Christmas baking.

I have loved having a weekend so close to Christmas. Yesterday we spent the day baking and wrapping the last of our gifts. My husband baked the neighbours a beautiful loaf of bread, and prepared the dough to make crossiants for brunch today. Hamish and I made muesli and lolly drop biscuits. It was such a nice way to spend the day.

The wrapping of gifts and such.

Christmas is almost upon us! The festive season is my favourite, but this year it has snuck up on me. It has been nice to spend the last couple of days finalising gifts and organising food. I love everything about Christmas. The music, the  decorations, the baking, the time spent with loved ones, and especially buying and wrapping gifts!
This year I have used brown paper, twine, black ribbon, and cuttings of rosemary and bay leaf. I was lucky enough to stumble upon some vintage postcards at a local school market, and they have added the special touch I was after. I have only allowed one postcard for each person, so I made some christmas tree shaped gift tags from some special paper and pages from an old book I saved from the recycling bin. I joined the trees together on the sewing machine, and I have used the cotton to tie the tags to the gifts. I'm very happy with the result.

Ten years.

Ten years ago tomorrow we were married. Barely adults, but madly in love. Ten years have gone in the blink of an eye. Here's to the next ten.

I want to live in a house with a pink door.

Image via Pinterest.

Flowers.

At 4am on Friday morning, a friend and I set off to the flower markets to buy flowers for her sister's wedding. I never enjoy the flower markets, but Friday's trip was the actually ok. The bride had asked for Australian natives and flowers that looked like they had been picked from the wild. We ended up with a lovely mix of natives and traditional english flowers. My favourites were the Flannel Flowers and Peony roses.
I spent Friday and part of Saturday putting the flowers together. Being a florist is hard work!

Activated Almonds.

Activated almonds have been a hot topic of conversation this week, after celebrity chef Pete Evans listed them as part of his 'My Day on a Plate' food diary for the Sunday Age magazine on the weekend.
Admittedly, his food choices aren't that of an average person, but I think people did over react.
I found his food diary intriguing, and decided to give activated almonds a go.
I did some research and found a great blog called Easy Peasy Organic, which explained activated almonds and how to make them at home.
In a nut shell (pardon the pun), nuts are full of enzyme inhibitors that prevent them from sprouting in dry conditions. By soaking them you trick them into starting to sprout. The sprouted form has nutrients that are more easily absorbed and digested, which means our bodies get more of the goodness out of the nuts.
Making your own:
I started with a cup of almonds to give it a go, but you can do it with as many as you want.
Soak your almonds (raw – not roasted or salted) in enough water to cover them for 12-24 hours. I soaked mine for about 12 hours. After you have soaked them they will look puffy and may even look like they are starting to sprout.
Rinse the soaked nuts under running water. You can use them as they are (I put some in my morning smoothie), or you can 'roast' them. If you want to flavour them, nows the time to do it. I left mine natural, but you could add sea salt or tamari if making them for a snack.
To 'roast' the almonds without damaging the nutrients you've activated, you can either put them in the oven at the lowest temperature, or use a food dehydrator, which is what I have done. This process can take from 6-24 hours depending on the temperature you're using. The nuts are ready when they feel dry. Try a few to make sure they're done.
You can use the activated almonds as you would normally use almonds. They last well in an airtight container. They can even been ground into almond meal. The possibilities are endless!

Market Day.

I know it's been a week, but I thought I'd share some photos from our market stall at the Wild Ones Art and Design Market. We had a fun day at Hazelhurst, but we were very tired by the end of it! Having a market stall sure is exhausting. We loved seeing what other stall holders were selling. We each bought a polymer clay ring from Me We, and would have loved to have spent all our profits at the other stalls! Another favourite of ours was Hayden Youlley Design. Oh my goodness, that boy is a genius with ceramics! His wares will be on my Christmas list for sure!

Wild Ones.

My sisters and I will be selling our wares at the first ever Wild Ones Market at Hazelhurst Regional Gallery on Sunday! It's our first market in a while, so we are nervous and excited. We are frantically finalising our stock and getting ready for the big day. If you're in the area, come and say hi. I think it will be a good day!