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Maggie: They are both growing up, literally and in their behaviour.  In a rare semi-serious mood, the rest of the photos Maggie was pulling crazy faces and laughing.
Elisabeth: So innocent, yet I think she was holding Maggie's head down!!!

Joining in with Jodi's 52 portrait project at her blog Practising Simplicity.

We had a quiet weekend. Shopping for excellent bread at Pigeonwhole bakers, visiting my Mum in hospital as she recovers from a hip replacement, visiting friends for a lunch of baguettes and cheese and the best doughnuts, collecting eggs from their chickens, gardening together, eating together, taking backpack adventures (the girls favourite sort at the moment). Last Wednesday we had a check up at the NICU clinic. Girls are doing really well, no concerns or issues. Both had put on 2kg in the last 6 months, so Maggie is 8.6kg and Elisabeth 9.3kg. They were so funny after it had all been done, they climbed into the toy box in the Dr's room together for a chat. Even he thought they were so cute he asked if he could take a photo!

Friday Flowers

Well it's a bit hard to see, but there are flowers in the photo below.

I love having a personal photographer who is willing to get up early enough to catch our garden in that perfect golden early morning light!

The flower garden is coming along, the roses are expanding and most have buds so I should be able to see what each one looks like this first year.

My original plan for the flower garden was for it to be a picking garden, so we have tried to keep things in the four quadrants to certain colours (white, pink, orange + yellow, red + blue/purple). In theory this had worked but there is the occasional mislabeled plant that is popping up in the wrong colour bed.
But I'm ok with that.

Now that the tulips have finished, the ranunculus are still going, please hold me to this- instead of 40 ranunculus corms next year, I'm going to plant 200 per quadrant. We both love them that much, and I won't feel so guilty picking them.

We have been collecting various annuals and perennials so it will be interesting to see what they end up looking like. We seem to struggle to fill the red bed (after the failure of my red ranunculus corms) so I'd be interested in any suggestions for red flowering plants.

My lilies are the main players in the garden still (after collecting them for years in pots) and they are all popping up quite happily now. Again my labelling may have left a little to be desired or we've mixed up the bulbs, because I can see the occasional plants with reddish tips to their leaves in the yellow bed. There are fat little buds amongst the leaves waiting to expand, it won't be long I don't think.

Again I have plenty of orange, yellow, white, and cream lilies, a fair few pink ones, but not many red ones. I've tried a few different reds but never been totally happy with their colour. Rob did utter a sentence I never thought he would "we need some more lilies" when looking at the red bed.

Thankfully I have felt much better this week. Today we had an appointment with our obstetrician and got to take a peek at the twins. I always feel so much more relieved after a visit to our Dr. He is quite lovely and reassuring. They now weigh 500g each! He measures their heads and tummies and they seem to be the right size for their age (about 25cm long at 22 weeks). Apparently at the moment they both have their heads down and their feet are at the top on each side of my tummy (which explains all those kicks I'm feeling!!) They are still able to move around quite a bit and always put on a good show.

So we treated ourselves with some lunch from Sweet Envy (conveniently positioned on the way back to work), their potato bread is still a favourite. Rob picked a lemon meringue donut which didn't make it past the city, and I picked Alistair's take on a Tim Tam or what he calls a Mit Mat. I have been saving it, and tried a mouthful at afternoon tea.  I may never eat another Tim Tam again. His, unsurprisingly, wipe the floor with them!

This weekend we're at home, so there will be garden tidying, grass cutting and hut spring cleaning (the windows are pretty bad with our two dogs smearing their noses all over them and the birds).

What are your plans for this weekend?

These two...

...make us laugh with their constant wrestling. They love to tease each other as they run around the block. Life certainly isn't dull with these two around.

Happy weekend to you all, I'm looking forward to it.

Hello sweet weekend

I am here, albeit in a snuffly, coughing, husky voiced kinda way. Thank you for your get well wishes on my post on Monday.
I crammed 5 days of work into 3, and whilst I got things done - it was rushed and I don't like to do things like that. Sure there are still things left to do, but they'll keep.
Next week is a big one too- I'm managing a display booth at a major science conference in Hobart, whilst trying to fit my regular work around that.
But for the moment it's finally the weekend. I'm ready for some quality hut time.
I'll leave you with a photo of the Channel, near the little town of Snug, we drive past it everyday on the way to work, and marvel at the way it is slightly different depending on the clouds, weather, and tide.

