Nakitt
A tale of love conquering the whole world…

Yes, it’s back and more beautiful than ever! I am so pleased with it and now I don’t feel so bare without it! It fits so snuggly and they even polished it all up for me so it’s really as good as new, just with all the old memories attached.

This is sadly my final week in Australia. It’s going to be so hard to leave and I really am contemplating just hiding from immigration police when they come round in a few months to kick me out! In the meantime though, there’s a lot more fun to have and a lot more for us to do and see. I’m going to make the most of it.

It snowed on us yesterday in Katoomba. It was so magical. It was really heavy and even started to settle for a while. It looked as if we had massive lumps of dandruff in our hair! Kind of disgusting really, but it had us laughing. [:

This week I’m hoping to go and buy us some new pyjamas. I’ve found an addiction to a shop called Peter Alexander which does the most funky PJ’s, slippers and heaps more! I wish they opened in London, I’d probably live in there! We need to refil on the Milo and make sure we have everything we want to take back too. Nathan needs an external hard-drive to take with us, so we’ll fish round for one of those too. How transportable is caramel mudcake? Yes, I know I’m obsessed, but I can’t help it! It’s just too good.

Here’s a little recipe I found which I shall try next week for my birthday! [:

Prep time: 30 mins (plus cooling time) Cooking time: 2 hrs 10 mins Serves: 12

This cake is so moist and dense that it can be difficult to determine if it is cooked. The baking times given are your best guide, and when cooked, the cake should have a thick, sugary crust. If you like, cut the crust off the cake, although the frosting will soften it.

250g unsalted butter, chopped
200g white eating chocolate, chopped coarsely
2¼ C (495g) firmly packed brown sugar
1½ C (375ml) water
2 C (300g) plain flour
2/3 C (100g) self-raising flour
1 tspn vanilla extract
3 eggs, beaten lightly

1. Preheat oven to slow (150°C/130°C fan-forced). Grease deep 22cm round cake pan; line base and side with baking paper, extending paper 5cm above edge of pan.
2. Stir butter, chocolate, sugar, and the water in medium saucepan over low heat until mixture is smooth. Transfer mixture to large bowl; cool 15minutes. Whisk in sifted flours, then extract and eggs.
3. Pour mixture into pan. Bake, uncovered, about 2 hours. Stand cake 10 minutes then turn onto wire rack to cool.
4. Make caramel frosting. Place cake, top-side up, on serving plate, spread with frosting.

Caramel frosting
125g butter, chopped
1 C (220g) firmly packed brown sugar
1/3 C (80ml) milk
1½ C (240g) icing sugar

Melt butter in small saucepan. Stir in brown sugar and milk; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, 3 minutes, cool 10 minutes. Gradually stir in sifted icing sugar until frosting is of a spreadable consistency.

And that would be it. I’m sure it’ll taste great. Now I’m really hungry!

Anyway, for now, that’ll be all.

YES! We have milk back in the fridge! It’s been so cold and rainy all day and now we can finally have weet-bix! Oh happy day!

Ten things we’re loving right now.

[Nathan's 5] -

1. This Girl.

Truth is, I couldn’t live without Kitty. She is my everything, and my all, and I wake up each day just to look into her gorgeous eyes, and realise that I am so blessed beyond words. I dedicated my life to her, and I’m the happiest boy alive for even being able to do so. <3

2. A List Apart.

A List Apart is a really fantastic site about web design and development. I probably enjoy it where a lot of people won’t, but I just find the articles really inspiring, and really well written. They select two articles by hand each week to publish, discarding hundreds of other quality articles written by both famous and no-name designers. Every article is accompanied by brilliant illustrations by famed designer Kevin Cornell, which add to the fun and interestingness that is ALA.

3. Gomez.

What better a way to enjoy an evening with an amazing fiancée, then to sit back, relax, and unwind to some cool tunes? Gomez are the awesome creators of our cool tunes of choice, and I particularly recommend ‘How We Operate’, ‘See The World’, and ‘Hangover’, among bunches of other great songs! If you want to give them a spin, try checking out their page over at last.fm, or their website.

4. Pasta!

Oh gosh, I’m making myself hungry mentioning this, but boy does it ever deserve a mention! The best, most simple, cheapest way to make a wholesome, filling lunch or supper, this is the way we get our bellies full. Holy great big bowls of pasta, Batman!

5. Top Gear.

I feel like such a typical bloke mentioning half the stuff I have, but be damned if I can help myself! Both Kitty and I have a massive liking of Top Gear right about now, especially now Season 11 is out! I admit that if I have to give some decent reasoning to this decision, there is some: the camera work on the show is simply phenomenal. They can turn any car into a monster on the show, and that’s probably why I love it! Check out the top gear website for some more information.

