It's 2014 incase you hadn't noticed! How exciting - full of possibilities and new adventures. A new year reminds me of getting a new exercise book at school and having all those marvellous blank pages to fill up with new stuff.
Jason and I will be starting off page one of this year in a fabulous fashion. We're in the deliciously small and unspoilt village of Federal NSW, just 25 minutes from Byron Bay and Bangalow, & I'm in love already. What a beautiful place and such a welcoming happy vibe to the area. We traveled from Sydney with the good lady 'fair weather' as company. She's been very kind to motorbike travellers this past year, and this journey was no exception, warm and breezy & blue skies above. Perfect! Thanks Mother Nature.
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| Pit Stop |
We're here to take great care of a lovely little lady called Uisce (ooshka) which is the old Irish word for Whiskey. She's a very cheeky & smiley Jack Russell who has a jaunty trot to her step and is not shy in asking for tummy tickles. We also have three lovely chooks, a gold fish and two lady sheep who go by the name of Princess and Molly? Or at least I think thats their names, Marianne calls them collectively by the non confusing name of 'Sheep'.
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| The very gorgeous gal, Cute isn't she. |
Their winding steep driveway leading up to the house proved a little tricky for our bike, laden with all the gear and both of us too, so I was un-ceremoniously kicked off halfway up, & while Jason finished off the rest of the climb alone I lugged myself up on foot in the heat and leathers. A very smiley Marianne was there to meet us at the top and quickly gave us a much needed cold drink (I could have kissed her!) She is lovely, open and relaxed & with the greatest of smiles. We felt instantly comfortable and happy to be here. Here are some wonderful images Jason made today. They remind me of vintage postcards or photographs made by explorers in the Victorian era of discovery and documentation.
WOW! What an amazing view from Marianne's and Brian's very beautiful home. It's just breathtaking. The house is too, all wide wooden decks and covered verandahs which lead out to the huge Bali inspired pool and gardens. The open plan space has lots of room and feels and looks very much like a lived in happy home. It's beautiful & the views are something else. We're high up, looking down across a wonderful basin and valley of lush green trees with mountains and the ocean in the distance. Marianne's gardens are just as spectacular. Full of native plants, flowers and trees which are of course still exotic to us...
I feel we have arrived to a slice of paradise, somehow transported to a coffee plantation in South America. Australia has the ability to do that, its constant changing landscape is one of the many things I adore about it.
After we've got our breath back and stop ooohing and ahhing at the views Marianne takes us for a tour of the place and introduces us to the chooks and the sheep. We get the lowdown on the house and its quirks, feeding times and routines for Uisce and the rest of our newest animal family. It will be lovely to have some chickens again and their fresh eggs for breakfast of course. We enjoyed taking care of the sheep at our first housesit so we are happy to have some woolly mates again.
When Brian get backs from work he gives Jason some pointers for off road tracks for the motorbike and how to get into Federal village and Mullumbimby which is our nearest town. We decide to head out for supplies and leave Brian and Marianne to finish packing in peace, but get back just in time to wish them farewell and happy travels for their snowy Italian holiday. "Goodbye guys have a great time!"
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| The Little Post Office and Store |
We soon discover that Federal is rather magical. Have you seen the Tim Burton film Big Fish, with Ewan Mcgregor and Albert Finney? Its a firm favourite for a fairy minded gal like myself. It features a near perfect idyll called Spectre where all its inhabitants go about bare foot, flinging their shoes up to hang off telegraph wires as they enter the town as a sign of them settling there..... Well it could easily have been modelled on Federal. I want to take off my converse pumps, tie the laces together and launch them. I could easily settle here.
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| Spectre |
Marianne had mentioned a cafe in the Village which is owned and expertly operated by a young Japanese family. Turns out its rather special! It looks great, newly painted original weatherboard with a small pretty garden and the very best Japanese food. The family who run it are all so beautiful too, with calm sanguine faces & happy natures. All working together to make a homely and deliciously authentic food haven in the most unexpected of places. Its a real treat. The village has only one small road, a wonderful public hall straight from the pages of a picture book, a tiny white washed wooden church and Post Office which doubles as a bottle-o and general store. Its a real discovery! I'm in love, can you tell?
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| Super cute alert |
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| Welcome to Yum Town |
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| Coffee Fix |
The food is very very good, as is the smooth strong coffee. We had these delicious treats for our lunch but couldn't finish them off... No problem, the girls packaged up our left overs and gave them us to take home for later!
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| Chicken Katsu Don |
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| Garden Salad with Haloumi |
The family have turned around the disused old building and have created a picturesque veritable feast-house, complete with traditional Japanese Doma, a low seated dining area. Its just so great! They don't have a website but if you find yourself in these parts you mustn't miss out on this place. I know we'll be spending a lot of time here...
