Nigella. Hot in the city. Speed blogging.

I suppose one of the good things about being back at work is that my job is in the City, so I have access to cool places to wander round and spend my money at during lunch breaks.

Yesterday I bought a lovely blazer half price from Jigsaw. My work friend E took me there, I loved everything I saw. I've never bought anything from Jigsaw before but threw caution to the wind and was practically chucking money at them in the end. Navy blazer with white spots, I love you hard.

In case my descriptive word-pictures aren't enough.

I also bought Nigella's latest offering "Nigellissima". Have you been watching the series on ABC1?

I just love Nigella. I won't hear a bad word said against her. I love her food writing style, I love the recipes, I love her humour, I love the TV shows, I love her look, I love how she's had so much grief and loss in her life and still manages to enjoy the good stuff.  I especially love how she hams it up in the TV shows and plays up the sex-ay food unctuousnessness stuff, which I know drives some people batty.

I love it all.

She is inspirational. After reading through this new book I was totally overtaken by the urge to cook something different and tasty and Anglo-Italian.

Bastoncini de pesce. 

Bastoncini de pesce, deconstructed. Otherwise known as fish fingers. Chopped up.

HAHAHA!

So sue me, I'm tired and the kids love them.

Stay tuned for me actually cooking something from the actual cookbook rather than heating up some frozen fish sticks.  They were Jamie Oliver brand though. Practically gourmet.

Maybe I should cook every recipe from the book and then blog about it?? I TOTALLY THINK THAT HASN'T BEEN DONE BEFORE!??

What? Julia who?

Damnit. I need another gimmick.

Ideas in the comments please.

I'm speed blogging because I have a date to see Les Mis tonight. Woot!  Finally!

Keep your ingredients fresh people. You know I do.

Til tomorrow.

xx

Laundry. ALDI. Mojo.

Wore the same outfit two days in a row in an attempt to redress the "time spent doing laundry": "time I don't spend doing laundry" ratio imbalance.  I'm a veritable martyr to the bloody washing at the moment.  I tell you, drop the ball laundry-wise for a few days and you better watch out because around here you are likely to be BURIED ALIVE in it, be it clean, dirty or waiting in vain to be ironed.

Get this look!  Breastfeeding chair doubles as laundry recepticle.

I'm not sure about the re-wearing of the outfit, it's possible that it is just a slippery slope to crazy town.  Perhaps next I'll be skipping showers...oh, wait, I did that too this week!!  Naturally the day I couldn't manage a shower just had to coincide with the day that I was forced to madly dash to daycare/hospital with concussed child.  Lucky my clothes were clean.  Apart from the vomit.  Anyway.

My parents took turns to come and hang out here for a day each to help me watch over the concussed one and look after the infant.  I took the opportunity during Mum's visit to make an enjoyable trip to my new favourite shop....ALDI.  That's right readers, ALDI.  It is the business, the bomb, the bees knees of supermarket shopping.  And there's a new one open now just down the road from us!

Now it's taken me some time to come to terms with the fact that I've ended up living in a very, very, very outer suburban area, in a low-set brick house in (of all places!) the Gold Coast.  I'm sure I should really be whiling away my days in a loft apartment in Manhattan or a garret somewhere in Paris, gaily filling my shopping basket with baguettes, bagels and other market-related tidbits.

Not the Gold Coast.  Taken by me, a million years ago.

I'm not sure what happened there.  I probably should have had a ten year plan that didn't include racking up a huge HECS debt studying an Arts degree and librarianship where you can only ever earn about 2 cents an hour.  You reap what you sow, people.  I should have listened to my father, but don't tell him that.

Anyway, the point is that probably if I was living the dream in one of those locations, my favourite shop would be, I don't know, Chanel or Hermes or something, but when in Rome (or the Gold Coast), do as the Gold Coast-ians do.  So I've embraced the cut-price experience that is ALDI shopping with gusto.

As I was fiddling round with the trolleys, a fellow shopper and I shared a moment of ALDI love.  

"This one is so QUIET and with such great parking!" she marvelled.

"I know!" I said, "And we live JUST UP THE ROAD!"

She gazed at me with awe. "So. Lucky," she whispered. "You have EVERYTHING."

It's all in the eye of the beholder I guess.

I am starting to even look forward to the mad bit at the end where I am in an unspoken battle with the checkout attendant, trying to shove the groceries back into my trolley faster than they can scan them through. My checkout person on this occasion was a nice fellow who gave me a generous headstart.

"I think I'm getting better at this now," I boasted to him. "My husband simply cannot handle the pace, but I enjoy it".

"Yes, some people can't handle it, that is true " checkout man confided to me. "But if you make a game of it, it can be lots of FUN!"

"Oh YES it is FUN!" I trilled back, gaily packing my purchases into bags and skipping lightly back to the car.

Look, take your pleasure where you can, I say.

I am forced to note here in a late entry that my pleasure has been muted somewhat by my discovery this morning that I left a whole bag of shopping in the boot of the car, including some frozen (well, not any more) salmon fillets.  The horror.

Also, I have totally and utterly lost my exercise mojo this week.  Please someone help. I could blame stress and worry but let's be honest, it's pure laziness. 

ADDENDUM:  Some loyal readers have queried my assertion that Gaspard and Lisa are dogs, and have alleged that they are actually giant rabbits. According to reliable sources (what? Wikipedia is reliable, right?), Gaspard and Lisa are indeed 6-year old anthropomorphic dogs.     

ADDENDUM TO THE ADDENDUM:  I've noticed my total pageviews have gone over 1000 now.  Weird. If you are reading this, join in!  Comment!  You'll never look back.