Mum's Muffins

I first wrote this recipe down on the 10th August 1998 and have no idea how many times I have used it since then!

You'll need

1 cup of milk
1 egg
1/3 cup of vegetable oil

Blend them together and then stir in

2 1/2 cups of SR flour
1/3 cup sugar

Choose from this list of treats or add your own favourites...

1 orange, processed
100gm choc chips
a chopped apple
300 gms chopped rhubarb
2-3 mashed bananas
3/4 cup of frozen blueberries

I only had 2T of blueberries so threw some choc chips and seeds in to make it up.
Bake at 190C for 15-20 minutes. That's it! They'll freeze well and will satisfy that sweet tooth without too many calories.
Mum will ask why I am using paper cases again...because I lost my muffin pans as well as a few other items when we moved house last year. Sorry.

I keep meaning to show you these photos of the long-billed corellas that we see around the area now...these were on the seafront over-looking the Indian Ocean. They are big, noisy and destructive and just fascinating to watch, I love 'em!

I've had a lovely week and am looking forward to 2 outings this weekend, a special soccer match and the the casino with Mum on Sunday.
What are your plans?
Hope you have a lovely weekend whatever you decide to do,
Love, Sue

Priscilla has just updated her blog and has some rather exciting news, the link is on the right-hand side of this page. Please keep her in your thoughts. xox

The Tale of Brown Betty or The Tale of Two Tea Cosies

Did you know that those lovely old round brown teapots actually have a special name and a long history? Old brown teapots just like this one...this 4 cup pot is over 30 yrs old...

While mine is a cheap Chinese replica the first Brown Betty's originate in England and were made from a special brown clay discovered in 1695 which held the heat better than previous clays used. It was in the Victorian era that their lovely roundness was developed to enable the tea to swished around to make it brew better. They had a special glaze known as Rockingham glaze which is nice as we live near Rockingham in WA.
On Monday I told you that I was again using this teapot as I'd run out of teabags and that I was very pleased with the better, stronger tea I'd made in it. However it has been rather cold this week and it became obvious that dear Betty needed a new coat.

I found some lovely very chunky/12ply wools in my stash and measured my teapot...

Using 5mm needles to make it a tight knit for heat retention

Cast on 25 sts
Knit 5 rows; increase once in the middle of Row 5
Change to stocking stitch and starting with a purl row work another 17 rows or as required to fit your teapot.

Row 23 (K3 K2tog) to the end of the row
Work 5 rows in stocking stitch
Row 29 (K1 K2tog) to the end
Work 7 rows in stocking stitch
Row 37 (K2tog) to the end
Row 38 Purl to end
Cast off

You simply make two of these and stitch them together leaving room for Betty's handle and spout, or what-ever your tea-pot is named :D Each half will look like this...

                       

Doesn't she posh now? I added some short pieces of twisted yarn to the second one but you could really go to town with knitted or crocheted embellishments, fancy buttons or perhaps some embroidery ...

I'll put the kettle on.

Billy Connelly's quote, "Never trust a man who when left alone with a tea cosy does not put it on his head!"

Last September was the very first National Wear A Tea Cosy Day and it raised lots of money for charity.

Twitch was very pleased to see some fresh kale in the shopping bag today, he really loves it. I also filled a bag with cauliflower leaves at the shop and have washed them as I expect they have been sprayed with pesticides etc.

My first pet rabbit, Snowy, enjoyed eating rolled oats with used tea-leaves mixed in as well as fresh vegetables, each to his own I suppose. This was in the early 1960's.

Dear Rose is also thinking and drinking tea this week, have a look at her blog here

Bye bye for now,
Sue
xx

Sausage Casserole, More A Method Than A Recipe

I really didn't fancy this at all but it's cold and wet today, Joe loves casseroles and every-one at the slow cooker FB site raves about something called Deep Down South Sausages that involve snags, tinned toms, Worcester sauce, garlic and 2 t of brown sugar. We had Spaghetti Putanesca last night so I didn't want another tomato based meal tonight and adapted this after looking through the files of the SC site.

