Oriental Hotel

Snickerdoodle doo!

noreply@blogger.com (Katya) — Mon, 14 May 2012 09:13:00 +0000

Made these snickerdoodles on the weekend. I actually made some last weekend but I halved the recipe and the biscuits didn't come out quite right, they spread out too much and joined up and I got really cross (and I ran out of cinnamon, the key ingredient). I WILL NOT BE DEFEATED BY BISCUITS. I AM THE BISCUIT QUEEN.

So I made them again. With the full recipe, which makes 80 biscuits, but you can freeze the dough once it's rolled into biscuits. They turned out really well this time, so well I ate about 12 yesterday.

The recipe is from a book called 'Biscotti' produced by the American Academy in Rome. It is hands down the best biscuit book I own, it has mainly Italian biscuits, with a few American recipes (like these snickerdoodles) and even a recipe for anzacs. The Academy employs special chefs and makes lots of biscuits for the residents, unlike the British Academy where I usually stay. They are such good biscuits I am vaguely considering becoming American so I can stay there. Or maybe even ask to be a biscuit fellow rather than an art history fellow...

Anyway here is the recipe, makes 80.

350g caster sugar

340g unsalted butter

vanilla extract

2tsp ground cinnamon

2 eggs

400g flour

2tsp cream of tartar

1tsp baking soda

3/4 tsp salt

Coating

3 tsp cinnamon

1/4 cup of caster sugar

Cream butter and sugar until fluffy, then add vanilla and cinnamon and mix briefly again. Add the eggs one ata time and mix till all well combined.

Sift together flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt.

Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture and mix until combined. Cover bowl and cool mixture in the fridge for 30mins at least (or remove from bowl and wrap in clingfilm/greaseproof).

Remove dough and form into small balls (about 80) At this point you can freeze balls if you want and bake later.

Preheat oven to 190 celsius.

Combine sugar and cinnamon in a bowl and roll biscuit balls to coat and then place them on a tray lined with greaseproof paper. Space them out quite a bit as they will spread, 5-10cm between each depending on the size of the balls.

Bake for 10-12mins, until lightly browned.

Eat.

Less serious things

noreply@blogger.com (Katya) — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 08:21:00 +0000

Going through my photos from Daylesford (all the ones I took so I could blog my country life but then was overcome by listlessness between the taking of the photo and the putting the memory card in my machine).

Sky blue nails! I actually didn't notice they matched the sky till I looked at the photo today.

Breakfast at Wombat Hill House, they are still yum but not quite as good as they were. The french toast and other things seemed like they had been cooked in advance?

My pesto, which was amazing and lasted forever. I ended up freezing it in the ice block tray. Planning to make some more soon.

Coffee and a brownie at Wombat Hill, love the flower though it was kind of a tiny brownie for $4.50, though on the upside they had free wifi and I downloaded quite a lot of stuff so I guess fair is fair.

Gorgeous sunset from my friend Tammi's farm.

The salad that Roey made. Was delicious and a proven hangover cure.

General Daylesford views, I miss this, it refreshes my brain when I've been at the computer all day.

My amazing green shoes. They are slightly battered now from tramping up and down hills, and partly due to obvious cheap Zara construction. Still amazing though.

The view at Woodend station where I wait for the city train and wonder whether I could actually live in the country full time.

Routine or lack thereof

noreply@blogger.com (Katya) — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 10:46:00 +0000

I currently feel like I'm not achieving much. Partly this is because I don't have an awful lot to do. I haven't had any paid work since early December (hopefully this will change on Thursday), no thesis anymore, my art history website has been quiet over summer and I don't have any personal research that I'm very focused on.

All of this is pretty unsatisfying (and please don't say anything about enjoying my free time cos I will slap you). I have lots of ideas of things I could be getting on with, mostly to do with my post PhD research (articles, reading, postdoc applications, turning my other blog into something bigger and better) as well as bits of work for my volunteer positions, which aren't getting done very efficiently.

I'm not sure that this is particularly fascinating reading, but I felt the need to put it down semi-publicly in the hope it would prompt me to follow through.

Thoughts

- The internet is the great distracter, I need to limit my time on it ~~a bit~~ a lot.
- I work best in the morning, I slump a bit in the afternoon and gear up again in the early evening.
- I have residual anxiety from my final thesis push that if I'm not writing I'm not being productive - this means I'm not reading or planning anything properly, which then means I'm not writing, vicious circle.
- I need to check my email less and respond more promptly when I do.
- I need to work elsewhere than my living room/study for at least a part of each day.
- I'm often not even doing the non-work things I want to do.

