The Hut Chronicles

Snap it: happy

2012-02-01T14:54:00.001+11:00

I'm playing along with Snap it over at Faith, Hope & a whole lotta love.
This week is happy.
The following are two pictures of a sunset I took whilst I was flying home. I was only away one night, but it made me very happy to be heading home.

Monday's Menu

2012-01-30T18:00:00.000+11:00

It felt like summer. After a poor start to my culinary week in Canberra, we made up for lost time over the last few days.
Shropshire Lamb Shoulder from Mount Gnomon Farm on Australia day. It was seriously tender. I'll have to order another before long I think. Eaten with roasted vegetable couscous, mint, cucumber and yoghurt, and beans.
A lovely fruit mince tart decorated with hearts.
Basil, we ate it as pesto on Friday night and then with real tomatoes on fresh bread on Saturday and Sunday for lunch.
Chicken provencal, again, it's my new favourite summer dish, with steamed new potatoes or rice.
Banana ice cream, easiest recipe ever, blitz 4 bananas, add a can of condensed milk and some cream. Churn.
Berries, in summer puddings or mixed through whipped cream. Our little patch of alpine strawberries are going crazy.

Summer heat

2012-01-29T20:24:00.001+11:00

Although probably not hot when compared to the mainland, if the thermometer tips over 30 us poor Tasmanians start to wilt.
Whilst Rob worked on fixing up the paths in my flower garden, I moved from shady spot to shady spot.
The window seat in the morning, the hammock was good until lunch, then our bedroom for the mid-afternoon. Finally the breezeway lived up to its name in the late afternoon.
Drinking icy drinks and listening to the dogs pant, I read gardening books dreaming of some cooler weather.
We enjoyed tomatoes and basil for lunch on toast, and my home made banana ice cream hit the spot afterwards. It's still warm now, all the hut doors and windows are open allowing the cool breeze in. We're listening to the men's tennis final on the radio and eating mango sorbet.
This sort of day is ok once in a while, but I can't really do much in weather like this.

Nigella could cope if in the shade or a breeze

My garden paths progress

Hammock view on Friday before I fell asleep

Hammock view on Saturday

Claudia did not cope with the heat well! Even the polished concrete was warm.

Friday Flowers, a little late

2012-01-28T13:32:00.001+11:00

Sorry last night I meant to post a photo of my Christmas lilies. But on the way to the garden I got distracted by our new hammock. Well it's not really new, a friend gave it to us a year ago, but Rob put the hooks up last night. So I jumped in and promptly fell asleep!
I have to say I think the Christmas lilies are my favourites. I must have 100, and I'm not exaggerating. Their creamy trumpets are a little more elegant than the garish colours of the asiatic and oriental lilies. Lightly fragranced, they are a delight.
We've decided to stay at the hut as much as we can this weekend, we didn't even head to the gym this morning. I did pop down the road quickly for some bread from Red Velvet Lounge and some vegetables. But I'm back in the hammock, and don't plan on moving very far! Hope you enjoy the last weekend of January.

Mid-century collecting

2012-01-26T19:55:00.001+11:00

I mentioned a few weeks ago we bought another myrtle sideboard. It was delivered on Monday while I was away.
We now have 7 pieces in this series designed by Fred Ward for the Myer Heritage collection manufactured in Melbourne in the 1950's.
We swapped the two sideboards and I moved all our glasses into the new one. It looks so nice and sparkly. Apart from a bed for the spare room, we now have all our furniture. I do love the age in these pieces we've collected, the patina of the timber is beautiful. I'm so glad we persevered and got the windows and skirting done in myrtle to match. It's a very beautiful timber.
We had friends over for lunch, slow roasted lamb, couscous, potato bread, beans, beetroot salad, and cucumber yoghurt salad. We then nibbled on cheese before having dessert. Rob made a beautiful fruit mince tart, and our friend brought a platter of berries.
We all headed down with coffees to watch Rob give a scything demonstration.
I'm currently lying on the windowseat, listening to the tennis, considering a little snooze. Hope you enjoyed your holiday if you're in Australia.

Sunrise

2012-01-25T17:11:00.001+11:00

So I had a fast trip to Canberra. No culinary delights to share, as the restaurant was picked out for us to meet at on Monday night, and I picked a doozy- the vegetarian burger. Not sure what came over me, but it was dry, and the bun toasted until it was hard and crunchy. Breakfast at the hotel was pretty good, but fairly standard hotel breakfast fare. Then I had an all day meeting so had a catering lunch, and snacked at the airport.
The hotel was a new one, the Burbury, all black walls and pale limestone tiles. It did have a nice big bed, with lovely crisp white linen, and even a doona, something I always miss when travelling. I'm not a sheet and blankets sort of girl.
I had some time to wait before our dinner so enjoyed lazing on the big bed (for once with out dog fur) and watching the tennis. We haven't had a tv for over 6 months now, and for the most part I don't miss it. But the tennis just isn't the same on the radio!

Rob took these photos the other morning at sunrise. I'm trying to pick one for my blog header.
I'm thinking number 1? What do you think?

Monday's Menu

2012-01-23T10:25:00.001+11:00

We had a quiet weekend. Slept in both days, I spent some quality time on the window seat whilst Rob constructed my garden beds.
It was hard to take him away, but I had ordered some free range pork, bacon and a shoulder of lamb from Mount Gnomon farm, and had arranged to pick it up from Guy at MoMa, the new food and produce market at MONA on Saturday afternoon. When we got to the gate people were still streaming in, there were cars everywhere. I have to admit we haven't been before. The place was buzzing and there was a long line to get into the museum. We visited Michelle for a chat and bought a jar of her peach jam, but it's presented so beautifully I don't want to open it. Guy was braving the stiff breeze that was coming up the Derwent.
Rob cooked the pork belly on a bed of red cabbage in the Weber, we ate late, the tender pork served alongside some steamed zucchini and beans.
Sunday was a perfect blue sky day and we stayed home all day. The garden beds are nearly done. I baked a batch of banana, walnut and choc chip biscuits. A cross between a biscuit and banana bread. They were pretty good, but Rob thought they needed a touch more sugar.
This last week we headed out for lunch nearly every day, oops. In the evenings we had grilled vegetables and beans on Monday, and just snacked on cheese and crackers on Tuesday. Rob spoiled me with birthday pancakes in bed before work on my birthday. I'd requested pesto for dinner, so he made deconstructed pesto, just frying the pine nuts and warming a garlic clove in olive oil. Then they're tossed through the pasta with basil and Parmesan.
Thursday we were adventurous and chose some lamb souvlaki sausages from our butcher. I made a mint, parsley, tomato and cucumber salad. It was just warm enough to eat it outside.
Friday night was a treat: dinner out at Red Velvet Lounge. We ordered some smoked eel croquettes for entree, then had a pork cutlet (each) on mash with rocket and red pepper pesto. We somehow squeezed in a honey and hazelnut parfait, and rolled home before 8pm!
Today I head off to Canberra for a night, not sure what culinary delights await me there.
Hope you had a great weekend.

33

2012-01-18T08:00:00.000+11:00

On the eve of my birthday last night we were treated to a fantastic thunderstorm, with lightning that lit up our bedroom. This morning Rob made me pancakes for breakfast in bed. I'm feeling spoilt already.
Am I feeling another year wiser? I think so.
What have I learnt over this past year?

Having our own home has made a big difference to how secure and settled I feel, and you know what it's ok if I want to spend as much time there as I possibly can.
I like our little life in the country, waking up and seeing the bush on the hill opposite, the quiet, or the sound of frogs croaking, watching wallabies hopping and feeding in the paddock at dawn (rather than our garden) and watching and listening to birds. Sorry if I sound like some sort of crazy bird watcher freak, BUT the other night I was sitting on the terrace having a cool drink and a wedge-tailed eagle flew up the block over the dam, it was being harassed by a pair of forest ravens, and for once was flying quite low. I could barely get the words out to get Rob to come and have a look! It flew over us, the hut and then hid in a big eucalypt on the hill. I'm glad that I can still feel awe in moments like that.

I like being married...to Rob, a lot.
We've lived together for awhile, but it was always something we wanted to do one day. Sure we haven't much changed, I don't think, but making it official was important to us both, I love starting sentences with "my husband.." I like seeing my wedding band on my finger, watching those bunnies and foxes chase each other, and didn't mind changing my name at all.

It's ok to wear boys jeans.
I've come to loathe shopping for jeans. This last year, after trying to squeeze myself into several pairs in Myers, I walked out of the women's change room, walked up a flight of stairs and found a perfect pair in the men's section! Comfy, long and my favourite boot cut style. Not even baggy in the "wrong" places, which makes me wonder how comfortable they are for guys!

I have to stop worrying so much.
I know I let things niggle away at me, until I come up with all sorts of crazy scenarios. I've watched my mother stress about everything and it's not a healthy way to be. So this year I'm trying to work on my negativity and enjoy life a little more, instead of worrying about the what ifs.

Two dogs are so much funnier than one.
Watching our two muck about and play games never fails to make us laugh.

I like baking cakes for parties.
Our wedding, birthdays, Christmas and work events. I like doing it well and making people something they enjoy.

Babies are cute.
Sure I may have thought this before, but since my niece was born in May, I've realised that a baby who's related to you is quite different. I like that she smiles at me when I visit, or tries to share my ice-cream, or tips her head sideways when looking at me. She's adorable. Watching my little sister (whom I can remember holding as a baby) as a mother is beautiful. She's the same but different. It suits her.

What will I learn this year I wonder?

Monday's Menu

2012-01-16T18:03:00.000+11:00

Ok so at least we got back to regular meal times this week.
It was cool earlier in the week so we felt like warming foods.
Monday was a roast tarragon chicken with roasted parsnips (our favourite), carrots, sweet potato and zucchini.
Tuesday was easy then, as Rob made a leftover chicken and vegetable risotto.
Wednesday has become our traditional pasta night, so it was our store cupboard favourite pasta puttanesca.
Thursday we decided on steak on the Weber, with grilled eggplant, tomatoes and onions with a last minute sprinkle of basil.
Friday night we treated ourselves to our old favourite cheese! A glass of French red wine, with a loaf of fresh bread, some oozy chèvre and a bizarrely orange blue cheese- Shropshire Blue. The iPhone app I have Fromage recommended eating the blue (or orange) with a cup of tea, a combination I tried the next day and it was surprisingly good.
Saturday, truthfully we decided not to take a photo, although it was delicious, fresh butter beans and boiled pink eye potatoes, but unfortunately the steak we cooked alongside was a touch (only slightly overdone), Rob now has quality control and was disappointed, so I decided not to take a picture. It still tasted pretty darn good though!
Sunday we had our friends around for lunch. I baked some potato and rosemary flat breads which went down a treat while we waited for the lamb shoulder to cook. Rob had slow cooked it the day before, so then it just needed a quick grill. We served it with couscous and roasted vegetables (parsnips, carrots, red onions and beetroot) and minty yoghurt. Sorry I forgot to photograph it, but as I've just ordered a lamb shoulder from Mount Gnomon farm we may do it all again this weekend! We finished it off with a chocolate cherry pavlova. I poached the cherries, and I have to admit my first pavlova collapsed into a sad looking cow pat overnight. So I whipped up a replacement in the morning. You know I don't like to brag, but I'm going to, it was fantastic. I thoroughly recommend you try it!

The laundry hut

2012-01-15T19:40:00.001+11:00

Hope this post is not too dull, but we've finally tidied up our mini hut.
When we designed the hut we always wanted a separate hut for the laundry and shed. The original hut in the states that we were inspired by had one, and we thought it was a good idea.
The verandah is perfect for our washing line, and the builders did finish it off very neatly, even plastering and painting the inside.
But as we hadn't gotten around to putting up shelves or cupboards, both rooms were quite a mess, and it was hard to find anything, the laundry also doubles up as Rob's home brew store room, so was quite squishy.
Last week I sourced some Tas oak cupboards for free, so after a very exciting trip home with then precariously balanced in a trailer, we dragged everything out and they fitted perfectly.
It finishes off the laundry hut perfectly.

Laundry before and after, with new home brew storage

Shed before and after

The rest of our weekend was spent moving the remaining gravel (Rob) and cooking/getting ready for our lunch with friends today.
Right now we're snoozing on the window seat (Claudia), blogging and reading. Claudia had a stressful day, our friends have a young daughter and Claudia was petrified. After peeing on my foot (!) Claudia spent the whole afternoon hiding and looking very nervous. The little girl did persevere and Claudia would allow her to pat her (we always were near just in case it got too much for Claudia) but she wasn't fully relaxed until they left! I'm hoping she grows out of it, I'm not sure how to desensitize her, as I've read that it can just be too hard on the dog and the irrational fear will get worse. Any ideas/advice?
I'll be back to share the food we cooked tomorrow.

Claudia before the scary 7 year old turned up!

Friday Flowers is back for 2012

2012-01-13T17:30:00.000+11:00

Sorry for the break in transmission.
The aftermath of the party combined with our return to work has meant this has been a pretty busy week for me.

For my first Friday of 2012: some daisies growing in the grass at the block. I am so looking forward to the grass being cut for hay. The snake thing still freaks me out at times.

Thanks for your comments on my last post, our diet has been a bit better this week, and not being near the pantry is a good thing too! We headed to the gym on Monday and Tuesday, I had a visitor at work on Wednesday and Thursday so missed a few days, but I went to a Body Balance class today at lunch.

I did a really good job of switching my brain off in regards to work, I couldn't even remember how to use Microsoft Outlook to send emails on Monday! As I said I had a visitor (seemed like a good idea before I went on holiday) so it was a bit manic as we worked together on a document ahead of a deadline.

Today I've been shaping my new to do list for work tasks (just quietly some of them are ones I didn't' complete from last years!)

Been so busy I haven't been able to mention that we bought another myrtle sideboard that matches our ever growing collection, this one has glass doors, so hopefully that will turn up next week. We'll shuffle one of the others into the spare bedroom, and probably take the odd one out to the Antiques Warehouse in town. We haven't visited them in a long time, so am looking forward to that, I wouldn't be surprised if we came away with something else!