500 gms of sausages(these can be any variety/chopped or left whole, fresh or frozen solid!)
2 sliced onions
1 chopped apple
1/2 a chopped zucchini and 2 chopped tomatoes that had seen better days

1 heaped teaspoon of hot curry powder
1 can of cream of chicken soup and half a can of water
chopped garlic
splash of Worcester sauce

Yuck I thought...I didn't even particularly like the smell as it was cooking BUT when I tasted it I was so impressed, those flavours melded beautifully, the sauce is thick and creamy and I'm sold!
I had some very lean turkey sausages($3) so the whole dinner cost under $5 for 3-4 serves, it was so good over some mashed sweet potatoes and I'll make it again definitely. The vegies can be changed around to use up what you have, potatoes and/or beans would be lovely cooked in the sauce and you could serve it on rice or pasta too so it's very versatile.

Joe absolutely loved it as I thought he would :)

Hope you are keeping well and warm,

Love from Sue

xxx

 and from 6 yr old Caleb to his Mum

"

Caleb: You know the spiders in the toilet? They've gone missing. ....*thoughtful pause".... If you see them, can you kill them?

Me: What! Why? They're the Daddy Longlegs, right? 

Caleb: "One was a daddy Long Legs but the other one was a brother....a teenager."

:D

Wintry Garden

It may not look like Winter when you see this bright blue sky but there is a nip in the air and lots of rain on the horizon. In fact the cloud cover is complete now and it's looking rather dark outside.
Strong winds have almost stripped the Cape Lilac trees bare now but a tomato plant is thriving and other plants are coming into their own season...and we've had the very first passionfruit off the neighbour's vine!

 

no flowers yet on this tomato but it will certainly have a head start come Spring...

this nasturtium plant grew from a cutting, I've never even thought about doing that before as at the old house they just self-seeded every Autumn...

Twitch's treehouse...a huge asparagus fern under the kitchen window provides security from cats etc and I suppose it's a very natural place for him to enjoy his day-time snoozes, it will too wet tomorrow so make the most of it today, Sweetie...

These little dill plants have come up all over the patio, I'll leave them for now and just harvest them as I would if they were growing anywhere else, a nasturtium and a tomato plant have also self-seeded nearby.

Today I mowed the front garden, made some Mexican style soup similar to this recipe, I had some of that chicken breast left over too and the lime juice made it so refreshing. I used zucchini in place of the green beans and added some frozen peas n corn. Off now to make some Puttanesca sauce for tonight's spaghetti, it is just delicious and very thrifty too. Joe can have some apples stewed in honey and cinnamon for his dessert!

Thanks you for all the lovely comments about Ma Tante Lou yesterday and today, both here and on Facebook, it helps to know we are not alone at times like this doesn't it?

Bye bye for now,
Sue
xxx 

R.I.P. Ma Tante Louise

Very sadly we lost Joe's "Aunt" Louise on Thursday. She was a distant relative by marriage but an Aunt by love, of which she gave plenty. Joe's childhood was sometimes very unhappy and ma tante Louise was often there to smooth things over between Maman and Joe and his brother and sisters.
When Joe had his double by-pass in 2005 it was Aunt Louise that I phoned in Montreal to give her the latest updates so that she could translate and pass on the news to Maman for us. Being born and raised in New Brunswick, Canada meant she was bi-lingual.
In 2009 she was still working as a part time waitress at the St Aubin Restaurant and we had several delicious meals there with our extended family. Lou would ask the chef to save the largest, fattest rainbow trout for my lunch!

Outside the restaurant holding Maman's birthday flowers for her, they were very close friends for so many years...

This is a bit blurry but it's how we will remember her, that is her only grandchild, Melanie, next to her and Mel's husband, Yannick, with the beard...

Another day she picked us up at the Metro station and took us across to Laval where her son, Bert lives with his wife, Francine. Interestingly Louise and Francine's mother met in the maternity ward when they had their babies, they remained friends and now their babies have been married for over 30 years! Melanie and the children, Ben and Cassie were there too and we had a lovely afternoon outdoors with a tasty BBQ lunch. Ma tante(66) had a go on the bouncy castle and fell out through the side, we couldn't stop laughing!

