Hello. I've missed you...

So sorry.
I know I have not posted nor have I been round to 'visit' you all for a while. Truth be known this visitor lark is pretty exhausting to say the least. The MIL and the SIL have been staying with us and I have not really had any time to myself. I have either been working or on the days I have had off I have been tour guiding. Or shopping and planning meals and cooking. And no going off and on to the computer ON MY OWN - have hardly had time to even check my emails ; - "Where's Sarah gone? What's she doing?" Oh dear....

Having said all that I did manage to escape out last weekend when MR SE took over for the tour guiding duties and met my lovely friend Ms. S for a couple of hours. She cheered me no end as only friends can.....

Here is my set of gorgeous Vietri China - a modest 'breakfast set' (for Mr SE and myself) - 2 plates and there were also 2 mugs to match but a while back I dropped and broke one . She knew how sad I was about this and ..... Tah Dah ! Look what she gave me ....... another matching mug!

Here it is, close up. Lovely hand made Italian china. So pretty and tactile.

She made my day.

My Mother in Law and Sister in Law are off back to UK towards the end of the week and so you can rest assured that I will be round to your blogs to 'see' you all again very soon. Meanwhile, thanks for understanding.

In which we do a 30 minute Jamie "spesh"

Mr SE and I are quite fond of watching the Jamie Oliver programmes that are on TV here in Australia at the moment.... They are his 30 minute special suppers and to quote Mr. O are prepared and served in "Well undah firty minites"
They are on fairly early each evening at 6.30pm so we record them and then watch them in a batch and last week we had a go at the Pizza served with a trio of salads - a mozzarella and pesto one , tomatoes with basil and balsamic dressing and rocket and lemon salad... Here above are the fruits of our labour all together...

And here the focus on the main dish the PIZZA. Have to say this is the first time I have made one completely from scratch including the base and we were impressed - it was so easy and also very quick too.

If you want to have a go at Jamie's pizza here is the recipe :

PIZZA
1½ mugs of self-raising flour, plus extra for dusting
½ mug of tepid water

TOPPING
1 x 400g tin of chopped tomatoes
A few sprigs of fresh basil
½ a clove of garlic
Red wine vinegar
½ a 125g (4½oz) ball of buffalo mozzarella
Parmesan cheese, for grating over
8 slices of salami
1tsp fennel seeds
½ a fresh red chilli
PIZZA: Turn the heat under the frying pan up to high and dust a clean surface with flour. Put 1½ mugs' worth of flour into a food processor, then half-fill the same mug with tepid water and add to the flour with a pinch of salt and a glug of olive oil.
Whizz until smooth, then tip on to the floured board. Sprinkle the top of the dough and the rolling pin with flour (the dough will be quite wet, so be generous with the flour).
Roll the dough to a 1cm (½in) thickness. Drizzle olive oil into the pan, then dust the dough with flour again and very lightly fold it over into a halfmoon shape.
Lightly fold the half-moon in half, then move the dough to the pan and unfold it, pushing it down into the sides of the pan. If you don't have a pan this big, don't cook all of the dough at once, halve it and make two pizzas.
TOPPING: Put a third of the tinned tomatoes into a liquidiser with a few sprigs of basil, ½ a peeled clove of garlic, a splash of red wine vinegar, a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and a pinch of salt. Whizz until smooth. Pour over the middle of the pizza base and spread out evenly.
Tear ½ a mozzarella ball into small pieces and dot around the base. Finely grate a layer of Parmesan over, then top with the salami slices. I like to bash the fennel seeds in a pestle and mortar and finely chop the chilli, then scatter them over the pizza.
Put the pan under the hot grill for 4 or 5 minutes, until golden and cooked through.

Quite DELISH and if you wanted the rest of the bits that went with the pizza -click on this link :

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/food/article-1316918/Jamie-Olivers-30-minute-meals-Cheats-pizza-delish-salads-squashed-cherries-vanilla-mascarpone-cream.html

On other notes to tell you. As I type my MOTHER IN LAW is winging her way over the skies to Australia to stay for a few weeks... (No, no I did not say on a broomstick!) . Those long time readers of the blog will know that she (the MIL) is rather a force to be reckoned with and is a little outspoken to say the least. Will keep you updated as we go!

Hope you all had (or are having) a wonderful weekend.

The MIL returns to UK tomorrow!

