mosaic road

Through my Kitchen Window

I have nice neighbours and my kitchen window looks directly into their back yard. It is biggish and up till now has been fairly jungley with lots of rambling greenery, one enormous tree and a few happy chooks. I love to hear their Rhodesian reds clucking contentedly. The wilderness has mainly hidden a rusting old shed but plan are afoot and the shed is coming down and the hens have a lovely new cedar 2 storey home.

You can see above the old and the new. Such a lot of clearing has been done and time is really up for that old shed. I am hoping too that time is also up for that antique trampoline frame.

Christmas Couscous

I know it's not Christmas but I did make this couscous salad at the week end and it was such festive colours that I thought it really would be perfect to serve for Xmas lunch. I made up the couscous then mixed in a very large diced red pepper and a red onion. I lightly sauteed the pepper and onion in virgin olive oil first. The combination was really nice and it made a big batch. I then doctored the leftovers next day and added rocket and coriander and avocado - more Christmas colours ! The rocket and coriander were freshly snipped from my vegie patch.

Nearly the Letter V - but not quite !

My children grew up watching Sesame Street so consequently I, too, saw endless episodes. I always loved it and loved Wegman's dogs. Those Weimaraners were so beautiful, patient and tolerant and clever forming letters of the alphabet or dressing up. So when I saw my 2 dogs in this position I immediately was taken back to those years when I had toddlers inadvertently learning the alphabet while sitting mesmerized by Big Bird and Snuffy. Admittedly the Cocoa Pop and Lucy[dog] make a crooked V here but they certainly brought back some memories for me and made me laugh.

A Homemade Gift

My friend F had a birthday this week. We don't give gifts usually but I wanted to take her just a token so I put my homemade crumble mix in a jar for her. I added a tag to the jar with assembly instructions plus gave her a tin of pie apple so she had a complete apple crumble kit.

Moments

via vimeo.com

Definitely take a moment here to watch !

Baked Oatmeal - how yummy !!

This delicious recipe is baked in the oven. Skim milk, oats, a swirl of maple syrup and some diced cooked pears all go into a casserole and into the oven. Once baked I have several breakfasts ready for the week ahead. My fruit and cereal is sitting in the fridge awaiting.  A scoop goes into the bowl then into the microwave and then I top with yoghurt and I have a lovely breakfast in the fastest time imaginable.With a very minor amount of forward planning I can break my fast without fiddling or waiting, just eating !!

I Did This !!

Yes me - I did this. I cannot blame a child or a dog - well a dog is partly to blame, a weeny bit anyway. I found a dog bone  belonging to the Cocoa Pop - old and chewed on the mat just inside the door, I bent down and hurled it outside only the door was partly shut !!! This door is made of safety glass and I have caused this enormous crack with an ancient dog bone !!!! The entire pane will have to be replaced. The insurance company have already organized the glazier. Thank goodness at times like this for home insurance. The bill will be quite big , I would say, and I have to pay the first $100.00 and luckily they cover the rest. Never a dull moment here !!!

Freak Snowstorm !!

I had collected babydaughter18 after a lecture and it was raining very heavily, pitch black and there was hideous 6.30 pm traffic everywhere. It became really stormy, then huge hail fell then no visibility and then SNOW.The no visibility was pretty scary as we were in a side street with not much lighting. I couldn't believe the road surface - the cars were leaving tracks in the SNOW. Luckily we were pretty close to home and rushed in to get our cameras to record this weird weather moment.

Manningroad Menu

We all have staples that we cook/rotate on a regular basis, things we can jazz up or down depending on who is doing the eating, things we can make from the 

pantry contents very quickly and things we know we rustle up without fear of failure. I can always produce a good soup, a yummy pizza and a scrummy pud without too much fuss. Anything more than that I consider a challenge and is accompanied by fear and trepidation of producing what my children call a "splunge" - and they have seen a good many of them over time, some edible , some not !!!

I make soup all winter . I always have a stash of frozen pumpkin or sweet potato in the freezer so I can make something really warming and healthy at short notice.

Everyone loves pizza and it is always makes a great vegetarian meal too. I never make my own base though as I  always have time constraints and I am lazy , perhaps that's the bottom line here !

Well with regard to puddings - what can I say - don't we all love them !! In fact a friend the other day came into the kitchen and opened the oven door just to check if there was a pudding cooking - sadly that day the oven was bare !!

Afternoon Tea in the City

We took tea yesterday here at the Hopetoun Tearooms. I have been here many times, even during my
 

childhood, and then with my children. What an enduring, timeless little cafe and what a selection of cakes too. It was very hard to decide but I chose a big lamington filled with jam and cream. Grandma had a pear tart and Auntie M had a flourless fig and walnut cake. The cafe was packed with a queue at the door. It was the perfect place on a Sunday afternoon to shelter from the cold blustery wind blowing down Collins street.