A Few of My Favourite Things !

My BBM recipient has received the two parcels that I posted some time ago!

As she does not have her own blog (yet) I’m posting photos of the items that I sent her:

Donna Hay magazine: I love this mag because it has lovely heavy pages and the covers always catch my eye. Look at this one – a beautiful almost midnight blue.

Tim Tams: Couldn’t go past this, but I went with my favourite – the Double Coat – instead of the classic. I almost sent the Black Forest as well, but A thought there might be an overkill of chocolate (is that possible, I hear you ask, and I can tell you from experience that it most definitely is when you are doing Tim Tam slammers!).

Paton’s Macadamia Royals: These macadamias are coated in a crunchy toffee before being dipped in milk chocolate. We served these at our wedding in large balloon glasses with coffee.

Classic Australian chocolate assortment: Violet Crumble, Cherry Ripe, Caramello Koala

Vegemite (in-a-biskit): I thought about sending Vegemite, but because it is an acquired taste, I went with these Vegemite-flavoured biscuits instead.

Asian Spice Pastes: Australian society is very multinational and seeing as we are so close to Asia, I decided to include these spice pastes: Vietnamese Lemongrass Marinade, Malaysian Chicken Curry Paste, Thai Green Curry Paste. I’m not sure I saw any stores selling these in Brugge, the hometown of my BBM recipient.

Wartaka Dukkah: I picked this up at the Slow Food Festival. Although the Australian spices are not listed on their pack I managed to find out that it contains, amongst other spices, Lemon Myrtle, a native Australia herb.

Pavlova Magic: I wanted to send a very Australian Pavlova over but didn’t think it would survive the trip! So the next best thing was to send a DIY kit.

Yo-Yo biscuits: A classic in cafes all around town although I’m a little uncertain of its origins. As these are quite delicate, I’m hoping that they didn’t get shaken around too much.

You will need to visit the Samantha Files to see what Eva thought about the goodies I sent…

Yesterday morning, I went (as I do every morning) to collect our mail from the post office box. On most days there is some registered mail that I have to sign for, but that morning I noticed that there was a medium-sized box with my name across the side! I was ready to leap over the counter, snatch the box from the person behind reception, run home and rip the box open so that I could examine its contents! BUT, I managed to summon up sufficient self control to sign for all the registered mail, thank the gentleman who handed me the box and saunter out of the post office with the box under my arm, looking as if I received parcels like this every day. I even managed to wait for A so that he could share the excitement with me. What a great parcel this was! My BBM partner, Sandra who is an Australian expat now living in the US, put so much thought into the parcel – have a look at what I received:

Copper River Smoked Sockeye Salmon, a Seattle’s Best Coffee mini-sampler pack, Redhook Brewery Party Mix , chocolate mint shortbread cookies and chocolate from Fran Bigelow, Maury Island Marionberry jam, a Space Needle Douglas Fir ornament. I’ve never heard of Marionberries, but these are a domesticated blackberry variety that is favoured for pie, yoghurt, ice cream and jam. I can’t wait to try everything out!

Sandra’s cat, Jasper, sent Bella & Tasha some Wild Side Salmon cat treats. Look at them trying to get their paws on the treats! They sent purrs of delight and thanks to Jasper for thinking of them.

I stopped by the post office again this morning and was delighted to find another parcel from Sandra waiting for me. Knowing that Australian customs can be pretty strict on allowing food items through, she sent two parcels in the hope that I would receive at least one of them. The second parcel contained a Seattle cookbook, a Halloween edition of Martha Stewart Living magazine, Halloween tissues, Halloween hot chocolate and a hand salve and lip cream. Sandra also wisely chose to send 3 biscuit recipes instead of actual biscuits because it is likely that they would not have made it through customs. I’m looking forward to trying her special Chocolate, Cranberry & Orange Sable biscuits – yum!

I’m blown away by the effort Sandra has put into my parcel – thanks so much, Sandra! – and I hope that she received an equally great parcel from her BBM partner.

Head over to The Samantha Files for the round up and make sure you sign up for BBM3…

We had some lovely weather in Melbourne last Sunday. The sun was shining and crowds of people were outside in T-shirts and singlets enjoying the spring weather. A & I packed a picnic lunch and took the cats out for their first outdoor adventure. We placed the girls in their harnesses and carried them to the nearby Carlton Gardens, laid out a picnid rug and let the cats out of the bag. At first, they both stayed close by A, getting used to their new environment.

Soon, however, we noticed Bella creeping off the picnic rug to lay on the ground. Look at her reaching out with her tongue for the blades of grass! She was just soaking up the glorious sunshine and keeping a sharp eye on her new surroundings, her curiousity aroused by the movement of people, birds and bees around her. Tasha remained too cautious to stray off the rug. She remained close to A the entire time, content to sit in front of him and to share some gourmet cheese offerings that we had picked up from Simon Johnson. Look at the way she is gazing adoringly at A in this next photo:

Head over to Clare’s at Eat Stuff to see photos of the other gorgeous felines…

A asked for a chicken and vegetable soup, so I sauteed some red capsicums, leek, fennel and carrots in a little olive oil then added water, brought to a boil and simmered for about 20 min. Added 2 icecubes of chicken stock, cooked chicken strips, mushroom and fresh chilli before serving the soup with a squeeze of lemon juice and a dollop of home-made pesto – Voila!

Mmmmmm…….utterly appropriate for the balmy spring weather we have been enjoying and, more importantly, exactly what my husband wanted

This is a wonderful time of year! The weather is getting warmer – warm enough for us to spend some time in the park last weekend so look out for some pictures of Bella & Tasha on their first outdoor adventure in WCB 18 this weekend ;-D

One of my favourite things about this time of year is the emergence of luscious, beautiful fruits such as strawberries, blueberries and passionfruit. Try drizzling the strawberries and blueberries with some lime juice – delicious!

We’ve also been enjoying the sweet mangoes (with lime juice, of course) although they are rather expensive at $4.95 each. I’m hanging out for blackberries and raspberries to make an appearance.

The kung-fu fighting photos of Bella & Tasha were so popular that I had to show you these pictures that I took yesterday morning!

They usually play-fight in the evenings when A & I are at home watching TV (I think it’s a ploy to distract us from the big screen and, hey, it works pretty well!) In the mornings, though, they usually just want to sleep. Yesterday morning was quite a different story as Tasha starting nipping at Bella while she was quietly trying to catch a nap. Of course, Bella couldn’t just sit there and take it, could she now? And off they went!