Why is technology so unkind?

Things are not well in the world of Belle’s blogging. Technology is on the blink, photos are falling short and clumsiness rules.

For a start, I had to change internet providers, and to cancel my account with the old provider was a real pain (is it ever anything else?). Luckily, the new provider is proving to be quite good.

Secondly, my lovely slim Casio Exilim camera started over-exposing all my photos, so that they turned out completely white. Apparently, it is a problem that happens sometimes with that model of camera. So I had to trawl the net looking at digital camera reviews, compare prices, visit camera stores, etc. I managed to find a new one – a Canon Ixus 980. Not as svelte as the old one, but very nice.


Finally, and most drastically, I spilt a full mug of green tea onto the desk where my laptop is, and some of the liquid seeped underneath and ruined the all number keys, as well as T, Y and Backspace. I mean, Backspace is my most used key!
And it’s not until you lose them that you realise that numbers are critical to everyday life – in passwords, calculations – and the little ‘at’ sign above the number 2 is needed for all your email addresses!
Again, I was fortunate to borrow an external keyboard from my brother. It now sits elegantly on a piece of felt on top of the laptop.

As these things only happen in threes, I have had my fill for now. The birds are singing again and all is right with the world.


To celebrate this small victory over technology, we had a ‘Yuzu no a nothing!’ from Adriano Zumbo. Looks like a pine lime Splice, tastes like a pine lime Splice. It was so tangy that I had to have a green tea chaser afterwards. Several metres away from the computer, though.

And the jar of Vegemite in the background is a reminder that just because something is salty doesn’t mean you need to tax the hell out of it (ooh, topical!).

So who’s been Nice this year?

Being good all year has its advantages, namely, Santa gets wind of your goodness and grants you three wishes – oh wait, that’s the Genie – you only get one wish from Santa…

My wish (apart from health for my family, and peace for all), was for a Weber Baby Q, and Santy Claus delivered! Here is the new baby, with Electronic Ignition, no less!


Naturally, we had to give it a test run. First up, some lamb and mint, beef, and tomato and onion sausages. They came up beautifully. The bbq flavour permeates the snags even though it is a gas model.

Next was the traditional steak, cut as thick as possible. It was perfectly cooked and moist, and will you look at those wonderful grill marks!

The baby eggplant was okay – I should have salted them to remove some of the bitterness. They were actually accompanied by marinated pork chops, which were delicious. Unfortunately, my camera has carked, hence no photos of the chops.

Now, hopefully, I will find that Genie in a magic lamp sometime soon – I really need a new camera. Any suggestions on which one?

And here is something for the ladies – I got these lovelies at the post-Christmas sales. Gold strappy heels, ON SALE – the best kind of shoes, evah!

Hey, the Donna Hay bandwagon rolls into town

It may be a bit unfashionable, but I’m into Donna Hay’s recipes, stylings and magazines. Sure, her instructions are getting brief to the point of being ‘cook ingredients’ and ‘serve on a plate’, but the recipes are good when you are out of ideas or time.

Which is the point of her latest book, ‘no time to cook’. DH was spruiking the book and launching a new range of cake/cookie mixes at David Jones and demo-ing some of the recipes. Surrounded by a posse of assistants, she was entertaining and efficient, whipping up 4 dishes from the new book and doing a good job of being a walking talking advert for all things DH. And it was all done in 3-inch heels and no apron (apparently, aprons are ‘so Mrs Doubtfire’).

She was ably assisted on stage by the dishy Steven, which prompted ladies in the audience to wonder if he came with a copy of the book (unfortunately, no).

We got a taste of the chocolate brownies at the end of the demo (‘it’s like I am in the kitchen with you’, DH kept saying). They were pretty good for a packet mix, so I bought a box, to be evaluated at a later date. I also got a copy of the signed book. Okay, so, I’ve fallen for the hype…

Not to let the inspiration go to waste, I made one of the recipes that night for dinner. It happened to be the one DH demoed as well, Shredded Rocket and Prawn Linguine. I have to say, it was not bad at all, though it took me longer to make because I didn’t have cute Steven to help peel the prawns. And as with all Donna Hay, it’s all in the presentation. Here is my take on it – what do you think?

