by Krista | Nov 22, 2011 | Compatriot Wednesday
Good morning, luvs!
It’s a blissfully cloudy day and I’m so grateful for the coolness after the piping hot weather we’ve had the last few weeks. 🙂
I thought I’d take you on a little tour of some of my beloved critters here on the farm in Australia. 🙂
We have a LOT of chooks (chickens) right now and will soon have heaps more since we have darling chicks arriving every day. 🙂 These are some of our Light Sussex scratching around in the straw for bits of grain leftover from the goats feeding.
Here are our newest additions highly curious about my camera but none too impressed with having their picture taken.
This is our resident duck gang that waddles around en masse quacking animatedly. They make me laugh.
I love this sweet new goat nibbling happily among the Australorps and Light Sussex.
Here is one of two horses: Swannee Bay Jane and Gunnago Miss Baby Bars. 🙂 Aren’t those the most outrageous and fabulous names?
These are my favorite members of the farm family, maybe because I got to celebrate their birth and name them. The mama on the left is L’Abri, and the twins cuddling on the grass are Felix and Sophie. They are the friendliest little goats, always running up for pats on the head and scratches around their horns.
Do you have any animals where you live?
by Krista | Nov 20, 2011 | Bootstrap Monday
Well, I’ve been officially sick for two weeks now. Bear has been too, and folks from work are coming down with this wretched cold/flu thing left, right and center.
I’ve drunk copious amounts of tea, bowls of soup, and, it must be admitted, a whole lot of salty potato chips that somehow are just the thing for upset stomachs and sore throats.
Last week my friend Ann surprised me with a bread machine and taught me how to use it the way she does. Ann is a clever soul and with five kids to feed she has found every possible shortcut to making healthy food for her family. She uses the bread machine to do the mixing and kneading – a process she doesn’t have time for – then shapes and bakes it in a regular oven which she’s found results in better texture and taste.
I’ve been trying all sorts of flavors and styles and each one has turned out beautifully. It’s been especially nice when I’m unwell since I can just dump in ingredients, press the button, and rest until it’s ready to pop in the oven.
Now that I’m perking up a bit, I finally have time to share the rest of the photos from my trip to my friend’s goat farm. (You can read Part I here)
After a scrumptious lunch, we donned our wellies and with a herd of curious goats at our heels, headed down to the creek for a stroll.
My first visit to their farm was in January after devastating floods swept through uprooting trees and depositing mounds of mud and debris. (Click here to see photos of how it looked then).
I’m so happy to see what ten months of time, sunshine and Joe and Shirley’s hard work have done to turn that disaster into something beautiful once again.
The entire creek is like this now, water gurgling through towering trees with banks thickly carpeted with a tangle of wildflowers.
I love it here. 🙂
Now I think it’s time for a slice of fresh bread and butter and another cup of tea.
Do you have any tricks for making healthy food quickly?
by Krista | Nov 17, 2011 | Plucky Thursday
Good morning, luvs!
After my Bolognese friend Maddalena and I explored bombed out villas in a beautiful Italian park near Bologna, we emerged from the tree line to see this stunning view.
I could hardly believe it! The colors were so rich and glorious in the late Indian Summer sunshine, looking more like a painting than a real life scene. The sun was warm on our skin and we soaked it in little knowing that the next day summer would flee for good, replaced by bitterly cold winds and drenching rain.
We shared the trails of Parco della chiusa or Parco Talòn in Casalecchio with Italian couples strolling hand in hand, young moms visiting animatedly with their friends, and joggers huffing and puffing up the steep incline.
And it was steep! Instead of sticking to the gentle incline of the main trails, we took a deep breath and headed straight up the hillside, bent almost double to keep from sliding down the dusty pathway.
By the time we reached the top we were wheezing and gasping like the joggers we had seen earlier, laughing as we made our quivering legs take those final steps to the top.
The view was worth every shaky step and near tumble and we stood for a while enjoying it thoroughly as we filled our lungs with fresh air.
After a bit we continued on our way, the going much easier now that we were crossing the ridge line instead of laboring up steep paths.
It was my first time visiting Italy in the Fall and how I loved crunching through the leaves, finding bushes laden with ripe berries, and feeling beautifully warm after my chilly summer in Amsterdam.
We didn’t actually know where we were, so we just followed whatever trail took our fancy, assuming that one of them would take us home again. Along the way we found ivy covered walls and this wonderful old villa glowing warmly in the setting sun.
At the villa we picked up a couple of friends, two little kitties – a black and a gray – who gamboled after us, stopping often to roll in the dust-filled potholes and arch their bodies against our legs.
All too soon it was time to head home for dinner. We drove through the golden hills back to Maddalena’s house, and sat down to a perfect meal of fresh bread and homemade minestrone soup. It was nothing like the glutinous stuff I’ve had out of cans with soggy bits of pasta floating in a sea of overcooked vegetables. Nope, this was marvelous, a delicate vegetable soup drizzled with good quality olive oil and topped with freshly grated Parmesan.
Maddalena was surprised I wanted the recipe. To her it is simple country food, a hodgepodge of whatever leftover vegetables she might find in her fridge. But to me it was something special.
It was minestrone soup as it was meant to be. A delicious end to a wonderful day.
What is your favorite meal after a nice, long walk?
Real Italian Minestrone Soup
Maddalena and her aunts always use a pressure cooker to make minestrone soup. They add vegetable broth, salt and pepper and an assortment of chopped vegetables. While the combinations are endless, they do have certain traditions concerning the vegetables.
