Vintage Betty Crocker

One of my favourite things to do on the internet is to trawl through the public domain.  I stumbled onto this little gem a while back when looking through vintage cookbooks.  The Betty Crocker Cookbook for Boys and Girls is filled with cute drawings, some less politically correct terms and many recipes.  I think the pictures would make cute invitation cards, I would like to use them for something....not sure what yet.
 

Resources used:

Tape strips from Pugly Pixel, they can be found here and here.

Old book clip from Mellow Mint which can be found here.

BPScript retro font which can be found here.

Collage a Moleskine

Schnail Mail

A few and by a few I mean two pieces of mail I have received semi-recently.  One is from a swap and the other was a lovely surprise!

This is probably my favouritest (and yes, that is a word) ATC that I have ever received.  A beautifully done Kiki's Delivery Service themed watercolour.  I especially like the late afternoon sky.

I am currently experiencing an obsession with using the eye dropper tool and picking colours from pictures.  Sites like COLOURLovers and Pugly Pixel further add to this obsession.  :D

An age ago, I particpated in a CD swap over at Goodnight Little Spoon, one of my swap partners was Lauren.  I sent away my CD and I thought that was that.  'Lo and behold, surprise snail mail from Lauren!  She sent me a lovely little package full of papery things and a letter all enclosed in a wintry themed handmade envelope.  It was a great way to end the day, opening mail that wasn't junk mail/boring.  

Scribbles and Dresses

Lisa Ho dress in Yen magazine - Issue 48, 2011

The above dress is by Lisa Ho, I love the colours and the bleeding colour effect of the material's pattern. Even though I am a staunch non-dress wearer, this dress definitely sways me.  Below are just some scribblings 'cos I liked the model's pose and I felt like drawing.  Actually it's more than just scribblings since I then took the trouble to ink it and then paint it.

I am going through a phase where I like using the eye dropper tool in Photoshop...hence the colour swatches.

Matcha Cupcakes

Mmmm cupcakes, easy to make and infinite flavour possibilities.  These were really delicious, the cake itself was very fluffy and delicate.

I crushed some green tea leaves and put it into the batter as well for extra tea flavour.  And a note, green tea glaze is not very appetising...think runny snot or Shrek in a blender accident.  So you should make the frosting instead.  Or eat it unfrosted...but where's the fun in that?  The recipe can be found at one of my favourite sites, Foodbeam.

Collage a Moleskine

So happy that the weather has taken a cooler turn, a whole week of sticky and hot weather has ended.  Although I mustn't complain since so much of Australia is suffering from the effects of natural disasters.  Take care and stay safe, where ever you are.

Westfield + Food

An overhead shot from I don't know what level, seriously it was a labyrinth.

A while back I walked around the soon-to-be-completed-redevelopment Westfield shopping centre.  It looks really, really nice inside, very sleek and very sophisticated.  Not like the Westfield shopping centres in the 'burbs.  They are almost done from what I can tell, there are still some shops still to be opened like Zara (excitement plus!) and other clothes stores.  I wasn't really there for the clothes or for the shopping, I was there for the food.  The seating in the foodcourt was plush, there were padded seats and they didn't try and cram as many seats in as possible.

After hearing positive things about Charlie & Co burgers and the chips, I though I would give them a try.  From memory (it was months ago), I had a Federation Burger and the Truffle and Parmesan Chips.   The chips were good, crispy and very flavoursome.  I don't know what real truffles taste like, being a poor student and all but whatever that taste in the chips was, it was addictive.  To me, the flavour was very fleeting, it felt like as soon as you tried to think about what the taste was, it disappeared.  Then you'd eat another chip to recapture the flavour.  And on it goes.  :)  Oh and also the servings for the chips were very generous.  Definitely one to share.

The burger was OK...the beef patty had an overpowering garlic taste and masked the other flavours of the burger.  And for some reason they had put the tomato and lettuce on the bottom so the bottom bun was soggy.  On a positive note, it was a very thick beef patty, the egg was fried nicely and the bread was soft (a must for burgers in my opinion).  Charlie & Co is definitely worth a visit, even if you just order the chips.

I also bought some macarons to take home at the dessert/chocolate/patisserie/gelato place in the foodcourt (I have forgotten the name of it).  The brown one is raisin toast, the two black ones are black sesame and the pink is cardamom and raspberry (I think).  They were a bit smooshed from being unboxed (considering I paid $3.50 for each of them, I thought they would have been boxed).  I ate the raisin toast one and it was good...you could taste the cinnamon, the raisins, and it didn't just taste like sugar.  The others I shared.  :)  The verdict: yum.  But for $3.50, I think it is overpriced. 

They also had a very impressive display of chocolate, gelato and pastries and French type of cakes.  Prices were high, around $7 or so for the cakes.  For that price I would rather go and visit La Renaissance, which is next on my places-to-visit list.

The bottom of the escalators were shiny!  So when you looked up you could see your reflection, albeit a very warped and distorted one.  :)

Note to self: high speed film, no flash, and low light results in very grainy photos.

Collage a Moleskine

It's forecasted to be cooler tomorrow.  Oh, the joy!