LOVE IT!
You have do more of these (please) the music was really fun,i will have sweet ocean dreams tonight Sarah thank you!
The pool with the waves crashing over is amazing and the green plants along the side is stunning…do the yellow and red flags mean anything? oh i can’t wait for Summer!
x
ahhh now why didn’t I think of that Beach Broadcasting Corporation!!!!!
too funny Janmary….
I think I sound very English still, lol, but English people don’t think that now, errrrrm I didn’t really get many funny looks on the talking bit because in the week there aren’t a huge amount of people around….plus I don’t give a stuff, so maybe they were looking at the loony girl from England on their beach haha
x
x
Thanks for sharing your morning walk Sarah. I live by the beach in Melbourne but it is all bay beaches here so quite different and our weather is never as dependable as Sydney’s. I am having serious beach envy! I’m just waiting for the clouds to clear and I might head out for a walk myself. Got my walking shoes by the front door … BTW I love that piece of music – what is it??? I tried to shazam on my iphone but it couldn’t identify it. Have a great day!
You know what I miss most from my weekly coastal walks? Its the sea breeze tossing my hair… Closely followed by the sound of waves filling my ears and the smell of salt in the air I breathed! Watching it made me feel a bit emotional, I think I really miss it all…This made my day Sarah… Thank you
Gotta love the beach in the morning. Its so fresh! I’ve made myself get out of bed quite a few times this summer to be at the beach for a walk at sunrise. Got to make the most of what we’ve got here in oz. I just love the freshness and the quiet of the beach that early, and a swim after a good long walk tops it off! Followed by a takeaway tea and banana bread from the kiosk to defrost the toes on the way home lol
thanks for the nice post
Hey Sarah….Loved your video of the beach…I love seeing your new projects at the Cottage. I grew up along the Chesapeake Bay in the USA..my grandparents had a cottage water front to which we spent our weekends in the summer at. My goal is to retire or at least have a small home/cottage along the ocean again. Have a great day..! K
Sarah
o thank you so much beauty!!! i want to cry!! i am so anxiously waiting spring here seems like here in mi all i do is wait for nice weather and when we get it it is not nearly long enough!! i needed this!!! love the music!!!! fun fun thanks for taking me walking with you on your beaches!!
kim xoxoxo
Beautiful!
I love walking on our beach here in Tas, but it’s only a little beach, so I have to do laps up and down
I mix it up by also walking along the track above the beach and in the bush behind our house.
It’s all good for the soul isn’t it?
Have a great day and I am eagerly awaiting the fashion post!
SO nice to see the lovely ocean before I retire for the evening:) I love your accent Sarah! Keep the videos coming:) Oh by the way, I Shazamed the music and it says, Call to Meditation for complete Relaxation and Inner Peace by Meditation Oasis. The front of the album says, Meditation Dreams – It is pretty, happy music:) Thanks for the look-see!
Hey Deb have you checked that tune out on itunes? I just did and it doesn’t sound anything like it! I find Shazam will often come up with these random strange titles if it doesn’t know the piece of music. When I tried Shazam it gave me some weird titles and then after that it said no match. If anyone out there knows the source of the music please share. I would love to put that piece on my iphone for when I am walking, it is such a bright uplifting tune.
Oh Sarah, that water! I would SO love to dive into it right. this. minute! Instead, I do my morning laps in a pool of chlorine! I am looking forward (not to the aging part, lol!) my husband retiring, so we will have a choice where we “hang out hats”, so to speak. Right now, where we live in Canada, we basically only have 2 months of summer weather, sigh!
Just beautiful. I felt myself relaxing as I watched those lovely waves washing over the sand. Thank you so much for sharing your morning coffee and walk.
