Archive for ‘September, 2011’

Thrifty Thursday: Post # 9 – Homemade Baked Beans on Toast

Thrifty Thursday – noun
Pronounced: Thrifty |ˈθriftē| Thursday |ˈθərzˌdā; -dē|
1. A day to which posts based on thriftiness are uploaded for your viewing pleasure, be it op-shop discoveries, crafty projects or yummy new recipes…

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At the moment, the weather in Adelaide has been just delightful.

I got home from running some errands at about 9.30 this morning, and was pleasantly surprised to see Dana sitting in the living room on his computer. You see, days together can be rather difficult to come by – with him at uni during the week, me working now, and juggling with friends and family. But because this term is drawing to a close, Dana has spent some extra time at home to work on assignments.

I decided I would be a good wife for once, and make us a lovely little brunch – and what better place to eat it than our sunny, springy courtyard!

So, I don’t know about you, but I really like baked beans… and I have been really craving to make my own for a while now.

It ended up so yummy and super easy to make, I thought I’d share it here (even though, they actually aren’t baked at all).

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I used:
2 cans of beans (1 red kidney bean, 1 butter bean)
1 can of peeled, diced tomatoes
whole cumin seeds
ground paprika
black peppercorns
sea salt flakes
cinnamon
1 onion
4 cloves of fresh garlic – crushed
olive oil
homegrown european parsley
organic sourdough rye bread – toasted and buttery

1. Dry fry the cumin seeds, until they start to brown and turn fragrant, then turn out onto a dry chopping board and crush/chop them up with your knife – to make a course powder.

2. Heat oil in your pan, then add crushed garlic and finely sliced onion – and saute. Add a couple of pinches of salt.

3. When the onions begin to turn transparent, drain and wash both cans of beans, and add to your pan. Fry and mix together with your cumin, then add paprika and a smidge more olive oil if you need.

4. Once it has been frying for a couple of minutes, add your diced tomatoes, about 1 tsp of ground cinnamon, and a good dose of ground black peppercorns. Then stir.

5. I then added about 150ml of water – so I could leave the beans to simmer while I set the table, picked some little flowers and made the toast!

6. Garnish with torn parsley leaves.

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Y-U-M.

x Jessica

3 Comments

lovers

Today I’d love to share something very special with you.

Earlier this year, I was hired to photograph a very beautiful couple’s wedding.

I arrived at the bride’s house early in the morning with four empty memory cards in tow. I started snapping away from that moment, until late into the reception celebrations that night – and went back home exhausted, with a happy heart and tired legs.

It was a wonderful day, and I feel very honoured to have been able to witness it.

Kristy and James make a beautiful couple, and all who know them personally will agree – that they are quite perfect for each other!

getting ready

1940

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the boys

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ceremony

sign

sweet tears

bridal party

bridal party

smiles

father of the bride

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May their love endure hasta el día de los muertos.

(… until the day of the dead.)

x jessica

11 Comments

Eight Memories in a Box

You may or may not know this, but since moving to Adelaide, most of my things (and Dana’s too) are being stored in our garage.

Every so often, I’ll suddenly remember something I have in there, and realise that I absolutely need to have it out. So I take a little trip in there to go foraging for stuff.

I hardly ever end up getting what I originally intended to retrieve.

The other day, I went to the garage to find our passports. And yes, I do agree that the garage probably isn’t the best place to keep such a thing.

However, I got distracted by some little old memories that I found scattered amongst the different boxes.

Then, absolute procrastination set in, and I decided that I just had to take photos of them immediately.

So, here are some little memories for you:

1. A bear from Lachlan.

Ruby

He was my boyfriend in year seven. You know, the kind of boyfriend you would have in primary school that you would wave at across the sports oval? Yeah, that kind. We had a class trip to Canberra to see the science museums, and we sat together on the bus. Our hands inched closer together. My heart beat so fast. We held hands, and he gave me this little bear.

(I also recall that I had a different ‘boyfriend’ about a week later.)

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2. A baby mitten.

A baby's mitten

I wore these when I was a baby, and once outgrown, so did my dolls.

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3. Photobooth stickers with Amber.

photobooth stickers

We were 13 or 14, and so very badly wanted to go and see ’8 Mile’ – Eminem’s movie. We made the very fatal mistake of asking our parents’ permission, and weren’t allowed.

So we went to the mall, didn’t see the movie, and got these stickers instead.

Can you imagine my disappointment upon finally watching that movie a couple of years later? After all that waiting, it really wasn’t that good at all.

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4. A note from Rachel.

rachel

We were best friends, and would always play at each others’ houses after church on a Sunday. Rachel gave me this note when she found out that my parents and I were moving back to Australia in 1999. Oh! I cried and cried when I found out I was moving again! She was such a lovely little friend!