So the cookbook gets a thumb up from me – a preponderance of chicken dishes, and mostly, they serve 2 (it’s easier to double the recipes, I suppose). I can’t wait to try the brownie mix next.

Food and crowds - it’s the Glebe St Fair

It’s festival season in Sydney, and one of the most popular (and populous) is the Glebe St Fair. Part of Glebe Point Road is closed for this annual event (last Sunday) and it’s lined with stalls selling food, sunglasses, hats and earrings – there’s probably other stuff, too, but hats and sunglasses are at every second stall.


Like the Newtown Festival and Surry Hills Festival, the Glebe St Fair has a laid back inner city vibe about it, though not as hippy trippy as the other two. The stalls are pretty much the same at all of these events but there’s something about munching on a sausage in a roll that makes for a pretty good weekend. And Turkish Gozleme – what would a festival be without the ladies in headscarves turning over the gozleme (with a squeeze of lemon, mmmm!)

And dogs on leashes; can’t have a fair without cute doggies!

A weekend of cake (so what's new?)

The new Zumbo chocolate café is due to open 11 October, according to the signs in the cake shop window. Can’t hardly wait!

In the meantime, here’s a ‘Boom!’. Not quite ‘da bomb’, but an explosive mix of meringue and white chocolate crust, passionfruit mousse, and rhubarb and strawberry jelly. I love these fruit-infused creations.

The weather this weekend was a perfect taste of summer (even though it’s spring). So perfect that we caught the ferry to Circular Quay and played at being tourists (‘ooh look, there’s the Bridge, take a photo of me in front of it! Ooh look, there’s the opera house, take a photo of me in front of it! Ooh look, there’s a seagull. Eeewww!’).
Also paid a visit to La Renaissance patisserie in Argyle St in the Rocks. The cakes looked a bit traditional compared to Zumbo’s, but the macaron flavours included rose, vanilla, jasmine and chocolate. Here are the rose and jasmine.

The rose was pleasantly rose-scented, but the buttercream filling was strangely stiff. The Jasmine did not really have any flavour except of eggwhites and sugar, and the macaron itself was a bit hard. Pretty, but no cigar… However, I highly recommend Nougat Limar (stall at the Rocks Market), a soft, creamy nougat chock full of cherry, cranberry and pistachio.

yummy biscuits (not Zumbo!)

The Hawkesbury Harvest Farmers/City of Sydney markets are a new food and produce market on the local food scene. The markets are held 10am-3pm every Friday in the forecourt of St Mary’s Cathedral. I would have visited sooner, but last Friday was the first Friday since the markets started that wasn’t windy, rainy, squally and stormy.

So, I popped along at lunch time and who should be there but the sweet chocolatesuze, at her Biscuit Tree stall.
I got a selection of goodies, and I tell you what, it’s all I can do to not eat them all at once. The shortbread is incredibly buttery (gorgeous!), and the biscotti are wafer thin, crisp and very classy. Race you there next week!

More from designboom

Just the rest of the things I got at the designboom / young blood designers market:

This is actually a table centrepiece from Millicent and Frank, but looks good as a wall hanging, I think. It is made of black acrylic.

Design market goodies and a big dog

designboom marts are staged at design festivals around the world, in places such as New York, Tokyo and Seoul. This year, for the first time, there was a mart in Sydney at the Powerhouse Museum, as part of the 12th International Sydney Design Festival.

The marts are kind of like an upmarket market, showcasing the work of designers in the fields of lighting, furniture, ceramics, homewares, clothing and fabrics. Any shop at the end of an exhibition is a good shop, just point me in the right direction….

