TEA ROOM #125

Hello everyone. a new thread for the new month.
Where has the year gone ?
Is it me getting older, or do the months seem to pass in a rush ?

A beautiful day here so now I have moved us, I will go back outside to enjoy it.
Lots to do now the weather is warming.
My greenhouse tunnel is all done so I can keep all the broms warm in winter.
Also a good place to sit out of the rain .

I finally caught all the weeds with the Roundup so now all I have to do is wait for the new lot ...lol

Enjoy the rest of your day everyone.
We came from here ..
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1332542/

Jean.

Love the look of the Broms, but most of them bite Lol ! you look like you are having fun with them Jean.I always remember dear Liesa when I look at Brom Pics, my Match Sticks are huge clumps now and have just finished blooming. I feel kind of guilty because I haven't done anything to care for them, or the Succulents, yet they thrive, what darlings.

I am starting to love the Succulents again and re discovering Cannas, my new ones are going for their lives, despite this dreadful weather.

Also about to explore Oleanders once more ...guess we have to love other things again during fowl weather, while we wait for the Brugs don't we ?

I hope everyone has enjoyed their day. It's been hot and smokey here.

cheers

chrissy

Halloween is done - now we're eating leftover pumpkins. Well, this is the fun part. Pumpkin bread, pumpkin cookies, and oh yes, pumpkin pie... Pass to cream whip please. We even roast the seeds in salt and butter for pumpkin "nuts". It's a once a year thing we all enjoy.

Livy had a great time out on treat night as a "good witch", tons of sugar to absorb (later I hope). She had the entire weekend off, but back to school again on Monday. Hope the goblins didn't mess things up as usual.

We will soon be shopping for our Thanksgiving turkey, last week of November, then on to Christmas. Wow, never seems to quit!

Al

Chrissy, I can save you some Flame seeds if You want. I have several seed pods. Do you pick them when stems turn yellow??? I've never really harvest them before....
Al, this is why we all gain weight over the holidays. We love to eat what we cook!!!
Charleen

Good morning.
After a lovely warm day yesterday, its light misty rain at the moment, but may turn out nice later.
I watered and fertilised all the plants then attacked the weeds with the Roundup.
Felt good to be getting at them finally and knowing that all that lush green will soon be dead brown.
Hopefully, I wont have to do them again for a while.

Al and Charleen, I may have to come over there for all the pumpkin goodies.
Halloween is taking off in Australia, mainly in the cities & suburbs though.
I do like pumpkin scones and pumpkin bread. Never tried pumpkin pie, but it sounds yummy.

I will enjoy my turkey for Christmas. It wouldnt be Christmas to me without a turkey.

Chrissy, I have given up on oleanders here. I still have the two that I bought years ago. They have never grown any bigger than 4'.
They do flower, but I wont bother with any more.
You will find that succulents have a life of their own, quite happily growing in practically any place with or without care.
Some of my best looking plants are down the back where I toss all the old plant stuff. Lots of other plants growing down there too.
Neglect works well here.

I am still enjoying all my irises, epis and of course my brugs, but I like the bromeliads because they require little care and are easy to move around .

Have to get out and fix up some retic hose today. I am putting it up along the roof in the greenhouses and one of the shadehouse that has not been done.
Another thing to make life easier with the watering.

Hello Dianne, Moon, Teresa, Anthony and anyone else popping in..

heres a tasty nibble for your morning tea....Pumpkin Spice Cake..

Happy day.
Jean.

Good morning to all the happy Tea House visitors ...I have come in for my cool drink of water, so hot out there already !

