A couple of months have gone past in Instagram land since sharing some of my Insta Moments.

Christmas in Auckland this year was overcast and rainy, but that didn’t stop us having fun. My son’s favourite part of Christmas minus the presents is popping the crackers. In the last hours I realised that I forgot to get some. Shock! I drove around everywhere on Christmas Eve to no avail and in a state of panic managed to find literally the very last pack in Countdown that was sitting in a trolley to be returned to the shelf. Phew! I love this picture that my husband took of me as the cracker popped, I tell you there was a lot of relief in that laugh…

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Mid century design; an exciting era of pared back luxury that explored design form and materials in revolutionary new ways. It was also the era where women thought or perhaps just accepted that their place in this world was to be a homemaker. Greta Magnusson-Grossman however broke through these gender barriers and lead an extremely successful career in industrial, furniture and architectural design in this, at the time, male dominated industry.

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I had a little look back at the stats of first half of last year to see what it was that you liked best and thought it would be fun to revisit three  popular posts:

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 Ellie Malin in Studio. Photo: Kate Ballis courtesy of Modern Times 

I first discovered Melbourne print media artist, Ellie Malin’s work through “that” collaboration  she did with Gorman early last year. I was awe struck by her ever so cool, bold edgy style and interesting use of woodblock as a medium. Her latest body of work, Moonflower is even more impressive. It has a beautiful harmony of colours, it’s graphic, playing with form that ignites our imaginations, all the while stamped with Ellie’s distinctive style. I’ve been meaning to get in contact with her for some time, so when I received her newsletter with word of her very first solo exhibition at Modern Times in Melbourne at the end of last year, while I couldn’t hop on a plane myself to view it first hand, I took the opportunity to ask her a few questions. I hope that you enjoy her answers, along with a selection of her latest work as much I do.

Read more on Interview with Ellie Malin…

I had a load of Sicilian olives left over from a huge amount I bought around Christmas so I thought it to be the perfect opportunity to make some tapenade. Seeing how delicious it is homemade and how simple it is to do, I won’t wait until I have a stockpile of olives next time. There are so many uses for tapenade; bruschetta, on baked fish, smeared over steak to barbeque, mixed with chopped tomatoes, fresh basil and parmesan over spaghetti… but I always enjoy it best simply with some crusty bread.

Read more on Sicilian Green Olive Tapenade with Almonds…