Big goal achieved!

Yes, my house is finally on the market. It has taken longer than expected to get everything finished and the house in a state I was happy with. I spent a few hours yesterday morning coming up with the words for the ad. Luckily the weather was shockingly bad so I didn't feel like I was missing out on anything by being tucked up inside with my laptop.

If you'd like to see the ad here is a link : http://www.trademe.co.nz/Trade-me-property/Residential-property/Houses-for-sale/auction-343491677.htm

Of course now the hard work begins - actually getting someone interested, working through negotiations on price, etc.

Again, I'd like to thank all who have helped me get this far. Being temporarily one-handed has not made the preparation for this easy at all. Without the kindness and hard work of friends and family I wouldn't have managed to get to this stage.

Strange dinner

Coping with one hand sometimes means it is difficult to cook for myself. Luckily I had a huge binge on soup making over the winter. Yesterday I grabbed a container of "something" out of the freezer. As it turned out it was pumpkin soup. I had the brilliant idea of cooking up some brown rice and mixing that with the soup. Some fresh chopped coriander was added and that was dinner. Did you want photos? Too bad - I ate it all before thinking of taking photos. :)

Update on 101 things to do in 1001 days

As promised, here is an update on my 101 things to do list. While working through the list it's made me realise how I have lost my focus over the past few months - time to get back into this!

1. Write a letter to myself to open in 10 years
2. Go vegetarian for one month
3. Walk the Milford Track - this may well happen in 2011 - in fact the plan is to walk it twice out of season (walk it in one direction then turn round and walk back)
4. Spend a holiday exploring the top of the North Island (everywhere north of Auckland)
5. Visit the Coromandel
6. Visit Tauranga
7. Make a quilt
8. Go to 3 music concerts
9. Invest in a decent sound system - complete - bought a second hand amp and surround sound system
10. Downsize my house and my mortgage - I'm heading towards this goal with my house going on the market within the next couple of weeks
11. Blog at least once a week - I've not done so well with my blogging but hope to get this back on track from now on.
12. Have a massage once a month - not doing very well on this but it's become less important to me these days
13. Declutter my house - this has been going well but of course there is always more
14. Clean out garage - this is almost complete - one more load of rubbish should finish this off.
15. Stick to my budget - not doing very well here but working on it
16. Track all expenses
17. Try 50 new recipes - I need to do my sums as I am certain I am progressing well on this one
18. Listen to one new musician / band every month
19. Buy a piece of art
20. Find a great cupcake recipe
21. Replace my lounge suite
22. Make new cushions for the lounge
23. Increase mortgage payments
24. Go skiing - done! Went up skiing twice during the winter and it was fantastic!
25. Compile my favourite recipes
26. Give blood regularly - I've been struggling with giving blood. I couldn't give a couple of months back as I was suffering from cold sores. Now I can't give for three months due to the surgery I had on my finger.
27. Become a volunteer for the Samaritans - this is one to look into in the new year - have to find out when the next intake happens
28. Go sky-diving
29. Only buy clothes / shoes for replacing existing items
30. Take 3 cooking classes - I did my thai cooking class but the other two classes I had enrolled on were cancelled so I need to find some more.
31. Complete Christmas shopping by October - totally failed this year - I haven't done any Christmas shopping yet
32. Attend a yoga retreat
33. Eat less red meat - this is going very well
34. Eat more fish - with the reduction in red meat I have been eating a lot more fish.
35. Donate $10 to charity for each task I don't complete
36. Go camping - done! Many times!
37. Go on an unplanned road trip for a weekend
38. Put together an emergency kit
39. Take a dance class
40. Do yoga three times a week for a month
41. Go to a live comedy show
42. Buy fresh flowers once a month
43. Make 25 different cocktails
44. Try out a new restaurant once every two months
45. Make a winter dress
46. Spend a rainy day with someone in bed
47. Sleep under the stars
48. Read a science fiction book
49. Prepare and have a romantic candlelit dinner at home
50. Read at least one non-fiction book a month
51. Complete a sudoku every day
52. Go to a wine and food festival
53. Go to 10 plays
54. Go white-water rafting
55. Menu plan every week
56. Reduce grocery spend to $70 / week
57. Review goals once a week
58. Make soap
59. Take a bubble bath every month - hmmmm, I removed my bath when the bathroom was renovated so this isn't happening. I am in the spa at least once a week and usually more.
60. Build something out of wood
61. Buy a "round town" bike for running errands
62. Set up spare room as a real guest bedroom - I had completed this one but I had only borrowed a bed which has now gone so have to start this one again
63. Go on holiday to Japan
64. Donate 100,000 grains of rice on freerice.com
65. Create a cleaning schedule
66. Take a class and learn something new
67. Donate food to the local food bank once a month
68. Do a random act of kindness once a month
69. Knit something
70. Make a loan through Kiva
71. Go see a 3D movie
72. Keep in regular contact with my brother
73. Sew Christmas stockings
74. Go to an art gallery every month
75. Get involved with local Transition Towns group
76. Take a pole-dancing class - done!
77. Assemble a first aid kit for the car
78. Have a productive vegetable garden year-round
79. Complete a scuba diving course
80. Learn to garden organically
81. Reduce food wastage
82. Visit my parents twice a year
83. Write an “if anything ever happens to me” letter - complete although I am planning to do this at least once a year to ensure things are up to date
84. Clean out and organise my filing system
85. Check my car's oil and water every month - doing well on this one (surprisingly)
86. Change the oil and oil filter at least annually
87. Once a month meet a different friend for lunch - doing well on this one
88. Clean out the dreaded box of cables
89. Swim in a lake, a river, the sea and a pool - river, sea and pool all done. Hoping to get the lake one out of the way later in the year
90. Wear matching underwear at least once a week
91. Put $1o in a jar for each completed task
92. Try geocaching
93. Donate to one new charity each year (ongoing)
94. Take more photos
95. Take an art class - complete - totally enjoyed my basic drawing skills class
96. Visit a waterfall I haven't been to before
97. Write a positive thought down every day for a month
98. Kiss in the rain
99. Mid-winter swim
100. Write my name in the sand and take a photo of it - complete
101. Bake bread once a month - new recipe each month

One-handed posting

I've been feeling guilty in recent times that I have not been posting as regularly as I've wanted to. Apologies for that.

Sadly I now have a decent reason / excuse for being slack. Actually there is a chance I will post more regularly but the posts themselves may be a little shorter than usual. And the reason for this? Well, I came off my bike 10 days ago and have damaged my right index finger putting my right hand completely out of action for a couple of months. I'll not make you ill by posting a photo of the damage I did but basically I cut through the tendons on the underneath of my index finger as well as losing 90% of the nail and some flesh from the fingertip. An ambulance to the hospital was followed by loads of waiting, xrays (no broken bones!) and finally plastic surgery the day after the accident. Now I am in a splint for 6 weeks and have a lot of therapy ahead of me but will hopefully end up with full use of the finger in the future.

Anyone who knows me well will understand how frustrated and bored I am currently feeling now that I am down to one hand. I will be off my bike for a couple of months and, post-surgery, my energy levels are lacking. My house is nearly ready to go on the market - as soon as the photos are ready the ad will go on the internet. Luckily my sons and their girlfriends have been helping me out big time to get everything ready to go.

So, that's my news. For once I have plenty of time but this injury means I can't really take advantage of that free time. My usual sunny attitude is being sorely tested but is still (surprisingly) there most of the time.

