Duke and Dutchess

How beautiful was that wedding? 

I got all goose-bumpy when the princes got into their car in their stunning uniforms.
And Kate - so beautiful. I reckon the borrowed crown was amazing!

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Pippa was so lovely. How much fun do you think that was for their "commoner" family!?
I guess that they have had a few years to get used to the royal traditions, but this wedding must have been ultra special.

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...and one fail for the day...

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what did you think of it all? Did you stay up for the kiss?

Happy Easter

Our morning started with chocolate and hot cross buns... How about you?

We decorated 37 easter eggs and gave 30 to Fishypalooza's brekky efforts. Heaps of messy fun.

Have a go at my BEAUTIFUL homegrown beetroot! Roasted with a bit of Olive oil and fresh Tarragon.

loving my new egg shaped stacking bowls. a wee bit "easterish" no?

big kids still have remnants of their most awesome face painting from lastnight. 

they also have very dirty pillowcases. 

the egg hunt was fun - that E. B. was very generous and clever!

afternoon of a snuggly nap and we're back off to Fishypalooza for some more music and fun.

Whoever invented the Tiramisu is not welcome in my house. 

I made homemade mascarpone and cream and blah blah blah blah blah blah.

Fairly in depth if you want authenticity. 

After spending many hours - authenticity is for the birds.

I hope it tastes good - but will not know as I can't bear to look at it again till tomorrow!

Happy Easter. Don't get a tummy-ache and don't make Tiramisu.

Fishypalooza!

Have just returned home from a little big party called fishypalooza. Happy easter friends. Xx

lucky duck

I'm one lucky ducky.  My friend Emily and her beautiful family have graced us with a visit from Queensland! We have just spent the last 3 days farting around at the beach, Melbourning, and Penguin visiting with our little tribe of 6 children in tow.

Monty and Skye had matching jammies. I reckoned they looked like oompa loompa's.

Skye makes me clucky. She is such a little piece of work. 

Those ringlets had me wrapped around her little finger and bingee belly.

Missing them already. Feeling rather blessed to have good friends.

xx

Mama Connect

We had a monumentally mama fantastic day on Wednesday - making making making.

This is my favourite picture of the day - Mama Sita busy with it all

Mama Elizabeth - rolling the verrrry looonnnng piece of Organic Spelt Lasagna

kids were entertained - we had NINE little ones at our my house for the day 9 to almost 5.

ABC 2 did get a bit of airplay!

Our group met at 9 to discuss the makings and split up to 2 houses. There were 7 of us in all with a multitude of children. 

FOUR kilos of flour & FOURTY eggs make.....

a whole lotta pasta!

All in all we made all that pasta, 4 stockpots worth of fresh Ricotta, 2 Fowlers kits of Apples and Pears preserved, a lot of Lemon Curd, and a lot of fresh Pesto. It was a lot of fun, and produced  a lovely stockpile of fresh homemade food for our fridges and pantry's.  

This is what I do on a weekly basis - fresh yoghurt. I love to share it, and we have it nearly every morning with a bit of muesli, fruit, whatever on top.  I make it using proper yoghurt culture and Lactobacillus Acidophilus and Bifidobacterium cultures from Green Living Australia. I make a stockpot full and fill into these 600ml jars, pop them in the Fowlers overnight on 110F. The yoghurt is amazingly creamy and the kids love it. It has no added fluff and sugar. Yummo!

I know it may seem like we make a lot of our food around here. And we do! The kids love to help me make our food. Nic milks the cows and tends to the chooks and runs the farm. He often has a kid on his lap, in the paddock, or holding and handing out tools.  We have an abundance of fresh food, and it feels so good to make something that is wholesome, raw, and not full of rubbish.

These lessons of making food are the lessons that I hope to pass to the next generations. I often think of my Grandmothers and Great Grandmothers and Grandfathers - living from what they had - from the land, and in frugality.  Doing these things makes me feel so much more connected to LIFE. 

Offspring

Hurrah! Offspring is coming back. I loved the first season, and can't wait for the second.

Five F

Okay - so you might be wondering why I haven't been blogging much lately.

Well... I've been being mama socialite. Enter.... Five F

Fish Creek

Fortnightly

Friday night 

Family

Foodies

and here we are in our second gathering:

Here are the bits and pieces that we gather by:

The Nitty Gritty:

1. Fortnightly Friday nights on the 2nd and 4th Fridays of the month – come if you can, don’t if you can’t.
2. Bring Homemade food to share. Please bring your own crockery and cutlery if possible.
3. Leave the host’s home cleaned up and sparklier than it was before the dinner
4. BYO - No excessive drinking/disorderly behaviour - be respectful
5. Use Organic and Homegrown (spray free) produce wherever possible.
            No coloured food or MSG.
6. No TV/DVD’s for children – just play and friendship
7. 6:00-6:30 eating time
8. Let your host know by lunchtime Friday that you are coming.

9. Sign up for a dinner at your place, we can email nights a month in advance so that everyone knows where the dinner is.

we ate and drank well. 

We had a great time and ate some terrific food. 

But I must say that the company was even better.  

We had osso buco, marinated chicken and cous cous, ricotta and spinach pie, roasted venison, organic sourdough, salads, red cabbage and apple, pesto pasta, homemade ricotta, vegetarian lasagna, apple and berry crumble, and Bavarian Apple Torte.

I can't wait to see what's on the menu for the next gathering!

There were a few requests for my Mother's sublime Bavarian Apple Torte. Don't let the name scare you off. It is a beautiful torte that isn't overly technical.

Bavarian Apple Torte:

crust:

1/2 c butter

1/3 c sugar

1/4 t vanilla

1 c flour

blitz in your food processor till small crumbs, or work thru the butter with your fingers till thoroughly combined with small crumbs.

- press into a springform (I line mine with baking paper on the base)

bake till a teeny bit golden.

Filling:

1 1/2 pkg. Philly Cream Cheese

1/2 c sugar

1 egg

1 t vanilla

process till rich and smooth

pour over base

Topping:

1/4 c sugar

1/2 t cinnamon

4 c peeled and sliced apples

toss together and put on top of filling

use a drip pan underneath the torte to catch liquid drips from wrecking your oven

bake at 190 C for 10 minutes reduce heat to 175 for 10 minutes

add slivered almonds to the top and bake for 15 minutes more.

cool completely in pan

serve chilled with a dollop of vanilla'd cream.

We are pretty keen on any recipes involving apples these days. We've got apples for days around here. It's great to share them too - we really need to get a stall at the end of the drive by next summer to sell our farm goods.

Stay tuned next week to find out about the OTHER group we've mustered up... Mama Connect. 

xx Amy