Month: March 2018

Pottering About

Hello!!
For the first time in I don’t even remember, I had no deadlines, no plans, no people, no obligations!!
It was a lovely day!
I did think I was going to stay in bed and read all day, but…

I just had a great day wandering from this job to that doing whatever I felt like doing.
I cleaned up my cos lettuce seeds a bit then pulled out the first sunflower patch and collected a bunch of the seeds.

The chooks very much enjoyed pecking through the leftover sunflowers!

Even got a few eggs!

Check out some of the amazing weeding my friends Ruth and David did!! It really was a fantastic job… and now gives me a starting point to work on.

There are lots more tomatoes out there to go and pick… maybe tomorrow.

After a months worth of guests, our tomato relish situation has become dire. It seems to be a big hit with everybody!!
So – time to get chopping and make a new batch – or three!

I teared up a lot chopping the onions! But this lot can sit overnight before cooking it up tomorrow.

I threw together a meal for myself and Kirrily tonight – bits and pieces of leftovers and some baked potatoes
One of the perks of having visitors is gaining a few new kitchen ideas.
David mixed some of my pesto through the tomato salad the other day and I am quite the fan!

The temperature has dropped a bit in the last few nights so I have treated myself to a fire. I feel a little guilty thinking of my husband who is probably permanently soggy up there in the wilderness! The forecast wasn’t very hopeful, but I am still keeping my fingers crossed that he will get a bit of clear weather for a while!

Anyway, best be off to bed. Don’t want to let the night get too late. I have a long list to start working my way through tomorrow!
Cheers!

Wild and Woolly Weather

Hello!
Oh my giddy aunt, what a wild day up on the mountain!
Jeff and I drove off early so he could get a good start on the Overland Track this morning.
Our visitors Ruth and David who originally planned to come and do the first day with us decided quite sensibly to do something else that didn’t entail getting drowned up at Cradle and waved goodbye from their room at the top of the stairs and went back to warm beds!

I have hardly any photos because taking the camera out in todays weather would have been akin to throwing it in the lake!

The difference from a couple of weeks back with the water running everywhere was pretty amazing.

After packing and repacking his bag, I hope Jeff has everything he needs over the next week.
I accompanied him up as far as Kitchen Hut today… carrying a fair few kilos myself. Somebody wanted a thermos of hot coffee.
(Good wife!)

I had a lot of useless weight in my pack.
2 litres of water – of which I drank none as it all soaked in from the outside so I was very well hydrated.
Camera – ok… got a few snaps and wish it had of been convenient to get it out to take more photos but…
Food that I didn’t really eat
Thermos of coffee
And the cleverest thing of all… my puffy jacket NOT in a waterproof bag so I was basically carrying around 5 kg of a water soaked jacket… think ‘sponge’
(Eye-roll… sometimes I really am a bit daft)(a lot daft)

Anyway… we went up the Horse Track today to avoid the steeper incline of Marions Lookout.
We went along pretty well – I didn’t hold up Jeff at all. Felt like I had a bit more oomph today.
The steps were simply waterfalls. The pathways mostly under water.
We had to wade through streams that had risen a lot higher than we have normally seen and the wind was phenomenal! We were literally blown off the track a few times!!!
The rain I thought was hail at first because it was coming in sideways & stinging our faces. It was fabulous and I loved it!
Jeff said he was thinking it was mad and maybe he should be turning back then looks at me with a grin plastered across my face lapping it all up (literally and figuratively) and thought I was insane. (Probably just the hypothermia speaking haha)
After a particular strong burst of wind and rain, he says (shouts) to me ‘Its not so much the heat that gets to you as the humidity’ 😀

We were the first people up to Kitchen Hut that morning. I really didn’t feel super super cold, but my hands weren’t working effectively.
I won’t go into details about how hard it was going to the loo and trying to get my sodden pants back up.
The coffee was pretty darn good!
It was at this point I discovered my jacket error.

