The Birthday Dinner

My Dad decided he didn't want a party or any big celebration for his 80th birthday. Dear Mum had a brain wave and arranged for a chef they know from some cooking classes, Peter Blakeway, to come in and cook dinner for us.



The food was delicious - Dad wanted the food to be a suprise for him so Mum and I chose from a sample menu and we got it right! We started with Salmon Gravadlax with Toasted Brioche. Unfortunately I forgot to get a picture of the finished plates but here they are partway through assembly.


The main was Breast of Waikato Duck with Prunes and a Chocolate and Game sauce. Here are our plates partly assembled ....



And here they are fully assembled:

We finished with a Classic Lemon Tart with Berry Coulis and Lemon Posset. The tart had a wonderfully tart and fresh flavour.


Dear Dad thoroughly enjoyed it all and it was a very relaxed atmosphere. Chef Peter is a great guy who happily shared his knowledge and answered many questions from me as he cooked. He cleaned everything up and loaded all our plates into the dishwasher. He couldn't wash the wine glasses as we were still using them!

A Very Special Day

Thursday, December 16th, was my dear Dad's 80th Birthday!

I flew up to Tauranga the day before so I could be with my Folks and help celebrate

I'd knitted a jersey for him,as he discovered below

After several busy weeks where he hadn't had time to put things away, Dad decided to spend part of his special day tidying up his workbench.

Here is the "after" result!

No-Knead Bread

I'm by no means the first to make and love this bread. There are many entries on the internet for the recipe and I'm linking to Sarah's . Now I did use a little more yeast, but that is because my yeast is a little old.

And do check out Sarah's blog, All our Fingers in the Pie . She has some wonderful recipes and I'm looking forward to seeing her new kitchen in her home in Saskatchewan - fingers crossed that everything is in by Christmas.



(yes - Mickle has finally sat down and looked up how to do links)

Still here

Yes, I'm still around - have been reading and commenting while not blogging myself for almost a month. I have also been doing lots of knitting, only I can't show any of the results yet as the recipients might just pop in here.

We are now in Summer which means Zebby spends more time out from under his battered quilt (the battering is all his own work) and instead lounges on his beloved old red bathmat, however my lad is refusing to smile for or even look at the camera.



My New Zealand flax plant has started flowering, providing a nectar treat for the local birds, especially the Tuis.



Here is today's scrumptious loaf of "No Knead" bread when it was just out of the oven. Only 4 ingredients needed (flour, water, salt and yeast), it is delicious with a crunchy crust and a soft, moist crumb. Most has been sliced and put into the freezer - it is so hard to wait for the loaf to cool down before slicing into and devouring it.



The veggie garden is growing beautifully - November was far warmer and dryer than usual in NZ so all the plants got an excellent start. I had to water them every evening until today when it actually rained. You can see how dry the soil is all around the plants containers and the grass has dried off way earlier than usual.

Here I have basil, oregano, Lebanese cucumbers, a little gem squash, rainbow beetroot (beets), more radishes, buttercrunch lettuce, sugarsnap peas and 3 rainbow carrots, all raised from seed. In addition there are 2 zucchini plants, a tomato plant, rainbow chard and an apple cucumber that I bought as seedlings.




At the other end of the flat are the dwarf beans (green and yellow varieties) and another little gems squash (again all raised from seed) together with 4 more tomato plants (the type is Money Maker) and a couple more rainbow chard plants. I've never grown tomatoes before!


I'm sure everything will kick into production while I'm away over Christmas - thankfully I have some wonderful neighbours across our shared driveway who will not only water the veg for me, but pick anything looking to be ripe. I hope they eat them too.

Yes, poor old Zebby is in for his annual cattery stay at his vet centre - now renamed "Pet Doctors", not that Zeb appreciates the name change. Luckily the staff there really like Zeb because of his gentle and affectionate nature (my darling wussy cat) so he will get plenty of hugs and cuddles from them.

Its getting late here so, with huggles from me and grumbly snoring from Zebby Cat, Nighty Night Folks.

First Harvest of Vege

Yes - the ever reliable radish. I can report that all parts have been used; the leaves went into soup (super thanks, dear Marjie) while the red globes are being munched upon by Mickle.

I was supervised as I pulled the radish plants - and Zebby was also demonstrating his "Sphinx pose", a sign of a happy and warm Zebby Cat.



Only that sunshine was really hot; Wellington got to 21C which is like a full-on Summer's Day here! Zebby's human was wearing a short sleeved T-shirt for the first time since March!



So back inside to the shade, and onto "his" bed to perfect his indoor Sphinx while I made the soup.

I don't think Egyptian Sphinxes had as much ample, fluffy and generous feline tummy, lol!

Springtime progresses ....

There are huge flower heads starting to form on the cabbage trees, said to be a sure sign that we will get a good Summer. The tree in the above picture is on the section of land next to the flats.



I photographed this one on the way up the hill - the flower spikes are younger but will soon be strong.

Beside the bus stop this pelagonium was doing strong, poking though its humans' fence to show such a pretty flower.

Mean while back at the ranch ... two zucchini (courgette) plants finally planted in their big pots, with sugar snap peas in front and a mixed medley of 3 carrots, a small quantity of radishes and small (fingers crossed for results) multi coloured beets. With the oregano from last year in front to encourage them all.

Next up I need to plant 6 "money maker" tomato plants into containers along side my mystery "which summer squash" seedlings - either little golden mini squash (pattypans to UK readers or scallopini to us downunder) or they are the KamoKamo/zuch hybrids like last year. Full on guessing to us all as only one type germinated in my indoor pots, and I can't remember what was in which mini peat-pot.

Have started a new Kamokamo/Zuch hybrid in a wee peat pot as promised one for my neighbours. Have also started new lots of dwarf beans (hoping this 2nd lot germinate) , lebonese style cucumbers plus more sugar snap peas. All are lurking inside in their wee peatpots, ready to germinate, hopefully grow wonderfully on the living room windowsill, and then be planted out.

I confess that I have given up pretty gardening all for growing veggie plants - however the veg are in containers so there is still a chance for a flowering shrub to survive.

And the semi-vertical rest of my garden is well maintained, it just is unlikely to support any obviously edible stuff just now (except grass for Zebby Cat)

Those Brain-Fade Moments!

I just peeled an apple. Did I put the peelings into the scraps container ready to empty into the compost bin? Nope, I put them in the bag full of apples.

Last week I thought I was getting myself a bowl of potato chips (Brit.trans: crisps). I looked down to find I'd poured myself a lovely wee bowl of Zebby's dry cat food!

Then there was the occasion I put the toaster away, with the freshly made toast still in it.......

Zebby's answer to His daft human's actions is to sleep out of sight, well almost: