My Top 3 Romance Book Reviews

On visiting my local library this week I spotted this really sweet blind date book stand ... the idea is that each book is wrapped with paper and ribbon so you can't see the cover and only the genre and a few describing words were written on the cover.

 

 

That got me thinking about my favourite romance books and in light of Valentine's Day tomorrow I thought it was the perfect time to share my top 3 romance book reviews:

 

The Bronze Horseman by Paullina Simons

 

This is the most beautiful love story I have ever read. It's about unattainable love between the innocent Tatiana and the handsome soldier Alexander. It is a powerful love story with just the right amount of sex, romance, desire, more sex, to keep you reading with a beating heart and fighting off the tears all the way to the end. Read my full review here.

 

 

One Day by David Nicholls

 

This is the story of Emma and Dexter who are the best of friends for 20 years and while everyone else can see them getting together you have to keep reading to find out if they actually will! It is really funny with the right mix of sex drugs and rock and roll for it to pass as a modern day love story. Read my full review here.

 

 

The Girl In The Yellow Vest by Loretta Hill

 

This book is a new release and just hit book stores last month and my favourite book for 2014 so far! This is a young adult romantic fiction story based in Western Australia in the mining industry and has 4 characters in a bit of a love triangle which makes you keep on reading until you find out what is going to happen and who will find their modern day romance. Read my full review here.

 

 

What is your favourite romance book?

 

I hope everyone has a romantic Valentine's Day tomorrow ... secret admirers, long term relationships, newly dating, and singles catching up with friends! It's an exciting day for everyone xx

 

 

[First image my own - Other images via 1, 2, 3]

 

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A Travel Tale .... There's No Place Like Home

I've had a magical few days interstate in Sydney (as my Instagram and Facebook followers will have seen!) and I'm so grateful for the opportunity to travel with my gorgeous man Mr P.

I love to travel it drives me to work hard, save money and make sacrifices so that I can explore this amazing world we live in. I get so excited about planning and organising things to do and see so I can make the most of the time away from home.

But at the end of it all I am always glad when the plane (or ship!) lands on my home soil and I open the front door to those familiar smells of home, I can raid the fridge when I'm feeling hungry, and jump in my own comfortable bed at the end of the day!

I will always have a burning desire and love for travel .... but as they saying goes there's no place like home!

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[Images via my Pinterest 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 ... follow my quotes board here]

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We Are Sydney Bound

I'm so excited because Mr P and I are off to Sydney for a few days for the trip we won with Electrolux last year when we bought their products for our kitchen renovation .... I completed a form for a set of knives and the next thing I know the travel agent was ringing asking when we want to book our trip!

The prize includes flights, accommodation and dinner at Quay where there was a 6 month waiting list so I can only imagine how amazing the dinner is going to be overlooking beautiful Darling Harbour.

Quay is run by celebrity chef Peter Gilmour and is famed for it's snow egg which was on Master Chef a few years ago ... my mouth is watering just writing about it!

We are being picked up from the airport in a limousine like rock stars and taken to our 5 star hotel in The Rocks. The prize only included 1 night accommodation so we extended it to 3 nights as it's a long way to come for just 1 night (it's a 5+ hour flight to Sydney from Perth).

The first thing I'm going to do when I get there is jump on my big king size bed like an excited teenager and after that I will be in pure romantic blissed out happiness until our return to reality in a few days time!

We are going to be tourists in our own country and do a day trip to Manly on the ferry, explore The Rocks area where we're staying, check out China Town and the markets and of course hit the shops!

I've even booked us on a pub tour which I'm sure will be heaps of fun hearing about the history of Sydney town over a drink or three!

I hope you all have a fantastic week!

If you want to stay in touch with my Sydney adventures you can follow me on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter

To go on your own Australian adventure check out the great deals on Travel Factory here

[Images 1 and 2 via The Quay, images 3 and 4 via Four Seasons Sydney image 5 and 6]

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MKR Round 3 - Australian Themed Dinner Party

I recently shared with you my Australian inspired menu plan for a My Kitchen Rules dinner party competition we are having with friends.

We were up against some fierce but friendly competition with Round 1 an Italian Fantastico, Round 2 a French Sensation and Round 3 was our MKR -  Aussie Aussie Aussie Oi Oi Oi! We all voted for our favourite MKR dinner party and the winners were ... the French Sensation! 

Sadly, we didn't win but we came a close second and had an awesome night.

The winning couple took home a bottle of wine from each of us.

So this is how our MKR Australian themed dinner party went down just a few weekends ago ....

Let's start with the decorating - I went for these Australian native flowers which were semi dried so would last in our hot balmy weather, especially important as we were dining outside I didn't want a delicate flower that would wilt in the hot weather.

I put the flowers in upcycled vases made from empty sauce jars and decorated them with string,  little Australian flags and stickers with the guests initials so they could take them home as a gift (although they forgot to take them which was just a sign that we were having too much fun!)

For the table I laid a white tablecloth, multi coloured wooden place mats, red napkins with silver napkin rings and silver cutlery.

