Broken Flower Beauties

When I brought home a stunning deep pink bunch of lilies from the store, I was disappointed when I unwrapped them to find five of the buds had already snapped from the stems. I popped them into mismatched wine glasses with a tiny amount of fresh water in the bottom and clustered three in the kitchen and two more on a tray in the living room. As they opened, they looked gorgeous and, in a way, even lovelier than the big…

Kylie and Michelle’s Potato Bake

When I was in Hawaii with my two sisters last month (apologies for the not-so-subtle skite!), I watched closely when they cooked up a storm for the Aussies who were all vacationing together. Their potato bake is legendary among our family members and I really wanted to make it for Alan's birthday celebration last weekend. One problem. Australia was still asleep, so I couldn't call the girls for the recipe. This is what I remember: Preheat the oven to 375…

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Bowls

If there's a veggie bowl on the menu these days, that's what I'm having. I love digging through the layers until I get to the brown rice on the bottom. The bowl itself makes it feel like comfort food. I made up my own bowl using what I had in my refrigerator, last night. I roasted a tray of red bell peppers, Roma tomatoes, and butternut squash drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with sea salt in the oven. I sautéed…

DIY Modern Spring Wreath

This beautiful Spring wreath is a no-brainer. Really. It's an easy, do-it-in-front-of-the-TV, low cost project that you're going to love. All you need is a wreath frame like this one from Michaels, and some balloons. OK, quite a lot of balloons. If you can buy them in bulk, do it. I originally estimated that a 72 balloon pack would do for one wreath. Triple that. But I did re-use my Christmas wreath frames! It's as simple as tying the balloons…

Snickerdoodles

This is yet another tradition I didn't grow up with, in Australia. I can't resist the name, so I had to try making these cinnamon-y treats myself. What I did grow up with was warm buttered toast sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar after school on rainy days. Even though rain is a rarity in Southern California, I've continued that for my kids. But yesterday, they got snickerdoodles! Yum. I love the way they look like donut holes when they go…

Meringues & Bunko

I wanted to bring a tasty dessert to a dear friends' Bunko party over the weekend. Bunko is a no-skill dice game which started in England and was imported to San Francisco in the 1800's. It's now played regularly by 27 million women across the U.S. at parties just like ours on Saturday night. We ate a delicious dinner of baked salmon and salad prepared by our hostess (thanks Lori!), and a couple of us brought along something sweet. I'd been thinking about the delicious…

Rice Pudding

This yummy dessert recipe will have you 'accidentally' cooking too much white rice, every week! I did that last night and luckily had enough ingredients to pull together a delicious version of this old fashioned treat. For the very naughty caramel topping, I substituted honey for corn syrup and pistachios for pecans, and it turned out beautifully. I also left out the sozzled raisins in the pudding itself (I have never heard of putting raisins, sozzled or not, in rice…

Recreating childhood memories

Some of my favorite memories, growing up, are from the simple seaside vacations at my grandparents' duplex about an hour's drive north of our home in Sydney, Australia (an early Airbnb!). Winter break was suddenly on us here in Southern California, so I found a last minute beachfront vacation rental in Sunset Beach, just north of Huntington. It was a cozy cottage that we could bring our darling dog, Blu to. There wasn't much to do. Walks along the shore…

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Spaghetti with Avocado Sauce

This rich creamy avocado sauce makes the most incredible meal. There is nothing bad in it: fresh avocados, lemon juice, green onions, garlic, olive oil, and spaghetti. It's quick to prepare, and it's surprisingly good. Even though I've made this meal three times now, everyone at my place keeps doubting it's going to be enough. But it is! It's gourmet comfort food that's healthy and so very satisfying. This recipe is great. I wouldn't change a thing. This would also…

DIY – Kitchen Shelf Upgrade

I used our recent termite tenting as motivation to clean out my pantry (a job I'd been putting off for a while). My pull-out shelves, installed a few years back, are starting to look a bit grotty. Any spills or heat have buckled the bottoms, so the clean-out was shaping up to be less than satisfying. A quick trip to Ikea later, I found this shelf and drawer lining material at $3.99 a roll that makes them look and feel…