House work (no, not housework)

My focus currently is getting my house ready to sell. A while back I was starting to feel quite panicky (which is unusual for me) about how much work was needed to get the house in a decent state for sale. Someone suggested I have a working bee which I hadn't really considered. I am definitely not good at asking for help - am far too independent for my own good sometimes. But, I took the advice and set a date and asked friends and family if they would be able to come and help me.

Well, Saturday dawned wet, cold and miserable but I got myself sorted, did some baking and crossed my fingers. In the end I had 13 people come and lend a hand.

Three very hardy souls had a preference to working outside in the garden. I thought they were very brave as the conditions were pretty awful out there. They did a marvellous job pruning trees, clearing out garden beds and water-blasting the house and deck.

Everyone else helped inside. By the end of the day the lounge ceiling was painted, the walls were prepared and the first coat of paint on, the bathroom ceiling and walls were prepared and undercoated, the hallway topcoat was complete and my kitchen cupboards were cleaned out and organised.

The kitchen crew did a fantastic job getting lunch cooked and served. I couldn't quite believe the generosity of people giving up their time to help me out - it certainly gave me the warm fuzzies as well as a huge sense of relief that the bulk of the work was done.

On Sunday my sons, their girlfriends and one of their friends came back and continued to help. So, by the end of the day the lounge walls were finished, two coats of paint were on the skirting boards in the lounge, the bathroom ceiling and walls were complete and a whole pile of rubbish had disappeared to the tip. A soak in the spa at the end of the day and Chinese takeaways for dinner finished the day off quite nicely.

I still have a long list of things that need to be done but none of the tasks are huge. By the end of next weekend I reckon I'll have 90% of it finished so hopefully we'll be taking photos next week and advertising the house for sale.

As soon as the photos are done I'll put up another post of before and after photos.

Recipe time - Curried chicken on couscous

It's been a while since I posted a recipe so here is one I tried last night. The recipe is from the latest Healthy Food Guide magazine and I followed it pretty diligently - except I needed it to be gluten free so no couscous. So it became curried chicken on brown rice. The recipe isn't on their website yet but I guess it will appear there at some point. It's a great resource for healthy recipes.

Ingredients :

3 teaspoons grated ginger
1/4 cup lime juice (I used fresh limes)
3 teaspoons curry powder
400g chicken thighs with fat removed (I used free-range chicken)

Mix the first three ingredients in a bowl and then add chicken. Give it a good stir around and set aside while you're cooking the rice (of course you may well want to stick to couscous).

Rice / couscous ingredients :
1 cup of brown rice / couscous
400g can lentils, drained and rinsed
2/3 cup chopped fresh coriander

Cook the rice / couscous, add lentils and coriander. Pan fry the chicken in a lightly oiled pan - takes about 10 minutes. Place the chicken on top of the rice / couscous. Serve with freshly steamed vegetables - I did broccolini and asparagus (yay for spring / summer vegetables).

The dish is really simple but tastes great. I'll be making this one again soon.

Ski trip report

I'm still in catch-up mode with my blog so here I am letting you guys know what I have been doing over recent months.

In August I was lucky enough to get an invite along for a family ski week. Our destination was Whakapapa ski-field on Mt Ruapehu (see www.mtruapehu.com for more info).


We left Wellington late morning on a Sunday and headed off. The car was packed to the brim - all the essentials - ski gear, food, wine. Luckily we were in a 4-wheel-drive so no worries about having to carry chains to get us up the mountain.

After a fairly slow trip with lots of stops (amazing how often kids need to pee!) we got up to the carpark at Top of the Bruce just as daylight was fading. I'd read up on how long the walk was to the lodge we were staying in and figured it was a half hour walk at the most - how hard could that be? Well! The snow conditions on the mountain were not great so most of the walk was over rocks and dirt. When we did get to snow in the valleys the result tended to be sinking straight through the snow. I soon realised that a heavy pack plus another bag in each hand was not such a good idea. At least it was a clear, calm night. At the point where we had one last climb to get to the hut I started to seriously flag. The others said they would go on up to the hut and then come back and help me with my bags. I figured I didn't want to seem like the weak female (only female) in the group so thought I would carry on and see how far I could get. Within a few paces I had suck up to my hips in snow and fallen onto my back. Yeah yeah. I know. I bet that conjures up some amusing images. To be honest, I lay there looking up at the stars giggling and wondering what to do next. With the weight of my pack I couldn't stand up so had to release my pack to be able to do anything. At this stage all heroics exited and I carried my various bags to a handy rock and sat and enjoyed the night sky until assistance arrived. Of course it was short climb to the hut (when I wasn't carrying so much weight).

It was divine to walk into the warmth and know that all physical activity had finished for the day. A bit of unpacking took place and then it was time for a glass of wine. Yes, yes - some of the weight in my bag was from the wine. Stupid woman that I am. :)

And so the ski week started. The weather wasn't terrific but it did snow and snow and snow. Each day we would walk down to the car to pick up supplies (mostly wine) and there were not a lot of rocks to clamber over and around. The car was pretty snowed in when it came time to leave.

We had a couple of fantastic skiing days - of course the best day was the day we had to leave and head for home. Isn't that always the way!

I hadn't been skiing for over 20 years but it didn't take long for my un-sophisticated style of years gone by to reappear. I had a ball!

The evenings in the lodge were fun - great food (roast meals, etc), good company and the obligatory wine(s) (oh, and whiskey!). The kids had a wonderful time. In the lodge there were over 20 people staying each night with a pretty even split between kids and adults. We had fun building a snow cave, chucking snowballs around and tobogganing. Sigh. Wish I was there now. Here are some pics for you to enjoy.

This is the lodge we stayed in. It belongs to the Hutt Valley Tramping Club (www.hvtc.org.nz).


This was taken a little uphill from the lodge and looking up the skifield. Still not great snow coverage but enough to have some fun.



This photo was taken when it started snowing the second night we were there. The kids were pretty excited and apparently running around in the snow with no long sleeves wasn't a problem.

Where things are at overall

As some of you are aware I've been working through a legal issue in recent times. While this caused anxiety and upset when it first came up I quickly came to terms with what I needed to do - namely focus on dealing with the legal aspect and ignore the questionable morals (or distinct lack of morals) involved.

The upshot of the saga is that a very good friend lent me some money to pay out my ex-husband. I'm extremely grateful for the financial assistance I have received from my friend as it meant I now have some breathing space and time to prepare my house for sale. I need to repay the loan by February so I am working hard to get the house tidied up ready for sale. Funnily enough I am ok with having to sell the house. I had planned to do this in the future anyway, although I would have preferred to be able to wait for the market to recover somewhat.

Today I have builders in renovating the bathroom. Months ago I had purchased everything needed for the renovation so it made sense to me to get that job done before putting the house on the market. I've also started painting the hallway so that job is more than half done. The other significant piece of work needed is to get the lounge ceiling and walls painted. My neck problems won't allow me to do that job by myself so I will be putting a call out to see if I can get some help from my friends. The only job I need to do is tidy the section up. It's pretty rough around the edges, a bit jungle-like so will need a bit of effort put in.

I've decided to market the house myself without using a real estate agent. This decision has been made from a pure financial perspective. There is so little equity left in the house I simply cannot afford to lose 3-4% of the sale price to an agent.

In a nutshell, that's where I am at. Anyone who is handy with a paintbrush / roller please let me know. :)

Back in the land of blogging

Humble apologies to all for the lack of blogging in recent times. It has mostly been a deliberate move as I needed to get a few things sorted in my personal life before I continued with my blog. That is all done now so I am free to get back into it.

So, while you get a new entry today it's going to be short and sweet. Obviously I've been doing all sorts of things over the past couple of months so my next few entries will be reports of various trips, progress on things around the house, some moaning about broody chooks (again!) as well as a well-overdue update on my 101 things to do in 1001 days list.

