Fishypalooza 2012 and other bits...

Well, another year of Fishypalooza has passed.  For us - it's a bit of rocking up, boogieing down a little, eating a little, getting the most aahmazing Face paintings from Harriet, enjoying the campfire and then heading home busted.  For most of the others - it's a 3 day camping and partying extravaganza up on the hill in Glorious Fish Creek.  This  year we did a farm tour - and we think it was pretty well appreciated - as one of the chicks that came out had beautiful compliments about the farm and felt moved by the whole experience.  ... Makes what we do all the more worthwhile!

Saturday morning saw the family out and about snapping up total bargains...

Mulcher $5 - Fridge $50 - Orchid $2 - Gumboots $2

bargain adorable soup bowls.

my total find for the day - food sealer system upwards of $300 for $70!

glass lined flasks

proper linen.

and this little jewel.  a little rare like hens teeth.
Nic wants to sell it on Ebay as it's so rare, but I'm a little attached to it already.

I love garage sales. Especially when everyone has something that I want - and cheap as chips.  Op shops are a little more hit and miss for us. And often, there's no really true treasures there because if there was - someone would have already put it into an antique shop with a hefty price tag! Garage sales are where it's at, baby!

a bit of chocolate hunting was had.  Nic swears next year that we will not have the chocolate frenzy.  it wasn't exactly a frenzy, but always seems to send the children into a sugar induced frenzy! I guess that's what you get when they're eating chocolate by 7 a.m.   What do you do about this - do you give in and let them have a massive sugar hit or do you curb it somehow?

the garlic is in.  this year we saved all of the bulbils from the scapes - so that the year after next it will be crazy town garlic around here.  There's also oodles of cloves to keep us in supply again. Sign and fence by Baxter...

And this little miss and her best mate Clyde. Too cute to not take a snap of.

In the kitchen in the last 30 hours we have concocted The MOST beautiful ruby rosy quince jelly, Lamb Stew, Bread rolls for said stew, Feijoa cake, butter and yoghurt.  I'm ready for my cup of Chamomile tea and put my feet up. Love having the kiddos home playing playing playing all day.  School doesn't leave much time for that does it?

Roasted Beetroot and Chocolate Cake

Beetroot and Chocolate cake

original recipe here

Although a *messy* endeavour, totally worth it!

I spent most of the day out in the garden yesterday - autumn gardening - and pulling up all of the bulls blood beetroot.

The evening they spent slowly roasting away in olive oil and balsamic and I just turned the oven off before bed.

This morning we had a hankering for chocolate!

I doubled this original recipe and used a bit of coconut oil in place of macadamia oil. What's the point of making a cake if there's not enough for a few rounds of guests and maybe a slice or two in the freezer?

Blitz and Bake beetroot and chocolate cake

175g roasted peeled and roughly chopped cooked beetroot
200g spelt flour
1T baking powder
100g cocoa
250g raw sugar
3 eggs
2t vanilla
150ml Macadamia oil
50 ml melted coconut oil
100g dark chocolate

blitz up the beetroot until it's in fine pieces in the food processor.

add all the rest of the ingredients except for the oils and chocolate. Process till smooth, then add the oils slowly - as if emulsifying like a mayonnaise.  Stir in chopped up chocolate at the end and pour into a loaf pan.

Bake at 190C for an hour or until firm centre.  Rest and slice when still warm.  We served ours with yoghurt. Delish.

fat jeans

2 weeks prior to finding out I'm preggo again...

I took ALL of my maternity clothes to the op shop. 

Seriously.

I had 3 children and had a wardrobe that suited my pregnant body -- which is not easy to do as I'm 6'3" tall!

Now I am starting to bust out of my pants - and refusing to even try wearing my jeans anymore... 

Time to go maternity shopping.

...

but wait

...

What if I just bought a couple pairs of leggings, stretched the crap out of my shirts that I already have and buy a pair of these........?

(diana ferarri)

mmmm.  I might be onto something here...

first fairy visit

 

after an attempt of a trillion photos - I think we got it covered.

Baxter lost his first tooth!