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| Some of the Family |
This morning we're unravelling a murder mystery... Its a fishy business and we just can't work it out. Sort of like 'The Incident Of The Fish In The Morning'.
So, we were up early - doing our jobs, feeding and watering the chooks, checking the sheep, giving Mr Fish a pinch of food, tickling Uisce's tummy and topping up her biscuits. All animal family members present and correct, or so we thought... What a difference ten minutes and a shower can make, for there's been a fishy disappearing act & now we're scratching our heads and looking at and empty fish bowl!?!
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| Gone without a trace? |
No sign of Mr Fish! Having had two of our own fish in London (Mr and Mrs Fingers) I had experienced similar events when Mrs Fingers met a terrible end after she committed fish- i -scide. She hurled, lunged or levitated herself out of the fish tank and under the sofa while no one was at home.
With this in mind I quickly checked under all the furniture, but no sign of Mr Fishy. I shouted to Jason, " Have you moved the fish?" After a short pause.... "No, Check the shell, is he hiding?" Not in the shell, not anywhere to be found. It was then the mystery began to unravel. Detective Tozer and I found a few small splashes on the kitchen floor, and a possibly slightly guilty looking Uisce at the door......... "Oh dear" I said. "Mystery solved?". It was then I spotted a few orange specs laying next to the watery clues, and said "Oh dear" again, but on closer inspection it turned out these were a few carrot scrapings from last nights dinner prep and not left over Mr Fish!
This is only our first pet disaster since we started house sitting. We quickly emailed Marianne and Brian hoping that Mr fish was not some world champion or long term family member of a goldfish. It's a difficult subject to approach... But Marianne replied quickly and wasn't too devastated thankfully. At least he met his maker with a swift end, and Uisce got an extra bit of breakfast! Poor old Mr Fish.
A new day, and the suns shining all over Federal, and we should know! We have the very best and fullest view of it!
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| Repeat after me....... WOW |
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| And now with more feeling...WOWWWW |
Jason has been experimenting with his camera again and wow the images are pretty impressive. I love That he is getting to enjoy his art of image making for its own sake once more. After over 20 years working as a successful advertising photographer it's wonderful to see him making pictures for his own pleasure and 'playing' with his creativity. He certainly knows his stuff.
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| Beautiful huge Fig in the gardens here |
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| Watching the sun go down |
Brian had told Jason of a few tracks to explore on the bike so we decided to do just that. The surrounding countryside here is so very green and lush. Winding smaller roads overgrown with trees laden with long creepers and huge ferns. Long tunnels of tree canopies stretch overhead with light dappling through. Its magical driving, I keep pinching myself at where we are and how very fortunate we both are to be footloose and fancy free, two bluebirds on the wing. We spent the most gorgeous morning riding around, and stumbled upon some unexpected delights.
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| Horse poo only $4. Bargain! |
Often when flying around the place we see little stalls at the end of peoples driveways selling home produce & plants etc. Around Federal they're in abundance. This one was great, homemade flower cordials, plants, body butters and fruits. I love the honesty boxes that accompany them. Just wonderful.
Not much further along we discovered this little gem
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| A bridge of sighs? |
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| Trip Trap Trip Trap |
This rickety old bridge complete with a front door hung high above a clear slow creek, full of boulders and edged with tropical ferns and huge gumtrees. Ridiculously picturesque but not one for the faint of heart. I wouldn't fancy my chances making it from one side to the other.
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| Superbum |
I have become rather smitten with stag ferns. Not least because their latin name is Platycerium Superbum. I mean, come on, Superbum! What a great name. Its pretty obvious where their common name is derived from. They really do look just like stags horns, and I think "Superbum' comes from the starting spores which look a little bit like a bottom.Their fronds can grow up to 5 feet apparenty! The first one we saw was back in Nambucca Heads during Ian and Annie's house sit -they had one in their garden. This part of Australia is where they do best though. I love the graphic sculptural shape of the leaves. The tropical heat and humid climate suits them down to the ground, well up a tree actually...
They're extremely common around this area, and its wonderful to see and old dried tree stump given new life and gaining 'new' leaves as a host to these marvellous plants. They are in abundance around Federal. Their graphic green presence fill the tree canopies and create this concentrated feel of the tropics.
We spotted many trees covered in them and I kept making stops to get a good look at them and take pictures.
More Superbums
Heres a great photograph Jason took, like I said he's been experimenting & HDR makes the images almost like a painting or 1970's printing I like the high contrast effect and hyper colouring.
