Chinese New Year Recipe Roundup

With Chinese new year just around the corner (Feb 16th), I thought I'd share recipes for some of the Cheeky Monkeys family's favourite south-east Asian Chinese treats!  Some of these are easier to make than others, but they are all delicious and don't require one to be too adventurous if you have cautious or fussy eaters.  Enjoy!

1. Jiao zi, also called pot stickers by some, is a fan favourite here!

2. Ditto marbled tea eggs, they always get eaten very quickly.

3. Don't be alarmed by the striking green colour, this pandan sago pudding is DELICIOUS.

4. Fried beancurd rolls (lor bak) are Grandma Cheeky Monkeys' specialty.

Father's Day Gift Guide

Things have been pretty hectic here at Two Cheeky Monkeys HQ, so I was a little shocked to realise that Father's Day (for us Aussies) is fast approaching!  I love giving Mr Monkeys appropriately geeky gifts, but today I'm sharing a roundup of gift ideas to suit a range of dads, not just the geeky ones.

1. This patchwork R2D2 quilt is perfect for the Star Wars fan.

2. Bake up a batch of Papa Smurf cookies for dad.

3. Something for the old school dad who still prefers to put pen to paper.

4. Help dad to bling up with a pair of cuff links in his favourite colour.

5. Librarian dads can rock a library-themed tie at work!

6. A leather phone case will help dad protect his phone in style.

I'm officially an adult!

My beloved dad used to joke that you're not truly an adult until you reach 40!  I don't know how old he was when he came up with this hypothesis, but I'm sure that he would have gleefully welcomed me to "adulthood" if he were still here today.

To celebrate reaching my BIG 4-0, I'm having a ONE DAY ONLY sale: 40% off* all purchases over USD$50 in either Two Cheeky Monkeys or Domum Vindemia.  Simply use the coupon code 40PERCENT at checkout and spoil yourself while I celebrate my birthday!

And here are some of my lovely, lovely presents from fantastic family members - I have been so spoiled!!!

* Discount does not include custom orders, layby/layaway or postage and handling.

Valentine's Day Inspiration

While I freely admit that I don't generally celebrate Valentine's day and am not a fan of it's commercialisation, the romantic in me loves fun and thoughtful ways of showing loved ones that you care.  So I've put together a vintage-inspired Valentine's Day gift guide with items for everyone, from the love of your life to family members to your bestie.  Are you planning to celebrate this Valentine's Day?

1. Perfect for that friend or your sister who's too scared to commit to a real tattoo, floral temporary tattoos are a bit of fun and reflect the traditional bouquets given on Valentine's day.

2. Who wouldn't prefer an everlasting bouquet to one that fades and dies after a week? 

3. Spoil a little girl with a fun vintage Valentine skirt!

4. A literary way to declare yourself as that special someone's secret (or not so secret) admirer.

5. Show your hipster friend how much he means to you.

6. Perfect for newlyweds or someone who has moved cities, this vintage map heart artwork celebrates the city your recipient calls home.

Happy Chinese New Year!

If you're not in the know, this weekend marks the start of the lunar new year for Chinese the world over.  In 2017, we celebrate the "year of the rooster (or chicken)".  Which means that for those of you turning a multiple of 12 this year, it's your year!

Not that it actually means anything (I don't hold to superstitions and horoscopes), but it's still fun to celebrate with family, friends, and lots of amazing Chinese food.  Hands up all those who will be celebrating this year, even if you're not Chinese!!!  And hands up those of you who are "roosters".

Image source: ChineseZodiac on Red Bubble

A whirlwind trip to Perth

The Two Cheeky Monkeys family recently had the privilege of travelling to Perth to witness a Cheeky Monkeys cousin getting married.  Although we couldn't make it a long trip (Mr Monkeys is at a new job and hasn't accrued much leave yet), it was lovely to briefly visit this city on the other side of my country.

For those of you who are yet to visit this quaint city of Australia, I'm sharing some of my favourite photos from our trip.  Of course, the adorable quokkas from Rottnest Island get a whole collage to themselves!  Have you been to Perth or do you live in Perth?  Let me know!

A milestone birthday

Today I'm sharing a little snapshot into the life of the Two Cheeky Monkeys family after Mr Cheeky Monkeys celebrated a milestone (read "getting old") birthday!  I'm so blessed to have this quietly zany man in my life, and it was fantastic to be able to celebrate his life with a little (maybe not that little) shindig at TCM HQ.

The Makers Mailer

Psst!  I have some exciting news to share!  Some of you may already know about and be big fans of monthly subscription boxes.  For those not in the know, various companies have subscriptions available to monthly or bi-monthly boxes of beautiful goodies.  These can be commercial items, foodie items, handmade creations, or a mix of the above.

The Makers Mailer is an Australian-based company which sends out monthly boxes that feature handmade lovelies from Australian creators.  And in the coming months, one of my creations will be featured in their monthly subscription box!  It's all hush hush right now about what will be in the box, but you can be guaranteed that the boxes which arrive each month hold wonderful handmade goods.

