Spring Healthy Action.

Spring 09.

Psyllum, omega 3, orange or fruit.

Fruit free muesli, nuts, milk, ½ t cinnamon

Coffee, apple and sunshine

Homemade juice (only 2 fruits in one day)

Salad (lettuce, asparagus, tomato, beetroot, carrot, corn), tuna, hommous

Green tea

Coffee, banana, apple (only 2 fruits in one day)

Wine, hommous, crackers, raw veg/dip

Dinner: lots of veg: zucchini, carrot, spinach, tomato, notatoes (cauliflower, ricotta or cream cheese, garlic, chives)
http://www.tonyferguson.com/weight-loss-recipes/vegetable-side-dishes/notatoes.aspx
Palm size protein.
Green tea.

Dark choc/nuts.

Walk 30 min a day
Stretches
Water.

Curly Tops.

Linen for Spring!

I just so happen to have some lovely Spring linen. About to make the little girls' beds.....

Eaten out of House and Home.

Our mammoth fruit/veg stores are depleted, ready for tomorrow's order. All we have left are the 2 lemons (from the basket full that we were given), 1 zucchini, half a bunch of English spinach, 1 apple, half a bag of carrots, I have not used the celery yet and 2 cherry tomatoes (for the children's lunchbox tomorrow). I have even used the potatoes that were in stock before the delivery came. Luckily tonight the family will have bolognaise with lots of zucchini and carrot already grated into it.

Freedom/Schedule.

My issue today is the involvement in organised sport/activities that can override life. We try not to fill our weekends with such although we do do soccer in the Winter. Weeks ago, people were asking me what our Summer sport would be. Tennis is something we are interested in and did last Summer, but I am inclined to leave that till after Christmas and enjoy the time that will now speed towards Christmas with no sport on Saturday.

If we do not organise sport, we are also more likely to be able to go to the lakehouse, where swimming, sailing and kayacking are possible. The above pictured activity was great fun last weekend, but we set it up after we had done with the day's sport and in the end only had one hour of daylight to enjoy it.

More Fiddling.......

Changing little things around a bit.......

Friday's Fresh Produce.

Well the weekend is almost done but I thought that I would talk a little about our fruit/veg delivery that comes on a Friday.

Our local fruit/veg shop kindly deliver an order to me that I phone in on a Friday morning. This week, there was quite a lot on special and I also needed to factor in a large salad for a bbq for today (Hospitality Sunday at church) and dessert-some fruit.

My order included: 6 loaves bread, 1 x 3L milk, 2 buckets of apples, bucket mandarines, bucket kiwi fruit, 2 bunches English spinach leaves, 2 heads lettuce, 1 cucumber, green capsicum, a Spanish onion, 4 loose tomatoes, 3 punnets cherry tomatoes, 2 punnets strawberries, a large wedge of watermelon, 2 bunches asparagus, 5 zucchini, half a celery, bulk bag of oranges, 1 kilo carrots and 2 dozen eggs. I had already bought a bunch of bananas the day before. We will not throw out one item from this list! The cost of this amount is about $70 AUD. Now imagine if we grew our own.........I have stuck the lettuce roots into the soil and I see that the cherry tomatoes from last year are resprouting. Our avocado tree is growing very well, but I have heard that it probably won't bear fruit here in Sydney. Our passionfruit vine surprises us after Christmas, so that will be nice.

PS I have loads of oregano growing and it will be time for basil soon.

Fiddling in the house.

Moving things around as I do housework, just for variety. Will post some more pictures later.....NB the lovely fabric, sitting there, waiting for inspiration. The top piece was a gift from Lynda in Tanzania!.
The briefcase was my Ouma's.

Pancakes for Tea.

I have tried and tried to make delicious pancakes from scratch. Failure. Rubber. We had packet pancakes as part of a breakfast basket on holiday and they were really good! The ingredients' list was no different from what is in my pantry. I have bought a packet mix a few times now and each time success. We had pancakes for afternoon tea yesterday: lemon and sugar, honey and jam. They were a success!

Spring and Pink and Purple......

7 year old daughter loves picking flowers from the garden.

A Little Sugar Pot.

I use this sugar pot everyday for my evening cup of tea. Husband E's Aunt who recently died gave it to us for our wedding. It came amongst many little things that we use everyday.

Children Painting.

Last Saturday, making wrapping paper for cousins' presents....

Playing in the Kitchen....

I have been rearranging a few things in the house. I thought that I would hang the wok so that I would not forget that we had one and actually use it!

The table in the middle of the kitchen is surplus from 10 year old son's room and while waiting for a new location , it sits in the kitchen. It has been handy for 3 year old daughter to sit there to help with the baking and even have lunch there. I don't think that the kitchen is large enough to accommodate a table in the centre, but I do so enjoy the idea.

I thought that I would show our recipe books. I don't collect recipe books as I love finding recipes in the newspaper, magazines and from friends and family.

Spring's Snow.

It was so warm here today, 28 degrees I think. The garden smells of Spring. This is the first flower on our Double Flowering May. In a few days' time, the whole bush will be white and it will 'snow' in our garden. Snow in Spring time!

A Trip to the Opera House.

