Tomato sauce update

It tastes really good! My expectations of flavour have been met. I will definitely make another batch when the next 2kg of romas are ready to harvest.

Just put...

tomatoes in the oven to make roasted tomato sauce with our glut of tomatoes (btw...Peter picked 2kg of just the Roma tomatoes yesterday). I'm really looking forward to tasting the sauce - I am expecting it will taste amazing!

(I'm am yet to decide what to do with all the cherry tomatoes he picked)

Do you reckon we have enough tomatos?

That's just today's haul. We've dried a stack, eaten a stack, and still have heaps. Time to cook up some tomato sauce I think.

Trying to paint the playroom

The plan is to try and paint the playroom over the next few days. Today is prep day - filling holes in the walls (from obsolete reading lights which we have removed and from the door handle bashing into the wall), taking down the curtain and taping the drop sheets over the floor.

Tomorrow we plan to do a first coat and then the final coat on Monday night.

We will then be able to move to toy shelves out of the lounge and back into the playroom - we are totally over having all the toys out in the lounge, they have been there since mid December (due to all our visitors and our plan to paint before moving them back). We will also then have 3 out of 4 bedrooms painted (not including, skirting, window frames or doors/frames).

Salad garden update...

Well the short story is...it was a flop.

The long story is...the shade it gets from the tree, that we thought would be an advantage in summer, is too much shade and it just all grew way too slowly. It has only been in the last couple of weeks that we have harvested some baby lettuce leaves from it - after planting the seeds in late November. Although it seems the weeds have had no trouble growing there and I haven't had time to weed it and ran out of mulch to help suppress them! And to put the final nail in the coffin for it, the gate got left open during the week (not sure if it was the kids or the gas meter reader - they have to open it to get access to the meter) and the chooks got in there and ate the little bit of tasty salad greens that we had! (It actually was quite interesting to see how they had been very selective and eaten the spinach - which wasn't even big enough for us to pick - out from in between a multitude of weeds).

Great investment...

Buying scooters for the kids for their birthdays last year was a great idea. It cuts the travel time to/from school by at least half and they are small enough that I can fold them up and stick them in the basket under the pram to bring home with me (so don't have to worry about misuse or theft at school). So although it was a bit of an expensive outlay initially (we wanted to make sure we got good quality ones that would last and we could replace parts if they wore out), because I think that they are more a 'mode of transport' for the kids instead of just being a recreational 'toy', I definitely think the cost was worth it. It means that I'm more motivated to walk to/from school (as it doesn't take too big a chunk of time and the kids are happy speeding along) and with the cost of petrol here at the moment (I paid 209.3cent/litre yesterday), the more driving we replace with walking/scootering, the easier it will be on our budget!

I must admit when we first started using the scooter for transport, it was a slightly painful exercise for a while, as the kids had to learn how steer, balance and scooter more efficiently. There is also a certain amount of 'scootering fitness' that they had to develop (and are still developing a bit), as it is not the same physical action as walking or riding (the quads of the leg on the scooter have a constant load and the 'scootering leg' has to get use to a fair amount of push-lift-repeat action). But it got better fairly quickly and now I almost have to break out into a jog with the pram to keep them in sight (when they are in the mood to go extra fast)!

A couple of notes about our particular situation (in case you are considering the scooter as 'mode of transport option): we live 1.2km from school; the route we take is fairly flat - only a couple of very slight up/down slopes; we only walk to school 1-2 mornings a week and home from school 4-5 mornings a week (Ben usually chooses to walk instead of scooter home).

Routines and meal planning

This post is mainly to reply to Nicole's post/questions. It was too big for me to leave as a comment! And hopefully some of you who don't follow Nicole's blog might find it helpful too.

Both Peter and I are routine type people. Although it is a routine which actually allows us to have flexibility, as it makes us calmer as we know/can anticipate what is happening next, even when what we are currently doing isn't part of the 'normal' routine.

We have a daily routine for the things that 'need' to be done (making lunches, washing dishes, cooking meals, bathing, cleaning, washing etc.). And a weekly routine which includes weekly activities eg. grocery shopping, bible study, gym visits etc. So I know where there are the regular gaps each week and can then fit in non-routine activities eg. play dates, other shopping, gardening etc. Along with this I also have a constant 'to do' list which I list any tasks that need doing, so if I find I have some spare time during the day I can quickly see what needs doing and choose something that fits the amount of time available or the energy levels I have (I found this list particularly useful when I had little babies who aren't necessarily predictable, so specific planning of tasks was more tricky).

