Real life - it takes two

I had to snap these adorable little twins on a walk their dad on the weekend. What a cute snapshot of family life.

You always hurt the ones you love

I saw this much discussed flick last weekend - it's really worth seeing! Quite intense because it's a confrontingly realistic portrayal of a relationship just gradually falling apart over time; without a big, dramatic cause.

"Blue Valentine is the story of love found and love lost told in past and present moments in time. Flooded with romantic memories of their courtship, Dean and Cindy use one night to try and save their failing marriage. Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams star in this honest portrait of a relationship on the rocks."

And if I broke your heart last night

It's because I love you most.

Potter Party

Oh yes, I did. What better way to celebrate the final Harry Potter film than have a par-tay full of Potter-inspired delights!

On the menu were Fizzing Whizzbees, Puking Pastilles, Acid Pops, Chocolate Frogs, Liquorice Wands, Chocolate Cockroach Clusters, Cauldron Cakes, Hagrid-inspired "HP" cakes, Ton-tongue Toffees, Treacle Tart, Hogwarts Black Lake with Sour Grindylows (jelly with sour worms), Ravenclaw Risotto and last but CERTAINLY not least - BUTTERBEER!!!! We had the Philosopher's Stone soundtrack blasting in the house, and the room was lit by candles making for a very Hogwarts-esque atmosphere. If you're skeptically wondering how we could possibly pull off Butterbeer - I can assure you, we did. Here's our recipe:

Nervous anticipation - will this taste like crap?!

BUTTERBEER

Ingredients - 300ml Thickened cream, 1 cup brown sugar, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence, 50g butter, Vanilla cream soda, Connoisseur  Vanilla ice cream.

Step 1: Make butterscotch sauce. Simply put the cream, vanilla essence, brown sugar, and butter in a saucepan and stir until it combines and has a nice thick saucey texture, and most importantly, that yummy butterscotch taste.

Step 2: Put cream soda in a saucepan over high heat; bring to the boil.

COMBINE! We had a play with the butterscotch sauce: cream soda ratios and put a dollop of the vanilla ice cream on top of each drink for extra froth.

It was PERFECT, if I do say so myself.

Victory!

Honeydukes Goody bag to-go

Waiting...with Acid Pops

Goodbye, Harry Potter

FINALLY.

7 books.

8 movies.

14 years.

I've changed a lot since I first met Harry Potter when I was 11 years old, at Primary School.

I've finished primary school, moved cities 4 times, including a stint in San Francisco, finished high school, finished Uni, travelled Europe, got my first real job, my first promotion, first pay rise, second promotion, second pay rise, fallen in love, fallen out of love, moved out of home, got my learner license, my driver's license, my drinking license...! One thing that hasn't changed is my love for the Harry Potter series.

It's been an adventure. It's been an escape. It's terrified, it's entertained, it's comforted. I have so many great memories thanks to the Harry Potter books: lining up outside book shops in the freezing cold, waiting for the latest embargo to lift; seeing the story brought to life in film for the first time when the Philosopher's Stone was released; playing Harry Potter board games with my sister and our friends; making mum stop the car in the middle of nowhere in rural Australia to locate the only bookstore within 100km in order to buy my sister and I a copy of Order of the Phoenix on release day; sitting on a park bench in a tiny country town reading the book aloud, initially to my sister, then to half the town who gathered around to hear the story; reading for a whole day and a half non-stop, finally reaching the end of the Deathly Hallows, my sister and I both in tears - "but we still have the movies," we said. Today the last film comes out, and I can't help but feel like something amazing and irreplaceable is coming, finally, to its end. It feels like the end of (a somewhat prolonged!) childhood.

I'm of course going to the midnight session, and giving Harry a worthy send off with a Hogwarts-style banquet before the film. I'm going with my sister and my best friend: the two people who convinced me to start reading "those silly kids books" to start with. I can't wait to be surrounded by all the other previously-11-year olds, now adults, all in costume, indulging one last time in the joy and excitement of a Harry Potter event. Harry Potter will surely go down in history as one of the great literary achievements of all time; what other book do you seeing being read on the train by three different generations of people? I can't wait to re-read the story in the future, and to one day share it with my own children. And I'm forever grateful to have been a part of generation-Harry.

Mischief Managed. 

"A common muggle" thanks JK Rowling for Harry Potter on the wall of an Edinburgh bathroom at "The Elephant Room" where JK Rowling spent time writing Harry Potter.

Winter Warmers - Cottage Pie

I am loving cooking at the moment, so this weekend I made a Cottage Pie, recipe from this month's Delicious magazine. It was BEAUTIFUL. Such nice wintery comfort food. I altered the recipe for the mash (which was meant to include horseradish, cheddar cheese, and mustard) to instead be much more fattening, with thickened cream, parmesean, and sooooo much butter. Yummy.

Before:



After: