Coddled Eggs

Coddled Eggs

Tuesday 23 June 2015

      .......look who's at the door .........



You can imagine our surprise when the tap at the garage door was a white heron...










Poor wee guy .He is more then likely hungry . I have left out sugar water these last few days for the ring eyes ,wax eyes , silver eyes.
Mind you this tit bit of info from the local Department of conservation page  http://www.doc.govt.nz/nature/native-animals/birds/birds-a-z/white-heron-kotuku/  made me wonder if I am doing the right thing attracting so many silver eyes to the garden.

IN REGARDS TO THE HERON
  • They feed mostly on small fish (such as whitebait), eels, frogs, shrimp, aquatic insects, mice and small birds (such as silvereyes). They may grab prey with their sharp, dagger-like beak.

I did ring the department just to let them know about our visitor and apparently there was one in Hawea too less the 10 km away. near the wetlands....UMMMMM I never knew there was a wetlands so close by .

http://www.doc.govt.nz/parks-and-recreation/places-to-go/otago/places/wanaka-area/things-to-do/butterfields-wetland-walk/

I can see the grand children and I are in for a treat and a bit of a walk very soon....

Many years ago my Grandmother sent a parcel from Holland and in it was a diary .


The diary was illustrated by Marjolein Bastin. I so love her beautiful paintings of birds.






I now have several of her books and a couple of calendars I  bought whilst I was in Holland.

I best go now and see if our wee friend is still here.....













Tuesday 16 June 2015


"What's cookin Ma"


It's my birthday and there is nothing nicer then a roast.When I was young my Mother would let me choose what ever I wanted for dinner .I always chose roast chicken and always wanted the drumstick.
Now days I prefer roast lamb so lamb it is and birthday cake.
The best thing of all though is family with me to help celebrate.
Because  it is Tuesday and everyone has school kindy or work I have chosen to have a little family party on Sunday so that the grandchildren can all have a special night with me...

Of course not everyone can make it Sunday so today we had a little family party for me with Number 2 son and daughter in law and two very exited grandchildren...

The recipes are coming out..





Winter meals ......

Fun for the kids


and a good Nosh up......


Chocolate cake..





Rose apples





 Butter made a couple of days ago has come in very helpful

Almond cake made from our own home grown almonds


I only picked the almonds last week i got a good basket full.the shells were soft and so easy to remove the nut.




I have never really mastered getting the sides of a cake iced I had imagined covering the sides with ground toasted almonds Not to be...


so instead i planted a garden in the decadent ganache




The chocolate cake was so moist I used the buttermilk that remained after I made butter.I filled it with redcurrent jelly and cream in the centre.....


“It's not how much we give but how much love we put into giving.” ― Mother Teresa





UUUUUUUUUUummmmmm  realised too late that the lime cream icing should have been on the Almond cake........

Worked out well in the end and oh what fun for the kiddies to go to the larder to do a cake search..

What an enjoyable day ..
My dear friend popped in with a very special book, my lovely friend from my hometown gave me a bag full of goodies and I got spoilt by family too...
I received a card from my new friend in England , and a huge happy hug from my wonderful neighbour .
Its been a great day.
“Gracious acceptance is an art - an art which most never bother to cultivate. We think that we have to learn how to give, but we forget about accepting things, which can be much harder than giving.... Accepting another person's gift is allowing him to express his feelings for you.” ― Alexander McCall Smith, Love Over Scotland

Today was a beautiful day in so many ways...made all the more special through friends.
Today I give thanks for my life and  I thank you all for sharing it with me....





Monday 8 June 2015

                              ...and so it continues.....

Just some photo's I missed last week.













..................................From the Caps to the Bluff.............

Leaving the snow capped mountains and venturing south never fails to intrigue me.
I forget how green and lush the pastures are down south, and how much native forested area's still exist.
This weekend saw me go back to my home town just for a weekend.

Time to catch up on friends and to enjoy some outings with my husband.

Our first stop was the beautiful Queens park.
I really must give an applause to the Invercargill Parks division of the ICC .
Queens  Park is to me, the most spectacular park I have seen and that includes parks I have visited around the world.

The first stop The Aviary.


This stairwell is from the old Victoria hospital which just happened to be the hospital  where our first child was born.
I can tell you it was a pretty spooky place to have a baby.My husband can still recall the sound of woman moaning and screaming as he walked the long corridor toward the delivery theatre. 
.He said it was like a horror house ,with peeling plaster and watermarked ceilings and 1920,s decor.
I can tell you I thought it was pretty spooky as well .
To top off the aesthetic  horror you had to stay in bed for 3 days and nurses washed you by tipping hot antiseptic water over, you know where,  while you lay prostrate over a bed pan.
What a stark difference 18 months later when the hospital was closed and my second son was born at Kew Hospital (Such colonial names) I was up and about within minutes of his birth.Went home on the third day.....
How I love some of these modern changes.


I still adore Queens park and do so love the old and the new as they have melded together .It is such an amazing Park.

As a child my favourite statue was this one . I was convinced the fairies had been forged from actual fairies posing.I spent so much time believing that there were fairies at the park .

This pool is quite deceptive 
As young as 5 I would sit myself on the rocks and jump in .The water came as high as my shoulders at the deepest  but now seeing it again as an adult.......

Isn't it exquisite ...


I could go on for hours bestowing the virtues of this lovely park and all her lovely treats but ....



The weekend could not be complete without a trip to the Port of Bluff to pick up some oysters ..

A drive to the top of the hill ....

and a minute to take in the Port and the Bluff surrounds.

Although once a large and thriving port Bluff is now more........quiet and left alone.


So hard to imagine it being a metropolis...

The only action I got to see was the red and black jersey having a game on the local footie patch.
We did happen upon a shop in the main street An artist that I instantly loved.....the shop was closed Boo Hoo

Earth without ART is EH

Through the glass I spotted this chalked sign..."Your husband rang and said you could buy anything U like"

Isn't this wee guy just divine 




Homeward bound we stopped in at my all time favourite place ..The place where I experienced my very first school camp.
OMAUI
Not as I remembered it though ...Where are the rocks that were there last year?????

A stark difference don't you think



I suppose that's what I love about landscape It is always changing...
 and driving home was another reminder.
Well folks I am off to make Oyster soup.......Recipe will be on next blog if it's great..
I will leave you with this quote from Lord Byron...
Enjoy your Winter days....



There is pleasure in the pathless woods, there is rapture in the lonely shore, there is society where none intrudes, by the deep sea, and music in its roar; I love not Man the less, but Nature more.