Miss Millie | Monkey Maker

Portland : Week 1

This weekend wrapped up week number 1 in Portland. I can already tell that 12 weeks won't be anywhere near enough to get through all the great things this popular little town has to offer.

Sadly I was robbed of two days of enjoyment due to needing to make an overnight trip to California on Thursday. The key learning for Week 1: for all the things fast about this country, getting around is not one of them. I spent 24 hours either in a plane, in an airport lounge, in a taxi, in traffic or in a hotel room in order to attend a 90 minute meeting. Definitely nothing like getting around NZ for same day meetings.

We made the most of the weekend though starting off with the Portland Farmers Market which is alive with the abundance of early Spring. 

We hit a cooking class on Sunday with the theme: Springtime in Paris. We made goat cheese & beet salad, potato gratin and duck breast for our dinner and a lavender & lemon souffle for desert, pictured below well laden with cream!

I've enrolled myself in two knitting classes, we've found a terrifyingly large number of excellent restaurants to patronise and of course, I am here to do work... easy to forget!

At least the work will now be well caffeinated having found a cafe close by serving the perfect Southern Hemispherian style flat white. I learned recently it's never a good idea to openly criticise the coffee preferences of a country in which you are a guest, but those who have spent any time here in the US will appreciate why this is a wonderful sight. 

Millie x

It's a wrap!

Oh, did I mention I'm moving to Portland, Oregon for the next three months? It's come around so fast!

While I'm gone I've got a wonderful sock monkey dispatcher and assistant called Robbie helping me with my NZ orders.

My exposure to the combo of blokes and gift wrapping in my life to date hasn't been overly promising (no offence Robbie) so I hit the wrapping table and got 95 kits pre-wrapped and ready for Robbie to roll out the door.

There's something extremely satisfying about seeing the all wrapped and lined up like that.

Millie x

Parisian Cooking Class #2 - Baguette & Fougasses

Cooking class number two: the famous Baguette and the Fougasses (essentially Pizza Bread).

Fun facts:

• The French Baguette industry is a strict business - you may call you baguette such if it consists only of flour, water, yeast and salt. Nothing else.
• Additionally, it must have exactly 250gm of flour and has to be within certain ranges of length, width and final baked weight.
• Should your Boulangerie (Bakery) break the rules you can expect a visit from the Baguette Police. This is a real force charged with protecting the Baguette thought they may or may not actually be called the Baguette Police.

Image care of super fun and addictive photo app called Diptic.

Millie x

Parisian Cooking Class #1 - Macaroons

I'm in Paris for a week and while I'm here I'm fulfilling one long standing romantic Parisian vision - Cooking School!

Today was Macaroon class. I know these wee round parcels of almond joy have become something of fashion statement - wait, has that fashion already passed by? - well regardless, it seems they're still an essential part of a modern french baking education.

Today's key Macaroon findings:

• Don't put the food colouring in with the egg whites. Add it to the batter just before piping.
• If you get a little peak in your unbaked macaroon that wont come out when you bash the tray just wet your finger and push that peak down.
• You don't just have to use almond meal - you can use pretty much any kind of nut.
• In France you can by egg whites in bottles - like milk bottles. Genius.

Millie x

It's a set!

Don't they look so cute as a set!

Millie x

A Sock Monkey for Ruth Pretty

I have recently gotten to know the one and only Ruth Pretty. Well enough to know that Ruth Pretty likes crafty things and is not only a presenter but also a big supporter of the local Handmade event.

So, when I spotted these socks on the weekend in Ruth Pretty purple it just seemed like the right thing to do.

If you know Ruth you'll know she's quite famous for wearing her bright red lipstick at all times. I couldn't quite figure out how to pull that off on the monkey but I had a little of her ribbon left over from one of her Christmas Cakes (it doesn't show well here but the ribbon has her name on it) so I made the monkey a little apron.

Millie x

Fancy New Sock Monkey Kits

I got an extremely exciting delivery from the printer yesterday - brand new Sock Monkey Kit packaging!

I'm off to Scotland on Friday for my brother's wedding so no kit packing for at least the next five weeks however, never before have I looked so forward to the task of packing my sock monkey kits. I'm hoping they will bring me just the right amount of enthusiasm to get me through the dreaded return flight!

Millie x

A sneak peak

Along with new packaging comes new socks and new colours. I'm going to have four knee high kits available soon so I thought we'd just have a quick peak at the colours since they just came back from photography and look so flippin cute!

 
 

Millie x

 

More New Faces

Four fresh new faces joined the ranks this week thanks in a large part to a January road trip / sock buy up. I came home with 22 new pair of socks and now I'm making my way through the selection and converting them to sock monkeys.  I'm so keen on yellow at the moment and so glad it's a fashion colour so I can get my hands on it!

 

 

Millie x

Love to roll.

This weekend marked the annual Frocks on Bikes' Valentine's "date ride". For whatever reason I haven't been able to go on any of the previous rides but Wellington turned on a sunny Sunday and about 100 well-dressed Wellingtonians hit the bays. We cycled from Oriental Bay to the Island Bay Festival dressed in our best date threads at a pace that would generously be described as casual.

Below you see some heavily shadowed images of runners-up in the Best Dressed Couple award. We lost to a cute couple on a tandem bike complete with argyle walk socks and vintage pilots goggles - who could compete with that!

 

Millie x