CELEBRATE: GRUB
Posted in recipes January 19th, 2008 by piablog

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little oliver has got the idea for this week!

“GRUB” is aussie lingo for ‘food’ and for this week, I have a very unique menu designed by an incredibly humble talent…

When I first spotted her in the blogosphere a few days ago, I was captivated by her ‘mistake’ cookie that she baked. The photograph (as seen below) alone was fit for a magazine and I thought wow, if that beautiful cookie was a mistake, what are her successes?! And not only had she managed to produce something beautiful with this humble creation, she had just sent me straight back to my childhood growing up in Australia, when amongst iced vovos and spacefood sticks, my favourite snack was what us kids called ‘pillows’: fruit filled (store-bought) biscuits in the shape of little pillows….

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So without further delay, may I present you the delightful momo hosking, vegan home cook extraordinaire. Originally from Japan, Momo now lives in Australia with her husband and beautiful boy Oliver. When you have a wander through her blog Kurashi, you will notice an incredible peacefulness, a calmness that comes from her unique culture and background. I have had a love affair with Japanese style and cooking for some time, and Momo epitomises everything I adore about Japan and has made me fall in love even deeper. I asked her if she might like to come and cook in the (blog)house kitchen for a little while and she indulged me and said yes. She has cooked up a storm with my favourite food for this week’s celebrations: cookies. So make your way to the kitchen, say hi and cook up a batch of your own momo cookies, you will not be disappointed – beautiful ingredients, beautiful images. Enjoy…

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CELEBRATE: 7 random facts
Posted in personal January 19th, 2008 by piablog

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I was tagged a while back by the lovely Lisa at Blush, and I am a bit of a shy one (aren’t we all, us bloggers?!) and was a bit nervous to participate. However, in celebration of my upcoming birthday, i have finally plucked up the courage to reveal a few silly facts about me, here we go…

    1. I’m impatient. Perhaps you’ve already noticed? And not only is it one of my most annoying qualities to those close to me, it drives me mad too.
    2. I love my toes. It would not be surprising to my family to see my feet up near my face while I scrutinize them and give them a top pedicure.

    3. I hate flying. I mean, if I had my own pair of wings i’d love it. If I have to fly on a small plane I nearly always faint en route. And as a child I vomited every flight. That’s alot of vomiting since we flew back and forth to Australia every 6 months.

    4. My Mum is my best friend. She is my star and I feel like the luckiest girl in the world to be born from her.
    5. I love to be on boats. I love being surround by water and everything about the water gives me that ‘home’ feeling.
    6. I always wished I was black. Ever since I was a tiny little creature, i was disappointed to look in the mirror and see my freckly white skin.

    7. I have a ‘flat nose’ because I am part Indonesian. When my mother told me as a child that I had the Indonesian ‘flat nose’ I literally thought I had no nose and I was always worried of what this might mean for my future. I looked at other Indonesian people and they all seemed to have a nice, substantial nose to me, so I didnt understand why mine would be ‘flat’. Needless to say, I do have a nose and it is not ‘flat’. Just not quite the same sort of nose other people have.

Agh, there you go, not as scary as i thought it would be and I hope you have enjoyed learning these things about me and that they are not too boring. I hope I have entertained you somewhat!

Coming up next: someone special is about to start cooking in the kitchen, and it is going to be miam! (‘miam’ is french for ‘yum’)(oh i forgot i was supposed to be aussie this week, so um, i should say maybe something like, ‘bonza!’)

UPDATE: I totally left out the part of this blog tag to tag back. Sorry about that, I am so new at this. So here are my seven taggees:

KerryAnne from 3 Continent Family
Felicity from All Things Bright and Beautiful
Nyla from Cherry Coloured
Mary-Laure from Aurea
Marie from
Uncle Beefy from The Bedlam of Beefy
Barb from MayDecemberHome

I hope they don’t mind being tagged but I’d love to find out more about them. If you guys don’t want to play no worries, I will not be offended. It is a bit scary and I already feel I have said too much about myself, and since there are no comments here I feel like running into my shell and never coming out. px

Let the celebrations begin…
Posted in personal, photographers January 19th, 2008 by piablog

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beaut image from John White’s rippa collection

Well folks, this is it. In one week’s time , on January 26th it will be Australia Day. And what does that mean? It means fireworks, it means ‘snags on the barbie’, and plenty of ‘grog’. It means celebrating a beautiful country, with a beautiful people of colour, diversity and multiple cultures. Yep, Australia Day means alot to me. A real lot. A real rippa rollin’ lolly pollin’ lot. Because, well, it means something else too…

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And what’s more…

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Oh yes sir-ee bob. I have only one week left of my twenties, and I want to kick on outta this decade with some noise people… LET’S ROCK THIS BLOGOSPHERE LIKE IT’S NEVER ROCKED BEFORE!

