YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT

Heathly food, clean food, raw food, hippy food, vegan food, organic food, whaaaaaaatever! Whatever you call it, whatever takes your fancy, I just can't get enough of it. 

I've have always been concerned about "eating right" and trying to be "healthy" but this past 6 months or so it has really become a passion of mine. Learning about food and nutrition has become something that I REALLY enjoy. I can watch food documentaries all day and I love spending hours in my kitchen preparing nutritious food. 

I have a special interest in "raw food", to me it's the bees knees and makes me feel so amazing from the inside out and I'm going to share some of my most used recipes on this blog. To avoid preaching I'm not going to ramble on about why I love the food that I do but I will leave you a link to one of my favourite food documentaries if you care to watch it, its even free!

I could easily say that this documentary changed my life…

PREVIEW HERE

WATCH FOR FREE HERE

http://documentarylovers.net/food-matters/

Have a lovely evening all, and if you're in Melbourne I hope you're enjoying the bizarre 36degree rain we are having right now.

Kitty xx

TO TWO TODAY!

Today marks mine and Micks two year anniversary!

I can't believe how fast the time has gone and how much we have done with it.

These past two years has seen me move to Victoria, the two of us move into Melbourne city, our very first house together, our second house together, three beautiful fur babies, our own private tattoo studio and traveling to more than a few countries together. 

I count myself lucky every single day to have such a strong and compassionate man by my side. Mick has been my rock when I have felt adrift in this world and I honestly don't know where I would be with out him. He is my absolute bliss and I love him more every day and I am so proud of him and us for the life we have forged together.

I love you unconditionally this anniversary, next anniversary and the many more to come.

May everyone be as lucky in love as I count myself.

Kitty xx

TO MAKE A LONG STORY SHORT

As my absence may have indicated it has been quite a busy time around the Dearest house. I don't even know where to start to catch you up on all that has past since I last typed an entry. So…I'm just going to give you the cliffs notes version of my past 4 months.

Mick, Peanut Butter and I are all moved into our new humble abode. It's a very quirky old converted shop. We have concrete floors, pressed tin ceilings, two stories, a spiral staircase, a fish pond and a bigger backyard for our little furry munchkins. Yes munchkins plural. We now have a second furry edition to our family, the squishiest of squish face dogs, Mr Humphrey the British Bulldog came home with us from out latest over seas trip. 

From the first day I met the little fellow, the day we brought
him home & hanging on the couch with big sis Peanut.

We recently journeyed to the ever green north island of New Zealand. Where we attended a tattoo convention before indulging in a road trip holiday around the island. We saw snow capped mountains, geothermal hot springs, geysers, caves and what felt like a million cow and sheep inhabited rolling green hillsides. New Zealand has definitely been one of my favourite holidays so far, everything is so picturesque and there are countless outdoor activities to partake in everywhere you go.

Mount Taranaki, Hells Gate geothermal pools,
road trip view & Huka Falls from the jet boat.

It feels as if the time in between entries has sped past me and I'm already looking down the barrel of the holiday season and it would seem that the Dearest house is already filling up with Christmas cheer. The decorations are up, the candy canes are out and the live Christmas tree is filling the house with the loveliest scent of pine. 

I hope all of you are getting into the holiday spirit however you chose to celebrate.

Kitty xx 

LOOK MUM IM FAMOUS

Ok maybe I'm not famous, but I feel pretty gosh darn special. I recently got some of my work published in a magazine for the first time ever! It's a really big deal to me and I am ever so grateful to Vanessa and the whole team at Inked for the beautiful spread. Hopefully I'll be lucky enough to see my name and tattoos in print again, because it's pretty nice to feel proud of myself. Yay! :D

If you would like to support me or just get your hands on a great tattoo publication go pick up the latest issue of Inked Artists, it's in news stands now.

Kitty xx

HIP HIP HOORAY FOR TEMPEH!

If you happened to peruse my last blog entry you will already be familiar with my new found love of winter cooking. I am especially fond soups and stews, they are such a great way to get my 3 serves of vegetables a day and make sure no vegetable ever goes to waste in our house. So I thought that I would share one of my favourites of the season.

