My weekend

Normally I would say our weekend- but I think Rob would like to be disassociated with my new camera! The iphone app Instagram was my new favourite as I snapped away happily, editing the images by scrolling through the different looks. Sorry to the purists, I may never grasp photoshop or Lightroom, but this I can do!

The weekend was sunny, thank goodness. So we spent time indoors and out, baked and cleaned, moved gravel (well that was Rob) and had our friends around for a lazy Sunday afternoon bbq.


Nigella's Doughnut French Toast in bed.

Mid-afternoon winter sun in our bedroom.

A tuckered out puppy who fell asleep in her food bowl!

Nigella doing her best sad face. German Shepherds know how to work that look to their advantage!

Some lemon almond biscuits I cooked up.

I was struck by this strange double orange.

The hut ready for our bbq.

Well you may mock but I had fun!

Hello new toy

So our old phone was looking more than a little sad. It was about 5 years old, had been dropped several times, Claudia had personalised it with her teeth and it was on the old network so we had zero reception at the hut. We've been popping outside to call people as it's slightly better out there. But that's not exactly ideal.
On Wednesday I dropped it into a glass of water, I promise accidently.
So today I treated myself to one of these. Just waiting for them to process the contract and we'll be connected and ready to go.
I admit, I'm more excited than I should be!

May I have a weekend now?

Rob and I are in a rush, obviously. Although we'd been organised enough to do our shopping on Friday night so we didn't waste time through the weekend, our weekend disappeared in a flash.
We'd picked up some Comte, Brillat Savarin and a third French cheese with some Pigeon Hole bread from Bottega Rottolo. We scurried home to savour our cheeses with some wine and just sat and chatted. Very civilised, we decided it might have to become our Friday ritual.
Saturday dawned, with the promise of sun once the frost melted and the fog lifted. An early morning delivery of fine crushed rock got Rob excited.
I took a moment to take a picture of our new arm chairs. We're qutie happy with these little beauties, 1961 Fler Narvik chairs in blackwood, with new upholstery, webbing and cushions? A bargain even with the freight from Adelaide SA!

Sadly my photo shoot was cut short by an impatient puppy.

I kepy myself busy inside with baking bread following this recipe, cleaning our hut, making some vegetable soup for lunch, baking a tea cake, and making spanokopita for our dinner.
By the end of the first day after extensive excavations most of the gravel was laid out.

On Sunday I oiled all the kitchen joinery with Chinawood oil. A job that had been on the to do list since we moved in 3 weeks ago. It doesn't actually smell so bad, and is very forgiving of my painting technique.


With the gravel done and the oiling we did drive off to pick up our fruit trees from Woodbridge Fruit Tree farm, with the hoped for bounty of quinces and cider apples.
Rob moved onto letterbox building while I did a little baking which is quite a delight in our new kitchen.

At the end of the day we sat exhausted over a dinner of baked potatoes with Cygnet bacon and cheese. We crawled off to bed early as we could barely keep our eyes open. I hope we learn to slow down a little at the hut!

High tea at the Hut in the snow

Sorry again- things have been flat out at the hut. The weather still hasn't been behaving for a photo shoot, we've had hail, sleet, rain, gale force winds, and snow, but no sun. The hut looks best in the sun.

Last weekend was super busy. We hosted a 16th birthday for Rob's daughter. She decided on a blue themed high tea with 7 of her closest friends. I may have gotten a little excited about the decorating. I have discovered tissue paper pom poms in a big way. I'd found a picture of a party with pom poms, chinese paper lanterns and honeycomb decorations hanging above a table and that was it. I found a great website for a company in the states with the most amazing array of paper decorations, Devra, a family operated business who produce them in New York. The exchange rate was excellent at the time, so I may just have ordered 60 decorations? If anybody wants to borrow them for a blue party let me know!
Throw in some paper fans, a parasol, some white flowers and the decorations were under control (if a little excessive!)


The dessert table had lemon cupcakes (my new favourite recipe thanks to Jo and Michelle), with cream cheese frosting or as butterfly cakes, homemade marshmallow and turkish delight, wrapped bon bons (mini toblerones), Italian chocolates, gingerbread teacup and teapot biscuits, and blue macarons. We also made a batch of gluten free, dairy free, vegan cupcakes for the birthday girl.

The girls braved the snow to get to the hut (I was worried that we might have to cancel) and sat happily chatting over sushi, egg and prosciutto sandwiches and rice paper rolls, playing with their fans. They all wanted to pose with the parasol- not terribly appropriate with snow flurries in the background! After selecting their desserts and drinking strawberry and cream T2 tea, they decided singing and dancing was in order! Must have been all that sugar.

Rob and I finally got to sit for the first time after 11 hours straight. The dogs were a little worried by the singing!
The birthday girl had a lovely day, they all got home safely and we crawled into bed by 8.30pm!

The best news

Sorry I have been a very slack blogger of late.

I do have a pretty good excuse- we have finally moved into our brand spanking new hut.

For the first couple of days it was quite surreal. We've waited a long time for this (4.5 years) and it didn't seem to matter how many times we've imagined it, the real thing is something else entirely.

Waking up during the night and looking out at the stars, I've forgotten how they are so much more spectacular away from a city.
Looking out the french doors in our bedroom at the bush opposite.
Watching Rob and the dogs go on their morning perimeter walk over the frosty grass.
Catching glimpses of the geese in our garden through a window as I wander by.
It is so quiet- which I love.

Everyone keeps asking us what's it like to finally be in; Rob and I decided it's like we're big children "playing" house.

We love our kitchen. Having everything in its proper place. A pantry where you can see everything. The perfect bench height for us. What seems likes acres of bench space. A new oven that works!

We've been so good since we've moved, we've been eating all of our meals at the table (we had slipped into couch meals before).

Our first weekend has been a whirl of cleaning, unpacking (still), baking, visits, planning for a high tea next week for Rob's daughter's 16th birthday, and a lovely dinner at Red Velvet Lounge in Cygnet (which as an aside was the best steak we've eaten in ages, with of course Béarnaise sauce, chips and salad- Rob commented that he wanted his last meal to be steak and chips cooked by Steve!)

So busy I didn't take any photos! So I will have to get myself organised pronto.

Finally this blog can begin properly- the hut chronicles have started for real.