80-something Birthday Party

My nanna turned 83 last week, and some of the family got together on Sunday to celebrate.  It was a low-key lunch (by her request) and everyone brought along a couple of dishes to share.  I decided to make a Quiche Lorraine and a Zucchini Slice.

Rolling out pastry in 37 degree, high humidity weather is challenging.

On a hot day especially, but really, any time you make pastry, I thoroughly recommend chilling as much as possible.  Chill the diced fat and flour in the bowl for ten minutes or so before rubbing in.  Chill the pastry, wrapped in clingfilm, for a good half hour or more before rolling out.  Chill the rolled out pastry, in its tart tin or pie dish, in the freezer for 10 minutes before forking the bottom and baking.

Quiche is one of my favourite dishes to make for a simple home lunch or dinner, or for taking along to a shared brunch or lunch.  It's easy to make (ridiculously so), and the homemade versions are generally a billion times better than anything bought (both my mother and The Daddy hate quiche, but love my homemade quiches).

It's so easy to make lots of different varieties off the same base (blind baked shortcrust base, with egg custard mixture, then just add whatever filling you want - spinach and feta, bacon and onion, leek, mushroom, smoked salmon and dill etc).

 Here is my recipe for quiche (with the Lorraine version instructions).  I have given very 'shorthand' pastry instructions, you might need more info if it's your first time making pastry.  PIE by Ken Haedrich is the best, best, best book on pastry I know of.

Quiche Lorraine

Prepare your shortcrust pastry (rub 125g cold butter into 250g plain flour, add enough chilled water with a squeeze of lemon to just bring it together, press into a fat disk, chill in plastic wrap for 30 minutes or more).

Roll out, and press into a 23cm loose-bottomed flan tin (I use a non-stick one, generally).  Chill in the tin, in the freezer, for 10 minutes, then remove and poke several holes in the bottom with a fork.

Blind bake at 200 degrees for 15 minutes with foil and beans inside, and 10 minutes without.  Brush an eggwhite over the bottom, thinly, then stick back in the oven for a few minutes to set (this helps keep the pastry crispy with the wet filling).

Now, fry together around 200g bacon (5 small-ish free range rashers) with a large, diced brown onion.  You want them softened and lightly browned.  Set aside.

In a large mixing jug, combine 4 eggs plus one yolk (if you used the white when blind baking the pastry, otherwise don't worry), together with 3/4 cup of cream, 1/2 cup milk, salt, pepper and freshly grated nutmeg.  Add in the onions and bacon.

Pour the filling into the pastry shell - if you have any leftover filling, you can pour it into a ramekin or two and bake them separately.

Bake the quiche at 160 degrees for around half an hour, or until just set - ideally, the middle would still have a faint touch of jiggle to it.

Serve warm or at room temperature, with a green salad and some tomato relish!

Now, you can use whatever filling you want instead of the bacon and onions.  Just remember the ratio for the custard of one egg to every quarter cup of milk or cream - most recipes use one egg to every 1/2 cup, and please feel free, but I prefer a much eggier quiche, with plenty of filling as well!

I also made a Zucchini Slice.  This one is a real winner - delicious, dead easy, appeals to kids and adults alike, lovely served cold for lunches during the week, and you can vary the fillings as well.

It's a perfect dish for Baby Led Weaning, as it's high in protein, veggies and easy to eat cut into 'fingers'.  You can omit the bacon and salt if you are cooking for a baby.

I think the original recipe came from a website, possibly Taste.com.au, but it was given to me by a former colleague.

Zucchini Slice

Preheat oven to 160 degrees.  Line bottom and two longest sides of a 20x30cm slice tray, or roughly similar size, with baking paper.

Beat together, with a whisk, 5 eggs and 150g self raising flour, sifted, until smooth and lump-free.

In a large bowl, combine this with

• 375g grated zucchini (squeeze out excess moisture if it seems wet)
• 1 cup grated cheese
• 1/4 cup milk or cream
• Tablespoon of olive oil
• Salt and pepper
• 200g diced bacon
• 1 large diced onion (note - I generally fry the bacon and onion together to lightly brown, first, for improved taste.  But it's not the end of the world if you don't)

Once everything is mixed together, pour into the prepared tray and bake for 30-45 minutes, or until just set (don't overcook).