TEMPEH AND AUTUMN ROOT VEGETABLE STEW

ingredients

1/2 cup orange juice

1 tbsp orange zest

1 tsp tamari

2 cloves finely chopped garlic 

2 tsp fresh grated ginger

1 tsp honey

4 tbsp canola oil

1 packet of tempeh (about 300g I think) cubed

2 carrots sliced 

1 cup diced potato

1 cup diced sweet potato

1 cup diced turnip

1/2 cup diced parsnip

approx 2 cups of vegetable stock

1 can diced tomatoes 

2 whole start anise

1 cinnamon stick 

1 tbsp cornstarch mixed with 2tbsp water

salt and pepper to taste

chopped coriander

method

1. combine orange juice, zest, tamari, garlic, ginger & honey in a bowl and set aside.

2. in a massive post heat oil over medium heat, add tempeh and brown on all sides.

3. add orange juice mixture and cook until most of the liquid has evaporated.

4. add vegetables & the tomatoes with their juice and then enough stock to almost cover them.

5. add star anise and cinnamon & bring to a boil.

6. reduce heat to low & simmer, cover, until vegetables are tender, for about 30mins.

7. uncover, increase heat to high, add cornstarch-water mixture & cook for 1-2mins until stew thickens

8. season with salt, pepper and additional honey as desired

9. serve with fresh coriander.

ENJOY!

Everyone in our house seems to be getting into the spirit of winter this year. Both Mick and I have spent many a day pottering about the house fixing things up and generally making our house a home, and there is no doubt that little Peanut Butter is enjoying the extra company on the couch snuggled up amidst a sea of throw blankets. 

I'll leave you with a photo of Peanut Butter strutting her latest winter wears. My last jumper cost $4.50 from the op shop near work, Peanuts cost $50. Go figure. I love her more than me.

Kitty xx

EMOTIONAL WINTER WARMERS.

One of the biggest changes I faced moving to Melbourne was the weather. It gets cold here. Really cold. A lot. It might even be cold the majority of the time. 

I don't like the cold. Or at least I didn't. I find myself fast becoming a "Winter person". I figure that there's no point fighting it, trying to catch the odd sunshiny day and hopelessly clinging onto my summer dresses. I'm just going to embrace the cold, let it happen and I love what I can about Winter.

So this is a small list of my current winter wonderland…

• Scarves - especially my new Burberry scarf my charming man brought me back from London this week.
• Beanies - They solve so many problems. Bad hair days? Sorted. Regrowth? Sorted. Don't know anything about styling your hair and secretly think this makes you a bit rubbish at being a girl? Sorted.
• Knitted sweaters- They're comfy and comforting and makes me feel like I'm wearing a big hug and that no one can see the extra mugs of hot chocolate I've been indulging in.
• Aforementioned hot chocolate - and hot chai and hot beverages of any variety really. If anyone has a hot cider recipe, send it this way!
• Vitamin D tablets - Sunshine in a pill, I take 2 every day to help ward off any seasonal affective disorder that might be lurking in the next rainy day. I'd recommend it to everyone. Better stock up on Echinacea while you're at it.
• Reading - Obviously a favourite past time of mine at any time of year, it is especially enjoyable under a collection of snuggly blankets on our oversized couch with my favourite french bulldog hot water bottle substitute.
• Making my own soup - It makes me feel fancy and makes the house smell completely delicious. 
• Torrential rain - Yes a bit dismal but I love watching it throughout the window whilst safely inside. It feels like a vertical moat that cuts our home off from the rest of the world.
• Rationalising that wearing my pyjamas at 3.30pm is completely acceptable because it's rainy and dark outside.
• The abysmal weather allowing me not feeling guilty about spending the whole day inside cross stitching, reading, cooking, working on designs, snuggling with Peanut Butter Dearest the wonder dog and generally being a 20 something hermit nana.

Better rug up Melbourne.

Bring it on WInter, I can take it.

Kitty xx.

HOME GROUND ADVANTAGE.

So two weekends ago was the second annual Rites of Passage Tattoo Convention and the first ever tattoo convention that the boyfriend and I have worked in the same booth.

