The Loveliness of Spring

Spring and Autumn are my favourite seasons.  Not quite hot, not quite cold and certainly not boring. Our changeable weather here in Melbourne (famous for four seasons in one day) has been in overdrive.  We've had the most beautiful spring days with gentle warmth and bright blue skies and then a day later we have endured the most torrid of storms with flooding and unfortunately for some, damaged property.  I came into work this week to find that overnight the rain had flooded the gutters on our large factory roof and landed on the suspended office ceiling of plasterboard tiles.  As you can imagine the plaster absorbed the water until it couldn't and then it just collapsed onto the carpet below.  What a mess.  Since it was still raining  it was far too dangerous to send someone up there for repairs, so i watched the rain drops literally falling into the office.

But hey, its got to rain sometime right?  It would appear (from my observation and all your blogs) that everyone's gardens are flourishing, with weeds, grass, flowers and veggies.  The not so distant roar of lawnmowers has returned to disturb the quiet of weekend mornings and Tom's hay fever is constant.

   

While the current weather is changeable, we all know there is a long hot summer coming.  I was in Bunnings when i spotted one of these large extended garden umbrellas for $80 (normally hundreds).  I didn't quite believe it and neither did the sales person.  We both thought that someone must have put the wrong price label on it.  Turns out that the manufacturer decided to change the box it comes in from blue to green.  I quickly said that if he had another one, id take it and sure enough on the very top shelf was one more blue box.  I do think that my veggies are quite spoilt, don't you?   I haven't had them up since but come those 40 degree days in a few months, ill be all set.  I just need to set up a little table with some iced tea and put my feet in a bucket of cool water while i sympathise with the veggies about the hot weather we are having.

I don't like broad beans but I've grown them for the first time for Rob.  I'm pleased with the OOO's and ARGHH's i've been getting from him.  With memories of large grey thick skinned beans the size of boulders, I've been picking the pods just before cooking when they are only about 15cm long.  This meal was a salad of fresh asparagus and broad beans lightly steamed then tossed in a little garlic and butter and placed on a bed of lettuce.  I've served it with whiting oven baked in foil with lemon and pepper.   Nope, still didn't eat it!

There is nothing sweeter than a coleslaw from a just picked cabbage.

As you can see from the top picture, my lettuce bed is gloriously full of a variety of leaves to pick at any time.  I have no success with Ice-berg's or Cos but a sprinkle of mixed lettuce seeds in any available space means a constant supply for salads.

My garden futures include plenty of tomato plants.  Since i had such an abundance last year i got a bit lazy and just let them lay where they fell.  There are a gazillion baby tomato plants coming up in all the beds, even those that didn't have any.

This dark leaf spinach is fabulous on a pizza, on top of sauce and hidden beneath the other toppings.  I'm really finding that I'm having alot more success planting things all over the place.  Those who remember my first season would laugh. All those straight lines.  Trouble is remembering where i put things.  I had this terrific tomato the other day and kept one in my pocket until i could race outside and put it in the soil.  Now i cant remember where that was.  Oh Dear.  Thank goodness i only have 8 small beds.

Have you noticed that the supermarkets are getting savvy to all of us complaining about veggies being uniform and their food wastage.   There is a lot of money to be made from "greenies" who put their principles before their $$.  A new range of packaged veggies have appeared.  I really did have a laugh at this one.

On the front it says "A Bunch of Imperfect Potatoes, who don't have a chip on their shoulder, they just want to be mashed".    I noticed similar packaging on a bag of wonky carrots.  It appears that being slightly bent or a bit wobbly is the "In Thing".  I knew i only had to wait a while to become cool.

While I'm at the supermarket, there have been some great specials lately that have provided plenty of opportunity for stocking up the freezer with veg.   You have got to love asparagus season.  I cannot eat enough of fresh asparagus.  Its appearing in all our meals.

Sometimes i hear a little voice that says "why would you spend so much time and money trying to grow it yourself when you just have to wait for it to be in season and buy it cheap" - well it would be in season anyway if you were growing it DOH.  I answer that little voice  (sometimes its me, sometimes its my long suffering husband) that i know what the soil was like that it came out of, i know what was sprayed on it (nothing much), i know when it was picked and because .........  it feels really good to put a plate of food on the table that includes some of your own produce.  That's why!

Speaking of meals on the table, this was tonight's.  Yum Yum   Oh and a few for the freezer.

