Between the current heat wave (it’s been around 40C all week, and not cooling down much at night), being sick and impending deadlines, this hasn’t been the best week for me. In quiet moments and middle-of-the-night coughing fits, I’ve been flicking through Cabin Porn on Tumblr – page after page of beautiful little places to escape to, even if it’s only in my imagination.
Hope everyone here in Perth is staying cool this weekend!
I’ve been reading a lot about sustainable, local and healthy food lately, and The Omnivore’s Dilemma in particular has inspired me to really give producing part of my own food another shot, even if it’s just a tiny portion in my tiny apartment courtyard.
With that inspiration and a thrifted copy of Stephanie Alexander’s Kitchen Garden Companion, I went out and bought some decent sized pots, manure, mulch, the most expensive organic potting mix I could find (as it turns out, all dirt is not created equal) and a bunch of seedlings and seeds.
My aim for this garden is to grow herbs that I love but are always so expensive in the supermarket, as well as some things to spice up the salads that I usually eat for at least one meal a day, every day. At the moment my garden consists of: basil, oregano, garlic chives, parsley, coriander, mint, an ailing strawberry plant, jalapenos, yellow and purple chillies, spinach, radish, gourmet lettuce (still yet to sprout), Portabello mushrooms, chamomile and a flowering plant whose name I’ve forgotten, but refuses to flower. I’d like to get a Thai basil and maybe a cherry tomato plant eventually, although I think I might have missed the boat on tomato harvesting season.
Chamomile that refuses to grow up
Those of you who were reading my blog over a year ago might be wondering what became of the chamomile seedlings I was so proud of? The answer is: not a whole lot. The seedlings grew into spindly little clusters throughout winter, and then when they refused to progress beyond that I attempted to thin them out (I’ll be honest – I planted the the little underdogs in a separate pot; throwing them out seemed a bit like killing off the weakest of my children). It’s halfway through summer now, and there’s been only slight growth and not even a hint that any of them are even considering flowering. I decided to be brutal and throw out the stragglers to make room for more productive plants like herbs, and am holding out hope that my few remaining champions will give me something worth brewing this year.
I’m hoping that the other seeds I planted recently – lettuce and radish – will be a bit more productive! The fast-growing radish has started to poke its leaves through the mulch already, so hopefully they’ll be garnishing my salads sometime soon.
Cress
Possibly the easiest gratification of growing things at home, the little cress seeds I’ve been cultivating in cotton wool in my kitchen sprouted with in a day or so and were at one point growing a few centimetres each day! Their growth has stopped now, 10 days after planting, so I’m taking that to mean that they’re ready for the eating. The taste is subtle and mustardy, a good addition to sandwiches I think.
Fingers crossed I don’t kill or render all these plants inedible/unproductive!
Working from home isn’t for everyone; for me it was enjoyable but not always very productive. For the past 7 months or so I’ve been working from a share office, collectively called Monk Studio – home to Monk Media, Cut & Paste, myself and a few others who occasionally drop by.
Current projects board
It’s a pretty awesome and very creative shared office space, although I can’t take any credit for it – most of the setup (including the funky wallpaper) was done by Paul of Monk Media. I did give the whole place a good clean over the holidays, so I’ll take credit for that (office of mostly boys = ‘cleaning’ is done with a leaf blower).
My desk
My setup consists of an Ikea desk, my Macbook Pro on a laptop stand, an extra monitor, keyboard and mouse, a pencil box, a small pinboard of current projects, and my needle-felted Piplup. I suppose it isn’t the most stylish of desk setups, but for my graphic design work the extra screen space is absolutely vital. I also have a foot rest because at my height I can’t have my seat at a comfortable typing position without my legs being too short to touch the floor!
There’s a bit of a library of graphic design books I’ve been meaning to flick through and some instruments which office mates and randoms play when they drop in.
Also (important for me) there’s a kettle and a collection of tea! I think the lemongrass and ginger is my favourite, although I haven’t tried the French Earl Grey yet. We all bring in random drinks and snacks to share.
What’s your office like?
Yup – whilst not as insane and screamy as some, I am a bit of a fan of BBC’s series Sherlock. I’ve been really enjoying season two, and can’t wait for the final episode this week (although since it’s based on The Final Problem it’s going to be an emotional rollercoaster).
