Leafygal

Kid Stuff

Finished the ATC's for the artexplorations fat book swap. I found some small pictures of children playing that seemed to go well with the colours of my paste papers.

It has been much too hot for creative ideas (last Sunday was in the 40's) and today was originally meant to be 40 but  has been revised down to 38!
I used the Children - they came out quite well - I hope all the other book recipients enjoy them.

My work sometimes seems to be much more modern looking than the others

Surprise surprise!!!

Had a wonderful evening (following a very hot day) at a surprise party, given by her partner, to my sister for her "significant number" birthday.
She expected a family dinner at a restaurant in Carlton, only to be greeted by a bevy of her friends and all the trimmings from Bubbly to presents and live music supplied by partner's son.
Moreton's Brasserie provided a good choice for a meal for this number of people.
I enjoyed my scallops with asian influenced sauce and the lamb fillet served with a delicious cauliflower puree. Veges for the table included green salad and pommes frites.
Dessert for me was petit pot of cream topped with raspberry coulis - light and delicious.

Waves and Umbrellas

About time I put up some more pics of the current artworks. These are ATC's made for a chunky book of the Alphabet. Each participant sends 26 cards all of the same letter and we then get back the full alphabet.
I'm looking forward to my 2 books worth.

I've also done some real kindergarten fun stuff with the backgrounds for my paste paper ATC chunky book. You mix paint with pva paste and treat it like finger paint. Use combs or cut the edges of cardboard into fun shapes. Lots of Fun!!! (Go on have a try!!!)

Last night went to the first SnB knitting meeting for the year. We tried out Sailor's Rest and found them very accomodating and fascinated by our strange habits. I'm continuing with my Mauve Top which I expect to be ready by NEXT summer!!  I've made several deliberate mistakes to keep the tradition of only the gods being perfect

New Year

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Well I guess that resolutions are made to be broken, and my first post is way past the first week of the year.

XMAS

We had a pleasant Xmas New Year period with friends and family.
Xmas day was busy but I enjoyed every minute.
The meal was perfectly cooked and everyone seemed to enjoy the selection of warm or cool veges.
We had smoked salmon with blinis, sour cream and caviar for starters. Mains were Roast Pork and turkey breast with ricotta and cranberry stuffing. Veges were hot roast potatoes;  asparagus with pink grapefruit and walnut sauce;  Baby beetroot and carrot salad.
Desserts included Mum's famous Xmas pud plus a berry and chocolate Pavlova. This year I even made fruit punch

AT Ocean Grove that evening we started on the Xmas ham and turkey with a great selection of salads, yet another Xmas pud and glasses of wonderful wines all day!!  The remains of the fruit punch kept appearing for the next few days as we kept mixing in new fruits and varieties of alcohol.
Sudoko game was played by all and proved to be a favourite over the next few days.

We caught up with friends at Signature in Barwon Heads one night and the new Barwon Edge restaurant near our place later in the week. Both meals were lovely, with the best steaks ever still at  Signature.

NEW YEAR'S EVE

I've become a bit "over" New Year's Eve, but we celebrated with a seafood supper at home, watched "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" on the Telly and invited brother M to join us. A few nice glasses of wine completed the evening.

JANUARY

We finally caught up with our great friends J & R on New Year's Day and talked through one of our traditional LOOOOONG lunches, finishing about 6.30pm.
We also had a chance to chat with their children and grandchildren, nice to do.

I am determined to reactivate my commitment to Weight Watchers and will try using the weekly menus again to get back on track.  I like doing it this way as I don't have to make decisions about what to cook and I can plan my weekly shopping accordingly.
The meals are very appetising and Tony doesn't mind eating them. Seafood Pizza made on Lebanese bread was a great hit.

Eating out sabotages the plan somewhat and we had a lovely lunch with J & R at Kilgour winery. I made good choices of food having scallops followed by rock ling.  R's Mussels were the "Best " he'd ever had! other choices were fresh pea risotto and linguine marinara - both pronounced excellent. Wines were Pinot Gris and rose. The weather was perfect for sitting looking across the yachts and small boats on the sparkling blue waters of the bay. Such a cliche but true.

Monday we took father to the Barwon Heads Hotel where we had a very good value meal, and I was good and chose the seafood salad.  It was a good serving and satisfied my eating out needs. We then spent the afternoon helping brother in law J with his new computer followed by a very relaxed family Barbecue.