New Things.

Goodness here we are on the other side of Christmas day already. We had just the best day; lots of laughs, good food ( if I do say so myself - lol) and good company. It was lovely celebrating in our new home; a very special Christmas.

It's all quiet here today. Mark's at work; he has only two days left and then is on a few weeks holiday - both of us can't wait. My daughter has just left for work and my few chores are over. The chickens are fed and happy -they've had lots of leftovers for treats. I'm so excited they're getting their new chook yard next week, I've enlisted one our sons to help us so we can get it done quickly. :) Plants watered, washing out, and house tidied.

I made my very first batch of ginger beer this morning. I've no idea how it will go but I'm hoping it will be zingy - i love a ginger beer with bite. I made it with powdered ginger not fresh but I'm told it doesn't make any difference. Just to be sure I'm going to start another batch with fresh.

Today is the day I've set aside to re-assess my goals and aspirations for the new year. I don't call them resolutions - there is such negative connotations to that word. :) For me another year always seems to bring such promise, an excitement that anything is possible because its all new. I have a mental list of things that I want to personally achieve this year and will nut those out on paper. I like to write things down so I can refer back to them and make adjustments where and when I want to. My list is fluid - gone are the days where I was a perfectionist and so very hard on myself. Life is, by choice, much more simple and uncomplicated.

I know one thing will be setting aside time to learn; I love learning new skills and try to do something each year. One of my presents from Mark is two day courses at a farm that practices permaculture etc and has, just this year, become totally self-sufficient. I was over the moon - can't wait to go.

The road we've started on to simplifying life will be a long and very interesting one I'm sure. There are all sorts of things to learn and fascinating people to meet; but the journey, as with all journeys, starts with a decision. A decision to step back and take back the beauty of life. We have a limited time on this planet and I want to make every second of my glorious life count. Setbacks and pain are in every ones past and future but "you don't get the rainbows without the rain." (lol - not mine but its a good one!)

One More Sleep.

Merry Christmas to those who have taken the time to drop in for a little visit.  I hope you have a wonderfully fun, peaceful and above all safe time with your family and friends over the Christmas break.

We're full of plans for when the new year arrives and Mark is on a few weeks holiday. I'm looking forward to putting in the gardens and building the girls a new and improved chicken run. Mark is going to continue painting the interior and we'll get new carpet in the non-tiled areas. We've just put in some gorgeous light fittings in the lounge-room today.

For the moment though all that can wait as we sit back and enjoy Christmas.

To my dear friends and family in the Northern Hemisphere - enjoy the white Christmas and forget how much of a nuisance it can be. :)

To those in Aus - one more sleep!!!! :)

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Countdown.

We were in the car and off to the grocery store by 6.30 this morning. Not my idea of fun but when we were driving out and cars were grid-locked in the car-park trying to find a park I was more than happy we'd made the effort. It took ages to pack all the goodies away - I'm sure, like everyone, I could feed a small country out of my pantry. Tonight Kim is having some friends over for a spa party and stay-over so I doubt the house will be quiet enough for an early night. They'll all be gone by lunch-time tomorrow so I can do some early preparation. :)

 I can remember as a child my mother and Nana in the kitchen from early morn until lunchtime "slaving over a hot stove" (no air-conditioners in those days) and it seemed to me everyone had a relaxing time except them! I'm very blessed that when I asked my daughter recently about perhaps having a traditional baked dinner she said "No way, how is that family time if you spend your Christmas in the  kitchen?" Having said that I'm doing 6 different salads, 3 meats plus prawn skewers and 3 deserts. I use to put the weeks menu on the fridge to avoid that "whats for dinner" question 4 times over and have just put up the Christmas Day one. I think there's more on it than there use to be  for a whole week. :)

Tomorrow is Christmas Eve here in Australia. I'll make the ice cream pudding - vanilla ice cream, mixed peal, glace cherries, almonds, pistachios, white choccy, brandy, cranberries etc. Top with fresh berries, bit of icing sugar and away you go. I can also do the Parmesan vinaigrette for the chick-pea salad and lemon caper butter for the prawns and cook the rice. On the day we have canapes mid-morning - this year simple ones  - smoked salmon, philly and chives and roast beef with a nice mango and mint chutney on bruschetta and then just before lunch I put the salads together (there's a bit of fiddling with prosciutto, pears and mango for the various salads but I usually have a few willing hands to help.)

This year, though 2 of my 3 kids don't live here, they will be staying overnight, as well as Scott's lovely partner Raeleigh. There's the spa if it gets really hot (first Christmas in years without a pool - surprisingly not missing it at all!) as well as some new inter-active electronic thing that promises to move a few of the recently acquired kjs! Karaoke for the brave; or inebriated. A game of soccer or tether tennis or just hang about watching sat. TV. Perhaps a few calls to our O.S. rellies. Chatting over a drink and leftovers. ( can we really fit another thing in?)

I love a stress-free Christmas! I've learnt  it's a choice. I'm sure we all have obligations that we don't really enjoy around this time of year ( yep!!) but I think its up to you  how you handle them. I adore my husband and family and am really grateful to have the kids come home for Christmas. For me that's what its all about; anything else doesn't really matter.

