Life changing....

Sometimes it takes a life changing event to occur to enable you to see through the forest.......I'm almost through. 

Will hopefully be back soon. 

Thank you for your patience.

N.

So.....is your Valentine's Day all it was cracked up to be?

Valentines, smelentines.....that's what I say!

Today I got exactly what I expected......I was woken to "Happy Valentines Day my darling wife'....awww that's so nice and he said it first, even better!

And, he's phoned me like a trillion times this morning to say 'Happy Valentine's Day', it was a wonder I got any work done at all, however I do like his interruptions!

Yesterday I was pretty busy in the kitchen, not making jams or jellies or things to go in jars....nope, sorry, I was busy making stuff for my loves!

Today the Tones was sent off to work oblivious to what was in his lunch pack.....

He sent me a photo though!

Hidden in amongst his 'usual' lunch was a strawberry & vanilla cake surprise.

 I made some other 'favourites' too for later....

.....like strawberry flavoured marshmallow. The Tones loves anything marshmallow! That's an idea, I could cover myself in marshmallow - oh no on second thoughts that would be really horrible, for me anyway!

This was super easy but very freaking sticky and gooey. I didn't realise how easy marshmallow was. I have a few idea's now which I am keen to try, which don't include body parts.

and not forgetting I have a 'teenage' girl child in the house, so I had to make her something for Valentines didn't I, (I think it was more important to her.....and she did receive a card or letter in the mail telling her not open it until today!) - so wish I knew what was in it, but I have to respect her privacy, she took it to school with her - stink! 

Anyway she got strawberry cake pops, strawberry flavoured cake coated in white chocolate on a stick - her favourite lunchbox treat.

And both of them had plenty of kisses from me tucked in around the sandwiches and fresh fruit (like how I chucked that in, fresh fruit - ha ha, I did really include fresh fruit though)

All of that and love notes to boot! I'm sure they are having wonderful days and will give me lots of kisses when they get home.

Hey, it's how I roll....I like to do things for them!

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

So....tomorrow is Valentine's Day...!

Well with Valentines Day being tomorrow I hear you all ask.....

Is the Tones romantic?

Ummm, short answer.......about as romantic as a cup of cold sick!

Ewwww, now I've turned you all right off, haven't I? Actually, that answer is very very misleading and really quite mean of me. The Tones can be very romantic and he was especially romantic when we first met and in the early days of our relationship. 

I'm sure he was, he must've been, wouldn't he? 

Yes, yes, he definitely would've been romantic way back then, I mean that was before children even!

I remember times when he used to bring me home fresh flowers - weekly!

or

I'd find a lovely romantic card on my pillow when I went to bed.

He did, he really did!

Now days, perhaps not so much, well not on Valentines Day that's for sure, he refuses to be bullied by the commercial whims of retailers and all the hype that seems to be around during the month of February. I have no illusions that I might get a surprise bunch of flowers or a box of chocolates or a phone call in the middle of the afternoon telling me to put something 'nice' on because we are going out - nope that's not my Tones. Gotta love him though,

because...

he doesn't need reminding at other times throughout the year.

We celebrate Valentines Day every day!

Have done for 20 years!

Our first Valentine's Day we got this.

Lovers print - Valentines Day 1993 - hand signed by the artist himself Charles Billich.

 It's called 'Lovers' and it's by Charles Billich, you can find out more about him here, I used to work for Billich Editions in Sydney in 1993 at his head office, he is a super wonderful man and his story is quite remarkable.

So, is the Tones romantic?

Yes, he has been known to be very romantic.

I'm am one of the lucky ones, I experience romance everyday from my Tones, the last words I hear every night before sleep overtakes me and the first thing I hear upon waking is...'Love you Nettie'

We don't need one day every year to remind us to express our love, we have 365 days to do that.

 So, is the Tones romantic?

 Yeah, on the inside he's very romantic.

My Tones,  he's my best friend in the whole world, he's the one I share my troubles with, my frustrations and my joy. He's the one who wipes away my tears, holds my hair out of my face when I've got my head down the loo, fills my wine glass (very important) and tries to remind me when I've had enough. He shares in my achievements, laughs at me and with me - he's awesome. We share dreams and aspirations together. 

WE LOVE!

Together we created the most beautiful person in the world, he couldn't give me a more romantic gift than that!