Lastly we have salvaged some timber cupboards from a room at work, they would just trash them so we're going to install them in the shed and laundry, we're both looking forward to making those rooms look a little more organised. I'll take some before and afters.
Yeah it's the weekend. We're having the builder and his family over for lunch on Sunday, something I've been meaning to do for 6 months. Oh well, we got there in the end!

Monday's Menu

2012-01-09T17:30:00.000+11:00

To tell you the truth, our eating habits haven't improved this last week, we've been snacking and not bothering with proper meals really. When I went back over my photos from the last week there was a lot of cake, an egg and bacon pie, sausages and mash, and a single salad!
Not exactly the healthy week of vegetables I was hoping for.
I'm afraid, unlike Rob, I can't get away with what we've been eating over our holiday, particularly combined with the lack of gym classes. My jeans are feeling a little tighter than I'd like. Whilst in my head I'd love to go back to the weight I was 10 years ago, realistically I'm not too upset by my body and know that I'll never be a size 10 (well I never was), but every so often when I put on a little extra weight, I get a little paranoid, and it makes me unhappy. I admit there have been times in the past (in changing rooms mostly) when it's brought me to tears. Rob is lovely, and I know he finds me attractive regardless, but I can't help it, I'm a girl and want to feel good about what I look like!
We normally head to the gym at our workplace (uni) and really enjoy the formal classes rather than using the treadmills. But with our holiday predominantly at home, it seemed a bit silly to drive into Hobart just for a gym class every day! Maybe not so silly now. I always feel my best when we're in the Pump class (weights) and don't even mind seeing myself in the mirror. So as inspiration I've just bought some new gym clothes and sneakers.
I really hate dieting, and to be honest am not very good at it, as I love food too much. I didn't eat well as a child, skipped breakfast, often threw away my lunch. Not because I wanted to be skinny, just because I wasn't very keen on what was being served up! Of course when I moved out of home and could prepare my own food I became much more interested in eating. But I was younger and my metabolism was able to cope with it.
But just to get back to normal I think I'll try to be good for a little while, otherwise I'll start to avoid mirrors.
Sorry about all that, hardly an issue compared to what some people have to cope with in terms of health, financial or family problems, but something that's on my mind none the less.

Doctor Who and my little brother turns 30

2012-01-08T15:41:00.001+11:00

My brother, James, is a mad keen Doctor Who fan, but he's also quite likes any science fiction story. So it was a no-brainer when we started to plan his 30th birthday party. My sister and I did most of the planning and preparation for him.
So yesterday was the day, and it all came together quite well. We spent several hours turning my parent's carport into a space/Doctor Who themed space. Throw in 50m of Aluminium foil, some black garbage bags, my collection of honeycomb ball decorations (as planets), a Tardis, darlek and an alien (my sister is so talented, she painted them all last week, they looked brilliant) and you might get the picture.
James had decided long ago he'd like to be Tom Baker's Doctor Who, so had the scarf, wig, hat and jelly babies ready. Rob decided to use Claudia as a prop (although she was a most reluctant one!) and dressed up as Will Smith's character in I am Legend. I decided to be a Stepford wife, complete with blonde bob, silly heels and apron.
Food wise we kept it simple, snacks followed by a BBQ (Will did brilliantly there, despite his brown makeup running in the slight rain that fell half way through cooking).
The guests really got into the dressing up, we had several Star Trek characters, Storm and Wolverine from X-men, Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy characters, Men in Black, numerous Jedi Knights, Angels from Doctor Who, a nutty professor, and many others I couldn't pick! (Not being a huge sci-fi fan myself!)
The local party shop must have done well in wigs, hairspray, face paint and other props.
With appropriate party music to groove to, we all had a great time. My other sister Skyped in from London, and also dressed up as Holly from Red Dwarf, which was inspired as she wore black and set up her camera against a black background so her head really did appear to float. Dad took her (via his laptop) around the party to chat to everyone, and she hung on for a few short speeches and the cutting of the Tardis birthday cake.
A fun evening, and I think James had the best time. We headed off home to wash off the make-up and head to bed. Today is our last day of holidays. It's been lovely, but like always went so quickly. I'm not looking forward to work tomorrow morning. Hope your weekend was relaxing.

A day of rest

2012-01-04T21:49:00.001+11:00

Rob has been busy the last two days. We had 80 (of the 108) square meters of the paving delivered before Christmas. Rob has spent several days (5 truckloads-about 25 tonnes) spreading, leveling and compacting the gravel. Then we got paving on Monday. Rob had carefully drawn out a plan for the full 27m terrace, my job was to check which size pavers he'd need next, go and collect them from the crates and trolley them over to him. The first row was the slowest, but then we got in a bit of a rhythm. Most of the time I randomly selected the pavers, but I did select a few particularly nice ones for in front of our bedroom French doors.
Of course the last two days have been the hottest so far on our holiday, and the terrace is in full sun.
By the end of Tuesday we had run out of three of the sizes, so today was a day of rest, literally. After we headed into town for a little shopping, we both fell asleep on the window seat for a couple of hours!
The remainder of the paving arrives tomorrow, so our last few days will be spent finishing it off and helping out with my brother's 30th birthday party. He decided on a science fiction theme, so I'll be making a Doctor Who tardis cake and some alien cupcakes over the next few days.

A late Weekly menu

2012-01-03T07:44:00.001+11:00

Sorry, I forgot it was Monday yesterday. The paving has been progressing well, almost time to get outside and keep going!
This last week we've eaten quick meals, as we seem to be coming inside to eat around 8pm.
Our Mt Gnomon ham was delicious (every time we ate some Rob would declare it the beat ham he's ever eaten!), we used it in two pasta dishes; a creamy pea and ham sauce, and a lemon, thyme, olive and ham dish. Otherwise we ate the Chicken Provençal with rice, and a few salads. Earlier in the week we had home made pizza with smoked salmon and pesto (our basil is going crazy) followed by an apricot tart when some friends came around for lunch.
This week the ice-cream maker has been put to good use: I've made banana ice-cream, mango sorbet and chocolate ice-cream.
Anyway, I'll try and be more disciplined with my food photography this week.
What's been on the menu at your place?

Goodnight 2011

2011-12-31T20:46:00.001+11:00

Today has been spent preparing the base for our paving, it was hot, dusty, thankless work. Although the whacker bit was exciting to watch. Claudia didn't help there, deciding it would be fun to chase the water spray and generally get in the way.
At one stage we had to stop and watch as a wedge tail eagle got harassed by a pair of forest ravens. Watching them swoop above us is literally awesome, to use an abused adjective.
I'm afraid I wasn't as helpful this afternoon. The crusher dust needed to be screed and I was getting in the way.
Added to the fact we were both hot and hadn't eaten lunch, we were a little tetchy. So to cheer us up I went food shopping and have made Stephanie Alexander's chicken Provençal for our last meal of 2011. It is just simmering away nicely, the smell of chicken, tomatoes and garlic pervading through the hut.
So we bid 2011 a fond farewell. It was a big year for us. We sprung our surprise wedding on our family and friends, I became an aunt for the first time, and we finally moved into our hut.
It is truly lovely at the hut, and we don't take a moment for granted, after a four year wait to get here. Having our own home has been very important to both of us. I feel settled and content, not constantly wishing I was elsewhere, or using up time until we could be here.
Happy New Year to you all. I look forward to sharing another year with you, who knows what chapters we might add to the Hut Chronicles in 2012.

Friday Flowers

2011-12-30T18:44:00.001+11:00

Thanks for your comments on my last post, Mum's at least speaking to me again! Sorry it was such a long and rambling post. The blogger app on my phone won't let me intersperse the images through the post which is why they're all clumped at the end.
I've lost track of the days this week. Rob has been busily moving FCR gravel around and getting the base right for the pavers.
I'm trying to work out the pattern, which is easier said than done. So instead I painted two gates our favourite blue to match the laundry hut doors. But now it's back to the paver design, maybe a drink will help?
I can't believe it's the end of our 3rd week of holidays, I'll try to make the most of what's left, but I know that I won't be able to help myself and work will start to hover at the edges of my consciousness.
What are your plans for new years eve? Ours is just to have a quiet night in, I'm thinking a roast chook and a bottle of bubbly and maybe some ice-cream afterwards. We rarely make it to midnight! I have started to reflect on all the things that have happened in 2011, but will post about it tomorrow.
The lilies are nearly all flowering, a new one for this week are the royal sunset lily. Rob doesn't like this one, but I do!
More promising is the expansion of the Christmas lily flower buds, they are very beautiful with their creamy trumpet flowers. But a little late for Christmas! I've loved reading about how everyone's celebrations went.

Our Christmas

2011-12-27T11:06:00.001+11:00

All that expectation and excitement and it's all over for another year. Although it was our first Christmas living at the hut, we actually headed up on Saturday morning to Launceston to spend Christmas with Rob's family.

I find the juggling of two families Christmas traditions a little stressful. I actually avoid discussing Christmas arrangements due to people getting miffed. This year Rob's daughter joined us, which is lovely for us, her grandparents and all her cousins. But unfortunately my mother was upset that we wouldn't be seeing them on Christmas day. We do see them all year round though, and were there last year. But I'm afraid as rational as that sounds, it's never enough. I'm not a terribly confrontational person, and I tend to skirt around things that upset me or others. But I have to say that on Thursday things were said about how I live my life (triggered by something my brother said, so it wasn't even my fault), hurts were exposed, and I left in tears. I still struggle with my relationship with my mother, and feel that nothing I do will ever be enough, I will always manage to upset her in some way. I did try to patch up things before we left, but things are a little frosty!

So Friday was spent getting myself back in the mood, the final wrapping of gifts, visiting my sister and seeing my niece open her presents from us (she loved the wrapping more than the dog toy or frilly pants).

Saturday dawned, and we cleaned up the hut, packed the car (this always worries the dogs) and headed off. After waiting in line for 15 minutes, Rob picked up a 5kg piece of aged beef to take for dinner at our friends place on Sunday night. When we picked up Rob's daughter I moved into the back seat with the two dogs. Despite our best efforts we seemed to collate quite a few gifts, by the time we added an eski for the beef, gravlax and ham and our other gear, the boot of the station wagon was full. Nigella and Claudia were not impressed at sharing the back seat with me, and there were all sorts of crazy dog yoga positions before they sorted themselves out.

Rob and I ordered our first ever Christmas ham. Mount Gnomon farm pork is delicious and truly free range. We picked up our shoulder ham from the freight company depot on the way (a surreal experience really- a massive warehouse full of supermarket milk, I was bit worried that my little ham would get lost).
We always enjoy a quiet Christmas Eve dinner with Rob's parents, usually a bottle of champagne followed by a stuffed duck ballotine with new potatoes and asparagus. Dessert was simply lovely fresh raspberries and ice-cream.

Rob's daughter, although 16, still loves presents, and traditionally asks to open one on Christmas Eve. She opened a present from Rob's mother, a lovely pair of pajamas. Rob and I slept out in the living room with the little tree swamped with gifts, and two snuggle dogs.
I woke up really early, but had to wait til after breakfast and people to wake up to open the presents.
Rob is always terribly smug about guessing what I've bought, and although he did know about the scythe and the Birkenstock clogs, he only guessed that he would get a t-shirt. His favourite are created by Hiiragi, with funny robot cartoons on them. But I also found a soft grey shirt on etsy with a fox walking through a forest. My favourite for him was a gift box of 6 teas from T2, including Chocolate and Pu-erh. But he didn't mind the chocolate almonds, Cook and the Chef DVD box sets and the Martha Stewart cookie book either!
Rob's daughter loved all hers but especially the gift voucher for drivers lessons (perhaps more of a present for Rob and her mother!)
Santa was kind to me, although did have a bit of a laugh. Rob went shopping on Friday morning without me, and came back with a large box that he hid. He seemed excited by it, although also nervous.
I opened a few that I knew first, a chocolate nougat, my Birki clogs, and some cherry vinegar. I actually had two "wear" presents; a pair of white linen pants that I had picked out, but the other was a pair of my favourite track pants, a singlet and a long dress all from Bonds. My book was the complete notes by Bill Bryson, and my "watch" was the last series of Inspector Rex (a favourite in our household as you can imagine!)
Finally it came down to my two "want" presents. Rob could barely contain himself, "open the big one". The mystery one. I opened it up and it was a deluxe window cleaning kit! I had been grumbling about how hard it is to clean the windows at the hut BUT I didn't expect that for Christmas! Don't worry I have a sense of humour, and besides he redeemed himself with a gorgeous Moroccan lantern.
Rob's parents spoilt us also with thoughtful gifts, and delicious ones too!

With the gift giving over we got ready to head down the Tamar for Christmas lunch at Rob's sisters house. It overlooks the Batman bridge. Now you think we eat well, combine Rob's family and we eat like kings and queens. Firstly we had drinks and seafood out on the deck, this included crayfish, our trout gravlax with freshly baked rye bread and blini, garlic mussels, and a cheese tart. That probably would have been enough really. But main course included rare roast beef, a cold duck ballotine, our baked ham (Rob glazed it with quince jelly, orange zest, brown sugar and mustard), salad nicoise with poached salmon, fresh asparagus, mango salad, green salad, baked zucchini (with cheese, breadcrumbs and prosciutto) and new potatoes.
All of the food was beautiful, and extremely delicious, but Rob and I were quite proud of our shoulder ham, it was so silky, not too salty, and everybody commented on it.
After a much needed break, wandering around their new garden and a mini nap in the hammock by the water (with the dogs of course), dessert was served.
A traditional steamed pudding with cream, ice-cream and custard, a Buche de Noel with the cutest little meringue mushrooms, and mango sorbet with raspberries. Rob's father brought out a special bottle of dessert wine, a 1972 Chateau Coutet.
I would have loved to have found a couch and fallen asleep, but we got back in the car and drove to Bridport for Christmas dinner with our friend and his sons. We had a slight hiccup when we discovered his oven wasn't working, which would have been a sad waste of the beef. Not that Rob and I were really starving! So Rob sliced the roast into thick rib eye steaks and grilled them on a mini-weber instead.
With a simple salad it was more than adequate!
Yesterday we drove home, keen to get back to our hut. Maybe next year we'll be able to stay home, or host Christmas there. As much as I love the big family thing, it would be lovely not to be dashing from one place to the next and just be able to relax a bit.
Right now we're enjoying the second half of our holiday, and the second Christmas cake!

