My weekend reading

Today is one of those rainy days and the perfect weather to get cozy in a chair and look at my beautiful new books I was lucky to get, for my birthday gifts.
I love looking and reading beautiful books.

The Little Paris Kitchen was a book, I mentioned about on my blog a while back.
After having watched Rachel's cooking series on Television I was excited when my sweet daughter gave me this wonderful cook book.
Already I have made something from it ... creme caramel for dessert last night which was most delicious and my husbands favourite dessert.

Two Greedy Italians, was given to my husband from daughter - a while back we enjoyed watching  the series of the two old friends, Antonio Carluccio and Gennaro Contaldo embark upon an amazing journey back to their homeland in order to reconnect with their culinary heritage, to explore past and current traditions and to reveal the very soul of Italian gastronomy.
Their humor, wisdom and passion for good simple food, makes this an essential book for anyone with a genuine interest in Italian food.

My lovely Son, gave me this big beautiful book ' Balenciaga' which I have been enjoying reading.
Cristobal Balenciaga (1895-1972) was one of the most outstanding couturiers of his time.
He made very beautiful coats and magnificently tailored suits as well as pretty delicate lace and silk dresses.
His immense talent made him one of the greatest and highly acclaimed fashion designers of the 20th century.
Despite his fame, Balenciaga always remembered Getaria, his mother and his old sewing machine.

Here I have shared a few pages, of his elegant clothes.

 Love the exquisite sequin work,  looks like gorgeous flowers, on this wedding dress


A Woman has no need to be perfect or even beautiful to wear my dresses; the dress will do all that for her.

~ Cristobal Balenciaga

Our wonderful children came over for the night,  a late celebratory birthday dinner party, for my dear husband and their Father.
It was lovely to see them and the house seems quiet now they have gone back.

The weather has turned so wild, wet and windy and one of those days that on the Island, our power sometimes goes out. So I will now go and prepare dinner now, just in case.

Hope you are enjoying a wonderful weekend
hugs
Carolyn

Ways to be happy

Do more of what makes you happy!

Plant some pretty flowers

Watch a sunset at the end of the day, the spectacular and vibrant colour palette, painted across Mother natures canvas.

Beauty at the end of the day, while on holiday at Bora Bora

Sit down in a comfy chair and read a good book

by Alberto Pisa

Find some perfect thing to make your day happy
Celebrate just being you!

I am finally feeling like myself again, having a sore throat was no fun. Thank you for your kind emails ... you made me feel better.
Also kind of you to send  birthday wishes, to my husband.
I appreciate your friendship and reading my blog.

Have a week that is beautiful 
hugs
Carolyn 

Happy birthday to you!

Good morning dear friends,

Here we are again, a wonderful weekend before us ... hope that you have all had a great week.

We have another birthday in the family and this time, the 6th of June was my dear husbands special day.

Unfortunately though we have both come down with colds.
We had to celebrate the birthday, so it was a lovely lunch sitting out in the sunshine at Euro,  but as so often when you have a cold,  you can not really taste the food much. It was one of those beautiful clear blue sky days when you are happy to be enjoying the day and this is the view we looked out on.

 That night we were in bed by 7.30 as the flu does make you feel tired and worn out.
It is so true, that one hour of sleep before midnight is worth two hours of sleep after midnight.
The next day we both felt a lot better.
Today we are going to do a final push to finish the decorating in the lounge -  I can't wait to get things sorted back into the room.

Hope to catch up with you all and your lovely blogs soon.
Wishing you all a happy weekend
hugs
Carolyn

June already!

The lady Pukeko looked prim and proper in her pearls

Here are just a few things I snapped on the way home, from our night away.

I take my camera most places and my husband is  happy to stop the car so I can  take some photos of interest, along the way. Thought you might like to see some little rural New Zealand towns.

We passed through Tirau, a vibrant little quirky town and love the corrugated iron works that were on most of the shops and cafes.

This little town is called Cambridge with a magnificent old white church - as you can see it was a grey old day driving down and rained most of the way, so taking photos was a little hard.
These two towns are predominantly there for dairy farming with a few charming cafes, boutique gift shops, galleries and antique shops for browsing.

The Autumn leaves were really pretty and just starting to change colour.

The first of June is officially the start of winter here in New Zealand.
Winter hasn't really arrived and on Sunday was a glorious day  so we were able to eat our breakfast and lunch at the outdoor table.
Painting yesterday, I was still able to wear shorts and tee shirt, so I am enjoying the good weather while it is here.

Today is Queens Birthday weekend and Monday is a holiday - always great to have an extra day off, so will soon get back to the painting.
We are so close to finishing the lounge and will be very pleased to have everything back, to how it should be.