Sweet little Cassie with her best friend...

We kept in touch on facebook through her next door neighbour and much loved friend Aida who was like a daughter to her, I love this photo of them together...Aida is a skilled hairdresser and Lou's hair was always colourful and stylish...

Despite being widowed very early when her husband, Raymond, died in a motor accident, despite losing her elder son, Bernard, in another vehicle accident several years ago and despite her only great-granddaughter battling cancer* at the age of 3 years Louise remained up-beat and happy, loving and very caring and she will be so sadly missed. It would have been her 70th birthday on Wednesday, July 3rd.
Her funeral will be on July 13th.

RIP sweet lady, we were so looking forward to seeing you again this summer but will be thinking of you.

*the same cancer that Priscilla currently is fighting, Cassie is in remission now thank heavens.

A Frugal Weekend

Did all the right frugal things this weekend and loved it!

Needed teabags on Friday, got out the packet of loose tea I bought last year when Rhonda encouraged us to give up teabags because of all the extra packaging. I have 9 teapots but only one in the kitchen, an old-fashioned round brown china pot so I dusted that off and put it to work. The tea is so very much better as it's stronger, teabags contain so very little tea really. We also needed bread but a dig through the freezer revealed English muffins and a few odd slices of bread I'd saved for breadcrumbs. Our milkman brought our rye bread last night so we're set for the week.
Saved fuel, time and money!
I've been craving Mexican or Tex-Mex meals for several days now so instead of a $100 meal at Zocala's(which is wonderful btw) I put my thinking cap on...and asked the Down to Earth ladies in the states what makes a great Mexican meal. Chillies obviously but it's the more subtle flavours of oregano and cumin, lemon or lime juice, fresh herbs and cheese of course.
Over night I soaked a bag of lovely dried mixed beans($1.70) and then cooked them in the pressure cooker for 5 mins...not quite done but 2 more minutes finished them to perfection. Hmmm there seems rather a lot now I thought and then whipped up some beanie dip with tahini, olive oil, lemon juice, Mexican chilli(a blend of chilli/herbs/spices) and salt. The cooked beans equalled in volume what I would have got from 4 tins of mixed beans.

Next I fried up chopped onion, red capsicum, garlic and half a habenero from my garden, added tomato paste and then a tin of organic chopped tomatoes and a splash of liquid smoke and simmered that for 10 mins before adding about 2 cups of cooked beans. Left that on for 15 mins and then tasted my delicious chilli beans...no need to go out dinner now lol! I cooked some white rice and sliced a chicken breast, rubbed the chicken with the Mexican chilli blend, dried herbs, lime juice and shallow fried that. Served it all up with grated cheese and a little Greek yoghurt in place of sour cream and it was yummmy!

Forgot to take a pic of the served up plates...steamy, spicy beans and tomatoes...

and sizzling chicken...one breast does us for 3-4 meals...

Other frugal achievements this weekend include mowing the lawns myself instead of paying some-one $50-$60 to do that...this is not without it's "issues" as I can rarely start the lawnmower myself , I re-filled it with fuel and washed the filter sponge but have to wait for Joe to pull-start the mean machine. I focussed on making it look like a Wimbledon court and was very pleased with the result.
I also finished this scarf, made completely from wool given to me last year...the simple pattern is here

So all added up I suppose I saved /avoided spending almost $200...do I get to keep that?? More savings for Canada is my way of looking at it.

Frugal Queen and other bloggers are having "make do with what I have July", just using up what they have in their pantries and freezers and while I haven't joined that challenge I keep it in mind and try to adjust to suit what we do have on hand. They have lots of very thrifty and delicious recipes to share too.

So how did you spend the weekend, gardening perhaps, cooking and crafting are just my favourite ways to spend my time.
Love from Sue
xxx

Changing to BlogLovin'

Changes are afoot, I have no idea what I'm doing yet so pls bear with me!
To follow this blog now you will have to click on the red print "Follow my blog with Bloglovin" on the right-hand side, I'm still trying to work it out....apparently Google Reader ends on Monday and I didn't even know what google reader was until earlier today!

