My secret addiction

It's time to fess up and come clean. 

My name is Pita and I'm addicted to Pinterest.  Yes, really.

If you are uninitiated to this delightful site, you might want to look away now because once I tell you that it's the most amazing place to find, collect and store links to all the things you are interested in, you might decide to go and have a look. And then when I tell you that you can arrange all your collections onto handy little boards for anything that takes your fancy, you might want to try it.  And it's all downhill from there.

At first it was just a place to collect a few recipes.  I didn't have any more yellowing pieces of paper floating around the house from recipes that were torn out of newspapers and magazines. Then I started collecting ideas for hairstyles, cute cats, ladybugs, great quotes, writing tips, crafty projects and the colour blue.  The next thing I knew I was scouring the net for inspiring photos, blogs I love, black and white images, drawing tutorials and even - gulp - a tips for organising and decluttering your life.  More than 2.5k pins later, I have a thriving collection of material that I add to on a daily basis and return to regularly to gloat over like some crazy hoarder of old tin cans.

Just a few of my Pinterest boards.

I found this great image on Flickr and bizarrely it has been
my post popular pin - shared 135 times.

In my defence I do try new recipes quite a bit and I've got more than a few hairstyles that I've learned from the site.  It also keeps the clutter around the house down because I don't have any of the aforementioned paper clippings sitting in drawers as they are all online.

The site has a devoted following of 'Pinners' and unlike Facebook, it doesn't work on a friendship basis.  You don't have to know anyone to follow them, you just wander through material that interests you and its easy to run off on tangents of related material, finding ever new photos, tutorials, videos and tips about fun things. It even has its own language - pins that people have tried that worked out are called 'pin wins' and those that don't are called 'pinstrosities'. There is even a hugely popular blog called Pinstrosity, where people share their hilarious failures and successes - such as the cookie bowl mayhem.

So there you have it.  Crazy, time sucking and possibly pointless? Sure. But also a fabulous reference site and place to collect photos, articles and information about anything in the world you could possibly be interested in. And oh, sooooooo much fun and - dare I say it - addicting.  If you are a fellow Pinterest fan, you can find me here.

Sending love to the West

Hellooo and happy Valentine's Day (if you are into that kind of thing).   This year I decided to spread a little love of the non romantic kind and participate in Baked Relief's Love to the West drive. 

Baked Relief is the amazing brain child of Danielle Crismani and began during the 2011 floods; bringing baked goods to volunteers helping with the clean-up and those affected by the floods. Now she is working with an army of volunteers to provide support to Queensland families whenever it's needed in the form of home baked goodies.  What a fabulous cause!

To put together my smoko kit, I bought a box from the post office and then I did a little shopping to buy a mug, a tea towel, some cheesy dipping biscuits, teabags, and fruit sticks.

Of course there had to be some home baked goods, so I made some Anzac biscuits because they are yummy and they will last during their long journey out west.

I even made a cute little card to pop in with everything.

So now my little parcel is winging its way to a rural family who will hopefully enjoy a few little treats, baked with love and given in honour of a day when we show that we care.

Find out more about Baked Relief at their website.

Six choc bits and a teaspoon

After a fabulous wine filled evening with friends I staggered into the kitchen the following morning, following my nose to the smell of fresh coffee and sizzling bacon.

My host handed me a coffee and then started posing a plethora of breakfast questions - hard egg or soft egg?  Bacon crispy or juicy? Should items be placed on the toast or beside it? I was touched that he was an obliging chef, but was so happy to have someone cook me breakfast that I'd have eaten it any way at all - as long as I didn't have to do it!

But as I chowed down on my delicious meal I had a sudden memory of breakfast time as a child where my sister wouldn't eat her toast unless Dad gave her Vegemite "with holes" - polka dotted spots of spread. And that got me thinking about some of the quirky rituals our family developed over the years.

Family breakfasts always took place around the table in the kitchen.  Mum cooked something nourishing and there was usually lots of chatter and laughter as we began our day.  Dad would often start the day in high spirits, flinging out cheeky comments over the tea pot while Mum deepened her frowns across the table as he continued to bait her.  After a certain level of frustration had been reached, she'd throw her teaspoon down the table at him and he'd either catch it nimbly or feign pain and agony if he got hit.  This was always a cue for great merriment from his daughters and our not-so-subtle hints in the mornings often encouraged him to start another round of the 'tea-spoon battle'.

At night, my parents would end the day with a small cup of brutally strong coffee and six choc bits each.  Do you know a choc bit? They are tiny little dots of chocolate used for cooking - probably just under a centimetre wide. Six choc bits isn't much, but it was enough to bypass Mum's 'no dessert other than fruit' rule. I can still see her dolling out each person's allocation from the jar she kept them in.

These family food rituals were a precious part of our childhood and something that still makes me smile today.  So I wonder, what are (or were) your family rituals?