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| A Hockney Superbum |
House sitting's just wonderful. We love the lifestyle of being on the road and getting to really get a feel for each place we stay. Its like being a mini local. We endeavour, wherever possible, to get involved and amongst it where the local community is concerned & it seems that's very simple task in Federal. So it was a no brainer when we whilst at the Doma Cafe, we spotted a chalk board heralding a dance event to be held in the hall on Saturday evening. Book em Danno!
The production had been created by The Corner Dance Lab and this particular night of posh wiggling and joy is the collective creative vision of Philip Channells and Gavin Webber, two of Australia's leading dance practitioners and impresario's no less. How lucky are we to be here to see it. You can read about them and the company here.
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| Tickets Please |
We arrived at the packed village green as the sun was starting to get itself off to bed. Trestle tables filled the lawn and with plenty of people milling about laughing and joking it all added to the relaxed happy atmosphere.
There was a travelling Pizza van cooking up mouthwatering Italian classics and the aromas wafting about were enough to get the juices flowing. We popped to the bottle-o, grabbed a red and set about soaking up the lovely warm community spirt.
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| Matching outfit to pizza van. |
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| The Culinary Culprit |
The dancers and choreographers started to limber up outside in the fading sun and it was lovely that this was a part of the evening & not hidden away behind closed doors. The production featured people of mixed ability in terms of dance and movement, and also had some first time performers of varying disabilities. As someone who has worked with young adults with Down syndrome I was very keen and thrilled to see what the evening would have in store.
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| Limbering up |
We were not to be disappointed. The evening began with an icebreaking and hilarious vignette called 'Kayah Sneezes',which saw the whole dance troop swooshed and blown from one end of the hall to the other by the power of one performers continual and comical sneezes. It was a great start to a wildly fantastic ride of a night. Everyone was laughing and the simple idea set the standard for a fun, fluid and at times very moving festival of dance.
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| The running list |
Philip and Gavin had only a week in which to conceive the project from start to finish. It's very much to their credit that the whole event was realised without funding of any sort. Hats of to them and their wonderful production. The performers, drunk with the pleasure of sheer performance, were hypnotic and their enthusiasm contagious. It was a very special evening carried by humour and hard work. We had the greatest of nights out and had we not already fallen pray to the charms of Federal this would have certainly sealed the deal.
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| Hello Hungry Heads |
These two are looking very splendid. Im in the mood for cooking and feeding them up. Hungry guys?
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| Ready to be transformed ingredients? |
I like a spot of cooking and trying something new and Jason likes sampling my latest foodie obsessions. Its currently Gyoza or 'Potstickers' as they are also known! YUM YUM and inspired by the Doma Cafe I have decided to have a go and make them from Scratch.
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| Nigella called, she wants her job back! |
For the Gyoza wrappers:
250 gm plain flour
¼ Tsp salt
150 ml water
1. Combine the flour and salt in a large mixing bowl. Make a well in the centre. Bring water to the boil. Remove from heat. Once it stops bubbling, immediately pour onto the flour. Mix vigorously and quickly with a large fork. When the mixture is cool enough to handle (but still warm), transfer it to your work surface and knead for 5 to 10 minutes to a perfectly smooth dough. The dough should feel soft and pliant, but not tacky. When lightly pressed with your finger, the dough will bounce gently back.2. Very lightly flour the work surface if necessary - dough of the correct consistency needs little or no additional flour; only flour the surface if the dough is sticking.
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| As Homer would say...... DOH! |
Divide dough into four pieces. Roll each piece out into a sausage-like rope.
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| Cut in half |
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| Then cut each half again |
Divide each rope into eight pieces. Each piece (there’re 32 in total) makes one wrapper. Whilst proceeding, cover the pieces you aren’t working on with a clean, wet-then-wrung dish towel to prevent the dough from drying out.
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| Roll each quarter into a sausage |
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| Slice evenly |
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| and cut into eight equal pieces |
Shaping the Gyōza:
(roll out all the pieces, stamp out all the circles for wrappers, fill all the circles, shape all the dumplings) may seem like a good idea - and probably is, if you’re very speedy or there's more than one pair of hands in the kitchen –until you have the dough drying out on you before you’re done filling and shaping. So it’s probably a more prudent idea to break it up (roll, stamp, fill and shape the first group of wrappers before you roll out another group of dough pieces – about four to eight pieces at a go is manageable, depending once again on your speed). If using store-bought wrappers, simply skip straight to step 2. and proceed with filling and shaping, but you'll need to slightly moisten the edges of the wrappers with water to seal the dumplings.
