Welcome to a Spring catch up

The horrid Queensland flu thingie hit hard this winter. I was down for the count for 8 weeks. It took all my strength to just function.
Thankfully this past week I have bounced back. Also the weather during the day is just divine.

We have been here on Lamb Island for 1 year now. We have settled into a good life here. We get the bulk of the groceries delivered, and the alcohol. I am learning to tweek my favourite recipes if I don't have the EXACT ingredients.

Pretty Produce (The flower farm) are now growing vegetables and salad thingies. This is a treat and Chris who is in charge of the veggies lets us know when things are ready for sale.

So fresh all just picked

Today's treats included baby carrots straight from the ground, he clipped the rocket while we waited. I also bought some baby onions and something called sea blight. This in a salad will be amazing.
Son Mark has planted an excellent garden with a fabulous ocean view.

Happy tomatoes

2 different lettuce types

We ate some beans last night

Lucky chickens

I did manage some cooking that I photographed before the flu had me in it's clutches.

Zucchini and oregano tart

Kimchi pancake

Favourite bean salad ingredients

New paint work and new plants

Jonelle has been working daily on 34 Tina Avenue. It is all coming together outside with maintenance  and painting. The apartment has been properly finished and is waiting for the next tenant.

Parsley and lemons from our garden

The herbs at 11 June Parade are doing well. Thank goodness as we use so many fresh herbs in our cooking.
The view from the verandah never disappoints.

Prawners out in force

There is always something happening out in the water. We will really miss this view when we move to Tina Avenue.

Flowers from a walk

I am looking forward to the flowers that will come out in the spring.

They come in twice a day for treats

Making Pasta

The last time I made pasta was in about 1973. It took me all afternoon but I did it. Last night I watched Mark make pasta with a pasta machine and it was much easier.

The inspiration for the exercise was this -

On special at my favourite Deli

I don't have to be able to read Italian to know what this is for.
Mark was happy to go along with the exercise. So with the fire going and a gin and tonic for me he started the dough.

1 egg to each 100gr of flour

Slowly working it in

Run it through 3 times

Each time making it thinner.

Looking better

Just right

Fettuccine

Great result

I forgot to photograph the slow roasted duck

Gremolata for duck and pasta

Fennel and orange salad

Dinner

With a fire

I am definitely going to do this myself and then tackle making potato gnocchi.

Today's musings

It is raining today. What in Europe is called a soft grey day. Not the usual sub-tropical downpour that comes with a blast and goes quickly. The ocean looks a lake in Switzerland on 'a soft grey day'.

This is the slowest quietest day that we have had since arriving in mid August last year. Almost feels too decadent. I finished my latest book, made Asian chicken soup and not much else.

We are always on the go with cooking, laundry, general cleaning, gardening, and renovations to the Tina Ave house and apartment. Not to mention the shopping for building materials and food, that all has to be carried to the ferry then off and home. No wonder we get tired by early evening.

On Easter Sunday Libby and Arabella came out for lunch. I cooked roast lamb with an assortment of vegetable dishes.

Italian Easter pie

I make this every year. I love it.

Cheese, egg and flakey pastry

What is not to love with this combination.Simone at Pretty Produce gave us some lovely egg plants just before the Easter break as they would be too large for her restaurant customers after the long weekend.

Straight from the garden

I roasted these on the bar b que and made my favourite honey and harissa eggplant dish

Honey,spices,garlic and ginger

Baker's potato

That is the English translation. Such a forgiving dish when feeding a crowd. Make it bake it take it out of the oven when you need space for something else then just pop it in again. It doesn't mind at all. Left overs taste just as good, when ever there is any.

The stuffed zucchini's are another good stand by dish. So easy to prepare ahead and they don't mind waiting around. The beans are another favourite. Blanch, roll in slightly cooked bacon make the sauce and pop under the grill at the last minute.

Arabella had a good day

She says coming over the water in a ferry to an island is 'leaving Australia'.

Vegetable Tagine

This is a good dish to use up the remains of a pumpkin and sweet potato

Blossoms on our apple tree

Rosella flowers

Pretty Produce invited us to pick rosella's last week. We picked the largest once from the bushes. They only use the leaves for the sour salad leaf mix. If the flowers are cut more young leaves will grow.
I made 10 pots of jam. I have never made this before but remembered the flavour from Slack's Creek.

This will be great with scones

Mark calls him Flea bus

I love the way this cat has taken to Mark. He waits for him to come home like a dog would. From our gate he can see down 2 streets so he has the best view.

This little cat has the loveliest expression.

Vegetable soup

When you don't have easy access to a supermarket etc you learn to be creative with what you have. Vegetable soup is always a good way to use up everything in the bottom of the crisper.

Retro garage sale buy

We went to a garage sale on the island. Jonelle bought a queen sized bed for the apartment for $50 - in excellent clean condition. I bought these for Mark for $5 each plus a brand new ice-cream maker for $15.
On the way home on the ferry on Saturday I saw that most boast I have ever seen fishing and pawning. This photo really doesn't do the scene justice. It was amazing.

Saturday's fishermen

Finally a little Autumn weather

It is April Easter weekend and finally the nights are cooler. We swam twice this week and hope to continue for a little longer. The ocean is still dirty from the cyclone but getting better each day.

The evening sunsets are just lovely and the colours change on a daily basis. Our world is coloured by the ocean and the sky.

Grey day

On days like this the sea and sky remind me of holidays in Europe. Soft and grey.

Different colour

Then the next morning it looks like this. Blue everywhere and so clear.

Evening light

This sunset was just lovely. the colour was actually deeper than this.

Another version

This evening the light was soft, yellow and grey

Beef and Guinness

Cooler weather cooking has started. I made a big quantity of beef and guinness stew in the slow cooker so we have some left for the freezer. Excellent with mashed potatoes and greens.

Irish soda bread

This was my first attempt at soda bread. Not a raging success but I plan to try again with some suggested improvements.

Our first bananas

These bananas were so sweet and full of flavour. We are hoping for more.

sheltering

In the aftermath of the cyclone in North Queensland we had over a week of rainy windy weather. During this time all of the verandah furniture has to be pulled away from the edges and some covered. Quite a few of the birds that we feed on a daily basis came and nestled on the verandah to get out of the bad weather. We desperately needed the rain - so good for the garden. Now our herbs are coming along beautifully.

Wild flowers

Even this old boat looked picturesque after the rain. It is actually very ugly and we would like to see it gone. But for a week it made a lovely vignette.

Maxi Baby

I stayed for a weekend in Carramar Street to baby sit Maxi. G went to Sydney for a well deserved break. I used the opportunity to catch up with friend C and have some Indian take away.

Early March update

It is autumn but still hot in the middle of the day. The promised rain has not arrived - so we are watering constantly to keep the garden looking good.

Friend C and I and her dog Val did our usual trek to Dicky Beach on the Sunshine Coast for a week. Now that I have a lovely view to look at every day looking at the horizon is not such a treat as usual. It was very hot and so we were restricted to early morning and late afternoon on the beach.

It was lovely to see the boy with Goat is still alive and well.

Very grown up now

We have been cooking a lot as usual.

Thai beef salad

Carrot, ginger and coriander soup

Son M's cat comes to visit when he is lonely or just seeing what we are up to.

Looking for geko's

There is a new strain of Mango that a few farmers are trailing. Called Princess Mango's, we have a tree at the Tina Ave house. We are not convinced that they are that fabulous.

Small trees so easy to pick

This is my favourite evening view

Hope it never moves