Friday roses

Cute weekend roses ont he table. Happy Friday everyone!!!

Oh dear, I am starting to sound like a broken record - all my blogs are about flowers these days... This will change I promise!!

Some good news this week and also Sis's birthday and Lis's birthday - congratulations you two!! xx

Frida is still not well enough for her normal walks and is inside with dodgy foot. The wound is open and does not look good... She is very irritated by the 'bucket' she has to wear and she is busting to go for walks and be outside again... Tomorrow we are going back to the vet to get the stiches out... hopefully he thinks it's healing ok.....

This weekend we are going to IKEA to buy more sill and gravlax sauce, knackebrod (hard bread), elderberry cordial etc etc. look forward to it!

Saturday night we are trying out a new italian restaurant in Paddington. Can't wait!!

The rest of the weekend we rested!

Speak soon xx

Corner of the house

We have 2 guest rooms. One we call 'The White Room" and the other one we call "The Brown Room". mainly this happened because we had enough furniture go get 2 full rooms together this way...

The white room is basically where I have gone all "Scandinavian" and everything is crispy white. (do I have to say this is my favourite room)

The brown room is all in brown wood a la Bali style. Lovely room with a different feel from all the white in the other room....  

This is a corner from the white room from this week where I put some fresh roses in a cute vase I bought years ago...  

Fish Tagine

Sis, as discussed, here is the recipe to the fish tagine J made on Saturday night. Ohoho so beautiful it was. J cooked his heart out and turned out really well....!!! We had it with cous cous and carrot sallad. Delicious and healthy!

Lucky me

Lucky me! After a very long and arduous week (last week) my lovely man comes home on Friday night with these beautiful flowers. Made me very happy and I feel blessed.....

Stew

Oh and sis, here is the recipe for the stew we spoke about. Use your Creuset dish and leave in over for 3-4 hours, it is really delicious!! Do it, you will not be disappointed!!! xx

Sunday

Sunday today and it has been a great day! It has not been raining for a change :). We went to a Sushi train for lunch – yuuum! Then to Paddington to look at some cool antique shops and look for new interesting cafes and restaurants.  As usual we ended up in B & T and I could not help myself and bought a little wooden box for my soaps that I have for visitors (and because they are cute)....

When we got home I had to have a nana nap (!) and whilst I did this J was in the library reading his book and Telstra turned up to fix our phone line....!!! This must be the quickest fix in the world, seeing  the lady at Telstra told me it was  going to  be until 1 April! Maybe they sent someone out just because i made a huge fuss and told them this is very inconvenient for us, wanting compensation etc. Anyway – they came around today and worked for 2 hours and yeeeesssss it works again. I am very happy about this as I feel lost without it...

When I woke up from my sweet snooze I made dinner, Jools favourite stew my Jamie Oliver. Cooked it for hours and voila – lovely strew on the table. Perfect Sunday dinner and a nice way to end the weekend. Spoke to parents and friends on skype and phone and now on couch trying to stay awake for a bit longer. I am exhausted, but will stay up for another hour at least, otherwise I will wake up at 4 am.....

Now time for 60 minutes...

 

Shopping

Needed some new things...

Bras and undies– really happy with my choices...

 Needed a new pair of flats, the other ones I have are either worn out, or they have a bright color i.e. I can’t wear them to work...

Casual shirt from Levis. Cute and cool in summer...

Boring but necessary. Work shirt from CR .....

Poor Frida

Frida had a little growth on her paw and they had to take it out. Now she is hobbling around with bandage on her leg. She is not yet used to wearing the lamp shade and walks into walls and things and is very irritated over the fact that she is unable to lick her paw....

Naughty dog somehow managed to open the bandage with lamp shade on!!!

Puddles

During last week and this week we've  had some big rains and there are a number of puddles everywhere... Frida seems to find them no matter where we walk....
Life of Riley...

Stephanies Spa Retrat

Have forgotten to tell you about last Sunday!! It was an amazing day all together.

J gave me a day at the spa for Valentines (lucky me!) but I have not got around to go until now. It was a real treat and I loved every minutes of it.  Feeling really pampered and looked after.... Everyone is calm and helpful and you feel like you are a world away. Book it in!

The night before the day after

As I have mentioned before Queensland is all about the BIG weather and making a statement... Big storms, big rain, 100% humidity, relentless sun. Never just a drizzle of rain, never just a bit sunny.  Being modest is a European thing; here we go all out..... J

Check these pictures out, rain and storm one night and the next day, like it never happened......

