Tea for Tuesday - Pineapple Pie

There is a wonderful lady on the island Lusi who makes these wonderful island desserts. She made me one on the weekend called Pineapple Pie. I used to eat it in Fiji. Here is the recipe if you'd like to try it out. Here is the video.

I'm going to link up tomorrow with T for Tuesday, Bluebeard and Elizabeth she will be so surprised because the last time I linked up was May 2019 a loong time ago.

So abit of light reading about tea for you below:

I saw this on facebook under GREAT BRITISH TREA PARTY and loved it, especially the part about giving up sugar and the reasons, it made me think about how lucky we are to have so much at our finger tips and #Covid-19 has come to take us back to those days that our ancestors had to live on so little-we are definitely spoilt.

Mary Berry on Tea, pictured at home in Buckinghamshire - English food writer and television presenter.

"My mother was fussy about making tea. When we had guests, she would have two pots of leaf tea – one of Earl Grey and one Indian. If it was just family, it was a blend of Indian tea with a pinch of Earl Grey, which was dearer but we loved the flavour, so only a pinch. I like the idea of being quintessentially British and only drink tea in the afternoon. I have a cup of hot water when I wake up. Then I have coffee. In the afternoon I like weak Earl Grey with milk but no sugar – perfect. I find Earl Grey fresher than Indian tea. Just one cup is enough; I like it as a treat. It’s how I was brought up – nothing in excess, everything should be treated as something special."

Whenever my husband serves me tea or coffee he asks “Sugar?”, knowing full well that for the 50 years we’ve known each other I’ve answered “No thank you”. That’s because during the war my mother said: “If you give up sugar in tea and coffee, I’ll be able to make the odd cake, stale bread and margarine pudding, or rhubarb and crumble.”

Green Tomato Pickle

Last weekend my local vegetable shop Willow and Oak had some green tomatoes for sale, I was over the moon. I have not been able to find green tomato for 10 years since I got the recipe and made it. It is one of the best pickle recipes I have ever tasted.

Hence me trying to plant a lot of tomato trees this year. I bought the whole box which came to around 5 kgs. Which was 2 lots of the recipe. That was a lot of cutting up, thank goodness hubby helped me.

 I turn them upside down to sterilize the lid

Here is the recipe:

Green Tomato Pickles 

6lb (2.7kg) green tomatoes

2lb (900G) onions

2lb (900G) white sugar

2 pint (900ml) white vinegar

1 tbsp turmeric

1 tbsp mustard

1 tbsp curry or less ( I use 1/2 that)

1 tbsp salt

4 tbsp plain flour

½ tsp ground cloves

½ tsp ground all spice

Cut up onions and tomatoes. Sprinkle over the salt. Leave OVERNIGHT covered in fridge.

Next day drain well.

Add sugar, ¾ vinegar and bring to boil. Simmer for 2 hours. Add spices cook further ¼ hour. Mix flour with rem. vinegar. Stir until thickened.

Pour into very clean glass jars and seal

WOYWW 572 - 11th Anniversary - UFOs

Well it's that time of the year and week when we show off our desks. This one is special because its the 11th Anniversary, my oh my thats a long time to keep going but that shows how popular this desking is.

We used to make ATCs and swap with everyone who posted a desk, but with Covid hanging around and International flights being non existent in and out of most countries. Julia Dunnit of Stamping Ground has decided not to enact that this year but instead we are to do a UFO.

Cue a UFO that has been sitting around for nearly a year waiting for me to start it lol. Thanks to Covid (yes I have something to thank this awful virus for) I have had time to do some gardening and I needed pots for my seedlings which can be quite expensive when you are needing lots. This is where the Newspaper Pots come in. When my Street Library is ready I will put these pots with seedlings for people to take with them for free.

Since moving to the islands I've been motivated to recycle and reuse anything and everything where ever I can so step up  newspapers. I went and got a whole trolley full of newspapers from the local supermarket on a Sunday when they were throwing them out from not being able to sell. They go straight into the ground when your seedlings are mature enough. The newspaper will decompose.

