Favourite things - Christmas gift guides

I don't want to be alarmist, but there are less than five weeks left until Christmas. *Insert horrified yell here.* If I have to even consider another one of those repackaged-to-look-vintage pointless office nicknacks and ye olde board games that they stack in dump bins around the entrances of department stores as gifts for the hard-to-buy-for friend, I may cry. So, as much for my sake as yours, I've gathered together today what I think are the best five gift guides floating around the Internet. In these you'll find unique, one-of-a-kind and affordable gifts, as well as gifts you can make and gifts you can bake, PLUS some discount codes. 1. Good stuff

Pip Lincoln's (of Meet Me at Mike's) fabulous 'good stuff' guide is out again, and it's chock full, with 125 pages of things to make and things to make and things to read.

2. IHOD holiday gift guide

Anna from In Honor of Design (IHOD) has scoured the Internet for affordable gift options and handmade ideas, and includes exclusive discount codes in her 2012 holiday gift guide.

3. For book lovers

This is a cute list of the season's best gifts for book lovers from Design Mom. It will be particularly useful if those book lovers are also foodies, crafters, teenagers, parents, little ones or artists.

4. Hip and handmade

Get your craft on with the girls from Craft Pack's digital book, A Hip, Handmade Holiday. It costs just $10 to download, and includes more than 18 projects and 100 printable stickers, patterns, gift tags and more.

5. Affordable art

Recently I published a little post about 20x200, a wonderful and ever-changing collection of affordable art for the masses. They've put together a little guide with art for everyone on your list, from geeks to wanderers, and sports fans to fashionistas.

ps. Here are some more great gift lists from Etsy:

* 25 gifts under $25 * Editor's picks * Gifts for difficult dads

Aaaaaaand more lists of five favourite things.

Daisy chains

Please pardon this proud (step) mama post. When Em turned 14 in July this year, she asked us for a ukelele as her present. She taught herself to play it. She wrote a song. So, to take you into the weekend, here is some sweet music from Madeleine's very beautiful big sister.

Happy weekend. xo

Art + words

 

Happy Sunday, dear friend. Are you a word-loving person like me? A proud book nerd? (A tad budget constrained?) Then I have just the pretty art to adorn your walls.

The 20x200 project is an affordable art program, bringing beautiful, limited-edition prints to the masses at fabulously low prices. There's something for every wall in every home, but today I've collected some of my favourite "word art" for your viewing (and reading) pleasure.

All images used here with permission. Click on any image you like to read the artist's statement or buy it (but be quick because they sell out fast).

ps. The free art machine and the Bigfoot-inspired charity art show

Sandy, Halloween, life and links

Seems these days I am just about as busy as the bees in the jasmine flowers outside my study window. In the past coupla weeks, I have:

* Redesigned my website with the help of Brandi Bernoskie, and I absolutely love it. What do you think? I even designed a little logo!

* Pondered how, in the wake of Hurricane Sandy, technology can keep us together.

* Collected my top ten Halloween-related links from the whole wide Interwebs.

* Helped Kidsafe Australia launch a blogging competition to promote child safety (you can see the top 10 entrants here, and vote for your favourite)

* Welcomed my parents for a visit, and felt altogether grateful to have them in my life.

* Watched the hands in a beautiful suite of photographs.

* Planned and executed a garden party for my friend, which also involved a veritable baking bonanza.

And also... cuddled and cared for the world's cutest baby. Took the family with me to see Mumford & Sons and Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros. Popped along to the Finders Keepers markets. Remembered to vote. Got a little bit obsessed with all the spring blossoms around town. Applied fake tan to my lily-white legs and did a terrible job. Met a couple of work deadlines by the skin of my teeth. Instagrammed like crazy (I'm @naomibulger if you want to join in).

What have you been doing lately, dear friend?

(Vintage Halloween postcard from here)

Garden party

The flowers were in bloom and the breeze was light, so we headed out to Edinburgh Gardens bright and early on Saturday morning to claim our own little picnic place inside a pretty ring of old trees. I was hosting a birthday party for my good friend Tonia. There wasn't enough room in our home, so I thought a spring garden party would be just the thing instead.