The range of goods for sale at the Sydney mart (promoted as Young Blood: Designers Market) was fantastic, quirky, beautifully designed and made. I picked up some things, and only my slender wallet stopped me from getting more.

My favourites included these adorable magnets from Korean designer Daniel Jo. The range (called ‘Promise’) includes salt and pepper shakers and candle holders.

I also got a length of owl fabric by Saffron Craig. Not sure what to do with it since I don’t sew much/at all, but it’s too cute to pass up.

Other things I got: some of the moss pencils (lead pencils covered in green ‘moss’) and a black acrylic table centrepiece by Millicent and Frank – again not sure what to do with it, maybe use it as a wall hanging. Pictures later, when I put it up.

I also wanted this dog, but he was not for sale.

Scenes from the mall

Hasn't Rhodes (near Homebush, NSW) changed a lot? At least, I think it has. I remember only 10 years ago when there was nothing there. Now, it houses NSW's only IKEA, as well as a shopping centre and thousands of snazzy apartments. And for us, it's a destination in itself, with a semi-express train from the city getting us there in about 30 mins.
The other reason for going there is another in the Phoenix yum cha chain.

For this yum cha, we tried some new dishes - a fried eggplant-prawn dish that contained about 12 million calories, and a great watermelon and grass jelly dessert that was served out of a carved watermelon, yummy.
And they had one of my personal favourites, a sago 'thing' filled with red bean and egg yolk. The bf thinks it looks like something laid by an alien.

And here are some wonderfully graphic fabrics in IKEA. That place is massive, though I rarely buy anything because I don't want to queue at the checkouts (a bit 'princessy', am I).
The floating grass balls were hanging in the shopping centre. I thought they looked cool.

Spending on the weekend

The Craft and Quilt Fair is in town (well, it finished today)! I haven’t been for years, because last time, the bf said that it was the most worthless 1 hour he’d ever spent (or words to that effect). This year, however, we decided to have another go at it, and I’m glad I did. Normally, I just whiz through the exhibits going ho-hum, more stalls selling beads, thread, sewing machines and mysterious things I don’t know what to do with. But this year, with my newfound interest in stamping and scrapbooking, I was looking at things with new eyes – a set of ‘what can I buy, what can I buy’ eyes, that is.

So, yes, I did buy lots, and it’s all good stuff. Can’t wait to get craftily inspired, but in the meantime, I can just sit and stroke my new pretties.

With the AUD doing pretty well against all major currencies, it means that online shopping (ie. spending) is also the way to go. So, to allow me to use my Cuttlebug more often, here are some embossing folders and die cuts I bought from the US. And a Crop-a-dile, of course – just love the purple handle and storage case!

...Autumn in Rozelle

Perfect weather for the first day of Autumn, and a friend was doing a spice course at Herbies, so we met for lunch at the Barn afterwards. For a change, there was no queue, so no waiting for a table.
I've always found the service a bit slow here. Today, the waitresses were friendly though the food took a long time to arrive - over 30 mins is a bit of a wait. Whenever I order, I think I've ordered well, but as usual, when my friend's tasting plate arrived. I knew I should've gotten that! Anyway, my burger was nice and the thick chips were delish. The tasting plate got thumbs up.

Afterwards, we strolled over to aboutlife, that haven of healthiness, mostly organic and a little bit pricier, but full of food stuff that you just have to have.

I’ve never really been into the whole organic thing because the fruit and veg never seem to be that good-looking (sure, that Woolworths apple has been in cold storage for 9 months, but it’s so shiiiiny!). But if aboutlife was my local market, then I think I’d shop here more regularly. Lots of sauces, pastas, teas and waters in great packaging and that tinge of ‘righteousness’ about them.

I showed restraint and only got some pasta and sauce (because arrabbiata sounds like arriba!). My friend splashed out on several bags of organic coffee and soybeans. Now that’s a real enviro nut.

...It's open

Check out the Turquoise blue bag as you walk in...

...OMG

A sight to make any red-blooded woman’s heart skip a beat…