PLEASE VISIT ME AT MY NEW WEBSITE

www.ladysadie.com

5 Things

I love a good wrap dress, obviously Diane von Furstenburg is the Queen of wrap dresses. So I've taken inspiration from her and am having a leopard print dress made for me by my tailor. I found some fantastic fabric that I was able to purchase for $6....yes that's right $6 and my tailor is making it for me for $25. I'll post more about the dress and fabic souq next week.

I'm an avid reader of blogs and I love finding new blogs to add to my daily reading list. Desert Dweller and Stace & the Poptart are two blogs based out of Abu Dhabi. They are fantastic reads, especially if like me you love fashion, food and expat stories!

My friend Sharon and I recently discovered the Hummingbird cake at Magnolia Bakery. Words cannot describe how amazing this cake is, so amazing we had it twice in one week...oops! I'm going to try and replicate this cake in the next few weeks so stay tuned.

Sadie is starting to use the computer more and more at home. I like to find educational games for her to play so she's having fun and learning at the same time. I found this website the other day and it is great for kids aged 4-7. You can sit and watch actors read stories aloud. Sadie loves this and it's a site she visits almost every day.

I am not a crafty person by nature, I wish I was. When out shopping the other day I found some awesome and cheap craft supplies and quickly snapped some up for Sadie. Sadie loves nothing more than creating artwork, she will happily glue, paint and draw for hours so these cute little pom poms and pipe cleaners will be perfect for her, especially during the warmer months.

Cozy Days

As the weather starts to heat up here in Doha, I start to dream about winters at my parents place. They live about 2 hours south of Sydney in a beautiful village that gets so bitterly cold in Winter and I absolutely love it. The place my parents call home could not be any more different to life in Doha. A small village where everyone nods and says hello, open green spaces, frost covering the grass each morning and an open fire that is lit first thing in the morning and the embers burning right through the night. It is without doubt my favourite place to be and I can't wait to go home in July.

The way my Mum has decorated her home is truly  beautiful, even down to the way she stores her fire wood beside the open fire.

It got me thinking of other ways people store their fire wood to make a mundane chore into a design feature.

x

Images
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

A Trip to the Plant Souk

I have what's known as a black thumb, which is the EXACT opposite of a green thumb. I love gardens, I love flowers, I love greenery, my problem is that I tend to kill any kind of nature that comes my way.

When we bought our house in Melbourne, the garden was the perfect blank canvas for me to cultivate and make into a beautiful oasis. My Mother in Law who is an amazing gardener, came down for the weekend to help me de-weed and get the garden ready. Matt and I then went off on a plant buying extravaganza, we bought roses, hydrangeas, I think even a lemon tree. We got home, planted everything (well Matt planted and I watched) and honestly I think I just loved my new garden a little too much and ended up killing my hydrangeas within a week. Matt then banned me from any type of gardening from then on.

So over the weekend when I realized that my bougainvillea out the front of the villa had flourished and was looking so alive and well I decided it was time to banish my black thumb once and for all and head to the plant souk.

Sadie had a blast at the plant souk, she absolutely loves nature and when we go home to my parents house each year she spends hours wandering around the gardens with her Poppy. So Sadie was in charge yesterday of picking out the most glorious, colourful flowers for the front of the house. I think she did a fab job, and I'm just hoping that my black thumb is banished! If all else fails, at least we have a team of gardeners in the compound that can come to my rescue!

Sesame Asian Coleslaw

I don't know about you but for me I really don't like coleslaw. You know the kind....too much mayo...wilted, soggy vegetables, tastes like glue.

Well I'm here to tell you there is a new coleslaw in town and it's a game changer!

I adapted this recipe from Taste Magazine in that I added capsicum and modified the dressing by using fat free yogurt and low fat mayo. You can of course use the full fat variety if you wish.

I served this salad with grilled fish and home made chips the other night. I think it would be mind blowing inside a pull porked taco and this gem of a salad will brighten up any spread for a BBQ.

I hope you enjoy

x

Ingredients

1/2 small (300g) wombok (Chinese cabbage), shredded

1/2 small (500g) red cabbage, shredded

1 carrot, peeled, cut into matchsticks

1 red capsium, finely sliced

2 green onions, thinly sliced diagonally

1 cup beansprouts, trimmed

1 tablespoon sesame seeds, toasted

1/3 cup fresh coriander leaves

1/4 cup fat free natural yoghurt (you can use full fat as well)

2 tablespoons low fat  mayonnaise (you can use whole egg mayo as well)

1 tablespoon sweet chilli sauce

1 teaspoon lime juice

Method 

Place wombok, cabbage, carrot, capsicum, onion, beansprouts, sesame seeds and coriander in a bowl.

Whisk together yoghurt, mayonnaise, sweet chilli sauce and lime juice in a bowl. Pour over cabbage mixture. Season with salt and pepper. Toss to combine. Serve.

5 Things

I thought I would start a weekly segment, detailing 5 things that I'm currently loving and craving right now.

Image sourced from here

After a marathon session with my personal trainer this morning, I'm craving beyond anything a yummy BLT sandwich! I'm going to be a good girl though and just look at this photo while eating a salad instead.

Image sourced from here

The pixie crop was all the rage at Sunday's Academy Awards. I read an article this morning that said apparently only 5% of the population can carry off the pixie cut. I hope I'm one of them otherwise I've made a monumental mistake chopping off all my hair! I loved Anne's hair at the Oscar's and will be trying to replicate the look on my next night out.

Image sourced from here

I love indoor plants, they can add so much colour to a house. The whole bring the outside in look is superb and I feel a trip to the plant souq is in my very near future.

I have been lusting after these Celine sunglasses for a while now. I've not seen them in Doha, so will be making the purchase online. You can purchase here.

Both images sourced from here

This Summer we will be heading back to Australia for a long break, I can't wait. However, I've already started planning our holidays for 2015 and I'm hoping that will include a trip to Marrakesh. I want to spend hours wandering and getting lost in the bizarre and staying in a really funky Riyadh. 

Oscars Round Up

I've been lying in bed all day with a severe migraine. I have such a busy week ahead and I'm feeling a bit sorry for myself but I could not go to sleep tonight without a post about the Oscars.

I thought that all the ladies today played it safe. There wasn't any "OMG! Did she really wear that?" moment. My absolute favourites were Cate Blanchett, Sandra Bullock and Lupita Nyong'o who has been consistently superb all awards season.

Who was your favourite?

X