Comfort when it's cold outside

The temperatures have dropped here in Sydney, whilst the sun is still shining there's a chill in the air. Today a fierce wind is blowing outside, I love being indoors on days like this, looking out at the beautiful trees in the National Park that our house backs onto. 

An unfortunate side effect of Winter, for me though, is that little bit of "Winter Weight" I always seem to pile on. It can't be helped, at this time of year all I want to cook are big casseroles with rich, creamy sauces, lots of comfort food (mostly involving melted cheese where possible) and I bake more in Winter than any other time of the year. Lemon cakes, hot chocolate pots, apple pies... you get the picture :-)

I love browsing though (my way too big) cookbook collection for inspiration. Whilst I find I rarely follow a recipe exactly as printed from start to finish (unless baking which is an exact science), I prefer to use the books as inspiration for my own concoctions.

A large majority of my cookbooks were online purchases from Book Depository, World Books etc. but I also love to browse through the bookshelves in Op Shops for bargains. Here are a few of my favourite op shop finds...

First up, "Bourke Street Bakery" from the popular bakery in Sydney's Surry Hills, it is full of fab recipes for breads, pastries and cakes.

I think I will try some of these olive breads soon, they look so yum!

This book "Kitchen Coquette" is so cute, full of recipes to suit your mood/condition, there are hangover foods, heartbreak ideas and all sorts of occasions too :-)

I think this rosewater madeleine recipe will put my lovely vintage madeleine tin to good use.

"The Ethnic Paris Cookbook" is a beautiful celebration of the melting pot of cultures that is the city of love :-)

Usually I prefer cookbooks to have photos for inspiration (and to let me know what the finished product should roughly look like) but the illustrations in this book are so cute I couldn't resist!

The "Country Show Cookbook" is a family favourite!

The boys and I love their "orange cake" recipe except we substitute the oranges with lemons from our tree, "So yummy" to quote my youngest :-)

And finally "Apples for Jam", a really beautiful book packed with recipes for all the family, gorgeous food kids will love too.

Can you think of a better comfort food on a cold day than fried mozzarella sandwiches?!?

That's all for now. These photos have made me hungry, I'm off to cook something gooey and cheesy :-)

My cookshelf

I have mentioned my cookbook addiction before and thought I'd chat about it today :-) I used to wonder if I was a bit weird in that I devour cookbooks like novels. There's nothing I love more than to curl up with a gorgeous cookbook and browse through the lovely photos and recipes and come up with new ideas and combinations of flavours. When I visit friends I always have a nosey through their cookbooks too.

There are many others out there though! Since I have started reading foodie blogs I have realised it's pretty common to enjoy cookbooks not only as something to use as a strict guide to follow, but also something to browse and just enjoy and not necessarily adhere to. My hubbie thinks my collection is getting a tad large, but I beg to differ, Nigella Lawson has over 4,000 cookbooks! My collection pales in comparison but I thought I'd share some of it anyway ...

This is not all of them, I have little piles tucked away in drawers and cupboards and a whole other collection in my parents' attic back in Ireland. I used to have to stifle my collection due to the ridiculous prices of books in Australia but the discovery of the Book Depository got me back on track, I buy the majority of my cookbooks brand new but have a little collection of retro books I love to read as a nostalgic look at the way food was when I was little :-) I've also found Abe Books to be a great source of hard-to-find titles.

Anyone else out there a little bit addicted to cookbooks? Please share :-)

By my side

I used to be an avid reader before I had kids. I would easily go through two to three novels a week and spent a lot of time in bookshops. But since my little rascals arrived I simply don't have a minute to read during the day and by night time my brain is so fuzzled I can barely concentrate on reading more than a couple of pages at a time. So my bedside "pile" has now shifted from novels to a pile of home decor books, cookbooks and magazines. At the moment I have a few on the go and thought I'd share...

I have had the Nest Home Design Handbook on my Book Depository wish list for ages now, so when my parents asked what I would like for my birthday I promptly sent them the link. It's a great book with so many lovely images and tips, I love it! Thanks Mum and Dad :-)

My Dad knows I'm a big kid at heart and LOVE surprises so when Kirsty's Homemade Home arrived in the post I shrieked!!! I loved the series and had no idea there was an accompanying book so I was thrilled. It's a great read covering the story of how she decorated her family holiday home with homemade crafts and dumpster finds. Lots of great ideas and craft tips, I love it!! Thanks Dadser!

My wonderful big sis sent me this fab book, again it had been on my wishlist and I love it. Beautiful images and ideas on how to make your vintage finds work in your modern home. (Speaking of fab sisters, did you spot the gorgeous set of Le Creuset stoneware mini-cocottes in my Kitchenaid post, my little sis sent me those :-)

I find reading cookbooks (and travel brochures) incredibly relaxing, poring over the ingredients and getting ideas, this book is by Australian uber-chef Peter Gilmore, I go to sleep dreaming of being a culinary genius who could delight guests with his masterful creations, sigh...

I subscribe to both Real Living and House & Garden magazines. I love them in equal parts, Real Living because of the fab photography and the style of homes I love, and House and Garden again with beautiful photography and narrative that really takes the reader on the journey the homeowners took to turn their house from bricks and mortar into a home.

So now that my wee fellas are in bed (although not asleep just yet, I hear chuckling) I'm off to read :-)

The Book Depository

Books are expensive here in Australia, I mean REALLY expensive, I have never been able to fathom why. Huge taxes? Or are we just getting ripped off? Well, I have found a way to keep on buying all the lovely books I like without going broke...

A lot of you have probably already heard of The Book Depository but I only learnt of its existence myself recently...

I thought I'd do a little comparison between the Book Depository and 2 major book retailers here in Australia - Dymocks and Borders. Here goes...