So on my desk is some newspaper, cans, instructions and a new box of scissors that I got for $9, what a bargain and you all know how much I love my scissors LOL. Of course I can't forget my cup of tea. Next week I'll show you when my UFO is completed.

Some seed packets I got from Bunnings last week for winter planting and some favourites for later. Here is some information for the gardeners on how to dry out seeds before planting.

So hop on over to the Stamping Ground to see what everyones UFO's are.

5 in 5 - May 2020 - My Backyard

Today I am joining Sandie from itchifingers to post photos I have taken in 5 minutes.(Interesting concept)

I stood in my backgarden and took 5 minutes worth of photos and these were the best:

 Red Dragon fruit 

 Bird planted chilli tree

 Pine cones ready for the fire

 Blue string left by hubby, not sure what he was using it for

Chopped wood ready for the fireplace

Here's how it works:

1. Choose a location.
2. Have your camera ready.
3. Set a mobile timer for 5 minutes.
4. Take as many photos you can until the time is up.
5. Choose 5 photos to download and share by using the linkytool. 

We have until the 25th of the month to add your photos and if you want to know more about 5in5 there are details HERE.

Story of the bookcase and my famous recipe

So last week I had a zoom conference with some ladies from our homemaking online group and one bright eyed lady spotted my very untidy bookcase behind me. We all laughed when she told me I need to tidy it up, so it didn't take much for that comment to spur me on and get it tidied up.

It had been an eyesore, as you can see

Ta da nicely visible...and I didnt end there, I actually tidied up the whole office lol, you know how it is, you just cant stop. Anyway I now have a really nice clean office.

On the second shelf there is a book in the middle called Homecooked Feasts, my recipe for marinated prawns is in it on page 115

I have since improved that recipe so I use the original for chicken

Gardening - Frangipanis - updated

UPDATED 17May: I added more flowers at the bottom to show the beautiful flowers that will come out of all those cuttings. Aren't they gorgeous!

I wanted to show these photos before I lose them. LOL I grew up with frangipani trees everywhere. We had a huge one and I think it was a white and yellow one.  Well on the island I have been fortunate enough to find a gardening friend from our Monday garden group Jenny who has a beautiful garden of everything and frangipanis. She has around 25 trees of them. They are exquisite. I bought a cutting of very tree - well with 1 acre to play with I can have 25 trees lol. They would be more suitable to our bushfire region than the ones we have now which are also widow makers.

So at the moment they are sitting in buckets while I make the soil good for them. I am amazed how little work they need and they are thriving in the buckets.

Aren't some of them exotic! this is what I have to look forward to, one of them is blooming in the water bath

   

 

 
 

Never Give Up - Bread making

So those who know me know I don't give up, especially when it comes to cooking. I made this bread on Saturday when we lit our open fire (getting to be a tradition on a Saturday night this winter).

The video gives you sound effects on how crunchy it was, and yummy.

You can see my disaster with bread making with the same recipe.

Early this morning (5am) I made two more recipes, one to cook today (still not giving up hahaha), and one to go in the refrigerator to test Recipetineats theory that it tastes better after a few days (3) in the fridge.

Bread making disaster

I tried my hand at baking this very EASY RECIPE so they said and there were photo proofs to tell me they weren't lying hahahaha, I mean it looks easy enough, was easy enough, then disaster struck.

 Mixed the dough, I think it needed more than the recipe asked for so I added another half a cup of water but maybe it only needed a quarter cup

 See was not runny at all like the video says

added my 1/2 cup more water and it was too soft, I also think I handled it too much at this point as the dough was running off the baking sheet

Looks good enough but the round one was squished in my 4 quart cast iron pot you can see in the back. Next time I will put half the recipe in it. The new bread pan on the right, silly me didn't even oil it or use paper, next time I will use baking paper

Ta da I pulled and plucked and swore until half the bread came out, still tasted good though

The round bread, I must say they tasted good and smelt divine, so don't give up. I wont. Will try some today and cook it in the fireplace we are lighting again to have a feast.

Opps I forgot to post last weeks fire cooking. Going to try and do this every Saturday during lockdown and winter. 

Stay tuned!!!

Lifestyle Goals - Weekly, Monthly, Yearly Week 8 - 14 May 2020

How did you do with your goals last week?

