I have just done the grocery shopping and wow, how expensive was that? How do people manage? I usually shop for fruit and vegetables at the markets and I try a go to the butchers for meat, so my bill is usually much lower than what I paid today.

I got everything at the supermarket and I did buy some luxuries like coffee, juice, cheese and of course chocolate :) but most of the bill was fruit and vege and meat. I am sure that if the supermarkets sourced their produce from local farmers it would be much cheaper. I do know that when they have bought locally, the produce leaves the area to go to a major city, to a central distribution centre then back out again, some of which then comes back to the area of origin. How crazy is that, there must be a better way, but that is a big company for you.

I guess that is why it is best to shop with the local guys, you get cheaper and fresher, and know that your food hasn’t travelled thousands of kilometers to get to your table.

I like to buy organic when I can, local organic is better, sometimes I can’t get either, I know I should then give it a miss but usually don’t. Buying seasonally is better too, as you know that the produce hasn’t been sitting in cold storage for who knows how long, or has been imported from Brazil, Spain or Russia (not sure what they produce in Russia but you get the idea).

We have an organic shop here which I go to regularly for some stuff, and must say I haven’t asked where the produce comes from but I will (it is now on the list of things to do) but I am pretty sure most are local. I don’t mind paying a little more for it as it does taste better and if nothing else I know that it hasn’t been sprayed with all sorts of nasties. I am also pretty sure that they only have seasonal produce, another thing I must ask.

I once asked at our local markets where the carrots came from, remembering that these market were originally for local farmers to sell their stuff. Anyway the carrots came from WA, and we are in QLD, far north QLD, I didn’t buy those carrots as I know we grow them here.

There is a lot of local produce at the markets so I just pick and choose which stalls I buy from. As I get to know some of the stallholders, and I usually have a bit of a chat, I have found out where they are from and so go back to the locals that actually grow their own stuff.

The banana lady is one of my favourites at the markets, they are from not too far away and have lovely bananas and she is always happy and loves a chat with everyone. She also usually gives the kids a banana for free, a lovely lady :)

So, needless to say, I need to get myself together and get going back to the markets, the organic shop and the butchers, their stuff is so much fresher and the experience of shopping is better than the supermarket.


I was talking with a couple after class today and we were discussing gardens, and they said that they just put all their scraps into the garden as compost (dig a hole and put the kitchen scraps in). They went away on holidays and when they came back found sweet potato growing and some other things that they are going to wait and see what they are. What a great way to garden, I do this from time to time and you end up with this wonderful wild garden with surprises everywhere, they are enjoying discovering what is growing.


This reminded me that I had best get my sweet potato in, so I dug it up out of my old garden and have (for the time being) put it into a large pot. I just cut off the ends with some roots and plant on the end and kept the rest for eating, so I really hope they take.


Though, I must add, it doesn’t get any fresher than the cucumbers picked this morning and brought to Tai Chi class today to share with everyone. I came home with a lovely cucumber which will be added into our salads, and knowing that it was grown just down the road in a backyard veggie garden with love, will make it taste so much better :)

Our Internet connection seems to drop in and out at will, and that seems to be the norm for wireless Internet in a rural area. My partner in crime and life has decided that a bigger antenna will fix it, isn’t that just like a man?



What is also just like a man, is deciding that having the desktop computer living on top of the bedroom. So up it went, they love it, the ladder gets put up every evening so they can climb up and play. It is a good spot as it is out of the way, and we probably are able to say that we are the only people that have a computer on the ceiling of the bedroom.


Our dam has been overflowing with all the rain we have had, but yesterday was a day of no rain so the overflow from next doors dam has eased. However the dam looks lovely, very, very full and shiny, when the sun is out it is shiny, like a mirror.


The dog enjoys the dam and has a swim every day, our number one and only son enjoys swimming in it too, but comes out rather dirty as he stirs up the dirt on the bottom. The dog probably gets dirty too but we can’t see that so it doesn’t count.

Off to my Thursday Tai Chi class today, then to do some work at the other house, to the library and then some shopping. Busy day all day but I don’t mind as I haven’t been out all week this week, and I think that I will enjoy it because of that (though have really, really enjoyed not going out and being able to work at home). I always enjoy my class anyway, as the company is so good.

I like tea in teapot, I don’t do it as often as I should, but now I have a bigger kitchen, I think it will be easier to get to.

I like to have my teapot and two cups on the bench under a food cover, sitting on a cloth thingy (the name of which escapes me right now) that my Aunt made. She also made some lovely potholders as well.