And it would have been, if only the late October weather hadn't gone all contrary on me and dipped its toes into positively Antarctic temperatures. Good Lord it was freezing out there! By nightfall we were chilled to the bone. When I got home, I stood under the shower until the water ran cold, just to try and thaw out.

But even these dismal conditions didn't stop Tonia's friends from joining us in the park to celebrate her birth. And let's face it: good company, flowing champagne in vintage saucers, plentiful cupcakes and other sweet things, plus a good dose of bubbles and party poppers, can turn even the coldest of afternoons into a fun afternoon.

I have to say a special, warm and bottom-of-my-heart grateful thanks to my parents, who happened to be visiting this week and ran themselves ragged helping to make Tonia's party a success. Please come back and visit soon, Mum and Dad, I promise that next time, I will look after you!

Some details:

* Giant, round balloons from Lark (weighed down by adorable old garden gnomes, and decorated with homemade garlands inspired by this tutorial) * Bunting painstakingly cut out from old clothes and put together (with staples because I didn't have needle and thread in my house) by my Mum * Teacups mine and Mr B's (we are old ladies) * Beautiful beverage dispensers hired from Leo & Bella (they are also for sale) * Vintage typewriter for the sign, mine (it was my grandmother's) * Vintage camera, my Dad's (it was his first camera, as a little boy) * Assorted cake stands, plates, champagne buckets etc, mine and my parents' * Sublime strawberry-ricotta layered birthday cake, decorated with wildflowers, from Sweet Source * On the menu, home-made: lemonade, pomegranate iced tea, two types of chocolate cupcakes, two types of vanilla cupcakes, iced vanilla biscuits in hearts and bluebirds, almond peach pie, chocolate-coated strawberries * On the menu, from the shops: champagne (lots of it!), spinach and fetta quiche, sun-dried tomato and goat's cheese quiche, Turkish Delight, marshmallows, macarons, melting moments, fresh strawberries

Extra ideas I didn't get around to carrying out:

* Hanging sweet jars of flowers above the tables * Digging out an old gramophone for music * Finding a second vintage typewriter, so people could type birthday messages for Tonia (that was Em's idea. Neat huh?) * Putting out little stands of parasols for shade, or extra blankets for warmth, or both * Remembering to put the fresh mint leaves in the lemonade

Happy birthday Tonia. I love you my dear, crazy friend!

Tacos for the time-poor

Last week it was my birthday. It's funny how celebrating my own birth begins to seem a bit redundant now that I have the recent birth of a glorious little one to contemplate. Except in the case of my mother, I imagine. Now that I have actually given birth to a human being, I have a whole new appreciation for how mothers must feel on their own children's birthdays. No wonder some mums go over the top, putting on parties for one-year-old babies that the children won't even remember. I think it's about celebrating the magnitude of that event: "Child, you are REAL. Here you are IN THE WORLD. You are THE SUNSHINE IN MY LIFE. I made you. I grew you. And this day a year ago, IT ALL HAPPENED." I'm totally going OTT for Madeleine when she turns one!

Anyway, I didn't want my birthday to go entirely unmarked, because I've done that in the past and then felt a bit flat later. So I compromised by inviting 10 friends over for a very simple dinner. A very, VERY simple dinner, because I am a new mother with a bub who prefers to be on me like a baby koala, and cries if I so much as lose eye contact with her for too long. I don't have time to make anything fancy.

We planned to have a BBQ in our little courtyard, but the day of the party was one of the coldest and wettest on record for October, so we had to move everything inside, with people perching on the edges of sofas and on cushions on the floor. The animals were locked away in the back of the house, much to their disgust.

The menu

So instead of the BBQ, I cooked up a variety of taco fillings and laid everything out for people to just go to town. There was guacamole and corn chips for our guests to nibble on when they arrived, followed by char-grilled corn on the cob, warm soft tortillas, and assorted fillings like baked fish, spicy mince-meat, oven-roasted capsicum, refried beans, fresh tomato salsa, shredded lettuce, cheese, fresh chilli, fresh lime, and a whole lotta sauces on the side.

