Backyard make-over!

The time has come where I finally made-over my yards ready for party-season! With the help of family and friends we were able to transform my dirt-bowl/weeds into this nice little zone....  

Yay! We got good soil delivered (as mine is orange clay) and some mulch and sand. The bricks were donated by Josh's mum who had them left over from when they built their house....over 20 years ago!! She was glad to see them go!

Give the plants a few months of eating super-charged nutrients and they will be huge. As you can see, the fences are still like eye-level so those neighbours be-gone at the back will eventually block out the house. I'm thinking of putting in another fruit tree in to act as a fruit wall along one side. I have a peach tree, dwarf nectarine, lemon, bay tree, a mystery stone-fruit tree which grew from a cast-aside pip thrown into the vegie patch at my old house. Also I have rosemary, mint, parsley x 2, lavender, and in my new vegie patch zone there is zucchini, eggplant, chili, tomato, and strawberries. We'll see how that all goes! I was thinking of taking out the half-dead passionfruit on the pergola post and putting in grapes, how pretty that would be!
Also was thinking of putting lattice on the fence above the vegies so I can grow beans or peas..... MM!

I'm loving the weeping cherry in the middle of the yard, that will look BEAUTIFUL next year all covered in white flowers :D hoorahhh.

All i can say is, wait until you see what I've been up to INSIDE!

Things I've Seen

Saw this on a free food shelf.....inner...cleanser...

Fold Down thing in a bathroom... Ironing board?

Jesus wanted

Domestic Tip #279 - Washing Machine Maintenance

This is my first ‘domestic tip’ (although I felt that #279 was the right number to start at) and the information within is as half-formed and potentially incorrect as most of my other posts. Let me explain the purpose of this. Ok so, In this crazy old life sometimes you need a guiding hand to show you the way on certain issues. I know if i needed to, i could ask my mum, aunty, grandmother or even my dad for some advice on domestic life and I would be handsomely rewarded with some family wisdom, form a closer connection, and indeed carry on their domestic legacy to future generations. Oh how rewarding. I can see it now, us wandering around Bunnings laughing as we accidentally go down the same aisle twice, then partaking in a $2 sausage in bread with onions all before sharing some car-park rage while navigating our way out.

Since I am a child of the internet, by google-searching things like “How to clean a washing machine” or “DIY paving”, it’s almost like I am performing this family activity anyway... because Internet is my parents, siblings and friends, and I never need anything more. So, in an attempt to rekindle the olde worlde charme of sharing information, even though it’s a case of the blind leading the blind, I’m offering my knowledge to you. Again, I really don’t know what I’m doing when it comes to cleaning and washing clothes... but I try to feel my way.

Right now I am listening to my washing machine clean itself. You read that correctly. I never thought such a concept existed, but indeed a washing machine, used to wash clothes, needs washing. It’s one of those surprising things you learn once you move out, that you actually have to look after your things and administer maintenance. You, like myself, may have thought that a washing machine was so clean that it was almost a sterile environment, and if you ever needed to have an emergency birth in the house, that’d be the place to squat. You couldn’t be more wrong. There exists a build up of gunk and detergent and whatever else out of sight in the barrel which needs to be removed somehow.

Papa Google told me that a shit-load of Vinegar into a hot wash would work – no clothes. So here I sit, wondering if the problem has gone away yet, and also slightly afeared at what I will be surprised by next. Maybe “Oh yeah, didn’t you know you’re supposed to use strawberry topping on a Q-tip under the lip of the toilet every fortnight otherwise your house floods?!” or “Holy crap, what do you mean you have never vacuumed the inside of your roof!? Fire hazard!”

I hate those things, being a kid was so simple – everything was magically done and you didn’t consider the time or monetary costs of things, nor did you constantly feel guilty for doing NOTHING and try to think of more constructive things to do with your time. You could spend a whole week in PJ’s or play video games for a marathon 8 hours or so, and nobody said a thing. It was like you could do what you want, when you want and just do the things that made you happy, without being questioned or expected to behave in a certain way. Seriously, is this behaviour still allowed in Adults? Maybe I should hire a cleaner, gardener, personal shopper, scribe, and bedside nurse to assist me with showering and toilet functions so I can spend more time effin’ and jeffin’. Hmmm...

B-B-B-Birthday!!

When it comes to Birthdays, I really like to drag them out. Dinners, Lunches, Catch-ups, Holidays - anything that can be connected with celebrating my Birth - I will do. This year was no exception, and it all kicked off with a little quiet weekend away to Bendigo with Josh.

