An Irish adventure!

The 'horsey' one spent last week doing a paddy wagon tour of Ireland with another 299 gap students! Her bus travelled from North to South. She discovered a lot about the political history in Belfast and enjoyed the beauty of the country as they travelled down South. They visited the Guiness factory on the last day and apparently she earned a certificate! It wasn't all smooth sailing, when they arrived at Dublin airport to book in for their return flight they discovered she had booked it for 23 March instead of 23 Feb! Of their group of 12 she was the only that had done this! It meant an extra night in Dublin and purchasing another airfare. It also meant she was late back to work, lucky they were understanding. It didnt seem to stress her, she just problem solved, I am proud of her but hopefully she won't make the same mistake again!
I have had a huge week at work, lots of extra hours. Off to Geelong tomorrow for check up appointments, I am looking forward to the weekend!

Another cake!

Another afternoon tea at work, this time to celebrate an engagement which means another cake! This time a chocolate mud cake with a peppermint cream filling and a chocolate ganache icing, another Yum! I forgot to take a photo this morning, luckily there was some to bring home! I may just have a slice for supper tonight!

TV Tuesday!

I haven't spoken for a while about my trashy (sometimes, not always) tv viewing! After a slow start to the year I have a few shows I am loving at the moment and hate missing! I start the week on Sunday ( the new TV guide so a new tv week) with Modern Family which I love! For someone without a sense of humor normally I get this show! This went a little pear shaped this  week when we discovered a new series of Amazing Race starting at the same time and for once a watchable time, not at 11 pm at night! Amazing Race won out and I am so happy we chose that. Luckily there always seems to be repeats of Modern Family so we will catch up on that. Too many teams to love and one to dislike! Yay! I then watch Masterchef professional, enjoy this but not enough to watch it the rest of the week! Of course the highlight of Sunday is Downton Abbey, series 3. So sad for Edith last week but loving every twist and turn! Their clothes are beautiful and the flowers.... Monday is My Kitchen Rules, I tried to give it up when the intruders came in but it has sucked me in again. Another show that is fun to have some villains ! Tuesday and Wednesday just have more of My Kitchen Rules but now Thursday, that is full to overflowing with entertainment! Starts with Survivor, then the 2nd half of American Idol then Meet the Midwives, high quality viewing and for this reason I watch it in the bedroom, banned from forcing the menfolk to watch! Friday more American Idol and it all starts all over again. No time for anymore at the moment. Loving it:)
Anyone else have some favourite shows happening??

Everything together Orange Cake!

After blogging that we had made this cake last week an Peppermint Aero loving friend from across the seas asked for the recipe! We have made it a few times, lots of flavour, not many dishes and delicious, ticks all the boxes!

1 whole orange ( sticker removed )
1 cup white sugar
175g butter, melted
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups self raising flour

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C
Cut up whole orange into chunks. Throw into food processor and pulp roughly. Add sugar, melted butter and eggs. Stir in self raising flour. Pour into a greased 18cm round cake tin.
Bake for approx 30 mins or until cooked.
Sprinkle icing sugar over the top, doesn't need icing!

Thank goodness for google if anyone needs to convert measurements!

Washing weather.....

A huge benefit to the warm (hot) weather we are having at the moment is that it is easy to keep the washing up to date.  Not happy to just be up to date I go searching for more to wash, quilts, cushion covers, nothing is safe! Today was Willow's toys turn. They were looking very grubby and not smelling great. They looked so cute pegged on the line.

Miss Willow was very happy with her clean wombat this afternoon :)

Another farewell..

Since the 'horsey one' has left we have had some of her friends visit, primarily to lend dresses from her wardrobe!!! Some have called in often  just to say hi and have helped fill the gap. Megan left for the USA last weekend and today Amie left for Uni in Adelaide. Amie is like a 2nd daughter and it has been so nice seeing her so often. She will leave yet another gap, watch out menfolk, I will have to drive you mad talking now!!
Still hot here, the air has a pink, hazy glow and is filled with smoke. Not very pleasant at all. I worked at the boarding house today, day 6 of work in a row so am really looking forward to tomorrow!

TGIF!

Thank goodness it's Friday!

Baking!

There was some baking happening here, SH had to take morning tea to work for a staff meeting today so we tried a new recipe, delicious and even better HS ate the left overs happily without knowing the name of it! Garden Zucchini Cake, full of grated zucchini, crushed pineapple and walnuts. A lemon cream cheese icing to top it off. We will be making this again! We also made another favourite recipe, an all together orange cake. Everything goes in the blender including the whole orange so nice and quick and easy AND tasty!

Counting our blessings....

Today SH and I attended day 1 of a training course 'Bridges out of Poverty' (both with our respective employers but we got to sit together which was nice!) . It was quite confronting , especially the DVD presentations, but every so often we should take a walk in someone else's shoes even if only to remind us how blessed we are.

Look at them now:)

Too close for comfort....

There are fires threatening townships near us. In town we are safe but my heart and thoughts go out to those in the area. So many locals are helping with the fight, they are sons, husbands, fathers, we pray they win the fight and all return home safely.

Steamy Sunday!

It is hot and sticky again today , the 4th day in a row, the house has heated up , we don't have air conditioning so we are finding it hard to get motivated to do much! A little like our Willow! She is so cute. The 'horsey' one heads to Ireland today for the week, she is very lucky!

4 today!

My darling goddaughter Sadie is 4 today. This would not be the photo her Mum would choose for me to show but I love it , her personality just shines through! Happy Birthday gorgeous girl xx

A happy bargain!