After splitting some breasts and giving them a good bash, I dusted them in flour, salt and cracked pepper. A quick dunk in an egg wash and then i crumbed them in panko (Japanese bread crumb) with added dried onion flakes, Parmesan cheese and chopped parsley (mine of course).  Shallow fried until golden in olive oil and butter and then place on paper towel to dry.   Now that's a real chicken schnitzel.

Our quest to "find" Doris (my MIL - see previous post here) continues and she has now been introduced to the game of  UNO.  No joke, she had never played.   I had a Monday off so joined my sister for a day at Doris's home. We laughed ourselves silly as usual and after a light lunch sat down for an afternoon of cards. I think she felt quite cheeky making me pick up 4 with a wild card several times.

"What, who me?"   That innocent face doesn't fool me.  I was the one holding all the cards.

There is no getting out of our Escape to the Lakes with Doris in Feb now.  I've booked and paid the deposit on a 5 bedroom home in Lakes Entrance.  Five!  That's right, I've invited a couple of others and there will now be 5 women in our 50's and one 82 years old, so she had better get ready to keep up!

http://www.stayz.com.au/accommodation/vic/lakes-wilderness/lakes-entrance/71648

This pool and that table have my name written on it.  Oh, and Glenda's, Kerrie's, Helen's and DORIS!!! Seriously this is going to be a relaxing holiday with dips in the pool (private thank goodness),  books, great coffee and lots of laughter.  I cant wait!

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Introduction to Indian Cooking - Workshop

She's gorgeous, isn't she?  Surya looks like an Indian Princess who went slightly off track and found her way to the Eco Living Centre in Wyndham Vale for a workshop presented by Shoestring Gardening.  How lucky were we and how lucky was I that at last a workshop was being held on a weekend and not mid-week.  I grabbed 3 of my buddies (including my sister) and we made our way to a morning of heavenly spices, yummy food and a good ole natter.  Shoestring are hoping to make this a monthly workshop with local people demonstrating their cultural foods to others.  What better way to bring a community together - sharing food.  I don't dine out at restaurants and my circle of friends is decidedly "Anglo" (why is that?) so I'm hoping that there are some brave souls willing to share some Thai, African, Turkish, Italian, Asian, ........... cooking skills .  I'm open to it all.  Bring it on.....

Our morning started with Spinach Onion Pakoda.  It is a spicy fritter batter dropped into hot oil until cooked.  The mixture was made up already on arrival so i arrived just in time for the cooking and eating.

What started out as a flavoursome opening snack certainly had a bit of a kick in the tail.  Not too much though.  I didn't see anyone diving for drinks and there were plenty going for seconds and thirds.... Oh, was that me?  I noted when we were finishing that the bowl had a rather large quantity of batter remaining so i nabbed it to bring home and make up for my hubby.  Waste not, want not.  I dry fried it in a non-stick pan making them flatter and they turned out equally as good as the deep fried.  I think they would be lovely with a mango chutney.

I do have the recipe and ingredient lists for all these recipes but if i included them here, the post would be very long.  Give me your email address in comment section and I'll send them to you.

The main course for the workshop was Sambar (Indian Lentil Vegetable Stew or Chowder) 

This is one healthy meal with lots of vegetables and certainly different and more interesting than the usual steamed veggies i serve up my crew.  I'm not sure, no I'm pretty sure, that Tom wouldn't eat it but Rob is open to anything.  I tried Okra for the first time and found it a bit ho hum, squash kinda taste but it did pick up some of the spice flavours.   This particular dish included Tamarind Water (made from paste), Coriander Powder, Sambal Powder, Curry Leaves, Fenugreek Seeds (the list of health benefits associated with these seeds is long - check it out), & garlic.

During the making of this meal there was an open general discussion between all the ladies about some of the products we were using.  Simple ones like, what is Dal?  What exactly is Ghee and when do you use it? Unless you are a vegetarian you, like I, may have an idea but you are not quite sure.  Shoestring workshops are the perfect opportunity to ask seemingly stupid questions. They are always friendly and relaxed.   Surya was happy to go through each of the questions and give us simple explanations that were informative and cost saving.  If you don't cook Indian food everyday you run the risk of going out and buying an enormous collections of unusual spices that you may not ever use again (though you should). Surya gave us hints on buying dried powders rather than pastes. Checking for use by dates and storage and where to buy locally. We all loved her stackable spice cans with the smaller tins of spices displayed inside.

