Bang-a-rama

After much procrastinating I finally decided to go ahead and get the Zooey Deschanel chunky bangs, along with a much needed color to cover the infamous greys.

I'm liking it a lot, although I'm not much into actually DOING my hair, I think I can manage using the hairdryer every once in a while to give those extra chunky bangs some attention.

I may regret it in a week or two when they get a mind of their own and start a mutiny on my head, but for now.....no regrets.

Anyone have any hair horror story's to share? I know I've had my fair share, like the time I was a struggling student and decided to bleach my dark hair without any thought as to how I was going to afford to upkeep. Lets just say the "skunk" look  never did suit me.

Hope you all had a great long weekend. I don't know about all you other parents out there but I am soooo looking forward to back to school.  My sewing machine and I are planning to get reacquainted!!!

Tootles.

Kj

Only in my dreams....

Did you ever see anything more dreamy than this set up?

I was mindlessly surfing today and stumbled across the photography of Ditte Isager.

Bio:

Born and raised in Copenhagen Denmark. Living in NYC since 2006. The style is simple nordic. Working with contrast in materials, light, color and objects. Inspiration comes from the light in the Dutch masters, storytelling and effects from motion pictures and the style, character and layers of NY.

I'm going back for another look in the hopes that the images will follow me to bed tonight and inspire a fairytale like dream or two!

High Altitude Pavlova

I was recently at the local farmers market enjoying all the wonderful local produce and people watching with the kiddies, so sad that market season is almost over and yet again I have not been making the most of it.
The one new addition I noticed and was over the moon, crazy excited about was the aussie meat pie vendor. I was so happy about it, in fact my husband asked me if I "hooked up" with the meat pie man as I was raving about it so much when he got home.......MEN!!!!

At $5 per pie all my aussie readers are more than likely going to tell I was ripped off but seriously, YOU try going years without a good meat pie and see what effect it has on you. I think I would have paid double that for just one bite, this guys recipe was bang on.

My accent may have faded but my love of Vegemite and a good pie never will!

Seeing as that pie is still lingering on my taste buds I thought I'd post a recipe for another of my aussie favourites, however, in doing so may never be invited to another party as all of my friends will have my recipe.

Pavlova was one of those things I found difficult to make here in Canada, I believe its an altitude problem as there are so many eggs. So I stumbled across this recipe one day and have been using it ever since.

If any of my aussie friends try it I would love to know how it turns out for you.

ELIZABETH MANNING'S NEVER FAIL PAVLOVA - By Catherine Manning

6 egg whites

2 cups sugar

4 tbsp cornflour (cornstarch in the US)

6 tbsp boiling water

2 tsp vanilla essence

2 tbsp vinegar (white)

Put all ingredients in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat for 15 - 20 minutes or until very stiff. When you pull the beaters out, the mixture should stand up in stiff peaks. (I find at altitude, I usually have to beat the mixture for 30 minutes or more.)

Pile on to baking paper on an oven tray. You can also use aluminium foil on the baking tray. Lightly dust with cornflour so the pav won't stick. Pile it up high and do not spread out, as the pav will spread while cooking. Use a fork to mark ridges up the side.

Put in the middle of a cold oven. Turn the oven on to 250 deg F. Cook for 2 hours. Turn oven off and leave the pav in the oven, with door closed, overnight or until the oven is cold. This takes at least 6 - 8 hours. (Do not open the oven at any point during the cooking or cooling. Not even a quick peak!! This may cause the pav to fall.)
Kinda like this........my oven light was broken so I had to peek, but it still tastes the same!!

Cut around the top of the pav with a sharp knife and allow the top to drop into the pav. This forms a shell for the cream. Fill with whipped cream (NOT THE TYPE IN THE AEROSOL CAN) and decorate with fruit or topping of your choice.

I used a we little can of passion fruit that my friends and relatives bring me on their visits, I treat it like liquid gold as you can't find it here. And a grated up Skor bar. odd combo, next time I would use one or the other but not both, it was a little sweet.

Do you like waffles????

Yes I like waffles!!!!!!!

It felt like a waffly, brunchy kinda morning today so while daddy was sleeping in my gals and I made waffles with blueberry compote.

Don't you just want to lick the screen?

I made the mistake of buying waffle mix when we first got the waffle maker, I'll only make that mistake once. The recipe I love, love, love to use is the one that came with the waffle iron in the instruction book.

It does dirty a lot of dishes but it is well worth the mess (I believe three bowls, a whisk and my electric hand mixer) and the effort!

Bella Cucina waffles

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

3 eggs, separated

2 Tbsp sugar

1 1/2 cups milk

1/2 cup vegetable oil

Sift flour, baking powder and salt together in bowl. (Bowl 1)

Use an electric mixer to beat the egg whites until soft peaks form. Sprinkle in the sugar and continue to beat until stiff. (Bowl 2)

Use the mixer to blend egg yolks, milk and vegetable oil together (Bowl 3)

Pour the milk mixture into the dry ingredients and whisk together until just mixed.

Gently fold the egg white mixture into the batter.

My waffle iron uses approx. 1 cup of this mixture per waffle and made 5 very large waffles for our family of four.

Blueberry compote.

Recipe from skinnytaste.com

2 cups blueberries ( I used frozen)

1/4 cup sugar

3 Tbsp water

Add above ingredients to saucepan, cook over med - low heat for 10 - 12 minutes or until liquid has thickened enough to stick to a spoon.

I spy with my little eye........

............some thing that is brown!

I spy with my little eye.........
............something that is furry!

I spy with my little eye.........
............something that shouldn't be in my yard!

I spy with my little eye.........
.............something that could rip me apart, limb by limb and gobble me up like a friggin' turkey dinner!!!!!!!!

Did you figure it out?
Let me give you one last hint..........

yeah, not funny!

Country living at it's best today, as I looked out my window to see what the dog was barking at.....wouldn't you know it...a bear and no batteries left in my camera.
Bears in the yard, not a huge deal but our 14 year old border collie barking 10 meters away from him, a HUGE deal as his legs don't work so well these days.

So good old mummy, who really isn't that much of a dog person anyway, had to run outside to rescue good old buddy dog and get him into the house quick smart.

Eh....it's all in a days work!!!!

Fun and easy Diy bag

I recently stumbled across the website very purple person and made this cute little reversible bag from Novita's tutorials. Wow, this lady is a sewing Diva, only in my wildest dreams could I imagine being that much of a rock star on my sewing machine.

My initial thought was that it would be a great starter project for Miss Zoe to use to get her comfortable on my sewing machine, but after making the bag, although it was super easy, there is a lot of sewing around curves which could be beyond her skill level right now.

I'm glad I made it first to save her the frustration, I love the way the bag turned out and will be saving this pattern for Xmas presents for sure.

If you are like me and have a habit of NOT finishing sewing projects, then I recommend this pattern. It is a wonderful, easy to follow design and can be done on a lazy rainy afternoon...to completion.....it's so super cute, how can you resist.

Back to school....

Check out all the great back to school printables over at my delicious ambiguity, I don't know about you guys but I always start off the school year with good intentions of being on top of everything, keep the kids organised and their lunch kits full of fun and creative goodies. Then something happens and it fizzles out to sandwiches and granola bars.

Does anyone have any creative ideas out there for lunch kits yummies or ideas on how to stay on top of crazy schedules??