Friday Flowers & Merry Christmas

2011-12-23T15:04:00.001+11:00

My friend bought me the most gorgeous bunch of proteas & calla lilies on Tuesday.
I know I grow them, but it's always nice to receive a bunch, Rob would rather buy me a pot plant, and I always like them, but sometimes a girl just wants flowers, right?

All our shopping is done, even Rob's scythe from the USA turned up today, just in time. That's going to be fun to wrap!!
Most of our presents have been delivered, so today for us can be a bit relaxed. Our contribution for Xmas lunch is an ocean trout gravlax (we started that on Tuesday) and a baked free range shoulder ham. We're picking it up on the way to Rob's parents tomorrow. Rob has decided to base the glaze on quince jelly.

Hope you all have a wonderful Christmas with your family and friends with lots of food, laughter, sparkling bubbles to drink, and Santa is generous!

Thank you for all your lovely comments this year on my blog, it's been lovely to get to know you.

P.S. I have been looking for a couple of sets of angel wings for these two, but failed, so just went for Santa hats. But couldn't keep them on both of them long enough for a group shot!

Wordless Wednesday

2011-12-21T17:00:00.001+11:00

The smell of toasted hazelnuts is Christmas to me

A delivery

2011-12-20T20:11:00.001+11:00

Today we had friends down to the hut for lunch: our standard Lebanese feast, followed by a chocolate pavlova with raspberries.

But in the final rush to get things together, an important delivery occurred.
Our pavers, well 80% of them.
Some have got these intricate patterns on them we're calling fossils. We've got some hard work ahead of us in the next 3 weeks! Rob has been making up a little paper version to work out the right pattern, and couldn't resist playing with the real thing.

Monday Menu

2011-12-19T21:28:00.001+11:00

Being on holidays is good, we've been able to eat when it suits us, although that has been quite late some nights.
The Weber has been back in action for roast lamb shanks, and a Tarragon roast chicken. We had a chicken salad the next night (our lettuce is big enough to harvest). Other nights we've just had simple food, steamed broccoli on soba noodles, or fresh buffalo mozzarella, tomatoes & basil with bread. We also headed to Cygnet yesterday, picking up some veggies and a sirloin roast.
Today we've been snacking on cold roast beef on toast, we cut the Guinness Christmas cake so have been eating it with tea, and we picked up some mince pies from Jackman & McRoss (we scoffed 3 each in the car!)
Rob made some shortbread, and we made some fruit mince together. I just popped a chocolate pavlova in the oven too, as some friends are coming for lunch.
We've also been making ice-cream with last weeks bargain, vanilla with some alpine strawberries. Also we're in the middle of an ice-cream cake for a birthday party on Wednesday.
Both Rob and I are enjoying our break and are nearly ready for Christmas. Hope you had a lovely weekend.

Friday Flowers

2011-12-16T20:31:00.001+11:00

Our fence is progressing, although unwinding 200m of tangled high tensile wire took all morning, I had to hold ends whilst Rob unwound the mixed up loops. It was like the worst puzzle you can imagine, anyway it's done!

I've been rearranging lilies in the garden beds, grouping them by colour. Although we actually planted two beds with box cuttings for the edge of my beds and another with garlic and shallots so I can't quite put them in their final places. It's getting there and I've dug out a big plan I made of it all, it will be a like a colour wheel. I'm starting to get excited about buying some other plants in the new year.

So a few pics of the yellow lily that started this week and another of those purple zantedescias.

Summer

2011-12-15T22:22:00.001+11:00

Summer=
Long days,
Warm evenings,
Beach walks and sandy feet,
The smell of eucalyptus, made volatile in the heat,
Gin and tonic,
Ice-cream,
My birthday,
Lebanese food,
Christmas,
Cricket on the radio,
Salads,
Linen clothing,
Sandals,
Berries,
Lilies,
Peaches,
Hay season.

But most importantly summer =
Pavlova with softly whipped cream and fresh fruit. Our first at the hut.

Wordless Wednesday...summer hut

2011-12-14T20:57:00.001+11:00

I'm not sure I'm clever enough to link to Faith, Hope & a whole lotta love on this iPhone app, but I'm playing along all the same!

A hut day

2011-12-13T21:11:00.001+11:00

Sorry for such a rushed post yesterday. We actually got up to a lot the last couple of days, I just didn't have time to relax and write.
On Friday I went on a mystery tour to the venue for our office Christmas lunch. We hopped on a water taxi and headed out on an extended cruise, eventually pulling into Bellerive. It was actually a novelty to see all the houses from the water, some of us enjoyed picking out houses we'd love to live in, or the ones that were eyesores. We even saw a dolphin. Anyway once on land we were led around the bay to the Rosny Bowls Club! After exchanging presents (random pick from a table) I got some gingerbread and two cookie cutters to add to my collection- a fish and an octopus (we work in marine science). After lunch, some lovely ladies came over to show us how to bowl, and we spent a fairly relaxing hour bowling and drinking beer in the heat. It did feel like I'd stepped onto the set of the movie Crackerjack, a very Australian feeling. Especially with the occasional roar from the crowd at the test match across the bay. Our fun ended with the beginning of the thunderstorm. It stopped long enough for us to wander back to the jetty, then it bucketed down as we headed back across the river. A pleasant way to finish up the work year for me, being my last day.
Over the weekend Rob and I started to unwind, I visited the market (art, craft & design) at the Masonic lodge on both days, managing to cross off a few last gifts, and pick up a few more little red decorations for our tree (birds and crochet hearts). Rob and I spent the afternoon weeding in the garden listening to the cricket.
Sunday we picked up Rob's daughter and headed to Me Wah for yum cha. I admit we're quite greedy, trying no less than 6 types of steamed dumplings, as well as two beef dishes, a fried radish dish AND eggplant stuffed with seafood. All washed down with the endless pu'er tea (a red tea, described as the burgundy of tea!) We hadn't been in ages and I think we'll have to head there whenever there's a market on. We did a quick tour of the market and picked up a few more gifts.
On Monday I visited my sister and niece, Maisy has grown so much, and is so interactive now, smiles and laughs. After lying on the carpet and playing and then munching on some white choc and raspberry muffins I'd brought along I headed home via the cat centre op shop, picking up those bargains I showed you yesterday. I'm still excited about the Donvier ice-cream maker!
The last two days have been spent doing a little baking and playing around with the fence, interspersed with tea and biscuits, or lunch. It's so nice just to 'be' at the hut together. I think Nigella & Claudia enjoy it too!
Well that was a bit longer than I thought, dinner is nearly ready, roast lamb and vegetables, with vanilla ice-cream and freshly picked alpine strawberries for dessert.

Monday's Menu

2011-12-12T18:49:00.001+11:00

Monday's menu: salads, pancakes, yum cha and Guinness cake.

Op Shop bargains, an ice-cream maker $3 and a new cup $1

Friday Flowers

2011-12-09T10:10:00.001+11:00

Super quick, about to head off on a mystery work Christmas lunch.

New cream lilies from the hut. The window you can see in the last pic is our bedroom, I love looking out to the flower garden, and can't wait to see it develop.

Speculaas recipe

2011-12-08T21:19:00.001+11:00

I've had a few requests to share the recipe I used for the Speculaas biscuits I made on Sunday.
It was Margaret Fulton's from her Christmas book (which I picked up for $10 at Coles last year after Christmas, love a bargain).

Ingredients:
3 cups plain flour, plus extra for kneading.
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg (I used freshly grated)
1/2 teaspoon ground aniseed
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger or white pepper (I used pepper)
250g butter
1 and 1/2 cups firmly packed brown sugar
3 tablespoons rum or brandy
1 egg white, beaten
125g slivered blanched almonds, for decoration
Golden syrup (my addition) see recipe below.

Preheat oven to 190degC. Sift the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, aniseed, salt and ginger or pepper together in a bowl. Beat the butter until creamy in a large bowl, then add the brown sugar gradually (well actually I just creamed the butter and sugar together cause I didn't read this step very carefully!). Beat until light and fluffy then stir in the rum or brandy.
Gradually add the flour and spices to the creamed mixture, stirring until combined, then form the dough into a ball. Unfortunately my dough was too dry so I added golden syrup until it came together.
Knead the dough on a board sprinkled with flour. Roll the dough out into a rectangle about 5mm thick. With a sharp knife or cutter, cut the dough into 6 x 3cm rectangles. Lay on greased baking trays, brush with the egg white and decorate with slivered almonds. Bake for 12 minutes or until they are brown and firm. Cool and store in an airtight container.
Makes about 40.

I did find an old issue of Gourmet Traveller that also had a recipe, they played around with the spice mix (adding ground green cardamom pods, and star anise in place of the aniseed). They also recommend popping the mix in the fridge overnight to allow the spices to mellow and really permeate all the way through the dough. You could even leave it up to 3 days! Traditionally the Speculaas are imprinted with images of St Nicholas or Sinterklaas with a special wooden mould- but apparently they are hard to come by in Australia.
They were quite easy, and nice and crisp and spicy. Perfect with a cold glass of milk.
Enjoy.

Wordless Wednesday...skeleton of a hut

2011-12-07T14:24:00.001+11:00

This time last year, we only had the skeleton.
Sorry to keep doing this, but I need to remind myself where we were last year, and how much I appreciate being able to live there now.
Play along with wordless Wednesday here.

P.S. I'm about to scurry off for a neck massage and then go home to lie down, after waking up with a crick in my neck! Feel so ridiculous, I can't do anything, hoping it's all good tomorrow, I still have too much to do at work.

Happy St Nicholas Day

2011-12-06T17:30:00.000+11:00

I've written before about my family celebrating St Nicholas day on the 6th of December.
Now we're passing on this tradition to the next generation. This morning Rob and I left some fruit, nuts and treats on the doorstep where his daughter lives. My sister sent me a cute text photo of my niece's tiny shoes (she's only 6 months old) with a packet of rice cereal sitting on top!

I've been in a symposium for the past two days, so have been trying to listen attentively to people talking, (perhaps not so successfully) and my heads done in. What I really would like to be doing is sitting on the window seat, in the late afternoon sun, with a cool drink. Not long now.

Monday's Menu

2011-12-05T16:54:00.000+11:00

A very fast Monday's Menu
Favourite meal of the week- our first pesto (made from basil grown at the hut) pasta meal of the summer.
Laziest meal of the week- real peanut butter on Pigeon Hole sourdough toast.
Sentimental meal of the week - perfectly cooked (a little runny) boiled free range eggs with sourdough from Red Velvet Lounge.
Baking highlights include Speculaas biscuits for my friend, and the divine smell of the mix of currants, raisins, cranberries, prunes, fresh dates, almonds, muscat, brandy, quince jelly and Seville marmalade that soaked overnight for one of our puddings.

P.S. 20 sleeps to go!

Village spirit

2011-12-04T21:16:00.001+11:00

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.

Slowing down

2011-12-03T20:40:00.001+11:00

Yesterday afternoon I felt utterly exhausted. The combination of a very busy work week (writing and compiling a 12 page newsletter and managing some media with a federal government department) and the tree making and gazing until late at night finally hit me. After working through lunch then running off at 3 for a roll from Jackman & McRoss, we grabbed a family pie and rushed back to work. I'd had enough by 5.30, so after dropping Rob at his real tennis game headed to Bottega Rotolo for chocolate. Cute squares of Belgian and French chocolate for the advent calendar. I also stocked up on baking supplies from the supermarket, buying an obscene amount of butter! What finally did me in was the post match beer, we headed home and realized we couldn't be bothered even to heat up the pie! So we had a few slices of toast with peanut butter. True to my promise of giving Rob my undivided attention, we snuggled up on the window seat to gaze at the tree. Both of us fell asleep, and woke up a little disorientated about an hour and half later!
Today's grey and showery weather had kept indoors. This morning after our gym class we did some shopping at Norman & Dan, they had the most gorgeous array of chocolates! We picked up a few for gifts, including cigars and pocket knifes. Neither of us could resist these Christmas pudding mugs.
I have finished Rob's notes, wrapped some more gifts, and baked another Christmas cake.
I'm writing this whilst laying on the window seat, watching the clouds behind the hill, as the light slowly fades. I know I've probably told you this but I love living at the hut.

Friday Flowers

2011-12-02T17:15:00.000+11:00

Another week has gone in a flash. This Friday I have some hut flowers to share. The lilies have started!
I love lilies, so easy to grow, and so spectacular. The Asiatic lilies usually start first, but this year my Zantedeschia lilies have decided to go early. This black one is my favourite, the colour is so rich. They are great cut flowers as they last forever in a vase. The orange and red lilies are just starting, but I can see the cream flower buds swelling up so they must be close too.

Thanks for all your comments about our tree. Even though I was so tired last night, I still had to sit and look at it for awhile. Just a little sneak peak of the living room at the hut, our honeycomb decorations went up last night and those cute little red stocking garlands are on each window. I've written little notes for Rob and tucked them into each day of our Advent calendar. We ~~accidentally~~ ate the chocolate I had put aside for each day so I need to get some more, cause you can never have enough chocolate right? I won't share all the notes with you, (for fear you'll realise just how silly and romantic we are), but Rob's 2nd advent calendar note was that I will put the iphone away this evening (apart from the obligatory photo of dinner) and I will just concentrate on him. He looked quite happy about that, opps, maybe I'm a little more addicted to instagram and blogging than I thought!
Have a lovely weekend.