So whilst I may not get flowers and chocolates or sexy underwear - ha, who wears that anyway, it only gets in the way, I do get romance, I get my Tones.

I love you my Tones, like no one has ever loved before.

You make my heart sing daily.

Tears.........sniff sniff

This is very sad.....there will NOT be any nectarine tarts, or jelly, or jam or anything yummy. 

Sniff, sniff.

Our nectarines have fallen to the dreaded brown rot disease which can affect stone fruit trees, destroying their crop virtually overnight.

Sniff, sniff.

It was a sad day yesterday when I excitedly went to check my nectarines.

 

This fruit was only days away from being ready, thankfully I had eaten a couple straight from the tree last week, they were close, so freaking close I could smell them from my bedroom......but not quite close enough.  

Mmmmm yummy nectarines.

 This is a fairly young tree we think as it hasn't produced much fruit over the 4 years we've been here, in fact this year was the first year we thought we'd get a good crop, alas it is not to be! Sniff sniff. 

Sniff sniff is so right!

I feel like I want to go 'waa waa' but it is only fruit after all and I am almost a grown up - sometimes!

This happened to our peaches year before last, it's a tragic event, especially if you've been hanging out to eat the fruit and then to miss it by a day or so is heartbreaking. We've now got a bit of work to do to try to stop the rot from returning next year. I understand that it happens when the fruit is setting way back when you have flowers, something to do with the humidity. I could be wrong so if any of you know please let me know by commenting in the comments box. I'm fearful now that the peach trees will again be infested and that really would have me howling! You'll probably hear me if it does, so listen out. You can read more about brown rot here.

The fruit itself wasn't even ripe so between my tears and disbelief I proceeded to pick as much as I could that were still looking okay, it's so sad to see the shrivelled up fruit still stuck to the branches though and to think it virtually happened overnight.

This is all I managed to save!

Well, some is better than none - I guess, cooked in a sugar syrup they will be delicious served with homemade apple sponge, the Tones absolute favourite and maybe a bit of custard....just maybe!

I wasn't happy though! I'm still not happy! Sniff Sniff

Wanna know what I hate?

doing this......

 

washing poxy labels off jars

 

 If anything is going to put me in a bad mood, it's doing this, grrrrrrr. 

You know some manufacturers are quite cool, they use a simple easy to remove glue to stick their labels to their jars, others are absolute bastards and I'm sure they scour the world to find a glue that is almost impossible to remove...ha ha ha..but they won't beat me!

I appreciate it's their brand and they want their 'brand' to hang around as long as possible so we buy more however, they need to get real, it can't be cheap to use such a powerful glue. They don't encourage you to return the jars to them for recycling do they....oh no....what? Are you expected to throw them away - but that's just wasteful. 

At the moment I only use recycled jars, it makes sense to me, I don't sell my products, I give them away, often as gifts, well sometimes I sell them, the Nana insists on paying me when she wants to give some as a gift.  

I make my own labels and I use an easy to remove glue - a simple glue stick. 

Now of course I don't expect a manufacturer to use a glue stick and employ someone to sit there hand gluing labels on all their jars, however, for f.... sake, they don't have to use concrete glue do they? It certainly doesn't endear me to their product, if fact, it makes me quite irritable towards their product especially if I've had a battle with one of their jars and label. I refuse to even look at it on the shelves at the supermarket....you know, like 'ooooh, nope, not you, I'd rather eat dirt, then buy you, you have that nasty glue under your label'. 

Silly I know, but it really irks me removing labels from jars and well, I have a lot of jars in my workshop waiting to be sorted and delabelled. Is there such a word? Well there is now, I just made it up. Anyway, I have all these bags and boxes of jars to sort. And most of them appear to have labels on them! I have tried every way know to man over the past many months and different glues require different removal techniques. Often I can tell what is 'probably' going to work and what is definitely going to be tricky.  

If YOU have an idea you think I might not have tried please please leave a comment in the comment box, I need all the help I can get!

As I said I have many many jars, everytime we get visitors they seem to bring boxes of jars, gotta love them for that, but now they all need sorting. I planned to do that over the weekend and to assist, the Tones and I did a deal, I'd help him move some furniture over at the Nana's place and he would fix my cupboard to the wall so I could sort my jars and put them away. 

Hmmmm, this is going to be a big, long, arduous task.

