Sunday morning at our's

Perfection in a tin awaiting chilling and devouring at the beach this afternoon for our Sunday Potluck with friends. My Grandmother's Rich Rich Cheesecake is so divine. Today's however is missing it's sour cream topping, and is instead laced with fresh Lemon. The citrus in the garden is about to go wild. Hmm. Marmalade recipe anyone? I'll be on the hunt in particular for Grapefruit recipes.

Apples awaiting their destiny either in a tiny hand (as the one in the basket has already been) or in a cake, crumble, sauce, or preserve. We're at the end of our Apple run now. My goodness - there's a lot of apples on this farm. It's lovely to share them. 

plants and garlic awaiting the veggie patch. We've had a really rainy and wet couple of weeks, but it is meant to dry out now a little bit. Will consult my moon chart to see when to plant, and get them going outside! Unfortunately I was not disciplined enough to save enough garlic to plant. Too many of those precous cloves were put into the skillet with butter and wine, or blended thru soups, or blitzed in the aoli.  I will end up buying some more as we want a BIG crop this year. 

I am now making our own cheese. No more $11 blocks from the Supermarket. No, we now have Amy's Farmhouse cheese. The kids like it by the slice, it melts into lovely oooey gooey'ness. We're sold. And it's raw. Could it get any better?

And now, a little tour thru our renovated house. It will be a year in October since we've moved in. My friend Kellie came down from Queensland and put blood, sweat and tears into a rampant week of gutsy renno's and I was on the phone with her yesterday, and she was really wondering how it is working to LIVE in. Let me tell you... we're happy as clams. So... Without further ado - here are a few snaps of the place now that we live here. I restrained myself from going around picking up all the crap that finds it's way onto EVERYTHING, so these are the spontaneous Sunday morning pictures. Enjoy. xx

Our outdoor Queensland table has been brought inside. And we LOVE it. This is the latest change as it's only been in for 2 weeks. The old table made it's new home as my oversized desk/sewing/kids table in my office.

don't worry, Kellie - the 70's boombox is still alive and pumping out music in the kitchen, just a bit more discreet than before!

Well, off to finish up my farmhouse cheese and put the cheesecake in the fridge, and to hmm - get out of my jammies! 

xx

Raw Milk Yoghurt Recipe

Okay, I'm meant to be doing the accounts and paying bills, laundry, blah blah blah blah...

But I figured a better use of my time is to give you wonderful people a recipe for my

Homemade Raw Milk Yoghurt.

Here's the go:

1. Get a stockpot full of beautiful Raw Milk.
Preferably Biodynamic or Organic. Thank you dear husband....

2. get your tools organized. you'll need:

-thermometer (I use Fahrenheit, because I'm still old school American)

-big ol whisk

-Fowlers Vacola or other preserving kit with a thermometer - the point being that you are going to hold the yoghurt at 110 degrees Fahrenheit for about 10 hours. Put in just enough water till it's at the bottom of the plate and set to 110 degrees to warm up.

-calcium chloride drops, real yoghurt culture, and pro-biotic culture all available easily from Green Living Australia.

-glass jars - enough to contain all of your yoghurt with lids - all sparkling clean and sterilized. (I don't do the latter - I like bugs)

3. Pop your milk on a low heat.

4. put in about 4 drops of Calcium chloride - this makes it thicker.

5. put in about 1/2 cup of good quality milk powder. this too makes it thicker. Stir it thru completely.

6. drink tea. stir occasionally, check temperature...  we're aiming for 105-110 Fahrenheit here.

7. bring slowly up to 105-110 degrees Fahrenheit. Have a chat in the middle with husband re: boring part with bearings.... blah blah blah blah....

8. bring off heat. add the teenyist tinyist bit of yoghurt culture and about 1/16th of a teaspoon of pro-biotic culture. Stir 30 seconds.

9. decant into your bottles.

10. pop into your fowlers - preheated with water just to the plate at the bottom. You only just want the water touching the bottom of the jars.

11. Pop the lid on and let it's magic happen for 10 hours. 

12. thoroughly chill.

13. watch it disappear into the mouths of babes and all mankind alike.

We eat it nearly EVERY morning, and sometimes thru the day.
Our favourite ways are with some frozen black or blueberries.

But mine is with a dollop of fresh lemon curd stirred thru with meusli. 

Bon Appetit!

Chilly, no?

Oh these boys.

Good mates. --Finally. It's taken a while to blossom, but brotherly comaradarie has hit.
Monty is seeming to keep up with the full bore of a 5 year old.

Doesnt matter it its mud, trucks, drawing, reading, building, bouncing, wrestling.
Half pint will always give it a red hot go. And now... Mr 5 will tolerate the inexperience, and have a good belly laugh to see him thru.

Be still my heart.

time marches on...

How much longer will I be able to squash them all in the tub for a scrub all together?

How in the world are we chugging almost half of 2011 away?
Stay small and innocent, my babes. Forever.

sourdough

Oh Dear, it's chilly out there!

I've been honkering down inside waiting for a break in the cold and rain to do anything outside! Lucky I got my broccoli planted the other day. You should see the bunnies. They are so sorry looking bracing themselves in the wind trying to nibble on their grass and silverbeet.

A dear friend of mine has shared some sourdough starter with me, and we've made a few loaves. Some better than others, but we are using Spelt flour and so it's a bit more of a guessing game than it would be with wheat. It came with explicit and strict instructions, and as long as I play by the rules - we get a good loaf. Playing by the rules is never a strong suit of mine.... but... I digress....

All batches, bar one have been totally edible and enjoyable. One batch however were named "hockey pucks" and we were worried that we would have to undertake some dentistry work if we continued trying to eat them.

Hope you are staying warm and happy. xx

oh yes, we are!

Happy Mother's Day to all those fab mama's out there!

and to my mama...

xx 

and... a little message for Grandma Jo and Nanny...

Thursday.

don't you love it when a pile of fluff get's a few stitches and becomes a treasured possession?

This little ballerina sure does. 

She's having a rest in it before taking her daddy to his first ballet practice this arvo.

I told him he'll be in fits of giggles while he watches the little girls do their practice with all the seriousness of a judge.  They are truly too cute. 

But as for this morning - it needed a good workout first...

and we have a very happy little miss fluffing about today...

Bax loves climbing this tree to collect the apples.  

Monty is far too busy to strike a pose. 

Making sure his daddy doesn't get more than earshot away to hear his constant calling of "Daaa"

Made my Grandmother's delicious apple sauce today. Well - not exactly.... These apples need no added sugar, and very little else than a cinnamon stick thrown in for the boil and the zest of a lemon. And of course - the bit that really makes applesauce perfect - a tablespoon of butter at the end - to gloss it up and make it just right.  

Have a happy day. xx