The Start of the Winter Harvest

About 5kg of Lemonades with Turnips and Daikon

Myles did his first bit of vegie gardening and planed Broccoli, Lettuce, Beetroot, and Rhubarb in the newly turned over garden beds. We both weeded a few areas, got our first harvest of Lemonades, and pulled some more of the root vegetables. I pruned the Lemonade tree right back and removed all the moss that had been allowed to grow on it - hopefully it will mean the next harvest is bigger and the tree healthier. I gave the goats the prunings off the trees - a little treat.

Last night we heard 8 gun shots at about 11pm at night. Rumour has it that there is a dog on the loose which has already killed 5 chickens next door - perhaps someone was protecting their animals. Hopefully when we have lambs the dog won't have a go at them.

Dinner Party on the Hill

Last night we invited some of the neighbours over for dinner - which naturally means I am cooking. I chose to cook my Moroccan Lamb Cutlet dish for mains - which has proven to be popular in the past. I had no idea what to make for dessert but looked through my fridge and cupboards for inspiration. I had the Whites of 2 eggs left over from the day before so some sort of meringue was on the cards. Eventually I narrowed the dessert down to a Rhubarb Tart with Meringue Topping.

I thought it was a Single Seater? Some of the neighbours

We ate, drank, and chatted while the kids watched Toy Story and the Muppets.

Steve Moroccan Lamb Cutlets
1 finely diced Onion
3 Cloves of minced Garlic
2 pinches of Chilli flakes
6 or more Lamb Cutlets
1 tin of chopped Tomatoes
1 tin of lentils - dried is better but quicker using a tin
1 tin of Chickpeas - you can soak the appropriate amount of dried Chickpeas and use
1 Chicken Stock Cube
1 tspns of Turmeric
2 tspns of Tarragon
2 tspns of Paprika
1 handful of Almonds
1 handful of Dried Apricots
1/2 a Preserved Lemon
Salt and Pepper to taste

Season the lamb with salt and pepper. Use a dish that can be used both on the stove and in the oven - or just use more dishes and use two different pans. Heat some oil and cook onion, garlic and chilli until the onion is translucent. Then brown the lamb cutlets. Once browned take off the heat and add the tinned items ensuring the lamb is covered with moisture. Then add all the herbs and mix around. Put the stock in hot water and dissolve. Pour over the dish to ensure even more of the lamb has moisture. Then sprinkle almonds, lemon and apricots over the top and bake in the oven for 1 hour or until bubbling and cooked although.

Serve with couscous. Please note that the measurements are not exact - I make it up as I go.

The Rhubarb Meringue Tart

Rhubarb Meringue Tart
2 Egg Whites
1/2 cup sugar
1 tspn of Cream of Tarter
approx 7 plain biscuits (smashed into little pieces)
50g of melted butter
200g of rhubarb

Mix melted butter with biscuit crumbs and press into bottom of ramekins. Refrigerate until set. Bake the rhubarb with some sugar in the oven until cooked and moisture has mostly gone - jam like consistency. Put this mixture in ramekins. Then beat the whites, sugar, and cream of tarter until a stiff mixture is formed. Spoon into the top of the ramekins and bake in oven from approx 20mins or when the meringue is just browning.

All the Leaves are Brown

The Liquid Amber - Photo by Andi

The property is really starting to look like winter is arriving. The Liquid Amber trees at the front have almost lost all their leaves and the grass hasn't been mowed for a month and doesn't look like it needs to be mowed for a wee bit. And all my winter crops are coming along wonderfully.

I have already began harvesting my winter crops of turnip, daikon, silver-beet, and rhubarb. The huge bed of sweet potatoes needs digging up, and my lemonade tree is almost ready. That means more homegrown food will soon be ready. The next lot of vegies goes in tomorrow - that should include Broccoli, garlic, leeks, more turnips, and cauliflower. And then of course our winter lambs should burst out of the chests of the sheep as in Aliens - that is how they give birth isn't it?

The spare bedroom should be finished this weekend if Myles braves the ladder - it will be the first room in the main house completely finished.

More Autumn Trees - again photo by Andi

Finally with the weather turning, and warmth needed from winters shadow, Myles and I would like to pass on our sympathy to Missy's parents who are grieving her loss. Missy was a remarkable 19yo cat who, like Cher, still looked like a kitten. We will be having a toast to you tonight Missy.

And so the Queen Takes Her Rightful Place

A couple of years ago I offered to buy a female Daschund as my Mother's Birthday/Christmas present. My Mother accepted the gift on the condition that when she moved to the U.K. to live for 5 years that I would look after the dog.

