What’s Hot + What’s Not

It’s Hot + Not Wednesday over at Loobylus! How did that come around so fast?

Hot

The Finders Keepers Markets – not so crowded this time and lots of loverly things. I picked up a set of beautiful gift cards by Renee Treml and treated myself to some gorgeous Nice biscuit earrings by Victoria Mason.Very nice indeed!

Proving that he was always meant to be my cat and no one elses, I’ve figured out how to give him his pills… by sticking them inside a piece of cheese.

After all the anticipation, I finally saw Where The Wild Things Are. It was sadder and scarier than I thought it would be, but wonderful too – wonderful and adventurous and really truly properly wild.

I’ve been listening to Martha Wainwright’s Piaf Record lots and lots. I loved her first album; the second not so much, but I think this is back to brilliant.

I was overcharged for some books I bought online, which stressed me out so should go into the Not category, but they got back to me within 24 hours of my emailing with an apology and a refund. Good customer service is always Hot.

Not

Yesterday was first day of the Copenhagan talks and neither The Sydney Morning (surprisingly) or The Telegraph (unsurprisingly) had a story on it (in the paper that is, they had something online). Compare this with 56 papers worldwide sharing an editorial to demand results:

Today 56 newspapers in 45 countries take the unprecedented step of speaking with one voice through a common editorial. We do so because humanity faces a profound emergency.

Unless we combine to take decisive action, climate change will ravage our planet, and with it our prosperity and security. The dangers have been becoming apparent for a generation. Now the facts have started to speak: 11 of the past 14 years have been the warmest on record, the Arctic ice-cap is melting and last year’s inflamed oil and food prices provide a foretaste of future havoc. In scientific journals the question is no longer whether humans are to blame, but how little time we have got left to limit the damage. Yet so far the world’s response has been feeble and half-hearted.

I think feeble and half-hearted sums up Australia’s position nicely.

Strawberry Jam

Or, A Sticky Situation with a Vaguely Nautical Theme

Or, We’re jamming, jamming, And I hope you like jamming too…

There’s something incredibly soothing about strawberries being tossed, turned and tumbled on the tide of Jam. I’ve loved it ever since I was little and my family would head off on our annual strawberry picking day. Many would get eaten, but most would go into the Jam. It’s not just the sight, smell and sound that soothes, it’s that fact that it’s so very easy, the kind of thing to make when you yourself are feeling a bit tossed, turned and tumbled.

I was intending to get plums for plum jam, but they were still pricey and the strawberries were just sitting there, $1.00 per punnet. It did involve a little bit of extra work in the kitchen, as some of them needed the manky corners trimming, but with an episode of Dr Who playing in the background, I was up to the task.

So, all you need is some strawberries, sugar and lemon juice. And a big pot. Honest, that’s it. Too easy. For strawberry jam, I follow the Jamming gospel according to Delia with a couple of adjustments.

So. Onwards.

Strawberry Jam, adapted from Delia Smith’s Complete Cookery Course

First, catch your strawberries. Or, y’know, pick them, buy them… whatever. Get some strawberries. 2kg to be precise. Delia says they should be slightly under-ripe, but honestly? If they’re $1.00 a punnet and slightly over-ripe? Go for it. You also need 1.35kg sugar and 2 lemons.

Hull the strawberries, and cut away any of the aforementioned manky bits. Leave them whole, or halve them if you like, then layer them in your big pot, giving them a good covering of sugar after each layer so that you use up all the sugar.

Cover, and leave them overnight. The next morning, they should look a bit like this:

Noice. Now put a couple of saucers in the fridge and put the pot over a low heat and let it do it’s thing, shaking the pan every now and then until the rest of the sugar has dissolved and lots of juice has been drawn out of the strawberries. Juice the lemons.

Add the lemon juice, give it a bit of a stir and turn up the heat to medium so that it’s bubbling away nicely.

Once it’s bubbling, time it for 15 minutes, then take it off the heat. Grab one of the saucers and put a teaspoonful of the jam on it. Now put the saucer down and walk away for a couple of minutes until it’s totally cool. This is important. DON’T keep touching the hot/warm/lukewarm liquid with your finger and tasting it and DON’T swirl the saucer around as you would tealeaves to see if you can divine whether it’s set or not by the speed of movement. Put it down and walk away until you are sure it’s totally cool.