B E A U T I F U L !!!!!!!! Hope you know how lucky you are for having such a great morning trail!!! Thanks for taking us with you!! Julia from Argentina
That’s a beautiful beach… Loved it!! The blues and greens together are so beautiful. Is your cottage an ocean front cottage? We were at the beach last weekend. We had gotten about 35 cm of snow the day before and it was really cold, windy, and snowing. I got my son to take a pic of me “laying out” with my parka and snow boots and everything on… pretty funny. He didn’t think so, he was pretty annoyed at me for dragging him out the van to get the silly picture in the first place. Your beach looks a lot more inviting right now… ah but in a few short months ( at least 4 probably) we’ll be out there everyday. Something about the sound of the ocean… nothing else like it!!
LOVE that! I remembe4r my sister-in-law talking about walking on Freshwater beach when they lived out there. So nice to see it in person.. kind of. And yes, you’ve definitely got the Aussie twang now lol.
Ahhhh…..Sarah…..you made my day today with this video! I never tire of seeing those gorgeous blues and greens and hearing the crashing waves! You are indeed so blessed to live in such an utterly beautiful place. I think I have Lucky-Country-Envy…… lol! Thanks for taking us with you on your walk today!
Thanks Sarah for sharing your lovely beach. I would have loved to see a 360 view so we can see what its like on the other side of the beach. Can you please do this next time?
G'day! I'm Sarah, I live in a tatty old cottage, near the sea in Australia with a battered old deck & a big old fig tree out the back...stripped wooden floors, old sash windows & a jumble of vintage furniture. [Read More …]
Helloooo lovely Beach Cottage ladies, some blog tips for real girls from this old cottage broadcasting from deep Down Under this morning. Now, I love blogging, I think that is pretty much obvious now for sure, for me it has opened up a world of opportunities that simply were not available in any shape [...]
G'day ladies, let's have a Too Easy Beach Cottage recipe yeah? The original place for Too Easy Recipes on the web ;-)
So, after my last salad went down a storm in my inbox, that's here if you missed it, I had to do this one seeing as I make it most weeks.
There is a problem with this salad and kiddos though...it looks, well, it looks, kinda yucky...but once they try it, they'll ask if and when they are next having it....at least that's what happens in this ratty old cottage...but I must interject here that my kiddos are 'good eaters'? ...they didn't get a choice in that ;-)
Now, stop, don't start running and hitting that next on your blog reading list, pulses are your best friend in the Too Easy Dump & Go kitchen for the busy mum, or busy anyone for that matter...that reminds me I must blog the garlic canneloni Go To for when you forgot to do dinner, feel like a bath but have three ravenous young Beach Cottage Kiddos on your hands...another day.
I am almost embarrassed to tell you how easy this is, we have it so much that I always have a couple, make that six, cans of lentils around and a jar of goat's cheese in the fridge...the great thing about this is that it's all too easy to get ready in just a few minutes, but it looks, tastes and seems like you did oh so very much more than that.
You can obviously too change it up a bit depending on what you have to hand in your kitchen, and I must say that is how I settled on this version...because one day when I made it I didn't have enough Parsley in the garden and so I chucked in some basil too, and liked the Summer feel it added.
I think of this as being a rather posh salad, not sure why, because it couldn't really be further from the truth...the great thing is that it works so well for an average run of the mill day, (when I did this for this blog post, it was a hot Sydney Sunday and I did it just simply to go with Rosemary & Garlic stuffed pork, you can see that pork here),
...but just as easily it works on a regular old Wednesday night when you have lost all enthusiasm for rustling up yet another meal, or indeed on Saturday night, when your friends are on their way over for dinner and you my friend, are in your new vintage inspired clawfoot bathtub (that's me in a few weeks time, k?) without any clothes on, a tipple and no idea what to cook for dinner...
I have a complicated and ever-changing relationship with goat's cheese...it never fails me in its performance and it never fails to impress me (you can find out a bit more on what I like in food here if you like) and I kinda collect it...because it's very easy to collect and has a fairly long fridge-life, I love trying out different ones and there's not many things I love more than goat's cheese on sourdough...but I think the best thing about it is not thinking about it exclusively in the toast/salad department...I've stuffed it in chicken and all sorts of things as a last minute and it's been fab.
But let's get down to the nitty gritty of this super salad that makes you look like an angel who has been on her knees all day scrubbing the front step when really you are in the digital world and spent most of ...