O Christmas Tree

2011-12-01T12:00:00.000+11:00

80 metres of white electrical tape.
That's a lot of tape, to wind around branches. At various stages through that process (over 3 hours last night) I did wonder, if our tree would just look crap. But Rob and I, high on the smell of plastic tape, pushed on, despite the dogs trying to distract us by throwing their tennis balls around and wanting to go outside or snuggle on the window seat. The verdict at the end, was, I have to say, that we were very happy with our little tree and pretty darn pleased with ourselves. So happy I did a silly dance. I took photos with the iPhone that don't really do it justice. Then I sat for another half an hour with the lights on in the dark just gazing at it, in a moment, as Nigella would say, of quiet pride.

This morning I felt bleary eyed, but still got up early to decorate the tree with some simple red balls, my Christmas reindeer, and red Lindt balls, before work.
I love it. We love it. It suits the hut, with our Scandinavian, modernist, country, thing we have going on. Can't wait to get home tonight and decorate the rest of the house.

P.S. There's only 24 sleeps til Christmas!

Wordless Wednesday: just a little tree

2011-11-30T08:44:00.001+11:00

So we didn't get around to making our Christmas tree until last night, and it's still a work in progress.

Tree ingredients include: fencing wire, white electrical tape, galvanised bucket, a garden stake, set of LED lights and a bag of quick set concrete (not shown!) All comes to a grand total of $67

Stage 1: attach the wire branches to the stake and set in concrete overnight. Stage 2 will be tonight, the fun bit of attaching all 20m of LED lights and covering any green bits of the stake or the wire with white tape. I'll keep you posted.
P.S. If you're not big on Christmas, perhaps come back to my blog in January, you may have noticed by now, I'm a trifle obsessed!

Monday's Menu

2011-11-28T17:05:00.000+11:00

Lamb souvlaki and soup. Had to have the souvlaki with out pitta bread, as the ones we had bought were a little green when we went to use them!
New York Times salted choc-chip biscuits. Still perfecting the recipe, we became addicted to them on our weekly visits to the C & C cupcake factory market stall. Now that Michelle and Jo have moved onto exciting new adventures, we have have to feed our own addiction.
A lunch date with Rob at Tricycle, we ate this chicken slaw (delicious mayonnaise) and little cakes with coffee. I admit to not being great company- sinus pain from hayfever was sending me a little batty last week, so my mind was all over the place.
Dinner at Mum and Dad's on Thursday.
The return of the cheese platter, a nice goopy soft cheese with a layer of truffles, a blue cheese called Fourme d'Ambert and a 24 month old piece of Parmigiano Reggiano to nibble on with a walnut and fig Pigeon Hole baguette.
One of Rob's students gifted him a grow your own mushroom kit, so we ate oyster mushrooms with rib-eye steak, and vegies.
I made the easiest chocolate cake ever, a prune version of Nigella's store cupboard chocolate cake. Any cake with a ganache icing is a winner for me.
Finally chicken wings and chips for an easy Sunday night dinner.
Again, after looking back at our week, I think some green vegetables are in order!

Our life...

2011-11-26T18:55:00.001+11:00

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, my phone manner, Christmas and an anniversary

2011-11-25T09:29:00.001+11:00

Just a paper daisy today for my Friday Flower pic. Things are still a bit dull at the hut garden.

So somehow my week has disappeared again. Yikes, I've only got two weeks of work left until my month off, so I'd better get my skates on, I still have to write a 12 page newsletter for distribution and organise a media event, as well as hand in my annual work plan (6 months late!)

Last night we had dinner at my parents house. Truthfully, my mother doesn't really like to cook, she finds it stressful, but last night it was nice to just have dinner with them and my brother who still lives at home, rather than the whole clan. She made an "Italian Beef" casserole, and was quite adventurous with the dessert, a orange and lemon flavoured custard with risoni pasta, topped with a meringue with currants and almonds in it. I've never had anything like it before. I quite like the currants and almonds in the meringue, and the custard was tasty.

In our after dinner conversation we started talking about people who dominate conversations, or just simply talk too much or too long on the phone. Rob said, well you can always use Hazel's classic line, - 'well I'd better let you go now, bye.' I was stunned for a second, and asked him do I really say that? Apparently I do, all the time. Driving home, I ran recent phone conversations over in my head, then I asked Rob, do I use it on you? There was a little pause. Yes. I started apologising, I felt a bit sheepish really, perhaps everyone realises this is my captain subtext (to borrow a Coupling term) for I think you're talking too much, I'd like to go now! He laughed at me, and said it was ok, he didn't take it personally, but rather admired that I managed to make the other person feel like they had so many more important things to do! My only excuse is, that I'm not really big on talking on the phone, I don't really enjoy it, so I guess I'm trying to minimise my phone calls.

So with that uncomfortable realisation shared, I'm looking forward to the weekend. We're going to make a Christmas tree. That's right, we're going to get some wire and tape, and a pot with some rapid set concrete and we're going to attach the little led lights to the branches. Fingers crossed it works.
I've been finding little decorations for my red theme. Some little red stocking garlands to hang up around windows, and some cute reindeer for the tree. Also some of my recent online purchases have started to arrive, some stationery love from Kikki.K (had to be very disciplined there) and some wrapping paper and accessories from the Wrapping Paper Co. Oh yes, I've got it bad and there's still 30 sleeps until Christmas.

Indulge me with one more photo. This day last year we drove down to the Huon valley, a little nervous, but very excited, and picked up this ragamuffin. She was a bit naughty in the back of the car, barking and trying to play with a shell-shocked Nigella. We got home and she took over the backyard, claiming all the toys and running around like a crazy thing. She has grown up in many ways, but Claudia certainly lived up to her kennel name "Mistress Very Sassy"! Despite her attitude and chewing habit, she does make us laugh, she is a very good snuggle dog, a companion for Nigella and us, and we wouldn't feel a complete pack without her now. Wonder what the next year will bring?

Wordless Wednesday: approaching storm.

2011-11-23T15:08:00.001+11:00

An approaching storm in southern Tasmania. Photo of course by my talented husband, Rob Wiltshire.
Join in the wordless fun at Sarah's blog.

Monday's Menu, and our weekend

2011-11-21T17:30:00.000+11:00

Our life returned to it's normal pace on the weekend. Like anybody living on a bit of property the grass on our block had taken off over the last couple of weeks, after the combination of frequent rain and the warmer temperatures. Sadly after one day of brush cutting our not-so-trusty brush cutter spluttered to a halt a couple of weekends ago. I was cleaning the windows at the time and could hear Rob fiddling with it, pulling the trigger, cleaning a filter, pulling the trigger, I was waiting for him to kick it into the dam, but he was apparently resigned to the fact it would need to be serviced. (It was serviced last year at great expense so we were more than a little disappointed with it dying already). I know like Michelle he has a scythe on his wish-list for Christmas, but we really needed to cut our grass now! Apart from looking so untidy, I was getting increasingly worried about the dogs and snakes.
So we took ours to the doctor (a new doctor mind you) and next door is a place where you can hire them. So the drone of a 2-stroke was our weekend companion, it took Rob 10 hours over 2 days to cut the grass around the hut, down the drive, in the orchard and garden and around the nut orchard. It looks so much tidier. I know we'll need to do it again before the whole thing gets cut for hay but it made me feel a lot better.

So whilst Rob was busy outside I baked a carrot cake on Saturday and our first Christmas cake on Sunday. We took a moment to marvel at the colours of the sunset on Saturday night, and over the weekend I kept finding the dogs snuggling each other. It was pretty darn cute, although I'm not sure Nigella entirely approves of the adoration from Claudia! She tolerates it.

The menu at the hut this week: salmon on soba noodles, a salad with Asparagus and new season pink eye potatoes, I made red pepper pesto (with almonds) then stirred it through pasta, we had a chorizo, potato, zucchini and ricotta frittata and finished off the working week with a quick lemon linguine.
We always start our Saturday morning off quite virtuously at the gym for a weights class, but then it quickly deteriorates from there, with a visit to Jackman & McRoss for small white chocolate and peach tarts and cream buns. We picked up some lamb shanks and were tempted by a tasting to buy some wagyu beef sausages.
So Saturday's dinner was a simple one of sausages, Pigeon Hole bread and home made chutneys. Rob roasted the shanks in quince jelly so we ate them last night with roast potatoes and some beans. With enough left over lamb for souvlaki tonight and lamb soup tomorrow!

Friday Flowers

2011-11-18T17:30:00.000+11:00

No new flowers in our garden this week, but it is looking promising on the lily front, just hope that the terrible strong winds we've been having at the hut calm down soon, as they're a bit vulnerable to the gusts that hurtle down the back of the hut into the garden.

So given my present preoccupation with all things Christmas I thought I'd share one of my favourite native flower photos that Rob has taken. It always makes me think of an icy-pole for some reason.

Blandfordia punicea, or Christmas Bells, is a large tufted native species that grows in button grass and damp heaths on very nutrient poor soils, ranging from Bruny Island, south-west Tasmania and reaching Rocky Cape.

I've suddenly realised that Christmas is only 37 sleeps away (thanks to my iPhone Christmas app - ok you can stop laughing now!)
That fruit I started soaking a couple of weekends ago might have to transform into some cakes this weekend. I have just ordered some Christmas cards from here, and some wrapping paper from here.
We're starting a modest stockpile of presents in the spare room.
Apart from my honeycomb decorations we might have just had some inspiration on the tree front. I saw a cute twiggy Christmas tree covered in little LED lights. I wasn't so impressed with the price tag, so after buying a set of 200 LED lights from BigW we're going to attempt to make our own tree. Watch this space (I hope!)
I'm still on the lookout for two pairs of angel wings- if anyone has seen any (that aren't too extravagant) let me know.
Hope you have a wonderful weekend.

Window seat = tick

2011-11-15T16:08:00.001+11:00

Before

After

Love.

Monday's Menu

2011-11-14T16:30:00.000+11:00

Today I'm a little bit excited, as finally our window seat will be complete. You may remember about two months ago we had the timber frame installed. We were smitten, it was beautiful and functional with the book shelves and drawers for storage. We organised the foam cushions pretty quickly too, and it has become our favourite spot in the hut. We casually draped some throw rugs over to protect the foam from the puppies and then were a bit slack about lining up the upholsterer. He took the cushions away last Monday and I've just organised for them to be delivered this evening.
We bought some new throw rugs that will match and some red pillow cases for the cushions. I can't wait to see it all together!

So quickly our menu this week-
Salads with cheese, or latchet fillets and boiled Nicola potatoes, or asparagus, avocado and home grown beets. Another spring vegetable risotto. We headed out to lunch at Written on Tea during the week for some of their fried green beans with pork mince and chilli. We hadn't been there in ages and they were delicious if a little too spicy for me.
I was a bit too self-conscious to take photos at the drink party or the lunch at the vineyard, but our ocean trout gravlax was delicious on top of some Pigeon Hole Sourdough with horseradish cream. It's our favourite recipe for entertaining. Rob's sisters had also made blini with smoked trout, roulades, sushi, rice paper rolls, and a few other hot nibbles, so there was no shortage of food.
On Sunday we had a late brunch of Mount Gnomon bacon, Wursthaus sausages, tomatoes and eggs on the Weber, which set us up for the whole day really, we just had a bowl of tomato, vegetable and pasta soup for dinner.

Home

2011-11-13T21:30:00.001+11:00

Our lunch at Josef Chromy's was quite delightful, the sky a perfect blue, the water shimmering, the vineyard in the distance. The family took over a section of the cafe, cousins chatted, Rob's sisters worked out Christmas for us all. We shared antipasto platters at each table, then I had the trevalla and Rob had an absolutely huge steak, perfect cooked. Everyone was relaxed and after coffees we all stumbled out into the sun and we headed off to Hobart, via Evandale, the Nile and the Colebrook road. The midlands were incredibly green, our only stop was the Ross wool shop for some new ugg boot liners for me. I can't tell you how heavenly new plush sheepskin is, try it!
But as nice as our time up north was, there was a constant tug at my heart for the hut. Silly to admit but true, our first night away from the hut together. As we drove down our long driveway, I felt immediately better, just seeing the hut at the end in the evening light.
We have only lived here for four and a half months but it is the homiest place I've ever lived in. It perfectly reflects our taste and style, and we can just "be". Not to mention we missed the peacefulness at night (if you don't count the frogs).
I love our weekends here, but am always reluctant to head to work on Monday!
Hope you had a lovely weekend too.

Friday Flowers...on Saturday

2011-11-12T09:34:00.001+11:00

We drove up to Launceston for Rob's Father's 80th birthday yesterday. Last night was the first party, drinks and nibbles. Today we're heading out to a restaurant for lunch, I've got a new skirt and shoes to wear, if I'm brave I might even post a photo!
Today's flowers are some peony roses my mother in law has in a vase. Quite beautiful.

Wordless Wednesday: we've come a long way in a year

2011-11-09T10:24:00.000+11:00

This time last year, we had one dog and a concrete slab!Join in wordless Wednesday here.

Monday's Menu

2011-11-07T17:00:00.000+11:00

What a weekend hey? (Sorry for those of you not in Tasmania, the weather was quite perfect, warm days and evenings- even got up to 30 on Sunday!)
Highlights this week food wise- chicken wings and asparagus cooked on the BBQ, the most tiny, perfect egg and ham roll from the Pigeon Hole Cafe for breakfast, Roast pork with roasted fennel and carrots, some more French and Spanish cheese, bubbles over to celebrate our visiting friend, and new season nicola potatoes.

I was saddened to hear of the death of Sarah Watt, the Australian film director and animator from cancer. I really loved the movie Look Both Ways. I think of her children, Clem 18 and Stella 13, and her husband William McInnes, and think how desperately unfair life is sometimes. Today I listened to a recent interview with William on ABC National Radio and he was still so positive about the time he had left with his wife and had not the slightest indication of bitterness or self-pity. I can honestly say that if I was in a similar position I'm not sure I could be that brave or act with such grace.

Friday Flowers

2011-11-04T12:01:00.000+11:00

I updated my camera app on the phone yesterday and it's been misbehaving ever since. So my picture of the sage flowers is a little dodgy. Luckily by the time I got to work an update to fix the update was waiting in the app store.

