Last week in our kitchen

We had lots of fun making apple pie and decorating it with our new alphabet letters.



We enjoyed a simple roast chicken for dinner - midweek. Served with roast vegetables, steamed greens and gravy.



We tried a few new 'chicken nugget' recipes. Served with lemon roasted potatoes, tzatziki, garlic yoghurt sauce and always, a salad.



We cooked chickpea and feta fritters and greek zucchini fritters. Served with a herbs salad, tomato and olive salad and leftover tzatziki and garlic yoghurt sauce





During the coldest week we have had, Spunky Monkey decided to make fruit iceblocks before school one day. This is how I found him in the kitchen. We were out of yoghurt, so he had decided to use milk instead.



They were well received that afternoon after school - despite the chilly temperatures.



We boiled some fresh peanuts that we had been given by a friend. Go here to see how I cooked them, or to learn more about boiled peanuts. Apparently they are not to everyone's taste!?



My husband cooked me this breakfast on Sunday morning. Poached eggs, garden spinach, roasted mushrooms and feta on rye. And my all important, Sunday morning, strong black coffee.





We had fun making homemade pizzas with some leftovers



We made pancakes for breakfast on Saturday.

What have you and your family been cooking this week?

Another week

Another week has past in a blur.

This time of year is always very busy for us - many birthdays and anniversaries.

Dinner out to celebrate two birthdays. Big family lunch at our house on Sunday to celebrate three birthdays. Chocolate coffee cake was made and enjoyed. Book Week costume making and a parade. Grandparents Day at Kindy - savoury muffins were baked. Fun reading mornings at school. Birthday presents to be bought and hidden. Our little friends birthday presents to be bought and wrapped. Birthday parties to plan. Fathers Day celebrations to be organised.

And a bit of op shopping and coffee with a friend this morning to keep me sane.

I hope you are enjoying your week too.

Book week

This morning we had Spunky Monkey's 'book week' parade at school.

Last year, the parade was cancelled. Last year he wanted to go as the tiny seed.

This year, he wanted to go as the tiny seed. We went through some of our favourite books on the book shelf. Ideas were put forth: Charlie (and Lola), the Hungry Caterpillar, Donald Duck, Blinky Bill, the Fly, Knuffle Bunny, Harry the dog, Max... or the tiny seed. Every day for a week I double checked: "Yep Mum, the tiny seed"

On that very first night that we discussed 'book week', he went and pulled the fabric from the cupboard that he already had in mind for the costume. Some half finished, maroon, velour jumper that I had collected in one of my 'fill a bag for $1.00' op shop raids. I drew up a design and got the approval to go ahead. I had intended to put elastic at the top and bottom to make it look more seed like, but as I don't really like sewing, I skipped it, the costume only needed to last the hour after all.

In a sea of costumes (Little Red Riding Hoods, Pirates, Princesses, Tin Men, Dorothy's, Harry Potters, a brilliant Queen of Hearts and a Mad Hatter to rival Johnny Deep himself ) my son stood proud, in his original choice. Sticking firm to who he is (my little nature boy - simple, uninfluenced). My tiny seed.

It wasn't the best costume in the place. But he loved it and I loved him in it. I asked him, when he put it on, "do you like it?"

"It's perfect!"

This week - our rhythm

This last week has been a bit of a blur. In seven days we have done this:

• this book arrived - just now. Hot off the press!
• I have been to the library four times
• we have watched the complete series of "Escape to River Cottage" on DVD
• we have had to two hairdresser appointments, one teacher appointment, one bank appointment and one doctors appointment.
• I have bought eight new books, some from the op shop and the others on line: this one and this one
• the children had a fun afternoon having professional photos taken at Grandma's place. Followed by a delicious afternoon tea: lemon cake, pumpkin scones, mini orange cakes, and chocolate strawberries
• one night we ate out at Mum's restaurant for dinner
• we spent a lovely morning at a friends place for a playdate
• we took Mum out for breakfast to her favourite cafe on her birthday - the traditional big breakfast, great coffee, glorious sunshine and kids happily playing in the park
• I have been to the grocery shop 4 times - once I forgot my purse and two other times I forgot my shopping list so I came home with only half of what I needed.
• I have baked gingernuts and apple crumble
• we have made homemade pizzas together
• we had a date night out: a yummy Thai dinner and this movie
• we went on a picnic by the river (picnic chicken, salad, gingernuts, strawberries and orange wedges) Just as we laid out the food, a big black cloud came up from behind and it started pouring rain. We ended up eating our picnic lunch in the car on our laps.
• we went fishing, but didn't catch anything
• I did some on-line shopping at 3:00am
• we played board games and did new puzzles
• the boys have been on three early morning bike rides
• we have visited two community gardens
• I have been op shopping and going to garage sales
• we went to a farmers market and bought lots of yummy local fruit and vegetables
• we went to a school carnival and ran into friends, which was nice
• I have almost finished reading this book, the first book I have read in 2 years. Thanks Michelle for blogging about it.
• I went to our first 'craft night' in 6 months.
• the kids had a pupil free day, mid-week.
• I have done seven loads of washing
• we have visited this cafe twice - it has the best coffee around.

