Happy Birthday....

my sweet Tori....

13yrs old on 27 Nov 09

Sandy

Malcolm Francis Curtis...

Rest in Peace......

22 Aug 1938 - 8th Dec 2009

Sandy

A night of....

cooking....

Jam drops for Tori for school.....

Healthy date muffins for me.........

Extra healthy mushroom and eggplant curry for me.......

All made tonight....

Sandy

From this......

to this......

what a handsome boy :)

Doesn't it take years off him :)

I did take some photos on my phone of Mel trimming him, but I can't get the bloody bluetooth to work!

Sandy

Strawberry Jam.....

I went with Pippa (used to be my boss at the Walkington) to a fruit and veg shop in Vic Park on the weekend. Used to go there quite a bit years ago.

Anyway they had 500g punnets of strawberries (that's the big ones) out for $1.49...can you believe it!!

I bought 3, and Tori and Shayla ate one punnet that night with chocolate dipping sauce :)

...and I made this with the other 2...

just added around 800g sugar to the washed and halved 1kg strawberries, add a splash of fresh lemon juice.....simmer for a while.....

While the mixture was cooking on the stove, Brody rang.....this is what I got when I went back into the kitchen.....

I took the large jar down to Geraldine's and kept the two small ones....Gerry had made bread and her own butter!!!!.....could it get any better....

Sandy

My poor little chookie.....

Tori and I were both away nearly all day Saturday. When we got home, we found chicken feathers spread everywhere over the back yard. Two chickens were running around....Tori found another one huddled in the vegie garden....we found the fourth hiding behind the shed...poor little things.

We did think that the one huddled in the garden was dead, but then it lifted its head....It's back was quite bloody.....though it didn't look like it had been attacked.....just looked like it had been plucked!

And the bloody dog was running around having a ball!!!!!

I rang Melissa, a cousin who is a vet nurse - and actually I had booked Curtis in for a trim the following day - and she said to keep it warm and cozy inside the house for the night.

The next morning it drank quite a lot of water, but wasn't really interested in food. When we took Curtis down for his trim, I took the chook as well to get Mel to have a look. Thought I would rather knock it on the head (well get someone else too!) than have the poor thing in pain or suffering.

By the time we got there though, she seemed to have picked up a little. Mel felt all over and couldn't see that anything was broken, said she needs a bit more TLC...but should be good.

I have made a seperate little pen for her to recuperate in....already though her back looks much better.

Curtis still seems to want to get her, and in fact the other chooks as well...he is up at the fence just looking and walking up and down...what to do....

Sandy

Happy Halloween.....

Shayla and Willow and their cousin Rochelle were dropped off tonight to go trick or treating with Tori.

I managed to snap these photos out the front before they left....

They came back with quite a good little stash of chocolates and lollies too....

Sandy

More free lemons....

this time to make lemon butter.....

This is the recipe I followed....

Ingredients
4 eggs

¾ cup sugar

½ cup lemon juice

2 teaspoons finely grated lemon rind

125 g chopped butter

Method
Place eggs and sugar into a heatproof bowl.
Place bowl over a pan of barely simmering water and whisk constantly until sugar has dissolved.
Add lemon juice, lemon rind and butter. Whisk mixture for 20 minutes until smooth and the butter has melted and thickened enough to coat the spoon. Do not allow the mixture to boil as it will curdle.
Pour warm mixture into hot sterilised jars and seal immediately.

Delish.....

Sandy

Hanmer Springs...

was our last stop in NZ.

Tori and I spent the last 3 days with my friend Yvonne and her family. Yvonne had so generously dropped off a car in Christchurch for us to use while in NZ. I honestly don't know how we would have managed without it. Thankyou...thankyou!

I met Yvonne when in NZ 19 years ago (Oh My God!!) and we travelled around together in her van. Once the craft room is set up I will be able to go through my photos and post an old photo of us together. Gee....the memories......

Sandy

And then....

Queenstown.....

Such a beautiful spot....

We went up the gondola....the view from the top was spectacular.....

The kids and I went on the Luge.....in go-karts....

Sandy