Ginger Tea to the Rescue

I finished work this morning with a tickle in my throat. I am now 'enjoying' the beginning of my first head cold of the season.

I have made a big pot of vegetable and barley soup and I am supplementing that with cups of strong ginger and honey tea. I am snuggled in my jammies and wrapped up in my dad's bathrobe/dressing gown with my favorite socks on.

Okay it may not make it go away but I am feeling very nurtured so that has got to count for something :-)

So if I can just better by tomorrow morning so I can do my cooking group the world will be complete. Or, failing that, I need to find a surgical mask on my way to work so I am not breathing on the food lol

Cooking for Kids

I spent time as a chef for a childcare centre. Now this could have been a "cook's" job but I wasn't into serving regular food (chicken nuggets and the like). I wanted kids to learn and experience new (kid friendly) flavors. The centre had a policy of providing the best for the kids - both in care and food - and happily let me go on my way.

We ate from Morrocco and Vietnam and India and Thailand and Greece and South Africa and Argentina and wherever else i could think of. I fed them fresh, homemade pasta and real homemade mayonnaise. Custard was real Italian custard that didn't involve a box or a packet.

We had apples and oranges as well as mangoes and dragonfruit and lychees and jackfruit.

I had a few hundred cds so they could listen to the music from the countries they were eating the food from. I made kits so they could learn the flags, animals, national dress and whatever else I could find.

We started a herb and vegetable garden so they could eat what they grew (a great way of getting kids to try new things) and they learned about life and death and all the bits in between.

They learned to eat with chopsticks.

Commercial birthday cakes with fluffy sponge and way too much icing became second choice to my pear cake or my apple cake or my carrot cake.

The babies/little toddlers only ate food I had prepared and pureed or mashed myself.

What a way to be :-)

Heads or Tails - tell me yours.

Never Forget to Live

Pooh Bear Tuesday

A little Consideration, a little Thought for Others, makes all the difference.

Winnie the Pooh

Photo Challenge

It is that time of the week again when the shutters are clicking, or thinking about being clicked, as we head towards Friday.

This Friday's theme: Man-Made
Friday 6 June - Natural
Friday 13 June - Spiritual

Thanks to all who are Mr Linky-ing their posts - and all those who play. If you know of someone new who wants to join in, don't forget to welcome them with open arms :-)

Never Forget

Courage is being scared to death but saddling up anyway.

John Wayne

Booking Sunday

As well as my books, for an extra $10 each I got two bookcases :-) Gotta love this world - my little piles of books have progressively been breeding across the lounge room and the need for book cases is becoming more apparent so I asked for book cases and the universe did provide! So now I just need to find the rest of them lol

Random Mountain Shots

Magic Moments

So many to choose from this week but I narrow them down to three and will settle on the general them of food.

MM1: We didn't cook this Wednesday so I ran a nutrition group instead. It ran for over an hour and aside my little blurb at the beginning, the rest was filled with questions from our young people - these lovelies really do care about what they are eating :-)

MM2: I catered our Biggest Morning Tea function on Thursday - I certainly don't eat cakes and the like but I really do enjoy cooking them - and I had a crowd ready to eat so it was a match made in heaven.

MM3: I cooked dinner on Friday night - for a crowd of 5 and something fancier than I would make for myself. Apart from one recipe I saw in a magazine I made the rest up as I went along. So not only did I chop and stir and all the other bits that go with cooking but I had three little helpers that wanted to learn and be a part of it all too.

All three made me smile on the outside, and gave me a warm fuzzy glow on the inside. Go good to be alive.

Farewell to the Mountain

Nairbe and family are moving from the mountain in the next few months and so will end that chapter (the mountain, not the friendships) of my life.

The mountain has been my special place, my escape from the world, my place to heal. I thought I would be more distressed at the loss of access to the space and, while I am a little saddened, that is about it. Could it be that I don't need to go somewhere to heal and be nurtured anymore because I am healed and nurtured?

Could it be that I now go there for fun and friendship? For laughter and deep conversations? And that I can do anywhere. I was Mountaingirl long before I found the mountain, and I will be Mountaingirl long after I stop visiting.

Lol

Send someone a note that reads "Congratulations." Regardless of who he is, he'll think he's done something the past week to deserve it.”

Art: "Frog Kiss" by Mel Williams

Dinner Tonight

I haven't cooked wildly and lavishly in forever and as I appear to be in a cooking mood this week I though I would share what I am making for dinner tonight (I did have to work around the tastes of three juniors but I think it will suffice).

• Lamb, feta and mint wrapped in filo
• Oven baked chicken with olives and lemon (yes there is a bit of a Greek thing happening here)
• Smashed potatoes with rosemary and sea salt
• Eggplant rolls stuffed with ricotta (probably a bit more Italian than Greek)
• Steamed green beans
• Spicy roasted pumpkin

Now this is only in my head at the moment - although I gone to the grocery store so the shopping is presently strewn through the kitchen) - so I will take photos and write out the recipes once I have actually "invented" them lol.

Oh and I have a cheese and nibbly platter for sometime today/tonight - got 7 great cheeses plus olives and dips and pate and stuff and stuff.

I love to cook, I have people to who love to eat for and it is my last night on the mountain (for this time anyway) - what more could a girl ask for?

Such is Life

Get your facts first, then you can distort them as you please.

Mark Twain

Photo Challenge - Taste

I'm Not Called Mountaingirl for Nothing!

