Making plans

The first renovating decision has now been made, we've chosen the paint colour for the walls in the cafe. We're going for the colour up the top - Sand Dollar. But now we're not sure what to do with trims etc, do we go with a darker shade or do we go with a shade of white. Big decisions. Painting I think will begin on Sunday week, but we're doing it ourselves and who knows what will happen between now and then with our plans :) The postcard in the photo is from InsideOut magazine from a few months ago. I love this colour scheme and I think I want to go with something like this in the shop, the other option is to keep the coffee and greyish tones but then have a limey green for accents because that would look nice and fresh and food-like. Who knows... This is fun though.


I had some time this morning to do some more baking for the shop so I made some flourless chocolate cakes. We've been making sure we always have at least 1 gluten free option, the last couple of weeks we've made different friands so it was time for a change.


And how cute are these? I had to go pick up some supplies from a cake decorating shop the other day and I couldn't go passed these sugar flowers they are so pretty. I need to make some cupcakes now for them to sit on top of . But then they'll be too pretty to eat.


Having my computer set up in a semi-permanent little spot has definitely made it easier to play with photos and post more easily. Now I'm going to get back to making some space for my sewing machine - I bought the pattern to make Miss Buttons before I left Melbourne and I haven't been able to try it out yet and I want to, so back to work for me!

Almost there

Our stuff arrived from Melbourne on the weekend so things are starting to feel normal again. I haven't unpack much yet but I've been able to find a few recipe books, my craft stuff and my music so I've got the important things ready to go. I've also been able to set up my laptop in a little space of my own so hopefully I'll be able to start posting a bit more regularly again. Lucky for me my parents are pretty patient people because at the moment there garage looks like this, and there's potential that it's going to be that way for at least a few weeks.


We've been busy cooking for the shop - mainly cakes, muffins and soups for winter. My grandma's recipe chocolate cake and cookies and cream cheesecake - which I haven't made before but is really yummy. We also made some melting moments but we had a bit of a disaster when the precariously balanced oven tray turned out to be not so well balanced so they didn't quite make it.



Remains of the melting moments -


Roasted capsicums, soon to be tomato and capsicum soup. Perfect for winter, it does get cold up here!


Another good thing about being back home our local strawberry man. You forget what all the fuss is about with strawberries until you eat some really fresh ones again. These strawberries are so sweet and full of flavour you don't want to share them with anyone.



I'm not loving the 7am starts though!

Flashback Friday

Oops I said I'd join in with the fun on Flashback Fridays (a great idea from Angela from Three Buttons) and then I completely forgot about it. Better late then never though so here's a photo of my circa 1982, like a good QLD girl I think I spent half my childhood at the local pool or at the beach. This photo makes me wish I was 4 or 5 again. I'll try not to be so tardy next Friday!

My life as a Brisbanite and Cafe Owner

After so much time thinking about moving up here and planning to do it, I'm finally here. G will be following in a couple of weeks time once he's tied up a few things at work. At the moment I'm staying at mum and dads and so far I've just got some clothes up here. All of our stuff is leaving Melbourne tomorrow, I can't wait to get our coffee machine back! We're going to be staying here for a couple of months while we sort out our apartment that we're staying in while our house is being built so it's going to be a little strange and crowded for awhile.

It was cold and wet and typically Melbourne when I left.. and I arrived to a beautiful sunny Brisbane day.


I started in our shop the next day.. this is the little shop that will one day be our cafe. It needs a bit of renovating before then... It's a snack bar at the moment, and we're keeping it running like this while we finalise our plans. So I've been cooking good old fashioned hamburgers and steak sandwiches and deep frying all manner of foods.


We have also been introducing some daily home-baked goodies. Last week it was apple and pear crumble cake and this week we have brownie and hummingbird cake.



I'm starting to get back into a bit of routine. Need to work out when I can fit in some time for taking photos, posting and trying to do some crafty bits and pieces.

It's weird and exciting that this is going to be my life now :)

Harry Potter: Order of the Phoenix

I've seen it. I liked it. I want to read the book again.

I think this is potentially my favourite Harry Potter movie so far, but it's also my favourite of the books so that may have something to do with it. I want to read the book again now to remember all the good bits that didn't make it into the film.

Sanna Annukka

A signed up to a mailing list awhile ago after following a link on a blog (I can't remember which) to Sanna Annukka. I seem to do this when I find a site I like because I inevitably forget about it and then every now and then I get an e-mail that reminds me of all the good stuff that's available on the web.

Anyway, I got newsletter today from Sanna Annukka annoucing the opening of her online shop.


I love her prints and lithographs and when our house is finally built I think I might need one, shipping to Australia is available! I'm building up a collection for the hallway of our new house and it could work there. If I had kids I think one would be good for a child's room too.


This is so much more exciting than packing up my house!

I must stop procrastinating. I must stop procrastinating.

Pakhuis Oost

I was reading Yvestown the other day which then led me to Fredsworld where I read about his trip to the Cath Kidston sale and the super cute coffee table bought from Designers Guild. I knew I had seen this coffee table somewhere, along with other cute stuff and then I remembered!

A while ago I stumbled across Pakhuis Oost, I could buy so much stuff from this website... if only I could speak dutch and work out where it's sold. Lots of eye candy.