Now, draw a line through the liquid with your finger. When it’s set, you’ll see the parted seas crinkling and not really moving back together at all, they should just stay put. Odds are this won’t happen the first try, so back onto the heat, bubbling away, this time for five minutes. In the meantime, clean and dry the saucer and put it back in the fridge. You can alternate it with the second saucer. Now test it again. And keep going, onto the heat for 5 minutes then off while you test it on the chilled saucer, repeating the process maybe four, five or six times until it shows the signs of setting.

Now remove it from the heat and let it sit for 15 minutes, then pour the jam into sterilised, dry jars (there’s a good step-by-step on how to sterilise jars here).

Put the lids on, and set them aside to cool.

I should mention that one time I made this recipe and it just didn’t gel, no Siree, not at all, not after a whole hour of bubbling away. This is what we call a win-win, because the resulting strawberry sauce graced bowls of ice-cream and porridge and was drizzled over cakes instead of icing and oh, my, it was fan-bloody-tastic. It worked this time though.

That nautical theme was very vague, wasn’t it? Oh well. Better a very vague nautical theme than no nautical theme at all, says I.

What’s Hot + What’s Not

I love reading all the Hot + Not lists, there’s something so appealing about them, so I’m joining in with Loobylu – head over there for more lists and to sign up!

Hot

I’m getting more painting done – the bathroom ceiling is done now, and the room looks so much brighter for it. I like the paint splotches on my fingers.

The new front door is being installed as I type. I’m going to paint it tomorrow.

I know I already mentioned The Gone Away World, and how brilliant it was, but I’m still thinking about it, so I’m saying it again.

There are 3 big boxes of stuff ready to go to Vinnies this afternoon.

I haven’t had a coffee for one month! The aim is to go 6 weeks without it so as to get it entirely out of my system, then only have it once in a while. Last time I tried to quit, about 5 years ago, 2 days into it I had headaches so bad I couldn’t stand up. I also cried. I don’t know what I’ve done right this time, but I’ve barely missed it and my energy levels have balanced out a lot. Hurrah!

I’ve decided to make plum jam for Christmas presents (don’t tell), with little linoprinted tags.

I have Andrew Bird tickets! I Love Andrew Bird. I would marry him today, should he ask. He whistles and sings with a voice like golden sunshine. Also, he is incredibly Hot. Plus his name is Andrew Bird. That has to be one of the best names ever. I am swooning in anticipation.

Not

I saw New Moon last night. It was terrible. So bad it was funny. Thanks heavens I’d had a Margarita beforehand, otherwise I might not have lasted the distance.

My cat’s been losing lots of weight, apparently due to an overactive thyroid. Not uncommon among elderly cats. Now we need to give him a pill a day forever and ever amen. He’s really bad with pills.

My feet are cold.

Hot

I’ve just put some socks on.

Here’s another picture of Andrew Bird.

Over the top!

Wow! The lovely Tracey from Quiet Paws has given Maybe Next Week a ‘Your Blog Is Over The Top’ award!

With this shiny award comes a quiz. I must answer the following 35 questions with just one word per question. Then I get to pass the award on to five more bloggers, who are free to take on the quiz or not – they could just bask in the glory of knowing they’re the tops -  it’s entirely up to them.

I’d like to thank the Academy Tracey for the award. Thanks Tracey!

1. Where is your mobile phone? Kitchen
2. Your hair? Brown
3. Your mother? Missed
4. Your father? Dear
5. Your favorite food? Cheese
6. Your dream last night? Forgotten
7. Your favorite drink? Tea
8. Your dream/goal? Love
9. What room are you in? Spare
10. Your hobby? Photography
11. Your fear? Loneliness
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Writing
13. Where were you last night? Cinema
14. Something that you aren’t? Aggressive
15. Muffins? Mmmm
16. Wish list item? Space
17. Where did you grow up? England
18. Last thing you did? Painted
19. What are you wearing? Jeans
20. Your TV? Off
21. Your Pets? Curled
22. Friends? Essential
23. Your life? Unsure
24. Your mood? Wistful
25. Missing Someone? Yes
26. Vehicle? Train
27. Something you’re not wearing? Shoes
28. Your favorite store? Bookstore
29. Your favorite colour? Red
30. When was the last time you laughed? Earlier
31. Last time you cried? Sunday
32. Your best friend? Several
33. One place that I go to over and over? Laptop
34. Facebook? Lots
35. Favorite place to eat? Home

Alrighty, I would like to pass this award to the following magnificent and delightful bloggers:

1. Flux Capacitor
2. About The Food
3. Roving Lemon’s Big Adventure
4. Foxs Lane
5. Yardage Girl

Enjoy!

