it's time to get thrifty...

For the month of June, I set myself a challenge where I am not to spend any money on shoes or clothes until the next pay day. Well, I wasn't even past day one of the challenge and I failed. I went to a scarf sale in East Malvern and bought some beautiful wool scarves in bright colours. Can I say though, in my defence,I bought one for my mum. Ok, and the rest were for me... but they were 50% off the reduced price, so I got them at bargain-basement prices.

I then headed to a shopping centre, only because I wanted to get some ramekins so I could start experimenting with souffles, individual self-saucing puddings, etc. I came back home with 8 ramekins. Whilst not shoes or clothes, I was still spending money. Whoops. You know what I've done - I've transferred my spending on to something else! How terrible.

Right, that was yesterday. Today is a brand new day. I stayed in bed for as long as I could (it was a cold morning and I figured the longer I stay in bed, the longer I can fight temptation). I couldn't lie in bed all day so I got up and thought right, I still have about $30 on a David Jones gift card, why don't I use that up? It's like I'm spending money but money I already have. Plus, it's a shame and waste to not spend / use it. Off I went to the City in search for something worthy to spend my gift card on. I had already bought ramekins yesterday and was thinking I wouldn't mind some nice servingware. Off I trudged to David Jones. What a mistake. I pretty much fell in love with all things homewares.

There is something whimsical about homewares displayed in large groups, particularly when they are grouped by colour. I instantly fell in love with the Ecoya Metro candle jars and reed diffusers. Not only are the candles natural and made of soy, they smell divine! Unfortunately, I just couldn't justify spending my voucher on something that would melt. I wanted to buy something that I could keep and would last. I decided to head over to the cook books - I've been keeping my eye out on a couple of books (namely Jamie Oliver's 30 minute meals) and wanted to see if they were in stock.

Today, there truly is a plethora of cooking books. I sometimes think to myself and wonder who isn't putting out a cook book these days? Gwenyth Paltrow, Olivia Newton John, Lisa McCune, Sophie Dahl, Masterchef winners, actors, chefs, home cooks - it seems everyone has put out at least one cook book. It's quite inspiring actually. I must admit, quite a few cook books caught my eye - I am very much drawn in by rich vibrant visuals. Not wanting to make a hasty decision giving that I'm pretty much cutting off my right arm by vowing to limit my spending, I wanted to make the right choice. I kept ploughing through book after book.

I continued to wander around the floor and found myself in the servingware / dinnerware section and lo and behold I found a book by Bill Granger - bills sydney food. The book is beautifully presented in hardback and comes in a hardback sleeve. I opened it to the page that contained the recipe for his ricotta hotcakes. It was a sign - I tried the hotcakes not long ago when I went to bills earlier this year. I knew it - I had to get the book. This was the one. I remember coming out of bills thinking how wonderfully fresh and clean the place was. It would be silly of me to not buy the book. Off I went to the register. No cognitive dissonance here! I plan to make everything in the book and I promise to blog about it (eventually!)

So happy with my purchase, I decided to go for a bit of a wander into Myer, mainly I wanted to go through the gorgeous Perfume hall. I love looking at all the different shapes and colours of perfume bottles. On my way I got distracted and decided to have a quick look at the homewares section. Funny isn't it, I don't have a home to furnish with homewares yet I just love browsing through the section. I love how homeware displays have been put together. I always feel the stylist has put so much time and effort into putting different elements together.

I found the different products and colour / shape combinations put together quite inspiring and of course, pretty to look at. Hey, if I can't have the displays in my home, I might as well appreciate the installation display somewhere else.

After providing a feast for my eyes, I knew it was time to head home (plus, heading home meant that I wouldn't be spending any more money for the rest of the day!). I took a little detour and went through the back of Myer when my eyes caught a glimpse of the flower shop. Wow. Such beautiful flower installations on display! Such a foray of flowers in vibrant colours, shapes and types. It felt like being in an art exhibition of flowers.

And with that I leave you with a feast of flowers.

chocolate cupcakes with chocolate frosting

I don't really need a good excuse to bake cupcakes. Heck, I don't need an excuse full stop. I will happily oblige and provide cupcakes for anyone that requests I bring them to any shindig. The Biggest Morning Tea was no different.

