Thursday.

A little disappointed as I was supposed to receive two tickets to the premier of the local showing of "The Sapphires" for tonight....free. Never mind.
So, I got busy in the kitchen instead.

I made chocolate chip cookies, requested by certain members of the family. If it's going to be naughty at least I know what's gone into them.

 Then one of my top favourite salads.

The lentils are only cooked gently for a few minutes so they look like this and not falling apart into a great mushy mess.

A friend made it for me a couple of years ago and I've made it heaps of times since. I could gobble the whole lot up but I don't. I don't have her original recipe so I sort of improvise each time.

The basics are the same, lentils, capers, currants and red onion but the dressing (an oil and vinegar based dressing) depends on what I add as I taste it. Today I added cumin, tumeric, coriander, freshly ground sea salt and black pepper, seeded mustard, a dash of cayenne pepper, a pinch of cinnamon and nutmeg. Oh and also a little coconut sugar, my sugar of choice at the moment.

Yum.

 

Banoffee Pie.

I have a sister who makes the best Banoffee Pie. I was thinking about her a few days ago and decided to try and make one, it is terribly indulgent, rich and just downright naughty but equally delicious.

It has four main elements. A biscuit base. followed with a layer of caramel ( the offee bit, as in toffee), then sliced banana , topped with whipped cream.

I grated some chocolate on the top, just to make it extra bad.

Luckily there were lots of people to share it with.

Easy to make, it can be done in stages. The biscuit base and caramel can be done the day before and quickly finished the next day.

Loads of oranges.

One of our orange trees.

A few days ago I made some date and orange muffins. Partly because I desired something naughty but also because we have six trees laden with delicous oranges. Sweet and juicy. Unsullied by sprays and picked fresh. Each year we have to give bags away as we cannot eat then all. We juice, freeze, eat and use them in cooking. Maybe I should make some marmalade...

The recipe asked for  1/2 cup of juice, I juiced two oranges. So one batch of muffins used three oranges altogether.

They were good, I think I''ll do another batch tomorrow.

Wimbledon final.

So who's watching the men's final at Wimbledon ?
Me !
 Planning to stay up and watch, it goes live at 10.45pm here.
 I've got some cookies baked and with a mug of milo I shall be set.

Winter morning.

Since arriving home from Europe, I had been keeping odd hours but at last I am back to a reasonable sleep pattern. The upside is that I have been getting up at about 5.30am. I am a morning person. I like the quiet, rekindling the fire, making a cuppa and having a few moments pottering to myself.

A few mornings ago there was a frost !! Very unusual but beautiful. Every winter we get a couple of mornings where there is a frost, locals say it sweetens the oranges.

A view across the paddocks. It was about 3c overnight.

Mango trees near and far.

My plantings from eight months ago still producing chilli's.

Time for a lovely, warming curry.

I planted these just before leaving for Europe, it didn't remember what I grabbed from Bunnings but they appear to be sweetpeas.

I have been eating them but I gather one shouldn't, who knows but I haven't keeled over yet.

The last of the capsicums. Which I shall pick as long as Dusty doesn't get to them first. He is a vegetable loving dog.

Mint seems to love winter. A have a pretty applemint growing nearby.

Breakfast was a home made 5 grain bircher museli.

The grains soaked for ages in water and lemon juice, with grated apple, oranges off the tree and some natural greek yogurt stirred in. Delicious.

Voting on Dusty's birthday competition.

I am just posting a link to a competition I have just voted on. It was very hard to choose, because all the animals were just gorgeous.
Here is the link;
http://lifewithmydogs.blogspot.com.au/p/dustys-celebration-competition-voting.html

The competition is to celebrate Dusty's first birthday. Which is at the end of this month 27th July. The winner gets to choose either a pencil or pastel drawing of their entry. Get voting !