The most important thing is to enjoy your life—to be happy—it’s all that matters. Audrey Hepburn Hey, Lovelies! Happiness finds me often – even on my hard days. How about you? One thing I have learned, whatever you look for you will find, so I try my best to live from gratitude and to look […]
Don’t be a prisoner to the past…
One need not be a chamber to be haunted;One need not be a house;The brain has corridors surpassingMaterial place. Emily Dickinson Hey, Lovelies. Today I want to remind you not to dwell in the past. Memory is notoriously unreliable. Ask any detective or psychologist. Ten people could witness an event and each will have a […]
My Grandfather’s Voice, Guiding Me
The people you love become ghosts inside of you, and like this you keep them alive. Rob Montgomery Hey, Lovelies! I’m probably around the age now that my grandparents were when I came into their lives as a baby. All of my grandparents have since passed away, and I still miss them, and think of […]
Looking Back at Me
“We look back on our life as a thing of broken pieces, because our mistakes and failures are always the first to strike us, and outweigh in our imagination what we have accomplished and attained.” ~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Maxims and Reflections It’s odd, this process of writing about yourself. Seldom do we […]
Remembering Tropical Pie
“Sometimes you have to travel back in time, skirting the obstacles, in order to love someone.” ~ Frances Mayes, Under Magnolia: A Southern Memoir When I was a kid, growing up in the seventies, there was this pie Mum used to make. ‘Tropical Pie’ it was called, if memory serves me correctly. I loved […]
Waiting for Matooluff
“Our hearts grow tender with childhood memories and love of kindred, and we are better throughout the year for having, in spirit, become a child again at Christmas-time.” ~ Laura Ingalls Wilder It’s about this time of year that I start waiting for Matooluff. When I was just a tiny little girl, maybe three […]
Using All The Best Things!
“Start living now. Stop saving the good china for that special occasion. Stop withholding your love until that special person materializes. Every day you are alive is a special occasion. Every minute, every breath, is a gift from God.” ~ Mary Manin Morrissey While I was at university I went to a babysitting job. The family […]
Remembering Hot Chocolate
“There’s something liberating about not pretending. Dare to embarrass yourself. Risk.” ~ Drew Barrymore My early childhood was spent in a far-flung suburban estate in Brisbane, a place not noted for its cultural diversity let alone culinary delights. And yet, one of my strongest food memories comes from this time. One street over from our […]
Fairy Bread Recipe – An easy party treat!
“You take away all the other luxuries in life, and if you can make someone smile and laugh, you have given the most special gift: happiness.”~ Brad Garrett I try to blog a recipe each week, but being a one-eyed pirate in the remote Outback has certainly proved a challenge on that front. However, I feel […]
Nicole’s Fruit Slice Recipe
“If you carry your childhood with you, you never become older.” ~ Tom Stoppard This week’s offering for my ‘Slice Extravaganza’ series – recipes taken from the hallowed Family Recipe Book – is known simply as ‘Nicole’s Fruit Slice’. Why? When I was a little girl it was my absolute favourite, and I never tired of it. […]
The Joys of a Shared Table
“The shared meal elevates eating from a mechanical process of fueling the body to a ritual of family and community, from the mere animal biology to an act of culture.” ~ Michael Pollan If you had asked me to create a memorable meal when I was younger I would have had the cookbooks out in a […]
That Sweet Sudden Grief…
“Grief can be a burden, but also an anchor. You get used to the weight, how it holds you in place.” ~ Sarah Dessen, The Truth About Forever I didn’t expect to be blogging about grief today. But grief snuck up on me last night and broadsided me. This morning I can still taste its bitter-sweetness. It’s […]
Flowers, Friendship and Gardens
I took a walk around my farm this morning. Spring is here, and after a little rain everything has burst into flower. When I was a little girl, my Nana always told me that hers was a friendship garden. When I asked what she meant, she told me that most of her plants had come […]
Don’t be a prisoner to memories…
One need not be a chamber to be haunted; One need not be a house; The brain has corridors surpassing Material place. ~Emily Dickinson, “Time and Eternity” Memory is notoriously unreliable. Ask any detective or psychologist. Ten people could witness an event and each will have a differing version. And that version will change over […]
Places that remind you of who you used to be…
The first time I went to Yum Cha was a revelation. It was a crowded barn of a restaurant in Sydney, and my small table were the only Caucasians in a sea of dark hair. They didn’t even have a menu in English. My friend Geoff, who speaks fluent Cantonese, took us there, and did […]