It felt strange not having to pack our gear and board a plan to get to the convention and even stranger to be going home every evening and not to a hotel. Home ground advantage did however allow us t bring extra odds and sods for our booth. So we packed up our taxidermy friends from the living room and some extra heavy fabric and got to decorate our booth a little more extravagantly than our usual weight restrictions would allow us.It was such a fun weekend and I was lucky enough to tattoo three fun tattoos on beautiful ladies over the three days.

Top of arm.

Side of thigh.

Our friends Jeff and Kim stayed with us for the week surrounding the convention which only made the even more delightful. We all enjoyed some post convention animal adventures at the safari park and the wildlife sanctuary.

I love the way that conventions bring artists together, its so amazing to have that huge reminder that you really are a part of something great.

Kitty xx

WHITE TEA BLUES.

I have contempt for life. 

Most of the time I fucking hate life.

Most of the time life is a fucking flatline existential nightmare for me and I fucking hate it and want to check out all the time.

There you go, now you know the truth, but the thing that keeps me here is knowing that life would say "haha, you wimped out, you couldn't handle me" and so what I seek to do i make life run for its life.

I want to be a pain in lifes arse.

I want life to celebrate the day I die.

I want life to get a breather once I'm dead.

-Henry Rollins

I scribbled this quote down all over my sketch pad the first time I heard it and it's stuck with me ever since. I still have the piece of paper.

I can't wait to see him in Perth in May.

Kitty xx

SHAKE, RATTLE AND STROLL.

As many of you may have already guessed, I am quite the homebody. Other than tattooing, I am generally my happiest pottering about the house with my charming boyfriend and our dog and if Im out and about I'm usually hunting for treasures to adorn our home. 

One of the most exciting things about moving house for me has been moving to a new suburb. Since we've moved in I have been using every spare second of time to unpack and have yet to explore our new neighbourhood. Each car trip has left me looking longingly out the window daydreaming of all the treasures and trinkets each new store potentially holds. Ive been ever so eager to check out all the cafes on our local strip and possibly find a new corner to read away the afternoon with a delicious treat and pot of tea.

The Penny Farthing, High St Thornbury.

So with a few hours of my own on Monday I set out to explore, with my friend Kane Berry. We put our walking shoes on (doc martins count) and hit a few local places of interest. To start our day we hit King Kahuna on Nicholson to find the perfect bean bags. Yes folks, bean bags! I've been wanting one for a while as a can't imagine a more perfect place to sit and listen to records. Our hunt took us to the factory outlet back near my old house where we both made a delightful purchase that was rather tricky to fit into the bcd of the old ford. After fits of giggle we headed to High Street and window shopped until our hungry little bellies led us to The Penny Farthing, a truly lovely cafe with some truly lovely tofu scramble.

All in all a great sunny Monday, I almost even forgive Thornbury Records for not being open. Almost.

Kitty xx

HOME SWEET CARDBOARD JUNGLE.

Goodness gracious me! What a crazy past week its been.

Mick and I have been hard out on the house hunt for the past few months with very little popping up in our price range that suits our needs. Having only found 2 houses, that clearly didn't work out, we weren't feeling too "glass half full" about the matter. So even with our friend Randy from Germany staying with us after Sydney, we had to keep looking, and against all odds we found a super nifty converted shop online that ticked almost all our boxes. Begrudgingly & without getting our hopes up we got up much too early for tattooists and battled the traffic across town to inspect our potential dream home. To our surprise and delight the house was even more lovely than its photos online, which is so rarely the case. We promptly handed our application forms and dwindling hopes to the real-estate agent and left for work to begin the waiting game. Two days later we got the phone call we had been waiting for and surprise upon surprise, we had been approved and the little converted shop was ours for the taking!

Photos from instagram...

Because I don't know the location of my camera.

This past 4 days we have packed our little victorian cottage, loaded our lives into a removal van, driven across town more than enough times, unloaded our lives into a new house, cleaned our old home to the brink of sterile and watched potential tenants walk through the house where we started our journey as a little family. 

So much has happened in our little house on Roseberry street. Two beautiful fur family members have come into our lives and one has left, we've bickered and we've snuggled, we've become a tight little team under that rickety roof and I may have shed a tiny little tear as we drove away for the last time. But we've outgrown our little 2x1 and we're moving up in the suburban world. 

Bye bye little house! Thanks for everything!

