Dirty deeds done..

but not cheap!

When we first bought our house one of the projects we tackled soon after settling in was re-doing the garden beside the driveway.  It was seriously overgrown and had become a dumping ground for all kinds of weird things.  We tossed out a whole lot of scraggly lavender shrubs, old pots, rubbishy bits of gardening odds, covered the garden with weed mat and then bark.

Now, 12 years later we decided to re-do it again.  A few of the trees had got too tall and were tangling in the wires to the house.  Some of the shrubs were dying off or getting past their best.  You can kind of see what I mean in this photo.  It's the garden on the left hand side.

So off came the weed mat, down came the trees and after a lot of physical work we finally had a tidier garden.  We got a bunch of new plants - mainly natives - from Oratia Native Plants, Mitre10 and Kings Plant Barn.

Stuff everywhere! We filled up the garden bag and took a huge trailer load to the dump.  There were some stubborn stumps in there that required pulling out.  DH managed to pull 2 out with the car/tow bar/rope but the others we had to dig out.

Weed mat about to go on.

Finished look. DH was keen to make the garden more attractive to butterflies so there are some plants suitable for red/yellow admirals and coppers in the mix.

 I divided up the astelia and put them around the place.

We hope to attract some skinks with these stones and partially buried pots.

The vegetable garden is planted up too.  I'm hopeful of a big harvest!  That is the best part about this time of year... the anticipation and hope of new life, harvesting a crop of vegetables from your back yard.  We're already enjoying radishes, spinach and rocket.

Camping

Over Labour Day weekend we went up to camp at Tawharanui.  It was a bit of a rush to get away and in the process I forgot to pack a few things, namely chocolate biscuits and Earl Grey tea.  Disaster!  Fortunately a quick trip to Matakana rectified the matter.  That and a few questions I've had lately about what to bring when camping spurred me to blog about what we do.

[Anchor Bay, Tawharanui]

We camp in a tent.  It's a three room + vestibule dome tent.  When we considered which tent to buy we preferred to get a lighter tent rather than the larger, heavier framed tents.  It means we compromise a bit in terms of size, but that can be advantageous too.  We have had no problems so far with it standing up to rain and wind.

[Our tent at Tawharanui a few years ago]

We mostly stay in camp grounds with minimal facilities (water and toilets) so we take a gas camping stove and have recently added a Cobb portable BBQ/oven to the mix.

How much stuff we take varies depending on the length of time we'll be away and what we're intending to do while there.  We take the family car, a trailer and sometimes add in a roof mounted travel container.  I do use a list, but we were in a hurry this time and I didn't, consequently... no chocolate biscuits.  My plan for next time is to create some storage containers with dedicated camping items in them that can be grabbed and put into the trailer easily.  We've done this with the kitchen gear and tent gubbings and it has worked really well.

[Sleepy girl on her stretcher]

Everytime we go camping we seem to think up ways to refine our experience.  Our next challenge is to work out some way to have a fridge. DH has plans for solar panels, batteries etc to achieve this.  We haven't quite reached the glamping stage though! :-)

[Making a dam]

Feeding the whanau is something that features strongly in my role and it can be a bit of a challenge. While my children aren't fussy eaters, they do fail to realise that while camping the menu changes from what they are used to.  I do not have access to an unlimited pantry!  So what do I cook?

This is a list of things I'll often have on the menu.

Breakfast

• Cereal
• Toast
• Eggs/bacon
• Olive filled pita

Lunch

• Sandwiches
• Canned stuff like spaghetti, tuna
• Fruit

Dinners
I normally try and bring fresh fruit and vegetables where possible, but the dried vegetables are often convenient and aren't too bad in terms of taste.  Canned peaches are a favourite dessert.  I will sometimes pre-make things like pancake mix or a spice mix for curry.  Keeping meat fresh is a challenge if camping for any length of time so either I have to make a visit to a store, or go vegetarian.  The latter isn't always greeted with joy by my carnivorous family. 

• Bacon, eggs and pancakes
• Pasta of various kinds with various sauces
• Steak, potatoes, onions, salad
• Devilled sausages with vegetables
• Curry and rice
• Burritos or nachos
• Nasi Goreng
• Pad thai
• Canned soup 
• Whole chicken on the Cobb with roasted potatoes done in the base part of the oven
• Anything BBQ on the Cobb e.g. hamburgers, sausages, steak....