Supermoon gardening

The moon was amazing last weekend, wasn't it? So bright. You could see everything. The gardens are even beautiful by moonlight. Rob took these photos on Saturday night and had a bit of a play in Lightroom afterwards. It does look like the hut is on fire though!



Apart from our bulb planting session last weekend (which isn't very interesting photographically until they pop up in a few months time) not much else to report in the garden. I found some cheap red Ranunculus bulbs last night, as unfortunately Tesselaar had run out and they weren't in my order.

What's been happening this week at the hut?

• We made a curry last three dinners and one lunch. It kept getting better, with added silver beet, pumpkin and potatoes! I made papadams in the microwave (hardly taxing).
• Probably good we saved money on food, cause we took Nigella to the vet yesterday. Nigella is plagued by a common German Shepherd problem: sensitive skin. She gets these terrible hotspots that she will lick and lick. Yuk. Usually we can just spray them with a topical treatment and they clear up. But I noticed one on her front leg had become a bump. I'm my mother's daughter, which means my first assumption is, oh no she's got cancer! So we visited our local vet yesterday, more for my peace of mind. Verdict was an infected hotspot. Two weeks of antibiotics combined with the drugs should clear it up. Poor Nigella she really hates the vet. But she was quite good (by that I mean she actually walked in the building, she has been known to lie down in the car, passive resistance like and refuse to get out, 40kg dogs are hard to move). She shook while the vet shaved her leg to take a sample. 
• We have mice in the hut. Eww. Cheeky buggers are getting up under the vertical boards we think. One has made a nice home in our heat pump. Although I haven't heard squeaking the last few days from there. They have moved onto our kitchen cupboards. Rob is a man possessed. Filling up gaps with steel wool. I was in the breezeway the other night and I heard some gnawing noises coming from behind the wardrobe (yes it's still there). We pulled out the robe to find very obvious signs of mice and they have been stealing the dogs biscuits and lining them up along the skirting board. There are a lot of knot holes in the interior cladding and they must be in the wall. Last night one ran the gauntlet along the bifold door and dove into our library basket. They are so damn fast our dogs don't even see them. Rob took the basket outside to release the mouse (and I hate to say it we both thought it was so cute) and the cheeky bugger leapt out and headed straight for the hut (outside the kitchen) so we suspect there is a hole there for them to enter the hut. Rob has some flyscreen wire that the hardware store recommended. I think there will be some mouse proofing this weekend (oh a tube of selleys to plug up knot holes!)

So looking forward to the weekend, we're off to Red Velvet Lounge for dinner tonight.

Tomorrow mouse proofing and some baking, and on Sunday my Mum and Dad are coming down for a Mother's Day lunch of roast chicken.

Hope you have a lovely weekend.

Monday's Menu, with a side of beach walk

The menu was for warming comfort food this week, with grey skies and plenty of rain, we get home in the dark and need something to warm ourselves up. Autumn is slipping into winter. For some reason, this year I don't mind as much as normal. Although I do mind the mouse that has set up home in our heat pump!

Monday: we ate left over French onion soup (which was so rich for such a small serve), potato gratin with a salad.
Tuesday: we had a late lunch, so all I could contemplate was a rocket salad with pear, walnuts and shaved parmesan.
Wednesday: Pasta puttanesca.
Thursday: we stopped at my parents place for dinner. Mum made us her Italian beef with potatoes, and a delicious lemon cream dessert (I ate it too quickly to take a photo).
Friday: Baked potatoes topped with cheese and bacon.
Saturday: Beef curry with rice and papadams. The sauce was thick with spices, lentils, onions, garlic and chickpeas.
Sunday: Shepherds pie.
Baking wise, Rob made some rye baguettes and I made a cherry, almond and coconut slice from the Primrose Bakery cookbook. The slice hasn't lasted long, the container is nearly empty!
What have you been cooking recently?


We spent a happy afternoon on Saturday planting out my spring bulbs, carefully lining the paths with the tulips, and the ranunculus and anemones are spread randomly around the triangular beds. Now I just have to wait to see them pop up.
Yesterday after cleaning the hut, we realised that we were free to do anything, as the garden didn't need any further attention. It was an unusual feeling. We decided to go find some plants for Rob's botany practical, he wanted something new. So we grabbed the dogs and headed south. We didn't go far. stopping at Trial Bay. The dogs were super keen, after being cooped up all week because of the weather. Once off their leads they ran around on the rocky beach, sniffing seaweed, and cheekily looking over their shoulder to see if we approved as they waded into the water. I made a pathetic attempt at only letting them go in up to their legs, but as you can see that didn't work.
Rob walked at the back, taking photos of the plants, while I went ahead, determined to get to a jetty that I could see at the point. The rocks were beautiful colours, one even a bright aqua colour. Others were covered in bright yellow and orange lichen. I got to the jetty with two dogs hot on my heels, it was a bit rickety, but I encouraged them to walk along it, so I could take some photos. Those brave dogs, they ran up and down the jetty and looked back to where Rob was wandering along.
Once he got there I think they both wanted to show off a bit, Nigella spied a submerged branch and she swam out to get it, Claudia (who isn't as keen on swimming) even followed her out there. The water was so clear (and must have been freezing) but Nigella loved swimming around us out on the jetty even swimming under it. From our highpoint on the jetty, we were able to see her cute legs purposefully swimming under the surface. Nigella has hip dysplasia, so can't actually run very well anymore, but you could tell she was so happy to be swimming so freely in the water.
We could see a misty grey cloud coming so high tailed it back to the car. But it was a lovely way to spend the afternoon.

Photo collage from my iPhone. Some tweaked in Instagram.



These last three taken by Rob with the real camera.

A hut weekend

Sorry I realised half of my weeks menu is on the computer at work. So I'll delay Monday's menu until tomorrow.
We made the most of our weekend. This long weekend holds fond memories for us: four years ago we camped at our block. It was our first night spent there. We pitched a tent on where the hut is now, made a fire and cooked sausages and fell asleep. Nigella slept in the car cause I was worried she'd chase the wallabies and not come back!
We packed a lot into this weekend. We went shopping in Friday night. Looking at my winter wardrobe I realised it was a little sad. So despite not expecting much, I thought we should give Myer a go. To my surprise I found a pair of black boots, a pair of work pants and three knit tops, all were on sale. I also came home to a skirt in the mail I'd bought online. The boots were so comfortable and looked good, I checked online and found there was a tan colour in the same style. I thought about being sensible, but then rang the Sandler shop in Hobart and got them to hold my size (11 always sells out so fast). I put it to the vote on Instagram with a resounding affirmative. So then I came up with a good excuse to drag Rob into town, so I could try them on. I loved them so now don't need shoes for awhile.
Rob dug out a spot in the garden and planted our two avocado trees (bacon and Reed varieties). I cooked Nigella's aromatic lamb shank stew.
On Sunday we did a tip run, and headed up to Leslie Vale to order garden sleepers for the vegetable patch, and a trailer load of soil. Back at the hut we started recoating the vertical celerytop pine timber cladding. It took us all afternoon, but we actually ran out of the oil, with a 4m section on the back wall and one end of the hut to go. We were pretty tired so just had a light dinner of fresh mozzarella, tomatoes and basil with rye bread.
Today I did a thorough hut clean and took a heap of photos to share here as a hut tour later this week. Rob moved and divided our strawberry patch, tidying up my flower beds as he did so. After I finished phaffing around inside I quickly potted up some spare lily bulbs and helped Rob plant three Corymbia citriodora trees.
Hope your weekend was just as satisfying.

