Rosey Fence

Joining Theresa over at her Run*A*Round Ranch Report Good Fences gathering:

A bright, sunshiney-yellowy surrounding today's fence.

Thanks for taking a look and to see more good fences than you could shake a stick at... click on this image:

Cheers and my very best wishes :D)

Australia Day bits of this n that

Happy Australia Day !

Here's just some of the Aussie things I love... hope you enjoy seeing them too:

Our gorgeous Koalas (snap taken on Raymond Island, East Gippsland, where the koalas live side by side with the lucky residents)

Our  incredible 'red centre'
(snap taken many years ago in our 4WD ing days.  Me, sitting slap bang in the geographical centre of Australia at the Lambert Centre.)
Forgive the pic quality... Oh for digital cameras back then!

Home made Anzac Biccies - a treasured tradition
(they come out soft and chewy, or firm and crisp... always a surprise package when I make them!)

This graffiti I like :D)

Decorating the Pav - yum!
(you did a good job G xx)

Some friendly and curious early morning roos at Gympie Qld - on one of our camping trips

Nothing like a barbie with snags and rissoles!
Yummo - great stuff D and G  xx

This one is in honour of all the amazing discoveries, medical and otherwise, inventions and innovations etc by Aussies!
Where would we all be without them.

The good old meat pie and sauce !
Not my photo, source 

The joy of having good neighbours!
I can remember Mum wearing her scarf like this.  The old tradition of "having a yarn over the fence" is a good 'un

A childhood snack that I (and millions of fellow Aussies) still love - Vegie Toast
I prepared this snap for Claire a blogger friend when she was overseas some years ago.  Claire was pining for some vegemite, so I sent her this ;D)

For our friends over the pond, the ditch, here's some links and explanations which may be of interest:
Anzac Biscuits
Centre of Australia
ACDC

Biccies: biscuits, cookies
Snags: sausages
Rissoles: burgers, meat patties
Roos: kangaroos
Pav: pavlova

Thanks very much for joining in this little celebration of Aussie-ness :D) xx

Greedy Gull

Hello!

Well, there's not a lot I can say about this photo ... except that he/she stood there for ages, trying in vain to swallow the fish.

 But couldn't !!

Linking up with Stewart over at his place where lots of bird lovers meet.  Join us by clicking on the image below:

Talking about Cauliflower

Hi everyone,  hope the sun's not to hot for you here in Australia (it's been delightful down here in the SE corner)... and that you're all keeping warm and cosy for those over the pond.

Thought I'd have a little bit to say about ... cauliflowers!  Borrrring ?  probably, so I'll start off with a ...  cabbage !!! 

Our baby cabbage that is. MD (My Darling is my name for hubby... for newcomers to my blog) grew this sweet little one last Winter.  We I picked it while it was still tiny.  It was so cute and with a little curl on top that I brought it in and proudly showed off our new addition:

Ok, back to cauliflowers.
We've been on a kind of low carb-ish diet since November last year.  I say "kind of" and "carb-ish" because we stick to that regime, except when we don't.. I mean, what would Christmas have been without all that yummy food!! ... and Birthdays... you get the drift.

Anyway, we've actually lost approx 10kgs between us as at today and, best of all, we don't feel hungry or look for sweet things too much anymore.

That aside, my point of this post is to tell you that, in finding a substitute for potatoes and rice, I decided to experiment with cauliflower.  There's such a thing as "cauliflower rice" referred to in low carb recipes.  Admittedly, it took me a while to even try it but it's actually very nice.  It seems to change the taste somehow and, yes, it works for us as both a rice and potato substitute.
Its texture when cooked is very stable... it keeps warm for ages if  someone is getting a bit uncordinated in their cooking (me) - doesn't go all gluggy like rice.
It also "fills" us as our beloved spuds did.

Enough banging on, if you're willing to read further, I've put some photos in with captions:

There's a lot of grating involved!  I added zucchini, peas and a bit of cabbage in this particular meal.

A bit of butter, olive oil, a sprinkle of curry powder (NO Water), lid on and let it all gently saute.  It's very tasty even without the curry powder, I just love to fiddle with things and am still experimenting.

Keep the heat low and stir occasionally.  Fortunately, I have a willing first-rate Stirrer (to the right of this pic) who's only too willing to look after that little job for me.
(Froggie was getting so tetchy at not being in posts very much anymore - had to let him in at least one.  Little does he know, but I'm preparing a Froggie's Photo Album of his earlier days in this blog,  which I'll put up in my top bar just under the header.  That'll please the little fellow... hopefully!!)

