Letter of apology

Dear Blog,

I'm so sorry I've been neglecting you. It's been a long hard week and a half and I feel like we've only made it through because my Mum has been such a good help.

I promise that as soon as the snot, vomit, gunky eyes and achey bodies have left our house I'll pay more attention to you.

Lots of Love,

Suse

Brittany

Chloe said "dat doe's house." How I wish it was her house - I'd live with her there anytime she asked.

I had meant to be a bit more orderly with blogging our holiday but for various reasons haven't managed. Here's the next stage.

We hopped on a TGV in Paris and zoomed smoothly west to Rennes where we picked up a hire car and cruised off round Brittany. There are so many towns with old half-timbered medieval centres and I'm a sucker for a bit of higgledy-piggledy architecture with not a straight line to be seen so I love it. I don't have any good pictures but trust me there were lots. Also lots of beautiful beaches and seascapes (we forgot to take the camera to the best part) and beautiful gardens.

Me devouring Breton crepe with goats cheese after putting my foot down and saying we need a hot meal now. Up until then the timing was always wrong with Chloe and we'd had an awful lot of baguettes. You wouldn't believe how good that crepe was. Washed down with some local cider - I'm normally a cider hater but it's amazing how easily I change when the situation requires it.

Chloe is still living off bits of baguette and apple juice at this stage and this is making mealtimes pretty stressful.

Artichoke paddocks look amazing - luscious and satisfyingly spiky.

This is me in my new Paris bought summer dress desperately hoping it will warm up a bit and that I don't look too much like I'm wearing a nannies uniform. This purchase may quietly sit in the cupboard and not be worn again.

You may not be able to see in this picture but these guys had the best faces.

We went for a long walk around the coast and got a bit lost making it a very long walk. Beautiful though.

Parties and tsk tsk

With the slowness of my bloggin lately you'd be excused for thinking nothing is happening in our household or in Black Eyed Susie. You'd be close but not quite right!

We had the first of Chloe's good friends' second birthday party on the weekend and I got some of Kristen Doran's great Matyroshka print linen to make a present. The largest of the dolls has a zipper in the back and is a little purse for carrying the other dolls. This is a blatant copy of Kristen's idea but I'm sure she wouldn't mind. To be honest the birthday girls wasn't as impressed as her mum - but that's OK. Mum's need something too!


We popped into the local Wood Design Centre market in the morning before the party and met Gemma of Loz and Dinny. I'd been meaning to make Chloe a new dress but hadn't had the inspiration or the will and so this little dress from Loz and Dinny was just perfect. It got so many compliments at the party that I started to feel just a tiny bit envious that I hadn't made it. Not a great photo, Chloe has it pulled down a bit and you can't see the wide polka dot hem which looks great.



Needless to say I've had to soak it to get the beautiful homemade ice cream out.

The party was a great success and Chloe has been talking about it all week.

Last week I was totally flattered to see that one of my designs was featured by Tiel on tsk tsk along with a bunch of other great Australian handmade items. Tiel does amazing stuff - I'm totally in awe - if you haven't seen it go take a look here.

This is ... a recipe I'd like to share

Not really a recipe - more of a chuck everything together type of thing. This is my favourite summer meal and seeing as the weather is warming up it seemed like a good one.

I don't even know what it's called - my hubbie based it on a recipe from a bbq book and altered to suit what we wanted. Amounts vary - use what you like!



Nicoise inspired salad

Piece of hot smoked salmon
Boiled potatoes
Green beans
Pitted Kalamata olives
Boiled eggs
Ripe tomatoes


Dressing:

1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

1 1/2 tbsp white wine vinegar

1 tbsp lemon juice

2 cloves garlic, crushed

Breaks up the smoked salmon into pieces.
Slice the boiled potatoes and fry in alittle olive oil (or just whack them on the barbie for a while).
Steam the green beans.
Half the boiled eggs.

Put all the salad ingredients in a big bowl and then whisk the dressing ingredients together. Pour over the salad and toss.


This tastes best if the spuds are still warm and we also use fresh salmon or tuna seared on the bbq instead of the hot smoked salmon.

I have no picture I'm sorry so you'll just have to trust me.


This is... is hosted by Three buttons and I'm late again. We had a busy weekend - more on that soon.

Oh, and if anyone can tell me why I have so many problems with spacing on my blog, please do!