Nature's emoticons

Bashful

Cautious

Optimistic

Spirited

Jareth softie

A few weeks back, my sister Lauren and I spent a day designing and making this David Bowie softie, as a gift for her friend. It is based on his character Jareth the goblin king from the movie Labyrinth. It was our own design, and required the scalping of a barbie doll (ooh... so black marketish), lots of hand sewing, some face artistry and many tries at getting the crotch (a major feature of the film/character!) just right. The result was perhaps not our best work ever, but it was so hilarious and totally adored by the recipient.

The cool kid

Once upon a time, my friend Debb and I thought we were pretty 'rock'. But now that we are a little older and a whole lot un-cooler, what to do? Thought I'd compensate by making some groovy clothes for our kids! I began with a Birthday gift for 2 year old Asher... a pin stripe vest and rock out badges (make these with this cheap badgemaker), with some sneakers and black sunglasses to match. I'm not sure that 2 year old boys really care about clothes at all, but we liked it!

Crimson or scarlet or ruby?

It's my favourite colour, and lately it's been popping up in everything I do! Maybe it's the winter rolling in... thoughts of warm red earth, and hot chocolate with chilli.

I repainted this book stand for the playroom.

Birthday bag and shoes. Yay!

Baking attire.

Cookies for state of origin.

Love-ly cupcakes

Birthday Bhaji

I made these cupcakes for my bollywood bash, but would quite happily have enjoyed some vegetable bhaji for my birthday cake as well as for an entree...so yummy! I didn't take a photo of mine on the night but found this almost-as-good-looking bhaji here.

Ingredients
1 2/3 cups (250g) chickpea (besan) flour

1 tsp chilli powder
1 tsp ground turmeric
100g carrots, cut into thin sticks

100g snowpeas, cut into thin sticks

50g thin eggplants, cut into thin sticks
Oil, to deep-fry
4 Curry leaves

Method
Place the chickpea flour, chilli powder, ground turmeric, curry leaves and 1 teaspoon salt in a bowl. Stir in 1/3 cup (80ml) water to make a thick batter, then stir in the vegetables.

Half-fill a large saucepan with oil and heat until a cube of bread turns golden in 20 seconds.
In 3 batches, fry heaped tablespoons of bhaji batter for 3-4 minutes, turning, until crisp and golden. Carefully remove the bhaji with tongs and drain on paper towel.

Bollywood Brilliance

I had always planned to have a HUGE Bollywood bash for my 30th. But, after just moving house, I settled on the scaled down version!

Some family and friends...

Some colour and bling...
Some curry and halva...
Some watching and laughing...

And some Jai ho!