Happy Easter!

Happy Easter, everyone. Enjoy this time spent with loved ones. x

La vie en rose

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Words to take a Wednesday by. Not bad, huh. It's pretty special to know that with all our gold stars, flaws and crappy hair-days, someone loves us "just the way we are".

La vie en rose is something new I'm bringing to this blog (currently with an identity issue - shade of whim was the original name, his girl with a blog is what I'm preferring these days...). I'll be posting every so often about the little things that make my days sing, the things I'm grateful for, under "La vie en rose". Hope you enjoy reading. Today's la vie en rose goes something like this:

1. The sore toes I have from putting my pointe shoes on 6 days a week.

2. Getting to design my way through my days. Love my job.

3. My mum sure knows her girl. The best colour addition to my wardrobe was the orange rubber timepiece she surprised me with.

4. Looking through the treetops toward a bright, sunlit, blue sky.

5. A soul-soothing-hug from my boy.

6. Autumn fruits.

7. Hearing the rain drops while I work.

 

What's made you smile lately?

Stories to tell

 

 

A born and proud Aussie, I'm equally (fiercely) proud of my Greek heritage, language and blood. Today marks one of the most significant days in Greek history and the Greek Orthodox faith. The celebration of Greek Independence Day; after centuries of unsuccessful uprisings and failure of the Ottoman Empire to convert the Greeks, The War of Independence began in 1821 rising up against 400 years of occupations and oppression by the Ottoman Turks - drawing inspiration from one of the holiest days for Greek Orthodox Christians, the day that the Archangel Gabriel announced to Mary that she would bear a child.

Friday's Finds

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You made it! Another week down, another two days to recover. Here are my few links for the week...

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1. Recipe of the week: orange cardamom yoghurt cake. This cake looks like it'll be the perfect accompaniment to the weather's lean toward wintry greys. I still need to bake this cheesecake before I think about more cakes though...

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2. My favourite snoop this week was into the magic going on in Orlando & Nicola Reindorf's four level Sydney terrace home - ticks all the boxes and then some!

3.  Time to spare? Xavier Toby (writer and comedian) has a few stories to tell you. First up, his hope that the tattoo fad is (fingers crossed) over.

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On a side note I'm literally sighing with relief for the weekend ahead. The past five days have kept me on my toes (literally) with ballet every night (exhausted but loving it with every ounce of love I've got), a now-not-so-new marketing gig, and...well, that's all I've had time for. So, this weekend, I'm committed to getting myself out of this crappy, tired mode and packing my time with 1. undisturbed relaxation, 2. taking green paint in hand and committing myself to finishing my new canvas over the next few months, 3. flexing, stretching and pointing through hours of training. Bliss (in my eyes).

Hope your weekend is a great one! x

In limbo

 

Scribbling (literally) away on illustrator took the focus away from dismal-draft-artwork this morning.


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Speaking of time (wasting), waiting for the delivery of my latest timepiece snatch is also helping as a little spirit-lifter. I've had my eye on that fella for too long...



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Speaking of spirit-lifters, here's a pretty bunch of blooms for you! Happiest of mid-weekers. x

Recipe: homemade ricotta in 15 min

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If you can boil water you can make your own ricotta, or so I've been told! I'm all for making and baking as much as I can in my kitchen. I have these precious memories of my grandmother chopping her homegrown veggies, proudly serving homemade pastries and breads and roasting organic (from the source) meats, and I wouldn't dream of my kitchen being any different. I'd say my prayers were answered when I met my boy - the hunter-gatherer of the two of us - who brings home clean, lean game meats and seafood to be baked and of course, accompanied by a (my) freshly home-baked loaf of bread. Call us old-school but it's the way we roll. Now, thanks to this find, the latest addition to our love of an a-la-natural table will be cheese. I'll be giving this 15 minute recipe a shot asap. I'm guessing I won't be looking at the supermarket tub-stuff again! I found the recipe here, but I'm spelling it out for us below too. Here's what you do...

Ingredients

4 cups whole milk

One cup buttermilk

1/3 cup heavy cream

Coarse salt

 

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Make it:

1. Line a fine mesh strainer with several folds of cheesecloth and set it in your sink (there's two minutes gone)

 

2. Combine milk, buttermilk and cream in medium heavy saucepan over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil until cooking thermometer registers 185 degrees...if you don't have a thermometer, keep an eye on it to see when the curds (the solid white parts) are mostly separated from the whey (the cloudy liquid). This will take about 10 minutes...stir a couple of times during the boiling process.

 

3. Remove from heat and using a slotted spot, scoop spoonfuls of the curd into the cheesecloth-lined strainer, sprinkling with a little salt every few spoonfuls or so.

 

4. Let the ricotta drain for about 5 minutes and then taste to check the consistency. If you like it drier, then let it drain a little more. If you like it moister, stir in a tablespoon or two of milk. This ricotta is best used right away, but will keep for a day or two in the fridge.

Friday's finds

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What a bumper of a week that was! Before we get into another 2 days of weekend fun, here are my few links I've saved for Friday's finds....

1. Recipe of the week: New-York style cheesecake. I've been searching for what looks like a traditional cheesecake recipe and I think I've found it. Admittedly, I'm yet to trial this one...but it looks the part!

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2. DIY: if you have some spare time this weekend, get yourself paper mache-ing these beautiful gold, polka dot bowls.

3. The over-sized 'it' bag is over and making way for the lady-like purse. Considering my recent almost-too-big-to-be-practical leather tote buy, I'm keeping my hands over my ears and singing "laaa's" to block out the (bad) news.

Pointe class

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Teachings from pointe class aren’t confined to the ballet studio…

It means no worries...

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It's Friday and I have no finds! I've been caught up in a whirl of happenings and neglected my Friday Finds. Good thing I came by this beauty of word art! Doesn't it put a spring in your step? Perfect way to kick off the weekend!

It's a long weekend in my neck of the woods and I'm making sure it's going to be filled with all the wonderful stuff: relaxation, beach walks, time with my boy and I feel a cake-baking-session coming on. Whatever you choose to do, have a good one xo

It's just you and me... and my pointe shoes!

 

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Whoever said there's not enough room for 3 didn't get the basics of time management (whilst driving yourself into the ground).  Albeit ridiculously tired, stretching myself betweenwork-shoes, pointe shoes and filling the gaps with life's general commitments has never felt more rewarding. Doesn't a busy day make a better day, any day?

Friday's Finds

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Get your chirp on and take it to the weekend! Here are the few links I've had waiting around to share this week.

1. Recipe find of the week: golden, gutsy, triple ginger cookies!
2. The Oscars happened. If, like me, you lived under a rock and missed the action, click here.
3. Failed Skye connections turned into artwork! Check it.