Bella Arrives

Myles found a tan Daschund online and visited the breeder in Western Sydney - our usual breeder had dropped off the face of the planet. Myles instantly feel in love with the little puppy and brought her home to stay for a couple of weeks - while we arranged the flight to Adelaide so I could present my Mother with the gift. Like all puppies she was extremely noisy for the first 3 days. Fritz even begged not to sleep with her in the same room - alas we forced him to look after her. Myles and I had just watched 'Elizabeth - The Golden Years' (bad movie) but I really liked the name Isabella from the movie. So we temporarily called the dog Bella.  Mr Grumpy (Fritz) did eventually bond with Bella on the last day.

Love at First Sight - My Mother with her new baby

So as promised my parents delivered the dog to me before they moved to the U.K. We were all a little worried how Bella would fit in - especially with Lily (monster dog) being such a huge dog. After a rough couple of weeks both Bella and Lily adore each other - biting and playing all day. Meanwhile the Grumpy Old Man, Fritz, watches with distain.

Secretly I think, like Fritz, Bella was spoilt but now she has to compete with 2 other dogs - that hasn't stopped her. She jumps on ANYONE'S lap and has worked out that at 5am in the morning our bed is the warmest place in the house. After 2 weeks here she has worked out she is the boss - Fritz second - then me - then Lily - then Myles. Sorry Milo!

A Stranger in the Valley

A couple of months ago a family friend named Leti stayed with us (there was a post about her). She had been travelling around Australia CouchSurfing www.couchsurfing.org Couch Surfing, for a traveller, is about staying in someone's home for free - usually you do something for them in repayment - like clean or cook. The traveller gets to experience the real Australia and not just the Harbour Bridge. For the host it gives the warm feeling that you are sharing, and you get to meet some great people. Leti loved the farm so much and recommended we give other people the chance to visit. Myles was a little wary but I liked the idea because often I am here alone and only speak to the neighbour, or occasionally friends and family - and even though I am a hermit I do get lonely.

I set up my profile quickly and suddenly was flooded with requests to stay - thought that was strange.  I accepted a couple and then they cancelled on me.  Then Myles' Mum passed away and we had other visitors so the place wasn't free. Finally I young guy called Andreas, from Austria, requested the opportunity to stay. His profile looked OK - he had positive reviews - so emailed him my contact details. Andi told me he was arriving on Wednesday by bus from Byron Bay - I got the impression that Byron wasn't all that entertaining for him.

I left early to pick Andi up from the bus station so that I could also go food shopping in 'Glamourous Coffs Harbour'. I picked up a few things that I thought a visitor might like, Kangaroo Steak, some German biscuits (I love them too) etc. I left the supermarket early as I thought I would be late and texted Andi what clothes I was wearing. He arrived and we awkwardly said hello. He didn't know me and I didn't know him - there was no other way of meeting. We loaded the ute up with his bags and he broke 5 of my eggs - I thought it was actually funny. I drove Andi to the farm and tried to let him know I wasn't an axe murder and that driving 20minutes wasn't an Ivan Milat thing. When he got out of the ute, on the farm, he just said "Wow". I showed Andi to the cottage and let him get comfortable before showing him around the property. I got the impression that he liked the place. That night I made Kangaroo Steaks for him and he cleaned up - he asked me how I got the steak to taste like butter - I didn't use butter BTW. He also helped me make  Käsknöpfle - the dish of his region - if he eats Kangaroo again I hope it will taste even better. We then watched Kick-Ass - a favourite of mine. I had been feeling sick all-day and now felt boring - surely there were better things to do than watch a movie.

When I finally went to bed I wondered what we would do the next day - Coffs has some sites but I wasn't prepared to travel too far away. However when I woke I was feeling better. There was even a koala near the cottage that I knew Andi would think was fantastic. When he did get up (10am) the koala had left but we made our way into town to see the Big Banana and Jetty area. Andi then bought me lunch and we ate it watching the sea - he commented he could watch the ocean for hours because Austria is landlocked. I then found out he liked electronica music. We came back home and built a fire and made some cauliflower soup while he updated his blog and applied for university - and booked his bus down to Canberra. Andi told me his bus was at 12pm and asked if it alright for me to drop him off. I put on some music but in true Steve fashion never let a song finish. We watched 'Scott Pilgrim vs the World' which he thought was strange - agreed.

Myles arrived the next day and we both picked him up from the airport and again Andi bought me lunch - Maccas. Then I almost got booked for parking illegally at the airport. I made Crispy Pork Belly with Coconut Chilli rice for dinner with home-grown vegetables and watched 'Terminator 2' - Andi hadn't seen it. All through the movie we asked Andi to repeat some of the lines - and what do you know - he sounded like Arnie. At the end of the movie Andi said the movie wasn't as bad as he expected. We dropped him off to continue his adventure - but Canberra?

