Rahui - Day summat or t'other

So now I've lost track of what day we are on, but to be honest it's what I'm like most of the time anyway. I'm quite happy to be at home, the challenge is going to be having Joe home for the duration!! 😂😂😂

 Just kidding, I have a long list...

This morning we went for another walk around Lorenzen Bay, the tide was further in but was on it's way out. There was no-one around, so we took the opportunity to let the dogs off the lead, we've not done this before as there was no real need to have them on leads back on the lifestyleblock.

They were really well behaved and thoroughly enjoyed being able to explore,

they came back when called so that was a real bonus.

Back home and after breakfast and a cuppa and no doubt yet another snooze!

are you snoozing a lot? We are!

....... anyhoo, we decided that we should really do something.

We set up one of the bedrooms

Note Jinx in her spot by the window 😍😍

Not entirely finished, things to hang etc.

Love the view out of the long narrow window above the bed

Interesting clouds today, they're what I called Toy Story clouds

Joe cooked a Sunday roast today! As if I wasn't confuddled enough already, this completely threw me and I couldn't get my head around it being Saturday!

 It was bloody delicious and the first roast in our new home.

There was even dessert, recipe to follow

Coconut cake

I left off the topping and mango but added some mashed feijoas to the mix

they made the cake lovely and moist, topped with passionfruit syrup

Stay safe and stay home xx

Kitchen bitchin' and cooking up a storm

Over the last couple of weeks or so we've had crappy weather so indoor activities have been the order of the day. Quite a bit of cooking happened. 

Feijoa, lime and smoked paprika chutney

 INGREDIENTS

700g peeled onions, chopped
8 red chillies
2 limes
1 large red capsicum, chopped
200ml red wine vinegar
300ml orange juice
3kg feijoas
20 kaffir lime leaves
1kg white sugar
500g brown sugar
1 cinnamon quill, roughly broken
1 tablespoon whole coriander seeds
1¼ teaspoons chilli powder
2 teaspoons dulce (or sweet) smoked paprika

METHOD
Place onions, chillies and limes in a food processor and process until chopped but not puréed. Add to a pot with capsicum, red wine vinegar and orange juice. Stir to mix and set over a low heat. Top and tail unpeeled feijoas, dice them into 1cm cubes and add to the pot along with kaffir lime leaves; white sugar; brown sugar; cinnamon quill; coriander seeds; chilli powder and paprika. Bring to the boil, simmer for two hours, pour into jars and seal. It's got one hell of a kick to it, just how we like it.

************************
Feijoa and coconut cake

As you can see, we'd already eaten some by the time I took a photo.

175gms butter

1 cup sugar

3 eggs

1 cup milk

1 ½ cups flour

1 ½ tsp baking powder

1 ¼ cup coconut

1 ½ cups feijoas

2 tbsps slivered/sliced almonds

2 tbsps sugar

Method

1 Soften the butter and beat to a cream with first measure of sugar

2 Add eggs one at a time and mix well

3 Beat in milk, flour and baking powder

4 Cut feijoas into small chunks and fold into mixture with  coconut

5 Pour into a well greased tin

6 Sprinkle the almonds and sugar over the top

7 Bake at 180 deg C for 35-45 minutes until golden brown and when skewer come out clean

  

 *****************

Blackberry jam 

Sue gave me some blackberries last week, I added some frozen mixed ones to make up the weight.

 

************************

I bought a bag of apples on special for $1.45 and made 3 apple crumble yesterday.

We ate one and I froze the other two

****************************

Boiled sultana cake

an old favourite

**************************

Toad in the hole for dinner tonight

Jamie Oliver recipe here

********************

Mini trifles, rhubarb from the garden stewed with sugar, butter & ginger

I had leftover custard from yesterday (carton, who can be bothered making it!)

And cream, because who's counting calories by then!

And I reckon that's enough to be going on with don't you?

If you're reading this through Networked blogs link to Facebook, and if you want to leave a message about this post, either comment at the bottom of this post or flick me an email.

I'm taking a break from Facebook for a month, maybe forever, who knows.

                                                                  Image courtesy of Google images

Just one day away from the computer and I've achieved so much.

I'll share that news tomorrow

Take care

 

Day three and it's really starting to look like a deck

The length along the kitchen side of the house now has all it's joists

This side only needs one more joist, they ran out of time today.

The spa will sit under this end

 

 It's bloody massive!

The whole thing still needs Z nails, joist brackets, more coach screws etc, etc to stabilize it.

So still lots to do in that respect.

**********

The reason for running out of time today was because M&T were having people over for a BBQ, we went and joined them for more lovely food, summer is all about BBQ's isn't it?

