for the love of enamelware

Posted on October 23, 2014 by cityhippyfarmgirl

I recently added to my enamelware collection and I’m loving them as much as the original lot I got last year. Technically I got these for camping, but they have snuck into everyday use as well. They are light, easily stackable, (well not the mugs.) I can also put just about any food in them. Loving that!

The only slight unhappy side, if you drop them, they can chip. While this doesn’t effect their use, to my eyes it’s a constant reminder with the dish in question, of that time I was rather clumsy and dropped a whole strawberry crumble on the kitchen floor…sad face indeed.

How about you? Do you use enamelware? Old stuff or new stuff?

If you look after your pieces (as in don’t drop them from a big height!) I suspect they will last far longer than I will. My grandmother still uses some select items that have been gracing cupboards for over her life time and her mother’s. Far more impressive than my chipped Ikea bowls.

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If you would like to buy some enamelware, I highly reccommend

Odgers & Mc Clelland, Exchange Stores– Nundle and

The Lost and Found Department.

Both small companies run by some super duper lovely people.

the art of conversation…where on earth has it gone?

Posted on October 19, 2014 by cityhippyfarmgirl

Sitting on the bus I couldn’t quite put my finger on what was different. Slowly looking around me I suddenly realised, the bus had an energy. It was animated in here, there were people acting like, well real people.

Not signed into their electronic devices like my usual bus rides. Faces staring into tiny lit screens as a bus load of robot clones would.

No. On this bus ride, there was a wonderful vibrancy. There was life.

People were reading paper paged books (I know!) they were talking, a toddler gently traced circles on a window as his mother lovingly leaned into him. The kiss that she placed carefully at the back of his neck, going completely unnoticed as he was so intent on the passing view.

There was a man who had almost given into sleep. As the bus would lean into the corners, so would his body. Swaying just a little further than it should, only to lurch back instinctively, wake him slightly and then for him to fall again into that sleepy warm air bus slump.

There were conversations, a couple kissed, others looked out windows and simply mused on a passing world. Not one person held a digital device in their hands.

I patted my bag with my phone inside rather contentedly and perhaps a little smugly. I don’t need you phone, there is life happening all around me and I intend to soak up every little bit of it.

Weeks later on another journey, again on a bus I wasn’t quite so smug. I had succumbed to the phone, and was using the seated time to read an article I had wanted to during the week. I wasn’t updating a facebook status or doing a bus ride selfie. I was reading an article on suicide prevention and mental illness, so in my head I had rationalised the use of my phone. In my head I was smugly using it justifiably.

It was 8pm and dark outside, while I usually didn’t, tonight I was. Completely absorbed in what my phone had to offer. I didn’t notice the young teenaged boy sit next me. I was aware of him sure, but not enough to even raise my head a little. I had my phone you see.

Do you like the Roosters or Rabbitohs?

Eh?? Oh that’s directed to me?

Err, neither…I replied.

Oh…. Bulldogs or Eels? He quizzed.

Um, no not those either sorry.

Any league team? He asked with slight edge of desperation.

No, not really… (my phone gets discretely shoved into my bag at this stage.)

Any sport? he asks, a little deflated now.

Um… I like soccer? I offer

Great, what team? He says with a little spark again in his eye.

Socceroos? I say.

Yeah, me too! We both seem relieved.

Sitting in silence for a bit and I discretely check out his friends who are standing in the bus aisle. They weren’t dressed like juvenile delinquents, they didn’t look high, didn’t smell or act like they’d been drinking and weren’t graffiting the seats while distracting the other bus riders with idle chit chat. I felt like it was my turn to deliver on the conversation front now.

So where are you all going?

Just up to the local park, he said happily, and again we sat quietly.

A little further on and the bus stopped. The stop was his one and the group of friends tumbled out the back doors, into the early evening. As my teen conversation starter got up to go he said politely, have a good night, it was really nice talking to you.

You too mate, you too… my voice trailed off after him as the doors shut.

My brain was a little confused. I wasn’t quite sure of the last time a fourteen year old boy had voluntarily talked to me in a public spot. Not since I was fourteen myself I suspected.

