oh happy Friday!

It's starting to feel like winter here in little old New Zealand. So if your feeling like us (cold and wishing for sunshine) here are some pretty things we are swooning over to help get you though this chilly Friday. Go on, have a look. You know you want too.

This place. Simplistic and beautiful.

Cute shirts. Printed shirts. All shirts really.

Zooey.

This girls hair. Pastel pink would make you feel like it was always summer, right?

This dress! So perfect for winter paired with knee high socks or stockings and a cute scarf, sigh.

Source: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Afghan Biscuits

Confession time, we are a tad bit obsessed with Afghan Biscuits at the moment, but why wouldn't we be? Chocolate biscuits with cornflakes and a walnut on top...mmmm! 

Ingredients: 

200g butter

1/2 cup white sugar

1tsp vanilla essence

4tbsp cocoa powder

1 1/2 cups of plain flour

2 cups of cornflakes

Icing:

1cup Icing sugar

1tbsp cocoa powder

Cold water

Walnuts

Method:
Cream the butter and sugar together and then mix in the vanilla essence. Combine dry ingredients in a separate bowl then add to the butter mixture.

Spoon into small rounds, place on a greased baking tray and press down on the biscuits to flatten a little bit. Bake at 180c for 15 minutes ( if your using fan bake, lower the temp to 170c)

Once biscuits are cooked and cooled, mix icing sugar and cocoa powder gradually adding the water to form a smooth paste. Ice the biscuits and press a walnut into the icing. Scrumptious with a cup of tea :)

Vegan soy pancakes

These vegan pancakes are made using soy milk and "no egg" a natural egg replacement.
Serves 6

1/2 cup caster sugar
1 1/2 cups plain flour
2tsp baking powder
1/2tsp baking soda
1 1/3 cups regular soy milk
2 teaspoons No Egg
4 tablespoons water
1tablespoon vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
oil for cooking

Combine sugar, flour, baking powder, no egg and soda in a large bowl. Whisk in milk, eggs, oil, water and essence.

Heat a frying pan with oil. Cooking two pancakes at a time, pour 1/4 cup of batter into a pan. Cook for two minutes, or until bubbles appear on the surface. Turn and cook for 1 minute or until browned underneath. Remove and pop in a warmed oven while you cook the rest of the batter.

These are totally delicious served with fried banana and a drizzle of maple syrup, perfect for a Sunday morning breakfast!

June desktop calendar

Happy Monday everyone!
It's almost June (and two someone's birthdays) so we thought why not make a freebie calendar to celebrate. Enjoy!

DIY crate gardens

I love cooking with fresh herbs and produce grown in the back yard, there is certainly something about plucking  a handful of fresh basil leacves from outside the living room that makes me feel a bit like Annabel Langbein . What a perfect little DIY project this is and so simple....functional and adds something rustic to the outdoor entertaining area.

What you need:
Old wooden beer crates
Hessian
Potting Mix
Staple gun
Herbs and veges - I've used basil, radishes, chilli, rocket, oregano

Grab an old wooden crate, we sourced ours from a liquor shop complete with glass bottles which i'm sure will find their own use in the near future, the more weathered the condition of the crate, the better the look.

Take the rool of hessian and cute a piece large enough to line the inside of the crate and still overhand the edges.

Tip potting mix into the crate, keeping the hessian tight. The pressure of the potting mix will make the hessian sag through the cracks so pull and adjust to smooth this out. Staple down the hessian that fold over the top of the crate if you want, I haven't bothered.

Plant your herbs or vege...voila!

Planting tips: plant radish with lettuces to encourage growth Oregano and Chilli plants work well together with the oregano keeping the soil warm.

Sydney - oh happy travels

Wow what a whirl-wind week or two we have had! Josh and I were extremely lucky to have had 5 stunning days in Sydney with only 6 days to plan the trip! Ahhhh the excitement levels never ceased and nor did the sunshine.

We did the touristy things around Circular Quay of course but the coast was what we explored the most and explored is what we did for 5 days morning til night and there is so much more we desperately want to go back and see!

Our highlights were the Coogee Beach toBondi  Beach coastal walk, we loved Coogee so much we want anyone heading to Sydney to know about it...AMAZEBALLS! CoogeeBeach, smaller and more quaint than Bondi, this is my kinda place -if I win lotto tomorrow I will be blogging from Coogee for life!

The most beautiful natural rock swimming pool 'Giles Baths' is hidden here, the water so crisp and clear and ohhhhh so idyllic! A bit of Aussie history too, I always love delving into the past when I'm touring a new destination.

The coastal walkway itself is a great way to burn off those delicious meals Sydney puts on,  it ducks into nooks and crannys of beaches, each complete with surf club....oh Aussies love of surf life saving as a sport...i just dont get it! It feels like every corner you turn has another group of friends huddled together just waiting for you so they can yell surprise....surprise a graveyard with possibly one of the best views in Sydney, not what I expected to come across...

Moving on...we also investigated Manly beach and Palm beach, better known as Summer Bay, both of which are again beautiful, Balmain is full of character English buildings Surry Hills I cannot wait to go back to (with a shopping budget worthy), its amazing little shops are full of everything I love! And The Rocks so full of history and beautiful old sandstone buildings and wonderful eateries.

Sydney we loved you, we will be back....you can count on us being those annoying NZ relies that come back year on year!

oh happy Friday!

Things we love this Friday

Tea of all kinds, always.

Afgans - chocolatey, conflakey goodness.

Hotwater bottle covers - so foxy!

This cute bracelet. We want to wear it now.

This cat watch. Just because.

Source: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5