( This novel may have a different cover in some countries.)
READING MEET ME AT THE MUSEUM A first time novel by Anne Youngson about the developing relationship between a woman on a farm in Bury St Edmunds, in the UK and a member of staff at the Silkeborg Museum in Denmark and their shared interest in bog bodies, particularly Tollund Man.
Their letters, then emails, slowly but skillfully tell their stories as they exchange confidences. The book unfolds at a leisurely pace, leading to the predictable but satisfying finale. Gentle and spirited, this story makes us consider the road not taken. This was a very good read.
Also working my way through Janelle McCulloch’s LONDON SECRETS again as I will be in London soon and have an uncommitted day and want to make the most of it! This is a comprehensive selection of addresses focusing on my favourite things: style, design, glamour and gardens with a few cafes and restaurants thrown in. The photographs are also beautiful, so the whole planning process is most enjoyable.
WATCHING The second series of Un Village Francais. I’ve written about the first volume before and this series continues where that last finished. Historically correct and sympathetic to the villagers, it makes engaging but not always comfortable viewing.
GARDENING Spring has arrived in Western Australia and so have the first of the flowers. The tomato and coriander seedlings are doing well and the zinnia and Swan River Daisy seeds have germinated. The roses are all in flower or about to bloom and my alstroemerias, favourite cut flowers, are also about to bloom.
Today is Do Something Nice Day, so that’s easy. Do something nice for other people and yourself where ever you are and enjoy the day.
I have really enjoyed this opportunity to be part of the Here & Now link-up. It’s really interesting reading other blogs focusing on the similar themes.
LOVING// The beautiful sunrises at the moment. The first is out our back door, the second over an inlet from a balcony.
EATING// Yum cha. We have a favourite yum cha restaurant and we go there regularly for brunch. Yum cha is Cantonese for “drink tea” and consists of small bite size treats eaten with green tea. All delicious.
DRINKING// Orange and cinnamon tea. I should make it myself but instead I use a teabag! Refreshing and warming during cold weather.
FEELING// Really enjoying the first signs of spring. We have had the wettest winter in years and it has been so good for Western Australia but spring is invigorating and exciting.
MAKING// Kumquat marmalade. The tart tasting peel and the sweet flesh boiled and mixed together makes delicious marmalade.
THINKING// I need to establish a post-work routine which feels calmer and more predictable. Louis really enjoys us both being at home more often. I don’t know how I ever had time to go to work!
DREAMING// We have a holiday booked and it’s fun planning what we will do and dreaming about the places we will visit. What are your holiday plans?
Today is Coeliac Awareness Day. Bread is a basic food in many cultures, but eating gluten, a component of wheat, barley and rye, can be harrowing for people with coeliac disease. Cœliac Awareness Day is intended to make everyone aware and informed about the disease. There is no known cure and the only treatment is to avoid foods containing gluten.
READING Chalcot Crescent, by Fay Weldon, English author, essayist, feminist and playwright. Written in 2009, Weldon imagines the life that might have been lived by her stillborn younger sister whom she envisaged as a once famous author, a national treasure and a fierce feminist. The younger sister steals Weldon’s life. It’s 2013, Communism has failed, Capitalism is abandoned except by the public servants of the people, who like the best of everything, and frugality has ruined the economy. Centralized government rules. This take on Britain in 2013 is astute, funny and thought provoking. Sounds a bit grim but was a good read.
WATCHING The first series of Un Village Francais, the story of a fictional French village near the French/Swiss border and it’s inhabitants and their lives during the German Occupation from 1940 -1945. It highlights the challenges and dilemmas of surviving as families are shattered, people disappear and food becomes scarce. It shows the repression and fear during occupation, the disparate French Resistance groups all interspersed with individual loyalties and antisemitism. We borrowed it from the library. Can’t wait for the next series.
MAKING Spanakopita, feta and spinach pie. This is my recipe so I don’t know how true it is to the original Greek recipe but it tastes very good, hot or cold. It makes four generous serves or six light serves. Dice one medium sized onion and cook it in a dessert spoon of butter in a bowl in the microwave until the onion becomes opaque. Add it to 250gm ( 0.55lb ) broken up goat feta and one thawed packet of spinach (200gm/0.44lb) squeezed dry. I’ve tried making it with fresh spinach from the garden but can’t cut it finely enough to get the same results. Stir in two beaten eggs and a teaspoon of nutmeg. Of course, you can use any good feta, not just goat.