1. Line a baking sheet with non-stick parchment to hold the finished dumplings. Set aside, within arm's reach of your work surface. Flatten each of the dough pieces with the palm of your hand. Roll the flattened pieces into circles slightly larger than 6 cm in diameter. Use a 6 cm round cutter to stamp out wrappers. Discard the ragged trimmings.
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| squash each one into a disc |
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| Roll carefully into a thin wrapper |
2. Fill one wrapper at a time, keeping the remaining covered. Place a heaped teaspoon of stuffing into the centre of the dumpling wrapper, nudging it into a quenelle-like shape that's tapered towards the two ends of its length (this makes the dumpling easier to seal), ensuring there's a clear border of wrapper circumnavigating the stuffing.
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| Use a teaspoon and don't overfill |
Fold the wrapper gently in half by bringing the two sides (parallel to the length of the stuffing) up over the stuffing. Pinch shut at midpoint before pleating and pressing - homemade wrappers are soft and moist so you'll have no problem sealing them.
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| Bring both edges together and pinch shut |
3. Starting to the right of the midpoint, make three tidy and tiny pleats on the side of the wrapper facing you (and not on the further side), folding the pleats in the direction towards the midpoint. After each pleat, pinch the dough to join the pleat to the unpleated side of the wrapper. Pinch the extreme right corner of the arc closed. Half the dumpling has been sealed.
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| Your index will help with the tricky bit |
4. Repeat the process to the left of the midpoint. Starting to the left of the midpoint, fold the pleats in the opposite direction from before (in other words, still folding the pleats in the direction towards the midpoint). Pinch the extreme left corner closed.
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| Gently create pleats to close the wrapper |
5. Now gently pinch all along the elegant arc that you've created to ensure it is securely sealed, and to thin the ridge of dough. The dumpling is now completely sealed. The finished dumpling, as seen from an aerial view, is pleated on one side, smooth on the other, naturally curved into a pot-bellied crescent shape thanks to the pleating method, and sits on a flat base. The beauty of this method, aside from the beauty of the dumpling, is that the dough is not coarsely thick at the ridge, having been pleated only on one side, and the dumpling stands upright on the tray and later, in the skillet.
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| This is how it should look |
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| Ta Dah! Very pleased with this |
6. Set the first batch of dumplings aside on the lined tray; the dumplings should not touch each other. Repeat above steps with subsequent batches of dough pieces until done.
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| Rack em up |
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| Ready to get cooked? |
If not cooking the dumplings immediately, freeze them (they freeze very well) in one layer on the tray covered with clingwrap. When frozen, pack the dumplings into airtight storage boxes. They will keep, frozen, for a fortnight. When cooking frozen dumplings, do not thaw them – cook from frozen, adding an extra minute or two to the steaming time.
Cooking the Gyōza:
The potstickers are cooked by a method which part-fries, part-steams them, so they wind up juicy and succulent yet have crisp, golden bottoms - in Japanese, this type of cooking is called mushi yaki ("steam searing"
Typically, the potstickers are drizzled with water to create steam. However, I like steam-cooking them with chicken stock instead of water, which gives them extra oomph in terms of both flavour and colour.
Groundnut oil
150 ml to 250 ml chicken stock, preferably homemade
1 tsp sesame oil
1. Heat a heavy skillet large enough to accommodate all the dumplings at once over a medium-high flame. Add enough groundnut oil to slick the surface amply. When the oil is properly hot, carefully line up the dumplings in the skillet, side by side in neat rows resting on their flat bottoms. Cook the dumplings for 2 to 3 minutes, or until nicely browned on the bottoms, checking the colour by carefully lifting a couple of dumplings by their pleated edge.
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| Potstickers are you ready? |
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| In goes the water, Quick with that lid! |
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| Steamy Windows! |
2. Pour in enough chicken stock to come one-third of the way up the sides of the dumplings. Be careful; the liquid will hiss, splatter and spit as soon as it hits the pan. Lower the heat to maintain a gentle simmer, and immediately cover the skillet with a lid to trap moisture and create steam. Steam for 4 to 5 minutes (6 to 7 minutes if cooking from frozen). Start checking the progress after 3 minutes; when the wrappers appear translucent, the stock is almost all absorbed, and the meat is cooked (check by prodding with chopsticks for firmness), remove the lid.
3. Drizzle the dumplings with the sesame oil. Raise the heat slightly and continue to cook at a merry simmer until all the liquid has evaporated and only the oil remains, about 2 to 3 minutes. They are done when their bottoms are crisp enough to "clink" when tapped with a fingernail. To serve, remove with a spatula and turn them upside down onto a serving plate so their golden bottoms face up. Serve without delay, accompanied by the dipping sauce.