I find that having all planning stuff (weekly routine, shopping list, 'to do' list) in one place (book/diary or phone) that gets taken everywhere with you is useful as you can add things you think of wherever you are when you think of them (while waiting for kids to come out of school or sitting watching kids swimming lessons etc.). As well as being able to remind yourself of what needs doing and you can use those small patches of free time you end up finding in your daily routine.

In relation to meal planning, I've used a couple of different approaches in the past that have worked in different season/stages of life. At the moment I'm using a weekly meal plan. Each week we have a 'fish and chips' night (it's quick and easy to prepare and a family favourite) and a 'easy meal' night (ie. a defrosted frozen meal, or pasta with pesto/stir-through sauce). Also my husband is responsible for cooking dinner on Saturday and Sunday nights. So that means I only have to find 3 recipes that I want to cook that week (I like cooking a wide variety of recipes) based on what is in season or in the garden or what meat is in the freezer. I don't assign any particular meal to each night, I just choose one of those on the plan at about lunchtime (so I can get meat out to defrost if needed), using the quicker/easier meals on days I'm more busy or feeling tired.

The big reason for using a weekly plan at the moment is I don't know exactly what we are going to have a large supply out of the garden from week to week (it is summer glut season in the veggie patch). I also used the weekly plan when I was part of a fruit and veggie co-op and I didn't know what I would get in my box of veggies each week. The down side is that you do have to sit down each week and have ideas for what to cook each week - it can become tedious.

I have also used a 4 week meal plan too. Once a month I would sit down and choose the recipes I wanted to use (again based on seasonal produce). Along with the name of each meal, I would also write the ingredients I would need to buy for that meal. I would then look at the list and split the meals up into weekly block - making sure all the pasta meals weren't in one week and if I was cooking something that used eg. some pumpkin, that there was another meal soon after to use up the rest of the pumpkin. It then would work the same as the weekly plan as far as not assigning a meal to a specific day, but choosing each day from the list.

I liked the monthly meal planning as it meant only having to sit down once a month and decide what I want to cook - I can find weekly meal planning a little tedious. I also used monthly meal planning when I was buying meat from a cheaper/better quality butcher that was a bit of a drive from home, so I only had to buy meat once a month. It also meant that I could buy non-perishables in larger quantities (if I was using it a few times in the month) and make use of bulk buying prices. The down side of monthly planning is that you have to sit down for a large chunk of time to plan a whole month of meals (unless you are happy with repeating meals a number of times in the month)

The other thing that is an important part of my meal planning, is making sure 1 meal each week is freezable and cooking a double quantity of it and freezing half. I find this harder to do in summer than in winter, as winter meals (soups, casseroles etc.) lend themselves to freezing more easily. But this is how I always have meals in the freezer to use for 'easy meal' nights.

I hope this gives you some ideas, helps you think through some of the advantages and disadvantages of each option and realise how different methods can work in different stages of life and circumstances.

Marshmallow update...

I did a second batch of marshmallow mixture, with a little more gelatin than the recipe said. It seemed to whip better and set better, although still not as thick as I was expecting it to (ie. the consistency where I could pipe it on top). The mums at playgroup all thought they looked great - which is a good start - and I only had 3 left over (made 23).

Flop

Any tips on making marshmallow? This is my first time and it doesn't seem to get thick enough when I whip it - it just stays reasonably runny. It does set, but is very, very soft - which is a bit of an issue once the cupcake wrapper is peeled away...it starts to ooze all over your fingers.

It's back!

The second series of MasterChef NZ started last night. They have a new judge this year.

Baking up a storm...

I'm on morning tea at playgroup tomorrow (for the mums), so since I got home from the gym I've been a busy bee in the kitchen baking. Thankfully I had programmed my phone to remind me, as the coordinator only called with the standard reminder just as I was about to stop for lunch...otherwise it would have been a mad stressed rush. I'm making some chocolate brownie cupcakes with marshmallow top - I'm about 1/2 way with the brownie layer baked and the marshmallow liquid cooling. Hopefully I will have time to whip up the marshmallow and add that layer to the cupcakes before I have to go and pick up Ben (otherwise Peter might find himself learning how to make it!).

I'm satisfied I've done a decent workout...