Tonight we are going out for dinner to celebrate my Dad's and his girlfriends birthday's (Happy Birthday Nora) and this weekend I am hoping to............ breath.

Our table

I'm loving our kitchen table right now, laden with colour.



The last lemons and grapefruits from Grandma's tree.



Nasturtiums picked by my daughter from Grandma's garden.



Wattle from the roadside.



Oranges from a friend.

Books and blankets

Some of my op shop finds from the last couple of weeks.

Firstly - two, like brand new, lolly pink wool blankets. I didn't need them, but for $8.00 each I could not leave them in the shop.











Secondly, some new (old) books. I have been avoiding the book section in op shops for ages as I have run out of bookshelf space. No problem, they are now piling up on the children's bedside tables.

I could not resist these finds. The eat your carrots book is a scream:

Eat your carrots, Sally

Please Sally, don't pick your nose

Clean your teeth, Sally

Put your bike away, Sally

Don't play with the television, Sally

(the picture here is of an old eighties TV with dials and knobs - I was always being told this)



And not really blankets or books, just some pretty patterned flannelette pillow cases - 50 cents each.

Go here, to see what other treasures have been found this week

Happy Birthday Mum

I wish I could give you an armful of parrot tulips.



I wish I could give you boxes of the finest Belgian chocolates.



I wish I could fly you to an exotic location for a long holiday.

But all we can give, is us, lots of love, big hugs and huge kisses.

And breakfast at your favourite cafe.

See you soon!

Happy Birthday Mum. Thank-you for always being there.

(the tulip photo is from here. You must go visit - beautiful, beautiful)

Art, inspiration and 'family draw' time

(original works by Robert Holcombe)

Last weekend we went to the opening of a art exhibition. Unfortunately, we don't often get a chance to do this, but we really liked the work of the artist, so made the effort this time. I do love a good exhibition opening, always such a fun event and this one was no different. Happy chatting and mini hazelnut bundt cakes, organic Colombian coffee to warm our bones and inspiration abound.


(original works by Mr Moo)

Mr Moo is a graphic designer but hasn't done anything in the way of 'art' - forever. His style is very organic, much like the artist from the exhibition. I think he was just a little inspired. He doesn't get a lot of spare time in his day (read - none) and he doesn't have a little studio in the back yard to disappear to. But... I told him that if he just doodled a little everyday (this advice was inspired by this amazing lady) then who knows what will come of it.

Mr Moo and I have been discussing this family drawing concept a lot recently. Where the whole family sits down for a period of time and draws together. We have done it before, but it is rare that all four of us sit down at the same time. We have been wanting to connect this way again. We have noticed that Spunky Monkey is not drawing so much as he once did, and often when I ask him to draw something he says that he can't do it, eg: "I don't know how to draw an elephant"


(original work by Miss Moo Moo - shopping picture - you will see sausages, a loaf of bread, fruit: a pineapple, an apple, an orange, pineapple juice and milk)

Last night dinner was delayed and we had 10 minutes to wait for our roast chicken to finish cooking. I suggested Mr Moo read a story with the kids, but luckily, for all involved he turned around to me and said, "how about family drawing time?"

We all had so much fun and got so involved with our drawings, sharing colours and offering advice, that I almost forgot about the chicken. Then today I got this e-mail from Mr Moo:

Hi, I just wanted to say that the family all drawing together was a good thing - the kids really enjoyed it, and after years of not doing any art I finally did some and got something out of it as well. I want to do more of this, maybe a weekend thing. Love Mr Moo

I don't think that there could be a better plan.