I got off the bus a few stops later, and patted my silenced phone inside my bag. Yep, still there, I hadn’t been unknowingly pick pocketed. I also hadn’t seemed to be the subject of some odd childhood prank, been filmed and uploaded to youtube.

What I had instead was a tiny conversation that had completely thrown me and to be honest, had made my day. While throwing me and at the same time making me happy, in some ways it also made me a little sad. This was our reality now, instead of a conversation on a bus with a young stranger being a normal thing, it was now such an oddity and something to be scrutinised.

As I walked the rest of the way home, I couldn’t help but wonder. What on earth had happened, to the simple art of conversation?

loving… seasonal changes

Posted on September 28, 2014 by cityhippyfarmgirl

Loving….

my first ever artichoke to cook…it felt very adult like.

strawberry season || cityhippyfarmgirl

Loving…

strawberry season, it’s fast and furious round here and that’s just the consumption of them. Another strawberry crumble was inhaled. (The key to it is the lemon zest, I’m sure of it.)

earth garden || cityhippyfarmgirl

Loving…

reading the spring edition of Earth Garden.

Loving…

light, and so much more of it. It’s there early in the morning and it’s there in the early evening.

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While this week certainly hasn’t been all sunshiney soft light, rainbows, and unicorns. I am really thankful for those small moments captured in these pictures. I’m also loving the fact that we have a functioning healthcare system in this country, (that while it isn’t without it’s problems, is pretty damn good as well.) And I’m loving that.

What have you been loving lately?

[“Often life’s pleasures pass us by simply because we don’t take a moment to focus on them… Make a point of noticing everyday something that uplifts your spirit or tickles your heart… Stop to breathe in the joy of this moment and then tell someone about it. Share your joy and revel in it. When your joy is savoured, and then shared, it is magnified…” ROBIN GRILLE]

Inspiration from the sea

Posted on September 21, 2014 by cityhippyfarmgirl

I wrote a little while ago on how I could easily start another blog on all things of the sea. All those salty thoughts? Yes, they are still piling up and for this post, I have nothing but inspiration come from it.

Utterly inspired.

(I’ve written before of two of these links before, but indulge me, it’s so very worth it.)

Emily Richmond, solo sailor, making her way around the world in a tiny yacht since 2010. C grade media celebrities be damned, this is a woman worthy of looking up to… Bobbie Rounds the World.

Mother Tongue Knowledge: Sri Lanka- A beautiful truly inspiring adventure of a life time, oh yes indeed. He’s just finished (and reached!) a crowd funding project.

Great Ocean Quarterly– where adventures can be taken in your favourite seat, looking out at your favourite view. Bliss.

Tell me about some of your salty thoughts or wanders lately.

Spring, she’s sneaking in

Posted on September 7, 2014 by cityhippyfarmgirl

Spring, there is a touch of it in the air. A blossom here, a scent there and a change in the seasonal food.

Hello spring, I can feel you sneaking in just a little.

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And to all the, pocket knife owning, big hole digging, fried egg loving, mountain climbing, suit wearing, hanging upside down, dreadlocked growing, office dwelling, garden tending, lick the mixing bowl, tree climbing, tea party drinking, curiosity seeking, dads out there…

Happy Father’s Day.

celebrate

Posted on August 24, 2014 by cityhippyfarmgirl

macarons || cityhippyfarmgirl

This is a post that celebrates…colour.

This is a post that celebrates, macarons, puddles, sunsets, pink skirts, cumquats and shadows.

You see, this is a post that is wholeheartedly celebrating those teeny tiny everyday moments,

that so many of our lives are made up of.

Celebrating those moments, and sharing the every day…

in a photo kind of way.

Partying dinosaurs that can’t help but bring a little celebration to the table,

and weekend muddy puddle seeking, because…well they can.

A celebration of tea- that first sip of tea while it’s still hot, utter bliss, (tepid tea just doesn’t compare.)

And invitations to constant tiny tea parties.

cityhippyfarmgirl.com

The magic of a flower that holds all the colours of a winter sunset.

Followed by a real sunset… and that will never get old.

Celebrating small hands that still slip easily into our own.

For the desire to run and the freedom felt that goes along with it. He doesn’t have to explain it to me, I can see it.

