Living in the 70's

Last night my brother and sister in law, Steph threw a 70's themed party using Steph's birthday last week as an excuse. It was such a fun night and everybody came dressed up. I managed to dig up some gypsy style clothes that were popular in the late part of the 70's and even found some of the beads I bought when I was about 16!, Some were hippies and others wore the more trendier mid 70's garb. Platform shoes, sandals, boots, blue eyeshadow, headbands and afro wigs were in abundance, there was even an original dress or two in there.  All the party food was 70's themed from Pigs in blankets and curried eggs to Fondue.  We drank cocktails and listened to 70's music and we even managed a dance or two. Everyone was pretty reluctant to end the night but I am sure that my son's mate was relieved when I finally rang him to come pick me up at 2 this morning. I am really enjoying the boys picking me up from a party-pay back for all the years I have been doing it for them!

Absolute Treasure

I think that most dedicated Op Shoppers know that we will usually find something when we go and poke around, sometimes we will find a hidden gem or two and on rare occasions we will come home with absolute treasure. This is one of those absolute treasure finds that my daughter and I came home with a while ago. It is a real fur and it fits Nicky perfectly. I spent this morning sewing the arms back into it and repairing the lining and it is now as good as new all ready for a night out on the town.

Sharing.

On Friday Ben gave us some pumpkin all peeled and cut up which David very promptly made a big pot of soup out of. Bobbem decided that once the bowl was empty it would make the perfect place to sleep. We are still not sure how he managed to get into it without tipping himself and the bowl off the bench or how he could possibly be comfortable.

 But he was quite happy to sleep in it for a while.

 Usually when I go into town I do what I have to do and come straight home to the warmth of the fire. It has been an absolutely beautiful day today after a massive frost this morning. I finished tidying up where I had been gardening yesterday then this afternoon I had to go into town to feed a friends dogs for her and decided that on the way I would do a few other things as well.

I had to take some empty jars and other bits and pieces to Edna and came away with another box of her delicious lemons.Dave used nearly all the last lot either for hot lemon drinks for the cold he had last week and for homemade cordial. He has made a few batches now and has been perfecting his recipe as he goes.

I also called into my brother's for a quick visit and to return a pile of books I had borrowed a while ago and was handed a bag of oranges. I think this means we will have Orange/lemon cordial in the fridge this week. 

Lots more pumpkin soup is going to be made in my kitchen in the coming weeks. On Monday nights I play Carpet Bowls and was chatting to one of the guys after the game. He was telling me that he had so many pumpkins this year that he didn't know what he was going to do with them all. I very quickly offered to take some off his hands............he dropped these off today.  He had a bag of oranges from my brother as well cause he had just dropped some pumpkins off to him.

It is nice that people are happy to share their produce. 

Redecorating and wayward children.

I decided that a little redecorating was in order yesterday. As I am wont to do I left it until late afternoon and by the time I got to the Banner I was running out of time. With a meeting at 6.15 to go to I spent more time looking at the clock than working on the Banner and as expected the one I came up with was very ordinary. Thankfully my son Dave said, "Don't worry Jackie, I will do one for you" So off I went to the meeting and left it all in his hands.  Neither of us is sure whether we like it or not but it is definitely better than the one I did.
When I got home I had a message on my phone from my daughter, Atticus was missing! It has only been a very short time since Munchie left us and she was beside herself with worry. There was still no sign of him this morning and we were both imagining the worst, I sent her off to the nearby vets on her way to work this morning just in case he had been taken there. They did have a very cranky tabby cat there that no one could get near but as  soon as he saw his Mum he gave his funny little purr, shook his tail and came to her. Thankfully this time we had a happy ending.

A simple but very delicious meal

 I'm not going to bore you with recipes to encourage you to eat the way we do now but tonight dinner was so good and so easy I thought that I you might want the recipe for these. I know that everyone has their own Pumpkin soup recipe and this is the one I have arrived at after a few years of experimenting.

Aromatic Pumpkin Soup

Olive oil for cooking

2 diced onions

5 large cloves of garlic

2 tablespoons of chopped ginger

1/2 teaspoon curry powder

2 1/2 kg pumpkin, peeled and diced

4 litres of good quality chicken or vegetable stock

Heat oil in a large 6 litre pot and add onion, garlic and ginger. Saute until clear. Add pumpkin, curry powder and stock. Stir and cook on medium heat with the lid on for about 40 minutes or until cooked. Blend soup to your desired texture when cooled.

The Pizza is a recipe in the Women's Weekly- The 21 day diet planner cookbook ( a book I highly recommend, for quick and healthy meals) There may be only a few ingredients to this recipe but they combine to make an absolutely delicious pizza. 

Potato and Rosemary Pizza

2 medium potatoes sliced thinly

1 large pitta bread or a couple of smaller pitta breads

2 teaspoon of garlic-infused olive oil

1 1?2 tablespoons finely grated parmesan cheese

 3 teaspoons finely chopped fresh rosemary

2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves

Boil, steam or microwave potato until tender, drain.

Preheat oven to 220 C Line oven tray with baking paper

Place bread on tray; brush with half the oil. sprinkle with cheese; arrange potato slices, slightly overlapping over the cheese. 

Sprinkle pizza with herbs; drizzle with the remaining oil, season.

 Bake pizza about 15 minutes or until base is crisp.

When life gives you lemons............

I have always tried to cook healthy nutritious meals in my home but things could have been better. The bikkie jar has always been there and prepackaged whatever has had a habit of sneaking in when I have been working or just had a busy day. Just recently I have made a bit of a change to what I eat, to lose weight and to approach meals in a much healthier way. The cupboard is full of grains, the fridge is full of fresh vegies and only lean meat on the menu. If I can't make it from scratch then we just don't have it.  Not only have I lost weight but the meals are really delicious and my cholesterol is down as well. (Not quite vegetarian Pam cause I still like my meat but very very close)

My son came home from a few weeks away and couldn't believe that I don't even have cordial in the cupboard.

Today I went and helped my friend Edna with a few things she needed doing and she sent me home with a bag of lemons. 

So Dave got on the net and found a recipe.......

and made himself some lemon cordial, which tastes much better than the bought stuff and is so very much cheaper.