Australia Day

Australia Day turned out quite good. We went and did some wood chopping, some wood for the few cold days we will get in the dry season, and some for our lunchtime BBQ.


A lot of effort goes into chopping wood, doesn't look like a lot of wood for the fire, and it isn't, but there was much work involved, and this isn't just from one time.


Our BBQ was magnificent, and of course I made so much salad, and we cooked too much meat, that we didn't need to cook that night, tonnes of leftovers.


Of course it was our number one and only son who lit the fire, seeing that is a boy thing, and my partner in crime and life cooked it all, seeing that is a man thing :D


The views from the BBQ plate were pretty good too :))

Eggs And Lasgne

Whoever said that it takes three minutes to boil an egg is wrong. It takes at least five minutes to cook the perfect egg with all the whites cooked and a soft yolk. I love boiled eggs but have a lot of trouble getting it just right, my partner in crime and life has said I am like Goldilocks, and that is in regard to more than boiling eggs.


I wish I could say that this is an egg from one of our chooks, but they haven't started laying yet. I am thinking that we have the only chooks ever that don't lay eggs, either that or they are lazy :D They are still cute though.


I made the best lasagna EVER the other day. I made the lasagna sheets with my new pasta maker (fresh pasta is so great and will be even better when we have free eggs to make it with)and a lovely mince mixture and cheese sauce. The mince mixture I just made up, just cooked up the mince with veges and put about 1/2 cup homemade mango sauce in with it, no tomato based sauce at all. Put it all together in layers as usual an there you go, the best lasagna ever :))

I do think we (as in, we as a society) make too many meals based on tomatoes, it gets boring and if you have arthritis like my partner in crime and life, it is bad. So it it nice to make something that is not based on tomatoes and it still tastes good, even though traditionally it should be made with tomatoes. So that is my opinion today to throw out into cyberspace :)

Being Australia Day, and seeing we actually are having good weather, we are going to have a BBQ for lunch. We are going to light the fire over in the fire pit, put my new BBQ plate on it and off we go.

I got lazy and bought chicken kebabs to cook instead of making them (sometimes you just have to do that) and also we are having a lamb chop each. My partner in crime and life tells me that everyone HAS to eat lamb on Australia day, it is a tradition. Never heard that personally before, but I can run with it.

All the rain has been sucked away by the cyclone that developed last week and has now moved away taking the rain with it, so we are left with unusually good weather for this time of year. It apparently won't be lasting though as the cyclone is expected to re-develop and come back north, so we are rushing around mowing while things are a little dry. Just enjoying it while it lasts :)

Our number one and only son went back to school this week, two days at school and then another day off, just to add to the two months he just had off. Hey, why not, doesn't make any difference now anyway :) I think he is going to have a really good year this, he is already looking forward to next year when he is a Senior.

Best go do a little Australia Day cleaning and make some salads for lunch, not too much though, it might interfere with the meat eating :D

Sweet Chilli Sauce

Here is the Sweet chilli recipe that my partner in crime and life made, he loves it.

The site with the recipe also has other information about chillis, and you know, my partner in crime and life loves chilli's, despite having his mouth burned and getting chilli juice in his eyes, so sites with info and recipes are always interesting.....for him :D

Sweet Chilli Sauce

250 grams fresh chillies
8 cloves of garlic
2 medium brown onions
2 teaspoons of salt
2 cups of raw sugar
2 cups of white vinegar
1/2 cup of chopped coriander, leaves and stems
2 cm cube of ginger

Roughly blend the ingredients except the sugar and salt, adding a little vinegar if necessary.
Place in saucepan.
Add the vinegar, sugar and salt, bring to the boil and then simmer for 30 minutes.
Blend thoroughly and place in sterilized jars.

Here is the site the recipe came from http://www.thechilliman.biz/index.htm

A Roaring Creek

Well, today the rain made me go out in it. It rained so heavy over a short space of time that a tonne of water went down the drain and into the septic tank and tried to kill it. So after much running around in the rain and a phone call I think it is fixed, well, nearly. The water pump for the shed also stopped working at the same time but I won’t tell you why as you will think I am one of those silly women who can’t do anything or fix anything and that will just ruin my reputation :P

After the rain finally stopped, our number one and only son and I rushed out and planted our new lemon tree in the orchard and our banana plant next to the bore shed. I want to have a banana circle there and will, but if I wait any longer there will just be nothing there, so I bought a banana plant out of my pocket money just to get the ball rolling.


The lemon and banana were looking very sad here so I am glad we got to put them in the ground, just have to get a trailer load of dirt and plant the little natives I also have here.


The creek is absolutely roaring and so high, it is normally very canyon like in appearance but not today, and the noise of it was amazing.


The water was also just pouring down the paddocks and the dam is well and truly overflowing.


Our poor little tanks out the front were just overflowing like crazy.

However I am not complaining at all about any of it, there a lot of people in QLD who are doing it very tough right now, and my heart goes out to all of them, makes you appreciate what you have right now.

New Years

We are getting into it for the new year and I feel organised.

I had to get the car serviced last Friday, it was a major service and there was a few repairs to be done, so a rather large bill, not quite what I wanted for the start of the New Year but some things just need to be done. We ended up having to stay out all day to get it all finished so we didn't have to go back another day but it was worth it, though the day was incredible long.

We have been very busy just trying to keep up with the mowing, rain and hot days means that the grass is growing about a foot a day, well...it feels like it anyway. Usually by the time we finish the whole place we need to start at the beginning again.


New years day we cooked up a storm by making peach pie, mini apricot pies and biscuits, and they were all very yummy. I made up some custard to go with the pies and froze some of the peach pie for later.



My partner in crime and life made a sweet chilli sauce out of Jalapeno chillies from the garden, apparently very hot but getting slightly milder with time, I am not going to find out personally, I will just take his word for it :D


I have given my garden a huge clean up and the chooks loved it as all the weeds, grass and old plants went to them. It still have a bit to go but it is looking good. I planted rocket seeds and okra seeds, and the rocket has come up and is roaring along.

I have heaps of snake beans and wild cherry tomatoes, and I have a paw paw tree that actually has paws paws on it, I didn't' think it was going to but it has. I think I will move another paw paw that isn't doing too well and put it next to the herb/strawberry row that has developed out of cardboard boxes to give them some shade. Now I just have to get another trailer load of soil :D

I have made another garden and it is down by the creek. The soil is really good down there but it is a long way from the other garden so it is going to be a seasonal garden. Only there when the creek is running. I put in some pumpkin seeds and this will be the pumpkin patch, with a couple of Rosella's and pigeon peas thrown in for good measure, couldn't help myself :P

So hopefully the seeds are viable and will germinate soon and grow lots of pumpkins. I am also thinking about putting in some paw paws down there to, as once they get established they can look after themselves.

Best go do something constructive, might go work out our yearly bills, just because I can and haven't done that for a while, needs looking at :D