It's Sunday!

I have had a SUPER busy week, like SO busy i've hardly had time to even sit down at my computer - so i've been missing my usual blog catch-ups, but i've now finally got a couple of hours to sit down and indulge.

And I have those couple of hours because......i've FINALLY got my xmas cake in the oven! I used THIS recipe, which is the same one I used last year, but with a few tweaks this time, I added a little extra dash of our 2010 vintage Damson Gin to macerate the fruit (I also left this 24hrs overnight) and i've also added pecan nuts - so fingers crossed it works out just as scrummy as last year!  

Some points about making a fruit cake: (1) you need a REALLY BIG bowl to mix this in.  (2) You will have what seems to be WAAAY too much fruit for what will seem a small amount of cake mix - just keep mixin baby - it will get there in the end. (3) You must, must, must wrap it up good with lots of layers or else it WILL burn. (4) You must make this a few months in advance to give yourself lots of "feeding" time - the boozier the better I say!

Yesterday, my friend Chris and I checked out the very first Renegade London Craft Fair - lots of fun handmade things to look at, but disappointingly a large amount of stalls were held by American traders who had come over especially - which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but I just thought there would be more talent in London/England to promote?

We also checked out the new Blitz Vintage Department Store which is basically just a massive building filled to the rafters with vintage clothes, shoes, furniture etc etc...

We had heard a lot of good things about Cay Tre vietnamese, so making the most of being in the East we decided to try it out for dinner.  I'm sorry to report that I didn't find Cay Tre very mind-blowing at all.  Perhaps we ordered the wrong dishes(?) - which I might add the menu we had last night was VERY different to the one on their website, so I really didn't get why there is always a massive queue to get into this place.

Luckily, to cheer me up, I discovered this amazing video (thanks Gourmet Chick for tweeting) and this documentary about The Ship Song Project.  If you're Australian, watching these will give you goosebumps, for everyone else, i'm not sure if you'll "get" it, but I hope you enjoy it all the same :)

Hoping this week goes REALLY fast to get my hands on one of these on Friday!

AND Crossing fingers I get my camera back from the Camera Doctor this week - I miss not being able to take fun photo's :(

My weekend

looked a little something like this...

1.  Lemon Frenzy - Lemon Cupcake, filled with Lemon Curd, topped with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

2.  Enjoying our weekend of Indian Summer

3.  Our picnic

4.  Up at 3.30am to watch the AFL Grand Final at the Aussie Pub - we lost :(

Water for Elephants

We finally watched Water for Elephants last night!  Have you seen it?

I was a bit worried that I might find it difficult to watch, seeing "Edward" transition into a less of a "teen frenzy" role (i'm more of a Jacob fan anyways), but I have to say I hardly even noticed and RP pulled off a very romantic character.  I found it hard to watch in other ways (yes, it's a little depressing at times), but I thought it was a lovely story, very well told.  Looking forward to watching it again already!

My year of blogging

Yep, 1 year ago today, I wrote my very first blog post!

@greenappleimages.com

That first post was nothing groundbreaking, actually, just a couple of sentences, inspired by literally a handful of blogs I had only just discovered - but it was a start and I haven't looked back.  It was a bit of a slow start, to say I was a little overwhelmed by the whole process of actually "creating" a blog entry and figuring out how to actually work this Blogger program is an understatement! 

At first, my motivation for this little blog was to record my adventures over here in the UK so my family and friends could keep up with me.  I also wanted it to be an outlet to write - "back in the old days" when i'd send emails to everyone to tell them about a trip, I had many a comment about how much they enjoyed my writing, and I actually really enjoyed doing it, so I figured this would be a nice place to start to explore that further.

But mostly, I have been inspired by so many wonderful people all over the world who share their lives with complete strangers (most of who become friends) - from budding bakers, intrepid travellers, first time mum's (of both babies and furbabies!), fashionista's and just normal people like me having a bit of fun!  Blogging isn't just about writing about life, it's about being creative, being inspired (and inspirational), a true place to let your creativity flow - the "www" really IS your oyster!

Heck, I had absolutely no idea that the blogging community was SO BIG, that there were literally 1000s of blogs out there that I had yet to discover and just how addictive this whole shebang really is! I probably shouldn't mention the amount of hours I spend each day devouring not only my favourite blogs, but also discovering new ones in the process (mostly becuase you'd think I never actually do anything else with my life :) 

I still have a lot of work to do to really let 'Love, Lilly xxx' shine, and I also have quite a few posts that i'm dying to share (let's just call them 'works in progress for now') but i'm enjoying the journey and have a sneaking suspicion that this little virtual world is going to change my 'real' world for the better!

2012

OK, I know it's still a few months away until we should REALLY be thinking about next year, but I am.

And you know why?

Well, because I have no leave left from work and no holidays planned for the rest of the year (boo hoo), so I desperately need to start fantasising about all the wonderfully exciting things we'll be able to do next year!

Here's a taster of a just a few of the plans we have!

all images @ google

I'm SO excited!!!

Have just found out that work has started on Bill's new London restaurant!

From what I can figure, it will be next to Mary's Living & Giving (177 Westbourne Grove, W11 2SB) - hint is in the purple sign of the shop next door!

pic via Bills Blog

Still no confirmation of an opening date (but said to be "November"), but I can guarantee that once I know what that date is, i'll be one of MANY queueing to get a table for that extra-special taste of home on opening day!

I'm not sure when I became so fanatical about Bill, but i've always had a soft spot for him, even before I moved to the UK - I just loved watching his cooking shows, streamed from his amazing light and airy house overlooking one of the most amazing Australian beaches - and of course, meeting him in person last year confirmed he's just one of those friendly, easy-going Aussies that you can't help but like!  Oh, and his food is to die for - eating at Bill's is always guaranteed to leave you feeling happy and content!

I have a feeling this will become a regular "Date Night" spot!  (hint hint Benny :)

Home, away from Home...

One of the things I miss most about living in Australia is having my own house.  

For the time we're in London, we will always be here temporarily, which means renting someone else's flat, sitting on someone else's couch (usually a worn out old ikea number), using someone else's dinner plates, sleeping in someone else's bed, etc etc, you get the idea.

The longer i'm here, the more I want my own house, to sit on a couch that I chose, to sleep in a bed that I chose (and doesn't have springs sticking into me), hang pictures, put up wallpaper and generally just make my own.

For now, I will make this rented flat as cosy as possible, and home will always be where the heart is, but I will still dream - and repin a ridiculous number of pictures to my "for my dream home" board on pinterest!

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