New recipes

Well, the first one is not new but it was a new way to cook it. I like maple syrup and last time I was shopping I saw sugar free maple syrup. Decided to buy it and it would be great on pancakes except we dont do flour anymore.
Then someone on Facebook said they used the 90 second bread as pancakes. I am in! 90 second bread is so easy and I have always had it turn out.
This time though instead of using the microwave, I tipped into a hot pan with melted butter, bit gluggy but spread it around, then flicked it over.
Yum.

Maple syrup and a dollop of cream .

Again on fb, someone I follow wrote about an old fashioned recipe called lemon delicious. Our lemons are just coming ripe and the recipe looks easy. I used fake sugar and almond flour and it is a very light pudding, kind of self saucing. The lemons are not very juicy at the moment, I think if they were juicer then there would have been more sauce. It was cooked in a water bath which I had not done before.

Just out of the oven, it was very nice and will make it again.

Birds while out and about.

Yesterday Lucy and I headed to the lake for a long walk. I figured that we were less likely to see anyone or if we did, its a bigger area to avoid close contact.

There were a few people out walking their dogs but all were several metres away, not even close enough to give a quick hello.

I was amazed at the number of birds, I guess because of the lack of people. At one point we were to cross a footbridge and there was a family of ducks waddling across, I was very proud of Lucy as she sat down on the grass and waited until they got off the bridge and all glided into the water.

Later we saw pea hens with chicks.

 Just as we were leaving a couple of families brought their kids down with scooters and one had a picnic. There was no one playing on the play equipment.

Great scenery in Tassie

The rain had plenty much stopped on the Saturday thank goodness so we got out and about early.

Our first port of call and it was here that a herd of white ducks in a line heading somewhere, there were about thirty of them, they were heading away from the water, just looked weird, too far away to get a pic.
We had to be mindful of getting the tyre to the tyre place to be fixed, they opened at 9am and closed at 11.30am.

This was taken on the north east coast.

Some little town when we were trying to get petrol. We had come past one place advertising 24 hour fuel, not realising that that was important, we continued on as it was very busy. The town we were heading for was bigger and only 19kms away. Hmmm! Yes, there was fuel stops but it was closed with licks on the pumps.

Thank goodness for phones, we discovered a small town 4 kms north.
Not a problem! Whoops, that was also closed however they did have a pump with fuel that was a self serve card doovy. I have used one at Costco before, ah, a sigh of relief.

So, we learnt that no servos after midday.

We ha

Tricky things in Tassie

We headed out early on Saturday morning, we had things to do and were also mindful that we had no spare tyre and had to get the flat either repaired or replaced. Tyre places opened at 9am and also closed at 11.30am on Saturdays.

We discovered we were quite close to the Cadbury factory as we had both done the tour and bought a box of chocolate years before, today this was not the aim.

At a park, we were directed to a massive tree.

We were looking for something small! On the ground were lots of gum nuts, surely not! I picked a couple up and they were just gum nuts. Then I saw a big larger one under the root that is in the foreground and yep, there was a small tube at the back it, wedged in so that it did not go anywhere, sneaky.

 Signed and off to the next one which took us to the edge of the water where we saw a seal swimming in the water. We thought it was a dog at first but as we continued to watch we realised that it was a seal enjoying the sunshine on his sleek body, diving in and out.

Our next one took us to another park and the hint said "not at the tree and dont force it". We were headed for a lonely tree near a fence line and i repeated the hint out loud. Dah, head slap as there was a tap on the fence and I looked down and while the pipe went almost to the ground it was not attached. Sneaky thing!

We didn't find as many caches as we hoped to, due to rain cold and tyre issues but we did add a mixture of visuals, letterboxes 24 of those, earth caches, some challenges and lastly an event. About 48 in all oh and a first to find. I had worked on puzzles to make a tassie devil, 86 of them, some that I couldnt or didnt know how to do, I turned over to Sheridan but they will have to wait for another time.

Churches in Tassie

From our room at the hotel, we could see down onto a church.

