Sourdough Success

I had a bread making day yesterday, fed my soughdough starter the evening before, in the morning added bakers flour, rye flour and some chia seeds, kneaded it the and left it to prove until around 4 pm, so in all about 8 hours.

                    After the the kneading, great for the arm muscles :)

                         Ready for baking after sitting for 8 hours.

The loaf hot out of the oven, smells divine, now to resist until it has cooled down.

It may not have the rustic appearance of sourdough loaves but to date it is the best tasting and textured loaf I have made, now I feel enthusiastic to get a little more adventurous with different flours, grains etc.

Hope you have a great day.

Shirley :) 

Open Garden Scheme Visit

A couple of weekends ago we had the pleasure of visiting Jerry Coleby-Williams garden, one of the presenters of the Gardening Australia show.  It was a delight to visit, so much to take in, almost every plant was labeled making for easy identification.  Jerry was there talking to the visitors and all were listening very intently as he spoke about the development of his garden.

Jerry chatting with the many visitors who were lucky enough to visit his garden.

His salad bed, packed to the brim with beautiful healthy looking edible greens

              The Council Verge planted out with Golden Sweet Potatoe.  

A coffee tree thriving in the micro climate that has been created with the different levels of planting throughout the garden.

Most plants labeled.  Everyone that visited I am sure would have been inspired to grow some of their own food.  His garden is organic, no chemicals used, he said there were hundreds of beneficial insects visiting encouraged by allowing plants to flower and go to seed.

This garden was so well worth the visit.

Shirley :)

 

Everything That Sparkles & Shines

Lately I have somehow developed a love of chandeliers and everything that sparkles and shines.  I picked up these two chandeliers for $40 each, cleaned them, got the wiring checked and had them installed.  I love them and wonder why anyone would not want to have them hanging proudly in their homes.  

This one is a three arm crystal chandelier.

  

This one, may be not everyone's cup of tea but I think it is rather special.  I think it is a Venini Mazzega Murano Glass, Fire and Ice Chandelier.  I did a little searching and found the exact hook on pieces on ebay selling for $950.  If that is the case well I certainly got a bargain.

Lastly a delightful jeweled lizard that my daughter gave me for Mothers Day, I think it is gorgeous.

Have a great day

Shirley :)

In My Kitchen

Following Celia at Fig Jam and Lime Cordial I will add a monthly post 
"In My Kitchen" allowing others to view what is going on in my kitchen. Here is the link to her great blog.www.figjamandlimecordial.com 

I just love old pottery, the old fashioned hand thrown salt glazed Bendigo range.  It is a pleasure to use.  Here are a few of my favourite pieces.

This is a beautiful old casserole dish, I also have the Bendigo Pottery book which gives details of the potters who worked at the pottery, each piece is initialed so you know which potter created it.

Isn't this old teapot divine! 

This very old bread crock would have to be my favourite piece, ancient, rarely seen, great for storing not only bread but potatoes and onions keep well in it too. 

I hope you have enjoyed looking at my favourites in the kitchen.

Enjoy your day:)

Shirley

New Arrivals

A photo of our new arrivals, one week old, so cute :)

I can't believe how quickly they have grown in a week.

We are having the most beautiful weather here at the moment.

Enjoy your weekend.

Shirley :)

Snaps in the Garden

Here are a few snaps of what is going on in our garden over the Easter Break.

After purchasing a delicious red pawpaw, I planted the seeds, today I transplanted many of them into small pots ready for spring planting.

 A trombone pumpkin maturing on the vine.

 The vegie garden getting a re-vamp ready for winter planting.

Removing worm castings to add to the vegie patches.

 An Ice Cream Bean tree, the rains over the summer months have really helped this look the healthiest it has looked in years and it is providing great shade.

 An old bath tub filled with water chestnuts ready for harvest, we will add these to stir-fries for the extra crunch, this is the best harvest we have ever grown.

Enjoy the remainder of your Easter break.

Cheers Shirley :)

Energy Bars

This is a delicious healthy recipe, I used to make it a long time ago, you know how recipes get used over and over and then one decides to give them a break, well I came across it yesterday while looking through a much used recipe book and gave it another go.

4 Cups of Wholemeal Flour
3/4 cup sugar (I used raw)
1 Cup Non-fat dried milk powder
1/2 cup wheatgerm
2 tsp baking powder
4 eggs
2 cups water
3/4 cup polyunsaturated oil
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup molasses
2 cups raisins
1 1/4 cups dried apricots (chopped)
1 cup sunflower seeds.

It makes a huge cake, so use a very large bowl to mix your ingredients and to bake it in, I usually use a roasting tin lined with baking paper.

You can substitute different dried fruit if you wish.  This time I used raisins, cranberries, apricots and sunflower seeds.

Place all the ingredients into a large bowl and mix well.  Pour into a lined and greased large baking tin and bake at 180 degrees C (350 degrees F) for 45 - 55 minutes.

Enjoy.

Cheers Shirley :)