When my legs have a slightly jelly-ish feeling when I'm walking down the stairs from the gym to the car.

Porritt Classic 2011

I saw in the local paper during the week that there was an athletics meeting on in Hamilton this week - ANZ Grand Prix, round 5, aka the "Porritt Classic". Seen as both Mel and I enjoy athletics and we live just a couple of hundred metres down the road from the stadium, we decided to head down for an afternoon of athletics. A number of NZ's best athletes were there, including Nick Willis (Olympic 1500m silver medallist) and Nikki Hamblin (Comm Games 800m and 1500m silver).

I had lots of fun trying to get photos of people who were moving very quickly, with mixed results! High jump was easiest to catch photos of, seen as you know exactly where they're going to be, and they're easy to follow in their run-up. Something

like the 400m was almost impossible - they come round

really fast and we were on

the bend which made it

even harder. For the sprints I set up near the start, so managed to get a handful of decent enough shots. Anyway, I took about 300 photos, so there's plenty more than these

that have yet to be processed. They'll turn up at flickr in due course, as usual!

Festival time again...

It's that time of year again - the Summer Festival is on (actually called the "Hamilton Gardens Arts Festival" this year). Last night was the first night, so Mel and I got a babysitter organised and got out to First Night Funk with dDbub. It was a gorgeous evening, sunny, calm, not too hot, and sitting enjoying some rocking tunes was a great way to spend an evening. We'll see what else we manage to get to - the plan at this stage is to get to the Teddy Bears Picnic on Sunday after church at least. Getting to something else would also be nice!

aaagh!

Cabbage butterflies! (for those who don't know they are the little white ones which flutter about)

I planted some brocolli and cauliflower seeds into some pots about a week ago to make sure at least some of our winter veg gets to take advantage of the still warm weather. But they are only 3cm tall in the pots now and cabbage butterflies have already started laying eggs on then and some of the caterpillars have hatched and are munching away at my baby plants. Time to go in search of some curtain netting to protect them under!

I just...

Got out a needle and thread and repaired some of my clothes! Now this is not because I'm not very capable of doing this type of job, but because it seems a tedious task that takes more time in preparation and tidying up, than it does in actual execution of the actual mending. And with little kids who like to interrupt and alter my well made plans, it just usually seems like more effort than it is worth. But I can now wear one of my summer dresses again (one of the straps had come off) and a pair 3/4 length pants that I haven't worn for at least a couple of years (partly because they were in need of repair and partly because I've been pregnant in that time).

Silly government agencies

Telling me I need to fill out extra forms and then when I go to hand them in, telling me I didn't need to bother with the extra forms (which had involved me arranging a legal person to witness them).

Where's the batsman?

While out watering the veggie garden yesterday evening I spotted a cricket on one of the tomato stakes making lots of noise. So I quickly popped inside to see if Ben or Joanna wanted to come out and see it. I carried Ben out (he'd had his bath, so didn't want dirty feet) and he saw it (although it wasn't making noise anymore), but it soon flew away. So when we got back inside, Joanna wanted a turn and we had to tell her it had flown away...next thing she asks "Where is the batsman?, I want to see the batsman."

Really yummy dinner!

I made really yummy, simple dinner last night. 'Risoni with pesto and tuna' from the Maire Claire 'Fast and Fresh recipe book (I'd borrowed it from the library). I made the pesto using basil from our garden - and if you're thinking pesto is complicated to make, it's not! Just stick a bunch of basil leaves, some nuts (almonds, pine nuts, cashews - it's up to you), some oil and some parmesan cheese in a food processor and turn on until it's a paste. And it taste stacks better than the stuff you get in the bottles from the supermarket!

Wishy washy

I don't have to pick Ben up from school this arvo, so I feel like I should be doing something productive with the extra time. Problem is that I can't really think of anything urgent that needs doing and lack the motivation to do anything less urgent.

Naomi's first tramp

One of my goals for the summer was to take each of the kids on an overnight tramping trip. Cyclone Wilma scotched my plans for getting Ben up to the Pinnacles a couple of weeks ago, but this weekend looked good weather-wise, so Naomi got her turn.

Being little, I decided I could do a reasonably tough walk (seen as she wasn't walking any of it!), so Mt Pirongia was the destination. I took Friday afternoon off work and Mel dropped us off up the mountain. The walk up was hard work as always, and particularly sweaty - it was really humid.