Al I love Pumpkin, we don't tend to use it much as a sweet dish here, but everyone loves Pumpkin scones
http://www.abc.net.au/local/recipes/2013/06/11/3778932.htm

I have made a cake from pumpkin once, it tasted like peach in the recipe I used.
It was very similar to this one

http://allrecipes.com.au/recipe/24722/pumpkin-fruit-cake.aspx?o_is=Hub_TopRecipe_5
Enjoy yours ^_^

Charlene that is a lovely offer re seeds, but I have so many seedlings demanding attention and space already that I really want to concentrate on what I have already, you share them among your friends and grow some out yourself ^_^ it's wonderful fun. You are right about a few pounds over Winter/Holidays, I have put myself on a bit of a health kick to get rid of the Winter insulation lol. Smoothies and soup for a month, no spuds or bread (Boo Hoo) ...results straight away ! ^_^

Jean I an guessing a few things just don't care for the climate where you are, but you can grow lots of lovely cooler climate things ...every place has it's positives and negatives, we learn to adapt, mind you, when I was down Junee,Thought I would turn into an Ice Block, it looked and felt so bleak in Winter, I just wanted to go home. My brother loved it there.

Living inland I miss the beaches ...but we pretend our dam is a lake. The bird life is great.

Best be getting on with things ...Moon ^_^ Dianne ^_^ Teresa ^_^ Anthony ^_^ and anyone else ...have a wonderful day !

chrissy


Edited ... to say Charleen yes, if the stems are yellow they are probably ripe. Feel for some softness on the Pod, it starts to feel soft. Lay the seeds out to dry if you want to store them, or plant straight away.
Peel a few here and there to check you have seeds inside the corks, often donated seeds may be produce empty corks. Have fun and good luck with them.

This message was edited Nov 3, 2013 8:20 AM

I.m trying the 'Borax-Sugar 'recipe...on ants, seems to be working

I don't know what is in it, but I use the ant sand, Anthony....they like to build under our bricked area and I always envisage a huge city under there, that will fall in one day...they don't seem to like the sand, they disappear for a while.....
Jean, if it's anything like it is here at your place, your brand new glasshouse tunnel will need bolting down...
The wind gusts are frightening...
Tilly won't go outside....
By the sound of your halloween, Al and then thanksgiving to come....I would be a balloon, no, that would float...maybe a beachball....if I could manage to bounce, most unlikely though...
It all sounds delicious, but.......
Hope everyone is having a good day..
Dianne.

Anthony I saw this on the web ...

Easy Way To Get Rid of Ants Overnight. 1 cup warm water, 1/2 cup sugar, 2 Tbsp Borax. Soak cotton balls with mixture and place around the house near ant trails. Feeding frenzy then the next day, they're gone! (Careful: Borax is poisonous to pets too, so make sure it's out of their reach.

I think this is the same as Ant Rid and far cheaper if you have to use a lot of it. ^_^

chrissy

Charleen - if you like oysters then this is for you ...
http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/bluff-oysters-draw-thousands-festival-5447607

they are one sea food I don't care for, do love scallops & laughed at Anthony's comment re. potato fritters... quite a few kiwis have been caught out ordering the 'cheap scallops' at a fish & chippie in Aussie & been deeply disappointed.

We went out for dinner last night with family we all enjoyed our meals, 5 of us & all had a different dish.
Mine was poached salmon, it was a real toss up between that & the fish of the day - blue cod is a lovely fish.

Sugar had her Rally -O competition & I managed to lose a point in the Novice round for having a tight lead at the start - not sure about that,, if it was must have been for a nano second.
We finished on 99/100 so it cost us a placing - they were all on 100% so course time was the decider - and we had a good fast time

Next round was the Advanced which is off lead - and as soon as I saw the judge put soft toys out as the distraction I knew I was in trouble.
Sugar managed to leave the toys when we got to them...
but finally succumbed to temptation & bolted all the way across the ring back to the toys, snatiched one up & away she ran - out of the ring prancing with glee...
she did come back to the ring when I called her - she came within 2 metres of me & then took off in the opposite direction, disappeared from sight in the vicinity of the obedience rings & then finally came back & gave me the toy.

The judge allowed us to finish our round on lead just to teach Sugar that it's not up to her when we finish the course...

so now I have something else to work on in training...






This message was edited Nov 4, 2013 6:53 AM

This message was edited Nov 4, 2013 6:56 AM

Good morning.
Its a nice morning after a pleasant day yesterday.
I planted some brugs into the ground and moved broms around so now I have everything tidy, until I decide to move plants around again.

