Monday 31 October 2016

October 29th - 30th Food Glorious Food!!

You can tell we are getting closer to summer time here. The BBQ burners are burning again.  George is dreaming about Steak, Steak, Steak... feed the man meat.  Here's a selection of our repertoire that we enjoyed over the weekend

This is what George thinks 2 men can eat - and the reality was different
This is what George thinks I should eat - but the reality was different. One was enough!
Stuffed Mushrooms from an 'out of Irene's head' recipe - and all gone

Saturday 29 October 2016

October 28th Winner Winner No Chicken Dinner

Well today I had the privilege of dining out not just once, but twice. I can certainly live with this sort of social calendar.

Lunch was a more official work capacity. ie Irene remember to be a lady, no four letter bombs, ie where is CAKE! (ha gotcha there didn't I?), all very pc, little fingers out when sipping (ok gulping) one's wine and totally work related - in a very nice environment. And no photography involved.

Dinner was a very relaxed, very friend focused evening. Out for our 4 to 6 weekly dinner with Alvin, Alicia, Ella and Esme for the evening. We decided it had been a very long time since we had enjoyed Thai food - we usually eat Asian, as the food is so good. So Thai it was with a bit of Vietnam cuisine thrown in. The Vietnamese Braised pepper pork was sensational. Actually come to think of it, as was the Prawns, as was the crispy pork, and as was the .. oh dammit! The whole damned lot was mouth watering, saliva inducing and a drool fest.

I had to use the Ladies room, as you tend to do. Well actually as you tend more to do when you suffer from 'old lady's bladder'.  Well when I saw this sign in the ladies toilet, I just had to go out and get my phone to take a photo. According to George, there was no such sign in the Gents. So does this mean some ladies stand on the seats, and pee on the floor - I never!



The water jug was just that too big for my handbag!

Tuesday 25 October 2016

October 22nd to 24th A Looooong Weekend

It was so great to have a Public Holiday on Monday. A wonderful, wonderful long weekend. Winter is bad enough without having a dearth of public holidays to enjoy, with the previous one being way back in June. And after a mild but very wet winter, it was so nice to enjoy fine weather.

Our weekend was a real all sorts of a weekend, but in a damned good way. For instance during the week thanks to our friend Jo we found out about a butcher in her town of Te Awamutu, and they were able to supply us raw pork belly exactly as we wanted (to make Romanian Slanina, or Speck, or streaky bacon - whatever the end product is called it is damned good). It also happened to be Jo's 50th Birthday Party on Saturday, so a trip to the butchers was required for us to stock up on all this lovely pork belly, before we headed to Jo and Rob's for an evening of 50th Birthday celebrations. So we ended our Saturday happy with the knowledge of the meaty goods we had to take home, and happy to help celebrate Jo's birthday milestone.

Sunday was a family day. From here in Hamilton we picked up my younger sis Lynette and brother in law Ian, and headed up the highway to north of Auckland to Red Beach. Why it is called Red Beach I don't know. It is a lovely beach settlement and as far as I am aware the beach isn't Red anywhere? A lovely time was spent with us 3 sisters, my niece and nephew, a great niece (in both meanings of the word) and respective partners. Family get together time is always special and this day was no exception.

Monday... ahhh it is always so nice to have a day at home. A sleep in. And I decided the day would be a day dedicated to greens. Cooking greens that is. We have a wonderful surplus of parsley in the garden. So I decided a nice Parsley Pesto wouldn't go amiss



And a pot of Broccoli was put to the boil in home made chicken stock. To be made into a yummy Broccoli and Blue Cheese soup That's my lunch sorted for the week ahead!


Thursday 20 October 2016

October 19th A Food Obsession

Today I finally decided to feed a food obsession I have had for quite a while. In fact from the time I was admitted to  hospital, all I could think about was battered oysters from Mahana Road takeaways. I think George was tired of hearing me describe these beauties down to the last little detail. For instance, an oyster that doesn't shrivel when deep fried, and keeps its beautiful succulent moist texture, and then encased in a wonderful batter that isn't too heavy or too light.

My description must have been quite enticing, because one hospital visitor decided after leaving me that they had to have some - and sent feedback that yes my description was perfect, and these were the best.

