Roast pumpkin, corn and feta fritters

For Christmas I was lucky enough to receive Jamie Oliver's latest cookbook, Save with Jamie.  It's my first Jamie cookbook.  I'm not a huge cookbook person, I'm a bit fussy on the ingredient front so I tend to just search online or make up my own thing.  But I watched the TV show and it seemed like my sort of book so I added it to my wishlist.  

I've already made two recipes from it (with some alterations because I just can't help myself).  They were both pumpkin recipes based around roasting a whole butternut pumpkin and then scooping out the flesh.  Half of the flesh I used in a pasta recipe with the mashed flesh and some crème fraîche becoming the sauce.  I added some snow peas, cherry tomatoes and chicken to it as well.  It was so tasty.  So tasty that I didn't get a photo because we were too busy enjoying it.  And I particularly like that it was so veggie-fied.  I never eat enough veggies.  

The other half of the pumpkin flesh went into these fritters above.  In the original recipe they were just pumpkin but I added corn and feta as well.

Roast Pumpkin, Corn and Feta Fritters

1/2 butternut pumpkin, roasted and flesh scooped out

150g cottage cheese (I used Philly cream for cooking because I forgot to buy cottage cheese)

100g self raising flour

1 egg

1/4 tsp nutmeg

salt and pepper to season

corn (I didn't measure, maybe about 3/4 cup?)

about 100g feta

Mix first five ingredients in a bowl, I didn't even bother with a mixer, just used a fork.  Add corn and feta and stir through.  Cook in a heated pan with melted butter or oil (I used a bit of both for flavour) Dollop spoonfuls in and flatten out for better cooking through.  Cook until golden brown.  Mine took a couple of minutes on each side. 

I served mine with some tomato relish and salad and they were really yummy.  I had the leftovers cold with some butter spread on them like pikelets for lunch the next day, just as tasty.

I'm really enjoying the holidays, so much more energy to enjoy cooking a nice meal for dinner.  This one was very quick though, I will definitely be adding this in for the school night meals and leftovers for school lunches!

 

2014

Just near Huka Falls, Taupo, New Zealand.  So pleased we made it there in 2013 - twice!

So it's here already and I didn't even manage one post in December.  And only 33 posts for the entire year.  Terrible!  Must work on that this year.

I'm looking back at my post of goals for 2013.  It's actually quite nice to have it all listed down (even though I didn't get through much) just to see what I wanted to achieve, what I did and what I didn't.  My word - organise.  Pretty much utter failure.  Apart from organising my finances.  In 2013 I managed to pay off my credit card.  Something I haven't done since getting a credit card 13 years ago at 19.  A big achievement for me.  I'm also saving towards a new car at the moment and MR and I managed to save up for a holiday to NZ in October.  I'm pretty pleased with achieving our financial goals.  It's quite nice to feel (a little bit) financially responsible.

As to the other goals, I also did the Run for a Reason again and I did manage it at faster than 50 minutes - 37 minutes this time!  Maybe better again for this year?


So on to the future.  I'm scrapping the word.  I never even remember the word.  And I work better on small achievable goals.  So here's my list of them.

- learn how to bake (good) bread from scratch
- keep my credit card paid off
- submit my picture book manuscript (I just keep putting this off, fear of rejection and all...)
- tidy out my craft room (determined!!!)
- make a crochet blanket for my house
 

Of course, in the back of my head are those typical resolutions of get fit! exercise! be active! and I'm always hopeful on that front but 32 years of it not happening yet may just win over once again.



What are the small things you want to achieve this year?
 

A milestone reached

High Four for Responsibility!*

I think I may have finally reached the milestone of Official Responsible Adulthood.  I certainly feel responsible anyhow.

How did I get here you ask?

Well, it wasn't turning 18.  Nor moving out of home.  It wasn't buying a car.  It wasn't my first holiday overseas without my family either. Or finishing uni, getting a job and moving a three hours drive away from anyone I knew. 

This week marks the week that I paid off my credit card for the first time since I got one when I was 19.  That's 13 years folks.  13 years of paying off bits and then spending more, repeated ad nauseam.

Hooray!  I can't describe just how chuffed I am with myself that I didn't spend my tax return on a Thermomix or a fancy new blender (my two initial thoughts of how to use it).

This means that as of now, apart from about $500 of HECS debt (uni fees for those nonAU people), I am completely debt free.  Admittedly, MR has lots of debt because he bought our house but it was his decision to not do a joint mortgage. 

The opportunities are endless.  Unfortunately, now I feel like I have lots of spare money because I have an empty credit card so I need to get onto reducing my limit quick smart before I belie my above claim to responsible adult-ness.   I do however have a bit of extra cash each pay that used to go towards paying off my credit card which I'm going to save all of and, oh all right, some of and put it towards a deposit for a new car (and some more debt). 