So (I'm thinking as I write) my planned routine that I am going to try for the next two weeks is

Get up promptly (this is pretty easy as I wake up early but sometimes I just stay there feeling sad about having no direction in life - cue tiny violins).

Go for a run on running days
Breakfast and read a research related book I want to read all of (too often I only dip into stuff)
Check and respond to mails for 30 minutes and add action emails to my to do list
Take computer and go somewhere nearby to write for 2 hours - I will probably work on a few different writing projects during the week but whatever it is for that day I have to do 2 hours.
Work on my website for 1-2 hours depending on demand - this doesn't just have to be posting could include side projects and actually writing some reviews, which I never get done - can do this at home or stay where I have gone to write if it includes decent internet.
Lunch
Afternoon - this is slump time for me mentally but I should use it to work on basic admin type stuff for my volunteer positions, read a new article, read work related news/blogs, do housework, or go out and do stuff that needs to be done - also the best time to plan meetings.
Early evening - some days this will be gym but on others I want to either read research related stuff in a focused way (i.e. 1 hour reading) or write posts for my other blog.
Stop by 7-8pm and properly relax - read fiction, watch movies, read non work blogs and news.

Surely this is do-able, some days it will differ if I have a meeting, or Italian class or a sudden deadline, but overall it seems ok. I want to plan exactly what writing/reading I will do in more detail, maybe I could do that every Sunday evening in preparation for the week. Now I just need to find the self discipline to keep to it.

Lunch in the sun

noreply@blogger.com (Katya) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 01:42:00 +0000

A nice bonus of housesitting is being able to invite people over for lunch as I just don't have the space at home. Dad excitedly set up the outdoor 'table' (it's a door on two old trestles) and food was a collaborative effort, I made a burghul salad with roast almonds, avocado and cucumber (and lemon zest), my sister made gazpacho, mum bought sacks of delicious bread and cheese.

For dessert we had apple cake, which I made with some apples I picked in the garden, served with cream.

Around the garden

noreply@blogger.com (Katya) — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 04:36:00 +0000

House sitting again in Daylesford. Feeling very moochy and not very inspired. I always imagine that alone in the country I will become a powerhouse of productivity but it never really happens that way, not that surprising really as productivity never just unfolds effortlessly like a filmic montage, it takes effort.

I spent quite a lot of time watering earlier this week as it was so hot and I find watering soothing and contemplative, I also 'accidentally watered myself a few times to cool down.

Prosecco with raspberries from the garden (I must pick some more before the birds get them all).

Pan in the evening sun.

Champagne with campari and wild strawberries with a geranium for matchiness.

I let the dragon join in on cocktail hour.

Another view of Pan.

Blackberries.

General garden view. Such a lovely garden, I feel so lucky to get to stay here now and then.

Poppies!

Artichoke flowering.

Christmas Cooking

noreply@blogger.com (Katya) — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 07:58:00 +0000

Making food is my favourite part of Christmas and I have been planning the wood I will make for Christmas day this afternoon.

I haven't talked to Mum yet but I have already decided I will be in charge of salads and the vegetarian main as I am the only vegetarian, though usually everyone else eats some of it too, which is how it should be.

Plans so far

Mango and rice salad

I have made this a few times lately as I have been having a bit of a mango binge this year after not really liking them at all before. I think I smelled a mango at the Vic market a month or so back and just wanted one or six. The salad also has capsicum, red rice, white rice and green herbs and therefore fulfils my mum's desire for lots of different coloured foods (she is obsessed with this).

Green Bean and Pea salad with tarragon

Often someone makes a boring green salad and it upsets me so this year I will make one full of herbs and a few spices too.

Toss up between a cous cous salad and a lentil salad

I am leaning toward lentil as cous cous is similarish to rice. Will probably roast some tomatoes to go with the lentils and add herbs and maybe a cheese of some kind.

For the vegetarian main I am tempted by this broccoli and gorgonzola tart, though broccoli isn't necessarily great at the moment so another option is to make this surprise tatin, which I made before and looks pretty and includes cheese, I always make something with cheese in for my vegetarian main becuase I love cheese.

