Snow at the hut

The hut was made for snow. The magical snow dusting we awoke to yesterday seemed perfectly natural to us. The perfect white covering the weeds, the wallaby poop, the septic tank, the empty garden beds. I hope we don't have to wait so long for another snow day.





The dogs were in heaven, rolling and snuffling, eating and wrestling.

The girls and I made a tiny snowman.




A day to remember always.

31/52

Maggie: To tell you the truth, I held off taking portraits until this morning, as the forecast of snow was made late last week. We awoke to a perfect white blanket (well I did take a sneaky peek when I woke up at 3.30am, but it had only just started then), it was so beautiful. We rugged up in layers of polar fleece, mittens and hats and gumboots and headed outside for the girls first experience of snow. They were impressed. Maggie has been making up for not eating all that well during her cold. She is eating everything we put in front of her.
Elisabeth: She was pretty adept at throwing snowballs. Her final ball got the dslr right in the middle of the lens! 

Both of these photos were taken by Rob.

Joining in with Jodi's 52 portrait project.

A bonus photo in front of the hut.

29/52

Maggie: So grown up here. A friend made the girls the sweetest little ballerina tutus, which I can tell you, made their day. The squeals of excitement when they saw the netting coming out of the brown paper bag! Maggie declared "my favourite", a new phrase that has entered her vocabulary this week. They know (from watching Taylor Swift's Shake it Off and some Angelina Ballerina) they need to walk on their tippy-toes. 
Elisabeth: Had caught the dreaded cold and has been a little out of sorts this week. Poor Maggie has been on the wrong end of some of her grumpiness and has a few bite marks to prove it. Still her excitement over her tutu was a sight to behold. Elisabeth is all about pink and ballerinas and fairies. Not sure if that's going to change any time soon.

Joining in with Jodi at Practising Simplicity, a little late I admit, for her 52 portrait project.

Eek can't believe next week is the 30th portrait for the year, time is whizzing by. Although I am looking forward to a break from the endless colds and runny noses, barking coughs and the bitter cold of this winter. It seemed to start too early this year, and most sensible Tasmanians try and escape to warmer climes this time of year. I can't wait for the longer days and a bit of warmth.

23/52

Maggie: So solemn. So unlike her. I can't believe they'll be 18 months old this Thursday. This year is flying. Slow down little ones.
Elisabeth: Fitting that she sports a strawberry beanie. They love strawberries, even out of season.

A walk in the winter sunshine.

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

Winter morning

I wasn't much better at blogging this week! A full on week at work, mostly good but the head cold is still lingering on, making me feel a bit weary.
Yesterday I managed to injure both my big toes with a pull-up banner, they're bruised, sore and puffy. The day was topped off with the realization that my electric blanket no longer works. First world problems I know.
A couple of glasses of Italian red and a plate of pasta and meatballs did soothe.

But today is a new day. The sky is an unbelievable blue. I can hear birds. The sun is streaming through our French doors onto our bed. Rob made me breakfast in bed (freshly baked sourdough rye rolls with jam). But best of all, I just captured a photo of this gorgeous Mr Robin who keeps tap tap tapping on my window.
Happy winter weekend to you.

Snap it {cold}

Better late than never.

We've had a few frosts over the last few weeks. This photo is from the most serious one so far.
Our car was covered in tiny little icicles. A few people thought this was carpet when I posted it on Instagram.

Monday's Menu

Winter food is certainly the go at the hut at the moment.

Monday: Beef and mushroom pie with peas.
Tuesday: Ham hock and vegetable soup.
Wednesday: Beef stew on tagliatelle.
Thursday: Beef stew with mash and silverbeet.
Friday: A bowl of mashed potato! (I missed out on the food at the Crib championship as I arrived late. So found some leftover mash in the fridge).
Saturday: Roast chicken with potato, fennel, pumpkin and silverbeet. With an apple and mincemeat crumble for dessert (will post the recipe tomorrow).
Sunday: Chicken and pumpkin risotto with rocket salad (from our garden).

Frosty mornings and macarons

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!

Winter, actually...

I may have been a bit premature in my announcement of spring in my last post.
Winter is back with a vengeance this week in Tasmania.
But that’s ok.
It means I can snuggle under my Waverley woollen mill blanket on the couch with a heat pack.
It means waking up to check out the crispy white frosting on Mt Wellington.
It means slow cooking lamb necks with spices and sweet potato and eating it on couscous.
It means delicate pink flowers on my camellias.
It means mash potato, with everything!
It means Rob gets to wear the scarf it took me 3 years to knit.
It means fat furry flower buds on my Magnolia, with a promise of pretty starry flowers to come.
It means muddy paw prints inside the house, although Nigella does stop sometimes to have then towel dried.
Finally, it means that moment of total bliss as I bake myself on the electric blanket as I hop into bed.

Our weekend was:

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

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

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

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

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

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

Faking it

I'm cheating winter.

I bought some lily bulbs that were cold treated.

The poor things think it's summer.

This is a LA lilium called Royal Sunset.

I love the outrageous colour, like a fruit sorbet.
They have been flowering for weeks now,

somehow they make me feel warmer even though it's chilly outside.