Valentine's Day xxxx

The day of love....


I have always had dreams of the perfect man sending me the perfect Valentine's day gift of a dozen red roses delivered to me in front of everyone I know so that they will all know how much he adores me - and to make them jealous that they will never be as spoilt as me on Valentine's day, because attached to this huge bouquet of roses is a card telling me about our super romantic evening that we're going to have - starting off with a candle lit dinner at the most delicious seafood restaurant, and ending in a decedent hotel room with rose petals scattered over the bed and the floor, leading to the gigantic bubble bath, which has some champagne and a box of chocolates for us to share sitting on the edge.

I have never been lucky enough to get the whole package, but I must admit that my lovely man has managed to get part of the way there most years that we have been together. The first year, he was serving in the Army in Iraq - we had only met about 6 months previously - and he managed to find the time to get me my bunch of a dozen roses delivered to my front door.

The next year he did it again - long stem roses this time, with a cute teddy bear helping to declare his love to me, delivered to my work - I work in a shopping centre, so there were plenty of people around to be jealous about it!

I have had my delicious seafood restaurant meal too.

I am still, however, waiting for my romantic evening in that saucy hotel room - I am also waiting for the Valentines day where he decides that I can have all of the above at once.

He has plenty more Valentine's days to get it right though - and I have to commend him on his efforts to make me feel like the most special person in his life every year so far.

Quick & Easy Pasta

I made this delicious pasta tonight for dinner - I often make variations by mixing up the ingredients.

This is the simplest meal, and I particularly love making it when I come home from work because it can be wipped up in about 10 minutes.



I fried up some onions, garlic and bacon for about 5 minutes. Whilst this is happening, I zapped some cubed sweet potato in the microwave for about 3 minutes. I also put my fresh pasta into the water I was bringing to the boil - I chose to use some delicious spinich and ricotta filled tortellini - one of my favourites. I guess you could use dried pasta, but the beauty of the fresh pasta is that it only takes a couple of minutes to cook.

I added the potato to the frying pan and gave it a quick stir. I then added about half a small jar of this yummo pesto I found in the supermarket - roasted capsicum, cashew and basil - I chose this just to be different. I have used just straight basil pesto in the past and it has also been excellent.

Finally, some cream. I dont't know how much - probably about 200ml, I just slosh it in until it looks right. If I put too much in, I just let it cook off a little bit, it seems to thicken by itself.

The last step (see I told you it was quick) is draining the pasta and adding it to the frying pan. Give it a good mix, decide whether you have enough sauce - if not, add a little bit more cream, then serve. mmm mmm mmm

I have made this with gnocci, I have also done it without the sweet potato and bacon and used sundried tomatoes and salami instead. The best thing about this is that you can add whatever you think will taste nice together. Toasted pine nuts are always a good addition. Pumpkin works just as well as sweet potato, and you could add some broccoli or peas for something different in the veggie department. I have also made this with a chicken variation.

Tasman Island

We did an awesome cruise (well I wouldn't have called it a cruise, more like a bumpy ride) down at the Tasman Peninsula. So much amazing scenery. I took hundreds of photos and I thought it would be nice to share.A picture of the Candlestick in the distance.

Some seals - there were heaps of seals

Not bad photography if I may say so myself! I do really enjoy taking photos and so wish I had a better camera so that I could do it better.


I was in awe of the hight of some of these rocks - and people climb them!


The lighthouse and a residence on Tasman Island. No one lives there anymore, but in the old days they used to have to winch the lighthouse keeper up the side of the island - it was the only way onto the island.

I Promise....

I will be good and do what I say I will do. Firstly, I am going to be setting a blogging schedule, I am determined to blog at least once a week - that's not so hard is it? I intend on trying to do much more often than that, but I figure I will be better able to meet my target of once a week and anything else more will be a bonus.

Second, I am going to unneglect all those things I have neglecated over the Christmas period. I am going to put some of my lovely presents to work - my new mini anvil/bench block, my new chasing hammer - to name a couple, and make some more things. I am also starting a new years resolution of trying to use sterling silver and gold fill for my final pieces. I have already replaced some earring wires on my Simply Elegant Blue earrings that I sold, because I didn't think that the horrible ones that they had did them justice, I did this free of charge and I hope that the recipient appreciates it.

I am also going to plead forgiveness from the EtsyBloggers and DUST teams for not paying them any attention over the last few weeks. I have blog carnivals to write, feature seller articles to do and some sucking up on the forums to to also! All this will keep me very busy and hopefully it will also help contribute to my new promise of blogging more regularly.

So, off I go to start those new goals.....