While the children are asleep and the internet connection is strong, I thought I would update the blog......hence many posts...........

Today, I took 5 year old daughter into the city to the Opera House. I have done this with each of our children as they get old enough to appreciate the trip into the city and the concert ("Proms for children). Our daughter loved the "Bumpy Bus and Wobbly Train". We did not find the concert to be a memorable one but the whole experience of the day in the city was thoroughly enjoyable.

Email Links.

For the last three years, I have not gone out a great deal during the week. Email and blogs have been lovely forms of communication for me.

In the last week, I have reflected on the huge circles of contact that email enables me to enjoy.

Husband E's Aunt died and as she was in England and family scattered all around the world and Australia, email has allowed daily updates (in her last weeks) and now, as much organisation occurs for services in England and Australia.

Email has also kept me connected with my dear cousins in South Africa and gives me the opportunity for group chats with immediate family.

The installation of Community Fire Units has meant that I need to contact many residents, again email has enabled this.

My dear friends from university are scattered and email keeps us in contact, one has just returned from global ventures!

This blog has taken the form of an electronic diary or journal with photographs, I hope it is preserved in some way.....

I really enjoy a daily journal type of email with two dear friends who have given me so much encouragement, a good laugh, chat about good food and companionship during the day.

Boys' Rooms...

10 year old son's room can become messy quickly as there are many, little, interesting collections on the go.

Vintage suitcases are part of my plan of attack and yesterday new bookshelves have helped organise more things! Fiona kindly gave us these shelves.

A most satisfying day. Thankyou dear husband E.

One of My First Blog Friends.

Linda was one of the first lovely ladies I met when I started this blog. She shares her life and lessons that she has learnt along the way. For a visit to another part of Australia, do pay her a visit.

Cake With Juice Pulp.

Does not sound enticing!

No Tiffin was made, but I did bake two plain cakes with my new secret ingredient; the pulp from our juicer. The recipe was a little dry in my early attempts, but the pulp has fixed that. Delicious. Of late I have made lemon icing, but I ran out of icing mixture and made a white chocolate ganache instead. Lucky as we had 6 hungry children to share afternoon tea with on Saturday!

I Hope to Make........

A reminder to me, to make this, perhaps today and when I do, I will post pictures;

Tiffin

http://attic24.typepad.com/weblog/2009/08/cranberry-and-pecan-tiffin.html

This would be the third great recipe that I have enjoyed in particular from Attic 24.

Bulbs.

Planted at Easter, new life.

Preparing for the Bushfire Season.

We are heading towards the bushfire season and we live on a ridge surrounded by bush. We have applied for Community Fire Units and we will be getting five in the next few weeks. The use of each unit will involve training.

I am the contact person for our street so have spent today making a data base of contact details. The next step is to organise a venue and meeting times......

Lemons and Lemonades.

Lemons and lemonades from Mrs N, Grandad and Lake Conjola. Time to bake and make icing. Some thoughts: lemon pudding, lemon slice and icing for cakes.....

In response to a comment,
here is a recipe for "Zulu Cake" or Orange Almond cake.

Boil 2 oranges till soft, with skin on.

Then put into a blender. Blend. Don't do this when the oranges are too hot!
Add 250g almond meal
Add 250g sugar
Add 6 eggs
Add 2 t baking powder.

Blend, pour into lined cake tin and bake till firm (at least one hour.)

Monday Morning.

Need I say more?

A Parcel Arrived.

The blog world is made up of some really lovely people. We as humans still enjoying reaching out to one another across the oceans. I am thrilled that I have met some lovely people from other countries through this online journal!

One such friend is Cathy. This week we received a parcel wrapped in brown paper, all the way from America. Inside were gifts of thoughtfulness and care; a hand smocked dress for our three year old daughter (with matching jacket) and woollen gloves for me (without fingers so I can still potter around and type of course).

I have enjoyed visiting with Cathy's family through her blog. A handwritten note accompanied the parcel and it just seems a little more tangible than the virtual words on the computer, perhaps a note still adds another dimension to your knowledge of someone.....

Thankyou Cathy for your kindness.

Women around the world all actually sharing many things in common.

Sandwich Suggestions Please.

I am hosting a "Welcome to Spring/September Sandwich" gathering. Could you all put your thinking caps on and send me some wonderful ideas for fillings pretty please?

You should check out the comments as the suggestions in are delicious.....Did you know that by sprinkling alfalfa on top of prepared sandwiches, they retain their moistness? A dear family friend's secret!

Helpers.

Cousins' Caramel Shortbread: Quickly!

18 cousins in two hours' time. Caramel shortbread the proper way is just not going to get ready in that time, so a shortcut is needed:

Bash some Scoth finger biscuits. Pour into slice tin.
Pour over a tin of condensed milk. Make sure the biscuits are joining with the milk, even if you mix the biscuits and milk and it is not smooth.

Bake till bubbly and golden. Remove from oven. Pour over chocolate icing. Set in fridge. I will let you know what the verdict is after afternoon tea!

P.S. It was good!

Fireside Supper.

Ladies Lunching at the Lakehouse.

for a dear friend's 40th birthday.