The other bit, if I'm entirely honest, will most likely be blown wildly on new clothes that I don't need and craft stuff that I don't use.  Just like usual.


Maybe I still have a little way to go...


 
Do you feel like a responsible adult at least some of the time?  Did you have a defining moment of reaching that milestone? 



 
* I may have been struggling to find a relevant photo and Meow has such cute fluffy paws...

Made by hand :: baby pants

I'm belated joining up with Christina's new(ish) linky, Made By Hand today.  I've been meaning to join in for a while but Thursdays are busy ones for me and when I get home I'm usually a bit too tired for blogging.  Thursdays are my Fridays.

A couple of weeks ago I went to visit Sally and her brand new little bub.  The night before, I chastised myself for not yet having made a present for little baby A.  So I got online and looked for a simple pattern that I could hopefully make without staying up past midnight or getting overly frustrated with my continued inability to sew things and have them turn out how they should.  I came across Brindle and Twig on etsy and found this nice easy two piece pattern Sarouel baby pants.  Two pieces. Now that's my kind of pattern. Even better, it can be made with knit or woven fabric.  Also, the pattern includes sizes from 0-3 months right up to 2-3 years.  Very handy. 

I got sewing and managed to get them made in a few hours.  Well before midnight even.  The only fiddly bits were the leg hems and that was only because they were small. 

I used a Robert Kaufman fabric from my stash that I think I've had for perhaps 3 or 4 years.  I have a big stash for a not very confident sewer because I always like the idea of sewing things but when it gets to it I have the above mentioned problem of it not turning out right so I buy the fabric and then baulk at the sewing.  So it was very nice to find something suitable already in my house.

I was really happy with how well they turned out.  They looked like I imagined.  Wonders will never cease.  Perhaps I should stick to two piece patterns from now on?

Sally very kindly took some photos of A in his pants and emailed them to me so I could blog them.  Doesn't he look so cute!

 

New Zealand ::South Island::

Continuing on from here.

From Wellington we got a flight down to Queenstown.  We decided to do it this way because by now we only had 4 nights left before we flew out!  Time goes so quickly on holidays.  The view coming in to land in Queenstown was just beautiful, even though we were apparently on the wrong side of the plane for the really big mountain views.

Snow!

We had two nights in Queenstown, the first place we stopped at properly since visiting family.  We stayed at the Pounamu Apartments which I would definitely recommend.  I made sure we booked somewhere with a washing machine so we could clean all our dirty things and there was even complimentary washing detergent next to the washing machine.  Although we had a back apartment because we just booked a studio room, there were one bedroom and two bedroom apartments at the front of the complex which had absolutely amazing views of the lake and mountains behind it.

The ski fields were already closed but we took a drive up to see some snow (which was very icy because of melting) and we just missed a freak Spring snowstorm the day after we left which left people trapped where they were and unable to get through the mountain passes.  While it would have been pretty awesome to see snow falling, we were glad not to have to change our holiday plans.  While up at the snow fields, I was captured by an discarded, unmelted icy pole which must have been there for a few days at least as the place had been closed for almost a week.  You would never see anything like that in Western Australia!  The view up there was pretty amazing as well.

We also went up the mountain/hill on the Gondola and down via flying fox, or as they call it, zip lines.  I'd done a flying fox in Dwellingup (south WA) on a school camp and loved it so I was really the drive behind doing this.  It was the only adrenaline style thing I was really interested in doing.  It was so much fun.  There were 6 zip lines in total, zigzagging down the hill front.  Unfortunately, we completely forgot to go to the store to see the photos of us on the tour that we could buy and we didn't take very many while doing it.  We were about an hour out of Queenstown when I remembered we were supposed to go and look at the photos.  I did get a couple of us turning upside down in our harnesses but because they were taken from behind all you can see is bums.

The gondola ride up and the view from the top

Ziplining and the amazing view between the trees

Queenstown is such a gorgeous place, I could easily have spent a week or two there.  There were rugs draped over the back of the chairs in the outside seating area of the cafes and pubs to keep warm.  So cute.  There were daffodils growing wild on the banks of the river and the side of the road.  It would have been lovely to hire bikes and go for a ride around (part) of the lake but we just ran out of time, as we did everywhere.

Following Queenstown, we drove to Dunedin.  On the way there we stopped at a cheese and winery and bought some picnic supplies.  We found a beautiful little spot by the side of the river with a little waterfall to sit and picnic next to.  We were so lucky with the weather, it continued to be sunny and even though it was cold, sitting in the sun was just glorious.