After our cuppa and a quite bite to eat (I had 5 biscuits (crackers)) we parted ways. A couple of cold soggy kisses and Jeff disappeared into the mists.
I really hope the weather clears up for him so he is not just a big damp Canadian for 7 days.
I can’t check up on him at all so just have to hope he does alright and is there when I go down to collect him next Sunday!

I headed off back via Marions.
I started to meet the other travellers as I went back. Some looked happy and embraced it all… others looked a bit shell-shocked.
The wind on the exposed top quartre of Marions was diabolical! At times I just planted my feet and braced into it. I had to take a lot of sections carefully and thoughtfully as it was easy to be thrown off balance.

Back at the car, at least I had put in a bag with clean clothes, so I was able to get mostly dry-ish and into dry stuff for the drive home.
I treated myself to lighting the fire tonight.

Hope everybody’s week has started fantastically!

Cheers

 

Walking, Cooking and Catching Up!

Hello!

I hope everyone’s weekend has started splendidly!
We are having a lovely time catching up with friends, David and Ruth who are staying with us this week!

David was my business partner in Canberra when we had the shop and it has been great finally seeing them in Tassie, showing them around and generally catching up on stories and events.
David has been teaching me a few things in the kitchen which is awesome (now I know what to do with rhubarb!!! 😀 😀 )

The weather has been a bit off and on but mostly we have been lucky when wanting to walk or be outside.
Right now its storming away out there with bursts of extremely heavy rain.

It was a beautiful afternoon so we got to do a lap of Anniversary Bay.

I really have to get back out there into some regular hiking. Struggled a bit on the hills today!! (too many hamburgers?) I have a month before being due to start out on my Overland Trek. (Jeff is due to start Monday!!! )

That little stretch of track!! Feels like its straight up!!

Back home Ruth and David got into an area in the garden and did a sensational weeding job! Ruth stayed on out there until dusk while David came back in to make a bread and butter pudding – I did some side dishes and Jeff BBQed up the steaks on our new BBQ that we put together this morning! (Slacking on photos of all garden & BBQ stuff… maybe tomorrow?)

Time for me to toddle off to bed – everyone else is well and truly snoozing!
Have a great day!
Cheers!

Disappearing Hamburgers!

Well… it was the last day for the boys here at Norwich House. I managed to get a snap of them with our new boarder Kirrily – they have all had a lot of fun and laughs together. Its going to be a bit quiet around here for a while after tomorrow!

While I didn’t get to drag them around the complete Anniversary Bay loop today (Daisuke hurt his ankle with some enthusiastic trampolining the other day so we didn’t push it) but we went up to the Wet Cave and up to see the view over the beach

It was a really sunny warm day which was nice of Tasmania to behave for their last day!

Smack in the middle of the day is not ideal for photos… but I can never help snapping a few

I left the boys at the beach and came home to make the rissoles (hamburgers) up for dinner later.
Cousin Jeff appeared with a rather large load of firewood!

And I was like ‘Awesome – thanks so much because I had totally run out of things to do and I was getting bored’
No, wait…
I think it was more like “Don’t you think I have enough to do?” (I might have said a mild emphatic swear word in there too)
Cousin Jeff said with my bad attitude the price just went up
I love family! haha
Anyway, he figured while I had three strong lads staying I should be able to get this lot stacked in a jiffy!

And for city boys they did a pretty great job… sure the wheelbarrow might have crashed once or three times but once they sorted the balance thing out we were on our way!
Certainly a lot quicker than what I can do on my own that was for sure!

So I cooked up a stack of rissoles and we all made up our own burgers at the table – Quite something to see 18 hamburgers devoured in one sitting!
Something gratifying about seeing your home cooked meals enjoyed so much!

Well… I have to get up at 4am (which is closer to my normal going to bed time) so I need to scoot.
Not promising a story tomorrow as I reckon I will be like a zombie tomorrow evening!

