Perhaps you can see why I wanted to linger.

In the lead up to mother’s day when I had my homeware boutique (eons ago), I had a signwriter write on the window “mum’s the word”. Then, written on my cafe window which was on the next pararellel street, I had written “yum’s the word”. I thought that was really clever, even though no one seemed to notice.

This year I say, how about a lovely book, a little bunch of peonies and yummy breakfast for your mum on sunday?

Kimberly from the gorgeous blog mimi charmante suggested to her readers that Paris: Made By Hand would make a great mother’s day gift. And I thought, yeah what a great idea! So thank you dear Kimberly for suggesting this.

I now have a list as long as my arm of independent bookstores in various states in the US that I haven’t yet been able to update on the book’s webpage, so if you leave a comment on this post asking for your local stockists, I shall reply.

Happy Mother’s Day to all the wonderful moms out there, that includes you mum!!

xx

PS I received an awesome email this morning from my dear friend michi, in Sydney, who had ordered my book as soon as she found out it was available. The email said “… your book arrived!!” and there was a photo of her holding it, with a huge smile on her face. I was totally chuffed.

As if this week wasn’t exciting enough!

Admittedly I was asked a month or so ago if I’d like to be ‘in the kitchen with’, it just took me this long to actually get the recipe and photos together! It’s been a busy month, and as its turned out, the post is lovely timing with the book release. The best thing is that while I was cooking this recipe two beautiful water creatures came to visit me so I grabbed my camera, grabbed the dish and snapped away…

Check out the full post and recipe for my pea, mint and feta risotto right here.

And if you do make this recipe please let me know what you think of it – I tend to add ingredients as I go, tasting along the way (I’m an artist and not a recipe writer! unlike my own (blog)house kitchen guest) so if you feel there is not enough of one thing or it needs more of something else, I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Merci Grace and Kristina!

xx

PS I STILL can’t believe I actually got a photograph of the risotto with the swans in the background. wowsers.

which one do you prefer? I couldn’t choose one, so I posted them all.

xx

PS It’s dusk and I’m enjoying a glass of vin blanc. Care to join me?

PPS what shall we listen to? actually I feel like playing this for you again. Please sit back, listen to the birds, sip your wine, and enjoy…

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

…i took this photo from a friend’s apartment while in paris shooting the book. The apartment had the most amazing views over the city, and at night it was just “wow”. When I was there it was rather chilly but I stood out on the balcony for ages, taking long exposures to try to capture the ‘brilliance’. I just adore the eiffel tower when it sparkles at night… you can be walking along the street somewhere near it and then bam! the whole thing sparkles and it is so captivating, it makes my heart sing.

The lovely Victoria over at sfgirlbybay reminded me of this photo from my paris photo collection in her post yesterday – did you happen to catch it? It was filled with treasures from my blog – soundscapes of Paris, old photos, and wonderful memories of times I was writing the book. She also included four top secret boutiques from the book – so if you want a sneak peek of what you will find inside Paris: Made By Hand, head over to read her post.

Thank you Victoria!!

On Tuesday beautiful Grace from Design*Sponge posted a fabulous interview about me and the book, including some exclusive pics and lots of juicy details about what it was like to write Paris: Made By Hand. Please check it out here if you haven’t already. Thank you so much Grace!

And yesterday dear Holly from Decor8 posted a very intimate interview about me and my styling work – she asked me heaps of personal questions about my work, and I gave her very candid and open answers. So if you’ve ever wanted to know how to get into the styling world, or what my work involves, this interview is for you! It also includes some exclusive pics of me styling the front cover of the book. Check it out here. Thank you Holly!!

And a big thank you to every one of you who has extended the invitation to blog about my very first book. I still have email requests to fulfill and I thank you for your patience.

Some quick questions to be answered:

1. I’ve been informed that the book will probably not arrive into Europe or Australia for another couple of weeks, so please be patient – I hope to have a list of stores that will sell the book in all sorts of different cities soon. I have updated a list of bookstores on the book’s webpage here, and will continue to update it as I hear about more bookstores.

2. If you have a store in Australia and would like to stock the book, please contact Random House Australia via email here.

3. If you feel so inclined to write a review about the book on Amazon I would be absolutely thrilled. Thank you!

4. I have a question of my own: wouldn’t that photo be great blown up? i might try it!