Celebrating foraged cumquats in a country valley, that turn into delicious marmalade, on home made sourdough, on a sunny Saturday morning.

filtered winter light || cityhippyfarmgirl

For winter days when I get to wear knitted socks that were made with love by my nana. Celebrating afternoon light that barely looks real, and that brings on all kinds of games purely because of the shadows and highlights it creates.

These are not big, large, life changing things. But they are some of our simple happy moments in what are often chaotic and seemingly far too busy days.

These are some tiny snapshots of life, that I am wholeheartedly celebrating.

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This is the last of my posts using the loaned Olympus camera- I had borrowed an OM-D E-M10 as part of the Voices of 2014 competition. As I’ve mentioned in my last couple of posts (here and here) it’s a rather nifty little camera that as a keen taker of pictures I’ve been really happy to have had the chance to play with.

As a last hoorah, I’m going to mention some of the bits I really liked. (See my previous two posts for some of the other trickster bits I might have mentioned before.)

Bits of the camera that I whole heartedly celebrated

Compact- weighing in at about 400g, it’s a camera that isn’t going to drag your neck or shoulder down carrying it about. I’ve done it for hours on end and haven’t even noticed it, except to take photos of course.

Post picture taking and one of the stand out things is the wifi. I do use instagram, FB and email. The wifi is pretty much gold for switching photos from your camera to your phone. Effortless I tell you. No adaptors, no bluetooth, no cords, no dropbox, no emailing yourself a picture. It’s all there in your phone and I still say it’s a magical Wifi-the-Fairy type kinda way.

You can also use your phone as a live camera remote, which is how I took the knitted socks shot- camera in position, adjust ALL camera settings via phone (that still blows my mind a little) and snap, picture taken.

The Art Filters and different Scenes you can choose from are all there to create photo master pieces from too. Either within the camera or afterwards in the phone app. You can also use the Art Filters when shooting video, (yep, that’s a bit cool I know.)

Quality- For a little camera I was really surprised. Lots of oooh kind of moments after I’d taken a pic. I’d love to play with some of their other lens but the kit lens the camera comes with (14-42mm) it does the job, yes it does. None of these photos were edited, not even a whisker, (except the coffee pictures above which were done using the Pin Hole Filter as mentioned) I actually really enjoyed the challenge of finding the camera’s happy spots*, (turns out it as lots.)

* I also celebrated the fact that I had a different camera at my disposal with lots of different buttons. So ahem… I set out to fiddle with every little button and see what they all did- this photo and the earlier five shot colourful umbrella picture uses the template function, where you can join photos together in various ways.

Photo Geek Talk

All photos in this post were unedited using the 14-42mm lens, (except for the above shots in this section as mentioned.) ISO I used varied a little, but generally was set at 400 for most of these shots. I find shooting in manual gives me more scope to play with the effects of the picture but if I’m having trouble getting it all, the auto option is pretty damn easy along with the Scenes settings, (depending on what I’m taking the picture of.)

Thank you Olympus. For the return of your gear, you may now try and pry my fingers from the camera.

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Tell me, what are you celebrating at the moment?

memory

Posted on July 27, 2014 by cityhippyfarmgirl

This is a post that I seem to have written countless times in my head. One line here, another line there. At times bursts of whole paragraphs.

Sometimes though, it’s not a post at all, sometimes it’s simply a letter. A letter to be written, reflected on, and then gently folded away. After a time, brought out again once more.

These words that I stick together in fits and bursts are words that are accompanied by so much more. There are vivid pictures, and strong seductive smells, intense inner feelings and deep hidden emotions. In there is also probably more than my fair share of nostalgia. It’s my precious memories I’m talking about, and if I stored them in suitcases I think I would have a whole mountain of them.

cityhippyfarmgirl.com

I’m not the first in my family to hold on to memories like a sacred gate keeper. My grandma before me is also one too. I held her hand recently to take a picture of it. Somehow I wanted to capture a tiny portion of her own memories that she held, before I no longer could.

These hands that had lived through a depression era, a world war. Hands that had held three children as they had traipsed their way to school. For eleven grandchildren, these hands had lovingly waved and told stories of the “olden days”. Hands that had now been lucky enough, as she says, to stroke the soft cheeks of five great grandchildren.