Cheers!

Food

I got into the garden today to pick a few things – yay me!

Made up another large pasta mix to feed the hordes and a bit for the last square inch of space in the freezers

The boys made us dinner last night… Okonomiyaki!! Yummo. I don’t think they have ever made it before (the clue to that was someone googling how to cut a cabbage!)
Still… they worked it out and it was fabulous.
If you haven’t had it – its sort of a mix between an omelette and a pancake. We love it. I should remember to make it a little more often… so I bought some cabbage seedlings in the hope that I will get around to planting them!

Back to dinner – Put out some good side salad dishes to go along with the main dishes and got out some of our nice plates too!

The beetroot patch in the garden is going along amazingly well

My asparagus is not dead… I am just ignoring it as it takes so long to take hold. Actually I think it is going along ok

Lettuce is lovely… and I have carpets of parsley!

I made the chooks a couple of chicken cakes… they were very happy indeed.

Sadly we lost Screecher the other day. I think she was just old (since she has been with us since we first got here) For a couple of days she was mopey and not eating, then just died on the second morning. Poor old girl. We miss her – she was so naughty about getting into things she shouldn’t and showing no remorse!! She had a good life though!!
So we are down to 7 birds now. We have plans to get some more but not until we have gone through our string of visitors and upcoming hikes (so end April perhaps)

The boys have one more full day left.
Then Wednesday I have to get up hideously early to get them to the airport. Then almost a full day before our next guests arrive! Will be a speedy housework session followed by me passing out that evening haha

Snap dragons self seeded as I was hoping!

Anyway, I need to get a wriggle on and get to bed!! (and its not even 11pm!! wow!)
Hope your week has started amazingly!

Cheers

Pickled Beetroot

Hello!
Sorry I have hardly dropped by recently. I have just run out of time and energy come the days end! Unbelievably constantly busy at the moment!!
I just thought I would share my pickled beetroot recipe since I was asked about it recently and couldn’t find a previous post where I had shared it before.
I am really enjoying it back in my salads again!

4-5 medium beetroots sliced
3/4 cup water
1&1/2 cups vinegar
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon peppercorns
2 cloves (I use a half teaspoon of powdered cloves)
1 bayleaf (I skip this as I have none at the moment)
1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt

Put all in pot and boil/simmer until beetroot tender.
Store in container in fridge with liquid covering the beetroots.

I usually just cut up however many beetroot I have and then double/triple the recipe until I have enough liquid covering the beetroot.

Enjoy
Cheers!

Meat & Potatoes… and Kayaking

Hello there! I hope your week is going along well!
Mine included very little of the slothing I had fondly planned.
I got a call that our beef was ready to cut and pack, so there was a bit of a frantic time to try to make space for 100kg’s of beef!!

Buying a side of beef is a very economical way to get your meat. Its a big outlay, but overall you pay so much less. Plus we get it from a local so its very very good meat.
I pack it too the way I want it. Labelling is REALLY important. Storage space essential. We have also learned to layer the freezer with newspaper and unpack the following day before everything is fully frozen and move it about.
It saves a lot of angst later when you are forced to get into the freezer with a hammer and chisel.

It also pays to hide some of the choice steaks down the bottom so when you think you are out… you get a bonus T-bone or something delicious!

Anyway, moving on to the potatoes!

I went back up to Launceston to collect the boys after their trip to Ballarat with Rachel. They had a pretty wonderful time.
We had decided to wait until they were back to dig the potatoes as I know its not something they have experienced before! They had a pretty good time digging in the dirt.
I was in my element!!!

So happy with this seasons potatoes! I still have to dig over the plot as I am sure we didn’t find them all… you never do!

I’ll get down to the local supermarket to collect some boxes tomorrow so I can sort, pack and store them!

Lots of good big potatoes in this lot this season!

This evening we packed the kayaks into the car and went down to the river to give the boys a go at Kayaking.

