Caterpillar invasion
Checking out the asian greens growing in an old laundry tub on the veranda, noticed a lot of little black specks peppered over the stalks of each plant. Then I noticed a few of the leaves have been nibbled on. On further investigation I discovered around a dozen tiny little green caterpillar grubs having an […]
Summer Rains
Had a short rain storm yesterday evening, a welcome relief for the garden which instantly freshened up. The rain brought with it a cool change and fresh earthy scents into the garden. The damp ground, cool fresh air, and early morning sunshine provided wonderful conditions for my walk around the yard with the dogs this morning. On […]
Vegetable pasta bake
The plan was to make a vegetable lasagna, using my home-made ricotta in the cheese sauce. The lasagna sheets in the cupboard however, had been got at by pantry beetles and were full of chewed holes. It has been a while since we last made lasagna! I decided to use some spiral pasta to make […]
Leftover beef pot-roast
After making a delicious beef pot-roast in the slow cooker earlier in the week, we still had a good amount of leftovers and I was looking for a creative and delicious way to use it up. There are some brilliant ideas posted online but I ended up adapting a stroganoff recipe, without mushrooms (which aren’t […]
Making ricotta
Quite a different result from my second attempt at yogurt making. Instead of the lovely thick creamy substance of my first batch, I had a jar full of curds and whey (and not a tuffet or spider in sight!) For this second batch I had slightly changed my technique. I had poured my cooked yogurt […]
De-clutter challenge
I have a few days off work right now and thought it a good time to start a little organising in the clutter hot spots around our home – the study, the blue room, the shed. The last two are the trickiest because they are designated husband zones. The trick will be to get the […]