Village spirit

We headed to the Cygnet market today. We love these country village produce markets, and have tried a few around the Huon & Channel. But this was the first time we'd gone to this one.
It was buzzing from when it opened at 10am, even though it was a cool day. We bought quite a lot, actually. Rhubarb, lettuce, spring onions, broad beans, carrots, strawberries, a Korean gardening tool, a celery top spatula. Then we wandered along the main road, a new shop front beckoned us, with it's welcoming timber door and pot belly stove. Part second hand book shop, part homeopathic pharmacy and part toy shop. We couldn't resist a tiny bunny and a fox. We were quite taken with the billy goats gruff though!
We had a coffee and some lovely crisp pastries at the Lotus Eaters, before picking up some bread and jam doughnuts (for later, I promise) from Red Velvet Lounge.
Finally some new pink eye potatoes and free range eggs from the shop.
It was the best market we've been to, the stall holders were friendly and it was so busy (in a good way).
Back at the hut we made two different Christmas puddings and I made a batch of speculaas for a Dutch friend.
I'm counting down the days to go to our holiday now, roll on Friday.

Our life...

The end of the working week found us shopping, first at Bottega Rotolo for cheese, and Christmas treats such as glacé clementines and chocolate with nougat in it. If you're a local and haven't visited them you have to check out their Christmas goodies.
Next was the Mother's market in Battery Point for jam, melting moments and brownies from C & C cupcake factory. I have to admit the melting moments didn't make the end of the street! I also bought a cute brooch for a friend for Christmas and an elk for the window from Dick & Dora.
It was a lovely evening, Rob spent some time outside raking the grass, I couldn't help myself and wrapped a few gifts, with all my new accessories. Last year we left all the wrapping to the last minute. It started off neatly, but soon disintegrated into hastily wrapped and scribbled tags. So with good intentions I plan to do them as we buy them this year.
We've decided to have categories for our presents for each other and Rob's daughter. The categories are: need, want, wear, eat, drink, read, play, write and watch. (We don't get the last few!) I'm feeling pretty smug as I have 4 of Rob's 6, and know what one other is (he does too- I wouldn't dare buy his scythe for him!) Do you have any present traditions?
Today has been grey and a bit damp. After the gym and a little shopping, we met a guy at Margate to check out the pavers we hope to buy in the next few weeks. Having the terrace paved will make the hut feel really complete. We're planning on having different sized sandstone pavers. That's what we're planning for our holiday, what fun we have!?
Then in Margate we stopped to pick up some (18) fence posts, although we had the trailer, I think Rob meant to go and get them tomorrow, so we didn't actually have a rope. My worst fears were realised when, as we drove onto the main road, one of the posts rolled off the top! Luckily it just ended up in the gutter. After sheepishly retrieving it, a nice guy gave us a piece of rope, so we safely got them home.
So Rob has been out in the rain all afternoon (he couldn't help himself) digging post holes whilst I stayed nice and dry stamping gift tags and baking a chocolate prune cake.

Friday Flowers

Not many new flowers in the garden this week. But the Nematolepis squamea (commonly known as lancewood),  is flowering at the top of our driveway next to our front gate. It has very pretty little creamy flowers.  So I thought I'd share one of Rob's macro photos of the flowers.




I'm not quite sure where this whole week has gone. I was hoping to get a lot more done at work. I've started counting down the weeks until my annual holiday, and sadly my to do list is not decreasing.


Yesterday I received a package in the mail from the company Land's End, I was being quite brave in picking a dress from their website. Unfortunately it was huge (I was worried it would be too small) and the style wasn't all that flattering anyway. I was a bit disappointed, I'm still looking for the perfect dress to wear. But maybe I should give up and try and find a skirt and top. I seem to be a bit long in the middle which means that waistlines never sit where they should on me, and I really don't suit an empire line dress!


Anyway as Nigella would say, food shopping is much less fraught with potential disappointment, so I'm looking forward to opening the box of goodies from Mount Gnomon Farm that arrived at work today. We ordered a pork shoulder, some bacon and chorizo. Thanks Guy and Eliza, I can't wait to taste the slow-roasted pork shoulder!

