AT HOME WITH XANTHE & ACE: SUNDAY KID OUTTAKES

 

 

 

 

Just a couple of outtakes from a shoot which I was so excited to do in collaboration with Sunday Kid, the first of one of many of their super cool "At Home" interviews for their blog, which you can read here. This family is as cute as pie; Xanthe is an uber talented stylist and her husband runs a family owned restaurant/takeaway shop in Woy Woy on the Central Coast and Ace is just an amazing handsome little dude. Their place is filled with retro awesomeness and it sits right on the water with the shop downstairs and their home upstairs. Walking up and into their abode reminded me of my childhood summer holidays spent on houseboats and yachts on the Hawkesbury River. Once upstairs, you are greeted with the most spectacular view and a feeling of freedom swept over me as I looked out across the water and over into the mangroves. Just the slightest breeze over the water and up into their balcony and I could swear I could feel the motion of the house bobbing gently with the water.

  
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Images taken using Canon 5D Markiii//50mm 1.4

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WEEKEND ARRANGEMENTS

My weekend started with a sleep in (thank you Matty), a coffee and a kiss-kiss on each cheek from my family before I bounced out of the door to meet a gorgeous friend (and her micro-babe) for a long lunch and a shop before we embarked on a floral workshop at the Octopuss Garden.

The Octopuss Garden is inside an A-frame building. Need I say more. There was so much inspiration and beauty to choose from once inside. We were welcomed in by the amazing girls who shared some of their home made Sangria with all of us while encouraging us to enjoy the delicious cheese and dip spread. This is a slippery slope, once I start with food, particularly cheese....it can be tricky for me to move away, let alone concentrate on something else.

 

After choosing our stems we moved right into the stripping, snipping and spiral holding our stems into beautiful posies and bouquets. Working with flowers is therapeutic and there is great pleasure in working directly with beauty. Whilst we all wanted to work on more organic and flowing bouquets and posies, there was one who made a gorgeous structured posie with some cute little buds sticking out.

 (The above one is my little posie)

 (The token Kinfolky shot. Nailed it.)

My style is similar to my hair...kind of everywhere and loose, a bit bushy with a stick poking out. I made my bouquet with a good friend in mind - she was having her baby reveal the following day and I was hoping to style a bouquet that would flow with either a blue or pink sponge cake upon the gender reveal at the cutting of the cake. Lately I have really been noticing the colours purple and green in my life (they also happen to be my favourite colours) and they seem to be appearing everywhere. I couldn't resist using flowers with the captivating purple colour and I am just almost obsessed with the velvety looking gums. My large bouquet is pictured below and modelled by the lovely Laura.

My friend's wonderfully abundant bouquet below!! Gorgeous. It was interesting seeing how differently we all styled out bouquets and posies.

The day ended with two smiling mama's, a pram full of shopped items, freshly baked bread (thank you Kath!!!), bunches of fresh flowers and a sleeping baby. Is this not the best way to end the day?

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Images taken using Canon 5D Markiii//50mm 1.4

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NATURAL DIP DYING & STYLING

 

Day one of the Slow Living workshop in Sydney and we got straight into natural dip dying with organic textiles by Rebekka Seale from Camellia Fiber Company. We used Eucalpytus and another plant (sorry I can't remember the name of it) to create a natural dye for our cotton tea towels. After which we enjoyed a long lunch sitting outside at a long table under a large shadey tree, where we feasted on some remarkable salads and gozlemes prepared by Hetty McKinnon. The rest of the afternoon was spent with Beth Kirby and Luisa Brimble where we watched and learned as Beth styled the food and Luisa gave a helping hand in getting our settings right as we took shots around the room. It was a fantastic feeling to be in a room full of people who are as enthusiastic as you are about taking photographs and styling.

  
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Images taken using Canon 5D Markiii//50mm 1.4

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WINTER BREAKFAST

The last weeks of Winter have been slow and drawn out with grey and wet weather, but it's ok because the brighter days of Spring are only a few sleeps away. My favourite part about winter is that it makes having a hot breakfast totally appropriate. Last night I spied a wintry breakfast here and today's inspired breakfast was a hit. Usually, the only porridge eaters in my home are the girls but today the boys were asking for a bowl of porridge too.

WINTRY BREAKFAST BOWL

Porridge

Banana

Chia Seeds

Peanut Butter

Coconut flakes

Milk

Honey

Coconut Oil

1. Make yourself a pot of porridge

2. Heat a tablespoon of coconut oil in a small fry pan on a medium high heat

3. Cut banana in half and then half again, length ways

4. Place banana's, sliced side down into the hot fry pan and fry until caramalised and golden on one side

5. Place porridge into bowl, top with a spoonful of peanut butter and honey and place caramalised banana on top and sprinkle with chia seeds and coconut flakes

6. Gently pour some warmed milk over the porridge.

Enjoy with sips of coffee or tea.

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Images taken using Canon 5D Markiii//50mm 1.4

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ROASTED TOMATO & CAPSICUM SOUP

What do you do when you have lots of tomatoes and a handful of capsicum?

A couple of days ago I sought the answer from one of my cookbooks. I settled on making a batch of Colm's Soup, from What Katie Ate. It was just the answer to warm up the recent succession of soggy days and the chilli added a nice slow heat to each spoonful. My five year old son enjoyed a whole bowl full and he was happy with the heat so long as he had a glass of water nearby. I topped each bowl with a couple of slices of grilled goats cheese spread ontop of some slices of rye bread.

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Images taken using Canon 5D Markiii//50mm 1.4

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