Spicy Beer

Partly to relieve school holiday boredom and partly to revive an old recipe, the 10 year old and I made some ginger beer.

I really like the recipe because it is so easy and can be bottled immediately (instead of feeding a 'bug' over several days).

So now we wait and cross our fingers that none explodes (my mum had a batch once explode in the cupboard where she used to put the ironing!)

Try it for yourself:
4 cups white sugar
2 tablespoons ground ginger
2 teaspoons lemon essence
2 teaspoons tartaric acid
12 cups hot water
20 cups cold water
1 tablespoon yeast

Put all ingredients except yeast in bucket with 1 cup hot water. Stir to dissolve. Add rest of water in starting with hot and finishing with the cold water. Dissolve yeast in quarter a cup of luke-warm water (should just feel slightly warm on your skin). Stir yeast mixture into bucket. Bottle. Cross fingers!

Anyone else have some home-made drink recipes?

Garlic

At last! I got the garlic planted in the square foot garden, 24 cloves in 2 squares, bit cramped, bit late, but never mind we must do what we can! On the age old premise that we plant on the shortest day and harvest on the longest, I am extraordinary late and must harvest extraordinary late, but that's how it goes  sometimes. Happy planting! Blue xxxx

Different types of garlic including elephant garlic

garlic in situ

Add captiogarlic in situ

Hottie Project

I am sure that Hot Water Bottles must be just about the most comforting thing ever and they really do seem to be a particular New Zealand phenomema. It has finally begun to feel cold and wintery on these Northland evenings and we have definitely been putting ours to good use already. Do you use hot water bottles where you live?

I came across a Project organised by Lisa of Big Little where she kicked off a wonderful initiative to provide handmade hot water bottle covers for children in Christchurch this winter as a small but meaningful way to show support and solidarity for those still suffering from the aftermath of the earthquakes. So, I got busy trying to create something warm and toasty. Inspired by the fabulous book "The Very Rich Kind Lady and Her One Hundred Dogs" I made this friendly cover, sewing away happily with my dog lying on my feet.

Isn't it great being able to be a part of something like this! Happy sewing, Blue x

Ps Carol is the winner of our weekend giveaway and NZ Homes and Gardens will be winging its way to you Carol!

Eggy Ideas

With the school holidays around the corner, I've been thinking about kid-friendly projects.

I saw a great idea in a magazine (I can't remember which one - a sign of age!). I love it because it costs next to nothing, can be tailored to any age and appeals to budding chefs, artists and gardeners.

It starts in the kitchen - get the kids filling the baking tins with some of their favourite egg-based recipes (mine are currently enjoying Simon Holst's Butterscotch Slice).

Save the egg shells giving them a quick rinse under the tap and dry off on the window sill.

Once clean and dry pop them into a display dish, egg cup or egg tray. The eggs can be decorated with pens or paints or left undecorated. Then fill with potting mix and sow your favourite fast growing seeds (we are trying microgreens).

So that keeps them busy for one day... anyone have any other ideas?

Square Foot Gardening

All the info I have read about square foot gardening emphasizes how easy it is to weed the garden when you garden this way, so I decided to put it to the test.....and it's true, the great thing about it is that you can weed a square in five minutes flat and if there are a lot of weeds like in my garden this winter then it only takes marginally longer than that. Somehow it is a lot more manageable too, along the lines of "I'll just weed one more square......well maybe one more than that...." you know what I mean.

The growing part is working really well too. With minimal effort on my part we have silverbeet, spinach, masses of corriander, parsley, various lettuces, leaves and rocket, cosmos poking through, carrot seedlings and enough radishes for both the human and rabbit members of this family! 

Have a good weekend, Happy gardening, Blue x

Hunting and Gathering

We had one of those meals last night that seem to take all day to catch, collect and gather and engender a warm feeling of slightly smug satisfaction as we sit down to eat. Line caught snapper and muscles collected by kayak, with spinach, silver beet, fennel and lemon all from the garden. Even the chilli flakes were a homegrown gift from a friend (thanks E!).

Warm steam filled kitchen as we made the risotto

I must admit though, the wine was a wonderful New Zealand Savignon Blanc but we had nothing whatsoever to do with making it! Cheers, Blue x