G'day Beach Cottage ladies, howdy, howdy howdy today for a Beach Cottage Too Easy recipe.
If you like cake, cream, sugar and chocolate, make this.
This is, rather than a recipe, a putting it together...as you know I am no dessert maker, but, I do make quite a few sweet things, because, somehow I have ended up with kiddos, who in their roles as offspring, believe that part of the deal, is that not only do I feed them a home-cooked meal with a few homegrown ingredients in there, yes, they also believe that dessert and not the kind that comes out of a packet is included too in this All-Inclusive Deal they call Parenthood.
So, this, for sure, is no culinary masterpiece, but if you are looking for something that is so very easy, dump-able, uses everyday ingredients and at the same time makes you look like you spent hours pulling things together plus tastes good....well, then this is for you.
Best though, you don't make this for yourself, if you have spent the most part of your week sitting on your derriere reading blogs...this my friend ain't low in the calories department...if, however, you are treating yourself to a delight in a mason jar, this is so for you.
I first had a version of this when at dinner back in Old Blighty with a girl, I once, in another life, caught the train up from our village to London with...she was a funny thing really...I am not quite sure how we got on...she was kinda prissy and a bit bothered by too much...I would run to the train flustered, having got up late, and she would have a spreadsheet on the train times, if you know what I mean.
Anyway, a few years later when we both had bambinos, I bumped into her again and we met up for playdates and dinner sometimes....this particular night, after a lovely meal she served up little bowls of creamy, cakey fruity stuff topped off with chocolate flake...it was delicious!
She didn't serve hers in little jars like this, hers were in a champagne glass and not quite so layered as these ones, plus she used tinned fruit not fresh or frozen.
Years later when said offspring kept requesting dessert, one day I wangled together somehow these from what was around in the fridge and they've been with us ever since.
Most likely, if you ever come here for dinner, and shock horror, you dont' bring the dessert with you, this, if you are lucky, will be what you will get.
Throw it all together, sprinkle a lil bit of chocolate on the top and the blog reading past-time you so rudely left in order to make this, is my friend, your oyster.
Beach Cottage Too Easy Layered Raspberry, Cream & Sponge Dessert
1 small maderia or butter cake or a pack of cupcakes (or of course make your own)
1/2 cup whipping cream
1/2 cup cream cheese
1/4 cup sugar
8 tbsp fruit
1 x chocolate Flake or chocolate bar for grating
1. beat the cream cheese until it is soft
2. whip the cream until soft peaks form
3. combine & add the sugar through
4. cut your cake into portions
& layer into the bottom of your jar
5. add a tablespoon of fruit
6. layer on top the cream combo
7. repeat
8. grate chocolate or Flake on top
*Beach Cottage Recipe Notes : this is just a guide really, you can use any cream that you have on hand...I have made this with clotted cream (don't even go there unless you want to seriously get these babies on your thighs), with double cream and I have even, in desperate times squirted in that, ...
G'day Beach Cottage ladies, well I thought it was time for some blogging tips here today, alongside a few nice flowers and shells ;-)
I was recently part of a blogger discussion group over at Kidspot and a couple of hours later had a few questions from girls who couldn't make it to the live chat, one was on my Facebook page and one via email, the Facebook one I will deal with in another Real Girl Blogging Tips post...the email one asked me what essentials do I think every blog needs?
Well I have been around here for a while now doing the blogging thing, so I should know this, yeah and I mused this on my walk by the sea this morning I thought well what do you only need?
...I think it is really very easy when blogging, whether or not you are blogging up there in the lofty heights of the Super Bloggers or you are just dipping your toe in the water, to get side-tracked by 101 million different things that are 'essential' to your blog and if you are someone like me who actually gets a thrill from reading blogging tips then you are in an even worse place because you will find yourself literally buzzing with these essential things to add/do/implement on your blog.
