Holiday

I've been on a bit of a break...as you can tell by my lack of posts on this here bloggy

MONT and I headed to Thailand for a little get away...Phuket to be exact.

It was wonderful! Not long enough as per usual, but well worth it and oh so restful

This is where we stayed...the arrow indicates where are room was

It's Angsana Laguna Resort and I have to say it was AMAZING!
We'd catch that little boat if we wanted to head to the small, local supermarket to pick up a few things...it motored right past our room

The pool winds its way around the resort so you can actually swim from one end of the complex to the other...

We'd walk over these little bridges each day to get to the area just in front of that tower, which is where we met in the bar for Happy Hour each afternoon.

It was a large family holiday...14 of us in all, including all the kids, who loved every minute of it

The resort is right on the beach and as you can see in this photo, there are some buildings on the left, just behind the blue umbrellas...they are small shops and an area where you can get a massage for 400 Baht (about $14)

You can also get a pedicure or manicure from some lovely Thai ladies.

MONT and I were at Angsana last October and thought it was so good, we'd head back there again

I can't recommend this place highly enough

*This is not a sponsored post and all opinions expressed are my own

Forever changing

We've been hard at work here..or at least MONT has.

The old corrugated laser-lite roof on the back deck wasn't cutting it any more. We'd get condensation dripping down and almost flooding the deck each morning and there were a couple of leaks in it so when it rained we'd have to move around so as not to get dripped on.

So...down it came

MONT put some extra battens up to help support the weight of the new roof

...and this is what we have now...

An insulated tin roof with a proper a ceiling of lining boards.

Once the cafe blind comes down it's like having another room off the dining room

LOVE. IT. .

For Millie

Our young gorgeous chickens, who are still ravenous and romping around the yard eating us out of house and home, had to start earning their keep ... eventually,.

Well now they have...and here are the results..

Gorgeous aren't they? 

...and cake

Banana cake this week, two of them. One for Mont to take to "The Doon"

...and one for home

But it's these little beauties that always make me smile

So, Millie....here's a recipe for my banana cake, which includes our gorgeous googies..

Cream butter and sugar together, add eggs (I used three) one at a time and beat well in between each one
Add mashed bananas, (I used 5 for 2 cakes) If the batter curdles a little, add a teaspoon of flour
Then add flour and mix together. I used about half plain flour and half self raising flour. Maybe a cup of each

Add a teaspoon of bi-carb soda to a splash of milk and a large dollop of yogurt. mix until it doubles in froths a bit and expands, then add to the cake batter. Mix through then put into prepared baking tins and back at 160-180, depending on your oven, for about 40 minutes

I can't be any more specific than that with the quantities because I've been making this cake for as long as I can remember and I just go by "feel".

happy happy

New additions to the family

Time to get some new "girls" so we can have fresh eggs again.

We paid a visit to the Research Poultry Farm...to get our new girls

That's "RESEARCH" as in suburb, not the activity

We still have our ol' girl Val...but we thought it was time she had some new friends to keep her company, especially seeing she is getting on in years

So far, so good...there's been no agro trying to work out the "pecking order" and no flapping of wings....yet

Oranges AND lemons

It turns out this cake is even better if you use oranges AND lemons. Who'da thunk it?

Substitute one of the oranges for a couple of lemons. It gives the cake a bit of "tang"  

Still pretty moist 

.......and still pretty delicious

You'll need...

1 orange 

2 lemons 
250 g caster sugar, plus extra for dusting
5 eggs
200 g almond meal
1/2 cup self raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 cup olive oil
icing sugar 
Margarine or oil spray (for greasing the pan)

Boil the orange and lemons in some water for about an hour, then let them cool completely

Once they're cool process them until they are pulp

Preheat the oven to 160 deg fan forced and grease and line a 20cm cake tin

Beat the eggs, oil and the sugar until it's light and creamy, then add the pulped oranges, almond meal, flour and baking powder and mix thoroughly.

