Listening to music, and you can't go past Eva....

At times I upload music,

 and every so often,

( like now),

 I want to listen to  a reminder,

 as a way of marking what's happened,

 or how thing are progressing.

(code for have a huge cry... but that's life.)

I used to not like this song..... 

but I now feel diferently about a lot of things, particularly death.

(in a good way)

If you have any trouble, left click and select 'watch on you tube'.....

Three Ideas With Pear, Proschuitio, and Blue Costello...

These would all make ideal starters, or finishers, if you know what I mean.

This is Pear and Cranberry dice,
with crunchy Proschuitio and Blue Costello,
on a garlic rubbed oven toasted pitta square.
So yummy, the pear and cranberry is not too sweet, and just a nice crunch from the base.

This is Pear and Blue Costello, wrapped with Proschuitio,
on a red wine and lemon reduction.
This one is really delicious,
 the cinnamon in the sauce gives a warm sweetness, and everything is soft and creamy.

Last is a wholemeal baton wrapped with Proschuitio,
 with Pear, and Blue Costello.
With the salad it's a bit more substantial than the other two.




These were all delicious, and don't involve much cooking at all...
I think my favourite is the middle one.

Trying to get things together for the big trip.

Today I had the challenge of buying comfortable, casual shoes for the big trip away.
When faced with the decision, and taking into consideration the fact that I hate runners, I've gone with the little cut away black and white Converse.

And yes dear reader, I plan to do a lot of walking around the South of France.
Just bought this lovely map, and one of Italy too,
as well as a couple of phrase books.

We're getting excited.

A Bit More From The Kitchen....

T bone steak, once in a while you can afford it,

Salad greens.

Fry the steak with garlic

A dressing of dijon mustard, basalmic vinegar, salt and pepper, and a squeese of lemon.

Fry the onion rings.

Some swiss brown mushrooms.

And that's dinner taken care of.

Always a good idea to let the light shine...

Someone said something like,
"at midnight when the night is at it's darkest, the light of a single candle begs to differ"

Enjoy the ambiance, I know I am.

It's not actually all the candles I've got,
 but it makes an impressive display on the dining room table.

My Idea Of What To Do With Black Rice....

The other day I was in Dandenong, and called into an Indian Grocers.
I bought a few things one of which was a packet of Black rice.

For lunch today I decided to make....

Chicken and Black Rice Soup, over Wilted Rocket.

Apparently its a type of rice that still has the husk, it's popular in Thailand.
The colour that it imparts is quite purple, so it looked a bit like Beetroot soup.

I fried off some onion and garlic,

Then added diced chicken.

Then some stock, and a handful of black rice.

It takes longer to cook and you just have to simmer it and keep a bit of an eye on it.

I also added a spoon of curry paste, then the juice of half a lemon.

I added an egg, whisked through at the end.

Then ladled it over a bed of rocket leaves.

It was delicious.

A close up of the cooked rice.

You can see a jar of the dry rice in the background.

The Biggest "Neck Piece" In The Shop....Or Too Much Fun For The Price.

This is a little something I picked up on sale at Cachets in Sassafras.
It's just something cheerful (read over the top),
to dress up any of my basic black, for going away.

When too much, is never enough.

All sorts of colour and shapes ,
made from resin, and put together on a black rope.

Some how I think this is what Rozie,
 over at "Tension in the negative spaces" is on about.

Oanges And Lemons, Or Rather Jewellery And Lemons...

This morning I've got the camera out and started taking photos of some of my jewellery, see if you can guess what's $10.00, from Target.

So much colour.

Just right for an Indian princess.

Happy birthday from Marg.

Crystal earrings from Tree Of Life.

White Topaz ring from Tree Of Life, and engraved pendant from Renae.
Rings from Ishka.

Tiny bells on a bracelet from Ishka.

Hand Made necklace with glass heart bead, from Lib.

Silver canister pendant on Belcher chain, from Hobnobs.

Containing a lock of my dear John Bradfields hair.

Everything tumbling about,
the ring(red) and the earrings(orange and turquoise),
 are from you guessed it, Target.

It Seems That I Do Really Like Flowers...

These are some of the photos I've taken over the months.

Birthday flowers.

Beautiful Anemone.

Mums' Jonquils

Emillys' bouquet.

Curly Kale.

Pale Rose.

Bride and Bridesmaids' bouquet's

A tiny Violet.