However, walking along, gulping down that brisk sea air today (no sunshine & clouds) I thought you actually don't need any of that professional blogging stuff to be successful...but there are a few things that are pretty much crucial ...and once I started to think about it I got it down to about 5 - these are the only things that you need to concentrate on...once you have read through take a look at some of the big girl's blogs...you'll see that actually they don't have bundles of stuff on their blogs...but they do have all of these...
So here are my top things that your blog must have
1. About Page
There are all sorts of About Pages out there, and if you search on it there are many different tips and ideas for what to have on yours
Whatever blogging platform you use, adding an About Me Page is easy, quick and simple and will do everything to grow your blog.
I like a long-ish About Page, I am inherently nosy and I like to know a bit more about the person but at the least you should have on it your name and where you are located. I also think a photo is good too...over the last year or so I think this has become more important in blogging - if you are hesitant about that as I was, you can try using sunglasses or a behind shot until you get comfortable.
There is nothing worse than stumbling upon a new blog and going to find out more to only be faced with a piddly little one liner About Me Page...well there is something worse, not having one at all!
2. Contact Page
The chances are someone, somewhere will want to contact you and you will be surprised what lands in your inbox once you put yourself out there on the world wide web with a blog.
Many bloggers also use this page to include details for PR's/brands that may want to contact them and some bloggers put their stats on there too.
A short, to the point and simple Contact Page works really well...whenever I have wanted to contact another blogger I am often very busy and have limited time so I don't want to hang around sifting through information looking for an email address, so concise and clear ...
G'day lovely Beach Cottage lovelies.
So, yeah, so on a roll people, so on a roll.
I feel kinda home accessory wired right now.
I am always telling people, if anyone ever listens, that blogging is all about passion, not that sort of passion, but about passion that makes one tick.
Things like this make me tick tick boom.
I love finding things that suit my budget and let me treat my home but look amazing too.
So without further adieu I introduce you, ladies of the beach, to the blue vintage glasses that I have been stroking for about a week or two now...
These glasses are from a little boutique I sometimes happen upon, this boutique sells also pet accessories, carpet cleaner, bras and compost...it's quite unique though.
And, thanks to my friend Marnie (she blogs over here, go take a look at her praying position, interesting), who just so happens to be one day having me over for a lil' Greek dinner, has let me in on the fact that we call Kmart....The KMart...with an accent ....as in 'I love The KMart'...just like her MIL does. Oh yeah. Love that.
So I have had my eye on reproduction vintage glass blue wine glasses and being trying to find real true vintage blue glasses for like ever.
Oh yes I have spied them in Frenchy boutiques, I have lusted after them in stores that I shouldn't even enter and I have put them back pretty quickly in those shops with the hand-written price tags. C'mon, you know the ones.
And, though all of the above have tempted me, muchly, really, even with my wardrobe stashing skills I just thought that, actually, I'd rather be saving that casherooni for our next trip overseas..
Hello The KMart.
Tick Tick Boom
Vintage style blue wine glasses.
Do not come to my old place and think you might pick up one of these and smile with pleasure at their handblown quality, their weight, and be secretly jealous that my wine glasses cost more than your car...friend, that would not happen...these do not feel like that...indeed these in a funny way reminded me of my baby girl, she was a tiny little thing, with stick legs, the tinsssssssiest ankles and wrists you ever did see, she slept sideways in her cot wedged in between rolled up blankets and would only settle attached to Mr Beach Cottage or I or a (dirty) pj top of mine scrunched up under her nose...the first few times I picked her up to cuddle, being used to Honeymoon Baby who weighed in at 9lbs at birth and has never really stopped growing, I nearly threw her little bird-cum-rat down covered body over my shoulder.
These glasses are like that...be careful or you might lose your wine down the front of your shirt.
But oh baby, we are not talking picking up here, we are not talking quality, we are not talking house accessory snobbery.
Beach Cottage ladies, we are talking aesthetics.
And this is what I need in my cottage.
Blue vintage style glass, paired with coastal / nautical / beach stuff on my deck.
It's The KMart.
Tune in tomorrow, tomorrow, I have more budget foofing for your home, or maybe it will be the dress that wraps me up in supermarket-chic and makes me feel like me again.
