chocolate and coffee...... yum, yum.....

today's post is brought to you by my camera and about a million words......

in the past month we've been busy, busy, busy......

we moved into our rental house

{though we are still waiting for our ship to come in so it is

a little 'sparse' and echo-y at the moment.....

we have been assured it will only be about 3 more weeks..... hmmmmm}

however, on the up-side, another container did arrive

 {via Sydney}

and that container made us all very happy......

yes, the boys are back in town......

and how homely they make the place feel......

Cyril's leg is much improved with a covering of {short} fur

and he is racing around and play fighting with Bertie again

which is all good fun.....

we also got a car a couple of weeks ago which has made getting out and about so much easier.....

it's not that we lacked a car before then, the problem was we had a hire car 

and we were limited to driving no more than 100kms a day.......

which sounds quite a fair distance, but in reality, by the time I had done two sets of drop offs,

run errands and picked up some shopping and done the two daily pick ups too

we had just about covered 100kms so we weren't able to just hit the road and see

where we ended up......

that was a little frustrating as one of the things we LOVE to do, 

especially at weekends, is being able to explore new places.....

we did manage to get to the beach a couple of times where it was impossible 

to keep these two out of the water.......

{Isaac and I enjoyed soaking up the sun whilst sitting on the sand..... 

or at least I sat, he dug holes and made mounds.....}

just after getting the car, Brian had a long weekend which meant a Friday

off school followed by a holiday Monday too....

the kids didn't get the Friday {just the Monday} so Brian and I decided

to do a little exploring on the Friday all by ourselves.....

it was fun......

and we had lunch out too.....

double fun.....

we ended up in a suburb called Guildford which had a ton of antique shops, 

a couple of nice looking places to eat and a book exchange too.....

I did end up buying a book here and was informed by the lovely lady

behind the counter that if I brought the book back for them to resell I would

get half the purchase price back to go towards buying something else in store....

what a fab idea, I shall be popping back here again no doubt, 

perhaps with a couple of kids in tow too.....

on our drive back from Guildford we passed this place.....

but decided that we would leave visiting until the weekend when we could 

bring Isaac and Evie with us......

wouldn't want them to miss out on the free chocolate tasting which was advertised.....

so on Sunday afternoon, we wended our way back to the Swan Valley

{home to lots of vineyards and wine tasting places}

which happens to be just a 20 minute drive for us and popped into

the Margaret River Chocolate Co.......

we were greeted by huge metal bowls of tasty chocolate morsels......

so we indulged....
{I've never been one to knock back a bit of chocolate.....
though I did resist the urge to bury my face in the chocolate 'tastings'
incase it caused offence or broke some health and safety rule.....}

behind the tasting bowls on the wooden shelves were bags of all sorts of different

flavours of chocolate covered goodness and you were invited to try the 

samples to see which one you liked best....... 

needless to say, I had to try a few before I found my favourite!!

there were also mountains of chocolate bars......

and giant chocolate freckles....

after we had had our fill of chocolate we were invited to a free 

wine and cheese tasting......

thanks, don't mind if we do.....

then it was on to the honey tasting.....

it amazes me how bees collecting pollen from different
flowers can give the honey a completely different taste....

and bubbly honey drinks too......
rather yum it has to be said......

 and finally it was a stop at the coffee tasting.....

yum, yum, yum.....

we positioned ourselves at the coffee bar where a friendly and knowledgeable 

barista made us the coffee of our choice from their rather huge list of speciality coffees....

it was so interesting to taste coffees in succession and see how very different they tasted......

I settled on my favourite and will definitely be stocking up on that in the future....

I was even treated to an iced coffee before I left

{this is one of those things that I thought I would hate and had always
resisted right up until last year when we visited the USA on holiday
and I found that actually I really liked it......

I mean, I really liked it......}

so, roll on the hot weather so I can start indulging my craving again.....

{to be honest, it kinda still feels like summer here at the moment 

as the temps are usually around the 18-24 degree mark..... 

and I keep having to remind myself that this time of year in Oz actually
equates to December in the UK.....}

and there we have it, a quick {ok, maybe not so quick}

rundown of what we have been up to for the past few weeks.....

hope to be able to add lots more 'fun days out' in the coming months.....

day twenty-two........

instead of having shop bought sweets at her house

over Christmas, my sister decided a couple of years

ago that we could have a lovely selection of 

homemade 'sweets' to add to the treat table

which we could munch our way through whilst 

enjoying the holidays with each other......

my contribution this year is toffee......

creamy, chewy, caramelly toffee....

