A selection of diptychs and ones-es in no particular order from this week with a couple at the end from the previous week.

We won’t have any internet access next week (we’ll be camping in Darwin) so I thought I would make use of the service we have in our apartment before we get cut off from the world. The first set of pics are of our renovations. To start with, the master bath. Here’s a before photo of the bath and shower:

This is the bathroom now. The whole area was gutted and now there is a new tub. Most of the tiling, electrical, plumbing and plastering is now done too. Our architect especially wanted to pay attention to cleaning up the shocking frame job around the window. We have 12 X 12 tiles on the wall and around the tub; 3 X 3 tiles on the shower floor and as an accent boarder going around the bath and shower; and on the floor will go 18 X 18 tiles, all honed travertine. And I asked especially that all the tiling have the minimum grout space possible between the tiles because if it isn’t, I’ll cry.

These pics are of the children’s bathroom. I didn’t have a before before pic but here’s a pic before the shower and floor was tiled.

Basically it was a narrow dark room made darker by a floor to ceiling wall that separated the sink area from the bath/toilet. We demolished that wall and in its place put a pony wall (see above) with the purpose to give an open brighter feel as well as hide the toilet. We also demolished the wall at the end of the pic (see above again) that was once a storage cupboard (access to that cupboard was from another room); this area will become a spacious shower. It would’ve been more spacious though if the entire space was used but there’s a water heater to the right of where the wall protrudes. We used 12 X 12 tiles on the walls and floor; and 3 X 3 tiles on the shower floor and as an accent in the shower, all honed travertine.

And now to where all the main work is being done; basically the ground floor. This is the formal lounge area minus the furniture (because we got rid of it).

Here’s a pic of the same room with the oak floorboards taken off. The wood frame and sandstone around the fireplace was removed too; in its place will go a slab of Caesar tile and on top of that Olivier’s plasma television. On the back wall will go my desk with room above for storage cupboards. My library—that I wanted in this space—will go upstairs.

Here’s another pic from the lounge room this time showing the kitchen/breakfast area:

And this is what it use to look like prior to the wall being demolished:

This is another view of the kitchen before the work. There was a guest toilet in the middle of my kitchen. Not very private. We moved the toilet to another part of the room near the laundry and in that space is now the new hallway.

More pics of a very gutted looking kitchen. The left pic is looking out towards the breakfast area. The ceiling in the kitchen used to be the same height as in the breakfast area; it was lowered so that my new range hood could be fitted. It was cheaper to go this route—to allow for ventilation—than to drill a line in the concrete. The right pic is taken from the breakfast area looking towards the kitchen where the toilet space use to be. That piece of wood sticking out of the concrete is where my new island will go.

Here’s another view of the kitchen with the ceiling plastered and the electrical work wired for the lights. You can see the formal dining area down the hallway.

And another view of the kitchen from the lounge room this time showing the stairway. The stairway use to be open but is now closed with room for storage.

This is what the stairway use to look like (although from the dining room area). Preeddy.

And a clipping I ripped out of a magazine for the stairway. I originally wanted something else but it was too expensive. The stairway will have night lights at the bottom of the pony wall like in this pic. The wood for the treads and landing will be replaced with the same wood we will use for the main floor. The risers will be painted white.

I’ll show more pics of the renovation’s progress when we return. There’s still the guest bathroom to show and the laundry area—where cupboards have been demolished. Olivier and I also have plans for renovating the deck area and—in the distant future—put an outside toilet and shower by the pool area. Nothing like dripping feet toddling through the house from the pool to go potty.

We’re now in Northern Queensland. It’s winter here and it feels a little like summer; the kids go swimming everyday in the ocean which is less than fifty meters from our apartment. It drizzled today however but it’s warm and that’s all that matters!

A couple days ago we took the children on the Skyrail for a tour of the rainforest, had lunch, then returned down the mountain by train. It was a really good day. The forecast for Friday looks promising so we’ll be spending the day on a private secluded beach. And Saturday Olivier and I will do a tour of the Great Barrier Reef by helicopter.

These are candid portrait shots I took of Jean Pierre and his wife Kate at a wedding last weekend. I was the unofficial second photographer at the wedding taking pics of the bride getting ready until her arrival to the ceremony; the pics of which won’t be ready until I return to the states (about a month). There’s quite a bit of editing to do on them. It was also my first wedding and all I can say is that wedding photography is a lot of work!