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| Yum Town for tea! |
We being given a feathery run around by one plucky Chook! I'm nicknaming her Houdini. She is a master of escapology, and although Jason has looked all over the coop for her exit, even checking it out inside with a chicken eyed view, he cannot figure out how the little minx is on the run each morning.
We are getting the Chicken run around for sure, and Uisce is loving chasing her too. The cheeky Chook is popping down to the house to steal Uisce's breakfast! Jason is fast becoming Federal's No. 1 Chicken wrangler. Is there nothing he cannot do!
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| Houdini does it again! |
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| And again |
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| And again.... |
Usice decides its time to get involved and turns from humble rat catcher into a fine example of a Chicken wrestler. Jason has competition!
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| Half Nelson? |
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| Slam Dunk? |
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| Boston Crab? |
After several moves and wrestling holds Usice decides on the the neck throttle! Really though she is only playing and very gentle with Houdini. So no chicken dinner this evening! Houdini lives to see another escape.
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| No Chickens were harmed in the making of this blog post |
Safely back in her chicken coop with her feathery friends, its time for other stuff. The sun is shining and there is a pool to clean and swim in!
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| Jason Chess Master |
Jason has been enjoying having a chess board and whilst its been so hot this has become a favourite pastime. Sitting poolside practising his moves.
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| Waterloo |
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| Thats a mighty fine spray |
Meanwhile I have been enjoying tending to the veggies and making sure they don't dry out in the heat. Martin who takes care of all the gardens and bushland here came by today too. He is great! Very knowledgable about all the plants. I don't think he minded my many questions about the native flora? He is an interesting chap. Marianne and Brian's gardens are very beautifully laid out. Full of colour, so lush and well tended too. It will be a real treat to pick Martins brains whilst we are here.
We have been visiting the Op shops in search of treasure. I was not left wanting either! I found some fine delights. I have been on the hunt for plain Linen fabric remnants so that I can make some cushion covers. Instead I found some fabulous white linen dresses and set about transforming them into their new life as soft furnishings.
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| All for a few bucks! |
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| This dress = Cushions |
I wanted to create a strong graphic print on the plain white linen from the dresses and decided on a chevron pattern. So with some packing tape and a tape measure I got busy with the fizzy.
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| Measure twice cut once! |
First, I put down paper underneath the fabric to protect the table and its covering. Then fixed my square of fabric in place with tape at the corners.
I laid out one set of stripes and then 'criss crossed' over the top with another diagonal set of tape stripes to create a stencil.
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| Then start cutting |
I cut away sections so that the bare fabric became my chevron design. A bit tricky but easy once you get going. It takes a steady hand and a bit of patience.
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| Keep an eye on what your removing |
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| Almost done |
Next step is applying the colour. I love neon and had this great fluro pink. Using an old sponge and a tupperware lid I got started. Keeping the sponge quite dry so as not to 'flood' the fabric I worked across one chevron at a time.
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| 'brush away' from the tape so it doesn't seep underneath |
Not too long and its all done and I cant wait to peel away the tape to see how it looks, but tempting as it is, best to wait for it to dry out throughly, that way you get a good sharp edge to your design.
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| I love this bit! |
Pull the tape slowly and carefully to reveal the masked off white contrasting chevron
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| The big reveal |
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| Nice sharp edges makes a big difference no? |
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| Ta Da!!!!! |
After all the tape is removed it looks like this and Im dead happy with the results! Now to do another colour.
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| Cushion front in the making. |
This time I'm using a very acid lemon which will make a high contrast with the pink.
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| Yellow peril |
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| Looking good Huston |
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| I'm really happy with the finished fabric |
Watch this space for the finished cushions coming to a blog near you soon!
Usice and I are hanging out today trying to stay cool in the very hot sun. A spot of drawing goes down well and a bit of shade for one hot dog!
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| Hot |
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| Dog! |
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| Best way to spend an afternoon? |
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| Hold on a minute! |
Usice has the largest Dog Bowl in federal if not the world!
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| Now you see her |
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| Now you don't |
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| Now you still don't |
Usice is a very busy girl today, after chasing the chicken and helping Jason get her back in the coop she was darting all over the place, in and out of the huge grasses and barking like crazy. She's so quick when there's a scent to follow and the chance of catching a rat or other intruder! Luckily this time she came back empty handed. Its lovely watching her dart around the place and busy doing her dog stuff.
As its so open here and there is so much space and fields for Usice to run about in we are being very mindful about ticks. We have pulled a few little ones of her tummy each day. I have become the expert tick puller. It's easy to spot them and feel where they are when you know what your looking for. Usice is very good at rolling over, thinking she's getting a tummy tickle and seemingly is not bothered at me and my tweezers checking over her each morning.