Even though desserts and sweet things are my favourite to make my brother is happy making dessert so I usually leave it to him. However, I will also do some baking so I can eat biscuits every day between whatever day I bake this week and New Year's day. I just found this article from the Guardian with recipes for Nordic biscuits and I think I will definitely make some of the ginger and pepper biscuits, and maybe the Vaniliekage too.

I might also make some honey biscuits with an old butter stained recipe I have had since I was a kid, you can even hang them on the tree as ornaments and they soften up and become tastier over the space of a week or so.

What are your cooking plans for the festive season?

Andrea del Sarto - Donkey

noreply@blogger.com (Katya) — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 08:21:00 +0000

Found this while I was searching for other images today. Andrea del Sarto is better known for his 16th century Madonna and Child paintings. I always like collecting sketches and paintings and prints of animals from art history, though it is rarely what I am actually working on. I like ones that are touching or funny or... well basically I like most of them.

I really like this 17th century one by Stefano Della Bella of a sleeping puppy as well.

Oh and while I am at it I saw this painting in the Ballarat Art Gallery the other day. I love it. I think it is funny the way it is a huge huge bull but with pretty eyes and a girly face.

Spring

noreply@blogger.com (Katya) — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 11:57:00 +0000

Things I am doing in Daylesford.

Drinking delicious coffee at Wombat Hill House (and having breakfast but I didn't take photos of that, just ate it.)

Trying to start some new research, this book has been on my to read list for months.

Enjoying the views, and the sun, although it has been pretty cold here apart from the weekend just past. Temps of -1 at night, brrrrrrr.

The garden is looking lovely, I can't take credit, I am just minding it. It looks tremendous, don't feel too sorry for the owners missing it, they are in Portugal and Spain.

These magnolias are so beautiful, I stop and look at them every time I walk past.

The cat is well. Though right now he is behind the couch hiding from the thunder.

Eggplant and potato pie

noreply@blogger.com (Katya) — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 03:56:00 +0000

Look at this pie I made last night! It came to me in a flash of inspiration after I realised that I had nothing to serve with the eggplant curry I had planned.

I cooked a tomato sauce with onions (chopped not too finely) and garlic, lots of chill flaskes and a can of tomatoes in a dish that could go in the oven. Scooped half the sauce out and layered thinly sliced eggplant, then a layer of spinach leaves, then a layer of thinly slice potato then a few eggplant pieces on top and covered with rest of tomato sauce and baked at about 200 degrees for about 35mins, then added some grated cheese and cooked for another 10 mins. DELICIOUS.

I ate it in the shivery cold of Daylesford in front of a roaring fire.

I am cat sitting again and have to stop myself taking photos of the cat all day. He is so funny. Here he is reading the epicure:

And the sports pages:

Thinking about espadrilles

noreply@blogger.com (Katya) — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 11:07:00 +0000

I would liek some espadrilles for summer, I have an aversion to thongs and if I wear really open shoes every day my feet get all cracked in a painful way.

I like these but none in my size left

Maybe these, though I find ankle tie up type shoes don't always work out as planned...

But maybe I want an espadrille that takes me to the beach and the disco...

Duck and the Fountain

noreply@blogger.com (Katya) — Sat, 11 Jun 2011 20:52:00 +0000

The Duck and the Fountain sounds like a name of an English pub. I took this at Castle Howard near York earlier this week. There is a bigger album of photos here.

I am feeling a bit down about heading home soon. All things must end though I guess. Still I am feeling ever so good about having a decent whack of time away absolutely gorging on art and gardens and architecture. So much to write about and have had so little time. Even my own written journal is a bit thin. I am off to London tomorrow for a few days, which will be fun. I have plans for art and shopping and hopefully see some friends as well.

UK Snapshots

noreply@blogger.com (Katya) — Sun, 08 May 2011 22:25:00 +0000

Been a busy almost whole first week. Had a day in London, been to Lincoln, Stamford and Belton House. I also explored Sleaford and tried some nice local cheeses and ale and some less nice coffee and tea. I have seen a squirrel, a pheasant, a rabbit or six and three dead moles (which was sad they looked so little and pathetic).

A few photos from my first day in London wandering around Bloomsbury and the British Museum.

Easter

noreply@blogger.com (Katya) — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 11:09:00 +0000

I am going away on Tuesday for 6 weeks to the UK, which will either mean I blog more as I feel my life is super fun and exciting and shareable, or less cos I have no internet or I am spending too much time frolicking in country gardens. Anyways I thought I would post some picture of my easter.