Friday Flowers

Hello, I'm feeling revived after our 1st weekend, today I thought I'd share a bunch of roses my lovely friend gave me last Sunday, the first picked from her garden this year.
She is one of our gardening heroes, I doubt we'll ever achieve her level of garden perfection, but we can live in hope! She has a lovely garden in Sandy Bay full to the brim with roses, flowers, fruit trees, berries and vegetables. Every available space is used. It's just such a beautiful place to visit. I always think as I leave, one day when I grow up I'll have a garden just like that!
These roses smell beautiful, and even though they've started to wilt (forgot to snip the tips off before putting them in the vase), I'm reluctant to put them in the compost.

I'm still waiting to buy my roses from here. I have picked out 40 roses, mainly for use as cut flowers, in red, pink, yellow and white. Every year I get the lovely colour brochure and painstakingly review any new varieties to see if they might bump one off my list. But I just haven't been able to buy them until we have a fence around the garden and some water.
So next winter is the year to finally purchase the plants. We should do our fence in the next few months, and I can't wait to stroll around my picking garden selecting the perfect rose.
(Rob hates growing roses, so I had to promise to keep them separate from any other plant and promise that I would deal with all the pruning etc! I don't mind, I quite like pruning them!)

Our 2nd weekend is looming, we managed to cross a few things off my list yesterday:

1. Sleep in (well a little). Does 8.30am count?
2. Lazy breakfast. Poor Rob was treating me to sourdough toast with cherry jam in bed, unfortunately as he was bringing the plate in to me a piece slipped off the plate, hit my pillow then smeared down the bedhead. Opps. It was very tasty, just a little messy and enforced a bedding washing day!
3. A little stitching of the Maisy birth sampler (I may have accepted defeat about it being for Christmas- I think it might be a 1st birthday gift now). Didn't get to this one.
4. Help Rob clean out the leaf litter from the driveway drains. Or this one.
5. Keep the dogs away from Rob whilst he uses the brush-cutter to tidy up the orchard. Big tick, forgot to take a picture but it looks splendid.
6. Make some cake bunting for a friend's birthday cake we're making on the weekend (this is as crafty as I get I guess!) See below, it was quite fun really!


So we're having a birthday party on Sunday afternoon for my little friend, and I'm going to visit my sister and Maisy. Who apparently is rolling over now and pretending to cough whenever she hears anyone else cough!

1st weekend

A bit like the Lord of the Rings, I'm having a 1st weekend (rather than a 1st breakfast), tomorrow is a public holiday in southern Tasmania. What do I plan to do?
It depends a bit on the weather. Spring in Tassie is crazy, it rained most of the weekend, there was snow on the mountain on Monday, and then yesterday and today have been perfectly warm, summer days, 28 degrees. I think it is meant to rain tomorrow evening.
But on my to do list tomorrow at the hut:
1. Sleep in (well a little)
2. Lazy breakfast.
3. A little stitching of the Maisy birth sampler (I may have accepted defeat about it being for Christmas- I think it might be a 1st birthday gift now).
4. Help Rob clean out the leaf litter from the driveway drains.
5. Keep the dogs away from Rob whilst he uses the brush-cutter to tidy up the orchard.
6. Make some cake bunting for a friend's birthday cake we're making on the weekend (this is as crafty as I get I guess!)

I think that's enough for my 1st weekend, stay tuned for the 2nd!

I have to share the following picture. This is the two of them waiting before our guests arrived on Sunday. Our two have worked out when we're having people over to the hut- as it usually involves us running around cleaning manically and getting food prepared. No fun for puppies. So they sit and sulk. Up until now it has been on their mat, but now, we have the dog bed, opps I mean our window seat, that is their preferred location for sulking. Claudia was hilarious, whenever one of our visitors went to sit on the window seat on Sunday she would rush up, barge past and take her position (actually where Rob normally sits). I think she just wanted them to know she was the top dog, and that was her space. Dog behaviour totally cracks me up, and these two give us plenty of opportunities to laugh. It doesn't matter how boring/crappy/annoying my work day has been they never fail to make me happier.
P.S. The leopard print is only a temporary cover for our window seat, I'm hoping that the upholsterer will arrive on Monday and take away the cushions to cover them properly. Excited about that!

