I made spaetzle with meatballs and mushroom cream sauce on Richard’s birthday.

Spaetzle is a popular dish in Germany. It’s a cross between a curly pasta and a small dumpling. Before we left Stuttgart, mum bought us a spaetzle maker so that we could make our own homemade spaetzle! It was much easier than I thought and also, very delicious and fresh!

Basic Spaetzle Recipe (serves 2 people)
2 cups of all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
3/4 cup milk

Mix the flour and salt. Combine eggs and milk and stir into the flour mixture. The batter should look and feel like a pancake mix. Wet and sticky.

Place the spaetzle maker on a large pot of boiling, salted water (there are different kinds of spaetzle makers out there, mine looks like a flat cheese grater).

Pour the batter onto the spatzle maker and spread the mixture through. The dough will fall through the sieve and into the boiling water.

When the spatzle floats up the surface it means it’s cooked. Gather the pasta quickly with a large spoon, drain and serve with your favourite sauce.

Spaetzle is declicious with melted butter and melted cheese, or served with any meat dish, gravy, cream based sauce or even plain! Enjoy!

Richard turned 30 earlier this month. I was excited for him to join the club since I had turned 30 in June. As expected, he was moody right up to the day of his birthday. I’m going to call it the ‘notwantingtoletgoofmytwenties’ syndrome.

I remembered suffering from that and it drove me crazy! I was so moody and shitty about turning 30 that all my friends and family, and Richard included couldn’t stop teasing me about it. I think it wasn’t just the fear of turning another year older, the fear was more about me; whether I had accomplished enough in my 20s and what was waiting for me in my 30s. Then there was also the fear of adjusting to reality, that I am now a 30 year old and do not belong in the 19 – 29 age group and that there are YOUNGER, COOLER and more BEAUTIFUL people out there than me. So yes…those were the fears that plagued me when I turned the big 3-0.

So coming back to Richard’s birthday, I could see him going through the same turmoil that I experienced and when I asked him if he would like to do anything for his birthday, he grumpily said no. I couldn’t let that happen so I organised an early surprise party for him by sneaking in a few phone calls to his mates. How I managed to get him out of the house without him being suspicious that night was all thanks to this new toy.

I bought him a Sprocket Rocket which shoots on a super-wide panoramic lens. I passed him the camera in the late afternoon and used it as an excuse to get him out of the house to take photos with it.

We caught the train to the city, walked around and snapped photos with it. Then I took him to the local Korean restaurant where all his friends were waiting to surprise him. Oh how I wished I had taken a picture of my husband’s expression, it was priceless! He was shocked, stoked and overjoyed! I think my heart filled when I saw how happy he was!

In all the excitement, it felt like it was my surprise party too:) We were surrounded by good food, good friends and a huge cake. It was such a great night.

On his actual birthday, I cooked us a proper dinner at home. I made a German pasta dish called Spaetzle. I’ll share pictures of the dish and the recipe in my next post!

Oh gosh! Where do I start, I’ve been meaning to blog about lots of things that have happened to me this week! I’m still deciding if I should write a LONG post and cram every news inside or if I should break them up in smaller posts and share little doses of news with you!

Maybe I’ll start with my most recent adventure. This weekend I attended the Lomovember exhibition organised by Pigeonhole. It’s a wonderful lo-fi curation of colorful lomographs captured in Perth and around the world. The best images are block mounted and sold by silent auction, with profits of the sale going towards the Movember Foundation.

I had 3 photos selected for the exhibition, out of the 400 submissions they received:

Summer Sun (Strasbourg, France)

Twilight (At the back of my parent’s house in Stuttgart, Germany)

Kaleidoscope (Eiffel Tower, Paris)

Despite my excitement, I was actually nervous about explaining to my husband that his face was going to be in a public exhibition. I told him a few days before the event:

H: hey you wanna check out this lomo exhibition?
R: yeah sure…when is it?
H: they’re having a launch party on Friday. Uh…ah…some of my photos are in it…
R: yeah?? Cool!!!!
H: yeah…..but they are…erm…uh….ah….photos of you
R: WHAT??!
H: They picked them!! They must like the ones with you in it…
R: ………..

And we left the conversation at that. He had no idea which photos were being exhibited so it made for a nice surprise, as well as a pretty cool date for us

I loved every photo in the gallery, it was my first time attending a lomo exhibition, let alone taking part in one. It was amazing to see so many inspiring and happy accidental photos taken from a whole range of lomo cameras.

When they were getting ready to announce the winner for the Best Photo award, I remembered feeling a combination of tipsiness from the wine and also excitement for the winner. Then I heard,“…best photo…Helena Tay….Summer Sun”. I looked at my husband to see if he had heard it too, and he had this bewildered-proud-happy look on his face. I was speechless, I totally did not expect to win anything (I would have been contented with a raffles prize dinner for two!) So, I am totally grateful and humbled at being picked for the Best Photo award.