Tutorial Competition at Down To Earth Forums

Over at the forum we are running another Tutorial Competition all through July. Last year we had some wonderful ideas...clear instructions and photographs, they add to the richness of the forum as they are always there for new and older members alike to learn from. We had tutes on making a simple moisturising cream, an tablecloth recycled into a poncho, raggedy quilts, aprons, toys, yogurt and sourdough and much more.

This year's prize is a hamper from Ecostore to the value of $150 or a book if you are living in the UK or Europe where we can't ship the hamper...this is the one I was awarded recently...all gentle earth and family friendly products with no nasty chemicals...there's a huge jute shopping tote there too,

You can join the forum(it's completely free) and have a go, in fact I hope you do.
Follow the link on the right-hand side of this page and you will be made very welcome. We talk about frugal cooking, budgeting, gardening and growing our own food, simple living, our homes, family and pets, home remedies etc all in a supportive and warm manner...it's wonderful to meet so many like-minded people.

Bye bye for now,
Sue
x

A Friday Round-up, A Nice Scarf Pattern too!

It's been a very quiet week here, just a pottering, gentle quiet type of week with a burst of activity on Wednesday.

Monday was shopping day, frugal as possible, the only meat I needed was 500gms of minced beef($3) and I bought a 1 kilo chunk of roasting beef to cook in the crockpot. $50 worth of fresh vegetables from the Sppud Shed means I can stick to plant based meals as opposed to meals where meat is the star...these cost so much more and are quiet un-necessary really.

I made Joe a pan-ful of baked mixed beans; sauted onion, garlic and red capsicum, tomato paste, a teaspoon of golden syrup(molasses is nice too) and then a tin of el cheapo baked beans and 1 1/2 cups of mixed beans. He loves these for breakfast with an egg and some toast.
Next to be re-fashioned was the 5 cups of bolognese sauce leftover from Saturday, this was especially nice as I'd added some chopped salami. Lasagne was the plan so while Joe grated some cheddar cheese I made a white sauce. Joe was horrified to learn(after 12 yrs) that I don't add cheese to the sauce but season it well and add some USA mustard. Cheese is welcome to go on the top and it was really, really tasty...6 large serves and 2 went straight into the freezer once it was cold....

I also made this cake to get full use of the oven ...3/4 of this went into the freezer too...

Tuesday was very quiet for me, Joe taught chess and picked up some prescriptions while I made great headway on another scarf...

Cast on 2 sts, (used 4mm needles and some 12 ply wool)
Increase at the beginning of each row until the scarf is the desired width, I stopped when I had 30 sts on my needles.
Now just

Increase at the beginning of each alternate row
Decrease by knitting 2tog through the back of the loops on every other row...

can you see what is happening...I've almost finished it now and if you are making stripes ensure that you start the new colour on the same type of row each time so that all your joins are at the back of the work...

Wednesday came and I put the roasting beef in the slow cooker on a bed of carrots and a whole unpeeled head of garlic and left it on auto for around 9 hours. I made a huge plateful of rustic looking ham and cheese sandwiches and then headed off to meet Mandy and De-Anne at Paul's late parent's home. It's almost ready to go on the market a year after they were both so tragically killed in a car accident nearby but what a heart wrenching job to go through this huge house and pack up their personal effects. Some to the op-shops, some to the tip, some to friends but there is just too much stuff and it is so very personal!
I came away with 2 small jardinieres that reminded me of my auntie Brenda and her lovely houseplants. When I got home I was delighted to find that my bathroom parlour palm fit perfectly into the larger one...it was a warm Down To Earth forums moment as the palm came from Wendy whom I met through the forum and I also met Mandy and De-Anne this way! I can spy a bar of hand-made soap in this photo, I learned to make soap through the forums too...

Yesterday I made a big pan of pearl barley and vegetable soup using the left-over stock from the roast beef so that will do for lunches for several days. We had the beef again last night with baby potatoes(49c a kilo) and there's enough of that for tonight too with another vegetable dish.