Now we have the Cobb, I am keen to try other things.  We've experimented at home and so far have tried pizza, a tagine, and Medfouna with varying degrees of success.

Anchor Bay, Tawharanui

Snacks

I will try and take a variety of snacks.  It always seems like the family is extra hungry when we camp.  We can go through a loaf of bread in a day.

• Trail mix 
• Nuts
• Chips
• Fresh fruit
• Dried fruit
• I will sometimes bake a cake or cookies to take

What do you eat while camping?

[Making sand walls]

A shorter book - no appendix

I've been on an adventure to hospital land.

On Thursday 13th Sept I had a stomach ache all day. I thought it was a bug but it didn't go away and I didn't vomit.  So Friday 14th Sept I went to the doctor first thing.  He sent me to North Shore Hospital and I was admitted.  I spent a short while in the admissions area before getting sent upstairs to the surgical ward.  There I was instructed to shower and put on some disposable undies.  That combined with the hospital gown, surgical stockings and funny hat completed my fashion disaster!

At 6.00pm that night I had a laparoscopic appendectomy.  At 7.30pm I woke to an irritatingly cheerful recovery nurse calling to me... just want to sleeeeeeeeep.

It was all a wee bit dramatic! But I'm glad I did go when I did else I might have had to wait longer.

I didn't feel like eating until 3pm the day after the operation so ended up staying another night in the ward.  This was my breakfast the day I came home.  Hospital food isn't too exciting.

I spent the week at home recovering, doing nothing - felt so lazy, but as the surgeon said I had been stabbed in the stomach three times so I did need to rest.

Now I'm back at work and ticking along.

Koru Lounge for cats

I finally got Baa Baa's fleeces washed and carded so I can felt with them.  Being a Romney (or Romney cross) the fleece is coarser than the merino I've worked with before so I wanted to do a project with it whereby the result wasn't too critical.  I wanted to check the amount of shrinkage I was likely to get and basically how it would work.

As it turns out, it shrinks less than the merino, but felts up into a firm felt.  It is definitely harder to felt with.  I had to do some very firm rubbing and it seemed to be "fluffier" than merino but perhaps I needed to work it more.  Rolling it was very physical and I got tired and sore. 

My choice of project was a pod/cave for Mum's cats. I made a huge resist shaped like a tear so I could do some concentric folds at one end and I made a tail to attach to it.

Mr8 decided it should be called the Koru Lounge for cats.

Here's Tiger inspecting the new accommodation.

It got his seal of approval.

Further inspection was required by Midge.

I left it the plain cream of the wool itself, but I might try dying the next one.  I only used 2 layers of wool for this one - more layers would be better for firmness but a lot harder to work!  Perhaps a smaller version next time.

Apparently I talk too much about food

Trying out some visualisation stuff for work and came across this one - What about me?

How about you?  What does yours look like?

New Look 6000 again & Simplicity 2675

Mine is made from a wool crepe, Miss5 is a corduroy that my mum sewed mostly and I finished off. Miss5 chose the fabric and insisted on the Hello Kitty stockings ;-)

I like the dressiness of this pattern. I was able to use some black textured fabric I got free from a seamstress who was shutting up shop for the collar. I really wanted a larger silver button feature but couldn't find one as big as I liked. Might have to go searching on Felt (felt.co.nz) for a brooch.



Also made some hand warmers for Hannah on request.

 

June? There was a month called June?

If there was such a month it went by so busily there was no time or inclination for blogging!  So no #blogjune for me.  Now at least I have taken a week off for school holidays and can breathe a little even though I haven't quite achieved all the craft things I wanted to do!

Have done some baking though.

Anyway, June... what happened?  Pies were made and consumed - excuse the phone photo but that's all I took. It's a Squab and Apple pie but instead of the alleged squab you use lamb instead. This one was particularly good.

I went to the Love Vintage and Retro market and scored 2 metal pie tins (one seen above), a dress pattern and a orange Tupperware jug with the top that seals on - the one with a star burst pattern underneath on the top.  I'm using it for felting because the start burst pattern is an excellent tool for rubbing the wool!