I have two wonderful sleeps on the mountain - and the house to myself for the afternoon (with computer use as a bonus pleasure).

I did notice as I sat down to read my magazine that the fireplace is perfectly set out for a fire - paper in the actual fireplace with kindling through to logs lined up on the hearth. Sigh, if that wasn't a hint :-)

The came the phone call - yes I was welcome to use the computer as well as light a fire if I got cold. I responded calmly that a doona on my knees would keep me lovely and warm. There was a small pause and then "it would be nice to come home to a warm house". A girl has gotta laugh!

So the fire is roaring and I am laughing - at me this time. I took photos of my perfect firelighting techniques so I could write some wildly witty post to got with it but ... well I can't download the photos - its not my computer so you will have to take a generic shot instead and just believe that I have a roaring fire beside me ha ha ha.

The Colors of My Heart

I got this from Abz and surprisingly it didn't come back and say it was black (referring tomy Love Q for today).

Your Heart is Blue and Orange

Your heart is bright and brilliant. You are knowledgeable, wise, and confident. You bring dynamism and sparkle to relationships. You know how to keep your partner hanging on your every word.

What Are the Colors of Your Heart?

Sigh .... And Giggle

In my sex fantasy, nobody ever loves me for my mind.

Nora Ephron

Sculpture by Joanna Mallin-Davies

Bowraville Folk Museum

I spent a few hours in the Museum yesterday - didn't even begin to see everything but had a ball! My visit was definitely enhanced by having a tour guide that added personal histories or explanations of various items.

For those unfamiliar with this treasure trove, it is nestled in the town of Bowraville on the New South Wales Mid North Coast. There is over 1000 m2 devoted to maintaining the folk history of the Nambucca Valley. Folk history is the preservation of day to day life - kitchens, clothes, photos, work, tools, entertainment and the church. All of it is run by volunteers.

The oldest item I found was from the mid-1800's, the newest a computer from the early 1980's. I will set myself the challenge to verify this over future visits :-)

And all of this for the princely entry fee of $2.20 (yes you read that properly - two dollars and twenty cents).

I took over 50 photos yesterday, which I will use progressively as time goes on but here are three to start with. I can't call them favorites as such because at this point everything is my favorite but I had to start somewhere.

The Museum has a large collection of the milk bottles used in the Valley. The one with the red label was the one used by the Bowraville dairy.


There is a huge display of photos and portraits of the settlers of the Valley. Some of them look stern, some beautiful but none of them could have had it easy by our standards.


Hey, its a book - and a big, beautiful old book. My sort of heaven :-) Apparently the candlestick was black when it was donated but one of the members took it home and faithfully began polishing until it shined.

Love Q #4

Is it really better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all?

No. It is all very lovely to think that those lovely memories will keep you warm and your heart and eyelids fluttering as the years go by but I think that is crap ... I mean so terribly wrong.

You can spend the rest of your life repeating the last memories (which let's face it, the relationship didn't last so the last memories are never good - death, argument, betrayal, whatever) or pining for something that gets more unreal as the years pass.

Imagine you had the most perfect piece of food ever (chocolate, fruit, whatever works for you) - for the rest of your life while things might be great, you know that they aren't as good as they could be because you have tasted perfection.

If you only get one shot at love, and you can see the future and know it isn't going to last, then avoid the whole thing completely.

Lol

For this week, we are linking to Mae and JM. And the home of Love Q is at Short Sweet Love Poems.

Australia's Biggest Morning Tea

This morning we are having our part of Australia's Biggest Morning Tea with money raised to go to cancer research.

I said I would cater but I know of at least one lovely person who is bringing something along (yah) but anyway, my list of yummies are:

Sausage Rolls (homemade of course)
Mini Quiche's
A chocolate and strawberry cake
Chocolate Carmel Slice
Lime Butter Cake
Apple Strudel
Fairy Cakes
Chocolate Brownies
and (I think maybe) a selection of sandwiches.

Photos and recipes will be up on Yummy Tucker early next week - I am going away for a day or two as soon as the morning tea is over :-)

Photo Challenge Update

Oh I am having a hard time with taste - I hope y'all having more luck than I at getting an okay shot lol.

Anyway, onwards and upwards :-)

Yes, tomorrow 23 May we are posting "Taste"
Friday 30 May is "Man-Made"
Friday 6 June is "Natural

The pop-up problem is still being worked out but as it conculsively ISN'T the linked to Mr Linkey, he will be back tomorrow so don't forget to swing by and add your name to the list.

Words Get In The Way

If you could say it in words there would be no reason to paint.

Edward Hopper

Art from Be Free and Live's site

Happy Days

Every time I see a Jamie Oliver book for sale through "my" Ebay seller charliejodesigns I put a $10.00 bid on - just to get things started. I quite enjoy his food although he is annoying so it is no real imperative to actually own one but I have never turned down a recipe book lol

The silly thing about young Jamie's books is that they go for the same price as new ones (and then add postage on) even though all of his books are still in print - yes I have been monitoring this generally with other sellers too for three years now.

Well, the planets have aligned and I have been successful with my lowly $10.00 bid. Okay I don't get it until Booking Sunday but who can wait that long to share the joy (and amazement) lol

Pooh Bear Tuesday

You can't stay in your corner of the Forest waiting for others to come to you. You have to go to them sometimes.

Winnie the Pooh

Life Is ...

Avoid the crowd. Do your own thinking independently. Be the chess player, not the chess piece.

Photo from Dohiyi Mir