We've added an extra night to out stay in Montreal when we first land so that we can meet up with family for lunch on Saturday, Phoebe and the boys are driving up from Ottawa and will stay at our hotel overnight and then we can have a leisurely drive down to Ottawa on the Sunday.
Caleb has been asking "when is Nana having another party" after our lovely tea party in March. I may take him and David to watch  Kwinana United vs Perth Glory on July 6th, 2pm Kelly Park, Kwinana, my Dad is going too.

Well the moral here is to blog more than once a week because even when I think I have nothing to say it appears that I find plenty. Thank you for your patience!
If you have time you might enjoy a look at a Queensland friend's new blog over here , please leave Chel a comment, I know she'll be thrilled.

Hope you have a wonderful weekend,
Love from Sue
xxx

Knitted Rose and Leaves

I've just finished this very basic scarf using some nice mohair wool from the op-shop and wanted to jazz it up a little. I've knit flowers before but only flat ones and I didn't like them as much as this pretty rose. I haven't attached them yet but want to get the pattern down before I forget but I think you can see how sweet they are.

The rose is about 2inches in diameter, knit flat and then rolled to shape the rose. The leaves are about 2 1/2 inches long and crafted by simple increases and decreases.
I've used 8ply wool and UK size 8 or 4mm needles....here is the beauty of any knitting pattern....use thinner needles and a lighter yarn to get smaller pieces and vice versa. It's easy enough to add a few extra stitches too but I wouldn't use fewer stitches making the rose as it won't roll nicely.

Rose:
cast on 25 stitches
work 4 rows in K1.P1 rib.
5th row all knit and increase into each st so that you have 50 sts
6-11 th row work in stocking stitch
Cast off and roll the work to form a rose, use the cast on tail to stitch it closed.

Leaf:
cast on 4 stitches
1st and all odd numbered rows purl to end
2nd row K1, inc into next 2 sts, K1
4th row K2, inc into next 2 sts, K2
6th row K3, inc into next 2 sts, K3
8th row K4, inc into next 2 sts, K4

Work 5 rows stocking stitch

14th row K4, K2tog into back of sts, K2tog, K4
16th row K3, K2tog into back of sts, K2tog, K3
18th row K2, K2tog into back of sts, K2tog, K2
20th row K1, K2tog into back of sts, K2tog, K1
22nd row  K2tog into back of sts, K2tog
Cast off

There are so many uses for these little embellishments, hope you enjoy making some, they're very quick and easy and oh so sweet!

Dear Ole Mum is having day surgery on 2 squamous cell spots, one on her face the other on her forearm...once again that I beg that you take care of your skin while out in the sun. Hope they heal quickly, Mum.

Wishing you a wonderful weekend where-ever you may and Happy Solstice to my Pagan friends.
Love from Sue
xx

The Good Ole Days

As a child in Morecambe our home backed onto the playing fields used by various schools and sports clubs. It was wonderful to have this lovely green area to run around on but my favourite recreation was playing football with all the local boys. I must have spent hours out there and football came to be a great pleasure.(Football is called soccer in Australia)
Fast forward to the early seventies and going to watch Kwinana United Soccer Club with Dad, watching (male) classmates train and play on Sunday mornings my (female) friends and I were thrilled when Bob Clark offered to set up a women's team and coach us. I played in this team for 3 seasons until surgery on my heels put paid to that. We successfully changed the rule at Kwinana High School regarding school sports and were permitted to play soccer with the boys as our weekly sports lesson, there were about 6 of us from memory.

My former next door neighbour, Nick Knight, recently started a facebook page for Kwinana's soccer history, our photos and memories are re-surfacing after over 40 years of being just dreams...

Back: Carol Hill, Sue Chivers, Elaine Hadden, Lynda Palmer, Yvonne Knee(dec), Brigitta Neilson, Deb(?), Irene(?), Bob Clark(coach)
Front: Julie Tatton, Julie Brown, Cathy O'Hara, Lynn Scothern, Joanne Ryder, Eleanor Smith, Pat Campbell, Sue Gardner(self) 1972

Then we made the newspaper!

