Sunday 31 August 2008

Twin Dresses

So I made two of these gorgeous dresses and they are going up in the shop tonight!
My secret wish is that someone will buy them for a set of twins. That would be amazing.
They are ideal for 6-7 year old, but will have enough room for the bean-shoot stage (when the child grows up and not out!) so they could be worn until the hem gets too short.








I'll be making some grown-up dresses and skirts over the weekend, so they'll probably be up next week.
I'll be putting a button on here for etsy, but until then the shops name is rubymay, Like me!

a bientot!

J.C Higgins




Last week, I bought a bike from this guy in Rosemont, which is a sort of industrial suburb out of the plateau. It is so gorgeous and surprisingly great to ride. You'd think it would be a little bit jaded, but really the only thing wrong is that there is a slow leak in the front tyre, which I only have to regulate every couple of rides.

I picked it up from this big old Montreal double-storied house, with a winding staircase coming down onto the footpath and little Quebecois children playing outside in the street.
I rode it home along the highway, there are bike tracks running parallel to most main streets here. It's so great to be able to get places super fast, because although I love the metro, it is rather expensive and I have to wait a while to get my concession card. So until then I will zoom everywhere!








This is a picture of the chest that I got for free yesterday. Cori and I went to the plateau to pick up some furniture and then caught a cab home, with all of these drawers sticking out of the boot!
I have set it up quite nicely. It's good to have somewhere to put all of my books (I've made friends with the man from the second-hand bookstore).
And that lamp is the one I was talking about earlier. I have two of them, they are absolutely stunning.





I have been making little dresses out of paper as well. The green one is la robe de bouillon and the brown one is a weird truffle wrapper that I found in the hallway.


Saturday 30 August 2008

Bread Bakin'

So I have been making my own bread ever since I arrived in Montreal, because I decided that if I had to spend ridiculous amounts of money on something it would not be bread. I also decided that I wanted to eat bread that tasted like I spent ridiculous amounts of money on it.




This is Dark Rye Bread German style, because I am actually VERY German.

Ingredients
3 cups whole-wheat flour
1/4 cup cocoa
10 g active yeast
2 tbsp caraway seeds
1 big pinch salt
1/3 cup molasses or honey (mostly the floral kinds are the nicest)
4 tbsp of olive oil or butter
3 cups rye flour
2 cups tepid water

Method
1.) Prepare yeast according to instructions.
2.) Combine whole-wheat flour, salt, cocoa and caraway seeds.
3.) Heat molasses, olive oil and both cups of water in a small saucepan until warmish.
4.) Add to dry mixture and stir rapidly for about 3 minutes, making sure to scrape the sides of the bowl for any residual flour.
5.) Beat again, this time for as long as your arms can stand it (3-5 minutes).
6.) By hand stir in rye flour a bit at a time (as much as it takes to make an elastic dough. The mixture should still be warm.
7.) Knead on a lightly floured surface until smooth and springy.
8.) Cover and let rise in a warm damp environment for 20 minutes.
9.) Punch down risen dough and divide in half.
10.) shape into two oval loaves or alternately one loaf and six little rye buns and place onto greased and floured baking trays.
11.) Brush with soy milk or a bit of egg or some oil or some cow's milk- whatever you have around.
12.) Slash the tops (not too violently).
13.) Cover and let them rise in a warm place until they are double size (about an hour).
14.) Bake in a moderate to hot oven for 25-30 minutes depending on the oven.
15.) They should be nice and browned on top and when tapped should produce a hollow sound.
16.) Eat several thick slices with butter before anyone comes home.
17.) Pretend that you only made one loaf and keep the extra one under your bed for midnight snacking. No-one need be any the wiser.
18.) Tell your kids that it is chocolate bread (because actually it is) and say they can have chocolate bread with rain juice (water) if they are really good. They will totally never trust you again afterwards and may need psychological intervention down the track, it'll be funny.

Bon Apetit!

You know what else I made? Curtains.
They go with my whole cream coloured pompon theme. So now I have hobnail glass lamps with pompons around the rims AND matching curtains!
I was going to make some dresses from them, but the fabric looked so nice jammed up in the window when I didn't have anything to hang there to keep spying eyes away, that I decided I would take it as an investment and write it off in my tax.



They match the books I stole from my parent's house.

Thank-you.
I'll be here all week.

xxx

Friday 29 August 2008

It's Early...

I woke up this morning at 6:00 so that I could go to a student protest rally, and when I got there the street was cold and empty! Okay, so I only walked about two minutes away from my house, but it's the principal, really. Also I got all fired up to do some protesting-type shouting (my voice can get really loud, really) and then I had to walk back home, and quietly read. I am reading "Le Grande Meaulnes" by Alain-Fournier, it's amazing and so magnificent!

In Montreal, there are lots of strange sort of dollar-shops, which are usually in really crumbly buildings that have birds perched on rooftops. This one is down Rue Guy, which is in between my house and my school. Isn't it marvelous?



The other day, my other Australian housemate, Cori and I went to La Salle, which is sort of an outer suburb in the sud-ouest.
It was a weird place, lots of old churches and doughnut shops. There were also these crazy big spiders that were sort of bulbous and shiny. I took some pictures, but none at close range unfortunately.


















Today I am going to school to do all of the boring paperwork and stuff that needs to be done before Labour Day, which is on Monday. Tonight I think I am going to the opening of a Depanneur, which is like a Milk Bar in Mile End. There's gonna be a vegan barbecue!

Also i found a weird rice pudding shop that only sells rice pudding in strange flavours. I'm not even sure that it exists! Yesterday I had a little bit of passionfruit pudding, but maybe it was all a dream.

