Long Weekend!

Photos by Jake Simpkin for Skateistan

Not long till the weekend, and its a long one!
xoxo

Lots of Laughs

Cute print from Mati Rose

Morning,

In the efforts of doing more exploring and trying new things, Joe and I went out to ‘The Local’ for comedy last night. The Local is a bar that is pretty close to our house and is a beer bar. Joe was happy as they had Emersons, which is a Dunedin beer. I tried a Little Creatures pale ale which was nice. The comedy was hilarious and just what a Monday night calls for. I’m useless at remembering names but Dave, Toby, Xavier and more were there making everyone laugh. Its taken us a very long time to get to this bar but we will probably be going back more often now. They have a roof top bar which will be lovely in these sunnier evenings.

The street I live on has two different suburbs on either end. One suburb is St Kilda (beach, restaurants, shops) and one suburb is Balaclava. Lucy from The Design Files is guest blogging at another design blog this week, and one of her blogs has been on Balaclava.
Go here to see it: Design Sponge Online

Anyway, best carry on.
Xoxo

Go Confidently...

How was your weekend?
Again, ours wasn’t exactly what we had planned but it was still lovely. On Friday night we went out to some new bars etc and had fun, then out to a new café on Saturday morning for breakfast. New to us anyway. Its called Tusk and is on Chapel Street and was delicious. We have to get back to trying out different places again. Its hard when you get favourites! On Sunday we went into the city to do some shopping. Tiring!

We were supposed to go see the Sea Shepherd boat to take some pictures of the inside for my sister but they ended up not coming to Melbourne. That’s a shame because it would have been very interesting.

Do you like the picture above? It’s a print from www.printspace.com.au. Very pretty. I’m a little stuck these days and trying to find my bliss kind of thing, as clichéd as that sounds.
My trying to do a creative thing a day is going well. I’ve been doing some bad bad drawings, but still doing it nonetheless. I’m wanting to buy a proper digital SLR camera. Will buy off ebay probably as I don’t need something too fantastic. Just something to learn on for the moment.

Other than that just pottering along. Knitting again this week (I think) which will be nice. Then I’m having a long weekend. Tuesday is a public holiday (next week) anyway for Melbourne cup so I’m taking the Monday off aswell. Will be nice to have 4 consecutive days off.

What a boring blog post. Tonight I’m composting and will get to see the big pusscat hopefully. Oh and I’m sorry if you’ve noticed that I’ve stopped following you on blogger… I just had to delete all the people I was following as it was messing with my google reader, and I tried bloglines but it doesn’t agree with me either so I’ve spent some time fixing up my reader and culling and such like. Its much more organised now. I promise if I was following you on blogger, I am still following you on reader.

xoxo

Compost Time!

I thought i'd put some pictures up from one of our wee composting trips so you can see what our eco center is like, and also the big white cat...

xoxo

Hello Sunday

Hello Sunday,
I had some small plans to make this weekend a little adventurous and go out and do stuff but instead we've been very lazy indeed.
Yesterday we watched some movies (I love you man, Nick and Norahs infinite playlist, Back to the future) and today we've been out for breakfast and the St Kilda school fete. I got some great childrens books for 50c each, and also the wonderful dvd 'Love me if you dare'. A french movie with Marion Cotillard in it who as we know is gorgeous. I'm going to take it to knitting next week so if anyone wants to borrow it you can. I already own another copy packed away at Mum and Dads house. I was very dissapointed in the school fair not having candy floss. Whats the point of a school fair if not just to eat heaps of candy floss!
I've been trying to do a creative thing each day, and today I have started creating a zine. It is mainly finished i just need to think about it a little bit more as to extra things to change/write differently and if i want little pictures in it. I think at my local library they have a zine club sort of thing where you can photocopy and print for free. Will have to look into that. I don't know if anyone else will like it but it makes me giggle. Will put photos up when its done or will send you one if you want.
Anyway i might have a wee nap now. Joe and I got more dvd's out today... after watching Back to the Future 1 last night (Joe was disgusted that i had never seen it) he has decided that we need to have an 80s time travel marathon with Back to the Future 2 and 3 and Bill and Ted's excellent adventures.
xoxo Love Lizzie

Happy Birthday Harry!

Only a couple of photos, don't worry I won't inundate you with the cuteness that is my 1 year old nephew Harry.
He was sick on his birthday which is sad but it was still a fun day. I took a picture of my nursery rhyme bunting up for you to see, also my 'Happy Birthday Harry' banner which Dad helped me make. I made that out of pages of golden books. It was a cute day indeed.

Curry and Slice for Vegan MOFO

More vegan cooking...

