mosaic road

The Actor Moves House !!

Yesterday my son, my firstborn, the actor, moved house. Yes, he has had lots of stints away from home travelling and weeks away living interstate but this is a final "never coming back home" move. The ute was hired and loaded up. Furniture from Ebay was purchased and there was more loading up. The Rent-a-Bomb ute had no power steering and no reverse so there were many challenges faced along the way. He has moved into a shared house in East Melbourne with 2 lawyers and a plumber, into a room with French doors leading to a pretty garden. It is always  such hard work but I love the adventure of moving house.It comes with new dreams, new perspectives, new people and a house warming party !

Foxeys Hangout Wine Co. - Premium Sparkling Wine and Still Varietal Wines

via www.foxeys-hangout.com.au

I enjoyed a glass of rose last night to celebrate our beautiful Indian summer evening and it was lovely. It came from this local winery. The name of the winery is Foxey's Hangout which I love as I am such a sucker for anything with animal-ish names. But I also love the look of this winery and think I should put it on my list for a day trip. They make a lot of sparkling wines too which are my ABSOLUTE favourites to drink, no occasion needed.

A Household Tip from a Man !!!

I have a spider phobia. I am the sort of person who considers selling the house immediately if I see a spider lurking on a ceiling. I cannot even post an image of a spider  here for fear of nausea and hysteria setting in So when a very,very cute boy I know pretty well gave me a useful household tip to keep spiders at bay
I was overjoyed. So if you are arachnaphobic like me then get a broom, put a cloth over the bristles and put eucalyptus oil on the cloth. Then wipe this over the corners of your ceilings. I have not yet put this to the test but am pretty eager to as I really will try anything to avoid  any further confrontions with this particularly gruesome species.

I Just Can't Help Myself !!

Yesterday I posted about my ongoing affair with puddings and waxed lyrically about making cobblers with autumn fruits. It smacks of Mills and Boon, I know, but you will see it is a lasting and addictive affair. Today I have done a reverse cobbler, The batter, made like choux pastry, in a sauceoan lines the dish and diced apples and pears tossed in brown sugar and cinnamon are scattered generously over the top. Once out of the oven, while it is glistening with juices, I am torn. Do I want instant gratification or should I show a modicum of self control and wait till it cools ???

Autumn Cobblers

Now is the time of year that my interest in puddings increases. Rainy days and chilly mornings speak to me. It is a call to the kitchen to stew and poach ruby autumn fruits and then pile a buttery batter on top of them. Thick cream not usually found in my fridge becomes a staple. Over the coming cooler and cold months you will possibly see that comfort food and I become incredibly close , that we forge an intimate bond that lasts until the summer reappears.

A New Take on the Humble Carrot !!

I am not a big fan of this particular root vegetable. Yes , it is OK in soups but I am never tempted to launch into one raw. I really have duly eaten them every which way over the years and still do not see well in the dark so that is a furphy, for starters !!  Unless served in cake form with a large amount of cream cheese frosting I have no real desire to eat a carrot. But I did make a discovery this weekend - Spiced Carrot Dip, redolent with cumin, turmeric and ground coriander. I made it and loved it. It was wonderful with flatbread for lunch and would be such a healthy and colourful addition to an antipasto plate. Perfect for vegetarians, dieters, anyone really !!!

Shopaholics !!

Yesterday the patient and I took a shopping trip to Chadstone. Quite a few shops were unable to open as they were cleaning up after flood damage. So we headed to David Jones as I had a gift voucher to spend there. We are just so totally tempted by pretty frou frou and once inside the door  Amy and I each gathered up an armful of Alannah Hill party dresses. Of course the outcome here is a fairly obvious one and predictable too , is it not ???

