Snap it {bright}

Yikes two posts in one week!

The theme for Snap it this week is bright.

It wasn't very bright last night at the hut when we got home around 7pm. No electricity. I had been expecting it over the weekend when we had the gale force winds (over 100kmph) but for some reason a tree fell over yesterday afternoon and took out the power in our area. A quick phone call to the power company wasn't terribly comforting, "restoration time unknown, call back in 90 minutes".

So we got back in the car and headed down the road to the local pub for a counter meal. Whilst not the most exciting meal we'd had in a while, it was warm, we didn't have to cook it, they had lights, flushing toilets and running water and a nice wood heater to sit by. Rob and I made it last as long as we could, reminiscing about when was the last time we'd eaten at a pub together. We're thinking 2009!

When we got back to the hut, the power was still off, so we lit a tray of candles, jumped in bed and watched an episode of Northern Exposure on the iPad. The power flicked back on around 10pm.

The weather has just turned for the worse again, so I might ring the power company before we drive home, just to check there isn't a reported outage in our area!


Playing along at Faith, Hope and a whole lotta Love.

Monday's Menu

What a weekend, the gale force winds were quite frightening at times, and our little hut isn't even anywhere near the big trees! The little hut withstood it all pretty well, although some of the creaking and window flexing was a little off putting. Garden wise we sustained some damage to a few of our boundary eucalypt trees (as in one was lying flat on the ground!) but it may still recover after being staked back up.

I hibernated inside, whilst Rob braved the weather to move a truck load of top soil into the last three vegetable garden beds. Instead I picked up the newborn cross stitch sampler that I bought, ahem, two years ago to complete for my niece's birth. I'm afraid I didn't get very far. I picked it on the design (cute native animals and flowers) but didn't realise just how fine the fabric is, so the stitching seems very small. But now that I've started again, hopefully I can be a bit more dedicated and get it done in time for her 2nd birthday!

Menu wise this week:

Monday: Soba noodles with silver beet (from our garden), with soy and sesame seeds.
Tuesday: Pink ling (on the BBQ) with asparagus. (hmm not sure about Pink ling.)
Wednesday: Vegemite toast after a very filling bowl of mushroom and bacon soup at Jackman and McRoss for lunch.
Thursday: Linguine with pecorino and peas.
Friday: Silver beet, speck and parmesan frittata.
Saturday: Slow roasted beef brisket with baked potatoes.
Sunday: Minestrone, with more of our silver beet.

Can you tell the silver beet is doing well in our garden?

Treats this week included a cheese burger from Devil's Kitchen and apple, cinnamon and almond muffins.

Monday's Menu

Well Spring certainly started with a bang in southern Tasmania. Blue skies, warm temperatures. The weekend was perfect.
We pottered in the garden, weeding my flower beds, Rob installed a new overflow pipe (the outflow from our tank currently ended in the middle of my rose bed which is not ideal), he has redirected it to the veggie garden where we hope to put a water butt (a barrel). My anemones have started to flower, blue, pink and white and the occasional rogue red one!

Yesterday we headed into town and had yum cha at Me Wah with Rob's daughter for Father's day.  We love it, trying steamed dumplings (pork, prawn, vegetarian and trevalla) the obligatory roast duck and pork ribs. It was certainly buzzing yesterday, with families of all different combinations shared lunch.

I must admit we came back home to the hut and had a nap to sleep off all that food!

Menu wise this week -
Monday: Stir fry rice.
Tuesday: We headed out with my work colleagues to Ethos. To eat a series of tapas style dishes. My favourites were the fried chickpeas and a chorizo sausage cooked in red wine with potatoes. It's a lovely space, and the food was ok. But now that I've been I probably won't be in a rush to revisit.
Wednesday: We stopped by Bottega Rotolo for some lunch (beautiful minestrone for me) and had an asparagus, speck and parmesan frittata for dinner.
Thursday: Scallops with bacon on rice.
Friday: Penne pasta with pecorino, peas and speck. This was delicious!
Saturday: Beef shin stew with mash potato.
Sunday: After our big yum cha feast we had some leftover beef shin stew with pasta.

Monday's Menu

Back on track.
Sorry I'm yet to fulfil my promise of a risotto recipe post, but I will get there.

This week has been another quiet one. The only trip out from the hut over the weekend was to head to nearby Kettering and walk around the point (waving to the Bruny Island ferry as we left) and around to Trial Bay. A nice little stroll through some Allocasuarina forest and then some open eucalypt forest.
The puppies loved it. First of all it was a new walk. Second of all it was nice and muddy, so they came back with mud splattered bellies and paws. Thirdly, whilst we sat on the park bench handily placed on the point to watch the ferry they could paddle, and "accidentally" go in too deep!

So the menu this week:

Monday: Beef Shin stew with boiled potatoes.
Tuesday: Beef Shin stew with added mushrooms, potatoes and broccoli.
Wednesday: Stir fry rice with omelette.
Thursday: Pasta with Parmigiano-Reggiano, peas and parsley.
Friday: Mt Gnomon pork chops braised in white wine, fennel and apple with mash.
Saturday: Slow cooked lamb shoulder, with potato gratin and peas.
Sunday: Lamb, barley and vegetable soup.

A few treats during the week included a lunch date at Tricycle for pork meatballs on white bean mash, and a flying visit to Sweet Envy on Friday for our favourite potato and rosemary bread, and a few sweet treats. Rob picked a lemon meringue doughnut (which apparently was excellent, he declared Alistair a genius) and I had a Bada bing chocolate caramel biscuit, which was very good but I struggled to finish it.

Hope you had an enjoyable weekend.

Snap it {straight lines}

Sorry guys I seem to have lost my blogging mojo. Hoping it comes back soon. I'm still reading and enjoying your blogs and I hope to post that risotto recipe soon.

So a short post tonight.
Straight lines. Our hut is full of them. In fact the only curved items are the sinks in the bathrooms and the round mirror above one of them. Everything else is angular. I like it that way. The builder told us he'd never built a house with such long external walls (27m)! I love this photo of our hut taken last summer after the great terrace building. Gosh I miss those long sunny days.


Playing along here.