Flat purchases...

Tonight I have been most productive.

I have:

• Ordered a sink.
• Ordered solid oak benchtops (and paid an additional $50 charge to have them carried up the stairs - money well spent!).
• Updated my insurance details.
• Purchased a mirror for the bathroom.
• Found lights for the kitchen.
• Finalised the design and measurements for the wardrobe.
• Purchased wooden hangers for the wardrobe.

But I'm not 100% awesome because I have failed to take pictures of the haul!

A horrifying revelation

Today I discovered that there are not 1, not 2, not 3, but 4 Nigella cook books I don't own. What kind of Nigella devotee am I?

ARGH, how is it possible that I do not own:

1. Nigella Bites;

2. Forever Summer;

3. How to Eat; and

4. Christmas...

I disgust myself.

Another 'before'

Today has been extremely productive. Not only have I made Amber's birthday cake, the special one's breakfast (served in bed of course!) and had the bedroom window measured for shutters, but I have also ordered new light shades for the flat.

Bob at St John's Lamps is a complete champion. He has been an absolute pleasure to work with in determining what style of lampshades the flat will be adorned with.

So today after much deliberation, I have ordered lamp shades for the bedroom, living room and dining room. A very simple 600mm diameter white shade for the boudoir, a 900mm hand pleated white shade for the living room, with a matching 900 mm shade for the dining room.

Bob is very excited and can't wait to see the finished product. Its great to work with a true craftsman.

A couch of one's own

One of the most exciting things about moving into a flat of one's own was making purchases for said flat.

There have been many purchases in the lead up to settlement and one of the most impromptu was the purchase of a chocolate brown leather couch. We had just been buying paint and popped in to have a browse and came across Kent the couch. He is very comfortable and as now been adorned with a few cushions. I haven't quite worked out the best arrangement for them but Kent is very comfy and perfect for when one needs to take a load off!

Very good.

Shiny Disco Ball

Today I baked a cake and not just any cake, a shiny disco ball cake for Amber's 10th birthday.

Amber is having a 70s Disco themed birthday party with 20 10 year old girls. Luckily I managed to arrive, ice said cake, deal with over enthusiastic next door neighbour and bedazzle said cake before the party started.

Birthdays are always exciting, so Happy Birthday Amber!

Day One

Today is a very exciting day. It is the first sleep over at one's new home. Luckily the boudoir is a sanctuary in a sea of boxes and part-renovated rooms.

One cannot praise the good folk at Black Swan Taxi Trucks enough - Mark and Ant were done in a mere 2 hours. Plus they were friendly and good fun.

Here is the bed, all made up (it was one of the first jobs this morning when we arrived and boy am I thankful for having taken the advice when it was proffered.

One is also very grateful for the Special One's muscle power!

20 hours but only 11 songs and 1 annoying ad

So it appears that 92.9 left the 'no repeat weekends' back in the nineties and now have a policy of playing a handful of songs and ads for its morning show on an endless repeat.

after about 20 hours of painting over 2 days with a radio tuned to one station only, I now know the words to:

1. Hush Hush; Hush Hush by the Pussy Cat Dolls

2. The Climb by Miley Cyrus (both the original and the remix)

3. Funhouse by P!nk

4. You belong with me by Taylor Swift

5. Battlefield by Jordan Sparks

6. Obsessed by Mariah

7. Because by Jessica Mayboy

8. When love takes over which features Kelly Rowlands

9. We made you by Eminem

10. Radar by Britney

11. I do not hook up by Kelly Clarkson

Now as much as I do love Mariah's taunting of Eminem and the sampling of I will survive in Hush Hush; Hush Hush and the general motivational tone of The Climb (the original, I don't care for the remix) and that Kelly Rowlands seems to be pumping out some great songs at long last. Surely there is room in a whole weekend of radio for more than 11 songs and an ad for 92.9's repugnant radio trio (now featuring Basil) who appear to be attempting to be as vile as Kylie and Jackie O...

I'm sorry Nova I should have re-tuned and rubbed paint all over that little radio

Bye bye Yellow

So settlement has come and gone and it was officially my turn to uphold my end of the bargain and no I don't mean to pay the mortgage. I mean to get rid of those curtains and that yellow paint!

And so we did. Paint paint paint, luckily the previous owners chose not only a terrible yellow, but a cheap one too. So with a 3 coats there is no longer any hint of YELLOW in one's flat.

Today was an exceptionally exciting day and some peeps popped in to say hi...

Go Julie!!

A flat of one's own is proud to congratulate Australia's first MasterChef Julie!

Spectacular Vue!

So Friday was the big brother's birthday number 30 and so we went off to Bistro Vue at Vue de Monde for a Bastille Day lunch. My anticipation and expectations were high and were bolstered by every person who I told that I had come to Melbourne to go to Vue. Seriously, every person gushed and told tales of delicious memorable meals or lamented that they had not yet been and felt inferior for their lack of Vue love.

Big brother of course knew someone in the kitchen who had arranged a little present for us to start so we had some fresh smoked salmon. Now I am not a fan of salmon full stop, but I tried it and it was delicious!

Next up was the entree of prosciutto wrapped scallops with a cheese and herb crust

For main we had pheasant, which was actually much larger than I had expected, a very pleasant surprise along with delicious sauteed brussel sprouts and a corn puree

And for desert, there was the lightest souffle with an apricot sauce, mango sorbet and topped off with a dollop of double cream

Then it was time for a coffee - the most delicious Long Mac (Melbourne does them better Sydney)

And of course, because we were all thinking there was nothing that Vue could possibly serve up to round the meal out, Vue brought out these tasty little morsels!