My Place & Yours: That’s Nice, That’s Different, That’s Unusual

Ok, the theme this week is brought to us by Toni from Little Suitcase. Toni says:

Being the foxymoron that I am, I decided on the theme – That’s nyoice, that’s different, that’s unewesyewl!

Does your home have a quirky feature or several? Something you throw a strategically placed coat over if people are visiting or avoid telling the real estate agent about? You might be very proud of your house flaw. Maybe you have issues with plumbing, and give the Meryl Streep toilet speech from Mamma Mia, “Now about the toilet. If it doesn’t flush right away, just go, then take a walk and….” with a hand wave.

Easy Peasy. As a result of being stretched and extended and chopped and changed our house has a number of, ahem, quirks. For example, the second toilet is in the laundry, facing the laundry door, which has both a catflap and a window looking out onto the front fence (with, mercifully, some roses growing up it and a frangipani which obscures the view) and then the road outside.

A Loo with a View

The previous owner was a bit of a handyman, but he liked to do things on the cheap (which we didn’t realise until we moved in). The worst job he did was on the wiring which is… interesting. We had it fixed and brought up to code soon after we moved in and figured out how bad it was. It still has a bit of personality though. Like Toni and Caroline, we used to have a couple of switches that did absolutely nothing and we still have one in the hallway that doesn’t work unless the one in my room is switched on as well. Hmmm…

For more nyoice, different and unewesyewl places, head over to Meet Me At Mikes!

Gone Away, Welding, Catch-up, Muppets, Love

Three Five beautiful things for today:

1. I’ve been reading The Gone-Away World by Nick Harkaway, on the train to and from work every day for the past fortnight and I finished it this morning, a blissful 2 hours of reading the end of what is a brilliant book. I can’t even begin to describe the plot, my head is still in it too much. Here’s a snippet from a review that does pretty well in summing up:

There are profound meditations on war, commercialism and the nature of humanity, and there are also hugely entertaining passages featuring pirate monks, ninjas, mime artists, ridiculous military escapades and much more. It should be made clear that it is also very often arse-kickingly funny. Throw in some perfectly plotted revelations, an unforgettable finale and a life-affirming and thought-provoking denouement, and you’ve got a tale which will live long in the memory, and a writer destined for great things.

Yes, yes and yes. That gives you a clue as to the complexity, the sadness and bravery and humour and strength and love. It’s one of my new favourites, added to the list of books to read over and over again, to recommend and give to others. I haven’t had one of them in a while. It feels good.

2. I chat with a friend on Twitter about the possible reason why we never meet eligible men – we both work in fields dominated by women, we have mostly female friends and pretty girly interests. Plus we’re not the type to go try to pick up in a bar (yuck). I tweet that “Maybe I need a new hobby – welding?” and straight away those little search engines do their work and I am now being followed by Welders World. I imagine a massive dark space filled with welders, sparks flying, constantly working, except for occasionally when one of the burly manly men lifts his protective head gear, pulls out his iphone and updates his twitter. It makes me giggle whenever I think about it.

3. I have lunch with one of my best friends from high school – she is based in Melbourne and travels for work so I only see her 2 or 3 times a year, but we never have that awkwardness you often have with someone you don’t see very often – it’s always completely normal, as if I had just seen her yesterday.

4. I watch the Muppets Bohemian Rhapsody clip that’s doing the rounds this week… for the fifth time. It makes me happy.

5. Clare Grant, the creator of the original Three Beautiful Things blog got married this week. I’ve never met her, but know enough from her blog that she is a good person, deserving of good things. I feel immensely glad for her and her husband, Nick.

My Place & Yours: My Collection

Alrighty, I didn’t get to posting last weeks meme until the last possible moment (last night), so am going to the other extreme this week! The theme for today is My Collection, brought to us by theme queen Kate from Fox’s Lane.

Kate says:

I want to see a photo or photos of what it is that you collect.
Then if you feel like it you could let us know what your collection rules are;
Does it have to be green? Does it have to be from another country? Does it have to be second hand or a gift? Does it have to be old or complete?…
What constitutes a collection for you? Is it more than three of the same thing? Is it rare things?
Is your collection ongoing or is it complete?
…what’s your story?

