Snap it {favourite}

My favourite kitchen gadget.
Not particularly useful, but tied to some favourite memories.
Of my grandmother making her five grandchildren milkshakes in this.
It never seemed to matter if she ran out of milk, and it was a bottomless cup.
I can remember watching as the milk frothed up with bubbles, and sitting outside with a glass in the sun.

Over the weekend, I noticed a few bananas past their prime, giving me an excuse to bring out the Breville Dairy Bar. Banana smoothie, ahh.

Playing along over here.

Monday Menu

So I think you know we love good food, but on holidays we always visit Rob's family, and they take food to another level. We stocked up on supplies before heading away, Italian sparkling wine, a kilo of French cheese, some buffalo mozzarella, four loaves of bread. So we feasted on fresh tomatoes, basil and mozzarella on bread, a leek tart, and baba ganoush out on the deck at Rob's sisters house. Then headed inside for roast beef, duck ballotine, poached salmon, potatoes, stuffed peppers and mushrooms, onion gratin and salad.
After a short interval, beautiful slow roasted quinces, halva ice-cream, chocolate tarts and harvest cake appeared.
The next day we were sent on our way with a box of figs from Rob's parents. Pink and luscious, they make April a favourite time of year.
What else have we eaten over the week? BBQ'd ocean trout served with silverbeet. Pasta puttanesca. A simple paella. Pasta with fresh tomatoes, basil and lemon oil. Figs stuffed with Fetta and pine nuts and wrapped in prosciutto. Rib-eye steak with baked potatoes and mini zucchinis.
A delicious week.

The alphabet of me

This has been kicking around a few blogs so I thought I'd have a go at it.

Trying out our wardrobe with Claudia and Nigella 

A // Age: 33
B // Bed size: Queen. No room for me when there are two German Shepherds and Rob!
C // Chore that you hate: Ironing. Boring. So we go around a lot in creased clothes. I'll always remember my grandmother's advice "move around a lot and no one will notice!"
D // Dogs: Nigella (6.5yrs) and Claudia (1.5yrs). If you're a regular reader of my blog you will know just how spoilt they are.
E // Essential start to your day: Putting my contact lenses in. I don't feel awake until I do.
F // Favourite colour: Red. Ahem, quilt covers, clothes, window seats, napkins, dining chairs, lounge chairs, plates. Guilty as charged.
G // Gold or Silver: silver.
H // Height: 181cm, with the stretch marks to prove it. I grew so fast (14cm one year) that I still have the scars on my hips!
I // Instruments you play: piano, a long time ago. Romantically I have this dream of the third hut, with my grandmother's piano, and Rob sitting while I play Bach. I can dream.
J // Job title: Project Officer. Which doesn't really describe what I do, I manage the communication activities for a national marine observing system.
K // Kids: Rob's daughter, 16.5yrs.
L // Live: at the hut, in the channel region of southern Tasmania.
M // Mother’s name: Maria. My grandmother was Maria too , I think my Dad wanted to call me Maria too, but my Mum didn't want a 3rd Maria, so added a 'n' to make Marian. Hazel is my middle name and is my other grandmother's name.

Rob and I in our silly hats and gowns.

N // Nicknames: Maz (siblings) or Bunny (Rob).
O // Overnight hospital stays: Once to have all 4 wisdom teeth removed.
P // Pet peeve: I asked Rob what he thought this was, his reply "self-absorbed people". I know there's an element of narcissism in us all, but some people go beyond that, and it drives me crazy.
Q // Quote from a film: Well a TV show, the term "captain subtext" referred to in the UK comedy Coupling. Rob and I often use it, when we know that although we have or someone else has said one thing, really we/they meant something very different indeed!
R // Right or left handed: Right.
S // Siblings: I'm the eldest of 5. I have 2 sisters and 2 brothers.
T // Time you wake up: I wake up around 6.30, when I get up is a whole other matter...
U // Underwear: I'll let you in on a secret, Jockey comfort classics in bamboo. Soft, stripey and comfy.
V // Vegetable you hate: Brussel sprouts, i used to swallow them whole as a child!
W // What makes you run late: checking blogs or Instagram.
X // X-Rays you’ve had: hips, knee.
Y // Yummy food that you make: Again, if you read this blog I think you'll know we make a lot of food, and most of it I think is pretty tasty (just don't ask me to make scones, big failure), but the recipe that I get asked for most, and use the most, is Nigella's Chocolate Guinness cake with cream cheese frosting.
Z // Zoo animal: I have to admit that the last time I went to a zoo I found it a little depressing. The larger animals looked sad, or seemed to be acting a little crazy. That said, my favourite animal were the otters. They are such characters.