I spent good friday packing and tidying and editing and eating hot cross buns with lurpak butter and then a bit of apple to keep it all healthy.

Dinner in Daylesford, we had a curry festa. here is the autumnal centrepiece. I can't really take credit for it, but I did rearrange it a bit then realised my rearranging looked awful so I put it back the way it was.

Centrepiece with candles.

Centrepiece with candles and dinner guests.

My favourite beaujolais was in attendance.

As was some most delicious Chateauneuf de Pape.

And this slightly strange wine, which was like a sherry but without any sweetness. I wasn't entirely sold on it to be honest but it had a good bottle and a good label.

My friend Nero the cat. He showed his affection for me by attempting to sleep on my bed and therefore suggesting to his owners that I was some kind of weak-willed-cats-on-beds type person, which I might be, or I might not...

Panforte remnants. Good plate.

Caravaggesque apples from the fruit trees in the garden.

Turkish delight.

I started making a tally of bottles the next day, not too bad really considering there were 8 of us.

I did need a recovery hot cross bun from the Himalaya Bakery and The Age crossword.

Lindt bunnies seem to be the easter chocolate du jour this year. Bloody nice they are too.

Sunset. My little camera can't really capture it but it was very beautiful.

Desserts at The Perfect Drop on Sunday night. I love that place. We also ate cheesy fritters, saganaki, potatoes with harissa and the meat eaters ate some duck and stuff. T

Drinks with friends after dinner with the iPhone DJ. they were linked to the stereo or some smarty pants shit. Note the empty bowls. Yes I had second dessert.

Reidel wine glass. I love this so much, must buy my own.

A nice easter, though one of those ones where you feel like you need a day off after your holiday. So that's what I did. Now I need to start packing and keep planning for the UK.

Biscotti di Nocciole e Cioccolato

noreply@blogger.com (Katya) — Sun, 03 Apr 2011 10:33:00 +0000

Another Sunday, another batch of biscuits. I have been trying to file paper today and the sheer boredom of it drove me to baking.

These are from my Italian biscuit book again (and I got my first butter stain on the book). I suddenly had a craving for something with roasted hazelnuts and chocolate and chose these biscuits. I think it is probably illegal for an Italian baking book not to contain at least one recipe with chocolate and hazelnuts.

Recipe (I can't usually be bothered typing these out as this isn;t really a baking blog but these are so 'mazin I want everyone to bake them).

225g roasted, skinned, chopped hazelnuts (I wanted to use mine up so I used more like 260g)

113g butter

90g brown sugar

85g white sugar (I had run out of white sugar so used all brown)

1/2 tsp vanilla

pinch of salt

1 egg

180g plain flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

210g bittersweet chocolate, chopped.

Cream butter and sugar. Add vanilla, salt, eggs and mix well.

Mix baking soda and plain flour together then add to wet mixture and mix well. Stir through chopped hazelnuts and chocolate. Cover or wrap dough and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Then you can either be lazy like me and just roll small round biscuits by hand. Or you can do as the recipe suggests and make two logs of the dough, then freeze for 1hr (or apparently up to two months). After they have been frozen slice 1/2 cm biscuits.

Either way bake at 180 degrees for about 12minutes.

After baking eat one all gooey and warm. They would actually be amazing as a dessert warm with vanilla ice cream. I plan to eat them with cups of tea.

Life after thesis..

noreply@blogger.com (Katya) — Sat, 02 Apr 2011 09:35:00 +0000

Life after thesis is going along nicely. I just finished my first post-thesis project. Not an academic one, a catalogue essay for a photographer. I will post more about that later, my part is done but it won't be all done till June. It was very pleasant to work on something very different, but still tangentially related. It was garden related and so even though it was academic it did make me realise that I have a vast(ish) knowledge of gardens now, which I certainly did not have when I started my thesis. Especially considering I didn't even start out working on garden history.

I have my research assistant work, which is quite repetitive at the moment, but in a soothing way. Also I can do it at home to my own timetable. I also have two abstracts to work up as soon as possible, and then two papers to write in April before I go away in May.

