Thermione is making time in the kitchen fun all over again

I've made so much with this great appliance, she hasn't had a day off since landing at our place.  Fun and simple cooking from the most basic ingredients, so good.  If anyone asked me if Thermomix are worth the money I would say YES!  If you love cooking good wholesome food simply then this is the gadget for you.  

Dear Husband and I attended a Thermomix Festive Flavour class hosted locally by some great demonstrators and reps.  We both learned an awful lot more about our Thermione and how to get the very best out of her.  We were very lucky on the day too, winning  a copy of the Festive Flavour cookbook and a gorgeous gingerbread house made by Leah. Picked up another great book by Jo Whitton of the great Australian Quirky Cooking blog. Pretty sure the class was a great success because Dear Husband came home and cooked for the first time with Thermione and made really good Mongolian Lamb for dinner all by himself.

At the moment I'm waiting for the almond biscotti to cook, great recipe from the Festive Flavours book which we sampled at the class.

Chicken and cashew nut risotto was my first effort with our new kitchen machine.

Homemade basil pesto great spread over a chicken breast, topped with tomato or avocado and mozarella, baked in the oven.

A jug full of fresh veges and herbs  and it made three jars of vegetable stock paste.  Great item to have in the fridge.  Down to my last jar now.

My sweet mango chutney is a winner, I'll be making that one again and again.

 ANZAC biscuits are so quick and easy to make up in the jug that weighs, heats, melts, cooks and mixes the raw ingredients.

Strawberry and apple jam is yummy, and perfect for making jam drops.

Hot chocolate, full cream milk and real dark chocolate melted and heated together.  Mmmmm!

Coriander and cashew nut pesto, wonderful flavours.

Rhubarb muffins with real egg custard was good on a cold night.

Chicken and asparagus risotto, a great success.

Lots of sourdough bread making going on too.

Todays' pair of loaves, one to keep and one to give away.

Time for afternoon tea! xo

Fifty candles for The Traveller

At the beginning of July these four siblings got together on the Gold Coast to celebrate the big 50 for the younger brother.  I've known him for half of his life and in that time he has clocked up an amazing number of travel miles all over the world, he is a restless soul who seems to love exploring and meeting new people in all corners of the world.  The Traveller has always been the family clown as you can see by their family portrait in the 1960's and he didn't disappoint at his birthday shoot.  He had a couple of birthday beers before I shot 24 photos in 5 minutes before his party started.  Through the viewfinder I didn't see he was up to mischief!

I have a great in-law family, really enjoy spending time with them all.  

The day before the big birthday was my MIL's birthday.  It was a very busy day preparing for a party, you can see tables being assembled in the background.  I found time to cook her a birthday sponge for afternoon tea which wan't my best ever.  I can blame working in a different kitchen, but the lack of height was due mostly to the baking powder being 8 years out of date, discovered after sponge was baked.  Still tasted good with mulberry jam and cream.  

Dear Husband and I had time to visit MovieWorld.  Yes, we are big kids!

The Green Lantern coaster was one I didn't try, not keen on being upside down.

The Parade was great, forgot to take photos.

 Arkham Asylum was also one I didn't try!

Superman was helping with the Escape.

Here you can see a Dear Husband looking very wet.  The Wild West Falls ride 1 - Us 0!  It wasn't the warmest day so once we got saturated it wasn't as much fun.  

The long legs on the left are Dear Husbands, he had just eaten a hot dog, not a good plan when riding the Batman Spaceshot ride.

iPhone on training wheels

Finally I have entered the modern world and I have my very own iPhone!  Second hand from Dear Husband!  This will shock some of my friends as they know I really don't like being contactable 24/7.  I haven't made any phone calls yet and can't see myself doing that unless it's an emergency.  I am texting very successfully. Loving the upgraded operating system, my iPod was getting a bit outdated.  

Donna and I spent 5 hours on Sunday putting our shop back together after taking almost everything to a fabulous fair in Wagga Wagga, so the shop is looking fantastic ready for the Christmas.  We met so many new customers and we have a whole lot of new Facebook 'likers', our little shop is almost 1 year old.