Monday's Menu

A varied selection this week-
Monday- was a silver beet duck egg omelette
Tuesday- Left over rump steak, was transformed into an open steak sandwich with kipfler potato chips.
Wednesday- we went out on a "date" lunch at  Tricycle. Rob had the most delicious pork, lemon and fennel meatballs on white bean mash, and I had a red lentil soup with mint and sumac. We couldn't resist a lemon curd cupcake with coffee either! Wednesday night we had lemon pasta. A quick no cook sauce (lemon juice, parmesan, yoghurt, egg yolks and parsley).
Thursday- the last of the steak on top of a vegetable soup.
Friday- after tackling a few house maintenance jobs it was quite late so we settled for crackers and cheese!
Saturday - We visited Sweet Envy, next time I'm going to get one of each of these biscuits, I always look at them and end up picking something else. Rob cooked a chicken on the Weber (flattened out) with just lemon, thyme and chilli, with some bbq'd Asparagus.
Sunday - I mentioned that we invited friends down for lunch, the weather was horrendous, but it didn't matter, we snacked on soy baked almonds, baked olives, and wagyu sausages with chutney. Then Rob quickly cooked the rump steak again, we served it on salad leaves and with some roasted kipflers.
We had a selection of incredibly ripe French cheeses and then finished off with a lemon meringue pie. We had a lovely afternoon (and evening!) chatting, eating and drinking.

So glad this week is a short week (Hobart Show day on Thursday). Am looking forward to a quiet day at the hut. How was your weekend?

Into the light

One of my favourite songs by Sara Bareilles, but it seems appropriate for this first day of daylight savings. We've had another quiet weekend, apart from heading to the gym, Salamanca market and the hardware store yesterday morning we've spent the whole time here.
Neither of us really follow the football, but once a year we use it as an excuse to eat frankfurters in squishy white rolls. Not having a tv kind of put a dampener on the actual game, but we listened to it on the radio. Only problem for me is I have no idea who the players are so it's a bit pointless. While he listened Rob worked on the final touches of the bank in front of the hut. Over the last month he has painstakingly dug over each clod, breaking up the clay with a hoe, adding gypsum, and yesterday he raked the whole thing, getting the slope just right.
I'm afraid I was nowhere near as energetic, I sat on the window-seat and stitched. I bought a baby sampler for Maisy, but it's been stashed away for ahem, months. I've got to get my act together pronto if I'm to have it finished by Christmas!
Today we sat outside in the sun for a breakfast of toast and coffee. A quick perimeter to keep the dogs happy. Rob spread some grass seed out, so hopefully we have a grassy bank soon. Then Rob and I did a hut clean up, which left the rest of the day for marking papers in the sun (Rob) and more stitching in the sun (me). Another late afternoon perimeter. It's still light enough for BBQ steak and potatoes. Hurry up summer!

Our weekend:

We've had a quiet weekend, apart from this afternoon we stayed in at the hut the whole time, it was lovely.
But we made the most of our time, yesterday we weeded my lilies (some are still in pots); I seem to have a zillion, and that's only a slight exaggeration, several hundred at least.
Rob made a batch of Seville marmalade, I made lemon curd to put into a doughnut shaped puff (choux pastry again), and we mixed the rest with whipped cream to churn into the most wicked ice-cream.
Today was sunny but cool, after a morning perimeter walk with the dogs, Rob made a big pot of lamb shank and vegetable soup and I used up the egg whites to make almond and also coconut macaroons.
Whilst Rob did some digging, I admit I had a post lunch snooze on the window seat.
But later we headed for a walk at nearby Snug Falls. Both dogs love to walk in the bush, but Claudia got herself all scared over two little girls on the track! It was sort of funny, maybe their tartan dresses were too frightening for her?
She has been a little naughty this weekend, Rob spread some blood and bone under all the trees and she keeps sneaking off to eat it!! Cheeky bugger, it didn't seem to matter if we growled at her, she just couldn't help herself!
Although at least it distracted her from the dam, where a mother duck and 11 of the cutest ducklings have been keeping us entertained with their antics!
Hope your weekend was as relaxing as ours.

Our weekend:

We made the most of an unseasonally warm weekend.
Lots of time outside at the block, we have started to move some pot plants (my lily collection) and some box plants for hedging (Claudia was starting to chew on the pots and the poor plants as well as bring them inside on the odd occasion).
Rob also started fixing up the back of the hut so that we can lay some weedmat and gravel as a path.