Life remains very busy for me but I am having fun, getting out and about and moving on. Be patient with me and I will fill you in on ski trips, alpine training, tramping, camping, my trip to Australia and all sorts of other adventures.

Baby-food diet?

I have vaguely (very vaguely) heard that there is a mini-craze out there called the baby-food diet. I haven 't pursued those vague thoughts but imagine it is something to do with eating small amounts of pureed food - correct? Ah well, it doesn't matter if I am wrong.

I find myself on an imposed "baby-food" diet currently. I had some dental work done yesterday - I am sure you don't want all of the ghastly details but basically it involved cutting of gums, scraping (lots of scraping) and then stitching. Sounds horrible huh? Well it was! I spent the entire appointment with my eyes shut to avoid seeing what instruments were entering my mouth.

Now the procedure itself is over and done with but I have stitches in my gums on both sides of the mouth - and strict instructions to not use my molars for eating. Hence my baby-food diet. Today I had porridge for breakfast (the sultanas were a little tricky to squish), soup and dunked toast for lunch and scrambled eggs for dinner. I can see I could get sick of this pretty quickly. In fact I am already craving a nice steak but I am sure that is due to the fact I know I can't have it (unless I puree it and I am sure that would not be the culinary experience I am after).

I am planning a green curry with fish for dinner tomorrow night as that should be nice and mushy to eat.

I guess there may be an unexpected positive out of this experience - there is a chance I could lose that extra kilo or so that has been hanging around for a while.

Attitude!

Life has had its ups and downs in recent times. For a while there was some mid-level stress in my life with one of my sons looking for work and my other son's girlfriend looking to change jobs. I've been doing what I can to help both of them with the result about ten days ago that my son started his new job and my other son's girlfriend being offered a suitable job. That was a relief and I could feel myself relaxing. That no-stress feeling lasted for two days. I should have known it was too good to be true.


I'm not going to go into the latest cause for my stress - those who are close to me know the story and are horrified. This blog post is more about attitude and how I am coping with it.


For a few days I went through the whole gamut of emotions - disbelief, anger, betrayal and sadness. I could feel the stress of the situation dragging me down, my energy levels dropped, I started drinking more than was good for me, my mind was completely consumed with trying to figure out what to do. In short I felt like my life had been ruined. My friends and family all tried their best to provide advice and support through these days and I am really grateful for that. After talking with a lawyer and understanding the process and likely outcome from a legal perspective I made the decision to turn the stress off.

I have steps that I need to take involving accountants, valuers and lawyers and I am working my way through them. But I absolutely refuse to let the actions of one person to affect me as a person. What is happening to me may be correct from a legal perspective but it's immoral. Promises were made to me on numerous occasions and I trusted that those promises would be kept. For those promises to be broken is an abuse of that trust. I know that when this mess is over with I will still be a person of integrity. I certainly can't say the same for him.

The big question for me ongoing will be how will I know if I can trust others. Should I stop trusting people altogether. I think not. That's not the way for me to live my life. Certainly I will protect my assets (when I have some again) to ensure I don't end up in this particular situation again.

So how am I now? Fantastic actually. Soon to be broke and potentially homeless but, you know, that's ok. I am fit, healthy, happy and, most importantly of all, I am a good person.

Another tramping adventure

Sorry for the gap between postings. Life has been busier than ever for me but lots of fun.

Last weekend I went off on another tramping adventure. The tramping part of the weekend was easy. In fact the track we walked was one I have been on previously - about 30 years ago. Back in those days it was called the Five Mile Track (no reflection on how long it actually was) and was pretty rough and ready. The track is in the Rimutaka Forest Park and goes in to the Orongorongo River. As teenagers we would carry in as much beer as we could and stay overnight in a hut by the river, drinking and sitting around the fire.
These days it's more civilised - the track is very well-formed with many bridges over the various creeks along the way. And the beer has been replaced with red wine. The area is close to Wellington and therefore very popular with day-walkers, families as well as more serious trampers who carry on to do more serious walks.

So, last weekend we walked in on Sunday which was a gorgeous sunny day - still cold though. We found the hut fairly easily - just a small matter of crossing the river three times to get to it. With wet boots and the temperature dropping our priority was to gather firewood (there was none left in the hut from previous occupants - not helpful), get a fire going and get some dinner underway. The hut has an open fire which is not particularly efficient so we had a pretty cold first night in the hut. Warm when standing right in front of the fire and freezing when you took a step or two back.

Here's a picture of the hut - pretty basic huh? And, you know, I swear that it's the same hut we used to stay in 30 years ago. The hut used to be privately owned but it's now one of the huts owned by the Department of Conservation and can be booked online ($25 / night - what a bargain!)


Monday was another fine day and, seeking cellphone coverage, we decided to go for a wander up the hill behind the hut. Of course there was no track to follow so it was matter of finding the best path through the trees, scrub, rocks, etc. It was a great walk and I think we climbed about 400 metres before we could get service on our cellphones. I checked the weather forecast which showed that bad weather was on its way. The view from up on the hill was fantastic - we could see right across Wellington harbour and the south coast. The view was well worth the walk.

On returning to the hut another firewood expedition was required. With a good stock of firewood loaded into the hut we settled down to a warm evening sipping red wine in front of the fire. Overnight the rain started and it had settled into steady rain and bitterly cold south-easterly winds by morning. With the risk of the river rising it was time to pack up, clean the hut and head for home. Our walk out started with several river crossings so the rest of the walk was completed with sodden boots and socks.

Once we made it back to the carpark it was time for me to head to the city and get to work. One of the great things about living in Wellington is that walks like these are so close to home and are very achievable for all ages, etc of people. As long as the river isn't up we'll be back in to the same hut next weekend for another night - and hopefully the firewood we stashed will still be there!

Back on two wheels

The most exciting thing to happen in the past week is that I am back on my bike!

I've had a year off my bike while waiting for a tendon in my elbow to heal. It's been a very frustrating year and I have been itching to get back on the saddle and I'm now there.

For those who don't know, I have a road bike and, in the past, have cycled to work two or three times a week. That may sound a bit lame and maybe even lazy but, in my defence, it is 32 kilometres from home to work - a decent distance! The funny thing is, it takes me about an hour to cycle to work (I have been trying to crack the one-hour but haven't yet managed it - today it took me 1 hour 1 minute and 30 seconds!) while it takes at least 45 minutes on the train. By the time I have driven or walked to the train station, waited for a train and then walked from the station to walk there is very little difference in time.

Anyway, my next goal is to get out on the new mountain bike I bought. I've never ridden off-road but how hard could it be, right?

Tramping trip report

For the past 3 days I have been off in the wilds of New Zealand tramping in the Tararua Forest Park. This was my first time out tramping for 6 years so our route was carefully selected to not be too onerous.

Saturday dawned sunny and fine as we drove up towards Masterton. Our route was a loop but not back to same carpark so we dropped a car off at our destination and we were dropped off at The Pines - the turnoff to The Pines is just short of Masterton. The walk into Mitre Flats Hut was through native forest and followed the Waingawa River. The path itself on this walk is clear enough to follow and a little rugged in places. Lots of little ups and downs and small creeks to cross. It took us about 3 hours to walk to the hut so we were there by about 3 in the afternoon. The hut is designed to sleep 14 and most of the beds were taken when we arrived. We quickly nabbed two spots and then settled down and chatted with others at the hut. The hut is serviced so there were gas cookers which made dinner preparation easy. We had managed to carry in some wine and a good measure of Cointreau so the evening was fun. By the time everyone headed to bed others had turned up to the hut and it was starting to rain. We counted over 20 people so it was pretty snug although a few people slept outside. In retrospect those sleeping outside probably got the best night's sleep as there was an extremely loud snorer in the hut.