So if you're a huge fan of surprises and handmade pretties, head over to The Makers Mailer and spoil yourself with a subscription.  And then you can squeal in pleasure each month, especially when you open the box and find my handmade lovelies waiting to be loved by you!

Birthday shenanigans continued...

Thanks everyone for the birthday wishes!  I had a relatively normal day (aside from getting up at the crack of dawn to get oldest Monkey off to school camp), but supremely enjoyed devouring my Triple Choc Nutella Cake with various Cheeky Monkeys family members.  And the roses from Mr Cheeky Monkeys, as well as the pretty orchids which the little Cheeky Monkeys bought for me with their pocket money (aww!) are still going strong and gracing my dining table with their beauty.  As you may have guessed by the multiple layers of chocolate and icing on my cake, I have been doing a lot of running and walking this week to work off my sweet birthday treat!

6 Ways to Fold Table Napkins

So after my mega week of sewing dinner-sized napkins for a custom order, I got to thinking about fun ways to fold napkins for dinner parties and weddings.  Here are seven of my favourites, some are easy whilst others take a little practise.  Which do you like?

1. Simple but classic fan shape.

2. Beautiful bow.

3. Another classic - cutlery server.

4. An elegant option, the fleur de lis.

5. A napkin bouquet is perfect for a girls only high tea.

6. Go a little more complicated with a chef's hat.

No knead bread recipes for the win!

It's no secret that I love to bake, and in recent months I have been returning to my love of bread making (spawned in part by my parents' mild obsession with baking all types of bread in their bread machine when I was in my teens).  As a big fan of consuming more complex carbohydrates rather than feeding my family low nutrition carbs, I am always on the lookout for wholemeal, rye, spelt or multigrain bread recipes.

In my searches for a spelt-inspired pastry dough, I hit the motherload of amazing bread recipes at the site Artisan Breads 1...2...3...  I love their range of tried and tested recipes, as well as the fact that these are no knead recipes!  As a rather small woman with questionable upper body strength, not having to knead bread dough by hand (or pull out my bulky bread making machine) is always a plus.  The loaf pictured above is a wholemeal/whole wheat one which had an amazing smell and taste thanks to the addition of a little molasses.  Are you an avid bread maker too?

7 Mother's Day Tutorials

With many around the world celebrating Mother's Day this Sunday, I know that there will be some of you who left it a little late to get something for your beloved mother or mother-in-law.  Never fear, I have gathered some quick and easy tutorials to please a range of different personality types!

And for those of you who are mourning the loss of your mother, or wishing that you could be a mother but can't, I'm sending out condolences and hugs.

1. Marbled mugs for the interior decorator mother who loves her on trend homewares.

2. This yoghurt and blood orange cake is sure to bring a smile to the face of foodie mothers who just love having meals prepared for them!

3.Something for the green thumb mother - succulents in mason jars.

4. Encourage mum to take some time out relaxing in the bath with these bath fizzies.

5. Mothers and grandmothers love to display photos of their sweet darlings!

6. For the mum who loves to bring the outdoors inside - vase centrepiece.

7. Don't forget to create mum a heartfelt card!

Lest we forget

In remembrance of all those who have fought so that others may be free.  Let us learn from the mistakes of past wars and not repeat them nor waste the efforts of those who have given so much in their service.

Image sources: stained glass window, ceramic brooches, porcelain flowers

Freedom!!!

As much as I love my Two Cheeky Monkeys, after two weeks of school holidays I am lapping up the wonderful feeling of freedom!  Yes, we are back to the routine of school lunches, after school activities and trying to keep up with the loads of dirty school uniforms, so my freedom is limited.  But this does also mean that I will hopefully now be back to creating and blogging more and sharing more fun tutorials with my beautiful readers.  Those of you who are parents/carers for kids: do you prefer the school holidays or the boring but predictable routine of back to school?

Image source: http://kevquirk.com/blog/oh-freedom-ive-missed/

Baking, Baking, Baking Roundup

As the Easter school holidays come to a close, I thought I'd share some of the baking we've been doing here at Two Cheeky Monkeys HQ.  We do love to bake, though as I am conscious of the need for me to eat more healthily, I often try to make our recipes a little healthier.  I hope you enjoy our eclectic collection of cooking attempts!

This basil pull-apart bread recipe is a winner if you're a fan of Mediterranean flavours! And we made it even more delicious and healthier (at least we think so) by using a wholewheat and spelt pastry dough instead of the white bread dough given in the recipe.

Okay, so there's no way I could attempt to make this Funfetti cake mix cookie recipe any healthier, but hey, it was so ridiculously simple my Cheeky Monkeys could have done it on their own (but they insisted I join in the fun).  And you have to have some treats in life every now and then...just not every day.

Samosas...drool, need I say more???  The recipe for these darlings came from Annie Nichols' book Potatoes.  I love that it's a vegetarian recipe, so great for getting vegetables into veggie-haters.  We tried baking the samosas instead of the traditional method of deep frying and, while they're not really as pretty or dripping with deep fried oily goodness, these samosas still tasted great and are better for your waistline.