We were only in Dunedin for one day and spent most of it just wandering around until our flight which was in the evening.  We went to the Otago Museum and (more minibeasts alert) went to the Butterfly area in the Discovery World Tropical Forest.  The new butterflies were released at 10:30am and I was like a little kid rushing through the museum to make it in time (our breakfast took a bit longer to come out than we thought it would).  Because the new butterflies were still a bit dozy and their wings were still drying off, they were quite happy to be placed on the hand of a person and just chill out there until they were ready for flying.  So exciting!  I had one butterfly land on my nose but was too slow to take a photo.  There used to be a butterfly enclosure at the Zoo here in Perth but it closed down many years ago and now there are no butterfly places around.  Whenever I travel I always check for butterfly places. The tropical forest had three levels, ground, mezzanine and sky.  Down the bottom there were some tortoises in a pond which were pretty cute as well.

From Dunedin we flew to Auckland where we stayed the night just outside the airport and flew out the next day.  MR secretly upgraded out tickets to business class on the way back as well and because it was a newer plane we got the Skybed seats.  So amazing!  I read an entire book and watched a movie in comfort with my feet propped on the ottoman or stretched out on my bed.  Definitely the way to fly if you can!


Currently, it is seven weeks before we head over to New Zealand again for Christmas and while we won't get a chance to go to the South Island again as MR's family is in the North Island, I really cannot wait to do some more exploring.  Number 1 on my list is to have a bit of a soak in a nice warm geothermal stream somewhere, one of the things we ran out of time to do this trip. 

Do you have any other suggestions of places to go or things to do in the North Island?  We will be around the Te Puke region and I'd welcome any ideas, particularly good shops to hunt down!

 

Trend setting

One of my students wears a cat ears headband which she has been wearing on and off for the entire school year.  It usually gets worn to school once or twice each week (or our two and a half days at Kindy).  It looks pretty much exactly like this set, but nowadays much more tatty.

She wears it inside (I don't mind), outside (over the top of her bucket hat), at rest time on the mat.  I'm sure she wears it quite a bit in other places when she is not at Kindy.

She has never lost it, which I think is quite a good feat for a Kindy child to have managed. 

Back in Term 3 I noticed another girl wear a set of cat ears to school one day in a different colour.  And then a few weeks after that two more did the same.  There are now about five girls in my class who occasionally wear these cat ears headbands to school.

It had never really occurred to me that trend setting can start at that age.  Maybe as a child I saw a girl wearing something I liked and wanted one myself, I don't know - I can't remember my Kindy years.  I remember when I moved towns in Year 3 and at my new school the fashion was for wearing your pleated skirt over your trackies in Winter.  And when we moved again when I was in Year 5, the fashion was for surf brands, which I never had.

How old were you when you first wanted something another child was wearing?  Or were you that child that everyone wanted to be just like?


 

New Zealand ::North Island::

I finally uploaded my photos from our New Zealand holiday to the computer last night (mainly because I needed to show a friend the shots today) so now I can do my holiday wrap up post.

Our trip started off well, we were upgraded to business class because the plane was an older one and didn't have premium economy seats (the ones we did book).  This meant we got to hang in the lounge while waiting for our flight!  MR is well and truly immune to the excitement of lounges as he used to be a regular attendee when flying up to work.  Mine workers are more prevalent than business men in gold class lounges here in Western Australia.  I however was not at all immune.  It was my first lounge visit (and business class flight) and I was like a little girl in a lolly shop.  Trying all the free things, checking out what was available.  Trying more of the food.  And some more.  There was free alcohol as well but I didn't try any of that.

Coming in to land was amazing.  The landscape looking like a blanket of lush green carpet.  No brown or red to be seen.  If you haven't been before, think florist foam dark green.  It looked like every hill had been sprayed with that.

We were also really lucky that the only day of rain we had was on the last day.  All other days were sunny and while we were in the North Island it was short sleeves, hats and sunscreen sort of weather.

We started off our holiday visiting MR's family.  They took us to see glow worms on our first night on what they called "about a half an hour walk" to the local waterfall.  Of course, that walk involved 20 minutes of walking down steps by torch light into the gully where the waterfall was and then about 30 minutes back up again.  On three hours sleep.  As you can imagine I was the last back to the top.  I kept stopping to look at glow worms on the way back up (or so I told myself).  The next day I was pretty stoked to see some bumble bees and spent a good twenty minutes alternating between galloping around the garden chasing them with the camera and squatting down trying to get a good photo, much to the amusement of the rellies.

