seedy cocoa-cranberry banana bread...

Yesterday, I made this nommy twist on the traditional banana bread recipe, courtesy of the amazing lemonbasil...





Truly, truly delicious!
xoxo

scones on a sunday...

This Sunday just gone, I felt like baking! And I thought it was as good a time as any to give scones another try, as per my 30 before 30 list

I whipped out my cat-print apron, and prepared to whip up a batch of scones!

Many thanks to the lovely Mrs McAwesome for her truly awesome lemonade scones recipe!

Mixing, mixing, mixing...

They were supposed to be heart-shaped! But they became a little munted in the baking process LOL - still tasted fantastic!

We ate the scones with raspberry jam and thickened cream, accompanied by a good pot of tea. Delish!

xoxo

surfing and seasonal baking...

This has been the loveliest long long weekend ever! Relaxation, good food, and time spent with my lovely husband, who I don't get to see as much as I'd like to lately!

Ever the creatures of habit, we kicked off the day with breakfast at lee&me...

Before driving down the coast for the morning - seriously, is there anywhere quite so beautiful? Just pristine and perfect

More amateur surfing shots! Are you bored with these yet? hehe

For someone who has only been at this for 6 weeks, I think V looks very natural

We bought some sweet treats from lee&me to sustain us for a day spent surfing/observing the surfing and reading - Anzac biscuits, what else?

Is anyone else familiar with the work of Ellis Peters? She wrote murder mysteries set in a Benedictine monastery in Medieval England. I can usually only find them in second-hand bookstores...

'Scuse the pissed-off face and lack of make-up!

Back home, I got my domestic goddess on and baked up a storm - one batch of caramel easter egg muffins, one batch of Anzac biscuits

Here's to another day off work, spent doing only nice things!

xoxo

baking adventures, and an autumn feast...

One of my absolute favourite things about the cooler, autumn weather is the food! Now that we don't have to worry about having the oven on in summer's sweltering heat, I go a little crazy baking and cooking all sorts of delectable treats...

Yes, my apron has kittehs on it - surely this comes as no surprise?

I had some gala apples I really wanted to use, so this morning I whipped up a sweet loaf with spiced apples in the centre - soooooo delicious! My version turned out a whole lot more rustic-looking than the one in the recipe book, but I think it looks very pretty on the Spode platter my Nana gave us for our wedding

Now, I have a culinary confession to make - don't judge me - but I have NEVER roasted a chicken before! Lamb, beef, sure, but chicken? Never. I am a roast-chicken virgin. And with the gently pattering rain and the autumn-y bite in the air today, I found myself craving one for dinner tonight...

Hello, gorgeous. I didn't take "before" photos because, quite frankly, a raw chicken is a fairly ugly thing. But how beautiful is this roasted free-range chicken? We stuffed it with lemons and garlic and it was beyond amazing - V declared it was the best roast chicken he'd ever eaten

Served with roast seasonal vegetables and a glass of Shiraz. On our Vera Wang for Wedgewood wedding china. I hate the idea of "special" china that rarely gets used - we use our good stuff all the time, what's the point in having it otherwise? But I digress...

Jade says hai! She and Jasper followed the chook-roasting process with great interest - we may or may not have given them a few morsels from the finished product...

This is the carrot cake I made yesterday! Admittedly not much is left now - it is absolutely delicious, if I do say so myself. We had a slice with a pot of tea tonight - perfection

Happy Sunday all!

xoxo

scenes from a saturday...

Today is V's birthday, and I'm so sad that I don't get to celebrate it with him, or give him any presents - I had to settle for a quick phone call this morning, before he started work. His workmates are taking him out for dinner and drinks tonight, which is very sweet of them

To cheer me up, my parents took me out for lunch...

♥ Forever New top

♥ Cotton On skirt

♥ Tony Bianco ballet flats

♥ Tiffany&Co rings and bow necklace

We went to Lower East and ate the yummiest sandwiches in Wollongong!

I bought myself a Royal Dalton soy aromatherapy candle - peony scented, smells so amazing!

Then I did some baking for a picnic tomorrow...

Oatmeal and craisin cookies! Yum!

xoxo

which primarily involves food, and the eating of...

Holidays, and time off work, totally wrecks havoc with my usual digestive patterns! Its the whole not-being-in-the-office thing, not having any constraints on my time or person.

At work, I can quite literally go all day without eating very much in the way of anything. You know how sometimes you can be hungry and totally too busy to stop and eat, and then you kind of just get over it? And, hours later, when you finally have a free second, you think, Huh, really not hungry any more.