A fork in the foot is worth a band-aid in the bath

I'm looking after my parents home contents for a few years as they are moving overseas. Even though most of the furniture is being stored I have been given a few things that may not be needed in the future, or that I could use on the property. My Father gave me his gardening tools, apparently some of those tools are older than me, but in good condition - at least I thought.

I've injured my back somehow and so are restricted to light duties. Cleaning up the garage was high on my list along with washing Myles Jag. I drove the oil dripping Jag out to the spare water tank and washed it with my Father's help. I mentioned that I would clean the garage out and again my Father offered to help. In my hast  I didn't change my thongs(flip flops) to normal shoes and started pulling all the tools out of the garage to sort it out. My Father offered to hang many of the tools on the walls to free up floor space and to keep it tidy in the long term. We attached a plank on the wall and hung the gardening tools that were given to me. Dad was knocking in a nail when the handle of a garden fork detached from the metal head. Naturally my uncovered foot was directly underneath the garden fork. A few very bad words were yelled by me - something about a mother? I hopped into the house to put a band-aid on it and noticed a large amount of blood was streaming from the wound. I called out to my Father stating that a band-aid might not be sufficient. Dad helped me inside and put my foot in the bath and poured water over the cut - that mother word was used again by me. Once the cut stopped bleeding a band-aid was applied and I put a proper pair of shoes on and continued working.

My Mother missed the commotion and entered the garage a few minutes later.

"Careful with the garden fork" she commented when seeing what we were doing "my brother put a garden fork through my foot and you wouldn't want that pain."

My Father and I just smirked at each other.

My Father Maybe Many Things but...

he has never been known for his culinary skills.

Many year ago, while living in New Zealand, my Mother travelled to Sydney to visit her Mother, my Grandmother, for a week. This left Dad in charge of the house, and us kids. The household was run with military efficiency. We kids were lined up for parade duty at 6am, followed by Guantamo Bay style showers - minus the sexual abuse, and rushed off to school by 9am. Being at school was heaven compared to what we were to endure after school - and I'm just talking about the dinner! I'm not sure what recipe book Dad decided to gain inspiration from but I have yet to see Weetbix Stew repeated - although it certainly repeated on the household for the whole week. Cooking in bulk is efficient! When Mum arrived home 7 days later we rushed her to the kitchen and begged for some high sugar, low fibre cakes.

There is an exception to my Father's failure as a chef. He has always made the most amazing fudge. "He boils the crap out of it" so the rumour to his secret goes. The fudge comes out chalky and sweet and after eating it you won't want that sludge that the CWA makes. Whenever he visits a family member he is asked to make the fudge so when I was fortunate to have a visit from my parents I asked if he could make the fudge for me. Now the secret has been passed to me - however I wasn't very good at making it and actually burnt my hand with scolding hot fudge. Next time I will be better.

My Father's recipe actually comes from the most famous New Zealand cookbooks 'The Edmonds Cookery Book' with some modifications that I will not share with you.

A mixture of Coconut Ice and Fudge

Chocolate Fudge
2 cups of sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa
1/2 cup milk
25g butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence

Basically boil the stuff up and pour into a tin to set. Make sure you cut the mixture before it hardens.

Because I was in the sweet making mood I decided to make a childhood favourite, Coconut Ice. Although the colouring is a little pink my sweets turned out very tasty - enhanced with time. Again I got the recipe from the Edmonds Cookery Book.

The Farewell to Sylv

After Myles left for Goolwa I was left to look after the animals and farm. I wanted to finished the spare bedroom so when Myles returned he had something to smile about after his Mother passed away. For two days I painted, taped, wobbled on a ladder and obviously fell on my tail bone. I'm not sure when I hurt myself but for two weeks I have been unable to sit properly and am living on painkillers.

On Sunday the neighbour drove me down to the airport so that I could join the Cobbing family. He was going to look after the dogs on Sunday, then my parents were coming to stay on the Monday and look after everything. The plane trips were painful and I was glad to see Myles waiting for me at the airport in Adelaide. He had swapped his original hire car for a larger Holden. Unfortunately the seats were terrible and I was in pain for the hour trip down to Goolwa. Upon arriving I was able to give the whole Cobbing clan a big hug and then Shaun, Myles' brother, massaged and cracked my back - which helped. Then I was given beautiful painkillers which really helped.

Shaun had brought his kids along - I hadn't seen Shara, Luke, and Tayla for years. Had they grown? Yes, were they smart asses? Yes. Did I enjoy their company? Yes. The Cobbing boys were naturally upset and I felt it was my job to look after them. Shaun seemed very stressed - He had planned much of Sylv's funeral wanted everything to go to plan - to celebrate a very special lady and his mother. I kept busy over the next few days and was invited to view Sylv. The family were unsure whether they should and I commented that if they didn't now they might look back and wonder if they should of. We drove out to Victor Harbour and while traveling I read that it can be very important to have a viewing. I of course shared that with the car. Upon arriving at the Funeral Directors we all suddenly became upset. Myles and Shaun stayed outside to gather themselves while I went in with the kids and Myles' Dad, Mick. It was a very emotional experience which completely exhausted everyone - I didn't feel it was appropriate to show a lot of emotion because I wanted to seem strong - to help everyone.