Oh the excitement when the tooth fairy visited. 

autumn kitchen

I've been meaning to make homemade muesli bars for yonks (the fowlers behind the loose muesli are packed with paper wrapped bars - ready for lunchboxes!)

Seriously, folks. Couldn't have been easier. What are you waiting for?!

I'm not going to include a recipe here - as it was a general trip to my pantry to grab all of the little half eaten bags of nuts and seeds and bits and pieces thrown together and mixed with a warmed peanut butter and honey mixture.  I then tipped it all into my newly refurbished FAN FORCED oven (hurrah for husband and Fermin!) and toasted it for a little while stirring it a couple of times before patting it down in the pan to make it firm.  I cooled it and then cut it up - all the scraggly bits ended up in the above jar and are stupendous atop fresh yoghurt and fruit.  There is no flour here. There is no white sugar here. There are no preservatives here. 

Victory for lunchboxes!

My next job on lunchbox list is to purchase a couple of good old fashioned glass thermos' for warm lunches through the wintertime. Anybody got any suggestions for those?

A couple of early harvested pumpkins are awaiting their fate. My friend Leonie sent me some saved seeds last year - and these are big ol' beauties, let me tell ya!

Apples gifted by a friend as our orchard is having a bit of a down year.

The four quince that I got off my tree this year. Last year we seriously had HUNDREDS. It was quince all Autumn long. This year our lovely returning woofer Fermin decided to make a quince syrup. Which I proceeded to burn this morning in anticipation of topping our sourdough french toast. oops!

Grandma's apple cake has been getting some business around here with tart Granny Smith's

The last smells of summer as the final batch of Blackberry jam has been brewed and bottled.

and this beautiful puppy - fresh mozzarella. Topped our homemade pizza dough with mushrooms and thyme and kalamata olives last-night. Delish.

What's been happening in your kitchen?

BTW - Fermin is Mexican and a professional chef from Italy. He's just left from his third visit with us wwoofing.  He made us Sweet Potato Gnocchi with Yellow Zucchini and Authentic Carbonara the other night. 

Hungry yet?

Oh yes - and we had dinner at the Fishy pub the other night - and Eric Bana walked in - the temperature lifted quite dramatically!

Bonkers!

Hello there - just a quick note to say....

We're having our fourth and final addition to our family!

Due 27 September (my birthday) - and planning a home birth.

.. let's just say that we were VERY surprised, and to put it mildly - it was a real shock for me, but we're thru all of that now - embarking on week 14... more energy, less sick, feeling much much better than I was during those first 12 weeks.

The shock stemmed from my satisfaction from running and feeling great about my body again (after many years of hosting children - in my belly and on the boob!) and from that moment when all of the kids seem to be quite manageable and happy for the most part.  I had ummed and ahhed about having another baby for 2 years, and within those last 2-3 weeks before I found out - I had made up my mind to not have any more children.  So there was a fair bit of mind challenging time to overcome in the last 13 weeks... Anyway - I'm onto the anticipation, and the realisation that I will have to find a drawer somewhere to pop this little cherub into come September!

xx

SIX years ago...

I gave birth to this wonderful little treasure - my big boy, Baxter!

Seeing as it's been ages since I've blogged - and I have SO much to catch up on I thought I would just start with today - and save the house painting renos and our latest news to other posts...

So, here's a few snaps of my darling's superb day - started off with pressies and pancakes here - with a visit from Nanny and Grandad - and then we all hauled off to the Waratah Bay Playground for some dinosaur party action. I must say having a birthday party at the playground -- Best. Idea. Ever.   -- It was easy peasy and big fun for all...

So, I leave you with snaps from the day.. Hope you have had a great one as well.
Stay tuned for Paint pics and Big news - coming soon.

xx

oh! hello!

I did not drop off the face of the earth - don't worry.

Just a blogging bump. Heaps going on... 

My big boy started school!

that's right. he's now "in the system"

We are very proud of him being brave and having fun.

He's pretty busted by the end of the week, tho!

As mama - I'm feeling a little disconnected, but there's been so much on...

Mom & Dad are here visiting from the States.

Snuggling on kids.

Painting the house!

We're all good.

xx