And maybe I am not being entirely honest if I say there is no coincidence that I am posting this photograph I took yesterday of the BATS (or flying foxes as they are also known as ) that roost in trees near the RIVER YARRA in Melbourne - but sorry, could not resist the temptation!!

They are actually an amazing site especially at dusk when they all take off to feed - they look like enormous crows when flying with wingspans of around a metre or so ...... (you may have to double click on the photograph to make it larger to see them all in the trees) - they also look like black handbags or moneybags all hanging upside down as they sleep throughout the day....

Hope you all had a good weekend.....

The weekend and last Friday

Well this weekend was busy - MIL arrived at the crack of dawn on Friday and we spent the weekend showing her around Melbourne culminating in a trip today (Sunday) with a picnic on the Great Ocean Road in Victoria with a look at the spectaclar 'Twelve Apostles' (photo above) - just breathtaking.

Some flowers for the weekend - well, a bit late really now - sorry, but enjoy all the same - I took the photograph in the shop on Friday - beautiful pink orchids which have lasted all week - so stunning and really make a statement....

And lastly this is what I wore to work last Friday - white shirt from a little shop north of Oxford Street in London, UK, cropped sea green cardi from Brora - fantastic cashmere - http://www.brora.co.uk/ - their sales are especially worth waiting for, and a new black linen skirt from a local Melbourne designer called

Dainy Sawatzky - called 'Paper Lantern Skirt'...... MIL took one look at it and said to me "What on earth is wrong with your skirt - its all funny at the hem and bunches out?" - I replied that it was designed that way to which she retorted "Well, I'd hate to wear it - I would have to keep smoothing it down!" - Told you she was outspoken!! It was a good day in the shop with quite a few customers in and some telephone orders too including one from a gentleman in Sydney who asked for a Carthusia fragrance to be sent to him (Aria di capri)- yes, he knew it was labelled as a 'fragrance for women' but he said he loved it for himself and enjoyed wearing it so, why not - yes, why not indeed? Chacun a son gout as they say .........

I have the day off tomorrow (am doing Tuesday to Fridays in the shop and so I will be taking MIL around the beautiful city of Melbourne) ......

Will post again on Tuesday evening......

The Shop on the other side of the road

Opposite Peony is the lovely shop Ma Maison Home Couture http://www.ma-maison.com.au/ which is owned and run by the lovely Shelly - she has some beautiful linens, china, gifts, stationery etc. and she is a charming and warm person too - take a look at her website - so lovely to look out over the road and see the smart, blue striped awning - note - it was warm enough today to have her door open...... Oh, and she also brought me a coffee mid morning too - my turn tomorrow to get them !



Thought I would share a funny story with you - re : travelling to work - I go on the train (great service I think in Melbourne although Melburnians do complain about the service - Connex - they should try British Rail then they would have something to complain about!) Anyway, it is only 3 stops but when I got on this morning a young-ish man was plugged in to his ipod with the sound way too loud and all the rest of the commuters were having to put up with "Ting Ting Ting Ting" and the constant droning of whatever music he was listening to....... I sat there and was reminded of my father who once, when travelling on a train tapped such a person on the shoulder as he was getting off and said to him very loudly "Excuse me but your personal stereo ISN'T personal!!" - wish I had the courage to do that sometimes... (I may add that my father has been likened a bit to Victor Meldrew that well known character in the British TV series 'One Foot in the Grave'...... Anyway, I smiled to myself this morning when thinking of it.



And, talking of parents MR SE'S MOTHER is, as I write or type, winging her way across the skies from UK for a month stay with us - yes the MIL is coming..... So, all this week I have been preparing meals and shoving them in the freezer in the evenings and even excelled and made a cake last night - well, a loaf type thing - Banana, Orange and Date Loaf... Have of course sampled it and actually it is not all that bad at all so I may post recipe here at the weekend! Anyway, watch this space - she is known as being rather outspoken to say the least......

And, to finish off this is what I wore to work - Mr SE collected me today (and took the photo for me in the shop at the end of the day). I am wearing - black panel skirt with cream ribbon bands on it from an Australian shop (can't remember which one - but def. a high street one,) black top underneath from Gap and short cream cropped cardi from 'Primarche' - black wolford tights and the same shoes as yesterday - yes, I know you shouldn't wear same shoes two days running but am running low on flat comfy ones now! And necklace from lovely place where I work when I am back in UK called Indigo - will describe Indigo at a later date....

Friday tomorrow then le weekend - am looking forward to it already......