Sunday dawned to constant rain and the sight of a helicopter heading into the hills - potentially off to look for lost trampers. After a good breakfast of porridge and cups of tea we got ourselves sorted and headed off to Atiwhakatu Hut in the rain. The track had a couple of decent climbs and was pretty rugged in places. After the last big climb and descent we stopped for some hot soup. While it was wet it certainly wasn't cold as long as we kept moving. After our soup stop I felt a bit chilled so put my fleece hat back - which was really lucky as about 15 minutes down the track I somehow managed to trip or slip (still not sure which) and did a magnificent face plant. I landed fair and square on my nose and forehead. It was one of those moments when you just need to lay there for a minute and assess the damage done. My tramping companion was with me pretty quickly and checked me out. Lucky for me the path at that point was dirt and wood rather than rocks. Within a few minutes we were back walking - me with a decent headache and a nice bump forming. Anyway, the walk between huts took us about three hours and we pretty wet by the time we got there. The hut looked flasher than Mitre Flats but had no cooking facilities which was a shame. For a while we thought we would have the hut to ourselves but a group of school girls and their teachers turned up. They were pretty wet and cold as they had been right up on the tops in the wind as well as the rain. So again we had a full hut but it was fun - very amusing listening to a group of 15 year old girls chatting. The best thing about that night was that we didn't need to contend with a snorer - yay!

This morning (Monday) it dawned...... well..... wet. Never mind. Again we had a good filling breakfast and cup of tea before heading off down the path to the carpark. The walk was an easy one - pretty flat for the majority of it. It rained the whole way back to the car but a nice dry change of clothes awaited us. It only took us about an hour and a half to walk out - we were walking pretty briskly. I think the idea of getting home to a soak in the spa spurred us on.

I loved the whole weekend - except for maybe the face plant bit. It's highlighted the need for a few changes in equipment which I will get onto as I am sure this won't be the last time I head for the hills. The purpose of this trip was to help get me back into tramping so now we can start to plan for some more serious walks.

Winter activities

Wellington has been getting an early start on winter weather in the last week or so. Loads of rain, plenty of wind and some very chilly days! Today has been particularly cold with rain sweeping through at regular intervals. It's very easy on days like today to turn the heater on and settle down in front of the television for the day. Instead, this morning I headed into town to meet a friend at the weekly market. While the weather didn't exactly make things pleasant I found it energising to be out in the fresh (very fresh) air. I certainly didn't need to have bothered brushing my hair this morning and a hat would have been a fine idea. Sampling various yummies at the market was fun and the cheese and spinach crepe I had was a welcome warm-up!

After a hot cup of tea we headed off to one of my favourite cafes in Wellington - round at Scorching Bay. After a light lunch it was back outside for a walk along the beach. I'm really glad I didn't just shelter at home for the day - it was wonderful and invigorating to be out there in the wind and the cold. As we head into winter I am sure there will be plenty more days like today.

Next week we have a three-day weekend and I'm off tramping. That will be a frugal and energetic way to spend a weekend and I am looking forward to getting out into the bush. I'll take my camera along and try and get a few photos - but that may depend on the weather,

Yet another soup recipe

Last year at a friend's birthday dinner I tried broccoli and blue cheese soup for the first time. It was delicious and so I tucked the idea of making some of my own into the back of my mind.
One vegetable that is particularly cheap right now just so happens to be broccoli so tonight I made my soup. The recipe is as follows :

2 cups chicken stock
250g broccoli
150g courgettes50g blue cheese
Salt and pepper

Heat the chicken stock then add vegetables. Season with salt and pepper. Cook the vegetables until just tender (and still nice and green). Remove from heat and blend until smooth (or at least not lumpy). Add the blue cheese and blend again. And that's it. Soup all ready to go. I just finished a bowl of it and it is delicious. Of course you would need to like blue cheese to appreciate it. :) Here's a photo of the finished product.

Leek and potato soup

I've been a bit slack posting - mostly due to standard busyness and nothing particularly interesting to post about.

Tonight after dinner I decided to try out making leek and potato soup. I haven't made this type of soup before so wasn't sure how it would go. Luckily my mum emailed me a recipe. I pretty much followed it....... but excluded the bacon, used random fresh herbs (it was dark outside!) and haven't added the milk. For once I remembered to take photos - but, to be honest, it's pretty bland looking really.

I didn't bother sticking to the recipe too closely - especially on the quantity side of things. What I did was : slowly cooked one chopped onion and one sliced leek in a little oil until soft. Added 3 chopped potatoes (volume wise there was probably equal leek and potato), salt, pepper, fresh herbs (I think I ended up with a mix of fresh marjoram and oregano) and enough chicken stock to cover the veges. I cooked it up until the vegetables were tender, cooled it and then blended it until smooth. I tasted it and it was delicious.

The bonus of this recipe is that it works out really cheap - the leek cost me $1.30, potatoes from the garden, herbs from the garden. Yup, pretty darn frugal. :)

Of course I had already had dinner when I made the soup so it's destined to the fridge and freezer. Yum! Here are the photos.

Garden tidy-up with a bonus

For a while I have been meaning to spend some time tidying up my vegetable garden - for one reason or another it hasn't happened - until today! I managed to sort out all four of my raised beds. I was considering taking before and after shots but, to be honest, I was far too ashamed of how overgrown they had got so you will have to be content with the after shots - oh, and some photos of the bonus harvest of the day. :)

So here are the photos of the beds after I was finished. I was very surprised at how dry some of them were - usually at this time of the year we would have had a fair bit of rain but it has been drier and warmer than usual.


I know they look a little bare right now. I am never sure what to try grow through our winter as we get quite hard frosts so most things don't survive. Maybe I will just leave them empty until spring. The next couple of photos are the bounty from my weeding session. Would anybody like some potatoes?


Mmmm, pumpkin soup. :)

Mmmmmm, Thai cooking

Before I get stuck into this blog post I have to apologise for the lack of photos - I was so busy with the class it didn't even occur to me to take any photos.

Anyway, yesterday I went off to my Thai cooking lesson. The class was from 9:30am until 3:30pm and was run by a lovely young Thai woman who has been in New Zealand for five years. She had two other Thai woman to assist her which worked out really well as some things took longer than planned. They were great at helping us catch up when we fell behind. In the class there were eight of us there to learn new skills.

Well, we sliced and pounded and stirred and cooked our little hearts out pretty much non-stop all day. We did have a small pause for lunch which consisted of yummy curry puffs that we had made. They were delicious.

Throughout the day we made the curry puffs (minced pork, potato, carrot, spices and seasoning wrapped in puff pastry), chicken stirfry, pork curry, jasmine rice and a dessert of water chestnuts. The part I enjoyed the most was making our own curry paste from scratch. It's the most that my mortar and pestle has ever been used! We got to use ingredients most of us had never heard of through the day as well as things that smelt like death but tasted fabulous.

My favourite dish of the day was the chicken stirfry which had really simple ingredients of chicken, mushrooms, sherry, fish sauce, garlic, ginger, tamarind paste, water and sugar. Hmmm, I guess that doesn't sound so simple but it was super simple compared to the curry paste we made which had ingredients of lemongrass, galangal, garlic, shallots, roasted peanuts, shrimp paste, salt, coriander, chillies and cumin - all of those were pounded together into a paste. While it took quite a long time to prepare the finished result was divine and totally worth the effort.