I can't wait to see what adventures our new home will hold. After we clear the cardboard jungle that is.

Kitty xx

WEARY TRAVELING.

I just seem to be getting further and further behind in my blogging. Life just seems to be getting busier by the day, there is just so much going on in my little world. I wouldn't even know how to blog about everything thats been happening lately, but I will share a little about my recent trip to Sydney.

So this year was the 4th annual Sydney tattoo & Body Art Expo. I think I mentioned in an earlier blog that I originally wasn't going to be able to make it but thanks to my superhero boyfriend that situation soon changed around and we were both on a plane to Sydney before we knew it.

Done at the convention.

I always feel that no matter how much preparation I put into an event something will always find a way to come undone. So when orders for business cards went awry although I wasn't completely surprised I did completely loose my cool and turn into a blithering mess of a girl. Thank goodness for this damsel in distress my boyfriend is an aforementioned superhero and saved the day yet again.

Done at the convention.

The rest of the week and the convention itself went swimmingly and I had such an amazing time catching up with old friends and making new ones and got to do some fun tattoos on some fun people to boot. Hands down my best convention experience to far and I can't wait until the Rites of Passage convention in April to do it all over again, but with a home ground advantage, which will be so lovely.

If you would like to get tattooed at the Rites of Passage Convention or any other time you can email me at info@kittydearest.com.

Hope you all having a splendid week so far and are enjoying the start to your Autumn,

Kitty xx

TO INFINITY & BEYOND.

ATTENTION EVERYONE! I AM MOVING TATTOO STUDIOS!

As of the 1st of March I will be packing up my little tattoo corner at my current studio and moving to a shop in Westmeadows. Not quite infinity perhaps, but still. The time has come to say goodbye to the tattoo family that took me in when I first moved to Melbourne. I have nothing but kind words to say about all of you and I will miss our little team so much. I part here with nothing but gratitude & happy memories.

I will be moving to join the trouble makers at Addictive Tattoos in Westmeadows. I'm really looking forward to the change, there is something so invigorating about a fresh start. I'm especially looking forward to decorating a new tattoo area. I hope the team are is ok with my slightly overzealous approach to decorating. 

And because I had no pictures to go with this a threw in a couple of fun tattoos I've done of late.

To fresh starts,

Kittyxx

BUILD ME UP PEANUT BUTTERCUP.

So as most of you know, not long ago Mick and I lost our beautiful British Bulldog pup Winston, and I've had a particularly hard time dealing with it.
Although I know all too well that nothing & no-one can ever replace Winston, the opportunity for a darling female French Bulldog came up and we just couldn't say no.
I've been through a roller coaster of emotions with the decision to get another puppy, and ultimately wasn't sure if it was the right thing to do, but he she is, and here we are, back at square one with a brand new puppy.
I will always hold Winston on a pedestal in my heart but I know that there is plenty of room in there for a new fury friend. So with no further ado, please welcome Peanut to our family. Weighing in at mere 2.5kgs, her favourite activities include eating, sleeping, making guinea pig like noises & running around in circles.
Please be kind to her, she has some very large shoes to fill.

I grow more confident each day that she and I are going to be the best of friends.
Kitty xx

ATTENTION SYDNEY FOLK!

I will officially be attending the up coming Sydney tattoo & Body Art Expo! In a very uncharacteristic bout of spontaneity I have decided to work at the Sydney Expo. I didn't think I was going to be able to make it this year, but HAZZAR I will indeed be going after all, I worked the show last year and had a blast, I can't wait to do it all over again.

The convention is from Friday the 9th of March to Sunday the 11th of March. So if any of you Sydney dwellers fancy getting tattooed during my brief visit please email me at kittydearest@hotmail.com with "SYDNEY TATTOO EXPO" in the subject bar.
Kitty xx

BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD.

Ive always found that the more things I get done, the more I'm able do get done. So I'm trying to get myself on roll early in the year with art projects as well as things around the house.
My drawing and tattooing is always developing & improving as I grow as an artist and as a person. Right now feels like a good time for a fresh start and Im really keen to put together a new portfolio of where I'm at right now with both my tattoos and other artwork. I'm hoping to do some really fun custom tattoos next month and already have a few lined up, so keep your eyes out.
Heres a few fun things that I've been working on as of late.

