How lovely are these charms by Rob Ryan!
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| The Key To My Heart Knows It Will One Day Be Found |
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| The Key To My Heart Has Hope That Is Indestructible |
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| The Key To My Heart Lies Asleep Buried Deep Dreaming Of You |
Thank you MisterRob
Sunday, April 29, 2012
Because I am a romantic at heart
The key to my heart...
How lovely are these charms by Rob Ryan!
Thank you MisterRob
How lovely are these charms by Rob Ryan!
Thank you MisterRob
Saturday, April 28, 2012
#81: Search for the perfect Margarita Cocktail...Spice Market Ginger Margarita
Ever since I came back from our holiday in Los Angeles and New York, I have become obsessed with Margaritas. (It is strange as I don't even like tequila that much!)
While we were in Los Angeles, a Margarita somehow became my pre dinner apéritif.
The original Margarita recipe consists of tequila, Cointreau and lime juice, but over the years people have added their own spin to this recipe.
I know that this Life Life challenge is about finding the perfect Margarita, however I think the one we had at the Spice Market restaurant in New York, is as 'prefect' as I have found in my search so far.
I have been dying to re create the Spice Market Ginger Margarita since we came home and to my surprise I found the recipe very easily online.
So I thought I would share it with you.
The cocktail is very easy to make and the end drink I think is just divine.
The only fiddly thing is making the Ginger syrup, but once you make it, you can keep it in the fridge and pour it over ice cream or yogurt.
Zahara Dessert's spin on the Spice Market Ginger Margarita (Makes 1 serving)
For the Ginger Lime Syrup
1 cup of fresh ginger, peeled and thinly sliced 1 cup fresh lime juice
1 cup sugar
In a small saucepan, combine the ginger, lime juice and sugar and bring to a boil.
Boil for about 2-5 minutes. Let it cool then puree the soft ginger in a blender.
Pour the puree into a fine strainer and press the ginger to extract as much syrup as possible.
Store in an air tight container in the fridge until you need to use it.
For the Margarita
1 teaspoon ground ginger
2 teaspoons salt
Ice
3 tablespoons añejo tequila (or whatever good tequila you can afford)
1 1/2 tablespoons of Ginger Lime Syrup
1 tablespoon Cointreau
1 teaspoon fresh lime juice
1 lime wedge, for garnish
On a plate, mix the ground ginger and salt.
Slightly moisten the rim of a margarita glass with water and dip the rim in the ginger salt to coat.
Fill a cocktail shaker with ice.
Add the tequila, Ginger-Lime Syrup, Cointreau and lime juice and shake well.
Strain the drink into the margarita glass, garnish with the lime wedge and serve.
Spice Market
403 W13th Street,
New York
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| Spice Market Ginger Margarita [image by http://thewanderingeater.com] |
The original Margarita recipe consists of tequila, Cointreau and lime juice, but over the years people have added their own spin to this recipe.
I know that this Life Life challenge is about finding the perfect Margarita, however I think the one we had at the Spice Market restaurant in New York, is as 'prefect' as I have found in my search so far.
I have been dying to re create the Spice Market Ginger Margarita since we came home and to my surprise I found the recipe very easily online.
So I thought I would share it with you.
The cocktail is very easy to make and the end drink I think is just divine.
The only fiddly thing is making the Ginger syrup, but once you make it, you can keep it in the fridge and pour it over ice cream or yogurt.
For the Ginger Lime Syrup
1 cup of fresh ginger, peeled and thinly sliced 1 cup fresh lime juice
1 cup sugar
Boil for about 2-5 minutes. Let it cool then puree the soft ginger in a blender.
Pour the puree into a fine strainer and press the ginger to extract as much syrup as possible.
Store in an air tight container in the fridge until you need to use it.
For the Margarita
1 teaspoon ground ginger
2 teaspoons salt
Ice
3 tablespoons añejo tequila (or whatever good tequila you can afford)
1 1/2 tablespoons of Ginger Lime Syrup
1 tablespoon Cointreau
1 teaspoon fresh lime juice
1 lime wedge, for garnish
On a plate, mix the ground ginger and salt.