Since I’m several different kinds of geek, I couldn’t help noticing the set design more this season, particularly the interiors.
Considering it’s home to two bachelors, 221B Baker Street actually looks really warm and inviting with its vintage furniture, crammed bookshelves, random curios and eclectic damask wallpapers (the black and white one can be found here by the way). I’ve been a fan of the Scandinavian modern minimalist look forever, but I’m finding myself drawn more and more to this sort of warm, slightly masculine, wood-and-leather, very lived-in sort of look. I keep seeing Sherlock’s armchair, Corbusier’s Le Grand Confort, in interior design blogs and have wanted it for ages before spotting it on the show too. Interesting that there’s not a tv in sight – I think rooms look so much nicer when all the chairs aren’t orientated towards a screen!
Irene Adler’s townhouse is a stark contrast – clean, minimal, bright and feminine, full of beautiful antique furniture and decor. Everything looks carefully chosen and arranged, but not as welcoming and lived-in. I suppose it suits the way that the character presents herself – classy, classic, luxurious and beautifully presented, but giving no hint as to the real person behind it all. It’s not my style at all, but I can’t help admiring the white chaise lounge in the sitting room or that amazing and majestic bed!
Do you end up admiring somewhat unrelated elements, like interiors or costume design, when watching tv too? I’m really looking forward to the return of Mad Men this year, it’s always full of inspiring mid-century design!
I feel like I should be saying that this year just zipped right by and I can’t believe we’re at the end of it already, but actually it felt like time passed exactly the way it should do. There were parts, like our wedding day, which felt like they went by in a flash. Less exciting but more relaxing times seemed to roll by at an easy pace, slow enough to look around and appreciate. I’ve had some ups and downs this year just like any year, but overall 2011 has been pretty good to me.
Most of the 'choice' crew in Auckland
Driving around the south island
Franz Josef Glacier
2011 began for us with a trip around New Zealand, the excuse being the wedding of some close friends in Auckland. New Zealand is such an amazing country, with so many different and contrasting environments – we experienced warm balmy days in Rotorua, windy and cosmopolitan Wellington, pouring rain in Milford Sound, icy landscapes on Franz Josef Glacier and beautifully green wineries in the Marlborough region. There was hiking, kayaking, wine-tasting, eating, zorbing and a whole lot of driving. I think I’ve actually now seen more of New Zealand than I have of Australia, so maybe an Aussie campervan road trip will be in our future!
Our housewarming Thai themed dinner
Steamboat!
Christmas dinner
One of the biggest changes for 2011 was moving back to Perth, after two years in Canberra. I’m really missing my Canberra friends, especially as it’s a long way to visit, but in a lot of ways it’s great to be back. One benefit is the (slightly) larger apartment we managed to get, which we’ve now managed to squeeze 11 people into for a sit-down dinner. I love entertaining and cooking for people, so we’ve now had quite a few gatherings at our place with friends and family. Most of these are either quite simple meals (like pizza, BBQ or steamboat) or potluck style dinners, but I’m slowly getting the hang of sorting out the timing so I’m not completely frazzled when people arrive. Food is becoming an ever more important part of my life, so I’m enjoying sharing that with others!
Read more in the Gatherings category
Birthday dinner at Restaurant Amusé
Speaking of food, I’ve been trying to cook at home as much as possible and then splurge every so often on something really special. One of these occasions was The Boy’s birthday dinner degustation at Restaurant Amusé, which is definitely one of the most intriguing and delicious meals I’ve had all year. Each course was impeccably presented, introduced by very professional waitstaff or the cook themselves, and involved some unlikely and wonderful ingredients. I think it’s really set the bar for degustations for me, and I’m hoping to try out a few more places next year!
Read more over on JeffHa.com – Restaurant Amusé
Strawberry jam
Red KitchenAid!
Still on the subject of food (hey, I said it was an important part of my life!), I’ve been doing a lot more cooking this year since The Boy now comes home from work too late to do much prep work. I still have a lot of hits and misses, but we’ve come a long way from eating pasta with jar sauce every few days. This year I’ve started cooking low carb, tried to include at least one vegetarian meal a week and started experimenting with more alternative proteins, like kangaroo (don’t knock it til you’ve tried it, roo is awesome!). I’ve also experimented with making jams, chocolate truffles, choux and shortbread pastry, and too many cakes, cookies and muffins to think about without drooling. The recent acquisition of a KitchenAid mixer (a wedding gift from my wonderful friends) is definitely helping. I wouldn’t call myself a good cook just yet, but I’m certainly improving.