My last piece of 2011.

A few fun tattoos for the start of the year.

Animal tattoos are always super fun for me.

You can check out more on my website kittydearest.com
Kitty xx

PMA. ALL DAY. EVERY DAY.

Whenever something bad happens I always try to take a step back and look at the things in my life that are wonderful.
One of the reasons that I started this blog was to help myself look for the small every day things that make me smile and write about them. I was hoping that by cumulating these happy moments I might be able to keep out of the dark recesses of my mind that I so often find myself in. It's not that I'm a "half empty"kind of person, I just seem to have the unfortunate habit of letting my thoughts become clouded over by the negative things and forget to appreciate the countless parts of my life that are amazing.
So in honour of staying out of my head, here are a few things that have brought me joy over the past 24 hours.

• My ever delightful boyfriend taking me out for a Japanese dinner and the Kitty Daisy and Lewis side show last night, and they were AWESOME! 
• Buying the new Kitty Daisy and Lewis double heavyweight edition record.
• Staying out late and coming home with ringing ears. For those of you who know me I'm actually a nanna hermit who spends most of her time at home hiding from world, so this was a very nice change.
• Managing to get both myself & Mick out of bed early this morning to hit the Camberwell vintage markets.
• Scoring an awesome cable knit sweater for $5 and finding a mint record by The Jam, an old British punk band that my papa used to listen to.
• Coming home and making lemon iced tea because its at lease 100 degrees in our house with it's abysmal evaporative cooling.
• Actually making the time to blog.

Here's hoping that I can hold onto a positive attitude this week and get back into making regular blog updates.

Fingers crossed.

Kitty xx

IT WAS THE WORST OF TIMES.

Things lately have been not so wonderful to say the least. Yesterday was easily one of the worst days of my life. Our beautiful baby Winston had to be put to sleep. Our poor little man had been fighting a loosing battle with spinal deformities and had lost most of the function in his back legs. He also had severe hip displacia, and was loosing ability to control his bladder & his bowels. Having such aggressive problems at such a young age he was never going to have the healthy and happy life he deserved and sadly this was the best option for him. I miss him with my whole heart and have never felt such hurt or shed so many tears but we know this was the right thing to do.

To my dearest Winston,
No one could ever have asked for a better dog. You were perfect in every way and I will miss you forever. I never knew I could love something so much as I loved you and I am eternally sorry that I could not stop your hurt.
Although you were only with us for a short time you have impacted my life so greatly and will cherish and protect your memory until the end of my days. I can only hope that you no longer feel any pain and are at peace.
Sleep well my sweet boy.
I love you so so much.

Kitty xx

2012. GO.

I've never really understood the new year phenomenon, that the start of the calendar year holds the magic of a fresh start, a clean slate, the promise of a better year. I find it amusing how we need to compartmentalise our lives into periods of time. Why is it that we put things off only to set news years resolutions that, lets face it, are seldom kept in the later half of the year. Why do we believe that setting goals on January 1st will prove more fruitful than those we make at any other point. Time is time. Lets get on with it.

That being said I am most definitely looking forward to this particular period of time, this year is already setting out to be possibly the most exciting, stressful and rewarding year to date. But I'm not going to share any of these plans, you'll just have to wait and see!

I will however leave you with a recipe for one of my favourite sweet treats. Apple and Rhubarb crumble. Rhubarb is one of my favourite food that is extremely under rated, it you haven't yet tried it, please do, its super scrummy. 

APPLE & RHUBARB CRUMBLE

ingredients

300g rhubarb (cut into roughly 1inch pieces)

2-3 granny smith apples (peeled & roughly cut into 1inch pieces)

1/2cup caster sugar

1/2cup plain flour

1/4cup rolled oats

1/8cup brown sugar

1/8cup desiccated coconut

30g unsalted butter

1.cook rhubarb & caster sugar on low heat for 15mins

2.add apples & cook for another 10mins

3.spoon mixture into a dish

4.mix remaining dry ingredients with butter for crumble.

5.place crumble mixture on top & bake for 25-35 mins at 180degrees.

christmas cheer.

There will be no holiday blogs, time just got away from me, so here's a picture of Winston and I in our Santa hats. 

Kitty xx