good things

Today promises to be a big day of (thorough) cleaning and bulk cooking with my brother and his family coming tomorrow to stay at the shed. Yesterday I went to the local butcher and bought plenty of mince, some rump steak and a huge amount of Italian sausages. So lots of crowd cooking today. I will cook up a basic lasagne and a few baked goods to see us through part of the weekend. Perhaps some homemade lemon cordial as a treat. A barbeque is also on the cards.

We have been scrumping apples (a new word to me, courtesy of last night's River Cottage, you can view it here). There is something very satisfying about picking free, unwanted apples. This lot have a crisp and juicy sweet, sour flavour (though I did have to peel most of them). Like rather unattractive Granny Smiths with a delicious inner personality.

Some new fabric from here. I'm not quite sure what to do with it yet, but I love the fresh colours and the simply drawn prints with a Scandinavian feel. Any ideas?

My knitting and Julia's knitting. Not much more to go on this project. Thank goodness I have the right amount of stitches this time.

Julia is making her first scarf.

A new little reading pile. Again, about food. And knitting. Perfect late night reading when my brain is too tired to read much else. Filing away in my mind lots of from scratch recipes to try one day.                  

The broadbeans have all emerged from the soil. This will be my first time growing them. But I am already a big fan of eating them. I used to buy big bag fulls at our old farmers market. I miss the farmers market.

May your weekend be filled with many good things.

rays of sunshine

I was quite surprised to learn from yesterdays post that so many of you could relate to being the introverted type. It seems I am not alone, though I've often felt like the square peg in a round hole. There are many of us out there that much prefer the life of being at home. It makes me feel very blessed that I do get to live this life. I feel that it is the career I was searching for. Despite the expectations of society. A few of you spoke about the tendency to become a hermit. I really do get this. When friends start working and are too busy for catch ups, I can feel myself becoming a little hermit like. Daniel is the complete opposite. An extrovert who thrives on company. So it can be a tricky balance at times.


I am off into town today for my one day out. There is grocery shopping to do, errands to run and hopefully a fancy coffee to drink. It can be quite a feat on these days to get all four of us dressed and out of the house before school starts. Off with the trackies and on with the town clothes (and I still haven't decided if it will be a dress or jeans day). It lifts my spirits to be nicely dressed occasionally.


Hasn't this local weather been unseasonably warm? I do hope you are enjoying some rays of sunshine wherever you are.

staying home

Thank you for your warm and encouraging words in yesterdays post. I have been letting her climb, but within limits. 

I love staying at home. I like company. I like going out for lunch or a coffee. But most of the time I am pretty content with my own company and with home life. I think I've always tended towards a more introverted personality. Even as a child I could always keep myself pretty busy at home. I really don't think my personality has changed all that much over the years. 

Though I have to say I don't really enjoy the more tedious tasks of housekeeping, I do love to potter around and do a little sewing here, some knitting there, pop out to the garden and do a little baking. I thrive on doing this. I was at my unhappiest when I was newly married and working (almost) full time. I so desperately wanted to be at home, doing home things.

I feel like me when I stay home.

How about you?

the climber

We have a little climber on our hands. I've never had a climber before. Violet will pull up a chair, climb on it and then climb onto the table. She will then stand up and try to dance. All in the instant that you turn around to do something else. Meals and folded washing are no longer sacred. We pop her onto the floor, and up she goes again. That is, after a roll around the floor style tantrum. We've taken to turning the dining chairs upside-down.

We sometimes find her sitting (or standing) on the keyboard. It's quite a climb up there. Risky for her (and the computer). If I suddenly go offline you will know why.

Drawers and cupboards are far more interesting than any toy basket. I find scenes such as these all day. Because I've often allowed her to pull out breakables, she is surprisingly careful with them.


If the front door is left open she will go right out. And not look back. We've learnt to be pretty vigilant around here.

Little, though she still is, she has this sense of adventure and a dare devil twinkle in her eye. She certainly keeps everyone amused.

I feel I've been thrown a bit of a curve ball with this one. Kind of like learning how to parent all over again.



Have you ever had a climber? Have you had one child who was completely different to the others?

the homemade dressing gown

I wouldn't say this was the easiest project in the world. In fact there may have been a whole night of unpicking involved. But it's done and it's serving it's purpose. Which is keeping Julia warm on those frosty mornings. After growing out of her old dressing gown I have been promising her a new one.

