Recipe: Bloody Mary Oyster Shots

There were some Birthday celebrations in the Jarrah Jungle this weekend and what better way to get a party started than with some Bloody Mary Oyster Shots!

These little morsels were fun to drink but you really only need 1 or 2 max per person as they are pretty strong.

Bloody Mary Oyster Shots

12 Serves (Allow 1-2 per person)

Ingredients

1 doz fresh oysters

2 cups Tomato Juice chilled

2/3 cup Vodka chilled

2 tbs Worcheshire Sauce

6-8 drops Tabasco Sauce

12 x 8cm long celery sticks
Salt & Cracked Pepper
12 shot glasses (about 30ml each)

Method

• Combine the Tomato Juice, Vodka, Worcheshire Sauce and Tabasco together in a jug
• Taste and season with Salt and plenty of Cracked Pepper
• Put your shot glasses onto a tray or plate
• Place a celery stick inside each glass
• Then an oyster
• Top with tomato mix
• Carry down to your guests and say Bottoms up everyone! Cheers!!

The mix can be made hours beforehand and kept in the fridge to chill.

The oysters of course need to be assembled and served straight away to maintain their freshness. This is one for the seafood lovers I know not everyone likes oysters la natural but with the tomato mix they really do taste amazing.

What's your favourite beverage shot?

Playing along with linky parties:
Goodbye City Hello Suburbs
Savvy Southern Style

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[All images my own]

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Lemon Tree

I love the saying when life throws you lemons make lemonade ... and so I went and bought myself this little Eureka Lemon Tree so I can do just that!

Does anyone know how long I have to wait for the lemons to start growing? I could do with a bacardi and lemon right about now!

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Book Club Book Review: Holding the Man by Timothy Conigrave

The August read for my Book Club was Holding the Man by Timothy Conigrave

This book is a true story written by an Australian author, set in the 1970s in Melbourne. 

A boy who realises at a young age he's gay, falls for the captain of the football team at his all boys catholic school, and they both end up in a life long relationship with each other.

To be in the mind of someone who is gay, to grow up with them, how their friends and family react to them, I found so interesting because it's not something that is often talked about, nor something I would ever understand (being a straight female!). 

The book takes a sad turn when both characters develop HIV and they then battle with the severe sickness that comes with this devastating disease.

I would recommend this book to anyone with an open mind and heart, this book is confronting it has a lot of sex scenes and is not for the faint hearted. So if your brave enough then go on, live a little, and read something totally different.

I give it 4 out of 5 stars

Jarrah Jungle's Star Rating:

1 Bad - I'd rather eat brussel sprouts topped with anchovies than read this again
2 Not Good - I'd rather watch re-runs of Neighbours than read this again
3 Ok - I'm sitting on the fence - its not great but not terrible either
4 Good - I'd pass up a pack of tim tams for this read
5 Great - I'd pass up a date with Johnny Depp for this read

 

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[Image and book from Dymocks]

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Tiles Tiles and More Tiles

I've been thinking about tiles lately and which tiles to lay in the Kitchen and Bathroom and Laundry and Powder Room. Renovating all of these rooms makes me wonder if I'm meant to be matching up tiles in some way or if they can be as different as each other.

I was also thinking if I make the Kitchen and Bathroom the priorities and picked out some really special tiles for these rooms and then I could go for cheaper tiles or even use any leftovers for the remaining rooms Laundry and Powder Room. Except that I love shimmery tiles in the Bathroom - but not in the Laundry. I love patterned tiles in the Laundry - but not in the bathroom. Agggh what to do?!

[Images via Kitchen 1, Kitchen 2, Bathroom, Girl, Laundry, Powder Room 1, Powder Room 2]
 

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Plant Tags + Markers

I've been trying to come up with a cool idea for plant tags and markers for the herb and vegetable garden.

The plastic tags you get with plants are ok but they do get weathered eventually, the seed packets don't have tags and also some of my herbs are from cuttings so they aren't labelled either.

So I've been getting some great ideas from Pinterest (after finally getting my invite today, you can find me here!) some are DIY and some from Etsy stores.

Here's some of my favourite pins ...

So how do you label your plants in the garden?

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[Image 1, Image 2, Image 3, Image 4, Image 5]

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I'm Finally Growing My Own Veggies

The vegetable garden has been planted, its watering itself thanks to the reticulation setup and the little veggies are sprouting and growing. I've wanted to grow my own veggies for such a long time and can't wait until I can pop outside for some rocket to put on my home made pizza or leek to make my favourite potato and leek soup or tomatoes and spring onion for my Mexican salsa .... Guess I have to wait for them to grow first before I get too carried away!

After spending the other weekend pulling weeds and clearing the space, we spent last weekend laying the reticulation with little sprinklers through the beds and little drippers in the pots under the patio. This means I don't have to remember to water the plants anymore which means they might actually have a chance of surviving! Once the retic was in, I got stuck in with a big pick and mixed into the soil some manure (how did I get the stinky job?!) and soil improver. I made little raised beds out of potting mix and then the bed was ready for the vegetables to be planted.

I went to Bunnings and bought some plants - tomato, leek, spring onions and rocket seeds. I had some cos lettuce seeds in my stash already. Now for the job of planting out these babies, it was harder than I thought you have to be so careful with them and plant them into the ground delicately, then put a top layer of mulch. I've planted ...

Tomato 'First Prize' (hybrid bush tomato)
Came in a tray of 6 and I planted them in a staggered row

Leeks
Came in a tray of 8 and I split them up as there were heaps in each and planted in 4 rows of 5

Spring Onions
Came in a tray of 8 and I planted them in 2 rows of 4

Rocket seeds
I put 3-4 seeds in each hole and kind of spread them everywhere in the corner so there might be a bit of a wild rocket corner here ... I was so impressed that they sprouted after about 5 days

Cos Lettuce seeds

 I planted like the rocket with a few seeds in each but they still haven't sprouted yet ... c'mon guys you can do it push through that soil!

It's such a good feeling to have the garden established, now I just have to wait for these little veggies to grow so I can eat them!

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Book Club Book Review: Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason By Helen Fielding

It was my very first turn to pick the book for my August Book Club meet up and after the heavy reads so far of Room, Atonement and Cockroach I decided it was time for some lightheartedness Bridget Jones style!

So I picked Bridget Jones: The Edge Of Reason by Helen Fielding. This is the second book of the Bridget Jones Diary series with a third book rumored to be in the making as well. 

This book had me both laughing out loud and cringing at the situations Bridget gets herself into.

I've watched the movie a dozen times but never read the book so to be able to actually picture the characters as I read - her loopy friends, her crazy Mum  and her sexy squeeze Mark Darcy - made for a really interesting read.

I'm not usually a movie buff, preferring to read the book wherever possible and this is about the only book I can think of that I've watched the movie and read the book.

It reads as comical as the movie and many situations that women (and probably men, oh how we confuse the poor buggers!) can relate to in new relationships.

I would recommend this book for any woman who needs a laugh and also any man who is brave enough to step into the mind of a woman ... I can assure you, you'll be surprised and might even learn a little something about the opposite sex!

I give it 5 out of 5 stars

Jarrah Jungle's Star Rating:

1 Bad - I'd rather eat brussel sprouts topped with anchovies than read this again
2 Not Good - I'd rather watch re-runs of Neighbours than read this again
3 Ok - I'm sitting on the fence - its not great but not terrible either
4 Good - I'd pass up a pack of tim tams for this read
5 Great - I'd pass up a date with Johnny Depp for this read

 

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[Book and image from Dymocks]

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