Big Wheel

The other weekend I was in Brisbane with my sister.  We were there for different reasons but made the most of being there together at the same time and went shopping.

I now have a number of new additions, long overdue, to the wardrobe - cue a massive cull and donation to Lifeline.  

While there, and waiting for the LOML to finish up his stint at the casino with his mates, we went to South Bank for dinner.  

Oh how I miss Brisbane.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing and it is only since moving to a much smaller town (I can't kid myself and call it a city no matter the population count at last census) that has no concept of modernity (in the sense of opening beyond 6pm, on Sundays etc) and the wonderfullness that comes from embracing cultural diversity, that I am acutely aware of how much I took for granted when we lived there.

Oh to turn back the clock but retain what I know now - I would be out every night partaking of Turkish and Japanese and Italian and Spanish delicacies around the city....sigh.

But anyway, one day I'll win lotto and then I'll buy an apartment on the riverfront overlooking the bridge (the new years eve fireworks I tells ya!) and I'll live there and live it up.  

In the meantime, I'll make sure I get there a whole lot more often than I currently do.

I've got the bug

To be entirely truthful, I don't think I've ever not had it.  I first got it when I was 19 and it stuck around for a year or so - noticeably out there for all to see.

It then finished up and has since sat under the radar - unnoticeable, silent, patient.  You'd have never been able to tell just by looking at me.  Indeed, some people, now that they know can't believe that they never saw it from the outset.

I can't say I ever tried to hide it.  It just wasn't a big deal for me and wasn't really something the rest of the world needed to know.  Not that it was a secret, but it just wasn't really that important.

Until now.

The itch started a couple of months ago. (bear with me here, it's not as it seems!!)

A little tic, a bigger flicker, eventually an all out rash. 

There was to be no more hiding it.

Would you like to see a picture?

*****

I promise you won't be disgusted....

******

Ta-dah!!!  I've got the bug!!

My new bug - picked up a fortnight ago, found on the side of the highway just waiting to come home with me.  It's currently going through the roadworthy/ registration process but come the end of this week I shall be hooning around town in this little beauty!

1970s model, still in miles-per-hour and with a whole lot of personality!  Cosmetically she (I think it's a she....) is showing her age but nothing a few nips and tucks won't fix.  Mechanically she's 100% - nothing wrong with this old girl!


I am champing at the bit to be registered and on the road....!!!!!!

Back on deck

I've had one of those days that turned into one of those weeks which stretched out into one of those fortnights.

I'm a little done with it to tell you the truth.

But it's all good now.  Or at least better anyway.  Manageable, deal-with-able.

Hopefully it all settles down and life returns to some semblance of normal.  Whatever normal is.  Normal isn't really a word best used to describe my world and our life.  Odd.  Unique.  Left-of-centre.  Rarely normal.

But the times they are a changin' and while the future is looking mighty bright, the right now is still in shadow and the stairs outta here seem really long and steep from where I'm standing right now.  

That'll pass, I know.

Nothing a good cry won't fix in the right-here-and-now.  

There.  I feel better now.

Special Delivery

No, nothing to do with children.  

I made that mistake recently on facebook.  

A rather obscure post about good news and looking forward to the future and all of a sudden it got out of control.  I should have expected it.  "I always knew you'd change your mind!  Congratulations!  You'll be such a great mum!".  Ummmm no.  Big NO.

This special delivery actually was a delivery.  To the post box.  

An exciting delivery.

 A while back now I joined in the great Apron Swap on Down to Earth and I was paired up with the lovely Wendy in England.  We've exchanged emails for the last month or so and then yesterday I got a special parcel in the mail.

Soooo excited!  

I posted my present two weeks ago - Wendy, I hope you got it ?? (and I hope you like it!).

I absolutely love my beautiful new apron and have used it already.  In actual fact, I do believe that once the parcel was opened, it went straight on!!

Hmmmm....so I may have consumed a couple of glasses of wine prior to the taking of this photo....!  At least you can't see the socks and slippers!!!

And I'm planning on baking Wendy's Ginger and Oat biscuits tonight - they sound totally yum!

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Have you ever done a swap before? This was my first and I think I may just be hooked.  The good feeling in my soul that comes from making something with my own two hands for someone else makes me almost burst at the seams.  Add to that getting a little something in return that some other good-hearted soul has made with their own two hands....the icing on the cake!

Pre-dinner munchies

As soon as I walked in the door this evening, I heard the quince cheese I made the other weekend calling me.  I also heard the crackers and the cheese and the pickled onions.