I walk past these every time I head to the laundry/shed hut and out of the corner of my eye I think it's Lavender, even though I know we didn't plant any!

While we wait for our little box hedge to grow around the hut, we have co-planted with herbs, so far we have tarragon, sage, basil, thyme, coriander, mint and parsley. Also some beetroot for the leaves in salads. All are growing well except the basil which is being hammered by slugs, despite Rob's beer traps and frequent night time raids to squish them.

Looking forward to a slow weekend, a good friend is coming down from Northern Tasmania to stay for the first time. We have another pork shoulder to slow roast, some French cheese to eat and I'm debating what dessert to make, chocolate pudding, lemon tart or a steamed pudding.

Hope you have a relaxing weekend like I plan to.

Wordless Wednesday: puppy love

2011-11-02T09:31:00.000+11:00

Join in the wordless fun at Sarah's blog.

Monday's Menu

2011-10-31T16:39:00.001+11:00

It’s granola season at the hut. I struggle with eating breakfastduring the week, I get bored easily, and I was so over porridge. I’d eat amouthful and then not so subtly put the bowl down for Claudia to finish off(she loved me!) So last weekend I baked up a batch of Nigella’s granola (from Feast). What’snot to love about roasted Almonds, seeds, honey, and raisins? I made anotherbatch yesterday but added some flaked coconut, pumpkin seeds and golden raisinsas well. During the week we served it with strawberries, mango and rhubarb. Now I can't wait for breakfast.

As mentioned on Friday we took delivery of a box of goodiesfrom Mount Gnomon farm. So pork dominated the menu all weekend. We’re notcomplaining though. Rob slow roasted the shoulder for three hours in the Weber onSaturday. Then yesterday we blasted it in our oven under the maxi-grill, thatthing is wicked, I could see the skin blister! That crackling, I have to say, was perfectly cooked, shattering as you bit into it. It was then warmed upagain in the Weber sitting on some sliced fennel, baby carrots and bay leaves, and served it with roast potatoes, the pork was deliciously juicy. Oh dear I’dbetter stop otherwise I might start drooling on the keyboard.

Finally, as it rained most of Saturday we were happily stuckinside, after lunch I fell asleep on the window seat with Claudia as a foot warmer,for several hours!

I thought I’d better do something worthwhile, so I measuredout and chopped the dried fruit for two Christmas cakes (sultanas, currants,raisins, dried apricots and prunes).

Maybe the menu might have to be a little healthier this week (looking at what you eat all week is a bit of an eye opener) maybe even some salads and green vegetables!

Top row: Scrambled eggs on Pigeon Hole sourdough toast,Granola with Greek yoghurt and strawberries, Italian sausages on mash with peas(an excuse to eat relish), creamy mushroom, bacon and pea fettuccine, springvegetable risotto.

Middle row: Mount Gnomon bacon and egg roll, Sweet Envy jamdoughnut and pecan sticky bun, Mount Gnomon chorizo, tomato and lentil risotto,dried fruit soaking in brandy for Christmas cakes, the roast pork shoulder (fromguess who).

Bottom row: The pork served with roasted fennel and carrots,a pear poached in red wine, cinnamon, vanilla and thyme, our granola fresh outof the oven, this morning with rhubarb, gin and tonic season has started.

Friday Flowers

2011-10-28T16:09:00.001+11:00

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!

Christmas is coming

2011-10-26T16:26:00.000+11:00

I know it’s still October, but I can’t help myself when itcomes to getting excited about Christmas. This is our first one at the hut too.So I’ve been thinking, just a little, about how to decorate our hut.

This slight obsession with Christmas decorating is thanks tomy Dad. Normally he is quite conservative with his spending and decorating, butcome December he changes overnight and no decoration is too kitsch orexcessive. On a day early in December he braves their roof cavity to bring downbox after box of decorations. Mum’s domain is the tree. Well apart from thelights. Dad always puts on at least 6 different sets of lights on the tree.Over the top? Oh yes. More alarming is when he puts them on the strobe mode,and the 6 sets of lights flick on and off randomly. The tree could cause somesort of fit!

Dad is in charge of decorating the house. Not the outside,the inside. Every surface is Christmasfied. I mean every surface, door handles,light fittings, door and window frames. Foil decorations dangle from everyconceivable spot. Christmas ornaments adorn every flat surface. He puts out themain nativity set (yes, every room gets one of it’s own) under the tree. Butonly the cow gets to hang out there prior to Christmas. The other characters,Joseph, Mary, Jesus, the donkey, shepherds and their sheep, and an Angel all turnup on Christmas Eve, whilst the three wise men are late arrivals- they’reallowed in a week later.

I think the most outrageous decoration is the musical robin.Activated by loud noises (such as clapping) the robotic robin jiggles and flapsit’s wings whilst chirping a selection of Christmas carols!

When I was old enough to help my parents decorate our home,my favourite decorations were two aging honeycomb decorations, a pink ball anda green bell. I loved unfolding them and hanging them up from the window frame.Which may now explain my fondness for honeycomb decorations.

On Monday an exciting box turned up from the states. I’vementioned before about finding this company, and their amazing array ofdecorations. Well, I couldn’t help myself, the red ones looked so enticing, I put in an order a couple of weeks ago.

Aren’t they gorgeous? I don’t think Rob realised that notonly do the beams hold the living room roof together they are perfect forhanging things from. We may only have a small tree this year, but I don’t thinkyou’ll miss the Christmas season at the hut with these! I’ve promised Rob I’llnever get as bad as my father. I hope.

Monday's Menu

2011-10-24T16:51:00.001+11:00

We had a great cooking week this week. With the warm weather(even in the evenings) we have been using the Weber BBQ to cook as much aspossible.

I think this regular post is helping us raise the bar, we’rethinking about trying new recipes and making the food we eat more presentable. I’mvery thankful to have a husband who loves to cook for me, and that it’s apassion we can both share. I have to say that he introduced me to good food,although I was interested in cooking before I met Rob, he made me think aboutmaking the most of every meal we eat. Sorry just a little sentimental moment there; back to the food.

After our lunch party last weekend, we enjoyed the left overcheeses, with a salad for dinner on Monday night.

One of our friends had given us a selection of her chutneysand relishes on Sunday, and I desperately wanted to eat them with some goodsausages, sadly by the time we got to the butcher, Rob decided to skip thesausages and buy rib-eye steak. So he cooked it on the Weber, and we ate itwith some cubed potatoes and wilted spinach.

Wednesday night we were home quite late (Rob had been up tothe Tarn Shelf at Mt Field setting up a transect to measure with his students),so I quickly cooked us puttanesca.

Thursday was our show day holiday, it was a perfectly sunnyday, Rob decided to brush cut the orchard, so I stayed inside to keep the dogsaway, and with the sea breeze I could feel my hay fever symptoms flare up. So Ithought I’d make us a quick Lebanese feast for lunch. I’d made some lavosh fora work lunch the day before, and we already had some labneh balls in oil in thefridge, so I rolled them in za’atar. I made a batch of hummous and ourfavourite red pepper and walnut dip. Then I put together a green salad withlots of mint and a sprinkling of sumac. That night it was Rob’s turn, our newfavourite recipe for the BBQ is chicken wings marinated in lemon (juice andrind), olive oil, garlic, thyme and chilli flakes. We served them with somegrilled Asparagus.

We bought a pizza stone a couple of weeks ago (our oven hasa pizza setting we were yet to try) so we thought we’d give it a whirl. Rob made up a batch ofdough and we used up all the bits and pieces in the fridge, tomato passata,olives, anchovies, grilled red pepper, labneh cheese, and parsley as atopping. The first one we tried to movefrom a tray onto the hot stone, which was quite unsuccessful, it just stretchedthe already thin base out so we rolled up the edges and left it on the tray.

The second one Rob quickly put together on the stone. Theywere different, I quite liked the one with the bready edge, but the one bakedon the stone was super crunchy. Maybe we have a new Friday tradition?

We were slightly indulgent on Saturday morning picking out aselection of cupcakes from Jo and Michelle’s Salamanca stall. Rob had a lemon curd and berry ricotta crumblecake, whilst I couldn’t go past the vanilla and rhubarb and the chocolate andhoney. They are so good, that neither of us really want to share! We have towait and hope that they’re there next week.

We ate a dinner of couscous, Lebanese green beans (cooked intomato and onion with allspice), and grilled eggplant, zucchini, fennel,peppers.

Finally Sunday, the trial run of the chicken wings had goneso well we ate them with some roasted kipfler potatoes, watercress, a garlicand rosemary ciabatta. Our friend's children loved the wings (even with thechilli). Then the cake.

What was on your menu this week?

Just had to share...

2011-10-23T18:04:00.001+11:00

I'm lying on the window-seat (heavenly) reading one of my favourite Bill Bryson books (have I told you we met him on the Tarn Shelf?) enjoying the golden light coming through the window.
My God-daughter and her family came down for lunch today to celebrate her birthday. I've been keen to decorate a cake with mini bunting, and today we produced a totally oversized Primrose Bakery lemon cake with cream cheese frosting. I have to say that I'm having a moment of quiet pride, the birthday girl was impressed too!

Friday Flowers

2011-10-21T15:06:00.000+11:00

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

2011-10-19T17:34:00.000+11:00

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

2011-10-17T14:08:00.000+11:00

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?

Friday Flowers

2011-10-14T15:12:00.005+11:00

There aren't any new flowers this week in our garden, so I picked one of Rob's photos.

A close up of a Banksia flower.

I'm a bit tired, and so am glad it's the weekend. We're having some friends over for lunch on Sunday, so we've got to get the hut spruced up and cook a few of our favourite entertaining dishes (baked olives, soy roasted almonds, Gougères, rump steak, kipfler potatoes and lemon tart). Hope you have a happy weekend.

Mid-week pick me up

2011-10-12T16:50:00.001+11:00

Thank you for your reassuring and sympathetic comments on mypost about the driveway. I’m feeling better about it, our friend doesn’t thinkit will get much worse, but he won’t be able to fix it until it dries out. Sowe’re just keeping an eye on it, and driving on the opposite side of the road!It’s our only access onto the block; we have a very strange shaped block ofland, a big triangle with a narrow access (only 20m) at the wide end of thetriangle. It just so happens that it’s also incredibly steep and goes over acreek! Anyway, we’re being positive and hoping the wet weather stops soon.

So I thought I’d share a few things that have made me happythis week.

This guy is seriously cute with curly black hair and hiswhite tummy. The “Oreo” bull (really a belted Galloway) lives over the backfence, which is about 10m away from the hut. We have a series of long narrowwindows that run down the hall and smaller windows on the back wall of theliving room, as well as the breezeway French doors. So as I wander down thehut, I often lock eyes with this dude. He seems quite calm. Just happy to munchthe grass and watch the crazy antics of our dogs!

More red in the hut. I just had to go back a buy a few moreof these candleholders from Spotlight, ahem like seven more!

Finally, we got around to finishing off aproject we started in June last year.

Do you remember the two unloved Blackwood chairs we found atthe tip? Rob had sanded them back and oiled them last year. But with nowhere toput them, recovering them didn’t seem that urgent. When we moved to the hut, wepopped them up in the loft and forgot them again. Last weekend we picked upsome red fabric and Rob pulled out the many staples and replaced the horribledirty blue hessian fabric with the new bright red. Now I’m thinking I’d like torecover the four pale blue chairs with red too….watch this space.

Hope your week is going well, mine has certainly picked up!

Monday's Menu, and taking things to heart

2011-10-10T14:39:00.001+11:00

Hello, just a brief Monday's Menu...Stir fry rice, pork belly noodle soup, spaghetti ala puttanesca, rump steak with little garlic and rosemary roasted potatoes and salad, Spanakopitta, and a Friday night cheese platter.

We had a lot of rain at the hut on Saturday afternoon, it pelted down. Rob and I ran inside and felt quite smug in our nice warm hut. On Sunday morning we headed out for a mid-morning perimter. At the end we headed over to our drive way where it crosses the creek (with a culvert underneath) in the gully, and the side of the bank had slumped down by over a metre! Right next to the edge of the driveway. The clay had become a terrible goopy mess that is now bulging untidily. So for the rest of the weekend I obsessively checked the bank for further damage. I know far worse things could happen, that Rob and I are well, the hut is ok etc, but I was kind of hoping that days of stressing over the hut and future expenses were over. My heart has been aching ever since, and I barely slept a wink last night, just tossed and turned envisaging waking to find the driveway impassable! So at 6am this morning I had to go see, dragging Rob and the dogs with me, relieved at least that it hasn't gotten any worse. Our good friend who built our driveway two years ago is heading down this afternoon for a diagnosis and to suggest a solution. Fingers crossed the repairs are not too extensive or expensive! I feel so silly for worrying, and that I'm going to turn into an obsessive worrier like my mother, and that really it's not a big deal compared to what others have to face (like after Cyclone Yasi or the Victorian bushfires) but still my weekend would have been much better without it! Any suggestions for reducing anxiety?!

Friday Flowers

2011-10-07T12:40:00.001+11:00

Just quickly today- no botany lesson!

The last of the daffodils we bought last year.

The pear tree is still flowering. Rob was telling me the other day he has orchard plans. More orchard. He'd like some more pears and quinces! We currently have three pears and eight quinces.

Finally the Michelia yunnanensis "Scented Pearl" has started to flower. Another poor plant we have tortured for years in a pot. We planted a row of these about 3m from our bedroom window, once they have stopped flowering, we'll prune them back hard so that they form a nice hedge. They have lovely creamy flowers and cute brown furry sepals.

Hope you have a lovely weekend, more stitching for me!

Spring hut

2011-10-05T13:08:00.000+11:00

The trees in the orchard are flowering, the grass has started to grow, we've got a family of ducklings in the dam, the swallows are trying to come inside the hut to make a nest, it must be spring!
A couple of shots of the hut as we walk around the block.

Monday’s Menu

2011-10-03T12:59:00.001+11:00

The weather really dictated what we felt like eating thisweek.

Monday was a stunning spring day so we opted for a springrisotto of peas, broad beans, asparagus and the essential scattering of mint.