Our accompaniment for the main dish was Indian Spicy Potato Roast.  

This dish should come with a warning for all vampires.  Phewy, does it have a garlic hit.  The recipe says 2 pods.  We all naturally thought this meant cloves.  Nope, that's 2-3 bulbs.  Apart from the garlic there was fennel seeds, Sambar powder, coriander powder, Asafoetida and Turmeric.  These were all folded into the diced potatoes before roasting.

You might have noticed that i keep mentioning some ingredients that are a bit different.  What the hell is Asafoetida?  Well if you are Indian you would use it in almost every dish.  If you are an Australian then you probably should.  There is a hole in our ozone guys!  This is such an important topic that i did an entire post on it What is it with men and Farting?

Asafoetida is made from the dried gum of a middle eastern herb.  Its main use in cooking is to reduce "gas" in dishes with lentils and pulses.  Since these are a staple in most Indian dishes you will find that it will also include a few shakes of Asafoetida.  It can be used in any dish as although it stinks close up, it cooks out and enhances the flavours of a dish.  I'm thinking of buying it by the tonne and handing it our to all my friends to use so that their husband might be relieved of their gas issues.  There are also many health benefits and you can check them out here.

So what is Sambar Powder.  I guess its a bit of a curry mix.  Instead of buying a stack of little sachets of spice you can buy one powder with it all mixed.  It includes Lentil, Coriander, Chili Pepper, Cumin, Turmeric, Mustard, Fenugreek, Compounded Asafoetida, Ginger, Curry Leaves & Salt.

What's the difference between Dried Peas and Lentils.  Check this out here but I'm still a little confused.  I know Dal is the Yellow Lentil (flatter) used in Indian Cooking.  Lentils come in a variety of colours and peas are either green or yellow.  Lentils are the seeds from the  pod of a legume.  Isn't a pea pod a legume too! So confusing.  Either way they are all, along with beans, pulses and they are very healthy for you.  Just use the Asafoetida people.

SO until next time....

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Brrr..... Its a Cold but Beautiful Winter's Day

Are you sick of reading how cold it is in Oz yet.   Well let me tell you again, its bloody cold.  (Note to all OS readers, "Bloody" is not swearing in Oz)  What else would you expect people, its the middle of winter!  My friend Jessie in Ballan (40 minutes away) told me it was -6.4C so really, what am i complaining about.  I'm thinking that we will all need to acclimatize to these extreme temps and be more prepared.  I could, for example, actually buy a coat.  Not a ski puffy one that would make someone want to grab me and shove me on a pole outside a tyre place

Jeepers, the resemblance is uncanny!!!   (Gulp)

but a nice woollen one that is stylish and warm.  Problem? I hate shopping!  So i just layer up with whatever i can find on cold days with no regard to style or fashion.  Its not like we have a lot of days like these and well those coats cost a pretty penny.   I leave a warm house, get into a warm car (when its de-iced), enter a warm office and do the same in reverse for 5 out of 7 days so i don't want to spend a fortune on that sometimes only item.

My little seedlings are snug and warm inside the drink bottle homes in the garden.  More importantly they are also safe from opportunistic birds that eat anything green that i plant.  I have noted that nothing has touched the broad bean plants, and i cant say i blame them.  The things i grow for my husband!

So you would think that my sister (sleeping over) and i would stay inside, all snug and warm and watch movies or play Soduko and Solitaire on Sunday.  Well you are wrong.  I grabbed my big sis and we went for a drive, yet again down to the Bellarine Peninsular.  I'd found yet another person who has bypassed this little corner just under Geelong on their way to The Great Ocean Road.  They really need to do some PR work. I seem to be doing it for them.   Since i was only there a few weeks ago you can see a map on my last post here which featured Port Arlington.  Yesterday, after visiting the same bakery for bacon and egg brunch, we went further along the bay to Port Lonsdale.

The pier directly faces The Rip, where the mouth of the bay meets Bass Straight and its great to sit on the bench and watch waves from every direction crashing like a big washing machine.

Though there have been  navigational aids on this spot since 1852, this lighthouse first operated in 1902 and continues to be manned 24 hours a day (one of the last in Australia) even though it was automated in 1999. The Rip is the only entrance to Port Philip Bay and is one of the ten most treacherous navigable passages in the world.