Before leaving Marianne gave us worse case scenario's about the weather and power cuts that we may experience whilst here. Its coming into the very wet and stormy time in Northern NSW and so its likely we'll get wet at some point. We had our first power cut today. It was all rather exciting and fun, but then we did have it back within 3 hours unlike the 5 days that Marianne and Brian had been kept in the dark.
It was lovely and romantic with all the candles lit! I was hoping I might have to have a 'Bush Shower' outside with the hose pipe, but not this time!
The rain that has been looming has arrived in a tremendous fashion. After the heavy humid heat of yesterday its very welcome! The veggies and plants will be smiling down to their roots too. The drumming of the rain on the roof is very relaxing. I like to lie in bed listening to it, especially when it gives its all and thunders down. It rained all night and this morning the mountains in the distance were covered with a mist and steamy fog. Now it does feel like South America!
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| It's raining, It's pouring...... |
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| .....a little dog is snoring! |
With all these rain storms I'm left with time to get crafty! So with some washing line and builders cord I decide I will make some retro macrame plant holders that i have been reading up on.
Jason and I went to the lovely little town of Mullumbimbi and whilst visiting the hardware store for a few bits for our motorbike I found this!
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| Neon orange |
This heavy duty rope and an old cookie cutter will be perfect for what I have in store. After reading a few blog posts about how to knot I got busy trying out a few different techniques. It was easier than I expected and I was soon tying up a storm of my own.
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| Cut four equal lengths of cord |
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| Pass through a hanging ring equalling the lengths |
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| Secure lengths in place with a binding knot |
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| Cut off excess rope |
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| With a flame lightly meld the cut end to stop fraying |
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| Begin the knotting process |
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| Making sure your knots are all at the same height |
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| Work down the lengths creating a net like structure |
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| Leave some length for a pretty tassle |
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| The final binding knot to hold it in place |
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| Once you have tightly bound the knot pull through |
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| Pull firmly to secure |
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| Finish with the melding of the cut rope |
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| Dont forget the hanging ones! |
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| Ta da! |
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| Heres a few I made earlier |
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| Do I get my Blue Peter Badge? |
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| Great for fresh flowers |
I used the following Youtube tutorial
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zSUAHIOQtA so a big thanks to Macrame Magic for posting.
The rain has stopped but we have a casualty. Sometime during the evening, just about audible over the heavy rain we heard a huge 'Craccccckkkkk!!!!!!!!!' But looking around outside couldn't find the cause of such a noise. In the morning in another part of the gardens we found an older huge Banksia had fallen foul of the wind and bad weather and had cracked in half. Luckily Martin was due in to tend the garden and after explaining they had, had the drooping Banksia propped up for quite a while he quickly got to work chopping it up and tidying up the garden.
The Banksia is a native tree and has over a 170 varieties. The are distinct for there sculptural flowering cones which come in many shapes and sizes and a vast array of colours. I love them. They are so complex when you get to look at them close up and sturdy too. They play a significant role in Aussie history due to the long lasting cultural icon of a children's book, with the preposterously cute name, Snugglepot and Cuddlepie.
The adventures of Snugglepot and Cuddlepie, Or The "Gum-nut" Babies were conjured into life with the brilliant imagination of May Gibbs. Born in England in 1877, May came to Australia in 1881 and wrote many adventures with her characters wholly inspired by the flora and fauna of the country.
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| Snugglepot and Cuddlepie |
The 'Banksia Men' were 'baddies' who terrorised the gum nut babies and were themselves inspired by the seed pods of the Banksia.
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| Banksia pods |
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| Easy to see why! |
There are so many beautiful flowers and trees here at Brian and Mariannes. I will endeavour to take some pictures.
Here are the huge Ginger plants with fabulous red flowers. The stem of this variety grow in a soft swooping spiral. Clever things!
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| Ginger spice |
The rain storm did more than put paid to an old Banksia caught out on its last legs. It also bought some very loud and persistently croaking Frogs, which google very helpfully informs me are : Green Tree Frogs or to give them their posh names Litoria Caerulea. Native to NSW. Astonishingly they can live up to 21 years with 16 years being average! Both major birthdays covered there then. They also eat the odd cockroach so I'm all for them!
Jason and I could hear this very very loud noise, a little like hollow wood being clonked with a wooden mallet, or a sort of hollow repetative scraping noise. It went on for several hours. Usice was going nuts! Trying to find whatever was causing such an audible nuisance. Turns out it was lovers night for frogs! This daring gent had bought his lady friend to the romantic poolside venue of Federal for his swooning and a courting. Gribbbet.
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| voulez vous coucher avec moi ce soir |
After all the rain and wind its time to clear the pool of the fallen leaves and get the motorised cleaner going to. Perfect weather for it too!
