Meet Baby Moses

Well baby Moses and I spent the whole weekend together meeting with family and friends. The first few days are the most important when bonding they say... and boy did we bond!

Saturday

After a sleep in, I rose and put together a Coq au Vin and popped it into my travelling slow cooker.  We call him McDreamy because it's as quick as McDonalds, but the food is dreamy and his original name is Dream Pot. Great for picnics. So Mc Dreamy met Baby Moses and they snuggled up in the back of the car while we travelled to the Black Pearl Epicure Open Day Sale and it did not fail to disappoint.

Stocking up on some great goods (and I will post all of these later in the week when I have writers block) we headed to New Farm Park shared our goodies, we sipped some lovely red wine out of my picnic stemless Riedel glasses and mopped up the Coq au Vin with some yummy crusty bread.
 

See Baby Moses there in the center!

 Everyone was so pleased to welcome Baby Moses into the family.

Meet Baby Moses #2

Sunday

After a stop at Samie's Girl at Portside, and baking up a storm we packed up the Digella-mobile and headed north. I had packed my little fold up table and chairs so we could be self sufficient. The only thing I forgot (unfortunately, very unfortunately) was to charge the SLR Camera. You will see why soon.....

After surveying all 'official' picnic spots we decided to set up our own little spot with the best vantage point of the whole place!

Baby Moses and the picnic set up

We had some Western Australian oysters with a little dip i threw together of rice wine vinegar, soy, brown sugar, garlic, chili and the whites of the spring onion. Fantastic and perfectly paired with the champagne.

Then...

WHATS THAT!?!

Running down the road was this little doggy, of course I squeal with delight and then....

The puppy (we named Foxy) jumped STRAIGHT onto my lap and kissed me!

Just as we snapped this photo!

Then I fed Foxy some duck curry on a little vintage plate (recipe see Donna Hay)

We were having such a lovely time and Baby Moses approved, but then Foxy heard a call from Mum, turned and looked, jumped off my lap and he was gone!

We ate some beautiful cheese from Black Pearl and finished the champagne.

Just after this moment an Irish or Scottish back packing cyclist rode past and cried

"Beautiful, I commend your choice of position!" and stretched his arm out to convey the amazing view.

We laughed that he could have been the flatmate 'Spike' out of Notting Hill with the accent to match!

Then took in the view as the sun went down it shone its light right down on Brisbane's CBD.

Although this photo doesn't capture the effect, it was truly amazing to see.

(just near the tree the white you can see is the CBD. Click to see it larger)

And to top off the end of a fantastic winter's weekend the drive back down with the backdrop of the city lights was magical!

One word. Perfect.


PS. Check out THIS giveaway and the launch of Sharnel Dollar Designs

Vintage Caravan

Via Carol at Perennial Blog

For the longest time I have longed for a vintage caravan. Even before they were cool. And Australia's first very own Vintage Caravan Magazine has just been launched!

I have dreams of dressing it up and serving cakes, and going on long drives away from town for the weekend.

Current article in Australian Traveller got me really thinking again. I need to get on this boat before every other chick in the world wants to climb aboard too and there will be no vans left to purchase.

Australian Traveller

I am not averse to camping, I actually enjoy it.

Crystal and china and decent food required for all picnics and camping trips.  Again, I am down with that. I am the only woman I know who can produce a three course meal from a fire including cakes. What can I say, it’s a gift.

So, back to the caravan. I would expect that I would have it weekend away ready on a constant basis with only having to trow in some clothes, food and wine. Baby Moses will LOVE it too.

Via Carol at Perennial Blog

So there you have it.

The time has come, I’m saving up. I am on the hunt for one.

The Week that Was Rockhampton

Last Wednesday at 4am I was up and off to Rockhampton.

The day before my good friend Donna and I headed to Sanitarium Kitchen for a light vegetarian lunch. But let me tell you, you will not miss the meat, it is beautiful.

Sorry, I had already started when I snapped the photo

It was nice to get out of the office to take a breath to enjoy my last day in Brisbane for a little while. And boy did I miss Brisbane.

Day one, I visited the power station which is always interesting.

Rockhampton’s Eifel Tower?

Then on the way back to meeting in town I stopped at this little antique store (as I always do when in Rocky)

Don't you just love the 'Vegi-Tarry-In' ?

So inside it is packed full with stuff and reminded me of my grandmothers house circa 1984 before a garage sale.

While looking at these canisters (very cute) as they made me think of my sister and how much she would love them, out of the corner of my eye, way down under a heap of dust I see a fantastic picnic basket.

You cant see it here, but its right in that dark corner

I pulled it out and asked a few questions and before I knew it, it was mine!

I place it carefully in the back of the hire car.

And it dawned on me that I have to get it home, on a plane. Oh well, these things always sort themselves out. And I thought my Spencer and Rutherford would be the envy of all in the airport!

Then two more days in Rocky of work and planning and during a visit to pick up supplies I stumbled across a 15 Litre bottle of Veuve. I had NEVER seen such a thing and was quick to tell everyone I know that I had seen a 15 Litre bottle full of Veuve, in Rockhampton.

That would have been the very last thing I would have suspected on seeing.

15 Litre, followed by a 10 Litre, then 7 litre, then 3 litre

I wish I had a spare thousand dollars and had a way to get it home.... I already had the basket dilemma to sort!

So after a very tiring week, my basket and I were on our way home to Brisbane.

On its way onto the plane.

While my friend Dee and I chatted and laughed all the way back in the plane I talked constantly about my new picnic basket and what I was going to fill it with and what could its name be and where I would take it. Give me a break – it was 3pm and they bar on the plane doesn’t open until 4pm flights (keep that info for further trips all)

While still at the airport sending messages back and forward between friends about my new basket, it was decided that his name would be Moses.

Wow, what a week!

Arriving on my Bookshelf

While reading my first ever copy of Marie Claire (what in the hell took me so long to get on that train I will never know) from around pages 350 there awaits 12 pages of Country entertaining and food inspiration. In haste I look at who has styled these pages and it is revealed it is Melbourne fashion designer Fleur Wood and these pages are extracted from her new book which has just been released titled:

Food Fashion Friends: Recipes and Styling for Unforgettable Parties

The beautiful cover

From Marie Claire's September Issue

From Marie Claire's September Issue

Check out more pages from the actual book on Fleur Wood's website HERE (you will not be sorry)

Read more about the book HERE at Australian Women Online.

I showed the pages to Baby Moses and he agreed that we should buy this book too. So once it arrives, I will be sure to share more on my blog.