I dropped into Aldi today for a few things and waiting at the registers picked up a bargain. They had obviously over ordered for Valentines Day so all their bunches of flowers were 99c. I chose 4 bunches of lilies and am loving them :)

Happy Valentines Day xxx

This is the dish of Valentine goodies I took to work! A similar selection is on our table at home. By now the 'horsey' one should of opened her singing Justin Beiber Valentines Day card!

Moving on....

There were tears today as Henry was loaded onto the float to go to a new home. With the 'horsey' one away for a year he needed to find a new rider to welcome him to their family, to love him and enjoy riding him. He is too good to sit in a paddock for a year not being used getting bored. We were lucky enough to find someone so today we said goodbye, the right decision but it still tugged on the heart strings xx

Shrove Tuesday

Pancakes with bacon and maple syrup became pancakes with only bacon (after I missed maple syrup on the shopping list)  became pancakes with lemon and sugar! I always look forward to Shrove Tuesday every year.

A keeper!

This weeks new recipe is Moroccan Meatball and Egg Tagine and was made by SH as I ran out of time! It will definitely go onto our 'make again' list - yummy! The flavour  in the tomato based sauce was just so nice.

Year of the Snake

Happy Chinese New Year

I needed a gift to take to a meal this evening to celebrate the Chinese New Year with our International boarders from school and also for the podiatrist from work for who this is a very important celebration.

I put together red (important color) bowls with a mixture of fortune cookies and lolly snakes. I also filled our Chinese bowl to decorate our table.

Wedding fun!

After I worked at the boarding house today (and spent the day at the beach  with the boarders) I went to a bridal shower for a workmate. She was trying to keep it very quiet ( I had no idea and reception staff normally know everything!) but it slipped out so we had to celebrate with her. I made a new chocolate caramel brownie this morning and used these wedding cake bubble blowers to decorate the plate. The 2nd recipe this week I have been disappointed with, nice but not super nice! At the shower we played all kinds of games - making dresses out of toilet paper, celebrity heads and pass the parcel just to name a few. It was lts of fun!

Manners!

Or a lack of manners should I say! Has anyone else been watching My Kitchen Rules? I couldn't believe the behaviour of the spice girls but thought maybe after they cooked and did so badly they would have a bit of humility and perhaps their previous bad behaviour was due to their age or the fact they really thought they could cook! Not to be! They continued to be rude and bad mannered! I am sure everyone else was playing strategically too and if they genuinely didnt like something there are two ways of commenting. The way they chose was so wrong!
I find it amazing that the teams don't seem to have set tasks or timetables sorted before they start cooking or that they don't seem to have practised and practised the dish and also that they don't make a spare helping or two or even taste the food before serving it ! Of course I am perfect - NOT! And would never ever make it on the show! Of course the Tassie team is my favourite so far!

Duck egg is a dirty word!

Well on this blog I talk about the good, the bad and the plain ugly of life! I want (or I think I do) to remember as much as possible about our happenings!
Well there is a plain ugly story to tell....... The night before last SH and I were outside and busy so Willow (sweet dog that she is?) decided to take herself inside and relax on our bed....... Not so bad? Except that she had found a nest of duck eggs in the agapanthus and carried one inside in her mouth and proceeded to break it on our bed. Need I say the icing on the cake was that it was well and truly rotten! Coming inside it did not take a genius to work out an unusual odour was taking over the house. Oh my the next hour was spent washing , stripping and remaking beds, airing the room and the house , all the while trying not to be sick ourselves ! The Doona went to the dry cleaners yesterday where I very sheepishly apologised for the stench and tried to explain! We will not ever be hoping for a repeat!

New recipe for the week!

I am trying to cook one new recipe each week. Some are better than others. Tonight I cooked an Oven Baked Mushroom Risotto with chorizo. It had lovely flavours but not sure I will make it again. Oven baked risottos and I don't seem to work very well. It took a lot longer to bake than it should of.
Hoping to try a new slice as well this week!

Good advice!

I had this sent to me and loved it, great advice to follow. (Apart from Dr Seuss I am not sure of the original source)
Think I needed to remember some of this today at work, some days longer than others !

4.2.2013

Today SH and I celebrate our 24th Wedding Anniversary. This is the man I love, an amazing husband and father. The years have had their challenges but they are far outweighed with the love we share and the family we have created. We have fun together and enjoy each others company. Together we make lists and plans for the years to come, lots of adventures on the horizon!

A work in progress ......

This is what I am working on at the moment in between my normal weekend chores of course!

Sweet xx

Well Valentines Day is fast approaching and I have been looking for cards to send my special little god daughters. Nothing appropriate in the shops, all a little it too risqué for littlies so I had to make my own! I am probably being very cheeky claiming them as crafting! I used some of my red spotted paper doilys to make the hearts which I put onto pink cards. I then filled little pink striped boxes with chocolate hearts and lady bugs and tiny packets of conversation heart sweets. I pinned them with some small cupcake pegs and tied them with ribbon, all ready to be posted Monday!

A pinch.....

A pinch and a punch for the first of the month! One month down already, where has it gone?
This evening SH , HS and I went to a local pub for dinner. This pub was advertising for a new chef online last year and a young chef in Italy saw the ad, applied and ended up here, in a country town cooking! We are trying to support this pub for going out of its comfort zone and delivering some authentic Italian food by having a meal there every few weeks. Tonight we all had the special - house made smoked ham filled tortellini in a mushroom and cheese sauce - delicious! Only thing missing was the 'horsey' one!