My centrepieces were the flowers I had made for my guests (which in hindsight were a bit too tall and blocked our view so they ended up being moved out the way!) I will make sure I make lower flower arrangements next time!

A hand carved boab nut and pretty candles finished off the Australian theme.

It was simple and modern and left plenty of room for our drinks and food!

I made menus because we had a few guests with food allergies and this made it easier for them to see what ingredients were in the dishes.

I typed and printed out the menus on coloured paper (similar to what I did for our Indian inspired dinner party you can find here) and laid the menus on each place mat.

Menus are a nice touch if you have the time they are worth the extra effort and a fun keepsake from the night as well!

It was a hot and balmy summer night and perfect to be dining alfresco and once the candles were lit, fairy lights on, music playing our favourite Australian singers, we were set to party!

And then disaster struck 10 minutes before everyone got there the flowers toppled over in the wind and vases full of water ran all over the table and menus, etc. My neighbors must have heard my you've got to be s**ting me expletives as I madly tried to take everything off the table, lay out the table cloth to dry, wipe up the water and then set the table again.

My guests were knocking on the front door and I was out the back running around like a crazy women resetting the table! Phew these things happen to try us I'm sure!

So that was setting the table and decorating now for the cooking which was pretty much as shown in  my Australian Inspired Menu blog post except that I found some of the recipes in books and magazines at home.

I made as much as I could ahead of time earlier that day or the day before so that we spent as little time in the kitchen as possible and spent it enjoying ourselves with our guests instead.

To start with we had a bush tucker cheese board with Australian cheeses, olives, quince paste, outback mixed nuts, beetroot and tomato relish, frozen grapes and crostinis which went down a treat with icy cold ciders for the men and sparkling wine for us women.

Onto the starter we had a Spinach, Beetroot and Fetta Salad with Macadamian Nuts and a side dish of Kangaroo sausage sliced and pan fried served with tomato relish.

We moved onto the wines and served this with semillon sauvignon blanc and Pinot Noir.

We trialled a few different types of kangaroo sausages and in the end liked the Gourmet Game (from Coles) the best but they were sold out when I went to buy them so had to go with the second choice the Macro Meats Bush Tomato Kanga Bangas (from Woolworths) which unfortunately weren't as nice.

We then moved onto our palette cleanser the Mango and Lime Granita that I had made the night before, it took 4 hours to freeze and I stirred it every 30 minutes until it was nice and frozen. A little labour intensive but worth it will definately be making this one again.

I put my Moroccan shot glasses in the freezer to get nice and cold and then shaved the granita with a fork and served it up.

For the main course we had half the food cooking in the BBQ Weber outside making us all hungry with the delicious smells going through the air and the other half I had cooking inside in the oven.

Everything I prepared ahead of time so it was just a matter of timing everything so it was ready together.

In the BBQ Weber we had a whole roast chicken with herb and macadamia nut stuffing and served with gravy, corn on the cob with butter and fresh herbs, hasselback potatoes with fresh tarragon.

In the oven I had cheesy stuffed tomatoes and an Aussie vegetable ratatouille with a variety of vegetables in a tomato and herb sauce.

The final dish of the evening were these mini pavlovas stuffed with passion fruit cream, fresh strawberry's, blueberry's and a cherry on top, dusted with icing sugar and fresh mint.

We served this dessert with a glass of Australian port.

So that was our MKR Australian themed dinner party!

It was a really great night and while there's always a lot of planning, shopping, cleaning, preparing, cooking, for it I really enjoy entertaining and having friends over and trying to live up to my Hostess With The Mostess title!

You can see our first MKR dinner party competition back in 2012 over here

Ironically, Season 5 of the MKR TV show has just started ... if you are a fan of the show why not throw your own MKR Dinner Party with friends, it adds a bit of friendly competitive to your dinner party!

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[All images my own]

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Photo A Day: January Days 17 - 31

So this is my second half round up of Fat Mum Slim's January photo a day challenge that I've been playing along with by taking a photo every day of the month following the daily word prompts and sharing my photos on my Facebook and Instagram as well as doing a round up here on the blog.

 

I found it really helpful to save the word prompt image to the background of my phone to remind me what photo to take that day!

I really love the challenge of finding a photo every single day ... looking around me at work, home and play and photographing what my interpretation of the word is. I also love joining in on Instagram and adding the pretty filters which always make my photos look much more interesting I think!

 

 

You can find my January Days 1 - 16 here and these are my final round of up days 17 - 31 ...

