The Outdoor Room

Look what I spied in the shop today.  It's the first issue of Jamie Durie's new magazine The Outdoor Room.  I can't wait to read it cover to cover.  I love his work.  Hopefully it will be full of inspiration and Mr S might do something more with our disgusting back yard which I find rather depressing.  I dont' like spending any time out there and neither does DJ.  He has to be thrown on to the back lawn to do his daily wee.  He then gets right off it.  I think it's saying something when your dog doesn't even want to spend time out there!!



Mr S will be thinking "not another magazine to add to the collection"  I am pretty sure if I didn't buy magazines we could possibly be millionaires by now :-)

DJ would Love these!!

I just found all of these pictures over on The Sweetest Occasion and I just had to share with you, being the dog person that I am and having one of the cutest dogs around, not that I am biased in anyway.  Don't you think DJ would just love these and look so gorgeous in them.

photo's via of RoverDog shop etsy

And the gorgeous DJ in his Christmas outfit.

Jan Powers Manly Markets

As I told you last week we were going to be making a trip on the weekend to the Jan Powers Manly markets.  They don't disappoint.  What a great market.  So much good food, and we all know how I love good food.  We bought some garlic bread that was just divine, it also had cheese and spinach on it, no photo of that.  It got eaten to quickly.

The last time we were there was quite a few months ago.  There was a new stall there since the last time that sold the most amazing looking cakes and slices.  Think it was called Boutique Bites or Gourmet Bites.  Can't really remember.  Anyway we also got some cakes.  Here is a little picture of them.  They were absolutely delicious and we will definitely be getting some more of them next time.

Front, left to right Pistachio and Lime and Butterscotch Butterfly cake

Left to right Lemon coconut slice and Strawberry vanilla bean butterfly cake (my favourite)

And I can't forget the popcorn.  Only the best popcorn ever.  Sweet and Salty at the same time.

Hope you all have a great weekend.  I might just have to make a trip to the New Farm markets to get some more yummy cakes and popcorn!!!


 

Muffins

Banana mapel muffins.  Sound good, don't they?  It's been a long time since I have done any baking.  When my October issue of Good Food arrived they caught my eye instantly. 

gather the ingreditents

And the equipment needed and lets get started.

Must listen to music while baking.  It was the Foo Fighters today.

Eating this while doing this post.  It was yummy!!

Hope you all have a fab week.



T.G.I.F

I love the weekends, mainly because I actually get to spend some time with Mr S.  This weekend not much is planned.  A trip to The Jan Powers Manly Markets on Saturday and that's about it.  What exciting things do you have planned for the weekend?  Whatever you are doing I hope you have fun doing it.

I am going to leave you with some of my favourite quotes I have found while surfing the net.  Sorry if there are no photo credits for some of them, typical me doesn't always note them down.

Via The Love Shop Etsy.

Chicken Lasagne

Made a bit of an experiment the other night for dinner.  A small chicken and pesto lasagne for Mr S and I.  I used to have an actual recipe for this, think it was originally from my sister in law.  I couldn't find it so just thought I would make it up as I went.

Only thing missing from my ingredients in the picture below is the BBQ chicken and some grated cheese.

Below is the bbq chicken mixed with ricotta and the pesto, doesn't look very appetising buy tastes fantastic.

All made up and ready to go into the oven.

Mmmmm delicious finished product

The only thing wrong with it was that it could have done with more of the tomato passata sause in some of the layers.  The lasgne sheets soaked it all up.

It was yummo and so easy to make.

I'm Back!!!! and it's a macaron kind of Monday again.

So sorry for my long absence.  Mr S was on holidays for 3 1/2 weeks so we were pretty busy doing stuff.  Around the house and going out.  Well we spent a week down in Victoria and had a great time.  My legs were killing me when we got back from all the walking.  I was pretty slack photo wise though.  I didn't take one.  So nothing to show you from that trip.

Anyway on the weekend I went to a market in Brisbane called Boutique Markets.  Fairly new market located at Portside Wharf, mainly comprising of things for kids like clothes.  I first went to it a few months ago and seeing as though I don't have kids wasn't really that impressed.  Anyway, they have added quite a few new stalls.  Bit of a gourmet alley.  Now that's my kind of market.  I really only wanted to go because I knew that someone called Authentic French Macarons (facebook page linked) was going to be there and seeing as though I said you can't find a decent macaron in Brisbane thought I better go for a bit of taste test.

Well I wasn't disappointed.  They were delicious.  I also got to meet Rafael, the maker of these delicious morsels.  Now I hope I get all the flavours correct but I am sure Rafael will let me know if I have one wrong.

You can see his contact below on the packet.  Pretty sure at this stage they are only available in Brisbane.

Strawberry below

back row left to right....passion fruit, dark chocolate, mandarin??

front row Pistachio (my personal favourite) vanilla??

Can't wait for the next market so I can buy some more.

I also bought some bread from Harvest Breads.  Organic Sourdough.  I am a sucker for sourdough and it was fantastic.

Hope you all have a fantastic week and it's great to be back.