Drive By Post - Yellow Roses

It's my birthday! And last week my mum gave some yellow roses as an early birthday gift. They were beautiful.

Gorgeous, right? The vase is a second hand one I picked up at this place a couple of years ago at this place in Daylesford. I totally forgot I had it until last week, and the yellow roses against the pale blue vase looked lovely. Pin It

Three Zero

Gratuitous food post!


I turned 30 on Sunday. Big things are happening here at Chez Boredom Abounds, but for now, please enjoy a picture of the delicious cupcakes we had for my birthday cake.

These are from the lady who made our wedding cake and she is fabulous. Affordable, totally flexible with flavours and colours and just lovely to deal with. Several of my friends have also bought their wedding cakes and party cakes from her and I can't recommend her highly enough! This one was chocolate and vanilla marble swirl flavour, and we also had strawberry and vanilla swirl that were green with a white flower. 


Sweet without being too rich and the perfect portion size!





Pin It

Sweet Things - La Belle Miette

We had breakfast at Affogato on Hardware Lane last week, which is directly opposite La Belle Miette, the most gorgeous patisserie.So of course, as soon as we had finished our breakfast I insisted we go and have a look inside, because the crisp blues and whites of the shop window were just too inviting to resist.

Once inside, I decided that I had to try their specialty, something that is very much flavour of the month (year?) at the moment.

 

Macarons! A long, gorgeous case of ever colour macaron you can imagine! And they come in such lovely packaging, you cannot go into that shop and walk away empty handed. 

I've had a couple of macarons in the past, but nothing that really knocked my socks off.

We got a pack of 6.

From left to right we have: hazlenut (which was not red at all, not matter what this photo looks like), salted caramel, raspberry, blueberry and violet, and strawberry and vanilla.

The hazelnut was soooooo good, and the strawberry and vanilla had the most subtle, lovely flavour. The raspberry and strawberry and vanilla ones had a tiny layer of jam in them, which added to the flavour without making them overly sweet.

Best of all, a pack of 6 was only fifteen dollars ($2.50 per macaron).

 

Well worth it! They also have a shop in Church Street, Richmond.

Pin It

Spring Snack

I am not a huge fruit person. But I do enjoy it more in the Spring/Summer time when there seems to be more variety. So I couldn't resist these gorgeous cherries when I noticed how red and lush they looked.

 

Of course it helps that they weren't one thousand dollars a kilo, finally.

Pin It

Drive By Post - Baby Blanket

I'm kind of busy this week, so posting has been a little bit lax, obviously. 

But, we have a beautiful new baby niece, so a few months ago I made a floor blanket for the new addition to the family. Luckily the gender was known, so I could use all this gorgeously bright fabric I had in the cupboard.

I was about to wrap it when I remembered to quickly snap a photo of it with my phone.

And a close up of the fabric (upside down, I just realised. Oops). I love the retro patterns!

Glee highlights post will go up in a day or so. Until then, have you checked out the Boredom Abounds By Julia facebook page? You can get updates direct in your newsfeed!



Pin It

Gadding About - Daylesford

We took Friday off last week and headed up to Daylesford for the weekend. It was lovely to get away, despite the (very) cold weather. We took lots of walks, ate a LOT of good food and saw lots of lovely scenery.

Chocolate Mill!

The most divine smell greeted us as we walked through the doors into the shop. You can also see the chocolate being made through a window, and they do demonstrations at 11am and 2pm daily. They have only ever used fair trade, Callebaut Belgian chocolate and oh, my. It was divine. I highly recommend the peanut cups and the nougat parcels. There was a vat that held 30kg of tempering milk chocolate in the kitchen, and to say I wanted to swan dive into it would be an understatement.

Wombat Hill Reservoir

We went for a meandering drive and ended up here at about 4.30pm just as the sun started to get low in the sky. It was a brilliantly sunny day there (MELBOURNE: TAKE NOTE) and the light and the reflection of the trees on the water was beautifully golden.

Field somewhere outside of Daylesford

All the rain we've had this year has made the country side so green. We were heading back to the B & B when we came across this cute little landscape and pulled over to snap a couple of shots. Sometimes I forget how lovely the state of Victoria is.

We also ate at some really, really lovely restaurants and cafes - I highly recommend Kazuki (Japanese/Australian fusion), Ego's Culineria, Frangos & Frangos restaurant and Wombat Hill House Cafe, just to name a few.

I ate the greatest toasted sandwich of my life at the Wombat Hill House Cafe - slow roasted lamb on brown bread with dijon mustard and tomato relish. It. Was. Divine.

Pin It

Friday Night Drinks

I remembered I had an unopened bottle of peach vodka in the cupboard, so I thought last night would be perfect for a cocktail.

Some quick Googling turned up a few recipes, but this one seemed the easiest and required the least amount of effort.

Pavlova Peach Cocktail

1 1/2 oz Peach Vodka

2 oz cranberry juice

2 oz orange juice

1 oz lemonade (Sprite)
Garnish with a slice of peach or orange

So I whipped one up, cooked some burgers and listened to some oldies on the radio. It was perfect.

Pin It

Winter Bloom

I downloaded the Hipstamatic app on my new phone and yesterday as I walked out of the house to go to work I noticed that the large Camellia bush had one single bloom on it. Although it's actually a red colour, for some reason it photographed as this pink shade. 

It's not my favourite flower by any means, but this single bloom on a freezing cold Winter morning where there's nothing but grey sky and drizzle was something nice to see of as I got in the car to drive to work.

Pin It

Anyone for Tea?

I don't drink tea, but I have such an obsession with pretty teacups. So when I spotted a display stand with piles of pastel coloured teacups and saucers at a second hand shop near work I couldn't resist going in for a better look.

