Family, Fun and Food

Sisters Rose and Ret and brother Tracy

I could say it is hard to believe we have been home for three weeks already, but when I look at what we have done in that time, one might think we had been home for 3 months! Thankfully our days have been full of delightful activities, mainly surrounding family. No Kim, you are not 'chopped liver' little one - you definitely are family too, but you aren't here, and Copenhagen is such a long way from Ballina!! Your turn will come!

Within a week of arriving home I had caught up with my five siblings who live in Australia, and my Aunt. It usually takes me a while to enjoy being home before I feel like travelling again - even the few hours travel up to Brisbane. But this time I had a reason to be in Brisbane for a day, and it couldn't have worked out better as I got to have lunch with my brother and sister who live up there. As we were walking to our dining table on the restaurant's verandah, a lizard (a water dragon I believe) lead the way!

Local lizard greeting garden restaurant guests

This next photo was taken heading into Surfers Paradise...

Two and a half weeks after arriving home we were honoured to host my brother-in-law's 60th birthday party. As well as four of my five siblings and my Aunt in attendance, we were thrilled to have two nephews and a niece join in the gathering. Two of them came down from Brisbane (one with a husband and young son) and one flew up from Sydney with his wife and young son. Here we are gathered for a family photo taken by my nephew. Sadly the two on the edges are almost cut out (Gem I slipped this photo from your Facebook entry).

Within 3 weeks Murray has turned our back garden around from looking rather neglected after our four month absence, to having it look strong and healthy once again. The plants and vegetables are flourishing and we love spending time out there. The weather has been very obliging - most days have been fine, warm and sunny. The nights are still quite cool which makes for ideal sleeping weather. Like many areas of Australia, we could do with some good rain, but we had a nice shower the other night which saved us watering the garden. Some parts of Australia including Alice Springs and Brisbane experienced the driest August on record, despite Brisbane having the wettest winter in four years. Weird weather everywhere - reports mention an emerging El Nino - no doubt it is blamed for the drought in the corn belt in USA and the low Mississippi River levels.

Regular followers of my blog may recall my excitement earlier this year at getting a kitchen appliance called a Thermomix (world's smallest, smartest kitchen) - every day that I cook in it is an adventure and a delight. On the days that I have been home, I have used it at least once a day, sometimes three times a day. In an effort to eat healthier I regularly make a batch of wholesome vegetable soup (including lentils and pearl barley) and we often have that for lunch. I am also experimenting with kale - drying it in the oven and serving instead of potato crisps.

Kale chips - they almost melt in your mouth  - an easy way to get kids to eat greens!

 Another healthy addition is a tasty broccoli salad which uses raw broccoli, carrot, onion, green apple, yoghurt, lemon juice, dried cranberries and walnuts. Just put all the ingredients into the Thermomix and blend for 6 seconds. I have also made my own butter (with no artificial additives) and raw beetroot salad. The other evening I cooked an Indian dish (Butter Chicken) in it. I also made a toasted muesli - most of the recipe required oven cooking, but I used the Thermomix for a step or two. Last week as we were leaving a shopping centre, I deliberately avoided looking at the bakery store items so that I wouldn't be tempted. But not Murray, not only did he have a good look, but he noticed a tray of Chia fruit buns. He called me back to have a look as we had never seen or heard of them before, and of course, we had to buy one each. They were delicious! I immediately got on the internet, found a recipe for a Chia Fruit Loaf (I converted the recipe to small buns instead of a loaf) to make in the Thermomix and presto, that was this morning's effort - along with another bowl of broccoli salad! In case you haven't heard of Chia seeds, they are touted to be gluten free and are the best plant source of Omega 3 (with 8 times more Omega 3 than you find in salmon) as well as a rich source of fibre, protein, minerals and vitamins and other good things. If you want to be gobsmacked by how power packed they are, take a look here.  If that has got you interested here is a link to 40 Ways to use Chia Seeds. Sorry Jan - my blogs and emails always seems to talk about food! Runs in my family!

Raw Beetroot salad

My home made toasted muesli

Another exciting day awaits tomorrow - my 88 year old Aunt and a friend of hers are joining me to drive to a nearby regional centre to line up at a store for its 8am opening to purchase an iPhone 5 each. I am picking them up at 6.45am, and I am crossing my fingers that: 1. The line is not very long, and 2. They still have 3 phones left by the time we reach the front of the line! I always enjoy new tech toys!