The garden and miniature foal as promised!

After the amazing lunch made by my brother, chatting on the veranda, watching the guys play petanque on the lawn and taking photos inside the house, I decided to wander off and have a look around the garden and then see the new foal.

The main flower beds had unfortunately suffered from a run-off of lawn weed-killer. My sister-in-law managed to save the apricot coloured carpet roses that she has on one side of the lawn, by cutting them back. But one of her beautiful white standard roses died. It is such a shame because they look stunning when they are all in flower.

The herbaceous border looked really pretty with ruby red penstemons and a bush with pink pea-flower shaped flowers. I don't know the name of the bush. I should look it up in my plant encyclopaedia, unless you know what it is called? (You can get a closer look if you click on the picture).

The wooden bird house at the back of the flower bed is really cute. My brother and sister-in-law get a lot of birds coming into their garden. A huge flock of turtle doves visits them a few times a day for food. And a while ago 24 wild mallard ducks frequently came for a feed. It was lovely to watch until they became too cheeky and started walking and pooping on the veranda. Not so much fun to clean up!

About a third of their 3 acres is native New Zealand bush (woodland). Just at the edge of this they have built a wooden gazebo surrounded by red, yellow and orange canna lilies. It's lovely to sit here, out of the heat of the full sun, and look over into the bush. I sat there for a while hoping to see some native wild birds to photograph, but I wasn't so lucky this time.

So I just took more photos of the beautiful brightly coloured canna lilies.

The sun was so bright that I couldn't see any of the photos that I was taking in my view finder. I just decided to point my camera, try to keep it straight and clicked! I kept my fingers crossed and hoped for the best. I was pleasantly surprised when I uploaded my photos onto my computer to check them out :)

I hope that you aren't bored with all of my canna lilly photos lol. I just had to post them all because I think they are so pretty. This is the last one, I promise!

This is a view of the native bush on their land. The trees with the spiky leaves are called cabbage trees, though they look nothing like cabbages! My brother has made a network of pathways through the bush, right down to the bottom where there is a running stream. I walked a short way down, but I was wearing high heels. Not exactly the best footwear for tramping through bush! Next time I will remember to take my trainers, then I might be able to get some really good bush photos.

And here is Coal, my sister-in-law's new foal, with his mother Violet. They are miniature horses. It is hard to see how small they are in this photo. Coal is just knee high and his mother comes up to my thigh! Coal was born on the 5th of December and loves my sister-in-law, letting her cuddle him. He will eventually change from being this grey colour to black with white markings.

He is so photogenic and posed perfectly for me.

So cute!!! After this photo Violet decided that was enough and herded Coal away from me.

It was a perfect day.

See you soon. xxx

Inside my brother's Colonial Edwardian-style villa

My brother and his wife designed their house themselves to look like a Colonial Edwardian villa. They used reproduction fittings and beautiful reclaimed wooden floor boards. It looks so authentic! I like to visit historical homes around the city, but this one is better...I can sit on the furniture and pick things up to look at them here!

Their piano sits in a little alcove in the dining room and is really beautiful. It is an antique made of walnut and is still in perfect pitch. It is lovely to sit here and chat.

On the other side of the room is a reproduction tiled fireplace which is so pretty.

The floor of the main entrance is covered with patterened tiles and my sister-in-law has lovely displays of flowers there and throughout the house.

Here are some more beautiful flowers in the front bedroom. And lovely William Morris curtains...I wish I could have these in my bedroom!

And a rocking horse! When I was little my best friend had a rocking horse like this in her room. I have great memories of the hours that we spent playing with it.

Here is the long hallway with reclaimed rimu wooden floorboards which are about 100 years old. The Persian-style runner on the floor reminds me of the Edwardian house that we lived in in England.

This is the master bedroom which has a wooden four poster bed in. And yet more of those beautiful flowers sitting on a little table in the bay window!

And finally here is the sitting room with more William Morris curtains.

As you can see I really like visiting my brother and sister-in-law. The company, the food and the surroundings are a real treat for me.

In my next post I will give you a tour of the garden and introduce you to their new foal. Until next time. xxx

The delicious New Year lunch my brother made

I love the Christmas and New Year season in New Zealand. Our family go to each others houses to enjoy celebratory get togethers and share delicious meals. My brothers and sister are amazing cooks and I love good food....what could be a better combination!

Our Christmas celebrations started at home with my parents. Christmas Day was spent with my younger brother and his fiancee and my little nephew. Then a few days later my sister held a lunch at her house for my nephew's 3rd birthday. (I will show some photos in another post).

