Daisy Chains and Picnics

  400g potatoes 1/2 onion, chopped 1 tbsp olive oil 2 handfuls spinach 6 eggs 1 clove garlic, crushed 1/4 tsp ground turmeric 1 tsp dried chives 1 tomato, thinly sliced handful grated cheese Method 1.  Peel potatoes and cut into approx 3cm pieces. 2.  Cook potatoes in boiling salted water until tender, approx 7-8 minutes. Drain well. 3.  Heat oil in a 20cm diameter non stick frying pan over medium-high heat. Add onions, cook until softened. Add potatoes, cook, stirring occasionally for 5-6 minutes or until golden. Reduce heat to medium. Add spinach leaves and cook, stirring occasionally for 2 minutes or until spinach has wilted. 4.  Preheat grill on high. Whisk together eggs, garlic, turmeric and dried chives. Season with salt and pepper. 5.  Pour egg mixture over the potatoes in the pan. Add sliced tomato and sprinkle with cheese. Cook for 4-5 minutes or until frittata is set around the edges but still runny in the centre. Finish cooking under the preheate...

While Cerys was busy helping Jodie with her Harry Potter lego set I decide to bake some carrot muffins in the hope that Cerys would eat them for a snack. I felt bad not letting her make them as she loves to bake but I have been advised not to let her see what goes into the food is given to her or she won't eat it. I didn't want to rush her straight into a sweet muffin as she is struggling with sweet foods and will have to be gradually introduced back to sweet foods as it has been such a long time since she actually ate anything sweet (but she needs to up her calorie intake dramatically and only healthy foods will not give her what she needs) so I omitted sugar and replaced it with maple syrup. Ingredients 1 1/2 cups wholemeal spelt flour 1 1/2 tsp baking powder 1/4 cup quinoa flour 1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda 1/2 tsp salt 1/2 tsp ground ginger 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg 2 cups peeled, grated carrot 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil 1/3 cup maple syrup or honey...

Tuesday 26th October 2021, I dropped Cerys off at school and decided to have a look around Northgate shopping centre, then a wander to the op shops across the street. I bought 4 small plants for $10 in the City Mission op shop and while I was waiting for the lady to ring them through the till, I looked into the display cabinet and spotted this Marc Jacobs watch, I couldn't see a price but knew that Marc Jacobs watches are expensive so I expected it to be around the $40 mark or possibly more, I asked to see it and couldn't believe how much they were asking for it 👇 $7.00, and it came with a new battery!!!. Yes it has a few marks on the white leather strap but nothing too noticeable, more like dye marks from a denim jacket. The first thing I did after biting the lady's hand off to purchase it! 😜, was look up the retail price 👇 Price in Australian dollars, $200, save $93. And price in pounds sterling, 125.00 reduced from 219.00...WOW!!  An absolute bargain!!, I love it!

Jodie came home the other day with a packet of Tempeh, I hadn't a clue what it was but Darren was here, he said he has had it before and it was disgusting!, great start eh!. Not wanting to waste it, I looked up what to do with it. Tempeh is a traditional Javanese food made from fermented soy beans. It is made by a natural culturing and controlled fermentation process that binds the soy beans into a cake form. I have to admit, it doesn't look to appetising!. Apparently it is quite bitter tasting so if you don't like the bitter taste it is best to steam it for 10-12 minutes, so I put it in my steamer in the hope that it would taste less bitter. I also decided to marinate it as I have done this previously with tofu as I find it very bland. I was pleasantly surprised by the flavour, I quite enjoyed it, nothing like what I was expecting, I found it more flavourful than tofu, maybe because of the strong flavour of the marinade, although, I couldn't eat a lot of if as it got q...

Saturday 23rd October 2021, we went to a plant sale, the same person that I bought some of my other cacti from last year, she came over to speak to us and pointed out that she had a couple of damaged pieces of cacti that she was giving away free as she couldn't be bothered or had the time to see if she could salvage them, well I wasn't about to turn down a freebie!! For free I was willing to take a chance on them, what did I have to loose. One came with the roots intact but damage and some rot to the actual cactus, it had dried out and calloused over a bit so she said to plant that one directly into cactus soil. The other was a piece of cactus that had damage down one side. She told us to cut the damaged piece off and leave it to dry out for at least 2 months, then place it on top of the soil and let it fend for itself, hopefully it will survive. I was going to throw the damaged piece away but thought I would keep it to see how it goes. I placed it on a tray in the plastic gree...