Diane Shirra, Yvonne Knee, Maryanne O'Donnell, Frances Shirra, Jill Syson, Julie Tatton, Caron Knee, Sue Chivers, Carol Hill and Cathy Gallagher.

This photo must have been the last year I played, 1973. We played an exhibition match at the Perth Velodrome before a main (men's) match. The velodrome was the old cycle racing venue and had a wooden track running around the pitch. The ball went off the field in front of the packed grandstand and my boots slid on the wet wood, plonking me on my bottom! I'm glad my face was already red from my exertions on the pitch!

Back: Carol Hill, Cathy Gallagher, Dianne Shirra, Ruth Knee, Sue Gardner
Front: Sue Chivers, Frances Shirra, Jill Syson, Maryanne O'Donnell, Yvonne Knee and ???

Several of the team were chosen for the State Women's Squad and played a few matches, Carol, Sue, Pat and Julie I believe. I was told I was on stand-by for the squad but never got the call. My main claim to fame is that I scored the first ever goal for Kwinana United Ladies Team and you can't take that away from me!

I hope to add photos to this post as they become available.

Did you play sport as child/teen? These were truly some of the happiest days of my life.

Love from Sue

If you've ever considered starting your own blog or just want to brush up on your skills Rhonda has written a wonderful and helpful article today called "Blogging for Beginners" Part 1. She's also doing workshops on blogging in her area of Queensland.

PS Juds, make sure you read the comments again on my previous post, Lynda was tickled pink! 

Took My Cabin Fever To The City...

...and left it there!

Not sure if it's a sign that I'm itching to be off to Canada or what but after 2 days at home I was more than ready for a "spree" lol Boarded the 10.40am train to Perth and walked and wandered for the next three hours with a little shopping and a lot of people watching thrown in too.

Snatches of overheard conversations...
"Would the store cleaner please come to the switchboard" (what was that about? a dirty phonecall?)
"He keeps asking me for the numbers of other people...."
"Then she said...."
and my favourite...
"It's like rockin' the gym and then goin' to Maccas!"

There were some very talented buskers, some tragic looking homeless people, some people with far more money than sense; there were people from all over the world, some in traditional dress, others with dyed blue hair and the shortest of shorts, muslim women with colourful scarves and even a full faced burkha. Footwear from the biggest boots to the daintiest gold slippers, patterned tights, hungry pigeons and delicious smells all added to the good and happy spirit of this small city...

Restoration on one of the beautiful old churches 

The domed roof and frescos of local beaches at the Carillon Mall

Lunch? Hot curries, dahl and rice? Yes please :D

This young busker has a great voice and says he has an album coming out soon, I didn't catch his name

Modern "art" in front of the lovely old railway station

 I walked over to Kakulis Bros in Northbridge to buy various lentils and spices and saw this poster on the way, it's looks like fun...

This caught my eye, I think it's the entrance to the Bat Cave...

The Brass Monkey Hotel, can you see the monkeys on the first floor verandah? I was as cold as them today and had to buy a fleecy jacket...

A tribute to Perth actor, the late Heath Ledger. Jacob's Mum went to pre-school with him many years ago.

Coming exhibitions at the Perth Art Gallery, the Van Gogh  one is a 'gotta' for me

These scarab beetles lead the way to Perth Museum where there is a fascinating  new exhibition, Secrets of the Afterlife.

The city looking over the railway station from the Art Gallery area

 Now, it's a very long time since I've chased a man but chase I did. Huffing and puffing up the Plaza Arcade to take sneaky photos....BECAUSE he was dressed in the exact railway outfit that the staff on Hull to Gatineau Railway in Canada wore when we had a lovely day out with them in 2006! lol

Just after this photo he turned to me and I thought I was in big trouble but he and his brother were looking for Woolworths so I was able to point them in the right direction, I was too shy to ask where his train was.

It wasn't this one, home again home again jiggity jig!

That certainly blew the cobwebs away and I feel much better now.
Do you get stir crazy at times? I certainly have enough housework/gardening and hobbies to amuse me but sometimes I just need to 'get out'.

Bye bye for now,
Sue
xx