For Christmas lunch my younger brother made a mouth-watering meal. The entree he made included little hors d'oeuvres, BBQ'd king prawns (both garlic and chilli), Gravad lax coated with dill and some more fish platters. Then for the main course he made a glazed roast ham, studded with cloves, plus barbequed pork belly. This was served with a yummy red cabbage dish and the tiniest Brussels sprouts I have ever seen, cooked with cream and pancetta.

After lunch we gathered round to share presents. My little 3 year old nephew had a great time and delighted in telling me that he saw Santa's reindeer in the night. My brother had jingled some bells outside and told him that the reindeer were there, but that Santa couldn't deliver his presents until he was asleep!

Yesterday we went to my older brother and his wife's house for lunch to celebrate the New Year...

When we arrived my brother was completing the final preparations for lunch in his beautiful Victorian style kitchen. I interrupted him and asked if he minded me taking photos for my new blog. He couldn't understand why on earth I would want to do a blog and put photos of food on it lol...he doesn't know what fun he is missing out on!

So I took all the covers off the plates, arranged things slightly to be a little more photogenic. Trying to do it without him noticing, and started clicking away hehe. I had a great time. I ignored his perplexed stares lol.

In the first photo you can see the focaccia bread that my brother made. He used a bread maker to prepare the dough and then baked it in the oven. It was sprinkled with sea salt...yuuum! I will have to give this a try with our breadmaker.

The second photo, above, shows his aubergine and feta cheese tart.

Click, click, click went my camera!

We were treated to such a variety of foods accompanied with pickles, gherkins, garlic, olives and sauces.

Gravad lax which he made from fresh salmon. I had a couple of servings of this!

A lovely selection of cold sliced meats (one very spicy hot) and a Tunisian tagine.

He also made sauteed asparagus, a Spanish rice salad, Turkish bean salad, and...

...a pork terrine. So much tasty food!

We helped ourselves, filling our plates up in the kitchen. Then ate sitting around the table in his pretty dining room.

It was such a lovely sunny day that after lunch we sat out on the veranda with our drinks to chat. The men decided to have a game of Petanque on the lawn and had a great time. Dad, who has never joined in any sport, had a great time and had a big grin on his face :) I must get our Petanque set out and brush the cobwebs off. Maybe dad will join me in playing.

I also took a few photos more of my brothers house and garden and their new foal that was born at the beginning of December...more things to post about :)

I hope that you had a great time bringing the New Year in too! xxx

Wishing you a Happy Ramblings New Year!

I would like to wish all my new blog, Google+ and Pinterest friends a very Happy New Year from New Zealand! I hope that you all have fun with your New Year's celebrations to see year 2013 in.

I will be seeing the New Year in, literally, with a difference this year. I have a new pair of glasses which I picked up today. Amazing...I can seeeee lol. I wore them to go to the supermarket straight afterwards and could actually see the labels on products, and the prices, without having to walk up to the shelf! Does this mean I will be spending more money at the shops? hmmmm.

And the bright colours and detail, wow. Now it will be easier for me to take photos and enjoy the scenery around me.  I still prefer looking at my Christmas tree, with all its lights on, without my glasses. It is in a wonderful soft blurry focus like looking at a Christmas card with halos around all the lights :)

Looking forward to sharing more with you in the New Year.

Here's to a happy and healthy 2013.

Cheers! xxx

The making of a real New Zealand Pavlova

Yesterday morning was rather eventful. It resulted in lots of laughter while making a Pavlova to take to my sister's as my contribution for lunch.

I got up bright and early so that I could make the Pavlova and give it plenty of time to cool for lunch time. All the ingredients were gathered up. Eggs out of the fridge early to get to room temperature. Oven on. Baking tray papered, oiled and sugared. Camera at the ready so that I could show you what a perfect New Zealand Pavlova is like.

Everything was going perfectly. The egg whites whisked up beautifully to stiff peaks and I spread the Pavlova mixture out on my prepared tray as I had done many times before when making this recipe.

Then I had time to have a relaxing soak in the bath before getting ready to go out. Mum was given instructions on turning the oven off after half an hour. I set the oven timer and I set the little portable timer for 30 minutes so that mum could keep it with her in case she didn't hear the one in the kitchen.

