Magic house

Did you ever visit a magic house as a child? You know the type, a huge old house surrounded by a lush rambling garden. A garden with lots of green rooms, where you could play for hours and never see the house, even though you were only a few steps away from the back door.

And when you stepped inside the house, and your eyes adjusted to the dim light, you saw impossibly high ceilings, ridiculously long hallways and far too many rooms to seem plausible.  A house full of laughing children and good food and happy times. A magic house.

We have friends living in a house just like that. Lucky for us. This morning, a perfectly warm and sunny day, we went to the magic house for an Easter egg hunt.   The eggs were hidden high up in willow trees, under the agapanthas, throughout the apple orchard and among the keys of the piano wreck.  And some were hidden in fairy town. A whole street of magic houses. Naturally, so perfectly a normal sight to see. At the magic house.

Old news

This morning I thought to myself, "I must write a post about that Country Style article today," when the postie delivered the May edition.  It's now officially old news. We were in last month's Country Style.

We were thrilled to be included, especially Mabel.   She's enjoying her new found fame, and we've heard from good authority that Angus, a golden retriever from down the road has Mabel's picture stuck to the wall next to his basket.  She's a pinup pup!

I was so pleased that Lauren's skirt that Elsa was wearing got such good exposure.  I had asked Angie to make some pants for Hugo too, so both children could be showing off fab Tasmanian designers, but he refused to wear them on the day. All of a sudden there's a wardrobe tantrum from Mr Gumboots-and-undies.

The feedback we've received has been very much appreciated.  Thank you for all the lovely comments, messages and for coming to our stall to say hello and buy cakes.  And thank you to Millie for the sweet post too.

In other old news, last week's issue of Grazia magazine featured a wonderful write up about our cakes and one of our recipes in Matthew's column.  Very exciting for us to get a recipe published! Woo hoo!

Finally, the old news I'm most proud off.  I recently attended an incredible dinner at Garagistes for Slow Food Hobart.  You can read all about it here.  One of my photos was included in The Mercury article, in full colour, both online and in last week's paper. With a credit.  Yay! Pretty exciting for me.

Did I get paid a fortune? Not a penny.  Do I have ambitions to become a professional photographer?  Not if I have to learn the meaning of aperture.  Was I extremely very proud? Why yes I was!

Well dear reader, that's it for old news, you heard it here last. Come back soon for more up to the minute old news.

Movin' on up...

When we heard that Matthew and Ross were heading up to Flinders this weekend, Jo and I moved in on their site at Salamanca for the day.  Muscling in and sharing the turf with Bruny Island Cheese and Anne's legendary jam.  From Rare Foods to cupcakes, it's not such a big leap is it?

Salamanca Markets are big, really huge, with over 800 stalls it's a Saturday institution in Hobart that's been going strong for over thirty years.  Arriving at 7am to set up, already the coffee cart was doing a roaring trade amongst the buzz of zooming fork lifts, the clang of steel poles as stallholders built marquees and burly blokes unloaded box after box of fresh produce.  I found it very daunting and exciting at the same time, and almost, nearly felt like being at one of Paris' open air markets.

We had a great day, with wonderful feed back from lovely new customers, sold a lot of cakes and I got a real feel for the market, having never really spent a great deal of time there before.  It was a huge contrast to our regular Sunday gig, with thousands of people milling through the market, it was amazing to be a part of it for one day.

Today we were back at our home turf at the sunny Tas Farm Gate market, much smaller but I like it like that.  Today I stocked up on favourite sourdough, Jacinta's amazing pasta sauce and Paulette's delicious tomatillos for our Sunday night feast.

Who knows, maybe down the track we might consider being at both markets every week.  It'd be big. It'd be huge. Could we do it? We'd love too!

Hmmm..sorry guys, I don't think you're getting your stall back.

Getting off the island

 

As much as I love living in Tasmania, it is good to step onto the mainland every now and again for a fresh perspective.  I go a bit stir crazy if I haven't crossed Bass Strait in a while, and after our recent trip to Sydney I'm feeling thoroughly inspired.

One highlight was a visit to the Penrith Regional Gallery to have lunch with friends.   What started life as a grand farmhouse then became home to Margo and Gerald Lewers, is now a contemporary, super kid friendly gallery set in lush green gardens with a cafe serving the most delicious food.

Throughout the 1950s and 1960s the Lewers' home, with its beautiful gardens, architecture, artworks and creative environment, was known as a place of style, innovation and hospitality.  You can read more about their amazing life here.

One room in the original house was set up as an artsists studio with easels, piles of butcher's paper and pencils for the peeps to imagine being artists. I like this idea and it's got me thinking...

I can't help feel inspired after our visit and I have lots of ideas for our own home for the garden, the studio space and the veggie patch.Yes, it's good to be home, but now there's work to do. Pass me a paintbrush please.