WOYWW #269

I was horrified to find when I was unpacking a box that it was half empty. The packers have a lot to answer for, no wonder we had over 400 cartons

Looking back from my computer desk, this is the progress of my unpacking, slowly but surely. More stationery boxes to the far right on the shelves have been found YAY they are the ones taking up most of the cartons because only 2 can fit in a carton.

Looking from the other corner from Michael's desk, see there is space to walk now.

Hop on over to Julia's Stamping Ground to see more craft areas

T stands for Tuesdays

Firstly thanks to those ladies last week that educated me on the proper name for my miniature cups that I love to use

DEMITASSE: FRENCH = HALF CUP, is a small cup used to serve Turkish coffee or espresso. In some languages it is called a fincan. In spanish it is called a pocillo and holds about 60-90mls or 2-3fl oz capacity.  It will be my lifes plan to collect these demitasse cups now LOL.

It's soup season here in the Southern Hemisphere so we've been making soup madly, it's healthy, warming and feel good dish. I started out by making stock with 1 corn on the cob, 1 carrot, 1 celery, 1 onion, chicken neck, smoked bacon bones and beef bones, cooked that on simmer for 5 hours. My intention was to remove everything except the broth and add new veges, but hubby came home and said he liked the broth like that and added more veges. Well I must say it turned out awesome.

Now that awful floating stuff in my tea is the tea leaves, the tea strainer has a fine weave but obviously not fine enough. I waited till it settled to the bottom until I drank it. 

Found the cutest bottle of milk at the supermarket, 500 mls. I normally buy my milk in glass bottles but the egg factory doesn't get its delivery of milk until Wednesday so I was happy to get this one to tide me over. 

Joining Bluebeard and Elizabeth for their T for Tuesdays Meme

WOYWW #268

My craft friend Sandra Carter is a wonderful, kind hearted, generous person. Words just cannot express the depths of goodness this lady exudes. I have known her for years now, possibly 13 years now. She is a friend for life, one you can share your deepest darkest secrets and know it's safe, she is also a shoulder to cry on. We do not live close enough to visit for a cuppa tea but we have gotten together about 3-4 times when we venture to her neighbourhood on our travels. Both armed with stuff for each other LOL which included books, knitting and crochet, craft and Sandra always brings dessert. So last week I got this parcel that travelled across Australia almost and finally got to me. 

Sandra knew I'd been going through a very rough emotionally taxing time and sent me this box of cheer me up goodies. Inside was a wonderful array of useful gifts. 

Cards in the back for me to use, in gorgeous designs that I love. 

Packets of flowers to adorn my cards with.

White and grey fingerless gloves for me to use at work usually as I work outside in the cold...love them as I have never had one.

Ruler which straightens out to a long version and holds 2 pens which I am always losing.

A positive card which reads: Some roads just aren't meant to be traveled alone. i'm here  if you need me. (made me cry when I read this because through all my thick and thins Sandra has always been there as a shoulder to cry on-via email or phone).

Book thongs she made and a verse in the packets which reads: 

When you need to

mark a book

and go along your way

this lovely little

Book Thong

Will hold your spot all day

Just read until

You've finished reading

Open that

book real wide

and where the crack is

The book thong 

can then slide

hahahaha that is a funny verse, taking off the bikini thong

Super clean cloth for my computer, (she can see my dirty keyboard???)

and lastly some UM stamps for me to use.

Due to my not so good few past weeks I have not had the where-with-all or mental capacity to do any unpacking. My friend Nola always said to me that when she is upset or down-in-the-dumps, she never bakes a cake because it never works out. 

Joining Julia's Stamping Ground for this weekly meme to sneak 

peak at more desks from around the world

T Stands for Tuesday

Firstly I feel very honoured that Bluebeard and Elizabeth's has my current 

hometown Brisbane's clock  on her blog.

Today I am show casing my tea implements that I use.

