Jikana Damaru

sundays

are always bitter sweet. with wanting to enjoy the day it's also a time to get ready for the week ahead. in our house that means making sure the school uniform { x 2 dresses, socks, sports gear & swimming gear} is all washed & ready to go. lunch boxes are packed. one for kinder. one for school & one for the man of the house! i like to make sure there is a homemade cake or slice to add to his mini esky. so today i baked a butter cake & there are a couple of brownies from last week that i am sure won't be around in the fridge much longer. the roast is cooking & it's nearly time to enjoy dinner & once the girls are tucked up in bed enjoy some sunday night tv.

Through the Instagram: Little peek at January

I still miss my Fridge Chronicles and often wonder when I'm going to get around to bringing them back, but I'm well into these little Instajournals each month.

Dancing on the beach one moment...

... dancing in the rain the next. That was January in Sydney for you. What am I gonna do when Picnik closes? Does anyone know of a similar type of site that let's you collage your pictures?

But back to January...

Always a momentous occasion when I grow an actual fruit. The strawbs are flourishing in the rain and then rotting on the bush as the Tsunamis think they are too sour. I can't win.

Random nautical people - I just love this shot. See below.

We went to a pirate / mermaid themed one year old's birthday party on a harbour cruise. It looks fabulous up there, but it was all a bit nauseating in reality (I am not good with boats).

Plus, the actual party looked like this...

Note to self: cruises are not a good idea for kids' birthdays. But I knew that already. The green sea-monster woman up there is my darling sister-in-law (the Best Aunty in the Whole World), Lucia. She's my right-hand-woman for all things party and she was a godsend for our friend at this one too.

Yes, I still have pimples at 40. Oh, and ignore the boat hair, won't you!

There's another lovely beach. This time at Manly, where we excitedly met LOML after work off the ferry...

... and I thought 'I could do this life'.

I could definitely do this life.

My most organised outing ever at Taronga Zoo.

A night out for pizza. We'd never been to GPK before, but it was really lots of fun. The pizza was pretty awful, but I'd recommend the decidedly un-pizzaish Teryaki Chicken.

We've so enjoyed our watermelon smiles this Summer.

Or any kind of smiles, really. These two are so like my little sister and I that it just makes me want to go back in time so we can play together.

A little mushroom light I bought at Lark. Awful photo, lovely mushroom light.

And then it was back to work...

... and back to school.

And that's a January wrap.

Do you still get pimples?

How long have you had them?

I have had them for 29 years.

Cherry Cheesecake

Cherry Cheesecake (makes 6 jars)

Ingredients

8 gluten free digestive biscuits
100g unsalted (sweet) butter
400g cream cheese
600ml double (heavy) cream
6 tbsp icing (powdered) sugar
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1 tbsp vanilla essence
300g cherries, pitted
2 tbsp caster or superfine sugar
1 tbsp water

What you will need

Small glass jars

Cooking instructions

Place digestives in a bag and crush by rolling a rolling pin back and forth over the bag until you are left with crumbs
In a small saucepan, melt the butter, remove from heat and stir in digestive crumbs
Divide crumb mixture between the jars and press down lightly with the end of a wooden spoon or teaspoon
Whip double cream until stiff peaks form
In a separate bowl whisk cream cheese, icing sugar, lemon juice and vanilla extract until smooth
Fold whipped cream into cream cheese mix
Fill biscuit based jars with cream cheese mixture
Place in fridge
Blend cherries in a blender until you have a puree
Place cherries, water and sugar in a pan and heat on medium heat until cherries begin to soften and sugar has dissolved
Place in cup to cool
Spoon cherry mix on to individual cheesecakes
Leave in fridge until ready to serve

Here they are on my dessert tower

Have a sweet day!

the week that was

time without both my girls as they were at kinder & school left me in a muddle. I felt lost without little hands to hold. it meant for keeping busy. & so i baked. edited pics. drank coffee with a friend {who was getting used to her 2 children now at school life too} we spoke about how it is a big adjustment & leaves such an empty feeling in the daily journey of motherhood. i savoured the days my littlest was not at kinder. we sat on the beach. visited a goat dairy & did the housework together. now it is the weekend & we are waiting for my husband to get home from work so we can all hang out together.

My wooden ribbon spools

I have been pretty busy over the past few weeks busily trying to organize all my trims and craft bits and bobs. Here is a peak at the ribbons I have been wrapping around my new wooden spools.

Have a sweet day!

Wooden spools from Jane Means. Bird folklore ribbon from Panduro Hobby

GHP Week 5

The 5th week of the year was a such a happy and special week for me! These are just 7 of the many 'special moments' that I was eternally grateful for...

Day 30 - Happiness is my mum and dads Anniversary! I'm so grateful for their love and support!

Day 31 - Happiness is the simple please of drinking a cold drink on a hot day! Grateful for this gorgeous view!

Day 32 - Happiness is spending a special day with the boy I nanny! Grateful for the many places and spaces we get to explore!

Day 33 - Happiness is beautiful fresh perfect chili's from our veggie garden! So grateful (once again) for my husbands green thumb!

Day 34 - Happiness is waking up next to this gorgeous face! So grateful for her precious little personality!

Day 35 - Happiness is a VERY yummy meal shared with special people for a 60th birthday! I am so grateful for time spent with family!

Day 36 - Happiness is laying in bed spending time, learning and talking with my grandma! I'm grateful for her...full stop!

What are you grateful for this week? Head over to "Maxabella Loves" and share with us all.

Here is my Week 1&2 ~ Week 3 ~ Week 4

x S.K.K x

52 Weeks of Grateful: Food

Each week in 52 Weeks of Grateful I'm putting a prompt up for everyone. It's a little thought-starter which you can follow... or not.

Today, I'm grateful for scrummy-yummy, delicious, 'all will be all right with the world' hugs.

Hugs don't have to be hugs to be hugs. THANK YOU for all your emails of support and care and little words to help me swim out of that darn river. Every single one helps and every single one is treasured. I have no idea why many of the notes I received started with the words 'you probably don't need to hear this, but I just wanted to let you know'... oh my good god, I need to hear it! Everyone needs to hear it!

Every kind 'how are you' note that I received reminded me to send a similar one off to lovely people I am wondering about myself. Just a little 'are you there, I'm here' message. I won't go into the details, but one of those messages I sent out really meant something this week. REALLY meant something. A (non-blogging) friend needed someone and I was there because you were there.

I was there because you were there.

That's the sort of food I like the most - food for my very soul.

Come see me at Kidspot to see what I think about the 'other' kind of food.

So, what's making you smile today? Add your post to the list below (and please, we love you, but it really does matter that your post is a Grateful one and not just a random) and pretty-please add a link back to this linky or to Kidspot. Then pop over to visit other bloggers who are spreading a little sunshine.

[Image via Pinterest. Please let me know if it's yours. Keen Maxabella lovelies will note that I used a very similar image back in July last year...]