Here's to hidden treasures!

Bye to my nice organised looking garden. Hello cucurbits who pay no attention to boundaries, real or otherwise!

All is forgiven. I found a hidden rockmelon today that I never even knew was there...
:)

Harvest!

After being away for 3 weeks over summer, I was over the moon to discover nothing had died (in the vege garden at least) and I had fresh veges to pick for tea.
Small consolation at least because we'd had hot weather and RAIN!
Humidity is NOT my friend!

P.S. the eggplant is a happy surprise. I have 2 "restored" plants from my previous vege garden...of over a year ago. The eggplant was the sole survivor of 3 plants that got riddled with worms and I gave up on them. Overgrown with weeds I was amazed to discover it living on in unbelievable conditions. My mint plant also survived. It's got tough leaves but I'm sure that will change with time..
I guess some things in our gardens are tougher than we give them credit for!

Dressed for dinner - potatoes with extra virgin olive oil and lemon juice dressing

Thanks Jamie!
Food tonight consisted of barbequed steak to keep the men happy with potatoes dressed with olive oil, coriander, chilli and lemon. All served up on a wooden cutting board a la Jamie Oliver.

1 medium potato
2 sweet potatoes
1/2 lemon
1 fresh red chilli
A bunch of coriander
50g feta cheese

Serves approx 4.

Wash the potatoes and halve lengthways. Put them in a large microwave safe bowl with 1/2 a lemon (I used the whole lemon, it was small so I just chopped it in half and put the two halves in cut side sitting up)

Cover and microwave on full power for 15 mins.

Drizzle evo over a large wooden chopping board, sprinkle coarsely ground salt and black pepper over it.
Finely chop the red chilli (I used only 1/2 in case it was too hot...it wasn't, I'll use more next time) and most of the coriander on the board, mixing as you go. Add the feta and keep chopping and mixing.

Pull the potatoes out of the microwave, check they are cooked and using tongs squeeze the lemon halves over the potatoes. Discard the lemons. Put the cooked potatoes onto the board and chop them roughly combining the cheese, chilli and coriander.

At this point I probably should have drizzled with more oil. I will next time. Although the recipe doesn't say to do it, the potatoes and cheese absorb the oil on the board fairly quickly. You could probably drizzle with a bit of lemon juice as well.

I may never make ordinary potato salad again!
Really, really, awesomely easy summer food.
Let me know what you think if you make it.
:)

It's been a bit hot

It's no good trying to garden or do anything productive when it's so warm.
I decided that my very worn gold polish needed an update. After pulling out the Revlon gold again and a sparkly Miki teal colour and of course my current fav, China Glaze Watermelon Rind I was on my way to a fun afternoon.
I quite like fiddling with gradients, it feels a bit like I imagine painting with oil paints must feel like. This one was relatively simple with just the 3 colours. I did however go over the graduation lines a few times to try to soften the boundaries as much as possible.
I painted the gold on first, then I went over with a very light coat of the teal but starting a third of the way up the nail to make sure some of the gold was still exposed. Then I did the same thing with the Watermelon Rind starting two thirds of the way up the nail, trying to contour the boundaries a bit. Then any hard lines I wasn't happy with, I just went over with one of the lighter colours until it all blended well enough.
A top coat of Seche Vite and it's all done.
It's really much less difficult than it looks and works really well to make even short nails look snazzy!
;)

Christmas manicure

I can't quite remember where the inspiration for this came along. It was probably a combination of wanting something more simple than a candy stripe (stripes...! I can never get them all "just right.") and making christmas tags over the years using coloured pens and pencils.

So I started with a lovely simple French manicure.
Paint on your french white. No need for perfect lines this time, the dots will hide any imperfections. :) Put your usual coat on over the french white as normal.
Before the top coat goes on, use a dotting tool (mine is a pin pushed into the top of a pencil) to dot on 3 red dots in a cluster around the line of the white near one edge of your nail. Then use a festive green (I used China Glaze Watermelon Rind) to dot a line of green along the edge of the white and then drag two lines either side near the cluster of red berries to make leaves.

If you are one of those people who like every single nail to look exactly the same, this probably isn't for you.

But the way I see it, I'M the only one who actually looks that closely and it's a bit like scrutinising your own handwriting. It's never exact or perfect no matter how many calligraphy classes you do...

Have fun! ;)

White Chocolate and Macadamia Rocky Road

I post recipes all over the place and forget where I've put them. So I've decided to post some of my favourites in here where I can find them and tag them. Then hopefully I'll be able to re-find them when I go looking..

Prep 15 mins maybe
Makes 24 pieces or a few more if you cut them smaller.
250g packet of marshmallows, halved
100g packet dried cranberries
110g packet macadamia nuts, roughly chopped
60g pistachios (they say optional but really, they're not, they're the green bits!!)
2 x 180g blocks of white chocolate, chopped.
Line a 20cm square cake pan with baking paper allowing an overhang on each side.
Chop the marshmallows in half with a pair of kitchen scissors.
Put them into a bowl with the cranberries and nuts.
Break the white chocolate into pieces and put into a bowl big enough to sit in the top of one of your saucepans. I have glass Pyrex bowls for this purpose but whatever will deal with the heat will be fine. I also buy Nestle white cooking chocolate, it melts easily, sets nicely and breaks up with no fuss.
Put between 5 - 10 cms boiling water into the bottom of the saucepan and rest the bowl in the top of the saucepan and melt the chocolate. Once the chocolate has melted,  carefully remove from heat. To save on dishes and chocolate wastage (sinful) pour the nuts, cranberries and marshmallows into the bowl of melted chocolate. Fold it all in together as much as possible.
Spoon/tip the chocolate/nut mixture into the prepared cake pan. Press it down into the pan and smooth the top if you want to.
Refrigerate for 2 hours or until set. You'd be surprised how fast that can be in our house!
Using a warm knife, cut into squares.
The recipe says "will store for up to 2 weeks in an airtight container." I can't tell you if it will or not. It's never been tested in our house. There's no way Rocky Road will last 2 weeks..
And for those of us who have to constantly watch what they eat...I can tell you that one little itsy bitsy piece of this is the equivalent to 5 Weight Watchers Pro points. UGH! (Worth every point at Christmas time I reckon.)
No fuss but fancy enough to take to someone's place, present to visiting family or make with the children as presents for teachers!
Enjoy!

Impatient waiting is over...!

Love Nelly Kelly passionfruit. Every little spherical parcel is filled with sweetness and sun. FRUIT AT LAST!!
In time for Christmas!
:D