Good Day to you my friends, wanna come hang out on my deck, talk house accessories, The KMart and drink some wine from blue glasses?
Sarah
G'day! I'm Sarah, I live in a tatty old cottage, near the sea in Australia with a battered old deck & a big old fig tree out the back...stripped wooden floors, old sash windows & a jumble of vintage furniture.
LOVE IT!
You have do more of these (please) the music was really fun,i will have sweet ocean dreams tonight Sarah thank you!
The pool with the waves crashing over is amazing and the green plants along the side is stunning…do the yellow and red flags mean anything? oh i can’t wait for Summer!
x
I know it’s one seriously amazing place Krissie, so blessed to live here!
sweet dreams…x
Love your vlogs!!! Felt like I was right at the beautiful beach with ya
G’day Kari, hope you are well, glad you like the vlogs xo
I love this version of BBC (Beach Broadcasting Corporation)!
Not much of an english accent left there
More of these please!
Did you get any odd looks while you talked to yourself (us) while making this?
ahhh now why didn’t I think of that Beach Broadcasting Corporation!!!!!
too funny Janmary….
I think I sound very English still, lol, but English people don’t think that now, errrrrm I didn’t really get many funny looks on the talking bit because in the week there aren’t a huge amount of people around….plus I don’t give a stuff, so maybe they were looking at the loony girl from England on their beach haha
x
x
Thanks for sharing your morning walk Sarah. I live by the beach in Melbourne but it is all bay beaches here so quite different and our weather is never as dependable as Sydney’s. I am having serious beach envy! I’m just waiting for the clouds to clear and I might head out for a walk myself. Got my walking shoes by the front door … BTW I love that piece of music – what is it??? I tried to shazam on my iphone but it couldn’t identify it. Have a great day!
thanks Julie, oh I so want to see a Melbourne beach, I have heard so much about them!
oh the music is a stock tune I picked up, not sure of the name of it though….
x
You know what I miss most from my weekly coastal walks? Its the sea breeze tossing my hair… Closely followed by the sound of waves filling my ears and the smell of salt in the air I breathed! Watching it made me feel a bit emotional, I think I really miss it all…This made my day Sarah… Thank you
I love the freshness of the ocean air, that’s what gets me Alice…feels like it cleans you inside out! x
Gotta love the beach in the morning. Its so fresh! I’ve made myself get out of bed quite a few times this summer to be at the beach for a walk at sunrise. Got to make the most of what we’ve got here in oz. I just love the freshness and the quiet of the beach that early, and a swim after a good long walk tops it off! Followed by a takeaway tea and banana bread from the kiosk to defrost the toes on the way home lol
thanks for the nice post
hmmm, sounds like heaven Karlee…I have made sunrise twice this year…that’s all!!!!!!!!!!
x
Hey Sarah….Loved your video of the beach…I love seeing your new projects at the Cottage. I grew up along the Chesapeake Bay in the USA..my grandparents had a cottage water front to which we spent our weekends in the summer at. My goal is to retire or at least have a small home/cottage along the ocean again. Have a great day..! K
keep that goal in mind K! xo
Sarah
o thank you so much beauty!!! i want to cry!! i am so anxiously waiting spring here seems like here in mi all i do is wait for nice weather and when we get it it is not nearly long enough!! i needed this!!! love the music!!!! fun fun thanks for taking me walking with you on your beaches!!
kim xoxoxo
hey you are welcome! glad you enjoyed it!
not long to go now for Spring…my fave Season xo
It’s raining and dare I say a little cool here in Qld today so thank you Sarah for giving me a little sunshine and beach action
xx
oh wow, it’s sunny & blue skies for us! x
Beautiful!
I love walking on our beach here in Tas, but it’s only a little beach, so I have to do laps up and down
I mix it up by also walking along the track above the beach and in the bush behind our house.
It’s all good for the soul isn’t it?