I have also been baking. These 'Biscotti di Linzer' are from a book of biscuit/biscotti recipes my friends bought me in Rome as a thank you for house sitting. I have a lot of jam to use up so I made these jammy ones. They were very delicious. It is was a very simple recipe, just basic butter, flour, sugar biscuit dough (I will post the exact amount tomorrow as they were perfect). The roll it out, cut out the biscuits, cut out holes in the middle of the biscuit (a screw cap off a wine bottle works well). Bake. Cool. Then jam them up. I used plum jam.

Recipe as promised:

170g butter (i used unsalted)
100g granulated sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
260gm plain flour
pinch o f salt
Icing sugar for dusting
65g jam

CReam butter and sugar till fluffy, add vanilla. Combine flour and salt in a bowl and then add to butter mix and mix till well combined. Wrap dough in cling film or cover bowl and put in fridge for 30mins.

Roll dough out on a foured surface to about 5mm thick. Cut biscuits out in equal numbers. Cut holes (as I said I used a washed screw cap from a bottle for wine for this). Re-roll scraps for more biscuits.

Place on a baking tray pined with baking paper and bake for 10-12 minutes at 180 degrees.

When they have cooled then create the sandwiched biscuits by adding half a teaspoon of jam on teh bottom and sandwiching the biscuits with the holes on top and dust with icing sugar.

One comment I would make is that this recipe didn't make lots of biscuits, I think about 15-18 because of the doubling up. So either double the mixture or perhaps make them slightly smaller, or both.

Went to my friends' gallery opening last night. The last one at that gallery. End of an era. My campari.

My shoes, I bought these for $6 at Target, they are bronze and I love them, but are falling apart as they are cheap and I keep riding a bike in them.

My orange dress and grey tights. So glad it is tights weather now, I get bored of having to just have flesh coloured legs.

Chinese take away. Yum.

Recipe book recommendations and red wine.

Dog cuddles.

A scorpion in alcohol. We didn't open this, it wasn't that kind of night.

A nice whiskey.

Today I was a bit worse for wear after a late night (well not that late initially, but it was after I decided to stay up till after 3am drinking tea and writing tweets with lots of typos in them) so I just plonked on the couch, but in a guilt-free-no-thesis way. I had a little bike ride at lunchtime and then retreated to tea and cupcakes. The cupcake was a present from my local wine bar, which just turned 1 year old.

I stewed some pears that I had forgotten about and which had gone very soft. They are tasty though I over sugared them a tad. I think if I will need to eat them with some tart yoghurt to balance them out.

And a photo of my breakfast the other day for no special reason except as general proof that the internets is all just people going on about what they ate.

Weekend Snaps

noreply@blogger.com (Katya) — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 01:33:00 +0000

I did almost nothing on Saturday. I don't think I even left the apartment. I did sort some papers, well I put them in piles, and then into different piles. I haven't actually put any away yet as it just became too boring. I also found I had a huge pile of paper used only on one side, much more than I could store. Luckily mum needs some scrap so I will give it to her. I have a lot of articles to put away as well but I want to double check they are all on my Endnote library first. YAWN.

On Sunday I went to Warrandyte with Mum and Dad, there was a festival on but we sort of bypassed it and went for coffee at the bakery.

We read the Sunday Age and I was reminded why I don't buy it.It seems that to be a columnist in Sunday life you have to have the Awkward Lean down pat.

(God Mia Freedman is obsessed with weight loss. YAWN x a million)

I was mystified by the attraction of labelling outfits as 'Stepford Style'. How empowering... not. Mum asked why I was taking a photo of it and I told her it was so I could be rude about it on my blog and she heartily approved.

Then we guessed the weight of the pumpkin. I don't know how heavy it was but as I haven't received a congratulatory phone call I think we can safely say it did not weight 26.25 kilos.

Then we had lunch at Mum and Dad's and I checked out the vegie garden. This is the Cavolo NeroI planted, going well except some of the leaves have a kind of aphid on them.

My Jerusalem Artichokes. Hard to distinguish amongst the green jungle; they are the tall leafy things in the middle. I planted them years ago before I moved out and they grow well most years, but this year they have been taller than ever, about 3 metres tall.

They are flowering now. They are a member of the sunflower family and when I first planted them and they grew so tall I expected enormous flowers, but they are just like baby sunflowers.

Bees on the fennel.

Hamish eating his bone.

Belladonnas, they always pop up around now and look very cheery.

A pink cyclamen.

Figs. Hoepfully mum gets time to net them so we get some fruit before the birds/possums/fruit bats.

