December 2nd Engineer in the House

You know you have an Engineer in the house, when this is what he comes up with for an incense holder

December 1st She's Up!

Merry Xmas and Ho Ho Ho!!

November 30th On the 11th Day....

On the 11th day after surgery, my true love gave to me

a glass of French Rose Bubbly

(what better way to finish the alcohol ban could there be)

November 29th My Little Warrior

Helping me when I have to undertake Whisker Patrol

Believe me in this I am not being droll

Since passing the milestone of the big Five Oh

The Whiskers on my chinnie chin chin have started to grow

I do not like to look like witchy poo

So my tweezers will just have to do

Every individual whisker gets plucked

until it is finally................ gone (ha gotcha!!!!!)

November 28th Hey Porky!

Yet another day's blog focussed on food. But what is one to do when a husband keeps practicing his BBQ Cooking Class skills?

Firstly he amassed ingredients for a lovely Butter...

The tin foil is there to foil any space station spying on us (a little conspiracy theory is good for the body)

Take some Pork Loins and gently stuff with said butter, and sealing with a slice of apple or a dried apricot. I would have to kill you if I told you which had an apricot and which had an apple. Also please note the toothpicks are to stop the spy station seeing inside the pork loins and stealing our recipe ingredients!! One can never be too sure

Then add a BBQ Rub, n this case called Heavenly Hog - as we thought we would go higher then the space station. 

And finally these were cooked on the BBQ. George gave me an extremely weird look when I insisted he wear a tin foil hat. I wonder why?

November 27th Let's Go Retro..

Well nearly retro I guess. I didn't use an Iceberg Lettuce and I didn't use a commercial Seafood  sauce - opting instead to make a Smokey Garlic Aioli. And as I was quietly reminded at dinnertime, I didn't have those ghastly little stainless steel bowls - but allow me to present to you a nearly 70s style Prawn Cocktail.

George did the honors and cooked the mains  - Chiftele Marinate (in Romanian, just to be exotic)

November 26th. Colours of Spring

The doom and gloom merchants predicted heavy rain and it bypassed our little corner of the world. So I managed to get out and have a squiz around the garden and what did I spy......

Our first raspberry of the season

Getting up close and personal with Loving Memory (planted in memory of Mum)

The beauty of a pure white rose with an ever so slight flaw

November 25th Be Wise Be Sun Smart

The marketing message appears to have worked in our neighbourhood (let's hope someone's toosh doesn't get burnt)

November 24th Sisterly Love

Pumpkin Scones - just like Mum used to make, and made by my sister Lynette.  But Lynette, you know how you said George most probably wouldn't eat any, as his sweet tooth is usually missing in action. Wrong! On his return home he demolished most of them, I managed to enjoy one half. You can tell which is George's buttered half.

November 23rd On A Win...

Look what arrived in the mail today.....

November 22nd Crocodilus Capsicumus

The Crocodilus Capsicumus was caught in the act of trying to eat Potatus Rawus. Godsaveus.

November 19th to 21st Oh Oh

Oh Oh you may well say

as I entered Hospital on this day

but when I checked out two days later, happiness did abound

Because I was homeward bound

A beautiful day and look where I am heading

Let me introduce the latest in compression stockings complete with- electric powered pumps

Where's my wine, where's my wine?????

ps what could have been a matter for concern, was fixed and successfully attacked. I am fortunate that ACC have accepted my claim as medical injury, and from now on it is a matter of looking forward - and when the occasion warrants it - with my middle finger firmly raised.

November 18th Sunset

I don't know why Elton sang "Don't Let The Sun Go Down on Me'' Tonight's Sunset was a pretty spectacular sight

November 17th A Boy and Our Dog

This boy keeps popping up and hugging Minnie.  I am not sure who he is or who he belongs to (said very tongue in cheek of course). Look at that expression on Minnie's face - she's not too sure either!

And why have I included the following photos? Because somehow, randomly these were taken on my iPad and have ended up in Dropbox - but I did not take them. Maybe our ghost has given  up smoking and taken to being a photographer to relieve the stress?

November 16th A real Owler

We had a real 'hoot' of a time at Gostiona Restaurant in Ohaupo, for Johnstone Manufacturing's Xmas party.

 Dan and his lovely wife usually fire up the Smokehouse BBQ Buffet on Sunday's, however as we are roaring into the festive season they have now included this into their Saturday night menu. I am not much of a meat eater, but I have to say the Pork was melt in your mouth soft, the entire meal including salads were not your standard buffet fare, and the desserts wonderful. I definitely recommend heading out here for a meal to both meat eaters and non meat eaters. And the array of antiques and oddities on display will keep you enthralled for hours.

All in all it was a very pheasant  pleasant evening

 And I had better include some photos of the super duper smoker - makes our one at home look absolutely miniscule

I thoroughly recommend if you live in Hamilton or surrounds, to get yourself out to Gostiona for a meal, whether a week night or weekend. This is our second trip out here and once again they have not failed to disappoint.