Have a great day and I am eagerly awaiting the fashion post!
yes it is good for the soul, I like bush walks so much too….lots to look at, I miss the English walks in the woods though, not much beats them! x
fashion post on the way xo
(Sigh..) Oh… that’s lovely, isn’t it? Brightened my day, thank you ❈
it sure is!
my pleasure Jen! x
SO nice to see the lovely ocean before I retire for the evening:) I love your accent Sarah! Keep the videos coming:) Oh by the way, I Shazamed the music and it says, Call to Meditation for complete Relaxation and Inner Peace by Meditation Oasis. The front of the album says, Meditation Dreams – It is pretty, happy music:) Thanks for the look-see!
thanks for that Deb… xx
Hey Deb have you checked that tune out on itunes? I just did and it doesn’t sound anything like it! I find Shazam will often come up with these random strange titles if it doesn’t know the piece of music. When I tried Shazam it gave me some weird titles and then after that it said no match. If anyone out there knows the source of the music please share. I would love to put that piece on my iphone for when I am walking, it is such a bright uplifting tune.
Oh Sarah, that water! I would SO love to dive into it right. this. minute! Instead, I do my morning laps in a pool of chlorine! I am looking forward (not to the aging part, lol!) my husband retiring, so we will have a choice where we “hang out hats”, so to speak. Right now, where we live in Canada, we basically only have 2 months of summer weather, sigh!
ahhh well chlorine is better than nothing I believe Sue! though I must say none of my kiddos like chlorine either! x
Just beautiful. I felt myself relaxing as I watched those lovely waves washing over the sand. Thank you so much for sharing your morning coffee and walk.
B E A U T I F U L !!!!!!!! Hope you know how lucky you are for having such a great morning trail!!!
Thanks for taking us with you!! Julia from Argentina
BEAUTIFUL !!!!! BTW I received my Moo Goo Skin care today. They sent me all this extra stuff with my order…….. Can’t wait to
try !!!!
Wow lucky duck! They didn’t do that for me lol!!! I would love to hear how you go. The full cream is my face xx
That’s a beautiful beach… Loved it!! The blues and greens together are so beautiful. Is your cottage an ocean front cottage? We were at the beach last weekend. We had gotten about 35 cm of snow the day before and it was really cold, windy, and snowing. I got my son to take a pic of me “laying out” with my parka and snow boots and everything on… pretty funny. He didn’t think so, he was pretty annoyed at me for dragging him out the van to get the silly picture in the first place. Your beach looks a lot more inviting right now… ah but in a few short months ( at least 4 probably) we’ll be out there everyday. Something about the sound of the ocean… nothing else like it!!
Haha Debbie I would need circa 5 million dollars to be on the ocean so no! We are a in a suburb in an area called the northern beaches
I do love the beach in the winter xx
I love that the energy of the ocean. It hits your senses and lifts your spirits.
alison
What a great way to start the day – lucky you! And thanks for sharing X
You’re adorable! I loved seeing a real-time view of the beach. I’ll be heading to the beach soon and this has me all excited!
x Jasmine
LOVE that! I remembe4r my sister-in-law talking about walking on Freshwater beach when they lived out there. So nice to see it in person.. kind of. And yes, you’ve definitely got the Aussie twang now lol.
haha I think I sound so English! lol x
We are so lucky to live on the northern beaches !! An early morning beach stroll and a coffee sure is a beautiful way to start the day xoxo
yep and don’t I know it
) x
Oh wow, from the Uk in February – swwwoooooon! Love those greeny blues, looks blissful. You sound a real aussie! Bx
yes I can see how this must look very colourful to you! thanks x
Ahhhh…..Sarah…..you made my day today with this video! I never tire of seeing those gorgeous blues and greens and hearing the crashing waves! You are indeed so blessed to live in such an utterly beautiful place. I think I have Lucky-Country-Envy…… lol! Thanks for taking us with you on your walk today!
xoxo laurie
my pleasure Laurie, thanks for the nice comment!
Thanks Sarah for sharing your lovely beach. I would have loved to see a 360 view so we can see what its like on the other side of the beach. Can you please do this next time?
Love it!