Tag: Local

Blog Love

Blog Love

If you’re serious about wasting time there is no better way than following heaps of blogs and there is a site that lets you do it all in one place: Bloglovin’. You just go to the site, type in the names of the blogs you like and each day a summary will be sent to your inbox in a single email with all your favourite blog updates.

Here are some of the blogs the sensible friends are lovin’ right now:

Man Repeller: This is how she defines the title: “outfitting oneself in a sartorially offensive mode that may result in repelling members of the opposite sex. Such garments include but are not limited to harem pants, boyfriend jeans, overalls (see: human repelling), shoulder pads, full length jumpsuits, jewelry that resembles violent weaponry and clogs.” It’s pretty cool.

Who What Wear: Whoever runs this site is a hard worker; it’s updated constantly with fashion trends and style notes. It includes style tips from stylists, what the celebs are wearing, various blogs within the blog, look of the day and product of the day. Fashion mecca.

The Sartorialist snaps uber-cool people on the street and posts them up. I can never even aspire to the level of cool I see in these pages but it’s lovely photography and gorgeous clothes. Today there are gorgeous New Yorker’s in pyjama style clothes. You’d think it would be comical but it somehow is beautiful instead.

Flourish Magazine is one I have mentioned it before but worth another shout and not just because it’s run by my good buddy Jane Willis. I was searching for someone to make a proper party cake the other day and asked Jane for a recommendation. She threw the question onto her Flourish Facebook page and within minutes there were about 14 replies with great local suggestions – the advantage of having a successful, well-connected local blogger on the books. If you want to source something in Perth, just flick Jane a note.

A Subtle Revelry is the go to spot for party DIY ideas, craft ideas (my house is a craft-lover’s wasteland, but it could be for you) and there are some interesting recipes – for instance today is how to make your own bagged microwave popcorn.

Olivia Palermo is a mainstay of fashion blogging but be warned, that sweet little cardi you think you will source for Autumn is liable to set you back eight hundred dollars. For cheaper fashion links look toward The Londoner or Buy Now Blog Later (although if you’re over 40 you also run the risk of becoming the proverbial mutton dressed as….).

Smitten Kitchen is gorgeous and the name says it all. She has a book which I haven’t got but looks lovely. Very popular food blog, like What Katie Ate. I sometimes judge a food blog by how boring/tricky the muffins look (muffins should be simple, delicious and easy) – check these out for beautiful Greek-yoghurty coconutty easy muffins. Beautiful.

Cheating with Bellini is a fairly new local blog by a pretty young mum I run with, Rosie. She has great taste in food and recipes so it’s worth following for those thermomix types who are interested in a variety of interesting tips, hints and dishes such as David Lebovitz’s Fresh Ginger Cake.

Style and Focus is a local Perth blog discovering and showcasing local style and creativity.  It is a newish blog by two highly accomplished women, Jo Carmichael, stylist and Jody D’Arcy, photographer with seriously lovely photography, a great eye for beauty and fascinating interviews. These bloggers also have their own sites. They find stuff we all wish we had and post it up…. I think I might need a bar cart for my veranda.

Stockholm Street Style – It’s a little bit like The Sartorialist but it’s Scandinavia, home of the best TV series’, best clothes, happiest souls and my pin-up guy (apart from you of course Rob), Alexander Skarsgard….it’s where I will be born when I am next reincarnated.

Hej då.

The Local Grocer Delivers the Goods

The Local Grocer Delivers the Goods

This week I took a “preview” delivery of gorgeously fresh and mostly* very local fruit and veggies from new Perth business, The Local Grocer. It’s not available for orders until next week – I happened to have thrown an embarrassingly small amount of money at the business to help them start-up via the hot new(ish) concept of crowd funding – so they let me order a week early. They also asked me not to publicise their website until next week but I just couldn’t wait so please don’t tell on me.

Local Grocer seasonal box

It is chockas! The fruit and veg are fresh, cold and crisp and the local ham…lovely. It came at about 5.30pm so I whipped out a few ingredients and threw it together to make a ham and vegetable risotto.

risotto ingredients

It was all locally fabulous with a handful of frozen peas because the kids love them.

risotto local grocer

The box was $70 and will easily feed the five of us for the week. My box is a conventional box; the organic box is $90. I will have to supplement a couple of things – we eat a lot of apples here and we also have a beetroot, celery and carrot juice (Juice-Plus! we call it) each morning so need big quantities of those.

You don’t have to order a seasonal box. You can just pick and choose exactly what you like and in any quantities. I wanted to check out the seasonal box to see what is actually seasonal right now, and also to see if it would suit me as I like the idea of one-click ordering (are you getting how lazy I am yet?).

If you live in Perth and you’re interested in supporting Greg and Mary Winning and The Local Grocer you can jump on board to order as of next week. Just don’t tell anyone or give it away that you had a sneak preview this week, promise? It’s our little secret.

*While the business is newly growing, there are a few items that need to come from interstate. They plan within a couple of years to be 100% local. It’s a work in progress, as with any good idea.

Margaret River Farmers Markets, Part 1

Margaret River Farmers Markets, Part 1

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What better way to end a sweltering December day than with a swim with our Hong Kong-based Sensible Friends, Ian and Keir (and families) at the mouth of the Margaret River in Western Australia’s south west.

The only thing missing was an Esky with icy drinks.

This time of year Margaret river is heaving with tourists, none of whom see themselves as tourists but rather as highly irregular residents, like me of course, I mean, come on I virtually grew up here; every summer for forty years has to count for something doesn’t it?

There is so much to do down here but really no time to do it what with ending a long lazy day of pottering around with a beach swim. How could you fit in anything else?

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I’m making an exception for the farmers market. There is chocolate from Yallingup, syrups from Dunsborough, grass fed meats from The Farm House, local soap, honey, olive oil, local organic beef….not to mention the greens, the fruits and veg! Good grief I even broke my own rule and used an exclamation mark.

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Now it is time for bed with a cheap fan and a cool sheet and tomorrow I’ll let you know whats fabulous from the market.

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The Local Grocer

The Local Grocer

A Little Gem for Perth Locals:

Imagine if you could get fresh food delivered that was grown within a few miles of home by small-produce growers who were being well-paid to grow your food for you? I’m talking veggies, fruit, pasture-fed meats, you name it. Are you as excited as I am yet?

While I would love to grow my own food, I sadly did not inherit my mothers green thumb so I have been unable to keep anything more than a rose alive. Those suckers are impossible to kill.

Coming to your front door if you so wish early in 2013, The Local Grocer is the brainchild of Greg and Mary Winning and through hard work and crowd-funding they aim to deliver fresh food and produce to Perth locals from small scale growers, cutting out the wholesaler and delivering a fair price to the farmer for their food.

MSF Pic Local Grocer

So we in Perth get to eat locally knowing that the person who grew the food is getting a decent price for it and is able to keep his business afloat.

The fresh food industry sees farmers as ‘price takers’ (taking what they are given by the dominant retailers and wholesalers). The real money is made in the retail and wholesale ends. The farmers who sell to us will receive as much as 4 or 5 times the price they would normally receive for their produce. For example, recent prices for citrus meant farmers got 20c a kilo for fruit that sold for $2.00 a kilo in the retail shops. If we bought these from a wholesaler, we would pay $1kg. Instead, we will pay that $1kg straight to the grower and help them distribute and market their produce direct to the public. ~ Greg Winning

You can find out more about this fantastic project either through The Local Grocer’s Facebook page or the Pozible crowd funding page. It’s worth a look if you’re in Perth.

The Local Grocer on Pozible

The Local Grocer on Facebook

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