Make Your Own Tonight

Last night was Pizza night, make your own pizza night.  I made the base earlier in the day and laid out the toppings and everyone went for it.  It was so much fun.  Actually would be a pretty good way to have a very casual pool party or early evening dinner party.

Toppings were, olives, tomato, boccocini, basil, corriander, proscuitto, onion, cheese, passata, chorizio, ham, bacon all fresh and yummy.

Adrian is such a boy and of course his was loaded with meat and no basil or corriander, he's funny.  It was fun and I think everyone enjoyed just being able to create their own little mouth watering feast.  I'm trying to show the girls how easy it is to eat well, relatively cheaply and enjoy it.  With them moving on soon I am thinking to myself have I equipped them properly.  I hope so.

We had a little wine with the meal, no we didn't drink all of this don't worry no headaches today at all.  Do you have a family meal you all join in to do together, it's so much fun.  Nothing better I think than sharing the kitchen with family and friends.  I know all the African ladies I know love cooking together, they sit round the table peeling. grating, chopping, mixing and most of all talking and laughing.  Is there anything better?

On the road again and the joy of snail mail

I adore snail mail.  I love the snap of the letterbox when the flap shuts and I know that the postman has dropped something inside.  I don't love the letters with the windows that come with regular monotony, but the little notes, and the sometimes gifts that arrive, oh they are sweet.

Yesterday I was thrilled, blessed, smiling, my dear friend Sharon in California, sent me this beautiful bookmark from our tour reunion in Edmonds.  We couldn't go, unfortunately the 20 odd hours it takes to get there put a dampener on that.  I was so sad to be missing out on seeing my dear friends again.  Sharon and her hubby John and my dear buddy Gretchen especially.  So Sharon bless her heart sent me a little gift instead, I am blessed I tell ya.  So a little tip to ya all I know we all love emails, blogs, everything techy these days, but if you really want to ring some bells post it, not on your blog but in the letterbox.

We sign the contract this evening....oh my goodness what have we done.  We are officially becoming farmers.  Well the closest thing to it as far as I can see.  We are purchasing the 9 acres property with the 5 horse paddocks, (they will be empty, remember I am not a lover of big animals) and the granny flat.  Yep in 45 days we are on the move.  We now have the oh so daunting task of marketing and selling our home.  I really don't like this process, I stress a little too much.  We have marketed and sold the last couple of homes ourselves.  Saving us anywhere up to $12,000 in commission.  Yes you read that correctly the agent commission on the sale of our current home at approx $650,000 will be $16k that is soooooo much money.  I don't think we are going to have a go at selling this one ourselves, we have to have it sold in the next 45 days and as it is in the higher price range, we feel it will be better marketed with an agent.  Pray for us please we don't want to end up with a huge mortgage if this house doesn't sell.  I am trying not to think too hard about all that will need to take place in the next few weeks.  All the address changes, that no matter how hard I try to remember everyone I need to inform, I always seem to still have mail go missing.  Me or them making a mistake, I'm not sure.  Then the telephone company, the internet provider oh and I have to buy a new fridge ours is too big for the opening provided.  Arghh!!! oh well a nice new fridge will be lovely, never mind the one we have now is only about 5 years old and a great size.  We will move in about 5 weeks before we head off to France, so we should be settled by then.  The girls will be on their own for a few weeks, thank heavens we still have neighbours out on the farm.  Well off now to teach cooking so have a great day.

Twelve in 28 years

So I admit officially, I must have gypsy blood mixed in with my British Blue and Green & Gold Aussie style.  I worked out this morning that if we move again, which is on the cards, we will be moving into our 13th house in 28 years.  Yep offically a gypsy.  We even lived in one house twice, actually bought and sold it twice, crazy I know! 

When we move this time, whenever that is, this little man has to come with us.  He is so sweet.  Adrian came home from the gardening shop with him one day, much to my surprise. I planted up his big bowl with a ground cover with pretty mauve blooms and I think these are crocus, if I remember properly, and they are blooming so well at the moment.  Must be the rain we have had.  At the moment we are in negotiations for a house on nearly 9 acres with horse paddocks etc, the one I mentioned a few days ago.  We've made an offer, they didn't accept it, we have counter offered and are waiting to hear today.  We love the spot, but the house needs a little work and so we just don't want to pay too much for it.  Gotta watch that we don't get all caught up trying to win the bidding war.  There will be other houses.  If it's not meant to be then ok it isn't, I'm cool with that I think.

I am teaching ladies to cook on Wednesday afternoons now, starting tomorrow.  When I worked at TRAMS in 2008 I always enjoyed being there when the cooking class was on.  The ladies who come are from all over the world.  Mostly refugees and mostly not used to cooking in firstly a kitchen and secondly with such western food. I got to sample some really great food.  The preparation of it was often very different to how I would make things, but the taste was mostly pretty amazing.