Slightly moisten the rim of a margarita glass with water and dip the rim in the ginger salt to coat.
Fill a cocktail shaker with ice.
Add the tequila, Ginger-Lime Syrup, Cointreau and lime juice and shake well.
Strain the drink into the margarita glass, garnish with the lime wedge and serve.
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| Celebrating my Brother in Law's 30th Birthday (with Ginger Margaritas) at the Spice Market in New York City [image by Zahara Dessert] |
403 W13th Street,
New York
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Artist Profile: DM Pottery
I discovered Denise McDonald when I was recently at the Eveleigh Artisans' Market.
I liked her work so much, I thought I would share it with you.
DM Pottery was established in 1996 and Denise has been potting ever since then.
Denise says she gets inspiration from "the natural world around me, from ammonite fossils on the Jurassic coast of England to the colours and patterns to be found on the bark of Australian eucalyptus trees"
What I was most drawn to was her works featuring the Flannel Flower.
The flannel flower pattern was taken from an old Australian Federation pane of textured glass. She then made a plaster cast of this glass and uses this cast to reproduce the Art Nouveau flower design in a number of works she produces.
I liked her work so much, I thought I would share it with you.
DM Pottery was established in 1996 and Denise has been potting ever since then.
Denise says she gets inspiration from "the natural world around me, from ammonite fossils on the Jurassic coast of England to the colours and patterns to be found on the bark of Australian eucalyptus trees"
What I was most drawn to was her works featuring the Flannel Flower.
The flannel flower pattern was taken from an old Australian Federation pane of textured glass. She then made a plaster cast of this glass and uses this cast to reproduce the Art Nouveau flower design in a number of works she produces.
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| I LOVE these dessert/condiment bowls |
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| The colour of this teacup is divine |
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| The neck of this vase is so pretty |
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| She even makes these pretty earrings |
All images taken from the DM pottery Etsy store
Sunday, April 22, 2012
My Happy Place... Santorini
Saturday, April 21, 2012
Bula!
We are off to Fiji on Monday I can not wait!
See we were supposed to go to Fiji 5 years ago on our honeymoon.
The plan was to spend 2 weeks driving around New Zealand, starting in the South Island and working our way up to the North Island.
We then were supposed to fly over to Fiji and spend 1 week relaxing at a resort, sipping cocktails on the beach.
Things however did not go to plan.
We did make it to New Zealand and had a great time taking in all the spectacular scenery of NZ. Most of the time you felt like you were on the set of The Lord of the Rings (and often you were).
But alas, when we arrived in Auckland, we BOTH were taken down by a Gastro stomach bug that made us VERY sick for days. We think what caused it was a lamb roll in Matamata.
That roll made us so sick in fact, we had to cancel the Fiji leg of our Honeymoon and fly back to Australia.
Our wedding vows did say 'in sickness and in health'... we just didn't think we needed to do it so soon into our marriage.
It was very sad to miss out on the Fiji leg of our Honeymoon and we never made it back.
We did however end up going to Vietnam the year after with the money we got back from our Travel Insurance and had a great holiday with our friends. We also had what I call our 2nd Honeymoon when we went to Santorini and Naxos, Greece.
So don't feel too bad for us.
I just always wanted to go to Fiji.
I was going to put it on my Life List, but I just didn't think it was that important, given we had already been to so many other beautiful places since then.
But the time has come!
It has been a very impromptuly arranged trip. My husband has been working CRAZY hours on a 'Top Secret' movie project. But this project has just wrapped up.
So we thought we would take the few weeks of down time and go have a holiday and relax! He deserves it.
Sydney has also had the worst Summer in a generation. Therefore we feel we need to have a few days of Summer and relax in the sun before Winter sets in.
The strange thing is, we are staying at the same hotel we had booked for our Honeymoon. We didn't do it intentionally, it was the one that we liked the most and it had the better deal.
I'll post some stories from Fiji in the coming weeks
See we were supposed to go to Fiji 5 years ago on our honeymoon.
