More LAX things to do

Don't get too excited, there isn't really much to do here. Except for maybe get lost, or stuck on one level. I think their tag line should be - Welcome to Los Angeles Airport - figure it out for yourself! Information is pretty lacking around these parts.

Before you enter your terminal and pass security, go the Theme Building, kinda in the middle of the ring road that links the terminals. On the weekends, you can go the outside viewing deck on the top (we missed this, it closes at 5pm - when we arrived I thought we had a couple of mins up our sleeve, but were promptly told to turnaround and take the elevator back down - the deck was closed). So we headed to the Encounter restaurant and bar, a level below the deck, but you need to take a different elevator - confused! We had a drink at the Encounter bar, which is decorated on an attempt to emulate it's Jetson-ish Mid-Century Modern exterior. You may become mesmerised by the Lava Lamps. The best thing about this place though, is observing the planespotters that gather in the bar. I have no idea what they are doing, but I know they are very serious about it. They seem to spend their time peering through massive binoculars at landing planes and then making notes - I wonder if they are playing plane bingo?

So that's about it for how to waste time in LAX. If you need WiFi (and it is a need), you are going to pay $8 for the privilege (this $8 will last you for 24hrs of WiFi - here's hoping you would never need it for that long in an airport!). To access, just open your laptop, the T-Mobile page will pop up and you go ahead and pay by credit card: tip, you will be asked for a Zip code, and you will need to enter a US zip code, they won't recognize international ones.

LAX sucks the bag

Well, here we are in LAX. We have managed to spend a couple of hours by searching out an In N Out burger - and what will become the last on our list of US burgers. We have unfortunately had to accept the fact that we will miss out on tasting a Denny's burger, but we gave it pretty good shake of the sauce bottle. Burger ratings will follow.

But back to the In N Out time waster. If you are stuck in LAX for a while, take the free shuttle bus to parking lot C, and walk to Sepulveda Blvd, turn right along said blvd, you will see the In N Out in the (not too far) distance. If you are lucky, you will have the bejesus frightened out of you as you approach the diner, as the planes fly over very low on their way to land. I have some brilliant photos of half of planes and tails of planes, and single wings of planes flying overhead that I was hoping so much to share with you, but I cannot find the cord that connects the camera to the laptop.....I know how disappointed you must be.

101 ways to spend 15 hrs in airports.....

Okay, so we head back to Australia today - and this is the first post I have written during our whole holiday! The reason for this will soon become clear.

During our holiday I have honestly not felt the need to sit at my computer typing out about our experiences - I have been too busy having the actual experiences!! Now, however, things have changed. We are currently in Portland waiting to get a flight to LA, and then the flight back home. We have already been at this airport for nearly 3 hours (we had to return our rental car earlier), are about to board a 2.5hr flight to LA, where we will have the pleasure of waiting 10hrs in LAX for our midnight flight. Hurrah!

PDX is a good airport - reportedly voted the best airport 4 out the last years by Conde Nast travel. The free wifi is great, and offers an easy option to while away the hours if you have your laptop, iphone, ipad etc. Fortunately we have!

Okay, time to board - see you in LAX!

I also made a hat!

Sunday - La Luna day

Okay, so I haven't posted a smidge about our Melbourne trip - and it's going to have to wait, because there is something more important to report. I finally tried Holy Goat 'La Luna' cheese!!! For those unfamiliar, La Luna is an organic washed rind goats cheese, it has been referred to Australia's best cheese by more than one food critic, and has, until now, been unattainable here in Brisbane. After what has been literally years of longing to try this cheese, I was soooo excited to find it on Friday afternoon at the hideously overpriced James St Market.