I try to be good and take my lunch to work, plus loadsa easy-to-eat snacks - I try to make time to eat, to take breaks and get away from my desk. But its just not always possible! You know what they say about the best-laid plans. The difficulty I find is in getting away from my desk (read: the phone) long enough to take a real break, and eat something. So I often settle for the old eat-at-the-desk trick - which of course means I will scarf down half a sandwich, or a bite of apple, only to have my phone ring (which results in me screaming "Why won't you people just leave me alone?" and falling in a whimpering heap under my desk. Joking. No, really). Luckily the paralegal in the office next-door is ace at answering my line for me (once he picks himself up off the floor from laughing - M, love you!)

I have days where I will honestly subsist on biscuits, coffee and the odd piece of fruit. And my poor old long-suffering stomach just puts up with this treatment.

But when I'm on holidays, particularly the Christmas break, the Beast gets unleashed! Seriously, its like all control is lost, and my appetite knows no bounds!

A conversation with my stomach might go something like this:

Stomach - Cate, I'm hungry

Me - In a minute, kind of busy right now reading/watching tv/blogging/picking my toes

Stomach - No, I'm really, really hungry! Feed me! Now!

Me - Geez, ok!

And despite the fact that I've eaten a huge dinner, and its currently 11pm, I will go downstairs and forage for a sandwich and a glass of milk, and maybe a cookie to round things off. Maybe I'm about to go into hibernation for the rest of summer...

To keep the system placated and happy, we made pancakes for breakfast this morning...

With raspberries and Camp maple syrup!

Dinner was creamy lemon and basil pasta, with some grilled organic free-range chicken, with a glass of Savignon Blanc

I'm off to raid the pantry for something sweet and chocolate-tasting - possibly even chocolate. Blogging makes me hungry

xoxo

cookies, a confession and a celebration...

We have some extremely exciting news in the KittyCate household today! V interviewed for a new job position on Monday, and today he got the call offering him the job - yay! He will be working as a telecommunications rigger (very specialised) and in our local area. Better still, the company have hired him to move in a Supervisor's role in 12 months' time, based on his previous managerial experience in labs.

Needless to say, we are both thrilled/ecstatic/over the moon! And V arrived home with a bottle of bubbles last night to celebrate...

This is a very respectable drop! Yummy

Congratulations V! I am so, so proud of you

In other news, yesterday I decided I was going to get stuck into some Christmas baking - I had these Martha Stewart sugar cookies in mind...

I have a confession to make - this amazingly gorgeous pistachio-coloured KitchenAid has been sitting on my kitchen bench, totally unused, since September 2008. I have been too intimidated to even try it! Well I used it to make my cookies last night, and seriously people, I do not know how I ever baked without this baby!

Cutting out star shapes - I wanted snowflakes but couldn't find a snowflake cookie cutter

Sprinkled with some raw sugar...

Voila! Nommy

How is everyone enjoying their last week of work before Christmas? So excited for the holidays!

xoxo

sunshine, fun times...

Welcome to the weekend! And such a beautiful weekend it has been so far - lovely and warm, and wonderfully relaxing

Yesterday's market haul - I was so excited to find bunches of irises AND lilies, gorgeous!

This morning V and I had brekky at lee&me (I know, *yawn* haha)

Mmmmmm scrambled eggs infused with white truffle oil, seriously to die for

Today it was definitely pretty-little-dress type weather!

♥ Rodarte for Target tulle dress

♥ Tony Bianco "maya" ballet flats

♥ Cotton On sunnies

Another awkward cross-legged pose - seriously, did someone break me off at the knees?!

Aaaaaand pose!

V bought me this gorgeous Wish "sharker" dress today - I love it! I've never owned a strapless dress before (I kind of lack the, ahem, assets for them!), but this one just fits me so perfectly and looks really fantastic on. I think I have found my "spring party season" dress!

Aaaaand then I made these amazing raspberry and dark-chocolate muffins from Stonesoup - I know the ingredients look a little daunting in number, but its such an easy recipe

Sooooo yummy!

Hope you are all having lovely, sunny Saturdays!

xoxo

winter warmers...

Hmmm slightly the worse for wear after last night! Many, many glasses of nice French wine and champagne, and then staying up to watch the football at 12pm = a nice long sleep-in for us this morning!

When we finally ventured out for coffee, I rugged up nice and warm - comfort dressing!

♥ Sportsgirl minidress

♥ Supre woolly cardigan

♥ Country Road tights

♥ Rivers ankle boots

♥ Sportsgirl leather tote

♥ Oroton sunglasses

♥ Etsy bow necklace and Sportsgirl bow ring

This is the ring that Danielle sent me for my birthday - love it!

Need. Caffeine. Lots. Of...

Returning to the world of the living...

We came home and cooked a big pot of delicious, nourishing vegetable and barley soup, just what we both needed

And of course everything looks better after a cup of tea

xoxo