I like seeing animals out in nature, like this cutie on the East Coast of Tasmania. 

Well you might know a bit more about me now. Happy Easter. I'll be dropping by here over the holiday.

Snap it {green}

Nigella a few years ago now.
She is a beautiful dog (both in looks and temperament).
We were on our way to a beach holiday and visited Hollybank forest reserve. Nigella happily posed on top of this stone BBQ.

Playing along over at Faith Hope and a whole lotta love.

Monday's Menu: one word - cheese

This weekend was all about cheese.
I can't believe I ate cheese with bread or crackers for dinner three nights in a row. Well actually, maybe I can. Rob was on a field trip all weekend, so we thought we'd head to Bottega Rotolo and pick some cheeses for an easy dinner. We chose three (with Tina's expert guidance) a Shropshire Blue (that bright orange cheese), a Rondin de Brebis (sheep's cheese) and soft Saporini (cow, sheep and goat's cheese), with a bottle of Jansz and a loaf of Pigeon Hole bread it was the perfect way to finish off the working week. Rob headed off on his field trip early on Saturday morning, and I headed into town to shop for food. I had to pick up some little pork chipolata sausages from the Wursthaus and they were cutting a large wheel of Pyengana cheddar. I had the best of intentions, it was going to be saved for a treat to share at Easter. I had organised a lunch for my Mother's birthday on Sunday, and decided to do roasted chicken wings two ways. Rob was catering for the uni students with the same recipes on his field trip. Nigella's one pan sage and onion chicken and sausage, and Ross Dobson's lemon thyme chicken wings. They went down a treat yesterday, with some roast potatoes and salad. My sister had made a pavlova which was delicious and I made a lemon and coconut birthday cake (see the recipe below).
Anyway, I was so tired on Saturday after cutting up a zillion chicken wings and baking the cake I decided just to eat the left over cheese for dinner. Claudia accompanied me on the window seat, she loves cheese almost as much as us. Last night Rob returned home, and as I'd had the big birthday lunch, I wasn't feeling particularly hungry, Rob felt like a snack. I said "Well I bought a piece of..." resulting in us munching on cheddar with two dogs sitting very neatly beside us drooling!
Culinary highlights other than cheese, include sausages with home made relish, scrambled eggs and silverbeet, chicken and mushrooms casserole on pasta, and meatball soup.

Annabel Langbein's Lemon coconut cake. 

The cake is from Annabel Langbein's book Free Range in the City. Easy, delicious and feeds my massive family!

3 cups sugar
4 eggs
finely grated zest and juice of 4 lemons
2 cups neutral oil (I used rice bran)
1 3/4 cups plain unsweetened yoghurt
1/2 cup desiccated coconut
4 cups self raising flour
a pinch of salt

Coconut Icing
75 gm butter, softened not melted
250g cream cheese
1/2tsp coconut essence
4 cups icing sugar
1/2 cup desiccated coconut

Preheat the oven to 160C. Grease a 28-30cm springform tin and line with baking paper.
Place sugar, eggs, lemon zest and juice, oil and yoghurt into a food processor or mixer and whizz to combine.
Add coconut, flour and salt and pulse until just combined (don't overmix). It will be lumpy but that's fine! Transfer to the tin and bake about 1 1/2 hrs, until cooked (check with a skewer into the middle or until it's springy). Cool in the tin.
To make the icing put all the ingredients into the food processor and whizz or beat until smooth. It may need to go into the fridge for a little bit to firm up before you use it. Spread the icing over the top and sides of the cake.