As a woman now in her 80’s, there’s a new found fragility to those hands, which is something that I have never known before.

Something that isn’t in my memory.

In the afternoon I took the photo, holding my Grandma’s soft skinned palm, and cool fingers in my mine- I felt her memories. Every single one of them.

In that moment I wanted to say a thousand things, but I didn’t. As the memories they got stuck, and they wouldn’t, couldn’t get out of my throat. Making a jumble of my words, my grandmother, I think she knew. As she held back her own choked words. Instead, I felt the soft, delicate skin of her hand and I was simply there.

As one day, I knew she wouldn’t be… but then, neither would I.

As I type this I can hear my boys muffled giggles. Through a closed door they are trying to be quiet while their little sister sleeps the afternoon in. My small sleeping girl’s memories are just emerging, and I wonder what it will be that both her and her brothers will choose to record for their own childhood memories. Will they carry them around in the suitcases that my Grandma and I seem to do, or simply leave them to the whirl of the winds? Something to be caught, held and then thrown free again at a moments notice.

Will they have memories of being carried high on strong shoulders? Will they remember those late afternoons at the beach and the salty smell of the sea as they ran towards it?

Maybe they’ll have a very small memory of their mother quietly holding their great grandmother’s hand in a sunny room, late one morning.

Or maybe, they’ll simply look at some of my old photographs.

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If I’m lucky enough to get to my 80’s, I don’t think I would ever have too many photo’s. As we are living in such a digital age, my collection of photographs continues to get bigger and bigger. How could it not though? For nostalgic kind of people like me, well photos are a pretty wonderful tool.

I’ve mentioned before that I’ve been lucky enough to be loaned an Olympus OM-D E-M10 for a trial period of a couple of months, and I’ve loved seeing some of the things I can do with it, capturing some of those moments that I want to remember.

There’s an always growing collection of many photograph piles and files, along with my instagram account. So many of those little seemingly small insta squares have now got a little memory attached to it like a post it note on a fridge. My kids flick through them, making comment, like the way I used to do to our family photo albums when I was their age. (With this camera there is a nifty wifi function that can switch your pics to any social media or email to doting grandparents as well.)

Being a compact little camera it’s an easy one to carry around in my regular every day bag, rather than carry around something bigger and separate. And, if you like to edit your photos a bit, there are also Art Filter options- which can be done easily either in camera, or afterwards via the Olympus app on your phone.

Sometimes I use this function, and other times I just leave it as it is. As a raw moment.

A captured memory.

loving… doors, dinosaurs, biscuits and coffee

Posted on July 20, 2014 by cityhippyfarmgirl

Loving…

secret leafy doorways that lead into secret leafy walled gardens. (If you never read The Secret Garden as a child, you really should get it from local library. The magic of gardens should never be underestimated.)

Loving…

coffee dates with friends. Just like leafy gardens, the magic of coffee should also never be underestimated.

Loving…

a baking rack full of cooling Anzac Biscuits on wintry afternoons.

Loving…

Playing with dinosaurs at dusk, because really, how could you not love that?

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What have you been loving?

custard tart vs chocolate pudding

Posted on July 6, 2014 by cityhippyfarmgirl

I recently made a chocolate self saucing pudding.

It was fairly forgettable really.

Prompted from a chat on instagram, I wanted to revisit my early teen winning staple. And I really mean staple. I made those chocolate puddings on a weekly basis at one stage. Fueled by my love of anything dessert orientated and driven by a new found kitchen freedom that one seems to acquire after a certain period of time that has passed of proving yourself. Yep, I could bake them alright, and along with it feed my hungry mouthed siblings all through the long winter months. (Which weren’t particularly long, but it does sound more dramatic.)

The question was, would I be doing the same for my own children? Would the humble self saucing chocolate pudding become a family favourite as it once was mine?

Errr, no. No it won’t be.

I made it. It was pleasant, and that was about it. It seems my chocolate pudding days go no further. After 20 plus years of not making it, it seems my palate has completely changed. No longer sated by a simple concoction of self-raising flour, sugar, and cocoa. It really just didn’t do anything for me.

