Hello from the United States!

Here a family photo of us all in front of the Getty Villa in Malibu, California. This is a magical place and is an educational centre and museum dedicated to the study of the arts and cultures of ancient Greece, Roma and Etruria. The Villa is modeled after the Villa dei Papiri, a Roman country house in Herculaneum which was a city buried by the eruption of Mt Vesuvius in A.D. 79.

Here is another picture of my son Elliott (8) at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles! Go Baseball! We saw the Dodgers play the New York Mets and they won 9 to 1. We also went to another major league baseball game, the Milwaukee Brewers against the San Francisco Giants and the Brewers won 7 to 5. It is summer here now and very hot -- baseball season!

Today we are going to the beach on Lake Michigan, which is the third largest of the five great lakes in the United States. You must look on a map to see where I am!

More photos soon!

What a great class!

We had a wonderful party to celebrate the end of 5 weeks of GEAP 3. The food was fantastic and absolutely delicious.

It was a pleasure and an honour to be your teacher. You were a fantastic class. I wish you all the best for your futures and keep up the English -- movies, music and lots of talking, talking, talking......

(and please stay in touch with your blogs!)

Lisa's Luscious Brownies

Hi Everyone,

Here is the recipe for my brownies --- yum yum......

1/2 cup butter or margarine
2 ounces (60 grams) unsweetened chocolate
2 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup chopped nuts (walnuts or pecans)

Grease an 8x8x2-inch (about 24 cm x 24 cm x 4cm) baking pan and set aside. In a medium saucepan melt butter and chocolate over low heat. Remove from heat. Stir in eggs, sugar, and vanilla. Using a wooden spoon, beat lightly just till combined. Stir in flour and nuts.
Spread batter in prepared baking pan. Bake in a 180 degree celcius oven for 30 minutes. Cool on a wire rack. Cut into bars. Makes 24 Brownies.

Tip: I'll always double this recipe because they are soooooooo delicious that they seem to disappear right away! Also, you can use a bit less sugar if you find them too sweet.

Happy baking (and eating!)

My Perfect Day

Last year when I was on vacation at a beautiful resort in Fiji with my husband, I had the perfect day. When I woke up in the morning, I looked out the window at the turquoise ocean and listened to the birds outside my beach bungalow. Then I had a yoga session with my personal trainer while my personal chef prepared a fabulous breakfast. It was fresh local fruit and fresh baked muffins as well as delicious coffee. After a leisurely breakfast, I spent time on the balcony reading my favourite book. By the time I met my husband for lunch at the beach cafe, I was starving because of all the yoga I had done and all of the fresh air! After that, I spent the afternoon taking a long nap under the beach umbrella. While I was sleeping, the waiter came to take my order, but since I was asleep, my husband ordered me a cocktail. When I woke up I drank the cocktail and fell right back asleep! I awoke just as the sun was setting and we stayed on the beach until we could see the stars in the sky. Then we had dinner delivered to our bungalow and ate fresh fish under the moonlight and counted the stars in the sky.

Unfortunately, this story is not true, but we can always dream, right?

Mount Lofty Botanic Garden

I had a lovely Mother's Day today with my family. Elliott and Miles gave me some beautiful cards that they had made at school as well as some gifts. My husband also gave me two new CDs that I had wished for: the new Arctic Monkeys and Missy Higgins.
We spent the afternoon at Mount Lofty Botanic Garden. It was our first time there and we were very impressed. The weather was perfect and we saw plants and trees from all around the world. I highly recommend a visit to this magical place, especially now as the Autumn foliage is simply stunning.

Access Finally!

After what seems like a million attempts, I have finally accessed my blog again. I am experiencing password problems. Now I hope to link you all in to my site.

I am very impressed with all of your blogs and am looking forward to more blogging with you.

cheers

Hello Again!

Hello everyone!

It has been several months since I last blogged. I am happy to be back and I especially welcome all of my GEAP 3 students to the world of blogging. It is a fun way to communicate and to practice your English. I hope you are all enjoying it so far.
Now I must make my link list so that I can visit all of your sites.

more soon