We stopped in at Sweet Envy on Saturday and bought a delicious Potato bread- salty, chewy, addictive. As well as a pecan sticky bun, a jam doughnut and two macarons. Sorry I didn't take any photos- but I think we'll be back there this weekend looking for that bread again!

Progress has been rapid at the hut site, after my poor me post last week. Sorry about that, sounds like everyone feels this way by the end of the build!
The builder is starting to whisper about occupancy certificates.
Most importantly they finally took delivery of the celery top cladding for the internal walls so they're up, and may I just say that the breezeway looks fantastic.





I can't resist sharing a photo of the view down our hallway either.


The new landscaping in front of the laundry hut, we'll have to encourage some grass to grow there, although that might prove tricky with the two mud puppies.

Hope you had a weekend as lovely as ours.

Our weekend:

What fun we have together over the weekend, the weather was pretty foul in Hobart and we even woke up to snow on the mountain this morning, so our activities were limited.

We had a little pup recovering from the snip; trying to keep a 6 month old German Shepherd quiet is easier said than done! Poor little girl kept looking underneath her to see if something was biting her.

We went shopping for an oven, and after much debate, settled back to a fairly standard oven and cooktop, with the realisation that when we do mass catering events we would tend to use a BBQ. We decided to invest in a BBQ with a side burner and the capability to do rotisserie (this is highly exciting for Rob) rather than a huge oven that we would have to heat up all the time for the two of us.

We went and sat inside the hut and looked out the windows at the rain (what a novelty).

We baked a white chocolate and almong cake with cumquat marmalade. Hmm still in the testing phase that one.

Last night we won this little beauty on ebay. I was a little excited I have to admit, hunched over the iPad counting down the auction time and relaying the bid amounts. I think Rob and Claudia thought I had lost it. Maybe I had. I really wanted this little myrtle bedside as it matched our sideboard.

The highlight culinary wise was a vegetable stir fry, with the veg we'd picked up on Saturday morning at the very soggy Salamanca stalls. After a week of over-indulgence at the meeting it was nice to eat real food that still tasted like vegetables!

P.S. Still working on getting the photo exchange sorted. Should have some pretty pics of windows soon.

Our weekend was:

in two parts; it was a public holiday here in Tasmania (Show Day) on Thursday, but we had to go back to work on Friday. Oh well.

Thursday was an absolute cracker weather wise so we spent the day making the most of it by:
Walking Nigella at the dog beach,
Weeding in the garden,
Eating leftover asparagus, pea, leek, mint and goat cheese frittata on the swing chair,
Hanging out at the block, planting new trees (chinese quinces, a flowering chestnut and some Eucalyptus morrisbyi) and staking out older trees to protect them from wind damage.
The day came to end with a wonderful dinner (cooked by Rob) of roasted spatchcocked chickens (with garlic, red onions, lemon zest, rosemary and thyme), roast potatoes and salad, and I had made a yoghurt blancmange earlier in the day for dessert.

The weekend proper involved shopping at Salamanca (where I found the great ceramic jug above- I couldn't resist it!), toast and raspberry jam, walking around the perimeter of the block checking for wallaby damage to our trees and hiding under a big tree when we got caught in a rain shower. Watching old episodes of Nigella Bites (Rob hit Nigella overload and couldn't bear her anymore!), using up the left over chicken in a risotto, with leeks, broad beans and fennel from our garden. Inspired by Nigella I cooked her chocolate raspberry pudding cake, which was ok, but we won't do again, as Rob said, there are plenty of other cakes to try.
Yesterday involved weeding my lily pots and killing the hundreds of snails that were hiding in amongst them, and getting a little burnt in the process as this took far longer than I thought! A third trip to the block for digging (Rob) and dog grooming (Nigella & I). We headed home and I was spoilt by Rob who cooked dinner: steamed pink eyes, asparagus, peas & mint with bearnaise sauce and rib eye steak. Who needs to go out?

Hope your weekend was just as enjoyable.