The children are doing fine at school.  Mr8 has started piano lessons which he seems to enjoy. Miss5 got graded for her yellow belt in karate and passed.  She isn't wearing it in the photo because they ran out of belts in her size and she had to wait until they sent hers to the dojo.

I read some books.  These are the ones that are recorded on my reading history but I've read more via the Overdrive ebook provider through Auckland Libraries and some from work.

The painted lady / Maeve Haran.
Sixteen-year-old Frances Stuart arrives at the Restoration court to find her innocence and beauty are highly-prized commodities, envied by the women and desired by the men. Before long, King Charles II falls passionately in love with her and will stop at nothing to make her his mistress. But Frances is no conventional court beauty.~ from the blurb. Lovely writing, interesting story.


The man who broke into Auschwitz / Denis Avey with Rob Broomby.
The extraordinary true story of a British soldier who marched willingly into the notorious concentration camp, Buna-Monowitz, known as Auschwitz III.~ from the blurb. Worth reading to get a perspective not often written about.

The skin map / Stephen R. Lawhead.
When Kit Livingstone learns that Britain's "ley lines" are not legends but pathways to other worlds, he's determined to find a map tattooed on a piece of skin in order to travel to the dangerous realms. But are the intricate codes more than they seem--can they really begin a quest to regain paradise? ~from the blurb. Am enjoying getting into sci-fi again after a long break.  This one is a nice mixture of alternative history, sci-fi and adventure/quest.

The cat's table / Michael Ondaatje.
"In the early 1950s, an eleven-year-old boy boards a huge liner bound for England - a 'castle that was to cross the sea'. At mealtimes, he is placed at the lowly 'Cat's Table' with an eccentric group of grown-ups and two other boys, Cassius and Ramadhin. As the ship makes its way across the Indian Ocean, through the Suez Canal, into the Mediterranean, the boys become involved in the worlds and stories of the adults around them, tumbling from one adventure and delicious discovery to another, 'bursting all over the place like freed mercury'. And at night, the boys spy on a shackled prisoner - his crime and fate a galvanizing mystery that will haunt them forever. As the narrative moves from the decks and holds of the ship and the boy's adult years, it tells a spellbinding story about the difference between the magical openness of childhood and the burdens of earned understanding - about a life-long journey that began unexpectedly with a spectacular sea voyage, when all on board were 'free of the realities of the earth'."-- Publisher description. Recommended by the uber-boss of our unit at work.  Can't say I really "got" it.  It was interesting writing and a great vingnette of ship life and the characters involved.

The moon maze game / Larry Niven and Steven Barnes.
 Offered a dream job escorting a teenage heir on a fabulous moon role-playing vacation, Scotty Griffin, a personal security specialist, becomes embroiled in a violent reality game involving armed terrorists, psychological tests, and a large audience.~ from the blurb. Good old sci-fi yarn set on the moon.

In love and war : Kiwi soldiers' romantic encounters in wartime Italy / Susan Jacobs.
Non-fiction. It was interesting to read about the experience of the NZ soldiers and their romances in Italy and those who brought their girls back to NZ.

Here's a skirt I sewed (Symplicity 2411).  I really like this pattern but I think I should have used the view without the pleat in the front for this particular fabric (brown denim).

 

Yesterday I made some hand warmers. My felting teacher had given me the instructions ages ago but I hadn't yet made some. It was a bit of an experiment since I had to remember what she had said based on the diagram she'd drawn for me. The purple ones I made via her instructions. I ended up having to sew in a gusset for them to fit over my arms since they turned out so long.The sewn seams add a nice feature to them though.

The teal ones I made using a resist and in some ways I prefer that method for the simple reason I don't have to sew anything but it does mean more work to shape them and there is less room for mistakes in the fitting.  They are a bit thicker though - I must have laid out the wool a bit more generously and this means they are a bit less flexible.  Will need to watch that.  Still, they are going to my sister and she will appreciate their warmth.

 

Hoping to get some more felting done before I go back to work next week! But now, the fire needs to be lit... it's a foggy, grey day and I'm cold.

Another dress.. New Look 6000

My interest in sewing has piqued again with the completion of my vintage style dress.  My lust appreciation of vintage style things has risen and I find myself rabidly subscribing to a bunch of sewing blogs where retro is the theme.  (Consequently the number of scrapbooking blogs is decreasing - the industry style ones I might add - the personal blogs of friends I've made are still there).