Some strange native pea that grows separately at the top but is joined together at the bottom.

Ottolenghi Surprise Tatin

noreply@blogger.com (Katya) — Sat, 19 Mar 2011 10:42:00 +0000

I am enjoying having time to cook. Well not that I haven't done any cooking for the past seven years, but I haven't done much complex stuff in the past 6 months. Last night I made this 'Surprise Tatin', it has potatos and tomatoes and goat's cheese and you cook it with the pastry on the top then turn it over. WHAT FUN. I was worried I would break it when I turned it but I didn't and so then felt very smug. If you want the recipe it is here or you can buy the Plenty book and you really should because it is brilliant.

Here it is just out of the oven with the pastry still facing up and a picture of what I am hoping it will look like.

MMMMM puffy pastry.

Tada! Pretty close, I used larger potatoes but I think it turned out pretty good.

A close-up. I used green zebra tomatoes in it and they were delicious. They have a stronger flavour than most red tomatoes, sort of tangier.

The tart had a layer of hard goat's cheese and you make a teeny amount of caramel that goes on the bottom (which is tehn the top) of the tart. The smell of caramel and goat;s cheese when it came out of the oven was wonderful. I was also struck that the whole process of the making the tart was sort of beautiful (yes I was thinking this after several glasses of rose and several of red, I even wrote notes on a post-it). The roasted tomatoes looked lovely all green and red, watching the caramel brown, arranging it all. Anyway. I recommend making it, tis good.

FINISHED!

noreply@blogger.com (Katya) — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 00:54:00 +0000

I wrote this last Thursday but then forget to publish it as I got bored waiting for photos to upload.

****

So today I finally handed in my PhD! It was pretty exciting. I got it printed yesterday at the print centre. It looked fantastic, the print guy was very impressed by the length of my bibliography (that's interdisciplinarity for you) and I was very impressed with the quality of the images. Very pleased I decided to have it done professionally. I sort of wish I had my own copy but at $125 for just one copy I think I will hold off till I do the final ones.

For those of you not familiar with the process, I had to hand in three copied to go off to my examiners, who will hopefully read it and send back their reports within the next couple of months, they say up to four months is normal. Then when I get it back I may have to make some corrections and after that I print up official copies to go in the library.

It's been a long haul, longer than it was meant to be. Though I have to say having handed it in all my anxiety and despondent feelings about being one of 'those' students who lapses and takes way too long has just fallen away and I feel proud of my thesis and I can see that it was my own particular journey and it just took as long as it took.

I got a balloon and a photo (not the best and hard copy and they used flash so it just looks like I'm holding a piece of white paper not an impressive tome). But I took my own photo with my balloon and I took a photo of the front of the thesis.

I kinda wanted to photograph every page but that would be silly so I made a Wordle of the text, now you can see which words I have overused and abused for the past seven years.

Blackberry crumble cake and city life

noreply@blogger.com (Katya) — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 07:08:00 +0000

I have had a noisy week back in the city. Not sure if I am just over sensitive, but then there have literally been workers outside my kitchen window with power tools most days this week, so I guess not (they just started up again, have been going for over 10 hours today I am going MAD). On Monday and Tuesday I chased up thesis loose ends, mostly footnotes without page numbers, mostly found with success. I did delete one sentence as I simply could not find the text I was referring to, made harder by the fact it was in French and in a 750 page 18th century book without an index, it was only a small point and I don't think its loss matters. It did remind me though to NEVER EVER leave a reference without a page number, just don't do it kids.

I had hoped to hand in the thesis this week but I only just got the final copy sent off to supervisor as a pdf for a final look over so he can sign it off, so realistically with him needing at least a day and me needing to print a lot of paper, it will be next week before I can go and buy some expensive champagne.

I have been back into the ole yoga and pilates in a big way, and I am really feeling it after 6 weeks of nothing, but it is a good feeling. Also been riding my bike, today I did it in a maxi dress and sandals, keepin it stylish as always. This is the dress, I should take a full photo but I seem to be deeply hopeless at posing so you just get a glimpse. Pretty non?

In other news I made a super delicious cake. I had picked loads of wild blackberries in Daylesford, more than I could reasonably eat. I adapted it from this recipe for a Apple and Blueberry cake, I just added blackberries instead. the crumble was all crunchy on top and the cake was very moist, delicious. Tempted to make it with another kind of fruit. here's a pic of it with blackberries just tipped on and a slice of the finished product, i did have some nicer photos but my computer crashed while I was uploading and the files are corrupted.