I actually have no idea how to do that, I just thought I’d mention it.

I’ve come up with a few fabbo posts though that I’ll be divulging all in good time. And in celebration of entering my thirdfourth!(argh!) decade, and since I am so far away from my ‘homeland’ and moreover, my family, I thought I’d take this opportunity to celebrate my aussieness. So, for this week you will be drowned with aussie lingo. You may not understand a word of it but that’s going to be all the more fun, we are going to bring the (blog)house down with our Aussie Aussie Aussie -oi oi oi-ness. I’d also like you to practice your Aussie accents this week, with all your friends. French Boy has already started, and in a gorgeous French accent he has almost perfected ‘you beauty mate!’ which cracks me up and makes me very proud. According to French Boy, I don’t have a very Australian accent as it seems the combination of my multi-cultured ancestry and living abroad for a large part of my life has interferred with that. So this week I too will be putting on the thickest Aussie accent possible. There will be no beating around the bush with my pansy international accent this week. Not at all, i’m going out with my dillybag amongst the jarrah and i’m gonna yabber while I yakka, aaaaaall daaaaaaay looooooong.

So enjoy it here in the (blog)house, have a dingo’s breakfast (immediate translation: a piss, a scratch and a good look around), and let’s party!!!

PS. self-indulgent random facts coming up next.
PPS. all suggestions on how to rock the blogosphere for a week are welcomed.
PPS all aussie lingo in comments appreciated as I actually don’t know much, i have to look it up in a book. i know, i’m really a poor excuse for an aussie, but who’s judging, it’s my bloody birthday so stuff ya!

CELEBRATIONS START: AFRICA IN THE SPOTLIGHT
Posted in africa, handmade January 18th, 2008 by piablog

Before I get on my self-indulgent week of celebrations, I implore you to ALL to head over to Beverly’s Afropolitan blog. This morning she has posted about a guy who has just filled my heart with hope, it is overflowing actually, and all because he created a windmill from backyard scraps! THIS is what I call handmade, what a champion – this guy is our future!! And he has not even half of the wealth of one of us. I am jumping out of my skin with excitement and inspiration and I just had to share it with you. Go and take a look at the video, post a comment, and while you are there, read the article called “Africans to Bono: ‘For God’s sake please stop!'” from The American. BRILLIANT article. IMISO!

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image courtesy of Bob Sherman.

in the meantime…
Posted in photographers, quotes January 18th, 2008 by piablog

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While you guys hunt and gather your ideas for my heart wanders, i have some fabulous inspiration for you in the coming week. And when I say fabulous I mean FABULOUS!
I’ve been busy contacting some of my favourite artists from all over the world in my stylist’s little black book. And being the lovely people they are, they’ve been obliging by sending me some rather exclusive pics of their latest projects. Oh it’s been killing me not to share immediately, but this blogging does take time! So what have i got up my sleeve?

  • An INCREDIBLE African design delight, I nearly fell off my little bird perch when I was sent this work.
  • A floral sculptor to the stars! This woman has been one of my biggest inspirations ever since (absolute hunk of a) photographer Anson Smart introduced me to her at their joint exhibition a few years ago. I’m sorry did I just say something?
    I cannot wait to share with you some of her latest work.
  • In the kitchen will be some sweet recipes on a rather exclusive menu designed by a rather talented soul that I can’t wait to introduce you to.
  • And starting from tomorrow, it will be one week-long party here in the (blog)house! Want to know why? Demain, à demain!!
  • I will leave you with this trés fabu quote found on Anson’s website to get your little hearts into action. Please continue to spread the word on the project – the more people involved the more spectacular this project will become…

    “you can’t depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus”

    Mark Twain