I concur!

Kriste Michelini is hot on the money here. Sometimes there just aren't enough hours in the day!

Although while I make the time to blog . . . I really should make the time to exercise!

Hmm, run or rue? Lunges or Lonny? Kickboxing or kate spade tumblr?

It's a no brainer, really!

Pic from latest issue of Rue

Home away from home

I've been dying to show you my dear friend Jourdanne's little place for a while now. We've been friends for more than 15 years and while I was busy trying to keep up with trends and spend my money at the pub in my formative years, JB was saving her pennies and investing in key pieces to set herself up later in life.

This is the girl who got presents for her glory box when we were at school while I focused on building my Human Nature CD collection.

Look who's laughing now . . .

Yep, that would be Jourdanne. And just check out her place. Bewdiful.

I popped over to her house for dinner last week and while she was busy in the kitchen making the yummy silverbeet pie I featured last week, I snuck around her house taking pictures.

She was mortified that I didn't let her tidy up the place and give her more notice, but assuring her I was no professional blogger and had a readership of two (my Mum and Jourdanne herself!) so noone would see the laptop on the sideboard or the unmade bed, I sent her back to the kitchen so I could keep stickybeaking.

She has the most wonderful natural touch. One of these gals who can put together a display with effortless ease. She lives near the beach and there's a definite glass and water feel to her place.

Such a pretty way to dress up the DVD player - and a good reminder for her boyfriend to remember her birthday!

Gorge little bathroom with pretty little touches.

The main bedroom (and the unmade bed she'll kill me for including!).

Gorgeous sidetables and interesting artwork. JB loves her candles.

Love her circular mirror, and those billiard balls!

Scrabble pieces are another favourite item she collects for display in vases.

Her second bedroom is dedicated to her 'collections'. You name it, she's got it . . . buttons, fabric, jewellery, hats, scarves, plates, old games, cushions. Jourdanne is like a creature in their natural habitat when she see her at op shops - she can hunt a bargain out a mile away, see great potential in a dust covered treasure that I wouldn't look twice at. It's a rare skill!

Yep, I told you . . . even plates!

A gorgeous collection of costume jewels - something to jazz up even the plainest of outfits.

And fabric. Piles and piles of fabric. Jourdanne's recently learnt to sew and is dabbling in kids' clothes. Such a talent, is my dear friend!

And then there's the kitchen. She's got an extensive collection of old electric jugs. . .

. . . and some plastic fruit that I'm yet to be convinced is actually 'cool'!

I'm sorry my photos don't do the place justice, but it's just a little taste of Jourdanne's magic touch. Time for her to wave her little wand at my place!

Thanks for letting us in, JB xo

New blog love

Gush! I love finding a new, totally inspiring, colourful, ticks-all-the-right-boxes blog to stick your teeth into.

All we ever wanted was some fun by Leah is pure perfection. Right up my alley. My cup of tea. The icing on the cake.

And the best bit? She's a local! Yay for Adelaide's creative set!



So so so excited to hear that she's getting married and is addicted to wedding blogs. I can only imagine the pure brilliance she'll share up in the lead up to the big day.

I mean, just look at her cool engagement party invites and photo from the day. Stuuuuuuning.

Do yourself a favour and check her out - you'll want her as your instant best friend!

Me likey

That Kelly Green gal knows her stuff. She recently opened my eyes to the fabulous world of Sara Tuttle and showed how you could be 'interior design savvy on a shoestring'.

Now you're talking my language!

This room is perfect - right up my alley. Could I make it work?

I have two white couches and a collection of mismatched prints. I have a similar rug and a coffee table about the same height. Could do with a few more cushions, but have kind of the raw essentials to make this work.

Without blowing the budget . . . fingers crossed.

So having fallen head over heels for this beautiful work, I checked out some more of Sara's stuff.

She's onto something! Loving the bedroom above. I think it's the mirror and the unexpectedly high bedside table. Also love a crisp white bedspread.

Can't stop thinking about bookshelves at the moment. These make for such a perfect wall behind those uber comfy couches.

Divine! I need not elaborate!

