Buttered Grapes: Staying up super late at night, picking apples and making pies.

This week has been so very full of new projects. One of the most exciting ones is a new blog one of my dearest friends Lillie, and I started together. Its a collaboration of my love of writing and cooking, her love of photography, and our shared love of good wine and exploring new cafes. So far we have been having the best time putting it together and dreaming up all the things we are planning on blogging about (you can find it at goodtimeswithcherryandlillie.wordpress.com)

Lately I've been spending quite a bit of time pottering about in my little vegie patch. I dream about turning our tiny back yard into a small farm, much to the dismay of one of my housemates. A few weeks ago I voiced the idea of getting a bee hive and unfortunately this was met with very little excitement. I think I am just a little bit homesick for the outdoors, and want to feel a tiny bit more self sufficient. For now I have a few herbs flourishing, salad greens growing, and I have sowed all my seeds for winter. They are poping their heads up through the soil and growing strong. I was so surprise to watch them sprout, which is silly, as thats what they are meant to do. All the same I felt a small thrill to think "I put those seeds in the ground and they are growing!" I have also taken to wearing some wonderful ripped jeans, red gumboots, and checked shirts, in an attempts to look country chic. Realistically I probably just look like a bit of a dag, but Im pretty ok with this.

Apart from my gardening ventures I've also been baking a lot of pies. This was inspired by the song 'Fake Empire' by 'The National.' Its this beautiful song about picking apples and making pies. I listen to it when I first wake up to drag my weary head away from my pillow. This is especially helpful at 3am. It started with a blueberry pie, then I made an apple pie for work, and yesterday the grandest of all pies was made, a whisky and chocolate, caramel meringue pie. It was pretty epic.