November 15th. An Ode to a Flower

I paused to take in the sun and blue sky

To ponder the beauty of a flower so shy

Like me it has to wait for the full sun

To feel that the day has truly begun

To bask in the warmth if for only an hour

To open it's blossoms so you can see the beauty of its flower

And then as dusk comes close and the sun does hide

the flower like me retreats inside
 © Irene Field 2013

November 14th Fruity

Loquacious Loquats

November 13th What a Man - What a Cook

Oh boy, the Barbecue cooking class George took is paying itself off.  I got home to find this sitting on the bench

To say my taste buds were salivating is an understatement. Next time I looked the above had become this, preceded by cries of where are the capers, where is the horseradish, where's the mustard etc etc

The above was taken out to the BBQ, and not long after George returned inside with this

Words fail me - or in the words of Irene and George - OH MY GOD!!

November 12th It Looks Fishy to Me!!

There is nothing more satisfying then crumbing your own fish. However every time I have to remind myself in what order the crumbing event happens - Flour (with Lemon Pepper cut into it), Egg and Panko Crumbs - oh and don't forget the fish. Me thinks it is time for the fisherman to go and catch more fish - our supplies are running low. It should be mentioned that the glass of red is to help me recollect the order of crumbing - it oils the wheels so to speak!

November 11th It's Not B & W

Believe it or not this is how the day started. This appeared to be an ominous start, and yet by end of day the opposite applied

November 10th The Blonde Wanted to See For Herself

The Blonde wanted to see for herself exactly why the chicken crossed the road

November 9th It took me 50 plus years to be invited to one

Yes, today was the first Christening I have ever attended. And I was the only person that was not Romanian there, and the Christening was officiated by an Orthodox priest.Very interesting to see what was happening, even though I had no idea what was said.

November 8th Finally Success!

This is the first time I have had a Phalaenopsis Orchid flower for the second time. 

Success is mine

November 7th Rain Rain Go Away

Rain Rain Go Away

I really would like a sunny day

I don't want to see our road flooded anymore

I really want to boot grey days out the door!

November 6th A Prickly Subject

November 5th Horsing Around

As it is Melbourne Cup Day, I thought I would go for a horsey photo. That was one great thing I recall about living in Melbourne. Cup Day was a Public Holiday in Victoria. Champagne Breakfasts were the norm. We did go to Flemington to watch the race one year. Unfortunately when your posterior is close to the ground, and you are in the hoy polloy stands, and an elderly lady next to you decides she feels faint due to the heat (typically Melbourne unpredictable weather), you don't get to see much of the actual race which you have been there for all day!  In the years afterwards, we used to settle for having friends around for the good ole Orstralian Barbecue, and the men would pop some Vic Bitters and us ladies would be drinking bubblies and/or cider - and watch the race on TV.

These days - I had no idea what horses were running, I was working so didn't even watch the race, and the closest I got to a horse ..... was this dough one that Little H had made at her other Nana's and left here.

November 4th Somewhere Over The Rainbow....

 Somewhere Over The Rainbow

A familiar song I know

but when ever I see a rainbow

this is the song don't you know

One day I'll wish upon a falling star

and hope at the time I am not driving my car

and maybe I am setting off far

but that of course may be the par

Somewhere over the rainbow

live leprechauns and fairies don't you know

November 2nd & 3rd Welcome To My Weekend

Weekends allow me extra time to indulge in foodie exploration. I received from Mindfood a recipe for Pork & Spring Onion Stir Fry with Noodle Baskets, which looked interesting. What attracted me is that the recipe used Oyster Mushrooms, which is a first for me. A lovely recipe which tasted nicer then it photographed. Cooked Pork Mince can look very bland, and even with the addition of coriander and spring onions, and sitting in a white noodle basket it did not photograph too well. But it was a yummy Saturday and Sunday night dinner

And then on Sunday I realised it was Christmas Cake time. I didn't make one last year. My recipe is extremely easy with the fruit soaking in two cups of brandy overnight. The next day you add flour and essences and that is it. I have made it for a few years now and with the addition of weekly brandy top ups to the cake until Xmas time, it lasts until well into July.

I absolutely adore glace cherries so decided to add an extra packet to my fruit mix.

November 1st What Was I Thinking???

As indicated work has been manic. So what does one do on a Fearless Friday? Invite a customer and his partner for Friday after dinner nibbles and drinks (too busy to face cooking a dinner). The invitation part was easy - but then I realised the house is a mess, dust and dog hairs are everywhere. So I spent Friday passing from desk to broom (wooden floors have their bonus) to dusting and stressing.

A little housewife tip here - did you know that Camembert and Brie can be frozen successfully. I had a Blue Cheese in the fridge, retrieved a cheese from the freezer, olives from the pantry and raided our sausage storage facility. Voila, nibbles are provided for the evening. Including of course a bottle of our Montepulciano.

A wonderful evening catching up with Ralph and Danielle. I had met Ralph in my retail days, and have done numerous bookings for both, and finally tonight got to meet the lovely Danielle. Face to face is much better then just email and phone conversations

October 31st Breakfast, Brunch or Lunch?

Did I just have a short R & R. It doesn't feel like it when my breakfast is being eaten at my desk at 1:00pm. Thank the gods for my survival kit of black coffee