And here she is in the flesh. Sara Tuttle herself. Love that dress, this gal's got style. Me likey. Good haircut too!

So, I've got the basics - wish I could just wave a magic wand and it'll all come together like in these pics! Nah, what's the fun in that?!

How do you rue?

I rue on the weekends.

Happy reading xo

Silverbeet it!

Gorgeous baking dish!

There's nothing more enjoyable than having dinner cooked for you. As much as I love preparing a meal myself, there's still something rewarding and indulgent about playing guest and having someone do all the work.


Last week I headed to Jourdanne's for dinner, and gosh, she pulled one out of the hat.

She whipped up a silverbeet pie like it was child's play, and then also managed to pull together a side dish that would have been a meal in itself!


The silverbeet pie is a new instant fave of mine and I'm happy to share the recipe with you below. However, it was the unexpected side dish that really got me going!


Jourdanne fried up an interesting mix of tomatoes, chorizo, garlic and kale. Now, I'd never heard of kale but she assures me it's a superfood - like quinoa and blueberries. So I was an instant fan!


The rocket was a great addition as well and made me feel like I was well and truly getting my week's worth of greens in in one sitting!


Glad to know someone's looking after me . . .



. . . so much so that she even packed me up a care package for my lunch on Friday!


Bless. She's one in a million, is Jourdanne. She's going to make one heck of a farmer's wife one day!


Stay tuned for a tour around her gorgeous little place later in the week. She has style to boot and that highly sought after skill of turning trash into treasure.

In the meantime, have a go at her pie - it's deeeelish!

Silverbeet Pie

Ingredients (serves 6)
1 1/2 tbs olive oil
1 bunch silverbeet, trimmed, stems thinly sliced, leaves shredded
1 brown onion, coarsely chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
200g feta, crumbled (can use low fat)
200g ricotta, crumbled (can use low fat)
Pinch of ground nutmeg
4 eggs, lightly whisked
2 sheets (25 x 25cm) frozen puff pastry, just thawed

Method

1. Preheat oven to 210ºC. Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Add the silverbeet stems, onion and garlic. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes. Transfer to a bowl. Add the silverbeet leaves to the pan. Increase heat to medium-high. Cook, stirring, for 10 minutes or until any liquid evaporates. Add to the bowl. Set aside to cool slightly.
2. Stir the feta, ricotta and nutmeg into the silverbeet mixture. Season with pepper. Reserve 1 tablespoon of the egg. Add remaining egg to mixture. Stir to combine.
3. Brush a rectangular 2L (8-cup) capacity baking dish with remaining oil. Use 1 pastry sheet to line the base and 2 long sides. Spread the silverbeet mixture evenly over the base.
4. Top with the remaining pastry and trim excess. Use the leftover pastry to completely enclose the top of the pie. Fold in the edges and press to seal. Brush with the reserved egg. Prick the top with a fork.
5. Bake for 30 minutes or until golden.
   
   Recipe from Good Taste

Ladies Lunch #2

I promised some more pics of our fabulous ladies lunch, and here they are . . .

Esme put her new sewing skills to good use and whipped up a cool tablecloth for our 'nibbles bar'. Gotta love Ikea!

Fab nibbles by Amanda of feta and garlic dip with fried mint leaves and pita and cucumber . . .

. . . smoked salmon blinis . . .


. . . and figs with blue cheese and prosciutto. Oozey goodness!

Brooke followed up with a secret recipe that she struggled to recall.

"I just made it up!" she claims when I asked for her tips. "It's a bit of this, and a bit of that." Whatever it is, I want to eat it night and day!

Spinach and ricotta ravioli with pine nut, lemon, zucchini and spring onion dressing, topped with fresh basil and parmesan.

A heavenly combination I would NEVER have picked.

Hostess with the Mostest Esme teamed up with Marissa for mains - nothing beats good old fish and chips!

I had to skip off before Mains so didn't have the pleasure of feasting on this dish, but Esme kindly took pics for me . . . can't you tell how the quality's improved! Amazing how the eye of a graphic designer is so well trained . . . as opposed to the try-hard blogger!

