is your love santa stuck in the chimney?

Any movie that has a line about "a pathetic attempt to explain why our love Santa keeps getting caught in the chimney." terrifies me.



That and Meg Ryan's trout lips were frightening...

I always seem to miss the boat on memes about the blogs but when i saw the A to Z meme on Pip's Meet Me at Mikes i figured i could get on board with this one.
The idea being you work your way through the alphabet in your browsers address bar and list all the sites you've been to (and hope there isn't anything embarrassing). As i worked through thi s list i've noticed that sometimes it isn't if a site beings with that letter but which URL has the most incidences of a letter.

A - http://www.google.com/analytics/ this could have been for work and for checking to see if i'd had double-figure visitors on the blog. If you have a website of any sort you just have to have Google Analytics

B - http://brownowls.blogspot.com/ the sweetest craftiest bunch about

C - http://www.careerone.com.au/ yup i've been looking for a new job and accepted an offer last week. More of the same and a then some. Nervous and excited, i start mid July. I'll be back in Surry Hills which is nice to be around the sample sales again...

D - http://picasaweb.google.com/broadcasttech/FindersKeepers curiously this one popped up for D, Mr Blue-eyes pix from finders keepers.

E - http://www.google.com/reader how else to a keep an eye on over 150 different blogs....

F - http://www.fitnessfirst.com.au yep i joined a couple of months ago though refused to take the backpack. I'm trying to stick to at least twice a week and have even been seeing a trainer. Getting much harder in the mornings since it hit single figures in temp...

G - http://www.geekologie.com/2009/04/good_eats_a_whole_chicken_in_a.php ah i'd almost forgotton about this one, soooo disgustingly bad and like a car crash you can't look away. A whole chicken in a can...

H - http://www.hollychalmers.com/ delightful ladies fashion with a twist, spotted at finders keepers

I - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120679/ IMDB listing for Frida, i love her mexican folky blouses and wreathed hair

J - http://www.jetstar.com/au/en/index.aspx we've got a trip to Hong Kong in September pencilled in so was checking flights out...

K - http://kerrianne.com.au/ um it is for work i promise - i never watch daytime telly

M - http://meetmeatmikes.blogspot.com/

N - http://www.smh.com.au/national/ though i must say the SMH is really starting to bug me with ads that autoplay and ads running down the background

O - http://www.bom.gov.au/ i'm an utter weather geek and check the observations and radar everyday

P - http://pastureperfectpork.wordpress.com/ we bought a pork neck from them at the eveliegh growers markets and were looking for ideas on what to do with it. Ravioli and sausage won the day.

R - http://recipefinder.ninemsn.com.au/ felt like baking today and was looking for something to do with the passionfruits i got at the markets yesterday...

S - http://thestonesoup.com/blog one of my fave Sydney food bloggers, Jules has a great way of writing and showing us what she makes and i seem to want to eat all of it

T - http://www.threeoverone.com/ Mr Blue-eyes is always on the look out for sharp menswear that is classic but modern.

U - http://uootsie.wordpress.com/

V - http://www.webjet.com.au/airlines/virgin-atlantic/ more Hong Kong research, my fave airline so far

X - http://www.xbox360cheats.com/ i think 'someone' was getting frustrated with a game...

Y - http://yalla.com.au/ am drooling just remembering the Yalla dips and yogurts. The strawberry/pomegranate is thrilling.

I know things in Sydney don't really get cold as far as the northern hemmesphere goes but when it gets to single figures at night then it counts as cold for me.
Cold enough for me that these wool-blend arm warmers from Country Road seemed like a super idea, especially when on sale for $22 (was $50).
Perfect for keeping the hands warm when blogging...

So after mastering the art of making pizza dough and sausages Mr Blue-eyes has moved onto pasta. As much as we wanted to get the pasta attachments for our Kitchenaid we werent quite willing to spend almost the cost of the mixer for the attachments and a quick trip to Victoria's Basement scored us a basic pasta maker in a matching red enamel even.

A couple of trials ensued and it wasnt long before the right blend of pasta flour and semolina was discovered. Some digging in the utensil drawer unearthed a long lost ravioli wheel and the technique was perfected.

One of the more successful dinners was a Prawn, pinenut & fetta ravioli with a tomato and cream sauce with garden fresh basil.

The filling

The filling laid out on the pasta ready for the top layer

Once the an egg wash is brushed on the bottom layer, the top layer of pasta is laid on top and smoothed down around the filling.

The edges are then trimmed off using the wheel tool.

and then cut into individual pieces.

lots of flour is used to make sure they dont stick together as they're being prepared. Whilst they were in a pot of salted boiling water the sauce was created with cherry tomatoes, garlic, basil and a splash of cream.

We just managed to snap this shot because minutes later there was nothing left in that bowl - a real plate licker...

Inspired by The Crafty Librarian & AmityvilleBoronia I'm going to share what we're having for dinner tonight.
From The Silver Spoon which was a wedding pres from A'dair & Tash comes Pumpkin Tortelli.
Mr Blue-eyes has mastered the art of pasta making and is now on to trying new fillings and non tomato sauces.