What's the Biggest Morning Tea? Only one of Australia's most well-loved fundraising events, that's what. It's a great fundraiser for the Cancer Council. Apparently a first for the company I work for this year (in terms of participation), the inaugural Biggest Morning Tea was scheduled for Friday 27 May 2011. My colleagues are really organised. So organised in fact that we discussed what we were going to bring for the Morning Tea the week before. Hands down, it was unanimous. I was to bring chocolate cupcakes.

This suited me fine because I LOVE chocolate cupcakes. What's not to love? I am a firm believer that the best kind of cupcakes are the simple ones. Don't get me wrong, I love all the different kinds of cupcakes and flavours you can get these days that are frosted sky high and decorated to the nines. They certainly are beautiful to look at but my only criticism is I find them too sickly sweet for my palate and end up not enjoying the sensorial experience a cupcake should bring. Instead I find myself keeling over thinking I shouldn't have eaten that amount of sugar in such a short space of time, especially when I can feel my teeth 'hurting'. I believe that there's something really beautiful in the simplicity of a good chocolate cupcake made with high quality ingredients. I think that's key - you have to use a high-quality cocoa powder and chocolate (dark chocolate if possible!) to create the most scrumptious chocolate cupcake.

 I've tried a couple of different chocolate cupcake recipes; some with great results and others, not so great results. This one is a good one. They're easy to make, with minimal preparation and are absolutely scrumptious with good quality dark chocolate topped with my super quick and easy chocolate icing!

Also, I have been doing some reading online and have found that people are really worried about cupcakes with cracked tops. As you can see from above, mine cracked and I don't really care. It doesn't really affect the taste of the cupcake but, I will make chocolate cupcakes again I'm sure, so when I crack the mystery of cracked tops I'll be sure to blog about it! But for now, I am content with hastily covering them up with yummy chocolate icing and coloured sprinkles.

chocolate cupcakes with chocolate icing

 

preparation time | 15 minutes

cooking time | 20 minutes

makes | 12 cupcakes with a muffin top, 16 smaller ones

chocolate cupcakes

100g dark chocolate, chopped

1 cup (250ml) water

125g butter, softened

1 cup (210g) brown sugar

3 eggs

1 1/2 cups (225g) self-raising flour

1/2 cup (75g) plain flour

1/4 cup (30g) cocoa powder

chocolate icing

2 tablespoons butter at room temperature

2 tablespoons of cocoa powder

1 cup icing sugar mixture

1 tablespoon boiling water

1 tablespoon milk

1| Preheat your oven to 180°C (or 160°C fan forced). Line the muffin / cupcake tray with pretty paper cases.

2| Place the chocolate and water into a small saucepan over low heat. Cook, stirring for about 5 minutes or so or until the chocolate has melted and the mixture is nice and smooth. Remove from heat and set aside to cool.

3| Using an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar until pale and creamy. Add the eggs, one at a time, always beating well after each egg to make sure all are combined well. Sift the flours and cocoa and fold into the mixture, alternating in thirds with the chocolate liquid mixture, ending with the flour/cocoa mixture (so, you should mix flour, then a bit of liquid, flour, liquid and finish with flour).

4| Spoon the mixture evenly into the prepared cases (about 2/3 full so you don't get that muffin top look). Place into the oven and bake for about 20 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. Remove from the oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool. 

5| To make the icing, place the butter, cocoa and icing sugar mixture into a small bowl. Pour 1 tablespoon of water. Whisk together the mixture until it forms a paste. Add in a little bit of milk (just a little bit!) at a time, until the mixture is spreadable. If you like heat up the milk a bit so it's easier to mix. If you want a sweeter icing, add in a bit more icing sugar mixture. If it's too thick, add in a bit more liquid and if it's too runny, add in more sugar (for those that love their icing sweet) or a bit more cocoa powder.

6| Ice and decorate your cupcakes any which way you wish!

hump day afternoon dee-light

This week is all about report writing. Meeting deadlines. Delivering insight. Which can be hard for someone like me. Someone that gets easily distracted, procrastinates and needs a little extra thinking time to write about brands and their personalities. I digress.

I am a person that is much more focused in the morning. I am, without a doubt, a morning person. I must admit, since moving to Melbourne I have become much less of a morning person but I think I've got my morning mojo back. My brain works really well until it hits about 3.00pm or 3.30pm, depending on the day. As soon as the clock strikes 3, it's like my brain tries to tell me "Camilla, I can't go on anymore...must eat chocolate to function further..."

Most days I avoid the temptation of chocolate, instead reaching for a pastry or biscuit. I'm not sure which is worse! It's the sugar I tell you... need. sugar. to sustain.