Hmm, I have a few collections of things, after all I am a ridiculous hoarder, but there is only one that I cultivate as a proper Collection with a capital C (actually, that’s not true, I just thought of a couple more, but let’s focus on the one, yes?). Usually I wouldn’t pull them out until the first weekend in December, but here they are:

Yes, I collect Christmas decorations. I have done since I was fourteen, and bought the little wooden one that opens up, with Merry Christmas written on the doors in different languages. I was on holiday with my folks in Switzerland and just fell in love with this shop that sold all manner of wooden decorations. Since then, whenever I have travelled, I’ve kept an eye out for my Christmas souvenir. I love that when Christmas comes I have reminders of where I’ve been, and friends I’ve seen. The collection in the photo includes painted eggs from Prague, a stack of Shakespearean books from Stratford Upon Avon, a tree from Bath, a sheep from New Zealand… There’s more where that came from, some are gifts from people I’ve visited, who have then sent them to me for Christmas. A friend visiting from the UK bought me the koala, she said I needed something from home in the mix.

Last year, I visited Berlin, and found a shop that sold nothing but Christmas decorations. I went a little nuts:

The heat from the candles makes the characters spin round. It’s absolutely magical and that’s what Christmas is about, right?

To have a look-see at other peoples fabulous collections, head over to Pip’s place, Meet Me At Mikes.

 

My Place & Yours: Through The Front Door

Ask me about my dream house, my future house, my future front door and I could go on and on and on. Ask me about what is through my front door, right now, and I have to stop and think. I have mixed feelings about what is through the front door. On one hand, it represents security and family and comfort. It represents my dad, who I love dearly and who I know doesn’t want to live on his own. On the other, it is not actually my front door. Despite having lived back home for almost 3 years now, it is still my parents door, or just my dads now. And I would very much like one of my own.

Dad is working his way up to selling the house (although, knowing him, this could take years). I’ve been trying to fix it up, bit by bit and whenever I have a free day I do a bit more. It needs it. It has been neglected, partly due to everyone working full-time and then mum’s cancer. If you’ve ever lived with someone who is chronically ill you’ll know what I mean when I say that it took all our attention and energy for the six and a half years that she battled it, even when she was doing relatively well, and when I moved out of home, it still absorbed us completely.

When I walk through the front door I see the long hallway. I just finished painting it last week and then I put a coat of white on the front door which made me look at it properly. And then my dad looked at it and before I knew it we were at doors plus. He’s like that – he’ll go for years not acting on something that could be easily fixed – he’s a master procrastinator, but then, snap. Decision made. So next week the front door will be replaced by one that is shiny and new – the scratched glass and bad paintwork will be but a memory. I think it will look good.

When I walk through the front door I see the doorway to my room just to the left.

My room is quite small but it’s jam-packed with stuff, an Aladdin’s cave of pictures, clothes, paper hats, souvenirs, cds, dvds, kitchen equipment, most of the house stuff I didn’t sell when I moved back. There’s so much I often can’t find what I’m looking for (like the box with all my art supplies – where is it?) but I know it’s in there. There’s lots of books too, two or three rows deep. Of all my things, they are what I need to have out in order to feel at home.

I am thinking about travelling next year. Travelling and working and stretching and breathing. Maybe for a few months. Maybe longer. Then, when I am back, I will get my own place and I will have my own front door.

This weeks theme really got me thinking all serious! Thanks to theme queen Shelley at Femme De Montmartre and meme queen Pip at Meet Me at Mikes.

Birds, Ink and Love

So, what to buy for a wedding gift for my good friends Lou and Tim? It took me a while to figure out. I knew I wanted to go with something personal, not practical. I wanted something simple that felt as if it might have come from a story or from nature, two things which mean a lot to Lou and Tim. I searched far and wide, in shops and online and then I remembered paper boat press. I’ve loved the work of Brisbane-based Kylie Johnson since I first discovered her Christmas bird decorations in the Queensland Art Gallery shop last December. If you’re not familiar with her work check it out, especially if you’re shopping for Christmas ornaments. Oh my, they are lovely. Anyway, I hopped onto her online store and lo and behold, there they were.

They were perfect and… sold out. So I sent a hasty email to Kylie who swiftly replied to say she had some ready for the kiln and they could certainly be ready and sent to me in time for the wedding. What a star!

I also wanted to try my hand at a wedding zine to give instead of a card. I’d never made a zine before – I’m a long-time fan, first time maker. I’ve been wanting to try them for a while – what seems like ages ago I bought myself the book How To Make Books, which is such a beauty itself, with clear, well illustrated instructions. I decided to keep the wedding zine simple (less chance of stuffing up), so I went with the most basic 8 page format.

