Family cycling trip

Yes - we now can all ride a bike. Yes - we now all have a bike that is useable (albiet that Eli's bike is probably 50 years old and has a perpetual slow leak in the back tyre that no fixing will fix!!).

So off we went to the BMX. Via the park and the river so that we did not need to take Eli on the road.
Within 200 metres we had the first pile up. Eli at 4 was told to turn right but turned left. Heck - even I at 42 still sometimes get that wrong!!!
After a few tears and veiwing the camera photos of the crash, we were off again. I must say that cycling, keeping an eye on a 7 yr old learning the road rules, as well as taking photos where possible with my right hand, was rather taxing.

But we made it. Had a great time at the BMX track - Eli insisting that he was doing wheelies and spent the whole time trying to jerk the bike off the ground. (the photo is of one of those "wheelies"). It took a bit of convincing to get him to stop doing that when we were biking back home. He thought he was sooo cool.

What a lovely Sunday afternoon out.

Rosehip syrup.

A while ago we went to the Hurunui to a friends bach for the weekend. I took a great photo of all the rosehips I picked from the wild briar roses on the riverbed. But I have no idea where that has gone

Two weeks after I came home I finally made the syrup. I had no idea what it would taste like. I used the recipe from Little River Cottage. YUM. We all voted it fantastic on icecream

Acumulated cooking day.

Well the afternoon was meant to be about gardening today. But it turned into cooking.
I had said to Eli that we needed to do some backing so when he got back from Kindy that was obviously his mission. So cupcakes were made at his request. We put some mixture in the patty tin then a dollop of raspberry and then more mixture.
The oven was on and so I thought I should start processing all the quinces that I have. Quince paste and jelly needs to be made. Promptly these were chopped and put in the oven. But of course they take a lot longer to cook than cupcakes. So again not wanting to waste the oven being on I decided to finally get around to making another lot of muesli as my last lot ran out 2 weeks ago.
So in between changing beds and supervising Eli on the computer - it has been a cooking afternoon.

I like to ride my bicycle

This is an ode to my father-in-law. He is a retired engineer and a fantastic handy person. Able to fix anything, trouble shoot it, mend it, wire it, weld it. I spouted my desire to ride my bike again. ( the Doctors having limited the exercise I can do - but they did say I could still bike). So I had asked if Warwick would fix my old bike up as my birthday present.

Well my birthday came early. It arrived  back after a few weeks, new tires and rims from some other bike that was hanging around. And today I rode it!!! On I got and off I went - well almost. I really wanted Morris to sit in the basket and go with me. But he would not. the next dog I get will start riding in the basked from a puppy!. I also forgot about needing to re warn your bottom that you were getting on a bike.

In spite of all that I had a wonderful time and now cannot comprehend how it has taken so long for me to get back into biking.

Jakob and I rode down to Pines Beach and back. We met Aaron and Eli (with Eli's bike) and they madly rode the BMX track. Then home again. It was fantastic. 4/5 th's of the way is on a dedicated bike track so you do not need to compete with the traffic going 100km.

Fantastic - i want to join Frocks on Bikes now!!!

Hello to Alison

I have tried to think of something inspirational to put on my blog. I was talking to Alison on the phone yesterday and she is full of sinus - I know how horrible that makes you feel. I was trying to sort and clear crafty things in the garage, she said I needed to go and get my camera and put it on my blog as she was into reading blogs at the moment.
I did not do that and all day i have been thinking of her. So hello Alison, hope you are feeling better.

Recession busters

Well we had our next get together. Our sustenance as usual was up to scratch with Gorgeous spiced apple cake and cream a la Steff and Kylies mum supplied a gorgeous chocolate slice (with a copy of the recipe). So along with some wine and cups of tea we chatted and madly tried to produce something from all our scrapbooking supplies.

I just couldn't get into the swing of producing something and so made some tags. My cousin Alison bought a whole box of luggage tags and gave some to me the other week. I covered them in scrap paper, embelished, stamped and produced four tag with "made with love" and "handmade for you" on them. Not very inspirational but it was fantastic to see what others were doing and now I am inspired!! Today my boys spent a lot of time painting canvases. This was as a direct result of last month's recession busters doing painting. They had a great time and when the painting are dry I will take photos.

I am now inspired to get on with scrapbooking. Kylie, her mum and Penny produced gorgeous bookmarks. All very different in style which was fantastic to see. Paula and Steff were busy doing scrapbooking again in two very different ways. So I think I will have to get on with a whole pile of things now!! Next month it is knitting - so I will start Eli or Jakobs jerseys for this year.

The bargains I get

This is my latest bargain. A whole box of about 75 reels of cotton. A lot still with their wrappers on, for a mere $45 off trade me. I am absolutely stoked.

Cooking - Four course meal for 65th birthday

Last Saturday night Aaron and I gave Margo her 65th birthday present. We created a restaurant in their lounge just for her and Warwick. Aaron was the waiter and I was the Chef. We called it Table for Two.
I am a bit annoyed as I forgot to take photos until we got to the main course.
We got Warwick to tell Margo he was taking her out to dinner. I then arranged to do nibbles before their dinner at Stephens house. I did a few lovely things that we always used to do in Italy. We all stood around and had nibbles and then Aaron and I left to go and have "pizza" together without the kids. Stephen kindly looked after the kids. Then Warwick "forgot" his wallet and presto - Margo was delivered to her restaurant.

This is the Menu that they had:

Le Menu

Table a Deux

Chef de la Maison – Karen Schulz

Sommelier & Host – Aaron Schulz

Aperitif

Lemoncello et Melon – Lemoncello spritser accompanied by rock melon

Entre

Spaghetti a la Corgette – A sumptuous contrast of smooth and crunch

Refresher

Mango et lime sorbet – Sharp and sweet to cleanse the palate

Main

Poached chicken – A delicate chicken breast poached and finished with broccoli and beans

Finale

Chocolat Roulade – a sumptuous dessert made from the finest 70% cocoa curvature finished

with fresh farm cream and plum conserve

To be served with coffee or tea of your chosing

Even if I say so myself the sorbet and the entre were fabulous. Though no photos.

Here are some photos.

The main course, the dessert and the birthday girl with the chef and waiter!!!

 

Recession busters

I have just come home from our recession busters monthly meeting. A group of ladies from Kaiapoi who swap skills, recipes, household tips, gardening planting ideas and hopefully money saving tips. Today Penny taught us all how to make pictures for kids walls. Very cheap and easy. A $2.50 canvas, cheap paint from the warehouse and use a kids puzzle picture as the template. So along with wine and a gorgeous raspberry frozen cheesecake (made by Kylie) we all madly drew and painted. We are all very pleased with the results.
Here is my attempt at something cool for kids.

This is our recession busting gang.

Cooking Dinner from the garden

Last week I picked a gorgeous bounty from the garden.
Basil Pesto was made with the basil and put onto tortilla and then quickly grilled in the oven, cut into triangles and served hot for a nibble.

Salad and beans for the veges and then blueberries, strawberries, grapes and icecream for dessert. Delicious.

Spencer first school morning with us

Well Spencer started school on Thursday and on Friday he had his first morning with us. It seemed like he had always been coming, he was so chilled out about what he was doing. Spencer was very excited and so were the boys. We heard all about his first day at school. To celebrate he and Jorja helped make pancakes while Jakob and Eli got dressed.

Now there are four kids for morning cooking classes. I will have to look at what recipe to do next week!! Jorja was such a good big sister. Showing him where to put his bag in the morning and what to do. Spencer really enjoyed the eating part too. He was finished well before anyone else