We're almost there. The final inspection has been done and a whole lot of pieces of paper have my signature on them. Flat number 9 is coming close to fruition and I'm more than just a little bit excited! Apparently the purpose of the final inspection is to check that everything is ok and working according to the contract. Its somewhat less important when you've decided to pull out and replace pretty much all the major appliances!

Today we went to Bunnings and bought all manner of things. The most exciting of which are the taps, which I will blog about soon. But I also picked up a bunch of very mature and responsible purchases including Selley's Liquid Nails and a corking gun as well as a Bunnings water bottle for all my renovating hydration needs. Very good.

A cultural review

What to do of a late Saturday morning after a couple of episodes of The Simpsons, a leisurely breakfast and a walk from Surry Hills into the city MJ and I macked out some Art Gallery action for what has been such a hotly anticipated exhibition in our fevered emails of late: Intensely Dutch...

Unfortunately there was nothing intense about the exhibition at all. For starters there are only about 20 pieces on exhibition and secondly there's nothing that great.

Most disappointing of all, there was no chips and mayo and very limited use of orange. Disappointing Art Gallery of NSW.

You know when its love

This needs no explanation. Pure goodness. That is all.

Sydney: Hits and Misses

So work took me to Sydney last week which was great. It gave me a chance to gallivant around an executive suite which was seriously large enough to go for a run in and also because work was a bit full on, gave me a chance to indulge in some room service. Which resulted in this rather lovely burger.

So let me walk you through it. The menu says beef burger with onion rings, dill pickel cheese, tomato and frissee lettuce, served with fries. Yes the burger had onion rings - but they were not the yummy deep fried substitute for chips that I expected, but overall I'd give it about a 7.5 out of 10.

Another of my experiences in Sydney was when I ordered a long mac, this is what I got. Yes that is my finger and yes you would be correct in thinking, that doesn't look particularly long. And the snooty man that served me was short too.

From Denmark with Love

So a very exciting thing happened at work last week, I had a visit from all of our favourite Royals - Mary and Freddie - courtesy of Geoff and Alaina who had been to visit Mary's kingdom.

Now you will recall that this photo was taken in the week leading up to Mary and Freddie's nuptials in May 2004. Mary caused quite a stir because she was wearing the Nigella blue sash which is the Danish Order of the Elephant - an honour usually only bestowed on royals. Of course Denmark saw that Mary was worthy even before she wed Freddie.

And excitingly Mary has new photos on her official website, my favourite is the one where she is sitting down in a blue dress. Check them out at Mary's official website

Things one loves

You may well ask what is this picture all about...

I am a big believer in buying oneself presents and although usually this entails clothes or housewares, of late I have come across something edible that one loves. Well, Rochelle Adonis, who rose to fame having made Catie & Linds' wedding cakes has a new little sideline to her deliciousness



The amazing Rochelle now makes ice cream which, at about $20 per 600g is well worth the cold hard cash. So far, assisted by my enablers, I have tried Pecan & Organic Maple, Chocolate Sabli & Sour Cherry, Smashed Chocolate Pearl and Vanilla with Rosewater Turkish Delight...



Its hard to pick a favourite, but I'll say this, I don't like the Pecan & Organic Maple as much as the rest.

Check out Rochelle's new website here: http://www.rochelleadonis.com/

OMG

So tonight I have finally managed to be on the couch when MasterChef is on.

Plus, my Justine is back in the competition, I mean who doesn't love Justine when she does things like this


But MasterChef doesn't stop entertaining there, they step up and give each of the contestants the challenge of using a sausage maker! I am lucky enough to have a sausage making attachment for the mighty Kenwood so I am taking many notes for a big sausage making day at number 9.

PS. Parsons & Dodd, you are totally missing out and need to hit up an internet cafe for about a week straight to check out MasterChef.

PPS. Props to Julie who got some good feedback from the Judges and looked like she was about to cry

PPPS. George, you are not a truffle pig, stop eating like one

Renovation deliberations

People always ask if you're going to have a theme for your renovation. Will it be modern, contemporary, shabby chic, French provincial, Tuscan, medieval (well maybe not that one, but it would be funny)...

For me, its not so much the theme but what should and should not be bought for the kitchen. Right now my question is do I need something like this:


I think you can't go wrong with a hunk of ham in the kitchen and it goes with any decor. Plus it would be fun for when kids pop round, lets make ham and cheese sandwiches and paint the piggies hoof...

But in all seriousness, its all about white for me and my renovation, well that is except for my new chocolate brown leather couch, although being the novice blogger that I am, I failed to take a photo of it for you, you'll have to wait for the 'after' shots.

Dancing with the Stars..

Was anyone else completely disturbed by DWTS tonight?? What was happening with Mark & Todd's respective hair dos tonight? I give them each -10

Sunday Football

Its an Australian institution and lets be honest we all need a break from bargain hunting for that little place we call home, so we went to the footy today the only way I like to go - the corporate way. Which ends up with a view like this:

So it all started with roast pork and lots of cracking - YUM! SO good that there wasn't time to take a photo.

Then there was the vino - I'd give it an 8 out of 10 as far as corporate functions go - it was a Marlborough SSB of some description.

Then at half time we had cheese and desert - which as we all know are 2 separate courses. Much to my dismay the rest of the world doesn't always realise this.

So on the cheese front, there was a brie, cheddar and then a selection of yummy dried apples, apricots and some dates and nuts too. On the sweet side of things there were mini lemon meringue tarts, cheesecake and chocolate cake, which was particularly yummy and looked super good: