instrumental piano with two leather handles and butterfly

You guys must be realising I am such a baby when it comes to surfing the blogosphere (or it should be ‘flying’ not ‘surfing’ right?) because I am only just discovering what and who is out there! This morning I found a bit of time to put my wings on and fly (umm okay, I actually skipped the household chores I’d assigned myself. Again. and eating breakfast.) and I came across this incredible artist over at Oh Joy!. So that is actually discovering two talented people with the same click, because Oh Joy!’s blog is awesome. She just posted about leather artist Aiko Machida and above Aiko has combined two of my favourite things within her leather creation – butterflies and pianos… oh I can be such a GIRL sometimes it cracks me up! Here are a few more of her beauties that feature another obsession confession, ‘chairs’…

Leather-legged chairs, who would have ever thought?! I don’t know where Aiko lives or where you can find her pieces, so please do fill me in if you know more about this fab designer. Also if her work is displayed and/or sold in Paris.

PS. sorry if my posts are lighter than normal lately – I am working on a few projects at the same time which I am looking forward to telling you about as soon as I can, but one of them I am happy to announce involves all of you! I am putting the final touches on it and will reveal all soon, I am very excited about it!

Styled this for Le Forge in Sydney a few months ago, with photographer Brian Gilkes. I just love this image. We shot it at the end of the day, it was raining, we were tired, but I had seen this fantastic wall in the car park on my way in that morning and I was determined to capture one of the Le Forge pieces against it. I picked this piece from the new range at the Le Forge studio and with poppies under my arm I dragged Brian and his divine wife Trish outside in the rain. They both indulged me but I’m quite sure there was eye rolling going on behind me. But once outside, with lots of passionate arm flailing to explain my idea, they were both hooked on it. In the end, it was I who had to drag them away from the shot!

Another fun day at work, thanks to the Le Forge team and Brian & Trish. I will be posting more on Brian’s work soon.

Mandazis are best described as doughnut-like breads very popular in Kenya. Anywhere you travel to in Kenya there are Mandazis being served in all sorts of shapes and sizes, and are traditionally served with my favourite beverage, Chai (Indian tea).

In light of the Kenyan crisis and my appeal to support the Kenyan people, I thought it might be nice to share one of their recipes with you. As with all traditional recipes, once I get into the kitchen I tend to re-work them (habit of occupation!) and with this one instead of making the traditional larger Mandazis I have made smaller ones that are perfect for morning or afternoon tea. I highly recommend you make up a pot of chai with them too, the spices in the tea perfectly compliment the spices in the mandazis. So,invite your friends and the kids over for some Kenyan inspired afternoon tea and munch on these baby mandazis.

Makes about 50

How To:

In a bowl combine all the dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, sugar, and spices. In another bowl, mix the water, butter, milk, and egg together. Gradually add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. Knead the dough until it becomes smooth and elastic (add a little extra flour if necessary). Leave the dough to rest for a few minutes.

Roll the dough out and then break apart into small pieces or cut into little shapes if desired (baby heart shapes would be nice).

Heat a few cups of your chosen vegetable oil in a deep pot (I use a wok). To check when the oil is hot enough, I place a little piece of bread and if it sizzles it is ready, if it does not, try again in another moment. Deep fry the baby doughs in the hot oil, gently rotating. Remove when the baby mandazis are golden brown. Place onto a paper towel to drain. Dust with a little icing sugar. Serve warm with a pot of milky chai.

The Hope Street Markets were created from a love of independent Australian art + design and the genuine love of finding new treasures at the markets. Hope Street is not an actual street address, it quite simply means “bringing hope to the street”. The Hope Street Markets is a non-profit organisation, raising funds from the markets to help support the ‘HopeStreet – Urban Compassion projects’ which help to bring hope to Sydney’s homeless while also supporting and exposing new Australian design talent.

Two of my picks are the very talented duo from Turn Me On Design with their Fiddlesticks jewellery range shown above. I do love their poem too:

And summerblossom’s range of handmade head pieces does it for me too. Rochelle uses cotton, recycled and vintage fabrics and aptly describes her pieces as being perfect for cocktails, weddings, high-tea, picnics and parties. And I love her extra suggestion: “Or, simply pop one in when you’re all alone in your nightie and enjoy that frosted cupcake in divine style!”

The dates for the next markets in Sydney are the 2nd and 3rd February 2008. And if you are not in Sydney then head to the Hope Street Markets website and check out all the designers there. Have fun!!

If you haven’t already spotted them wandering around the (blog)house, my new guests David Knight and Michelle Verghis settled themselves in the guest quarters yesterday evening (yes my head is now throbbing from a little over zealous ‘welcome to the (blog)house!’ party last night). I am thrilled to introduce this dynamo couple to you – David is a photographer who has just been selected as a finalist in the inaugural National Photographic Portrait Prize for the National Portrait Gallery with this beauty:

And Michelle is a fabulous illustrator who designs information graphics for news as well as T-shirt graphics and artwork for private and corporate clients.

I will display more of Michelle and David’s work during their stay in the (blog)house, but for now please make them feel welcome by saying hello, and be sure to follow the links to their associated websites because there is a lot more to see.

Hope you like your stay guys! ooh and watch your feet in the (blog)abong there, some nasties like to think it’s feeding time…