Lifestyle: Happy Memorial Day!

Hello everyone, hope you had a lovely Memorial weekend. The sky gods were extra kind to us, giving Mountainside glorious weather all three days! We didn't waste it at my house this weekend, taking advantage, we drove over to Dreyer's Farms and bought up a bunch of plants and grasses to fill our garden for the season! Take a look below!

This has to be some of my favorite ground covering in the backyard, it's actually a weed but I love the vibrant hues of green and yellow! 

After a day of hard work in the garden we had a great spread of produce we purchased at the Farmer's Market! We also had some fingerling potatoes left over from our family BBQ yesterday, so today we used a simple  herb seasoning of rosemary, oregano and thyme freshly picked from the garden! 

For the main course we had lamb chops seasoned with garlic cloves, rosemary and salt & pepper and olive oil!

These pigs in the blanket from Trader Joe's are great, they even have a parmesan crust which is extra yummy! 

As I said in one of my previous posts music is a very important part of our everyday life, here is a link to some of the songs we were listening to this weekend, hope you groove out to some (if not all) of these tunes!

What's in Now: Wooden Products

Here is a cool new item that has just arrived at Cristoffers, wooden Ipod and Ipad stands! It's great for anyone who watches movies on their smart phone or template. I personally love the somewhat celtic influences in the design!

We also just received these wooden geometric necklaces that I am in love with at the moment! It's a tad tribal which has been having a major moment on the runways this year. Tough I'm a sucker for anything that has a natural look to it! What about you? What are your favorite trends for this summer?

Lifestyle: Sunday Dinner!

 It's so lovely to finally have nice weather where we can be outside all day! This weekend was the first of the farmers market season (it actually started last week but I was unaware!) On the menu tonight was homemade Ceasar Salad (with locally grown romaine lettuce!), steamed asparagus, steamed broccoli, avocado salad, turkey burgers with an Indian Onion Chutney (courtesy of Star of India in Kenilworth) and munster cheese, lobster tails and to finish off the meal we had Rhubarb Pie with fresh whipped cream and home grown strawberries! It was one of our better family meals to say the least!

If you're wondering what exactly an Avocado Salad is, its basically what you put in guacamole, but instead of mashing all the ingredients together you slice up the avacado and sprinkle the spices, tomatoes, onions and lemon juice on top! Yumm!

The pup had a good evening too, finishing off some of the strawberries for us!

Like food, music is also a big part of our life, so wether we're working out in the yard or cooking up a storm in the kitchen, we have some of our favorite tunes playing! Click here to visit Bamboo & Fern's new YouTube page where we will be sharing our family favs and playlists! Here is a link to the playlist we were listening to today! Or check out one of the videos below! 

Food: Sweet Potato, Green Bean and Smoked Paprika Salad

I was on my favorite blog, Design*Sponge, today looking for some great DIY inspiration and I found this recipe that looked yummy and thought I'd share it with you folks!

The photos that go along with this post are all the convincing I need to try this out!

Ingredients

• extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 onion, finely sliced
• 1 sweet potato, peeled and cut into thick wedges about 5 cm long
• 2 potatoes, cut into thick wedges about 5 cm long
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 2 teaspoons smoked paprika
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
• large handful of green beans, topped and tailed, cut in half on the diagonal
• 3 ripe tomatoes, cut into wedges
• handful of flat-leaf parsley, chopped
• juice of 1/2 lemon
• sour cream or natural yoghurt to serve (optional)

Preparation

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C. Heat around 3 tablespoons of oil in an ovenproof frying pan over medium heat. Add the onion, sweet potato and potato and pan-fry for 5–10 minutes, tossing occasionally, until lightly coloured.

2. Stir in the garlic, paprika, 1 teaspoon of salt and generous black pepper, coating well. Transfer the pan to the oven and roast until the vegetables are tender (around 15 minutes).

3. Meanwhile, bring a small saucepan of water to a boil. Add the beans and simmer for a few minutes, then drain.

4. Put the hot beans into a large bowl along with the tomato and parsley. Add the hot roasted vegetables, lemon juice and another good splash of oil and toss to combine. Add extra salt and pepper to taste. Serve with dollops of sour cream or natural yoghurt if desired.

Celebrate: Mother's Day

In case you've forgotten, this upcoming Sunday is Mother's Day! Christoffers' fridges are packed with the freshest flowers for the holiday, but they're going fast so be sure to call and order as soon as you can! To see some of the Mother's Day Specials click here! If you want to take a different route and forgo the flowers, or be an extra appreciative child we also have a great selection of giftware to choose from! Another way to make this Sunday extra special is by making mum breakfast in bed, here's a great link for the Heart Shaped Egg-in-Toast recipe I found on Martha Stewart's blog! Click here for full directions! 

Hope to see all of you this week at the store!

-M