Saturday, March 10, 2012

Most exciting thing ever: Part one


I am this weeks' featured seller on Etsy
 Can you believe it? I always wondered how you got to be one, then I got an email from Adam asking me if I could be? would be? 
It's too exciting for words. 
When I have told some friends unless they use Etsy they don't really get it and have kind of responeded: "OH Yay that is so exciting....... but what does that mean?"
I guess it means my little shop will be very busy. It has meant I have had a crazy 5 weeks getting ready for it.... trying to work out how much stock I will need? 
I still don't know but I guess I am going to find out in the next few days....

Thank you to fabulous Flossy-p who took some photos for me (above) and proof read my interview answers so I didn't sound like a dick and if you think I do then it's not her fault. 

Thursday, March 08, 2012

On being married to a Chef....

Probably the most asked common conversation that takes place in my life is the following one: 
.... and what does your husband do?
Me: He is a chef.
Long pause while cogs turn then:
That must be so good, I would love to be married to a chef. 
Does he cook at home? "
Yes.
 You are so lucky.
Yes, I am.
Does he cook amazing meals every night.
Yes. 
Wow you are so lucky
 He is pretty lucky too. 
Puzzled look or laugh. 

When I first met Chef I liked food but because I was living just above the poverty line while at uni it was fuel rather than much more. My diet consisted of a lot of vegetarian curries, vegemite on toast and coffee. As regular readers will know from my blog intro it was a surprise feast of lamb shanks that really made me pay attention to the tall Chef who was always working and coming to the pub way after everyone else.


I remember he came over to my house and cooked this huge seafood feast and he bought his own knives  and I remember thinking - wow he is serious. The first time we went out he asked the waitress if the barramundi was fresh or farmed? I remember thinking are you being a bit of a wanker? ( he knows this now as we have laughed about it since) but it was like a whole world opening up. I remember being mesmerised by his knife skills- you know that way Chef's can cut an onion really quickly while still having a conversation with you?

I remember the look of horror when he saw me trying to cut a pumpkin one day, and then he showed me how you do it properly. (Ooooh- so it is not actually a blood sport. hint: start with a sharp knife) )


I remember when I was washing up at his house  and I dumped all his knives in the soap covered water and not surprisingly cut myself and he told me off ( like I was a first year apprentice) for putting all those sharp knives in the sink and I said "I am bleeding and you are being cranky with me!!!" ( lesson learnt though- I warn other people when they come to our house if they don't already know- don't put the knives in the sink bad for the knives as well as major safety risk)




I remember Chef giving me a copy of Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bordain and I read it and it was like I understood his world so much more. Although he says - and I believe him- he has never spat in anyones food for sending it back or done other horrible things he has seen it happen in big places he has worked. I understood that if you don't eat everything on your plate it is noted by the Chef when it goes back into the kitchen. I know that when people say they don't like something he has cooked that he really takes it personally. 



I have also learnt about restaurants. If a place has 40 things on the menu it will never be good. ( with the exception of some Asian restaurants)   Less is better and fresh is best. 
I have learnt that kitchens can be tough it is a high pressured environment and if a wait staff take an order down wrongly it really does stuff everything up... when poeple come in and order gluten free meals and he goes out of his way to make them something not on the menu and then they order a peice of gluten filled cake for dessert- well that is annoying.


But that is what I have learnt from him.  Most of all I think Chefs that are really passionate have a huge huge huge love of food. An appreciation for a fresh tomato or a beautifually cut peice of meat in a way I can never really understand. Not all chefs have this passion and my Chef had an apprentice once who ate McDonalds and we both just shock our head, with all the knowledge of food and ability to do amazing things why would she eat fake food? The first thing Chef talks about to his work mates are what they had for dinner last night. He is genuinely interested in other peoples food and what they eat. 


But the best thing about being married to Chef is that passionate chefs' are feeders. They love to feed people -it is an act of love to cook for others. Chef loves to have people come over and to cook for them- he genuinely loves seeing people eat his food  and enjoy it.  The love that goes into our dinner every night obviously varies hugely but it is always really really good. From the moment he wakes up he is thinking about what we are going to have for dinner. As far as buying food we have no real budget, as we often say why work if you can't buy good food. We are lucky even though we live in a tiny town our town is rather food obsessed so our friends in the city cannot believe the range of cheeses etc and the brands we can get locally.