Tuesday saw us home a little later than intended so we hadpasta with Rob’s “Aristos” sauce (find whatever’s in the fridge and pantry andmake something up!), which was tomato-based with sliced chorizo and greenbeans.

Despite the soft rain that started falling as soon as we gothome on Wednesday evening Rob dressed up in polar fleece and a beanie (mypersonal BBQ gnome!) and cooked up some sliced fennel, red onion, eggplant,asparagus and zucchini, we served it with some couscous, a tomato sauce andfeta.

The rainy grey weather continued so we felt like comfortfood, Shepherd’s pie (although it was beef mince so I guess it should beCottage pie) did the trick! Which meant that at the end of the week we could just reheatthe pie and serve it with some spinach!

Saturday of course was the AFL Grand Final Day, and wealways pretend to be avid followers of the game just to eat the football food.After picking up vegetables, bread and meat at Salamanca we dropped intoJackman & McRoss, and saw they had a special “footy” pizza. We took it hometo warm up for lunch, covered in sliced beef, caramelized onions, cherrytomatoes and cheese. It was delicious, and sadly we ate too much of it! Thatnight after the big game was over, Rob cooked the frankfurters on the BBQ, withsome onions in beer! They didn’t taste too bad in squishy white buns withmustard and of course tomato sauce!

For lunch on Sunday I made some guacamole with enoughTabasco sauce to make my lips tingle (no fresh chilies in the house) to eatwith corn chips in the sun. Making the most of our extra hour of light in theevening, Rob cooked rib-eye steaks and baked potatoes in the BBQ (are wepicking up on a recurring theme yet), and a piece of pork belly for dinnertonight. I think the Weber is going to get a serious workout over thenext 6 months!

What has been on the menu at your place this week?

Into the light

2011-10-02T18:44:00.001+11:00

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!

Friday Flowers

2011-09-30T12:15:00.002+10:00

We've had a quiet week this week at the hut. We're both busy at work. Rob's had a slight cold all week which is making him feel a little droopy. The weather has been a bit cool and damp and grey. So we've just hibernated a bit in the evenings, eating warming foods and reading on the window seat. I can't wait for daylight savings to begin this Sunday!

I thought I'd do a native plant post today. Although I don't work as a botanist at the moment, I can't help myself, as we walked (well raced as the dogs were so keen) along the path to Snug Falls last week, I kept checking with Rob I hadn't lost it. Picking out pretty wildflowers, checking I still knew their names (well at least the name I knew them as, damn taxonomists keep changing them!)

Rob's Monday practical was looking at three families of plants Myrtaceae, Ericaceae and Rhamnaceae. So after our little walk we found a few specimens to take into work the next day.
I thought I'd share a few of my favourite pictures from each family (all photos are Rob's of course!)

This little cutie is Euryomyrtus ramossissima, part of the Myrtaceae family, which is better known for the more showy eucalypts, melaleucas and callistemons. The leaves of this family all have that distinctive eucalypt smell if crushed. This particular plant is common in coastal heath vegetation, and is easy to pick out with the five white/pale pink petals.

The next two are both members of the Ericaceae family, known for their tough, often sharp little leaves. The one above is Leucopogon virgatus, I love their fluffy white petals, or more correctly their hairy corolla tube. Leucopogon is latin for white beard. The petals of all the species in this family are fused into a tube, sometimes they are open like this species, but the tube can also be shut like in Richea.

This even furrier flower is actually another species Pentachondra involucrata found in heathy woodlands.

Finally this little plant is part of the Rhamnaceae family, which contains some of my favourite plants. This is the species Stenanthemum pimeleoides, a rare prostrate shrub found on the east coast. It has tiny little flowers which are quite inconspicuous compared to the larger showy white bracts. Bract is just a term for a modified or specialised leaf associated with a flower (botanists love descriptive terms). Aren't the little heart shaped bracts adorable? I often pick the leaves of plants in this family just to rub their softness against my skin, if they could make lingerie out of them, I'd be the first in line to buy some!

Well there ends today's little botany lesson, hope you have a lovely weekend, so far we don't have any plans and that doesn't worry me a bit!

Monday's Menu

2011-09-26T17:00:00.000+10:00

Well after looking at last weeks pictures I did tell Rob we should try not to eat cheese for a week. We almost got there, but on Friday we needed a quick last minute birthday gift, so we headed straight for Bottega Rotolo, and I knew we'd be walking out of there with some cheese.
Sure enough we did, a small washed rind and a hard cheese called Chebris Brebis that was made from a mixture of ewe and goat milk. Both excellent.

Top row: Spaghetti alla puttanesca, Rolled loin of pork stuffed with prunes, sage, breadcrumbs, garlic and onions, Friday's cheese platter with salad and bread.
Middle row: Strawberry Lemon Curd Puff, Left over pork on Tuesday :), Mini-roast lamb (shanks) with baked potatoes and carrots.
Bottom row: Stir fry with rice noodles and the last bit of pork, lamb soup, and roast potatoes.

Our weekend:

2011-09-25T18:55:00.001+10:00

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.

Friday Flowers

2011-09-23T09:55:00.001+10:00

I'm afraid I'm cheating a little with today's flower pictures.
Although our quince trees have just started to flower, the weather has been terrible in the mornings so I haven't managed to get a photo. Luckily for me Rob has a vast collection of pictures so he dug a few out for me to share.

Quinces, we love their fruit, the perfume is like nothing else, we often buy a couple just to pop in the fruit bowl, so that the perfume wafts around the house. One of the first things Rob and I did together as a couple was take cuttings of a favourite quince tree at a friends place. Our success wasn't brilliant, but we ended up with four trees which are now planted at the block, perfectly positioned so that you can sit on the window seat and gaze at them.

Their flowers are quite beautiful don't you think? I especially love the buds, how they are all whorled up. You can see the similarity to roses can't you? Rob is running his Tasmanian plant taxonomy practicals at the moment, so we're in flower collecting mode (really just Sunday afternoon strolls finding flowers!) His introductory prac is called Supermarket Systematics. We go shopping and buy a trolley full of fruit and vegetables, and then the students get to classify the produce into their families (with the help of some of these photos as the flowers are the key to grouping plants). After the prac is over the students get to pick one of the items to take home! I miss helping Rob with these pracs, I used to quite like demonstrating in the classes.

Midweek musing

2011-09-21T13:16:00.000+10:00

I had a lovely long weekend, as I took Monday off, and got really lucky with the weather, Monday was absolutely perfect, blue sky, warm, a slight breeze.Rob and I went for a morning stroll around the block before he had to head into work. He’s trained the dogs to react to the word “perimeter”, as soon as he says it they get all excited and start heading for the fence behind the hut to start their walk. They actually don’t like to go on a walk without us. The pack instinct is pretty strong in German Shepherds, they like us all to be together when we’re doing things.

Then I spent the day catching up on washing (perfect weather for it) and cleaning up the hut. I guess that doesn’t sound very exciting, but I quite liked the space and quiet, and was happy enough getting our hut back into order, and I had the dogs for company. It was warm enough that I could open up all the windows, the big bifold doors in the main room, and the French doors in the breezeway, and the hut stayed just the right temperature. I even walked around barefoot on the polished concrete and it was just fine.

Rob did come home early to help prepare dinner for my family. With my niece being baptized on Sunday, my grandmother and aunt were over visiting for a few days from Melbourne. They were keen to see the hut, cause the last time they’d visited was for our wedding, and it was nowhere near complete then. We served soy-toasted almonds, baked olives and gougères (I was hooked on choux pastry after the profiterole tower). Rob cooked a rolled loin of pork stuffed with sage, onions, garlic and prunes in the Weber, and he served it with roast potatoes and red cabbage and apple. I had made my go-to dessert: a steamed marmalade pudding. It was nice to have them visit (with my parents and brother too), to just sit around the table and chat.

After tidying up the breezeway I took a few shots of it. Which is quite hard cause it’s got a cathedral ceiling and is only 3m wide, I tried to lie down to take a shot, but Claudia thought that meant she could come and chew on my ears! We’re pretty happy with this space, our front entrance, we can come in and dump coats, bags and shoes. The dogs love it too; cause the concrete is cool to lie on. It doesn’t normally look this tidy, usually there are baskets of shoes and dog drying towels, and a dog mat, but it’s nice to get it back to it’s original state once a week!

I can’t help but share these two pictures of Nigella and Claudia, you can’t deny they have character!

Monday's Menu

2011-09-19T12:08:00.001+10:00

Trying a post from my phone, so this might be brief!

Monday
Leftover lamb soup.
Tuesday
Tomato and vegetable soup
Wednesday
A cheeky mid-week cheese platter lunch at our favourite Bottega Rotolo and tomato & meatball soup sauce on pasta.
Thursday
Procuitto & Fetta frittata
Friday
Cheese (again, just a little one though) with rocket, pear and fennel salad.
Saturday and Sunday
My personal tapas plate & Rob's paella

Friday Flowers

2011-09-16T10:09:00.000+10:00

Camellias - I love them.We have been collecting some of my favourites in pots for a while now. Just trying to work out the best place for them at the hut.The gardens at uni are a bit eclectic, but behind one of the big buildings is a lovely planting of camellias.Here are a couple of my favourites. I'm thinking of taking some cuttings from them in summer.

Red

2011-09-14T16:10:00.001+10:00

My clandestine love affair with the colour red had remained hidden until recently. I don’t think I can deny it any longer. I thought perhaps I’d moved on from red. The hut was going to be cream, blue, and sandy yellow.
But red has been creeping back into our life.

It started when I unpacked our favourite red stoneware plates and bowls. Suddenly, I wanted to serve all our food on them. I know white dinnerware is more chic, that most food looks better on white. But every time I opened the crockery draw (that in itself is quite a novelty!) my hands would pass over the neat stack of white plates and choose the lovely glossy red plates.

Then I remembered a happy afternoon spent in an Italian café at Cottesloe Beach, and loving the look of their bright red napkins on the long communal timber tables, and thinking one day I’m going to have a table just like that. So I picked up a set of plain red cotton napkins recently.

Our bedroom also got the red makeover. We’d always had a cream bedspread. But then we got Claudia. She can’t help herself, she loves beds. But she also loves mud. So we thought this red check would camouflage the worst of the paw prints.

My favourite jam just came back in stock at Coles, I love their gingham lids, as you can tell.

Rob found us these Fler Narvik chairs on ebay, we’d be on the look out for pair, and happily for us they came newly upholstered, in lovely soft red chenille corduroy.

So now that Rob shares my love affair, I can quite openly sneak some more red into the hut. I found these red reindeer tealight holders at Spotlight on Saturday. Kitsch I know, but also beautiful at night. It’s going to take all my will power not to keep using them every day until Christmas.

Finally the window seat arrived last week. We’d oscillated over the colour of our cushions for over a year. Blue? Sandy yellow? I’ve ordered enough samples from Warwick to make a bedspread! But none of them were quite right.

We sat on our makeshift cushions. We looked at the samples. I looked at Rob. “You know what I’d really like?” He laughed, I think he already knew, “I’d like a red check just like our bedspread!” Not quite as elegant as we were originally planning, perhaps a bit clichéd, but at the moment it feels right for our little hut in the country.

Welcome back red, I’ve always loved you.

Monday's Menu

2011-09-12T10:08:00.000+10:00

Ok a quick post this week, with the return of some cooler weather, I craved warming food-

Monday- some cheese! We enjoyed the leftover lamb souvlaki for lunch, and then our window seat had been delivered, and neither of us wanted to get up and leave it to cook dinner, so we just nibbled on some parmesan!

Tuesday- after enjoying a beef burger with the lot from the Devil's Kitchen on Sandy Bay Rd, we ate a rustic Caesar salad for dinner.

Wednesday- Spaghetti and meatballs! Enough said.

Thursday- stir fry vegetables and rice noodles with a heap of mint.

Friday - My comfort food meal (it was cool and rainy on Friday evening), Bratwurst sausages with mash and peas and my favourite Dijon mustard. Oh and my lovely husband bought us some sweet little macarons for dessert.

Saturday - I thought I'd share our little lunch of a washed rind sheep's cheese and a very, very ripe goats cheese and sourdough bread.

Dinner was lamb shanks roasted in the Weber, basted in the left over red wine sauce from last weekend's pears, with baked potatoes and spinach. We love this mini roast lamb dish.

Sunday- A lamb shank and vegetable soup with home baked potato bread.

Oh and I can't resist sharing our trial run of the Profiterole tower for Maisy's baptism. Still working on the consistency of the creme patisserie. I asked my brother how they were, his reply "explosive"!What's been on the menu at your home this past week?

Friday Flowers

2011-09-09T09:00:00.001+10:00

Another new regular post I hope- I've been following Sarah's blog Molly's Maison since the beginning of the year, and I love her Friday Flowers posts. It's nice to look around and find beauty in the garden, all year! So I hope you don't mind Sarah, but I'm joining you in regular flower appreciation.

Today is a new acquisition, that actually flowered a few weeks ago, a real snowdrop, Galanthus elwesii.
I've lusted after them for years, always bookmarked the page in my favourite bulb catalogues. But never been able to bring myself to actually buy one.

I saw this one at the markets a few weeks ago and could resist no longer.
Thank you Rob for capturing it so beautifully.

Finally...

2011-09-06T08:57:00.001+10:00

Before

After

A few close ups

Sorry only took them with the phone will need to do a photo shoot with a real camera!We are quite smitten. Last night we dragged a few make-do mattresses as cushions, grabbed a drink and didn't move, not even to make dinner.

Monday’s Menu

2011-09-05T17:11:00.004+10:00

A new regular posting theme for me. Well actually it will bethe previous weeks menu. In an attempt to truly web log what we serve on themenu at the Hut, I’ve decided over the weekend to take a photo of our dinnereach night over the next year.

The iPhone has helped me document things pictoriallyrecently and looking at the photos, a lot of them are food related.

I think it will be interesting to see what we do eat, andhow repetitive we are.

