Autumn Harvest

Well thankyou so much for all the lovely birthday wishes and helpful advice on how to have a wonderful birthday.  It turned out pretty great, nothing like I planned at all.  We woke up early and went to the market in town and brought junky treasure gifts instead of expensive mass produced thingys.

I have two pairs of beautiful earings, a wrought iron cook book holder (much needed) pastel coloured ceramic bowls set and a fairies drawing book.  Such wonderful treats xxx

Munchys best friend came over in the afternoon and we let them loose in the kitchen to make me a vintage sponge cake which turned out so beautiful, we had a normal dinner and sang happy birthday 10 times over and over and over  YAY!!!!

It was great, Im going to save the tea party for the "Fanciful Twist" get together which is coming soon.

I thought I would take you back to last weekend when I went camping.  On the Saturday us mothers abandoned our husbands and children and went to an art gallery for coffee.  It was such an amazing place, the kind of place you want to curl up and live in, to be surrounded with such beauty evey day.

Its a 1/2 hour drive from the beach up steep winding hills and on the way we came across a quaint little honesty box, which honestly! wouldnt last five minutes in my neck of the woods!

Check out these cool letterboxes....

Coles Stall, with cute little jars of treats, eww which ones to pick, the were all so sweetly cheap...

I adore the little gingham draped lids...(what are those things called???)

stewed pears, plum sauce, pickled onions, guava jelly, chillies......

fresh apples and capsicums, pot plants too....

I spent $5....

and treated myself with guava jelly and pickled chillies for the boys, all men love a good chilli eating contest...

We used to grow chillies for a sauce made here, its called "Kaitaia Fire", so chillies are never far from my mans heart......

onwards to the art gallery, look at this beautiful porcelain out door art, So very native NZ...

the gallery inside was huge and it wasent till I got back that I realised my photos did not do it justice, I was so busy looking I forgot to photograph stuff!!....

this painting was huge, I just wanted to touch it to feel her soft wrinkled skin....

we sat down in the cafe and stared at the view, feeling on top of the world...

the cafe was stunning, cosy and open, I will be going back for sure...

but alas all good things must come to an end and once the Chai Latte was gone we went for a walk around the garden......

beautiful sculptures layed everywhere....

Ohh wow a mermaid in the pond.....

would you like to take a seat and stay for a while, or maybe forever??....

This was a wonderful morning to spend with two of my most wonderful friends, we had the best camping trip and laughed and talked non stop, so much to say before we go our seperate ways and meet again later in the year, thank the gods for effortless friends who you can just be yourself around and no one cares or judges when you get things wrong as we all do. Life is so fun and honest when we are together xxx

So holidaying aside, this weekend was the Autumn Equinox, we spent the day making a greenhouse from a whole set of great old windows I found at that magical place... The Dump!

We planted seeds so they will be ready to plant out by the time it starts to rain after easter.

Oh joy for veges!

We went down our drive to our neighbours, Bushman Pete's and picked veges from his huge gardens which are now abandoned because he has moved to an island to fulfill his dream of being John Locke from LOST ! haha just joking (sort of!)

anywho we had fun picking so many veges for our dinner and corn for our feathered friends

I cannot stress enough how important to us organic vege gardens are, we are not certified organic and probably never will be, but we know exactly what we put with our plants and therefore trust our food like a friend. the feeling of eating something so fresh and wholesome is so relaxing, so we feel its not just about chemicals thats good for you, its the relaxation you also get from knowing there is no mystery to what is being put into your body, and the taste....oh but I think I have found heaven...you can have your chocolate!

I decided to include how I love love love to eat each of these veges the best.

So this is like a recipie list coming up..

CARROTS

this recipie reminds me of old times when we worked in mandarin orchards, it was our staple food every day..

carrot salad made from grated carrott, chopped parsley, sunflower seeds toasted in salt and oil with a few cranks of pepper.

add some more oil, peppery pure olive oil if you can

Beautiful, thats it! and colourful too!

ROCK MELON

We have a restaurant in town which is the best in the world, everyone who eats there would agree, its called 'Beachcomber Restaurant', you will be addicted if you go there.

In summer when these melons are available, there is nothing like sitting with a plate of melon cubes, if you feel you have over eaten ( ahh yes me!!) this melon makes you feel great!

The best after dinner mint ever....

PUMPKIN

In NZ we dont eat the orange kind of pumpkin we see in American Traditions, our pumpkins are usually grey but orange inside, this is the best salad ever.

Roast pumpkin cubes in oil and salt, let cool and put on platter over rocket leaves with finely sliced red onion, feta cheese cubes, toasted pine nuts, oil and balsamic vinegar

mmmmmmm...

BEANS

I love to par boil my beans then fry them in oil with garlic and sesame seeds, or there is always drowned in good old butter!! hehe

KUMARA

which I guess most of you may call sweet potato, in NZ our main one is purple skinned

there is nothing better that boiled kumara in salted water tossed in butter and violently mixed so its part mash part chunks and so dreamy when they are freshly picked, the most heavenly vege ever..

BROCCOLI

Munchys favorite, we tell her she is a giant and she has to eat her trees, she loves to make monster noises and eat them violently, ripping their heads off! at least shes eating them

we make a salad from broccoli and cauliflower, cut all the top parts off, no stems so you have tiny florrets that are like finely chopped broccoli, but you just shave off the top of the entire thing?? sorry hard to explain, just finely chop but omit the stalks! ok  Mix with grated parmesan and a little mayonaise (best foods)

its amazing, maybe a bit coleslaw like, you can put finely chopped onion in too if you like..

SILVER BEET

Now I know Americans call this swiss chard, and most people hate it

I chop 8 - 10 leaves (no stalks)  into thin strips and fry in a heavy pan with about 25g butter, once it has wilted pour in cream, till it is just covered and cook for 10 mins, I usually do this with a lid on so the cream stays put, cracked pepper at the end and salt to taste last thing, for some reason it drags its salt from somewhere and dosent need any added. Its a creamy green sludgy mess of a thing which will scare the bejesus out of kids but is amazing with curry night!

RED ONION

This is the best to be caramlised onion

Slice into rings and fry in butter till soggy and wilted and pretty much done, sprinkle with a tea spoon of brown sugar and splashes of balsamic vinegar and mix fast, turn the stove off and let it sit, tossing it around occasionally

divine on home made burgers and essential to have with turkey and garlic, lemon mayonnaise.
ohh my drooolll!!!

So go eat some veges, better still go and grow some veges, you dont need a garden, you can have a pot or a bin or a bucket.

I feel so happy to able to share with you my tastes in food and not just life

Im so passionate about plants, they are like my babies, my babies that I love to eat.

mmmmmm gobble gobble gobble mmmmmm

Yay for veges and friends

have a yummy dinner tonight everyone

xxx sheree