I don't want to take Omega 3 supplements. I want to eat this.

No, Paper Ballerinas isn't sponsored by Regal Salmon (though if they were to offer I wouldn't say no. I would happily feature a Regal Smoked Salmon recipe every week, and accept multiple free packets of salmon). Mum and I made this while I was at home and I couldn't get enough of it. We didn't have leeks at the time so substituted with baby spinach. mmmmmmmmmmm.......

Regal Wood Roasted Salmon and Leek Risotto

Ingredients (Serves: 4)
1/4 cup olive oil
2 small leeks or 300 g baby leeks, washed and finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 1/2 cups arborio rice
3/4 cup dry white wine
3 to 4 cups fish or vegetable stock, heated
200g Regal Wood Roasted Salmon, roughly chopped
salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 tablespoons sour cream
2 teaspoons lemon zest

Method
1. Heat the olive oil in a large heavy - based saucepan. Cook the leeks and garlic over medium heat for 3 to 4 minutes. Add the rice and cook, stirring, for a further minute. Add the wine and cook, stirring until it has all been absorbed. Add the stock to the rice half a cup at a time, until the stock is slowly absorbed after each addition. Stir continuously.
2. When the rice is tender and creamy, stir in the salmon. Season with salt and pepper, add the sour cream and stir gently. Cover the pan and leave for one minute.
3. Garnish with lemon zest and serve immediately.

A good way to waste 15 minutes & an anecdote from Saturday night

Found this morning on In This Instance (one of my favourite must-read blogs - check out her wedding recaps in the "about me" section = stunning), is this fun tool that figures out your decor style. Here is the direct link.

Apparently:

The above words sound a little arsey, but when I went over the summary of things I liked at the end, it surprisingly came together in my ideal style (I have a tendency to contradict myself in quizzes - remember those ones in Dolly and Girlfriend?? or those "which Friend/Sex and the City person are you" questionnaires? Always kinda annoyed me).

I caught the tram home late on Saturday night after an evening with a friend. As we passed through a station a large group of girls got on; all identically dressed to the nines with their beehive hairdos, little dresses (do they not know how cold it is outside?), and not a day over seventeen. It transpired that they were heading to Baa Bar for the evening, and pre-drinks had obviously set them up for a good night (except for the girl crying down the other end of the carriage. There's always one). As we neared the city their {identical} cellphones came out of {identical} clutches as the girls scrambled to gather those eager beavers already in town. Suddenly the carriage was filled with the sound of at least 5 identically dressed teens crying "baa bar, baa bar, baa bar". Indeed. *

* to those who know me best - yup, I know I'm being mean and hypocritical, having spent many a night in my black Glassons trousers and a sparkly top dancing around a cluster of handbags in town, looking pretty much exactly the same as all my friends. And yes, I loved every minute of it (except for when I was crying. Which didn't happen that much, but still). Just thought the above was funny is all.

More hairpieces

Back on the pretty hairpieces again (no, I'm still not over it). Helen (a.k.a very-important-person-to-do-with-wedding-dress-who-will-be-talked-about-at-a-later-date) sent me a veil, bless her, that I have been wearing around the house for the last few days. It's been worn carefully, and with respect, but still while I have been doing chores and whatnot. From what I said earlier you all know I'm not completely sold on the veil thang - but this one could be cannily altered to incorporate flowers. So now I'm back on the flowers. Again.
Am I being irritating and vague? sorry. Also - don't worry Helen, I'll stop wearing the veil while watching telly and vacuuming. I promise.

So my new favourite Etsy hairpiece seller is SmittenXOXO there is a HUGE range of hairpiece styles and colours available (which means that poor Nic and Katie might also be subjected to wearing hairpieces. Sorry guys). I am a bit in love with Smitten's work, and highly recommend you check out her Etsy page.

Dos Gardenia


Peony with Ostrich


Gilda (for the bridesmaids? in the right colours? maybe... could be a bit much).