 I have made this a few times in the past

{but not for a couple years now}......

it never fails to disappoint, so I'm hoping it will be

a bit hit again this year........

oh, it is as good as I remembered it......

day thirteen.......

when I was growing up I seem to remember that

Christmas was a time when there was lots

of fun stuff on the telly and lots of sweets

on a little table in the lounge room.....

 it was the one time of year when we were allowed

to indulge in sweeties whenever we wanted to......

{at least that's what it seemed like,

I don't know if I have remembered that with 

rose coloured glasses on though.....}

we don't have a telly these days

{however, we do make full use of the catch-up

facilities that the TV channels offer so we can still get

a good dose of 'what's on' if we want to}.....

but we do have a Christmas 'munchies' table

with tins of sweets, jars of homemade biscuits and

a {rather empty looking} jar of pistachio nuts

{a universal favourite in our house, hence it's 

constant empty-ness.....}

definitely need to go out and buy

some more of those yummy pistachios.....

August...... the month of 'gadding'..... part one.....

yes, august was a month of gadding about for us.....

and lovely gadding it was too.....

we started the month off in France with my sister,

brother-in-law and their granddaughter, the ever poppity imogen.....

we made our home in a little gite in the middle of somewhere

in southern Normandy...... I actually have no idea where we were

because for the whole of the journey we just followed the car in front

{which happened to have my sister and a GPS in it}

and we had no map...... not even my ipod could tell me where

we were when I looked at the 'where is my location' gadget thingy.....

I really didn't mind not knowing where I was, it was

kind of liberating.....

the gite was lovely and quaint and the garden was HUGE, with an abundance of fruit trees

and raspberry canes, which happened to have quite a few ruby-red fruits on them

{we found these quite early on and had to sample some just to see if 

French raspberries tasted different to English ones......

research, carried out over a number of days,

determined that they tasted just as good.....}

we spent most of our days visiting a local lake for swimming 

{for the adventurous and hardy ones amongst us},

sandcastle building and general relaxing {for the rest of us}, 

which included much crocheting and reading of magazines

{the relaxing that is, not the sandcastle building.....}

we took a jaunt to Bayeux to view the most splendid tapestry.....

the above photo is not one of the splendid tapestry itself,

photo taking of that is not allowed, 

but there were modern replicas hanging around the place that you could take photos of..... 

there were even cushions and wall hangings you could puchase

 if you wanted a Bayeux-esk feel in your loungeroom when you returned home.......

I have to say that Isaac was not everso thrilled about 

joining us to visit this amazing piece of history...... 

he complained about the thought of having to stand around 

for hours while Brian and I 'ooooohhhhhed' and 'aaaaahhhhed' over it.......

however, the reality was that we were each given a little earpiece which talked

us through each event depicted on the tapestry as we walked its length....

 Isaac and Evie both opted to get the commentary designed for children

and it was so interesting that I wanted to go round a second time

and listen to the their one.... 

the result was that we all came away having really enjoyed the visit....... 

phew......

it can be a little tricky on holiday with teenagers as they are not always

interested in seeing the things you want to see and vice-versa but we

usually try to strike a balance of 'something for everyone' and this seems

to get us through most of the time.....

we had a wonderful picnic lunch in Bayeux just sitting in a lovely sunny, 

quiet square eating fresh bread, cheese and pate - which is how we ate

lunch every day - out in the sunshine munching on lovely fresh goodness......

we then continued on from Bayeux to Omaha beach on the north Normandy coast 

to visit the American cemetery and memorial of the D-Day landings.....

it was a wonderful memorial to an amazing bunch of men who gave 

all they had in a fight for freedom...... and I learned so much about

the when, where, what, why and who of the D-Day landings which I have to

admit to having been pretty ignorant about before.....

this was the view from the cemetery over Omaha beach......

our week continued with a visit {by the boys and Imogen}

to a model railway exhibition........

I stayed home and drank more coffee, ate more food and did more crochet......