If it gets too boring I may not post them- but it might spurus onto culinary variety, you never know. Hopefully there aren’t too manypictures of scrambled eggs on toast or vegemite on toast!

This week is not complete but there were some memorablemeals so here goes:

Monday and Tuesday

Chef: Rob

Beef shin, mushroom and stout pie with mash topping (atweaking of Matthew Evan’s recipe in his latest book, Winter on the Farm) andpeas.

Rating: Pretty good, beef perfectly tender, but neededsomething to give the sauce some more depth of flavor.

Wednesday (sorry no photo)

Chef: Rob

Pasta carbonara.

Rating: The go to meal for comfort and ease- Nigella Lawsonrecommends it as a meal to serve with your lover the first time he stays over,preferably in bed.

Given we’re an old married couple now, we eat it quitecivilly at the table! We used some real eggs from our friend’s chooks so thesauce was a nice saffron colour.

Thursday

Chef: Rob (I’m not doing well here am I?)

Pumpkin, mushroom, spinach and pistachio risotto

Rating: Colourful and an unusual but satisfying flavourcombination. Next day we ate the leftovers for lunch with out the nuts andmissed them for the crunch they added.

Friday

Chef: Our equivalent of a take away meal

Cheese selection from Bottega Rotolo: Delice Cremiers, Brieand Parmigiano Reggiano. Fig and walnut rye baguette and a rocket and fennelsalad. Oh and a bottle of Cotes du Rhone.

Rating: Delice Cremiers cheese a standout, a light texturedcheese like whipped butter, slightly fruity but with a surprisingly clean acidfinish. Which meant we could eat it all!

Saturday

Chefs: Rob (main) me (dessert)

Rump steak with Nicola potato chips and spinach.

Cherry and almond cake

Rating: Rob loves to use his Weber BBQ. Steak and chips is always going to be awinner in this household. We just have to remember to save a tiny morsel foreach dog, otherwise they sulk for the rest of the evening. My cake was a newrecipe for me, using some gorgeous dark coloured glace cherries. I was a littleworried I’d cooked it too long, but with a dollop of cream and a spoonful ofcherry conserve it was a pretty good pudding (if I do say so myself).

Sunday

Chefs: Rob and me (terrible I know on Father’s Day- but heloves to use the Weber)

Souvlaki- slow roasted then grilled lamb shoulder, hummous,cacik, green beans cooked in tomatoes and onions.

Poire belle Hélène with home-made vanilla ice-cream

Rating: Our favourite summer food was pulled out of therepertoire a little early; the weather was beautiful at the Hut yesterday.Nothing I like better than putting our food together at the table and then eatingit whilst the juices dribble down our chins. It’s not pretty but delicious. Thepears has been cooked for about 4 hours and were soft and spiced with thevanilla and the red wine. Mmmm is all I can manage right now.

Well we’ll see what culinary delights the next week brings.

Today I know:

2011-09-01T17:09:00.001+10:00

That I’m welcoming the first day of Spring. Even if it’s a little chilly in Hobart.
I like tangelos, my workmate has introduced them to me, and I love the sweet/sour taste, and they make my hands smell devine.
Not to dry clean my blazer again. I did it three weeks ago and I still smell like a grandmother, and not a nice smelling grandmother either! It’s my favourite black go-with-everything jacket, made of a lovely soft moleskin fabric, and I can’t bear to wear it!
I have to attempt to make a croque en bouche on the weekend, as a trial for my niece’s baptism cake. Yikes.
Our dogs make me laugh. They’re at a funny stage now where they play mind games with each other over their food. Their antics and elaborate ruses to distract each other so that they can steal the other’s food is hilarious to watch. Better than tv.
That we almost have a window seat. The builder says it might be finished and delivered tomorrow or Monday. I can’t wait.
We have our dinner sorted for tomorrow night, our Friday tradition of cheese, good bread and a bottle of red. We picked out two nice creamy soft cheeses and a piece of 24 month old Parmigiano at Bottega Rotolo today.
My husband makes an excellent beef shin, mushroom and stout pie with mash topping.
I like to collect the tiny plastic bulls that are attached to bottles of our favourite Spanish red, Torres Sangre De Toro. Each one is in a unique pose, my favourite is the one lounging on his back with his legs casually behind his head!
This is my 100th post, and you know what, I like blogging, and the friends I have made in this electronic world. I especially like meeting people that I’ve first gotten to know through blogging. This first 100 posts has seen me through building a new hut to live in and moving in, adding a new furry friend to our pack, and getting married to my best friend in a surprise ceremony for our guests. Can’t wait to see what the next 100 bring and hope you continue to drop by to find out.

Good food right here

2011-08-27T19:18:00.002+10:00

This week is a big one for the restaurant world in Australia with the announcement of the Gourmet Traveller top 100 and awards. I can't help but be interested as an outside viewer, a consumer with a keen interest in good food. A Tasmanian chef, Luke Burgess, won best new talent, and I'm sure this will certainly cement his restaurant Garagistes on the culinary map of not only Tasmania but that big island we are sometimes included in.

I haven't yet tried to visit Garagistes. The concept is certainly intriguing. But I'm worried now it will be near impossible to get anywhere near it!

It has had me thinking about the revolution in food in Tasmania. The bar has been lifted by keen chefs, bakers and producers. Take bread, it wasn't that long ago when our only option for good bread was Jackman & McRoss in Battery Point. Now we have such a wide variety of may I say damn good bread that Rob and I take some time to decide where we'd like to buy a loaf. We can have the Companion Bakery country batard, Sweet Envy's potato bread, Red Velvet Lounge rye, Summer Kitchen sprouted rye, or Pigeon Hole's sourdough, and that was just this week! Just joking, although we are eating a lot more bread than we ever used to.

Rob and I popped in for a quick mid-week lunch at Pigeon Hole, mainly because my friend Pauline has been working in the kitchen a few days week recently and I wanted to see her in action. We work together in our real life at uni, but I think I can safely say that most of our days are spent thinking about food, cooking, baking and mentally composing blog posts about it. She looked content, and perfectly at home there. Whilst eating my eggs baked with cheese, onions, spinach and jamon and Rob ate his jamon on bread, I said outloud, how lucky are we now to have a cafe like this in little ol' Hobart. We often linger 10 years behind the mainland, but the food was excellent and I didn't have to travel to eat it.

Not only Pigeon Hole, but Tricycle, Sweet Envy, even the perennial favourite Jackman & McRoss, we now have so many options for a quick meal during the week. I did then have a slight moment of panic- what if we regress in Tasmania- could that happen? Rob thought not, we always appear to go forward.

Things are exciting here in Tasmania at the moment, new food shops like Bottega Rotolo complement our old favourite haunts like the Italian Pantry and the Wursthaus. I am yet to get out to an Agrarian Kitchen cooking class but have heard nothing but good things from those who have been. I love the change at the Salamanca markets, more local produce, free-range eggs, cheese, and of course our favourite sweet treats from the C and C cupcake factory. Producers of well treated animals such as Mt Gnomon farm. Regional cafes and restaurants mean that you don't have to stick to Hobart to eat good, honest food.

We bookended our week with the Pig Day Out at what I like to call (now) our local, Red Velvet Lounge. Steve's food is a constant delight to us, and last night was great fun. A wood-roasted pig, local cider, beautiful smoked salmon and an apple pie with such crispy pastry I forced myself to finish up even though I probably shouldn't have. Such bloody good food highlighting the quality of the produce, shared with 68 other people who appreciated it as much as us, rustically shared with others at the table in such a generous way. No phaffy pretentious food here!

I am so excited that good food is right here, in Tasmania, my home, and I look forward to it only getting better.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Our life:

2011-08-22T16:57:00.008+10:00

Left to my own devices I am actually quite lazy. I admit that upfront. Some of it is learned behaviour, I guess, my parents are really “inside” people, movies, books that’s their thing. Given the choice between staying in bed with a good book (or more likely nowadays the iPad to check out what’s happening in blog-world) or get up and start gardening, I would choose bed nine times out of ten!

But then I started living with Rob. He doesn’t sit still. He lives for action. Doing something, anything, preferably outside with our dogs in tow. He lives by the saying “I’ll sleep when I’m dead”. For someone who is older than me he puts me to shame with his energy!

I think it works out ok for both of us as we counteract our natural tendencies for slothfulness (me) or busyness (him). Sometimes I encourage him to just sit and enjoy the moment with a cup of coffee and a Chocolate chip biscuit (best recipe ever thanks to C & C cupcake factory).

But more often he’s encouraging me to get my lazy butt out of bed and to live life.

I am grateful, for many things that I’ve learnt from my husband, but this is a good lesson to learn.

So our weekend consisted of:

watching Rob play real tennis (this was me at my multi-tasking best in between points I could read and comment on my favourite blogs with near perfect reception on the iPad and he got to run around for an hour);
heading to bed early to read new library books;
going to the gym for a weights class together;
shopping at Salamanca market, for vegies, seedlings to plant, treats from Jo and Michelle (the gin-soaked damson brownie was to. die. for.);
visiting my little niece Maisy and marveling at how much she’s grown;
cooking a lovely dinner of rib-eye steaks, baked potatoes and wilted spinach followed up by a Seville marmalade steamed pudding (I’m unjustifiably proud of my first batch of marmalade!);
being served said pudding in bed for breakfast;
sorting out a few last details with the builder at the hut- he even took down his builder’s signs at the front gate;
cleaning the hut as a team so it was done more quickly;
sitting for a moment in the sun coming through the bi-fold door while we ate toast and vegemite;
planting out five cider apple trees, four quince trees and a prune tree in the orchard (stage 3) and protecting them from marauding wallabies;
cooking a roast chicken in the Weber BBQ for Sunday’s dinner and chatting about how much we enjoyed our weekend but looking forward to falling asleep!

Sorry it probably sounds a little saccharine, but then we have only been married for four months and living in our hut for two of those so we’re still in that honeymoon phase!

Yes I am addicted

2011-08-18T17:15:00.005+10:00

I had to head up to Canberra for a quick work trip this week.
This gave me the perfect opportunity to go and stay at the University House at ANU.
Ever since we began collecting Australian mid-century furniture last year, and I found out that my favourite designer, Fred Ward, had designed all the furniture at the Uni House I’ve been desperate to visit. It’s a bit sad really!

The House was built in the 1950’s and it was home to all of the research students and professors of the University at the time. Very much styled on the colleges of Oxford and Cambridge it was, for a time, referred to as “Oxbridge in the Bush”.

To me as I walked through the front entrance into the garden beyond and looked at the wings of the building that surrounded it I felt as if I had stepped back 60 years. I wanted the young (albeit all male) academics to be strolling around discussing their research, meeting in the library to read, having a special dinner in the Great Hall, traipsing into the breakfast room together.

I’m at home in the university environment. After heading to my local one straight from school, I’ve never managed to leave, finding myself a job at the uni and a husband who feels exactly the same and works there too!

Anyway, I walked around the path to my section of the building, each six rooms had their own stairwell, and my room was on the top floor. I opened the door (sadly with an electronic swipe card) and there it was. A room full of the original myrtle (I think) furniture designed by Fred Ward. My own desk and chair, wardrobes, and lounge chairs and a separate bedroom and en suite. A small personal balcony with the original balustrade would have been a lovely spot to sit and drink a cup of tea in the late afternoon sun.

I rang Rob to tell him all the details, and I think for a moment he was worried that I wasn't coming home! But I did admit that I prefer my own little hut with our personal collection of
Fred Ward pieces to the Uni house.

I would thoroughly recommend a stay there if you are in Canberra (it's very close to the middle of town) and particularly if you are keen on visiting a part of our cultural history.

Exciting news on the furniture front at the hut- the long awaited window seat is nearing completion. We visited the workshop this morning to go over a few last details and we should have it by the end of next week. Rob and I are beside ourselves. I can't wait to show you.

Good food weekend

2011-08-08T10:25:00.007+10:00

The weather in Hobart was grey, rainy and cool.
This meant it was a perfect weekend for baking and cooking at the hut.

We had a little lunch party on Sunday to prepare for.

So we headed into town on Saturday morning to shop for vegetables, herbs and fresh ocean trout. Luckily C & C cupcake factory are now going to be at Salamanca markets, so we stocked up on salted chocolate chip biscuits, chocolate meringues (nice and nutty with hazels) and chocolate brownies. We also picked up a few loaves of bread from Pigeon Hole.

For Sunday's lunch we made 3 dips (hummus, red pepper and baba ghanooj), drained yoghurt for labnee, crispy lavosh and pitta bread, green beans in tomato, ocean trout with a tahini/yoghurt sauce topped with coriander, mint, chilli, red onion, walnut and sumac salad, a Persian love cake, and baklawa. Sorry the only dish I took a photo of was the baklawa straight out of the oven. It smelled delightful and extravagantly I used pistachios so it was very pretty! Lunch was lovely, but we all felt extremely full afterwards, in fact I struggled to eat breakfast this morning.

Last but not least, our favourite avocadoes are back in season- Reed. They're huge, but their flesh is so buttery, we ate them in a salad with some crispy cos lettuce earlier in the week.

I live here

2011-08-05T16:39:00.005+10:00

I am already counting down the days to the start of daylight savings (58 days).

At the moment I'm enjoying every extra minute of daylight at the hut.

I woke up yesterday and saw the sun rise and I realised how extremely happy I am to be living at the hut.

It's my home.

Learning to slow down...

2011-08-01T12:19:00.025+10:00

I couldn't go through another weekend of frantic jobs, just to ensure I ticked them all off my list. We tried to be better at slowing down. Friday night was a good start, a bottle of French red with a lovely French Brie and an Italian hard cheese pressed inside grapes. We lingered at our table chatting and enjoying the cheeses.

The weather was a little kinder this weekend- warmer, some sun, although the occasional shower did catch us unawares. Rob did have an important project- building a compost bin- our compost has been going to waste, and as we don't have rubbish collected making sure we cut down on our waste is paramount. So while he started sawing and measuring, I baked a chocolate cake- after watching Annabel Langbein's tv show, the Free Range Cook, we couldn't resist the book. For once I am trying to be good and cook all the things we'd like to try from a new book- this resolution may be sorely tested soon, Rob has just ordered 15 news books from Amazon (only 13 are cookbooks!)