Completed goals for week 1- 8 May

1.     Purchase a monitor/tv so Michael can get connected properly when working from home þ

2.     Continue to clean out pantry (its a huge one so its taking abit of time). þ

3.     Plant more winter vegetables like cabbage, (dang already misplaced the seed packets when I went to see what I was going to plant)

4.     Water plants with Potash, its a two week cycle, for the plants that are fruiting.. Nitrogen for when they are first starting out and any greens. þ

5.     Plant out sprouting ginger

6.     Watch the Eta Aquariids meteor shower between Saturday and Tuesday Tried but realised on the news report that it was best seen between 2am and 5am þ Zzzzz time

7.     Finish letters þ 1 down more to go

8.     Do my physio exercises þ

9.     Make chilli dishes with the Chillies I got from a great friend on the island Waty Marsh 

10.   Do something with the 847 g or 64 Quail eggs I got from and Island friend Huney

11.   Make soft yummy fudge that I got recipe   þ Ended up making 2 trays of this yummy fudge

12. Read a few pages of my current book WOMEN OF THE LAND – LIZ HARFULL.  þ

13. Continue with my family history research þFound some really interesting stuff about my great great grandfather

Goals for this week 8 - 14 May

1.     Learn how to work the Smart TV and its remote

2.     Continue to clean out pantry (its a huge one so its taking abit of time)

3.     FIND winter vegetables like cabbage, (from misplaced seed packets)

4.     Plant out sprouting ginger

5.     Dig holes for poles to plant dragon fruit

6.     Continue with letters

7.     Continue with my physio exercises

8.     Make chilli dishes with the Chillies I got from a great friend on the island Waty Marsh 

9.     Do something with the 847g or 74 Quail eggs I got from and Island friend Huney

10. Read a few pages of my current book WOMEN OF THE LAND – LIZ HARFULL

11. Continue with my family history research

12. Look for CURVES to photograph for A Bracelet of Days May Photo theme

Funny word distortions

Dominic a friend from Fiji sent this to me, I thought it was brilliant:

Washington Post's "Mensa Invitational" once again asked readers to take any word from the dictionary, alter it by adding, subtracting, or changing only one letter, and supply a new definition. Some of these will put you on the floor! Here are this year's winners:

1. Cashtration: The art of buying a home and becoming penniless.

2. Ignoranus: A person who is both stupid and an asshole.

3. Intaxication: Euphoria at getting a tax refund, which lasts until you realize it was your money in the first place.

4. Reintarnation: Coming back to life as a hillbilly.

5. Giraffiti: Vandalism spray-painted very, very high.

6. Sarchasm: The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person who doesn't get it.

7. Inoculatte: To take coffee intravenously when you are running late.

8. Hipatitis: Terminal coolness.

9. Karmageddon: It's like, when everybody is sending off all these really bad vibes, right? And then, like, the Earth explodes and it's like, a serious bummer.

10.  Glibido: All talk and no action.

Can you make some as well? Will be fun and I cant wait to see what you come up with

Reading - John Elliott - Stephenie Meyers

I read not only books but stories online, which is the almost norm these days. I came across this story of John Elliott, Australian CEO and millionaire who made a life changing decision to walk around Australian with a few camels.

I started following John Elliotts trek across Australia with 5 Camels, amazed at what he has been through on this trek.

One step at a time

Fear - Its all about to start

Videos

An except from his blog MY STORY

A life by design

• Ever since I was a young boy, where other dreamed of being a pilot, or a fireman, I wanted to have my own business.  I bred pigeons as a 12 year old to sell to a guy down the road and I kept writing down ideas and concepts that could one day be the thing that I was meant to do. I always had reasons or simply procrastinated even starting my own serious business. I had been in the insurance industry now for about 2 years, and at 26 I decided that I needed to start my own Insurance Broking company.   It now was not just a case that I wanted success, it was something which I knew was a key part to my happiness. I set rules for myself:
  1. Don’t get out of bed until you have slept as much as you feel you need to
  2. Don’t get out of the office until you have worked as much as you feel you need to
• I needed to start respecting and valuing myself as much as I did my work. This gave me a renewed passion and over the first few years the business exploded.  The average age of an insurance brokerage owner was 61 and had 40 years experience and a large cash pool behind them to start.  My other competitors were the insurance companies, with thousands of employees and multi million dollar budgets.
• And then there was me, 26 with 2 years doing low level broking, and a couple of grand in a one man office and a few ideas. Now that I was happy and doing what I wanted, and this was my biggest tool that always set me ahead of many of those around me.  I could work longer, network more, I got to again spend time with a massive range of people which as I said earlier, I loved.   I started to do what I loved and the results came through.
• Over the next 9 years the company and the other businesses I became involved in won several awards including Top Ten Australia Insurance Brokerage for over 6 years and BRW Fast 100 awards 2 years running putting us in the fastest growing businesses in Australia. I had the pleasure of at one stage working every single role in my company that exists today.

Life by my own Design V2 ??

• Everything was going well again humming along, I had a beautiful girlfriend and things were looking as if I could finally settle down get a house, start a family, the job was quite easy and the company was running itself. It scared the shit out of me.  At one stage I spent three days in a room, unsure where to go with this. It felt like that moment I had 10 years earlier, and we all know how that nearly ended.
• From outside in you would see someone who had worked hard and had it all.  But I realised more and more that I enjoyed the pursuit of these things more than the things themselves.  For some reason I had again gravitated or been pushed into a work of conformity, fitting in and measuring my own success as was determined by others not by myself. I knew this period of my life was done.  I was ready to go and redefine my own success happiness and the journey to it once again. To do this I wanted this time to share the journey to share the story as it unfolded. During this year Bitcoin came back on my radar, a few years after I had put a little in there in 2014 and 2015.  I started to learn more and more about it as I spent time traveling, thinking about what the next phase of my life would be. I started the process with a big clearing of my life.
• Over 12 months I was able to donate my Audi R8 to One Heart Foundation, move on from a relationship I felt trapped in, move out of a house that felt like an anchor keeping my here, resign as CEO of the company I started, walk away from the high end wage I had built up, and pretty much all of the creature comforts I had built up around me. This time coincided with my “playing” with crypto currency, which I have to say has been exciting and scary at the same time with my shares of wins and loses. But it was a catalyst for me to have something to do whilst on the road, to learn and to be the nucleus to get out again to see the world, and try a more nomadic life style. This is why this is called bitcoin made me do it.
• I wanted to finally start sharing my journey and see if in sharing my journey I could help others “find their bitcoin”. So join me as I share the journey as it continues, finding new and continued happiness in my life and still striving for success defined on my own terms.  A life with a lot less stuff, a whole lot of new and old friends and some experiences and places that I hope you will enjoy as much as I do.

And one of my favourite authors Stephenie Meyers of Twilight fame is releasing her 12 year old book Midnight Sun from Edward Cullen's perspective

Library - the inside one

This afternoon hubby and I got some energy and tackled the Library (hubby's haven). I cleaned the windows and blinds inside, hubby cleaned the windows outside. Hubby moved all the junk and I wiped down all the shelves and books which were covered in dust. Hubby sleeps in here on a mattress in summer as it has the only other air-condition besides the main bedroom.

We had gone out and bought a 32" Smart tv which is what you can see on the coffee table. I want to put another table in there to do the jigsaw puzzles we own and not do it on the dining table which is currently covered in groceries from the pantry which I am trying to clean out.

These are my two favourite bookshelves, my neighbour was renovating last year and I offered to take it off her hands at a bargain price, they are quite heavy and study and holds a lot of books. My self is on the left, have to get all the cookbooks from the garage and fill it up.

I must say it feels really good to do stuff like this and clean.  Dust bunnies were having a great time settling in.

Star Gazers

I love looking up at the stars especially when camping. Tonight and until Tuesday May 5 there will be.

Here's a snapshot of what it is:

• The Eta Aquariid meteor shower was caused by debris left by Halley's Comet
• It is best viewed in the southern hemisphere but is visible from most of the Earth
• Astronomers say at its peak on Tuesday there will be 40 shooting stars per hour

The next meteor shower to light up the sky will be the Eta Aquariids and it will see dozens of shooting stars per hour this weekend - ending at the peak on Tuesday.  