So that is one of my cooking lessons off my list of 101 things to do. The next one I have booked is the chocolate one. I am very much looking forward to that one!

Autumn harvest

Today's bounty was unplanned really. I had a self-sown tomato plant appear in one of my raised beds. The plant, with no care from me at all, has managed to produce a decent amount of fruit.
My friends and family will tell you that this is not something I would be especially pleased about it - I can't stand tomatoes. I often wish this wasn't the case as it does place limitations on foods I can eat. I have wondered whether I am just being fussy but the last time I ate tomato I was very ill. It's the only time in my life I am aware of that I was so ill that I burst blood vessels in my eyes from the vomiting. Oops, was that too much information?

Anyway, it's not like me to let things go to waste so I decided to collect up the tomatoes, cook them up with some onion, garlic and fresh oregano and freeze the resultant sauce. Of course the sauce isn't a lot of use to me but will come in handy for my family to use. :) Here are a couple of pictures of the dreaded produce and the sauce I made.

A natural at pole-dancing?

Well, last night was my pole-dancing class. I was a little apprehensive about this class - to be honest I think I was more apprehensive about wearing short shorts than of the class itself.

The class was quite small which helped with the nerves although the full-length mirrors were a bit of a challenge. We started off with some warming up and then moved onto a "routine". That wasn't too bad. We also did some "climbing". That took me back to my school days and climbing ropes in the gym. With a bit of help I managed to climb quite high. We also did some spinning - and it seemed I was a bit of a natural at that (are you proud of me, Mum?).

All up the class was a lot of fun and not at all sleazy. I have a few sore muscles today but I have been told that tomorrow they will be much more painful - oh yay! I think it would be a great class to continue with - brilliant for building core strength and you never when some pole-dancing skills could come in handy. :)

Thanks to Sarah for taking me along.

Pole-dancing here I come!

Did that get your attention? hahahaha

On my 101 things to do list I included the following item :

76. Take a pole-dancing class

Tomorrow night I have got this booked. My friend Sarah is taking me along. I did wonder what I would have to wear and was sort of happy to hear that a t-shirt and shorts were the right type of clothing (short shorts apparently - ugh!). And apparently no moisturising or oiling of legs or arms allowed - I guess that is so you don't slide right off the pole.

Anyway, this is just a short post - I will update in the day or so after the class to tell you how it went - and, no, there will be no photos - not when I am wearing short shorts!

Asian pork patties

It's been a while since I posted a recipe. Yesterday I hosted a Tupperware party and decided it was a great opportunity to try something new. I did a cooking class a year or so ago where we made some chicken patties. The flavours were divine so I made up the following recipe with those tastes in mind:

Asian pork patties

500g minced pork
1 teaspoon finely chopped coriander
1/2 teaspoon finely chopped kaffir lime leaf (or some lime zest and bit a of lime juice)
2 teaspoons brown sugar
2 teaspoons fish sauce
1 finely chopped red chilli

Mix together and roll into small balls and flatten. Fry in a little oil until cooked through and nicely browned. Serve with the following dipping sauce.

1 clove garlic
1 whole red chilli
2 teaspoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon fish sauce
1 teaspoon lime juice

Grind garlic and chilli together, add to other ingredients.

That's it really. Very simple food but rather delicious.

Update on 101 things list

It's been a while since I reviewed my list so thought I would get that done today.

1. Write a letter to myself to open in 10 years
2. Go vegetarian for one month
3. Walk the Milford Track
4. Spend a holiday exploring the top of the North Island (everywhere north of Auckland)
5. Visit the Coromandel
6. Visit Tauranga
7. Make a quilt
8. Go to 3 music concerts
9. Invest in a decent sound system - complete - bought a second hand amp and surround sound system
10. Downsize my house and my mortgage
11. Blog at least once a week - am just managing to keep up with this.
12. Have a massage once a month - so far so good - need to get booked in for this month
13. Declutter my house - spare room complete, rest of the house still to do
14. Clean out garage
15. Stick to my budget - not doing very well here but working on it
16. Track all expenses
17. Try 50 new recipes
18. Listen to one new musician / band every month
19. Buy a piece of art
20. Find a great cupcake recipe
21. Replace my lounge suite
22. Make new cushions for the lounge
23. Increase mortgage payments
24. Go skiing
25. Compile my favourite recipes
26. Give blood regularly
27. Become a volunteer for the Samaritans
28. Go sky-diving
29. Only buy clothes / shoes for replacing existing items
30. Take 3 cooking classes
31. Complete Christmas shopping by October
32. Attend a yoga retreat
33. Eat less red meat
34. Eat more fish
35. Donate $10 to charity for each task I don't complete
36. Go camping
37. Go on an unplanned road trip for a weekend
38. Put together an emergency kit
39. Take a dance class
40. Do yoga three times a week for a month
41. Go to a live comedy show
42. Buy fresh flowers once a month
43. Make 25 different cocktails
44. Try out a new restaurant once every two months
45. Make a winter dress
46. Spend a rainy day with someone in bed
47. Sleep under the stars
48. Read a science fiction book
49. Prepare and have a romantic candlelit dinner at home
50. Read at least one non-fiction book a month
51. Complete a sudoku every day
52. Go to a wine and food festival
53. Go to 10 plays
54. Go white-water rafting
55. Menu plan every week
56. Reduce grocery spend to $70 / week
57. Review goals once a week
58. Make soap
59. Take a bubble bath every month
60. Build something out of wood
61. Buy a "round town" bike for running errands
62. Set up spare room as a real guest bedroom - I had completed this one but I had only borrowed a bed which has now gone so have to start this one again
63. Go on holiday to Japan
64. Donate 100,000 grains of rice on freerice.com
65. Create a cleaning schedule
66. Take a class and learn something new
67. Donate food to the local food bank once a month
68. Do a random act of kindness once a month
69. Knit something
70. Make a loan through Kiva
71. Go see a 3D movie
72. Keep in regular contact with my brother
73. Sew Christmas stockings
74. Go to an art gallery every month
75. Get involved with local Transition Towns group
76. Take a pole-dancing class
77. Assemble a first aid kit for the car
78. Have a productive vegetable garden year-round
79. Complete a scuba diving course
80. Learn to garden organically
81. Reduce food wastage
82. Visit my parents twice a year
83. Write an “if anything ever happens to me” letter - complete although I am planning to do this at least once a year to ensure things are up to date
84. Clean out and organise my filing system
85. Check my car's oil and water every month - doing well on this one (surprisingly)
86. Change the oil and oil filter at least annually
87. Once a month meet a different friend for lunch - doing well on this one
88. Clean out the dreaded box of cables
89. Swim in a lake, a river, the sea and a pool - river, sea and pool all done. Hoping to get the lake one out of the way later in the year
90. Wear matching underwear at least once a week
91. Put $1o in a jar for each completed task
92. Try geocaching
93. Donate to one new charity each year (ongoing)
94. Take more photos
95. Take an art class - complete - totally enjoyed my basic drawing skills class
96. Visit a waterfall I haven't been to before
97. Write a positive thought down every day for a month
98. Kiss in the rain
99. Mid-winter swim
100. Write my name in the sand and take a photo of it - complete
101. Bake bread once a month - new recipe each month

After working through this list again I realise I still have a lot to do. I need to get my planning hat on!

The tale of the dreaded Rascal continues!

I long for the day that I can report that Rascal is well and back to being an outdoors cat! All up we have had four trips to the vet - they know all of us very well.

Rascal managed to escape his prison yesterday but he must have got used to regular meals as he came home later in the afternoon.

Today he has thoroughly disgraced himself! Twice!