Ingredients:
4 cups pumpkin, peeled, seeded and chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
2/3 cup Parmesan cheese, freshly grated, plus extra to serve
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 1/2-2 cups bread crumbs
200gr Fresh Pasta Dough
1/4 cup butter
8 fresh sage leaves
Salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 220c. Put the pumpkin in a roasting pan, drizzle with the oil, cover with foil and bake for about 1 hour. Pass the pumpkin through a food mill into a bowl, add the Parmesan and eggs and season with salt and pepper. Stir in enough bread crumbs to make a fairly firm mixture. Roll out the pasta dough into a sheet and stamp out 7.5cm rounds with a cookie cutter. Spoon a little of the pumpkin filling into the center of each round, fold in half and crimp the edges. Cook the tortelli in a large pan of salted, boiling water for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, melt the butter in a frypan, add the sage and cook for a few minutes. Drain the tortelli, place in a warm serving dish and sprinkle with the sage butter and extra Parmesan.

We ended up making ravioli shapes as we didn't have a nice round cutter and Mr Blue-eyes has the ravioli technique down pat. We also forgot to add the parmesan into the pumpkin mixture but it was still pretty damn yummy (if a bit naughty with the butter sauce).

I'll blame Mr Blue-eyes who suffered last week as i'm afflicted with one of those delightful viruses that clogs the head up with goop and turns you into a pathetic shambling creature.
I know I'm really unwell when I'm not hungry and I've been surviving on bags of these Eucalyptus and Honey balls.
Proper blogging to resume when i can type properly without going crosseyed.

So here are a few more pix from The Finders Keepers Markets this weekend just gone (part 1 here).

Some of the rolls of wallpaper at Publisher Textiles. They also had very cool tops & dresses in prints with circuits and other motifs.

Screenprinted posters and tees in sharp lines from Cultural Urge.

Waist cinching belts and bits from Cherry Morris

Cards and threads and assorted stationary from Lox + Savvy

Fellow Brown Owl, Shelbyville. Jeweller, crafter, 'ziner and bookbinder to boot.

I've been a long time lurker at Auntie Cookies blog so it was sweet to see her craftiness in person.

I've been lusting after Zaishu stools for sometime and i was driven to gibbering at Mr Blue-eyes about these stools and ooo-that-one-ooo-want-this-one.

And my new favourite local store Made590, including me sizing up a frock and Miss Cath & I trawling the rails. I think i will be relieving the deer of its lovely red coat one day soon.

Frankie Magazine was also there with a neat stand that had back issues, knitting needles, fabric bundles, aprons and a rather decent assortment of vintage/2nd hand clothes. You can see the turquoise blue cardie i scored being folded at top left.

And now for random people watching pix, with thanks to Sam from Turramurra with her fab haircut and Grace with her cool toy horse.

After not making it to the Summer season last year i was determined not to miss The Finders Keepers Markets this time, especially when it is only 300m down the road from my house.

I made up for it this time by making 2 visits, Friday night after work (along with hundreds of others) and on Saturday afternoon with more of a pram brigade and a hungover Miss Cath.

There was a Brown Owls rendezvous' at Badskirt's Friday and Shelbyville's stand Saturday but i didn't quite make to either although i did spot a few Brown Owls about.
Here are some of the highlights that Mr Blue-eyes captured. I'll try to link to as many stands as i can match up...

In need of some basic white tees i managed to nab a Finders Keepers tee before the sold out, $35 seemed reasonable for a nicely cut white tee with a pretty print.

Back side of the Made by White stand featuring their wall stickers. Loving the deer with the forest in its antlers. Made by White also have the only instance i've seen of a sloth as a pendant.

Pretty sure these are by Sally Mac, assorted lovely japanese silk decor and baby bits.

Fresh citrusy colours and natural sillouettes from Redberry Designs

Sweet kidlet clothes in fun designs with no pink and blue to be seen - yay from Honeyants

Rebound Books have all your old favourites including Golden Books repurposed as notebooks, diaries and journals.

Delightful birdcage with gift tags and other stationery by Mulberry Muse

Assorted brooches, canvases and other charming objects by Prado-Marin

And fellow Brown Owl sewer/crafter/blogger extrordinaire, BADSKIRT. I saw a number of folks wandering about with hippos and other critters in bags, including my colleague Besty who is debating keeping her hippo instead of gifting it on.

Dashing and dapper bicycle wear from the happy Rocket Fuel

Berlinski with her handbags and clutches from tasty vintage materials

Edit: This is Allison of Six and a half stitches who was sharing a stall with Kristan Doran
I've been reading Kristan blog for months and had to grab a panel of her squirrel print

I liked the clothes at Sunday Morning so much i had to come back and get a 2nd top. I bought a black long sleeve top with a flattering boat neck that had been trimmed in a vintage pink/green/blue print and a soft blue tee with a silver owl print (as worn below. They also do nice textiles and jewllery too.

We were enchanted with Holly Chalmers frilled with a twist, tailored pieces, am kicking myself for not grabbing something from her as i don't think she is stocked in Sydney yet.

Part 2 of Finder Keepers to come shortly...