Busy, Busy.

Isn't the lead up to Christmas a busy time?! It doesn't matter how organised you think you are there's always some last minute cards to send, gifts to buy, or socialising to be done.

We're painting at the moment. The family room, kitchen and hall up that end of the house are a particularly nasty shade of green. "Quite bilious looking" as my Nana would say. To each their own - we all have different taste - but I defy many people to be thrilled by that colour. Lol; well I guess there were a couple that actually liked it; they lived here before us! We've only undercoated and I think that's all that will be done before Christmas but I can live with that.

Mark is an excellent painter and prefers to do most of it himself. I quite like painting too but am one of those people who only has to walk past a paint-can and I'm covered in the stuff. It really is quite remarkable how messy I can get. I'm never really sure how it happens but it's a never-ending source of amusement for Mark.

Trying to pick colours is time-consuming too. We don't want to pick a colour just because a paint-chart tells me its the in -thing. That's why we're taking our time - rushing into it at Christmas would be crazy.  We definitely don't want to do it twice in quick succession.

Mark found a snake skin this morning; another reminder to be vigilant out in the yard. It was a brown and Mark had seen one only a week or two ago so I'm hoping its the same one! I have my eyes peeled for "moving sticks" every time I go to the chook yard but I'm yet to see anything. I tend to walk loudly, thumping my feet and singing at the top of my voice so if there's anything about it probably dives for cover. lol.

Now for a couple of my "favourite things".

This is in the Blue Mountains of N.S.W.  We've been there many times over the years and sill love it.

I LOVE this chair. I've always wanted one like this and when we moved here a couple of months ago Mark bought it for me so I could sit and watch the world go by.

And last but not least, our favourite place in the Southern Highlands of N.S.W. We go a couple of times every year for romantic getaways, usually in the autumn hence the gorgeous colours. Cold but stunning. :)
      

Cleaning up.

What a lovely day. After an unhurried start Mark and I took ourselves off to a nursery to browse about. We were going to have morning tea in their quirky little "plant-enclosed" cafe but it was closed due to re-building. If what I saw was the new cafe I doubt I'll frequent it much anymore. Its gone from  a gorgeous eclectic style with shawls over the chairs for the patrons to use if it gets cool, cups and plates hanging off the wall and mismatched crockery to a white modern building that could (with a change of colour) be a McDonald's take-away. I really hope that wasn't it.
Didn't matter. We went to another cafe we like and had a nice relaxing morning tea. A bit of time-out with my favourite person. :)

Home again and stuck into the over-grown corner of the property. It looks like it had at one stage been quite an interesting area with a stone "fairy circle"  and a path leading to it.

 There has been quite a bit of planting in the past but unfortunately it had become overgrown and messy. Not to mention the hundreds of rocks strewn about. We can't get in there with the ride-on so Mark used the brush cutter and the push mower and cleaned up one area beautifully. It was slow going because of the amount of rocks but we've made a dent in it. Once its cleared we'll plant a whole bunch of grevilleas and other natives for the birds to enjoy - and we in turn get to enjoy watching them. I'd still like to keep it a little secluded so its interesting to walk through but I want to get rid of anything that's not native.

Dinner has been started and the day is winding down. Pork chops and apple sauce, hassleback potatoes with sage and Parmesan, (my potatoes - yay) pumpkin, corn, asparagus, carrots and peas. Our daughter is working but our son is here for dinner; and last night we had our other son and his partner here. There's nothing better than family and thankfully they all seem to enjoy our company as much as we enjoy theirs. 

The Colour Red.

Before I get into my favourite things post for today I would ask you to take a quiet moment out of respect for my poor garlic. I lost everyone one of the little plants. I've never lost any before; perhaps the continual rain and then heat was too much for them. Anyway I'm not sure what happened  but there will be no early organic garlic from  my garden next year. :(

On to a more cheerful subject. Favourite things. I love the colour red!! Having said that I rarely wear it but I find it such a cheery colour. Its a colour for passion and I do feel passionately about so many things; maybe that's why I like it as well. This miniature rose is one my father gave me the year he died -10 years ago now - and its still doing well. Its thriving here at our new place. Dad always did like the Aussie bush. lol

I got this little plastic cup when I was 2 years old when we were on holiday in Queensland. It sits in my display hutch now but I occasionally have a cold Milo in it as I've done for most of my life. Its so thin  around the top its almost see-through. Milo has never tasted so good as when its in this little mug.


What are some of your favourite things and what memories do you treasure because of them? I really don't like clutter so I have one small area that's filled with very special things that I like to see on a daily basis. Some are expensive, one or two rare, but the majority are funny little things not worth much in a monetary sense but are irreplaceable to me. This cabinet is really a collection of memories and I took a lot of joy in setting it up here in our new home where there will be, no doubt, so many more memories made.

These are few of my favourite things.