Read more:
Croquembouche
Making Muesli
Jammin’
This year has been a good one in terms of health and fitness – I’ve been doing fitness classes, jogging and eating a more controlled diet. I’ve actually managed to lose 5kg this year, which might not sound like much but I’m determined to do this properly and in a maintainable way, even if it takes me years to get to my goal weight.
Possibly my proudest achievement however, was completing the City to Surf 12km run! A year ago I would have said I would never do it – actually, even right up until the run I was pretty certain I would keel over along the way, or at least walk most of it. But I actually managed to get what I consider a decent time, and felt pretty good afterwards. I’m hoping actually train for the next one and beat my time in 2012.
Read more in City to Surf
Chilling outside Monk Studio
I’ve made a few changes to the way that do my freelance work this year, and one of the major ones was to work from a shared office instead of from home. Monk Studio houses Monk Media, Cut and Paste and a few other creatives who drop in and out here and there. Having a workplace that isn’t home and having other people to chat to has made a huge difference in my productivity; having other creative people to bounce ideas off or just watch funny YouTube videos with makes work a lot more fun. It’s also nice to have some people to have Friday drinks with sometimes! I still have to take photos of the office to post up here, look forward to that in the new year.
More info on my work life in the Freelance Friday posts
My Kindle, and hacked together sleeve
I’ve gotten back into reading in a huge way this year, and sometimes I’m finding myself so hooked on a book that I just devour it in a day or so. Looking back through my Goodreads account, I’ve ready about 39 books this year and will likely finish the 40th before we tick over to 2012. Almost all of these are fiction, with a few memoirs/biographies thrown in. I’ve gotten into sci-fi and food/travel memoirs lately, two genres I hadn’t really touched before. I do most of my reading on my Kindle these days which is very convenient, although there are of course some books which simply have to be read on paper.
I’ll be incorporating more book reviews in 2012, but for now you can see what I’m reading over on my Goodreads account.
Cathy and Lisa cosplaying from Birth by Sleep
Jill cosplaying Aang from Avatar: The Last Airbender
I didn’t end up doing much in the way of cosplay photography this year, but I was involved in a couple of shoots with some amazing cosplayers. Yes, the girl in the photo above really did shave her head for the shoot. I’m slowly becoming more confident in directing and shooting people, although it does help a lot to have cosplayers who really know what they’re doing and what they want captured. I’m going to be a bit more proactive with organising and being involved in cosplay shoots next year; it’s just so much fun!
Read more:
Photos from Perth Supanova, including the above Birth By Sleep shoot
Avatar: The Last Airbender shoot
Invitation suite
First dance (photo by Peter Bui)
The event that took up most of my brain for most of this year was our wedding! There are so many little decisions that need to be made organising a wedding, especially if you’re trying to do it on a budget and with as many DIY elements as possible like we were. The result wasn’t exactly something that you see in a bridal magazine, but for us it was just perfect. I can’t imagine The Boy not being a massive part of my life – I’m pretty sure we’ll be grossing out our grandkids by smooching at family parties way in the future. We have a lot of adventures ahead of us, so I’m glad that we can do them together – now as husband and wife.
I’ve written heaps about the process of organising my wedding and some recaps over on my wedding blog, Getting Hitched.
Nam Hai Resort, Da Nang
Grilling at Hanoi night markets
View from Surprising Cave, Ha Long Bay
The day after the wedding we jetted off on our honeymoon to Vietnam. Breathtaking landscapes, fabulously cheap food and beer, and fascinating culture. I managed to get sick right at the start of the trip and stayed varying degrees of ill for the rest of it, but overall it was still pretty damn awesome. I can’t pick a highlight between staying an uber luxury resort near Da Nang, cycling around Hoi An, eating grilled street food in Hanoi or kayaking around Ha Long Bay.
Read more:
Adventures in Hoi An
Adventures in Hanoi
Adventures in Ha Long Bay
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Looking back, this year has been really good to us. I’m all ready for the next one!