This morning he wandered into the lounge, onto the floor cushions, squatted and peed! All while looking me in the eye. Cheeky darn thing. So I washed the cushion covers and then the cushions themselves. The cushions started to full apart a bit so I ended up with white fluff all over the place. I shrugged it off and figured it wasn't a problem.

That is until I got home this afternoon to find he had peed on my bed! Argh!

So I stripped my entire bed - luckily his pee had not got through to the mattress! Phew! My relief at that was short-lived - as I type this my duvet cover and sheet are in the washing machine which is full of water and doesn't want to drain. I strongly suspect that the drain is full of white fluff. Woe is me!

Nutritious, wonderful soup!

With autumn fast approaching here in New Zealand I have a craving for soup. One of my fondest childhood memories is of drinking cups of Mum's vegetable soup while curled up reading a good book. I can never seem to replicate the taste of her soup but it's good fun to keep trying.

Today I bought a bacon hock and a few extra vegetables and now my house is filled with the wonderful smell of soup which is bubbling away. For those trying to lose weight, eat healthier or save money soup is a wonderful meal. I will be freezing meal-sized portions which will make good lunch fodder for the next week or so. Also, living by myself I love coming home from work and having soup and crusty toast for my dinner.

Today's soup has onion, grated carrot and parsnip, sliced celery, silverbeet, barley and, of course, the bacon hock for flavour. Now I find myself sitting here impatiently waiting for it to ready to eat. Yum! Lunch will be a real treat today.

Dastardly Rascal!

Well that rascally Rascal cat turned up on my doorstep tonight looking decidedly worse for wear. I am guessing his wound was itchy so he had managed to rip out most of the stitches!

He is spending a night at the vets tonight and tomorrow will undergo another round of cleaning and stitching and will have a drain put in. The vet has told me he will need to be kept inside for a while and given antibiotics twice a day - that is going to be no fun for Rascal or for me. He hates being cooped inside for more than a few minutes so he will go stir crazy - and I can imagine I won't be getting a lot of sleep. Poor Rascal. I will pick him up from the vet tomorrow afternoon. Fun and games!

Silly cat!

I am a cat-lover (not the mad cat lady my kids make me out to be) and as such have three lovely cats at present. Sam is a large black and white fluffy boy - he is about 6 years old now. He has a lovely nature and is super friendly. Rascal is a tough-looking ginger tom and is probably about 4 years old. I don't see a lot of Rascal. He visits once or twice a week. He hasn't lost any weight so he has either moved in with someone else or he spends his time sneaking through cat doors getting a feed. Rambo is a little tabby who has a tough name but is the wimpiest cat I know. He is about 3 years old and is scared of his own shadow. So those are my boys! Nice of them to choose me I think.

Rascal is the problem child of the moment. He turned up last week with a gaping wound in the side of his neck so I threw him into a cage and headed to the vet. Apparently he had had an abscess which had not been treated and subsequently burst. $350 later and he was all cleaned and stitched up. The biggest challenge will be that he needs to go back and have the stitches removed in two weeks time. What are the chances he will deign to visit? Not good I suspect. Maybe his other family will take him instead!

Art class completed!

Today I went to a Basic Drawing Skills class. Anyway one who knows me would tell you I am a practical, logical person rather than someone who is creative or artistic. I had always written myself off as being totally useless when it came to things like drawing. But I also have a bit of a stubborn streak so decided I should go along and do a class and see whether I could be taught!

The class itself covered off some basic techniques with lots of practising along the way. Some of the first attempts were hilarious! Actually the first exercise was to draw each other without looking at our sketch pads. The results were very Picasso like!

We carried on and learnt about negative space, angles, measuring, shading and all sorts of wonderful things. The picture below was from the last exercise we did which pulled together all of the things we learnt. I reckon it's not bad considering it's my first ever art lesson. :)

Garden surprises

I would love to be one of those people who has hours to spend in the garden and therefore be on top of everything that is going on. Sadly, with working full-time and having other priorities, that is not the case for me.

The upside of this is that, now and then, I come across little (or sometimes big) surprises. I had noticed a few things seem to have popped up around my compost bin and had realised there were several tomato plants - not much of a bonus for me as I detest tomatoes!

But today I finally had a bit more of a look and I have a pumpkin plant. Not only do I have a pumpkin plant but I also have pumpkins - at least three from the quick look I had this morning. I can see lots of pumpkin soup and other savoury, autumn dishes. Yum!

From the photos below you can also see I am way behind on weeding. Oops!

The downside of holidays

I guess this is preditable but the only negative I can think of from my holiday in Nelson is the 2 kilos I managed to pile on - pretty good effort for one week I think! I think I can put it down to being totally inactive for a week and drinking gallons of beer every day. :) Generally I get to the gym 6 days a week with a mix of spin classes, thai fit classes and weights. So a week of lazing on the beach and not thinking at all about what I ate and drank has resulted in a bit of unwanted weight going on.

Now I am not upset about it. In fact I loved my holiday and if that's the only "bad" thing to come out of it then so be it. But now that I am back home and busy working I am back into my routine and committed to eating healthily (and not drinking beer!). The upside is a focus on finding (or creating) new recipes. Tonight's dinner is an experiment. I had some cooked chicken (which is nice and spicy) and could have had a chicken salad but that is what I had for lunch. So I decided to get a bit creative.

I felt like having something like a frittata and have thrown together a meal that may produce something like a frittata....... maybe! Basically I have stir-fried some vegetables (onion, pumpkin, cauliflower, broccoli and mushrooms) and then have put the vegetables into two ramekins (guess what lunch is for tomorrow?). Then I mixed up some eggs, milk, salt, pepper and chunks of blue cheese and poured that over the vegetables. Now it is cooking in the oven. I am not sure whether the result is a frittata (it certainly doesn't match the frittata recipe I would normally follow).

Here is a photo of them cooking - just about ready I think. Apologies for the poor quality photos but I was in a hurry - I'm hungry. :) Yum!

Moulting chooks

The saga with my chooks continues. They are not broody anymore so that is cause for celebration. Instead they (or at least three of them) are moulting - and not laying. Goodness, I never realised it would be so difficult to have a good egg supply. It seemed simple enough - get coop, get chooks, feed and water them, get eggs. But apparently not. They appear pretty happy with life and burble away quite happily when I see them. According to a wonderful forum I found (and the wonderful world of Google) I need to be sure to give them protein so they will grow lots of nice new feathers. Twice a day I am now giving them mash mixed with milk as well as their usual dose of fresh green vegetables. I am hoping this moult thing doesn't take too long as the three or four eggs a week I am getting is pretty pitiful.

My garden continues to provide me with the bulk of my vegetables - lots of zucchinis and sweetcorn. I am usually competing with the chooks to get any silverbeet but put some aside for me every now and then. My chilli and capsicum plants are all growing furiously and have loads of flowers so I am hoping for a good crop off them at some stage. They are in the greenhouse so any change in weather won't affect them too badly. There are plenty of potatoes in the garden - I just dig them up as I need them but pretty soon will probably harvest them all and find a nice dark place to store them.

Holiday Update #3 - final update

Well I am now back home after having a fantastic week in the Nelson area. On Friday I drove to Kaiteriteri Beach and enjoyed a cup of peppermint tea in the sun enjoying the view. The sand at this beach is golden and coarse instead of the white sand that is more usual here in New Zealand. The following is a picture of part of the beach.


I also managed to tick something off my 101 things list as shown in the following picture.


Every day I spent time on the beach outside my cabin at Mapua. The following picture is taken from my sunbathing spot towards the Mapua wharf. The picture was taken at low tide. There are several restaurants based at the wharf including the Smokehouse where I had a delicious meal on Thursday night.

