Welcome 2022

 Goodbye 2021!

 

 Hello 2022!

My goodness, I haven't been here for well over a year! Where did 2021 go?  I can make all sorts of excuses,  but the reality of it was that I got lazy, first of all I was seduced by Instagram then got fed up with it and then sort of did nothing..... However, it is a new year, and full of good intentions I shall put my best foot forward and start blogging and reading blogs again. 

When I look back over the last year I have been just coasting, I suppose its the pandemic but I just hunkered down in my little world, quite happy, except for the loss of one of my cats, Zana, whom this blog was named after.

ZANA (2006 -2021)

 

I never talked about her much as she was quite a shy cat and didn't like her photo taken! I rescued her from a abusive home and she was timid throughout her 15 years.  I miss her a lot as she had a big personality and the house feels empty without her.  I still have Lucy, her daughter a gentle moggy and we muddle along together.

 

Lucy (in front) with Zana and Ambrose

As you can  see Lucy loves the camera! Despite being nearly 15 herself she is very fit and active and adores being the sole centre of attention, lol.

One thing that has been taking up a lot of my time is that I have decided to self publish a book of my art.  I love drawing and painting our native birds and was asked to do a series of cards for my church, I loved doing that and have decided to take it one step further and do a small book, Amazon have a great program  for self publishing. Below is the fantail (Piwakawaka), So far I have completed 6, another 12 or so to go!  I am finding the verse harder than the painting!
 

 I am still crocheting away, but not as obsessively as before, over the last week or two I have been doing washcloths as I had totally run out,  I would have had more to show but gave a couple away yesterday.  My crochet these days is quite simple as I tend to crochet in the evening when I am tired and don't want too much mental exercise haha. I have a huge stash of yarn and so am doing simple grannie blankets for the elderly in our community and children's beanies etc for a local charity.

 

The garden is a riot of colour at the moment, we have a lot of rain and it has kept everything very green and fresh, but now that summer has kicked in it will start to fade and dry out. 

 The vegetable garden is flourishing, and yesterday picked beetroot, lettuce, spring onions and the last of the broad beans, tomatoes are still green and the potatoes will be ready soon.

Plans for 2022?

More of the same but more focused.  This is where this blog will help, I am hoping by committing to blogging once a week, it will stop me procrastinating!  I am the biggest procrastinator ever.  I lose so much time and time is flying, I am still thinking where did 2021 go?!  Also I want this blog is be a tool for my family and friends to see what I am up to as I am the world's worst "stay in touch" person. Part of being a procrastinator I think - my head goes I'll phone tomorrow, next week comes, I think I'll phone tonight, I wake up in the middle of the night, oh I forgot to phone, oh well I'll definitely phone tomorrow............ (sorry Lynlee, Shelly, Julie et al!)

Every year I try and develop another skill or activity, stops then brain matter from dying! This year I want to concentrate on my cooking skills, I want to make the food I eat exciting and fresh and healthy.  More vegetables and less stodge (cheese sandwiches and pasta) There is nothing wrong with either, but when your diet consist mainly of these it is not good for the old waistline  and so on. 

 

 So.... I have all these cookbooks that adorn my bookshelves that I slaver over and then go and make a sandwich, lol! The dangers of living alone. So I have decided to devote a month to each of my favourite books and cook at least 2 dishes a week from them.  The cookbook for January is Plenty by Yotam Ottolenghi. He is my favourite cookbook writer ever, he cooks the food I like to eat and as it is summer his salads and vege dishes are just the thing.

 

 This Burger is not one of his recipes, but a recipe I have made for years.

Lentil Burgers

Lentil Burger

Tin of brown lentils

frozen spinach or fresh cooked about a tablespoon or two and chopped finely

grated sweet potato 1 cupish 

salt and pepper perhaps some smoked paprika or cumin whatever you fancy.

breadcrumbs to stiffen the mix

Mash the lentils leave some whole for texture,  add spinach (Make sure you have squeezed all the water out.) and sweet potato and seasonings, Mix add breadcrumbs to stiffen and form patties to fit your bun size. Fry them in olive oil for 10 minutes or so for each side.  Make the burger buns up with lettuce leaves, grated carrot and tomato and a dressing of your choice (a citrus one is very good), add burger and top with avocado or cheese.

Sorry, the  recipe is not more precise but really its more of a method than anything, but I assure you they are delish!  I love them made with black beans too.

While I have been writing this I realize what my theme for 2022 is!  I have plenty, I don't need more, I just need to use it! 

Well that's it for now, I will be back next Sunday 

Sharon and Lucy 

Cal and Cake!

Finally I am catching up with my Mini Rings of Change Cal that Kate is hosting.  Above is last week’s rounds 15 – 19.

This week’s rounds were very simple and enabled me to catch up quickly.  However it is starting to get quite sizeable and heavy to handle.  I can now see it as a rug for my bathroom.  I am very pleased with it.  It is really interesting to see how colour affects how the design looks.  Even though we are all using the same pattern they all look so different because if our colour choices.  Head over to Kate and see!