Running Away- Step 5











I have been exploring this amazing city ever since then. I love it here, it's a wonderful place with no rules. There are cracks in the footpath and flowers growing on the side of the road and a big Mountain in the middle of the city.
I went to the Plateau and walked around, looking at the beautiful streets with staircases running in colourful vortexes dwon onto the path.
Cute boys on bicycles, with loaves of bread in their arms. Gorgeous girls wearing floral dresses and leather boots speaking Quebecois quickly to each other.
Cornflower blue trains that run on rubber wheels and Metro stations with zany seventies tiling.
I love this place.

Running Away- Step 4



I caught the train from Penn Station exactly two weeks ago. This was the only picture I was able to take, a farmhouse in upstate New York. The train ride was a rambly shuffle through mountains and lakes, with crusty castles and little sunbleached riverboats.
We rode past moss-covered trailer parks and dense green forest into Quebec.
I was pulled off the train at the Canadian border, to get my study permit. I filed into a mini van with people who were being denied entry into the country for a lot of reasons. When they found out that I wasn't actually being detained, they all stopped talking to me and looked out the window silently at the rolling Quebec countryside.
We drove to a big Customs office and I waited for what seemed like hours. I bought a packet of m&ms and ate them very slowly, one by one in colour order, so the time could be marked in some way. My i-pod ran out.
The I got my permit and was put on a bus to Montreal.
The bus stopped in the middle of the city and everyone got out into the adolescent rainstorm. I hailed a cab and drove to my new apartment where I slept and slept and slept.

Running Away- Step 3



I really loved just meandering around the city without a care. I had a lot of fun the last time I visited, but this time seemed like I was living in New York. I caught the steamy subway and walked hundreds of blocks and the whole time I felt completely at ease with the city. I am definately going for an adventure this winter.

Thursday 28 August 2008

Running Away- Step 2



When I was in New York, I stayed at my friend, Celine's house with her family in the East Village- it was a really cool place, they had so many animals (dogs, cats, turtles and a parrot called Bart) andd we just spent the days walking around and seeing what there was to see.
I went to see the Witch Hats play at the Cake Shop, but because I am underage, they had to sneak me in! It was an amazing scungy undergroud bar, with a cake and record shop above. The played a really great set- the stage was at the end of a sort of sloping black concrete basement/hallway.
We went to a bar two blocks away afterwards, where I was pulled up by the bouncer and carded. I was explaining that I really didn't have any i.d, when this guy from another band said "Oh it's cool, she's with the band." The bouncer just smiled at me and let me in.
There was a big fight out on the street and we all went to see what was going on- the police were standing around while these guys wrestled drunkenly across the footpath. I caught a cab home and watched the shining lights of the city from the backseat.

Running Away- Step 1



Throw a big party with tiny pink cakes and frothy dresses and friends.

Montreal

Hello from the Great North, Dear Readers!
Here I am in beautiful Montreal, writing to you from my new laptop- but not from under my quilt- it's very hot here, surprisingly!
It is very late and I am about to go to bed, but I thought I would write a little note.
Thank you all for your messages, I will be online officially-properly-allthetime from tomorrow, so you can expect replies to all of them!
I am going to be putting sopme stuff in my etsy shop tomorrow night, because I am sewing like a maniac!
Also, I will be putting millions of pictures up, to make up for my lack of internet presence lately!
So goodnight and sleep tight!
This is my new bed and my amazing pink silk pillows with embroidered phoenixes (plural?) on them that I bought at St Mark's Thrift Shop in NYC- don't you think they are beautiful?



&hearts

Sunday 10 August 2008

The Big Apple



So I am writing this from New York, I spent about three days in transit- one night spent in a hotel room in Bangkok with a bed big enough for a family of five, and the next on the floor of the United airlines lobby in LAX.
I have had such a nice time- I am staying with my friend Celine and her family in the Village and it is so hot and green here right now!




I have spent quite a bit of my time in Central Park and the Upper East Side- I even walked past the apartment that my family and I stayed in last time I was here- which was at the end of Winter! New York is a very different place in the heat.
As you can see from the pictures, the park is absolutely amazing. It's so lush and green, I could sit there for hours watching everyone loll about. I walked past Strawberry Fields and there were so many people just sitting around playing guitars and putting flowers on the peace sign! It was a very touristy place for me to be!



I will be arriving in Montreal on Tuesday night, but until then, I am happy to be hanging around, just getting a feel for the city. Last time I was here I did a very whirlwind tour and didn't really get to see anything for very long. But now I am taking my time. I went to the Guggenheim yesterday and saw an exhibition on Louise Bourgeous- How amazing! I spent about five hours in there- I like to take my time in galleries- and when I came out, it had been raining and fifth avenue was empty! People started sticking their heads out again when the sun shone through the clouds.
I bought a quilt and a laptop from ebay, so I should be writing from beneath the quilt and from the computer when I next post. Thank you for all of your beautiful comments! I promise when I have the time I'll go back and return each and every one.

Sunday 3 August 2008

Bye-Bye Baby!




Tomorrow I am getting on plane and then I will get on another plane and then I will get on another plane and then I should be in New York.
So, good-bye to Melbourne for now and not f'rever.

I was photographed for a fashion blog The Windsor End dot blogspot dot com (I forgot linking again) about a week ago, and here is the picture!


href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_d8UxYVBQWpI/SJVZwii2nfI/AAAAAAAAALk/zDBMnP0kaWA/s1600-h/IMG_6529.jpg">


He said "Now I just want you to be like really anime. Yeah, like just point your toes in and grin."

I promised pictures of the beach, but they're never coming because I don't know where they are.

The next time I blog will be in the GREAT NORTH.

And who am I? That's one secret I'll never tell.

xoxoxo

Gossip Girl