Since then the eating of the La Luna has very much occupied my mind, and today was the day. We purchased figs at the markets (later caramelised with butter and honey) and journeyed to a bakery several suburbs away to ensure we had the best baguette to carry the cheese (the bakery is Bannetton in Ashgrove, but if you get the chance, go to the Kelvin Grove Markets on a Saturday, where they bake and sell the bread on the spot!). The cheese was taken out of the fridge a couple of hours before the intended eating time - I tell you, this cheese eating is a strategic business. Then there was the issue of the wine! What would one drink with this expectant cheese? After considering the smell of the cheese - real barn yarn stuff, I decided to go with a pinot grigio with pear flavours and a dry finish. The wine chosen - The Ned 2009 Pinot Grigio, Marlborough , NZ. It turned out to be an excellent choice!

Back to the cheese. After so much build up in my mind about just how excellent this cheese would be, there was a real risk we would be let down in the tasting. But, I am very pleased to say, the cheese was absolutely delicious! At first I found the taste too salty for me (I have a pretty low salty threshold) but this quickly dissipated and the true flavour of the cheese emerged. It was so good, all musty and goaty and ripe.

I implore you, if you see it, be it in deli or a menu - buy it!

Long time no blog!

It's been sooo long since my last blog! And it's not like I haven't had stuff going on that I could talk about, I just haven't been getting around to typing it down....... I need to tell you about our weekend in Melbourne for the food and wine festival, but I'm going to have to break the story down into installments, because I can to be a bit long winded in my prose at times.

Stay tuned for the first installment, imaginatively titled 'Friday'.

Wheel up with a good book

You love to read, you love to sit - you love the bookinist! This is seriously the most fun reading chair I have ever clapped eyes on!

Check it out in all it's glory at this website www.moormann.de/en/furniture/seating/bookinist/image-gallery/

Here is a little collection of objects to keep the (kitchen) dream alive. Originally I had envisioned a white, black, grey and yellow theme - so far we have black and white, but we have only put the cabinets in. Still to materialise are the benchtop, splashback, gas cooktop, tiling, some shelves, some wallpapering, some knocking down walls and building new ones and finally an island bench/high dining table! So not far to go now..........

I have finally made some sort of 'decorating' attempt in the bedroom after more than 2yrs in our house. The guest bedroom has been tastefully decorated for some time now.......whilst our bedroom languishes in a world of white white white. And not in a good way. There's nothing stylish, luxe or minimal about the room. Blank would be more apt. Perhaps even - did these guys just move in?!

I made a headboard inspired by Studio Sam and a post on Apartment therapy. And it gave me an excellent excuse to go to Bookfest! I had previously banned myself from going to bookfest this year as we are on a spending diet. However I decided I could justify going by making something to tart up the house - and all the other bits I needed we already left over from various other house projects. I had to force myself away from any section of bookfest that might contain any home decorating or beauty books from the 50's - 70's, and have one vision mind....hard covers, colour and size coordinated. So all in all it took me a couple of hours and 5 bucks to find the books. Not to mention being highly entertained by people trying to stuff the bejesus out of weak plastic bags (fill a bag a for $5) and an elderly man being chastised and threatened with expulsion by an equally elderly man accusing him of.....I'm not quite sure what, something to do with records and sleeves...?

So, onto the headboard. You can't quite see, but the colours range from yellow, through orange, shades of red to black (the bottom layer unfortunately sits below the pillow line). I covered the edges and legs with pages from one of the books, 'The Marriage Manual", first published in 1935 (the copy I have is from 1956 - revised), and is surprising graphic in terms of martial relations. I tried to pick books that had some reference to love, marriage or some double entendre action (snicker...). The headboard ended up costing only the price of the books, not bad for $5! I am thinking about making some reading lights to attach to the headboard. And being that my pa is a sparky, he should be able to give me some tips!

Six little dresses for six little nieces!

I finally did it! After deciding quite some time ago that I would make dresses for all the nieces for Christmas and then failing to do anything about it, I approached a state of near panic when I realised that last weekend would be the absolute last chance I had to make them!!! So Sunday my studio turned into something of a sweatshop, though thanks to a fantastic storm and rainy day it was a figurative sweatshop - not a literal one! and I made the 6 dresses in 10 hrs. Phew!