I was enjoying my bath when, after half an hour, I heard mum frantically calling me. I ran into the kitchen and there was smoke billowing out of the oven. There was so much smoke that it was hanging 4 foot thick from the ceiling! Mum asked if it was supposed to smoke lol. We opened the oven door to find this: (scroll down slowly to keep the suspense going)...
...
...
...
ta-daaaaaa!

A huge mutant Pavlova taking up the whole shelf of the oven...eeeks!

 It looked like if was quite able to escape from the oven all by itself. And it had the consistency of a very tough omelette. My eyes popped out of my head. I scratched my head. I shook my head in disbelief. What had gone wrong???

Mum looked at the oven temperature and it was still set at 230 C. I had forgotten to turn it down to 120 C immediately after putting the Pavlova into the oven! Oooops. I burst out laughing (or was it hysterics?).

By this time it was 12.00 pm. We were due at my sisters for 1.00 pm for my 3 year old nephews Birthday party. Don't panic, don't panic, breath....slooooooooowly....think, think. I had enough ingredients to make another Pavlova. 15 minutes for me to prepare it, including mum on tray preparation duty and dad scrubbing the oven and shelf clean. One hour in the oven and a little time so that the Pavlova would be cool enough to take in the car to my sister's undecorated. We could do it.

Time to try again.

I phoned my sister and told her what had happened and that we would be half an hour late. After popping the new Pavlova in the oven I hopped back in the bath. Time to relax. This time everything went well. The Pavlova came out of the oven looking as it should. Phew!

I waited until we had finished our main course before whipping up the cream and spreading it on the Pavlova. Then I topped it up with fresh strawberries, blueberries and raspberries.

The Pavlova was enjoyed by all and I had a fun afternoon playing with my nephew :)

Now...the question is...what am I to do with 16 egg yolks? Does anybody have any ideas?


Here is the recipe for my Pavlova:

N.B. I double this recipe when I make this Pavlova and bake it on a 13 inch diameter baking tray. When doubling the recipe, don't double the vinegar quantity and only use 1 1/2 teaspoons of vanilla essence.

Pavlova Ingredients:

4 egg whites (room temperature)
2 cups caster sugar
1 dessertspoon cornflour
1 dessertspoon white vinegar (only use white)
4 tablespoons boiling water
1 teaspoon vanilla essence/extract (do not use artificial flavouring)

Topping Ingredients:

Fresh cream
Fresh fruit, such as: strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, sliced kiwifruit, pawpaw, mangoes.
(Sliced bottled peaches are also nice on Pavlova)

Method:

Turn oven on to 230 C.

Prepare a round baking tray by oiling it then covering with baking paper. Oil the baking paper and dust it with caster sugar. Shake off the excess caster sugar.

Put all the Pavlova ingredients, except boiling water, in the electric mixer. Start the mixer going on slow then add the boiling water. (If you add the boiling water before the mixer is going it will cook the egg whites). Turn the mixer up to high speed and beat until very stiff.

Put mixture onto the baking tray and spread it into a thick circle. The Pavlova will spread a bit while baking, so don't spread the mixture right to the edge of the tray. Make the top of the Pavlova flat.

Put the Pavlova into the 230 C oven, in the middle, and turn the temperature down to 120 C immediately! Leave for 30 minutes, then turn the oven off and leave in the oven for another 30 minutes.

Cool the Pavlova, on the baking tray, completely. Don't worry if you see cracks forming while the Pavlova is cooling. This is normal. The cream will cover most of the cracks.

Just before serving cover the top with a thick layer of thickly whipped cream and fresh fruit.

Keep any left over Pavlova, if there is any! in the fridge. You can still eat it the next day, although it will be a bit soft.

Enjoy xxx

Brilliant 12 Days of Christmas present

 

 My brother and his wife gave me such a fun gift for Christmas. It is a 12 Days of Christmas gift box from Lush, full of lots of bathtime goodies. There is one thing for each of the 12 days of Christmas. They are very colourful and smell like a sweet shop. I wasn't sure about them at first until I tried using them.

