Auction for Lori

Curiouser photo of Hayley and Caden from a family session in Adelaide.

I read about Lori on Maxabella Loves... and have had her in the back of my mind since. Lori is from the Random Ramblings of a Stay at Home Mum blog. She has two small children (aged 3 years & 16 months) & lives in the leafy suburbs of Sydney. Under tragic circumstances her husband suddenly passed away on January 10 this year. This has left Lori with no income. (I won't link her blog directly here, but you can find it via the other links if you are prepared for tears).

Anyhow, it's so awful and when I saw that friends of hers have organised an 'Auction for Lori' to raise funds for her support, I wanted to help as well. I've donated a Curiouser photo session plus 8"x12" print. I've also added a note to my Curiouser facebook page that existing clients could bid if they want to and have the auction item convert into a $150 credit instead (in case they want to use it for orders instead of a session).

In lighter news, post 700 is coming up in a week or two on my blog - might have to have a fun giveaway! Any suggestions are welcome :)

Creamy Chicken and Native Thyme Casserole

One thing about visiting the family at Reedy Creek, is that I always come back stocked up with Outback Pride products and inspired to share the things I make. I'm making it easier on myself now by skipping the step by step photography and just remembering to take a single image if possible!

This one I actually made on Monday night, after our drive home (and a quick grocery shop by Ben).

600gm free range chicken thigh fillets, roughly chopped
1 leek, white part quartered and sliced
125gm button or swiss mushrooms, sliced
1 zucchini, quartered lengthways and sliced
2 large cloves garlic, crushed
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 cup chicken stock
1/2 cup light cream
2 tsp of fresh native thyme, finely chopped (if unavailable, replace with dried native thyme)
1 tsp Native Pepper Seasoning

Heat half of olive oil in a wide frypan or a saucepan. Brown chicken in batches and set aside.

Heat the remaining olive oil. Saute garlic for 1 minute until fragrant, add leek. Cook, stirring for 1 minute and then add mushrooms and zucchini. Cook until all vegetables are soft and leek slightly translucent. Return chicken to the pan. Add chicken stock and bring to the boil. Reduce to a simmer, add cream, native thyme and native pepper seasoning. Simmer for half an hour or so. Serve with rice. It can also be baked as a casserole in a lidded dish for 1 hour. Serves 4.

Friday

The kids and I drove back to Melbourne on Wednesday after a nice week in Adelaide - a good balance of family time, work and play. These shots are from the day we spent with Tatum and Lauren - the kids had such fun that by the end of the day the girls were begging for a sleepover :)

I just got two gorgeous kits in the post from Scrapboxx, and since I just finished the January OTP kit project a few days ago I am really in the mood for scrapping! It will have to wait a little, though, as I have an article to write, some emails to answer, washing to put out, a wallet to drop off, nappy to change and - I'm sure - some random procrastination to throw in the mix.

Have a great weekend :)

Lou and Jess sneaky peeks

 

 

 

 

 

A great fun, cruisy, happy session for the lovely Lou and her friend Jessica... this was in Norwood yesterday afternoon, so lovely!

Sneak peeks for Riss

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I had such a fun session yesterday afternoon with my cousin Marissa, her partner Hayden and daughter Liana. We started at Port Willunga beach, but it was crazy bright and Liana wasn't very happy there, so we moved on to a setting near some vines, not far from Mclaren Vale. I was having fun editing and couldn't stop at the usual 5 or so... :)

This week

This week has been all about water. So used to not having enough of it, these last six months have been a chaotic reversal. This last week has seen terrible floods throughout Queensland, in particular the "inland tsunami" flooding of Toowoomba, Grantham and those areas. Then Brisbane, Ipswich, etc. The death toll is up to 17, with thousands displaced and so many damaged or destroyed homes.

Now Victoria also has floods to deal with, a few of the towns - Skipton, Beaufort, Horsham (still waiting for the peak) - being places we pass through regularly on our road trips to South Australia, so the pictures seem even more incredible.

It reminds me of the Black Saturday aftermath in one way - the way the online blogging and craft communities, as well as other people and businesses of course, have pulled together to raise money. There is a great list of information on Pip Lincolne's blog here: Ways you can help.

Make it Perfect is curating a whole host of blog auctions that are helping the cause.

I'm watching That Vintage's auctions on facebook with proceeds going to the QLD flood victims (I completely love this necklace!)

And I have donated three of my 8"x10" canvases to the Your Creative Journey silent auction flood appeal on facebook, with a gorgeous list of donations from such fabulous artists as Viv Bonder, Ngaire Bartlam, Jill G-G and Louise Nelson. The auction for the first of my canvases starts at 4pm this afternoon and finishes at 6pm, so you've gotta be quick! You start by emailing for a paddle number and then using your paddle number to email bids, so that privacy is ensured. Details on how to bid are here. These are the canvases I'm donating:

It's strange, I have had a quiet blogging week because of the floods and so on - other than being rained on, it doesn't affect us here, but I felt that I couldn't blog about anything else. And didn't really know what to say about it. So I just waited, really... and left it until rather the last minute to let you all know about the art auction!

In any case, wherever you are, stay safe, give your family an extra cuddle. These are those kinds of days.

Happy anniversary!

Happy 9th anniversary to my gorgeous sis Kell and friend Rohan. I did this studio shoot of their sweet little family about 6 weeks ago... soundtrack is 'I'm Yours' by Jason Mraz.

Edited to add: I'm kind of addicted to these slide shows at the moment, so you might be seeing more ;) Another one i did is here: http://www.facebook.com/#!/video/video.php?v=487193364841&comments

Matthews family sneak peek

Lyndal works with Ben at Hallmark and picked up a Curiouser postcard from him... I had a great time photographing her and her cute family at their home yesterday afternoon!

Final Fifteen

I've posted about visiting Fifteen before, it was kind of a tradition my cousin Bec has whenever visiting Melbourne and I've been a couple of times with her. For one reason or another, Ben never came with me. So when I read that Fifteen (the restaurant) is being redecorated, relaunched and rebranded, I wanted to show Ben what it was like before the changes happened. We also hadn't had a date night in forever (well, since our anniversary in April I think...) On the 24th December, we had a 6:30 seating and enjoyed...

Arancini (a complimentary appetizer)

Ben had: Crumbed sardines with pine nuts, currants and sherry vinegar dressed baby leaves (sorry no picture of that one), and...

I had: Giorgio’s burrata with zucchini flower fritte and olive oil poached vine tomatoes

I loved: Rotolo of baked ricotta, button mushrooms, baby spinach and marjoram with crispy sage, brown butter and parmesan,

while Ben enjoyed: Vialone Nano risotto with steamed Spring Bay mussels, chilli, garlic, cherry tomatoes and parsley

After hearing about the South Gippsland free-range origin, Ben and I both selected: Black Angus beef sirloin with a tasting plate of mustards and condiments.

After a lemon and rosewater sorbet to cleanse the palate... Ben chose for dessert: Chocolate Icecream with grappa cherries

and I found the Mixed berry crostata with clotted cream particularly yum!

Fiona, Giorgio and Summer

Despite the dreary weather (who said Summer started in December?), this wedding was gorgeous and full of happiness and love. Fiona, Giorgio and Fiona's 5 year old daughter Summer got married at Linley Estate in Kilsyth / Mt Evelyn. There were vows and speeches between Summer and Giorgio as well, which was so sweet. Fiona is a musician, a singer, and also Sienna's violin teacher! So the reception was a musical treat, I might share some of those shots another day. But for now, my favourites...