Meeting other bloggers is always fun, meeting them for a great cooking demo followed by delicious morning tea is even better.  This is exactly what Appliances Online organised last Monday when they hosted a morning tea for bloggers with a fabulous cooking demo by the lovely ladies of the Monday Morning Cooking Club (MMCC).  I met some lively bloggers like Caro of Caro & Co, had an eye opening discussion with a blogger who has been a dominatrix (I am not telling who, those who were there will have to guess), ate more chiffon cake than was strictly good for me, and generally had a very good time indeed.  

The ladies from the MMCC put on a fabulous spread with no less than three different chiffon cakes (the orange wins for me), salmon and bagels and other freshly baked goodies from the Appliances Online kitchen.  I will tell you more of the MMCC story another day, community memory and story gathering through food, fascinating and moving.  I would love to cook with them myself some time.

During the demo the MMCC used the Breville All In One.  I was impressed.  The double bladed mixer easily ground fresh almonds into almond meal and made several beautiful looking doughs.  I have an elderly Magi Mix given to me by my granny when I left home.  It is showing it's age (unlike me I hope), it works perfectly but the plastic has become brittle and is cracking in less and less avoidable places.  I also have a drawer full of mandolin and stick mixer bits that I can never find quickly enough.  This gadget made me take notice, it obviously worked well in the demo, does everything my Magi Mix, mandolin and stick mixer can, and afterwards it stacked neatly into the storage stand.  Impressive.  So imagine my delight when we were presented with a All In One to test in our own kitchens, with a copy of the MMCC book to give us inspiration.  If only all Mondays were more like this.

I raced home and spent a happy afternoon musing over recipes and mixer attachments, I had to test it that very day.  Now I know you are expecting some gourmand recipe, but really what I made was mashed potatoes.  I wanted to test the mashing attachment, something I hadn't seen before, and (drum roll) result was mashed potatoes in minutes.  Yummy, creamy, easy!  Next I am planning pesto, I have a giant basil bush in the garden.  Or I might make my granny's pecan nut biscuits, very similar to the kifli the MMCC made for us, I will let you know how it goes.

Thank you again to Appliances Online, they are a great resource for the time poor who know what they want and just want it delivered to their door.
And a reminder to my readers that all opinions are truly my own.  I love testing products but rest assured feed back will always be genuine.

Lets start the week happy with a lovely product and a prize.  Monday feeling better yet?  You, my lovely readers, have a chance to make your own notebook or planner from personal-planner.com.au 
To win a gift card: write a comment on this post, or at the link to this post on my facebook page, and tell me which 2013 theme you think is cutest.  
I love this TOP SECRET cover for the music and note book I designed for Miss E ($29). Scroll down to see the BUNNY THEME planner I created for myself ($40).  Everybody likes a cute pink bunny right?  

Above - choose your cover: Top Secret - perfect for my tween songwriter.  Each theme has 4 sub designs with different colours and graphics.  Cover choice may take you a while, there are some great options.

Above - choose the inner: Four sections that can each be different.  I chose a combination of music sheets, lined paper and squared.  Lines can be pink, grey or blue on white.

Below - make the title page personal:  You can include a favourite quote or poem, address - you make the rules.  I went sweet and simple here, with a warning for inquisitive little sisters.

There are several reasons I like this product:
- cute graphics and cover choices, I like the 2013 themes best.
- easy to use, quick to complete, competitively priced (a simple less personalised note book will cost around $20 compare to $29)
- good choices for notebook pages: lines paper, blank, squared paper & sheet music

Specific reasons I like the planner:
- 12 month calender that starts at the month of your choice.  Good when you are only getting organised in March
- personalise with birthdays and anniversaries
- innovative choice of note pages at end of planner: sudoku, squared paper & colouring pages are a genius addition
- add up to 3 weekly modules to suit your life: like a day care planner, exercise planner, to do list 

See my Bunny themed planner after the jump.

Above - choose the cover: How cute is that bunny cover, and I love that it continues into the weekly header see below.

Below - choose modules & add personal dates: Select up to 3 modules that suit your life, great practical choices.  Personalise with your own dates in this section.

Below - make it personal: Cover page with your choice of information or inspiration.

Below - personalise back pages: 2 sections with cute choices.  Sudoku and squared paper for me of course.

If you like what you see like personal-planner on facebook here.
Don't forget to enter the competition by leaving a comment on your favourite 2013 theme either at the end of this post, or on my facebook page.   If you aren't on either, and I know there are quite a few of you, I will accept an email.  
The winner will be announced mid April 2013.

Competition is open to international readers, prize cannot be exchanged for cash.
  

I have been experimenting with Blurb the last few days, and really enjoying myself! 
We love cooking and you know how it goes, some recipes quickly become family favourites, sometimes an experiment turns out so well it needs to be written down, and sometimes you discover a new recipe you don't want to forget.  But however many times we make them, even the most favourite favourites sometimes get forgotten as the seasons change and the year passes.  

I decided to make a kitchen notebook to record our current favourites.  Like yellow zucchini, chickpea and watercress salad, mango ice cream, simple lentils, and roast pork belly with pomegranate seeds, mmmm mmm.  But I am leaving spaces for new discoveries and inventions.  
Scattered through the pages are my favourite family photos from the past year.  
Below is the pork belly recipe, which was featured in Snowed In Magazine last year.

I like the idea of making two, giving one to my sister-in-law who also loves to cook, and then swapping our notebooks in 2 years time.  A cute way to recipe swap.

This little munchkin is me, with my uncle's horse Gonzales.  I added some old pictures for fun, the girls think its very funny to see us small.  On the right is the note design I chose.

