two of my favourite things

a free movie at cinema nova, a sympathetic film about margaret thatcher. it gave me just enough to want to find out more about the time and woman. but i fear that the film itself wasn't very much though the performance was fantastic.

my colette sewing handbook and two patterns arrived in the post at last. i'm reading it now. there will be sewing soon, promise. of course by soon i probably mean next year.

merry christmas you

it snowed, well almost snowed on christmas day in melbourne. the morning was fine and bright and damn humid. i roasted a turkey and vegetables, packed them, the trifle and all the gifts into the car and took them all over to jill and mark's for a lovely afternoon. realised i took no photos of food or friends.  i know, i'm crap.

but the hail, WOW!

christmas eve day

okay, so the picture isn't as clear as i'd like. i was trying to take a photo of this cool hose tree and i just happened to catch myself in the act. but i love this idea, woven lengths of garden hose in the shape of christmas trees. there were a couple of different sizes in the window. next i wandered up to city square where for the past few years a tall tree with a star on the top could be found at a certain time of the year.  for 2011 a village of gifts and smaller trees sprung up instead.

on the way home i had a hankering for the matrix. so i snuck into jb hifi and bought myself a copy and spent the afternoon in the glow of my tv. i did not, though the temptation was strong, succumb to snacking on the xmas lollies.

ffffrrrreeeeeddddooommmmm....

but there was no dress making, only jelly setting

and terminator salvation.

all boxed up and no where to go

these are now sitting on desks around the office waiting for people to arrive for the last day of work of the year.

and it continues...

so i figured the last week has been a slow but steady build to what tonight had in store... bake off to end all bake offs. i even gave myself an edge by having a quick nap after work. i had been sourcing recipes from various places for a while, i had post-it-ed magazines and cookbooks, copied recipes from websites. ingredients had been bought and were waiting in the pantry and fridge, i was all set.

i even read the recipes before i began. i know, what is with that? i knew that i had to leave one mixture to firm in the fridge for an hour, another half hour. i had a few eggs (not balls) in the air this night.

i took a recipe from the sbs magazine feast, the december edition because it had all these international tidbits on the cover. i decided to try the russian spiced biscuits or pryaniki. those are the ball shaped biscuits with meringue and drizzled chocolate on top.

next to the pryaniki are peanut butter kisses. that recipe came from a long-stalked website called bakerella which usually designs amazing cake pops (which i also have a book for and will bake some up one day). anyway, you bake the peanut butter biscuit and as soon as you take them out of the oven you press a hershey kiss chocolate into the centre and the bottom melts. i had one about 30 minutes after i had done this and nearly fell over it was so delightful.

my big disappointment for the adventure were the lemon and almond cookies. these came from the december donna hay magazine (again because of the christmas cookie cover). i was so looking forward to those and i have no idea what went wrong. i will be seeking advice from a friend at work tomorrow, as she used to be a chef.  check the pics out below....

they should look like this...

and it looked promising before they went in the oven...

but when they came out they were like this... eeeeeek!!!

so there's no way they're going near anyone, but they taste delicious. honestly, i need to work out what went wrong because i could live off these biscuits they are so divine. ha!  

but onwards and upwards. that was the last of the oven usage. it was time for coconut ice from the frankie magazine book sweet treats.

the coles magazine christmas edition provided the recipe for christmas chocolate bark.

i had a little bit of chocolate left over so for the gluten-free i dipped some strawberries.

and that was my evening. exhausted now. must sleep again. just realised there was no time for dinner.

will the baking ever stop?

a shared lunch at work tomorrow so i made up a zucchini slice, yes i do know how to make something savoury. amazing but true.

and flourless chocolate cake, for the gluten-free members of the crowd.

not a birthday cake

it just came out of the oven and it's suppose to be eaten whilst warm.... but as i'm taking it into work tomorrow it wouldn't look right with a chuck taken out of it.  it looks oddly pock-marked but i'm sure it'll be tasty. the recipe for the ruby's coffee cake came out of the frankie magazine's afternoon tea book.  i've made a few recipes from that now - all delicious.

happy birthday to magical and marvellous melis. miss you girl.

more baking

coconut and jam cookies for a tuesday work day.

an easy day

just hanging out and watching old favourites. i still love this film.

literary guests in melbourne town

tom stoppard and neil gaiman at the athenaeum, first time at the theatre and i was in the front row. oh yeah. felt like bit of a fan girl but it was so very interesting to listen to these two wild haired men. tom left the stage before i felt comfortable enough to take a photo. whereas with neil i felt right at home snapping away.  strange but true.

after tom we were all sent out of the theatre to stand like sardines in the foyer and were delightfully surprised by an impromptu song from the top of the bar by amanda palmer and her ukulele.  it was fabulous and i am looking forward to seeing her again in january.

i didn't blink all the way home on the tram, just in case this weeping angel singled me out and transported me to another time and place. she looked amazing.

what's playing in your supermarket this season?

source: xkcd.com

awesome site. have visited it many, many times.

step 1

so this is the fabric and pattern i'm planning on using to make myself a christmas dress.  yes, i realise that christmas day is only 11 sleeps away but if i try really hard i think it's possible.

in fact, tonight is step one: cut out pattern for the yellow dress whilst watching star trek. i know, high voltage excitement.

xmas baking... and a new old tin

giant green things

i love christmas.  oversized things EVERYWHERE.

re-opening of reader's feast....

i trammed into the city this evening for a big event. reader's feast has opened it's doors again in the beautiful georges building on collins street, just in time for christmas.  what joy! and how amazing and gratifying it was to see how packed the new store was. the couple of hours was for the "privileged readers", which means those who have a card and buy lots of books. maybe that's me, maybe not.  there wasn't much room to move about so i'll be getting back there in the days to come. happy that bookstores are still opening in the real world and selling real books.  yah!

a sunday with other writers

i spent most of this day sitting down, talking to other writers about film funding and opportunities to write and actually get paid doing it.  okay, maybe that part was a really short conversation, but it was a fantastic initiative run by the australian writers guild. filmvic just announced a program for new writers, so this day was giving us all a run down on what was actually required as well as other tidbits.  definitely worth the numb bum.

also managed to go shopping during the lunch break - perhaps it is a good thing i don't work in the city?? got myself a small fake pear tree that i've decorated for this year's christmas tree.  note the kewpie doll angel on the top??  used to be one stick she was sitting on, now it's an entire tree.

it was a good day.

more reasons to love this city

a wander through the city of christmas. the arcades are filled with decorations, fed square is like a christmas tree plot.  i haven't got pictures of city square yet, but that's looking awesome and there are giant tin soldiers guarding the town hall.  my favourite of all buildings is a maze of melbourne designers selling funky wares, and two great stores next to one another are on the second floor.  if you take the elevator, make sure that you get the one with all the postcards and a driver, old fashioned heaven.  well, for me it is.  anyway, the two stores, l'uccello and harold & maude are simply fantastic with both owners are cheerful and fabulous.

the gingerbread city is a display by the city of melbourne and can be found in the town hall.  you can't eat the mcg but there are little delights to purchase while you're there.

kitty on fire

(photo source: theatrenotes.blogspot.com)

meow meow at the malthouse with a strange twist to the little matchgirl story.  i do like meow, her amazing voice and her cabaret antics. our seats were the absolute best, though it could have been scary experience being in the front row. at one point i was holding a torch on meow when the lights went out, and jill got dragged up on stage for a bit of idolising. a fun evening.