I had my fill of model railway visits when Isaac was little and I tend

to opt out of such visits now...... 

there were plenty of games of garden cricket to be enjoyed

{this has become one of our favourite holiday games -

often played in pj's with dressing gowns on.......}

and Brian always manages to find something to use as 

'equipment' as invariably we don't have the right 'tools for the job'

{though this year we had taken a plastic bat and tennis ball, which was

a huge step forward from one of our holidays in Oz when we visited the Whitsundays  

and we used a large piece of bark, which had fallen off a tree, as a bat and some 

nuts/large seed pods, which we found lying around on the ground, as balls.......

seriously, there's no stopping us when we want a game of garden cricket.....}

ahhhh, it was a lovely week with much relaxing

and general lazy holiday behaviour.....

just perfect......

a blink of the eye and autumn has flown by.....

my word it seems an age since our holiday in Italy....

the weather has changed and autumn is firmly in charge....

but before we move on in the seasons I should really update

my space here with the rest of our late summer/early autumn

activity.....

after returning from Italy where Evie celebrated her 11th birthday

we spent the day at my sisters house in glorious Devon so she

could celebrate it all over again with the rest of the family....

the weather was beautiful..... mr sun put his hat firmly on his head,

and much outdoor water play was enjoyed....

presents were gifted.....

this beautiful place mat and coaster set

was made by one of Evie's cousins and took pride of

place at the party table....

 

and this amazing sweetie tree was made by 

Evie's other cousin and was truly spectacular....

because we were away until the day before Evie's birthday celebration in Devon

I knew I would not have time to make her the cake she had requested so I asked 

my niece if she would be willing to make Evie's cake this year.....

she very kindly agreed and, armed with very specific instructions from Evie,

 she came up with this beautiful cake for us all to enjoy.....

there was also lots of other party food to enjoy.....

 lovely warm summer birthdays.....

shared with the ones we love.....

truly delightful.....

the middle ages.....

yes, it is coming upon me bit by bit 

but that is not the 'middle ages' I am talking about.....

no, in school at the moment the kids and I are reading 

about the middle ages in history..... 

I really enjoy reading/doing history with the kids

 because I must have been asleep in school and missed it first time round...... 

{another joy of homeschooling is that you get to learn stuff all over again..... 

especially good for a girl with very little brain..... 

stuff I've learned seems to fall out my ears after a short while

 so it is good to restock it every now and again.....}

today Evie got to make dinner for us - 

a split pea Monks' soup with freshly baked bread......

and she got to do a page of illumination, complete with guilded bits.....

pummel the bread, don't knead it.....

at the end of last year we made a decision about the cooking in our house....

Evie, and to some extent Isaac, wanted to 

get in on the act of helping cook the evening meal..... 

not a bad thing you may think..... 

but I have to admit that I don't enjoy cooking with the kids..... 

SHOCK..... HORROR.....

I like to get in the kitchen, get the dinner 

done in 15 minutes or less {ha, ha} 

and get on to more fun things.....

Brian.... 

now there's a guy who cooks with kids BIG TIME and 

always involves them when he cooks a meal 

{curry is his 'piece de resistance'} 

and he doesn't ever get stressed about it.... 

have I mentioned how awesome he is??.....

and so at the end of last year we made a decision 

that as part of our 'homeschool enrichment programme' {LOL} 

the kids would, in turn, take one meal a week and make it 'theirs'...... 

that meant deciding what to eat, doing all prep and cooking for it...... 

just simple stuff but nonetheless a night when I didn't do the cooking.....

they have done really well with it so far and we 

have had chicken schnitzel a la Isaac, 

lentil & bacon soup a la Evie, 

spaghetti bolognese and a couple of other tastey dishes.....

this week Evie made us 'broth' {thanks Grandma for the recipe.....} 

and she near pummelled the bread to death...... 

because, of course, making bread rolls is half the fun of making soup don't you know......

the rolls did end up light and airy after a good time 

rising in the warm oven and the broth was DELICIOUS......

maybe..... 

very slowly.... 

we can increase the times they each cook 

and I could retire from the kitchen..... 

apart from baking of course..... 

baking is a completely different ball game.....

Another birthday.....

another cake!

Brian this time.....

Evie and I had a go at our own version of Black Forest Gateaux which was always a favourite.....


and is still a bit of a favourite it has to be said.....


we now get a 5 week breather before Isaac's special day... phew!

We need it in order to munch our way through all the cake we've built up!

Oh dear......

I've obviously put too much of something in the bread machine


it's trying to escape......

If you don't hear from me in a while, you'll know we were engulfed by a ginormous blob of dough........

A little rest.....

Today is a little bit of a quiet day.

Evie isn't feeling too well.... nothing serious, just a sore throat and headache, so she is resting.


No schoolwork needs to be done (Isaac did his early this morning so he is having a more relaxed time too - lego and jigsaws!), we can catch up another day.