 

I walked out with these three gorgeous sets for a grand total of $25. I was desperate for a pale pink set too, but apparently there is a Bride-To-Be in the area who keeps going in and buying all the pink crockery for her wedding. While I admire her good taste, I also secretly think "Challenge accepted" and want to go around buying up pink crockery so she can't have it. Yes, apparently I am That Kind of Person*. So if you see a cute, cheap pale pink cup and saucer somewhere let me know ASAP!

Anyway, aren't the lovely? I love the pastel shades and the different shape and texture of each set. Something to start off my props box, I think.

*note: I won't actually do this. I just had mean thoughts about doing it momentarily as the purchase was rung up. And possibly a few more times since then.

Pin It

Holiday Snap

One of the things I love about going on holiday to tropical destinations is the flowers. There's so much colour everywhere you look. These orange Hibiscus flowers were my favourite on our trip last week. So happy and cheerful, and I love they way they close up at night only to greet you in the morning with a burst of colour as they open again. Pin It

Preparing.....

It's holiday time at Chez Boredom Abounds, so posting will be light this week as we head for warmer climates and watch one of my best friends get married. Have a lovely week everyone! Pin It

Gadding About: Hosier Lane

I had a distastrous Friday afternoon. I went to pick up Husband's wedding band and it was repaired incorrectly, then I went to look at the Disney exhibition at ACMI and left without realising there was a whole other section* I hadn't seen yet (and thus couldn't blog about), then I had to pay FORTY EIGHT DOLLARS for two hours of parking at a car park on Flinders Street.

So instead I present you with this photo of just some of the awesome street art in Hosier Lane, Melbourne.

* FYI, what I did see of the exhibition was really, really cool, so you must go and have a look (at the whole thing).

Pin It

My Birthday Gift

AKA My Precious......

I'm not going to lie.

I hugged it.

What should I make with it first??

Pin It

Gadding About - Birthday Edition

It was my birthday last Saturday. I don't want this to turn into a photo heavy blog post of five billion different photo angles of the same ingredients/meals/etc, so I'll keep it brief (but delicious).

Here is everything I ate.

Enjoy.

Cupcakes from Cupcake Central in Hawthorn. They were the baby cakes and were $2 each. So light and moist and perfect for a bite sized dessert. We got a variety of raspberry and white chocolate, chocolate devils food cake, vanilla vanilla, cookies 'n' cream (each shown above) and chocolate malted milkshake (not pictured). I will definitely be going back there to sample the rest of the flavours, and I highly recommend you stop in to stuff your face with cupcakes ASAP.

On my actual birthday evening we dined at Hellenic Republic, where I've been wanting to go for a while now because I love Greek food (and NOT because it's one of the Masterchef judges' restaurants, I promise you). 

Entree was Tyri saganaki (Kefalograviera with peppered figs - left) and warm pita bread with Taramosalata (white cod roe dip right). These three things were some of the most delicious entrees I have ever eaten. EVER. The salty cheese with the sweetness of the figs was delicious, and the pita bread and dip were so fresh and perfectly prepared they were delightful to eat.

Main meal was grilled calamari (tasted like it had dill and another herb I couldn't identify), Arni sto fourno (slow roasted lamb, garlic, oregano) and Fasolakia (green beans with feta and pine nuts). The calamari was nice and tasty, but holy cow - that lamb? Incredible. So tender and the spices were flavoursome without tasting too salty or garlicky). The green bean salad was small, but the flavours went well with the mains.

Then we saw Black Swan and feasted on Ben & Jerry's ice cream for dessert. No pics because I HAD TO EAT IT ALL REALLY FAST. I had the mint choc chip flavour and the chocolate pudding flavour, which went nicely together.

And that's how I began the last year of my twenties. It better be a good one, universe (shakes tiny fist at the skies)!!

The end.


Actually, wait. Not the end.

I will be announcing a new giveaway on the weekend, so check back for your chance to win some fun prizes! Pin It

Retail therapy - silver things

There is a shop I drive past every day on my way to and from work that has enticing luxury items that are totally useless but insanely expensive. Just before Christmas they had a huge sign up on the window saying "Closing Down" so I pulled over and went in to have a look. I came home with a necklace that was originally $59.95 but I got it for twenty bucks. I visited the shop several more times before it closed down and each time I came away with some really cute jewelry, all reduced down to twenty bucks.

 

This was my last purchase before they closed their doors. So cute and delicate, and the little diamantes give it a little sparkle. Also, who would pay more than twenty dollars for either of these? Crazy people, that's who.

Pin It

Paper things

A new Idea Notebook (a la Sean Blumberg)

Purchased at Readings.

Accompanied by one very wrinkled doona cover (seriously, how many of you iron your bed linen? I cannot be bothered). Pin It

Lighthouse

Lighthouse

Cape Schanck, Victoria.

Pin It

My favourite

The best thing about the end of Winter /  start of Spring?

 

Ranunculus. My favourite flower.

Pin It

My Saturday Night

An  apple martini and some Hahndorf's truffles, followed by Prince of Persia. I was unfortunately lacking a Granny Smith apple to garnish the martini with though. The slice of green apple is usually my favourite part. Oh well, still delicious! Pin It

A splash of colour in Winter

It's always nice to have fresh flowers in the house, and we picked up some tulips at the supermarket a few weeks ago. I love tulips when they're just about to open, but we left them in the vase for quite a few days and I noticed how pretty they are when they've opened all the way.

The only bad thing about tulips is that they open so quickly, so you can't keep them for as long as other flowers. Still, the colour is just gorgeous. Pin It