A friend of mine always uses a tea pot, I love having tea at her house as it tastes really good, maybe the company makes it all that much better. She only uses loose leaf tea and blends two types of tea together which makes a lovely tea, thing is I can never remember which teas she blends. (Note to self, must write that down)

Loose leaf tea is also more environmentally friendly, no little paper bags that may or may not have been bleached. There is the lack of packaging, only the box the tea comes in, I keep meaning to get loose leaf tea but I really have a lot of tea to drink first before I can do that. Every time I see an interesting tea I buy it, so I am on a no tea buying challenge :)

So, I just throw a tea bag in the pot and some hot water and off I go. There is of course the ritual with the teapot, my partner in crime and life insists that you must spin the teapot three times and tap it on the lid (once I think, or is it twice?). Don’t really know where that came from, probably some old wives thing that has been passed down through the ages and whose origins have been lost in time :)

I think the spinning thing is to help stir the tea through the water and the tapping the lid…. Well, I don’t know, maybe to indicate that the spinning has now finished.

I really hate getting a cuppa in a paper cup, no takeaways for me, at least not when I can help it. I like a ceramic cup, I don’t drink coffee (yuk) but have chai tea and hot chocolate when out and about, so sometimes have a glass, as long as it isn’t paper.

My mother-in-law apparently insists on a handle with her cup. A lot of places give you cups and mugs with no handles but with a serviette wrapped around the body of the cup. I can understand wanting a handle.

This reminds me of that song, I think these are the correct words, though I guess it is like Chinese whispers, and all those songs which you can’t quite catch the words too, it may be a bit distorted from the original.

What I want is a proper cup of coffee
Made in a proper cuppa coffee pot
I may be off my dot
But I want a cuppa coffee in a proper coffee pot

Tin coffee pots and iron coffee pots
They’re no use to me
So…if I can’t have a proper cuppa coffee in a proper cuppa coffee pot
I’lllllll, have a cup of tea.

:)

The rain has been coming down during the night and this morning we had 35mm in the rain gauge. It was still pouring down this morning so no early morning walk for us today, the dog refuses to get out of bed on these days.

Last night I cooked a meal that is hugely popular in our house. It is a recipe that my mother-in-law gave me years ago, it is simple and doesn't require lots of unusual ingredients and in our days of no money was made a lot.

I don't know where the recipe originally came from but it makes heaps and there is always enough for lunches. I always add in more vegetables and also a can of beans, so here is the basic recipe, I know my mother-in-law won't mind me sharing.

CHOW MEIN

500g mince
2-3 carrots
small cup rice
1 small onion
1/4 shredded cabbage
chicken noodle soup
3 cups water
curry powder to taste

Brown mince and onion in a little oil. Sprinkle soup, rice, carrots into pan, and add water and curry powder. Simmer for 10-15min, then stir in the cabbage and season with salt.

That is it, kids love this as it is simple and doesn't have weird veges in it, but I do add more veges, just whatever extra I have in the house, and the beans never get noticed by anyone so they are a a good addition. I also think it would be good as a Sheppard pie or wrapped in puff pastry, that would make it easy for the lunch box too.

My partner in crime and life came home starving last night, wet and a bit cold and he ate two bowls of this to fill the hole in his belly, he took it for lunch today and so did our number one and only son. Though I am surprised that it wasn't eaten for breakfast, a lot of leftovers are had for breakfast here, as things like toast and cereal are very boring.

So I had best go and see what is the freezer for tonight, so I can try and make something interesting, which means searching my recipe books. I can't create anything myself, don't have that much imagination on my own :)

The baby plovers have finally hatched out and they are so cute. We have endured a month or so of being swooped by the parents and not being able to mow that section of the paddock.

They are actually called Masked Lapwing, and are a protected species despite that people think they are a pest. If you can put up with them for about a month or so, the babies hatch and then they are gone, all the swooping and screaming is only about protecting their family, and that is fair.


Ours didn't cause us much grief, they did some screaming, and of course they didn't like the men who live here as they made some aggressive moves (like trying to look at the nest). If you don't get too close and ignore them they only seem to be a bit noisy, and they seem to like the ride-on mower as they can get more bugs and things.

The behaviour of the mother had changed in the last couple of days, and then yesterday my partner in crime and life woke me up early (on a Sunday) to see the babies playing in our mud. They are very cute, little and round and short, there was three of them and whenever there was some perceived danger the parent would call out and they would bob down and disappear. However I do think the parents had some trouble reigning them in and keeping them under control, like most parents I think :)

So after playing at our back door for a while, they gradually moved off and are gone. So, after seeing the mother nesting every time I looked out, and hearing them screaming at us for some transgression, they are just gone, and have taken their little balls of fluff. I feel strangely alone, but in a good way, as I can now walk across the paddock in peace.


Actually, I would walk across the paddock if it wasn't raining. I suppose I could if I put on my gum boots and raincoat, but the view from here is pretty good and the dog is all curled up in her bed (she is not a rain dog) and the water is splashing away into the dogs' pool.


The tank must be filling and the dogs' pool is overflowing, all good things, I have become obsessed with the rain and now we have our new rain gauge up, am keeping a log of how much rain we are getting. Doesn't seem like much in the gauge, 8 1/2mm, 16mm or 5 1/2mm, but it is a lot on the roof. Still waiting on the new tank but if we keep getting this sort of rain, this regularly, then when it does get here it won't take long to fill :)