This tea infuser is best for my teapot, I have tried to put tea leaves into this teapot and 

its a pain to take out when I want to clean the pot

These are the spoons I use, the silver ones says A PERFECT CUP OF TEA, the others I use for sugar especially if my sugar holder is deep, this allows the sugar to stay in the spoon unlike normal spoons where it slides off

 These are the many tea infusers I use, the long thin ones are great for Asian teas, as the infusers are very small and you only need a few tea leaves for Asian tea unlike black tea where I like it strong and need lots more tea leaves.

EDITED 23 July : Rita asked what Asian tea was, well I googled it and this site showed me more Asian tea than I knew existed. What I mean by Asian tea are the ones that have large leaves and some are rolled up into balls and these teas don't require milk. It is infused and drunk black.

And lastly my gorgeous tiny teacups, as you can see the size comparison to a normal cup. The purple one is the largest, the black one is the smallest. I love the ridges in the white one

Joining Bluebeard and Elizabeth for T for Tuesdays Meme to see what other beverages hail from around the world.

Danny Nickerson

I saw this post from another crafter on facebook and because I do a lot of my cards and send them off to charity I thought this would be an awesome cause.

Danny Nickerson

If you would like to send a card address it to:

Danny Nickerson

P.O. Box 212

Foxboro, MA 02035

USA

The link takes you to an article about Danny Nickerson and why he'd like cards for his birthday.

So dig deep everyone, I am sure you have a spare card that would make a 6 year old battling cancer make his day a great one.

And don't  stop at that, send him cards in the future while he goes through his illness and treatment to keep him going.

WOYWW #267

Apologies for the fuzzy photos, I forget that I have to stand still when I press the button and not move so fast.

So I never know how to visit people desks, of course I visit those that beat me to it and visit me first. This week i am going to visit odd numbered blogs as I am an odd number.
Starting from the last blogs (because the hardly get visited).

So I took my friend Annette Jebb to the craft store near my last week to show her. I should not have looked at anything because my mouth was dribbling, so I had to put myself out of misery and get the following craft stash, can you blame me?

These dies were to die for, I had to get them after I saw the samples on the desk, but they just looked like dies to me when they were hanging up

Of course my favourite paper packs my Graphic 45, needed/wanted more but they didn't have the other packs.

Then there were the stamps, and I love nice sentiments that I can use and got some male stamps to make male cards for the troops.

Finally someone has made those step cards already cut out, I have always wanted to make a step card but found I couldn't be bothered cutting and measuring.

Felt a bit down last week so didn't attempt to unpack any boxes.

Found an awesome video on how to straighten your Bigshot/Cuttlebug craft mat

HERE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppSvvdZ_-L8&feature=share

Check out more crafting Desks or Stashes at Julia's Stamping Ground

T stands for Tuesday

 Love my gorgeous cups from Thailand

Had my craft friend Annette Jebb over for a day visit, I found out she loves tea as well so I treated her with my special Bael tea, well I did not toast the Bael as per the link, I will do next time.

I also added some honey and I cooked the water and the bael and honey to infuse it better.

Amazing benefits of Bael

Heart diseases

Gastro protection properties

Cholesterol control

Antimicrobial properties

Anti inflammatory properties

Constipation

Dysentery and Diarrhoea

Cures acidity and mouth ulcers

Controls diabetes

Asthma and cold resistance

4 cups water

2 slices Bael fruit

Toast Bael fruit on grill or in toaster oven for 1 minutes.

Making tea:

Boil hot water and pour over fruit and infuse. 

I boil water fruit and honey until water turns a rich colour. Honey is to taste, I usually put 2 tsp.

Love this tea for its unique flavour and doesn't have tannin in it.

Enjoy!!!

Joining Bluebeard and Elizabeth apparently for a 1 year anniversary.
August 6, 2013 was my first T Tuesday post

This is my favourite T for Tuesday post because I had 99% of the family at our house to celebrate my daughter Emma's 21st surprise birthday party

Ozpig

We went to a caravan and camping show last month and boy did it open my eyes up to REAL camping. Amazing campervans and buses that I fell in love with and wanted to live in.

I started eating again...hahaha just kidding...I've started photographing my food again.

I made steamed fish with shallots and ginger, tempura vegetables and rice and ginger/shallots condiment. I spent 6 hours doing the above and the Mediterranean dish below. It took me 4 hours to get coals on the Ozpig fireplace we acquired at the Caravan and Camping Show last week.

