green fingers

The sun is out and here's what is growing in my garden at the moment:

What's growing in your garden?

date night

To celebrate me coming home, Eddie and I went out for a meal last Thursday...

We went for cocktails in Clapham then on to dinner (taste card meant we splashed out to starter, main and that chocolate fondante with mascapone cream...oops). 

Eddie then took the day off on Friday and we had a long weekend off watching films, visiting the Tate (Damien Hirst), cooking dinner with my family, walking in the park and making elder flower cordial (see below!!)

It was such a nice weekend and it's so lovely to be home! 

taste of summer

As the sun came out for a couple of hours today, the elderflowers were gathered and the cordial was made! Here is the recipe we used: 

• 20 heads of elderflower
• 1.8 kg granulated sugar, or caster sugar
• 1.2 litres water
• 2 unwaxed lemons
• 75 g citric acid

1. Shake the elderflowers to expel any lingering insects, and then place in a large bowl.

2. Put the sugar into a pan with the water and bring up to the boil, stirring until the sugar has completely dissolved.

3. While the sugar syrup is heating, pare the zest of the lemons off in wide strips and toss into the bowl with the elderflowers. Slice the lemons, discard the ends, and add the slices to the bowl. Pour over the boiling syrup, and then stir in the citric acid. Cover with a cloth and then leave at room temperature for 24 hours.

4. Next day, strain the cordial through a sieve lined with muslin (or a new j-cloth rinsed out in boiling water), and pour into thoroughly cleaned glass or plastic bottles. Screw on the lids and pop into the cupboard ready to use

And here are the results!

Elderflower cordial is for me the taste of Summer. So sweet and simple, mix with water for a refreshing, thirst-quenching drink or add a tad to your favourite tipples such as gin and tonic! You could even make your own elderflower champagne, watch out for the explosions though!

Down Under

I think that Australia deserves a whole post of it's own really, as it's such a massively diverse place with so much to talk about...

So we started in Cairns, right at the top of the East Coast. The weather up here was fabulous and the town itself reminded me of America with it's wide roads lined with motels and coin laundry services, mountains off in the distance. We spent just under a week in the Cairns Beach House, swimming in the lagoon and soaking up the sun.

An 8 hour Greyhound Bus and 20 minute ferry away lies Magnetic Island, an Australian wildlife haven. During our time here we stayed in the YHA hostel which was amazing. It was a little campsite with sweet little huts as dorms. We had the most hilarious people in our room, it was clean and friendly and kangaroos would hop past during breakfast! One of the days we spent on the wildlife tour, where we got to see a vast array of Australian creatures, and got to hold a fresh water crocodile, a blue tongue lizard, a bearded dragon (which I feel in love with), a koala called Matilda and a huge python!! It was amazing to get so close to all these animals. We also went on walks during our stay here, one of which we got to see the wild rock wallabies which all come out at 5pm everyday to be fed! 

After the island, we headed down to Brisbane where we enjoyed the city life for a bit. Whilst there we celebrated my birthday by devouring the best chocolate cake I've ever tasted courtesy of Coles supermarket, explored the cities Art Galleries and treated ourselves to a meal out in the evening. We also visited the Steve Irwin Zoo, which was about 2 hours away on the coach, and it was a great day! 

Brisbane reminded me a lot of London with all its galleries, the river including a smaller version of the Eye, and it even has a Southbank! The lagoon in Brisbane was also a lot prettier than the one in Cairns!

Surfers Paradise was our next stop, which was pretty cool. It was a big town, buzzing with nightlife, shopping and eateries, situated right on the beach front. We stayed here a couple of days, spending most of our time on the beach trying to catch that sun!

Further down the Gold Coast was Byron Bay, one of my favourite places in Australia! It was such a sweet little surfer town, with a beautiful beach, amazing weather and great walks with lovely scenery.

The lighthouse was so lovely and the walk along the coast to the most easterly point of Australia was beautiful and a lot like the English Coastline in Devon or Cornwall. My favourite day was spent on the beach, soaking up the sun, watching the seagulls, painting the lighthouse. 

SYDNEY was next on the list, and I was so excited! As we entered the city over Sydney harbour Bridge and saw the Opera House, I finally had that amazing feeling: I'm in Austalia baby!

Sydney was so good. We were here over a week, as we stayed in a great hostel, made friends and felt like we were living in Sydney. Not visiting, but living. I went running along the harbour every morning, we drank champagne next to the Opera House, visited galleries, the old part of the city called the Rocks, took a 2 hour trip out the city to walk in the Blue Mountains, walked along the Bondi Beach coast, explored the quirky shops on Oxford Street, rummaged through the vintage goods at Paddington Markets, had dinner with my Grandads Cousin across the Harbour, walked over the bridge, at fish n chips...the list is endless, and that's just getting started. I could have easily stayed a lot longer here. It felt homely, safe but exciting and foreign at the same time. Sydney was by far my favourite place of my trip. 

Now, whenever we mentioned where we were off to next, it always seemed to be greeted with the question 'why?". Well, I had a reason: I was visiting an old school friend from when I lived in Germany. I couldn't be so close and not pop in to say hi, even if she does live in Canberra (kidding!) The city is, well, strange. Its a vast space of nothingness really, long straight roads, grey buildings. Yes, a very strange choice of capital. But I think we went at the best time of year, because the Autumn had brought with it magnificent shades of reds and oranges on the trees which looked gorgeous along the lake side. It was so lovely to catch up with Alice and I'm glad I can say I've been to the capital of Oz!

Last but definitely not least was Melbourne, Australia's coolest and quirkiest city, full of live music, vintage shops and cafes, magnificent houses, street art, fashion, galleries, students, bars, malls etc etc. We spent most of our time here on Brunswick Street, drinking tea and rummaging through the vintage. We also went to Queen Victoria Market which had the most incredible deli and fresh fruit section! Phillip Island was my highlight, we spent the day on the island which included visiting the chocolate factory, wine tasting, koala spotting, walking and then finally the penguin parade in the evening where hundreds of penguins filtered out from the sea and scuttled up to their nesting spots all over the grassy banks. It was freeeeezing but definitely worth the wait, it was absolutely fascinating to watch! 

So there you have it, in 5 weeks I explored as much of East Coast Australia as I could possibly pack in! It was so much fun and when I have the time and money I will go back. I mean, I didn't even make it to Fraser Island or the Great Barrier Reef, not to mention Darwin or any of the West Coast!