And for the boys - boutonnieres that will last forever!

Two bits of good news!! (but sketchy on the details)

I have a job again!! I can't divulge too much here, but it's an awesome position and could be great experience for me in the long run - and, an added bonus, it's only a 20 minute walk from home, and 2 mins walk from the dance studio! (no, I've not been approached by Michael Jackson's people to join his upcoming tour as a dancer. Not yet, anyway). I start next Thursday and am required to wear a suit. So I have to go suit shopping! yipee!

Secondly - something that's been in the pipeline for a while now - sitting next to me in an unassuming drycleaner's box is MY WEDDING DRESS!!!!!!!! again, light on details for dramatic-build-up's sake, but for now I can confirm that it is utterly perfect and I am most pleased. Yes, I know that it is still 91 and a half weeks till the wedding (I just worked it out on my cell phone, I honestly do not have a weekly countdown. I don't I tell you!), and I know that I am a little bit crazy for having my dress sorted already, but believe me, the opportunity was not to be missed. And also, now the wedding dress shopping is over with. ahhhhh.

Cute Things

I found on Etsy today and want, but cannot afford:

Small Vanilla Tears vase found here:

it's reminiscent of the wall tile I liked a couple of months ago...

These pins:

If I had them, I would decide what mood I was in each day and wear one of them accordingly. On pins, have you seen these little offerings at HMV? I wonder what the real goths think... I wonder if it kind of defeats the purpose buying one's goth pins in a neat little package from hmv, in the aisle next to Britney's latest (not that I have anything against Britney - I shake my booty to Toxic whenever possible).

This set of rice bowls:

Dave's brother gave us a similar set for a Christmas present a few years ago, although ours have an interesting texture on the outside and only the inside is glazed. I really like them, and we don't use them nearly enough. Currently they're in storage at one of 4 possible locations in New Zealand. I forget what's where.

This one wins the award...

for the Best Wedding Ever. {that is, of people I do not know}.

For starters, let me introduce you to my new fav wedding blog evah - The Unbride
I'm enjoying my last day of freedom, and have spent a happy hour trawling through the archives of this magical blog. Justine is an amazing photographer, and a great writer too - seriously, you should check this one out!

I don't know Justine and Gary, I know very little about them apart from what she blogs - but did I cry while watching their wedding slideshow? yep. Thrice. The photos, the music-that-goes-with-the-photos, the decor etc etc. And then I watched the video and cried once more. Are they not the most exquisite couple ever? EVER? how much fun did that day look? So park your bum for 20 minutes and enjoy... and then have a read through the archives and goggle at how many music-biz people these guys seem to know. Goggle? I dunno.

And is that Lisa Loeb singing at their ceremony? oh yes.

Now I'm off to buy Dave some chucks...

*FAME* (I want to live forever)

In the name of a happier, healthier me in 2009, I'm gonna take it to the stage baby! well, the studio at least.

Channeling my inner Jennifer Beal, I'm going to my first dance class tonight (it seemed easier than learning to weld so that I could give it up and become a dancer, as dramatic as that would be).
I'm a bit nervous, as I've not been to a dance class in about 12 years, but it's an adults beginner street jazz class, so how hard can it be? right? right?

and then, of course, I will be discovered and become a star. Oh yes.

