Christmas ~ a time for celebrating the birth of Christ, a time to gather with family, a time to share the wonders of a white Christmas or for those in the Southern Hemisphere, the wonders of shrimp on a barbie. But for me, too far from home and having no such religious inclination (I’m busy … Read More →
I didn’t just want to be a chocolate brownie. I didn’t want to be plain. I didn’t want to be ordinary. I wanted to be Optimus Prime. The biggest, baddest goodest, most awesomeness Transformer ever. You can’t be plain and be Optimus Prime. So I wasn’t just chocolate. I was nutty. And I was chocolate … Read More →
I think New Years for some brings a sense of joy and relief, a feeling that another year has passed successfully, or perhaps just by its whisker, but either way, another year has passed. Me? I laid awake with raging insomnia on Monday night, playing and replaying my 2009 over and over and over again … Read More →
You know how sometimes, after you’ve been with someone for a while, you kind of stop expecting any surprises. And I don’t mean like oh hey here’s a no-reason gift kind of surprise ~ those are definitely still welcome, although maybe you do stop expecting those eventually too. What I mean is, you think you know … Read More →
I’ve never been good at naming things. Even as a child, all of my stuffed toys were very unimaginatively named. There was Suzie, Casey, Mampi (ok this one sounds original, but she came with that name, so I take no credit), Teddy, Cuddly… you get the picture. In fact, so tedious were the names I … Read More →
One night two weeks ago, as I lay in bed trying my very hardest not to claw my eyeballs out of their sockets, I was reminded of a terrifying night I spent alone all those years ago (wow, it’s almost been a decade). It was my first experience of a migraine, where the agony in my head is magnified … Read More →
I know I’ve been blogging like almost once a day for the past week – ok except yesterday because I’m trying not to be so addicted to this thing and somewhere between “after dinner” and “blogging” and “watching Generation Kill“, I really need to find some time to have a life. How often should a … Read More →
I think it goes without saying that the power of uncooked cookie dough is vastly under-rated in the world of consumer behaviour. How its floury, grainy, brown sugary texture feels pressed hard up against my mouth.. {shudder} I’m getting all hot and bothered just thinking about it. Add to that a complete over estimation of … Read More →
It’s been getting colder over here in London-town. The weather teased us with tops in the high teens a few weeks ago, but these days it’s a steady 10 or maybe 12 degrees celcius on a good day, 8 on a bad. In light of this, I’ve been happily wearing my boots every day for … Read More →
I’m gonna come clean up front and admit that this is a completely blagged post. Blagged items, if you don’t know, are things that we bloggers are sent from PR folk to eat and cook and test, and provide our supposedly much sought after opinion. My opinion in particular has the influence of a peanut, so I … Read More →
Yesterday has got to be one of my all time favourite days. Somewhere between waking up yesterday morning and having dinner at Kiasu (I left the country for what, 10 days? And I totally missed Kiasu) last night, I baked some amazingly scrumptilicious green tea cupcakes. In case you didn’t know, green tea is a crazy obsession of mine, not … Read More →
There’s a lot to be said about being ambitious. Ambition is an in-built hunger, a drive to achieve, to push yourself and be the best that you can. To expect and accept physical, emotional and mental pressures to break you, and then make you. Ambitious is my mother, who gained a degree while working part time … Read More →
Every once in a while, I take the liberty to work from home, not only because I can, but because I actually get an incredible amount of work done when I’m not idly chit-chatting with people. Oh who am I kidding. It’s because I can. I mean, really, I have the interwebs. The habits of a … Read More →
Me. Baking red velvet cupcakes. Are you kidding?? I mean honestly, if you’d told me a year ago, wait scratch that, if you’d told me three months ago that I would be creating from scratch painfully scrumptious and most adorable little red velvet cupcakes, I would have probably gagged on my vitamin water (orange+orange, c+calcium, I don’t know why … Read More →
I read Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner a few months ago. It was such a tear jerking, soul wrenching story, so far from the usual trash that I read (chick lit, Steig Larsson, The Twilight Saga! Eeek!), that it moved the emotionally stunted mountains within me. I don’t even know what it is, I mean it’s … Read More →
My boyfriend’s been away in Finland all week and I’ve been on my lonesome at home. You know what, I have to stop calling him “my boyfriend”. Much like you and I and that cute puppy I wanted to kidnap today, he has a name. His name is Panu. Equal emphasis on both syllables ~ … Read More →
I’m gonna ask you to do something really hard. Really really hard, but bear with me ok? Because there once was a time when I was young, and the world was a very different place, and I want you to go with me there, just for one moment. So sit still, close your eyes and breathe. … Read More →
A very weird thing happened yesterday. I was just plodding along minding my own business in Twitterverse when someone asked me for my opinion on something (read: Snog Soho) and I told them how I felt (read: I wouldn’t go there) and to my utter surprise, she didn’t go! Because of what I said! I … Read More →
Sometimes Panu goes to work and comes home with little gifts. Mostly they’re techy gifts, like this awesome teeny tiny unbreakable water resistant usb stick (I love techy gifts by the way, because I’m too much of a numpty to buy them for myself) or a new wireless mouse or an awesome KEF surround sound … Read More →
So we had a friend over for dinner the night I cooked my pork & prawn fried rice. He’s an English guy, born and bred, about five heads taller than me and clearly far more intelligent. Because here I am cooking away, he pokes his head around the kitchen door and says “hey what’s for dinner?” to which I … Read More →
I really do think that I am the worst ever foodie in the world. Not only do I have a completely unsophisticated palate (although I don’t really think this makes me a bad foodie, just a very easily pleased one), I also never shop organic, well, unless it’s convenient anyway. It’s not that I don’t … Read More →
I think the thing I miss the most about living in Sydney is the hot summers, spent with days lazing on the beach (my favourite: Clovelly), then heading home to enjoy the balmy sunset on the balcony with a freshly squeezed chilled watermelon juice in one hand (vodka, rum, tequila optional but highly recommended). Now that I think … Read More →
So here’s a nice short post, with one resounding message: Simple always wins in the end. A friend of mine hosted a Fourth of July BBQ on Saturday, which for us was really just an excuse to fire up the barbie, because we live in England and well, we’re Australian. The closest I’ve ever come … Read More →
During dinner at Kai Mayfair last Friday night, somewhere between indulging in the perfectly cooked Chilean Sea Bass and me licking my plate (for reals), the question of ‘how does one cook fish at home?’ was posed. I’m surprised at how often this question pops up in conversation, I know a million people who refuse to cook … Read More →