I made sure we took the time to enjoy a cup of tea, and a few walks around the block to watch the dogs wrestle in the mud.

The hut is quite peaceful- although this weekend we had several types of bird visitors, our resident pair of geese (they have adopted us), flocks of native ducks who appeared to be fighting over the dam, cheeky currawongs that liked to tease Claudia and the occasional robin. I'd love to get clever enough to recognise all their calls and songs. But at the moment I just listen and wonder what they're trying to say.

We did go shopping on Saturday, we've been living without a mirror in our bathroom since we moved in. As someone who is extremely short sighted and has to put in contact lenses every day this has been a bit of a trial- the little hand mirror on the bench top wasn't going to cut it for much longer. So we headed into town to visit our favourite second hand furniture shop, after looking around we couldn't really find the right one, but we had a chat to the owner, and knowing our fondness for retro he ran out the back and came back with a simple blackwood framed mirror. Back home it was actually a bit big for our bathroom, but suited the guest bathroom better so we swapped the round mirror to our room and hung the new mirror up. It was a little marked from water or the sun, but as I was oiling the kitchen joinery I just ran the cloth over the frame and it improved it markedly.

We made good use of our kitchen on Saturday night and cooked a special meal, just for us. I steamed some mussels open, then topped them with a salsa of lemon rind and flesh, roasted and chopped up almonds, garlic and parsley. Then we blitzed them under our grill. I was quite proud of these, sorry I didn't get a picture, they were begging to be eaten. Rob tea smoked a piece of Salmon in the Weber, it just had a marinade of whiskey, sugar and salt. We ate it with a potato bread from Sweet Envy and a bottle of bubbles. The salmon was so tender, meltingly so, like it was confit. A slice of chocolate cake with a wicked ganache icing and a cup of chocolate tea for dessert. Another excellent meal together. It's still such a novelty for us both to be able to cook in the kitchen together. We love it.

Sunday was spent finishing the compost bin, I was even allowed to use the power tools to help! Then we put a second coat of tung oil on the kitchen cabinets, and then while we were at it we decided to oil all our retro furniture, rejuvenating them beautifully.

We're getting better at living at the hut now, maybe we'll be able to relax once the long awaited window seat is finished, which I'm hoping is soon!

My weekend

2011-07-25T15:35:00.006+10:00

Normally I would say our weekend- but I think Rob would like to be disassociated with my new camera! The iphone app Instagram was my new favourite as I snapped away happily, editing the images by scrolling through the different looks. Sorry to the purists, I may never grasp photoshop or Lightroom, but this I can do!

The weekend was sunny, thank goodness. So we spent time indoors and out, baked and cleaned, moved gravel (well that was Rob) and had our friends around for a lazy Sunday afternoon bbq.

Nigella's Doughnut French Toast in bed.

Mid-afternoon winter sun in our bedroom.

A tuckered out puppy who fell asleep in her food bowl!

Nigella doing her best sad face. German Shepherds know how to work that look to their advantage!

Some lemon almond biscuits I cooked up.

I was struck by this strange double orange.

The hut ready for our bbq.

Well you may mock but I had fun!

Hello new toy

2011-07-22T16:45:00.004+10:00

So our old phone was looking more than a little sad. It was about 5 years old, had been dropped several times, Claudia had personalised it with her teeth and it was on the old network so we had zero reception at the hut. We've been popping outside to call people as it's slightly better out there. But that's not exactly ideal.
On Wednesday I dropped it into a glass of water, I promise accidently.
So today I treated myself to one of these. Just waiting for them to process the contract and we'll be connected and ready to go.
I admit, I'm more excited than I should be!

May I have a weekend now?

2011-07-18T09:48:00.008+10:00

Rob and I are in a rush, obviously. Although we'd been organised enough to do our shopping on Friday night so we didn't waste time through the weekend, our weekend disappeared in a flash.
We'd picked up some Comte, Brillat Savarin and a third French cheese with some Pigeon Hole bread from Bottega Rottolo. We scurried home to savour our cheeses with some wine and just sat and chatted. Very civilised, we decided it might have to become our Friday ritual.
Saturday dawned, with the promise of sun once the frost melted and the fog lifted. An early morning delivery of fine crushed rock got Rob excited.
I took a moment to take a picture of our new arm chairs. We're qutie happy with these little beauties, 1961 Fler Narvik chairs in blackwood, with new upholstery, webbing and cushions? A bargain even with the freight from Adelaide SA!

Sadly my photo shoot was cut short by an impatient puppy.

I kepy myself busy inside with baking bread following this recipe, cleaning our hut, making some vegetable soup for lunch, baking a tea cake, and making spanokopita for our dinner.
By the end of the first day after extensive excavations most of the gravel was laid out.

On Sunday I oiled all the kitchen joinery with Chinawood oil. A job that had been on the to do list since we moved in 3 weeks ago. It doesn't actually smell so bad, and is very forgiving of my painting technique.

With the gravel done and the oiling we did drive off to pick up our fruit trees from Woodbridge Fruit Tree farm, with the hoped for bounty of quinces and cider apples.
Rob moved onto letterbox building while I did a little baking which is quite a delight in our new kitchen.

At the end of the day we sat exhausted over a dinner of baked potatoes with Cygnet bacon and cheese. We crawled off to bed early as we could barely keep our eyes open. I hope we learn to slow down a little at the hut!

High tea at the Hut in the snow

2011-07-14T14:58:00.007+10:00

Sorry again- things have been flat out at the hut. The weather still hasn't been behaving for a photo shoot, we've had hail, sleet, rain, gale force winds, and snow, but no sun. The hut looks best in the sun.

Last weekend was super busy. We hosted a 16th birthday for Rob's daughter. She decided on a blue themed high tea with 7 of her closest friends. I may have gotten a little excited about the decorating. I have discovered tissue paper pom poms in a big way. I'd found a picture of a party with pom poms, chinese paper lanterns and honeycomb decorations hanging above a table and that was it. I found a great website for a company in the states with the most amazing array of paper decorations, Devra, a family operated business who produce them in New York. The exchange rate was excellent at the time, so I may just have ordered 60 decorations? If anybody wants to borrow them for a blue party let me know!
Throw in some paper fans, a parasol, some white flowers and the decorations were under control (if a little excessive!)

The dessert table had lemon cupcakes (my new favourite recipe thanks to Jo and Michelle), with cream cheese frosting or as butterfly cakes, homemade marshmallow and turkish delight, wrapped bon bons (mini toblerones), Italian chocolates, gingerbread teacup and teapot biscuits, and blue macarons. We also made a batch of gluten free, dairy free, vegan cupcakes for the birthday girl.

The girls braved the snow to get to the hut (I was worried that we might have to cancel) and sat happily chatting over sushi, egg and prosciutto sandwiches and rice paper rolls, playing with their fans. They all wanted to pose with the parasol- not terribly appropriate with snow flurries in the background! After selecting their desserts and drinking strawberry and cream T2 tea, they decided singing and dancing was in order! Must have been all that sugar.

Rob and I finally got to sit for the first time after 11 hours straight. The dogs were a little worried by the singing!
The birthday girl had a lovely day, they all got home safely and we crawled into bed by 8.30pm!

The best news

2011-07-04T12:35:00.006+10:00

Sorry I have been a very slack blogger of late.

I do have a pretty good excuse- we have finally moved into our brand spanking new hut.

For the first couple of days it was quite surreal. We've waited a long time for this (4.5 years) and it didn't seem to matter how many times we've imagined it, the real thing is something else entirely.

Waking up during the night and looking out at the stars, I've forgotten how they are so much more spectacular away from a city.
Looking out the french doors in our bedroom at the bush opposite.
Watching Rob and the dogs go on their morning perimeter walk over the frosty grass.
Catching glimpses of the geese in our garden through a window as I wander by.
It is so quiet- which I love.

Everyone keeps asking us what's it like to finally be in; Rob and I decided it's like we're big children "playing" house.

We love our kitchen. Having everything in its proper place. A pantry where you can see everything. The perfect bench height for us. What seems likes acres of bench space. A new oven that works!

We've been so good since we've moved, we've been eating all of our meals at the table (we had slipped into couch meals before).

Our first weekend has been a whirl of cleaning, unpacking (still), baking, visits, planning for a high tea next week for Rob's daughter's 16th birthday, and a lovely dinner at Red Velvet Lounge in Cygnet (which as an aside was the best steak we've eaten in ages, with of course Béarnaise sauce, chips and salad- Rob commented that he wanted his last meal to be steak and chips cooked by Steve!)

So busy I didn't take any photos! So I will have to get myself organised pronto.

Finally this blog can begin properly- the hut chronicles have started for real.

Mini-break

2011-06-22T17:03:00.004+10:00

Rob and I took a week off. We jokingly called it our honeymoon.
We spent the entire week at the hut.
We (well mainly Rob!) painted the shed doors blue, painted the down pipes to match the roof, coated the remaining timber boards on the back of the laundry hut, oiled the internal timber walls, moved some furniture, moved the rest of our pot plants and planted them in the garden, and helped with the installation of our kitchen, which was very exciting.
It is so very close now.
We had perfect blue skies for most of the week, so one evening we took some shots of the hut with the lights on (mainly just for the novelty of switching them on!)

Some shots of the kitchen in progress- the bench tops are incredibly smooth to touch. Since these photos we have timber cladding and drawers on the back of the main bench, the internal drawer parts have been fitted above, the sink has been plumbed in and the oven and hotplate are installed. Progress shots to come.

Frosty mornings and macarons

2011-06-08T12:09:00.011+10:00

Clear blue skies over frost covered grass, I can scarcely believe we'll be living here soon.

The dogs thought the crunchy grass was excellent for chasing and wrestling on:

The leaves have nearly all dropped from our Candian Red Maple Tree- winter is definitely here now.

We are loving the sun coming into our living room early in the morning.

Finally on our flying trip to Melbourne we enjoyed tapas at Movida, shopping at Ikea, Myer, Typo, T2 and KikkiK, lunch at Earl Canteen and visiting this gorgeous little macaron shop in Hardware Lane, La Belle Miette. We bought 6 different flavours (Raspberry, 72% Cocoa Single Origin Chocolate, Caramel a la Fleur de Sel, Olive Oil & Vanilla, Pistachio & Violet & Blueberry). Not only were they beautiful to look at, but they were sublime to eat!

Shhh, a little secret...

2011-05-31T16:49:00.005+10:00

My secret will only be of interest to those of you who are lucky enough to live in Southern Tasmania, within driving distance of the patisserie Sweet Envy.
Last weekend we discovered Alistair Wise's potato bread.
This weekend we headed straight to Sweet Envy on Saturday morning.

Of course we meant only to buy the Potato bread.
But the guy serving us asked the question "have you tried the other breads?"
When we said no, he proceeded to describe all of the loaves.

Rob listened attentively, I watched for his reaction.
"we'll have one of each then!"

So we ended up with a lovely chewy ciabatta, a dense potato and bush honey sourdough and the potato bread. Oh and a lemon macaron and a pecan sticky bun.

Our pile of white paper bags on the countertop caught the attention of Alistair himself as he wandered in, he exclaimed "now that's the way to go!"
I recognised him from magazine photos, and I have to admit, I may have gushed just a little, when I told him how "amazing" the potato bread is. (Afterwards I thought I could have thought of something a bit better than amazing, obviously I have been watching too much of a certain reality cooking show at the moment!)

It's chewy, salty, buttery, crisp, like a giant chip with olives and rosemary.
Apparently it's better warm (according to the guy serving us), although we had to admit it didn't have a chance on getting anywhere near an oven before we were going to devour it.

Claudia approved too.

I had to share it with you- but please don't tell too many people!

Big week...

2011-05-27T10:14:00.006+10:00

May I just say that blogger is being so painful- I haven't been able to comment on any of my favourite blogs and it's killing me!

Progress this week at the hut includes:

Finishing off the secret door and cladding the door to the hot water cylinder in celery top. They look great.

Plumbing in the toilets and sinks, outdoor taps and our outdoor work sink (we inherited a second hand kitchen sink to use as a potting bench or to wash vegies one day).

Some more external lights (although there are a few left to finish off).

Finishing all the myrtle skirting boards.

Finally finishing the last bit of outdoor cladding on the laundry hut.

Sanding and coating the floorboards in the living room.

Finishing the flashing on the ends of the hut roof- it looks very smart.

Some progress (but probably not enough) on the kitchen build off site.

Best of all - the builder's portaloo has gone! It was quite a shock to drive down and not see the bright blue tardis!

The other big news is that I became an Aunty for the first time overnight, I'm just about to head off and meet my new neice, Maisy.

Hope you have a lovely weekend.

Nigella patiently waiting for the hut to be finished. She's much better than me!

Our weekend:

2011-05-24T14:38:00.007+10:00

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.

Impatient to be there

2011-05-16T16:55:00.004+10:00

This photo was taken at Easter, some landscaping has happened since, but poor Rob has been flat chat trying to actually work as well as chase up numerous fitting choices such as lights and carpet etc., that I haven't had the heart to ask for a more recent photo.

I have to say I'm over this whole building caper. I should be more excited than I am.
But well, I'm not. Not excited by mess and mud. Not excited about chasing up lights because we didn't realise the house hadn't been wired for low voltage lights. Of the timber not turning up for the internal walls.

I walked around inside on my own yesterday, looking at each room. Trying to picture us there. It's so lovely and quiet inside our hut. It was blowing a gale outside but the sound was muted inside, I felt protected from the Autumn weather.

We were both happy to see our celery top kitchen benchtops start to take shape at the builders workshop. That was definitely pleasing to see! The myrtle window seat and bookshelves look gorgeous too.

I think I'll be excited when I hold that occupancy certificate in my hand. Or when I get to put our things into the kitchen or our wardrobe. Make our bed and go to sleep that first night in our bedroom.

Hopefully our wait is nearly over.