Did I stick to my end of the deal?

YES I DID.

Did he?

NO HE DID NOT!

Never fear though, girls can do anything, I will fix it myself and... I'll use his tools to do it! And, I'm not even a little bit scared I might break them! 

Ha, that will show him. 

Although knowing the Tones he probably planned it that way, I often end up doing 'blue' jobs because he's too busy, or he's too tired, or too hot or just can't be freaking bothered. All of which I understand, he works hard during the week and I try not to ask him to 'do' stuff over the weekends. However, he will pay, a deal's a deal, you know and it will hurt....well not physically, well not much I don't think, I'm not that mean, but I do hold the power as do all us woman, we just need to choose the right time to wield it! 

Ha ha ha Tones, be afraid, be very afraid!

 

Mum has come to my gherkin rescue...

Just in case you were worried that my gherkin experience has put me off for life, it may not have....mum has come to my rescue - I hope!

As she promised she has dug out the recipe grandma always used, she assures me they were perfect and delicious every time....so I'm having a go - TODAY!

She says (my mum) that they would go on picnics and for lunch they would have what was called a 'ploughman's' lunch. It comprised pickled onions, salami, gherkins, tasty cheese, chutney and bread rolls and the men would drink ale! I wonder what the women and children drank? Probably tea and home made lemonade, after all it was the early 1950's.

Lightly salted and now we wait 6 hours!

So soon I hope to have a positive story about gherkins!

I'm still surprised that I grew these...mind you I'm surprised I grow anything....my fingers are definitely not 'green' however I am getting better and better at it! I do find it a personal insult though when something doesn't take or I have a disaster in the kitchen, usually I spit the dummy, throw my toys out of my cot and don't try again so for me to actually have another go, kinda surprises me. I'm a bit of a 'well...f...you then' kinda girl so I guess this shows a bit of maturity - ha ha ha, as if!

Tomorrow, when no one is home to annoy, um interrupt me I'm going to have a go at making a.....what for it.....chocolate zucchini cake!....yeah, bet you can't wait for that, can you?

Imagine that.....chocolate, cake and zucchini - together! 

You'll have to come back and see what the results were. You know you can always leave a comment in the comment box to let me know what you think, I'd love to hear from you.

When is a 'Vegie' slice not a 'vegie' slice......

when it's got freaking bacon in it, that's when! 

Add caption

I mean pulease.....what is that about.....I've been making this slice since..... god knows.....forever I suppose, the date on the magazine page says 1994 I think (can't read it, it has something spilt on it!)

 Anyway come summer this dish is always on our dinner or lunch menu....it is jam packed with zucchini and other vegies, it's delicious and everyone likes loves it.

The fact that it is called Vegie slice always makes me kind of apologise when asked what it is.

I can't help it, I always go into story mode and say well the recipe says it's Vegie slice but it does have bacon in it, so technically it's not just vegie's.

It should be called 'Vegetable and Bacon Slice', that would make me happy.

It is one of the simplest dishes to make and really you could add any flavours to it, if you wanted. I always follow the recipe though, then it's consistent and everybody is happy, especially the Tones and girl child (it's one of their fav's).

It's really simple.....

Your ingredients, most things you would have in the fridge or pantry.

Gently fry your onion and bacon until your onion is transparent.

Add it to your sliced carrots, mushrooms and grated zucchini.

Okay, you've done that, now what I forgot to say was......hahaha, you need a really large bowl. If you are anything like me, first time I ended up using about 3 different sized bowls - getting more and more frustrated....I should have gone straight to biggest one I could find! 
It doesn't say that in the recipe though does it!

Then you add all the other ingredients and mix - see simple.

Line a baking dish and fill.

Now it doesn't rise much but do make sure you leave about 2 cm from the top, just in case!

45 mins - 1hour later - Ta Da - a meal to impress.

Serve this with salad and it's great for a lunch or dinner with a baked spud, delicious. We always have worchestershire sauce on hand for that added kicker.

And I guess, if want to be true to it's so called 'proper' name - omit the bacon but really the bacon does make it really yummy.

Oh don't forget to add some salt and pepper when you are mixing it, I always do, that's just the way I roll.

 

My gherkin disaster.......just ask dad!

Well the title says it all really......