As a direct result of some sewists in the UK and elsewhere blogging about New Look 6000 I purchased the pattern.

I loved the collar detail and cuffs on the red dress featured.  I also confess that the fact the main picture is of a red dress influenced me heavily.

Of course, my luck with patterns from a certain large store starting with S is hit and miss so the day I asked they only had the sizing up to 16... "No problem" I thought, "I can deal", not thinking about my current state of tum bulges and thunder thighs.  So I got it.  Fast forward to my actually laying out the pattern and realising there might be an issue with my larger bust and ..er.. Thunder Thighs. Fortunately there is a lot of ease in the pattern but I did grade up parts of the pattern to a larger size to accommodate the aforementioned.  I also lengthened the dress by a good 20cm - it still sits above my knees when seated though. [Insert moan about trend for short dresses]

Taking self portraits is so tricky!  Should have asked DH to help... impatient me. Here I am with a slice out of my head and the need for fill flash.

Sewing the pattern was straight forward enough.  I choose to do the view without the pleats this time, fearing it would accentuate my tummy bulges but I do like the effect the pleats have on others.

I think I mucked up cutting the cuff size because mine do not meet in the middle like they are supposed to.

The collar was surprisingly easy to do.  It's a bit wonky in the photo because I washed the dress last night and should have set the machine on a different setting as well as done a better job of ironing.  I love the oversized button.

The fabric is a wool/lurex mix I got from a sale.  It's nicely textured and a nice weight for autumn.

Although it would look vastly better on a skinnier version of me, I really like wearing this dress.  Makes me feel happy.  I am on the lookout for some red fabric of suitable weight for another make.

Pie Odyssey #6 Steak & Ale Pie & #7 Mince & Potato Pie

Onwards with the Pie odyssey!! Next on the list was the Steak & Ale one. I had to go and look up the difference between beer and ale, but in the end I got a light beer to use since it was being sold by the bottle. Not being beer drinkers it seemed overkill to get the 12 pack of ale..

You make the filling first.  Lots of mushrooms in this one which DH isn't so keen on.  Still I kept them chunky so he could give them all to MEEEEEEE.

Putting it in the pastry (bought puff pastry).  I do like the butter puff best, but this was bog standard sheet puff pastry.

mmmmmm pie

Next up... Mince & Potato Pie. This one is kind of like Shepherds Pie in a pastry case. I was a mildly concerned that the potatoes might be overkill with the pastry but it wasn't.

I liked having all the vegetables in there.  Yep, looks like the picture ;-P

The pastry called for lard which I didn't have so I used a combination of butter and shreddo.  I think next time I'll use all butter.  The pastry was hard to work with and quite crumbly.

At the suggestion in the book I made a gravy to go with the pie.  It was so easy to make and delicious too, I'll be doing it again.  You saute some onions, add some flour, some wine and stock, bubble it up until it thickens and then sieve it.

All pies were greeted with much appreciation from all!

Reading Round Up

It's been a while since I did this so I'm just going to highlight a few that were particularly "stand out" books.  I'm on a bit of a roll at present with books set during WW1 or just after.

The marriage artist : a novel / Andrew Winer.
Searching for the meaning behind his wife's suicide with her (suspected) lover, art critic Daniel Lichtmann discovers a link to pre-World War II Vienna, forgotten artist Josef Pick, and a remarkable woman. ~ from the blurb
Interesting, poignant and explores love in a variety of situations.

To the end of the land / David Grossman ; translated from the Hebrew by Jessica Cohen.
Ora, a middle-aged Israeli mother, is on the verge of celebrating her son Ofer’s release from army service when he returns to the front for a major offensive. In a fit of preemptive grief and magical thinking, she sets out for a hike in the Galilee, leaving no forwarding information for the 'notifiers' who might darken her door with the worst possible news. Recently estranged from her husband, Ilan, she drags along an unlikely companion: her former lover Avram. Avram served in the army alongside Ilan when they were young, but their lives were forever changed one weekend when the two jokingly had Ora draw lots to see which of them would get the few days’ leave being offered by their commander - a chance act that sent Avram into Egypt and the Yom Kippur War, where he was brutally tortured. In the aftermath, a virtual hermit, he refused to keep in touch with the family and has never met the boy. Now, as Ora and Avram sleep out in the hills, avoiding all news from the front, she supplies the whole story of her motherhood, a retelling that keeps Ofer very much alive for Ora, and opens Avram to human bonds undreamed of in his broken world. Their walk has a 'war and peace' rhythm, as their conversation places the most hideous trials of war next to the joys and anguish of raising children. ~from the blurb
This was written in a slightly strange way that took me a while to get into.  I've not read many books set in this period or from this perspective so it was quite a change for me.  I can't say I really enjoyed it but the writing was quite good. 