Yesterday I went into the same minute detail with my friend Judy. Her taste buds went into overdrive as well. We had a shared lunch, and look at what we have here. Mana from the heavens. Not one tiny piece of batter or oyster remained.

George can have some peace now and no longer has to endure my descriptions of the perfect battered oyster. (ps he is not an oyster eater. A fact I am delighted with, as I never have to share!)




Tuesday 18 October 2016

October 7th to Now.. Off The Grid

Hello everyone. I haven't posted as I was unexpectedly admitted to hospital. I am all good now and on the mend, but spending seven days in hospital, isn't exactly my choice of taking time out. But that is all behind me and after two weeks, I finally feel like the old me.

However what I have decided, is that I will  no longer post a photo a day. Even before my enforced break I was struggling to come up with a photo every day. I would have liked to kept going for one more month, which would have been my sixth anniversary of taking a photo every day.  But health circumstances put an end to that idea and I have been cut short.

But don't despair. I am not going to let you off that lightly. If I do see something out of the usual worthy of a snapshot, believe me I will be there poised. Or I will even just update this blog with my wafflings.

Irene Loves Elephants is not going anywhere thank you!!!


Friday 7 October 2016

October 6th They Sent This?

I went to start my car and the battery was deader than a door nail, flatter than a crepe suzette, as lifeless as a grain of sand. So what do you do? You call the Automobile Association to give the said battery a kick in the guts and to put some spark into it.

George has AA membership (not to be confused with Alcoholics Anonymous, and in this instance it refers to the Automobile Association of NZ).  So once he was home from work we rang them, and they said it was a busy time and we could expect someone here within the hour. Well it actually got to two hours. When we have used them before a cheery serviceman turns up in his ute or vehicle, covered with the AA logo. We heard the sounds of a very loud vehicle motor outside and were greeted with the below sight. For a flat battery! Complete with a car on the back. I guess any contractor will do?


Thursday 6 October 2016

October 5th To Whom It May Concern....

5 October 2016

To Whom It May Concern

Please may Irene be excused from posting a decent photo of the day. She was not feeling 100% and did not leave the house. As a substitute she hopes you will accept this photo of a box of painkillers as an apology.

Normal transmission is expected to resume soon

Yours faithfully
Irene's Conscience


Wednesday 5 October 2016

October 4th This Was Weird

The park close to home is extremely large. Not only is there a sizeable lake, a forest, a BMX track, a playground, netball courts and a vast amount of grass. In one part there is a small concrete pad where the maintenance man leaves all the green waste to be carted away, ie leaf trimmings, tree branches, dead plants etc.

What was weird today, is on his rubbish stack there was an extremely vast amount of Parsley. And very healthy parsley. I have never seen so much parsley in one place before, let alone a public park! The photos actually don't do the total amount justice.



Tuesday 4 October 2016

October 3rd Here is a Fun-Guy

It appeared to be a gathering of the local fun-guy - and the fungi were there too.


Monday 3 October 2016

September 30th, October 1st and 2nd, Rocky Horror, Grapes and The Yellow Brick Road

It was a usual weekend, with heads down and posteriors pointing to the sky, ie a quiet one with not that much going on.Which means George was out in the garden and I was either working or making like a housewife.

On Friday, George brought home this little flyer for me. Well guess what I have gone ahead and booked for us to see? You don't show this to someone that knows every word to every song in the Rocky Horror Picture Show. My all time, most fantastic, most amazing, most wonderful musical ever. Did I tell you I love this show. I have seen the live show in Melbourne and another one in Auckland, and now it's time to see the live show here in my home town, Hamilton NZ.  And as for the amount of times I have seen the movie - lost count! And every song is on my playlist in the car as well.


Then the actual weekend, as in Saturday and Sunday loomed.  That was more garden focussed for George, and I either worked or made like a housewife. With Spring, dormant plants are coming back to life and there is some colour returning to the garden. Our grapes look like they are going to provide a bumper crop and are coming back after a good end of summer pruning.


And finally George's latest outside  project has been our paths. He is concreting in between to stop the horrible weeds from coming through. The brick path resembles the yellow brick road without the greenery in between