Home Made Pumpkin Bread & Strawberry Jam!!!

Here in Oz we are on a tight budget at the moment. This gave me a chance to look around the web and find ways to reduce my monthly food bill.  I already started a small veggie patch here in our garden and I am happy to say that my zucchini seeds are already little plants soaking the sun. The orange tree is blooming very happily and I already can see the fruits forming so we will have a great crop this year. The poor tree when we got the house was almost dead so I am very pleased by her happy recovery. We have mature almonds at the moment which the black cockatoo's are munching on, they are beautiful big birds and Luke is delighted to see them in the afternoon. Not bad for a city girl who didn't know anything about gardens!

Last week Luke and I went to the farmer's market near our home and  they had strawberries on special, so I bought 1,5 kg for less then 4 dollars. Too much for our house hold so I decided to make jam out of 1kg of strawberries. I used Jamie's Oliver's recipe and I am sad to say this but, it didn't work too well. I used the special jam sugar but it is still was runny even though I left it to boil much longer than in the recipe requested. It is still yummy, don't get me wrong you can still eat it but it is more like a strawberry sauce than jam. Well I guess next time I will make it with normal white sugar, I think it would set better and also be less acidic.

Grandma bought for me a huge pumpkin so I also had more than a kilo of pumpkin in the fridge which I didn't know what to do with, so I decided to make pumpkin bread. I used this great recipe from FRESH LOAF. It turned out perfect so I have two small loafs which I will bring one to grandma when Luke wakes up from his nap. She is has the flu so I can am sure she will enjoy the bread. I changed the recipe a bit I added more spices than the recipe and also used a little less flower (just 3 cups), also I added soaked raisins in orange liquor and walnuts. Like Luke says when he smells something nice hmmmmmmmmmmmm!! Enjoy the pictures of the garden and the loafs!

I love this video!!! Enjoy

I love Spring!

We had a lovely weekend, the weather was just perfect! Rob and I were cleaning the gutters and eaves through out the week to get them ready to paint. So today we started painting the eaves and downpipes all white, we decided the gutters looked good enough once cleaned up. It's amazing how some paint can make such a difference, we are not done yet but it is already looking like a different house.

Yesterday Aline came by to visit us, I was very happy to see her and Nina because we haven't seen each other for over 5 months. It was a nice surprise when she left me a message in facebook saying she was coming to Perth for the long weekend. She spent the afternoon with us, Nina and Luke were all hugs and kisses; very cute! Tania, Glen and the boys came by in the end of the afternoon also for some hot-dogs, it was great to see them because we also needed to catch up. So our Saturday was a day with good friends, simple food and great weather, I couldn't ask for anything better!

Today while Rob was finishing painting, I took Luke to Lansdale Farm (petting farm) so he could work in peace and Luke could be entertained for a couple of hours. We had some great news also form Kel, she had a beautiful, healthy baby boy, so in the end of the afternoon Luke and I went to visit her in the hospital (which is three blocks away from my house, handy or what?). I got a little teary when I was holding the little bundle of joy, I must admit that I miss the baby phase even with the sleeping deprivation. It was so great to see Kel and Harley so happy with their little angel. Well that's all the news for now, enjoy all the photos from the farm and Kings Park. Take everyone!

REDWORK REDWORK REDWORK!!!!

Its been pretty hectic around here in the land of OZ. Luke is growing so fast, he is a little boy running around the house and outside in the garden in the spring sun. It seems like it was just last month he was crawling around the house. Its crazy how time passes so fast once you have kids! So not only Luke keeps me on my toes throughout the day, renovations have begun here too. Which means, money is tight, trades man coming and going and chaos rains in my little kingdom. Our bathroom renovations have come to a halt because of lack of fund and of tiles due to no more funds to buy more tiles but most of Luke's bathroom is done. Renovation in Luke's bathroom will commence again in November but our roof and ceiling will be fixed next month because May's freak storm damaged both.

Spring has finally arrived here in OZ and all the flowers are blooming, magpies are starting to swoop and the days are becoming warmer. Most of you know that we have a big back yard which has been neglected for years from the previous owners, so with spring here, there is a lot of work to be done in the garden. Rob took this week off, so we could do a so needed spring cleaning in and outside our house. So since Saturday we have been busy outside picking weeds with Luke and trimming back some of the bushes. Also I have been busy with my herb and veggie patch, adding some compost to the ground and planting some seedlings. Hopefully my zucchini seedlings with flourish and all my flower seedlings too.  

So you must be wondering why my post reads Redwork instead of gardening galore? Because I finally started on Kim's wall quilt, she just had her third baby girl a couple of weeks ago!!! So I am making for all three little ones a Redwork wall hanging. Its coming along great, considering I have never done any embroidery before, but pretty much its all straight stitch in red embroidery cotton thread, a no brainer really. If you would like to know more about the history of Redwork go here.So as you all can see, its been pretty busy around here. I will post some photos once the quilt is finished because I don't want to spoil the surprise for Kim, this also goes for the photos of the renovations seeing its not ready yet. Here are some more photo of Redwork but not made from me.Well take care everyone.

                                                       Life at Rosemary Hill

                                                                     Bunny Tales

                                                                      Agulhas da Meri

                                                                     Stitching Cow

                                                                    Feeling Stitchy

                                                              A cup and a catch up...