Again, I digress! Once it hits 3.00pm that's when you'll usually find me also reaching for my headphones and plugging in... to some music! So if like me, you're finding yourself somewhat lethargic mid week, using food as a means of procrastination or just in need of a midday / mid-week boogie, Little Red's Rock It does the trick nicely I say.

Happy hump day!

a night with ben folds

What. A. Night.

Before Friday night, I was a fan. Not a massive fan but I definitely had an appreciation for his music. After seeing Ben Folds live, I walked away with such admiration for this man. Ben Folds recorded doesn't do him justice. His voice live is amazing, he's a literary genius and genuinely funny. A great showman. Polished, yet relaxed and the best bit of the night - he and his band came back on for an encore! Now, you don't see big artists doing that much these days.

Also can I just say how AMAZING the Palais is? It was the perfect place for a gig like Ben Folds. Not so much for the Wombats I heard (how can you dance in your seat?!) 

So I leave you with a video of Ben Fold's version of Ke$ha's Sleazy. An amazing cover, if not totally random.

P.S. I have the utmost respect for Kate Miller-Heidke, who supported Ben Folds on his tour. She is one amazing talent from Brisbane (Brisbane represent!!) The things she can do with her voice - and oh, what a voice. Such control! She truly performs with such a simplistic style and grace yet very much holds her own on the stage. So I leave you, finally, with the most funniest song Kate did on the night - a song about old flames on Facebook. Good to see she's keeping up with social media.

hump day afternoon dee-light

And it's Wednesday again (I know right?!)

Last weekend I was looking through my limited CD collection that I brought with me when I moved to Melbourne. Most of it is "old music" - music from the 90's or early 00's. Feeling all ghetto, I wanted some old R'n'B. Not that new stuff they call R'n'B on the radio now. More electronic than melodic. I wanted some smooth tunes or fat bass lines, like old Usher, Boyz II Men, Bone Thugs & Harmony, heck 98 Degrees (do they count as R'n'B??)

I was ecstatic when I came across Usher's 2004 album Confessions in my CD collection. Who doesn't love singing along to Confessions, Burn (probably my favourite track on the album) and dancing along to Caught Up and of course, probably the most well-known song on the album - Yeah!

What I love about R'n'B from the 90's and 00's is that it is totally acceptable for middle class white or asian folk (actually anyone other than African Americans) to pretend to be all ghetto. It's ok to throw your hands up and go Yeah! and sing about shortys, boos, bootys, yell out rowl (yes, according to Ludacris, it is a word) and generally act like you probably never would normally. And can I just point out Taio Cruz, who likes to say his name in the beginning of almost every song on his album, you're not the first. Usher did it too. Way back when it was still fresh.

Happy hump day!

an honourable mention

The last time I took part in a singing Eisteddfod was when I was 12. I remember I competed in the Under 13s solo. I sang 'Doing What Comes Naturally' from Annie Got Your Gun. My singing teacher and I even choreographed a routine. I had so much fun but at the same time felt a lot of pressure. Tonight,, at the Boorondara Eisteddfod, it was no different. Ok so we didn't have any choreography to remember but I think everyone felt a lot of pressure. Singing in an adult choir, particularly in one where people like to sing for fun and are not used to being on stage can be quite challenging and of course, daunting. While I'm no pro to performing, I just remember that it's a bit of fun. Let's face it. We're not performing brain surgery. No one will die (maybe of embarrassment though) if we sing a few wrong notes. It's not a life or death situation. I don't mean to be dismissive, but I've performed enough to not get my knickers in a knot. Unfortunately I think for some, nerves got the better of them. We started off a bit shaky and off-key in Sign your Name but kicked arse in Drive my Car. Despite the shaky start, we did get an honourable mention at the end of the night. Winning.

I must say though that tonight, the competition was fierce. There was a great mix of all male, all female and of course, mixed choirs. The most enthralling, ethereal and magical performance for me was an all male group that performed Shenandoah - most possibly one of my favourite pieces of all time. The most unusual song performed was Beds are Burning by Midnight Oil. A classic but acapella style? Interesting. The coolest part of that song was the Asian beat boxer. Boo to the Chorister though that was also singing with her choir. I didn't know that was allowed! They tied for first place. And what do you know? A quick search on You Tube tells me the winning choir have loaded a video of them performing Beds are Burning last year.

