Hello?

We have a new phone. It works. I love the sound of the BRRING BRRING. And that you have to wait for the dial to return before dialing the next number. You have to wait. It's refreshing. Simple. Slow. And so very nostalgic.
The children are intrigued, looking in vain for the speaker button, the LCD screen and the speed dial. It has no batteries, no recharging dock and less cables than a modern "cordless." Like I said, simple. It was $2. We like that too.

Yep, we're heading back to the 20th century. Are you? Next up, a turntable I think, or maybe a betamax player.

Goodbye.

right now...

...the days are so busy.

...we're finally getting into the rhythm of school life.

...it seems we're spending more time than I would like in the car.

... I'm working towards more Steady Days. A good book.

...from our garden, we picked our first apple, a Cox's Golden Pippin.

...we're eating loads of tomatoes, zucchini, corn, cucumber. Here is one day's harvest.

... the garden is full of sunflowers. I planted so many. I took this photo standing at the base looking up. It must over two metres tall. Next year I will plant so many more. A field of sunflowers would be so amazing. And now I have lots of seeds.

... the days are busy and getting shorter. And right now we're enjoying the last days of summer...in the car, with the top down.

Love stuff

Saturday's Odd + Even Market was such a delight. I loved it. The venue, the stalls, the craft workshops, the music, everything. Hats off to Jess and Cat for organizing such a great day.

I had a crochet lesson with the lovely and v.e.r.y. patient Bec. Not sure I'm totally in touch with my inner granny. Ack. See exhibit A in the picture above. Bec's is the perfect grey heart and my attempt to make one is the lumpy pink knot. She made the box too. Clever. And there's some cute mini bunting from Catherine. Love it too. (However, I. can. not. get. this. picture. to turn around and do not love that.)

I also picked up this adorable skirt from Lauren at Owlet. Which Elsa loves. I loved meeting Lauren, and that our truffles made her husband a bit teary! And I also loved catching up with other bloggy friends. Like the super nice Hazel, who delivered two these gorgeous Tasmanian botanical flips. I really love that.

Sadly, the truffles all sold. None left for me to eat. And fruity cupcakes like the vanilla with a lemony gooseberry filling and the strawberry filled one with white chocolate buttercream all sold out too. All in all, another cracking day at the market. You absolutely extremely gotta love that.

This little piggy went to market...

Looking for truffles in the open ground is traditionally carried out by specially trained pigs. That is, the highly prized truffles of the fungi kind. However, a bit of experimenting in the kitchen today led us to produce a special truffle of the chocolate kind, for tomorrow's Odd + Even Market.

Made from super foods like raw cacao butter, raw cacao powder, cashews and raw agave syrup, these sweeties are gluten free, sugar free and vegan. Which means you can eat more of them. Hurrah! We've rolled them in either hazelnuts, cacao or dried strawberries. So not only are these super tasty, they are super healthy.

To be honest, I'd be happy not to sell too many of these tomorrow, as I quite fancy eating any that are left myself during the week. Oink oink!

Cake anyone?

Yes please! I'll put the kettle on.

It's cupcake time again. Last weekend we started the first of our now monthly (yay!) stall at the market hobart. This Saturday we're very excited to be at an ace new (for me) market called Odd + Even. It sounds gorgeous, especially the lounge area with craft and drawing demonstrations and workshops.

There is an incredible amount of talented designers and makers in Tasmania and it's wonderful to see a thriving independent market community developing.

These are some of the cakes we baked last weekend, our regular rich chocolate hazelnut with chocolate ganache, and a berry jam swirl cupcake, with white chocolate buttercream. We dried some strawberries and ground them in a spice grinder to sprinkle on top with a blueberry. We will have these again on Saturday.

I'm about to start a new blog that will be all about cake. It will have all the details on markets and what we're baking for each market. I'll let you know when we go live. Hopefully soon.

My DSLR has been posted off to the mainland for some work, and these have shots have been taken with my iphone. Not bad quality really, but looking forward to my Canon back so I can take some better shots. Soon I hope.

Tea's ready, shall I pour?

Last day...

...of the summer holidays today. Oh, how I've loved these holidays and I'm really going to miss them. Especially the lazy starts to the day. Staying in our pyjamas til noon before heading to the beach. Buying up apricots, cherries and blueberries from roadside stalls along the way. Making delicious fruit smoothies (with illicit greens) when we return. Gardening and craft in the afternoon and staying up way too late.

The veggie garden is insane at the the moment. Almost more zucchinis, cucumbers, lettuce and tomatoes than we can eat. We marvel at the corn and beans that seem to grow by the minute and at the towering sunflowers scattered through the garden. The blackberries have started to ripen and strawberries just keep on coming.

Tomorrow, Elsa is back at school and Hugo starts pre kinder. One day a week. I don't think I'm ready. Oh boy...

It's been a magic summer, not without its low points, but right now, I'm feeling happy remembering these perfect summer moments. On the last day, still in my pyjamas.

Bittersweet

Just back from Sydney. Went to a funeral. Caught up with old friends, old house mates, old lovers, old colleagues and old bosses. Cried. Laughed. Hugged. Listened to beautiful, heartfelt words. Bittersweet that it takes a funeral to get so many old friends together, but get together we did. In the hundreds. To say goodbye.

A very short trip to Sydney, sans enfants. but we did get to have brunch at bills. Ricotta pancakes. That was sweet.