Desert Rose in Bloom

Our Desert Rose is currently in full bloom.  Apparently our plant is doing particularly well.  After seeing ours my Dad said that he will move his plant to a similar spot to see if it decides to flower as well.  Perhaps even after years of city living, Helen has a green thumb.  Perhaps I do too!  Pretty.

Chinese Garden Stool

I finally managed to find a vintage Chinese garden stool to my liking just before Christmas.  With the help of Ruen the stool managed to arrive safely from Sydney.  I know it has been very du jour to have these stools in interiors and there are all sorts of colours and styles now available for exorbitant prices in all the designer-y interiors stores.  However, I remember them growing up in their traditional garden setting usually consisting of four to six stools in blue and white or a famille rose pattern around a matching ceramic garden table.  Call me conservative or maybe just nostalgic but I much prefer the garden stools in the styles I remember rather than these modern styles in metallics etc. The last image is one I found at an antiques auction listing site.  I do admit I like the modern Vietnamese Craft Link version second from the top.  Tammy's family in Malaysia has a beautiful setting in their garden.  I wish I had photographed it when I was visiting, must remember next time!

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Jos Kivits Still Life

I only recently discovered the work of Dutch artist Jos Kivits and immediately fell in love with his still life paintings.  Kivits uses the painstaking techniques of the Dutch Old Masters to beautiful effect.  The colour, composition and detail are amazing and I love the juxtaposition of Eastern style ceramics with more Western objects like leadlight and stemware.  Now, if only I had a spare $10,000 to splash out on a piece!  

Snapper Dinner

Dinner tonight was baked snapper and potato salad with green olive dressing.  I made these dishes similar to those we served for dinner at our New Year's Eve party.  Bruschetta and sauteed lemon garlic tiger prawns were starters on the night.  Pesto penne salad as well as a green bean and broccoli salad with sesame dressing also accompanied.  Caroline brought fresh mango trifle and Vanessa brought caramel baked cheesecake for dessert.  It was definitely an indulgent evening of food and of course lots of bubbly!

Afternoon Tea at Versace

This morning we decided to meet with Ruen, Michael and Kevin for afternoon tea at Palazzo Versace on the Gold Coast.  Still recovering from hosting our New Year's Eve party we decided it was a good idea to get away for the day.  It was also a good opportunity to catchup again before they return home to Sydney.  The consensus was that the ostentatious furnishings work well in context with the hotel.  One would need to think twice before attempting the look at home.  We also managed a successful shopping stint at the newly refurbished Marina Mirage.

Image source from top:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/teohyc/2036096415/in/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/teohyc/2036889842/in/photostream/

New Music

Helen's sister Karin gave us an album each for Christmas, Two Suns by Bat for Lashes and Veckatimest by Grizzly Bear.  We have been listening to them in the car over the past few days.  Helen says some of the vocals on Two Suns is reminiscent of Bjork.  Both albums have a drifting '80s feel layered with more edgy beats.  Thank you Karin!

Views to the Glasshouse Mountains

Helen and I stumbled across these photos the other day.  Helen took them near Mt Mee to the north west of Brisbane in April of 2008. We wanted to spend a few days away in the mountains before New Year but didn't quite get there.  Anyway, the weather lately has been overcast with patchy rain so maybe it's not so bad to be at home with all the creature comforts.  Not to worry, a weekend away is coming in February.

Holiday Breakfast

This morning's breakfast; blackberry cinnamon pancakes accompanied by a glass of sparkling wine.  How indulgent!

Christmas with the Ma Family

On Christmas day James and I made our way over to my Uncle Ken and Aunty Maggie's home for a big family gathering on my Dad's side.  My Dad is the eldest of five brothers and two sisters.  All his siblings are married with children, hence it was a rowdy bunch with all my cousins there too.  We played many hours of Mahjong with my Dad at which he won us for the majority of the time, much to our dismay.  In true Chinese fashion my Uncle Sam managed to set up a makeshift wok in the middle of this suburban kitchen to cook up the copious amounts of food for a big Chinese dinner.  Seafood being the star attraction of course!  Photos taken by my brother Bruce.

Noodle Time

We are big fans of Japanese cuisine and it is very much a part of our everyday living.  Helen is a noodle girl, she likes noodles of all kinds.  I particularly like Japanese noodles and being on a brief holiday means more of it!  For lunch yesterday we made our version of soba noodles, drizzled with soy sauce, sesame oil, chilli oil, (ponzu sauce if you like) and mixed with spring onion and sesame seeds.  Today Helen made udon noodles with miso soup and wakame.  Simple yet tasty!

Ginger Jars

As posted earlier I found these vintage ginger jars as I was wondering through some of Brisbane's antique centres.  I decided to display a festive arrangement of red and white blooms with lots of green foliage in the large jar.  It reminds me of my favourite opening sequence in Picnic at Hanging Rock in which the girls at Appleyard College are waking up on the ill-fated St Valentine's Day.  There is a large blue and white ginger jar on the mantlepiece in Miranda's bedroom with an arrangement of red carnations.  Very romantic and lovely.

Christmastime

Christmas presents all wrapped up.  We opened our gifts just before midnight on Christmas Eve due to a busy couple of days ahead, catching up with family. Stitch was in the giant bonbon, that way Helen couldn't guess what it was.  Helen loves this little evil koala/alien.  I am very excited about my new book; the complete works of Santiago Calatrava.  A master of form.