For the cover, I decided to try a lino print – something I haven’t done since school but I always love seeing. I’d forgotten how good the lino smells and the pleasure of cutting out the image and rolling on the ink. Sticking with the bird theme (Louise loves birds, when we lived together she brought along her favourite, poohead, who was totally bald and slightly mad), I went with two lovebirds, facing each other, one on the front, one on the back.

I managed to forget to take a picture of the finished cover, but the birds were on the gold paper on a shimmery deep blue background.

Tim’s a big fan of boardgames (he’s even created one) so I filled a scrabble board full of wedding words. In the envelope next to it is the story of their meeting and falling in love, in fairytale form.

I also put together a mix cd of love song dedications. Lou and I used drive all over Sydney, going hither and thither and for a giggle (and for all the awesome 80’s tracks) we’d often listen to the love song dedications on Mix 106.

And that’s it! I think they liked it all, I hope they did. As for me, now I’ve done the first one, I’m keen to try some more zines.

The wedding itself was magnificent, the festivities ran over several days, which is definitely the way to do it, because by the end everyone had made friends and were so relaxed. When If I get married, I hope I can get my nearest and dearest to come away for a few days.

Tim and Lou are such a unique pair, so perfectly matched and they love their lives and love all the things that brought them together, many of which were represented in the wedding. They met when Lou joined the local ice hockey team, of which Tim was captain and the wedding was held four years to the day after that first meeting. So after the ceremony and before a double decker bus took us all to the reception, they hired the rink for everyone for an hour, but before we joined them, they did their wedding waltz on ice. It was sensational. I bawled. I’m welling up now just thinking about it. There were many moments that had the waterworks flowing, most of all during the speeches, when Tim’s especially had us all going as he talked about Louise (particularly us single girls, who talked together the next day and said with one voice ‘who’s ever going to say such wonderful things about me?’ I was glad I wasn’t the only one feeling so, well, alone).

But, moments of heightened singleness aside, it was wonderful. The couple were radiant and everyone had a brilliant time. The next day, most of us went to Kinloch Lodge, which is about an hour and a half out of Queenstown. If you’re ever in that neck of the woods, do yourselves a favour and book a night there – it’s beautiful, as is the view from the lodge.

The New Zealand Food Diaries

Right, back to New Zealand. Where was I? Ah yes, the food.

I confess, I spoiled myself on this trip and said to hell with the budget (within reason). So instead of scrimping and making packed lunches or opting for toast for breakfast, I went to the cafes and restaurants. I wandered until I saw what I wanted, be it Vudu Cafe, with it’s great coffee and hearty bowls of porridge, warm relaxed energy and Bon Iver playing softly in the background, or Pier 19, for breakfasting on bacon and eggs while sitting in the sun on the waterfront or, on our final night, dinner inside the beautiful restaurant.

I ate a lot of good meals, good not just because of the food but because of the company, be it pizza with everyone at Winnies or the delicious rehearsal dinner at Solera Vino, which finished with a beautiful croque en bouche. But Pier 19 takes the prize for best dinner of the trip. I had mussels three times during my stay, but the ones at Pier 19 took the prize.

It was the broth with the mussels that did it, salty and sweet and heavenly. I was glad to have some bread to mop it all up. I followed those with a main of beef with anchovy butter, potatoes anna and broad beans. While I’m not usually a fan of stacking food, I thought it worked in this case, though I was quick to demolish the tower.

I spent the last few days of the trip roadtripping with my friend Emma. We got down to Dunedin and back and on the Saturday morning we headed to the Otago Farmers Market, where the food may be less fancy than Pier 19, but it’s no less tasty. I visited these markets last time I was in New Zealand 2 years ago and a big part of my desire to go back to Dunedin was simply to visit the markets again. The thing about growers markets in Sydney is that they’re pricey and they tend to cater to the elite few – you don’t see a good cross section of society there. As more markets pop up, this is slowly changing I think. One day, I hope they’ll be like the Otago markets, where you’ll see anyone and everyone buying their fruit and veg, catching up with friends, treating themselves to a danish or pie. My personal treat came in the form of a magnificent bacon buttie.

Look at all the bacon! It’s out of control! I confess I couldn’t finish the lot, but it was damned good. And don’t you love the logo on the paper bag? It makes my heart glad.

The other thing we got was cheese. Not your average cheddar or brie, but a smooth creamy cheese with a bit of bite and lots of cumin running all the way through. We got it from the same guys I bought some from last time (I am a creature of habit, ok?). They were handing out generous samples, and this cheese immediately won our hearts. It was perfect for an afternoon picnic in the Lanarch Castle gardens.

Sigh. I think it’s time to start planning my next trip.