Egplant Curry - from The Moosewood Cookbook
(seves 6-8 - Joe and I halved it and I still had left overs for lunch)

2 to 3 Tbs Dairy Free Margarine and/or peanut oil
1 Tbs Mustard Seeds
2 Tbs Sesame Seeds
2 tsp cumin seeds
1 1/2 cups chopped onion
1 1/2 to 2 tsp salt
2 tsp turmeric
1/4 tsp cayene (possibly more, depending on your tolerance/preference)
2 medium eggplants (7 - 8 inches long; 4 inch diameter at roundest point), cut into 1 inch cubes
water, as needed
2 cups frozen or fresh green peas
optionalL 1 small bunch fresh cilantro, minced

1) Heat butter or oil over medium heat in a very large, deep skillet or dutch oven. Add seeds, and saute until they begin to pop (5 minutes).

2) Add onion, salt, turmeric, and cayenne. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 8 to 10 minues, or until the onion is translucent.

3) Add eggplant and salt. Cook, stirring from the bottom regularly, for 15 to 20 minutes 0 until the eggplant is soft. You might need to add a little water if the mixture is too dry. Cover the pan between stirrings.

4) Add the peas to the mix before serving with just enough time left for them to cook.
Serve curry over rice.

And then something sweet for desert...

Chocolate Rough Slice - from Bake by Allyson Gofton

1 1/4 cups self-raising flour, sifted
1 1/2 cups desiccated coconut
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup finely chopped dark chocolate
1/4 cup cocoa
200 grams dairy free margarine


Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. Grease and line a large 24x30cm slice tin.
In a large bowl, stir together the flour, coconut, sugar, chocolate and cocoa and make a well in the centre. Pour in the melted butter and mix together.
Press into the prepared tin.
Bake in the preheated oven for 15-20 minutes until firm.
Allow to cool in the tin before icing. Cut into slices or squares and store in an airtight container.

Ice with:

1 1/2 cups icing sugar
1tsp dairy free margarine
2-3 TBS soy milk
1-2 TBS cocoa (disolved into the warm milk)
Coconut.

With the icing in the book, it isn't a very good recipe so i just made up the icing and added probably a cup of cocount. I did actually double the icing mixture because i love icing and i wanted it to be quite thick on top of the slice.

Delicious! Mum recently gave me this book so i wanted to start cooking things from it straight away and veganised it to take along to knitting. So good but quite sweet.

xoxo

Happy Birthday Rhian!

I'm sorry this never made it to you. Hopefully it landed in someone elses hands and they love it as much as i know you would.

Enjoy your last 2 weeks in Dunedin!

xoxo

Another Dinner

Lentil Spaghetti Bolognaise

Ok, bad photo... but deliciousness in a bowl otherwise!

Recipe here.

xoxo

Seeing as it is Vegan Month of Food I’ve decided to follow in Sabine’s footsteps and make a post about my dinner tonight because it happened to be vegan.

Red Onion Jam Pasta

Ingredients (for 2 people)
2 Red Onions
Olive Oil
1TBS Brown Sugar
1tsp Balsamic Vinegar
1 Can of Tomatoes
Enough pasta for 2

Method
Cut your onions in half then slice them. Fry these up with olive oil until looking caramelised (25mins ish). Add sugar and balsamic and fry for a bit more (10 mins ish). Add a can of tomatoes and simmer for 30 mins or until yummy and jamish looking.

If using dry pasta, put it into boiling water when your tomatoes have been simmering for about 15-20 mins.

Delicious!

Trip away

This weekend Joe and I caught the train to Bairnsdale, in Gippsland. Upon our arrival we were picked up and taken to the lovely Stringy Bark Cottages where we were staying.

Joe and I tried to spot some Kangaroos but they saw us first. Can you see 2 of them in the picture below? They ran away after I took the picture. We didn't see any others and will just have to try again another day.

We went for a lovely bush walk and only got slightly lost.

Yesterday when waiting for the train in Bairnsdale we went for a walk and saw inside their catholic church. Isn't it fantastic!

Bairnsdale...

So the trip was lovely and the train ride was fun. I'd recommend Stringy Bark Cottages to anyone. Its all off the grid and solar powered. The cottages were so new and clean. Also their dog Pip was pretty cool.
All in all it was a very peaceful relaxing weekend. I only have a few itchy bites. Now starting another week, although its a short one for me because i'm going to Brisbane on Friday to see my wonderful family!

xoxo

Hello,

So i haven't posted anything in quite a while... 2 months exactly.
I think i might start again soon... you will just have to be quite patient with me whilst i figure out what i'm wanting to do.

In the mean time, i'm going to put my to do list up just to get it all out of my head.
(this is for this evening as Joe and I are going on an adventure getaway to the country tomorrow!)

- Take compost to eco center and say hello to big fat cat that lives there too.
- Take some library books back, and dvd's back
- Supermarket shopping for treats!
- Dinner and probably watching gossip girl as i have new/old episodes from Hollie that i'm super excited about.
- Pack! I can test out my new sun hat over the weekend if the weather is nice.

What thrilling reading for you.

xxx