I like to cover the top with sliced tomatoes or cherry tomatoes prior to baking.  You can also try replacing the zucchini with grated sweet potato or spinach.  You could add cubes of feta.  You could use ham instead of bacon.  Try smoked salmon and leek instead of bacon and onion.  Add capsicum or corn to the zucchini recipe.  Try adding a big dollop of pesto.  All of these variations work beautifully.

This slice is one of Tabitha's favourite foods, and gets pulled out most weeks here.  It's a great way to serve protein and vegetables.  I often cook it with no bacon, or just a single rasher, if I'm making it primarily for Tabitha, and I won't add extra salt.

Mum made a pretty layered sponge cake, with fresh raspberries and raspberry jam with the whipped cream filling: 

Waffles, Cookies, Porridge and Toy Rotation

We've had cherries so big that Tabby needs to eat them in bites, like an apple.  She is very good at spitting out the pip.

Eating cherries and having a cuddle with Daddy:

Believe it or not (and if you live in Melbourne or Sydney, you will certainly believe it), amongst these hot days, we've had a fair number of cold, rainy days too.  I don't mind - I use it as an excuse to cook my cool-weather favourites such as paprika chicken with buttered spaetzle:

And enormous platters of schnitzel with fresh parsley and lemon juice:

I can eat my own weight in schnitzel, no lie.

Cooler days mean porridge - I've been experimenting with Steel Cut Oats.  These have a superior taste, texture and nutritional value to classic rolled oats (I'm leaving out 'instant oats' as I don't consider them worthy of the name porridge).  The problem is, steel cut oats take forever to cook.  I've been told to soak them overnight and then cook for around 30 minutes, stirring semi-regularly, over low heat.  I have not yet managed to have them cooked to my liking in less than an HOUR!

Standing and stirring for a full hour, first thing in the morning on an empty stomach, is not fun.  To say the least.  I am keen to keep trying though - I might try cooking them in a low oven, or soaking for longer.   At any rate, I am perfectly happy with my Carmen's Classic Oats (rolled oats) which take around ten minutes on the stovetop.  So I may well give up on the steel cut oats soon - but they do have a fabulous chewy texture, and they are one of the most filling foods I've ever eaten.

If you're interested in giving them a go, there is loads of information online - I use around 2 parts water to 1 part milk.

Porridge is one of Tabitha's favourite foods - she loves the steel cut version too.

Her cutlery skills are going brilliantly - she can easily manage a bowl of porridge on her own, with no spills.  Even, as below, if I give her a full size spoon (all the small ones were in the dishwasher):

 

I made a batch of chocolate chip cookies for Tabitha's godmother Sophie's birthday.  These are the recipe from the Milk and Cookies Bakery in NYC.  You might remember that I've posted about them before?  They contain oats, blitzed in the food processor to become a coarse flour.  They are brilliant.  Last time I posted the recipe, I mentioned that I was going to try them again with less butter (see post HERE).  I did, and I now bake these with 2/3 of the original butter, or 8 ounces, which is (conveniently) just a fraction under a 250g block of butter.

I've posted the revised recipe below, in more useful metric measurements.

Here is a big pudding basin full of the dough - this cookie dough benefits immensely from a couple of days in the fridge, wrapped well with cling film.  I'd recommend 48 hours, and no less than 24 hours, in the fridge before cooking.  You can also roll balls of this (after the resting period) and freeze them in snap lock bags - you can bake them straight from frozen!

Here is the revised metric recipe:

Chocolate Chip Cookies

220g old-fashioned rolled oats

220g plain flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

225g unsalted butter, at room temperature

200g white sugar

200g brown sugar

2 large eggs, at room temperature

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 175 degrees Celsius.

In a food processor, blitz the oats until they are finely ground.  Transfer to a mixing bowl, and stir in the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.

Put the butter in the bowl of a standing mixer, and mix on medium speed for a couple of minutes, until light and creamy (do NOT beat on high speed - the friction generated begins to melt the butter slightly, which affects the absorption of the liquid into the flour.  It's a minor, fussy thing, but trust me)

With the motor running, gradually add the sugars, beating on medium until light and creamy.

Add the eggs, one at a time, and beat to incorporate, scraping down the sides of the bowl after each addition with a spatula.

Beat in the vanilla, and then slowly beat in the dry mixture and the chocolate chips.

When the mixture is still streaky, remove the mixture and very lightly knead together on a well-floured board (sometimes I do this, sometimes I don't).

Wrap the mixture in clingfilm, or in a bowl with clingfilm pressed over, and keep in the fridge for 24 - 48 hours.