 
And on that note, all choirs did really well and it was a fun night. Can't wait to do it all again.

portuguese custard tarts

Now, I’ve made these before without a hitch. In fact, they were really straightforward, no issues whatsoever. Granted, I made them in Brisbane, in my mum’s awesome kitchen filled with everything you possibly need (plus, her oven is truly amazing. I’m so glad my parents decided to renovate our family home and that my mum gave herself the kitchen she’s always dreamed of). And then, having craved egg tarts for weeks gave in to temptation and decided I would make them again.

Talk about a disaster. Wait, let’s rewind. Ok so I started off ok, separated the eggs, whisked in the sugar, starch flour and milk and the mixture was starting to boil. All going according to plan, just as it should. But after constant stirring, I was wondering why the boiling mixture wasn’t getting any thicker. (Poor) instinct told me, no matter, I’ll just add in some more starch flour. Fail. That just made the once smooth mixture lumpy and gross. Having been raised never to waste food, I added in a half a cup of rice, a dash of ground cinnamon and nutmeg, thinking that I could make a rice pudding. After 10 minutes the delicious aroma wafted through the kitchen but the mixture looked like vomit. I kid you not. The rice wasn’t cooking and more and more of the mixture was sticking to the bottom of the pan. I kept putting a bit more milk during the 10 minutes but I think that made it worse. The liquid I was adding kept evaporating. Epic fail.

I’d had enough. I scraped as much as I could out of the pan and into the bin. I hate wasting ingredients but I knew it was a lost cause. To make things worse, I had this pan with a lot of milk, egg, sugar, starch flour and rice stuck to the bottom. Good thing I remembered something my mum taught me – if you have a non-stick pan with a lot of food stuck to the bottom, to make it easier to clean, add some water to the pan and place on the stove. Cook it off (until it boils) and use a wooden spoon or some sort of sturdy scraper and the stuck food will come off. Voila it worked!

So what was the cause of the epic fail? I had put in two teaspoons of starch flour, rather than 2 tablespoons of it. Yep, a simple mistake like that has dire consequences.

Right. Take two.

A much better result! I admit, I did deviate from the original recipe but that’s only because I didn’t want to brave the cold and decided to just make do with what was in my pantry. This time around I used 2 egg yolks and 1 whole egg instead of 3 egg yolks, raw sugar instead of caster sugar and soy milk (Soy Milky by Vitasoy) rather than cream and milk. I quite like making these tarts with soy milk – the custard is still nice and creamy but it tricks our mind into thinking we’re doing something good for us. Plus, it also means that our lactose intolerant friends can enjoy a nice egg tart too. 

Now, I’ve also been reading other blogs where people are having issues with getting the nice brown colour on top. I haven’t had that issue. That’s probably because usually, I’m prone to burning things. I like to put the oven on fan forced at about 200C. If it’s burning too quickly, you can always turn down the temperature. Now, when they come out of the oven, the tarts will puff up a bit and then they'll deflate. Don't worry, it won't change how good they'll taste!

Adapted from Bill Granger’s pasteis de nata recipe

portuguese egg tarts

preparation time | 10 minutes for custard plus cooling time, 15 minutes for tarts

cooking time | 20-25 minutes

makes | 12 tarts

3 egg yolks

110g sugar

2tbsp cornflour or starch flour

230ml cream

170ml milk

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 sheet of puff pastry

Ground cinnamon

1| Lightly grease a 12-hole muffin / cupcake tray.

2| Whisk together the egg yolks, sugar and cornflour in a pan until smooth. Gradually whisk in the cream and milk until smooth.

3| Place the pan over medium heat, and cook, continuously stirring until bubbles appear (come to the boil) and the mixture thickens. Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla extract. Cover the pan with cling film wrap to prevent a skin forming and leave the custard to cool.

4| Preheat the oven to 200°C.

5 | Sprinkle the cinnamon over the pastry sheet. Cut the sheet in half and put one half on top of the other. Set aside for about 5 minutes. Roll up the pastry tightly from the short end and cut the pastry log into 12 x 1cm rounds. Lay each pastry round on to a lightly floured surface and use a rolling pin to roll out until each is about 10cm in diameter.

6| Press the pastry rounds into the muffin tin. Spoon the cooled custard into the pastry cases and bake for about 20-25 minutes, or until the pastry and custard is nice and golden. Leave the tarts in the tin for about 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

If you want to make a healthier version – use 2 egg yolks and 1 whole egg, raw sugar instead of white and 400ml of milk (you can use soy milk – tastes just as good!). Adding in a bit of cinnamon to the pastry will also do wonders - sure these may not end up tasting like the original Portuguese tart, but I think you'll find them just as good.

take me back to the summertime

Take me back to the sweet times, the hot nights...