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5. A book from my cousin.

christmas bookchristmas book

I must have been about three years old, and Kristie about seven. When I was born, I lived with my parents and siblings in Adelaide, South Australia until I was five.

I remember going to play at Kristie and Cody’s house all the time. One Christmas, Kristie made this book for me.

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6. A stolen road cone.

stolen road cone

2006 was a great year. Dana and I started going out, I started university, I turned 18, and I made some of the loveliest friends a person could ever make.

For my birthday that year, all my uni friends signed this road cone for me.

I did have a little chuckle when all of our things arrived in the removalist’s truck in our new home in Adelaide earlier this year. Because the road cone was carefully handled all the way from Brisbane to Adelaide without being in a box, or packaged in any way.

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7. A charm.

my half of the charm

This was my half of a best friend charm, shared with my friend Lisa. Minnie Mouse is on the reverse side.

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8. A lady headed swan.

lady headed swan

This are the kinds of things I would make in high school instead of studying. It was either that, or waste countless hours on Myspace.

At least with playing with Fimo polymer clay, I have something to show for it!

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Oh, and I did end up finding the passports too – eventually. In a wallet, down the bottom of a ripped Storage King bag, alongside a mirror and some old blankets. O_O Yeah. Real responsible.

x Jessica

4 Comments

Thrifty Thursday: Post # 8 – Show and Tell

Thrifty Thursday – noun
Pronounced: Thrifty |ˈθriftē| Thursday |ˈθərzˌdā; -dē|
1. A day to which posts based on thriftiness are uploaded for your viewing pleasure, be it op-shop discoveries, crafty projects or yummy new recipes…

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Welcome, dear friends, to this weeks’ Thrifty Thursday post! I thought I’d have a little ‘show and tell’ of some of the cool things I have acquired lately – either thrifting, or during my neighbourhood’s most recent council kerbside collections.

I’ll start with something little…

this little pussycat picture was hidden in a pretty gross dusty box on the side of the road:

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This ceiling light fitting glistened by the flash of our headlights (what better, seedy-er way to collect hard rubbish, than when it is dark out, and everyone can watch you scavenge from the comfort of their loungeroom window). I adore amber coloured glassware… so we brought it home with us. It looks really cool with a small candle underneath it:

amber

This kitchen cupboard segment… we don’t actually have a pantry in our house – so we use recycled countertop storage instead. (Yes, the kitchen is pretty effing filthy at the moment.)

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And my favourite find of all…

These retro kitchen chairs. I just love the patterns in the vinyl, not to mention the colours.

chairs

They look great out in our courtyard – for sunny breakfasts:

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The following things I have picked up from various thrift stores and op shops around the place:

Pretty dresses:

dresses

wardrobe

Amber coloured ash tray – somewhere I can keep some of my clip on earrings:

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Have any of you had any good discoveries lately??

x Jessica

3 Comments

That Girl

Oh my! How I have missed blogging lately!

I started a new job, and am now in my third week. It is all going really well and happy. Working in the City means I get to dress up, drink long blacks (half pour, thank you), look at pretty things all day, and work for a very lovely friend of mine, Marty. (He has appeared on this blog here, here, here, and here)

I’m working Mondays, Fridays, Saturdays, some Thursdays, and come October, Sundays too. And all I can say is, Hooray for money!

However, now that my 9 months of unemployment sabattical are over – holy crap, am I missing them! It was so nice to shop in thrift stores and take photographs all day long… I am missing it already! (Yes, I am being a slight dramaticus, I still get days off during the week.)

One of the things I am missing most is the fact that I can no longer look after my niece, Sydnee on Mondays. Like, seriously, I am having baby withdrawals! Dana and I used to have dinner and sleep over at my brother David, and Sister-in-law Sam’s house on a Sunday night, then on Monday, everyone would go to uni/work/school except for me and Squid. And we would hang out all day.

So today, as I am currently in ‘look over all my photos of her and sigh’ mode, I thought I’d share some with you.

I would like to apologise for this most recent lack of posts – one post per week just isn’t cutting it for me! So, I thank you for being patient with me while I settle into my new routine.

Bathtime!

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bath

I lover her cranky face. It cracks me up, almost every time!

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Those lashes…

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Waiting for her big brother at school:

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Blue

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I cherish every moment I have had with her! It is crazy seeing how much she has grown, when I look back through her photos.

If Dana and I ever decide to have bebes, I hope that at least one of them will turn out even marginally similar to her.

Do you think she will grow up knowing how much I love her? I guess that I’ll just have to make sure of it!

Happy Tuesday, wherever you are.

x Jessica

3 Comments
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