The fact that he cooks one of my favourite dinners if he knows I have had a bad day, makes me feel loved. I can feel the love with every bite, every mouth full. It is for him about providing comfort and nourishment from his own hands for those he loves. When I was in hospital after having Busy I was bought an array of beautiful meals every night and good coffee and other delights as their was no way he was going to let me eat the hospital food. ( and there was no way I was going to eat the hospital food)

 If he is going away he always makes sure my dinner is cooked not because I am completely incompetent in the kitchen but because he knows I may just eat toast for dinner if he doesn't and he can't handle it. Some of the best meals he says he has ever had have been cooked in our kitchen. A 10 course degustation at our place 2 NYE's ago - that was so good our friend went into  labour  when she got home!! But even what he calls slop in a bowl is delish ( slop could be polenta and roast vegies with a beautiful tomato sauce) it's gourmet slop. 
His Indian curries are better than I have ever had in any restaurant. The way he makes cheese on toast is impressive. I can't remember him ever making me something  that I didn't like. Ever.

So to answer my original question what is it like being married to a Chef? It is great. It is amazing. It is a world of feasts and flavours and taste sensations.  It is a life filled with gastronomical delicacies beyond my wildest dreams... but its not  just great because he is a great Chef, it's because I know he loves me too. 

Wednesday, March 07, 2012

Deer and Owl


Is the woodland trend over yet? Did I miss it? 
I don't think so. I think these are so lovely and I am thrilled with how well they turned out. 


The sweet deer is here

 and the wise owl is here

Can you guess what animal is next? 
Come back tomorrow if you can as I will be writing a blog post about my most asked question. 
Any other mothers out there who cannot get the giggle and hoot theme song out of their head!! I often find myself humming it. 

Saturday, March 03, 2012

That is so ...

 Remember dial up? Remember the sound of a modem?? I know you do. Remember how long it took for a page to load?? How long it took for pictures to download? Remember the frustration?


I heard a 15 year old describe something he thought was a bit un-cool like this not so long ago and I laughed my head off.... was he even using a computer when we had dial up???


In the shop now.

Sunday, February 26, 2012

tired-ness and other things to whine about

'Round here everyone is tired. Busy is tired from starting school, Chef has pinched a nerve in his back and done something to the disc too so he needs to lay down about every 5 minutes and stretch and is in pain a lot of the time. I have been doing the usual, run between work, My Bearded Pigeon and school pick ups and in between trying not to become a social recluse. ( failing dismally at the last one). The smallest deviation from the new plans seems to throw everyone into a state of turmoil and we are lucky we have wonderful friends around to help when needed. But it is hard. Did I also mention the washing machine died?

I also have some exciting news that I am bursting to tell you about that will be happening in the next couple of weeks so I have also been madly trying to get the below new range into the shop. I have been trying to do this zodiac sign on a cushion idea for probably 3 months, there has been a lot of trial and error, first they were stars then the milky way behind the zodiac signs then test after test after test to find the right blue. Finally they are finished sewn photographed and in the shop.  Team Pigeon have been so great in doing extra work and helping to get ready for the "thing" happening in a couple of weeks.

Zodiac Pillows by cath @ chunkychooky
All here
Top row: Virgo, Sagittarius, Taurus, Pisces
Middle row: Scorpio, Libra, Leo, Cancer
Bottom row: Aries, Gemini,Aquarius, Capricorn
I have been visiting lots of you but not commenting so much but I am still around. Sometimes popping up on The Twit or The Insta. 


I was sad to see Vic leave blogging as she has been a big part of the blogging crafty community here. Her words , thrifting craftiness and lovely pictures will be missed. I wish her well on her new venture too.


And last but not least if you head over to Kirstys you can win a camera!!! 



Wednesday, February 15, 2012

TAKE TWO:

Ta da!!! 
 this is the revised edition. 



                                               Great present for Mother's Day or a new mum. 
                                                                          In the shop now. 

Wednesday, February 08, 2012

Summer and Autumn


Summer: greens and blues... and a little bit of sand....pixelated 



Autumn: reds and browns and oranges...pixelated....


In the shop now. 

Monday, February 06, 2012

Outside


We did this deck renovation last year and I have been meaning to show you since I took these photos when we finished it. We have been talking about doing this renovation since we bought this house 8 years ago. This is how it use to look.  Oh how we disliked that window!!