I am a first time Blurb user and I am impressed.  The templates are well designed, there are lots of options for text, note pages, picture or combination layouts.  Its easy to import photos and lay them out.  And I really like being able to format the page layout to my exact specifications, and save that layout so I can use it again.  It cost me approximately $50 a copy, not super cheap, but for a personalised extra special family treasure of the future its worth it.

Thanks Blurb for the opportunity, Blurb generously gave delegates to Alt Summit SLC a voucher to give their system a test drive.  I can't wait to start using it.

I have loved advent calendars since I had those cardboard ones from the grocery store as a child.  You know the ones, a picture of the Three Wise men with angels, stars and manger scene,  and little numbered doors that each hide a single sticky foil wrapped sweet.  Mine was always stuck on the wall next to my bed so that I could open my eyes and immediately enjoy the normally forbidden treat of sweets before breakfast. 

Since then advent calendars have become much prettier and cleverer, a feature of the home Christmas display.  I know we have all been pinning our favourites for months.  Does this mean I have made one?  Not yet but I do have a plan.  But if you are out of time and energy have a look at the online calenders below.  I promise neither you or your children will not feel short changed.

Granny S sent the first online advent calendar to us three years ago and we are waiting eagerly for the 2012 one to begin.  These gorgeous interactive calendars by Jacquie Lawson begin with a pretty scene, this year there is an Alpine scene (above) and a London one (below).  Every day has a numbered ball, when pressed a little scene unfolds as the town gets ready for Christmas.  
Of course I don't know what happens yet either but I remember last year: carol singers sang hymns ...

...through the town and people came out of the houses to listen; Christmas decorations went up in the stores; all the trees were lit up.    There are little hidden games like designing your own snowflakes that then fall across the screen, or choosing the colours of the fairy lights in the trees.  I am as just as excited to see what happens as Miss E.

They have become part of our Christmas tradition, Miss E springs out of bed and runs to the computer to see what will unfold each morning.  This year we will be sending them to our niece and nephew who are an ocean away from us so that they can share in the fun too.

Only a few days to go...

Miss E can't wait to put up the Christmas tree.  She has been begging to put it up since early November but I am sticking firm to the first weekend in December.  Finally, when we received this gorgeous Oh Joy bunting from Minted in the mail, I took pity on her and allowed her to unpack just one box.  She chose the white birds (which recently had a staring role in my Melbourne Cup fascinator) and silver bells, and we spent a happy morning stringing them in the pear trees and making a festive grotto for picnics, playing and snoozing.

Unpacking Christmas ornaments is always nostalgic.  Remembering carefully unwrapping the fragile glass balls as a child, the dusty smell of tissue paper and old shoe boxes, the delight of rediscovering forgotten favourites.  I am glad Miss E enjoys this time too, we are both looking forward to this weekend.  Fairy lights and tinsel ahoy!!!

Every year I mean to send out festive season greetings with a lovely picture of the family, a little update of the year just past, and wishes of peace and love from us to all our family and friends.  The good intentions have never once turned into reality, this time of year has always been just to busy.

So when minted asked me to review their online greeting card system I jumped at the opportunity.  
Could this finally be the year my family card actually gets done?
My test goals: 
- could I create a card in a reasonable time frame.  
  I figure an evening is the most time realistically available for a busy mum
- are the results good looking, good quality and reasonably priced
- can you create a good look without a professional photo of your family
- would I use them again

I was impressed!  Read on for a full review and have a look at some of the mock ups I created in just a few hours (the dashed lines would not be there in the finished product).

It was fun to browse the many different card options available.  They are really pretty and are a great source of ideas for how to set up your own family photo.  These are a few of my favourites below:  photograph from above (left), what a cute idea, and the relaxed shot (right) could easily be taken sitting on the floor against a white wall of your home.

I also love this action shot (below left), an easy way to get everybody smiling and perfect if you are a family of 3.  The card below right is great if you have cute individual pictures, but not a great one of the whole family.

So back to my review.  I didn't have a professional shot.  The action shot I uploaded, zoomed in, and changed to black and white.  I also have some cute Instagram shots, its not quite the crisp professional finish but I love their softness and colours (love Instagram!).

You can easily personalise the inside or back of your card.  Some really cute ideas, I like the nine photo grid, the patterns are pretty, but I would choose the option to write a short message, record a few milestones and give a short update on the family.  Great for people you aren't in touch with regularly, or even just as a reminder of the achievements and joys of the year past.  

Wrapping up - my review findings:

• You could create a card in an evening.  Allow a little time to find the right photo and play around with the different layouts, its fun and easy to do.
• The results look great, I am very happy with what I have been able to create.  
• The prices are good: 25 cards printed front and back, and white envelopes would cost $80.25, $3.20 each.  
• I haven't seen the final results yet so I will have to update you on the quality when I get them.
• You can create a lovely card without a professional photo (its another thing always on my to do list that never happens).  An app like Instagram will help you create a pretty shot. 

Its been fun, its been quick, and I am finally going to have the family greeting card that I have always wanted.  Now I just need to remember to post them!!

Note:  this review is my personal opinion and is based on my experience using the minted website.  I would never blog about or recommend a product that I do not believe in.  Thank you minted for sponsoring my beautiful family cards in 2012.

Post script - just received actual cards...
I am very impressed with the print and paper quality.  The people I have given them to so far have loved them!!

It was a hot summer day yesterday and I was feeling fabulous in my gorgeous Siren, the New Classic in green spot that I had my eye on since the new range was launched.   Sal and Margie of Sirens Swimwear have outdone themselves this year, the colours are vibrant, the cuts are fresh, and the New Classic fit is even more flattering than the old one (which I still love).  Look how teeny my waist looks with all that hidden help. Red lippy, sunnies, and that vavavoom feeling. More about them all here.