some amazing success there in the past, but it closes at 11.30 on a Saturday morning! We left early enough, but didn't account for all the traffic backed up to get onto the range (which currently has a lane closed after the floods). Consequently, we took the Murphy's Creek detour instead, which added 40 minutes to our journey. (But, it did give us the opportunity to see how well the army and emergency services are progressing with the clean-up.)

However, I did manage to stop off at the Lifeline around the corner, which I've had limited success with in the past (such as getting my hands on the ceramic pie dish I used to bake my pavlova). This time, I had one lucky find: this pretty little carafe for $1.50.

I decided to put away the brown bowl that had been sitting on the bench holding pens and rubber bands and other bits and pieces, and it's been replaced with spotty cups and saucers that have been hiding away. My little display sits under the microwave in the right side of the kitchen, which means it's visible from the living area. It's nice to finally have an arrangement there that I'm happy with!

How I went with my 2010 goals

Some of you may remember that at the beginning of 2010 I wrote a list of six goals for the year. I thought I should revisit and see how I went with them.

Goal number 1: Learn how to sew
Success! This is the goal that I most wanted to conquer. I started off with a short course at a local school, as well as some help from my friend Shilo. I haven't yet tackled the cushions I want to make with my Florence Broadhurst fabric, but that's because I want to tackle more difficult things like clothes first. Then the cushions will seem super easy! Here are a couple of my creations from throughout the year.

Goal number 2: Get plantation shutters installed

Thanks to a very generous wedding gift from my parents, we got our plantation shutters in March. There were some slight problems with them (the mechanism on the living room ones was a little loose, and there was a large scratch on the bedroom ones). But, Cosmopolitan Shutters were kind enough to replace the whole lot for us, so now they're perfect!

Goal number three: Have some art works framed

Although this goal hasn't quite been completed, I took some steps towards achieving it! At work they were auctioning off some high-quality frames used for art works, so I picked up a couple of big ones for some of our prints. I'll just need to take them to the framer for correct mounting sometime in the new year.

Goal number four: Finish the bathroom

Again, this has been partially done. We repainted the week after our wedding, but haven't quite finished off the second coat of the edges. We didn't install towel rails, but instead got a much more aesthetically pleasing stand-alone rack. We've decided to have a bit more work done on the bathroom, such as replacing the vanity and shower curtain rail, and installing the shower head and tiles a bit higher (as with the height of the new bath the shower head is far too low for John!). Here's what we've done so far.

Goal number five: Paint the cupboard doors

Ok, we didn't do this one. Maybe next year.

Goal number six: Learn to take better photos

I think I did ok with this one. I didn't get myself a better camera, but just practised a lot more. I think my main success was photographing food, but I think I also did ok with photographing our home as well. How do you think I went?

I also achieved success with a couple of other goals that weren't listed in my original list. I got married, but I also learnt to drive, and in a manual car! I started taking lessons at the beginning of my long-service leave, and finally got my licence in early October. Now all I need to do is build up the confidence to drive alone!

I already have a pretty big list of goals for 2011, so I'll do a post about those in the coming weeks.

Pavlova

One thing I've never mentioned on Flying Ducks is that I didn't take home economics class after the compulsory year in eighth grade (as I hated sewing!). Instead, I took a class called food studies for two years. This class attracted a lot of naughty kids, as they thought it would be a 'bludge' kind of subject. It wasn't. Food studies gave me some skills which I will keep for the rest of my life - basically, the fundamentals of how to cook pretty much anything. You know, the stuff your nanna used to teach you - how to make a white sauce, how to bake meringue and choux pastry, how to make a biscuit or cake batter to adapt for almost any purpose, and how to fix stuff that's gone horribly wrong!  I even won the award for being top of the subject for two years running.

This weekend, I've used those skills during some rather successful cooking sessions. Last night I made a free-range organic goat (yes, goat - sorry vegetarians) lasagne. John bought the goat mince from the organic butcher a month or two ago (I have know idea why), and it's been sitting in the freezer waiting for me to pluck up the courage to cook it. It has an extremely strong flavour, and was perhaps a tiny bit too strong for a lasagne. But it was tasty nevertheless, thanks to my excellent lump-fee bechamel sauce made from scratch.