I used an old pattern found at the op shop, I think it is an older version of this one. I decided to make the outer with an old wool blanket, and line it with a flannel sheet. The pattern didn't include instructions for the lining, so I was on my own there. Never having lined anything before that wasn't specified in the pattern. And I certainly need more practice in that area I can tell you. There was lining that didn't match up and awkward bulky wool binding. So I re-aligned the lining and used some vintage cotton (I suspect it may be an old Liberty) as the binding instead. Success! Though it did take a night of hand stitching that binding.

I had that discussion with Daniel. Why am I making something when I could just go and buy it? Why go to all that trouble? It made me think about why I really do it. Why stay up late sewing like a crazy lady? Sometimes it's hard to explain to someone who doesn't always get the homemade thing. Because it doesn't always make practical sense to sew. But it is ethical, it does cost next to nothing if you use recycled fabrics, and you get something that cannot be bought in the shops. I'm thinking that  it's a little prettier than the standard cartoon character dressing gowns in the chain store here.

Then there is that something you can't really put into words. That has to do with that warm fuzzy feeling when you think back to your own childhood and recall the things handmade for you. Except we called it homemade back then.

(Of course it was terribly dark when I photographed this. Sometimes lighting just doesn't co-operate.)



So Julia is happy, I'm happy and Daniel is happy (that it is finished).

staying warm

Our first minus last night, followed by a thickish blanket of white frost this morning, likely the first of many. Somehow we've managed to not have the fire on this week. Helped of course, by the fact that when Daniel insulated the house, he crammed in as much as was humanly possible. As a result our house holds the heat very well indeed. So while most of our neighbours have had their chimneys smoking for over a month now, we haven't yet felt the need. But I think that's about to change.

So we have kept warm in the evenings by snacking on soups, leaving the oven open after cooking to warm the house and wearing (and then washing) the winter woollens. The elder two have been a little harder to convert, still convinced it is perfect weather for shorts and t-shirts. Perhaps I need to hide the summer clothes?

I have cast on again for a Kina. It seems I somehow ended up with far more stitches than the pattern specified. In other words I didn't read the pattern properly. Only discovering that once I got to the sleeves. So far so good. Old notes here.



Wishing you all a pleasant (and warm) weekend.

make do kitchen

In light of last weeks post, I thought I would share what has been going on in this kitchen of mine this week. Keeping on with the frugal theme to make do and to make the most of everything.

I've started fortnightly shopping.  I obviously didn't organize myself well enough though, as at the end of the first week, I'm running out of white flour, milk and eggs.  I'm trying to stay away from the supermarket as much as possible. But with the huge shortage of local eggs right now, and no local dairies or other suppliers of milk, there is not much choice.

Left to right : Jerusalem artichokes, macadamias, carrots, potatoes, potato skins and zucchini (not seen are carrot tops, tomatoes and squash)

A kind neighbour gave us beautiful fresh carrots, pumpkin, giant squash, potatoes, tomatoes and zucchini. That afternoon I cranked the oven up to almost full and roasted much of that produce, tossed with olive oil and sea salt.  I fried the green carrot tops with olive oil and garlic. I toasted some macadamia nuts. Most ideas I picked up from this book. You then have on hand enough vegetables to make your dinner times far easier. The vegies are already done. You can mix with olive oil, lemon juice, sea salt a little sprinkling of fresh herbs for a salad. This week I have added them to pasta, risotto and sandwiches. They also make the most delicious snack (especially those potato skins). Pies and frittatas are also the cards.

Everything was decanted into recycled glass jars and popped into the fridge. As the book says, that way you can see everything in there.

I haven't been cooking many sweets lately. The cake above was a basic butter cake made from wholemeal spelt and rapadura sugar with a little of last years feijoa jam spooned into the middle. This picture shows me serving mine with cream. Not really necessary, but an affordable little luxury.

Saturday morning breakfast was Jamie Oliver's Breakfast Crumpies (an oven baked cross between crumpets and Yorkshire pudding) from this book. I ate mine with butter, sliced banana, maple syrup and a little cream. The rest of the family were a little less adventurous and preferred butter and jam.

I made ricotta again. I ran out of white vinegar and substituted apple cider, unfortunately it's not the same. But added to other ingredients that are stronger in flavour, it is fine.

Leftover risotto became zuppli (rolled in balls, dipped in flour egg and homemade breadcrumbs then fried).

Leftover soup has been an afternoon snack, rather than sweet baked things.

Eating frugally, to me, has not been about being deprived. It is eating a little more mindfully. It is about eating fresh, whole food. Making things from scratch. Wasting no part of it. In a way, it has been forcing me to be a little more creative in this kitchen.



How have things been in your kitchen?