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| You missed a bit! |
Usice is a great help too and had a whole heap of doggie fun gathering up the fallen Palm leaves. Thats a big leaf for one so little! She's nothing if not plucky.
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| Look at what i found! |
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| GRRRRRRRRR! |
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| Happy Dog. |
As if by magic the weather turns a corner as we finish our cleaning jobs and the suns out all over Federal. So so pretty up here.
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| Looking so pretty again! |
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| And now for a rest. |
After all her hard work she deserves wee doggie snack. Shes such a good girl. We are very smitten.
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| And a well earned treat. |
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| Sit! |
In all this heavy rain even the littlest of critters are running for shelter. We have an ant pilgrimage of sorts. Ants are in abundance should anyone have a shortage just give us a call! I am toying with the idea of starting an circus or Ant village.
It started off with a few trailing lines of them winding their way around and about the house, but it was not too long before we had enough to create a township.
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| Looks like tea leaves! |
Usice has not be left out by our newest house guests either. Her dinner is proving very temping to the Ant army marching on its stomach. Urrrggh, not too appetising with all that extra protein!
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| not sure what they like about metal? |
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| Ants on the side please |
Jason has set about fixing the problem. Simply and effectively he came up with this.
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| An appreciative lick |
Houdini is at it again and escaped several times in a few hours today. We still couldn't figure out how this cheeky Chook was giving us the slip!
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| Usice hasn't seen you yet! |
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| Uh Oh |
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| Closer |
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| Ready to chase a chicken? |
Ill say one thing for Houdini, "That chook has some pluck!. She is stealing Usice food and risking life and limb, well wing! After a bit of chicken chasing, a lunge and grasp, I had her in my sights and her liberty was mine, Mwahhhhhhahhhahhaha (best villain laugh)!
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| Crazed look of a chicken chaser! |
Chicken chaser 1. Houdini Nil. I popped old Houdini back in her pen with her other feathered playmates and decided to slink away into the shadows and go covert to see if I could dash her literally flying the coop!
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| Back inside |
I hid behind a handy tree and laughed at the ridiculousness of my snooping on an habitual escaping chookster.
After about 10 minutes my patience was rewarded and I swooped (a-hem) as she made her next escape!
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| Tools of the trade |
Sadly in the excitement I didn't get a picture of her actual flight for freedom. Quick and deft as it I was left open mouthed and amazed at how ingenious and simple her plan was. She had discovered this pole inside the coop and was flying up on to it then swiftly wriggling ( if chickens do such moves) through the smallest gap. all in a matter of seconds!
I felt quite bad scooping her up so quickly and incarcerating her so soon after her escape. I felt for one blessed with such smart chicken brains and an urge to be running free. She didn't seem to mind too much, even when Usice gloated at her through the pen.
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| hows life on the inside food stealer? |
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| Ha - Ha |
I 'stitched' up the small hole in the mesh with a few twigs (I will admit I left them rather loose to give her a fighting chance of further freedom) but think I may have created Chicken Alcatraz.
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| Houdini safely back in chicken clink. |
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| The smug look of Federal's newest chicken wrangler. |
Todays cooking with Katy is Ravioli! We have been hankering after something filling and all homemade Ravioli is the answer! The chooks have provided plenty of eggs and we want to put them to good use, so with Deano and Sinatra on the play list I get to it.
For the pasta dough I went to Jamie oliver and used his basic Italian dough recipe.
For The Pasta Dough
300g of 000 flour (we didn't have that to hand and used simple plain flour instead)
3 fresh eggs
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| Eggs curtesy of Houdini and friends |
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| These things help |
Sift your flour on to a work surface and make a little well in it. (i like this bit a lot!) Pop your eggs into the well, you can mix them first if you want but i like doing it all at once.
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| Make a flour volcano |
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| Ready to erupt |
Gradually pull the flour into the eggs and slowly mix it all together. I messed this up a bit, but persevered and it all came good... Phew.
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| Volcano tamed by human hands |
Keep going and going until the eggs and flour have come together nicely. Work and knead the dough to develop the gluten in the flour which will give you a great 'al dente' texture when its cooked rather than flabby and soft. You will no when to stop. The Pasta will feel silky and smooth rather than lumpy and floury.
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| Heres how your dough will look |
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| Cover and put aside for an hour. Don't meddle! |
Covering the pasta will ensure it doesn't dry out like an old creek bed, which would make rolling it out very difficult not to mention crusty!
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| In the meantime make the marinara sauce |
Whilst the dough does its 'do' you can make the Marinara Sauce. You could use a shop bought sauce if you wanted to, but we have some delicious ripe tomatoes right from the garden and it would be a crime not to use them.