Thank you Pigeonhole for the generous prize and wonderful event! I think my new toy came at a great time too. Ever since I bought my Diana Mini a couple of months ago, it has rekindled my love in film and photography. It brought back good memories of my uni days when I was a Film student and we learned about composition, lighting and Mise en scène. I had big aspirations then of being a director and making pretty films. Whilst my goals in life may have changed, I think having my Diana and my new camera has encouraged me to get back into film and photography. I am excited to know that there are great moments waiting to be captured. I am also excited by the possibility that maybe one day I will make that pretty film!

Yep, Little Mo officially turns 3 today:)

3 years ago, I opened my online shop and listed a few stationery for sale. In my shop, I had 4 or 5 writing sets, some postcards and a few sheets of wrapping paper. The first item that I sold was to a nice couple in the states. They bought one of my wrapping papers and they said they just wanted to be my first customer. 3 years later, I think I got carried away with drawing, resulting in a whole expansion of goodies now.

I just wanted to say thanks for a fabulous 3 years and thanks for making what I do so enjoyable and worthwhile. I really had lots of fun over the years; blogging and sharing my art with you, selling and wrapping up your packages. I consider many of you wonderful friends that I’d love to meet in person and have tea and cakes one day! So thanks for supporting my art and thanks for your friendship!

Here are some of the new goodies for my birthday launch:

Little Mo and Friends silver book clips

Pug conversation cards

Pug silver book clips

Swedish tulips watering can brooch

And as a special treat, don’t forget to use this coupon code during checkout:) Just enter the coupon code: MOPARTY to enjoy your discount.

Possibly one of my favourite handmade shops in Perth! This little eco store is filled with eco friendly wares, botany and nature inspired products. All of my favourite things!

I’m over the moon to have my Little Mo and Friends stationery stocked in Debbie and Kiri’s gorgeous shop! Thank you so much! If you haven’t visited this shop yet, come in and take a peek!

The lovely Kiri was there to greet me today:)

A shelf full of beautiful handmade jewellery!

Little Mo notebooks in the stationery corner!

Potato look alike soaps! So cute! And because I have 3 mums (including my mother-in-law..yes I am a very lucky girl!) I bought them gifts from this shop, including this soap. Mums no more peeking, you’ll have to wait for your surprise in the mail!

For more eco goodies from out on a limb, join their fan page or pop in for a visit:

out on a limb eco design store
194 Whatley Cres, Maylands, Perth

From some of my favourite things…

In order: Cath Kidston Briar Rose tea towel, origami paper crane bag, Rice storage basket, Country Road blouse, 5 Euro scarf from a flea market in Paris.

If you’re friends with me on facebook..I appologise that you have to read this post twice! I get excited over silly things..like finding fake grass scraps in a skip!

I’m sure by tomorrow (and after a good night sleep) I will probably read this post back and think, “what was I thinking?”

So yes, we picked up a patch of fake grass, they were offcuts from somebody’s lawn. We didn’t have much of a choice with the shapes so we picked a triangle shape. And now, we have our very own triangle lawn balcony. Possibly the first of its kind (I think). Tee hee hee!

Even Little Mo is pretty happy about it.

We did end up having tea at our place. Niina dropped by and we had a light lunch.

2 mushroom and chopped walnut rissole, 1 chickpea and sweet potato rissole, 1 pot of Russian green tea with maté and lemon grass, a tub of freshly picked cherry tomatoes, Abhis gluten-free bread with flax seed and rice and Abhis rosemary and olive loaf.

Come in and have a pot of tea with me:)

This is our home. We live in a small apartment, most likely built in the 70s. It lacks any modernity..even the faucets and the stove dates back to its original years. Everything still works…with a little tinkering and tightening from time to time! We’ve sort of grown to love all the quirks and charm that comes with this place.

My style is a mix match of kitsch, country and Jeu De Paumes inspired. I love wood and fabric on white walls, I think they go well together. My favourite styling props are linen, pillow covers, plants and pottery. So whenever I travel, I look out for these things to buy and bring back home.

What about you? Whats your favourite style when it comes to styling your home or favourite room?

Next month we’ll begin decorating our walls with paintings. That also includes hanging my cuckoo clock from Germany, I’ll share more pictures then:) And if anybody is wondering about those kitty figurines, they are actually salt and pepper shakers that Richard bought for me in Wales. The kitties are dressed in the traditional Welsh costume

Shop shifts again with Niina…come on in!

A dresser table filled with handmade jewellery from OSIER, osmosis, eeva margita, Cocoa Pod and Little Mo and Friends.

Button earrings from eeva margita. My favourite ones are the yellow buttons on the bottom right!

Another round of sketching session…

….see you next week at the shop!

Montage Pop-Up Shop
140william cnr Wellington St and William St
Open till 23rd October
7 days a week