Who am I to resist the pull?  Actually, how am I to resist the pull!  They were calling my name soooo loudly and insistently!

Yes, that is quite a large portion of quince cheese, I know.  But it is so yum it would be sacrilegious to have a slice smaller! 

All that's missing is a glass of wine.

Oh wait, there it is!!!

Happy Saturday evening folks!!

IMBY: Faith, family and food

IMBY: In My BackYard.  Sharing the positive things going on in my neck of the woods (as opposed to NIMBY - Not In My BackYard).

Our local history museum is a popular place to visit.  Showcasing our local history and regularly running workshops on 'old school' arts (ie leather-goods making, woodworking, blacksmithing), it also hosts a lot of different displays relative to the local area.

Last month saw the opening of a new display celebrating the history of Lebanese settlement in Toowoomba.

Most likely considered by capital-city-visitors as quaint and not that impressive, this celebration of one (very small) part of the cultural diversity that exists in this region is none-the-less heartwarming to see and experience.  

This weekend just gone, the LOML and I got a chance to pop down and see it.

The highlight for me, and I'm sure for the LOML, was seeing his father's village listed on the Lebanese map on the wall.  We had the hardest time in the world finding it two years ago when we were in Lebanon searching for his relatives and yet here it is, in nice bold print, for all to see.  I wish we had this map then....

Warmed the cockles of my heart, it did.  And made us both want to hurry up and be back there. :)

Funny cos it's true!

Some days, heck who am I kidding, most days, this is me...!!!

Family Day

Today was a public holiday around these parts and the weather was di-vine!

We chose today to have a family gathering at mum's - once a regular affair, now not so often.  It was great.  Nothing flash, it was none-the-less....familiar, familial....

Mum pulled out all the stops with the roasting of beef, pork and veggies and then topped it all off with a to-die-for apple pie, tiramisu, ice-cream and custard.

After the eating was done and bellies were stretched well beyond their limit, lazing in the sun was the order of the afternoon for those less active amongst us (ie the adults) while the kids ran and jumped and screamed and whooped as a result of sugar overload (courtesy of the fizzy drink that comes out on occasions such as these!).  Good thing the park with it's swings and slippery-dip is two doors down.

Lots of laughs, plenty of re-kindling and reuniting, and not a chance of dinner tonight (still too full!)....let's do it again next weekend!!

In My Kitchen: May 2012

Joining Celia and her 'In My Kitchen' posts - head on over to Fig Jam & Lime Cordial and join the fun...

Yay! I'm on the ball and early this month!!!  Well, okay, early for me that is!  I have of course been talking up my need for time management to post on time and lo and behold I actually delivered!  So without further adieu....

In My Kitchen this month.....

...some freshly made bottles of Worcestershire sauce.  I had a minor dilemma the other week when I realised there were no more bottles in the cupboard - I blame my brother who has developed a taste for it.  I'm sure I caught him plundering my loot a couple of months back - "just looking" he said.  Yeah right!!  I use the CWA recipe.  Those CWA ladies know how to cook.

In My Kitchen...

...some Quince Cheese chilling in the fridge before being sliced and sealed in vacuum bags for future consumption.  My Quince Cheese is quite 'fruity' still cos I like it that way (as opposed to the jelly like versions out there).  Again, CWA recipe.  

In My Kitchen...

...is was a banana and pecan cake/slice thing.  Another CWA recipe (have book open, will bake things!).  I would have taken a photo of the finished product (made with homegrown bananas and pecans) but I devoured it too quickly.  So quickly in fact I didn't get to put the frosting on top.  Not that it needed it but it certainly would have looked prettier!  Thanks CWA yet again!!

In My Kitchen....

....are what remains of the pecans (and some ring-in macadamias) after the banana cake/ slice bake-off.  And the necessary de-shelling implement.  Doesn't everyone have a hammer on their kitchen bench?!?!

In My Kitchen...

....it's celebrating time...

....via one's tipple of choice!  Some great news was received this afternoon via a phone call at 5pm.  Life is on the up people!!  Up, up, up!!!  

And finally, In My Kitchen....

...are a beautiful bunch of flowers from a friend.  A gift for my assistance with her resume and job application letter a couple of weeks ago.  This is them after a week - the blooms are just, well, blooming!  Stunning!

And that's it for my kitchen this month.  Next month I'm hoping to introduce you to my collection of chickens that reside around my kitchen, now that the spider's webs are gone and the walls are clean enough to withstand photographic examination!!!

What's the go in your kitchen this month?