a few good things...

1. autumn rain.

2. ripe bananas + chocolate = these muffins.

3. autumn mornings in the forest.

4. tangle-in-progress + a little faffing.
5. rye breakfast muffins & chocolate biscuits, aka a Sunday well spent.
6. library books & nice light.
7. a touch of autumn colour in the garden.

a few good things...

1. bright autumn sunrises.

2. the cutest early morning walk companion.

3. light & library books.

4. a little bit of baking - these are very good biscuits, I've made them twice already.

5. tangle-in-progress + afternoon light.

6. autumn rain, droplets & playing with the macro lens.

a touch of sweetness

Some biscuit baking the other week - I highly recommend these Polish Lemon Sandwich Tea Cookies, easy to bake & also delicious. They didn't last long, which I always take as a good sign when I bake something new.

A couple of notes:
~ I used the zest from a whole lemon in both the biscuits & the filling (so two in total), rather than splitting the zest from one
~ I don't own a 1-inch cookie scoop (or any cookie scoop), so I just used a tablespoon - which must be bigger, since I only got 18 sandwich cookies (36 biscuits before filling)
~ also, the filling/icing is really nice, but the recipe does make lots - we ended up baking a butter cake later in the week to use it up (poor us, lol). If you get more biscuits/are more generous with the filling, you might not have this problem though.

Happy baking.

a few good things...

1. morning sunlight (& blossoms).

2. working on some new fine silver jewellery.

3. new books from the library.

4. jewellery & fairy lights on our stall at the Flinders Street Market last month.

5. blossoms blossoming (& afternoon light) - very happy it's spring.

6. a big batch of chocolate biscuits.

7. new things from a fun shopping trip - soft shirts & a stripy top.

a few good things...

1. little treasures from my travels (more on that soon).
 2. pretty flowers on the kitchen table.

3. freshly baked Anzac biscuits - quick & delicious.

4. reading a mystery story or two.

5. I bought this scarf in Paris - it went nicely with all my blue, purple & grey clothes.

6. winter sun-showers.

7. birthday cake & celebrations.

recently...

...it has been hot & dry & did I mention hot?... hot days I can handle, but when we have stretches of constant hot weather, where the house heats up & even the nights/early mornings aren't much cooler, I tend to struggle a bit...

...somewhat scary times, with a bush fire not far north of us - considered 'under control' for a while it flared up again on Saturday, coming even closer to home, & it has certainly changed the local landscape...

...a little of a daily project...

...done a little playing with clay & beads & wire & things...

...still looking back a the lovely things we did & saw on our Queensland holiday 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 ...

...prepared for & had a stall at a market in Adelaide - a first for me...

...baking despite the heat (the kitchen is hot anyway, so decided to just go with it) - choc chip cupcakes & oatmeal cookies (biscuits) with choc chips, sultanas & walnuts...

...been taking a whole bunch of photos for etsy listings...

...early morning walks, iced coffee, the occasional cool breeze, ridiculous conversations with my siblings & other good things.

five things | about christmas

Tonight (Christmas Eve) is a big part of our celebrations - we have a delicious, fancy dinner, exchange presents & generally have fun - celebrating with loved ones is the best. In the spirit of celebration, here are five things I love about Christmas (in no particular order)...

~ all the decorations, the sparkly tinsel, twinkly lights, trees, angels & stars.

~ food is a big part of our celebrations - all the traditional things, like uszka, pierogi, bigos, barszcz, fish patties in tomato sauce, herring, potato salad, roast & veg. Then there is dessert (home-made mint ice-cream this year) & of course all the baked goods - cheesecake, apple cake, fruitcake, honey cookies...(the biscuits in the photo are a batch of my Babcia's pastry, filled with jam....& long gone).

~ choosing, wrapping & giving presents....(getting them isn't too terrible either)

~ going through photos from the past year so we can choose which to use in our calenders - for the past few years we've been creating a calender of family portraits for my grandmother, a nature-y one for various relatives, a kitchen calender - featuring some of the more amusing portraits from the year (stuff like this) & I make one with some of my favourite photos from the year.

~ Christmas specials - Dr Who is always good fun & this year there's Miss Fisher as well.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

So, Merry Christmas everyone

may your days be filled with the people you love, good food & lots of laughter. 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

a few good things...

1. early morning sunlight & lavender.

2. baking - so nice when a new recipe works - I made lebkuchen & they went down very well.

3. magazines - the latest issues of Peppermint & Art Jewelry.

4. baby apples on our tree.

5. parks, swing sets & sisters - a lovely outing in Clare last month.

6. the macro lens, dandelions & taking photos just because.
7. a little project for next year.

tea & biscuits...

I have probably mentioned these biscuits before (& not just here) - I bake them fairly often. They are easy, tasty, (reasonably) healthy & keep well. You can find the recipe over on the shop blog.

recently...

...we had a busy beginning to the month, with the Wirrabara producers market (we'll be there again this coming Sunday), Mum's birthday & the Folk Fair...

...still enjoying the autumn weather - still waiting for rain too...

...tapped into my inner geek (nerd?) for a Dr Who inspired teleidoscope photo...

...finished & photographed the earrings from my last batch of silver (pendant post soon). Also made up a collective noun while I was at it...

...finished the polymer jewellery I was working on...

...baked & photographed a batch of anzac-inspired-gluten-free-fruit-&-grain biscuits (more commonly know around here as 'Dad's biscuits') for a up-coming blog post...

...also planning to bake some scones this morning...

...& just because I can, some morning sun

recently...

I've been making some necklaces, with fine silver, sterling chain & beads...I'm rather pleased so far...

Also eaten some baked goodies - I baked biscuits ^^ basically my adaptation of traditional anzacs, gluten/wheat free (although this batch does have oats) & Amy made a batch of mini Pineapple Upside-down Cakes - soooo good!

Read some good books - The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern, a beautiful, fantastical love story (as recommended by Ally) & Whispers Under Ground by  Ben Aaronovitch, the third book in the Rivers of London series & I think my favourite so far (you might like to read them in the correct order, not start with the second book like I did).
Also, The Rook by Daniel O'Malley, which I read earlier in the year & really enjoyed.

Also spent a lovely day with my family, exploring Mintaro - including the maze. We also had a picnic, blew bubbles & took some family portraits - lots of fun :)

tower { the teleidoscope }

An edible tower of stars for week #9 of The Teleidoscope - Tower.

I baked spiced shortbread stars, as well as plum jam-filled shortbread cresents? half-moons? half-rounds?...they were a much more defined shape before they were baked.

Even though I wasn't sure how they'd turn out (I just decided to put the jam in the middle) & regardless of the shape, the jam ones are the definite favourites & won't last much longer :)

on Flickr