Hello dear readers. Forgive my recent absence – it’s been a memorable few weeks for all sorts of reasons. I’ll have a few things to post about soon but in the meantime here’s what I’m loving right now.
(1) Peonies. I adore peonies – they’re by far and away my favourite flower, along with David Austin roses. When I saw the ones at the top of this post at Coles (Coles!) the other day I was flabbergasted as they are typically only available in Australia for about three weeks in November. So I had to buy them, didn’t I. Aren’t they lovely?
(2) Mad about Mushrooms. This month I will be visiting two Adelaide restaurants and reviewing their mushrooms dishes on this blog as part of Mushroom Mania, a month-long celebration of all things mushroom. I’ve been dying to try the two restaurants I’ve chosen so can’t wait to tell you all about my dining experiences.
(3) DIY Craft. I’m never short of ideas for making crafty things but my execution of said projects is often less than ideal. Luckily, the projects I tackled this week with my kids (2.5 and 6 years old) are all about spontaneity and joy, not precision and perfection. Firstly, inspired by this post by Lady Croissant, we turned a scribbled over coffee table in the playroom into the stylish talking piece above with the help of a little Japanese washi tape. Then, inspired by the gorgeous work of Confetti System, the current darlings of the design world, we made this whimsical decoration for our living room. What do you think of our work?
(4) Blogger Love. I’ve had some lovely shout outs from some wonderful bloggers lately. Georgia from Rainbow Bakery made an Apple Crumble Pie inspired by my Free-Form Apple Tart, Tania from My Kitchen Stories made a Very Simple Banana Tarte Tatin with Golden Syrup Ice Cream based on my Honey Ice Cream and Patty from The Fearless Cooking Club made my Honey Ice Cream as part of an Ice Cream Social. Wait, an Ice Cream Social? That is just so… brilliant.
5) KitchenAid Stand Mixer. The good folks at KitchenAid sent me a fire engine red stand mixer to test drive and I’m not sure I’m ever going to be able to return it. It’s sexy, reliable and brilliant in the kitchen. So far I’ve made a Victoria Sponge with Berries, a Quince Meringue Pie and a Berry & Coconut Meringue Tart. Next up, home-made pasta, ice cream and sausages.
(6) Penelope Trunk. I’m sure some of you are familiar with Penelope’s blog. Penelope is a highly intelligent American with Aspergers who founded The Brazen Careerist, has the #1 career blog in the world, and is syndicated to 200 newspapers. She’s not to everyone’s taste – her tweeting of her miscarriage mid-business meeting generated a hail of coverage in both the blogosphere and traditional media – but she’s searingly honest and always backs up her savvy and unconventional advice with current data. A true original.
(7) Chocolate and wine classes. Chocolate and wine classes have been popping up at all kinds of food festivals lately. I’ve always wondered if they were a genuine tutorial in chocolate and wine tasting or simply an excuse to eat a lot of chocolate. So I was pleased to receive an invitation to a recent Chocome chocolate and wine class for media at the National Wine Centre. And I now know the truth: they are a genuine exercise in matching chocolate to wines AND a great excuse to eat a lot of chocolate. That’s known as a choco-licious win-win. The National Wine Centre will be running further chocolate and wine classes on July 21, August 18, September 22 and October 13. Book now.
(8) A List Blogger Bootcamp. Regular readers will know that I recently celebrated my one year blogging anniversary. This has led me to ask all sorts of question of myself that sound like the title of of a Judy Blume novel: Who am I?, Why Am I Here? and Where Am I Going? So to help figure this out I’ve recently joined the A List Blogger Club. I first heard about A List Blogger Bootcamp from Jules Clancy (The Stone Soup) during a panel discussion at last year’s Australian Food Bloggers Conference. It sounded interesting and I filed it away in my head for future investigation. A couple of weeks ago I came across it again and decided to sign up. I’ve only just started scratching the surface of the members-only content but I wish I had signed up earlier as it’s full of excellent, useful information. I love this kind of self-discovery – I call it navel gazing with benefits.
So tell me, what are you currently loving?
* All images taken with Instagram – follow me at @thehungryaustralian *