Now I could adapt a recipe, make it my own. Throw some more ingredients in there that are more attune to what our young family enjoys, however I probably won’t… as instead I revisited the humble custard tart.

And that dear people, was well worth the revisit.

Given that I have a long held history with custard anything, it would have been a shame if this one didn’t cut it. At times in my younger life I may have been held up by custard. It’s not the first time I’ve mentioned the love for custard on the blog, (nor probably the last.) But what I will mention is the tart disappeared far quicker than the chocolate pudding, which unfortunately seemed to quietly whither within the fridge over a period of days.

This recipe isn’t very complicated. There is no resting of pastry, no straining of custard, and if you feel like that second slice…I say go right ahead.

Custard Tart

Pastry

180g cold cubed butter

50g icing sugar

1 egg

250g plain flour

In a blender pulse, butter, flour and sugar together until it forms bread crumbs. Drop an egg in and a give it a quick whizz. Pop the mixture out on to a lightly floured bench top and gently knead until the dough comes together. Between two baking sheets, roll it out to about .5cm thickness. Plop the dough into your greased pie or tart dish, keeping one side of the baking paper on there. With the baking paper side up, add pie weights or something to weigh the pastry casing down- bake blind for about 20-15 minutes or until golden at 180C.

Custard

600mls milk

2 tsps vanilla

4 egg yolks

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup cornflour

50g melted butter

nutmeg

Add all ingredients except milk and nutmeg together to form a paste like consistency. In a pot over medium heat, add all of the paste and slowly add the milk, stirring continually. Keep stirring until the custard just comes together and then take it off the heat. (If by chance you get side tracked, and your custard gets a little lumpy- wizz it with a hand held mixer- voila! smooth custard.)

Pour custard into the tart shell and grate a little fresh nutmeg over the top.

Eat with enthusiasm and noisy laughter.

Favourite

Posted on June 30, 2014 by cityhippyfarmgirl

cityhippyfarmgirl.com

(For this post I am lucky enough to be playing with a different little camera that has been loaned to me from Olympus.)

I never had a favourite toy when I was growing up. I liked some over others sure, but a favourite? Not really. I had books instead, and they were all my favourites- Every. Single. One. Of those pages.

One of my kids so far is taking after me in that regard. Reading all of those delicious pages. At each turn, a new story, a different tale, another adventure…a new favourite. I love the fact that this unlocks so much of his imagination.

While books are also firm favourites for my other boy child. I can see that he’s drawn in a different way. An energy, a call, a different direction. This is the boy who loves running, and drawing and jumping, (with more running.)

Then there is this one. The smallest of the pack. The feisty, wild cub, where everything is a favourite. A favourite with an intensity that only a two year old can show.

On instagram recently there was talk of favourite cameras and favourite lens. Alas, as a blogger and keen taker of pictures- this really is one of my favourite topics. (Along with the topics of real food, homebirth, sourdough baking and why I really would like to have some Scandinavian heritage.)

I still feel like I’m on the outer edge of the photography pool, I keep splashing on the edge but it’s the deep end I’m really after. Slinging metaphors aside, and it was back to the instagram conversation of lenses. From another blogger or instagrammers perspective this is fascinating stuff as this is how so many of us are telling our day to day digital stories and sharing it with the world. A camera of some sort is a necessary tool.

For me the dslr world opened nearly two years ago and I’ve loved every second within it. Then there is instagram and within that it feels like another whole world of picture-taking…. so many apps, so little time. (And then in walked the Olympus, and ooh aah indeed. This little camera seems to marry photography and social media platforms ridiculously easily with built in wifi…it still bends my mind a little.)

One of my favourite photography things to look at it is when people, give the photo specs of what they did in a particular shot. f stop, ISO, and whether they pressed the button with their nose or not. I love knowing it all, every little bit of it. ( And *ahem* yes, occasionally the nose is needed.)

14mm- 42mm ISO 400 f3.5 1/250

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THE GEEKY BITS

I have been loaned the Olympus OM-D E-M10 for a couple of months. It’s a rather nifty little camera that I’m just a little bit excited to be playing with. Below I’m going to add some of those nifty things that it does- As there is going to be at least one person out there reading who wants to invest in a camera, doesn’t know what to buy, and is slowly going cross eyed with reading online reviews.* While this is by no means a review, for this post and a further two more I’ll mention a few of the features.