Form the dough into tablespoonful sized balls, and place (5cm or so apart) on a cookie sheet lined with baking paper.

Bake for around 12 minutes, or until lightly browned in the middle.  When you take them from the oven, use the baking paper to immediately remove the cookies onto a wire rack - otherwise they will keep cooking on the hot tray.

Cookies are always a good birthday present.  For Sophie, we added a cute knitting book:

Tabitha was very excited to have a visit from Sophie! 

More cherry eating in the back yard:

Vampire baby, dripping with crimson cherry juice:

I've chatted to lots of people about toy rotation lately.  I think it's an excellent idea, however, in practice, I tend to keep a small collection of 'favourite' toys out, and rotate the books and smaller toys weekly.  Below is the group of favourite toys, which get tucked neatly into the corner of the living room, beside the bookshelf.  This group includes:  the ride-on Wheely Bug pig, a tea set, a set of 100 wooden blocks, a set of alphabet plastic 'Peek-a-Blocks', a spinning top, a pull-along cat, a box of cardboard Maisy Mouse stacking blocks, and a hammer-ball wooden toy (which I enjoy nearly as much as Tabby for some reason!)

Next to this collection, in the bookshelf, I keep a pull-out basket full of smaller toys, which I do rotate (I keep the others in a large drawer elsewhere).  For example, this week, there is felt playfood, finger puppets, some felt animals and a fun 'bullfrog book' which is part book, part hand-puppet.

I rotate the picture books every few days - partially for my own sanity.  Tabitha has around 80 picture books and board books (we are lucky to get lots of great hand-me-ons from my sister and cousins), but there are around a dozen favourites, and there is only so many times I can read 'I Went Walking' without getting bored!

Here is today's collection of books - each will be read several times before the day is through:

One area where I cannot, and would not, rotate toys is in Tabitha's cot.  She is quite attached to her collection of 'sleep toys', which includes a soft lambswool 'Flat Out Bear', an organic wool lamb, a Steiner baby doll, and two plastic soft-body babies:

I've had a waffle iron for over 6 years, but in all that time, have never managed to cook a waffle I was really thrilled with.  After much reading and experimenting, I have come up with the Ultimate Waffle Recipe!

It's crispy, full of flavour and, to my tastes, the best home waffle I've had.  If you have a waffle iron (I recommend - you can pick up my great Breville one for less than $40 I think), I recommend giving this recipe a go.

Crisp Buttermilk Waffles

200g plain flour

60g cornflour

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

1.5 cups buttermilk

½ cup milk

180ml canola oil

2 large eggs, separated

2 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 100 degrees Celsius.

Mix the flour, cornflour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda in a medium bowl.

Combine the buttermilk, milk, and oil in a measuring jug, then lightly whisk in the egg yolks.  Set aside.

In a clean bowl, beat the egg whites to soft peaks. Add the sugar and beat until the peaks are stiff and glossy. Beat in the vanilla extract.

Add the buttermilk mixture to the dry ingredients and whisk until just combined.

Fold through the whipped egg whites, gently with a large metal spoon or spatula, until just combined.

Pour the batter onto the hot waffle iron (around half a cup per waffle) and cook until the waffle is crisp and golden - with this recipe, if you try and lift the lid before it's cooked, it will pull apart.  So if the lid doesn't lift easily, the waffle probably isn't done yet.  You might need to experiment with the heat dial on your iron - I set mine to a little hotter than medium.

As you cook the waffles, sit them on the oven rack, in a single layer, to keep them warm and crisp (do not stack).  Once they are cooked, serve straight away!

You can freeze extra cooked waffles, and re-heat them in the toaster for a quick morning waffle hit.

We like to serve these with plenty of maple syrup, and either double cream or ice cream.

Vegetable Stir Fry and How To Cook Brown Rice

I try to cook this meal at least once a week - it's my version of a super multi vitamin.  Lots of veggies, vegetarian protein, and plenty of healthful ginger and garlic.  Did I mention it's also delicious?  I have never included it here before because it barely seems like a recipe, but I decided to because it's pretty kid-friendly for a vegetable dish, and I'm making an effort to eat better after the Christmas gluttony.

Start with around 6 cups of chopped vegetables (cut everything into relatively uniform size, though softer veggies like zucchini can be cut thicker than firm veggies like carrots).  For us, this makes two very generous servings with the rice - which means that each serving contains THREE cups of veggies, or roughly six 'servings' of vegetables per person, which is more than the entire daily recommended minimum amount.