Vintage sheet FQ swap

This morning I pulled out all of my vintage sheets to see which ones I could part with.

I am very excited to be part of the second 'vintage sheet FQ swap' being hosted by Green Tea and Red Nails.



I dusted off my rarely used cutting mat to cut my fat quarters.



I have ended up with seven fat quarters to go in the post this afternoon. I had picked out at least five more, but in the end I just wasn't ready to cut them up.

Miss Moo Moo and I are keeping a quiet day here today. We've done a couple of loads of washing, had friends for tea and pikelets and easy fettuccine carbonara is planned for dinner.

Would it be a bad thing if we curled up under the blanket to watch this movie before picking Spunky Monkey up from school?

And then there were two

Congratulations to Kate - the winner of Masterchef 2011.

Australians, have you been watching too?

It was great to see Kate going from strength to strength throughout the series. She is a brilliant and clever cook. If someone had put that carrot/snowman dish in front of me and asked me to make it, I would have passed out.

I had secretly wanted Kate to win. Of course I did, we are close in age and are both stay at home mothers who love to cook. I had read on the Masterchef website that she didn't go into cooking as a career because of the hospitality hours, me too! I guess I could relate to her.

What amazing support she must have had for her to be able to follow this dream. Being away from her children for 14 weeks would have been a hard thing to do. She has said that she wanted to be a role model for her children, to show them that you can do anything that you put your mind to.

As Gary said on the show last night, she was not only a role model for her family, but to to all of us.

Good for you Kate, proving that anything is possible, whatever your dreams.

More Martha Stewart

I can't seem to get Martha Stewart's garden out of my mind.

We don't really watch TV in the morning, but one day a couple of months ago I switched on and discovered The Martha Stewart Show on at 7:30 am. On that first show that I saw, Martha was giving a tour of her beautiful gardens, grounds and stables at her home, Cantitoe Corners in Bedford.

You can see a similar tour of her garden and stables here. Read more about Cantitoe Corners here, or see a few more photos here.











I want one too. Please. Pretty Please.

Here's what I love about her garden.

• a cutting garden - flowers to picked just for the house
• a thriving vegetable patch
• a tree lined, hedged driveway
• daffodils and bulbs planted under the deciduous trees
• weeping willows on the wetlands
• live stock and a chicken palace - know as a coop to you and me
• an orchard
• a large barn for parties - Martha uses the stables, but I'm not a horsey kind of girl
• a guest house in the woods
• her use of recycled timbers - the fences were brought down from Canada and remade on her farm
• and so much more.....

I know we are not all Martha Stewart, we (I) don't have an inexhaustible budgets and an army of workers to work our land (I don't even have land!)

But inspiration has been found.

Wouldn't you like to wander the grounds of Cantitoe Corners too?

(All images are from Martha's blog)

Having a 'sick holiday' today

I have both of my children home from school today. More for recuperating than anything else. It has meant that they (not me) are still in their pajama's and the TV has been on since early this morning. At about 11:00am, Spunky Monkey, who hadn't eaten all morning, requested I make pancakes. Instead of pancakes, I cooked these Irish griddle scones that we had seen on The Martha Stewart Show yesterday morning.

I don't know how they eat them in Ireland, but we all stood at the kitchen bench and ate them smothered with golden syrup or maple syrup. Yummy.

Miss Moo Moo is calling this our 'sick holiday'.

It does seem to be a bit of a holiday. I have just peaked into the family room, the kids are quiet, snuggled and cuddling on a single mattress, under the doona; two tiny heads sticking out watching ABC kids.

I secretly love these kind of sick days. I know they will be feeling better tomorrow after this day of rest. (well, I hope so) As for me, I'm about to bake a batch of cookies and do a bit of crafting.

A holiday? Indeed.

My Symphony

My Symphony

To live content with small means.

To seek elegance rather than luxury, and refinement rather than fashion.

To be worthy not respectable, and wealthy not rich.

To study hard, think quietly, talk gently, act frankly, to listen to stars, birds, babes, and sages with open heart, to bear all cheerfully, do all bravely, await occasions, hurry never. In a word, to let the spiritual, unbidden and unconscious, grow up through the common.

This is to be my symphony.

I saw this poem on someone's blog just recently. I'm sorry, I can't remember which one it was? But If you are reading, I thank-you. I loved it so much I thought I'd better share it here too.

It is by William Ellery Charring.