The family I have talked about before, from Uganda, go here, have given Adrian and myself quite a few giggles around the kitchen table.  I remember a day not so long ago, I was helping Taban on the computer.  Jane was in the kitchen cooking and Adrian was in the lounge with the children.  Nancy Juwa 7years old, loves to play with the hair on Adrian's arms.  She is fascinated by all the hair.  I had never noticed until she started touching it that the African people have no hair on their arms and legs. Not one, that I have seen, so Adrian is a constant source of fascination for Nancy.  Anyway Jane dishes up a plate of this really strange looking greyish stuff.  It is kind of bulb like on one end and has root kind of things on the other.  Little Gloria had been walking around gnawing on one of these and Adrian had no idea what it was.  One of the girls brings the plate to Adrian and he is freaked out, this stuff looks weird and I have to say Ade is extrememly fussy when it comes to food.  He asks one of the boys what it is, they sheepishly shrug their shoulders.  He asks the eldest daughter Mindraa Gifty (don't you just love the names) and she gives a little grin and shrugs also.  Meanwhile Jane is in the kitchen grinning.  Taban comes into the lounge and Ade asks him what it is, he starts to laugh out loud and says it is chicken.  Ade screws up his nose and says what part of the chicken and Taban says chicken gizzards.  Poor Adrian is gob smacked, there is no way he is eating chicken gizzards.  Taban and Jane and the children are rolling round laughing so hard and I come out of the room and join them on the floor when I see Adrian's face.  What a crack up!!!

My cooking job will entail, teaching the ladies the names and uses for the ingredients they will find now In the stores.  I think I will focus a little on children's lunch boxes, nice easy and quick but nutritous, food to take to school.  Some neat breakfast ideas too I think.  Last year the recipes were a little to involved, carrot cake for instance is just too overwhelming for many of the girls.  They don't read recipes for a start, all of their recipes are in their heads.  So too many things make things too difficult.  I have to remember that most of them will have little or no English speaking or reading skills, so it is challenging, but fun.  I love these girls, so much fun, very kind and so grateful to be here.  The stories I have heard of their lives, loves and losses in their homelands have changed how I think about the world.  So I am looking forward to my little foray.  If you have any good ideas I can share easily please comment I am open to all suggestions.

Carnivale

This weekend was the 60th Anniversary of the Toowoomba Carnival of Flowers.  We had beautiful weather and the parade was wonderful. I am still not a parade person, standing in the sun with wriggly kids, whinging parents, pushy photographers, oops was I one of them and just a lot of waiting and standing.  The floats were better this year than some other years but the gaps between the floats was sometimes long and frankly boring.  Sorry but it was.  The performers on stilts were great and there were quite a few different ones, the beautiful red lady above was really pretty.  The Koala was walking with the volunteer fire brigade and I am afraid that once again this summer they will be very busy.  We are having extremely hot weather already.  What a great bunch of men and women they are.

Toowoomba has really become extremely multicultural in the last few years and the parade showcased many of the different nationalities that have made their home here.  The Asian walkers were particularly colourful.

 There were so many colourful floats and performers and then we went up to the Food & Wine Festival.  This is about the 8th year I think that the Festival has been run and the first that we have been.  It's a new and different concept for Toowoomba.  We tried some different wines and there were local cheeses and olives to try also.  The Whitlams a well known Australian band played on Saturday night and Bjorn Again an Abba knock off band on Sunday.  All in all a pretty exciting weekend for our little town.Then of course there are the gardens that have entered the Carnival competition.  We visited the Grand Champion Garden, which is only a short walk from our house.  The pot above has been mosiaced (if that's a word) from plates and china hearts.  All throughout the garden there are little nooks that have been prettied up with lovely mosiacs.  We actually know relatives of the owners of this garden and there is a wall where special mosiacs were done for a Grandma who passed away not long ago.  Now the grandchildren can remember Grandma whenever they wander through the garden.

Also this weekend I cooked.  Saturday morning I made the yummiest French Toast with bacon maple syrup and balsamic strawberries, delicious.  This afternoon for lunch I experimented a bit.  I got some store bought puff pastry and cut the pieces in half, blended some cottage cheese, humous and grated fresh parmasen and spread it on the middle of each piece.  I topped this with thinly sliced tomato, red onion and asparagus.  I sprinkled a little more grated parmasen on top before baking in the oven for about 25 mins.  It was so delicious.  We had a couple of glasses of Pino Grigio with it.  So lovely for a spring afternoon.  So Carnival weekend was lovely, I'm glad we decided to venture on down this weekend.