The plan was to spend 2 weeks driving around New Zealand, starting in the South Island and working our way up to the North Island.
We then were supposed to fly over to Fiji and spend 1 week relaxing at a resort, sipping cocktails on the beach.
Things however did not go to plan.
We did make it to New Zealand and had a great time taking in all the spectacular scenery of NZ. Most of the time you felt like you were on the set of The Lord of the Rings (and often you were).
But alas, when we arrived in Auckland, we BOTH were taken down by a Gastro stomach bug that made us VERY sick for days. We think what caused it was a lamb roll in Matamata.
That roll made us so sick in fact, we had to cancel the Fiji leg of our Honeymoon and fly back to Australia.
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| This was taken 2 days into the bug [image by Zahara Dessert] |
It was very sad to miss out on the Fiji leg of our Honeymoon and we never made it back.
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| We were feeling a little better [image by Zahara Dessert] |
So don't feel too bad for us.
I just always wanted to go to Fiji.
I was going to put it on my Life List, but I just didn't think it was that important, given we had already been to so many other beautiful places since then.
But the time has come!
It has been a very impromptuly arranged trip. My husband has been working CRAZY hours on a 'Top Secret' movie project. But this project has just wrapped up.
So we thought we would take the few weeks of down time and go have a holiday and relax! He deserves it.
Sydney has also had the worst Summer in a generation. Therefore we feel we need to have a few days of Summer and relax in the sun before Winter sets in.
The strange thing is, we are staying at the same hotel we had booked for our Honeymoon. We didn't do it intentionally, it was the one that we liked the most and it had the better deal.
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| One Tree Hill, the only thing we saw of Auckland, outside or Hotel room. We made it this far, we then had to turn around and walk back to our room as we both started feeling very faint and ill again [image by Zahara Dessert] |
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| Hobbiton, Matamata, the location of the infamous lamb sandwich [image by Zahara Dessert] |
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
#15: Get 'Sir Drinks a lot' Published
I met 'husband' in our first year of University. I was studying Social Research and he was doing Telecommunications Engineering. As I mentioned in a recent post, we met over a joint love of U2.
We both graduated, I went to work for a research agency and husband got a job as a Project Manager at an Engineering company.
I liked my job.
Husband did not.
He loathed it.
As a way of distracting himself from the job he did not like, he enrolled himself into night classes for 3D Animation and Digital Effects. He absolutely loved this course and at the end of it he decided to resign from his well paid Engineering job and enrol into a full time, year long diploma to become a student once again .
He did this and thrived.
He did so well that his final film was awarded the Best Student Film at the The Australian Effects and Animation Festival. The Demise of Sir Drinks-a-lot is the tale of a dragon-slaying Knight with a drinking problem.
'Husband' has now been working as a Visual Effects artist for the last 8 years and is LOVING it. He has worked on quite a lot of great films and commercials, the most recent of which is a highly anticipated film from Ridley Scott.
I think what husband did was very courageous and I have always admired what he did.
Recently our friend was tidying up around the house and stumbled across the DVD of Sir Drinks-a-lot. He showed it to his 3 year old daughter and it was a massive hit. She absolutely loves the film and often watches it over and over again.
I have always thought The Demise of Sir Drinks-a-lot has the potential to be a great children's book. I am constantly pestering husband to do a creative writing course and work on getting it published, but he has been too busy with work to come up with and write an extended story line.
This is why it is on the life list. I really do feel that The Demise of Sir Drinks-a-lot would be a successful children's book. I just need to figure out a way to get husband to work on it.
Here is the film for you to watch.
Footnote: Husband cringes when he watches this now, as the computer graphics is very substandard to what he would produce now.
Despite this, I still love it and it always makes me smile!
Enjoy!
I will keep you posted on how he goes with the book.
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| Dragon and 'Sir-Drinks-a-lot', original characters from the 'Demise of 'Sir-Drinks-a-lot' [image by Zahara Dessert] |
We both graduated, I went to work for a research agency and husband got a job as a Project Manager at an Engineering company.
I liked my job.
Husband did not.
He loathed it.