Madeleine goes to bed at six every night, and it can easily take me an hour to feed and settle her. Our guests were arriving at half past seven, so I basically had to prepare everything way ahead of time. Once I got myself super-organised, it was pretty easy. I strapped Madeleine into the sling during the day, and off we went. I roasted and chopped the capsicum ahead of time then quickly pan-fried it to reheat it for serving. I cooked the corn in the microwave, then just char-grilled it with some butter and olive oil before serving. I precooked the mince and reheated it in yet another pan to serve. That used up all the space on the stove, so...

I seasoned the fish ahead of time and then just baked it for 10 minutes when everyone was ready to eat. I made the guacamole, the salsa and a crema for the fish, and stored them in the 'fridge. All I had to do after putting Madeleine to bed was stir the various bits and pieces on the stove, wait for the fish to cook, chop the lettuce and grate the cheese. That took 15 minutes tops and I could spend the rest of the night with my friends!

The two definite favourites of the night were the fish tacos and guacamole, so here are my recipes in case you want to give them a try. They are both mega-easy.

Guacamole

(Note: I like my guacamole with a bit of a kick. Go easier on the cayenne and lime if you want a milder taste)

6 avocados 4-6 limes (keep adding to taste) 1 tsp salt 1 tsp ground cumin seeds 1 tsp cayenne pepper 1 bunch chopped coriander 1-2 cloves minced garlic

In a large bowl, coat the scooped avocado pulp in the juice of a couple of the limes and lightly toss. Put the avocado and juice into a blender, add the spices, and blend until smooth. Fold in the coriander and garlic. Taste. Now start adding more lime juice and possibly more spices until you get the flavour balance exactly right.

If you plan on storing the guacamole in the 'fridge, seal it well so the avocado doesn't brown. Pull it out an hour early so you can serve it at room temperature.

Baked fish tacos with coriander crema

For the crema, combine the following ingredients in a bowl and store in the 'fridge:

1/2 cup thinly sliced shallots 1/2 cup chopped fresh coriander 6 tbsp mayonnaise 6 tbsp low fat sour cream grated rind of 1 lime juice of 1 lime 1/2 tsp salt 2 minced garlic cloves

For the tacos, lay out fish fillets on a shallow tray with a little olive oil and a dob of organic butter. My fishmonger recommended allowing about 400 grams of fish for each taco. I used snapper but they didn't have enough, so I grabbed another variety of fish that I can't remember, I just asked that they be flavours that worked together, and about the same size so they would bake at the same rate. It all worked out.

Sprinkle the fish with spices. I used the following:

Four parts ground cumin Four parts ground coriander seeds Two parts paprika One part garlic powder A sprinkling of ground sea-salt and black pepper

Now just bake them in a very hot oven (about 220 degrees Celsius) for 10-12 minutes. When they're done, break them up with a fork and serve them on the tortillas with shredded lettuce or cabbage, a hefty dollop of the crema, and a squeeze of fresh lime.

I completely forgot to take photos of the night, because I was too busy having a good time with all my friends and NOT being tied to the kitchen. So, instead, I bring you some photos of the brand new pop up patch rooftop garden. Madeleine and I sneaked out to take a look at how it was all progressing yesterday and, after saying "I don't want anything for my birthday," I am thinking I might possibly want one of these, after all.

When you say "the price of a coffee a day" I think this garden is cheap as can be. Then I add up $3.50 a day over the course of a year, and suddenly it becomes a very expensive birthday present indeed. If only I could find someone to share the garden with me (hint hint).

Sunday night

Last night friends dropped around to visit and brought pizza with them, so we sat together outside as the sun went down and the twinkle-lights came on and the perfume from the dying first-blooms of jasmine thickened in the night air. I spread the table with a piece of gloriously red Masai cloth that was given to Mr B when he worked in Africa, and filled old jars with tea-light candles for extra light. That was the sum total of my decorating efforts but it put us in a festive mood, so on went the music and out came the wine, and it was a thoroughly enjoyable way to finish up the weekend.

