Archive for the ‘cooking’ Category
Tweet Now I know this was all a while ago – in a couple of weeks it will be two months – my goodness! But there are so many more beautiful photos of Abby’s Alice in Wonderland Birthday Party that this weekend, I just have to share … Above, is the tea party table. Oh, [...]
Tweet Oh there has been so much goodness today. Here I sit, my white shirt sleeves speckled with red, the kitchen floor sticky with juice, sour cherry jam at a rambunctious boil, and the garden full of shrieks and laughter as three fourteen year olds – also bespeckled with cherry red – race round and [...]
Tweet Ah … it would seem I’m on a wee bit of a housewifely kick here. Today’s theme, following upon yesterday’s thriller of “ironing boards” is “saucepans”. And once again I shall protest, but they are pretty saucepans! It’s really all the fault of the teacups. The ones we began haunting thrift shops for … [...]
Tweet Jules and I have given up coffee (mum gasps!). At first, it seemed like a horrible, completely-undoable thing to do. Especially since we have a beautiful Italian expresso machine that looks like she stepped straight out of the 1950s. And especially since we truly love our coffee. But we’d been feeling as if coffee [...]
Tweet This afternoon was at last deemed the right time – warm, sunny and dry – to start work on our raised garden beds. I’ve been collecting unwanted pallets for the last couples of weeks (any locals who watch me must think I’ve finally hit rock bottom, lugging these heavy, dirty things into our car!) [...]
Tweet After an exhausting and wet Saturday taking a year’s worth of prunings to the green recycling centre (in a hired flat bed truck) it was soooo good today to soak up the sun. Firstly at the Mt. Eliza farmers’ market (an early start, after returning the truck) then working, cooking, eating, playing and planting [...]
Tweet :: finally, I’ve cracked the homemade digestive! Wholemeal and oats, a hint of sweetness, thin and crisp. Next time I’m adding poppy seeds, black pepper and rosemary. Julian says if I insist, I’ll have to bake two batches ’cause he’s happy just the way these are. :: Sweetpea’s gardening. I suppose we really were [...]
Tweet Michaelmas is here … was here :-) It was marvellous. I enjoyed today’s preparations, conversations, reflections and feasting with my family so very, very much. And it was one of my best mothering days ever. Abigail and I were the most beautiful team – we started with our list and just meandered, perfectly in [...]
Tweet Here we are on Friday eve. We’ve almost made it to the end of the first week without Julian. Two more weeks to go. On top of that empty spot here in Bootville, I have had a cold all week. Just the usual sniffles, aches, streaming eyes, thumping head and sore throat. But I [...]
Tweet There was lots of good, spicy, fruity baking in Bootville for Easter. Hot cross buns graced the Good Friday breakfast table. Mixed, kneaded and baked by Lily. But all important cross decorating by Abby and Sacha … For Saturday and Easter Sunday, I used the same dough but st-r-e-t-ch-ed it until I had three [...]
Tweet Wednesday is my day at home. My day of no classes. The day I dream about, every other day of the week, when I think of all the reading and writing and studying I will get done. It never seems to happen quite like that. Something always comes up .. doctor’s appointments, errands that [...]
Tweet Have you ever seen the book The Mousehole Cat – written by Antonia Barber and illustrated by Nicola Bayley? It is a beauty of a book and was one of our favourites when picture books ruled Bootville. It is set in Cornwall, in a small village named Mousehole – so named because of its [...]