Curry according to Dad

I cooked a decidedly yummy curry this evening, which due to lack of ingredients didn't really correspond at all to the recipe I originally looked at.  So, in the interests of possibly one day recreating this dish, here's the recipe:

• 1/2 cup butter
• 3 onions
• 3 cloves garlic
• 4 bay leaves
• 6 cloves
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp chilli powder
• 1 tsp coriander
• 1 tsp cardamom
• 1 Tbsp paprika
• 1 can tomatoes
• 1/2 cup yogurt
• 1/2 cup milk (because I didn't really have enough yogurt...)
• 4 chicken thigh cutlets
• a splash of salt

That's all that I remember putting in anyway!  Cook in the usual way:  fry the onion and garlic in the butter, add the spices.  Cook for a few minutes.  Brown the chicken in the spices.  Add the tomatoes, yogurt, milk, 1 cup water.  Cook for an hour or two (or if, like me, you're pressed for time, the pressure cooker works well!).  And there you have it.  Curry according to Dad.

Meatballs...

What are they?  Mine always turn out as meat triangular prisms!

Orb #4

In the past couple of years, we've gradually been getting each of the kids sleeping bags, so they could come on tramping trips with me, or so we could actually go camping again.  Originally, we had a Winnie-the-Pooh, big, not-particularly-warm (although cute) sleeping bag that was given to Ben, which is what Ben used once he'd graduated from baby sleeping bags.  Then, we got Joanna a Kathmandu Pipsqueak bag - it was cheap and good enough for summer camping in the Waikato.  When I was planning on going up to the Pinnacles with Ben last year though, we decided that something a little warmer would be good, so we bought a Kathmandu Orb for him.  Planning for our South Island holiday this year, meant Naomi would need a sleeping bag, and we decided Orb#2 for her would be appropriate - it's a warmer bag than the Pipsqueak, and we were expecting it to be quite cool at Nelson Lakes in particular.  On the way to Abel Tasman though, our roofbox got broken into, and Orb#1 was stolen.  So we bought Orb#3.  Nelson Lakes, as expected was quite cold: 2C in our tent wasn't exactly what we would consider summery weather!  Joanna slept OK, but only just.  So, we've now bought Orb#4 to replace Joanna's Pipsqueak - hopefully it will keep her warm enough for a few years to come and be suitable for more than just mid-summer in the Waikato!  Although it's unlikely to be warm enough for snow-camping... (I think that's a few years away for the kids!)

Refresh

If you usually look at our blog via the RSS feed, you might not have noticed that the template has changed a little... there's a new banner image up the top, and a new family snap on the right... just for fun, seen as the old ones were 6 months and a bit over 12 months old!
Both from our South Island adventure...

It's flying out the door

On the weekend I decided I needed to keep a closer eye on my personal calories in/calories out equation.  So I've started using a food diary again and trying to include a bit more physical activity in my days.  And as an objective measure of results, I weighed myself and took measurements.  Anyway, I stood on the scales again this evening and according to them I've lost 3kg in 3 days!  Not sure whether to believe them or not (Peter just gave me a new set of scales as a late wedding anniversary present, so we will see what they say in a weeks time).

Clean and tidy

That's what our garage currently looks like after a day of tossing, tidying and TradeMe-ing.  We are afraid about how short lived the new state will last.

And in the process we converted our old 30cm bike into a balance bike. (It was no use to anybody as a normal bike as the chain was stretched and kept jamming and the plastic tyres are too worn to use as a normal bike)

School's back

Ben had his first experience of 'Elective day' at school yesterday and he really enjoyed it!  He's chosen to do a science based elective on 'Energy', so each Tuesday he goes to the classroom of the teacher who is running that elective (along with all the other year 2 students who have chosen to do the same elective).  Yesterday afternoon and evening we were treated to really excited discussions and 'tid bits' about what they'd done and learnt about Energy.  After only 1 day of electives we anticipate many more great discussions about energy to come and how amazing is God the creator and sustainer of energy.

Jobs jobs jobs

A public holiday today meant a good day to try and get the garage tidied out, and a whole lot of little jobs done at the same time.  So, we filled up 3 and a half black garbage bags of rubbish, re-discovered a few long-lost things, and I did a bit of a tidy up of my tools/workbench as well.  I now, for the first time since we moved in, have a clear workbench!  I've also put up more rails to hang tools up out of the way.  And put some 3-way spot lights up in the garage that I had lying around for the last 18 months, intending to be put up.  And now I'm ready for a break and a snooze I think.

Playing catch-up in the holidays

After the non-scheduled sickness of week 1 of the holidays, I'm spending this week trying to get at least some of my holiday jobs done.  I'm not going to get as much done as I would like, as this week is the week that I've booked in a few catch-ups with friends (my friends and the kids friends).
What I've done:

1.  Cleared 2 of our 4 garden beds ready for planting some seedlings for winter crops (still not confident that they will be ready to eat before spring, so I might still be relying heavily on what is available at the farmer's market).  
2. Made a dent in our budget tracking for the past 4 months.  

What I still need to do:

1. Some baking to have supplies on hand for morning teas when school goes back.
2. More weeding and planting winter veggies.
3. Take Ben to do some shopping we had planned to do in the holidays (get a stand for his bike)
4. Sew a storage bag for our camping sleeping mats

Now I've written it all down, it doesn't look like too much...maybe I will get through it all.

Angelus Hut

As I mentioned in the previous post, Mel and I went up into the mountains for a night while my parents could look after the kids.  This was actually a first for Mel:

• first overnight walk without kids, since having kids (Abel Tasman had been the first overnight walk of any sort since kids!)
• first NZ hut
• highest altitude walk ever (the track gets just above 1800m).  Mt Barney at 1359m was the previous record...

After our rushed packing job, we started at the Mt Robert carpark, at about 800m altitude (~200m above the level of the lake).  From there, we zig-zagged up the slopes of Mt Robert on the Pinchgut Track.  From the bushline, it gets slightly less steep as we followed the Robert Ridge route - gently climbing as we took in the stunning views.  The snow from the day before had mostly melted, but there was enough there to make the mountains look extra special and give me enough to make a snowman!  The ridge is reasonably long, and Mel said she'd had enough of the views!  We eventually got to the final saddle overlooking Lake Angelus, the hut perched next to it and Mt Angelus in the background - a magnificent view.  We dropped down to the hut for a rest before I had a look around, taking some more photos.

The evening was perfect - hardly a breath of wind and beautiful sunshine.  I was expecting it to be cold in the morning with those conditions, but it wasn't particularly cold when I got up for sunrise - certainly above zero anyway!  The dawn was superb, with cloud hanging in the valley below us and mist rolling over the gap next to Mt Angelus.

After our perfect day up on the ridge the day before, we decided to go down via the Cascade Track as an alternative.  It was another fantastic day, with beautiful mountains, streams and forest all around us.  We emerged at Coldwater Hut for lunch, expecting to have another 3 hours of walking to get round to the other side of the lake, but there was a family there with their boat having lunch who offered us a lift instead, so we got a 5 minute ride to the other side!

Most definitely one of the most spectacular places I've been to, helped by having absolutely perfect conditions!  Check out the full set of photos at flickr.