It was good to get out on the water again – perfect afternoon for it!

A small amount of horsing about meant Shonosuke had to swim in!!

Must get out more often!! Not sure what I do with my time!!! 😀 😀

Cheers!

Hothouse Rescue

Hello!
My grand plan of slothing is still not quite coming to fruition! Still… I am enjoying a few days at home and not travelling so much each day for a change!

I made a nice big batch of pickled beetroot! So happy to be stocked up again!
Poor Jeff – he finds the smell of that cooking quite hard to take. I must admit it does get eye watering in the kitchen while its simmering!

Anyway, I promised myself at least one big garden task to knock on the head today – and the hothouse seemed like a good place to start.
I literally had to begin at the doorway and slowly work my way in.
I pulled out a lot more tomatoes and tied up the more promising ones.
I also pulled out dozens of strawberry runners!

Have no clue where to plant them. Hoping they can live in this tray until I am done with visitors.
I also found a lot of hiding cucumbers! I was going to pull all the plants out but relented and left some there that looked like they were flowering again. I did thin it out, cut back some of the leaves and vines – so we shall see.
These old cucumbers will be great to collect seeds from. (oh.. and one failed rock melon)

At least I can get into the hothouse now without doing some complicated twisting dance through the greenery!

The whitefly has taken hold again so I will need to get back in there daily with my spray to calm them down again.

Finished off the night with a lovely dinner that included my favourite stuffed tomatoes!

Cheers!

Small Catch Up in the Garden

Hello! A nice Sunday meandered through here in Tasmania!
Yesterday I drove the boys up to Launceston where they caught an early flight out to Melbourne this morning … then a bus out to Ballarat to meet Rachel for a few days of sightseeing in Victoria.

It ended up quite a hot afternoon… and after such a lot of walking the day before, we only took a picnic at the Gorge and a brief walk around the area before finding their hostel.

I tried to mostly take it easy today after what seems quite a long time of being far busier than I would normally be! I like to be lazy at least some of the time!

I sifted my celery seeds and now have a container full of billions.

I also had a go at the cos lettuce seeds… I think I might just shrug my shoulders on that one, shove the whole thing in a bag and extract seeds as needed. Would take forever to get a clean stash of them!

My potatoes are so ready for harvesting. I am really itching to get in there and dig everything out – but I figure its an activity that our Japanese guests would probably like to have a go at, so I am trying to be patient. Plus I need to go to the supermarket and stock up on boxes to store them in first.

I am going to take advantage of a few visitor-less days to get some more pickled beetroot done. I missed them at dinner tonight! Time to stock up.

The chooks got the leaves!

Another quick round of the garden this afternoon yielded a lot more tomatoes and apple cucumber. Even a bit of lettuce to add to tonights salad! (and corn which got eaten and not photographed!)

Hope your weekend was fabulous!
I am off to bed. I am still quite tired and yet to catch up with all the excess activity!

Cheers

I’m Still Here

Hi!! Haven’t quite fallen off the face of the earth… meant to do a post before we went up to Cradle but the main phone company in Tasmania (Telstra) had a bit of a hiccough and phone/internet connections went down across the state! Fast intro into unplugging!

Anyway… we took the boys up to Cradle Mt National Park and stayed overnight in a cabin that was really great. Did a walk around the lake on the first day and dragged them up the mountain today.

They were happy to pose whenever I asked!! (its a usual thing around me)

On the way back from our walk yesterday we nearly got run over by this fellow!!

He walked up to us no fear at all!!

Today we did Marion’s Lookout, then over to Cradle and did the Face Track back to the carpark

They did fantastically for city boys who have never done this kind of thing before!!

Anyway… only dropping in briefly tonight as I have another long day of driving… taking them back to Launnie as they are flying out to Melbourne/Ballart for a few days (you know.. if all goes to plan) to stay with Rachel.
SO… bedtime for a very tired me!

Cheers