It was a national holiday yesterday – Waitangi Day.  I was going to the park to watch the celebrations but I wimped out as it was stormy strong gale force winds, eek! I felt bad for the people that organized things, especially as by middle afternoon the weather had cleared and blue skies prevailed.

So, instead I spent time in the kitchen and prepared vegetables for pickles and did a big batch of freezing beans and tomatoes.  To celebrate my housewifely skills I treated myself to some baking, one of my favourites  -  Muesli Slice.

It is an old Edmonds cookbook recipe (for those outside NZ the book is a national treasure and I wouldn't be surprised if every home had one!)  Originally published by Edmonds in 1907 to promote their Baking products.  For many years I think till the 1960s every newly married couple was given a copy by the company.  It is being constantly revised and recipes change as trends in food change.  My first one I got from my grandmother when I married is very fragile and falling to pieces, but I keep it as there are some old favourites that are not in my current copy err pub in 1994! I will need a new one again soon as pages are starting to come out and are rather brown! I wonder what recipes are in the current edition.

There that is my input for celebrating NZ!

Anyways I spent the afternoon doing my patchwork, sipping tea from my favourite china, really girly pink afternoon and all!  The patchwork is nearly finished and I have decided on the crochet panel but will tell all next time.

The Muesli Slice was yummy, I changed the recipe a bit,  its meant to have chocolate icing but I don’t like icing (yeah really).  But I needed my chocolate fix so I added chocolate buttons to the mix, divine!  Here’s the recipe if you are interested.

Muesli Slice

50g butter

½ cup brown sugar

2 eggs

¾ cup s/r flour or use plain and add Baking Powder 1tsp

1 cup muesli

2 tsp grated lemon rind

½ cup chopped mixed peel (I don’t add this as my muesli has flavours that would clash!)

¼ to ½ cup of chocolate buttons or chips.

(I make up my own muesli by adding dried fruit, such as figs, currants, raisins, apricots, cranberries, nuts such as almonds walnuts and coconut flakes to rolled oats)

Cream butter and sugar, Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each one.  Sift flour and add BP if using.  Fold in the rest of ingredients to mix.  Spread into tin and bake at 180 C for 25 minutes or till golden.  Add icing if you want.

Enjoy!

Thanks for visiting and I will see you next time.

Catch Up

Hi, long time no see!  I have been away from home dealing with family stuff for a couple of weeks and boy and I glad to be home!  Do you find as you get older that you revere peace and quiet.  I do!

Didn't get much crochet done, there were little sticky hands trying to help!  However I managed a simple doily pattern here, called Spider Doily (I first saw the pattern on Anna's of Nummer Elva  blog.) And a scarf in the quiet of night. 

Sorry haven’t a better picture, I took this after I finished and a LITTLE 4 year old Miss wanted it for her bedroom and I forgot to take a better picture.  What made me the happiest was her statement that when she is old enough, would I teach her to crochet.  

This scarf is in 4 ply merino wool.  When I got home I decided it was a bit dull and remembered an old copy of Simply Crochet had a scarf with lace at the ends.  I pinned it but the jury is still out.  What do you think?  Does it look too pretty?

The garden is waking up and the winter crops are looking shabby and weeds are growing at a rate.  Time to think about sowing seeds for summer, namely tomato at the moment.

 I was out in the garden doing my daily check-up, when I noticed that the a few winter crops were starting to go to seed, there were still lots of healthy growth, so I picked a handful and brought it in.  I didn't fancy a stir-fry, but I suddenly remembered Mum using silver beet a lot, why not a medley.  They were delish!

Green Vegetable Fritters

Fritters have always been part of our family's diet.  When Mum got out the chopping board and the remains of the Sunday Roast we knew it was fritter night.  If there was no roast left it was usually vegetables in the fritters, mostly corn, but on frugal nights probably before pay day, it could have simply been potatoes and parsley. 

Take your favourite fritter batter or follow this one.

Ingredients

125g (4oz) s/r flour or plain flour and add 1tsp baking powder

1 egg beaten

pinch salt

milk

Handful green vegetables I used cavelo nero, sorrel, rocket, silver beet (chard) leaves and some coriander chopped up finely.  The borage I used in my side salad.

Method

Put flour salt and egg in bowl and add a bit of milk, beat till smooth and add vegies. Now add more milk till it is dropping consistency, (the amount depends on how much moisture is on the veg after washing and drying)

Heat some oil or butter in fry pan (I use a mix as Then the temp doesn't get too hot.  Add tablespoons of batter and fry till bubbles appear.

Flip them over and cook tilt the bottoms are brown. Place on oven proof plate and put in a low oven to keep warm while you cook the rest.  Makes 10.

Serve with a side salad of choice.

Next time I make these I might add some corn and perhaps a pinch of cumin and coriander powder or just curry powder.  The variations are limitless.  Anyways, a marvellous way to use up a tired greens.

The Garden is starting to show signs of spring, the Xmas plum tree is in flower and the camellias are glorious.

Have a great week and see you soon.

Thanks for visiting.