The crimson rooms / Katharine McMahon.
"Evelyn is a young woman who has defied convention to become one of the country's pioneer female lawyers. Living at home with her mother, aunt, and grandmother, Evelyn is still haunted by the death of her younger brother James in the First World War. Therefore when the doorbell rings late one night and a woman appears, claiming to have mothered James's child, her world is turned upside down. Evelyn distrusts Meredith at first, but also finds that this new arrival challenges her work-obsessed lifestyle. So far her legal career has not set the world alight. But then two cases arise that make Evelyn realise perhaps she can make a difference. The first concerns a woman called Leah Marchant whose children have been taken away from her simply because she is poor. The second, Stephen Wheeler - a former acquaintance of Daniel Breen, her boss - has been charged with murdering his own wife. It is clear to Breen and Evelyn that Wheeler is innocent but he won't talk. After being humiliated in court, Evelyn is approached by a dashing lawyer called Nicholas Thorne. She is needled by his privileged background and old-fashioned attitudes, but despite being engaged, he cannot seem to resist sparring with this feisty young female. In the meantime, Meredith makes an earth-shattering accusation about James. With the Wheeler case coming to a head, and her heart in limbo, Evelyn takes matters into her own hands."--www.globalbooksinprint.com.  
Kind of twisty at the end but pretty good.  I liked the constrast between the women in the book.



Jamrach's menagerie / Carol Birch.
'I was born twice. First in wooden room that jutted out over the black water of the Thames, and then again eight years later in the Highway, when the tiger took me in his mouth and everything truly began.' 1857. Jaffy Brown is running along a street in London's East End when he comes face to face with an escaped circus animal. Plucked from the jaws of death by Mr Jamrach - explorer, entrepreneur and collector of the world's strangest creatures - the two strike up a friendship. Before he knows it, Jaffy finds himself on board a ship bound for the Dutch East Indies, on an unusual commission for Mr Jamrach. His journey - if he survives it - will push faith, love and friendship to their utmost limits. ~ from the blurb
Having read another book by this author I was glad to find this one too.  The story doesn't shy away from the more gruesome side of ship journeys.

The Scottish prisoner : a novel / Diana Gabaldon.
"London, 1760. For Jamie Fraser, paroled prisoner-of-war in the remote Lake District, life could be worse: He’s not cutting sugar cane in the West Indies, and he’s close enough to the son he cannot claim as his own. But Jamie Fraser’s quiet existence is coming apart at the seams, interrupted first by dreams of his lost wife, then by the appearance of Tobias Quinn, an erstwhile comrade from the Rising. Like many of the Jacobites who aren’t dead or in prison, Quinn still lives and breathes for the Cause. His latest plan involves an ancient relic that will rally the Irish. Jamie is having none of it—he’s sworn off politics, fighting, and war. Until Lord John Grey shows up with a summons that will take him away from everything he loves—again. Lord John Grey—aristocrat, soldier, and occasional spy—finds himself in possession of a packet of explosive documents that exposes a damning case of corruption against a British officer. But they also hint at a more insidious danger. Time is of the essence as the investigation leads to Ireland, with a baffling message left in “Erse,” the tongue favored by Scottish Highlanders. Lord John, who oversaw Jacobite prisoners when he was governor of Ardsmiur prison, thinks Jamie may be able to translate—but will he agree to do it? Soon Lord John and Jamie are unwilling companions on the road to Ireland, a country whose dark castles hold dreadful secrets, and whose bogs hide the bones of the dead."-- Publisher description.
Have to love every opportunity to read about Jamie :-)  Great mystery too.