As a way of distracting himself from the job he did not like, he enrolled himself into night classes for 3D Animation and Digital Effects. He absolutely loved this course and at the end of it he decided to resign from his well paid Engineering job and enrol into a full time, year long diploma to become a student once again .
He did this and thrived.
He did so well that his final film was awarded the Best Student Film at the The Australian Effects and Animation Festival. The Demise of Sir Drinks-a-lot is the tale of a dragon-slaying Knight with a drinking problem.
'Husband' has now been working as a Visual Effects artist for the last 8 years and is LOVING it. He has worked on quite a lot of great films and commercials, the most recent of which is a highly anticipated film from Ridley Scott.
I think what husband did was very courageous and I have always admired what he did.
Recently our friend was tidying up around the house and stumbled across the DVD of Sir Drinks-a-lot. He showed it to his 3 year old daughter and it was a massive hit. She absolutely loves the film and often watches it over and over again.
I have always thought The Demise of Sir Drinks-a-lot has the potential to be a great children's book. I am constantly pestering husband to do a creative writing course and work on getting it published, but he has been too busy with work to come up with and write an extended story line.
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| Sir Drinks-a-lot's #1 Fan, Edie |
Here is the film for you to watch.
Footnote: Husband cringes when he watches this now, as the computer graphics is very substandard to what he would produce now.
Despite this, I still love it and it always makes me smile!
I will keep you posted on how he goes with the book.
Sunday, April 15, 2012
shades of blue
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| Honor Oak Park, London [image by Zahara Dessert] |
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| New York [Image by Zahara Dessert] |
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| New Zealand [Image by Zahara Dessert] |
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| The Grand Canal, Venice [Image by Zahara Dessert] |
Saturday, April 14, 2012
Melbourne Street Art
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| [image by Zahara Dessert] |
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| [image by Zahara Dessert] |
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| [image by Zahara Dessert] |
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| The lovely Melbourne sky [image by Zahara Dessert] |
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| An artist at work [image by Zahara Dessert] |
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| [image by Zahara Dessert] |
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| A close up of her art [image by Zahara Dessert] |
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| [image by Zahara Dessert] |
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| [image by Zahara Dessert] |
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| I loved this [image by Zahara Dessert] |
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| 'husband' admiring the works [image by Zahara Dessert] |
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| [image by Zahara Dessert] |
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| [image by Zahara Dessert] |
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| Me [image by Zahara Dessert] |
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
#40. Read the 100 Books to read before you die... the list
Between #40 and #83 on the Life List, I have a lot of reading to do!
For my 100 books to read before I die challenge, I have chosen the list compiled by the BBC's Big Read.
The list is as follows...
Some I have already read, others I an sure I have read, but can't remember doing so.
3. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman
4. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
7. Winnie the Pooh, AA Milne
8. Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell
11. Catch-22, Joseph Heller
13. Birdsong, Sebastian Faulks
14. Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier
16. The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame
18. Little Women, Louisa May Alcott
19. Captain Corelli's Mandolin, Louis de Bernieres
20. War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy
21. Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell
26. Tess Of The D'Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy
27. Middlemarch, George Eliot
28. A Prayer For Owen Meany, John Irving
29. The Grapes Of Wrath, John Steinbeck
31. The Story Of Tracy Beaker, Jacqueline Wilson
32. One Hundred Years Of Solitude, Gabriel García Márquez
33. The Pillars Of The Earth, Ken Follett
34. David Copperfield, Charles Dickens
36. Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson
37. A Town Like Alice, Nevil Shute
39. Dune, Frank Herbert
42. Watership Down, Richard Adams
43. The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald Currently trying to read
44. The Count Of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas
45. Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh
47. A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens
48. Far From The Madding Crowd, Thomas Hardy
49. Goodnight Mister Tom, Michelle Magorian
50. The Shell Seekers, Rosamunde Pilcher
52. Of Mice And Men, John Steinbeck
53. The Stand, Stephen King
54. Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy
55. A Suitable Boy, Vikram Seth
57. Swallows And Amazons, Arthur Ransome
58. Black Beauty, Anna Sewell
59. Artemis Fowl, Eoin Colfer
60. Crime And Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky
61. Noughts And Crosses, Malorie Blackman
63. A Tale Of Two Cities, Charles Dickens
64. The Thorn Birds, Colleen McCollough
65. Mort, Terry Pratchett
66. The Magic Faraway Tree, Enid Blyton
67. The Magus, John Fowles
68. Good Omens, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
69. Guards! Guards!, Terry Pratchett
70. Lord Of The Flies, William Golding
71. Perfume, Patrick Süskind
72. The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, Robert Tressell
73. Night Watch, Terry Pratchett
76. The Secret History, Donna Tartt
77. The Woman In White, Wilkie Collins
78. Ulysses, James Joyce
79. Bleak House, Charles Dickens
80. Double Act, Jacqueline Wilson
82. I Capture The Castle, Dodie Smith
83. Holes, Louis Sachar
84. Gormenghast, Mervyn Peake
85. The God Of Small Things, Arundhati Roy
86. Vicky Angel, Jacqueline Wilson
87. Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
88. Cold Comfort Farm, Stella Gibbons
89. Magician, Raymond E Feist
90. On The Road, Jack Kerouac
91. The Godfather, Mario Puzo
92. The Clan Of The Cave Bear, Jean M Auel
93. The Colour Of Magic, Terry Pratchett
94. The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho
95. Katherine, Anya Seton
96. Kane And Abel, Jeffrey Archer
98. Girls In Love, Jacqueline Wilson
99. The Princess Diaries, Meg Cabot
100. Midnight's Children, Salman Rushdie
I have a head start given I have already read a few of these books.
However I am embarrassed that some of these classics I have never read.
So I am now off to read some books
UPDATE:
The Australian bookstore Dymock's just launched the 2012 '101 best books list'
Maybe I should tackle this instead/also:
1. The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins
6. The Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini
11.The Bronze Horseman by Paullina Simons
14. Cloudstreet by Tim Winton
15. The Bible
16. A Song of Ice and Fire series by George R.R. Martin
17. Jasper Jones by Craig Silvey
21. The Happiest Refugee by Anh Do
23. The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
24. Red Dog by Louis de Bernières
26. The Millennium Trilogy by Stieg Larsson
28. The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde
29. Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell
30. Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks
31. Freedom by Jonathan Franzen
32. The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows
33. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
34. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
35. Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
36. The Earth's Children series by Jean M. Auel
37. We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver
38. Remembering Babylon by David Malouf
39. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
40. The Sookie Stackhouse series by Charlaine Harris
41. The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne
43. Cross Stitch by Diana Gabaldon
45. People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks
46. Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie
49. The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton
50. The Broken Shore by Peter Temple
51. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
53. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy by John Le Carré
54. A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth
55. A Simpler Time by Peter FitzSimons
56. The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
57. A Town Like Alice by Neville Shute
58. Running with Scissors by Augusten Burroughs
59. The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes
60. Before I Go to Sleep by S.J. Watson
61. The Left Hand of God by Paul Hoffman
62. Dirt Music by Tim Winton
63. Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami
64. Room by Emma Donoghue
65. The Surgeon of Crowthorne by Simon Winchester
66. North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell
67. My Booky Wook by Russell Brand
68. The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards
69. Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
70. The Five People You Meet In Heaven by Mitch Albom
72. Bereft by Chris Womersley
75. Magician by Raymond E. Feist
76. Salvation Creek by Susan Duncan
77. Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson
79. The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh
81. The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
82. The Woman in Black by Susan Hill
85. Scarecrow and the Army of Thieves by Matthew Reilly
86. Mawson by Peter FitzSimons
87. A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan
88. The Road by Cormac McCarthy
89. The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt
90. The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
91. The Shifting Fog by Kate Morton
92. My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult
93. Graceling by Kristin Cashore
94. Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks
96. The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga
98. Bossypants by Tina Fey
99. A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
100. The Hare with the Amber Eyes by Edmund de Waal
101. Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk by David Sedaris
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