A lot of the area is very tidal with great expanses of estuary revealed at low tide. One morning when I was heading out on one of my driving trips I stopped and took the following picture. It was quite early and the light and colours were amazing - it's a shame I am not an accomplished photographer but here is a photo anyway.


Finally, on my last day I went to the Nelson market. It was yet another gorgeous sunny day and there were plenty of people at the market. There was a good mix of fresh produce, crafts, food stalls and all sorts of items of interest. The cutest thing I saw was a soap stall where some of the soaps were shaped like cupcakes.


My whole holiday was simply awesome and I have already booked my little cabin for next year. I plan to go for a little longer next year - 10 nights instead of 6. I imagine that I will do less driving around and more lazing next year - fantastic!

Holiday Update #2

My lazy summer holiday continues. :) Yesterday I had the most amazing spa experience at a lovely spot called Enriching in Nelson. I had 45 minutes in their outdoor (very private) spa followed by a half hour massage and then finished off with a facial - not sure how long the facial took as I think I was asleep for most of it. hahaha

Last night I ate out at the cafe just along from my cabin and finished my meal with a Cointreau (that's a stab in the dark when it comes to spelling). Here it is :


Today I went on a bit of a road trip. The idea was to have breakfast at Kaiteriteri then maybe look at some art galleries. I ended up having breakfast in Takaka (a bit further than Kaiteriteri) and then went to Wharariki Beach. The beach is pretty much on the West Coast of the South Island. My friend, Victoria, had suggested I go there so took her advice. The funny thing was that when I got there I realised I had been there before - about 35 years ago I reckon. (I could be wrong with my memory of this but Mum will put me right). The following photos are the track to the beach (it's about 20 minutes walking) and the beach itself.


After the beach I backtracked then drove along to Collingwood. We used to holiday here as kids and the following photo is, I think, the place we used to stay in - again I'm sure Mum will correct me if I am wrong.

Holiday update #1

I am having a fabulous time relaxing here in Nelson. I flew down on Sunday afternoon after having some time with family in the spa. Here's a picture of that.

I arrived in Nelson to even better weather than at home - less wind and more heat. Just what I was after. I picked up a car from the airport (thanks to my friend for Victoria for that!) and headed straight to Mapua where I am staying. I found my little cabin, dumped my bags, stripped off and was on the beach - all within about 2 minutes! For those that don't know, the park where I am staying is clothing optional in February and March every year (my kids are now thinking....... ewwwwwww!) so it's wonderful to not bother about what you're going to wear and fantastic swimming! Here's a photo of the inside of my little cabin - it's very basic but right on the beach and perfect for me.

And here is the view out of the door - pretty darn close to the beach! :)

Summertime....... and the livin' is easy.....

Oh yes! I am about to embark on a wee summer's holiday. Yay for me!

My experience of living here in Wellington is that summer can be a mythical beast. It has improved a bit recently but I hedged my bets and booked myself a week away in Nelson. To be totally honest this week was going to be my delayed honeymoon but as I am now without husband I decided it would be very cool to head off by myself and have some real "Me" time.

Nelson is a lovely little city in the South Island which boasts of being the sunshine capital of New Zealand. I am booked to stay in a little beachside cabin (looks quite rustic) at the Mapua Leisure Park. My plan is to spend some time lazing on the beach / by the pool but also to spend some time exploring the wider Nelson / Golden Bay area. Some of the places I intend to visit are listed below.

The Smokehouse at Mapua

Jesterhouse

Enriching Wellness Day Spa

Farewell Spit and Wharariki Beach

Nelson market

There are also plenty of wineries and arts and craft galleries, etc in the area so I am going to get along to as many of those as I can - all the while trying to get my relaxing time on the beach. I'm not sure if I will be posting while I am away - my trusty laptop will be with me but I will need to find some wireless internet to hook into. If that doesn't work out I will post a holiday update when I get back (hopefully with photos).

Pecking order, vege garden and 101 things list

I am concerned about my chooks. Their coop has heaps of feathers in it currently and I am worried that one of my lovely ladies has decided she is queen of the coop and is pecking the others.

After feeding them the other day I hung around and watched for a while. Miss Broody (the supposed Queen of the coop) had been turfed out of her nesting box by me (as happens twice a day!). She stalked over to where the other three were munching away and started attacking them. I have three different breeds (not sure what breeds though) so maybe that is something to do with it? Hmmmmm! I have no idea what do you do about hen-pecking? Off to Google that one now but any suggestions are welcome.

My garden is reaching its peak currently which is sort of great but always a bit sad to know that my fresh produce supply will start to wind down over the next month or so. I would love to be able to keep my garden going year round but we suffer from hard frosts over winter which kill most things off. I will manage to keep silverbeet going (much to the delight of the chooks) and am going to research what else might survive in our winter.

I am loving having my 101 things list to motivate me. I review it every few days and it's a great reminder to me to get off my butt and achieve something. I love doing my sudoku although I don't always do one daily. I am almost on target with blogging once a week and I would really like to increase this to at least twice a week. I've had a massage, a bubble bath and am eating a lot more fish than I have in the past (salmon on Sunday night was divine!) I have a few things booked which will allow me to tick a few things off over the next couple of months. Next month I will blog about progress against each of the 101 things and needing to do that will certainly motivate me to get a few things completed before then.

Harvest time!

I had a craving tonight for fresh vegetables so went out hunting in the garden to see what I could find. This is what I found.

Two eggs from my chooks today so I have at least two laying at the moment. It's quite strange - when I go check on them there is only one who is obviously broody so maybe there are three laying for they are taking turns?

Dinner tonight was grilled chicken with steamed zucchini and silverbeet and with fresh sweetcorn. I have to tell you, the corn was simply amazing - so sweet and tender. The monster zucchini at the rear of the photo is sitting in the fridge while I figure out what to do with it. It may well end up in a pie or cake.

I went and had my massage on Friday. I tried a new place out and opted for a fairly deep massage to sort out my aches and pains. The massage itself was wonderful - a lovely Thai woman used her magic hands and ironed out a lot of the kinks I had in my back. Sadly I won't be returning to this place - the front-desk service was pretty shoddy (to the point of being rude) and the cleanliness etc of the towels was very questionable - plus the towels themselves looked almost threadbare and ancient.

Procrastination!

I am not generally a procrastinator but there is one thing that I have been procrastinating about for the past two weeks. And it has been driving me a little crazy!

Item 12 on my list of 101 things to do in 1001 days is to have a massage once a month. This seems pretty easy to achieve on the surface. I mean, who wouldn't want to have a massage. But I have been the world's biggest procrastinator on this one. Those who know me well know that I am pretty full-on when it comes to exercise and also being super busy day to day. So my issue has been that my body tends to have aches and pains from my gym work. Therefore it makes sense to have a sports massage or deep tissue massage. Some would say it was a no-brainer. Something that would be physically therapeutic. But (there had to be a but) my mind is telling me that I should have a nice relaxing massage (with tinkly music and nice smells). Obviously this would be a good thing for my mental state although it would probably not do a lot for the nasty knotty bits in my back. Do you see my dilemma?

I made a decision yesterday that I should simply make an appointment and get a massage. That I could choose to have a deeper massage to sort my back problem out now and perhaps have the nice relaxing massage next month. So I have booked myself in tomorrow to get that sorted. I can bet, pretty confidently, that tomorrow at about 12:30 I will be wondering what was wrong with a nice relaxing massage with tinkly music as I grimace with pain. hahahaha

First week home alone in my empty nest

Well, that's the end of the first week on my own at home. My son and his girlfriend have settled in to their new home - everything is unpacked and in its place. The bonus is probably that they are only five minutes up the road maybe things would be different if they were further away? It's real nice that both my boys (and their girlfriends) are within a very easy drive (and it's even walkable).