Line a medium sized casserole dish or similar with two sheets of filo, draping about a third over the edge to make the top, spread melted butter with a pastry bush on the sheets and add two more. Add the feta/spinach mix, smooth off, then fold remainder of the sheet over the top of the dish and smooth it down before brushing with melted butter. Put in 175 C (350 F) degrees fan forced oven and check after 35 minutes. The top needs to be golden and crisp.
Serve with roasted or steamed vegetables. Enjoy!
Our son wears sober suits or standard chinos and shirts to work. His socks are a different matter.
Our weekend treat from our favourite macaron shop Cafe des Delices in Dalkeith. They lasted three days.
Made bread and discovered the new oven is hotter than the old oven, so will modify the temperature next time.
This Sunday 2nd September is Father’s Day in Australia. The gifts are bought and wrapped for my husband and we will cook a roast lunch, open some wine and enjoy family time, remembering our treasured fathers, too.
Sun, surf, sand. That is the image I get when I think of Mandurah. I grew up further down the coast and we passed through Mandurah regularly en route to Perth. Lots of beach shacks for summer holidays and also retirees, often farmers from inland. Mandurah was particularly famous for it’s crabs. There was also a fishing industry and not much else.
That has all changed! Mandurah, about 80 km from Perth, is a huge, sprawling area of housing estates, apartments, beaches, cafes and restaurants and shops, the newest a redevelopment of the shopping centre. It is now very big and there’s so many shops. We also enjoyed eating lunch at the shopping centre.
The two photographs above show where the Dawesville Channel, also known as The Cut, meets the Indian Ocean. This man made channel connecting the Peel-Harvey Inlet to the Ocean was designed to regularly flush clean the Estuary which was marred by the build up algae and has been very successful.
This is the view from our hotel room. It was mesmerizing, day and night. To the left is a cinema, a theater, then some restaurants. It’s a lovely walk around the bay, when it’s not raining.
Our balcony with more of the great view. Just sat and watched the Canal and Dolphin Cruise boats, people walking around the inlet and the birds. Calm and restful.
Quite luscious smelling toiletries in a good sized bathroom.
Comfortable reading corner. Our room was large, comfortable and had a great view. When we checked in the lady told us that as we were only staying two nights they wouldn’t service the room. I asked what this meant and she offered to let housekeeping know we’d like the bed to be made and it was, but I expect that at a hotel!
These artificially created canals with their luxurious homes and apartments with their own moorings have also attracted many dolphins.
Canals joined by walkways. These bridges reminded me of Venice.
More canals. It is very easy to walk around this lovely area.
The traffic bridge was illuminated at night with blue lights morphing into violet and back to blue. Very pretty, especially with headlights moving across it.
Our new favourite, a shared tasting plate.
Enjoyed some street art along the foreshore.
Daybreak on our last morning in Mandurah. Lovely clear day, no rain and much warmer. We are experiencing a very wet winter, so good for the environment, but I don’t have appropriate clothes to be outdoors in rain, wind and hail so I’ve been very cold and wet, sometimes. It has been a welcome change from our usual mild winters.
Fruit from the buffet.
Yesterday this table was laden with the buffet breakfast, today a leaf in a vase. We enjoyed our breakfasts at The Sebel which were part buffet complimented by ordering from the cooked menu. First morning this worked well, overseen by the waitress, but the second morning was different as they are trialing a new system. It didn’t work well!
Today is Vanilla Custard Day. Vanilla Custard is thought to originate in Ancient Rome and is still popular, unlike the fish and meat custards popular in the Middle Ages.
Denmark, on the south coast in the heart of the Great Southern region of Western Australia is about a five hour drive from our home in Perth. We stopped for a treat at the Mount Baker Bakery. It was very good.
White settlement was established in 1895 when a mill town was built by the Millar brothers, later Millars Timber and Trading Company. They operated in Denmark until 1905. Other important industries since then include fishing, farming, dairying, vegetable and fruit growing, all still evident, along with tourism and viticulture.
Silver Road leading to our chalet. Apart from being surrounded by amazing forests, Denmark township offers some historical buildings, lots of interesting food and usually, art and craft galleries but these were all closed when we were there.
My grandfather was born in Denmark in 1895.
Redgum, our chalet at Karrak Ridge, chosen because it has beautiful views, clever design elements and we could take Louis, our dog! Behind Redgum is 50 acres of karri forest and in front, never ending views over the tanks, dams, alpacas, sheep and cattle, then valleys and green hilltops in the distance. It was very quiet and restful here.