Today, I made my first ever pavlova. I plan on making one of these for the excellent Shilo before she heads home to New York in a couple of weeks, and I decided to make a trial pavlova today just in case I needed to perfect anything. Before you ask: no, I did not buy one of those White Wings Pavlova Magic things. I made my meringue using good old-fashioned egg whites and caster sugar. And it was super easy! Add whipped cream and berries to the cooked meringue, and you get this...

 

I'm going to see if our lovely old neighbour Merv would like to share it with us.

The china flan dish is from Japan. I picked it up at Lifeline in Toowoomba last weekend for the princely sum of $4.00. It doesn't have any chips or scratches, so I think it was an excellent find.

Because I Am a Girl

Last week, Plan Australia launched their Because I Am a Girl campaign. A number of prominent women across Australia have joined their alliance aimed at raising awareness and investment in the future of girls across the world.
Plan have asked for others to share their stories of ‘being a girl’ to promote the campaign, so I thought I’d deviate from my usual blogging a little and share mine.

The purpose of the Coalition is to raise awareness about the plight of girls in developing countries and how investment in girls will help break the poverty cycle... The Because I am a Girl Coalition members are demonstrating the importance of investing in girls by sharing a personal insight into the critical investment they received as young people that helped to shape who they are today.

I grew up in a household with both of my parents and a younger sister. As a child, I was keen to involve myself in a range of personal pursuits, including playing the violin, writing, and participating in community organisations — all of which was supported by my parents. None of these activities was ever forced or even suggested by my parents — they were all undertaken of my own choosing. I was always a little ‘different’ to the other kids in some ways, but my parents rarely insisted that I be like everyone else (although I’m pretty sure they weren’t impressed with the black lipstick or pierced tongue).

When I was 12, I decided to join St John Ambulance as a cadet, and I stayed with the organisation until I was 18. During that time, I learnt invaluable skills that were not only practical (such as life-saving first aid training), but I also received mentoring from other women who helped to shape who I am today. One of these women was Deanna, my superintendent at the Welcome Creek Division of St John Ambulance. Having been a member of the organisation for many years, Deanna was an inspiring person to lead a group of young people (mostly girls). Deanna’s influence was so great that in 1999 I was a member of the team of three who won the State Titles for first aid competitions (Queensland), and she then took us to Melbourne to compete in the National Titles a few months later. Deanna now has three daughters of her own, who will no doubt grow up to be inspiring young women themselves. Although I am no longer a member of the organisation, its positive influence will stay with me for the rest of my life (and I keep my first aid training up to date!).

These days, I have a full-time job in publishing, and am newly married with a mortgage. I am fortunate enough to live in a society where I have the choice of whether to work or stay home and have a family, and I have a choice in who I marry (or whether I marry at all). I do all the cooking in our home, but my husband cleans up after me, and we share all the other household duties. I don’t want to be a high-flying corporate executive — I just want to work in a job that I enjoy in a profession that I have chosen and be paid a fair amount for it. And, although I may grumble about it at times, that’s generally what I have right now.

Recently, I’ve begun learning some skills that are traditionally considered to be ‘women’s work’ — sewing, in particular. However, unlike young women in many other societies, I made this has been solely my decision. I have become increasingly aware of the sweatshop conditions that are endured by countless women around the world, so I wanted to do my little bit to help. I’ve started purchasing as much clothing as I can from companies that do not use sweatshop labour, in addition to making some items myself. I may find it frustrating and tiring (and I have been known to curse at my very old machine), but I can eat when I want, I can take toilet breaks, I can watch the television, and I can stop whenever I feel like it.

That’s a little bit of my story as a girl. I sponsor a child in Pakistan, Fazila, so that I can help to make a positive difference in the life of at least one other young girl. My hope for Fazila is that she grows up to become an educated young woman who is able to make choices for herself. Please visit the Because I Am a Girl website to read more stories, as they are truly inspiring.

Favourite Things Project: Creative pursuits

This week's theme for the Being Tazim Favourite Things Project is creative pursuits. When I started this blog, its purpose was to to chronicle my creative hobby of home decorating...

Over time, I have other bloggers have inspired me to try my hand at some crafty pursuits as well...

And I like to take photos of my food when it looks good too (usually baked goods)...

Keep an eye on the Being Tazim website over the next few weeks, as I will be doing a little bit of guest blogging over there for the 2010 Home Decor Event!