Bummer

Wet tiles + stairs + rush hour + gravity defying manoeuvre = one sore sister and another stressed sister

[Valentino Vamp]

Two nights ago I was planning to meet up with Mish for dinner. The roads were slick with rain and the air achingly frigid (yet bewildering still a smidgen warmer than an English summer) - the perfect night for heavy eastern European fare and lip smacking cider.

I rang Mish to check how far away she was from the restaurant. Sounding extremely blasé, she replied, “I hurt my back. I’m in an ambulance my way to hospital.”

I had visions of the worst possible injuries. Mish’s nonplussed attitude and vague answers didn’t help my now madcap state of mind.

By the time I reached the hospital she was as high as a kite from morphine – heckling the footy players on telly, chatting about Hawaii – and I was stroppy.

I am my Mother’s daughter, I discovered. I don’t lend well to hospital situations, even though I’ve worked in many. I kept thinking about all the possible outcomes and getting more and more short tempered and narkier by the minute.

After an x-ray it was discovered that she fractured her coccyx. She busted her butt. She cracked her arse.

Hopefully she is coming home today. Fingers crossed! I want to drink wine and watch ‘A Fish Called Wanda’ with her, as tonight is my last night in Sydney.

She's a runner, she's my sister

Last Sunday I played chief bag carrier/driver/cheerleader/photographer for Mish’s first race. She 8km ran in The Mother’s Day classic!

I’m positively beside myself that she’s taking up running. We’re already plotting where to run a marathon together. Berlin? London? Paris? Little Rock?

Mish chilling in converse

Pre-race

Mish's Madeleines

I had a bit of spare time on my hands today and resolved bake something delightful for afternoon tea. After flipping through one of my favourite cookbooks ‘The Cook’s Companion’ by Stephanie Alexander I decided to make use of my Madeleine tray.

Honey Madeleines

110g unsalted butter

½ a tablespoon of honey

2 eggs

1/3 cup of castor sugar

1 tablespoon of brown sugar

Pinch of salt

1 drop of pure vanilla

90g of plain flour

1 teaspoon of baking powder

Pure icing sugar

Melt the 90g of butter with the honey on a low heat. Allow the mixture to cool.

Combine the eggs, castor sugar, brown sugar, salt and vanilla in a food processor.

I was a bit heavy handed with both the vanilla and the honey with no adverse effect on the end result.

Transfer this mixture to a mixing bowl; sift in the flour and baking powder. I sifted the flour and baking powder together a few times before combining it with the egg mixture.

Add the cooled butter and honey to the bowl and combine.

Leave the mixture to rest for at least an hour or overnight, I left the mixture for an hour because I’m impatient but I can see the benefit of mixing this up before bedtime and baking them for a lovely Sunday breakfast.

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsius

Grease the tray with the remaining butter, dust with flour and shake of any excess.

Spoon the mixture into your madeleine tray, the recipe suggested filling the moulds two thirds full and using two trays, however I used the large moulds and filled one tray.

Bake for nine minutes, make sure to set your timer!

Allow the madeleines to rest in the

tray for a minute. The recipe suggests to dislodge the madeleines by rapping the edge of the tray sharply on your countertop, this move worked a charm!

Allow to cool on a wire rack, patterned side up. The madeleines will crisp up on the outside.

Dust with icing sugar before serving. They are best served fresh from the oven on some beloved china accompanied by loose leaf tea or good quality coffee

xo Mish

Ships at Night

My sister works random shifts and never has a set schedule. Sometimes it's like we're ships passing in the night, with days slipping by without seeing one another. So when we discovered that we both had the same day off work, we shared conspiring grins.

Like wannabe ladies who lunch, we set off for Bourke Street Bakery.

We didn't need to fill the air with words to enjoy each others company, we just sipped coffee and read. Mish is halfway through the wonderfully addictive "Born To Run" and I'm lapping up "Little Bunch of Madmen: Elements of global reporting".

Afterwards we ambled our way to That Vintage Shop for a stickybeak.

From there we went to May Lane - where the walls, gutters, garage doors and garbage bins are the canvas for the creative.

My observational skills are fairly lackluster at the best of times, I didn't realise to what extent, until I awoke this morning having slept the night on a textbook. My brother had kindly left me a book on photography in my bed as a surprise birthday present.

Ironically lesson one in photography is to open your eyes to the world around you.

Partner in crime

[photo via: Fashion gone rogue]

Everyone needs a partner in crime.

My sister is mine.

We don't hesitant in pulling out "the shopping trolley", "sprinkler" or "christmas tree" at any given moment - not even a down pour could stop us during Yacht Club DJ's at Sunset Sounds.

She isn't addicted to running or Greek Yogurt like I am. She's addicted to cheesy action flicks circa 1980s such as this, this and this. Though she loves Nancy Mitford just as much as I do. She's also an amazing cook.

So say hello to my sister Mishy, as she'll be baking, sauteing and flambéing you something soon.