Out in the country side on Saturday, we had a church with  cemetery on the side, lovely little church. I think it would have serviced a bigger population years ago than is there now as it was a tiny hamlet.

We checked out of the hotel early Sunday morning and what a sight was in front of us.

Crochet project

No crochet classes until further notice. I have finished my purple blanket and didn't really have any new project in mind.  I had thought that one day I should take a pattern book and make every pattern in that book.

That day has arrived so I do have lots of wool and now time at home. My first pack of crochet hooks included a pattern book which I had cast my eyes over but did nothing in it.

Times have changed and very quickly so I have started at page one with a coaster. I do have trouble doing a square and it looking like a square! It's a running joke that my squares become ovals.

Thankfully the pattern goes from side to side with the colour used to crochet around the edges. I have made six with different colours.

My latest square, it's an improvement but still not perfect. I will keep practising.

Second pattern is a bag in two colours, I have done the first three inches. I think it will take me a few days.

The come down from Mt Wellington

At 6 degrees outside, it took awhile for our teeth to stop chattering. The chill factor was rather high as well. We sat for some time before heading back down the mountain. Daylight saving was great but the time does slip away and it was close of business time and we hadnt arranged anywhere to stay.

A comfort stop was discovered with a nice parking area so we did a quick pit stop. I noticed one of the back tyres was down a bit and suggested we head to a servo to put some air in it. Then we heard the hissing sound, it wasnt just low it was going down!

Car hire place weren't that helpful, more or less told us that it was our problem. We both know how to change a tyre but these days the nuts are usually put on with a machine making it impossible to loosen them. Such was a case this time. After a few phone calls, we were told that RACT would be with us in about 30 minutes, he was there is 31 minutes, what a service!

Of course he had all the gear and even told us where we could get it repaired the next day.

Back into Hobart and we ended to a caravan park when Sheridan had stayed a few years ago. Office was closed but there was a phone to ring after hours, no, they were fully booked out.  We realised why the next morning when we saw lots of bikes nearby and then a headslap also realised that we had seen large bulky bags coming off the plane with us, there was a bike race on for the weekend.

We let our fingers do the walking and secured a twin room at the Travelodge in town. By the time we got there, booked in and parked, it was after 8pm. Luckily there were some restaurants within walking distance, we chose to go Nepali food, much like Indian. Server took pity on us and bought us hot water to drink, think we must have looked cold. We were the only patrons but they were closing at 9pm. Nice meal and after we were well and truly ready for bed after a 4am start.

Mt Wellington Tassie

Last time I was in Hobart it was November and as we came out of the conference, we could see that it was snowing on Mt Wellington. I had never ventured up there before but we had an virtual cache to capture so up we went. It is only 20 kms from Hobart mostly up.

T was cold and we knew it would be colder up there, some locals told us that it can be 10 degrees colder at the summit.

This was the trig point that we needed, the photo was takin from the car as we were trying to convince ourselves to get out and up there.

I got to within 15 metres where the nice concrete path ended and would have needed to scramble over wet, slippery rocks. I sent my photo to the co and stated that on a day like that I wasnt going any further and if I didnt get the smiley, that was just too bad. He came back and said that as he didnt want to be responsible for anyone going apex over base, he considered I had fulfilled the requirement. Oh, shucks.

I took a photo of the cars temp when we got back inside and it was 6 degrees, hello people, it's still summer/Autumn. 

Nice scenery on the way down. 

Salamanca Tasmania

It rained on and off all day on the Friday that we were in Tassie and we had a requirement to visit the area of Salamanica. It is famous for having markets every Saturday morning.

Warren visited years ago and really wanted to buy a clock from an old guy who made them himself. The guy only dealt in cash and Warren didnt have time to go an ATM before they had to leave, he was on a work trip. I went a few months later and while my trip was also work related, I at least had the weekend free so I went to the markets and bought a wooden clock which has graced our kitchens ever since.

Going to Salamanca other than Saturday mornings is very different. We had to discover the Able Tasman statue. It was cold and wet, luckily we were able to park reasonably close and make a dash over and take a couple of photos.