New Cushions

During all the Christmas shopping I picked up a couple of new cushions from Bayswiss.  They're not quite Missoni but I think they complement the existing ones quite well.  The pattern and colour are what I like best about them. The top one is a little ikat inspired without being overly so. 

Vintage Wanderings

Well it's certainly going to be a busy day ahead with the last of the gift shopping to be done and Christmas cupcakes to make.  I did manage to go for a wander through some of my favourite vintage stores and antique centres earlier in the week on my hunt for vintage Chinese bamboo birdcages.  Not much luck on that front but I did want to post up a few of the great little things I came across on my wanderings.  The set of Foo dogs are fantastic and of course very du jour!  I love the colourful yellow vase with the blue and white ginger jar pattern too.  I couldn't leave without the pretty matching blue and white ginger jars.  It's difficult to see in the photo but they have a subtle gold trim on them.  I'm looking forwards to using them as vases and putting lots of lovely fresh flowers in them.  Happy holidays!

Splash of Red

We visited our friends Caroline and Vinnie in their beautiful new New Farm home earlier this week. Caroline has chosen red as the colour du jour for their kitchen with lots of cute red kitchen items sprinkled throughout. It reminded me to post up these lovely chairs I came across recently from the Stuart Membery Home collection. A splash of red is so uplifting!

Reindeer Cards

We mailed Christmas cards out to our friends earlier last week and I wanted to post up the fun cards I found at new stationery and homewares store Typo.  I love the fun graphics and cute envelopes as well as the store's packaging. I thought they were festive without being overly tinsel and baubles!

Pagoda Birdcage

On the hunt for Chinese bamboo birdcages. These ones would be perfect. They are styled to be reminiscent of a Chinese pagoda and in my favourite colour too! Unfortunately so far I've only seen them available imported from Vietnam. The hunt goes on...

Festive & Fun

These Christmas wreaths consisting of salvaged sheet music, gift wrap etc are so clever and beautifully handmade.  They have been selling on Etsy for a while now and I continue to find them very appealing. I think it's the great mix of vibrant colour, pattern, text and graphic motifs that make them so much fun.

New Year's Eve Invitation

Today we prepared an invite for our friends to welcome in 2010.  Helen is always keen on all things birdy.

Original background graphic:

http://www.designwall.nl/files/images/Birds700x275_01_2.jpg

Birthday Cupcakes

It's James' birthday today! I made a batch of chocolate birthday cupcakes to celebrate. The Crabapple Bakery recipe is almost fail-safe. It's also the first batch of cupcakes I've made in our new apartment. There was an extra dome-top one which James polished off for breakfast. We were very happy to be able to indulge in a late afternoon tea shortly followed by dinner with James' family.

Purple by the Terrace

Speaking of bold colour... I am still trying to find out what the name of this plant is.  I'll bet my Dad knows.  Anyway, I took this photograph a few years back while living in Herston.  The shrub was located by the terrace off my living room and had always thrived.  Bright and bold.

Update: thanks to Dad we now know that this plant is called Geisha Girl.  He happens to have one in his backyard.

Luis in Colour

This week I was exposed to the work of Mexican architect Luis Barragan. These images will provide inspiration for elements of a house I am currently working on with Melbourne based architect Andrew Kings.  An unflinching use of bold colour on strong, minimalist forms.  Fantastic!!!

Image source from top: 
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Casa_Liraldi_Luis_Barragán.JPG
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Casa_Gilardi.jpg
http://www.freewebs.com/nicolefroehlich/iconografie.htm
http://architecture.about.com/od/20thcenturytrends/ig/Modern-Architecture/Minimalism.htm

Airport Sunrise

Back to Melbourne this week.  Watching the summer sun rise over the tarmac was a pleasant way to start the day.

Wallpaper Update

At long last we had the O+L Grove Garden wallpaper installed. Luckily we managed to get it all up before Christmas as the installer said we had one of the last spots on their busy schedule of installs. We are still adjusting to the bold colour and pattern. I really like it with the sheet set I bought years ago from the Oxfam store.

Pretty Peonies

Afternoon tea with Anton and Oi Lai yesterday and brunch with Anca and Michael today, lots of mahjong in between. Picked up these beautiful peonies yesterday to brighten up our apartment. Peonies must be one of my favourite flowers with their large fluffy blooms and uplifting colour. They were the flowers of choice on the cover of the recently published tome from Saskia Havekes of Grandiflora fame. That book is definitely on my must purchase list.

Water Lily

Last month I posted about displaying plants in urns. This beautiful photo was sent to me from Oi Lai of her parents garden in Malaysia. I love the water lily in this photo and the lushness of the garden behind. So green and tropical! If only we could replicate it on our balcony.

Chinese Congee

Nothing beats the blues like a big bowl of homemade congee. This savory rice porridge is cooked on low heat for hours to give it just the right consistency. I remember eating the congee Mum made for us when we were little and I've loved this Chinese dish ever since. I like to fill the bottom of a big bowl with lots of thinly sliced iceberg lettuce, followed by big ladles of congee with shreds of dried scallop. I then top with condiments like sliced shiitake mushrooms, century egg, spring onions, preserved Chinese radish and finally drizzle with soy sauce and sesame oil. With all the ingredients mixed through this makes for a very satisfying meal. Chinese style comfort food!