basket weaving
I joined a friend at a basket weaving session. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but the tutor had an array of beautiful baskets, from tiny ones to really big ones, hand woven from rope and stitched together with wool or cotton thread. Very inspiring.
The rope I’d chosen and the thread I used to stitch the bowl together.
We each selected a piece of rope, cut off some wool or cotton thread and threaded our darning needle. We began by making a loop to start forming the base. Everything was stitched into place using blanket stitch. Once we’d shaped the base we were shown how to make the ‘walls’. Three hours flew by. I came away with a small, slightly wonky basket. Really enjoyed the activity, the chatter of the people around the table and seeing the lovely baskets people made. The tutor offers other courses, so I’ll be looking them up.
mother’s day
Australians and many other countries celebrated Mother’s Day last Sunday. I hope all the Mothers had a lovely day, whatever they did with or without family. Our son couldn’t be here so he arranged two boxes of treats to be delivered from a French bakery. One box of croissants and one of mixed delicious cakes, scrolls and macarons. Superb!
A wonderful box of various delicious French treats.
My husband and I celebrated Mother’s Day by heading off to our favourite yum cha restaurant. We’ve been going there for years. We arrived quite early as the line builds up quickly on weekend mornings. The queue was already enormous! Often one member of the party lines up and the rest arrive later or sit on the walls. When the doors open and guests can enter, suddenly the person in front of you actually represents eight family members!
We were so lucky! Most groups were six or eight, but they had one two person table available! The line behind us was as long as the line in front of us, so some people were waiting ages to get a seat. But the little treats are so good! Brisk service, really good food and interesting watching the world go by. A huge selection of flavours. We had squid, crab, prawn and some pork dim sum plus a favourite turnip cake, all beautifully presented, all delicious.
One of my Mother’s Day gifts was Janelle McCulloch’s latest book, Where The Old Roses Grow. The sub title is Vita Sackville-West and the Battle For Beauty During Wartime. I am really enjoying it. Regular readers know I only buy books I really, really enjoy (I borrow books from the library, generally) and I have almost all of the books Janelle McCulloch has written. There are many.
other things
Forty odd years ago it was cold on our wedding day. Monday was 28ºC but there was a lovely sea breeze.
We celebrated our wedding anniversary on Monday. We went for lunch at a local restaurant with a great view over the Indian Ocean taking in Rottnest Island. It’s only been open a few months but has had very good reviews. We were not disappointed!
Half Shell Scallop Blue Swimmer crab tart.
Fremantle Swordfish Saltbush Fed Lamb medallions
Yuzu Tart Neopolitan Semifredo
more other things
I really like this small urn, one of a pair and struck some rosemary slips a while back put in both of them. They don’t have holes so I wanted to plant them in pots I could take out for watering. Problem was, I couldn’t find pots that fitted well!
So I cut the rim off two yoghurt pots which fitted well but were too tall. Then I reapplied the rims using double sided tape. Worked really well.
Washed the empty pots and sliced the rim off with a Stanley Trimmer. Reattached the rims to the pots using double sided tape.
Fits snugly.
I will toparize the rosemary plants when they are bigger. It will help them stay small enough for the pots. Bit of a long term project.