I try and include at least eight different types of vegetable, taking heed of the advice to eat as many different foods (in particular, different coloured foods) as you can each day.  In this meal, for example, I included broccoli (florets and stem - see note below), yellow squash, capsicum, zucchini, celery, onion, corn, green beans and carrot.

I also include 3 large cloves of garlic, and a thumb-sized piece of garlic, which I add just before the sauce, finely chopped, as well as a handful of cashews.

If you want, you could easily include some prawns, mince, strips of beef or chicken, or some tofu.

What do I put in the sauce?  It differs - whatever I happen to grab, but often includes:

• Starting with chili-infused olive oil, which I stir-fry the veggies in (over very high heat, until lightly cooked)
• I add about a third of a cup of rice wine or mirin, and a little water, and keep cooking over high heat until the veggies are cooked enough (the thickest pieces, such as the broccoli stems or carrot, are still lightly crunchy).
• I then add a handful of cashew nuts and the ginger and garlic, and stir over the heat for a minute or two.
• Next comes a good amount of soy, some oyster sauce, a little fish sauce, some sweet chili (or Sriracha and a little sugar), a dash of sesame oil, and some black vinegar or fresh lemon/lime.  If the sauce needs more liquid / sauciness, I add some water or chicken stock (water is perfectly fine!).

Spoon over cooked brown rice, and pour over any extra sauce.

NOTE - I use broccoli stems.  Do you?  In some ways, I think they are the best part of the broccoli.  Similar flavour, but a beautiful crunch similar to water chestnuts.  I can't believe how many years I spent throwing them out before I learnt they are perfectly edible!  Simply peel the stem, and chop up into slices.

NOTE - I recently learnt how to cook perfect brown rice.  In the past, I've tried rice cookers, absorption method, microwave, but it's always been far too chewy and stodgy.  In fact, the method I now use is a little strange, but it works!  

Bring 2.5 litres of water to the boil in a medium saucepan.  Add a cup of brown rice, , stir briefly, and boil for 35 minutes (it will be in plenty of water, like cooking pasta).

Drain for ten seconds in a colander, then tip back into the saucepan, and put the lid on.  Leave to steam in its residual heat for ten minutes or so, then fluff up with a fork.

So easy!  It will still be chewy and firm, of course, being brown rice - but it's fluffier and spot on in my opinion.  I got this method from US food magazine Saveur, though I don't add salt.

Daily Eating and Low Allergy Cookies

Over the past month, we've caught up with lots of friends and family.  One of the first questions we get asked about Tabitha seems to be, "what does she eat?"

Well, this is a typical day of food for Tabitha - from yesterday.  Overall, I'm pretty happy with her diet.  She isn't hugely fond of fruit, but will eat lots of apple and watermelon, and she does eat sweet 'treats' most days, but they are homemade and generally made with fruit/veg/wholemeal flour included, so I'm not worried about that at all.

6:30am - breastfeed

7:00am - steel cut oat porridge with whole milk, coconut and sliced banana

9:00am - tuna, avocado and cucumber handroll

9:30am - half a homemade date scone

11:00am - wholegrain Bergen sandwich with avocado, cheese, grated carrot, cucumber, tomato and capsicum (gets picked apart, most of the carrot gets thrown overboard, the tomato gets tossed today as well).

12:00pm - breastfeed

3:00pm - nearly a whole Lebanese cucumber.  She fished it out of the fridge herself and wandered around the house eating it.

4:00pm - half a cup of homemade hummus (cooked chickpeas, tahini, garlic, lemon juice, salt, olive oil, paprika) with some carrot sticks

5:30pm - homemade 'bolognaise' with beef mince, 8 kinds of grated veggies and lentils, mixed with some brown rice

5:45pm - Elgaar vanilla yoghurt with some fresh peach slices mixed in.  She mostly spooned around the peaches, but ate two servings of yoghurt.

6:00pm - breastfeed

So, every day her diet differs, but this is pretty typical.  I'm happy with what she eats overall, and her likes (dairy, cheese cheese cheese, sushi, fish and bread) seem to mirror mine almost exactly!

She is very partial to a piece or seven of cake ("cake!!  Cake!  CAKE!!!  Peeeees?"), but then, so am I.

This morning, we went to visit my little cousins M and G, who are 4 and 7.  M is allergic to eggs, dairy and nuts, and has other intolerances, so her parents have to be quite creative with cooking (luckily, they are both great and creative cooks).

During out visit, the three girls donned aprons and helped cook some allergy-free cookies (no dairy, eggs or nuts, and can be made gluten-free).

They were actually really delicious!  Certainly a brilliant option if you ever need to cook for children (or adults) with allergies.  Here is the recipe:

One Bowl Allergy Free Cookies

1/2 cup Nuttalex or other dairy-free margarine

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup caster sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 cup soy milk

2 cups self-raising flour (or gluten free self-raising flour)

1/2 - 1 cup of dairy free, nut free chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.

Cream the margarine with the sugars in a large bowl with a large metal spoon.

Add the vanilla and soy milk, mix well.

Add the flour and chocolate chips, mix well until combined (will be a little crumbly).

Roll tablespoons of dough into balls, place on a tray lined with baking paper.  Flatten slightly with a fork (or flatten a little more if you use gluten free flour, because they will not spread as much).

Bake 10 - 12 minutes until lightly golden brown.

These are really delicious (as with most cookies) when eaten warm.  I believe the recipe was taken from a book called One Bowl Allergy Free Baking.

Here is Tabby with her little apron on, munching on a cookie and enjoying her cousins' back yard - it has a little hole cut into the fence, with a step, so that the kids can spend all day climbing between their yard and the next door neighbours' yard.  What a great situation for those kids!

Tasmania

My best friend Amy and I took Tabitha down to Tasmania to visit my aunt and cousins for a few days, while The Daddy visited his father in Queensland.  You may recall that The Daddy, Tabby and I all went down to Tassie this time last year, driving all over the East Coast and making a brief visit to my aunt's farm.

This time, Amy, Tabitha and I stayed on the farm in the little cottage, and just spent the time eating, relaxing and watching the animals.  Tabitha had a really great time - visiting the 'moo', the 'baas' and the 'bok boks' all day, and playing with the cats and dog.

Amy and I had a brilliant trip too - my aunt, Karin, is an excellent vegetarian cook, who uses mostly produce from her extensive organic permaculture gardens.  We did make a couple of trips into town - to visit Karin's shop (Lyrebird, a gorgeous little Steiner toy and bookshop), and to go to the Hobart Farmers' Market (which, to be frank, puts most of the farmers' markets I've visited to shame!).

Here is the little cottage - it's on around ten acres, bordered by two other small farms, a creek and a dirt road.  In the foreground, you can see some of the herb and vegetable gardens.  These look typical of an organic, permaculture garden - lots of different plants and flowers mixed in together, lots of plants gone to seed, plenty of mulch and grasses.

Karin, below, keeps around a dozen chooks and a rooster.  They have the most divine free range life - when they are not ranging all over the ten-acre property (picking through the veggie gardens, cow paddock and around the dam), their enclosure is the size of a small house block, filled with herbs, flowers and older fruit trees, with a large shed for laying and roosting.

The hens are a mixture of breeds - a couple of Isa Brown crosses, a couple of Australorps, and a few bantam crosses.  Below, they are enjoying their scraps - twice daily, they get to enjoy all the leftovers and kitchen scraps, filled with organic fruit, veggies, cooked rice and grains.

Tabitha helped them find all the tastiest bits, pointing them in the right direction:

This is their laying and roosting shed, with Amy, Karin and my little cousin Lissy:

Here is Rosie, Karin's pretty and chubby Jersey cow.  She's just a pet - they don't milk her, save a brief period once when she got mastitis when she had a calf!  Rosie kept trying to lick my camera.  Her nose is enormous and very shiny and wet.

Amy and Tabby patting Rosie - we visited her so much during her stay (her yard is adjacent to the house) that she stopped bothering to eat the carrots we brought her.  Spoilt!

Here is Shaz the Kelpie X.  Shaz's arrival at the property is a funny story - my cousin Aubin, when he was around 12, called up a man in response to an ad in the local paper, offering a free dog.  He chatted to the man for some time - then, later that day, the man called my aunt, and said "is your son actually allowed a dog?  Because I really think he sounds perfect for her!"  So home she came.  She is a wonderful dog - friendly and bouncy and always up for a walk, even just to the clothesline.  She loves helping to round up the chooks, and sometimes rounds up the 6 sheep for her own amusement.

