When life gives you lemons

We have two lemon trees in our backyard and they are fruiting prolifically at the moment.  I love cooking with lemons but I wanted to try something a little different today.  This is my first attempt at preserved lemons.

The lemons are covered in lemon juice although some recipes use water.  Those little things floating around are fennel seeds not lemon pips and there are a few cloves, coriander seeds and black peppercorns as well as the salt.  I'm led to believe the juice will go from cloudy to clear within a few days and the lemons should be ready to use in about a month.  I hope this experiment works as I'd like to use the preserved lemons in some middle eastern recipes further down the track.

Anne xx

Time for a catch up

Hi everyone.  I've been thinking about writing this post for two weeks but you know how it goes, other things get in the way and it just doesn't happen.

Way back on mothers day, hubby and I decided to go for a walk in the afternoon to a bushland reserve we've not visited before called Glenfern Valley Bushlands.   It's very close to where we live and we spent a lovely couple of hours wandering around.  The link gives a far better explanation than I can, good background and history about this lovely spot.  Here are some photos from our walk.

Love these metal cut out sculptures.

A newly created pond to encourage frogs and other wildlife.

Walking down the hill toward Ferny Creek.

Ferny Creek.   This creek actually runs down the end of the lane way opposite our house but we are about 4 kilometres further up the hill.

This part of the bushland was way down the hill and near the creek.  Loving these old gum trees and the bark that is coming off in layers.

Looking toward farmland nearby the bushlands.

We've driven past these bushlands many time.  I've always wanted to explore them and now I have.

We've had some lovely autumn colour in recent weeks.  These photos were taken in my neighbourhood while walking Sophie.

The last few weeks I've spent many hours in the garden pruning, weeding and planting more vegetables.  The vegetables I planted back in April are doing quite well apart from the slug and white butterfly damage.  Some of the slugs died in an alcoholic haze of home brew beer that had seen better days.

Bunching broccoli starting to flower

Hoping this beetroot will be made into relish and pickles with some left over to bake.

After reading today how you should sow carrots and under what conditions, I'm surprised these are actually growing.  It remains to be seen in what shape they've grown into when harvested.

Looking down our driveway.  In the foreground is Pak Choy which is nearly ready to harvest and will be good in stir fries.

The last autumn rose.

The first camellia.

The first azalea.

 

Sunset from last week.

Well this has been a marathon post.  I'll try not to leave it so long next time.

Anne xx

Birthday girl

One of the main reasons for visiting Western Australia most recently was to help Mum celebrate her 80th birthday.  I can hardly believe my Mum is 80, she can hardly believe it herself.  My sister and I had discussed ideas for the afternoon tea birthday party before we hit W.A. and I was able to do some baking in the first week of my visit and pop the goodies in the freezer and freeing up the kitchen for other baking and preparations closer to the big day.  My courageous sister brought with her in her luggage on the plane from Melbourne, about twelve of her mix and match fine bone china tea cups, saucers and plates.  They were so pretty on the table and there is nothing quite like sipping a cup of tea out of lovely china.

I always fear there will never be enough food when I'm involved in catering but happily there was an abundance and rather a lot left over which meant we were eating very well for a few days after the party.  My sister made the most scrumptious gourmet sandwiches, sausage rolls, scones with jam and cream, and cup cakes.  I made chocolate and almond shortbread, cheese biscuits (an old family faviourite), lemon slice and a chocolate cake with jam and cream which didn't get touched.  (Desert for the next few days).  My cousins wife bought out a lovely slice too which we all enjoyed too.  There may have been something else but I can't remember.  We had tea and coffee and a fruit punch, the punch being another family favourite.

My sister decided to have fun with the decorations to which I agreed totally.  I mean you only get to be 80 once so it should be fun.  Polka dots featured quite heavily and were to be found on balloons, serviettes, paper plates for the kids and the serviettes, not to mention birthday candles.  Mum loves butterflies so this was also included in the decorating theme too.

Here are a few photos from the day.

Mum made her own cake, a carrot cake, the same recipe she makes every year for my brother and his family when they have their birthdays.  We finished decorating it though with a plain icing and candles including butterfly candles on the perimeter.  You can barely make them out but just in front of the 80 candle we placed some clear high heeled shoes as a nod to Mum's high heeled shoe wearing days of the past.  She loved heels.

 

This beautiful butterfly was painted by my nephew for his Grandma's birthday.  It was done in acrylics and is spectacular.  In my sister-in-law's family there are some very talented artistic members and it certainly shows.

So that was our day.  Full of fun, family and friends.  We were able to surprise Mum with the attendance of an old family friend from teen days, a pen pal she had been writing to since she was 16.  The look on her surprised face was priceless.

All in all it was a lovely day and the most important thing was Mum was surrounded by family and friends to help her celebrate.  

Anne xx

Visiting York with Mum

Hello, I'm back in Melbourne after a lovely 2 week visit with Mum and extended family.  As planned, Mum and I visited the historical town of York over the ANZAC weekend.  Our accommodation was lovely and set amongst a beautiful garden.  We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves wandering around the town, looking at the river, eating out and visiting a cousin.  Here are some photos from our visit.

The Flour Mill - currently used to exhibit the work of local artists and craftspeople and most importantly a cafe.

I went for a short walk along the river while Mum sat in the car looking at the view and devouring some card making magazines.  Card making is her hobby.  Mum's mobility is limited and as she uses a walker, a stroll along the river along uneven terrain would have been difficult and tiring for her.  I didn't leave her for long.

The river Avon.  Coming out of summer it is very dry in the surrounding countryside.

Reflections on the water.

The Swing Bridge over the river.

A nest just above the river presumably from the last breeding season.

I was surprised to see this pelican so far from the sea.  He obviously found something to eat as can be seen in the next photo.

Mum and I were rather amused at this sign.

Looking down the main street of York.

A lovely example of stone work used on some the buildings in the town.

Having afternoon tea with my cousin.

My cousin is one lucky lady.  Late March/early April last year, Caroline was in a diabetic coma for about three weeks.  When she regained consciousness she couldn't physically support herself or walk, eat, speak, life was very difficult for her.  Over the passed year she has slowly regained the ability to talk, eat whole food, walk and do many of the things we were concerned would not be possible.  She is now living in care and doing very well.  Her speech is a little altered but completely understandable.  Her biggest obstacle is her short term memory loss which means she needs to be cared for on a permanent basis.  She was so surprised to see us as we never told her we were coming and as you can see from the above photo, she is very happy.

Driving around the streets of York we came some lovely old houses like this one, buildings and sheds.

I love the front gate.

A marvellous old shed.

An old wagon or buggy out the back shed.

The Anglican church over the road from our accommodation.  The bells were ringing while we were eating breakfast on Sunday morning.

This is the lovely Catholic church in another part of town.  The service was in full swing when I took this photo.

These photos bring back lovely memories of a wonderful weekend away with my gorgeous Mum.  Thanks Mum for being such a fun traveling companion.

Anne  xx