I’ve been having so much fun in the kitchen lately with my Thermomix. It has rekindled my enjoyment of baking, and I’ve been trying new recipes and sharing the results with family and friends.

• chocolate cake
• peachy cheesecake slice
• apple and sour cream slice
• ginger cake
• armenian nutmeg cake
• cupcakes
• jam drop cookies
• oaty cookies
• bread
• savoury muffins and quiche

With all this baking going on it’s become evident we need a new oven. Maybe sometime in the new year.. in the meantime I’ll make do, and shall practice making some baked Christmas treats. I’m keen to try Lavender Shortbread with my culinary grade lavender flowers, and some Spicy Parmesan Shortbread for a savoury treat.

In the last couple of days I made my first batch of yogurt, it was surprisingly easy and successful! I followed the instructions in the Every Day Cookbook, and also read up on all the yogurt-making tips on Forum Thermomix and Super Kitchen Machine.

After heating the milk and adding my yogurt starter (3 tablespoons of set-in-the-tub natural yogurt from Aldi) I poured my yogurt to set in a warmed ceramic casserole dish with its own lid, wrapped in tea towels and rested in the microwave with the light on for warmth. I couldn’t resist a peek after six hours, and was delighted to discover the thick, creamy result just like the Youtube video I’d watched.

My next challenge was mayonnaise, and unfortunately the first attempt was a fail. There seems to be a knack to making mayo.. and luckily I saw Quirky Cooking Jo’s tip about re-using my failed mayo to start again with a fresh egg, mustard, vinegar etc. The second attempt was a crowning success! I also followed Jo’s suggestion to add a little honey, which added a nice touch of sweetness. 🙂

The other day I went on a shopping trip to Orion with Mum and came home with three new window blinds from Spotlight (40% off!) Very pleased that I finished putting up the first blind for our three upstairs rooms. Now that I have the right tools, and a plan, the next two should be a lot easier. I had difficulty because the blinds are slightly wider than the window so I had to work out how to anchor above the window frame, and re-site the curtain rail as well. Add to that I had to overcome feelings of D-I-Y helplessness, so it was a great feeling to finally work it out.

Another little accomplishment today was a de-clutter of the storage space under our stairs. I have been meaning to do this for ages. It is by no means the worst of our clutter hot zones, but it is where the cleaning gear is stowed, so it is regularly accessed. Amazing how much space has opened up in there, I was able to move the mop and bucket into there out of the bathroom.

It is my aim to be better organised, and take away the stress of being ill-prepared and unable to find things. I’ve been getting some de-clutter inspiration off the web lately. Some of the sites include:

• FlyLady.net
• Miss Minimalist

Hubby and I are at opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to “stuff” and in the past there has been a difference of opinion as to what constitutes “rubbish”. This has created some trust issues, as hubby is concerned I shall move things where he can’t find them or worse, throw them away! Reading some of the comments under Miss Minimalist’s article, Dealing with OPC (Other People’s Clutter) gave me some understanding of the different points of view, and some useful strategies for a peaceful home.

Things have been a bit quiet here lately in my little patch of cyberspace, due to phone line problems. We had no phone dial tone or internet for almost a week when we learned that it pays to always do the standard checks thoroughly, even if it seems the problem lies elsewhere 😐

Assumed the electrical storms we had the other week took out our phone line. Called our phone company and was told there was an exchange problem, with no ETR. I guessed there was a lot of repair work going on, after some quite severe storms that weekend.

Still nothing a couple of days later, we asked our neighbour how she was faring – and learned that she’d had no disruption at all! Back to our phone company, who organised a remote test of our line and discovered a problem there. They arranged for a linesman to come out and check the lines to our property. A couple of days later the linesman came while we were out and left a calling card – phone line is fine, check your equipment.

A bit frustrating since we had done all the basic checks, like unplugging the modem and trying a different phone on the line. I then remembered the second phone line jack we have upstairs in the bedroom, and we tried the phone in that – instant dial tone. Then hubby tried plugging the phone back into the downstairs phone jack and it worked until he plugged the modem back in. I then tried plugging the modem in upstairs, leaving the phone plugged in downstairs and both worked. So go figure.

As good as it is to have our unhindered phone and net access again, being without internet for so long didn’t affect me as badly as it once would. Must admit I wasn’t completely without it – I had access at work, and also Optus WAP on my mobile. But it was kind of nice to let other things take the place of my normal computer time – cooking, gardening, sitting on the porch with a book. I like that my lifestyle is so much more balanced these days.

The last couple of days hubby and I have re-located the dog pens into the courtyard area. I like the new spot, our babies are less exposed than they were previously, they are on a flat surface and (when we take down Ebby’s old run) it will look a lot tidier. We have lined the floor of both pens with bricks. This involved several hours of hard yakka shifting the brick piles from over near the garage, but the result is worth it, they look awesome.

We always feed Spook and Ebby separately in their own pens. Ebony is always particularly keen for meals and since re-locating, it has been amusing to watch her race to her old pen and wait for dinner there. Wonder how long it will take her to adjust to the new site?

We also popped into Bunnings yesterday morning and picked up some potting mix and assorted seedlings for my kitchen garden. The herb garden now has:

• chilli
• chives
• fennel
• golden marjoram
• rosemary
• basil (perennial variety)
• mint
• parsley (flat and curl leaf varieties)
• oregano
• thyme
• pineapple sage
• coriander

Although I’d originally intended to grow only herbs this year, I couldn’t go past some tomato, eggplant and asian greens seedlings (mizumi, bok choy, red mustard etc). I have some of these planted in an old laundry tub near my kitchen window on the deck, the rest sharing a bed with the herbs 🙂

I was thrilled when Jo asked me last week to be involved in her new online project JoBlossom’s Storyboard which will be at www.joblossom.com.

We set up her first web site more than six years ago, but Jo’s interest had waned in the last 12 months. As a platform for her writing of children’s books and poems, it only becomes a nagging problem when you develop writer’s block!

The focus of Jo’s new site will be her reading, and while she still nurses aspirations of becoming a published author it is her love of books, in particular books written for young people, that is the constant in her life.

I think Jo puts it beautifully when she says that books are like windows to other worlds, that you can visit at will. What a great way to utilise her love of reading, her desire to help other people discover books, and the knowledge she has acquired through her volunteer work at the library.