Eta Aquariids are created from the debris left behind by Halley's Comet and happen every year from the middle of April until the end of May.

They will be visible over the weekend where a dozen meteorites will be visible per hour but on Tuesday night this will go up to 40 or more per hour during the peak.

Astronomers say to watch the shower you should 'get a comfy chair' and be prepared to sit outside for hours - but you won't need binoculars or a telescope. 

The Eta Aquariids are named after the constellation Aquarius as they fall from that point in the sky and specifically the star Eta Aquarii.

They are the flashes of dust grains burning in the atmosphere left behind as the Earth passes the path of a comet.

That's the reason they appear on certain dates and return annually - as these comets are on an orbit and leave debris in certain parts of space. 

Renowned for their speed the meteors will be entering the earth's atmosphere and will leave a trail of glowing debris following them. 

They're best viewed in Australia because they rise to about 50 degrees in the sky, which is the best angle to view them from.

The Earth experiences a meteor shower when the Earth's orbit coincides with the comet's. Pictured is the Eta Aquarids Meteor shower taken over three nights over Devils Tower in Wyoming

There is a video on the link 

There are another nine meteor showers happening throughout 2020 including the Perseids

• Delta Aquariids: July 29-30 2020 - 20 per hour - Steady stream over days
• Alpha Capricornids: July 29-30 2020 - 5 per hour - Yellow slow fireballs
• Perseids: August 12-13 - 100 per hour - Bright, fast meteors with trains
• Draconids: October 8-9 - 10 per hour - From comet Giacobini-Zimmer
• Orionids: October 21-22 - 25 per hour - Fast with fine trains
• Taurids: October 9-10 (Southern), November 10-11 (Northern) - 10 per hour 
• Leonids: November 17-18 - 15 per hour - Fast and bright
• Geminids: December 14-15 - 100+ per hour - Bright and plentiful
• Ursids: December 21-22 - <10 -="" hour="" li="" nbsp="" per="" shower="" sparse="">

Lifestyle Goals - Weekly, Monthly, Yearly - Week 1 - 7 May 2020

We normally set our goals once a year in January and fail because the goal is too large. I want to start doing monthly goals as I feel the week goes too fast and nothing I planned gets achieved. Sometimes daily goals get thwarted.

I always admire people who write down their goals and achieve it, I also notice that these same people will not put down tools and smell the roses especially when it comes to an invite to socialise. Each to their own.

My motto is do your thing and if someone calls or sends an invite - accept it because it suits them when they invite to have you over or come visit - this was the lifestyle I grew up with in Fiji, it was wonderful and I have many stories to tell. 

Yes you can have your beautiful clean home

Yes you have achieved your goals

But is that what the (your) world is about or is it about 

memories and 

laughter 

spent with people you love and cherish

I challenge you to rethink your week/month/life/world

That is why I am going to try doubly (is this a word?) hard to do weekly goals.
Inspiration comes from two blogs that I follow Little house by the lake and A Bracelet of days 

Sometimes I think my goals are too many, I love too many things. 

Goals for this week 1 - 7 May

1.    Purchase a monitor/tv so Michael can get connected properly when working from home

2.    Continue to clean out pantry (its a huge one so its taking abit of time)

3.    Plant more winter vegetables like cabbage, (dang already misplaced the seed packets when I went to see what I was going to plant)

4.    Water plants with Potash, its a two week cycle, for the plants that are fruiting.. Nitrogen for when they are first starting out and any greens

5.    Plant out sprouting ginger and mulch my old raised garden beds

6.    Watch the Eta Aquariids meteor shower between Saturday and Tuesday

7.    Finish letters

8.    Do my physio exercises

9.    Make chilli dishes with the Chillies I got from a great friend on the island Waty Marsh 

10. Do something with the 847 g or 64 Quail eggs I got from and Island friend Huney

11. Make soft yummy fudge that I got recipe for

12. Read a few pages of my current book WOMEN OF THE LAND – LIZ HARFULL

13.     Continue with my family history research