The chalets are elevated, maximizing the views, but also very private.
This is the bedroom and like all the floors in the chalet it has timber boards with under floorboard insulation to retain winter warmth and prevent draughts. ( Previous three photographs used by permission of Karrak Reach)
The clerestory windows capture the winter sun so less energy is required to heat the chalet. There is also a biolytix recycling system, a method of treating wastewater.
I sometimes get hay fever from dust so when we’re booking accommodation I look for tiles and floorboards, blinds and shutters and leather furniture as they are less dusty.
The meet and greet committee at the front door.
We visited relatives on their farm and had a lovely day. This is the wonderful terrine we enjoyed for lunch. The photos of their crops ….not so good!
More of the karri forest.
A lot of the food we ate featured locally produced vegetables and protein. It is easy to find out where the food is sourced.
We enjoyed eating out in Denmark. Despite many places being shut for winter we found a range of food options.
Two views of Wilson Inlet, the largest inlet on the southern coastline. Wilson Inlet is part of a really pretty body of water but on a freezing cold, wet and gloomy day it was hard to capture how lovely this area is as photos were taken quickly between rain and hail. Not ideal holidaying conditions but we enjoyed driving around the coastline, visiting relatives, eating in cafes, restaurants and a brewery and relaxing in our cosy chalet.
These little blue wrens darted around in the restaurant. We also saw small birds with bright red breasts just like robin red breasts but I’m not sure what they were, apart from gorgeous!
Louis lurked quietly under tables in outdoor areas when we ate. We cannot take our dogs into restaurants in Australia.
Ten years ago we were in the same area for a wedding and bought Ugg boots for my husband which he has worn every winter since. They were beginning to look a bit forlorn so we went back to the leather shop near Nornalup and bought a new pair. The next night we enjoyed dinner with the couple whose wedding we attended ten years ago. They now have two gorgeous little boys!
Today is WORLD LION DAY intended to pay tribute to this beautiful and fearsome animal. Lion numbers have dramatically declined to the point where the species is being considered endangered.
Bali produces a huge range of fruit, vegetables, herbs and spices and is a mecca for good food having attracted many established chefs from all over the world who have combined Balinese tastes with many other styles. This has resulted in options for all tastes and budgets spread widely across the island.
In Seminyak, on Jalan Kaya Aya you will find Chandi’s, offering modern Indonesian and Asian food with a blend of many other styles too. Chandis is where we head for our first meal, many during our stay and often our last as well.
They make the best margaritas. And the best double espressos.
Meat is imported from Australia and New Zealand.
Warm friendly staff and a lovely setting. (Menu online.)
Chandi is an old favourite, our new discovery is PEARL.
Read a review for Pearl and was attracted by the blend of traditional French cuisine mixed with Balinese flavours. It was a good choice. Well away from the road in Legian, this alfresco fine dining brasserie was green, cool and very pretty with sparkling fairy lights in the trees, but the real star was the food.
Head chef Jeremy Blanchet cleverly combines French techniques with local produce and the result was wonderful. Delicious food, beautifully presented.
Great cocktails, great food, lovely staff and a wonderful night. (Menu online)
I neither sought nor was paid for these reviews.
May 25th was Sun Screen Day, obviously intended to acknowledge the beginning of summer in the northern hemisphere. Sunscreen, a cream or spray, is applied to the skin to protect it from the Sun’s harmful ultraviolet rays and sunburn and can lessen your chance of developing skin cancers, or melanomas
According to the Cancer Council of Australia, two in every three Australians will be diagnosed with a skin cancer by the age of 70. They estimate in 2018 14,320 new cases of skin cancers will be diagnosed in Australia.
Until recently, Australia had the highest rate of deadly skin cancers in the world, but due to decades of public health campaigns, that claim has been ceded to New Zealand.
So, re-apply sunscreen regularly, wear a hat, stay out of the sun in the hottest times, particularly in Australia, New Zealand, North America and Canada.
When I tell people we’re just back from a holiday in Bali the first comment people make is, “Lucky you” and the second is always, “Where did you stay?” About 1.4 million Australians travel to Bali every year and enjoy an enormous range of accommodation choices in many areas.
We keep returning to Kamuela Villas because they are close to the exciting chaos of Seminyak (wonderful restaurants, massages, lots of pampering, shops and cafes) but up a quiet street, calm and serene and very peaceful at night. The Manager and staff are so helpful and lovely!
