mosaic road

Rhubarb's Rewards.

This rhubarb is freshly washed and glistening in the sink. I am anticipating it's ruby rewards. A young girl in the country  cleverly grew this and her Dad dropped a bunch off at my front door. I am so delighted to be on the receiving end of this bounty.  Reverberating rhubarb recipes fill my head and I am as yet undecided which path to take . A warm compote, combining it with strawberries, tempts me most and so I will head off to peel and chop, with those glorious pink juices staining my hands. This fruit on cereal in the morning will be truly a divine breakfast, a richly rewarding reason to rise and shine.

Lemon Loveliness.

This was a divine discovery - lemon pie sans crust !! I am not mad on pastry . Whenever I eat it , I cannot get out of my head the number of  fats - animal, trans or otherwise that I am consuming  especially if it is store bought. Also, too often it is too thick or too soggy or too doughy . Consequently this results in me avoiding pies and tarts. Alternatively I end up scraping out the filling and leaving the pastry shell on my plate which we all must agree is pretty much the height of bad manners. So here is a  culinary creation which means I can have all the lemon pie filling I want and be polite too. Recipe came from here !

Happy 25th Birthday, darling!

Today is the 11th May and Lachlan James Selby Woods, my gorgeous firstborn turns 25, all 6ft 4 ins of him. Congratulations on reaching this wonderful age in such fine form, darling. I am so proud of all you have achieved and all you will achieve. Your attributes are many and varied but your dedication to your  acting career, your swimming coaching  and other projects really stands out impressively. I do so love you ! xxx

Bad but So, So Good !

Four ingredients, a food processor, ten minutes in the oven - what is there not to love and adore about this combination of events, especially when the end result looks like the cookies above and below ! Sublime taste and texture too !These cookies were designed for people with peanut allergies and the original recipe called for almond butter. Luckily we have no peanut allergies in this house and as there was a distinct lack of almond butter in my pantry I used peanut butter. I would like to try almond butter and I think cashew butter may well take them to 11/10. Let me know if you want a bite of heaven and I will email you the recipe.

A Week in the Life Project - update !

My sister and I undertook this project 2 weeks ago and progress has been made - not by me, I must hasten to add. My sweet sibling purchased the folders and dividers, constructed those in the desired manner, had all my photos developed and now has got halfway down the path making those folders into albums. She has done mine as well as her own. Meanwhile I have remained an innocent bystander while she - being the creative artiste that she is - has put together a fabulous combination of photographs pertaining to each day of that particular week. I am endlessly grateful and yesterday had a sneak preview of the soon to be revealed finished product. I think then the results will go into the Flickr gallery and I will have my album to keep for posterity.

Today is Mother's Day.

I am not big on celebrating Mother's Day. My mother always said "Every day should be Mother's Day" so Mother's Day was pretty much a non event in my family as I grew up and has continued as thus till this day. I certainly treasured all the little gifts and cards made at kinder and primary school that the children made and brought home for me over the years to honour  this day and that's what made it special then. Now that the children are grown, the day for me is no different to any other. Surely little thoughts and little homemade offerings, not slippers and kitchen appliances, are the most meaningful gifts to mothers no matter what day it is. I will see my mum today but what we will be celebrating is the family all being together. We will be eating scones, laughing, shouting to be heard, spilling drinks, taking photos and just loving each other !! And not a Hallmark card in sight.

This little keyring man was a Mother's Day present 20 years ago, made for me by son24 at kinder when he was aged 4. It has been loved and treasured and used every day since.

Saturday's Project.

Gardening is on the agenda for today. Lucy[dog] keeps lying on the azaleas and flattening them into oblivion so I have bought pots and have salvaged a few stalky remnants and replanted them. An incredibly gorgeous and generous friend has donated large amounts of tan bark to my cause - and let's hope it's not a lost one !!  Today that tan bark is to be spread around the pots and in other parts of the garden where it can hide barren bits where no plant would even consider growing. Looming, digging dogs and totally haphazard gardening techniques would really be enough to put off even the most resillient desert cacti from putting down roots and taking up residence in my back yard. As far as gardening and I go, hope springs eternal !!

These Boots were Made for Walking !

Yesterday I wore boots, clearly a sign that the seasons have changed. When I put on my boots it becomes official, it is winter. Boots and long cardis are my standard winter uniform and I have a large assortment of both. I have long boots, short boots, suede boots, patent leather boots, red boots, patterned boots, cuffed boots and I wear them all, all winter long and then well into spring.You see, I have a boot obsession, just a tiny one ! And also I  must confess here also to having a bit of a thing for cardis and there are oodles of them flowing out of my drawers and cupboards in a myriad of colours, fabrics and shapes. I can never bring myself to part with any of them either so the collection of boots and cardis is, to be honest, a bit out of control. Nothing that a harsh cull couldn't swiftly fix but I just can't, can't do it. Maybe I need to bring in one of those wardrobe Judge Judys who do the culling and leave you with one basic black outfit hanging sadly alone in the closet. No I can't see that happening as some of my boots and cardis are true vintage, almost lifelong companions. I can't see this love affair ending anytime soon either and we will be spending the coming winter cosied up together.

Blogger Revealed.

The project "A Week in the Life" resulted in many, many photos of an immense variety of things - some mundane, some whimsical, many animals, many coffees and a daily photo of me, the blogger. So here I go performing the very brave act of publishing those of me for the world to see. I kid myself as possibly the only people to view these pics will be the loyal family members who cast the odd and occasional glance at this blog and they see me anyway in reality, warts and all, quite frequently. It is quite tricky to get a photo of yourself as the camera is always blocking some bit of you - I was in fact quite grateful for this ! The mess in my room is quite telling and the Cocoa Pop, or at least the hindquarters of the said animal, seem to make a regular appearance too.

Richard 111

Courtesy of MX, a publication here, I have this little pic of the actor/son24 in Richard111. The Melbourne Theatre Company is putting this play on currently. 56 performances ! The costuming is modern but the language still Shakespearean. It runs for close to 3 hours and I am so looking forward to going.