Here's a couple of my favourites (images from Pakhuis Oost)

Packing

One of the sad things about packing this time around is that while we're building our house we're basically going to be living in a granny flat. As a result, most of our stuff is going to be in storage for about 12 months. And of course, all my favourite things are completely non-functional which means they'll be living in boxes for the next 12 months. Including (so far) our letters, my photo-pocket wall and lots of books. Goodbye stuff!



I got some exciting mail on Friday too! Magazines and other goodies from Itziar. I love the tea-towel, and the recipes look great. I've picked out about 5 I want to try, then there's a few Itziar suggested I try and G has been through it and marked a few he wants too. I don't think I'm going to get a chance to try any until we're in Brisvegas but once we're there I'll be busy.

Life after work

I can't believe it's Friday already....

Days not at work = 6, number of boxes packed so far = 4.

I have so much to do before the end of next week. Less than 1 box a day is not a good average. Plus on Sunday I'm meant to be going to the markets to try and sell some of our old stuff that we don't want to take with us, I need to find all that stuff yet, eek!

I have been having fun though, a bit of cooking, a bit of craft and a little bit of shopping.

We had a final craft night before the big move and I got to use my new tagine. It's fantastic, I am in love with it. I made a lamb tagine with prunes and almonds and the meat was so tender. Yummo. We had quite a productive night too, giraffes and dogs and pot holders. I think the dog might be our best effort so far.


A bit of a dodgy giraffe, but made by a boy! (and what can I say, it's less dodgy then the elephant)




I also finally posted my swap, took me a little while to get organised but I got there. Sorry Itziar! It should be there soon.


Before we made the move to QLD and while I had some time off work I took G's Aunty up on an offer to teach me how to make some Chilean food. I made empanadas and porotos (bean soup). The soup is the easiest thing to make, so I'll happily make that for G in QLD if he's feeling a little homesick. I think the empanadas will be saved for special occasions though. They're not too difficult, but they are time consuming. Tia Yvonne makes her own pastry for the empanadas, we tried making a couple with bought pastry but they are not the same so I'll have to stick to making the pastry too - definitely only a special occasion thing.



I have been doing a little bit of work for the cafe though. I have spoken to the coffee guy and organised a machine and grinder, worked out what power it needed so we could get an electrician into the shop to start setting us up. And I bought paper clips for our paperwork , definitely high on the to do list hehe... but look how cute they are, every cafe needs cutlery shaped paper clips don't they?


Oh and I got a pretty expanding file and scrap book to start keeping our house plans + ideas in. We start with our draftsman in August so I need to start getting our ideas together.


Ok the rest of the day is going to be packing now. No more procrastinating.

1 more quick story though - last Sunday afternoon, which was a beautiful sunny but cold Melbourne winter afternoon, we had arranged to take our dog up to the local park where we were going to meet a couple of friends and their dogs so they could all run around crazy and wear each other out (yes dogs, not children.. sad I know). So Sunday afternoon came around and I was ready to go but at the last minute G and my brother (who is staying with us for a couple of weeks) decided that they could not be bothered because they were too busy on the couch watching Gilmore Girls.. GILMORE GIRLS!!! As in Lorelai and Rory, lots of talking and girl stuff. 2 grown men on a couch, all afternoon, hooked on Gilmore Girls. Oh dear.

The End

Well, I've done it! I no longer have a job, I've joined the self-employed. That sounds a little daunting, but it's too late now :)

I finished up at work on Friday - I had a great day with lots of laughter and tears and a little bit of wine. And I got a little bit spoiled with going away presents. My boss organised a beautiful bunch of flowers and a great bottle of wine and then from everyone I worked with I received a fantastic tagine (one that I had been eying off for quite awhile) and few little foodie bits and pieces to go with it... so craft night on Tuesday is going to be Moroccan night.


I am not sure if all work places are like this, but I've been lucky enough to really enjoy the jobs I've had there and I have made some friendships that will last a lifetime. Which is lucky because they're all going to have to come and visit me in Brisbane and support the cafe! None of them know that I have this blog yet, but once the cafe starts happening I'll start posting about it's progress and they'll find out then.. so work friends, if you're reading this in a few months time... hi!

On a less emotional subject :) I've finally used the last of the apples. We had dinner last night with G's sister and my little brother T who is down to visit so I made apple and raspberry crumble and vanilla custard. Nothing like comfort food in the middle of winter.


Now for the next two weeks, it's on to the hard work.. packing! Eww.

The Lollipop Shoes

Wow, this book took me awhile to finish. I loved Chocolat, so when I saw the sequel I had to get it on the spot. I loved Chocolat because it was like a fairy tale for grown ups - a woman running a Chocolaterie who had a special talent for changing people's lives. In a largely unspoken way, you knew she was magical and she brought a little bit of magic and excitement into the lives of the people around her. This kind of magic I like... movies and tv series like Charmed etc I'm not into at all. The Lollipop Shoes is obvious magic.. it's Vianne the good witch against Zozie the bad witch.

The story is still good and I still enjoyed reading the book, but for me, because the magic is so obvious the book is so much less magical. The other thing is most of this book is about Vianne, her daughter and Zozie. In Chocolat you got the stories of so many others as well and I kind of missed that with this book. I think, in summary, it's a good read but it's not the sequel to Chocolat I was hoping for.