I am completely in love with these little dresses, I so want one for myself, but unfortunately that style does make one look more than a little pregnant....

And after

Matches our 70's brown brick lounge wall (not seen in this picture...)

Chair re-vamp before

I recently (and finally!) recovered a very sad chair we have that I was not prepared to say goodbye to.

Salami for me!

It's that time of year again - Salami Weekend! We spend a chilly and very enjoyable weekend with the family making our own salami's and sausages. For the benefit of my family I have posted 2 vids from last year - 1. The ancient art of salami tying (so we can brush up on our skills) and 2. Some dancing! (again so we can brush up on our skills!)

Teacup cosie mk2

So, I fixed the mouthful of wool problem with the teacup cosie, by using much smaller yarn, of course! I decided to use cotton, and found some recycled cotton yarn from Red Heart yarns (http://www.redheart.com/Default.aspx?tabid=75&yarnid=e749) avaliable from spotlight. It is made from recycled cotton t-shirts with a bit of acrylic blended in, so it is better environmentally than cotton, but does the fact that it is shipped from the US undo all the good? Hmmmn.....Anyone know of any recycled yarn being produced locally?

Anyway, the cosies turned out well, and have been happily sipping my tea whilst protecting my delicate princess hands!

First foray into knitting for winter

I knitted a little teacup cosie for some beautiful japanese style teacups we bought at the Salamanca Markets. As they have no handles, they are too hot to touch when filled with tea, so hence the cosie. But, this cosie was a bit big and bulky, and it was a challange not to get a mouthful of wool with the tea!

Photos from a bed

Sunrise views across to Bruny Island


From Bruny, back to the main island



Cloudy view of the Hazards, Freycinet

And lastly, a view of ourselves, Hobart.

Here are the views we enjoyed (or not, Hobart) from each bed we stayed in in Tasmania

