SWEET POTATO ANYONE?

I dug up my very first sweet potato today. Yes granted it's the only one, but I'm still excited.

I was able to get 2 fruit trees on special yesterday, the two-way pear went in the front yard today and hopefully the quince will go in back yard tomorrow. I want to espalier the quince so I need to dig holes and put in some posts.

SORRY.......

for being so absent over here but it's school holidays and we've been super busy cooking, making and lazing around.

I thought I'd show you my folder. I keep lots of goodies in here including household recipes eg for soap & laundry powder. It also contains my seed catalogues, other pamphlets, labels and heaps more.

The folder sits happily with my cook books in our kitchen within easy reach.

I made up another batch of chicken stock this morning, each container has 2 cups of stock in it.

Have a wonderful Easter break.

Oh, I've started a seperate blog for health and fitness. Please feel free to check out "Mind Body & Me" the link is up the top to the right of this blog. I love reading your comments, they are always welcome.

IT WAS A DAY OF COOKING AND CLEANING

The pantry had a bit of a makeover and now all of the preserves are together on a shelf where I can see what I have.

You may think it's a little odd to be cooking up lots of yummy goodies with bananas at the moment considering they are $14/kg. Well I happened to be in the right place at the right time the other day and grabbed a big bag full of ripe bananas for $3!!!! I couldn't believe my luck as I haven't had a banana in weeks, they just got past the point of me being able to afford them.

Banana and Raspberry Bread

Banana Cake with Choc/Vanilla Icing

I also picked up a big bag full of pears, I made rollups for the kids with those and a bag of tomatoes, both for $3 each, and made up a batch of passata. I wish I could come across bargains like these every week.

WOW!!! WHERE DID THE WEEK GO?

I made up a batch of quince jelly through the week with the freebie quinces I received from Sharyn (Ecologie Organics) and I must say I'm now hooked on quinces. I'm really want my own tree now, I had no idea how yummy they are. I went looking for a tree today but couldn't find one young enough to espalier, so the search continues......

After ripping out all of my old veges this week, I've made a decision to only plant staples that my family eat most days. While I love to try out new beaut veges, I then find out that my family won't touch them and I am left with stacks of food to preserve that only I will eat.

After lots of thought I won't be planting corn any more. It takes ages to ripen and I have never got a good crop. The last lot was so disappointing, really tastless and hardly any fruit. Next year I also need to not plant as many zuchinni, there's only so much one person can cook and preserve.

IT'S FRIDAY

We had Daniel's follow-up dentist appointment today from the cricket ball incident and the outlook isn't good. A couple of days ago I noticed that his front tooth was looking off colour, sadly after more tests today it was confirmed that the tooth is dead. He has another appointment next Wednesday with another dentist for some other tests and to work out when he will be having a root canal. This is sad news, I know how uncomfortable and painful root canals can be and I really am not happy about my 14yo going through that.

Some good news was waiting for me on our verandah when we returned home in the form of a large box of gifted quinces and pears. Sharyn from Ecologie Organics dropped them off for me as she didn't think she would have time to preserve any of her fruit this year. Thank you so much Sharyn, I will get to preserving the fruit this weekend.

I nearly forgot to show the photos of Darren's new boat.

Here is the old boat (don't you just love the name?)

and the new boat (nameless) with so much more room for all of us to move around on.