Hey diddle diddleThe cat and the fiddle
The cow tried to jump over the moon
but instead hit a star
fell back to earth quite hard
landing in a tree at Docklands
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Friday, July 11, 2008
Melbourne...
Guess where I went tonight!!!
Yep, you guessed it, guys and dolls. At the princess theatre in Melbourne. It was a great night. The cast was brilliant, lisa mcclune, marina prior, gary mcdonald, magda zobanski (so spelt that wrong) and Kenny (Don't remember his name, but he did the movie. Loved the music, the sets, the dancing. WOW.
I'm in Melbourne for a work conference, but had some time off this afternoon and also got to pop over to the Art Gallery. That was brilliant as well. I could have spent a day there and not seen it all, some amazing artworks.
Tomorrow is the last day of the conference and then I am going to stay with friends who live on the outskirts of Melbourne till Tuesday when I return to Nowra.
Catch you later...
Monday, July 7, 2008
Sassafras hike and a bonfire
The other weekend I had a friend from Sydney come down and stay.
It was good to catch up with what's been going on there with friends and the Permaculture group I was involved with.
On the Friday evening we went to a Taize worship service I had heard of. It was lovely to meet with others from all different denominations and backgrounds. It's amazing how small the world is, meeting people from very different generations to me, with many mutual friends. It was a lovely reflective service, with a shared simple meal for the hour beforehand.
On Saturday Kristjan and I went out to Morton National Park for a day walk. We took the Braidwood Road from Nowra and entered the park via Sassafras. There is no sign there, just a gate, and you drive through some private property before reaching the entrance to the park. About 500m in to the walk there was a lovely campground with amenities and a covered picnic table. Most of the walk was just along firetrail shaded in some parts, like this shot at the beginning of the walk (photo was taken at the end of the day as the sun was setting) and lots out in the open, but relatively flat. Found lots of nectal filled grevillias that beat any boiled sweets or honey for flavour. Sticky sweet, and straight out of the flower.
This is the view we reached after about 1 hours walking. The landscape is much harsher than the ones I often see in photos of european blogs. Maybe not harsher, but different. It is quite dry but within it there are many microclimates, for example, we explored a little over the edge of the cliff line, in a gully where we could scramble down. Immediately you are in a temperate rainforest. This is something I love about my country and getting out into the bush. We walked to a point where a small trail went off the main one, and walked to a nice lookout to eat lunch and then return. It definately got my curiosity and I am planning to return there and do the entire walk, probably will be at least two days, but thats part of the fun.
That evening one of my colleagues was having a barbeque at her property and had invited staff and families to attend. There were two large bonfires, sparklers and lots of food. A great evening. One of my colleagues is the mother of a girl I went to school with and she was down visiting for the weekend while her husband was working down the coast so it was great to catch up with her as well.
The photo at the bottom is of Hayley's master marshmallow toasting skills. The hood is to protect her face and the marshmallow isn't toasted until the marshmallow and the stick are alight. My method is somewhat different, but it was entertaining.
It was good to catch up with what's been going on there with friends and the Permaculture group I was involved with.
On the Friday evening we went to a Taize worship service I had heard of. It was lovely to meet with others from all different denominations and backgrounds. It's amazing how small the world is, meeting people from very different generations to me, with many mutual friends. It was a lovely reflective service, with a shared simple meal for the hour beforehand.
On Saturday Kristjan and I went out to Morton National Park for a day walk. We took the Braidwood Road from Nowra and entered the park via Sassafras. There is no sign there, just a gate, and you drive through some private property before reaching the entrance to the park. About 500m in to the walk there was a lovely campground with amenities and a covered picnic table. Most of the walk was just along firetrail shaded in some parts, like this shot at the beginning of the walk (photo was taken at the end of the day as the sun was setting) and lots out in the open, but relatively flat. Found lots of nectal filled grevillias that beat any boiled sweets or honey for flavour. Sticky sweet, and straight out of the flower.
This is the view we reached after about 1 hours walking. The landscape is much harsher than the ones I often see in photos of european blogs. Maybe not harsher, but different. It is quite dry but within it there are many microclimates, for example, we explored a little over the edge of the cliff line, in a gully where we could scramble down. Immediately you are in a temperate rainforest. This is something I love about my country and getting out into the bush. We walked to a point where a small trail went off the main one, and walked to a nice lookout to eat lunch and then return. It definately got my curiosity and I am planning to return there and do the entire walk, probably will be at least two days, but thats part of the fun.That evening one of my colleagues was having a barbeque at her property and had invited staff and families to attend. There were two large bonfires, sparklers and lots of food. A great evening. One of my colleagues is the mother of a girl I went to school with and she was down visiting for the weekend while her husband was working down the coast so it was great to catch up with her as well.
The photo at the bottom is of Hayley's master marshmallow toasting skills. The hood is to protect her face and the marshmallow isn't toasted until the marshmallow and the stick are alight. My method is somewhat different, but it was entertaining.
Independance Days Challenge
Wow, I didn't realise I hadn't posted since last weekend. I have my camera at work today so I will try and download some photos and do another post. It's been a busy week or two.