Sing it sister (well technically, Thirsty Merc). Now, I don’t mean to complain (I can hear all that know me well chuckle right now because they know, I do like to get on my soapbox and tell it like it is) but it has been extremely cold in Melbourne. So cold in fact, I am actually dreaming of beautiful balmy weather. Again, very strange because I’m usually not a massive fan of summer. Ok, so there are some good things about summer:

1. I was born in Summer.
2. I love ice cream (actually anything cold and sweet) and it’s perfectly acceptable to eat loads of it in summer, for its cooling effects. 
3. The days are longer and the nights are shorter.
4. Going out is not so much a chore, and requires very little effort.

However, let’s look at the other side of the coin. I don’t enjoy summer because:

1. I sweat like a pig.
2. I don’t do summer clothing very well. Ironic right, given that I was born and raised in the Sunshine State? Sorry, I just do not rock the Billabong and thongs (flip flops) look.
3. I burn/tan really easily and it stays with me for ages. I know, why should I be complaining about this? I’ll tell you why. I don’t like to tan, brown is not beautiful from where I’m from (whacky Asians!) and I still have the horrible t-shirt tan line from last year’s Big Day Out – yes, about 15 months on!

To all my friends that love Summer, I don’t mean to be disrespectful. At times, I behave like I’m not a true Queenslander. I do apologise. I do still very much love pineapple though.

So, whilst having climatised to the much cooler weather in Melbourne, I found it odd that I was dreaming of Summer. I think because lately, not only has it been cold, it has also been wet. Cold + wet weather ≠ pleasant. It’s taken about 4 days for my washing to dry. 4 days! Good thing I have an extensive wardrobe (I knew all that clothes shopping would come in handy one day).

And so to this, I found myself looking through my photos from our South East Asia trip in October 2009. My family and I had an amazing time. We ate to our hearts’ content in Singapore and Malaysia (well, technically everywhere we went), we got up close and personal with elephants and tigers in Thailand and met up with family in Indonesia and Singapore. Oh and the weather. Lush, tropical weather....

Where it's totally acceptable to eat a mountain of shaved ice and syrup, at least once a day. You sweat it all off anyway.

Or get a massage from a baby elephant...

 Or touch some unsuspecting sleeping tigers...

Eat a feast of spicy food (again, you sweat it off)...

Where you feel like you’ve just had a shower, constantly. Where you don’t suffer from dry skin. Where you feel like you need to walk around in as little clothing as possible (I won't scare you all with a photo of that!). Well suffice to say, I quickly snapped out of my summer dream. Don’t get me wrong, a summer tropical holiday is nice, but key word in that sentence: holiday. Perhaps a trip up north during Winter will help me through the colder months...

hump day afternoon dee-light

Groove is in the heart. Oh yes, I went there. I am pretty sure I first heard this song when I was six. My mum bought one of those compilation tapes (yes a mixed tape! One we didn't have to make ourselves!) for our neighbour's birthday and of course, we also had to have the same one. How was it fair that our little friend got to have a mixed tape with cool songs and my sister and I got nothing? (yes, we were very selfish, self-centred little girls. At times, not much has changed...) Anyway, if memory serves me well, it had all the great hits, Taylor Dayne, New Kids on the Block, perhaps also a little bit of Robert Palmer? My mind is a bit hazy. Looking back, it was about twenty years ago...

Right, back to the song. This song, without a doubt, always, and I mean always, puts a smile on my dial and a little groove in my step. How can it not with one liners like he’s not vicious or malicious, just de-lovely and delicious. De-lovely? Awesome. Ke$ha, sorry to break it to you but you didn’t start a revolution with neck-a-lace. So 2000 and late.

I also love that this song is a little bit naughty. Imagine lip-synching the chills that you spill up my back, keep me filled with satisfaction when we’re done, satisfaction of what’s to come with your best ‘come hither’ face, directed at a very attractive person of the opposite sex. Booyah.

Also, one word for the video clip: wow. It is that psychedelic I feel like my head is still spinning.
They sure don’t make songs or video clips like they used to. Happy hump day!

peanut butter and mini m&m cookies

You know the feeling. It’s a Saturday night; it’s cold, damp and dark outside. The forecast says “rain”. You don’t feel like going out. All you want to do is spend time cosying up in front of the fire, watching Saturday night movies, and munching on something, anything, just because.