Book Depository: $21.62

Dymocks: $39.95

Borders: $41.95

Book Depository: $38.34

Dymocks: $69.95

Borders: $69.95

Book Depository: $37.71

Dymocks: $95

Borders: $81.95

Book Depository: $18.29

Dymocks: $34.95

Borders: $32.95

Book Depository: $21.46

Dymocks: $29.95

Borders: $38.95

Huge differences in price as you can see, to buy all the above books in one go you would end up paying about half the price by using The Book Depository and the beauty is that the shipping is FREE, yes FREE shipping worldwide!!!

This is not an endorsed advert, my blog isn't that big!!! I just thought that maybe others out there who are sick of getting ripped off on book prices and may not have heard of it would appreciate the tip. The prices you see on the screen are in your own currency and alter due to exchange rates against the British Pound, they also have daily specials, eg last week you could have gotten Rick Stein for $16.40!!!

I know nothing can beat going into a book shop and whiling away the hours browsing books but why not do that? Go in, have a coffee, browse, pick out a few books you love then go home and order them online and save, save, save?

And here's one book I was able to remove from my wishlist :

You may remember me mentioning I won Grunge Queen's Giveaway, well my gorgeous new book arrived promptly last week and I am really enjoying it! It's full of gorgeous photos and really useful advice, it may be the very first decor book I actually read from cover to cover. Thanks again Grunge Queen :-)

One Year Old = Giveaway!

My Blog is one year old this week!! I can't believe I've made it so far - honestly I'm the type to constantly start projects and never see them through so I'm really glad that I have kept to this. I've really enjoyed writing it and reading all the lovely comments I've received over the last year. Thank you so much to everyone who has read, followed or commented, it's been great reading your blogs too and "meeting" so many great people :-)

Now for my little giveaway. It took me ages to decide what to give and then I thought - well my blog is all about thrifting and using it as decor and anybody who reads this blog must have a similar interest so a book on the subject would be an ideal prize - ta daaa!!

"Flea Market Style" is a really lovely book with tips on how to use your vintage / market finds to create your own unique fab interior. It's hard-back, 140 pages and features really beautifully photographed interiors and vignettes to inspire. The lucky winner will receive a copy of this book.


How to Enter:
This is my first ever giveaway so I looked around at others and will follow what seems to be pretty much the standard entry format.
1. Leave a comment and your name will go into the draw once.
2. If you are a follower or become one and leave a comment your name will go in twice.
3. If you have a blog and mention my giveaway (and let me know) your name will go in 3 times.

Easy peesy! I will draw the winner in 7 days, good luck!

Bedtime stories

Being lucky enough to live in such a beautiful place as Australia is not something I take for granted. My hubbie and I became Australian citizens a few years ago after spending time on working visas and permanent resident visas. All our boys are born and bred Aussies though, they even like vegemite!!! I am of the opinion you definitely have to have been born here to stomach that stuff!!

I really love all things Australian (except Vegemite) and some of my favourite finds for my little fair dinkum boys are story books with an Aussie theme. We are building up quite a little collection...

Sydney Opera House - undoubtedly the icon of modern Australia. A very sweet and beautifully illustrated tale.

I love wombat stories, if you've never seen a wombat in real life imagine a gorgeous hairy pillow with stumpy little legs - adorable!

I love this story, again the illustrations are so sweet.

This book is a big favourite! It is full of fantastic, bright illustrations of Australian wildlife. Truly, the animals on this amazing continent must be some of the most unique in the world. Even their names are intriguing - duck-billed platybus, hairy nosed wombat...

Koalas - or as I prefer to call them - living teddy bears!

The last 2 aren't a big hit with the boys yet but I often find when a book gets put away for a while and taken out again when they're that bit older it becomes a new favourite, so these 2 may yet have their day in the sun!

Not so 80s

I love interior design books. I used to buy them regularly but now with so many fabulous home decor blogs out there and with high quality "coffee table books" getting so expensive I tend to use the internet more for my inspiration.

It's always a treat to come across a nice interior design book in an op shop or at a market, however they're usually out of date and not very relevant to current design. I recently came across Terence Conran's "New House Book" in Vinnie's, I looked at the copyright page and saw it was published in 1985. At only $2 though I decided to buy it anyway, planning to take it home and have a chuckle at what was considered stylish in the 80s.

However when I looked through it I was interested to see that many of the interiors featured would look perfectly at home in today's top design books, here are a few...

These gorgeous rooms, photographed almost 25 years ago just go to illustrate that simple design, with vintage touches, is pretty much timeless.

What kid wouldn't love one of the above rooms?

The book is also full of practical advice on room layout, renovation procedures, materials to use etc. So what was originally a $2 purchase for a bit of a laugh has now become one of my favourite home decor books :-)

Miroslav Sasek

As a result of my baby boy's appetite for destruction when it comes to literature, I often buy secondhand so that all my boys can enjoy being surrounded by books and explore them without me stressing about the cost. I also just love vintage books so it's win-win really.

I do however also love brand new books, the crispness of the paper and the enjoyment of browsing in a bookshop. Any really beautiful books received as gifts or with sentimental value are kept up high and just for story time. On a recent trip to Borders I came across a collection that would definitely fall in the latter category.

Miroslav Sasek was a Czech artist, illustrator and author of the This is series of children's books, the first being "This is Paris" published in 1958. If you get a chance to check out these beautifully illustrated books please do! They have been reissued and are beyond gorgeous! The illustrations are so vintage and stylish and of their era. I would love to buy every one of them but at $30 each may have to limit them to a few birthdays, so if I had to narrow it down to my top 5 I would pick:





There are so many more in this series, if you're interested click here for more details.