Teresa, I know it wasnt nice of me , but I did laugh over imagining Sugar running off with the toy.
She is a naughty girl still.
She will learn eventually, we hope. Nice to see that she does well when behaving...lol

Anthony, I dont bother the ants here. as there are way too many.
Evey spare piece of ground has a black ants nest. One thing about them is that they dont venture out much in daytime. Some mornings you can see the stragglers still making their way home after a nights foraging.
One doesnt disturb the nests though or they will swarm out and bite.
I'm pretty much used to them and if I have to disturb a nest, I keep an eye on them and after a few minutes, they will go back underground.

Dianne, we only had a little wind here, thank goodness.
Dont worry, my greenhouse tunnel is tied down to steel posts. It is not going anywhere.
Poor Tilly, she must have been very frightened of the wind.
It may have picked her up and blown here away.

I am going out this morning to fix up the retic hose in the greenhouses and shadehouse.
I have plenty of it from when the garden was started . I ran the hose everywhere , making watering easier.
Now most of the paddock garden is looking after itself, I can pull up all the hose and reuse it elsewhere.

Better finish my cuppa and make a start.
Hello Al, Moon, Chrissy and anyone else popping in.

Heres something tasty for morning tea.... Strawberry Shortcake.

Happy day.
Jean.

I love the name MuttonBird, have never heard of it. I have the Downunder world on my "Bucket List" I'd love to visit and meet you all and Sugar too. Naughty girl, running off with the toys. You will get her trained and then she will behave as a Lady should. :)
Chrissy, I may try to plant a couple of the Flame, it is such a beautiful bloom...
Been a beautiful day here and hope your day is great too.
Love and hugs

Oh gosh Charleen, I don't know much about the Mutton Bird, so I googled of course, trying to see how they got their name (Mutton is what we call old sheep, here in Australia), thinking they might taste like Mutton. This is what I found (I had no idea-they taste like fish) ...poor little chicks.

http://www.taste.com.au/forums/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=9975&sid=1088640cd2afb7f8e47cbc6b92546d1d

Hi everyone ...it's windy and cold here *scratching the head*

The black ants here, have a habit of setting up home in my pots, so they can be a problem, I haven't used the ant sand because of the warning on the container, evidently it can effect plants if it washes into the root area.It would be good in certain areas.

Oops hubby wants a cuppa ...see you all later ...have a great day/night.

chrissy

Mutton birds, huh... They look an awful like the seagulls we see around here. No, I don't think I would care to eat one, though probably edible if one was hungry enough. Since they are seabirds the fishy taste would likely come from the food they eat. We also have ducks and geese that are much better to taste. Not to mention Buffalo wings (that don't come from buffalos)!

Al

lol - mutton bird is an unusual taste, quite greasy & salty & needs to be cooked the right way or it's not nice at all.
I've had some that was very tasty - the trick was to find a Maori cook who knew how to handle the traditional foods.

Sugar had a good training session this morning - and then a half hour walk.
I helped my SIL in her garden, I gave her a variety of things from my garden & then did some weeding & planted them for her.

She knew where to buy home grown tomato plants for a dollar so I bought 1 Early Girl & two Sub Arctic Plenty.


Be interesting to see how they do here.

It was such a lovely day, have been in shorts & t'shirt - hubby came home from work at 3pm so we took Sugar to the dog park - let her have a swim at the start of the walk & then she dried off with all the running about she did.
Should sleep well tonight - and so should Sugar ;)

some photos from today...

MMMMMMMM!-Muttonbirds!

this time photos from today, it only works if you click choose file...

1 - lots of buds on this lily
2 - love the colour of this rose, shame I don't know the name
3- not sure if this is a sport or not, all the other irises are blue
4- yellow mini rose noid
5- another lily

Hmmmm. Tried some mutton bird once, Cooked by an Italian chap whose family ate them all the time.
I think the old recipe for cooking galahs would suit...
Clean Galah , add to pot with water and a large stone...
When stone is tender eat bird... ...lol

They are not nice to eat from my point of view.
As Teresa said, very salty & oily.

I'll stick with the properly brought up birds like chickens, turkey and goose..
Havent had a goose since I used to breed them many years ago.

