pyrex mixing bowls

while driving back from camping this weekend (more on that soon) we stopped into an op shop (second hand shop) and i found this set of nesting pyrex bowls

they are in perfect condition, and part of the reason i like them is that they remind me of the set my mom has and of me and her cooking in the kitchen

 

and becuase i dont have a good set of mixing bowls.

 these are a different colour than the ones mom had, but the wheat pattern on the side is the same

pineapples

It has been so nice having my brother visiting me for the last 2 months. we have had a great time together.

working in the studio with deb and enjoying some well earned beers at the end of the day

visiting with friends and enjoying the sunny winter weather we have been having

and maybe best of all - just hanging out together at home, watching tv, making dinners, with no plans at all.

one other fun thing we did together was to get sibling tattoos.

we had discussed this idea when i was visiting him in montreal last year, but it never happened

but since we had a bit more time this visit, we booked in and got them done

we went to meet our tattoo artist with a few random ideas, and then settled on one. she drew it up and a few days later we were there getting the tattoos.

yup, matching pineapple tattoos. a bit silly, but hey why not? the style matches with the random collection of tattoos that adam already has. i haven't had had a new tattoo in almost 10 years, and i was happy to get a simple black tattoo with adam. for me tattoos are less about the image and more about marking a moment in time, and for me this is the time adam came and lived with me in adelaide for 2 months.

 

i miss him heaps. we had a great time, and i have a great brother. i cant wait for the next time we are hanging out, having a beer and talking about the next road trip to take together.

last week

i have a visitor! its my brother visiting us from canada. he has recently quit his job and needed a well deserved break so he packed his bag and decided to come for an extended holiday. its great.

 

since his arrival we have had a quiet week at home, letting him get over his jet lag.

 

i made a yummy dinner, wild rice casserole (no photo), a really yummy bean and pea fresh salad, it was surprisingly simple but a yummy new recipe

and for desert adam and i made a cinnamon and cherry tea cake.

i was given a jar of morello cherries at christmas and i wasnt sure what to do with them, but this cake was really nice.

 

not too sweet, and perfect with ice cream.

then we booked ourselves some flights to melbourne for the next week.

 

borris, adam and i hit the town. we went to the galleries and saw some cool stuff

the zig zag wall and a very interesting installation with 2 fans and some video tape.

the video tape loops danced in between the fans, it was really nice to watch

 

then there was a wall string art installation. this is the kind of thing where i think, i wish had done that.

 

like the string art of the past, only on a large scale. the intensity of the string changed as you walked through the space

we also spent a fair bit of time eating and drinking and walking around

 

the weather was on our side that week.

 

 the sunset at st. kilda beach

that was last week. adam is still being a tourist, but is back here on the weekend. i needed to get some work done at the studio, and unfortunately i am having wrist surgery tomorrow. adam is cooking dinner all next week. its nice having my brother around for a while.

orthodox christmas

my grandparents are Ukrainian and my other grandparents are polish. i have many memorable food traditions as a result of this heritage. one big one is the Ukrainian orthodox christmas feast. this christmas is held on january 7th, and on the 6th, christmas eve the family gets together and enjoys a 12 course vegetarian feast to celebrate. 

as borris' parents were away over christmas we got together the following week and had a mini version of the Ukrainian christmas feast. the first traditional course is kuitcha, or a boiled wheat grain, poppy seed cold soup. as a kid i did not like this, but as an adult i think it is really nice. i got this recipe from my aunt last time i was home.

here are borris' parents enjoying borscht.

otto came along too but was happy to just lie on the cold tiled floor.

here is the second course, vegetarian borscht. it was really yummy, ans actually so easy to make. 

and then all the rest of the food came out.

we had potato and cheese perogies (like dumplings) and fried sauerkraut, and some pan fried polish sausage. 

in a traditional orthodox christmas feast there would be no meat course, but a fish course. but this was much simpler for me as i made all the food for this feast by myself the day before.

it was a great success. and everyone enjoyed the food. it was nice to have a bit of my Ukrainian tradition here in Australia. i look forward to doing it again next year.

Happy Orthodox Christmas on Wednesday!

Adelaide home.

 its nice being back home in Adelaide. 

 

The first thing I did the day after I got home was to take Otto for a long walk on the beach.

 

It was so nice to be out in the fresh air and moving after 24 hours of flying time over 2 days.

 

It is winter here now, meaning about 8 degrees at night and 17 degrees during the day.

 

But the sun was out and Otto and I really enjoyed the morning walk.

Just before I left home mom made some banana bread, and it inspired me. After traveling I was looking forward to being in my kitchen again. I made my own banana coconut macadamia nut and choc chip bread.

 

I think after 5 weeks even Borris missed me a little bit. 

 

After 5 weeks my garden is looking different too, all the garlic i planted has come up and is looking very happy.

Otto was really happy to see me, he even recognised me from the car when they came to pick me up at the airport.

 

I had a great time in Canada, but it is nice to unpack and be home even if i did go from sunny warm spring to cold and dark winter. (like my new jumper? I got it at the Vancouver airport as I left, sweet eh?)

the highlights from last week

i think that i should have planned for one more week at home. but in saying that i probably will always think, i should have had one more week. anyways it was a good week, busy and the only bad part was there were too many goodbyes.

dad and i celebrated fathers day last tuesday, he got a timmys coffee card, and we went for lunch and hung out for the day and he got a few bird feeders.

 

we had dinner out lots last week, one night and my aunt and uncles place,

 

it was nice just hanging out.

 

i did cut the lawn for my dad last week, but we also had time to hang around the house, enjoy a few meals on the deck.

 

i had dinner at my cousin jodi's place and got to catch up with my cousin john (straight from work still in his high vis vest)

 

and remember the good old days of alabama slammers with jodi

i spoilt the dog joey with too many biscuits. he loved it.

 

and then the hardest good bye of all, this is just before we left to go to the airport.

 

its hard having two places on the other side of the world from each other that i call home. its been a great 5 weeks, i just wish it could happen more often.