Dancing in the dark (part 1)

Here are the first of the photos of my birthday dinner with friends. Unfortunately, I only got these two blurry pictures (the consequence of being the one who normally takes pictures!), but I really hope some nicer ones will turn up.

 Pumpkin pie!

Erin and I

I wore a 1950's sheer mint-green dress, with velvet white flowers printed all over it.

Love

x

Firefly

Between exams, infections, house-sitting, computer malfunctions and birthdays I have been neglecting this blog. To make amends, I present you with some photos from my family birthday dinner. (This was actually why I missed Old Hat's November meet-up, here's hoping they have another in December! If you are a Sydney vintage lover, I'd love to see you there too!)
We went to Firefly, a small but absolutely superb wine and tapas bar in Walsh Bay. I personally love the concept of Tapas, perhaps because I love sampling small portions of everyones meals, but more so, because I love the sharing and experimenting it encourages! The best dishes of the night were the Calamari Fritti with aioli and fresh lemon (so tender) and the Haloumi with watermelon, almonds and mint (salty, sweet and fresh all at once). I highly recommend Firefly, it's always delightful and the Spanish Roulette (a bowl of identical chilli's except some are mild and some are frightfully hot) is hilarious!

My "peachy" cocktail (Bulldog gin, Cointreau, lime juice, peach & vanilla syrup) and I

I wore a 1940's dress and hat, along with patterned lace tights and black leather belt and heels.

 My family and James (I love his new haircut, so sauve!)

 My brother and I, practicing our model faces (see below!)

 Daniel is doing Blue steel and I'm doing Magnum

 The wind required a hair change half way through the night, luckily veils can serve as handy snoods!

Thank you for a beautiful birthday!
(expect a few more birthday related posts from my dinner party with friends!)
Love
xox

Busy doing nothing

Just another day house sitting. x

Where did you come from, where did you go?

Sorry for the radio silence, life has been both busy and boring for most of Novemeber but now I'm on holidays I hope to spice things up and keep this blog rolling! Here's a quick look at my first few days of summer holidays.

 Sometimes cooking is a success, sometimes you learn something. I learnt something with this recipe...

Always add more gelatine

This was a homemade wild-berry and blancmange (milk) jelly. My very first blancmange! I followed Bompas and Parr's recipe in their Jelly book, but to no avail... I think some of the explanations are lost in translation; is there an internationally agree upon gelatine leaf size?
How ever long I left this jelly it just refused to set and when turn out it looked lovely for a few seconds, before promptly splitting into two, three and then many more pieces! Oh well...

Bompas and Parr's Jelly book is worth the purchase purely for their language and novelty! I just hope I can mimic their jelly mongering mastery one day.

 More food!

I bought my first macarons from Adriano Zumbo as a post-exam treat. Aren't they beautiful?

Clockwise starting with the yellow it was Passionfruit-mango, Raspberry Caramel, Hot Chocolate (milk chocolate, cinnamon & chilli), Caramelised pumpkin seeds and another Hot Chocolate.

My favourites were the passionfruit and raspberry caramel, both were bursting with flavour. Cola was interesting, but not a favourite and hot chocolate was not my taste at all. I prefer my chocolate chilli free!

 Definately a great first macaron experience!

In less food related news but still in the kitchen, I'm house-sitting for a few weeks in the most amazing house. Have a quick look at the yellow kitchen!

 Excuse the crazy eyes, I realised I'm quite out of photographic practice... Plus, I have new appreciation for bloggers with cats!

 Mmm hair!

 Photo time!

There are collections of coloured glass bottles in scattered throughout the house, I absolutely adore the orange and yellow in the kitchen.

What have you been doing?

Love

x

First Floriade

I've been a bit of a blogging lull lately, so I thought I'd share some photos with you from before I started blogging. These are from last year's Floriade and was around the time I really started gaining confidence in dressing vintage.

Nearly all these photos were taken by the lovely Andrea (centre) and the trip couldn't be complete without the adorable Candace (photo right)!

Love x

Errands and Essays

 As the title specifies, but with one important exception.... my wonderful birthday present!

My first sweetheart brooch! If you have not heard of these, they are basically small pins soliders sent home to their girlfriends or mothers when they were off at war. Women wore them to show support for their soilders. Some were created from scrap metal even shells from the battlefields, some were much more expensive, made by top jewellers back home. Ever since I discovered sweetheart brooches I've been enthralled with the history and love they encapture, so when my Mum presented me with my very own WWI pin I was overjoyed! A perfect 21st present.

Love x

Here's one I prepared earlier...

Hi everyone,
I just wanted to take a break from studying to say thank you for all the love, laughter and support I've been given over the last 21 years.
   For my blog readers, thank you for all the comments and friendships. Getting to know you all through posts and emails really does make my day and I can't wait to write and post more!
   For my family and friends, thank you for being yourselves. Without a doubt, you are all more amazing than you're aware and I love you immensely.
Many thanks again,
Now here's some photos for you to enjoy!

Nearly 21 years ago, one day old.

Before...

After...

Love
xox

Lazy Halloween

Halloween falls at a very inopportune time, taunting me as I attempt to study for my exams and final assessments! So, I do apologise, this my post is rather lack-lustre. However, I did try to put in a meager effort for the Annual Bone Hunt at a family friend's house. This is a treasure hunter's dream, a step above your childhood fancies. Think 35 minutes of careful hunting for tiny glowing skeletons, burried bones, black bats, witches fingers and one highly valued miniscule coffin! Imagine racing around an elaborate pitchblack garden lit only by glowing pumpkins and your own tiny torch. Picture 20 adults running around like lunatics and then.... see me win!!!
Unfortunately, I was so caught up in my victory I forgot to take any photos of the spectacular, but rest assured, next year you shall be blown away.

 

Glow in the dark stockings

Things that go groping in the night!

Glow-in-the-dark hair piece

How was your halloween?
Love x