The crimson portrait : a novel / Jody Shields. 
Spring 1915. On a sprawling country estate not far from London, a young woman mourns her husband, fallen on a distant battlefield. The eerie stillness in which she grieves is abruptly shattered as her home is transformed into a bustling military hospital. Recoiling from the chaos, unhinged by grief, the young widow finds unexpected refuge in a tender young soldier whose face, concealed by bandages, she cannot see. Their affair takes a fateful turn when she confronts--and seizes upon--the opportunity to remake her lover in the image of her lost husband. The crimson portrait is a novel of glittering surfaces that belie dark truths. Its rich cast comes into focus as the novel peels back layers of suspense and intrigue to illuminate the abiding mysteries of affinity and desire. ~ from the blurb
I have to confess I didn't quite finish this one because I was listening to the audiobook from Overdrive and my time limit expired before I quite reached the end.  That is the one thing that annoys me about Overdrive, is the inability to renew for a few days. Anyway, the writing is beautiful, the story is engaging.

And Such Great Names As These / Allen Makepeace 
The war, with its horrifying, endless slaughter on the Western Front, is the backdrop to this story of the conflicting demands of duty, loyalty and love. Dolly Weston, her husband reported missing, falls in love with a wounded army officer. To complicate things further, a deserted emerges and unhealed wounds from a bitter past are reopened. And then there is 10-year-old Joshua, drawn into the world of three people whom he comes to admire and love, but who are destined to be driven cruelly apart. ~ from the blurb
This was an audiobook too - really liked it.

The help / Kathryn Stockett. 
Limited and persecuted by racial divides in 1962 Jackson, Mississippi, three women, including an African-American maid, her sassy and chronically unemployed friend, and a recently graduated white woman, team up for a clandestine project. ~ from the blurb
Loved this book! But oh I cringed at some of the attitudes portrayed - so glad things have moved on in many places in terms of race relations, but also horrified that stuff like this still exists too.

Born wild : the extraordinary story of one man's passion for lions and for Africa / Tony Fitzjohn ; with Miles Bredin. 
"Born Wild is a story of passion, adventure and skulduggery on the frontline of African conservation. Following Tony Fitzjohn's journey from London bad boy to African wildlife warrior, the heart of the story is a series of love affairs with the world's most beautiful and endangered creatures - affairs that so often end in pain, for to succeed in re-introducing a lion or leopard to the wild is to be deprived of their companionship. Tony tells of his twenty years in Kenya with George Adamson of Born Free fame - a time of discovery, isolation and frequent danger living far from civilisation. And when he was prevented from re-introducing any more animals into the wild and made unwelcome in the country he loved, Tony had to start anew in Tanzania."--Publisher's description.
Having avidly read all of Joy Adamson's books about lions when a young teen this book was a nice insight to the conservation program from another perspective, probably one that was more revealing than my teenage self would have liked.

Naturally dyed flowers

Naturally dyed flowers, a photo by pdugmore2001 on Flickr.

In preparation for BioBlitz. All (with the exception of one) dyed with New Zealand lichens of varying kinds.

In which I felt a Nyan cat hat

One of the young librarians at work is participating in Shave so I decided to make her a hat to cover her head in the cooler weather coming up.

Because we often joke about internet memes, I decided to make a hat based on one of them.  Nyan cat seemed to be one with a lot of scope. 

I made a rainbow pre-felt first.  This was my first attempt at pre-felt so I was a bit nervous about getting it right.  I used the resist I made for my head size with the idea that both J and I have large heads.

I made Nyan cat out of Fimo.  I had originally thought of making it as a button but I forgot to make holes before baking the polymer clay so it ended up as a brooch.

I used some roving Mum had got for me in Rotorua - I'm not sure what sort it it, it appears to have a longer fibre length than merino, but it felts in a very similar way.

The fibre felted nice and thick so the structural folds hold beautifully.

J liked it very much!

Menu Plan Monday

Monday - chicken wrap thingies, stir fry veg
Tuesday - crockpot devilled sausages, potatoes, green veges
Wednesday - crockpot lasagne, salad
Thursday - Chicken fricasee*, potatoes, vege
Friday - Thai green curry, rice
Saturday - Indian Lamb burgers, cucumber raita, eggplant chutney <-- trying out a new recipe from a cookbook I borrowed from the library entitled Stoked
Sunday - Beef and vege soup, rolls

*This is from Countdown's recipe files... this is a new recipe too.  I'll be replacing the cream with evaporated milk and will use boneless chicken thighs.  I'll serve potatoes on the side rather than in the fricasee.