A few of my favourite things: tea and art

I was recently introduced to the beautiful artwork of visual artist and graphic designer Ruby Silvious and I was completely blown away by her gorgeous teabag artworks!  Her "363 days of tea" and "52 weeks of tea" collections are miniature paintings and drawings created on recycled teabags, how could I not love every piece???  Head on over to Ms Silvious' site and check out all of her amazing creations (and maybe even make a purchase or two).

An art exhibition

As lovers of art, the Cheeky Monkeys and I are super excited to be heading off to an art exhibition opening this weekend.  Even more exciting is the fact that the exhibition, named Imprint, is of our friend Louise Gresswell's colourful abstract artworks.

Louise doesn't just paint, however, she also creates some thoughtful mixed media works and is so creative I seriously get embarrassed talking to her about my own creations (though Louise is so generous that she loves to hear about other people's creative attempts)!  So if you're in Melbourne and love modern art, head to Gallerysmith's Project Space where Louise's exhibition will be on until March 12th.

Confessions of a messy craft hoarder

Today's post is something of a confession about how slovenly I have gotten with my drawers of supplies, stationery and other business-related tools and paperwork.  As some of you know, I am not the neatest of people, made worse by the fact that I inherited a hoarding tendency from my dad (who was rapidly turning into a crazy newspaper collection guy before he passed away).

But sometimes we hoarders realise just what kind of a mess we've gotten ourselves into and start to take steps to rectify the problem.  This was me when I realised that I couldn't find any scissors or markers in my stationery drawer because it was so disorganised, and that the mess was being made worse every time Mr Cheeky Monkeys and the small Cheeky Monkeys rummaged through my drawer in search of stationery.

So, after a little Googling, I found a few hints for DIYing a desk drawer makeover.  The best suggestions were to make your own drawer dividers or compartments, which is not only cheaper, but also meant that I could get dividers and compartments to nicely fit my drawer size without having to hunt every homewares store I could find!  I really liked the idea of re-using old cereal boxes as shared on iheart organizing, so several of my half empty tea, cereal and tissue boxes went mysteriously missing...  So what do you think?

Happy Chinese New Year!

Indeed yes, a happy Chinese new year to you all!  The Cheeky Monkeys family has already kicked off celebrations with a small family get together yesterday and plans to attend other functions such as our church's semi-annual Chinese new year bring and share dinner and some local festivities held by our local council.

While I don't follow the superstitions that traditionally come with Chinese new year and its celebrations, I still think it's fun to wish you all a happy year of the Monkey especially to those of you who are Monkeys!  If you're wondering if you are a Monkey or not, those turning a multiple of 12 this year are all considered to have been born in "the year of the Monkey".  So a happy year of the Monkey from the Two Cheeky Monkeys family!

Image source: Smallest monkey sculpture - gbtimes

School Holiday Experiments - Colouring Celery Stalks

Although the summer school holidays always seem to fly by, they are kind of long with a whopping six weeks of no school (for those of us who can't afford private school education).  So after all of our various Christmas and new year functions are done and dusted, I start organising the various activities which will entertain the Cheeky Monkeys.

One very successful and entertaining activity has been the tried and true experiment of attempting to dye flowers and vegetables with food dye.  Not only is this a fun activity for kids of all ages because they get to play with water and food dye, but it is a great visual demonstration of how watering our plants (and contaminating their water source) affects them.

So, what do you do?  It's all very simple and only needs a few supplies and ingredients.

Supplies

- large drinking glasses or medium-large jam jars

- food safe dye

- celery stalks with leaves (I recommend using the younger stalks closer to the centre of a celery bunch as the leaves are lighter in colour and will give better colour results)

1. Grab your drinking glasses or jam jars and fill them about half way with water.

2. Decide what colour(s) you are going to use to dye your celery.  If you're using regular food dye from the supermarket (like we did), I would recommend adding 5-10 drops of dye to your water (we had about 200ml water).  Mix colour in well.

3. Cut your celery stalk cleanly; to reduce the risk of toppling your jar or drinking glass, make sure not to leave too long a section of stem.  Put the celery stalk into the coloured water and leave on your kitchen bench or dining table.

After 4-6 hours, the tinge of colour in the celery leaves is very noticeable.

4. This is the part that requires PATIENCE.  You won't see any noticeable change for at least an hour, maybe more if your dye concentration is quite weak.

If you briefly remove the stalk from the water, you should start to notice the base of the celery stem starting to colour as the water is drawn up into the stalk.

After a few hours you should definitely notice the celery leaves starting to take on a coloured tinge.

If you leave your celery stalks overnight, as we did, you will wake up in the morning to find brightly-coloured leaves in shades you don't normally find in celery!  Not only that, you should definitely see streaks of colour on the edges of the stalk and smaller celery stems.

Leave your celery in the coloured water overnight and you will see very bright results the next morning!