I hope that you all had a happy and relaxing weekend and now wish you a wonderful week ahead.
Also want to say a big thank you for the birthday wishes you sent to our daughter.
hugs
Carolyn

Happy weekend

My blogging life has been very sporadic at the moment. Life seems to be busy, like it is probably for you all.
We had another birthday ~ DD celebrated her special day on the 29th May. Hard to believe that it was 24 years ago, that our precious darling baby girl came into our lives. Thank you most beautiful one for making everyday special. We love you and want to wish you a great new year ahead.
Was lovely as she had a weeks holiday, from work, so there have been some fun shopping trips, lunches out, and a celebratory dinner.
It has been great spending time as a family.
I baked these chocolate cupcakes with raspberry icing and loved the little French toppers to add a little ooh la la!

Also we have been doing some more painting around the home - all slowly coming together and will share some pictures soon.
Seems to be like a stuck record but we are making progress.


Thank you so much for the wonderful birthday wishes you sent me. I am so grateful for your friendship and kindness.
I am looking forward to coming to visit you, in the weekend and see how you all are.

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend.
hugs
Carolyn 

How I love a trip away

Last weekend, my husband kindly took me away to celebrate my birthday for a night. After having bought a new car we were keen to go for a drive down country, to try it out.
We went back to Huka Lodge again, to spend  Saturday night there.
This is the perfect getaway for a quiet night - there is not even a telephone, or television in the rooms.

On arrival in our room waiting for  us, was a chocolate cake and a bottle of champagne.

It was a wet old day driving down, but once we arrived was pure bliss  relaxing and sitting in the spa pool and swimming in the pool. We were able to dine alone, on the outdoor deck alongside a roaring fire. I felt so lucky to be able to spend a happy weekend  with my husband, laughing and talking and having a fun time away.

Cocktail hour was from 6.30 - 7.30 and was interesting chatting to other guests staying there.

The canape potato fries were delicious

We were lucky to have a well known New Zealand  opera singer, Deborah Wai  Kapohe sing an enchanting rendition of Pokarekare Ana, a traditional Maori love song.
It was truly beautiful and bought tears to my eyes and gave me goosebumps... it was particularly moving and emotional for all in the room.

The dessert for me, was the highlight of my meal, little meringues with kiwi fruit.

Thank you to all who visited my little place, at the French Party, Anita had so kindly hosted for us all.
It was fun and am grateful to have met so many new friends and lucky to discover some fabulous new blogs and many thanks also, to new followers.
Just made me want to pack my bags and head back over to France with seeing all the wonderful sights and places to see and visit.

Wishing you all, a happy weekend
hugs
Carolyn

Welcome to my French party

 

French Party

Many thanks Anita, for hosting another French party and it will be great to go and visit all your other guests on the list.

Bonjour  – welcome to my French Party!

Well an important component of celebrating is of course the food. We ate in a number of places in France and something no French person would ever do without is cheese.

We sampled these lovely strong cheddar style cheeses at the France Show in Earls Court in London – they were strong and nutty in flavour with a creamy texture and long lingering taste.  I was amazed at the size of the cheese wheels and the great variety of cheese on offer.

Of course the inevitable friend of a good cheese is wine and we sampled wines particularly in the Bordeaux where we developed a taste for the rich reds and their distinctive and earthy terrior – the relationship of the wine to the land upon which it was grown and which gives rise to the truly regional flavour of the wine – so distinctive that those who know such things can tell you where the growing region the wine came from.

The wine in this photo is from a little chateau in the Bordeaux called Chateau Pomys.

We called there one cold cold night in February to dine in the restaurant – which it turned out had been kindly opened by the owners to allow us to dine. We were the only patrons of the restaurant that night and had the place all to ourselves – which was fun and a little strange.  The owners were so nice to us and we had a lovely evening with wonderful French food complimented with this lovely wine.

There is so much to see and do and to eat in France – this is a little traditional meal from a café in St Emillion – an amazing 15^th Century town set on a hillside and riddled with historic buildings.  They say that the French macaroon (‘macron’) was invented there and a little shop still proudly states that on its wall.  We bought some but they all got mushed in the back of the car on the way back to where we were staying.  We had lunch in a little – but locally highly regarded café there and enjoyed the local meats and cheeses and a glass or two of wine.

France is about good food, good wine and friends.  We had a Sunday lunch with Kiwi friends in Paris.  Sunday lunch is a big deal in Paris and the whole town shuts down so families can be together.  These friends are not only our friends, but from our little Island of Waiheke.   

Buster ~ le petit chien

We enjoyed an amazing lunch with them and their cute little dog Buster and took a plate of Macrons from Montmartre as our contribution.  A great lunch and party with friends – glad you could come to mine and hope you enjoy these thoughts and some of the things that made my French holiday memorable.

Wishing you a wonderful weekend
hugs
Carolyn