Chicken Fricassee

Ingredients

• 3 Tbsp Select olive oil
• 1 large sprig fresh thyme
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 2 carrots, diced
• 1 stick celery, sliced
• 1 leek, white part only, thinly sliced
• 5 rashers rindless bacon, diced 2cm
• 250g button mushrooms, sliced
• 6 Macro Free Range chicken thighs skinned and boned, each cut into 3 across the grain of the meat
• ½ baby waxy potatoes, well scrubbed
• 4 cups Campbell’s chicken stock
• 4 Tbsp Homebrand cornflour mixed with 4 Tbsp water
• 1 cup Homebrand cream
• Salt to taste
• Pepper to taste
• ¼ cup coarsely chopped parsley, plus extra leaves for garnish
• ½ cup dry white wine

You can use different cuts of chicken for this dish, even a whole chicken cut into pieces.

Servings : 6

Directions:

Heat the oil over moderate heat in a large wide, deep pan. Add the thyme, garlic, onion, carrot, celery, leek, bacon, and mushrooms. Fry gently, without browning, for about 10 minutes until the onion is soft.

Add the chicken and mix well, letting the chicken colour all over. Add the wine and let it bubble. Add the potatoes and chicken stock. Bring to the boil and simmer for 25 minutes until the chicken is cooked and the potatoes are tender.

Bring back to the boil and stir in the cornflour mixture so that the fricassée thickens. Stir in the cream and bring back to the boil. Taste and season with salt and pepper.

Add the parsley and mix well. Remove from the heat and let it stand for 5 minutes so that the chicken absorbs the sauce.

Serve sprinkled with extra parsley.

Filters and their deceptive ways

As a librarian I advocate for freedom of information and open access to information.  For some time I've been watching the way in which personalization of search results has become mainstream, the way in which database vendors have been seeking to make their search algorithms more relevant to searchers.

For the most part I've seen this move as a good thing, particularly for content available on databases MPOW pays thousands for the privilege of accessing. 

However. (There is always a however).

It is worth pointing out that having this personalization on internet searches comes at a cost.  That cost is lack of exposure to points of view that differ from your own.  This is what I find disturbing.

This TED talk describes it very well.




So. What to do. First up - be aware.  Sometimes it's going to be okay to have that bubble.  But sometimes not.

Next - try a different search engine.  This one, DuckDuckGo is on my radar and is proving quite interesting to use.

Leap day

Flickr had special Leap Day photo exercise for the 29th Feb.  I attempted some!  Not as cool as some of the others in the pool. Check them out.



Two kids leaping... reminds me of the Christmas carol

 

Hover Boy!

 

Pie Odyssey #5: Chicken, Leek and Ham

I like chicken pies and so does Miss5. DH tolerates them. Mr8 thinks they are a bit on the"wrong" side but he eats it up without too much complaint.. he does tend to prefer the Mince thing.

I used bacon because I didn't have ham and bacon make everything better.

Added it to the leek, onion and garlic mixture.

Mixed in some white wine and basically a white sauce... the recipe called for cream but I used milk.

Pastry was straight forward to make but I didn't have time to chill it which would have improved my pie's look!  It is a very short pastry and the day was hot and humid.  Not good pastry making weather.  So it looks like a bit of a dog's breakfast. 

Tasted good none the less.

Handwriting Meme

Been tagged by @flexnib to do this meme :-) In deference to her propensity for fountain pens I dug out mine and sucked up some scented ink I made once to write this.

1. what is your name - Penelope Jane Dugmore but everyone calls me Penny
2. blog URL - www.greengecko29.blogspot.co.nz
3. Write: The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
4. Favorite quote - resistance is futile <-- got aliens on my brain
5. Favorite song (at the moment) - Really like Bic Runga's "Belle" at present
6. Favorite band/singers (at the moment) - Dunno -  I go through times when I don't pay attention to music
7. Say anything you want - Anything you wany
8. Tag 3-5 bloggers @ParryKylie @ghylene @snailx and Janine but only if you guys want to join in

With a little assistance from Barbie...