Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Virginia's View


My card tonight is for Virginia’s View Challenge over at Lily Pads, sponsored by The Sweet Stamp Shop.  For my card I used the colours in the photo for inspiration.
I clear embossed Stampit's, Caterina, for the background. The three rolled flowers were made useing a Sizzix die.  The sentiment is a Penny Black stamp.  The extra decorations were a white ribbon and pale pink pearls


cheers

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Banana Bread


At work tomorrow there is a welcome morning tea for a new staff member.  The big questions is what will I take??

I have been allowing a couple of bananas to become nice and black so this seems to be the ideal time to try out a new recipe for Banana Bread.  I saw the following recipe on a great baking blog The Cake Mistress.  http://thecakemistress.com/blog/

Banana Bread
2 Bananas, mashed
120 g Unsalted Butter
2 tablespoons Milk
1 teaspoon Bicarb Soda
1 cup Caster Sugar
2 Large Eggs, lightly beaten
1 1/2 cups Self Raising Flour


Directions:
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Grease a medium loaf tin with non-stick spray.

Place butter and mashed bananas into a saucepan and melt on low heat. Stir in the caster sugar, bicarb soda and milk until the sugar appears to have dissolved. Let the mixture cool to room temperature before stirring in the beaten eggs and flour.

Pour mixture into loaf tin and bake for 40-45 minutes. Cake is done when a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. Allow to cool on a wire rack.

Serve warm or cool with butter.

Banana cake slices can be frozen and defrosted

I had to try it before I took it to work.  It’s delicious!

Monday, February 27, 2012

Cure for the Winter Blues


Today I have a card to share with you that I made for the Moxie Fab World Challenge, Cure for the Winter Blues.  http://www.moxiefabworld.com/2012/02/cure-for-winter-blues-challenge.html
To make the card I used Hero Arts digital Winged Friends, Stampit Catrina for the background and the sentiment is a Penny Black

I like using digital images because it allows me to adjust the size of the image.

Must admit with the hot humid weather we have had lately, I wasn't thinking so much about a cure for the winter blues but that there 'ain't no cure for the summertime blues'

thanks for looking

Sunday, February 26, 2012

A Gentle Place


On Friday evening I attended a garden party and Book launch at the Geelong Club in Brougham Street. The GC is a professional and land owning person’s social Club that has been in existence since 1859. The book launch was for the 150th year, 1859 to 2009.

I first thought that a Club history would be a boring catalogue of Presidential faces, spicy tid bits of member goings on over the years and self- indulgent paeans of praise for a jolly good lot of chaps but this was not the case.

The Jubilee year President, Ken Jarvis (former Mayor of Geelong) launched the book. He remarked that the book was full of new information, placed the Club in the context of Geelong history and its economic ups and downs and showed the calibre of the members over the years, including three Victorian Premiers and one Governor General, several Knights of the Realm and a host of Order of Australia recipients. He said the book was good read with lots of interesting chapters on all facets of the Club and its three incarnations and several premises. The Club has moved with the times as shown by admitting women members from the early 1990s and the current President is a woman.

The finger foods served throughout were fabulous treats. I particularly liked the dainty pieces of roast beef on goats cheese toast. Yum.

Afterwards we adjourned to a 4th floor flat just down the road where a Club member played host to several of us on the balcony as we looked out over Corio Bay and its myriad of lights and evening hues
.

Pink, Brown and Cream

Here is a new card which I am entering in The Ribbon Girl Colour Challenge No 16,  pink, brown and cream.  The stamps are from Fern Gully Stamps, Giraffe, the gingham is from Darkroom Door and the sentiment is from Kaisercraft.  The card used is cream and brown and the final touch was the pink pearls.

 bye for now

Thursday, February 23, 2012

Knitted Bike


I was in Geelong the other day and I saw this bike in a shop window.  I thought I would share it with you because it really took my fancy. 
Don't you just love it? It has been knitted in the colours of the Geelong football team

This sent me looking for other examples.
The ABC reported on a crocheted bike in Federation Square after Cadel Evans won the 2011 Tour de France.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-08-17/crocheted-bike-cover-at-federation-square/2843100
But here is a work of art.  A pretty pink crocheted motorcycle cover.  Perhaps not everyone would agree with a motorcycle being described as pretty.
http://theresahoneywell.com/home.html

Some people are very creative and certainly think outside the box.

cheers

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Challenge AnnaBelle Stamps

This weeks Say it with.....   challenge at AnnaBelle Stamps is Background Stamps.


For the challenge I made this card.  The background stamp is one of the first stamps ever I bought.  It is Stamp-it, "Caterina" and I used Tim Holtz, Antique Linen.  The sentiment is Papertrey Ink
Thanks for looking

Monday, February 20, 2012

Pumpkin Risotto


Tonight I made my favourite risotto for tea.  It is pumpkin risotto with sage leaves.  The recipe is from Taste Italia magazine

Pumpkin Risotto
Pumpkin Risotto
Serves 4
300g risotto rice
250g pumpkin, cut in half, seeds scooped out, flesh cut into bite-size chunks
1 small onion, peeled, finely chopped
1-1.5 litres of vegetable stock
a bunch of sage leaves
a large knob of unsalted butter
grated Parmesan, to serve
3tbsp olive oil
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Heat 2 tbsp oil in a frying pan, add the onion and pumpkin and gently fry for a few minutes.  Add the rice and stir to ensure the grains are evenly coated in oil.  Next, add a few ladlefuls of hot stock and stir until all the stock is absorbed.  Continue adding stock a ladleful at a time, adding the next addition once the last has been absorbed.  Continue to cook, stirring, for 15-18 minutes until rice is al dente.