It took us so long to do as we wanted to do  it right. We wanted to use locally grown and milled hardwood timber - not cheap stuff imported from Indonesia. We wanted it to be an outside room, with ceiling fans and lights and insulation and a nice roof.

 We wanted the bannister to be wide enough to rest a drink on. 

 We wanted a big wooden heavy door and a sliding screen to as I don't know how people can live here without screens- too many bugs. 

We wanted to have a few pieces of furniture but not have it filled to the brim with day beds and hammocks. 

You know who loves that swinging chair? I call it my nest. It is so comfy. 

 We also fixed the old adjoining deck we hardly used. It was not fully covered by the roof and the wood was rotting, we never used it - it wasn't nice. 

The new deck is 30 square metres and the old deck is about the same. The outside is almost as big as the inside now. 




How cute are the mushrooms? They are heavy ceramic and I love them so much. 



Next step will be rendering. We have bought 6 colour samples now we just need to argue about decide on the colour. There is one thing I haven't shown you about the deck as it's not quite finished yet.... I will show you when its done. 

We love it so much. It just feels so huge now - it has changed the whole feel of the house. 
Plus now are even closer to the big gum tree we have always loved. 

If you want to join in pop over the the MPAY hosts house. 

 and if you would like a chance to win a Pixel rose cushion pop over here today!

Thursday, February 02, 2012

Mother.

I have had this new cushion in the works for a little while but I thought today was probably the day to tell you about it. Today is Busy's first day of school. I dropped her off this morning and felt those mother pains you get in your heart.  As I was leaving the classroom I was unable to speak to the teacher  as I knew I would cry. I can proudly declare I did not cry in front of Busy- but once we were away from the classroom I bawled, in fact truth be told I am crying now looking at that picture below. I have had some lovely lovely text messages/ tweets  today from friends near and far.  Thank you- you know who you are. 




So obviously I have spent a lot of time today thinking about being a mother and what that means.  I wanted to acknowledge being a mother as not just something a woman does after she has given birth. I suppose I have chosen to look at mothering like this  because I am adopted and have always felt I only have one mother. The one who loved me every day, and still does, the one that was there every day when I got home from school. The one who wiped my tears and read me stories in bed at night.


  So I decided to celebrate what it is to mother. There are probably many more words and I had lots of lists but this is what I finally decided on. 



I also had some help from bloggy friends with this one , I cannot remember who helped or who I asked but I remember getting a few replies from my call out so for those of you who did offer some words THANK YOU and I am so sorry if I haven't said thank you personally! 

What do you think?
In the shop here as usual

 Thank you to the two people who pointed out the missing comma, I have looked at this a hundred times and not noticed it! Annoying!! 
So these ones are not for sale however there will be some soon WITH COMMAS!!!

Monday, January 30, 2012

Do you know someone like this:

Let's just say I didn't have to look too far for inspiration for this latest design......

         In the shop now. SOLD -Thanks Jane.
               If you want one let me know- more will be ready next week.

Friday, January 27, 2012

(Birthday) Party Politics.

Busy turned 5 yesterday. We escaped town early- as we are in the middle of a flood but the main road was open and we went to see the Muppets again so Grandma (who is visiting) and Daddy could see it too. We loved it again. 




We came home and made a birthday cake and played with all the new toys. Busy got a new bike but obviously with the torrential rain.... she has a party planned for this Sunday which may have to be postponed with the torrential rain.... town is completely cut off....


ANYWAY I am getting to the point now: 


The other night on twitter I was complaining about how RIDICULOUS Pass the Parcel has become. Since when does every child get a prize - as opposed to a red frog or something or NOTHING at all and the birthday child gets the big prize at the end??? I don't get this and I don't like what it teaches them. The birthday child already has loads of presents so then they win another one? 


Games are about playing them, it is fun to play games, there is not always a winner isn't it about joining in??  


Why are we constantly teaching them they need to get rewarded for everything? Like with kids' sport  how they all get a trophy at the end? I think that is over the top. I think they should get something to acknowledge that they have played well and participated in a team etc - like a certificate but a trophy? I think it's too much. 