Doo town.

This is a real town in Tassie. I was going to state that every house is named with Doo in it but I suppose there could be some that dont. Every house that we passed by did have a name plate.

I can't remember all that we saw but there was Doo little and Dr Doo little. Doo drop in, doo'ing time, The Doos and where we went, the Tasman Arch had a fish and chip van called  Doo lishus.

The Arch

We walked all around the Arch to get the info that we wanted, then realised the info board was just behind the f&c van. Oh, well, it was interesting to walk around, only thing it was raining, not heavy but a wetting rain.

A different type of beanie

I belong to a group of women online that we are using up our stash of wool and fabric. Usually mine is about the fabric that I am making into quilts

Someone put up a picture and a link to a pattern which she started as a colourful bag until her four year old saw it and decided it was a hat/beanie.

I had been crocheting a blanket in shades of purple, there was quite a bit over and so I started one of these beanies with the left over. Its just one piece and then stitched together along one edge and top is tied off which makes the fringe.

Currently making a second but will make it smaller in length and larger to fit an adult.

Remarkable Caves

We collected the hire car from the airport and drove away heading down to near Pt Arthur. The nearest cache was called 1.5 and it was just off the highway, it had several favourite points so we figured it would be worthwhile stopping. As the car drew near, there was a sign advising the grade was 1.5 so I thought (wrongly)that it would be on the back of the sign.

It was a further 10 metres away and was a small poly pipe with a toy car on one end and a push bike on the other, looking much the same as the road sign, cache was tucked up the pipe. It also got a fav pt from us and it meant we received our Tassie souvenir.

On to the cave through the rain. Very pretty place.

Then we walked down the steps, many of them. I got down half way and thought I was there but no, there were still more steps to go down. The steps were made of plastic squares so no slip thank goodness as it was raining and there were hand rails 

Our task was to discover who took the photos and how many squares were below our feet. We qualified for the smiley and then had to climb back up the steps and I hate steps! I am trying to push myself to not avoid steps/stairs. I did take longer to get back up and it was not that busy.

Time to say goodbye

When we were in Canada, two and a half years ago, doesn't time fly, I bought a pair of crocs. These were so different to any that I had seen before and so much cheaper than home.

I wore them a lot. The soles have been getting quite thin and I knew the time had to come that they had to go but I kept wearing them, thinking that it would be the last time.

Yesterday, I was taking Warren and Lucy on a walk to check on two of our caches, due to the recent rains, I thought that some of the path may have water over it. Best shoes for this? Yep, you guessed it, my crocs.

They are can't see me ones as well.
I had forgotten that while it is a well defined path, much of it is pebbled. It was 1.5kms to the end, which we didnt get to as the path turned to a lake plus a large tree branch was down over it. As we were only 200 metres from the end and we had done what we needed to do, we turned back. My feet were sore as well from the stones.

 I had worn a hole and soles were very thin. Warren suggested that he put them in the bin. A good idea as I probably would have kept using them.
Will be shopping for a new pair when we visit Canada next.

Tassie, here we come.

We spent the weekend in and around Hobart last weekend. It was an early start, our alarms were set for 4am.

We had the front row on the plane, which was great with extra leg room. We only had back packs so a quick exit off the plane and to the car rental desk.

Great sculpture of Tassie Devils, we didnt see any live ones.

Bread and butter pudding.

Yuk! Growing up this was one of our staple desserts along with salgo pudding, baked custard, rice pudding, jam roly poly. All if them I would have preferred to go without but cant waste good food so my memories as a kid was being left at the table until my bowl was empty or Mum took pity on me. I did miss a lot of washing up duties though so that was a bonus.

Warren was also brought up on these and loved them. Junket was a favourite of his, which involved putting a flavoured tablet into warm milk. Again yuk from me.

I saw a cooking program a few weeks ago for a b&b pudding and it looked quite easy. When we had friends for dinner a few days ago, I decided to make it as I thought they would like it as well. I had never made a custard before either as I don't like that.

