winter is here

the first day of winter & it's all about food. winter lentil soup & nigella lawson's ginger marmalade bread & butter pudding for tea,(this photo is pre-cooking) then chocolate truffle fudge cake to accompany cups of tea, mmm. the winter lentil soup is just right for a cold winter night & is a annabel langbein recipe, i use her recipe book great food for busy lives a lot for our family.
epilogue: 2 out 0f 3 children did not eat their soup & 3 out of 3 children did not eat their desert. never again.

few flowers

i found a flower growing on a branch, it looks a lot like japonica but i think it is too early for that. flowers are getting few and far between now. i would like to be making more bouquets....

wild flowers

my baby was poorly today so we spent the day indoors, it was cabin feverish for me but was needed for her. i made this caramel slice which is laden with butter & inadvisable if you are not wanting to fatten up for winter - it's got healthy oats in it if that's any consolation?

ottolenghi

celeste and i are staying at my ma's place in ruby bay, while the rest of our fandam are in wellington. this granola/muesli is in my humble opinion the best i have ever had, it is an ottolenghi recipe & is made by my mumsy. i'm going to post the recipe as i think you should try it if you enjoy muesli in the morning. i will make it myself one day but imagine it will cost at least $50 for the ingredients, thankfully you only need a tablespoon or so to last you the whole day long. you could follow the recipe loosely, according to what is in the cupboard. it's quite delicio.

granola
60g whole unskinned almonds
40g brazil nuts
40g cashew nuts
300g rolled oats
60g pumpkin seeds
60g sunflower seeds
100g dried apricots, roughly chopped
60g dried cranberries
60g dried blueberries
syrup
1/4 tsp salt
3 tbsp water
2 tbsp rapeseed oil
2 tbsp sunflower oil
120ml maple syrup
120ml honey

1. preheat the oven to 120, roughly chop nuts & put them in large mixing bowl. add oats and seeds and set aside.
2. mix together all the syrup ingredients in a small saucepan. place over a low heat and stir while you warm the syrup gently. once it is warmed, pour it over the seeds, nuts & oats ands stir with a wooden spoon.
3. line a large baking tray with baking parchment and spread the granola over it evenly. it should form a layer no more than 1cm thick, if it is to thick consider using 2 trays. bake for 40min, turning granola 2 or 3 times. when ready it will have taken on a dark, honey-like colour. don't worry if it is soft; once it is cool it will turn crunchy. remove from the oven. while the granola is still warm, but not hot, stir in the dried fruit. leave to cool on the tray and then transfer to a sealed container. it will keep for 2 weeks.

little creatures in the rain

i am proud to say my children are in te pouahi, the bi-lingual unit at nelson central primary school. today they all set off for camp to wellington, this was a little bit different to the mainstream system in that all the children went, including the potiki, the littlest ones. so the 5 year old children - louis included, were sent on their way with some nervous but certain & sure parents behind them. i know i am learning so much about maori culture, philosophies & ways of being through te pouahi, i feel very grateful & inspired by that. one thing i noticed today while we listened to korero, before everyone went on their way, was how everyone listened to the speaker, the pakeha(me & my children included) were flittering all over the place with our eyes, while the maori amongst us were so present with their ears wide open. etiquette, it is so respectful & i will try to emmulate that in future.

walking along

well it's beer o'clock so that's good news. a lazy day today, i always intend to go for a run in the weekend but somehow i never do, sad but true. we went for a walk along the river after spending the morning inside with movies, a baking fire & pj's on, some space & fresh air was necessary after a while. i made this bunch of foliage from eucalyptus i picked on our walk & some delicate looking roses i found hanging over a car park. naughty but irresistible to me.

rose'e kinda day

the very last of the roses i asked my grandmother to selvage from her garden, ethereal beauties. i made this hair piece out of ginko leaves from the trees on our street, i am getting a lot of pleasure watching them again as they turn their bright yellow colour & then drop from the tree. ooo the quinces, the shape of this fruit is so appealing to me, then the quince jelly, what a colour, divine. thank you sarah for your bottling skills, if only i made the time to do this myself - definitely room for improvement there bridget.

platters to share with friends

i went to my friend's home last night for some b'day celebrations, i took this autumnal platter filled with vegetables & decorated with leaves off our ornamental grape vine which looks so vibrant & RED at this time of year. my plate was a wedding present, made by kathryn smyth, she also made these caper juglets which i have long admired.

shrooms

we had a stormy night & the following day louis, celeste & i went mushroom gathering. it was very successful which was exciting for everyone, we made the mushies into hungarian mushroom soup from mollie katzen's moosewood cookbook, a family favourite. the kids gobbled that up, like i don't think they would have if they hadn't been involved in the whole process. yumbo

camera joy

i am having a whole lot of fun with my new camera.

hardy weeds

look at this dandelion growing in the middle of our driveway, you have to admire it's tenacity. the daisy seed heads are growing by our driveway (in some dirt, the crazy things) i suppose someone else might have chopped them down by now but i like the way they look & that works as quite a good excuse for another job not done.

first customer!

o-wee i had my first customer, admittedly it was my grandmother on behalf of my uncle but it was pretty exciting for me. nana loved it but i did pop out to see her today & couldn't help noticing she'd made a few adjustments, a tad insulting but i did think she could be a tricky one, as she is notoriously hard to please!

first day of the weekend

well the weekend, hoo-ray. we hunkered down tonight with the fire, red wine & beef bourguignon, followed by apple shortcake, mmm perfect combination for a comfort plus evening & an overly contented stomach. have you ever tried taking photos of fire? try it, every photo is so different from the last it's hard to stop. we own this book, illustrated by my absolute favourite children's book illustrator angela barrett, it has to be the best rendition of a fairy tale ever? i mean her snow white IS snow white, the detail in her drawings is immaculate & so well thought through & josephine poole's retelling is fabulous. i can't recommend it enough for your little girls, worlds away from the invasive disney.

the 4th day of may

i've been trying to make bouquets out of what i can find around here & up the matai valley, this bundle of foliage includes the very last of the strawberries from our patch. i love to collect & hold magnolia leaves at this time of year, that central yellow fade to a brown edge is so pretty. louis had a praying mantis as a pet for a while, we feed it insects we caught but it really was disturbing watching it eat them from the inside out. they give me the heeby jeebies, this one had his dukes up ready for a bit of powpow, ever the aggressor. did you know they sometimes eat their mates? ew.

overcast

sunday day

1. wild fennel & roses trying hard to make themselves into an appealing bunch.

2. i like the texture in this combination of corn rows, leeks & parsley in the foreground. we stopped at my favourite produce stall out in the country today & stocked up large, there are always many bargains to be had. what a pleasure it is to buy straight from the grower.

3. hamish the stork, a legend in mapua. while we were there i browsed this lovely shop & wished i could buy the cosy woolen sock inners for my dad's gumboots.

beginnings

...i'm new to this & it's making me nervous, how do i start? well...er...i made this bunch in my newly acquired iron urn, thank you mum.

the cake is easy peasey to make, it's one of my fall back options, tom & i took it to a friend's graduation party the other night. i think the passionfruit looks a little like dead flies though, which is rather unappealing really. mmm anyway it is a yummy lemony yoghurt cake believe it or not & it comes from the cuisine website which has a great recipe search i recommend.