I think we rely on it. I know this happens a lot in the first bit of school- with lots of rewards and stickers but I don't think it is necessary. Don't we want them to be well behaved because we ask them to be? Don't we want them to participate because its fun to play. Busy's preschool does not reward children for behaviour and the children are great. Their stance is we follow the rules end of story- I like this. I like that their are expectations and consequences for not following them but it's expected that you will. 


By teaching them that everything gets a prize or all good behaviour is rewarded are we teaching them to constantly expect praise? I think we are. I do not like it.


So after much discussion from this this this and this clever mumma we came up with some great alternatives to pass the parcel- we are doing cake decorating which was Busy's idea and we are going to read some books and maybe do some other craft or word games...


 But this clever cookie came up with the greatest tshirt slogan: SAY NO TO EGALITARIAN PASS THE PARCEL. 


What do you think??  Do you think children are over -rewarded??Praised over EVERYTHING?? too much praise? how do you handle it at your house?


Last chance to enter the giveway scroll down! 

Monday, January 23, 2012

BEAUTIFUL BOOK GIVEAWAY!!

Those lovely folks of Penguin sent me the most pretty of books to giveaway. It is full of sweet pictures with lovely blue and grey backgrounds, very minimalist  and oh so pretty fabrics and the sweetest and cutest little girls. It is called Girls Style Book by Yoshiko Tsukiori 
It is full of beautiful clothes patterns for little girls from size 2 to 10. 


The patterns are not for someone who hasn't sewn much before but there are a few things that I think would be quite straight forward. I will even give one a go! Look how cute these kids are!!


The clothing is very sweet and looks a little vintage. I like the clothing style a lot, its very pretty but not in a frilly over the top way. I like that. The instructions are very detailed  and if you are a good instruction reader you will be able to make EVERYTHING in this book. It comes with an envelope in the back with all the patterns which we like.



  I have 2 copies to giveaway!  


If you would like one please leave a comment below. 


Entries are open until Fri 27th January midnight. 


Winners will be notified by email.  


Only open to Australian residents- sorry. 


Feel free to tweet, facebook link etc to this giveaway.

Saturday, January 21, 2012

How can I be expected to work under theses conditions:

I cannot even begin to express the pain I went through to get a certain almost 5 year old to pose nicely for  these pictures. There was hurrumphing ....

 and whining on a biblical scale. 


There was face pulling and squinting and complaining of sun in eyes and I am tired and blah blah blah ....






It was only when I told her to say poo poo head and bum bum face and all those other words she finds HILARIOUS that she finally started smiling and laughing



Then we got the winner:


Available in the shop of course. 

Monday, January 16, 2012

Again, with the Happiness Project.

So I have got a few people onto this book now and they/ you are all loving it. One of the (many) things about the book that I love is how easily I was able to see parts of my own life reflected back to me. I have been on a quest of sorts to assess my own energy levels. This is the first thing Gretchen does in the book and I am not planning on living my year like hers but certain things really made me think.

One of the  biggest things I learnt from the book that has increased my energy levels is this: GET MORE SLEEP. I know so simple right??  But for the last week I have NOT been getting up at 530-6am to try and get some Etsy work done before I either have to go to work or before Busy gets up. I have been waiting to get up when Busy does ( about 630-7am) and it has been great! I don't feel like I am running behind, I don't feel like there is so much to do still. I feel more rested. I feel less cranky. It was that simple. MORE SLEEP!


The other thing I have been doing is I have JUST started seeing a personal trainer.  I initially thought "I shouldn't have to pay someone to motivate me I should just get off my own bum and start jogging again" ...but 3 months went by and I didn't. I didn't even get my trainers out of the cupboard. A good friend of mine has been seeing this personal trainer for a few months and is feeling great and looking great and I have sat on my bum for 3 months thinking I should just start jogging but not actually doing anything about it.

So  I have started with the personal trainer -she is nice. She doesn't yell or scream in your face just encourages and pushes you to kep going push yourself a little harder. Of course in my inpatience-don't-do-anything -by halves mindset I want to immediately start going every day and be fit overnight. Obviously this is not going to happen. On Saturday afternoon I attempted to go for a run with disasterous results, it was demoralising to realise how far I COULDN'T run anymore- how unfit I have become. But on the flip side I have started - I am doing something about the fact that I cannot run anymore, and as I am fond of saying nothing motivates you more than starting!
Wish me luck.