Time to Plate Up (ha ha... who's been watching far too many cooking shows!!)
Believe it or not, it's as filling as if we'd had potatoes on our plate.
The gravy shows we're not pedantic low-carbers... as I say, we're more on the  "ish" side - but there's some things we just won't give up!

Thought I'd add this in too.  It's my version of beef chow mein ... with grated cauliflower instead of rice.  

UPDATING to say that grated cauliflower, microwaved in a dish with a lid, no water, tiny splash of olive oil, sprinkle of pepper and dots of butter... stirred now and then.... is delicious too.  In fact it seems to enhance the flavour even more than my methods above.  Easy as well!  

Last but not least.  This post needs Colour!!
Some feral plums which we share with pick before the birds get to them.  Not so good in the taste department but jolly nice in a fruit smoothie.

Well, that's it.  Thanks if you made it this far, and if you didn't well thanks for the thought anyway.
Cheerio for now, it's birdie week - so will be popping over to Stewarts for Wild Bird Wednesday later.

All the best!

Maria's Celebration and Theresa's Good Fences

Hi there,

I'd like to start this post off by telling you about one of my blogfriends, Maria, of The Next Stage Blogspot.  She's been spending the last 5 days generously offering giveaways for readers of her blog - in celebration of her 1000th post... and celebrate she should because Maria is one busy lady all right.

As well as the usual busyness of everyday life, she always finds time for knitting, patchworking, quilting, creating and networking with her large group of friends in many clubs and organisations whose aims are all geared towards the benefit of people in need up in her part of Australia.

Now, you may recall, I mentioned a few posts ago that I'd started to put my paintings and photos into an online gallery, Redbubble.  Well, Maria, unbeknownst to me (as we're never told the identity of purchasers), bought some of my artworks and is now offering a couple of them as today's 5th giveaway.
I'm extremely honoured (and humbled) in the unique way Maria included them in her celebrations, along with a special mention.  It was a delightful surprise. Thanks so much Maria and congratulations!!  Onwards to your 2000th :D)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Now to some Woolly Good Fences:

Popping over to join Theresa and all her good mates at the Run*A*Round Ranch Report Good Fences gathering:

Ok... here's my contribution.
A nice Aussie rural pole fence.
But wait, there's a bonus :

A cute attachment to the fence!

... and here's the real woolly version (can be seen ever so slightly
on the rhs of my first photo)

Thanks for taking a look, and to see even more fences than you could poke a stick at... click on this image:

Enjoy your week and may it be filled with happiness and peace :D) xx

Red and Pinks on Wild Bird Wednesday

I spied this red beauty outside our window a few weeks ago:

whoops, on alert... must've been my lens bumping on the window pane:

Yes, my number's up... but I was able to take one last quick snap:

I still can't find my bird book, but am sure Stewart of Wild Bird Wednesday will be able to give an identification.

Join him and all the people who delight in the joy that birds bring to us daily... just click on this image for the link:

Thank you kindly for your visit :D)

Happy New Year with Cherries on Top !

Here we go again ... another year.  Good wishes to all of us that it's a great one :D)

Lovely to be back, and I'm keen to catch up with everyone once more.

Random offerings in this post, starting with dessert:
oooh la la.... memories of a trifle that was definitely not to be trifled with!  Our Daughter's Christmas Day Delight... it had everything, and more !  We slept well that night ;D)

Now for a walk along the sandy shoreline.
Couldn't resist snapping this truly random find:

Here's a photo opp that I did set up.
I plunked the mussel shell in the water and was happy to watch it drift on its way - floating and bobbing along:

Sometimes, it's lovely to just float along.
I remember as a child, floating with only my eyes, nose and mouth out of the water, hearing nothing much at all except the underwater sounds. 

A couple of 'firsts for 2015' ... our first coffee for the new year:

I couldn't resist adding a loveheart I cut and pasted from our coffees we played around with a few years' ago

... and our first Turkish Coffee for the year.  Very strong - hits the spot!

We treated ourselves to some pretty little cups

Ha ha, I warned this post contained random offerings :D)
Here's a recycling thingy I thought up because I don't like having to clean chopping boards after cutting up raw meat... you know, how those little bits of meat (especially chicken) cling determinedly to the board.
Well, I washed and cut empty UHT milk containers and they're excellent for one-off uses as cutting surfaces.  No washing up, just throw away after use!

Finally, I'd like to end on a pretty note.
The ability to photograph white flowers seems to escape me, however, I had a lucky moment a few weeks ago:

Thanks for popping over :D)