Our weekend was:

A quick beach walk with Nigella, where taken up in the moment I decided to leap over the creek. Convinced of my athletic prowess I ran and jumped. Sadly I didn’t quite make it, landed in the water and somehow ended up rolling over and landing on my back? Apparently graceless, according to Rob. It was funny though. I then dared him to do better, his leap was just as unsuccessful and he ended up with water and sand splattered up his legs. Nigella disowned us, how embarrassing!

A drive north, punctuated by a stop at Oatlands for bread (Apple, walnut and fruit loaf and rye) and coffee, a little wander along to look at the antique shops. The Fruit bread torn into chunks and devoured as we drove along in the car.

A belated birthday dinner for Rob’s mother of perfect winter oysters with sparkling, sticky maple pork ribs with rice and sautéed cavolo nero from our garden. Dessert was a date and dark chocolate meringue cake with cream. Sticky and delicious, but light at the same time.

I picked a bucket of slightly frozen cumquats from the tree in the early morning sun to take back home to make cumquat marmalade.

The drive back home through Evandale and Nile is much prettier than the highway. We pretended to ourselves that we would not stop again for Companion bakery bread on the way home. I did smirk slightly and was secretly relieved as Rob slowed down and ducked into Oatlands again. Oatlands is looking pretty smart at the moment, new shops, renovations, new mill. For once a Tasmanian township that hasn’t been bastardised with modern buildings (well at least on their main road anyway!) In the warmth of the bakery we decided to eat steak pies and drink more coffee. We got a country batard loaf and I was quite firm with Rob that it could stay in the back where it wouldn’t disappear!

On the way back we decided to bypass the whole Brighton bypass debacle and went through Colebrook and Campania. It was nice to have the time to chat about our garden. Rob and I talked about our most favourite fruits, the ones that are hard to buy, or are prohibitively expensive. Now the orchard at the block already has 33 trees that include apples, pears, plums, apricots, almonds, mulberries, pomegranates (optimistic I know), cherries, a peach, a nectarine and a fig. Plants are our thing really, so we’d like to be a bit more serious about producing four of our favourites. We decided upon in no particular order: cumquats, quinces, raspberries and rhubarb (not technically a fruit but close enough!) Maybe we’re getting a little ahead of ourselves, but it’s nice to dream.

Our weekend was:

Checking out the Italian Pantry’s new expanded premises- a lolly shop scenario for us. Cheese, pasta, wine, vegetable seeds, nuts, prosciutto, the list goes on.

Cooking dinner for our friends- roast pork, cooked on a bed of leeks and carrots with white wine and sherry vinegar. The first apple tarte tatin for the season, apples of choice were coxes orange pippins, Rob’s favourite. It was all delicious and the crackling was superb!

Breakfast on our friend’s deck in the sun- orange muffins with quince jelly with Mimosa cocktails and coffee! So hot for Tasmania at this time of year, a relaxing start to our Sunday.

Visiting the Market- I love this market, it’s so much nicer to shop for presents here than most other places! Found perfect presents for 3 upcoming birthdays (of the 7 in March/April). Tried Jo and Michelle’s truffles too- delicious and guilt free!

Swimming and walking at the beach- Nigella was very lucky - 4 beach walks in as many days. I even went swimming to escape the unusual stickiness; Hobart is not normally this humid.

Visiting the block- a quick visit to walk around and check on the trees in the orchard. We should get a few apples this year from the trees we planted in 2007. Nigella and Rob enjoyed some golf, tee off from the hut site to the green just near the water hazard. Nigella loves this activity and helpfully (not) picks up the balls and drops them into the water hazard (the dam!)

Cooking a favourite recipe -Chicken under bricks from Patricia Wells’ book Trattoria. In our case the electric grill folds over and is heavy enough to keep the chicken flat. Cooked in less than half an hour. Served with steamed and buttered pink eyes and runner beans (cooked with onions, tomatoes, garlic and allspice). A Sunday night feast.

Making the most of a rainy day- a late breakfast of soft boiled eggs and Steve’s rye bread toast. Baking Anzac biscuits and a carrot cake with cream cheese frosting. Reading a favourite book on the couch whilst watching the rain pour down.

How was your weekend?