We made no delay in hurrying to Bendigo town to see if the 'Po Boyz' store was still open. We got lunch fron there years ago - maybe 4 or 5 years ago- and it was the first time I had heard of Po' Boys. I got quite the education on New Orleans cuisine and history when I googled it ;) Good stuff. Luckily the store was still there so we indulged in a little late-morning chicken sub!

Nothing fancy, but oh-so-yummy! It's all in the bread I think. We didn't really get up to much during our time there, just relaxed and ate. We ate some sandwiches by the lake too, and attracted quite the array of bird-life :) We also played 20 questions trying to guess animals, plants and minerals, and Josh threw me into a spin when he chose 'Dragon'. It took me almost all 20 questions...

On my actual Birthday, Josh and I went to the nearby Shadowfax winery in Werribee South for the first time! It was so nice, we had a tasting plate followed by Carpaccio and Squid....

They also had a woodfired pizza oven on the grounds - maybe next time ;) On the night of my Birthday, I had a nice catch up with family at my dad's place. Here are a few cute things I got - selected from the big range of lovely presents..

Yes, that's right - a Sheesha! It has been very fun, let me tell you!! I also caught up with some friends at Red Bennies on Chapel Street and had cocktails, saw some amazing circus shows and dances to swing music until 3am! It was so good!!! Here is a picture of the rope lady:

So strong and talented, she was!! Well I can see that I am very very behind on my posts, but the good news  is that I intend to update more regularly. Peace Y'all - happy Birthday to everyone for this year 2011!!

Heeeeere's Jadey!

What a crazy world we live in! Days turn into weeks which turn into many irrate blog followers! My apologies, dear friends! I got a little carried away it would seem :) So in the last few weeks life has been fast paced to say the least! Changes at work, Skype dates, pay rises, reviews written, tax returns, books read, movies watched, birthdays celebrated etc etc! Firstly, here is a quick update of a bunch of things I cooked in the last few weeks! 

Pear and Strawberry Tarte Tatin





I'm getting lazy with my photography hahaha





Roast Garlic creamy Orriechetti (with chorizo, roast tomatoes etc etc...) *Inspired by Nigel Slater* 

And I also made Caramel Popcorn balls which I didn't manage to photgraph. So I think that this almost took me to 52 recipes - which you may recall was the target for my bucket list. Speaking of my bucket list, you may recall that my Birthday (June 30) was the cut-off to complete my list. Well June 30 has come and gone my friends and, as I anticipated, I didn't finish my list :P Here it was....

At first I was really disheartened that I couldn't finish it because the list was about bringing a sense of progression and accomplishment in day-to-day life. By not succeeding I felt I'd let myself and others down, but upon reflection I feel that I kicked ass in so many other areas of my life at the same time as working on the list and was happy with that. 'Change is the only constant in life' as they say, and lots of things changed in my life in this past year which meant my focus shifted and I invested more time and energy into those other areas.

So I have been reading lots of cool books, watching some cool stuff and finding some new potential obsessions! I have been writing lots and still doing reviews on Milk Bar Mag, and I have been learning and growing as a person too... I suppose that's no small feat. I have been taking on more stuff at work, and learning lots of new things too. I feel good about life these days, and it's all you can really hope for - a positive outlook and happiness :)

This is why I have decided to start a new list - one that I will not number and tick. One that I will not post here like the last one, one that involves doing nice things for other people rather than for myself. Seeing as my birthday/financial year both fall on the same day, it is like the change of years for me - and my new year list is already in action! I'll share some of the things i do on my list, but from now on I'll just be posting about random crap I see/do/think like in the old days! 

I will post soon about my funtastic Birthday, and some other adventures I have been getting up to lately! Stay Tuned <3

Car Affair

G'day g'day mates! Sorry, I'm a little brainwashed at the moment - I worked at a country car show on Sunday handing out showbags and have got this Aussie bogan twang going on. It was a fun day, I was representing "Just Cars" magazine, so got to drive their company v8 ute 2 hours out of Melbourne to Alexandra: 

It was fun! I don't get WHY this car is amazing, but a lot of people there seemed to think it was! The day was called the "Alexandra Truck, Ute and Hot Rod" show, or something very much along those lines. My job was to hand out free magazines to willing passers-by. Easssy! I saw a few other promo girls floating around... in heels and with make-up plastered on their slutty bitch faces. I was more the honest down-to-Earth promo girl you may not see around much. They say sex sells, and on Sunday I was pretty far off the mark. Let me tell you why. At 1am on Sunday morning I thought I'd better hit the hay, and set my alarm for 5.30am so I could do my vintage hair and makeup. Unfortunately I set me alarm (yes ME alarm - i'm a bogan now remember) for mid-week and the alarm didn't go off. At 6.22am I woke with a fright looking for me phone and a time. When I realised what the time WAS, and that I was meant to be in Fitzroy in 8 minutes time... I cussed the house down and sprang around the room gathering belongings and looking for directions.