OK, history lesson over.   Isn't it beautiful.  Though it was still chilly, there was a lovely warmth when you stood in the winter sun.  There were people both board surfing and in the distance kite surfing as well as plenty of people fishing.

We dropped off at a Farmers Market on the way home and bought some very cheap Pink Lady apples and then visited my friend Ella in Lara before making our way home.  On Saturday night (i always like to spoil Glenda) i cooked a Roast Lamb meal with lots of baked veggies.  I must say my gravy was just it and a bit. You know how sometimes all the planets align and its just perfect.  Finger and plate lickin good.   So on arriving home Sunday i made lamb fritters with chopped lamb, finely chopped onion, sun dried tomatoes, crumbled feta and herbed batter made with SR Flour.  Yum.  This is dry fried in a non stick pan.

Tonight the left over roasted vegetables turned into a Egg, Bacon and Veggie Pie.  

Line a greased pie dish with puff pastry followed by a layer of bacon, a layer baked potato, carrots, and sweet potato with green beans.  Then crack about 6 eggs on top and let it run between all the veggies.  I break the yolk.  Add another layer of bacon and then using all the scraps from around the edges do something decorative on top.  Bake at 180 for 40 minutes.   Its going to be a yummy lunch tomorrow.   Since i was away, Tom missed out on his weekly sausage rolls so i was booked to make them tonight.

Pinwheel Sausage Rolls - Frozen Sheet of Puff, spread with Beef Sausage Mince, Tomato Paste, Salami, Sprinkle of Cheese.  When slightly defrosted roll up tight and slice.  Bake on oven tray about 20 min. in hot oven.

These are the last of my summer tomatoes that have ripened in the kitchen.  I have lots of little seedlings coming up and i keep telling them, NOT YET!!!

In case you didn't know, I've lost my mind.  Actually make that my head, my hand and my foot.

Slight accident has left me feeling a little disjointed.  Hopefully i can pull myself back together soon.

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Strolling in Williamstown

Gorgeous, isn't it?  With a view like this, the overcast sky didn't matter at all!  The city you can see in the background is Melbourne and my BFF and i were strolling along the Williamstown foreshore on the other side of the bay Sunday afternoon.  A leisurely walk (or for those in our FitBit group, a fast paced romp clocking up steps) admiring the boats, the gulls, the large cruise ship and some rather expensive real estate. Williamstown was the original sea port of Melbourne in the mid 1800's and after many years of being an industrial wasteland it has evolved into a genteel suburb of a original cottages and terraces, glass fronted mansions, a maritime precinct, public parks with walking and bike paths for all.  Weekends see the main esplanade of restaurants and the foreshore packed with both locals, city dwellers arriving by water taxi  and people like us who visit from the outer burbs.  The cruise ship in the top picture is the Sea Princess on its first stop out of Sydney and bound for Perth via Margaret River.  A leisurely 7 day cruise.

We took our time driving back along the bay through Altona (quick stop for an ice cream) looking at houses, both admiring and critiquing as only those who are addicted to watching  home renovation and real estate programs can do.

Speaking of renovating, the long drawn our Arch of Bob (as it has become known) is nearing the end.  Of course the arch i refer to is the one between Tom's two bedrooms and it seems to have morphed into a long term project rather than a quick weekender.  A coat of paint went on this weekend but not before much sanding of grout and plaster with the ensuing mess transported throughout the house.  Can you guess by who?

I seriously must have the patience of Job.  Even Tilly is in on the act.  I must have washed those floors three times in one day.   Rob was like the Abominable Snowman covered in plaster dust from head to toe.  "Stand Still" for goodness sake!

I seriously had to undertake some therapy so i went out to the garden to fetch a pumpkin.  This is my first crop and i am justifiably proud, so allow me a little showing off, if you please......

The one most in danger of falling off was huge and so i split it with my BFF.  We both made soup last night.  I oven roasted mine with onions and then pureed them with a little (homemade) chicken stock.  Bring it to gentle simmer and add cream (either normal, sour cream or coconut cream), salt & pepper, nutmeg and stir to combine.  Yum Yum Yum.  

Work is still go go go at the moment and so nothing extraordinary has happened.  I would love to do some more workshops but the home projects beckon.  One day, one day........ they will be done but in the mean time we will enjoy the journey and learn some new skills, like plastering!

