Thought for the day

Wonderful weekends

I’ve looked forward to the last couple of weekends with every ounce of my being and they have not disappointed.

I made the truffles above at a fabulous chocolate course that my sister and brother in law organised for me. The truffles were out of this world! I went walking with a friend who lives around the corner. I saw this musical with Sheela and this play with Alissa. I had a wonderful night with the Williams, speaking for hours in the key of drunken. I visited Juanita and Tim and saw their latest lot of renovations. Their girls make me ridiculously happy. I Skyped with Tiggs and Leigh and it was so good to see them.

Life is good right now. So good.

Cute lunch idea

There’s a foodstagrammer that I love who I think you should follow too! She’s @vogueslostchild and she posts the sweetest pics of the lunches she makes her daughter.

I wish I could open my lunch box and find an animal shaped sandwich! I also love how she uses silicon cupcake holders as a way to divide food and stop spillage.

These are the cutest lunch boxes in the world. Don’t even try to argue with me here.

52 lists – favourite childhood books

Reading has always been my favourite pastime. And I especially love children’s books!

My sister and I still have all of the books from our childhood. I’m so looking forward to reading them to Antigone soon. I also take great pleasure these days in buying books for my other little friends.

My most favourite books from childhood are:

Busy, busy world
Leigh and I both have a penchant for adventure and good food. I’m convinced it’s because of this book!

In Busy, busy world,  there’s a variety of characters  who travel all over the world, going to cafes in France, riding rickshaws in Hong Kong, visiting carnivals in Rio and then farming in Poland.

This book is now out of print and retails online from about $80 to $800!

Babar
I love this story of a sweet French elephant who lost his mother and afterwards moved to the city. When he returned to his home in the country, he had grown up, gotten married, and was considered to be a king.

I loved the TV show too.

Mulga Bill’s Bicycle
Because it was Mulga Bill from Eaglehawk, that caught the cycling craze…

I think Mulga Bill is the reason I love penny farthings so much! Love, as in to look at, not to ride myself (just to be clear!)

How birds get their colours
I loved all sorts of Dreamtime story books when I was little. There were so many in our local library – but this one was my favourite!

In this story, all of the birds are just one colour – black. When a little dove hurts his foot, his friend the Galah has an idea. She rushes forward and bites the dove’s swollen foot. Then a myriad of colours flow out of the Dove’s foot and festoons all the other birds around.

Beautiful.

The Lighthouse Keeper’s lunch
This book is all about the troubles of a Lighthouse Keeper getting his hot lunch each day. I mean, it’s a important problem, right?

The Lighthouse Keeper had such a good wife. Each day, she would prepare something for him and then send it over on a clothes wire across the water. I wanted to marry a lighthouse keeper and send him a daily lunch :)

Grunt
This is the tale of a monster who turns into a snivelling mess every time his Mum tries to get him to eat vegetables. It’s a funny book but sadly, also out of print now.

Amelia Bedelia
This one’s about a housekeeper who takes her instructions literally. Even at a young age, I loved anything related to cleaning!

The Giving Tree
There really are so many layers of loveliness in this book. It’s a beautiful parable about the love between a boy and a tree. It’s of course all about giving and I think children can really learn from it.

The very hungry caterpillar
We all know and love this story, am I right? It’s of course about a caterpillar who eats his way through a variety of delicious looking food before transforming into a beautiful butterfly.

And quite aside from those books above, I also loved all the Noddy stories, Paddington Bear and Peter Rabbit too.

 

How about you? Any old favs?

52 lists – Ten sites I visited & loved today

1) Popsugar, where I learnt how to make garbage bin refreshers.

2) The HBO documentary site, where I watched a film about a lady in her 40s who decided to have a baby alone.

3) Daily OM, where you’ll find online courses for your mind, body & soul. And other wank.

4) Dooce, the funniest blogger I know.

5) Joy the baker, who eats weird stuff like potato chips on top of tuna salad on top of burnt toast.

6) Decor 8 where this week they featured a salad of flowers. So pretty!

7) This site, promoting progressive dinners through Surry Hills. Anyone want to do this with me?

8) This food blog that has a recipe for the most amazing looking frozen yoghurt. Not low cal!

9) Another food blogger’s site who has a recipe for a healthy version of nutella.

10) This site with recipes for ten yummy salads. I always need inspiration like this for work day lunches.

What have you checked out on line today?

Now

Along with every other blogger in the universe doing the same post this week, here is my now.

Making: Birthday hampers for Juanita & Sheela :)

Cooking: Lamb shank, fennel & vegetable soup

Drinking: Bullet proof coffee

Reading: Good Weekend from yesterday & the Good Food insert from last Tuesday

Wanting: A day to sit on my butt and do nothing

Looking: Forward to Syrian food for Dinner Club on Friday night

Playing: Langhorne Slim. But it’s driving Husband mad because it sounds a bit country

Wasting: Half a purple cabbage that went mouldy before I could eat it

Sewing: Is not something I can nor want to do

Wishing: I had a different job

Enjoying: The amazing truffles I made at our chocolate course yesterday

Waiting: For an online order to arrive in time for a special someone’s birthday

Liking: The glorious sunshine we’ve had this weekend

Wondering: How I can get ripped arms without joining a gym

Loving: My tea cosy. It’s a bit nana, but I really do love tea cosies

Hoping: That I have a productive week

Marvelling: At this tofu miso ramen buger. Cool idea.

Needing: To get mentally prepared for a big week

Smelling: The scent from my slow cooker wafting up the stairs

Wearing: Gardening clothes

Following: My first ever tumblr and remembering why I hate that site

Noticing: That it’s starting to get cold inside and its making my toes feel numb

Knowing: That a one hour work out is 4% of my day. I have the time

Thinking: That surrounding yourself with likeminded people is good for the soul

Bookmarking: This etsy shop which is filled with such cute crocheted curiosities!

Opening: Feedly with trepidation. I’m so behind on all my blog reading

Giggling: At Marieke Hardy calling Jayne Eyre an emo. Very true!

Feeling: First world problem-y

 

Your turn!

52 lists – favourite 80s bands

Do you have a particular time period of fashion or music that you really dislike? For me, it’s the 80s. I was aged 0 through to 10 in the 80s so my recollection of things is not great. But from what I do remember, there wasn’t really any clothes or music that I loved.

However, I did kind of like:

– Whitney Houston
I know, I know, she isn’t a band but her album Whitney Houston was the first cassette tape I ever bought. I actually forgot that she died last year and just gave myself a shock rediscovering this!

-Mel & Kim
Their album was the second cassette tape I ever bought. Sadly, Mel became sick with cancer not long after they made it ‘big’. She ended up passing away from pneumonia, which she contracted because her immune system was so weak from the chemo. Terrible tale.

– Bros
Remember these guys? I had a family friend a few years older than me who was obsessed with Bros. Her bedroom was adorned with their posters. I felt forced to like them!

– New Kids on the Block
Because, well, Hanging Tough.

 

What about you? Any 80s bands you think were ok?