Chowstalker Love!

Somehow, up until recently, it has completely escaped my notice that there is an awesome website called chowstalker.com

From their about page:
"Chowstalker is a place to find real food and connect with people who know how to cook it"

We've tried out a couple of recipes lately and been impressed with the results.

First up was Olive, Garlic and Lemon Chicken. We had this with green salad and the sauce made a great dressing. It was also good in that you use whole chicken thighs. This meant it was a hit with Ava who doesn't like olives or onions. I could just take out a thigh and it had all the flavour with none of the "bits". 

A few nights later we had Pollo Fundido. What's not to love about this one? Chicken and bacon in a creamy cheese sauce. If your stomach can handle the dairy then it's a guaranteed winner. We were all fighting over leftovers the next day!

So if you're into gluten free eating I highly recommend you check it out. Now I'm off to explore this thing called Dessert Stalker!

Finders Keepers

I was incredibly excited when I heard the Finders Keepers markets were going to be on in Brisbane last weekend. I've always wanted to go but the planets have never aligned!

Last week my sister and I disentangled ourselves from our offspring and headed off to the markets. It was a marvellous day. The weather was mild and the markets weren't too big. Perfect for Tam who is now 39 weeks pregnant

It was so hard to choose just a few things to bring home and I have dreams of going next time with a much bigger budget

My little haul

What I got...

The chalks are from One Lantern, but I'm not sure if they sell them online

An adorable fox brooch from Sharon Muir

All her ceramics were truly devine and I hope her online store opens soon

A rattle for the upcoming arrival from Amor Amor

Their items are made so you can colour them in with washable texta!

3 patterns from Craft Schmaft

I first pinned those balloons a while back and I was delighted to find

the patterns. You can get the PDF's online but if you get the chance to

see them in person their paper patterns are beautifully presented.

We made a quick stop in to Chermside on the way home so Tam could help me pick out an outfit from Portmans. She very kindly gave me a voucher for my birthday. We got a dress and some shoes, woot woot :o)

Photography by Ava. You can see me wearing my little fox brooch.

If you're on Instagram you've probably seen by now that they've put up profile pages. I'm loving it and if you want you can see us here Instagram.com/miss_jent 

Countdown to Christmas

November is upon us and the countdown to Christmas has officially begun. This year's celebrations will be smaller that years past but there are still menus to organise and presents to buy.

My main Christmas planning tools this year are the above Chirstmas planner from kikki.K and of course my Pinterest boards.

I have a couple of main boards going. 

One for the kids: Stocking Stuffers

And one for in case anyone asks me what I want for Christmas: Wish List

My sister is a co-collaborator on the Stocking Stuffer board as we normally combine our talents to and make things for all the kids.

I also have a few projects hidden in and around various boards so as not to arouse suspicion from fellow pinners.

I'm planning quite a bit that's handmade this year and I need to get my butt into gear. A trip out to Spotlight this afternoon will see me officially get underway.

How are your plans coming along for Christmas? Planning purchases, busy crafting or a mixture of both?

Pinterest Challenge #5 - CressHeads

This is my first time participating in the Pinterest challenge. That is unless you count this bird I instagrammed last time?

Original pin here

My Pinterest boards are currently overflowing with things I want to do/try/own. It was hard to pick a project. In the end I went with one that was quick, easy and also entertained the little ones.

From http://katescreativespace.com/2012/03/11/spring-fever/

My sister had done a similar project a little while back so I knew it was something that would work in our climate.

We gathered our supplies of egg shells, cotton balls, glue, goggly eyes

and of course some cress seeds

The girls carefully stuffed cotton wool into their eggs.

Em need a little help

We then filled them with water. It was only afterwards I realised

you're meant to wet the cotton wool first!

 

Em was very careful but we did end up losing an egg...

Em had enough by this stage so Ava and I sprinkled on some seeds

and decorated the eggs

Now next you're meant to put them somewhere dark so they can sprout and then take them out after a couple of days to keep growing. Well we sort of kind of forgot about ours...

A week later and they were in some desperate need of some TLC!

Luckily after some water, sunshine and a few days R&R

they were looking more like the pinspiration

Bonus: Ava's scary ones looked great for Halloween

Unfortunately Emily's cracked replacement did not turn out so well.

Between failing to really sprout and losing an eye, it was one

sad little egg cup.

I'm calling this a success. Ours definitely don't look as uniform as the original but we had a lot of fun! Who knows we might even try our hands at some old fashioned grass heads next!

The Pinterest Challenge links up lots of great bloggers and ideas. The hosts this time are Katie, Sherry, Sarah and Carmel. I'm a little behind the schedule so there are already heaps of cool projects to go and check out!