Last summer I decided that as I had been so successful for two years with zucchini/corgettes that I would plant cucumbers and gherkins, obviously the position of the garden was good, got plenty of sunshine, had lots of space to spread out, had the wire fence up behind them so they could grow up and be supported. With the zucchini's I only needed the one plant because they produce so many, I planted it toward the front of the garden bed so it could grow over the edge and not get covered in dirt. Normally zucchini plants produce gazillions and we are never disappointed. 
Last year was no exception. 
Because of this I decided I'd have a go with cucumbers and gherkins.

I thought I'd get lots of yummy cucumbers and some gherkins, but what a fizzer they were, I think I managed to get one, yes one cucumber from two plants and three gherkins from one plant. That was it, lots of flowers but nothing came from them.

Well bugger that I thought, what a waste of time and space, cheaper to buy them. So this year, I didn't put any in the ground and low and behold, I now have three gherkin plants and they are producing like rabbits - yes it looks like I'm going to have to find a 'nice' recipe for pickling gherkins.

I say 'nice' because having searched through my many cookbooks last year I could only find one that I thought would be yummy and the title said 'SWEET PICKLED GHERKINS' - Jackpot thought I, ha, hmmmmm well what do I know!

As always, I followed the recipe exactly, first time I always follow the recipe to a tee so that if I don't like it I can make my adjustments the next time.....well, had I not had self planted gherkins this year I would most definitely not be making any adjustments for the 'next' time, there would never be a 'next' time,.....the so called 'SWEET PICKLED GHERKINS' were only the most HORRENDOUS gherkins I had ever ever had the displeasure of sampling. I still have them in the back of the cupboard as I'm too scared to tip them out incase I poison the earth - that's how bad they are.

I mean, have a look at these will you, the juice looks worse than muddy swamp water, that should have been an indication really but I took no notice did I.

Well, to be fair, at the time of bottling I'm sure the juice wasn't that dark so of course I didn't think it was unusual. I had sliced them rather than bottle them whole as I couldn't find jars big enough and I only had three, but again I didn't think that would matter, I expected that they would come out like the McDonalds pickle, you know that little bit of green that the kids always pull out of their burgers. I quite like them so I thought yummy, these are going to be choice.

Once bottled I put them in a dark cupboard for a few weeks, which actually turned out to be a few months as we don't really eat that kind of stuff. But again, I didn't think that would matter, I thought they would just mature and be even yummier.


Some 8 months later, Dad arrives, I sit him down in our kitchen and we are chat chat chatting away, having a lovely time catching up on all the gossip etc.

I was telling about all the things I had made since he was last over and then had a brainwave.

"How about you sample my 'SWEET PICKLED GHERKINS'?"
"Bring it on" he says 
I did warn him that I had no idea what they would taste like as I hadn't opened them until now, he was cool about it.
"Come on, stop gassing and get it opened" he says

So we did a little dance and opened the jar.......we both twitched our noses and wondered if it was actually a good idea. Just looking into the jar was a bit hairy scary, but Dad being Dad was determined to be supportive and give it a go. He's a good guy really however.......neither of us was prepared for the horror that came next......

Dad, right after our 'Sweet Pickled Gherkin' tasting - he was convinced I was trying to poison him.

Hahaha, makes me laugh every time I see this pic, he honestly was convinced I'd set him up, I hadn't, I had no idea they would be so horrible, but they were and as I said, I still have them because I'm scared of what they will do to the earth if I tip them out.

Thank god for Mum, she is coming to my rescue though, she says she has my grandma's old canning stuff and recipe books and that grandma used to make the yummiest pickles known to man, so here's hoping she can find the recipe and send it over, I really need it!

My go to cookbook....

Most of us have a 'go to' cookbook that we always go to when we come across something we aren't sure about.....I now have two!

My first one.....is probably my favourite however that is probably because it happens to be my old textbook from high school and how I came to have in my possession some 30 years after leaving school I don't know. 

It has 'class set', property of Home Economics Department, Boronia Technical School stamped all over it.....oops! 

Ooops, Cookery The Australian Way - The inside cover!

 I must have nicked it, can't remember doing it but I must have. 

I must have liked it and found it to be most helpful and I have to say I was correct, it has been like a bible to me. 

For the basics it is definitely my 'go to' cookbook. I just love it.....I've scribbled recipes on the bottom of pages and in the back 'notes' section. I've spilt all sorts of stuff throughout it. 