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Lamb Leftovers

Now there is an earth shattering post title.  Like we haven't all had leftovers from a roast before?  For the unjaded here's what i did with the leftovers from our last Roast Lamb meal.

Rob's lunch the next day was of course the same again, in a lunch container for heating up at work.  He drives his fellow workers nuts with his home cooked meals and he tells me its the highlight of his day.  Insert smug look here.

Day 3 I made lamb pasties or whatever you call chunks of cooked lamb with an assortment of veggies  - leftover roasted pumpkin and beans, corn, potato, with tomato sauce, salt & pepper.  I used shop bought puff pastry and just folded it into a large triangle, rounded off corners, and crimped the edge to seal.  I brushed with egg yolk to make them lovely and golden.

I sprinkled the puff pastry with cumin seeds - its my favourite spice at the moment.  It adds a little exotic flavor that lifts this meal from mundane to well, pretty spectacular if i say so myself.    Another favourite pastie is chicken (using left over cooked chicken), sauteed mushrooms and a can of mushroom soup.

Day 4 i made lamb fritters.  These were a childhood favourite made from that last bit of meat near the bone that is cut into small pieces.  Off my small roast i got about two handfuls which i had saved for this meal. Mum would have used this as a way to stretch the leftovers for a family of eight.

Just make a batter - 1 cup of flour (i use SRF), 1 Egg and about 1 cup of milk to make a plain batter. Adjust milk to make it a coating consistency.  If you are making savoury fritters, then season to taste.  Get creative and add to the meat anything you want. Parents might like to sneak in some grated veggies.   I added a little garlic and mixed herbs to the lamb.  Shallow pan fry in a mix of oil and butter and drain on paper towel when golden and cooked through.  You can use this batter to make potato fritters, corn fritters, what ever you want.  I served with a thick rich tomato sauce for yet more flavour.  

Lastly, there is the bone.  I'd like to tell you that i used it making a stock or  soup, and i would have if a certain Miss Tilly hadn't been pleading with me to let her have it for days.  She was so funny trying to lift it in her little mouth and then trying to jump up onto the couch with it.  Too Heavy.  So she skulked under the coffee table with warning growls to anyone who came near.   A few hours later it was clean and has been both a wonderful toy as well as cleaning her teeth.   Sound gross?  Well that's just the kind of house i run.  It may not be perfectly clean and Rob came out and said it looked like a dinosaurs graveyard in here but we are all happy and haven't died yet.   I might get a few raised eyebrows from visitors though.

Since I've run out of lamb to demonstrate - I've jumped around and found some other fabulous ways to use left over roast lamb.  Enjoy!

Lamb Curry - Goodness there are so many different recipes online but my simple one uses the recipe on the side of the container of Clive of India - Authentic Curry Powder.  Fry up some onion and garlic until translucent, add curry powder, cook for 2 min and add cooked meat.  Add chopped tomatoes, cook 5 min, add coconut cream and stir through.  Simmer for 30 minutes.   I usually make this in a slow cooker but it should only take a few hours as the meat is already cooked.  My mother adds sliced green apples, sultanas and shredded coconut.  Very fruity and tonnes of flavour.  Yet again, making meals STRRREETTTCHHH!!

Leftover Lamb Shepherds Pie     Add garlic salt to the mash - yummmmm

Henry Dimbleby's Lamb Pilaf
Gently fry an onion and some garlic in olive oil. (You can also throw in some thinly sliced carrots, leeks, fennel – or whatever else is wilting at the bottom of your fridge.) Add some basmati rice (one cup for every two people). Add 1½ cups of stock (or water) for every cup of rice. Simmer for 5 minutes. Add whatever meat you have left over (lamb is classic, but anything will do) and some sultanas or raisins. Simmer for 15 minutes. Check the rice is cooked. Add more stock and cook a little longer if need be. It should end up moist, but not soupy. Season. Add a squeeze of lemon. If you have any green herbs or spring onions, sprinkle on top, along with some toasted almonds.  Serve with a blob of yoghurt.

Quick Lamb Souvlaki   - Using Masterfood Greek Seasoning, quickly fry up some Spanish Onions and add strips of left over lamb, sprinkle on Greek Seasoning and toss until reheated.  I add a couple of spoons of water to prevent meat drying out.    Quickly place it on a wrap with a bed of shredded lettuce, tomato, and Greek yoghurt or tzatziki.  Lunch!