Lamps and Candles

Bought new lamps for the bed room on the weekend.... They don't look much from this angle but they look really good, especially cute when lit up! Oh, and they go well with J’s Tivoli Audio from Audio trends. Now all we need is to swap the bed heads around in the house... (the bead head in one of the guest rooms would look better with the lamps than our current bed head....)

I also managed to buy a few Palm Beach candles. Lovely soy candles that you hardly need to light to get a nice smell (subtle) out of. With candles, there is no reason to be economical - by the good stuff, otherwise they will not last very long and/or smell like cheap perfume. Ekks! Get the good stuff, go for soy; it will all be worth it in the end....

Harajuku Gyoza

In Delicious magazine this month there is an article about a place in Fortitude Valley called Harajuku Gyoza. We decided to go there for lunch yesterday. We both love Japanese food of all kids but gyoza is a favourite! The place is funky, lovely modern interior in red and charcoal and the staff were quick and really helpful. It is loud; loud music; loud interior; loud staff; loud everything... but we loved it. Every time someone orders sake the staff starts screaming and shouting and there is this lovely fun ambiance abound the whole thing.. Not a place for the subtle talks and romantic ‘holding hands’ dinner - just loud, fun, modern, great service and excellent food.  We ordered 3 different kinds of gyoza, karage chicken , pickles cabbage and edamame.  It was all over all expectations... The best gyozas I have had since being in Japan! Seriously good, I would have lunch there every day if I could.

Wall decorations...

We did not try the Moreton Bay Bug Gyoza... not sure why but there were so many delicious things to chose from!!!

Welcoming interior...

I look tired... but I am very pleased with the food!!!

Cool plates...

J with a Kirin...

Karage chicken and cabbage....

Obsessed by the these beans...

The best gyoza in town???

The magic concoction - soy sauce chili and vinegar... Yum!

Sunday Morning

Sunday morning sleep in for me. I woke up 6.20 today!!! This is record for me in last month or so, so I feel very happy, rested and happy. Yesterday morning I  woke up before 4 am.....
This morning is all about the mags! Lazy start on couch with cuppa and 3 mags. Very nice...

Saturday morning

I have been quiet for a week now.... It has been a very long and tough week for the both of us, and we are tired and in need of sleep and a holiday I think....!

Anyway, I do have some lovely things to tell you about the last few days, nice walks, happy dog, Sat lunch at new place and also some beautiful photos of the sky. Now let’s go back one day. Saturday morning.. (yesterday) I started the morning with a long walk in the National Park next to us. Excellent morning, perfect weather (not too hot), sunny and blue skies.... They have done some work on the hiking/walking tracks as well so now it is really a highway (compared to before) and you see lots of runners and walkers on Sat and Sun mornings. (On weekdays I am there so early that I don’t meet many people...) I always love the days I start with the walk in Mount Coot-tha. It’s like a huge lung right next to where we live and it’s quiet, calm and not ruined by traffic or cafes etc. Just wonderful! J was asleep, he needed it (I always wake up at the crack of dawn) and F and I had some playtime... She found some puddles to throw herself into and was happy as Larry..... I miss living by the ocean sometimes, oh let’s be honest, I miss it a lot. I know F does to, she used to swim every day!! Now we have to find puddles and creeks in the mountain, but she seems just as happy!!!! J

When we got home from the walk there was a bush turkey on the shed (they are everywhere around here, not usually on the shed though) which was veeeeery excitimg according to Frida... She was trying to get up there.... !!!

After the walk - nice breakkie with my man on the decking reading The Australian weekend paper... Good start of the day!

Dinner at P and C

Lovely dinner at P and C's last night. They live in a cute little queenslander in Paddington with Bob. (the dog) Last nigth was rainy and miserable so we were really looking froward to getting out to someone else's house to be treated to a beautiful dinner like this cheered up. I was really keen to hear all about C's new job. She now works with cricket which of course made J very curious and a little bit jealous hehe!
Dinner: We got loads of great home made dips and then a beautiful sea bass thai dish. (Jamie Oliver) It was so nice I have decided we have to do this ourselves sometimes. Looks great and tastes wonderful. This one goes on the 'favourite-dishes' list.
This followed by a beautiful French blueberry cheese cake and a cheese board to end the eveing. Truly great evening!

To die for!!!

C's sunflower from the garden! very cute !