A very food focused story of our trip to Tassie

We recently enjoyed a week's break in Tasmania, what a beautiful place - the land and seascapes are stunning. Needless to say the scenery wasn't the only thing we were keen to discover - Tassie is garnering quite a reputation as a 'foodie' destination. And it didn't disappoint - I think we may have eaten our own weight in cheese!
The week started in Woodbridge (in the Houn area), staying at Peppermint Ridge Retreat, where we were greeted by a toasty fire and freshly baking bread. A platter of locally smoked bacon, tomatoes, mushrooms and eggs laid by our hosts chooks awaited us for brekkie. But first, what to have for dinner? We travelled down the hill to the Peppermint Bay Resturant and Providores (be warned - having a 'providore' seems to be a very popular addition to almost any type of business - treat with caution!) where we perused and purchased some Tongola Goat Products cheese - Curdly, a fresh unsalted goats curd, and a hard cheese called Forest Floor, local quince paste, a bottle of wine and headed back to enjoy the fire. We quickly became obsessed by Curdly, it is so fresh and light, and we would eat it several more times during the week. Forest Floor had an interesting texture, being hard with lots of little 'bubbles' (think aero bar) and a rind that did indeed taste of fragrant forest floor!
After a yummy breakfast, we spent the day touring and wondering if there was anywhere in Tasmania that isn't beautiful. One the way back to Peppermint Ridge, we stopped in at Grandvewe Sheep Cheesery, with the hope of having an affogatto with sheeps milk icecream. Alas, as it was the off season, and we did roll in a little late in the afternoon, we missed the cafe. All was not lost, however, and we got stuck into tasting their cheeses. The standout was the blue, Blue By Ewe, which we purchased along with thier pinot paste - what a great pair!
We shopped at Oyster Cove Ye Olde Organic Fruit & Veg shop, stocking up on Curdly, BISH (Bruny Island Smoke House) woodsmoked salmon, a few other pieces for dinner. A surprise find were some local potatoes, red rasckalls [sic] that were just fantastic. At the risk of sounding obvious, they were so potatoey! We used them in a breakfast frittata, with BISH salmon and Curdly, a casserole with italian sausage and cabbage, roasted with BISH salmon and mange tout, and finally in Mules a la Freycinet! (recipe to follow).
While in the area, we stopped in at the Oyster Cove Inn for a beer and to sample some local oysters. We ordered a mixed doz, with the clear winner being the fresh oysters with lime zest - and the Cascade Draught was the best we tasted all week! The pub has a huge deck that looks out over the marina, it would be a fantastic place to while away a summer afternoon.
Next we were off to Bruny Island, where after spending most the day on the high (and very cold) seas with the Bruny Island Ecotour, we only had time to call in to the Bruny Island Cheese Co. You must try their ODO cheese! ODO stands for One Day Old, and is fresh cheese that is marniated in a tub of olive oil when it is one day old - hence the name. We missed visiting BISH and Get Shucked Oysters, but this just gives us an excuse to go back (and stay a little longer in the gorgeous Beachside at Bruny cottage).
We made our way back to the main island and headed up the east coast to Freycinet Bay. Being that we planned not to plan our trip, our non plan didn't go quite to plan! We dropped into the Freycinet Marine Farm, with the idea to grab a couple dozen oysters and venture forth and find somewhere to stay. But no! No oysters left! No need to panic - a fresh harvest was due in an hour! We were pretty excited about the prospect of these super-fresh oysters. In the meantime we'll find a place to stay.....easier said than done. When the off season starts, the on season really ends. As we wanted to cook our own dinner, we spent a fraught hour ringing cottages with no answer, or being told there was a 2 night minimum. Eventually we gave up and called The Edge Resort, thinking we'll just take a hotel room, but our surprise, they had cabins too! And they were fab! If you want to relive some memories of holidays in the 70's, this is the place. And the views!! Every cabin and suite has views across the bay to the Hazards, what a beautiful view to wake up to.
After a good chat with the guys from the Freycinet Marine Farm about the life of oysters, we secured our oysters and mussels, headed home and settled in for some serious oyster shucking and guzzling. And they were fresh as the sea - delicious!
Dinner was to be mussels, but how? After taking a look at what was in the very small larder we had brought with us, Mules a la Freycinet was born. Enjoyed with a glass of local riesling - perfect.
With a yummy breakfast of Curdly and BISH smoked trout on toast in our bellies, we trekked up the Hazards (well, sort of) for a view of Wineglass Bay, before jumping back in the car to hit the Midland Hwy back to Hobart.
When in Hobart, a visit to the Wursthaus is a must! We sampled some french brie 'The King of Brie' , and have to admit it is indeed something special. And of course, Salamanca markets on Saturday, where we purchase some pork rillettes from Rare Food - divine!
Later we wandered across the harbour to the Henry Jones Art Hotel, only to stumble upon the 'Tasmanian Red Wine Weekend'. What a coup! For $15 we were given access to over 70 Tassie reds, mostly Pinot, and Bruny Island Cheese tasting to boot. So we proceeded to do as we should and got stuck into sampling some fabulous wines! A very merry way to spend an afternoon.
Sadly, the next day we had to board the plane and head back to the mainland, but not before we had started planning our next trip to the Apple Isle, or maybe that should be the Cheese Isle.....

Something from the weekend

We had my beautiful nieces stay with us for the weekend, and they were soooo excited to find a pair of strange bunnies in the house. We played in garden with them for a while and Isabella set up this excellent shot. I love it!

World of blogs...

Went to the Stitches and Craft show on the weekend, and was inspired to get back to the sewing machine! Bought some beautiful fabric from Ink & Spindle http://www.inkandspindle.com/ and kristen doran design http://www.kristendoran.com/ (I haven't worked out how to link things properly yet.....in fact I haven't figured out much when it comes to this blogging malarky!).

So, through the miracle of a public holiday, on Monday I made myself a new bag. When I finished it, my first thought was the panel is 'upsidedown or back to front or something.....' it just didn't look right. But, as it turns out, it looks perfect when I wear it! Hurrah!