 

 17. Tiny - Petite dessert I made at home

18. Happy Place - My home is my happy place because of who I share it with

19. Breakfast - Champagne breakfast at Crown Perth

20. To Do List - Laundry renovation to do list

  

21. Blue - Roses on my skirt

22. Nice - It's always nice to have flowers in the house

23. Bedtime - My bedtime just before midnight

24. Your Space - View from my office window

 

 25. A Taste of Summer - Mango and Lime Granita I made find the recipe here

26. Fun Stuff - Making cocktails on Australia Day

 

27. Something I bought - These gorgeous leather travel wallets

 

 28. Dinner - Getting treated to dinner with my Book Club girls because

I picked the favourite book last year

29. Window - Favourite window in the house is the one we put in when we renovated the bathroom as it has a view of the tree tops in the back yard

30. Best invention ever - Books! I love to get lost in the pictures and words

31. Polka Dot - My sexy but sweet heart polka dot PJs ...
and now the world has seen my PJs!

 

You can read all about how to play Photo A Day on the FMS blog here.

Did anyone else join in with this month's FMS January Photo A Day?

 

If not, why not play along with February's Photo A Day ... You can find the February photos prompts here.

 

 

[First image FMS, all other images my own]

 

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eDesign Mood Board - Jarrah Jungle Laundry

I've been getting my creative dose on Polyvore again and have designed a mood board for the Laundry Room renovation.

 

In this design I've kept the colours fairly neutral with white cabinetry, wooden bench and greens from the art and plants which will hopefully make the space appear fresh and bright.
 

 

 

Jarrah Jungle Laundry Room by jarrahjungle featuring storage furniture

 

Here is a summary of my design:

1. White overhead cupboard - Attached to the wall above the bench for storage of all the usual laundry cleaning products, bottles, sprays, etc.

2. A small corner shelving unit - For the side of the overhead cupboard to display the frequently used items (see 3 and 4). As this will be close to the window open shelves will be less evasive and not block the window like a full cupboard will.

3. A terrarium or house plant - Sitting right in front of the window will be the perfect place for a house plant and hopefully with all the sunlight it won't succumb to my black thumb ways!

4. Glass storage jars - I'd like some some glass jars to fill with laundry detergent, Lexi's doggy treats, that kind of thing. They'll look nice displayed on the corner shelving unit.

5. Laundry Pin Up Art - Following my love for pin up art if I can find a cheeky laundry style art for this room that would be perfect. Or a metal vintage sign would look good too.

6. Tiles - I had in mind using grey tiles for the floor and white tiles for the kick tile. For the splash back we were going to use our leftover white tiles from the bathroom renovation, but I really like the look of feature mosaic tiles like these green/blue tiles.

7. Laundry work top - I want the work top to be one long piece from wall to door frame with a sink cut out. I'm thinking a dark wood look might play in nicely with our jarrah floorboards. Oh what a treat to have a bench in this room I won't have to sort clothes all over the floor!

8. Laundry mixer tap - A large modern mixer tap that can maneuver around and fill up buckets and so forth.

9. Laundry sink - A round silver sink built into the bench so it's seamless and neat. Gone are the days of the massive laundry trough, I don't think there's a need for a huge trough.

You can see my mood board on Polyvore here with links of where you can buy the items.

What do you think of my Laundry Room design?


[Image via Polyvore designed by Jarrah Jungle]
 

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Recipe: Mango and Lime Granita

My favourite dish from the Australian inspired menu that I made for the My Kitchen Rules dinner party last weekend was this Mango and Lime Granita.

Not only was it a great way to use up the mangoes in season right now but it was a really refreshing palette cleanser to have between the entree and main course and it has also been a nice dish to have in the freezer for dessert or a refreshing treat.

 

This recipe made about 8 cups of granita and because I served mine in my Moroccan shot glasses I will probably get 3 times that amount from the mix.

Mango and Lime Granita

Makes 8 cups
Fine Cooking original recipe here (below is my amended version)

4 mangoes
2 tsp finely grated lime zest
2 cups water
3/4 cup sugar
2 tbs fresh lime juice

1. Cut the mango away from the pit and coarsely chop into cubes, leaving the skin behind. You need about 2 cups of mango (I needed 4 mangoes to get enough).

2. Add to a food processor the mango and lime zest and process until completely smooth, scraping down the sides as you go to make sure you don't miss any lumpy bits.

3. Pour the puree into a medium bowl and add the water, sugar and lime juice. Stir with a large spoon or whisk until the sugar has completely dissolved.

4. Pour the puree into a 9 inch square shallow baking pan. This size pan works best because it provides a large surface area which speeds up the freezing process. To further speed up freezing use a metal pan.

5. Put the pan in the freezer and stir every 30 minutes with a large fork to break up the crystals. Make sure you scrape the ice crystals off the sides and into the middle of the pan. You need to do this until the mixture is too frozen to stir - mine took about 4 hours, scraping every 30 minutes, but some will take less if your freezer is colder.

6. When it is too frozen to stir, cover the pan with plastic wrap and freeze overnight.

7. When ready to serve the granita, chill some glasses or bowls so they are nice and cold.

8. Remove from freezer and place a large fork at the top of the dish and pull it towards you in rows, moving from left to right and rotating the pan as well.

9. Scrape up the shaved ice and fill chilled glasses or bowls.

This is a perfect Summer dessert, palette cleanser, or treat to have in your freezer!


[All images my own]

 

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