love; ten things i love this week

1. This artists work. Seriously?!?!?! How much do I love this guy right now?!?!?

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2. Spring Mornings. How lovely are they?!?!?! Summer is coming!!!! LOVE!

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3. Fare welling a great friend of mine who is heading over to New York for a year. I do love that most of my friends are travelers. Meet you in the Spring Kiera! BTW, how adorable is the Bon Voyage Cupcake?!?!? LOVE!

4. Creating a press release for my exhibition at the end of November. Boy, now is that challenging or what?!?!? Took me ALL day yesterday to write it and it's only a page long! I did love the challenge of it though.

5. Coming up with an image for my show. WOW! LOVE IT! This is always difficult as most of the time my work isn't complete until it is installed in the gallery. But I do love this pic!

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6. Going to openings in Melbourne. Seriously, I think I could go to any oepning at any gallery here in Melbourne and find at least one person I know! Love it!

7. Shoes made out of candy?!?! Yes please!!!

8. Click here to find out the meaning of your name! I love that my 'soul urge' is to lead and direct, to work independant of supervision, by myself or with subordinates! Subordinates?!?!? WTF?  All I can say is that I have ALWAYS been a rebel, thats for sure ;0)

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9. Adding superfood ingredients to my 'cooking'. I'm yet to buy this book but adding superfoods into your diet is as easy as adding chia seeds to your juice. LOVE!

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10. Italian biscuits. Yup...my weakness is a biscotti with my espresso. It's in mi blood afterall! I'm definitely going to have to try a raw version someday. LOVE!

pink; hero

Born To Rule by Nick Waddell was the title of his show at Westspace in July/August this year. I wasn't here in Melbourne at the time so haven't seen this work, but I have fallen in love with Melbourne's artscene again in the last few weeks and decided to stick with a local artist, who is an alumni of my College and exhibiting at one of the many artist run spaces here in Melbourne. 

The Royal Wedding earlier this year seemed to have captured the imagination of the world. I was in the United States during the build up to the big day and was quite surprised at how many Americans were really and truely excited about this event. The only connection they have to the Royal Wedding is Disney Princesses! Frankly, I was not interested at all. Maybe it's because I grew up at a time in Australia when the only Australians supporting the monarchy, or even interested in them, were the Australians who had been here for generations, with roots going back to England. Since the influx of immigrants into Australia from the 1960's, the demographic that makes up Australia has changed immensly. No longer are a large part of the population rooted to 'The Motherland' of England.

I'm not sure what Nick Waddell's background is but this exhibition certainly suggests a lack of interest or support for the British Monarch. I paricularly like the work below as it is a cropped image of the Queen's throat and chin, who is on our five dollar note and all our coins. Having a quick glimpse at this work, I saw a penis! It made me think of naughty young teenage boys drawing penises on everything as a sign of retaliation for authority. Very cute indeed, but of course I would find anything with a suggestion of a penis 'very cute indeed'. LOL!!!

 The tilte of the work confirms this teenage boy retaliation against authority. In the eighties, at the time when the last royal wedding was happening, the word 'hero' was used in Australia in a derogatory fashion to suggest that someone was too big for their boots, a smart arse or simply too bloody confident. Using the word 'hero' as the title of this work definitely suggests a facetious tone towards the Queen and all that she represents.

I imagine Waddells exhibition would have been a fun one to visit, having been produced around the same time of the wedding and exhibited shortly after all the hype and bombardment from our media. You can see more images of the exhibition here where great documentation of the full exhibition and all works involved have been created for Westspace's website.

eat; raw strawberry and chocolate parfait

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Here it is!!! Get your tastebuds on, get your blender out and start soaking those nuts for a truely amazing trip into the world of a raw parfait!

As most of you have been hearing lately, I've been introducing raw foods to my brother (BTW, he took the photos below! Thanks big bro!) who is a little sick. A great way to introduce raw to someone new to it, is through raw treats. Everyone loves sweets and the best part of raw desserts is that they are packed with great things and every ingredient is actually great for you; antioxidents from the cacao, omega from the chia seeds and great fats from the cashews! 

This recipe is taken a little from Cafe Gratitude's I Am Grateful cookbook and a little by me playing around with stuff. I've made them in whiskey glasses but feel free to use whatever fancy glasses you want to. They are quite rich so this recipe allows for half filled glasses only. 

Makes 6 servings

What you need;
 Chocolate Cream
1 1/2 cups soaked cashews (four hours)
1 1/2 Tbs lemon juice
3 Tbs sweetener of your choice (honey, agave, maple syrup)
2 Tbs raw cacao powder
1/2 cup filtered water
pinch salt
Strawberry Puree
1 punnet of strawberries
1/2 cup orange juice (freshly squeezed if possible)
1 Tbs chia seeds
1 Tbs sweetener of your choice (honey, agave, maple syrup)
Almond Crumble
1 cup soaked almonds (overnight)
4 soaked dates (four hours)
2 drops vanilla essence or 1/2 a vanilla bean

Start with washing the strawberries and divide the amount in half. With a potato masher, mash half the strawberries in a bowl until you create a puree. Add the orange juice and chia seeds, stirring the seeds in well making sure they are coated. Add the sliced strawberries and set aside.

Whizz all the ingredients for the cashew chocolate cream in a blender until light, fluffy and smooth. Taste it and add more chocolate if you would like a heavier chocolate taste. Set aside.

To make the Almond crumble, simply pour the ingredients into a food processor and pulse until the mixture resembles crumbs.

Before creating the parfait's, check the strawberry mixture. If the seeds have soaked up too much liquid, add a small splash of orange juice and mix. It shouldn't be runny nor too solid either.

Now for the fun! Start by dividing the crumble mixture in half and use one half to cover the bottom of each of the six awaiting glasses.

Do the same with the chocolate cream, dividing it in half and spreading one half between the glassses. You don't have to be too neat with each layer as parfait's are meant to be a little 'dollopy' looking.

Next, pour in the strawberry puree, dividing the whole mixture between the six glasses. Add the rest of the chocolate cream topping with the remainder almond crumble. I then threw in a few blueberries for decoration. You could add a mint leaf of whatever tickles your fancy to finish off the parfait!

YUMMMMMMMMM!

Buon Appetito!