Wifi- No adaptors, no cords, no dropbox, no emailing yourself a picture. It’s there to your phone. In a magical Wifi-the-Fairy type kinda way.

It’s little- Cute, petite, tiny and tres chic. Call it what you will, it’s not going to be breaking your back or neck like some hefty DSLR’s do.

Little means discreet- Street photography is something I’m slowly developing a bigger interest in. It scares the hell out of me, but I’m ok with that- It’s kind of good to do something that pushes me. Using a smaller camera but not compromising on the quality of the shots makes getting shots like these ones, a whole lot easier for me, (and a huge thank you to the kind young men for happily saying, yes.)

* And you should research these kind of things. That way you know what exactly you are getting and what you can do with it before you hand over your hard earned coins.

***************

Now indulge me in the comments… What lenses, apps or photography tricks do you use? What are your favourites? Go on, lets geek talk.

loving….

Posted on June 22, 2014 by cityhippyfarmgirl

Loving….

sneaking a little bread creativity into those otherwise long days looking after sick, unwell little people.

Loving…

Late afternoon light. It’s always changing and makes you look at things just that little bit differently.

Loving….

Seeing my work in print in the current edition of the lovely Earth Garden. That’s pretty exciting, I’m not sure that will ever get old for me.

Loving…

Awesome food baked by someone else. Mind blowingly awesome tastyness (yes, all the wonderful descriptive words are there.) If you are in Newcastle, Baked Uprising is where you might want to go. Oh yes you might. (Cardamom tart, lemon crumble, lemon and white chocolate tart, and sourdough danish.)

What have you been loving lately?

*************

the blur

Posted on June 15, 2014 by cityhippyfarmgirl

Sometimes it takes me a while to figure things out. For other people, I can be a whole lot quicker but when it comes to me, yes, things can be a little snail paced round here.

Three weeks it took to finally come to the realisation, I kind of just had to stop. Stop trying so hard, say no and just go with the flow. Three weeks. It can feel like a really long time when you are grumpy, frustrated, run down and your eyes are blurry.

Things have been all a blur, as over the last few weeks I’ve had a little eye trouble. Nothing major but affecting my every day, yes indeed. And annoyingly so. For the past three weeks, my world has looked on and off like this.

Now today, finally it’s almost back to this. It seems kind of fitting that along with clarity of vision comes clarity of thought.

I’d been trying to hard to continue on with ‘normal’ days (whatever they are) and getting more and frustrated when I really wasn’t up for normal days. My motto in life is generally just go with the flow and it seems I wasn’t going with the flow at all. I was still clinging on to the things I wanted to be doing rather than really listening to myself and actually just stopping- doing what needed to be done instead.

Seriously what a revelation that was. I felt like a bit of a silly bugger on one hand and on the other hand I was quietly high fiving myself for finally realising what I needed to do.

How about you? How are you seeing things lately both figuratively and literally?

*****************

Now not seeing properly is incredibly hard after seeing perfectly well for the past number of years. My problem while annoying isn’t catastrophic though, and is slowly getting better.

Living with the blur over the past few weeks, made me think though about so many people that don’t get to have the same outcome that I do. Glaucoma (which I will just briefly clarify, I do not have) is a relatively easy procedure to have fixed, and yet so many people will struggle with it in their day to life due to lack of ability to get proper care.

Four out of five people who are blind in the developing world don’t need to be. A donation of the really quite small amount of $25 can restore sight, as the blindness is often treatable or preventable.

That’s pretty damn amazing really.

Fred Hollows Foundation

cityhippyfarmgirl

simple connected living, city style

Category Archives: Rambles, Waffles and Digressions

for the love of enamelware

the art of conversation…where on earth has it gone?

loving… seasonal changes

Inspiration from the sea

Spring, she’s sneaking in

celebrate

memory

loving… doors, dinosaurs, biscuits and coffee

custard tart vs chocolate pudding

Favourite

loving….

the blur