Mini-cyclone storm lashes Melbourne

AAP Hail blanketed Melbourne like snow as a mini-cyclone storm lashed the city, causing transport chaos and forcing the cancellation of sporting events and a festival.And Melburnians should expect another dose of nasty weather on Sunday, with rain of up to 100mm forecast.The storm hit on Saturday at 2.40pm (AEDT), dumping 26mm of rain on Melbourne in less an hour.Nineteen millimetres of rain pounded the city in less than 18 minutes.Hail the size of golf balls showered the city, with reports of some hail stones the size of cricket balls in Ferntree Gully, in Melbourne's outer east.Wind gusts exceeding 100km/h lashed Melbourne Airport and Southern Cross train station was evacuated as rain tore a hole in its roof and a deluge splashed down on the train platforms.The city's Moomba festival was abandoned and several thousand people were stranded waiting for limited trains and replacement bus services at Flemington Station, after Super Saturday was washed out."It was very dark and all of a sudden it was like a hurricane or a howling wind came through," said Josh Bell, who was in the members' grandstand when the storm hit."Marble-sized hail stones came down for about 10 minutes."The track was covered in hail. It was all white. It looked like it had snowed."The storm forced the cancellation of the NAB Cup AFL football game between Brisbane and Geelong.In an ironic twist, the game was only rescheduled to Melbourne at the last minute because of poor weather all week on the Gold Coast, where the match was supposed to be played.Bureau of Meteorology senior forecaster Scott Williams described the weather as a "super cell storm," the likes of which are only seen in Melbourne about once every five to 10 years."What you get with the super cell thunderstorm that we've had is that the clouds actually do rotate around a centre of low pressure," he said."It is like a mini-cyclone."The SES received more than 2500 calls for help, with 1,000 coming from the Knox area, in Melbourne's outer east.By about 8pm (AEDT) only 500 of the jobs had been cleared and spokesman Andrew Gissing urged people to be patient.Thirty thousand CitiPower and Powercor Australia customers in the central business district and inner suburbs lost power, with 8000 still without supply about 9pm.Metro spokesman Chris Whitefield said delays across the entire train network were about 40 minutes.Trains on the Sandringham line were suspended and buses replaced trains on sections of the Alamein, Belgrave and Pakenham lines.The violent weather is expected to continue on Sunday.Mr Williams said it was likely there would be more storms across the state on Sunday, but they would not be as severe as Saturday's deluge."Tomorrow I think there is a good chance that we'll get some severe thunderstorms once again," he said."It's pretty much the whole state. We're under a major tropical air mass with a low pressure system coming in from the west."The weather bureau later issued a flood warning for the Upper Murray, Mitta Mitta, Kiewa, Ovens and King catchments.By 10pm on Saturday, the SES had received more than 3100 calls for help, with almost half coming from the Knox area, and about 1000 of the jobs had been cleared.NSW state emergency service crew will begin helping their Victorian counterparts on Sunday.

via news.theage.com.au

Here is a newspaper article on our huge storm, described as a Cell Storm, a once in every 10 years occurrence. I heard the hail described on the radio as fist sized !!!! My lemon tree and one climbing rose have nearly been denuded of their foliage !!!

A Hard Rain is Gonna Fall !!

And it did, it truly did !!! Yesterday at about 3pm, when of course I was on the road in awful traffic in Camberwell Junction, an enormous storm hit. It became pitch black, as dark as midnight in winter.  The hailstones were as big as golf balls, bigger even,  and pounded the car like a barrage of bullets along with gale force winds. Scary stuff !!  The patient rang me to say the deck was covered in "snow". She took this photo in the afternoon and the "snow" was still on the deck, unmelted, 7 hours later !! The whole suburb could have had Baileys on ice from my backyard.

Home | The Malvern Hotel

via www.themalvern.com

I have literally driven past this hotel thousands of times. I have passed it every day going to work and home again for 10 years straight. Can you believe that I have never been in ? How ridiculous that seems ? Anyway I have now crossed the threshold and been incredibly surprised. The ambience is exceptional with wonderful couches, scattered tables, candlelight and a big fireplace for wintry nights. Better than "pub" food and 170 wines to choose from speaks volumes to me and you will certainly find me there again curled up on the couch with a glass of Croser.