The computers of the world are conspiring against me

This time I'm writing on my flatmate's computer; ours has pretty much died, as has my parent's PC back home. Goodness knows I'll probably jinx this one too and won't end up writing again for another month.
It's been a busy month though! I had a wonderful last couple of weeks in New Zealand - it was, of course, really really sad to say goodbye to everyone all over again, but SO wonderful to get back to (the freezing) UK and Dave. The day after I arrived back, we left again to go to Germany, Holland, and Belgium for Christmas. It was really nice to get away with Dave for a bit, and to see his twin brother, Liam, and cousin Alisa and her fiance Clint again. It was bloody cold on the continent, but in a lovely blue sky and sunshine kind of way. We rode bikes and saw windmills and it was all very nice. We finished up with a couple of days in Brussels, which was dirtier than I expected but still really beautiful and Christmasy and cool.
Had a great New Years eve in town at a bar called Beluga with some friends - it was great to see all of them again after so long. It was especially exciting when I got a text from Mel at midnight to say that we're both getting married next year!!!
While on the way back from New Zealand I had an awesome few days in Singapore with Jo and Kengo. The highlight was the brilliant Amazing Race challenge that Kengo and Jo's boss, Anthony, organised for us (including eating Durian fruit and fish head curry). We also went to the night safari and watched a LOT of episodes of Sex and the City.
On the wedding front though, JO also took me down Orchard Road to Renee Leung where I tried on a very beautiful dress - there isn't a photo of it on the site but it had the most amazing train - so amazing that it would almost be too much. I loved the bodice though and am thinking of incorporating it into the final dress - the straps scooped down under the bust and then covering the breastices was another type of material with beads sewn all over. I'm not describing it very well so will try and find an example... turns out that Jo's friend, Jo actually got her wedding gown from Renee Leung and I'm not surprised: all of the dresses were modern, but with the most beautiful detailing.
A tad out of the price range for me though.
Here is one dress from the site that I really like, though I would prefer it skimmed the ground (and I probably wouldn't wear the hat either):

pretty and local(ish)

I was just going through the latest edition of Engaged and greatly enjoyed the section on vintage inspired gowns. Very pretty! So far, I have to say that I have been a tad disappointed by the range of bridalwear designers in NZ (to be fair, I have only looked online.... there may be many more excellent options lurking in the yellow pages). Some seem really couture-y (which in my mind = pricey) and others seem to design quite "Bridey" dresses and nothing too out of the ordinary (if your experience is different please feel free to enlighten me!). But in engaged today, there was a lovely selection of gowns all made by local designers.

I especially liked this one, by Vinka Brides

(Other)homeward bound!

Great news - today I received an email saying that my visa has been approved and my passport is now on it's way back to me! I am more relieved than I can say, not least because Dave has told me that we are going to Holland for Christmas, and also Frankfurt, Cologne, and Brussels, and I would have been GUTTED to miss it! Of course, being the contrary person that I am, I am now really really sad to be leaving again - especially having met and fallen in love with JP (a.k.a. perfect nephew) - but the excitement of picking up my travels where I left off goes some way to making up for it! Also, Dave has booked for us 6 days in Northern Italy at the end of Jan. So that's something else to {really} look forward to.

In world news - thank goodness lovely Helena is going to be getting on a flight out of Thailand on Friday!!

And in wedding news - I got an email from the Maggie Sottero NZ stockist today telling me the cost of getting Vienna shipped out to NZ is $X (= far too much), so that puts paid to that. Now on to finding a dressmaker that will do a copy of it justice! (it's all in the boning, baby). Also - the bridesmaids have been asked, and have said YES and they are... dum de dum dum: My big sister Nic (surprise surprise) is Chiefy, and the other is Katie; one of my best buds from high school, uni, and since. We've gone with two on each side, as Dave is just having his two brothers and we wanted to keep things simple and small (although I think JP will be a wee cutie pageboy in a tux or possibly a spiderman outfit). Nic was asked over a seafood chowder and nachos (didn't really need to be asked, but I like to stand on ceremony), and Katie over tapas and a wine at a restaurant in Napier (attended upon by a goatee'd sommelier who Katie greatly impressed having just been to the NZ Wine Awards two nights previously).

So that's all a bit exciting! hopefully I'll be meeting with the photographer this week to pay the deposit, and then that will be about it in the way of proper planning for a while! so it's back to pipe-dreaming and internet inspiration...

Can't wait for Christmas with my boy again!!!!