The legendary Balinese hospitality begins when you’re collected from the airport in clean, cool 4WDs and transported to Kamuela reception, where you’ll enjoy a welcome drink before going to your villa.
Entrance to a one bedroom villa. These have less garden but each has a roof top terrace with great views and cool breezes. The villas are air conditioned except in the bathrooms which have fans.
Lush tropical gardens. Bali has world class restaurants and some days we have breakfast and one other meal and have a little picnic by the pool instead of a third, full spread. There’s a deli up the road with cheese, crackers, vegetables and fruit for in villa picnics.
The locked entrance gate means your villa is private and secure. The villas and pools are cleaned daily.
King sized beds with garden and pool views. All the rooms are light, airy and spacious with soaring ceilings and timber floors in the living areas and tiles in the bathrooms.
Order your breakfast and your preferred delivery time the night before and the lovely, smiling Balinese staff will arrive and set things out, ready for you to eat. We tried the English, French, American, Indonesian and Japanese breakfast choices and liked them all.
A variety of food can be ordered from the room menu ranging from snacks to three course meals.
The fruit in the front, left side, is a reptile fruit, with white flesh and a sweet, chewy texture.
We swim in the morning, in the afternoon and after dinner!
The tropics can be harsh on the buildings and a refurbishment program is planned.
Spacious bathrooms with showers and baths. Bottles of water provided….don’t drink the water in Bali!
Each two bedroom villa has a shared living space with sitting, dining and kitchen areas and two complete bedroom en suite units housed in three pavilions featuring these soaring ceilings. So beautiful.
Every time we stay we come home relaxed and blissed out, vowing to return as soon as possible. It is all so easy. Airfares are so low, Kamuela so accommodating and the staff so lovely. See it at www.kamuelavillas.com
Yesterday was Tiara Day, quite fitting following the Royal Wedding, but probably not very relevant for people in the suburbs with few commitments requiring a tiara. Apparently, Tiara Day is the same day as Queen Victoria’s birthday. I’m sure she had some gorgeous tiaras!
SWIM The balmy weather means you can swim during the day or night, at the beach or pool. Take two swimsuits as they can take a while to dry in the humidity and putting on a clammy, still damp swimsuit is a bit off putting!
2. EAT There’s a huge variety of cuisines available in Bali and the food is delicious. Experiment! I felt quite sad when a young boy staying where we were told me his family had hamburgers from a well known world-wide hamburger company delivered every night. Take the opportunity to talk to local people and ask them what’s popular or new.
3. ENJOY THE ARCHITECTURE The local style of architecture is so different from other countries and is ornate and beautiful. Craftsmen still carve and decorate wood and stone. Originally, strict rules dictated the order and arrangement of rooms in the houses but as properties have been divided due to inheritances, the size of land available has been diminished and the layout of rooms is less formalized.
Private home, set in lush gardens. So calm and peaceful and very beautiful.
A family temple. The Balinese are very spiritual and each family, larger family group and village has a temple.
4. BE PAMPERED So many opportunities for massages, facials, manicures and pedicures. So affordable compared to Australia.
I had an excellent facial from a male beautician. I’ve never had a male beautician before anywhere! No photos as I fell asleep almost immediately but my skin felt hydrated and soothed for days afterwards.
Reflexology is so relaxing. We went to a few places but my new favourite is Chill Reflexology in Seminyak. After a foot wash we were led into a cool, darkened room where we lay down, were given eye masks and ear phones and enjoyed the next hour listening not to dying whale music as I feared, but lovely soothing sounds. So restful, so relaxing.
Really good foot scrub and pedicure, too. Takes an hour with oils and creams massaged and rubbed on feet and legs, nails shaped, plenty of time between each application of polish. My local shop in suburban Perth follows a business model where they never say no to anyone who walks in, so even when I’ve made an appointment, the girl doing my nails might be flitting between three other people while I’m waiting and waiting and I’m there for so long.
Leaving Prina Spa, so pretty.
5. SHOPPING Most people like a memento of their holiday, especially when you have the time to shop without too many time constraints. I have always admired these roof “crowns” common on the peak of many Balinese buildings and was lucky enough to be taken by a friend to where they are made and was able to buy one.
Then I needed to buy a basket to carry it back to Australia!
Quickly discovered the drawstring basket was handy for carrying towels and books, too..