My favourite recipes....funny to read them now.

 Pages are torn, the cover and spine are quite tragic and being a lover of cook books....I do have A LOT, I should really be ashamed that I have treated it so badly.

It's tired but well loved.

I have often thought about trying to get a updated reprinted version but it just wouldn't be the same....I need this cookbook, without it, I'd be hopeless in the kitchen. I think it's my security blanket, the thought of not being able to grab it actually makes me feel a little bit sick, not to mention nervous. I don't think I could cook toast without it. How sad am I?

But my newest favourite is fabulous and I'm sure I'm going to love it just the same, if not more, and, I think it actually is 'bible like' and I mean that not disrespectfully.

This book I love.....big thank you to my Aunty Faith who gave it to me for my 40th birthday.

It covers everything you need to know about anything you want to know. I just love it.

 I'm sure this book is going with me everywhere I go from now on 'til the rest of my days. It's become the first book I pick up when I want to learn about a particular fruit or vegetable. It will tell me the history and interesting facts, then it has recipes to accompany it, it tells you what it will go with and gives you many many options. I will be forever grateful to have this book.
BIG BIG Thanks to my Aunty Faith who gave it to me for my 40th birthday some years ago, it must have just about taken up all her weight allowance on the flight over from Australia. It weighs a tonne.

But to finish, after all these years of 'owning' Cookery the Australian Way, just today I discovered this little poem at the end of the introduction and it is so true.

I guessed the pepper; the soup was too hot!
I guessed the water; it dried in the pot!
I guessed the salt; and-what do you think?
We did nothing else the whole day but drink!

I guessed the sugar; the sauce was too sweet!
And so by my guessing I spoiled our treat;
And now I guess nothing, for cooking by guess
Is sure to result in a terrible mess.

I can't believe I had never read this until today, I wish I had've seen it earlier, it might have spared my family some traumatic eating experiences.

Today I have nothing....nada.....zilch!

Well, today was the last day of the school holidays for the girl child, tomorrow, the first day back at school for 2013 she enters Year 9. 

She's nervous. 

She shouldn't be. 

She's going to ace it this year. 

Because she has focus, she knows what she wants to do, she knows what she has to do and she knows that we, her parents are going help her get there.

As it was the end of the holidays the Nana wanted to treat her so off we went to the movies, the Nana's treat so the Nana's chooses! 

That's only fair. 

She chose 'Les Mis'.....nobody told me it went for 2 hours 40 minutes.....holy, those guys really know how to sing! For me, it was okay but not a show stopper, I could've easily lived without it. My mind kept wandering to what I could've been doing had I been at home....I have cucumbers....like everywhere! I have zucchinis.......joining them and now I've discovered I have bloody gherkins (I thought they were cucumbers).....and what to do with them, I have no clue.

One thing I do know is I will be trying some cucumber relish. The gherkins well, I might try pickling them again.....tried that last year.....OH MY LORD.......horrendous, but that's a story for another time.

Cucumbers, zucchini & gherkins

I'm sure I will come up with something, but right now, I have nothing.....nada.....zilch!

It's Sunday...the kitchen is closed...so we'll just share the pretties!

Well, it's Sunday here in New Zealand and I'm taking the day off! The household will be lucky to get toast out of me today.....

As it's now the afternoon I thought I'd have a wander around the place and check out the dahlia's....I need to remember where they are and what colours are where so that when the time comes to 'tickle' them I can and at the same time I can dig some up and spread to other area's of the garden. Luckily for us, we have plenty! I took pictures too and thought I'd share a glimpse of the pretties at Bluedilly Nature....we are not all about fruit and vegetables.

 These are just some of them, there are others that have already flowered and some still to come. Most of the flowers above have all been moved from the front fence line and replanted around the back of the house which is central to our living. I love the planning I now seem to be engaged in, I look at the flower gardens all the time, thinking now what can I do to make that better next season. I find it most relaxing and being the control freak that I am and having the Tones, not interested at all.....works for me, I get to decide. The Tones is happy to be my free labourer, he will cut, chop, wheelbarrow me anything. Just got to get him in the right mood! Not that hard really......promises promises, works every time!

  I don't often pick the flowers in the garden as I prefer to be able to see them in their 'space' outside, however sometimes they just scream out at you when you walk past.....pick me, pick me!