Around us, Ruby chased bugs in the ferns and tried to climb an olive-tree sapling that was much too slender for her weight. Oliver circumnavigated the table begging for pizza, appearing on hind legs beside one person or another like a floppy-eared meerkat.

Later, much later, we managed to get Ruby down from the top of the garden wall. (Can you see her in that bottom photo?)

Always-Sometimes-Never

I always...

mime Madeleine sleeping for Mr B before waking her sniff the pages of old books wish I could bundle all my dear friends up and bring them to Melbourne crave summer fruit (oh! plums, nectarines, mangoes, cherries, more more more) love winter and long for snow to fall on my town

I sometimes...

make a cup of tea and read blogs in the morning do my hair and put on makeup just to feel awake wish I lived in my own house, instead of renting long to travel again cry when I look at Madeleine, just because I love her so much

I never...

let the pets into the bedroom (any more) get too excited about hot weather, even at the beach skip breakfast remember phone numbers eat offal

Always-Sometimes-Never was inspired by a little cutie pie called Janee from Yellow Bird Yellow Beard, and she was inspired by the equally cute Danni from Oh Hello Friend (I read both these blogs). Will you take a turn now?

*     *     *

And on another matter, Madeleine! (No surprises there). We plan to buy her a cot this weekend, as she has grown too big for her bassinette. Each night she wiggles around in her sleep, kicks off from the sides, and pushes herself up into the far right corner of the cradle in a bizarre angle. It never seems to bother her, though, and she always wakes up in the best of moods. My little angel.

Pop-up picnic

I am throwing a birthday party for a friend and, since spring has so gloriously sprung in Melbourne, I thought I'd make it a picnic. But not just any picnic. I was thinking I'd put on an outdoor high tea.

I will bake little cakes and ice little biscuits and serve scones with jam and whipped cream, and make little sandwich fingers with the crusts cut off. I will set out a big bowl of strawberries. I will haunt the beautiful blog of hello naomi for more inspiration.

For drinks, we'll sip champagne from old-fashioned glasses, slurp homemade lemonade from striped straws, and I thought I'd get around the no-access-to-electricity-and-no-use-of-open-flame-in-fire-season hurdle to serving tea and coffee, by mixing up a big jug of sweetened iced tea instead.

Originally, I wanted to hire a trestle table and some chairs, and go all-out, as though we were in an outdoor restaurant. Jordan of Oh Happy Day hosts pop-up dinner parties for her friends like these, and I find them so inspiring I've always wanted to try something similar myself.

But I want to surprise the birthday girl, so I've only told her the party is a picnic, nothing more. And I love her dearly but she's a bit of a scatterbrain. I couldn't trust her to turn up on time or stick to specific guest numbers, and it's not exactly easy to find an extra chair and an extra set of specially-ordered vintage china if your fancy dinner is in the middle of a field. So both formal seating and hot food are out.

Instead, I figured I could bring along a table just to set out the food, then spread blankets all around so that we are all one, big picnic together.

I also thought I'd get hold of half a dozen of these beautiful big, round balloons, make some sweet tassles to fancy them up, and peg them on string to the ground, to kind of mark out our picnic area.

I wanted to string bunting or little lanterns from a tree, but thankfully I had the foresight to case my probable venue the other day, and realised the branches of the trees in that park were much too high for me to reach!

What else should I consider? I'd love your ideas and suggestions.

UPDATE: we had the party at the end of October. Photos and details here

ps. Oh how I wish I had the budget to bring along Betsy the caravan to my picnic. Wouldn't you agree?

ps2. Are you ever to old to need your mum & dad?

ps3. A free book! And I'll send it to you by old-fashioned post!

Loving lately

springtime sunshinejasmine perfume in the air long walks with madeleine kitty purrs target fashion (no seriously), like this my new tangerine handbag madeleine turning into a chatterbox that first cup of tea of the day fresh lime on tacos terrariums

aaaaand, here i am elsewhere: paris + nyc books for kids gel manicure joy!

what's making you happy today?