It was so much fun Dani - I love our yearly catch ups, and I hope you get to Australia too one day! We have a very diverse country.. so many people think it's all just desert and beaches, but we get snow as well (although not as much as you). xx

It was freezing - 6 most days, but that gave it that English feel. Those convicts arriving hundreds of years ago would have felt right at home. Apparently people fly in from New York specifically to visit the museum. It has made quite a wave in the Art world. But it's kind of a strange, strange place. You guessed right with the bags! It was like they were made for them all xx

It was so much fun, I can't believe I'd never made it down there before. The houses are absolutely divine and Romy has a real eye for colour and design. We were trying to twist her arm to write her blog again, and she has said she will so fingers crossed. Agree with you about the red room. I think bold colour choices are good in occasional rooms only. I had a yellow everyday sitting room once and I was so sick of it after 4 years. Probably why I stick to neutrals for my living spaces now.xx

what exactly did you love about Mona? My favourite thing was the lunch and location and I liked the sandstone walls x

Look, after I had to zest orange peel by HAND and beat sugar and butter together with a wooden spoon the Thermomix was definitely missed. Plus Linda, our teacher, said she had one too!

So many hipsters! I keep laughing remembering that night. Loved all the antique shops and the little houses. I want to retire to that circus place we kept making Romy drive us around. Those houses are so adorable. Won't fit 3 kids in them with ease, but maybe later in life…
Glad you love your bag. You can now think of me every time you're at the supermarket. Good work on the food processor. Life is too short to chop things all the time. Miss you too xx

I can tell you now Jenny that my arm was a bit sore the next day. Our great-grandmothers must've had superior upper body strength to bake a cake. Or kitchen staff.
You'd love Hobart, it's absolutely gorgeous - definitely arrange a trip. Faux Fuchsia has pics of the finished goods on her blog - I was feeling quite ill by the time it was all brought up (no lie!). I had to lie in front of the fire to recover while the other bakers finished up the laming tons. xx

I can tell you that the suet and lard did make things taste very good. I'm unsure whether I'll tackle it at home… maybe (it wasn't hard, but I think sourcing suet these days is not easy).
Sailing around Tassie would be fabulous, and I can highly recommend the hotel. It would feel like an absolute treat after the boat. Plus the breakfasts which are included in the rate are fabulous! xx

It's a beautiful part of the world, and so different from the mainland Louise. And so much fun to catch up with friends from afar. xx

Friends do make it all - we had a great night at Franklin restaurant despite the interesting food/ ambience because of it. And we laughed about it all weekend. Lots of Sydney people do live in Hobart now - and I can see why when you compare house prices and what you get for it. But yes, jobs are scarce. I think if you can be self employed or have portable work then it would be perfect. xx

It's a beautiful hotel Sandra - I highly recommend!

Well, it rained here today and was grey, but 19! So a bit humid and weird really. My kids are so jealous your kids got all the cake! I rallied today and baked a banana cake despite saying I wouldn't bake for at least a week. But just say no to the lamingtons! All those steps! Hopefully a catch up will be sooner rather than later, and thank you again for showing us your beautiful city xx

You'd love the Agrarian kitchen Sophie. They are hardcore from scratch types - they were grinding the flour for us on request for the baking! One of the small goods courses would be fab, or the cheese making. But of course you're a hipster - you're from Melbourne! My plane on Sunday night was full of Melbourne hipsters dressed in black who had undoubtably spent a lot of time over the weekend at MONA and eating at Franklin. Maybe we just got unlucky with our food choices - my entree was delish but main, sides and dessert left me cold. Same with the others! Thanks for commenting x

Sophie I will def do a preserving course with you!!! That iceberg lettuce wasn't good but the pate stuff was 11/10!!!

I think Hobart still has a big divide - there are the hipsters, and then there are the bright coloured fleece jacket wearers with beanies. Look, Franklin was packing them in, and clearly there are people that love the seaweed and iceberg combo. Mona has definitely done good things for Hobart and it's a very curious place.
As for the Thermo - I won't do a post on it! It will annoy too many people! But I LOVE mine. I don't use a lot of their recipes, more my own that I've adapted to suit the thermomix... but the things I do use it for are: cheese sauce (for mac n cheese for the kids), risotto, doing rice/ quinoa and steaming veggies at the same time, actually I use the steamer a fair bit now I think about it. I make lots of cakes, pizza dough, veggie stock paste (never buy stock now), when I have things like dinner parties I do marinades, spices, chopping things up in it, I make pastry, grind almonds up for almond meal on an as needs basis…. do smoothies for the kids in which I add nuts and it turns it into a smooth consistency (I hide lots of veggies/ nuts/ chia seeds in their smoothies by using frozen berries to mask it all). I do meatballs where I chop things, make breadcrumbs, it mixes it all together and then I use a tiny ice cream scoop to make the meatballs. Takes me about 5 minutes from start to finish. I think the biggest benefit is that it is really, really easy to clean. Much better than the magi mix that I had previously. So I use it multiple times a day. Plus you never have to run out of stuff - you can make your own flour from wheat, or icing sugar from sugar etc. Maybe you had a bad sales person demonstrating? xx

Thanks so much, agree a post is too much (so much thermo angst that divides the masses) but it's very helpful to see that long list of what you use it for. My demo person couldn't really cook I think.

I would probably do all of that with it. I don't actually own a food process or kitchen aid etc but love to cook so think I'm a prime candidate. My processor died about seven years ago and I've never replaced it - you can live with just a stick blender for soups and an electric hand beater. I'm living proof ! But it's definitely time... I have been tossing up magi mix or thermo and think it's probably worth the investment.

Thanks - big help as always !!

You are a prime candidate if you haven't already heavily invested in kitchen equipment. I had a magi mix and a kitchen aid, so I hesitated for 4 years. But I haven't regretted it for a minute. I forgot to write the soups in - I do them all in the thermomix from start to finish. So easy and I frequently whip one up for lunch when at home by myself as it's just so easy. But yes, thermomixes do divide so I daren't wade into that sort of a promotion! x

It was so great to see a part of this country I've never been to CD - it's so geographically different, and a real slice of Georgian era England. The houses are so beautiful.
Funny re lard and suet - I might have to search out the replacement. Suspect it's going to be hard to source here.