When life gives you lemons, make lemoncello!

This sweet and tangy lemon liquor goes down a treat in the summer months. Making up a batch is breeze and can make gorgeous gifts. Here are some I made for Christmas complete with my own homemade labels (cute or what?!)

So here’s how to make your own:

INGREDIENTS
6 Lemons skins peeled (and juice of 2 of those lemons)
1 litre of the 98% proof alcohol (the finished product will be the same strength as vodka, if you would like it half strength replace the 98% with normal vodka)
1 kg of granulated sugar
1 litre of water

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Peel the lemons and place in a large container then add some juice from 2 of the lemons.
2. Poor the 98% proof booze over the top, seal the container and leave to 4 weeks, shaking/ mixing occasionally.
3. Pass to liquid through a sieve to remove the lemon rind.
4. Boil the water and add the sugar to make a syrup.
5. Cool for 15-20 minutes and add to the lemon liquid.

And there you have it, delicious and authentic Italian lemoncello. Next time use limes or mandarins to mix things up a little! I Made up the labels in photoshop, but you could just as easily handwrite a cute tag to hang off the ribbon.

Bottle and store in the freezer, remember to serve ice cold.

Oh, whatta year!

It was a year of love, of sacrifice, of dreams, of tears, of learning and of growing. Somewhere in June I’m pretty sure I went nuts but refound my sanity at a beach resort on cocktail number 2. This is what 2010 looked like for our little family.....

The (no-so-big) 2-1

I turned 21 and spaced out the celebrations over the whole month of March culminating with a big studio 54 party.  I pulled out all the bells and whistles for this one with red carpets, laser tunnels, 70’s bouncers, yummy cocktails I created just for the night, custom art deco backlit artworks.

Welcome to parenthood

We unexpectedly opened our doors and extended our family. A surprise 2am phone call the day of my 21^st birthday party saw me picking up 5 gorgeous relatives 13 hours later. The moment I walked through those DOCs doors will live in my heart forever. Over the following 9 months we cared for some or all of the kiddos to protect them from the heartache of emergency foster care. We went from a childless couple with sleep in Sundays and late nights to a busy family unit with school projects and 5am morning cuddles. We ran head on into the mindfield of the welfare and legal system. We learnt how to advocate for the kids and work with the system for action. We learnt how to be exhausted and keep trying and trying. We discovered the vibrancy and life a child brings to a home. The way they can make a terrible day wonderful with a cuddle and a laugh. The way they can make all your issues melt away and feel meaningless in comparison to what you’ve learnt through them. They continue to amaze me with their resilience and love every day, what a blessing these kiddos have become.

Step’n on up

My career took a big leap. After working on a project in a small team for 2 years we won it. This was the big kahuna, the project of a lifetime. With a strong and supportive husband holding the fort I hit the skies most months en route to sunny Singapore.

Sew what?…..

I rediscovered my love for sewing. Amongst all the stress this girl needed a hobby. So I got myself a cute little machine and got the work with some pretty little projects.

If you like Pina coladas.

We planned a last minute holiday to regain a little sanity in July. My husband was flown over to join me in singapore. I showed him all the amazing places I’d found from the unbeatable prawn linguini at the overeasy to the best massage of my life deep into china town. Then we went onto Bintan Island for some serious pool and cocktail time- somewhere between the pinacolada and the midori splice we found our sanity! We came home full of gusty ready to solve, overcome and enjoy.  And we did.

We need to get out more

We treated ourselves to a new shiny camper trailer. We love the outdoors and love camping and with kids in tow now we decided to go for it. I’ve quickly become spoiled with my running water,sink, 4 burner gas stove and queen size bed. Part of me feels I’ve betrayed the true camper within me, but then that part gets an amazing sleep and clean dishes and couldn’t give a hoot! Pre home and kids we got away every month and this baby will make it easier to do again.

Me, myself and I
I learnt to find 'me' time and soak it up. 

 

Home Renovations

We continued with our home renovation projects and began to design our extension. Progress was slowed (read above!) but we are motivated as ever to keep things moving. We learn that the 9yr old is a great mower, the 7yr old a great weeder, the 11 yr old a great painter, the 8 year old a great scrubber and the 4 year old a great “make-up-a-song-as-i-watch-everyone-work”er.

2 years Baby!

We celebrate our 2 year anniversary and almost need to slap ourselves to believe it’s been 2 years! Love You baby!