As I sat there, watching dare I say it High School Musical 3 on TV, I thought to myself, what better time than the present to do some baking? I’ll tell you why. It gets you up and about (albeit the kitchen), away from watching High School Musical (I know, secretly, I love it), you’re saving money (for a few $ you get way more biscuits than in a pack of Tim Tams!) and all the ingredients are household staples (except maybe the mini m&ms. I’m lucky I work in market research and sometimes, we get to keep the leftover stimulus.)

These peanut butter cookies take no time at all to whip up and trust me, it’s fun. Ok, so it might take a tiny bit of prep time and you have to then roll the mixture into balls and wait for them to bake but then you get to reap the reward of lovingly and painstakingly making them by gobbling them up. Another plus of baking cookies yourself is you know what’s in them. Yes, you can eat a few of these and not feel guilty. I feel your scepticism rising in your bones. I know you’ve raised your eye brows at me. How can I not feel guilty eating a handful of cookies? Because in my version I’ve adapted, I lessened the sugar content and added in chocolate. Eating chocolate causes our brain to stimulate endorphins, endorphins make you happy. Therefore, chocolate makes you happy. Also, the smell of fresh cookies wafting through your kitchen alone will have you salivating and thanking me for encouraging you to bake your own. 

So what are you waiting for?

peanut butter and mini m&m cookies

adapted from the Woolworths Good Taste magazine, April 1997, Page 76

Recipe by Anneka Manning

preparation time | 15 minutes

cooking time | 15 minutes

makes | about 40 small cookies, about 35 bigger ones

125g butter or margarine, at room temperature

275g (1 cup) crunchy peanut butter

150g (3/4 cup, firmly packed) brown sugar

1 egg

260g (1 3/4 cups) plain flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 cup (2 tubes) mini m&ms

1| Preheat oven to 180°C (or 160°C fan forced). Line a baking tray with non-stick baking paper.

2 | Beat the butter or margarine and peanut butter in a mixing bowl with electric beaters until creamy (around 1-2 minutes). Add the brown sugar and beat until pale (around 2-3 minutes). Add the egg and beat until combined. Sift the plain flour and baking powder together. Using a wooden spoon, mix the dry ingredients and mini m&ms into the peanut butter mixture. 

3| Lightly flour your hands then roll tablespoonfuls of the mixture into balls and flatten in the palm of your hand to about 5cm in diameter and 1 cm thick. Place onto tray about 4 cm apart on the baking tray you prepared earlier. Bake in preheated oven for about 15 minutes or until golden and cooked through. Stand on baking tray for 5 minutes and transfer to a wire rack to cool. Repeat with the remaining mixture. You can store the cookies in an airtight jar for up to 1 week (if they last that long!)

For extra crunch, add in 1/2 cup unsalted peanuts, roughly chopped, when mixing the dry ingredients into the peanut butter mixture.

the start of a journey

Hello there!

How very daunting. The very first post. It's daunting because I can't tell you how many times I've attempted to keep a blog. I think it dates right back to when I was at university, studying about the New Economy, online communities, digital cultures and convergence. And not even 10 years on, here we are today, living in what has now been dubbed the Digital Generation, where society relies heavily on social media, online communities are thriving and everything cool begins with an i. But I digress. I can't tell you how many blogs, forums and networking sites I've pored over the last few years. The accumulation of hours spent browsing always provided me with inspiration to start my own blog. If they can do it, why can't I?

I have probably said to myself at least once a year, "this is the year, I'm going to start a blog, and keep at it. I will update it, regularly, and I mean it." But you know what? I never did. Oh yes I would start them, but I fell off the wagon pretty quickly and the updating never happened. I was never short of inspiration, no. My problem was I just didn't know what I wanted to blog about.

So what makes this one different? Well, whilst contemplating life's big questions I thought to myself, I need to do something for me. Sure, work takes up more time that I'd like it to and it doesn't leave me with much time for anything else but what do I enjoy? It was like I could hear a pin drop. Food. Craft. Travel. Photography. These are the things which I love to do. And these, my friends, are the things I'd love to share with you. The food I make (and eat!), the craft projects I challenge myself with, places I've been to and aspire to go to in this wonderful world in which we live in and of course the only way I know how to document it all: through photographs.

So here it is: my escape from the everyday, a peek into my life and I hope that you'll all enjoy the journey of a whimsical affair.