So how did my first week go? Really well. I am loving the freedom to cook all the foods I love without needing to consider others (does that make me selfish?). I thought I might have felt lonely without them here but it's actually been ok. It's quite nice that I don't have to "check in" with anybody and I am finding I can be more spontaneous. The downside is there is no-one to boss around and no-one to share the chores. hahaha What a bind having to always be the one to empty the dishwasher! Mind you it took about 4 days to have enough dishes to be bothered putting the dishwasher through.

I am on track with my List - I bought a pattern and fabric today - not for the dress I want to sew but a top. I am waiting for winter fabrics to come into the store before sewing the dress but thought I would get creative and start with a top for now. That will be a task for me to do one evening this week. I have found my next new recipe to try - Chicken and Pesto fettuccine which is on the menu plan for this week. And talking of the menu plan - this is the plan for the week :
Monday - kedgeree
Tuesday - steak
Wednesday - chicken and pesto fettuccine
Thursday - fish curry
Friday - grilled chicken
Saturday - crumbed fish
Sunday - birthday dinner for my son so will let him choose

All meals will use vegetables from the garden wherever possible. I have zuchinni starting to flourish, sweetcorn, potatoes and beans to supplement vegetables bought yesterday.

I continue to struggle with broodiness of my chooks - three out of four are currently broody so I am down to 1 egg a day again. How annoying! I am on the lookout for a cage I can segregate the broody ones into. I get the feeling this will continue to happen - maybe I chose dud chooks? hahaha I figure they are following their natural instincts - but it's a bit annoying when I am looking for them to supply me with eggs not produce more offspring.

Focus!

Developing my list of 101 things to do in 1001 days has provided me with focus. In reviewing the list a number of times I have been spurred into taking action on several items.

Item 11 - blog at least once a week - here is this week's blog. :)

Item 17 - Try 50 new recipes - first new recipe was the kedgeree I made for dinner last night. I bought some smoked blue cod and made my first ever kedgeree last night - it was delicious. Here's the recipe I used. I'm not sure if it is a traditional kedgeree but it's the only recipe I could find in my books.

Kedgeree

250g smoked fish
2 tbsp butter
2 finely chopped onions
1 tsp curry powder
1/2 tsp turmeric
1 cup long-grain rice
2 1/4 cups stock (I used stock I had frozen from our Christmas ham)
3 hard-boiled eggs
1 tbsp lemon juice
Fresh parsley
3 chopped spring onions

Melt butter in a pot and add onion. Cook until soft but not browned. Add curry powder and turmeric and cook, stirring constantly over the heat, for 1 minute. Add the uncooked rice and stock. Cover pot and cook gently over a low heat for 10-15 minutes until rice is tender and the liquid absorbed. Gently fold into rice the flaked / sliced smoked fish, chopped hard-boiled eggs, lemon juice and parsley. Remove from heat, sprinkle with spring onions and garnish with wedges of lemon before serving.

Item 26 - Give blood regularly - I am booked in to give blood tomorrow.

Item 30 - Take 3 cooking classes - I have enrolled in 3 classes at the Wellington Community Education Centre. The classes I chose are Thai cooking, Chocolate treats (yum) and Finger Food. The first two classes are scheduled to take place in March and I will post on them then.

Item 55 - Menu plan every week - This week's plan is as follows :
Monday - lasagne and fettuccine - my sons and their girlfriends are coming for dinner
Tuesday - leftover kedgeree from last night
Wednesday - burgers (homemade beef patties)
Thursday - chicken stirfry
Friday - mushroom and spinach omelette
Saturday - spicy fish cakes
Sunday - thai beef salad

101 things in 1001 days

I have been catching up on my blog reading recently and several blog authors have mentioned the 101 things in 1001 days challenge. That has piqued my interest and I have decided to partake in this. I will report on progress from time to time so you can see how I am getting on with this.

So here goes :
1. Write a letter to myself to open in 10 years
2. Go vegetarian for one month
3. Walk the Milford Track
4. Spend a holiday exploring the top of the North Island (everywhere north of Auckland)
5. Visit the Coromandel
6. Visit Tauranga
7. Make a quilt
8. Go to 3 music concerts
9. Invest in a decent sound system
10. Downsize my house and my mortgage
11. Blog at least once a week
12. Have a massage once a month
13. Declutter my house
14. Clean out garage
15. Stick to my budget
16. Track all expenses
17. Try 50 new recipes
18. Listen to one new musician / band every month
19. Buy a piece of art
20. Find a great cupcake recipe
21. Replace my lounge suite
22. Make new cushions for the lounge
23. Increase mortgage payments
24. Go skiing
25. Compile my favourite recipes
26. Give blood regularly
27. Become a volunteer for the Samaritans
28. Go sky-diving
29. Only buys clothes / shoes for replacing existing items
30. Take 3 cooking classes
31. Complete Christmas shopping by October
32. Attend a yoga retreat
33. Eat less red meat
34. Eat more fish
35. Donate $10 to charity for each task I don't complete
36. Go camping
37. Go on an unplanned road trip for a weekend
38. Put together an emergency kit
39. Take a dance class
40. Do yoga three times a week for a month
41. Go to a live comedy show
42. Buy fresh flowers once a month
43. Make 25 different cocktails
44. Try out a new restaurant once every two months
45. Make a winter dress
46. Spend a rainy day with someone in bed
47. Sleep under the stars
48. Read a science fiction book
49. Prepare and have a romantic candlelit dinner at home
50. Read at least one non-fiction book a month
51. Complete a sudoku every day
52. Go to a wine and food festival
53. Go to 10 plays
54. Go white-water rafting
55. Menu plan every week
56. Reduce grocery spend to $70 / week
57. Review goals once a week
58. Make soap
59. Take a bubble bath every month
60. Build something out of wood
61. Buy a "round town" bike for running errands
62. Set up spare room as a real guest bedroom
63. Go on holiday to Japan
64. Donate 100,000 grains of rice on freerice.com
65. Create a cleaning schedule
66. Take a class and learn something new
67. Donate food to the local food bank once a month
68. Do a random act of kindness once a month
69. Knit something
70. Make a loan through Kiva
71. Go see a 3D movie
72. Keep in regular contact with my brother
73. Sew Christmas stockings
74. Go to an art gallery every month
75. Get involved with local Transition Towns group
76. Take a pole-dancing class
77. Assemble a first aid kit for the car
78. Have a productive vegetable garden year-round
79. Complete a scuba diving course
80. Learn to garden organically
81. Reduce food wastage
82. Visit my parents twice a year
83. Write an “if anything ever happens to me” letter
84. Clean out and organise my filing system
85. Check my car's oil and water every month
86. Change the oil and oil filter at least annually
87. Once a month meet a different friend for lunch
88. Clean out the dreaded box of cables
89. Swim in a lake, a river, the sea and a pool
90. Wear matching underwear at least once a week
91. Put $1o in a jar for each completed task
92. Try geocaching
93. Donate to one new charity each year (ongoing)
94. Take more photos
95. Take an art class
96. Visit a waterfall I haven't been to before
97. Write a positive thought down every day for a month
98. Kiss in the rain
99. Mid-winter swim
100. Write my name in the sand and take a photo of it
101. Bake bread once a month - new recipe each month

Phew, that was much more of a mission than I thought it was going to be. And now I have to start working on achieving tasks from the list. Gosh! I will print this off and make sure I review it often and start checking things off.