The recipe was a little "upmarket" and used cherries rather than sultanas. I thought it looked a little dry but I was told that it was good. I did not even have a taste!

This was what was left for Warren for the following day. It wont become a regular on our menu but glad that I gave it a whirl. It did take five eggs, made five serves. 

My last quilt.

For the grandkids and surprise surprise, it's done almost two months early. I had an idea in mind to make a pattern rather than a bit haphazard and I actually put pen to paper to do it.

Some of my seams are not as precise as they could be but as my mum used to say "A blind man would be happy to see it". Funny how sayings come to mind. Another of mum's was said about someone who wasn't that pretty was, "she has a kind face.....like a cow". This wasn't said to be mean but more to say something nice about a person.

Anyway my quilt is done really to be gifted when the time is closer. It is yellow and grey but the greys with the yellow look very dark, either black or chocolate brown.

Maleny Cheese factory

Yay, this place is open again. About eighteen months ago, it was deliberately lit and caught on cc TV but no one has been charged over it. They were back making cheese and smallgoods within a couple of weeks but it has taken much longer to get the cafe back in operation.

On one of the weekend TV shows which highlight local industries and places to see did a feature on it and advising that it was up and running again. We saw it a few weeks ago and as we were going to be in the area last week, we thought we would give them some business.

Lunch.

This was a ploughmans lunch, we shared it. Egg and bacon sluce at the back, olives and sundried tomatoes in oil are out of the picture, a couple of relishes and gerkins. Yum, not sure if it is for one person or to share, we shared and it was plenty, actually we did leave a little.
Good to see the place in business again and it was quite busy.

Woodford

We have visited here a few times since living in Queensland. Nice coffee shops and a good pub where we have had a few meals. Typical pub meals so after the first time, we learnt to only order entrees.

The last time we went through, we didnt buy coffee or a meal as I had taken coffee from home but we did stop in the middle of town and wandered through the park.

I was impressed by a couple of posts at either end and the pictures that were on them.

Just a bit of fun but gives an idea of the town's industries. Love discovering things like this.

Footy fundraiser

Last week we watched an Interstate afl match. These matches are no longer on the agenda but the powers that be organised it as a fund raiser for the bushfire relief.

 The boys played either for Victoria, the home of footy or The All Stars which was a team made up from the other state origins. Four players from my team played, it was the best of the best. After leading most of the game, the Vice ended up running away with it.

Coles donated $5000 every time there was a centre bounce, there were over thirty goals kicked so lots of molar there, another company donated $10 per person in the audience, over fifty one thousand.

The jumpers and the balls were auctioned off and just over eight million dollars was raised. Some of the money is being used to help out communities rebuild their sporting facilities, a large percentage was given over to Red Cross.

Many of the volunteers, firefighters, SES, police, ambos etc were invited to attend. It was a good night alround.

Nachos

A favourite  meal but with one of the main ingredients being corn chips, it's no longer on our menu plan. I wondered if I could come up with something similar.

I cooked mince with some frozen spinach. Baked grated cheese mixed with an egg, this was a bit thicker than I intended but the taste was okay.

Topped with avocado and some sour cream, it wasn't too bad. No corn chips and no beans.

I tried a new recipe for chocolate pudding. It came from a Keto recipe book, very easy.

Started with 200ml of coconut milk, 2 tablespoons of cocoa, 2 tablespoons of fake sugar, cinnamon (I used nutmeg as I didn't have any cinnamon) vanilla, salt and an avocado. Funny thing, it tasted like there was some type of alcohol in it. We both remarked on it, maybe I was a little heavy handed with the vanilla. I added sliced strawberries and cream. Yum.

My not so favourite quilt

Finally I got this finished on Friday, should have been done before but life and driving duties got in the way so my time was curtailed.

The quilt did come together quite nicely in the end and now that it's done, I guess it's not so bad.

It was my third to complete for the month, my challenge is to make two in a month so I am in front.

 Now I can get on to my next one which will be shades of yellow and grays. Fabric is washed and ironed ready to go but footy is on so no more sewing today.