If those rosellas keep biting off all the new pink shoots on my roses. I just might boil them with a couple of stones...lol..

Going back out in the sun.
Jean.

shouldn't that be when stone is tender, throw away galah, eat stone?

After googling I found the reason they are called Mutton birds, it is because of the very fatty flesh.
Thinking about it, Mutton can be very fatty.
Fat being a highly valued commodity in the earlier days for many uses besides food.

I think I saw a documentry about them many years ago.

Winter came back today courtesy of the Southerly Buster that decided to bust all day long, so tired of the wind. At least it's cool.Better for the fires (still burning but under reasonable containment.

Hard to imagine what some people had to eat to survive when they were settling out here in the early days.

chrissy

I read that the folks drag the bab ies out of their nest. Baby pigeons here are called Squabs and considered a very good meal. i don't know, I like to watch pigeons fly.. they are a cousin to Doves too.
I don't know if I'd like the mutton bird. think I'll stay with Scallops and Oysters....
come folks are still eating exotic foods we wouldn't even consider. We are blessed...
Love and nuzzles
Charleen and critters

Excuse me, did somebody mention dinner?.....(sorry, I couldn't resist)

Al

Gosh Al, we have barely had breakfast, morning coffee break right now.

You are a tease ! I think you and Anthony should have a BBQ together, I reckon it would be a riot.

Why don't we have a Cyber BBQ ...what plate would you bring everyone ? (plate means a dish or tray of food). Here in Australia the men usually bring a slab of beer.

Coffee break is over, see everyone later, have fun !

chrissy

I was looking all over for this one, finally found it....my grape pie!

Al

Sorry, Al, it looked so good I ate it all..yummm

That seagull is different to ours with its dark head. A much nicer looking bird than a lot of our seagulls.

Chrissy, a Bar B Q to me means STEAK .. lots of onions of course. plenty of coleslaw and potato salad. ...

Charleen, some people will eat anything.
When I used to breed ducks years ago, I remember being asked for baby ducklings before the feathers came or for the nearly hatched babies still in the eggs.
Needless to say, I refused to sell anything until it had proper feathers.

Talking of morning and afternoon tea, its time I had a cuppa.
Beautiful day here so I will enjoy my cuppa outside.

Happy day .
Jean.

That looks mighty good Al, Jean you gobbled it all up yourself ?

ha ha ha, well I am on a diet LOL !

I would bring a delicious bean salad (I have the recipe they used at Kentucky Fried Chicken ).
Lots of yummo potato salad and huge field mushrooms to grill with a touch of olive oil and garlic butter.

Funny how the talk drifts to food as the weather chills or if you are losing weight ^_^

See you later everyone!

chrissy

Yummy!!! I'm going to bring Charley. No, you can toss him on are Barbe!!!! :) But think of the fun. No one will be sitting long unless we find him something to eat.
wouldn't it be grand to meet with each other. I could plant a kisson Sugar and give her a rub.
Then there is Cocky, and your horse Jean. So much people to hugs and animals to love.
Have a good ones dears.
Charleen and critters

Sugar at a bbq - she would be a whirlwind of excited spots trying to lick people & steal food...
my answer to bean salad is always 'don't care what it's been... what is it now'
not a fan of it at all.

Drizzly day here after 24C yesterday, not happy, I put a load of washing in the machine but didn't have a chance to put it out - was waiting to be picked up & in the end would have had plenty of time as my friend was very late...

now I have a machine full of wet clothes & no sunshine!

A very good morning to every one a hot one on the way to-day .Not been doing many projects but I have put to-gether a a nice place to watch the sun rise and not be bothered by the pesky flies .taken at 6-15 this morning no wind this morning so can sit back and enjoy my start to the day.
Elaine.

Good morning everyone.
Its going to be a windy day, but warm. Its so nice to have the sunshine so I can get lots of small jobs done around the garden.
All this talk of food and Bar B Qs makes me hungry.
I love bean salad, pasta salad and most other salads.
I like to make my own as the bought ones have way too much mayonnaise.
I prefer the lighter coleslaw dressing and dont drown the salad in it.
Also love Tabouli, which you dont see much these days.