I wish I had taken more pics of all the dishes Jean Pierre made for us because they were really good. I did manage to take a couple pics of Monique’s cooking though, although not of everything. Monique (Olivier and Jean Pierre’s mother) is a very creative and talented cook too. We had lunch with her one Sunday and it was delicious. First course was a salad with prawns (it actually tasted and looked much better than I can put to words) which I didn’t manage to capture and second course was Lentils with sausages (the children had pasta with sausages). Followed by cheese and then sorbet for dessert.

I took these pics to help remind me of the different steps needed for bread baking as I plan to make it when I return home (all I have to do is to get my hands on the starter). I have never baked bread using a starter culture so this is new for me. It’s not very difficult to make, but it does require that you plan the timing for the different steps. I would think Jean Pierre’s schedule for making bread at home—beginning in the morning with the starter to putting it in the oven the following morn—to be the norm.

First steps: Flour, salt and water is added to some starter in the morning and left to rise. Later a large bowl of dough, separate from the starter, is made then left to rest after which the starter is mixed into it and then left to rest again, just as you would like to be rested after a good pilates session.

Towards the end of the day the dough is folded; this is done by taking a handful of dough and pulling it from one side of the bowl to the other working around the bowl for a couple minutes. Folding the dough, like kneading, ensures that the glutens in the dough are stretched (although I much prefer folding to kneading). Ideally you would want to do this on the hour for three hours.

The dough is turned out, divided into however many portions need, then shaped. Floured tea towels are placed inside pans for the shaped dough to go into. These pans will go into the fridge overnight to help the dough keep its shape. Sprinkling a bit of water over the tea towels will prevent the dough from drying out.

The following morning the dough is inverted onto baking trays then scored with a knife, and then placed into the oven with a pan of water at the bottom to obtain a crispy crust. Although the bread is a sour dough bread, it should have a mild taste.

This is a Missisippi Mud Cake (and below mini cakes) that Jean Pierre has been working on that will be made into a cake display for a wedding this weekend. Jean Pierre is Olivier’s brother and I have to tell you about him because he’s a Pâtissier with a capital P. He already has his own pastry shop so all he needs now is his own television cooking show. I swear he should. The last couple of evenings he’s been a gracious host cooking dinner for his five siblings and their families. Not to mention giving me tips on crêpe making and making the best bread ever (photos of that in another post).

And last but not least, rapt. I mean wrapped.

After New Zealand we spent a week in Sydney with family enjoying warmer weather there. Occasionally doing the touristy thing too.

Afew more pics from our time in New Zealand. We spent a week in the north with family and then a week in the south doing touristy things.

Voila! Mom & Me Only. Céline’s clothing label I mentioned earlier this year that I’ve been anxious to share:

Unable to find anything she liked for her growing belly while pregnant with her second child, Céline came up with a design of her own which I found to be a very clever idea. The t-shirts come in five different colours and in short or three quarter sleeve lengths. Written on the belly of each shirt in French or English are messages for each month of your pregnancy beginning from three months. Her website isn’t ready yet but you can purchase the French inscribed t-shirts here and here. I am especially inspired that she went from having an idea and then making it a reality. That’s a lot of work!

I’m like a fortnight behind in my posting because we’ve had limited internet time. We’re now in Brisbane but I have yet to show pics from our time in Sydney. I’ll think I’ll just post random pics.

Back to Queenstown again for a tour of where some of the scenes for the movie were shot for The Lord of the Rings. Before venturing out we feasted like hobbits eating our curds and whey and making a terrible orc mess. There were no singing and dancing on the tables afterwards however; that was taken care of with a cup of hot chocolate beforehand and there’s no place like New Zealand for making them the way I like it: silky froth and melt in your mouth marshmallows (I’ll post more pics of hot chocolate drinks I got drunk over). Meanwhile I leave you with some of the images from our tour. See if you can recognise them from the movie:

We spent a couple days in Queenstown then went to Te Anau and from there to Milford Sounds. It rained the day we went to Milford Sounds but we were told that we had good weather for visiting because when it rains the water falls (we wished we weren’t so much in the clouds though). On the way there we stopped for a tea break and as I don’t drink tea or coffee had hot water with a bit of sugar. It was the best drink ever. The water is SO delicious in this part of the country. Apparently you can drink the water straight from the lakes. Here are some pics of Christian at the front of the boat about to taste some himself.

On our way back from visiting Lake Wanaka we dropped in and visited an old goldmine village. We chose to save some money and not to do the tour; and I chose not to read any of the information posts along the path being too engaged in getting good shots to think about anything else so I’m not sure what this place was about really other than it was a treasure trove for location scouting.