However, the holiday was about more than just minibeasts (although they do feature again later).  We learnt about growing kiwi fruit on the family farm and the troubles they have had with disease in the past few years.  We went for a visit to the Tamaki Maori Village and learnt about Maori culture and had a tradition hangi meal for dinner.  It was really interesting to hear about the Maori history.  I'd never thought about how little I knew about it.  We also went to the Wai-O-Tapu Geothermal Wonderland and walked through the stinky rotten egg sulpher steam clouds, (which we dubbed 'poo clouds') looking at all the different geothermal pools and boiling mud pools.  These were not ones you could get in to, there were many signs warning of the temperature being 100`C and no touching.*

After visiting with family we spent a couple of days driving down to Wellington to visit one of MR's cousins before flying over to the South Island.  We stayed in this restored old home which is now a bed and breakfast while in Wellington.

Unfortunately we were only in New Zealand for ten days and we wanted to see Everything so it was quite rushed.  We only spent one night in Wellington and flew out early the next morning.  This was probably a good thing for MR because as soon as we were somewhere for longer than just a night I wanted to go shopping!  We are lucky enough to be heading back to the North Island at Christmas time to spend Christmas with the family over there.  MR's parents are paying for us, his two brothers, their partners and one grandchild to come over which is just so generous.  So we are very much looking forward to heading over there for another ten days in a bit under eight weeks.


I'll fly us down to South Island and fill you in on our adventures there (hopefully tomorrow) but for now, unfortunately school work is calling me.



  

*Can you guess who was the five year old who read the sign and then spent the rest of the walk wanting to stick her finger into all of the pools 'just to see'?

Conquered... hopefully

It's Week 2 of Term 4 and I haven't (yet) gotten sick.  It's a miracle!  The last 3 terms have seen me sick every Week 2. Twice in hospital and once just at home.  I'm so pleased.  Now to just hold out and not get sick at all for the rest of this week and then for the rest of the term.

Because of my terrible past history I've only just signed up to go to this Light the Night walk in Bruce Rock.  I was away in New Zealand for the Perth event and MR's Mum has kindly organised this one in MR's home town.  Isn't she a champion?

For those not in the know, I have Chronic Myeloid Leukaemia.  This type of leukaemia is the one that is closest to having a cure found for it.  Currently, there are these 'wonder drugs' that mean we (usually) don't need chemo or a bone marrow transplant.  I am lucky enough that I can take these tablets and have a good quality of life.  I work three days a week due to fatigue issues but apart from a few aches now and again and a reduced immune level I am all good.  Many people suffering from blood cancers are not so lucky however and every dollar you can spare goes towards finding cures for Leukaemia, Lymphoma, Myeloma and other types of blood cancers.

So, you have exactly two days to generously dig deep for some loose change (or your credit card) and donate to my cause right here.  You could donate just $5 - like I said, every dollar really does help (and is tax deductible).

Thanks so much in advance!

First Crop

Way back two and a bit years ago, when we first moved into our home we planted some fruit trees.  One of them was a cutting of a loquat tree from my Mum.  I must admit, I was entirely dubious as to how it was going to grow let alone fruit when it was just a stick from her own tree.  But grow it did and fruit it has.  In fact, it has beaten all the other fruit trees to producing edible fruit.  I've been enjoying these since I got back from New Zealand.  MR had one the first day we got back when they were ripe enough for tart-taste-loving-me but not for him.  Unfortunately he hasn't been home since then so I am trying hard to limit myself to two loquats a day so that there are still some left for him to enjoy when he gets back home on Saturday.

It's a very exciting moment to have my own fruit growing in the garden.  Our other trees are going okay, with out apricot having one single green apricot on it and our nectarine having quite a few.  Our nectarine had some fruit appear last year but we pulled them off so it could concentrate on growing.  It is still quite small but we decided to leave the fruit on and see what happens this year.

Nectarines

Apricot

Is there anything exciting happening in your garden at the moment?

 

Two

Today my liver turns two. 

Two years since that precious gift from an unknown young man. 

I think about him and his family as I make my traditional anniversary cupcakes. Raspberry, Apple and Cinnamon this time. Do they do something each year in remembrance of him? Or does it pass quietly, individually, retrospectively?  I feel he should be celebrated. But I understand if they are not ready yet.  

I've just gotten back from my first overseas holiday post transplant.  New Zealand.  A place I would never have had a chance to experience if not for the generosity of an anonymous family.  So many experiences I've had in the last two years and so many moments to come that I owe to them.

How do you say thank you for something like that?

Unfortunately, my leukaemia disallows me from donating organs or blood.  But if you are allowed to, you should consider becoming an organ donor or a blood donor.  There are so many people in need and it is such a amazing gift to be able to give.

Last week I wore a bikini for the first time since surgery.  My scar is still there but it is now just a part of me, I often forget it is there. Parts of it have faded a lot, parts are still pink. I don't mind. Oddly, I am less self conscious of my stomach now than I have ever been.  I'll have to take another photo soon for the records and compare.