i like red

Some lovely inspiring red rooms and furniture. That colour really does cheer me up!

the design files

douglas friedman

douglas friedman

desire to inspire

elle decor

homes and antiques magazine

homes and gardens

house to home

living etc

earth day

Our contribution to Earth Day is to make these little notebooks from all the paper offcuts we end up with in our printing business. My husband has made the books and my daughter has decorated them. She's giving them as gifts to her friends. An attractive way to recycle paper and avoid wastage!

I just had to take this photo of a village sign not far from where I live. Nice to have some English towns twinned with Aussie ones!

red and turquoise

alexandra rowley

 country living

donna grayson

One of my favourite colour combos

more food updates

Phew! That was a busy week!! I didn't have time to post up photos of Mondays' food before we went to Birmingham for a couple of exhibitions: The Gadget Show and Sign & Digital, which were both interesting in their own way. We stayed at a ghastly hotel as I booked the whole trip for the Easter holidays far too late - will have to make sure I book extra early next time! Problem is, we're not very good at planning things long term as sometimes the timing is wrong, work comes up at that time... all the problems of being self-employed!

Above: smoked (and mashed) aubergine, and chapati making. I forgot to photograph the finished product so will try to remember next time! 

Below: today's brunch: poached egg on Vegemite toast with freshly ground pepper - yum!

yellow rice

There's a risk that this could turn into a food blog, especially if I start posting my recipes. Luckily I don't have time to write up all my recipes here, but this one is very easy. It helps if you have an Indian style pressure cooker. We often have this for lunch when working from home.
First fry some cumin seeds, cardamom pods, dried red chillies and black peppercorns in ghee or oil. You can also add cloves, cinnamon etc. Add ground turmeric. Throw in chopped onion and carrots; when the onion has slightly browned add frozen peas, 1 tsp salt and washed Basmati rice. Stir the rice into the fried mixture. About half a cup of rice should be enough for 2 people. If you use half a cup of rice, then add around one cup of water (water should be approx. double the rice quantity). Put the lid on and wait for 2 whistles (in a conventional saucepan you can bring it to the boil then put the lid on and turn the heat right down to low so it can steam). When cooked sprinkle with chopped fresh coriander and serve with mango chutney and plain yogurt.

after a fashion

In February we designed an exhibition stand for a friend exhibiting shoes at Pure London. Whilst there, I discovered 3 fashion designers who design the kind of clothing I used to make in the 80s (when a teenager...). I love the way they look pieced together and random, but are actually very well designed and made. 

(One day in the future I might post a photo of me in one of my smock dresses, made from an old dyed bedsheet, teamed with Doc Martin boots)

This first designer is Ewa I Walla from Sweden.

 Next up is Ian Mosh (check out the boots in the 2nd image below)...

 There must be something about Swedish fashion - below is Olars Ulla, again from Sweden.

my trip to london

Today I had to be in London to renew our Aussie passports so I made the most of it by walking around trafalgar square and up to regent street.... but all I had on me was my iPhone as I hadn't planned to photograph the day... anyway, here are a few snaps from being out and about.

countdown to the paralympics (apparently the olympic countdown was on the other side of the stand) and st martins in the fields

lunch in a small turkish cafe on the strand 

courtauld gallery stairs and baker street station

baker street station

outside the national gallery and inside the courtauld

roast chicken for dinner

Last night I roasted a chicken with a simple vege accompaniment of roasted carrots, potatoes, sweet potato and onion. It was still light enough at 7 o'clock to photograph this outside!

today's breakfast

As another way of practicing my photography (and styling skills at the same time) I am going to try to photograph food we have on the weekend. Today's plan was to make radish parathas (for breakfast) but we had no chapati flour in the cupboard, so I made Poha instead (with chai). This is an Indian flattened rice, fried together with peanuts, curry leaves and spices. I also add peas to mine, and garnish with chopped fresh coriander.... delicious! In the right photo are long red radishes from our local Indian vege shop - I love the shape and colour of them, especially with all the leaves!

est magazine

There's a brill new green eco-friendly online australian interiors magazine (whheeewwww) called est! Full of fresh interiors filled with light, artists' homes and inspiration. Best part is it's available to view in full online. This is something I've been waiting for!

all images from est