Saturday 17 January 2015

Summer days

Melbourne summers are usually a bit hit and miss and of recent days it has been more miss than hit with quite a bit of rain.  I'm not complaining though as it saves me from needing to water the garden.  One of the joys of summer is eating stone fruit and as much as I enjoy eating it fresh, I love to use up peaches and nectarines which are just a little bit too soft to enjoy fresh by stewing them.  In this instance I stewed them with a little brown sugar, vanilla, a sprinkling of cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger, the rind and juice of two oranges and a splash of red wine.  Served with Greek yogurt it made a delicious dessert.



Unfortunately the nectarines and peaches weren't home grown but the rhubarb below is and it was made into a rhubarb and plum crumble.


We've been harvesting more vegetables.  The spring onions, garlic, pak choy, snow peas and cabbage in the photos below went into a yummy stir fry recently.






Less healthy food made and eaten (not all of them yet), are these yummy Monte Carlos I made last night.



Home baked biscuits just taste so much better than store bought wouldn't you agree?!
 
Moving away from food and cooking now and onto animals.  Genevieve's cat Bungee decided he would try and catch some birds on her lap top.  He's never exhibited this behaviour before and was rather cute.



It's been an expensive week with the two cats and dog getting their annual checkups and vaccinations at the vet.  Stripey has a yearly blood test for hypothyroidism to check if his medication is at the right level and in addition to that Sophie has terrible skin allergies and requires special food and medication for her itching.  The price of the food has gone through the roof (U.S. made), so I'm trialling her on an Australian brand I've just found and hoping it works as it is considerably less expensive.  I've been assured it will solve many of her problems, so fingers are crossed.

On one of the rare occasions I was up early recently, we had a magnificent sunrise and although I can't see the horizon because we are surrounded by trees I was still able to enjoy the colours.




I hope wherever you are, all is well with you and yours.  Thank you for taking the time to read my post and follow my blog.  

Anne xx

5 comments:

  1. There's nothing better than going out in the garden and gathering veg to make into meals and I agree that homemade biscuits are preferable to shop bought. I've never heard of Monte Carlo biscuits - I shall go now to look up the recipe.
    xx

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  2. Yum Anne! The perfect recipe for our upcoming glut of nectarines ...they are almost ready. At the moment we have far too much rhubarb,plums,potatoes,baby carrots and eggs but loving it xxxx

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  3. Hi Anna,

    Your dessert looks great! I am pleased to see your harvest. I hope the cats will soon get better..
    Have a great time! What a beautiful magnificent sky, :)
    Hari.

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  4. Those biscuits look good! Looks like you've had a good harvest from your garden too.

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  5. Hello Anne, what a wonderful sunrise. Gorgeous pink...& all the more memorable since it's not a regular occurrence : ) Like me! Gosh you've had a lovely run with your veggies. Well done! Great looking snow peas. Your stewed fruit looks delicious too. Doesn't the vanilla make all the difference. Much love Catherine x0x0x

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