This week I feel like we’ve earned this blog title with preparing for Christmas, making finishing touches on homemade and sewn gifts, beginning to refinance our home, setting up our new camper trailer (kitchen and all!) ready for a maiden voyage, meeting with DOCs and Lawyers to make sure our Foster son’s interested were being represented, building our foster son’s new Christmas BMX bike (discovering in the last hour a part was broken so had to return it and start again only to have a punctured tyre on the second BMX…frustrating!) all whilst being called into work every day for input into a large proposal due out before Christmas. And it’s only Wednesday. But despite all the craziness I LOVE CHRISTMAS!

Ahead of Me, I have to finish gifts, register and pack up the trailer, bake for an office Christmas party, wash and frontline the dogs ready for the kennel, conduct a final round of second interviews for a new PA to start in the new year and cook a Christmas Eve Dinner.

In amongst the madness my Hubby and I snuck into the city for a beautiful lunch on the water at Peter Doyle @ The Quay for champagne and Lobster (yum yum!) to celebrate 2 years of marriage. We talked about all the crazy adventures we’ve taken on these past 2 years and dreamed up some big dreams for the future (I love a good dream).

our 2nd Anniversary, 20th December 2010

Our wedding, 20th december 2008 

photos by Wedding by Wayne

 Jingle Bells, H xxxx



Christmas Cookie Jars

One of my favourite things about Christmas is all the divine little treats we get to indulge in. Being the only cook in my family each year I bake up an array of shortbreads, truffles and slices to enjoy over the Christmas break. So thought I would share the baking love for Christmas this year.

Wait for it……Christmas Cookie Jars.

Cute right? These gorgeous little jars are layered with ingredients for yummy choc chip and oat cookies with a little note attached instructing how to prepare them. Yum!

They were a cinch to make so if you’re looking for a cheap last minute gift idea you’ve found it.

First, hit up your local discount or craft store for nice smooth 1L Jars with lids. Try to avoid ones with logos.

Then layer the following :

• 1 and 1/3 cups plain flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking Soda
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 cup cooking oats
• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (or red and green m&ms/ peanut m&ms)
• 1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
• 1/2 cup white sugar

Decorate with some ribbon and add a tag with instructions. I’ve made some that can be printed double sided so one side says “Christmas cookies!” and the other has instructions for baking (double click for full size).

 Enjoy and Merry Christmas

H. xxx



A night with Bon Jovi.

After a couple of killer weeks, Last night we went to see Bon Jovi in concert. It was amazing, the tickets were great, the atmosphere was electric, the beer was warm and the music was out of this world. I shimmied my ass off and waved and clapped my hands until they ached as any deserving Jon Bon Jovi fan should!

Here’s a few happy snaps of the night.

What could be more fun than planning your new laundry!

Okay, maybe plenty of things could be, but I’m still pretty excited to be designing mine from scratch.

Our current Laundry is very small and dingy and inspiring. There is literally enough space for a sink and the washer/ dryer stacked…with no precious bench space. How can one survive without a function laundry I ask? And how can one be inspired to wash if their laundry is dingy and inspiring? Well these are my current excuses for not keeping on top of the laundry, and I’m stickin to it until I have created a real laundry.

I'm dreaming of a beautiful laundry with natural light, uplifting colours and plenty of functionality.

When we bought our home the side veranda was covered in as a “Queenslander room”. In other words it was a dingy space with astro turf flooring and green shade cloth walls. Not being in line with our design standards we began to pull it down to leave it as a plain veranda but as the Kiddos moved in we realised our home was getting a little crowed. Then Brilliance struck…. What about making this side veranda into a room. Genius huh? We would only need to build walls and flooring and we would have ourselves a brand spank’n new laundry and storage area! Since we have no enclosed garage this would be a lifesaver. This would also mean we could blow out our main bathroom into the old laundry space (see whole floorplan here). My hubby was going to try this himself, but after the disaster that was our new ensuite walls I thought it best to get in a professional. So now I need a plan!

Here is the overview of the space,

It’s only narrow but with the right colours and natural light it will open up.


I’m in love with deep blue walls at the moment, it reminds me of those beautiful days by the beach With blue skies as far as the eye can see. See my heart is pretty set on this colour scheme…..

So now’s the fun bit, how to arrange the laundry. I have become painfully indecisive so have laid out a few options. All include the Washer, Dryer, Sink, chest Freezer, Wine rack and bench space. Have a favourite???

Short but Sweet

Today’s a shorty but a sweety. Life’s been very hectic this past week with lots of wonderful exciting things going on. I’m working on some fun projects to post soon for Christmas gifts so I’m not totally neglecting this little blog.. I promise! In the meantime I found this beautiful quote on Daisy and the sea.   

Have a wonderful Wednesday!