It took me 2 hours to prepare all the food, then 4 hours to get coals in the fireplace. I was so glad I had nothing else to do, well I did but oh well

Flat Susan visits Brisbane Australia

Hi My Name is Flat Susan

I originated from my creator Neet of Hickydorums

I left my home almost a year ago to travel the world hosted by people who play and show their desks on WOYWW

To read all about my adventures, Neet has made me my own blog called

The Adventures of Flat Susan

So I arrived in the land Downunder called Australia in a town called Brisbane in June 2014.

It is the middle of winter there if you can call 22-31Celcius a winter hee hee 

As soon as FS arrived I put Flat Susan by the phone so she could call home anytime. An hour later I came by and she had some Vitamin C tablets and collapsed right there and then. Travelling around the world sure is a tiring business indeed.

 That weekend I made this tag to take FS to the craft show, unfortunately I got called into work and couldn't go.

 The next day I was going to take her to the camping show but I ended up in hospital and this is the puncture holes they gave to me trying to get a canula into my arms.

FS came to hospital with me to keep me company, I think she needed more rest too but she was kind enough to hold my hand (neck) and was happy to read the magazines and sip my tea and have a taste of my sandwich

 Finally!! we went fishing and FS happily mingled with my family and watched everyone fishing and catching fish, even my 3 year old nephew caught his first 2 tiny fishes.

 The following weekend we went fishing and went to a prawn farm where this lovely tin man was on display. He was made up of drink cans. I think FS fell in love with him and wanted to stay, but I told her she had many more places to visit. I told FS she could have a long distance relationship first to see if her flat self and a tin man were compatible and if it worked out she could come over and live permanently.

This is the campsite we went to and FS had a wonderful time, lazying around, cooking on the fireplace. She helped make spaghetti and cheese jaffles and Indian bread.

FS arrived with a suitcase that was falling to pieces so I donated this new suitcase to her. It is a case that holds miniature dominos and fits her important documents well.

So if you'd like to follow Flat Susan's adventures, click on the link below. 

Follow Flat Susan at her blog

WOYWW #266

I have been working alot since last week so no time to unpack any boxes in my craft room.
However I had a funny experience on Monday at work. It's funny now but wasn't at the time. I got locked in the disabled toilet at the airport at work. The reason why I was in the disabled toilet was because the ladies toilet had no toilet paper in it. I went to get out and the door would not open. The lock mechanism had come loose when I locked it.

So panic stations set in, I looked at the manhole up above and knew I could not reach it to be able to crawl out, so what do I do next.

Luckily the door gap at the bottom had a 3cm gap. I could not call out as there was a second door outside that was really thick and no one would have heard me. So I wrote on the toilet paper and shoved it under the door. It was very lucky that I had a pen with me.

The paper bunched up and went nowhere, so I threaded the pen to the end of the toilet paper and threw as far as I could and held onto the other end so it would stretch out and be readable.

I then sat down and crossed my legs and proceeded to meditate to calm my nerves down as I could feel my heart racing from anxiety and not knowing if anyone would come around for awhile. 

About 30 mins later I heard a male voice ask "Are you still in there?" I could barely hear him because by then I was deep in meditation and was really relaxed. He asked me who he could call so I told him to go to the closest Office outside and let them know I was in here. A few minutes later I heard a co-worker call my name and a fit of giggles ensued. To which I replied "stop laughing, its so embarrassing". They were laughing at all the toilet paper I had shoved out from under the door. I thought that if I made it look very messy someone would take notice. 

From now on my mobile phone stays in my pocket. 

Hopefully next week I would have made a lot more progress with my unpacking.

EDITED: 12July, due to a few comments about me using the disabled toilet, I must add that I was in the staff toilets, and we don't have any disabled workers so the disabled toilets are used by either male of female if the normal toilets are used as there is only 1 male and 1 female toilet to cater for about 100 staff. This day there was no toilet paper in the ladies toilet so its the only time I use the disabled one. 

Run on over to Julia's Stamping Ground to see what other crafters are up to.