So we've been reading books (The Golden Goblet is our read aloud right now, we're studying ancient Egypt for history at the moment so this one fits in there, plus it's just a really good read!) and listening to The Spiderwick Chronicles, which we have listened to before but which is such a good story that we will happily listen to it again.

I've just made some muesli for Brian and am going to try out a new recipe for Florentine Slice using corn flakes!! We'll see how that goes..... will probably have some with my morning tea.......

Morning tea......

Morning and afternoon tea, I have discovered, are a 'thing' here.

When you visit with someone it is often over morning or afternoon tea and, it is quite often a scrumptious affair.

It's not just a hot drink and a rich tea biscuit, oh no, one can quite often find oneself confronted with at least two or three choices of sweet goodness - cake, slices, biscuits.... who knows, sometimes there are savoury options too.

It's an event.... a time to sit, chat, enjoy..... and I have embraced this ritual with great eagerness.

During our morning here at home, the children get their morning tea (in their case they don't get the sweet goodness.... unless you accept fruit as the sweet bit, which they don't, but they do get a plate filled with a snack none-the-less).

Now I was not a morning coffee drinker (unless I was going out for a morning coffee, which I also love to do!), I was always an after-lunch and after-dinner coffee drinker (I don't actually drink tea, never have - 'but you're English you have to drink tea' is often the response I hear to that statement!!) but I have changed!

I now like to have my morning 'tea' and a little sweet something just to celebrate the midway point between breakfast and lunch every day!

It's become a ritual ...... I like to sit on the sofa (or on the deck out back when the weather is warm) and have a bit of a break - just me, my cup of coffee (always in one of my favourite mugs) and a little taste of something yummy.

And as a Brucy-bonus on Saturday mornings I get to have morning tea with my lovely man.....

This morning as I made breakfast for the kiddles I also made some shortbread. You see, we had just finished up the biscuits I baked on Thursday so we needed something to go with our morning beverage - it would be wrong to have a drink without a little tasting of something to go with it.

I used the recipe found in my 1968 Good Housekeeping Cookbook and boy was the shortbread good..... crispy, buttery and just yum, yum, yum!



Evie, of course, helped with the rolling and cutting out.... can't be baking without her these days.

And incase you would like to make some scrummy shortbread for your morning tea here is the recipe:

5oz plain flour
1oz rice flour
2oz castor sugar
4 oz butter or margerine (I use a mix of both)

Beat the butter with a wooden spoon until creamy.
Beat in the castor sugar.
Sift in the flours into the butter/sugar mix and combine thoroughly finishing with your hands to gather it all together.
Roll it out to about quarter of an inch thick and then cut out biscuits (I use a fluted biscuit cutter)
Bake in the oven at 150 degrees for about 25 min until the edges are just beginning to brown..... DON'T OVERBAKE IT!
Leave to cool on a tray, pour yourself a cuppa (or pop the espresso machine on in my case) and enjoy.

Feijoa heaven......

My knowledge of fruit has been broadened since living here in the southern hemisphere....

First it was cherry plums - never heard of them before, even though they are not unique to the southern hemisphere. Now I have a tree full of them right at the end of the garden (well, it's not full of them now..... but it was!)

Next came pluots, again, another new fruit to me - really enjoyed them when they were in season.. yum!

Then last week I found a green fruit, similar in size and shape to a lime but very fragrant to the nose, just lying on the ground by the back deck.

I remembered that the owner of this house had said they were edible so I took it indoors, cut it in half, had a good look and a sniff and then tucked in.

INTERESTING - I thought.......

Well, for the past week Evie has been coming indoors each day with at least one ice cream tub full of them and so I thought it about time to find out what they are..... (they are taking over the kitchen worktop!)

Here is a piccy.....


Of course, they are feijoa's....

What?

Yup, another fruit I have never heard of!! (though again, they are not unique to the southern hemisphere).

They are quite yummy, very fragrant and I have about 10kgs of them!

Anyone got any good recipes?.........

Gifts from afar......

We have friends from the UK visiting us at the moment and we have been having a fabby time.

And look what they brought for us


now that's what I call a jar of Marmite!! Half a kilo of the stuff......

YUM!

Comfort food......

Had to be done....


Scrummy carrot cake because you can't have coffee without something sweet to tempt your tastebuds.

And this was Evie after she had been telling stories whilst snuggled underneath the duvet.....


I don't think we will ever get those knots out!!