Since im loving cumin seeds lately and there seems to be a lot of yoghurt being blobbed on the above recipes,  try making this yoghurt to go with all your lamb dishes.   Add a crushed garlic clove and 1/2 a teaspoon of cumin seed to 1 cup of Greek yoghurt.  Put it in fridge for an hour to let flavours develop.   Yum Yum

Have i made you hungry yet?  Have i convinced you to buy the next size up when purchasing a lamb roast so that you have leftovers?  

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I wanna go back to work.....

I think i got these buttons mixed up. Truly, this long weekend malarkey just means that instead of two days a week to do home projects and gardening, we have 4 and i can tell you now that i can not wait to go back to work tomorrow and sit at my desk, all day.  I'm stuffed, not from eating all that gifted chocolate but from working all day.  My feet are throbbing under the desk as i write and the 11,094 registering on my FitBit today is in no way indicative of the physical effort undertaken.

We did this weekend all wrong.  We rested and bummed around on Friday with visitors and then worked the hardest today because we were running out of time.  Oh well, we will recover.  Glenda (sister) and I have been waiting to watch the show Vikings.  I bought Series I & II and so it was a marathon that lasted from breakfast to supper on Friday.  I love historical shows and this didn't disappoint.  A little gory (that saw me under a blanket some of the time) but in context and a great story.

I'm looking forward to the III series. Its screen on TV now but ill wait for the DVD and we'll watch it together. When a TV show has you on the end of your seat you don't want to interrupt with adverts.    

Saturday and Sunday saw the backyard veggie garden clean-up (here) and as you can see today I'm a frustrated hairdresser. No one will let me loose on their hair and so i make do with the trees and shrubs in the front yard.

The big pile of cuttings under the tree need to dry off so that the stems can go through the shredder for chips and the leaves into the blower vac for chopped up leaf mulch. You would think i would have washed down the concrete before taking a photo, wouldn't you?

You cant see it but there is new mulch in the beds.  Funny thing happened a few weeks ago.  I came home expecting to pick up the boys (i really should call them men, now that Tom is 18 and Rob 54) for a dinner reservation at 7pm. When i pulled into the drive at 6.30pm i found them across the road in front of the school shovelling mulch into the rear of Rob's work ute.  That would be the one with a canopy and so through the back window the mulch was flying all over the tools.  It was filled to the brim.  Doh! Did he think to remove the tools first? Nuh, just straight in on top of them.  Apparently there was a FREE sign left by the school landscapers who had a late delivery of several cubic meters of mulch close to finishing time.  Rob told me there was another person who was filling up his boot (his wife was not impressed either with the boot filled with dirty mulch straight onto the VW boot carpet).  They went hammer and tong at it for a while trying to get as much as possible when they both looked at each other and agreed to share.  They were buggered and slowed down.  You can just picture it can't you, two men going at it for free mulch. I was wavered across not having a clue what was going on and told to help.   Ummmm aren't we due at a restaurant with OUR guests in less than 10 minutes?  Rob was still in his grease covered work clothes with bark all over him.   Since the ute was full, i thought for a moment and remembered that the bins had been emptied just a few days before.  Easy Peasy, shovel it in and wheel it across the road.  When it came time to empty it i just tipped them over in the bed i wanted filled.  Up there for thinking 99.

At least it wasn't me who had to empty the back of his ute, clean out several tool boxes and then wash out the ute.  It had a lovely woody fragrance.  It still cracks me up but i do have a lovely pile of free mulch which got spread around today.  Lucky for us the dinner guests were all friends.  A quick call later they were shaking their heads and no doubt not surprised at all.

Now that I've humiliated Rob i can tell you I'm super impressed with his efforts this weekend.  He is working in Tom's room, preparing and plastering the opening between the two bedrooms which was complicated by having to put in a supporting beam.  Plastering  is a new skill for Rob and Friday saw him watching a few You Tube clips to see how it was done.

Its not finished but its well on the way.  It will take 3 coats of Gyprock which need 24 hrs dry time between coats.  My only contribution was to hand him the nails and to remove yet more nails from the skirting boards, so that they can be re-stained and put back on.  This two room combo is going to set the standard for the whole house and you can already see the bamboo boards leaving the back corridor and now making their way across the family/dining room.  It will look much nicer and fresher with white walls.  Rob is doing some boarding at night after his day job.  Its tough on him doing two major projects at the same time but he can see a light at the end of the tunnel and he hates the existing 20 year old stained cream carpet with a passion.