My friends I was house sitting for were pleased, though they said the cat now seems to think he is allowed to sleep on the bed, I denied any involvement. ;-)

How has everyone else's week been?

Whatchoo lookin at?

noreply@blogger.com (Katya) — Sat, 12 Feb 2011 07:43:00 +0000

I am just home from my stay in Daylesford. Back to the big smoke. Back to hand in my thesis.

I miss the kitty and the garden and the peace and quite and the walnut bread from the Himalaya bakery.

Here's a photo I took at the Lavandula farm in Hepburn Springs yesterday, after trying to take a photo of the emu for ages but with no success as he kept darting off I turned my attention to the landscape and he promptly popped his head up just as I took the photo.

Garden Snaps

noreply@blogger.com (Katya) — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 23:18:00 +0000

I'm going to miss having a garden to wander around every day, especially this garden. My daily wander often takes me about 30mins, by the time I de-head some roses, prune some geraniums, attack some blackberries and play with the cat.

The artichoke flowered, not sure I had ever registered an artichoke flower before, very pretty, definitely worth forgoing an artichoke for. It is always interesting to let vegetables bolt and flower. In this garden there is no vegie patch, the edible plants are just part of the general bedding. Also see this blog for some musing on flowering vegies.

I was pleased with my fly photo, not sure what kind of fly it is, not a regular blowie or housefly, it kindly sat and let me take it's picture.

Hello kittycat! This cat is very practised at looking adorable, he especially likes to look through the branches of trees. He looks docile here but in reality five minutes earlier he was hanging upside down stuck up a tree.

Some food snaps

noreply@blogger.com (Katya) — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 23:58:00 +0000

I take a lot of photos of food. I think the ole food photos are a real digital camera phenomenon, I used to take the odd one on special occasions with my film camera, of cakes and the like, but not very many. I think most people take them now. Sometimes I think if I didn't photograph a meal it didn't actually happen. I always mean to post them, like a lot of things, but then I don't. So here is a random selection of January ones.

Homemade choc croissants, just store-bought puff pastry rolled around squares of dark chocolate, brushed with a big of egg on top. Made these for New Year's day breakfast.

Artichoke tart on the deck. I think I posted this in another post. I realise I haven't done enough sitting on the deck. I did a lot during my first week here, but then it rained for a week, then I forgot to, then it was HOT. This week should be fine and not hot though so I must do it again.

Omelette and fennel and white bean salad. Cooking omelettes on gas is a revelation! So much quicker.

Cheese platter at tapas place in D'ford, the cheese was pre sliced, which I don't really like as a rule, plus one cheese was under the bread so we didn't see it till we had finished the bread? The cheese was still pretty tasty though.

Walnut bread, this suddenly looks very dark on the blog. Anyway, it is walnut bread from Himalaya Bakery in Daylesford, buy some if you get the chance and eat it freshly sliced with cheese.

Or toast it and eat with plum jam and coffee.

Prosecco at the Perfect Drop. Any place that serves prosecco by the glass wins my vote.

Taramasolata with radishes. I think I need more radishes in my life.

Freshly picked blackberries, raspberries and mulberries. I ate these with yoghurt.

Coffee at Woodend station from the coffee man. Good coffee, crisp morning, sunlight, feeling of virtuousness for getting up at 6am, leopard print scarf. Win.

Tea and blueberries with yoghurt. I like to vary my breakfasts, some people eat the same thing every morning, I could never do that, it would be like eating the same dinner every day. Do you vary breakfasts?

This was one breakfast, mmm freshly baked scones.

Pancakes with mushrooms, tomatoes and cheese, grilled. Pancakes are also super easy on the gas stove, there is also a proper grill, which I don't have at home either (my kitchen is pretty basic).

I love beaujolais, even if I do have an aversion to pronouncing it correctly. You can put it in the fridge and drink it chilled.

My friend's pavlova. Was super dooper tasty. I had two pieces.

That's enough for now. What have you been eating lately?