 While we were eating the dogs were put inside, Max is a little sod when there's food and people around and we get the odd scrap between him and Astrix. Astrix wasn't overly impressed being shut inside and watched us through the cat flap

 

Sue called over earlier today to make an inspection of the proceedings! She ended up picking my rhubarb with me, so I had to go and do something with it once she'd gone home. One thing I did with it was to make a dessert, what I called UK meets NZ crumble. NZ like to think they invented the Pavlova, the Aussies claim they did and I read that someone had traced it's origins back to centuries ago.

Who cares? I'm just very grateful than someone invented it at all. ;-D

There was a choice of either a mini pavlova which is soft to eat or a meringue nest which is crunchy. 

I put a dollop of cream (with icing sugar and vanilla essence) then some rhubarb. I put the chunks of rhubarb in a flat pan, added some brown sugar, ground ginger and a couple of capfuls of Cointreau, I cooked it until the rhubarb was soft. The crumble was made of flour, porridge oats, white and brown sugar. I melted the butter and stirred it into the dry mix (so much easier that rubbing the butter in) then I placed it all in a pan and popped it under the grill to toast.

So the UK bit was the rhubarb crumble which met the NZ pavlova.

I am pleased to report it got a big thumbs up.

So in the garden today I picked all of the peas

 And spent a gazillion hours shelling them all and got 1.3kgs of peas. A lot of effort for not too many peas but so worth it just for the flavour. They are all in the freezer

I diced up 2kgs of rhubarb and that too is in the freezer, I'm going to make some rhubarb wine but only after there's a little less chaos around here!

I kept some for fresh, half of which went in the dessert.

And that's me done for today other than to thank you all for your comments over the last few days, it really is nice to hear from you. I do try and reply to each and every one of you BUT I reply here on the blog. I know lots of other bloggers reply to the posters email. I really don't have the time to do that I'm afraid, my apologies. If you've missed my replies, again I'm sorry, underneath the comment box where it says 'Choose an Identity' you can tick the box  'Email follow up *to your email address*' So if you don't want to miss out then this might be an option.

I'm tired so I'm off to bed. Until next time see ya xxx

“Is the spring coming?" he said. "What is it like?"... "It is the sun shining on the rain and the rain falling on the sunshine...” ― Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden

Well haven't I been a slack blogger, my last post was a month ago! No real excuse for it other than a bad case of the can't be botheredness again. Never mind I shall try to bring you up to date, I'll try not to get too carried away.

Spring has sprung.......kind of. Signs of spring are everywhere although someone forget to tell the weather. We've had a few warm spring days but that rain soon starts falling again and it brings it's mate the wind. Give it a few weeks though and I'll be moaning it's too hot and that we need rain. ;-D

The first day of spring and I had to light the fire, someone wasn't complaining.

 The day started like this

But it got better

So there was nothing to do but bake.....

Marmalade Cake

6oz self raising flour .
6oz butter
6oz caster sugar
3 eggs
3 tbs marmalade
Peel from Grated orange
Couple handfuls of sultanas
Cream butter ,sugar then eggs little flour rest of flour add marmalade ,orange sultanas ,
In loaf tin. For 45 mins 180 / 190 degrees 

Boiled Pineapple and fruit cake 

Basically it's the same recipe as the boiled sultana cake

but instead of a cup of water substitute with a can of crushed pineapple 

Dinner that night was a huge bacon and egg pie with heaps of veggies.

Maxy moo xx

Outside there are signs of spring

Plum blossom

All of our three ewes lambed safely and with no intervention from us, which has to be a first.

Three sets of twins and all rams, good job we didn't want replacement ewes

The last ewe to lamb on Sunday 30th August

 The first born lambs are growing well

The second set looking pretty chilled

Joe made the most of some fine weather last weekend. He finally got around to putting in new posts and raising the height of the platform on which our mailbox, and that of Michael & Tash's, rest on.

It had to be at a certain height so that the postie can easily put the mail in the box from the comfort of her car! Being an ex Royal Mail Postie I have to say that NZ posties get it bloody easy, they don't even have to get out of their vehicles or, if in town, off their bikes. The mail boxes are easily accessible, I wish we'd had that option in the UK instead of lugging heavy bags of mail to every letterbox set in the front door, most of which were so ridiculously small or set so low to the ground that it was almost impossible to deliver the mail.

 Joe and his trusty 'ammer

On Thursday I made some marmalade using Seville oranges, grapefruits and lemons all from our own trees, the smell of citrus throughout the house was wonderful.

I made three small jars and took two down to craft and four large jars but this happened to one........

The bottom fell off!! Bugger!

At least I was able to tell if it set or not! 

Right I think that will do for tonight, I've got more to share but will save that for tomorrow. Joe's working away in Auckland so I've brought the laptop into the TV room. I don't like to do that, it's a bit anti social I feel, mind you Joe's generally nodded off by 9pm!!! hahah

As it's Friday it must be time for a funny, shared by Sue on my Facebook page

And on that note I shall wish you all a very pleasant evening or morning, 

depending on where you are.

I'll be back tomorrow

Toddle pip old beans

xx