So many clothing, decorator, food, and souvenir shops everywhere and now, the ubiquitous tattoo shops! There’s antique furniture, rustic furniture and modern designs, clothing for everyone of every age, bags, shoes and masses of knick knacks!
A surprising discovery…a Catholic Church!
Did you watch the Royal wedding? Such a gorgeous dress, a lovely service and it looked like a beautiful day with the sun shining, but why did the bride’s mother seem to be alone?
Today is Quiche Lorraine Day, celebrating a shortcrust pastry filled with egg custard, cream, cheese, bacon or ham and sometimes added vegetables. Although we think of Quiche Lorraine as a French dish, it is actually thought to originate in Germany.
The end of summer fruits, kiwi fruit and strawberries plus new season pears and apples.
Following a period of poor health I am trying to “repair” my gut and found lots of online references to gelatin. It is thought to improve the mucosal lining of the gut and stimulate the production of gastric juices aiding digestion. It is an easily digested protein.
There are so many recipes for fruit jellies, or gummy bears, online, but I wanted to use apples as I already had a bowl full. My resulting fruit jelly wasn’t such a pretty colour like those made from strawberries or mango, but it tasted very good.
I began by stewing four apples in very little water. When they were soft I drained them and pureed the pulp.
I put one and a half cups of pulp in a jug and stirred through two dessertspoons of gelatin dissolved in half a cup of water. Next time I will put the fruit through a sieve to make a smoother jelly, but I quite liked the chewiness of this lumpier jelly.
I poured the mix into a lightly oiled glass dish and left it to set in the fridge for a few hours before cutting it and tasting it. Intense apple flavour and very nice. Some online recipes include faux sugars which would certainly make it more like traditional gummy fruits but I didn’t add this and we still enjoyed the taste.
Lots of examples online show the jellies made in silicone moulds shaped like bears, hearts and even Lego figures which are also available online and in kitchenware shops.
I will make this again trying other winter fruits which are now appearing in the fruit shops. A thinner version, using less gelatin, would be like normal jelly/jello but the whole point is to digest the gelatin so I’ll stick with these proportions of fruit to gelatin.
We’re going away soon and have begun collecting books to read while we are on holidays. Our collections often overlap and we swap, but I don’t think that will happen this time. I also like to take some decorator magazines.
The last of the hydrangeas. I cut and potted lots of “sticks” when I was pruning to create new plants in spring.
The last of the roses. The bushes are getting “leggy” and will be pruned soon.
Today, the fourth of May, is Star Wars Day, so sit back and watch your favourite Star Wars DVD with your light saber close by and may the fourth ( ha ha) be with you!
We enjoyed day trips while we were at Bunker Bay. Aravina Estate was recommended to me by a friend because she thought I’d like the garden.
I loved the garden! Set amongst bush land, vines, a lake and attractive buildings, the garden is gorgeous, even at the end of summer.
Also a small collection of cars and motoring memorabilia. To get to the cars and surfing exhibition, we passed through their shop, featuring gorgeous homewares, beautifully presented in a lovely space.
A very nostalgic wander around the Surfing Museum. This region is recognized world wide for its surf and beach lifestyle and is close to where I grew up. My husband found a picture of a surfer girl he said he knew in 1963!
Coffee out on the veranda. Tempting lunch menu but too soon after breakfast, so settled for coffee and the view of the lake and gardens. The wine we tasted was very good, too, and the staff were very helpful.
Finally, wandered back to the car park through the lush green garden. So glad we went there and will return.
MEELUP
Meelup Beach is a small, peaceful and protected bay and very popular for swimming, even early in the morning.
A group of artists sketching at the beach.
EASTER TREATS
Louis doesn’t eat chocolate but was very keen on eating his Easter Bunny.
This pretty wrapper for a block of chocolate is a gift from the very talented Mimi, from her blog A Tray of Bliss. This is one of four wrappers she has offered as downloads.
In a year when St Valentine’s Day ( I’m thinking chocolate ) and Ash Wednesday, marking the beginning of Lent ( a time to give a treats) fell on the same day, so too Easter Sunday and April Fool’s Day share the same date this year.
April Fool’s Day is commemorated by playing tricks on people, who are then the April Fools! There’s many conflicting theories about the origin of April Fools Day, but most agree the pranks should end at noon. The most widely accepted theory is it began in the 1500s when the Gregorian calendar replaced the Julian calendar, but some people forgot or didn’t know, so they celebrated the New Year at the beginning of April.
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