Bits and pieces

noreply@blogger.com (Katya) — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 22:58:00 +0000

Having a productive week this week. Yesterday I sent off the final draft of my thesis to my associate supervisor, which means it is basically done. At the moment I am doing lots of tidying and editing. I still need to chop some words and I am pruning the footnotes. I am also cross checking my footnotes with my bibliography and it is INCREDIBLY TEDIOUS. Argh. So much of the work I have been doing lately is very dull. Things just take forever when it is such a long document. But anyway mostly it is exciting to actually know I am finally handing it in after sooo long. I have been dealing with the tedium by watching movies while I do the mindless tasks. Especially the image formatting. I had to make a pdf document with 293 images in it. Seriously. Most people I know have had from 8-50 images. I think it is partly my topic, gardens often mean lots of different angles, and several different representations of the one object or garden.

The weather has been lovely in the country this week. I have been enjoying hanging out with the cat and snatching moments in the sun to read books and drink tea and eat pancakes. I have been refreshing my head by going out and dead heading the roses and weeding the raspberry bed and attacking the mammoth blackberries that seem to have appeared out of nowhere.

Picture essay...

I have spotted some big butterflies in the garden, about 12-15cm across. I chase them with my camera like I was some kind of nature photographer. Mostly I have photos of blurry leaves but a few came out OK.

I ate lots of berries in early Jan, and there now seems to be a second lot growing. Knowing my luck these will ripen just after I leave. Mulberry above, blackberry below.

Golden tree.

Lavender

Crazy evil-hand-shaped lemon. Tree also has normal lemon-shaped lemons. I am guessing it is insects that do this.

Stylish blogger award

noreply@blogger.com (Katya) — Sun, 23 Jan 2011 08:49:00 +0000

I am currently sitting on the couch wearing old leggings and a $5 singlet and watching the cricket and I thought what better time to respond to an award for being stylish. The award is from MissKittyCat.

I now have to tell you seven things about me, I don't know what really.

1. Yesterday I shocked Daylesford by parading down the main street in a completely paisley outfit. They may never recover. Part of the outfit was bright blue paisley pedal pushers from Witchery of all places, but Witchery circa 2002, doubt we would see them there now...
2. I have judged the people I am housesitting for because they have no anchovies in their cupboards. Honestly.
3. I love Buffy and I am watching it all again from the beginning at the moment. I have watched season one and now into season 2.
4. I love scarves as in the silk style ones not woolly (though I do like those too), I have many, luckily I'm not at home or I would probably go and count them and discover I had 60 or 70 or more! I do have 6 with me in D'ford, which probably says a lot.
5. Hmm i'm running out of things now. I know, I made scones this morning. Only second time ever, I almost ate them all at once. They were so soft and creamy I couldn't tell where the butter ended and the scone began (If I do say so myself). Here's a pic.

6. I have been in the Vatican Secret Archives. It's pretty amazing but not dusty or musty or anything like that, more concrete with metal shelves, like your average library. Well except for the amazing documents.
7. Finally I have nearly finished my PhD, how excitement. And on that note I should get back to work.

Apparently I have to tag or award or something so here goes:

Snippets of my Life
What Katie Did Next
Minx in Black
Maxie et Zuel
A Flash in Japan
The Sunday Sesh
Yikes Machine
FickleLand

Is that enough? Have I lived up to a Stylish Blogger award?

The Cat who thinks he is a Dog

noreply@blogger.com (Katya) — Sat, 22 Jan 2011 00:50:00 +0000

I have been gathering evidence that the cat I am minding actually thinks he is a dog, or is perhaps a dog trapped in a cat's body.

Here he is being cat-like because every time I try and take a photo of him being a dog he composes himself and looks all serene and self satisfied.

Reasons why he is a dog:

1. He runs out to meet people when they arrive, not just people he knows either, pretty much anyone.
2. He constantly rolls in the dirt.
3. He wants everyone to scratch his tummy.
4. He chews on shoes.
5. He comes when he is called.
6. If you pat the seat next to you he jumps up immediately.
7. He eats his dinner really fast.
8. I once fed him outside and he buried his dinner.
9. He constantly runs up and head buts me.
10. He follows you round the house and garden while you are doing things.
11. If he sleeps on the bed he doesn't try and slowly take up the whole bed by stretching himself at weird angles.

Maybe these are cat-like qualities but none of the cats I have ever owned did them, usually they just sat around looking at me like I was an idiot, chased birds and occasionally deigned to sit on my lap.

Hope you are having a nice Saturday. I am off to to eat blueberries and yoghurt with a silver spoon.