Up in the air

It's Sunday morning and I'm trying to scare off a hangover with a coffee and ham and cheese toastie at the airport.

Has anyone else noticed their hangovers are delayed when they're older? You wake up bright as a button and are lulled into a false sense of security. Then bam! Someone hits you over the head with a full sized frozen barramundi.

It hurts.

So I'm feeling top of the pops at the moment. Probs still high on life after catching up with some of my faveys this weekend.

A day in the Committee Room at Flemington, duck ragout and crafternoon cleverness. I've been well and truly spoilt.

Thanks to Amanda, Gem and Lill. My Melbourne posse never fails to deliver xx

Girls Day Out

I'm at Sofitel Girls Day Out today at Flemington.

Let's pretend I'm going for the horses. 

Happy weekend friends x

Pinterest

Sweet tooth fairy

I love a food blog as much as I love Wednesday nights on the couch with Farmer Wants a Wife on telly. Possibly even more.

On my usual Pinterest stalking adventures the other night, I came across a fabulous Pin by Miss Brown Button herself . . . an iced vovo cake.

I followed the links through and found myself at what only could be described as Heaven.

Raspberri Cupcakes is my new favourite blog. I have an unhealthy obsession with it. The strange bit is that I'm not much of a sweet tooth, yet the pics of these masterpieces have been drooling on my keyboard.

Stephanie's very clever recreations of chocolate bar and biscuit classics have me most impressed. Whether it's the Tim Tam cake or Rolo cake, she manages to reinvent a family favourite for the fussiest of cake lovers.

I think I'd like to put in an order for that trifle next year. The only one I know who'd be up to it is Anna.

Do you accept the challenge, Miss P?

xo

Pics from here

It's raining Spring

Spring is a beautiful time of the year and what better way to ring it in than with a celebration of new life?!

The girls threw a beautiful baby shower for Michelle last week that was full of colour, fun and lots of bubbles!

We had lots of fun creating singlets and bibs and Emily and I were {not so} quietly thrilled when Mum-to-be chose our clothesline version as her favourite!

Anna made the most fabulous lemon curd friands and I just wish I had a photo of them to share, I ate them faster than you could say 'taste.com.au'

Here's to the healthy arrival of the little one next week, Pete and Michelle xo

Lemon Curd Friands

Preparation Time

10 minutes

Cooking Time

20 minutes

Makes

10

Ingredients

1/2 cup (75g) plain fl our, sifted

1 1/2 cups 185g almond meal

1 1/3 cups (200g) pure icing sugar, sifted, plus extra to dust

5 eggwhites

200g unsalted butter, melted, cooled

Finely grated zest of 1 lemon

5 tsp lemon curd, plus extra to serve

Whipped cream (optional), to serve

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C. Grease a 10-hole friand pan or line with paper cases.
2. Mix the flour, almond meal and sugar in a bowl. 
3. In a separate bowl, lightly beateggwhites with a fork until foamy, then add to dry ingredients with butter and zest and stir with a wooden spoon to combine. 
4. Divide batter among friand pans. Place 1/2 teaspoon of curd on each friand and use a wooden skewer to swirl through batter.
5. Bake for 20 minutes or until light golden. Cool, then dust with extra icing sugar. Serve with extra lemon curd, and whipped cream if desired.

Recipe from taste.com.au

Art of the dot

A girl after my own heart.

Kate Spade.

A little bit of silly

Sometimes you just have to live life on the edge and act with your heart rather than your head.

A gorgeous friend from London, now living in Melbourne, sent me a message after work tonight with the following proposition . . . 

'Hi Love, I was wondering if by chance you would be free to come to Melb Saturday for the day?'

What a random request at such short notice! Turns out she has a spare ticket for Sofitel Girls' Day Out at Flemington this weekend and thought it'd be right up my alley.

So I ignored all responsibilities and booked my flights tonight. That's money I should be saving for New Zealand, or New York or to pay off my Cricket Membership . . . but what's the fun in that?

Now I just have to decide what to wear! Eek!

Love these pics from 2009 Magic Millions brochure by Chris Colls 

Anna Platten

Had yet another cultural fix at the Art Gallery of South Australia's latest depARTure event last week.

Emma and I headed along to marvel at the talents of local South Australian artists involved in SALA - South Australian Living Artist Festival.

The works of Anna Platten really hit a chord with me, her paintings are exquisite! I didn't really 'get' her pieces, but I'm happy to look at them at face value and appreciate their prettiness! The colours she used were amazing, the subjects popped out off the canvas with an almost 3D effect.

Gosh, I really need some lessons in art appreciation and 'jargon' don't I!?

Pics from here and here and here