Happy Birthday "Farmer Frans"

How quickly a year goes by. This time last year we had a big 50th birthday celebration for Frans on the farm. The party went on for a couple of weeks. This year, sadly, we celebrated only on the day. But what a lovely day it was!

Sara came home for the weekend and we prepared a feast for Sunday lunch.

The table is set

Many years ago a friend in Sydney, Maggie Gilbert, treated us to her famous Cajun Prawns. Her best tip was to eat the prawns on newspaper. It makes cleanup a whole lot easier, and lends a feeling of being at the beach to the meal! You can dress up the table too if you want. Candles and sparkling glassware look wonderful contrasted against the casual newsprint. The best drinks to serve with the spicy prawns are a cold beer or a chilled riesling. As you can see from the photos below, there were not too many leftovers!

After!

 Dessert was a French inspired Tart Tatin. I used nectarines as that's what I had on hand. Traditionally, apples or pears are used. I learned this particular recipe from one that Gordon Ramsay does.  I love the use of the extra spices; cardamon, anise, cinnamon. Click the link for the recipe. We served ours with ice cream, but it is equally delicious with thick clotted cream.

Tart Tatin - Nectarines

What's in the garden?

I was wandering around the vegetable garden last week and was mentally listing all the chores I need to do. There are vegetables that need to be pulled out that I have left to go to seed. Once I've collected the seeds, the plants can go onto the compost heap. But before the seeds are ready, I want to show you the beautiful flowers that some of the vegetables produce. Some are nice enough to cut and place in a vase!

First up..... drum roll... 

Leek! 

Isn't this just a beautiful flower? It looks very similar to the mauve pom pom that pops out of the chive bush. Family? Yep.

Next we have can you guess???

It's a ..... Carrot!

 I didn't know they grew this big either or that they had such beautiful flowers. Very similar to Queen Anne's lace. 

This is one of my favourite herbs. Dill. I love the little yellow cosmic explosions on each flower head. I often throw the flowers of vegetables and herbs into my salads. They add colour, texture and a big flavoursome bang! 

I'm so excited. It's squash season! And here we have a fabulous Zucchini flower. The male flowers can be stuffed with all sorts of interesting things. My favourite stuffing is ricotta, garlic and herbs. They're then lightly fried and served as a starter or a light lunch with some delicious home made bread and a glass of chilled white wine. Zucchini are on our menu almost all Summer. We eat them stuffed, raw in salads and pickled. Such a humble veggie with such a wide repertoire. Plant some this Summer. You'll love them! 

And here we have Frans in the raspberry patch. This is where you'll find him every second day. We have picked and picked raspberries! The freezer is groaning with the weight of them! I will be making all sorts of interesting preserves with the berries in the next couple of months. Stay tuned... lots of info to come! 

Back to the flowers... These are raspberry flowers. Pretty little things aren't they? 

Ok, not the flowers, but the fruit. Blackberries. We have a few of the thornless variety alongside the raspberries. We do however have lots of the thorned, weedy kind growing along our fence line. I always wondered why blackberries grew along the side of the country roads. I think I figured it out. It's the birds. They eat the fruit. They then sit on the power lines and do what birds do. The seeds get scattered far and wide. Then farmers have to get rid of the black berries along their fence lines. Why? If a plant or anything for that matter touches the electric wires, then the fence is rendered useless. This is no good for farmers who have sheep and cows and want them to stay INSIDE their properties. So back to the berries... they really are delicious. Just not the ones with thorns that grow along the fence line! These ones are not quite ready yet. They need to be black! Duh.

Another berry... A blue one. I love these! We have one lonely bush that is in our netted area where the birds don't get to demolish the bush. I'm planning to add a few more to this area this coming winter.  

And here is everyone's favourite.... the humble strawberry! These little flowers develop into the loveliest red fruits, packed with taste! Nothing like the bland supermarket punnets. The season is short however, and daily picking is required. My strawberry conserve this year has been a hit. You open the jar,  and smell the strawberry patch and Summer all in one sniff. 

Till next time... keep the water up to your garden. The summer is hot!

Birthday week!

Well, I didn't do much last week. It was my birthday you see. Being outside was not an option as it was cold and wet. In fact, some days it was raining sideways! Our paddocks are already sodden. Good for the pasture. 