Ingredients:
hunk of Parmesan cheese
good quality olive oil
chopped vegetables (see below)
Vegetables that SHOULD be Included:
carrots
potatoes
beans (small dried)
green beans
celery
zucchini
spinach
Vegetables that CAN be included:
tomato
broccoli
Vegetables that MUST NOT be included:
fennel
aubergine (eggplant)
Directions:
- Add all ingredients to pressure cooker and cook for 15 minutes until all vegetables are tender.
- Ladle into bowls, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with freshly grated Parmesan.
by Krista | Nov 15, 2011 | Bootstrap Monday
As much as I love seeing gorgeous old buildings and ambling down narrow cobbled alleyways in Italian cities, one of my favorite ways to get to know a place is to go hiking.
When I visited my friend Maddalena in Italy this fall, she took me on a gorgeous hike just as the sun was setting over the russet hills outside Bologna. We entered the gates of the park in time to see locals gathered around a bright red tractor to pick up some last minute produce for their dinners.
It was such a peaceful time of day to go for a walk. Mothers pushed prams and chattered happily with their friends, and old men parked themselves on benches to watch the goings on of their neighbors.
Our first stop was at the ruins of a once splendid villa rising golden and majestic in the late afternoon sun.
Once a stunning place of colonnades, soaring ceilings and a flourishing orangerie, the villa managed to survive all of World War II until it was bombed on the very last day of the war.
Maddalena and I were just discussing how we wished some rich personage would come along to restore it when she spotted a sign saying that restoration was actually beginning. Hooray!
Old black and white pictures showed us what the villa used to look like. Isn’t it beautiful and grand? Like something out of an old Hollywood movie. 🙂
I can’t wait to visit in a few years to see the villa as it ought to be: tall, stately, with native Italian plants thriving once again.
We continued on our way, Maddalena telling me what it was like in Italy during the war years. As in the rest of Europe, times were very difficult for the local population.
Unlike the rest of Europe, Italy had the dubious position of being a former ally of Germany. For several years the Nazi’s had lived peaceably in Italy, using the country as a base of operations, but overnight they went from being friends to enemies.
The results were horrifying for the Italians. Murder, starvation, and fear were daily struggles, and many lost their lives in the years that followed.
It was amazing to walk these paths, feeling completely safe and peaceful, knowing that just a few years ago Resistance fighters and Nazi’s fought a constant game of cat and mouse.
It feels so peaceful now.
So warm, quiet, and safe.
But there are still reminders of those days in the crumbling, bombed out villas scattered throughout the park.
I’m glad people are investing the time and money in restoring them, but I’m also glad I got to see them as they are. Vivid reminders of the preciousness of peace and freedom.
Soon our trail left the woods and wended up into the hills, heavenly sunshine warming us after the cool shade of the forest.
Tomorrow I’ll show you glorious views worth every step of our uphill trek.
What is a meaningful historical site you’ve visited?
by Krista | Nov 10, 2011 | Plucky Thursday
Good morning, luvs! After treating myself to homemade butterscotch pudding for breakfast, I’m getting all sorts of work done! Laundry, dishes, paying bills. Man, it feels good! 🙂
Last weekend bear and I drove out to visit our dear friends Shirley and Joe at their beautiful goat farm.
I love going out there, laughing at the antics of the baby goats as they wobble and leap on their spindly legs, gazing in awe at the oh-so-pregnant mamas waddle along with their enormous bellies.
Big Mama comin' through!
We always go for long walks, wandering through the pastures and out along the creek bottom before ending back at the house for something delectable Shirley has made. This weekend was no exception. She served us up a splendid lunch of pasta with broccoli, toasted pine nuts, sundried tomatoes and Parmesan, buttery garlic bread, chilled wine, and a marvy cream cake topped with fresh mangoes and strawberries.
One day soon I’ll show you pictures of the wildflower-filled creek banks and darling baby goats, but today I want to linger awhile among Shirley’s flower beds.
Fourth of July Rose
Whenever I visit, Shirley takes me on a tour of her many gardens, pointing out what’s blooming, explaining what would grow well at my place, and introducing me to Australian native plants I’ve never even heard of.
Her gardens are such a lovely hodgepodge of old and new flowers, hardy vegetables and gifts from friends overseas, all growing vigorously in this fabulous Queensland weather that seems to make everything flourish.
This week she sent me home with a gorgeous bouquet of spinach leaves and sweet pea blossoms, and a couple of gardening magazines to inspire me.
I am not a natural gardener like Shirley, Ann, my Mum, or my brother Ryan, but I’m learning as I go and get so excited as I see seeds become seedlings and then something I can actually eat or decorate with. Amazing. 🙂
Are you a gardener? Do you have a garden? What’s the one plant you MUST have?
Shirley’s Mango Cream Cake
Ingredients:
one sponge cake (lemon or vanilla)
1 small carton heavy whipping cream
sugar to taste
1 ripe mango, peeled and sliced into long strips
3-6 strawberries, halved
Directions:
- Bake sponge cake according to directions, cool and halve.
- Whip cream and sweeten to taste.
- Frost bottom layer of cake with half of cream.
- Place top layer on cream and frost with remaining cream.
- Decorate with mango and strawberries and serve immediately.
- (If making ahead of time, wait to add fruit until just before serving.)
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