As I got the "Whole Orange Cake" recipe out to post I started to think about a few more of my favourite things. Random things but for one reason or another they are things that're special to me. I think when you follow that train of thought you can't help but be grateful for the wonderful things in your life. Favourite things change of course, as we do, but the effect is the same no matter what the age. They bring a smile to your face, a warmth to your day or a lovely memory to mind. I thought I might take photos over the next week or so and show you some of my favourite things.
For now here's the recipe I promised. I think I may have gotten this from the down-to-earth blog (another of my favourite things!) Wherever it came from; accolades to the cook - we love it. :)

WHOLE ORANGE CAKE.

1 whole orange - washed thoroughly

3 eggs

180g melted butter

1 cup white sugar (i always use caster)

1.5 cups S.R. flour

Method.

Pre-heat oven to 180c

Put whole orange into a food processor and chop madly until its completely broken down and there are no large bits remaining. Toss in the rest of the ingredients and whizz about until nicely mixed. Into the oven for approx. 40 minutes. There you are! So easy. You can do the icing thing if you want - I don't normally bother.

** Just before I go - one of my favourite things as a child was a new exercise book at school, especially at the start of the new year. That blank page had such promise - it was almost with reverence that I put pen to paper. My best friend back then told me it filled her with horror; the blank page mocked her; another year of pressure to perform. For me it was an invite to another world where I could learn everything there was to know and I jumped in with such excitement. How funny that a single piece of paper could be so evocative.

A Busy Oven.

Can't a day just disappear before you know it?! I had a slow start this morning, usual tidying up, laundry, feeding the chooks, watering some precious garlic I've been babying along since I nearly lost it in the heat. A few things that took no time at all. Then into town for 2.5 hour visit to the hairdresser. Got home well after lunch and decided to pop on the aircon so I could comfortably do some cooking. That was at 2.30pm and I've just taken the last cakes out of the oven and its 7.30pm! I'm yet to cook hubby's dinner  - he doesn't get home until 8pm.

I've really enjoyed my busy afternoon. I had a surplus of eggs - the girls have been very good - so I've made about 60 biscuits, 4 quiches and various cakes. The quiches are in the freezer ready for a busy day when I don't feel like cooking and the cakes get sliced up and popped in there too for Mark to take to work. If unexpected guests pop round for a cuppa there's always something to have without having to run to the shops.

I let the new girls out to free-range this afternoon for the first time. I was a little worried and kept half an eye on them out the kitchen windows while bashing up the bickies. Cackles and Lala are old hands and wander about our land without a problem but Henny and Penny (yes I've named them - actually Marks suggestion) took off next door and then disappeared. I just have to rattle the bucket of grain and Cackles and Lala will wander straight back to the enclosure but I didn't know how I'd get the new girls back. I shouldn't have worried. They heard me with the bucket, saw me in the enclosure and came running to the fence in next-doors yard, squarking and cackling away. They obviously couldn't get to me so I walked up the yard and they ran up the fenceline alongside until they could get under the it. Then they just followed me back to the run!!! What lovely, clever girls!

I'll post the recipe for one of our favourite cakes tomorrow. Whole orange cake. Yum!

All tucked in.

Its been a long day today and I've just tucked everyone in for the night. Sunny the duck has a safe, new home until she's big enough to brave the chook pen; so after a feed and a last swim in her pond; she's snuggled down into the straw in her little house. Bonnie has had her dinner and is snoozing near the door catching the lovely breeze. And the "girls" have had their coop cleaned out, fresh hay laid down and their food and water topped up. The cockatoos, galahs, corellas, rosellas and grass parrots have all been in for their supper and its growing quieter and darker by the minute.

Its been very hot and humid (translation -  REALLY horrible) but now at the end of the day its cool and oh so comfy..

I have a fig tree, a mandarin, lime, 2 grape vines and 3 small tomato plants to go in tomorrow; biscuits and  peanut brittle to make. But thats tomorrow. Now its just a cold drink and then slip between nice cool sheets and off to sleep.

Goodnight. :)

A Little Harvest.

We had to go to our other house today. Its under offer now and among other things I was anxious to see how the potatoes were doing  in my little veg garden. My son and his mate are renting the house from us until its sold but neither of them are gardeners so I was pretty sure my experimental potatoes would be dead and withered up. Experimental because I've never grown them before so I'd popped some in to see if they were a difficult thing to grow. I was told they were dead easy but you don't know until you try yourself.

 We've had a small harvest when we lived there and what do you know; there was a lovely little bundle just waiting underground for me today.
There's still a lot coming on which I've left and the forecast rain should be plenty to keep them going. I don't know if the new owners are gardeners but hopefully there will be a small harvest for them when they move in. :) These are grown from organic seed potatoes in gorgeous organic soil and  I only companion plant or make my own pest sprays. Where I lived my neighbours weren't vege gardeners so there were no nasties floating over the fence. That's something to remember - you can control what you do in your garden but you can't control whats carried on the wind.

My favourite recipe for potato salad is a warm potato salad with wholegrain mustard, white wine vinegar, spring onions, garlic oil and bacon rashers (YUM) but I still have a soft-spot for the store bought gluggy with boiled eggs and ham.

Theres something rather therapeutic about grubbing about in the dirt and coming up with something edible. I really enjoy the whole process of growing, harvesting then cooking.

Who'd have thought?!