I left in a hurry, without doing me hair or make-up, not to mention not eating, showering, peeing or even brushing me teeth (or, chompers). Just literally up and out. I was a few minutes late (heh) and barely found the warehouse in the thick fog that blanketed Melbourne that day. Callum (the dude I was to be promo-ing with) said we had HEAPS of time and I could use the toilet before we left. Woo! We both hadn't eaten so we spent a portion of the 2 hour drive discussing breakfast plans, after we actually introduced ourselves of course!

So it was 2 degrees up there, and I was in the toilets applying makeup and doing my hair as the people started arriving. I treated myself to a hot coffee and foccaccia while Callum started packing showbags. After I'd handed out all 1,000 or however many, I took the liberty of wandering around and taking photos of some cool... or not so... things i saw!

Prepare yourself for this next one... this is a chick's car...

Instant Pig... Just add Rum. Wow.

I don't know if you can see that, but her hat has a tag saying "Fuck off we're full". Um... ok.... :S

This one was more about the dudes sinking piss at midday

What a day! I had lots of fun! There was some PRIME people watching to be had, and I accidentally made fun of mullets and rat-tails when Callum told me he used to have one... when he was 10. Oops! Good thing he was a good sport about it. Hahaha. Next time, if they want me, I'll be dressing up a little for sure! Imagine how many mags we could have pumped out if I had woken up on time!

Vintage Kitchen and Dish 45!

That is my new butter dish - awesome, is it not? I bought it in Sassafras, up in the hills, on a rainy old Mothers Day only 1 month ago. The town of Sassafras has many hidden gems, one of which I stumbled across on my Mothers Day visit. It's called "Soak Bathecary" and is the nicest body shop I've ever seen! I'll take pictures next time I'm there, I promise! I bought a lovely perfume, which sadly 1 week later emptied into my handbag. I can still smell it on EVERYTHING. Anyway this new butter dish prompted me to model my 3 vintage aprons. I'm aware that putting a grey filter on pictures of old things is lame, but I couldn't help it.

My floral apron in Green, Yellow, Orange and White. (or in your case, grey, grey, grey and white)

Hand embroidered purple and white checked Swan apron!

Blue, Red and White spotty apron!

Funnily enough, I never wear an apron while cooking. My clothes are my apron and I always get messy! Speaking of which... I made lamb koftas the other night! Dish 45 of 52. Gotta pick up the pace!

They were verrrry good! I ate one, before freezing the rest for a future dinner :) Crunchy on the outside, soft and spicy on the inside! I even used Mint from my garden, how good! So yes, it has come to my attention that I only have a few weeks until my brithday, and the time limit for my bucket list. I have a few little tricks up my sleeve and there are even things I have failed to write about or am deliberating ticking off. I think I've done pretty well. One thing's for sure, next time I will not be so damn vague with my list items :D

Spoiled Rotten!

Word recognition fail! I typed 'spoilt'... then changed to 'spoiled', now I don't even believe it's a word anymore. The point is that lately I have been spoiled in the food region! In the last few weeks, I have been invited for dinner 3 times :) Let's kick off with Josh's amazing parmesan and herb-crusted rack of lamb <3  

Served atop a bed of buttery mash, some roasted cherry tomatoes, garlic, and asparagus! My god it was brilliant! He followed that stellar effort up a few days later by making Paella!!

It was also amazing! He didn't use seafood, but that's ok cos my favourite bit is the chorizo anyway :D Also I was taking leftovers to work the following day for lunch and i didnt want stinky prawns in the microwave!

If that wasn't good enough, my dad invited me over for some home-cooked Lasagna a la Zack! I love trying people's lasagna because you never get 2 lasagnas the same! They are always so individual and ALWAYS delicious. You can't really fuck up a lasagna, can you? Anyway, here are some pics of the yummy dinner they put on for me:

Greeted with beer, nice touch :)

Bubbly lasagna top with basil leaf detail, another nice touch! 

Zack dishing up his creation

My first ever Golden Syrup Dumplings!

YUM!

The dumplings are kind of like donuts, cooked in a combination of Golden Syrup and sugar. We all felt a bit ill after eating them, that's fo sho! Needless to say, I was so full and satisfied after each dinner. There's always something special about being cooked for, i love it :)