Back to my birthday... I was spoiled! Frans cooked a delicious dinner for me. We had our friends John and Norma around to share his culinary efforts. Jamie Oliver to the rescue! We had rolled fillet of beef wrapped in herbs, mushrooms and proscuitto, served with roast potatoes and creamed spinach. And I have to add, that he cooked this meal on the wood fire stove. Genius! Norma provided dessert. Wonderful sticky date pudding with butterscotch sauce. Not a calorie in sight of course! Thanks to everyone who called, emailed, FB'd and sent cards! Half way through the day a little car drove down the driveway and a lady hopped out with a big basket of beautiful flowers. What a lovely surprise. Thanks Sara and Stephen! Sara gave me the cutest little egg cosy; the little chick below, and the sweetest little heart pins. I put them to use immediately to block a woollen jumper that I'd finished for myself.  My dear mother in law, Riet, sent me a surprise box. It was filled with old wooden cotton reels. What fun!

Frans loves his biscuits. Last night he opened a packet of Tim Tams. It felt rather light when I picked it up. He assured me he'd only had a couple. Try six! He also loves Anzacs. I make them for him often. I thought I'd make something different last week. Sara has been talking about peanut butter cookies for a while so I gave them a whirl. Mmmm...... my efforts are visible below. I'm not fond of making sweet stuff. Can you tell?!



I've just completed a couple of knitting projects. This one is for me. Pattern can be found on Ravelry. I liked this pattern as it stated it was 'made to fit a grown-ass woman'! My kind of pattern!  

Another little project that has just come off the needles is this little jacket below. Another Ravelry project. If you're a knitter or love to crochet, then this site has oodles of great projects. Many of them are free. Patterns are simply downloaded. I'm not sure who is going to get this one yet... 

My next knitting project is a jumper for Frans. He's been asking me for ages to knit him one. My objection has been the long sleeves I'd have to knit! However, I gave in. The yarn was purchased.  I had been collecting mens jumper patterns from everywhere thinking one of them would be fine. But he is a fussy man!Didn't like the rib on one, didn't like the collar on another. These sleeves are too 'floppy', these shoulders too droopy! Oh boy. We finally decided on a pattern. I am now knitting at every opportunity to get this one done. 'Man' knitting takes a lot longer! Here is the pattern.

Knitting in the car. This is the main road going through Colac. As you can see it's very busy! Not...

And now for the next BIG project. I offered to make Sara and Stephen a wedding quilt. I took her to a lovely quilt shop in Melbourne. Actually, it's my favourite shop. It's called Patchwork on Central Park in Malvern. Sara spotted a quilt that Lyn had on display. Of course she fell in love with one that is going to take a long time to make! Below are some images I gleaned from the internet of English paper pieced quilts made with a diamond shape. I don't know who made them unfortunately. But arn't they stunning? This is what she wants. Just as well I have a year to make it!

While we were at the store we picked out a bunch of lovely fabrics. I ordered the papers from Brigitte Giblin who does beautiful stuff with paper piecing. The papers are 1". Slightly smaller than the images of the quilts above.  

Here are just some of the lovely fabrics Sara picked out. She doesn't want the quilt to be too 'girlie'. So there are some blokey designs scattered amoungst the fabrics.

Sara had fun grouping her fabrics and sorting them by colour.

The sun is shining today. The garden is calling. Have a good week, what's left of it!

Cupcake Madness

A couple of weeks ago, Stephen's (Sara's lovely BF) little sister Jessica had her 18th birthday. So it was all systems go with the baking, making and setting up for the party. Stephen and Sara made a huge batch of cupcakes. Two flavours: Strawberry & white chocolate, and a plain vanilla flavoured one. Stephen's Mum, Doris made another batch with a few different flavours.

They measured, mixed and baked all Friday evening.

The batter is good. Sara is spooning it into the cupcake papers.

 

Stephen is doing the 'rendering' here...

And here come the decorations! 

Keeping it simple. Looking pretty!

And here they are! All done.

And what is an 18th party without a few Vodka jelly shots?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JESS!

Happy Birthday Mum!

It's Mum Hillege's birthday today. We wish Mum a very happy day! She's the best Mum, mother law and Oma anyone could wish for.

She is a wonderful inspiration to everyone who knows her.

She is tireless in her quest for knowlege.

She is alway busy doing 'stuff''

She crochets, sews, puzzles, reads, frames pictures, does Tai Chi EVERY day and has a wonderful zest for life!

She also creates beautiful items for charity. She is a Lions supporter and has raised a lot of money with her handywork.

 I hope to be just like her when I'm 89!

We love you Mum!