Pour it into the prepared cake tin, sprinkle a little castor sugar over the top and bake for about 1 hour 15 minutes or until the top is golden brown

Let it cool a little before taking it out of the tin and it's best to let it sit for a while before you cut it.

That's it.

Enjoy!

Cleaning out the fridge

I hate wasting food. Most of us do, but I've seen friends throw out perfectly good food simply because it was classified as a "leftover"....and it's happened after I've offered to take it to feed our chhoks

Nothing at Number 10 goes to waste. Even wilted old spring onions at the bottom of the fridge...or some "seen better days" mushrooms

So when I'm cleaning out the fridge, this is the sort of thing I make

Pasta with the lot!

Sundried tomatoes, a small tin of tuna, anchovies, spring onions, mushrooms, peas, bocconcini left over from last weeks  pizza...

....a jar of fire roasted sweet red peppers.....whatever you have you can throw into the pasta

In the end you just grate some cheese over the top...I think the one I had was parmigiano reggiano, but use whatever you like.

Boiled Oranges

This is one of the easiest cakes to make EVER. In fact if you can boil water, you can make this cake.
Honest!

First things first though...

You'll have to boil your oranges!


You'll need...

2 oranges 
250 g caster sugar, plus extra for dusting
5 eggs
200 g almond meal
1/2 cup self raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 cup olive oil
icing sugar 
Margarine or oil spray (for greasing the pan)

Preheat the oven to 160 deg fan forced and grease and line a 20cm cake tin

Boil the oranges in some water for about an hour, then let them cool completely

Once they're cool process them until they are pulp

Beat the eggs, oil and the sugar until it's light and creamy, then add the pulped oranges, almond meal, flour and baking powder and mix thoroughly.

Pour it into the prepared cake tin, sprinkle a little castor sugar over the top and bake for about 1 hour 15 minutes

Now I have to warn you this is a VERY MOIST cake....

But it's also a very delicious cake

As you can see the little bits of orange peel are still evident once you cut it

Sometimes....life gets in the way of blogging

...and that's OK

We've all had occasions when we have trouble thinking about something to "blog" about or we just lose track of time...that's been me these past few weeks.

I've been busy doing a few bits and pieces around here at Number 10. The sewing room is now full to the brim of my stuff....and I've also been doing a bit of furniture restoration, if you can call it that

It's a bed head I bought on eBay a while back for just a few dollars with the plan to paint it and, hopefully, use it in our bedroom for a bit of a change

I think it'll be OK, but if not, I'll sell it.

I had considered getting MONT to cut off those tall end bits with the large "balls" on top but I'll wait to see how it looks. What do you think?

Also.....April asked me a while back how the new sewing room was going?

In a word...messy

Everything's been put in there all ready for me to get to work, but until last weekend it was a total mess and very crowded with all of our camping stuff stored in there because we sold our old caravan.

I spent last weekend sorting it out. I already had the IKEA Expedit shelving units as well as the baskets and the "stash" of fabric and wool

...and yes, the old treadmill is also in there, albeit temporarily. That's the black thing you can see in the left hand corner of the photo
MONT is going to make a frame for the little stained glass window and we plan to hang it in the window to catch the light...just for something different

This table is one we used it as our cooking and washing up table when we went camping at the beach each year, but now that we've sold the old caravan and annexe we've got all our "holiday" stuff lying around, so I thought I'd put it to some use

So...that's what I've been up to these past few weeks...not to mention working each day and just getting on with life...you know how it goes.

Before and After...

We've gone from this

To this...

and this...

...to this, in just a few short days

It's amazing just how bare everything looks

All the leaves are brown...and the sky is grey...

Maybe not as grey and bleak as the songs lyrics suggest, at least not here in Melbourne

It's been unseasonably mild in Melbourne in April and May. Sure we've had some cool days, but this past week has been magnificent!

Blue skies, gentle breezes...temperatures in the mid 20's...gorgeous!

It hasn't fooled the trees though. Or the ornamental grapevine on our side fence.

Not so much brown as red and bronze...

It turns on this show each year and it's wonderful to watch