**the sound of Amanda making several attempts to get the keychain in her blog login** And where on earth have you been? Oh, you know, writing a cook book. At this hour of the morning? Yeah, took a little longer than I planned. What’s that in your hair? Oh this? Plasterboard. While I was writing the book we discovered that the waterproofing had failed in our ensuite. The damage ...
Gardening
ten family-friendly days out on the Sunshine Coast
Bearhands and I moved to the Sunshine Coast over ten years ago and soon discovered that the Coast is brimming with family-friendly offerings. All that choice can be overwhelming, and visitors sometimes find themselves as bewildered as kids trying to pick a flavour at an ice-cream stand. Visiting the Sunny Coast? Fear not, I’ve collated the exact locations of my top ten family-friendly days ...
how are you?
Been feeling a bit off kilter lately? You’re not alone. All over the country, folks are suffering from a case of the mehs. Symptoms include deep sighs, persistent headaches and ever decreasing patience with children who will not put on their goddamn shoes. The cause is a phenomenon well known to astrologists; retrograde Mars is sex-pestering Venus. Astrological sex-pestering packs extra ...
5 (cooked) onion recipes to welcome our new PM
Overnight Australia got a new Prime Minister. The changing of guard also signals a new era for Australia - a return to a more conservative time - where Aussies cook their onions before eating them. With that in mind, here’s five onion recipes to welcome our new PM (and use up all those onions that spent the night on the doorstep for #putoutyouronions) For any non-Aussie readers, here's a video ...
twenty things you’ve never wondered about me
Last week, while I was busy photoshopping a quiche to Robert Palmer's head, Miss Chardy and Kirsten and Co snuck up behind me, sat me under a hot light and interrogated me about hotels, The Castle and figs. Chards: Best hotel you have ever stayed in? Tell us about it please. The loveliest hotel I've ever stayed at was the Shangri-la Rasa Ria in Kota Kinabalu. How we wound up there is a bit of ...
early to bed {plus a free bedtime planner}
This post is brought to you by Bupa. The Smyth family is limping towards the finish line of Term 3. Our girls are tired (so are their parents just quietly). When the good folks at Bupa asked if our family would like to join the Family Challenge they've put together with Life Education, Bearhands and I thought we'd have a crack. When we discovered there was a challenge with ...