Australia Day 2012

I hope everyone enjoyed a fantastic Australia Day!  We certainly had lots of fun being invited to Caroline and Vini's beautiful home for a backyard barbeque.  It was a fun mix of Australian and Brazilian style!  I brought along sunflowers and helped tie flag bunting to the fence, another friend made lamingtons, Triple J's Hottest 100 was the soundtrack...

The rain held off for us to enjoy the yard... their garden is so lovely and green at the moment and they have a frangipani... one of my favourite flowering trees!

I think Lola enjoyed lounging in the sun the most... so cute! 

As promised the barbeque was in true Brazilian style... it was delicious!  All that wood coal does something amazing...

To top it all off was this scrumptious chocolate mud cake from Pearl Cafe.  Apparently you can order any of their cakes and they bake it for you fresh... good to know!  It was also very delicious...

Thanks to C+V again for such a fun day!  

Good Friends at The Chelsea

My lovely friend Ruen is in town for one last tour around before he relocates back to Singapore for a while.  We went out to The Chelsea at the Barracks for dinner.  The food was so fresh and flavoursome. It was so great to catch up and laugh about lots of silly things together!  I'm going to miss Ruen a lot...

Celebratory Dinner

Last weekend we invited some friends over for dinner to celebrate the coming holidays, my graduation and birthday.  We agreed that as birthday boy I would choose the menu and be chef du jour for the main course; lamb loin with couscous and capsicum chutney.  Meanwhile Helen prepared the entree and the all important birthday cake.  Earlier in the week Cathryn had directed me to a recipe for Fruit Tingle cake (the Fruit Tingles, otherwise known as Lifesavers, are the round sherbet lollies on the top, recipe from Sydney baking blog Raspberri Cupcakes).  The recipe called for three layers of orange cake with butter cream icing infused with crushed up fruit tingles.  Thankfully Helen was keen to try the recipe so now I have my own one. Yum!  It was a great evening shared with good friends.

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A Beach Cottage

Sunday Breakfast with A+O

A+O invited us to Sunday breakfast at their lovely home yesterday.  You may remember that James contributed to the initial design concept for the house and it really appears like it's all coming together quite well after almost a year.  Their garden is thriving, furnishings are in, everything feels homely and lived in now.  French toast made with the yummiest brioche, homemade ricotta and fresh berries were so delicious...

The table setting on the deck was beautiful in my favourite colour scheme of course... blue and white!  How can you go wrong?  So summery...

O+A recently put their vintage scalloped mirrors up in their entrance way... I love the way it all looks!

I had fun wrapping our Christmas gifts for A+O in this bright turquoise patterned paper... the pattern reminds me of David Hicks wallpaper...  I hope they like what's inside too!  

It was the loveliest start to Sunday and a much needed break from working at the office all weekend to hit today's project deadline.  I felt refreshed and recharged.  Thanks again A+O!

Sea Change

I know it must look like all we've been doing is indulging in long lunches but it is well and truly birthday season... and this one by the sea would be mine!  We have escaped our city apartment for a blue and white beach house and were lucky to have a group of friends join us to celebrate my birthday over the weekend.  The sun decided to stay away but happily so did the rain.  The overcast sky made for chilly weather hence the shawls on the chairs indeed came to good use.  We cheated by indulging in catering and a chef to make things a bit less stressful... except I did bake the pink velvet birthday cake!  It was so wonderful to have shared this weekend with so many beautiful friends... and of course to have shared it with James who made everything even lovelier...

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A Beach Cottage

Garden Party

Last weekend kick-started a number of upcoming celebrations... and what better way to start than with a garden party!  James and I were invited to a birthday lunch last Saturday and the most glorious Brisbane weather made the outdoor setting all the more lovely.  I loved what our friends did with just a few little freshly potted herbs and some brown glass bottles filled with bright blooms. The food was deliciously fresh, there was plenty of wine and bubbly and a most decadent chocolate cake from Jocelyn's Provisions.  Of course it wouldn't be a birthday without plenty of presents to unwrap!  I knew Oi Lai wanted to begin a collection of scallop edged mirrors so I started her off with a couple I managed to track down. I couldn't help also picking up the vintage blue and white lamp base. It came up nicely after a clean and a new shade. Lastly, here is the peacock chair I promised to take a snap of. I think it has definitely found a happy home.

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A Beach Cottage

Tennis & Roses

A lovely friend of mine invited us to catch up with her and her husband over a game of tennis and a glass of Pimm's.  I'm a total novice but we were lucky enough to be able to play at her childhood home's grass court. It rained a little during our game but we managed to avoid getting drenched to finish our doubles game.  Enough said I need a lot more practice!  The beautiful Queenslander style home also has lovely grounds and some beautiful blooms were out in the rose garden.  I couldn't resist taking some snaps of all that colour as well the pretty lavender.

Easter Baking

Good friends of ours moved into their new house over Easter.  James had a hand in the design so we were keen to see the finished result.  Hence we decided to pay a visit with afternoon tea in hand to have a sticky beak and also offer them a brief respite from all the unpacking and cleaning.  I baked a batch of scones followed by a coffee walnut tea cake to take with us.  One of the advantages of having a longer weekend is definitely the chance to do some baking and then to enjoy the resulting goodies with friends...

High Tea with Friends

James and I were delighted to host Angela's birthday high tea on Sunday.  Angela and I have been great friends ever since meeting in the eighth grade of high school and we've been close ever since.  James and I have held a number of afternoon teas over the years but Angela had moved to Melbourne some years back and had missed them.  Hence I wanted to hold a high tea especially for her on a very special birthday and I wanted everything to be perfect!  James transformed our little city balcony into a leafy oasis and I baked up a storm to fill the table with scones with jam and cream, cupcakes, the most enormous birthday cake with chocolate mousse icing and ribbon sandwiches.  Everything was blue and white, the lilies from the markets opened up and Caroline bought along lots of bubbly with delicious hibiscus flowers.  It was great to finally meet all the friends Angela had mentioned over the years and everyone seemed to have enjoyed themselves over the never ending pots of tea.  Happy birthday Angela!

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A Beach Cottage

Cherry Tart & Tea

We caught up with Geneve, Joe and Jack today for afternoon tea and was very lucky to indulge in Geneve's homemade cherry tart.  It looked and tasted amazing and I just had to take a snap of it as it was even lovelier than the photo in the recipe book! For our part we cheated and visited a couple of French patisseries around town to pick up goodies to share...

Brunch for Seven

After catching up with some friends last weekend we decided to continue the trend with brunch at our place this morning.  We enjoyed croissants, homemade blueberry muffins and bircher muesli followed by a cooked breakfast.  It's always fantastic spending time with friends especially when plenty of food is involved.  And of course I couldn't possibly turn down an opportunity for a few rounds of mahjong.

Bicycle Fun

Anton brought around the finished product on Saturday evening which was very exciting for me.  Thank you Anton!  I just had to give it a ride the following day.  It was fun.  I also decided to purchase this cool brass bell from manufactum.com which I look forward to adding.  I figure that it's got old school cool factor to match Grandpa's bicycle.  The next accessories will be front and rear lamps though I really have to start thinking about Helen's bicycle!