All posts filed under: home & garden

A memorable stepping stone Pt 2…

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The day of my wedding the sun was shining from early morning, it was an early start for me and the girls. My house was filled with warm wishes, flowers and bubbly. My sister did an amazing amount of needlework, silk roses and ribbons for my wedding. She’s very talented and creative. These are the cake knife ribbons… The ring cushion… A hat box, for all those special trinkets and cards… The marque was filled with fresh flowers, and fairy lights… It truly was a special day…

A memorable stepping stone…

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  One of the unfortunate things of living a long distance from home, is that my wedding day was only shared with my immediate family.Family and friends sent me warm wishes for the day, so I had everyone there in spirit. As most of my family and friends, haven’t seen these memorable moments from my wedding day… leading up to our 6th wedding anniversary I’d love to share with you this special day in my life. I had the blessing of my parents, sister , her  husband and my niece making the long trip over to spend seven weeks before the day with me.  I was so surprised when Dad said he was coming over. He’d never flown before and Australia to Europe is a long trip. But they arrived and the wedding plans went into action. My images in my mind were simple, elegant and of course no meringue dresses!   I didn’t want the confined atmosphere of a restaurant, set time limits or set menu’s. So the decision was made to have a garden wedding, not a common …

#2 Yoghurt Cake

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#2 Handwritten Recipes  Last weekend while sharing my zucchini cake with a new group of friends. I met a lovely lady who lives in my area close to home. After trying my zucchini cake she was happy to disclose a few recipes to me…hence #2 of handwritten recipes. I thought she would write for me one of those traditional Italian Torte, or biscuit recipes,  instead she gave me this recipe of a yoghurt cake, light, delicate and soft as fairy floss.    The fun part about this cake is that all the measurements are used with the tub of yoghurt. She was so enthusiastic about telling me about this revolutionary measuring method I wish you could have shared the moment with me. As she lived across the road from where we were, she dashed across the road, grabbed the recipe at hand with note-book and pen and wrote down this recipe for me. A great moment, and one to remember. It’s been difficult “fitting” into the local Italian community of traditional ways and customs, and  believe …

What’s happening in my kitchen?

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After following Celia, and her marvellous blog, Fig Jam and Lime Cordial, her link can be found in my blog roll, she asked   ” What is happening in your kitchen this month”  Well, already half the month of June has flown, and my kitchen has been a buzz. The vege patch is overflowing with fresh greens, a few bbq’s have been had with beautiful spring days, and this weekend will be the same…heading towards the end of the month is our wedding anniversary..and little old me celebrates another 40ish birthday.  In my kitchen…  On the bench top there’s always a vase of fresh flowers…my personal touch for me, that the house is complete. At the moment I have roses in full bloom and lavender. No commercial fragrant sprays, these roses leave their perfume throughout the whole house.  In my kitchen…  I always have a cookbook out for inspirations, my favourite at the moment is Seasons by Donna Hay. It’s a beautiful cookbook of recipes, the best from her magazines…complete with beautiful photographs of the changing seasons…a real “escape” …

Pucker up – Hot Lips

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Spaghetti with Garlic, Oil and Peperoncino* Aglio,Olio e Peperoncino Red Hot Peppers, Hot Lips, Hot mouth, sweating brow, flowing nose and crying eyes. Yes, I think I put  in too much peperoncino.  But I adore this  classic and way too easy pasta dish, and yes, the tri-colori * three colour banner is flying all Italian. This is one of those dishes where the temptation to eat another serving, if your flaming lips can  handle it, you just can’t resist. Each mouthful of spaghetti is like a heat bomb of  taste, a fire cracker of heated sparks of peperoncino, a tingling sensation , feeling like  you’ve just had a quick  silicon lip enhancement. Yet another four ingredient recipe, Spaghetti,garlic, oil and peperoncino. Recipe -2 servings 300 g of spaghetti ( dried pasta, good quality) 4 tablespoons olive oil 2 cloves garlic,  grated 1 tablespoon peperoncino-I use dried red chilli flakes (use less for less heat) Preparation Cook spaghetti as instructions on the box. Boil water before adding the salt, try not to over cook the pasta and save a spoonful of this starchy water for …

Can’t live without basil…

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I have to admit I’ve grown to love and adore Basil. He’s great to work with flavouring my summer salads, ratatouille, and my pesto sauce for my pasta. He’s always on hand outside my kitchen door or in the veg patch, not much looking after needed, baking up the full sun and a little water. I remember basil growing in my grandmothers herb garden, and from a young age picking fresh basil leaves and watching my grandmother make pesto sauce and tomato sauce with basil.   Basil is associated with love rituals in some cultures. In Italy when a woman placed a pot of basil on her balcony, it meant she would be receptive to her lover. I placed mine outside my kitchen door, so that its only a dash away to add to any dish that I’m making at the time. I’m also not sure about the burning of basil, as noted by Bruce Burnett who is the author of the book – Herbwise:growing cooking wellbeing – a book about the creative use of herbs.   “When …

Two peas in a pod

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In the region Veneto, we have a large number of recipes with the base ingredient of rice. One of these favourite  well-known recipes is Rice with Peas * i risi e bisi . Taking the opportunity at the fresh growers market I purchased two kilo’s of fresh peas. Having a few recipes in mind, my choice is this one.   I know what you’re thinking, it’s just easier to buy a can of peas, or go to the freezer, but believe me there’s nothing quite like the taste of fresh peas. Let the senses glee with the sound of the crunch of the pea pod, the wonderful rich green colour, the perfume of fresh pearl peas, the taste and the silky glossy feel. I know I always think of my grandmothers shelling peas in the kitchen, but believe me they had it right, the  fresh taste makes all the difference.   This traditional plate is known to have been served to the Duke of Venice on the patron saints day of Saint Marks. The difference with this recipe apart from other risotto recipes is that the broth is added …

Turn on the Sun

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A great day today, the first of many sunny days…I’m waiting! A great time to break for lunch with a fresh fruit salad and yogurt cream.The fruit salad was made with seasonal fruits and then presented in a baby watermelon. That’s easy! …and so is the yogurt cream. Recipe: Yogurt Cream 125 grams natural yogurt 2 teaspoons honey 8 almonds mint leaves Combine yogurt and honey, mix well…cut into small pieces the almonds, add a couple of mint leaves, and wow a great substitute for ice-cream of whipped cream… Roll on Summer!! Affirmation after the act, This is a great photo and I love it…but it was done in pain…setting up this shot I dropped the fold up garden chair on my toe…ouch! yes the pain and the pleasure of it all.