My end of the sofa

Tonight after the squidgets are down in bed suzy collected her very own mama toys and has settled down at her end of the sofa to play...tonight there is:

1. The latest Burda World of Fashion edition, still a few months behind on everyone else, but hey at least we can get it now.
2. Sense and Sensibility, which I have read far too many times to be considered sensible about it, but the gift of a new one for Mother's Day has tempted me yet again.
3. Some crochet work - no more detail than that, as it is for a gift.
4. A cup of tea
5. And I know it's nerdy but a teeny little dictionary in case Jane has some words that I STILL don't know.

Enjoy your evening too!

Boozy fruit!

To those that may remember, I started my preserving journey earlier this year when summer was at it's peak and fruit aplenty. Whilst the jam making has gone from strength to strength, preserving fruit ah not so good . Yes sure, the fruit is preserved, but the aesthetics leave a bit to be desired. The man of the house thinks I am just being precious, but I do not like my fruit to rise to the top. In Suzy's imagination, my (fantasy) walk in pantry has jars and jars of gorgeous fruit ready to be eaten all year round!

A good friend of mine says I just need to kidnap a nanna at next year's Canberra Show, and hold them hostage until they show me how to do this fruit thing properly. The syrup is not too heavy, I used the least amount of sugar recommended! The fruit is packed tightly, at least I think it is!

So today I tried again - but this time with BOOZE! This is an ode to mulled wine and my favourite desert fruit - the elegant pear...


Details (provided for 1litre jar) - Sterilise jars in the usual manner and have them warm and at the ready. Pack jars with peeled pears, whole if you can and leave the stalks on. In each jar place 75g sugar, 6 or so whole cloves, 2cm piece of ginger julienned, a cinnamon quill and a few zests of orange. Half fill the jar with red wine, then top up with water. The picture above is the jars ready to start bubbling away!

Place in a pre-heated 130 degree oven for 3 hours, with the lids on, but not the screwcap (if that makes sense to you).

TIP - Place them on a tray, as they can boil over and I kept topping up with boiled water whenever the level got down, and again at the end before sealing.

I haven't tasted them yet, but they are floating about in a beautiful thick syrup! Yummo - now the question is can we wait a month before trying?

To shame or not to shame?

Well my friends, I need to ask a favour of you...whether I shame my local sewing shop out on this blog or not.

The story goes, about 8 months ago I did a bra-making class. I was heavily pregnant at the time and chose to make a maternity/feeding bra. Payment for the class included tuition, a personalised pattern and enough material to make two bras. I completed one bra on the day. The instructor then took the pattern and instructions so that she could cut up the fabric and make up the kit for the second bra.

To cut a long story short, after the birth of the girl-child I frequented the establishment some 5 or 6 times to enquire about the pattern and/or the kit for the second bra. Each time the shop assistant became more and more embarrased about having to tell me that "Yes I have passed the message on, did XXX ring you?" NO I say, otherwise why would I be here asking AGAIN!

Now I'm still merrily breastfeeding the bub, but it will end soonish and I have lost quite a few kilos since the day of the class - I no longer want said pattern and kit. I emailed the shop today, with a further please explain...and now I wait.

So, my question to you is
a) How long do I give them to respond to the email?
b) Should I shame them and name them on this blog?
I might mention that they are the only retailer of my brand of sewing machine and overlocker on this side of town!!!

Your help is much appreciated........suzy

Has anyone seen Suzy?

Man oh man! The last few weeks have pushed Suzy right to the back of the wardrobe. Firstly, my other persona, professional Suzy had to come out and complete some case studies for examination. That took far too long, Suzy hausfrau was and is cranky about it. Then Suzy and co (read family) had two wonderful weekends away...in succession! Off to Orange to visit Suzy's pre-school friend for the weekend, and then wonderful Sydney for the next. We even managed to sneak in a child-free night out (French & Saunders - very funny), thanks to my niece who flew down from Brisbane.

But whilst I've been slacking on the blog front, I'm pleased to report that an old friend of mine has begun her blog journey. Ms Whimsical Palate and I went to uni together, both longing to be doing something far more fun in the design world. Fast forward a decade or more after finishing, Ms Whimsical Palate made the brave step and went back to uni and followed the dream. She now lives in the Netherlands and as you can tell by the blog is a veritable style machine!