Warmth II

Soup (beetroot, carrot & potato). It's all about comfort on cold winter nights. Spring, please tell me you're just around the corner?!

Warmth

With a few hours spent in the car this weekend, to and from the snow, there was plenty of time to finally weave in the ends of my scarf. I was even able to wear it on the slopes and I tell you there was no draft down my neck. Very thankful for it's warmth as the wind was fierce out there.

A year and a bit

Early last month marked a year of RosieCasie. Thanks to the Parentals who keep me on my toes when I haven't posted in a few days and to everyone else who takes time to pop by and say hello. It's really nice.

I thought I'd celebrate with a new header and so I've spent a bit of time with my watercolours this week. I'm sure my teacher cringes every time he sees my unclean palette.

Climbing green

I have a pipe dream. Well actually I have a few. But one would be to plant some sort of vine to cover the facade of Mr T's brown brick house. Instead might just have to settle for covering the front fence.

Worth displaying

Plenty of rain here today. Reminded me of the cute umbrellas suspended outside a dwelling in Takayama.

It all comes down to taste

With my girlfriends gathering for afternoon tea on Sunday I decided to make macarons. Everything that could go wrong did indeed go wrong. I took the egg whites too far and my swiss buttercream would not come together, no matter how long it was whipped (close to 45 min). It may have been something to do with the fresh strawberry puree I added.

Turns out had I stirred some air out of the meringue mixture I would have had a texture closer to that required for macarons. Because the last couple I piped did indeed develop feet with a smooth top. To salvage the buttercream I added a block of cream cheese. This did two things, smoothed out the filling and took a touch of the sweetness away.

I opted to transport the meringue/macarons by bicycle with the help of some egg cartons. They didn't look quite that good after an hour bouncing around in a basket at the back, but there were not many left!

The postman's been

All the way from Mexico!

I've really enjoyed following Geninne's development of her own personal style. She's incredibly open with her tools and processes which I think is really generous. And I'm really drawn to her botanical subjects.

I look forward to getting this in a frame and up on the wall this weekend.

Working it out

I took the long way home along the beach on my new bike to my Parents place earlier this week. I was able to get there in time to have enough light to snap their Ornamental Pear trees in blossom. On the way I had a bike epiphany; you really need to switch to an easy gear when you're taking off from a stand still. Far easier to get going that way. Less wobbling too.

Christmas in July

It's been a long time coming.

I picked my new bike up on Friday night and have been having a ball riding it to the shops, to lunch and to work ever since. I love being on a bike, any bike, but this is lots of fun. It's heavy as hell, but sturdy. I'm particularly bad at handling it at slow speed, but gosh its awesome when you're going fast. I love that I can ride it on wet roads and not end up saturated like on the road bike. Here here to a healthier lifestyle and to Mr T for my present!

The weekend

Filled with bike riding, gardening, football, giant rum ball eating, disco dancing and french film watching. Happy times. Even better, only a month of winter to go!