For The Marinara Sauce.
1 good glug of olive oil
2x tins of plum tomatoes
1 onion
2 cloves of garlic
Italian herbs
1 bay leaf
salt and pepper to taste
Finely chop your onions and garlic. Put your pan on a medium heat and pour in the olive oil. Slowly fry the onions and cook until they turn golden and add the garlic. Add the bay leaf and Italian herbs. Its time for the tomatoes! mash them up with your wooden spoon. Bring to a simmer and leave to slowly cook and get very tasty. I cooked mine for over an hour , until it turned glossy and added salt and pepper to taste. Simple.
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| filling station |
For The Filling
We wanted to use up the minced Chicken and spinach we had in the fridge and made a delicious filling with the following method.
Olive oil
500 gm of minced chicken.
1 onion
garlic clove
1 bag of Spinach (steamed, and squeezed of excess water, then chopped)
Small bowl of grated parmesan cheese
1 dollop of tomato puree
salt and pepper
In a pan heat the oil and lightly fry the chopped onions until translucent and soft, add the finely chopped garlic, and fry for a few more minutes.
Stir in the tomato puree and spinach.
add salt and pepper to taste and then finally stir the cheese. Turn the heat off and allow to cool throughly. Its should be quite dry and stick together.
Now its time to sort the dough out and make the ravioli parcels.
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| Cut the dough in half |
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| Start rolling out into a long thin strip. |
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| keep it coming! |
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| Make two pieces as even as possible. |
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| Looking like a pro job |
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| ready to start the filling part |
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| Have a glass of baileys handy it really helps |
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| using a teaspoon cover your pasta base |
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| the cover up |
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| with your second piece of pasta cover the fillings |
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| Squish in between each ravioli with your fingers |
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| Carefully slice them up with your pizza cutter |
Once you have them all ready you can get the water simmering and start to add the ravioli in batches.
I read a few blogs about homemade ravioli cooking times and found this article by 'The Paupered Chef' very useful.
http://www.thepauperedchef.com/2009/01/ravioli.Thanks for the post! With this new info in mind we cooked ours for around 4-5 minutes until they started to float and the pasta changed colour. We also popped a few 'pasta off cuts' in so we could check if the pasta was cooked without damaging one of our tasty pillows.
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| Now cook the little suckers! |
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| Heat that sauce back up |
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| And devour! |
It was super yum and so filling! I will be making these little babies again for sure!
Guess who we woke up to on the prowl this morning! Our arch nemesis is at it again and has flown the coop in a fresh bid for foraging freedom.
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| Houdini out and proud! |
Must say i was rather pleased to see she had found a new way out, its a been a few days since her last escape and I wonder if she has spent all that time tunnelling and making plans........ she and her cohorts have been busy. look at the egg haul they had waiting for us!
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| eggscellent work ladies |
There was one huge egg amongst them, cant help thinking Houdini might have been responsible.
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| double yolker! |
Today we went to Byron Bay which we love for all sorts of reasons, one of which is we get to pop into to see our lovely friend Kim who is a style guru, hotelier of the highest order and Mother to three of the most creative and jaw droppingly handsome young men we have had the pleasure of being around. You can see their marvellous place here
http://atlanticbyronbay.com.au/index.html Like a volcano of cool waiting to erupt!
After a lovely hour or so catching up we had to schkidaddle and pop into to collect these bad boys we had on order at the local Bank!
Our next homesit is on the Island of Vanuatu where we will be taking great care of a lovely little lady Staffordshire Bull Terrier called Shazzles. Two whole months of being beach side with her is keeping me awake at night with the excitement and possibility of all we will encounter and learn in such a tropical and foreign place. Once more, I am reminded of how fortunate we are and what a great life house and pet sitting offers us.
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| Vatu got there? |
Jason has set about planning our journey south to Coffs Harbour. Not long left in Federal we're getting organised. I shall be very sad to say goodbye to Usice who has become a real tail wagging pal a playmate. She is a lovely dog full of character and cuddles.
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| The planner |
Its our final day in Federal. There are chores to be done. Cleaning and tidying so that the place is as spic and span as when we arrived. Packing and organising the bike and paniers, squeezing in a last visit to Doma the amazing cafe to have our final Sushi fix. The sun is shining, its a beautiful day and I am feeling rather sad to be saying goodbye to Federal and the animals. The community spirit here is distinct and friendly. We have made some new friends and really felt part of the village. My eyes will miss the lush green countryside, wonderful birds who fly around the tree tops we are nestled in up here at the house. I will miss Usice too and her abundant affection, and Ill miss the cheeky chook, Houdini and her free spirit!
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