Charleen, Charley would be welcome here as he could clean up all the grass and be rewarded with some cookies. .
He could visit Cecil Sheep out in the paddock . I dont have a horse but Dianne does. She would probably bring him along.


Teresa, I can picture Sugar among all of us at a barbie. She would be in doggie heaven.
Plenty of scraps and willing hands for pats.

Yes, we would have to have Cocky and some of Anthonys tasty recipes.

Tilly would be enjoying herself too . She could of course bring Dianne..lol

Al, you and Moon would love our Aussie ways and we can always throw another shrimp on the barbie for you.

Sorry Chrissy, you would have to leave the garlic home as I am allergic to it.
Bring the mushies though, I love them.

Hello Elaine and anyone else looking in .
No we are not all mad here in the Tea Room, we just love virtual get togethers .

The sun is shining here, so I am off to have my morning chat with all the plants.

Heres a nibble for morning tea....Apple Tart.

Take care and enjoy the day
Jean.

Lol ...I had to settle for my smoothie brekky (oats, nuts, yoghurt and dates and lots of water), I am torturing myself thinking of all those yummo eats ! It will be worth it come Christmas time ^_^
Then I can get stuck into Christmas Cake and stuffing balls dipped in apple sauce !

Back at our cyber BBQ ...isn't it interesting to hear what others enjoy ?
I forgot dessert ...not really much of a sweet eater really. I will bring Lemon Gelato (home made of course).

Also treats for the dogs ! and bring carrots for Charlie ^_^

Must rush ...have a fun day all (or night )

chrissy

Hello to you all.

You are absolutely right Jean...I do love your Aussie ways. Hubby and I were talking yesterday about our last visit. We have been fortunate over the course of the last 6 years to spend a total of 4 months there, and hope to return for another visit in the next couple years.

Our plate for the BBQ would be smoked ribs and green onion sausage, and baked beans with crispy bacon and onions. Hubby says he would also want to bring smoked catfish and salmon.

Hope you all have a lovely week.

Moon

Lucky this is all virtual food or I would not be game to even think of my Christmas pudding next month.

Moon your plate sounds really yummy .
I have never cooked ribs myself as they are not a big thing here.
I did go out a lot with my daughter when in Perth years ago. We always settled on an American place with lovely sticky ribs.
Your green onion sausage does sound tasty too.
I am sure I have room for the beans with bacon & onions. That catfish sounds like something Imust try .

Chrissy, my idea of sweets in the summer is lots of fruit.
I love piles of fresh fruit salad & ice cream.

Thats enough food for me today. I am getting hungry and its not near lunchtime....lol
Jean.

Cocky is full of kisses Charleen! ... 28 here today!-whew!...Beer is nice 'n' cold

At that Temp the beer would be cold, my Friend. Give Cocky a cracker from me and Charley, Anthony. How are the flowers doing??? I know you must have lots of them going....
Brug blooms, showing the effect the colder weather has on them... so pretty and also camillias are blooming...
The brug is called Versa Peach.
Hugs and nuzzles to all.
Charleen and Charley...

28C - that's getting warm Anthony...
I quite like anything between 24 & 28C
ChCh is usually cooler but sometimes we hit 30-32C in summer if a nor west is blowing.

It was Stepson Daniel's birthday yesterday so we popped around with a gift for him & two to pass on from other people for baby Lewis.

This time bub was awake & he is growing well - put on 2lb in 4 weeks.

I took a few photos & will upload them later, need to go find the camera first...

Jean ...Congratulations ! Must rush back later hi to everyone ! ^_^

chrissy

well it was a lovely day today, my washing dried & I mowed the lawns then we took Sugar to the dog park & she is worn out for the moment.

Sugar would like to know if Charley will share his carrots, she really likes them :)

I use them as a healthy training treat sometimes.

Sugar looks really sad, like she did something seriously bad and ended up in jail...

I'll bring over a bag of fresh NY MacIntosh apples to keep Charley at bay, perhaps he'll share a few with the rest of us. The Red Cat grapes are still at harvest if you ladies would like to try some pies and tarts.

Al