hope you had an awesome christmas!

wow this Christmas week was rather full on. Actually, that's not the truth because I was not absurdly busy yet there was a lot to do and a lot to get done and just, the week went by fast.

on the days leading up to Christmas, Will and I spent the days with Charlie and our friends. Most of our friends have dogs so we had a mega maltese party at Will's house. It was cute watching Charlie interact with other doggies. And we discovered she's super alpha. Despite her tiny size, she is extremely loud and she also has a lot of fun pushing the other dogs around.

Other than playing with dogs, we spent a few days playing monopoly over and over. And I must say, this game really hates me. Or I really hate this game.

on Christmas day, i went to Will's family party and afterwards, to our friend's xmas/21st. Boxing day was incredible. Actually, so incredible. I went shopping with my friend and literally spent my entire paycheck. But I will tell myself that a) it's ok, I need new clothes b) it's Christmas. Then the night was spent eating pods and watching Will's favourite movie 'Nightmare before Christmas'.

ugh Christmas is my favourite holiday ever.

and after a week of fun, here is Charlie bean complete passed out.



sending you love, 

Coby.

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the perfect sugar cookie

yay for summer break. And yay for summer weather finally settling in! And yay for days off and finally getting some Christmas baking done!

These cookies are perfect for flooding decorations and writing messages. Put them in a glass jar, tie it up with a pretty ribbon and off you go with the perfect gift (ㆆᴗㆆ)*✲ﾟ*｡⋆




Recipe adapted from Sweetapolita

Ingredients
6 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon sea salt
300g unsalted butter, left in room temperature
100mL olive oil
1 cup brown sugar (not packed)
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon almond extract

Instructions
Sift together all-purpose flour and sea salt.
With a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together butter and sugar until fluffy and pale.
Beat in eggs. Add flour mixture and mix on low speed until thoroughly combined. Add in slowly, one third at a time. Add vanilla, olive oil, and almond extract and blend.
Remove 1/2 of dough from bowl, make a ball, and place on a large piece of plastic wrap on counter. Wrap the sides of wrap over the ball, then press down with the palm of your hand and make a disc about 2" thick. Finish wrapping the disc with the plastic wrap. Repeat with 2nd half of dough. Chill both dough balls for 45 minutes.
Remove one ball and remove plastic wrap. Place on top of a large piece of parchment paper then roll out dough to around 1cm thickness.
Preheat your oven to 180°c. Slide your parchment paper and dough onto a baking tray, then place in refrigerator for about 15 minutes. Remove from fridge, and cut your shapes using the cookie cutters of your choice. As these cookies don't rise, you don't need to leave a lot of space between each cookie.
Place sheet with cookies into freezer for 15 minutes before baking.
Bake 12-14 minutes, or until edges are golden brown.
Gently remove cookies and place on wire racks to cool.

These cookies can be stored at room temperature in an airtight container for 2 weeks or they can be frozen. Perfect for giving as gifts to loved ones :3

sending you love, 

Coby.

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life as we know

Charlie bean's settling in nicely and she's stopped crying at night mostly. We found out that she is quite the daredevil, climbing and jumping on everything and everyone. Last night, she even jumped over the barrier we built for her and that thing is almost three times her height. We even took her to play with William's dog. And Charlie, being her mischievous self, really pushed Lucky's boundaries... (」゜ロ゜)」

Aside from all, everything's been well. Summer is finally making itself at home and the Christmas baking is really on its way! Perhaps it's just that time of year, or it's just me but there's so much to be thankful for. I'm happy that my parents are so loving and accepting and I'm so happy that they now get to spend more time together. I'm thankful for Charlie for loving me although I might not be the best puppy mummy ever and I'm thankful for having my boyfriend's family who are willing to help me out even though they themselves have things to worry about.

and what are you thankful for today?

sending you love, 

Coby.

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a weekend of gelato

William and I had our weekly Sunday date. It's not really a weekly thing but we're trying to make it one seeing how we are only both free on Sundays. We went to Darlinghurst for some lunch and gelato. And in the name of Christmas spirit, we got a flavour called Hansel: gingerbread gelato smashed with gingerbread cake. Oh dear, in the excitement for all things Christmas, I've forgotten that I actually hate gingerbread..

Oh well, Christmas is getting closer and closer. It's my favourite holiday and this will be Charlie bean's first Christmas ever! How exciting! We're still looking for a mini santa hat for her but so far, they've all been too big to fit on her baby head. I really want to be one of those families that puts up a tree every year and we get a small ornament for each year and ugh I just think that's so cute and sweet and festive.. But we're not putting up a tree this year because Charlie pretty much pounces on everything right now so maybe/hopefully next year! She really thinks she's a lion.

And I'm still slowly going through my Christmas shopping and baking.. (・_・ヾ



what did you get up to for the weekend and how are you getting ready for Christmas?

sending you love, 

Coby.

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Cookie butter, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways.

My eating habits are strange. I know this as a fact.

For example, I used to hate avocado. Now I inhale it like no tomorrow. And same goes for eggplant. I used to love candy (especially gummy lollies) but now I can't eat them at all. Another thing is, I hate hate hate peanuts and most nuts actually. But I love love love peanut butter. Of all sorts. So here I am every morning, opening a jar of peanut butter and the smell is so terrible I almost throw up. But that's not stopping in from having my daily fix of pb.

You think I'm exaggerating but I'm not.




So, hello homemade 'speculoos cookie butter'.

Ingredients 

• 500g raw peanuts
• 5 almond speculoos cookies (crushed)
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 3 tablespoon coconut oil

Directions

De-shell the peanuts (soak in water and rub until the skins come off) and lay out on a single layer on a baking sheet. Place into the oven on 180° for 15 minutes. Take away from heat and allow to cool.

Add peanuts to a blender or a food processor and blend until smooth. Stop to scrap down the sides if necessary. This may take around 5 minutes or much longer depending on how powerful your blender is.

The peanuts will go through the stages of: crushed, finely crushed, a paste, then little balls of paste will break down to a creamy peanut butter. Add in coconut oil and continue to blend for 2 more minutes until a desired consistency.

Add the cinnamon, honey and 3/4 of the crushed cookies and blend for 1 minute. Hand mix in the remaining cookie pieces and transfer into a glass jar with airtight lid.

Store in the refrigerator or in room temperature.



Just a disclaimer, I have never actually tasted the real speculoos cookie butter (yes, Australia sucks) but I'm what you call an 'experimenter' so yolo.

sending you love, 

Coby.

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hello Charlie

Meet our little princess, Charlie the maltese shitzu pup!

It's a funny story how we ended up with a new member in the family. We didn't spend long looking for a pup, but the month or two that we spent was filled with disappointments and a bit of tears (from my part). I didn't want to look again for a while because what if we were rushing into getting a puppy but somehow we found Charlie. She lived five hours away with her puppy family then but after a month and a long drive home, our baby is finally here.

She's been home for about five days now and to be honest, she's spoilt rotten already. Her daddy has her photos as his phone wallpaper and always asks about her first thing in the morning. Her grandma puts her to bed and checks on her when she sleeps. She never even did that for me when I was a kid. I try not to spoil her but how can you resist such a sweet face?



But here she is, our sleeping, chewing, whining baby Charlie. She doesn't do much and she hasn't even got a clue about her name yet. But.. we love her already. More than anything, she livens up our home. Welcome home, Charlie bean.

sending you love, 

Coby.

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