Wind-swept and in Love...

3 beautiful years today.

and although the past month

has been filled with heartache and loss...

we are still stronger than ever.

Early morning light.

This morning I had a few moments before heading off to the the craziness that is currently work to snap a few pictures. The light was just so pretty I could not resist. My beautiful husband brought me these yesterday to cheer me up. He is such a sweetie. I just love jonquils this time of year, they are a really reasonable to buy and they always cheer up any room.

I hope your week has not been anywhere near as stressful as mine. Thank god it is nearly the weekend!

Cheers Sarah

Lazy afternoons.

A few weeks ago we took a trip up the coast to visit my little cousins. It was the perfect chance to take some pictures. I was pretty happy with how they turned out but it is easy when my cousins are all so cute :)

Quince.

Quinces are one of my favourite winter fruits. My Grandmother Norma who is a wonderful country cook makes the best Quince Roly Poly. It looks very similar to the Jam Roly Poly found here. It has to be one of my favourite desserts as a kid and Norma would always make one when I travelled up to visit her and Pop.

I have never attempted to make my own because I don't think it would ever be as good as hers. However I love to stew and bake Quinces when they are in season. They can be a little expensive and hard to track down in Queensland but my mum managed to pick some up for me the other day. While we were in Tasmania recently they were only about $3 a kilo as opposed to $8 here, however I was able to stock up on plenty of home made quince jam!

Last season I used the following recipe from Stephanie Alexander's Kitchen Garden Companion cookbook. It worked a treat and I used the Cinnamon Stick variation. The syrup that the baking process created was divine. The only tip I would give is to keep an eye on the bottom as it can catch, especially in a standard convection oven like ours.

Oven Roasted Pears or Quinces

Equipment

Baking dish

Spoon

Knife

Basting brush

Bowls

Ingredients:

• 80 grams butter, chopped

• 6 pears or 3 quinces

• 150 grams castor sugar

• Juice of 2 lemons

• 6 lemon verbena leaves (or a vanilla bean, scented geranium leaf, citrus peel, cardamom pods, a cinnamon stick or a star anise)

• Honey-flavoured yoghurt or double cream, to serve

What to do:

Preheat oven to 150°C. Melt butter in a 1.5 litre-capacity baking dish.

Peel pears, halve lengthways, remove cores with a twist of a parisienne spoon and roll in melted butter. Wash and peel quinces, halve lengthways and remove cores if you wish (they are quite edible after 3 hours cooking). Roll in melted butter. Turn fruit so it is cut-side down in baking dish and scatter with sugar. Drizzle over lemon juice and add lemon verbena leaves or other flavouring. Cover tightly with a doubled sheet of foil and roast for 2 hours.

Turn fruit and baste with syrupy pan juices. The pears may be tender at this time and can be lifted onto a plate. Re-cover and bake quinces for another hour; they are ready when tender and highly glazed. Serve fruit with honey-flavoured yoghurt or double cream.

This recipe is from Stephanie Alexander's Kitchen Garden Companion (Penguin Lantern 2009).

Happy Cooking.

Cheers Sarah

xoxo

Parlez-vous français?

Today we headed into the GOMA to see the current exhibition 'Surrealism The Poetry of Dreams' and we were also lucky enough to visit the The Brisbane French Festival!! I managed to fit in a little Op shopping on the way and found a cute portable typewriter to add to my growing collection.

All in all I cannot think of a better way to spend a Saturday. I hope you are all having a lovely weekend too!

Cheers Sarah

xoxo

Easter inspired craft.

Can't wait for the glue to dry so I can try it out!

Cheers
Sarah xoxox

missing week...

(Place I'd Rather Be Right Now ! )

Unfortunately this past week has been a bit of a write off thanks to a nasty bug and a trip to the emergency room. I'm on the mend but have been taking it easy the past few days. Dad and Sean managed to do a bit more work on the renos over the weekend so hopefully tomorrow I can put up a few pics.

I hope you are all well and have managed to avoid any of the nasty bugs that seem to be on the rounds at the moment.

Cheers
Sarah xoxo

Suitcase Rummage April

Yesterday was another great afternoon at the Suitcase Rummage. We were lucky that the rain held off till about 4pm but it was pretty windy. The cloud cover was actually a god send in the end and I managed to avoid my usual case of post market sun stroke.