Just before the rice has finished cooking, place the rest of the olive oil in a small frying pan, add the sage leaves and fry until crispy.

Finally, stir a knob of butter into the risotto, season, and serve topped with Parmesan and the crispy fried sage leaves.

Delicious!

I used to make another pumkin risotto but I would bake the pumpkin before adding it to the rice.  I would also add a can of coconut milk. 

I saw Jamie Oliver making a mushroom risotto on television last Saturday night.  It had lots of different varieties of mushrooms and look really tasty.  Must see if I can get a copy of that recipe

That's all for tonight.  Thanks for looking

Sunday, February 19, 2012

Wagga Wagga

It is almost time for the Universities to start for the year.  Therefore my son has returned to Wagga Wagga to continue his studies at Charles Surt University.  This year he didn't get residence on campus so he is sharing rental accomodation in town.  But that meant getting furniture up to Wagga Wagga.  From home to Wagga Wagga it is 513 km.  We took a car and a hired van, both vehicles were completely full for the trip.  The worst part of the trip was the Western Ring Road, trucks, trucks and even more trucks.  But once we were on the Hume Highway the traffic was better. 

My husband and I stayed overnight at my brother-in-laws at Wodonga, my son continued onto Wagga Wagga and stayed overnight there.  It always nice to stay at Wodonga, it is so quiet, the sky is crystal clear and lots of bird life.  We were having tea to the sound of  kookaburras.  How good is that?

Friday morning we filled my brother-in-laws car with the items my son had left at his place over the Christmas break and we travelled onto our destination. 

The flat is in a quiet part of town but within walking distance of the shopping centre.  The flat is nice, fairly modern and in good repair. 
Baylis Street, Wagga Wagga.jpg
Baylis Street
This picture show Baylis Street which isn't far from my sons flat.  The city seems to be nice and the people we meet were very friendly

The univsersity is on the outskirts of town, so he will have to drive to classes.

We returned to Wodonga for the night and then set off bright and early for our homeward journey.  The trip was pretty good - not to much traffic to contend with and the only rain was a few light showers.  

Saturday, February 18, 2012

Movies: Spy Spoof

The movie The Artist is receiving amazing accolades and I am really looking forward to seeing it.  http://weinsteinco.com/sites/the-artist/
Here is a link to a good review  - http://www.ipreferparis.net/2012/02/the-artist-the-sweet-sound-of-silence-by-thirza-vallois-.html

In the meantime I looked out another movie on which Michel Hazanavicius, Jean Dujardain and Bérénice Bejo had worked - OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies (2006).  It is a French spoof of all the classic spy movies.  The humour is very tongue-in-cheek.  Although at times I cringed it is so politically incorrect.  Agent OSS 117 (Hubert Bonisseur de La Bath) is a mix of James Bond, Maxwell Smart and Inspector Clouseau.  Jean Dujardain is excellent in this roll, arrogantly chauvinistic, pompous, patronizing, suave but oh so stupid.

The film is set in 1955 and the clothes and music are captured very well.  I was convinced it was an old movie until I read the DVD cover.

Well worth a look.



Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Tassie Trip


Hi, Last weekend I went to Tasmania. We had a lovely time. The flight over to Hobart was early Saturday morning, this gave us plenty of time at Salamanca market. Salamanca Place is the centre of Hobart's arts and crafts and on Saturdays the market takes over. The market has something for everyone -food, music, art and craft, clothing, antiques, collectables, books, bric-a-brac, jewellery.
After the market we had a look around Battery Point. This district is one Hobart's oldest and most historic areas. There were some lovely old houses. By this time we were ready to head out to our overnight B&B accommodation in Richmond.

We stayed at Mulberry Cottage, in the French Boudoir. The owner, Miriam Cooper was very nice. Miriam is a drama teacher and is interested in history. She performs a 45 min show, "Turn the Key of Time", in a 1830's cottage which is located at the front of her property. The show was very well done and interesting.

Mulberry Cottage
The next morning we spent sightseeing and shopping in Richmond. The Richmond Bridge(1823), is Australia's oldest bridge still in use and it was built by convicts.

Richmond Bridge

We also visited St John's Catholic Church (1837), Richmond Gaol (1825), St Luke's Anglican Church (1834). The convict who was responsible for the original timber work inside the Anglican Church, was granted his freedom as a reward for his work.

After lunch we headed for the Mona Museum of Old and New Art.  It is situated in the Moorilla winery on the Berriedale peninsula in Hobart.  It is Australia’s largest private museum.   On entering you receive an iPod touch which gives you information about the artwork you are standing in front of.  To go to the galleries you descend three levels in a lift or spiral staircase.  The walls are of beautiful sheer rock.

The Entrance to the Mona
To get to the entrance of the museum you walk across a tennis court.  The view across the river is really lovely.  This is not an easy art gallery to view, very challenging and very confronting.  You can't tell people to visit or not to visit, you must make up you own mind about this gallery.

By the time we had finished at the gallery it was time to return to the airport.  We had had very good weather but due to bad weather in Sydney the planes were late but that couldn't spoil a wonderful weekend

Cheers

Monday, February 13, 2012

A Beginning

Hello and Welcome to my blog. 
I have been thinking about joining the blogging community for some time because blogging seems the best way to share information and ideas with family and friends.  So today I finally decided to take the plunge.  This first post is simply a test run but I will be back later to tell you about my trip to Tasmania.
Thanks for stopping by.