[Kitty's 5] -

1. This Man.

This man will always be on my list, no matter where I go or what else I’m loving at the moment. He’s just so perfect for me and I love him with all my heart. So this man is what I’m most loving right now and he’s the man I’ll be most loving forever. <3

2. The Beach.

We’re loving the beach.. not that we’ve been… yet! And yes, we are planning to hit the white sandy shores of Australia very soon indeed. The weather is just so spectacular at the moment, how can we not plan it? The idea of a beach day highly excites me as if I’m 5 all over again. We particularly are fond of this photo too by Frederic Beaulieu .

3. Weet-bix!

Weet-bix! It’s our morning ritual. After waking up and fighting the cold to get out from under the covers, we scuttle into the kitchen and grab our two favourite bowls. We throw 5 weet-bix in each with milk and shove them in the microwave before smothering them with brown sugar. Today, Nathan said, “There’s more sugar than weet-bix” which made me smile. We always eat them on the bench out the back in the warm Sun and just wake up slowly.

4. Picnics!

Picnics such as this one. I decided to go and set up a picnic up in the woods for Nathan one day and we turned it into a formal event and both wore our smartest clothes. It was heaps of fun, and I even nicked the wind chimes from the garden to hang on a tree! I may or may not be planning another one some time. Watch this space.

5. Vintage Prints.

I don’t know what it is that attracts me so much to collage art which has such a unique vintage look, but something about it just makes me turn my head. If I had all the wall-space in the World, it would be covered with vintage frames with collage art in, some of my own, some from elsewhere. I particularly like these two heart prints from here.

Oh Monday, why?

I have decided to hunt this down. How great does it look?! Who would actually play it though? It’d be gone within seconds and we’d only be left with the letters “x, y & z” on the block which no one can finish because we’re all too stuffed. Anyway, I’m keeping my eyes peeled for it!

I love primulas now. There’s a huge vase in here which I can’t stop looking at. I hope seeds are easy to get hold of in the UK so I can plant my own back there. Here’s one of many photos that Nathan took. Aren’t they gorgeous?

We also went to Wiseman’s Ferry yesterday for our anniversary which was really nice. We ate Milo ice creams and chips whilst watching the ferry in the park. We went to the riverside and just took heaps of photos and enjoyed the view. It was really magical and a really romantic way to spend 14 months of togetherness. My love for him is just ever-growing.

I think my engagement ring came back into the jewellers today and I’m so excited to see it! We sent it off last Wednesday to get it reduced from an O to fit my “baby fingers” and it’s supposed to be back today. Hopefully we’ll get it back tomorrow or soon this week, I really miss it! Seriously, now I know the feeling when someone says “I feel naked” when they’re not wearing a piece of their everyday jewellery! I do! I feel incomplete without my engagement rocks placed proudly around my finger!

We’re heading up the mountains this weekend which’ll be really great to see, but more to come on that nearer the time. As for now, I have a little sneaky suspicion that Nathan’s waiting to play Unreal Tournament 2004. It’s so gory, it’s great and so addictive! Bring on some bad aliens!

Over and out.

Hello all!

So today would be Thursday and here we are, perched on the sofa under a wooly blanket and two empty boxes of pizza by our feet (yes, we would be addicted) and a bottle of empty coke. Coke as if in the drink, that is. It’s been a nice day today, after a lazy start we ate breakfast in the sun and watched the World go by. We watched koala-lady next door and even caught serial-killer man looking over the fence in our direction. He was on the phone. Probably to a hitman buddy. I wouldn’t be surprised to find a dead person in his car. It’s this Hilux type thing which just screams “SERIAL KILLER!”

Enough of those neighbours though. They seem to be stealing all topic spotlight for our blog! Tomorrow we’re off to wander round the place and Nathan gets to have his iris scanned. I personally think that’s really cool. I’d love to have my eye scanned too, maybe I could ask them to do mine too? We may go to a beach and just chill around. After all the work he’s been doing, he deserves a really nice weekend. It’s our anniversary on Sunday, so I’m planning to make a caramel cake for him as he introduced me to it on his birthday and now I’ve been craving it since. It was so good. So now I shall try and show up the cheesecake shop and make a killer cake for us to celebrate.

And oh yes! We went ice skating yesterday which was really nice. Nathan bought me this really nice hoodie with deer print all over it, it’s really retro and so cosy! I got him these really vintage looking tee’s. One has the Michelin man on the front which we so had to buy! It’s awesome.

I made a nasty header for the blog today. I may change it, but I know in the end I’ll just get Nathan’s super creative skills onto it.

Anyway, after many unsuccessful shots, we finally managed to get this capture with a new friend at Featherdale.

I am really digging the stock from Three Potato Four at the moment. It’s so fresh and original that I wish I had a house merely to fill it up with this stuff! A few things I have my eye on would have to include the following items.

Until next time, stay tuned!