It was great to trial my new "Travel Pillows" made using some vintage teas towels from my collection and my "Hip to be Square" crochet cushions. Thank you to the lovely lady that purchased my black crochet cushion. I was really happy with how it turned out and it made my day to know that at least someone liked it too :) Enjoy!

We were lucky to have our spot right Kerry from Kitty Hugo. She had her suitcase full of beautiful hand crochet necklaces, badges and other accessories. You can check out her hand made goodies for sale here on Etsy or you can also find her at Bris Style Markets.

I hope you all had a great weekend and are not suffering too much Monday-itis!

Cheers
Sarah xoxo

Time to Rummage again...

Don't forget the Suitcase Rummage is on in Brisbane tomorrow from 12 till 5pm at Redacliffe Place (at the top of the Queen Street Mall near the casino). I will coming along with some handmade goodies and can't wait to have a look at all the amazing stalls.

Cheers
Sarah xoxox

Sneak Peak...

Unfortunately it has not been very good photographic weather this week,so I have not been able to take any photos of my new handmade goodies that will be at the Suitcase Rummage this Sunday. I can't wait to get back into the markets and show some new things I have been working on.

However I did manage to snap a few shots on the phone on my way out the door this morning. Hopefully it will fine up towmorrow and a I can show you a few more things that will be in the Suitcase on Sunday.

Happy Friday!

Cheers

Sarah oxox

Weekend in pictures...

Party, Pasta, Skyline, Sapo!

80 years young...

Tomorrow we are heading down the coast to celebrate my Great Uncles 80th Birthday. As you can see he does not look a day over 60!

I absolutely love his apartment it is filled to the brim with his amazing art collection. He has such a eye for design and has paintings on every spare bit of wall space in the apartment, including the bathroom. Many of them he has picked up in op shops and auctions over the years. Every time we visit he has changed the colour on the wall or added something new.


Happy Birthday Uncle Barry.

I hope you all have a lovely weekend.

Cheers
Sarah xoxo

Weekend drive...

A couple of weeks ago we headed off on a drive down to Bangalow and the Byron hinterland. It was a really nice relaxing drive and it was great to get out of Brisbane for the day. We missed the awesome Bangalow Markets which were on the weekend before but it was lovely to have a walk around and check out the local stores.

In Bangalow there are some great homeware and gift shops to check out including Little Peach which is great for everything Japanese from kimonos to authentic kokeshi dolls; Aurora which stocks eco-homewares and supplies; and a new shop further down the main road, The New Collector. It was full of awesome vintage industrial design items including old cameras, typewriters and school maps. It really reminded me of shops I went to in Melbourne last year.

Of course we had to have a coffee so we visited one of our favourite cafes Utopia. As you can see below the food, was as always impeccable. What I thought would be a simple bruschetta came out on a beautiful wooden board and was filled with caramelised figs, peach and prosciutto. It was delicious! It was something a bit different to what I would normally order but I was glad I did.

It was however sad to see that our other favourite place to eat the Urban cafe and the gift shop next door burnt down a few months ago. It was such a shame and we really hope it will reopen sometime soon in the future.

Just outside of Bangalow heading west along the road to Lismore is the Retro Shop. It is full of great 50's, 60's and 70's vintage items including fabric, books and kitchenware. It is not really the place to grab an op shop bargain but it was full of quality hard to find items.

Newrybar

After our walk we jumped back in the car and headed just south of Bangalow along the Pacific Highway to Newrybar. In all the years we have travelled down this way we had never thought to drop into this tiny place. After hearing here that there was an antique shop I felt compelled to have a look.

Country House Antiques was lovely but it was largely filled with expensive furnishings rather than knick knacks and collectibles which is more my kind of thing. However it was nice to have a look around. The best thing we found though was the Harvest Cafe across the road. It was packed with people and looked like a great place for lunch. We will definitely have to try it out next time.

On the way home instead of heading back through Bryon Bay we took a lovely drive through the Hinterland via The Channon and ended up back at Murwillumbah...

It was such a lovely day full of the best of things in life, good food, antique shops and good company. If you ever feel like Sunday drive this is such a great place to visit.

Cheers
Sarah xoxox