I only took about 3.5hrs to get to the hut, which was slightly shorter than I expected it to take. That gave us enough time to sit around the hut and relax before getting dinner cooking - Naomi enjoyed crawling in and out of the hut and just exploring the place generally. Dinner was some ravioli with an alfredo sauce - much appreciated by both of us. Shortly after dinner a shower came in, so we couldn't go for a walk outside. Instead, we got to enjoy some Kapiti Trig & McKenzie blue cheese - Naomi liked that! Then, it was time for bed. I stuck her in her

sleeping bag and she lay down and went to sleep pretty easily - having the hut to ourselves made it even easier. I sat around and read for a little while before lying down and going to sleep myself. The rain woke me up a couple of times during the night - it must have rained most of the night. Naomi woke up around 6:30 or so, and just lay there quietly for a little while - she really is a good sleeper. We got some breakfast into us and got packed up. She fell asleep again a couple of times on the way down - the whole trip seems to have worn her out! Anyway, the rain overnight had made the track a little muddier - more like I remember it being!

There's a set of photos on flickr here. Just for interest, have a look at the photos from my trip with Joanna 2 years ago to the exact same place: check out all the similarities!

Bring on winter!

I'm thoroughly sick of the flies. A very warm end to spring has meant that the flies have now had plenty of time to breed and go nuts in our house. And crawl all over me. Again and again and again. I want a nice frost to kill them all off. Then it can go back to being warm for a few more weeks.

Cooking up a storm

Spent and hour this morning cooking some interesting stuff for the kids lunches (to mix it up a bit from the standard sandwich). I made some Bacon, spinach and cheese muffins, which got Joanna and Naomi's tick of approval (empty plates) at lunch time today - I used the muffin ratio out of the Ratio book to make them. This is the first time I've actually used the ratio approach to make anything, even thought I first saw the book one and a half years ago and specifically took notice due to a complaint Simone had on her blog.

I also made some ham and cheese scrolls using a Donna Hay recipe, although it is just a basic scone dough with filling rolled into it (whatever you choose).

Kids church starts today

Peter's doing it this term - I'm looking forward to being an observer instead of the do-er.

Quiet

Not many posts lately on the blogs that I read...I guess I need to post some stuff instead.

Summer fruit...

Is great for making smoothies - blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, passionfruit, mango (even if they are too expensive here), apricot... Can't think of any non summer fruits that are any good for smoothies.

Down to two...

This morning I had a look in the chicken house to see if we happen to have got any eggs, and discovered one dead chicken rather than any eggs. None of the chickens have been laying any eggs recently, but we haven't been able to work out what's actually wrong with them. Now one's dead, so unless we figure something out soon, I think the others might end up the same way :(

back to bible study this morning...

We are doing King David (his life post what is covered in 1 Samuel) and some of his psalms.

sore today

From doing upper body weights at gym yesterday.

Finally found...

quick cooking polenta, in this country! Had looked a couple of times at our local supermarket with no sucess (they do stock the stuff that takes 40min to cook). Had the bright idea of looking in the supermarket that stocks the more gourmet products - and after initially thinking they didn't have it either (I tried their gourmet food aisle first), I found some (next to the couscous in their normal aisles)! So now I can make all the polenta recipes I've been longing to make, but thought was impossible (I don't have 40min just to cook the polenta!).

Daylight robbery...

...that's what the cost of a printer cartridge is! It costs $54 for a colour ink cartridge for our printer - it contains only 13ml of ink. At the $/ml rate, that is the same as paying $3115 for a bottle of wine!

gym return

Well after giving some thought to how I was going to fit in exercise during the holidays, my prediction came true - I managed to only do 1 session of my pilates DVD the whole time I wasn't going to the gym. I found it hard to fit in exercise while having the Colyer's here as the kids were getting up earlier than normal and we were doing lots of holiday type activities (plus I got a tummy bug for a few days). Then I only had a few days before I had my tonsils out, and so that ruled out the exercise for the last 2 weeks of the holidays!

So with Ben back at school and my gym membership suspension ending yesterday, I was back the gym this morning (after dropping Ben off at school). I'm excited to be getting back into and looking forward to not having bouts of tonsillitis continually interrupting my exercise routine.

Bumper year!

I just picked 960g of cherry tomatoes for dinner (mix of yellow and red ones) and there is still more I could have picked (and that is even with picking some most days).