Fig Bruschetta

Whilst at my brother's house the other day, I was voicing my dreams of book writing and recipes and all things yummy... We were browsing through this one recipe book and happened upon something called Fig Bruschetta. We had spend part of that morning picking figs off a tree in his backyard.

Figs are one of my favorite fruits and I am always exploring new ways to serve them!

With a few ingredients filed in my memory, & a bag of my brother's figs, I ducked to the grocery store for some...

INGREDIENTS

Bread, Mascapone & Cream     (to combine with what I had)
Honey, Icing sugar & Figs

So for breakfast this morning I was treated to Fig Bruschetta 

SO THIS IS HOW ITS DONE

Toast bread, cook figs in honey, whip cream adding mascapone and icing sugar, serve (too easy really)

Beautiful Books

How exciting are beautiful books!!
Today my wonderful brother had a day off work and so we set off this morning down the street to do a few odd jobs down town. He pretty much lives down town... the best location in my opinion...
So off we tot round the corner, looking at boots, new phones, trip to the bank etc etc
Lastly we happened to wander past a bookstore, Tom was after a particular author, so once sent to the right shelf he was content and I was left to peruse through the rest of the store, I soon found 'my section' and immediately fell in love with two lovely books....
I felt so inspired, I so want to collect beautiful books and have a small library and just be able to immerse myself in a book every now and then...
So here is what I purchased

I was so excited to read them that I started today, such lovely things to ponder...

Evening in the Country

This week, I am able to spend a few days visiting my Mum and Dad back on the farm. One thing I absolutely love to do after a hard days work or just a busy day is to play a spot of badminton!
Summer is the most beautiful time for this and especially this season as we have had much rain making the lawn so luscious, thick and green. It's so wonderful to take your hot boots off and feel the soft grass under your feet with a slight breeze blowing through the yard.
My sister Sophie and I love to spend our summer evenings like this, so relaxing and rewarding after a long day. Last night we played three games, She won one and it was my lucky day winning two.
As the sun sets in the country it makes the most beautiful colours, reds, pinks, oranges, yellows, so amazing! I love being on the side that gets the sunset background...
Sophie made a permanent net out of chicken wire with bailing twine twisted round the top and bottom to hold it firm tying it to two poles in the ground.
Scoring and Rules of Badminton

Little Gertie Lu wanted to play too

Swimming in the Ocean

So this week I had decided that I was going to start to do more swimming.
This new theory was probably encouraged by the massively hot week that we had. I couldn't stand the thought of getting sunburnt and so swimming in the middle of the day was out. But because it is still hot at like 8.30-9pm I decided that this should be my new swimming time, I can then go to bed after a nice cool down.
When at my parents house the only way to cool off in water would be to tot off down to the creek, not nearly as nice as the ocean... you avoid mud, leeches, algae, sharp rocks.... etc its just not that great, but water is water...
I have thoroughly enjoyed hopping into my cozzies and  slipping into the cool lap pool down at the ocean baths of an evening.
I love the feel of using your muscles in water, its amazing and so relaxing. As I swim backstroke or float in the salt water I can look up at God's wonderful creation the stars... and dream... there are so so so so many
How good does the salt water feel, I feel like it is cleansing my skin from head to toe, so rejuvenating
Most nights this week I have found myself down at the ocean baths cooling down right to the core! Such a wonderful feeling and so refreshing!

http://sallydexter.com/home/tag/newcastle-ocean-baths/

http://www.visitnewcastle.com.au/accom_result1.asp?Code=22109

http://www.redbubble.com/people/florentinepogen/art/1667603-2-newcastle-ocean-baths

The Cupcake Stand

I have always wanted a cupcake stand.... However, I wanted something different and also something more versatile than the ones with the hole for the cupcake... So I started sketching and thinking about what I really wanted. I am studying a Bachelor of Design and Technology/Bachelor of Education and I needed a project to make in Industrial Technology, so the cupcake stand seemed perfect...

 The cupcake stand turned out just how I wanted. I also made a cupcake shape chocolate mold using a vacuum former. This stand is able to hold many different cakes and biscuits as its not only designed for cupcakes.

Homemade Everything

When I grew up my mother would cook absolutely everything! Oven baked bread and buns, slices, cakes, dinner, dessert, all in a fuel stove!
These days sadly it is cheaper, quicker and easier to just duck down to the shops and grab a loaf of bread, a bought cake etc. But I feel something is lost... The Love in Cooking!!
There is something so special and delicious about fresh banana bread straight out of the oven cooked by my little sister! Or a fresh loaf of bread with crispy edges that the butter melts into.
So I have decided to try my hand at perfecting pasta making!
Pasta made with LOVE
Here is the recipe I tried...
http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/fresh-semolina-and-egg-pasta/Detail.aspx

I was so happy with the results as you can see from the pics below.

 

I hope you feel inspired to have a go at making your own pasta, it really isn't as hard as it seems and the results are amazing!! Maybe even for a special occasion...

The Start

So this is the start of my new blog...
I have been contemplating starting a blog for a few weeks now to enable me to share some of the creative things that I do in life. I guess you could call it my creative journal. I like to be creative and write and I feel that this blog will be good to share my designs and ideas on. I am hoping that in amongst a busy life I will be able to find time to upload exciting things and keep my imagination live and active!
Two years ago I moved from the country to the city or the coast and so I feel greatly inspired by what both these different lifestyles have to bring and their influence on a person's life.
I hope you feel inspired by something of mine and I look forward to seeing some of your great ideas too.