Tabby and her second cousin Lissy picking flowers:

Here are a few young fruit trees - plums, nectarine and a mulberry I think - with a 300 or so year old gum tree in the background:

The incredibly prolific rhubarb patch - around a dozen plants:

Plenty of strawberries (lots of berries all over the farm - Karin makes jam) and some lettuces off to the left:

Picking and sharing sweet strawberries:

Corn, zucchinis, silverbeet, and probably lots of other things hidden in there:

Tomatoes and others:

There are several square meters of raspberry canes around the property.  You pass a whole lot walking between the house and the car, so there are ample opportunities to snatch one as you pass!

The gardens include plenty of medicinal plants such as wormwood, tansy, lupins, comfry, thistles, nettles and the like:

A large patch of currants:

Roses, and many other flowers, make excellent companion plants for lots of fruits and vegetables, and also add colour to the gardens.

The pretty compost heap, edged with nasturtiums:

The dam (home to a few ducks who are currently walkabout), and in the foreground, the potato patch.  Off to the left, out of sight, is a beetroot patch.

This year's garlic harvest, hanging to dry.  Thousands of heads - it's quite a sight!

Garlic flowers are really gorgeous:

More raspberries:

This netted large garden area houses most of the fruit trees, and also the artichokes, below:

Here is what an artichoke looks like when it's left to open its flower - pretty and purple:

This is what they look like instead, when they are picked and steamed!

Basmati rice - Karin adds plenty of fresh chopped herbs (sage, oregano, parsley and possibly others) with some olive oil, for the last few minutes of cooking time.  I am going to start doing this - it is so, so delicious.

Lissy has the best knife skills of an ten-year-old I know.  She is a willing and keen prep cook, and can even carve decorative carrots!  Here she is prepping herbs:

Karin keeps in her kitchen a jar of fresh herbs, olive oil, chopped garlic and mustard. She brushes this onto all sorts of things, including thick slices of sourdough, toasted under the grill.  Seriously addictive.

Dinner - artichokes, rice, vegetable stew, garlic and herb bread.

Apparently there is a French joke along the lines of artichokes being the only food that leaves you with more on the plate once finished than when you started...

For dessert, rhubarb and apple crumble with custard and ice cream...

The next day, after the Farmers' Market, we pottered around the property for the afternoon.

There is a tyre swing by the driveway - hours of fun (literally) for Tabitha.

Pyjama top, skinny jeans and pink Converse.  Good look!

Fun for Amy too - I get motion sickness on swings in my old age.  What a buzzkill!

Karin has a proper professional crepe hot plate.  This is now on my wishlist!  Useful for pancakes as well as crepes:

Little buckwheat galettes with salad and a delicious veggie medley with potato, zucchini, shallots, herbs, all sauteed together:

Followed by chestnut flour pancakes with homemade berry sauce, vanilla Elgaar yoghurt, and ground up LSA mixture.  Too good for words.

We went on a nice long walk - the weather was pretty hot, so back wrapping with my Vatanai woven wrap was the best option.  It's lightweight, and much better to back carry than have her against my tummy on a hot day.  You can wear an Ergo carrier on the back, of course, but the toddler sits much lower, and can't see over your shoulders, which is a NO GO for Tabitha!

She likes to be up where the action is:

Excuse the manic face - she likes me to do 'neigh neighs' which is basically a horsie ride, so I have to gallop around and toss my head and say NEIGHHHH!  The Daddy started this with her, now it's her favourite activity.

She wanted to hold Shaz's lead (she needs to be kept on leash when we walk past a farm with some other aggressive dogs) - we looked quite a sight, Tabby on my back, leading the Kelpie!

Back home, and time for more crepes.

Chestnut flour again - with lemon and raw sugar.

Tabitha loved her crepe.  She took forever to finish it, because she was having so much fun pulling it apart...

More tyre swinging...

And more vegetarian deliciousness.  This time cooked by ME!  I made lunch - roast potatoes, garlic and onions, along with a stir fry of about 9 different organic veggies, with some tamari.  Zucchini, beans, broccoli, carrots, capsicum, leek, pumpkin, yellow zucchini, other beans...

Piled onto grilled sourdough brushed with Karin's delicious herb/oil/garlic/mustard concoction:

There is a really large herb garden just by the back kitchen door.  So handy.

Look at the pretty dolls from Karin for us to take home - Tabby loves her 'baby' on the left.  It's soft and cuddly and the perfect size for her to cuddle. 

It's always nice to come home, but I am sure going to miss sitting on the porch, drinking tea and looking out over the berries and veggie gardens and gum trees.