Planted: Planted out seedlings of rocket I had started, and a herb, if I remember rightly it's thyme
Harvest something: Oranges
Preserve something: Nothing
Store Something: Trying to lower the amount stored to a manageable amount - nothing new this week
Manage Reserves: Trying to only use meat out of the freezer, to create space to store leftover meals. Slowly getting there as most of it's meat and I only eat meat every two or three days.
Prepped: Dug all the Agapanthus out. Now need to remove azaleas. Started breaking up the soil slightly where the lawn was removed and planting green manure. Have hurt my back so this is not happening as fast as I would like. Hoping to do some tomorrow morning...after I take my ibuprofen :) Found contact for layer pullets. Need to order, they will be ready to pick up in a couple of weeks, 12 week old pullets, will be ready to lay come spring.
Worked on Local Food Systems: Hmm, spotted local front garden with a huge lillipilli (native berry) tree. Feeling a harvest coming on.
Reduced Waste: Organised a compost system at work for my colleagues to use. Also given my mum a compost bin, and organised a hook for back neighbours to put a bucket with scraps on as well.
Cooked something new: Kangaroo roast. I have eaten this at friend's houses but first time I cooked it myself. I think I slightly undercooked it, but it was delicious.
Learned a new skill: Not sure if I did this. I taught a friend to Crochet though. That counts I'm sure. I had started teaching her before, but now she has bought her own hook and wool and we worked out for her to make a beret like hat. She's picking it up well.
Planted: Planted out seedlings of rocket I had started, and a herb, if I remember rightly it's thyme
Harvest something: Oranges
Preserve something: Nothing
Store Something: Trying to lower the amount stored to a manageable amount - nothing new this week
Manage Reserves: Trying to only use meat out of the freezer, to create space to store leftover meals. Slowly getting there as most of it's meat and I only eat meat every two or three days.
Prepped: Dug all the Agapanthus out. Now need to remove azaleas. Started breaking up the soil slightly where the lawn was removed and planting green manure. Have hurt my back so this is not happening as fast as I would like. Hoping to do some tomorrow morning...after I take my ibuprofen :) Found contact for layer pullets. Need to order, they will be ready to pick up in a couple of weeks, 12 week old pullets, will be ready to lay come spring.
Worked on Local Food Systems: Hmm, spotted local front garden with a huge lillipilli (native berry) tree. Feeling a harvest coming on.
Reduced Waste: Organised a compost system at work for my colleagues to use. Also given my mum a compost bin, and organised a hook for back neighbours to put a bucket with scraps on as well.
Cooked something new: Kangaroo roast. I have eaten this at friend's houses but first time I cooked it myself. I think I slightly undercooked it, but it was delicious.
Learned a new skill: Not sure if I did this. I taught a friend to Crochet though. That counts I'm sure. I had started teaching her before, but now she has bought her own hook and wool and we worked out for her to make a beret like hat. She's picking it up well.
Monday, June 30, 2008
independance days update
Planted: More lemon grass, native mint and marjoram. Brocolli seeds, Jerusalem Artichokes. Transplanted my first batch of lettuce from a pot where they were not growing well to the garden. Banana sucker.
Harvest something: Coriander for a soup
Preserve something: Nothing
Store Something: Hmm, this one's hard as I'm trying to get through what I already have.
Manage Reserves: Have gone through almost all my food supplies and only kept 1-2 of anything in the kitchen cupboards, moving the rest to the stockpile. My kitchen is returning to some sense of order.
Prepped: Have been digging out agapanthus from where I am going to plant my espaliered fruit trees. Went to a friends who has horses and picked up three large feed bags of horse manure.
Worked on Local Food Systems: Friend with horses also gave me some of her chooks eggs. Made contact with local cafe who have bought a block of land for a community garden and beginning to liase with them around setting up a local food forum. Whilst digging up agapanthus plants I also pulled out some buffalo grass runners. Went to list agapanthus on freecycle and as an afterthought added the buffalo grass. I had a quick response not for the aggies, but for the grass. Soon worked out the person I was talking to is a local permie I had been trying to contact, and she brought some guys around today to remove my entire front lawn. In return I will go and have a tour of her garden and get some cuttings!! She is also keen to set up a food and growing network to share excess and plantstock.
Reduced Waste: Gave away plants rather than disposed of them. Composted.
Cooked something new: I cooked a sweet potato soup I made once many years ago when first living in a share house. It was very popular but I lost the recipe and found it on a blog last week. It was delicious. I had leftovers for lunch today. Next time I want to make it with my own dried beans rather than the tinned variety.
Learned a new skill: How to get rid of a lawn. Give it away and let them dig it up.... lol
Harvest something: Coriander for a soup
Preserve something: Nothing
Store Something: Hmm, this one's hard as I'm trying to get through what I already have.
Manage Reserves: Have gone through almost all my food supplies and only kept 1-2 of anything in the kitchen cupboards, moving the rest to the stockpile. My kitchen is returning to some sense of order.