Ab impressed with her feta and watermelon salad - always a hit with the ladies.

Kristy sealed the deal with pavlova and cream and fruit, then Alice and I pulled together for a cheese platter to top all cheese platters. Wish I'd taken a photo of my goodies! I'm talking quince paste, fresh figs, choc coated dried orange slices, muscatels, green grapes and panforte - decadently good with cheese.

Oh, and I forgot to mention the drinks! There was Pimms by Emma (hello London!) and not-so-innocent cocktails by Ruth that were far too easy to drink! Deeeee-lish!


SUCH a fun day, wish I didn't have to leave so early. One of these days, I will stay long enough to get past entree!

Thanks Es xoxo

Simple pleasures

Isn't it funny the things you treat yourselves to these days?

I used to celebrate 'pay day' with a new pair of shoes, or fabulous handbag . . . these days, I'm much more practical and well, yes, boring!

Last weekend, I treated myself to a car wash. Yes, a car wash. I've been on a few country drives lately and been bombarded with locusts which have been a nightmare to get off. Likewise, crickets have taken over the city centre and 'burbs and I just didn't fancy spending my weekend scrubbing their guts off my car bonnet!

So I headed to the car wash and took some old mags to search for recipes and bookshelf inspiration and settled in with a cappuccino while the boys got down to business.

It was a gorgeous day and I was in such good spirits driving out in my shiny car . . . .

. . . . then it rained on Sunday. Typical.

Pimms o'clock!

What time is it? It's Pimms o'clock!

Had a gorgeous day with the girls at Es's house on Saturday - she rolled out the hospitality mat and once again hosted one of her infamous ladies lunches.

Remember the last one I went to last year?

Well, this one topped even that.

Unfortunately I had to leave early for a Hen's Night, but still managed to squeeze in a few cocktails including a glass of Pimms.

Es and Kristy were under strict instructions to take photos of the rest of the lunch so I'm waiting to get them through before I do a proper post. Stay tuned!

Melt in your mouth

Celebrated the Hen's Night of a dear friend on the weekend and we stuffed ourselves silly with the most ah-mazing pizza and tapas at Melt, one of my fave local hangouts and now, conveniently also in the city.

The tapas included fried haloumi with pickled red onions, hommus with ground beef and tortilla, chilli and anchovy green beans and frittata. The pizzas were fab as always with the prawn and harissa one topping my list. The side salad of spinach with red onion, tomato and buffalo mozarella is also a hands down favourite.

To top it all off, chocolate, pistacchio and vanilla bean cream pizza for dessert. Sensational.

Happy Hen's, Stors!

xo

Fifty Photos

The New York Times assembled five of the city's most respected interior designers to choose their favourite photos for a stylish collection - Fifty Photos.

"We asked 5 famous interior designers to choose 10 photographs each from our
archive. Now you have 50 photographs to choose from for your fabulous
habitat."

This is a snap shot of what they came up with . . .

Kelly Wearstler

The installation “Eye of the Storm: Works in Situ by Daniel Buren” under construction at the Guggenheim Museum March 11, 2005.

Laura Kirar

Repairing the Bells of Potsdam, Germany - 1930

Thom Filicia

Reflections in the still water of the St. Lawrence River on a lazy summer's day, St. Margarettes Island, New York, Aug. 7, 1997.

Vicente Wolfe

At the Funeral of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., 1968. Mourners share their grief in Atlanta on April 9, 1968, five days after the assassination of the civil rights leader.

Jonathan Adler

Gloves and Masks, 1965

Isn't this a great idea? You can then buy the prints from the paper and put together a stylish cluster wall of professionally chosen photographs. There are 50 to collect - kind of like baseball cards for grown ups!

Let's get physical!

Waiting for Michelle after work last week to catch up over a vino or two and tasting plate at Auge, I spotted a flurry of lycra clad people in Victoria Square.



The Adelaide City Council is hosting free group personal training sessions and it's proven surprisingly popular!



What a great initiative - while the thought of public sweating and stretching doesn't have me running for my sneakers, it really is very amusing for a bystander!