So to reward him, while i sit here with throbbing feet, I've made him a roast lamb dinner.

I think i got an A+ so we are all happy and there is plenty of leftovers.  We have all developed a preference for smashed garlic & rosemary potatoes rather than normal baked.

So what did you get up to?  Do you need a rest from your weekend?

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In Garden Therapy - Dont Disturb

So when someone asks "Where's Lynda" you can tell them she's having therapy. That would mean I'm out in my garden. Truly I'm feeling so good that i stopped taking anti-depressants before Christmas and managed to get through the crazy season.  Way to go for sharing Lynda.  Just tell the world you are a loony.  Well I'm not, I'm just extremely emotional and FEEL everything, even when its a fictional character or (hello!) a TV commercial. Some people have a little sniffle, I'm totally wrecked.  So, the news is that I'm doing more than OK and much of that has to do with my garden, my family, friends and the motley crew of  bloggers that i check in with each day.  Thank you to all!

The yellows of the sunflowers and zucchini blooms are waving their magic over me. The dark green knobbly cucumbers and the weird shaped Tromboncino are in-sighting me to laughter. Its all so beautiful and abundant. I cant see any major bad bugs anywhere.  I've not sprayed a thing.  Just companion planting, plenty of water, lots of poop when necessary and laying down the grass clippings when the soil is exposed. The soil has a soft moist doona on top of it.  The only fly in my ointment is the occasional half eaten cherry tomato or strawberry from visiting birds which is nothing when i read in other blogs of the vast array of creatures invading gardens elsewhere.

My wall of tomatoes are providing me with an abundance of produce and our meals are based around them.

Oh my goodness, lets just pause and take a moment shall we.  

When you look at this basket of today's morning pickings, then you know that lunch is going to look a lot like this.

It looks like its swimming cheese but it was just a sprinkle, honest.  So yum...  When i was making the tomato base i looked and found that i didn't have any Italian Herbs.  DOH!  Hello!  its growing outside duffa!

So when husband brings home even more tomatoes from work (I'm not the only one having a good crop) then i feel a pasta sauce coming on.  Six hours later, the smell is right through the house.

My latest thing is adding a few slices of salami to the sauce while its cooking.  It really enhances the flavour.  I dont remove skins, in they go chopped.  I was missing carrots but im sure it will taste as good as it smells.  

My tomato futures.  You didn't think I'd put all my eggs in one basket did you.  In fact there are tomatoes in every one of the eight beds because they are coming up all over the yard.  This crop is about a month behind the other one and has been protected from the heat.  They are mostly heritage varieties.   I've opened it up now to get some sun and i will have to trim back a few stems to open it up to air.  That's lovely job for cool evenings.

The lettuce bed is now providing me with a daily salad.  I need to stagger the crops better as I've had a month of no fresh lettuce.  Shopping in your back yard is real convenient when you are making lunches at 5.30am.  You can just see one of the poles that are painted and ready to go in for my espaliered fence garden.

Egg Shells - more therapy.  I save all the eggs shells for the week.  They are washed as used and then dried on the window sill in the kitchen.  (Great decor).  On a weekend morning, i take them out with a cup of coffee into the pergola and while enjoying the view i break them up by hand.  Its very therapeutic.  Try it. There is that initial ouch factor and then over time they break up until its quite grainy like sand.   This is about half way.  I add it to my soil, worm farm or on top of soil around the lettuce to stop slugs and snails.  

Tom's vertical pumpkin frame is working well.   I cant wait till its covered.  The cucumbers are in there as well.

Not everything is perfect.  I have leaf curl on my mandarin tree.  Dr Google tells me that since its also yellowing i might have a potassium deficiency and i also need to keep the water up.  I'm not seeing any little bugs but a dose of while oil wont hurt.  I had one mandarin last year and now i have about a dozen on my small potted tree. 

OK, i think I've bored you all with the garden overview but really, not much is happening at the moment, which i guess is a blessed relief.  While I've been playing here the sauce has finished and I've made tonight's dinner.

Creamy cauliflower, bacon & corn chowder - with the late addition of yellow zucchini.  It was yummy.

Today's menu was brought to you by the following inspiration.

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