For those of you who are following Flat Susan that Neet started, 

you can read all about her visit to me HERE

T stands for Tuesdays

Made these awesome jaffles the old fashioned way in a cast iron jaffle maker cooked in the embers of a fireplace when we went camping two weekends ago. I love creamed corn and cheese and pepper cooked this way. Of course I followed it with a hot cup of tea as it was 3C degrees at 7am in the morning.

This is the original jaffle I had as a kid

Click on the picture to take you to the original website where this photo was taken

Linking up with Bluebeard and Elizabeth's T stands for Tuesdays Meme

EDITED: Due to the many comments about not knowing what a jaffle is.

Unbaffle the jaffle

Is a jaffle a toasted sandwich? Kind of, but not really. A jaffle can only be a jaffle if its edges are sealed, the bread forming a puffy pocket around the ingredients.

Happy campers will remember the original jaffle iron, a cumbersome cast-iron sandwich mould used around the campfire. In 1974, Breville introduced the first electric jaffle maker into home kitchens. Forty years later, more than six million people worldwide have a Breville jaffle maker, according to Breville's Sharon Lenzner.

Lenzer differentiates between a jaffle maker with ''scissor action'', which segments jaffles into triangles, and those that only seal the edges. The latter creates more room for ingredients and is preferred by overfillers such as chef John Lawson, from No. 8 By John Lawson at Crown. Growing up, Lawson loaded up his sandwich press with ''anything you'd have on a jacket potato''.

But Lenzer cautions jaffle lovers to be conservative with fillings, which heat up quickly. ''You don't want to burn your mouth, especially if you're feeding kids.''

Quoted from Melbourne's best jaffle 

T stands for Tuesday and WOYWW #265

T Stands for Tuesday/WOYWW #265

Went camping with the family on the weekend, I was requested to make a damper that wasn't rock hard as we have experienced previously. So I decided to try out a scone recipe that never fails.

Of course there has been no unpacking progress been done so no photos of the craft room to be shared.

Lemonade Scones

1 cup lemonade

1 cup cream

3 cups Self Raising Flour

Mix all ingredients with a fork, gently until they all come together. Pat into a round shape and level off. Use a cup/glass or scone cutter and cut rounds. Oil a diffuser and put into bottom of cast iron pot. Lay each scone side by side touching so they support each other as they rise up. Bake for about 20 minutes or until a skewer poked into the middle comes out clean.

Eaten with home made jam and cream and a nice cup of tea was awesome.

Enjoy!!!

Note: Everyone (almost) takes beer camping so next time I will try using a can of beer instead of lemonade to see if that works. 

Linking up with Bluebeard and Elizabeth's T stands for Tuesdays Meme

and Julia's Stamping Ground, Desks from all over the world.

EDITED: Julia questioned why it was called a "damper", here is the explanation of that word.

Damper is a traditional Australian soda bread prepared by swagmen, drovers, stockmen and other travellers. It consists of a wheat flour based bread, traditionally baked in the coals of a campfire. Damper is an iconic Australian dish. It is also made in camping situations in New Zealand, and has been for many decades.

Damper was originally developed by stockmen who travelled in remote areas for weeks or months at a time, with only basic rations of flour, sugar and tea, supplemented by whatever meat was available.^[1] The basic ingredients of damper were flour, water, and sometimes milk. Baking soda could be used for leavening. The damper was normally cooked in the ashes of the camp fire. The ashes were flattened and the damper was placed in there for ten minutes to cook. Following this, the damper was covered with ashes and cooked for another 20 to 30 minutes until the damper sounded hollow when tapped. Alternatively, the damper was cooked in a greased camp oven.^[2] Damper was eaten with dried or cooked meat or golden syrup, also known as "cocky's joy".

Damper is also a popular dish with Indigenous Australians. Aboriginal women had traditionally madebush bread from seasonal grains and nuts, which they cooked in the ashes of fires.^{[citation needed]} It also became a popular dish for recreational campers and has become available in bakeries. Many variations and recipes exist, some authentic, others using the name to sell a more palatable bread product to the urban public.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damper_(food)