Little brothers graduation

Today was my brothers graduation from high school. It was a long ceremony, many performances, and speeches, and 180 odd boys to send out into the wider world. I must say the performances were lovely, especially one in particular. An incredibly talented year 12 boy played a piano piece that he presumably transcribed himself from a number of pop songs. It was really wonderful. 

Not the greatest photos of the graduation, sadly my camera was being extremely uncooperative. But he still looks lovely.

I just adore this dress, i feel so sexy and comfortable in it. I eyed it and eyed it on etsy, and kept resisting it, and when i finally decided to buy it i realized it had sold. I was so sad, i moaned to Ellen about it a number of times, i regretted not snapping it up immediately. And then guess what? I looked into my cupboard one day, and there it was, in the blue dress section. And i smiled, a big grin, realizing that Ellen had sneakily bought it for me as a treat.

I finally wore it for the first time today, it was a perfect graduation dress, everyone loved it. :) Thanks Elle!!!

Petunia
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A splash of colour

This weekend was absolutely delightful. Such amazing sunny, warm weather, 26 degree heat, clear skies, and a beautiful city to enjoy. I had lunch with my friend Sophie at Icebergs, the North Bondi swimming club. The view was stunning, wish i had taken my camera with, and the food was tasty. This is my super cute new dress which i've been unable to wear due to it's length. I finally hemmed it, and figured what a perfect dress to celebrate the new warm weather.

Dress: Dear Golden Vintage

Necklace: Vinnies

Shoes: Some strange shop in Hong Kong

Cat: my sweet 3 legged kitty Catastrophe

Petunia x

Pretty in pink

It seems our lovely little gardenia bush decided to bloom early this year. I think it got confused by the sudden spurt of hot weather we had a week or so ago. Anyway, i decided to take advantage of such a lovely backdrop.

Dress: Abercrombie and Fitch, bought on ebay

I really love this dress. I wore it to uni last week when it was really warm, and i got so many lovely compliments. 

Petunia

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3 days of birthday!

Here's that birthday post i promised. I was spoiled absolutely rotten all weekend, it was a really lovely birthday. 

On Thursday i had a nice family dinner at Kam Fook. It's a birthday tradition in our family to pick a restaurant or a meal, and i was dying for Peking duck. It was a lovely dinner, plenty of silliness and giggling, especially over the fortunes in our fortune cookies. Ellen has a trick, you just add 'in bed' to the end of your fortune, and suddenly they become hilariously pornographic and strange. 

That's my gran, mom and dad, i guess that might be obvious. Can you see the family resemblance?

On the Friday night Ellen spoiled me entirely rotten. She took me to Opera Bar for dinner, we had a lovely share platter. They really know how to cook, the food was delicious, and surprisingly filling for a share platter. Then she took me to the opera to see La Boheme. Oh my goodness, what an amazing opera, especially for my first live opera experience. After the opera Ellie took me to possibly my favorite restaurant, Pony, for desert. I had an apple tart with vanilla ice-cream and caramel sauce. It was amazing. Ellen had a tasty chocolatey fondant type desert, also amazing. 

Last of the birthday spoils was a lovely lunch with my friends. Have to say Bondi Social may be painful to book with, but their food is really wonderful. They have a share plate menu, and really you just pick a bunch and tuck in, and everyone gets a taste of everything. 

The lovely Mel and Bianca.

Me and my bestie Ali.

The pretty Alex, Ellen and Elyse.

So there you have it, 3 days of celebration, 3 days of food, fun and friends and well presents, but they don't start with f.

Petunia
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Mmm birthday cake

It was my birthday on the 25th of August and so i celebrated with my lovely family. We had Peking Duck which i absolutely adore, and a birthday cake made by yours truly. Yes it is a little unorthodox to bake your own birthday cake, but i am the baker in the family, and happened to have a free day. Besides i can hardly think of anything better than making myself a birthday cake everyone, including myself, will enjoy. 

Below is the recipe, which i really do suggest you try. It makes such a fantastically moist sponge cake, really delicious. Don't be alarmed by the batters watery consistency. It is significantly thinner than most cake batters, and i think it is this quality that makes it such a moist cake. You will need:

4 eggs
2 cups sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup whole milk
1/4 cup butter (salted is fine)
2 cups all-purpose flour (i used gluten free flour)
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

Beat the eggs until they thicken and turn a creamy yellow. Add sugar and vanilla and beat.

In a bowl sift together dry ingredients, add egg mixture. 

Heat milk and butter in a saucepan or microwave, and add to the batter. Beat until combined. 

Pour into a greased cake tin, and bake. I cannot give an exact baking time as i didn't manage to time the cooking. It takes at least 40 minutes, but perhaps test the center with a skewer, and remove from oven when it comes out clean.

In separate saucepan add 1/2 cup water, 1 cup caster sugar, and a box of frozen (or fresh if available) raspberries. You can use a number of fruits for this section, apples, blackberries, strawberries ect. Simmer on low until the raspberries soften and form a syrupy sauce. 

Once the cake has cooled slice in half and the fill with whipped cream and the cooled raspberry syrup. No need to strain the syrup unless you really feel the need.

Place cake halves together, sprinkle with icing sugar and serve.

Petunia

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Cemetery Sunday

My apologies for such a long break. I get distracted so easily, and find so little time to post my entries. But here i am, and here is a post about a lovely exploration of Bronte cemetery with Ellen.

Yes, i am pretending to be a weeping angel from Dr. Who. I couldn't help myself, that episode is just so fantastically creepy.

Ellen and i had such a lovely Sunday. We bought fish and chips and a deep fried mars bar down at Bondi Beach, and drove up to the cemetery to enjoy them. Naughty but tasty. 

Petunia

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