We've seen this elderly couple many, many times motoring up and down outside our little shop in Coolamon.  We wrongly assumed they had been married for decades.  Last Sunday they were married in the park opposite our shop and then did a lap of the main street on their motor scooter built for two all decked out for the occasion.  Very cute!  

I snapped this photo with my new phone using Instagram.  Another thing to fill in my days with!   The camera is pretty good!  Anyway I've added a Twitter and Instagram button to the sidebar of my blog for those who also use these social medias.  I did take my phone for a walk with Ruby and I yesterday and we used the Map My Run app to show Dear Husband how far and where we walk every day.  We walked 2.98km in 34 minutes, it was blowing a gale outside yesterday so Ruby was very lucky she even got a walk!  

A reminder of our coast home and family

A bit torturous for me but they look beautiful in Dear Husbands tiny freshly painted windowless office in the subterranean level of the local hospital.  He asked for some photos of our beach and kids to brighten up his four white walls.  These have done the trick and they get a lot of comments from his country living staff.  Mostly "why are you out here".

We both miss our coast home but it is there waiting for us whenever we get the urge to drive 500km and put our toes in the salt water.  We both miss our young adult kids being in our home with us but we really enjoy the times we have together more than ever now.  Life will never be the same but it's still good, just different and we realise how lucky we were to raise our kids beside the seaside in a sleepy coastal village. 

I can feel a coast visit coming up in the next few weeks.  Winter is nearly over, time to enjoy all that coastal living has to offer...............kayaking, beach walking, exploring rock pools, checking out the high tide line finds, fresh healthy air...................can't wait.

Back to Cocoparra National Park

After loving our day at Cocoparra National Park last weekend we decided to head back out there again, this time we took some good friends with us.  We decided to conquer Mt. Brogden, documented as a "2 hour hard walk'' in the brochure.  

We made it to the first lookout!

Fabulous rocks, I'm a bit of a rock freak, just love them.

We made it to the trig station at the top and Dear Husband had to climb atop the dry packed rock cairn.

Our good friends preparing for the descent. tighten the shoelaces!

Very proud of her mountain climbing effort!

Our reward, an authentic wood fired BBQ lunch in the wilderness.

How civilised is this?  A tablecloth and a great sparkling wine served in yellow plastic tumblers!  All class and no style!  A great day out and a wonderful winter time activity.  After a few drinks we've discussed a few more outing ideas and it's my job to find a good map!  I can do that!

Gone bush today at Cocoparra National Park

Almost flouro moss caught my eye.

Something has walked this path before us.

A very zoomed and cropped photo to try and see what bird was filling the bush with a wonderful tune.  Still don't know what it is.  Any ideas?

A bird dropped this gum blossom down on us from a great height.

 

Peeping out from it's hiding spot this little wallaby was very inquisitive.

The waterfall was dry but we'll be going back after some rainfall to check it out.  The rocks are just   so beautiful and the lichen was everywhere.  Slippery too!  I found out the hard way!

The cliffs were just pure rock.  This big flat rock would make a great spot for a family photo, must keep that in mind if the kids every visit.

 

 

On top of the highest hill were a stack of towers for radio, television, telephone, mobile phones and aviation support, what a great work place, fabulous views and apparently it even gets a bit of snow very occasionally.

I wasn't tempted but the view would have been spectacular!

A view to the south west, no more hills until you get to South Australia.

Cocoparra National Park is almost at our doorstep so we thought today being a perfect sunny winters day it would be a good opportunity to get out and start exploring it.  Dear Husband had camped within the park when he was a boy Scout but other than that we know nothing about this great recreational area.  We started with Woolshed Flat campground and walked a fire trail just exploring the bush for quite a few kilometers.  Next we parked at The Pines and walked up to the Woolshed Flat Falls which didn't have a drop of water flowing anywhere.  On our way home we explored Mt. Bingar by car right up the towers and satellite dishes as the top.  There are numerous interesting walks so we'll visit the park again on another sunny day and do a longer walk.