Sylv learns to box on the Wii while we all wet ourselves laughing (2008)

Shaun's friends Warren and Lisa arrived early the next morning and helped iron everyone's clothes and generally help out. I cleaned the kitchen and made sure Myles and family were prepared. A couple of painkillers later and we were all ready for Slyv's day. The chapel in Goolwa also serves as a community centre - where Sylv played table tennis - so a very appropriate place to host the event. The family was expecting about 80 people but were overwhelmed by the 140 people. Our best friend Les travelled all the way down rom Sydney and just the sight of him started the waterworks with Myles and brought a tear to my eye. A few minutes later the ceremony started. The Celebrant was fantastic - respectful and humorous. There was a problem with the music starting early and he covered for it "Now, now Sylv, we know you like to party but can you please wait" There were a few chuckles from the crowd. Shaun was amazing - talking about Sylv's life - he only starting loosing it towards the end. While Myles was brief his speech brought most to tears. Mick told a few stories that were humorous - thank goodness I don't think the crowd would have kept it together if there weren't a few laughs. Then the DVD that Myles and Shaun put together was played. I couldn't watch most of it and nearly lost it when I heard John Lennon's 'Imagine'. Sylv had asked me to read the 23 Psalm at the end and I was determined not to cry while doing that. Myles told me latter that I was a little quick but still good. We retired to the local pub afterwards and celebrated Sylv's life over a few drinks. Everyone arrived home safely and we watched the DVD a couple more times until we all had tears in our eyes.

The Cobbing family on the mend

The next day we went to Sylv's favourite restaurant and had lunch. Shaun paid for everyone to visit the restaurant's attached wildlife park - which we thought was crazy until we finished walking around. We all agreed it was good to have that little walk. I took photos along the way - it wasn't until the end that I looked at the family and thought 'they are going to be OK'.

Myles and I left the next morning waving to everyone and promising to talk to them that night. Once out of sight I finally let my emotions out.

Goodbye Sylv. We had some fun didn't we?

Comings and Goings

Again I know it has been sometime since my last update - I have been very busy with visitors and family matters. Firstly let's start with visitors.

The restaurant with the funny signs

Heather was our first returning visitor, the last time was in February. Although Myles has only met Heather a couple of times it seems they have a great time together. Heather treated us to a 'bought' meal - Indian cuisine down at the Jetty restaurant precent.  We walked the strip to decide where to eat. One Indian restaurant had signage stating 'Best Indian Restaurant Coffs Harbour 2010' all the way down to 2002 - naturally it had to be a good restaurant - however there were few people inside. Further along was another Indian restaurant that had signage stating "You pay money you get award - we are the best ask any local" and another "If you don't like our food we give you free Aussie meal". We chose the restaurant with the attitude signage and didn't regret it. It was the best meal we had eaten in Coffs Harbour. On the way home I discovered they used MSG - my face started sweating - next time I'll ask for it without the MSG. Heather left a couple of gifts with us - a pineapple, her aloe vera, and a mookite stone. The Mookite has many helpful properties - by the way I am a skeptic with these sorts of things. One property is that it helps with sleep - so I gave it a go and slept wonderfully. After 2 nights I worked out that Heather had actually left the stone more for Myles as he was having a rough time.

Jane in her PJ's

A few days later our friends Dani and Jane visited for the easter weekend. Dani had stayed in the cottage when almost nothing had been done to the property so I was interested to see her reaction when she pulled up the drive way. After a few hugs we showed them around. Then I cooked dinner and we chatted all night over some wine. The next morning we traveled with them to Dorrigo and had lunch at the local pub. It was another lovely day where Myles and I had more of a holiday then J&D - actually the whole weekend was a holiday for us. On the final night Jane and Dani took us to the Yaught Club for dinner - the portions were huge and the food OK. The restaurant would be better during the day because you get to see the ocean. Jane and Dani were very understanding and supportive of Myles who had learnt his Mother was going to pass away that weekend.

Goodbye Sylv
The day after Jane and Dani left Myles and I started painting the main house's spare bedroom - finally the baby blue was going. After a long day we visited our neighbours for a beer. At 5:55 pm Myles shivered and said
"someone just walked over my grave" to which S said
"That's f*$ked up" and walked away. Apparently S's family were witches and slightly psychic, or is that psycho? Only 5 minutes later Myles received the devastating news that his Mother had died at 5:55pm. Myles flew down to Goolwa is S.A to help his Dad the next morning.