 

I tried the ones below first:

 

 

1. On Christmas morning I ran my bath, hopped in and added the Father Christmas Bath Ballistic (the one on the left). All was well at first, lots of fizzing and white frothing. Bright red then started pouring out with piles of white foam. Then bronze glitter....huuuuuuuge bronze glitter....tonnes of it! Followed by lots of deep green fizz. The ball whizzed around the bath releasing a lovely tangerine scent. But oh, noooooo, tonnes more glitter. Glitter everywhere and the bath had turned a dark moss green. Very reminiscent of pond algae and I was sitting in it. I sat there, covered in glitter, in shock. (I am laughing so much as I am writing this!). I tried to wipe the glitter off me with a flannel, but it was stuck tight. Oh nooooo....I was getting ready to go to my brother's house for Christmas lunch....and I looked like some horrible bronze tanning experiment gone wrong! I sat there for a little while longer not wanting to waste the bath bomb, but enough was enough and I hopped into the shower to scrub the glitter off. But the glitter didn't want to come off....oh no...it was there to stay. You know what glitter is like, stubborn stuff. After 15 minutes I managed to get most of it off me. That was probably the cleanest my skin has ever been!



2. On Boxing Day I decided to try the Santa's Sack Bubble Bar (the one in the middle). But this time I was more cautious. I crumbled it in the bath, per the instructions, and watched and waited. The water turned a lovely pink and was covered in a layer of white foam. The room was filled with the smell of fruit. I was happy.

 

(I didn't realise that I was supposed to have broken out and reserved the two "gifts" from the sack to use for two more baths....oh well....next time).

 

3. On the 27th I tried the Party Popper Bath Ballistic (the pink and blue cone on the right). It whizzed wildly around the bath as it fizzed, releasing bright blue and pink swirls of foam and little bits of orange soap confetti. It smelt lovely. The bath water then turned a very pretty light lavender colour. Happy again.

 

4. This morning I spent ages deciding which one I was going to try next:

 

  

I finally decided on the Golden Wonder Bath Ballistic. And this time decided to take photos of what happened. Again there was no way that I was going to hop into the bath until I knew the result.

 

This one fizzed quietly, releasing yellow colour at first. Then a few blobs of pink followed by light blue. It reminded me of chemistry experiments at school, and toxic waste haha. The water finally turned a lovely turquiose colour with little yellow soap stars floating in some white froth. (If you click on the collage below, you can just see the little stars in the top right photo). The stars slowly dissolved and I hopped in the bath. I was surprised to find that the water was swirling and shimmering with very fine gold dust. It was very pretty and didn't stick to my skin. I enjoyed this bath very much. I can't wait until tomorrow to try my next bath.

 See you again soon. Hugs xxx

 

Santa Sack - 15 essential Christmas gifts for me

I am a big kid at heart and still like the excitement of opening a Santa Sack at Christmas. But this is a Santa Sack with a twist.....

A few years ago I decided to make a Santa Sack for myself to open at Christmas. This way I could be certain to receive what I really like and enjoy :) My Santa Sack is actually a red pillowcase. I chose a pillowcase to use because that is what we used to receive our presents from Father Christmas in when we were children.

So from the beginning of each year I start collecting little things to put in my Santa Sack. Once I have put something in it I leave it there until Christmas. No peeping. No reminding myself of what is in there. Gradually over the year my Santa Sack becomes fuller and by Christmas it is almost overflowing!

I had a lot of fun opening my Santa sack this Christmas. I had forgotten about a lot of the things I had put into it, especially from earlier in the year, so it was a nice surprise, and I still loved them all.

There were 15 presents inside:

1.   2013 Cat Tales Calendar with amusing illustrations by Charles Wysocki
2.   Large box of yummy Bassetts Jelly Babies
3.   Box of The Fruit Tree Oranges & Lemons fruit jelly slices
4.   Toile de Jouy padded coat hangers
5.   Some spending money, nicely gift-wrapped, to spend as I like during my 3 week Christmas
      holiday this year.
6.   A large box of Thornton's Fruit & Nut Special Toffee....yuuuuum! A colleague brought this back
      from England for me on request. She asked me if there was anything that I would like her
      buy while she was there.
7.   Box of Belgian Cherry Liqueur chocolates
8.   Bottle of  L'Occitane Lavender Harvest Foaming Bath
9.   Bottle of L'Occitane 4 Reines Rose Bath and Shower Gel
10. Bottle of L'Occitane Cherry Blossom Bath and Shower Gel
11. L'Occitane 4 Reines Rose Bath Powder. It took me ages to track some of this down as L'Occitane
      have stopped producing it.
12. Emily Button Mousey to sit on my desk :)
13. Kirsty Allsopp House Jotter Box containing memo notes for my desk
14. Kirsty Allsopp sticky notes set for my desk
15. A heart shaped box of French chocolate truffles

My sister and dad gave me money for Christmas this year which is great. I will be using it to fill my Santa sack for next Christmas. And it is so much fun finding nice things throughout the year. I like finding little things that I like just as much as using them.