Well - it's been a while since we last blogged and so there's a few photos to catch up on! The above photo is of one of our local supermarkets, the carpark is normally full of cars but here it is full of water. Mother nature put on a show for our UK Tinkers and in one hour we experienced 120 mils accompanied by a fairly impressive thunder and lightning storm. In fact the thunder was as strong as I've ever experienced it, a few times it literally made the house shake. Thankfully our house was unaffected but many others weren't so lucky. It would be fair to say that we are now officially out of our drought situation.
On a much sunnier day, Maisie got into her best party clothes and off she went to Haylie's 2nd birthday party.
The present, stylishly wrapped & custom made by Miss M herself, is a fairy princess bubble wand, which was very well received.
Also very well received was the food - their was a wonderful array of party fare and cake, and Maisie made every effort to enjoy as much as possible.................. . . . . . . .
. . . . . .........as you can see here, being the last one still at the table eating.
Taking after her mum & dad's love of food, and lots of it, after enjoying dad's homemade chicken tikka masala (without the chillis!), we thought we'd try her out with japanese soba noodles. They have quite an earthy taste to them and thought we might be pushing it and dad was poised ready to make an urgent omelette..... but Maisie enjoyed it so much she couldn't find a spoon big enough.
All this eating requires a little exercise, and after Granddad put together the new 12 foot trampoline, it was time for some 'dumpy dumpy' with dad.
And here she is dumpy dumping with her Polish friend...
Weather wise we are now down to 5 deg cel at night (outside - not in!) and so the fire season has officially commenced. What you can't see in this photo is Maisie blowing on the fire - because it's hot you see, and this is what one does when things are hot.
Ahhhhhhh....... toasty hands......
Last Saturday morning we decided that a fluffy was long overdue, and so off we headed for not only a fluffy, but a gingerbread man too. For those unfamiliar with the 'fluffy', it is an espresso cup filled with either plain or chocolate milk foam, sprinkled with hundreds & thousands and served with marshmallows. As you can imagine it is extremely popular with young children, while mum & dads enjoy their coffee in (relative) peace.
Also very popular with children, is water, and dishwash liquid....
.....once one is finished skiddling (Scottish word as advised by Granny), it is time to indulge in a fejoia or two. Fejoia's are also known as Pineapple Guavas... and they are quite an acquired taste, which I can't compare to any other flavour... it has a perfumy / floral sweet taste. Maisie and I love them, Dave however is less than impressed with them, so much so I can't repeat his spoken thoughts on them.
What do feijoas taste like?
Describing the taste of a feijoa is tricky, as it has such a complex blend of flavors. Most compare the highly fragrant and soft center of feijoas to pineapples, strawberries and guavas as well as quince and lemons. Feijoas also have an essence of mint or eucalyptus to them. The texture is somewhat gritty, like that of a pear.
Click on this link to find out more http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feijoa
The end of the day was kind enough to supply a beautiful sunset, and there wasn't a better evening to make a spicy pepperoni pizza. There was even a scattering of Miss basil to compliment Mr pizza. It is from the last remaining plant in the garden, which is refusing to admit defeat to the cooler weather. To be honest, I wish it would as I could do with starting on the 3 tonnes of pesto currently in our freezer.... which is not assisting us in our urgency to eat down the freezer supplies which will be replaced by cow. Well, a quarter of one anyway. We have a friend who's parents have 'a few cows' and apparently they taste just lovely (sorry veggies for any offence caused!). So you can see why we need to mooooove out the freezer goods - we are going to beef things up a little in this household!