Prepped: Have been digging out agapanthus from where I am going to plant my espaliered fruit trees. Went to a friends who has horses and picked up three large feed bags of horse manure.
Worked on Local Food Systems: Friend with horses also gave me some of her chooks eggs. Made contact with local cafe who have bought a block of land for a community garden and beginning to liase with them around setting up a local food forum. Whilst digging up agapanthus plants I also pulled out some buffalo grass runners. Went to list agapanthus on freecycle and as an afterthought added the buffalo grass. I had a quick response not for the aggies, but for the grass. Soon worked out the person I was talking to is a local permie I had been trying to contact, and she brought some guys around today to remove my entire front lawn. In return I will go and have a tour of her garden and get some cuttings!! She is also keen to set up a food and growing network to share excess and plantstock.
Reduced Waste: Gave away plants rather than disposed of them. Composted.
Cooked something new: I cooked a sweet potato soup I made once many years ago when first living in a share house. It was very popular but I lost the recipe and found it on a blog last week. It was delicious. I had leftovers for lunch today. Next time I want to make it with my own dried beans rather than the tinned variety.
Learned a new skill: How to get rid of a lawn. Give it away and let them dig it up.... lol
Friday, June 27, 2008
Winter Solstice and Housewarming Party
Friends around the fire. I got this brazier off the side of the road and it's lovely, works best with small branches which I often pick up when walking home from work. Australian gum trees have a habit of their branches dying on the tree and then falling down in the wind. This means that just about anything that falls out of one of them is good for burning.
Please ignore Deb's bare legs and feet, and instead look at my socks, long pants, scarf and jumper. It was cold, but the fire kept me toasty warm.
My Brother was chef Extraordinaire. He did want an apron though, and this is now the BBQ apron, it's plasticcy, so you can wipe it down.
Friends, Debs and Mera around the fire
Me and my little sis Jonina
There were people inside as well, Michael and Erika my old housemates laughing at Deb's crocodile antics with the tongs.Figured a party with a fire was a great way to pass the shortest day of the year, now I'm looking forward to the days getting longer, and the food my garden is starting to produce!!!
Thursday, June 26, 2008
The Kitchen Fusspot
The Kitchen Fusspot
They are, in the kitchen at least, late developers. Often genteel, effete, with alittle too much time on their hands. Meals emerge from their kitchens with a sense of expectation, each ingredient having been painstakingly sourced, every direction in the cookery book followed to the letter, and inevitable late. The meal has something of the theatrical production about it, albeit amateur dramatics, as if it has all been so, so much trouble. Which of course it has. And don't we know it.
The kitchen fusspot prepares dinner - a charming though slightly too creamy soup, meat with a syrupy, over-reduced sauce, a dessert as elaborate as an ascot hat and probably just as indigestible - while his guests get more and more hungary, not to say a little pissed.
The kitchen, once tidy enough to appear in the pages of World of Interiors, now resembles a bombsite of stacked roasting tins, saute pans and sieves.
Fusspot is almost always male. He only cooks once a month, if that, and needs endless encouragement and ego massage. The production starts several days before, with working out what to cook with the aid of a pile of cookery books of the celebrity chef variety, and a shopping list, often taken to bed. There may be a tasting of the wines to be served, many of which have come from his own cellar. The menu will be changed every day, each dish chosen for it's ability to follow its predecessor perfectly, to match the wines, to show the cook at his most competent.
The directions will have been analysed in a way the poor cookery writer never dreamed of, each line dissected and filleted and the given a jolly good roasting.
from "Eating for England" by Nigel Slater.
As I read this passage over breakfast it reminded me of some meals that have been cooked for me. I'm sure some of you will relate.
They are, in the kitchen at least, late developers. Often genteel, effete, with alittle too much time on their hands. Meals emerge from their kitchens with a sense of expectation, each ingredient having been painstakingly sourced, every direction in the cookery book followed to the letter, and inevitable late. The meal has something of the theatrical production about it, albeit amateur dramatics, as if it has all been so, so much trouble. Which of course it has. And don't we know it.
The kitchen fusspot prepares dinner - a charming though slightly too creamy soup, meat with a syrupy, over-reduced sauce, a dessert as elaborate as an ascot hat and probably just as indigestible - while his guests get more and more hungary, not to say a little pissed.
The kitchen, once tidy enough to appear in the pages of World of Interiors, now resembles a bombsite of stacked roasting tins, saute pans and sieves.
Fusspot is almost always male. He only cooks once a month, if that, and needs endless encouragement and ego massage. The production starts several days before, with working out what to cook with the aid of a pile of cookery books of the celebrity chef variety, and a shopping list, often taken to bed. There may be a tasting of the wines to be served, many of which have come from his own cellar. The menu will be changed every day, each dish chosen for it's ability to follow its predecessor perfectly, to match the wines, to show the cook at his most competent.
The directions will have been analysed in a way the poor cookery writer never dreamed of, each line dissected and filleted and the given a jolly good roasting.
from "Eating for England" by Nigel Slater.
As I read this passage over breakfast it reminded me of some meals that have been cooked for me. I'm sure some of you will relate.
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