backyard entertainment

Our backyard hummingbirds are fattening up for their migration to South America.

I put out fresh sugar water to attract the birds. We usually only have two that show up during the season, but have seen three. They are very territorial and spend most of their time defending the feeder by dive bombing and chasing one another. We watch them perch on twigs in the trees above the feeder while they wait for the other bird to dare to feed. It is very rare for me to have two on the feeder at once. I have only seen it very early in the morning, maybe for their first meal of the day.

The ruby throat seen on the male bird is really just a reflection of the feeder ..it has a darker throat area which picks up the colour. Both birds have an iridescent blue green back which does not show up well in the pictures.

here is my amateur video of the birds. I have not spent any time learning how to edit and crop a video so this is raw footage!!! :-) the real action happens after 30 very boring seconds, although you will see a few flashes of two birds having a territorial war. one zips in front of the feeder and two flash past by the fence. (yes our fence needs power washing!)

Knitting for Mackenzie Frances

This post was lost so I am putting up the photos again.

Little Mackenzie, born Sept 1st in Christchurch is my third cousin. I made the plain white items and had them waiting for pink or blue details.

tribute to Floyd

My mission yesterday was to get all the ingredients purchased - done !
then this morning to cook, you know, let flavours develop - done!


It is now simmering away in the oven for a few hours, with potatoes peeled and ready for cooking later. And it is only 12:30... not at all like me. I am more famous for wondering what is for dinner at around five o'clock.
The intention is not to give my mum a heart attack, having prepared dinner in advance!! but to pay tribute to Floyd.




IMHO Keith Floyd who died yesterday was one of TVs most entertaining chefs. He started out with French-influenced food and fish dishes, so I think something French with wine flavour would be appropriate. I went for Julia Child’s Boeuf Bourguignon. Unlike Floyd and maybe Julia - the wine only went into the dish, any remaining will be consumed with the dish later tonight.



So having cooked all morning I have yet to tackle today's share of the big sewing project.


I have had a few false starts, unpicking, returning to the shops and the like...so progress has been slow. The bed skirt and duvet are on the bed as are a few scattered pillows but am still working on some finishing touches.


My biggest issue was my new machines zipper foot....when did they start designing a fat zipper foot that does not butt up to the zip?? my old one was supper skinny with an indent for the needle, the needle was moved to the side and all was flush with the zip and fabric. This new one won't work for what I needed to do which was sew on cording. Maybe I am supposed to go out and buy a special cording foot! The end result is messy as I had to have the cord under the foot. Anyway once done, turned and on the bed it is obvious that a larger cord should have been used...it is too small and is lost in the big picture. one day I might replace it but not now.

You can see my issue in this photo ( the needle needs to butt up to the cord) and the next shows the finished bed skirt.

It's love bug season again!!

These little bugs visit twice a year, swarm around for a couple of weeks and then disappear. They float joined together thru the air. If you happen to be surrounded by a swarm and look up, it feels and looks just like you are in a soft black snow fall.
Here the volume is nothing like that of Florida, where the bugs were more of a pest. They congregate around doors for some reason, sometimes an inch thick, daily sweeping required.
Their bodies are very delicate and smash nicely onto car hoods, grills and wind shields - the result turns to concrete if not removed while the remains are fairly fresh.

You see trucks coming in from the orange groves in Florida, with the front completely covered, black and where the window wipers have cleared only the reach of their sweep. Some Florida interstate rest stops have a drive up spray shower just for love bug season! - anyway I think that's what is if for??


I wish I could say that I took this photo, it was in our paper this morning. If I had a rose bush I might have used it as inspiration for my own photo. I like the picture so thought you would too.




this photo I did take.....what can I say...they like Gatorade!

So girls in Florida, how are you coping with your love bugs?

Sucre

I found macarons!!

and look what else they sell!!

above is my box of macarons and my empty gelato bowl!!

I almost thought I was back in Paris... but Sucre is a little shop on Magazine Street in the Garden District. Selling coffees, chocolates, marshmallows, cakes and gelato.

coffee & beignets

from Cafe Du Monde. The original french market coffee stand in New Orleans.




Frank and I just returned from a quick weekend trip to New Orleans. It was wet! (this is at a rest stop on the interstate)

we explored the garden district, peaking over fences into the gardens of huge homes, looking for Anne Rice characters

we rode the old streetcars

wanted to explore the Lafayette Cemetery, but it was closed. Looking in from the gate.

and beads from Mardi Gras still hanging on

We ate at "Luke", we always eat at Luke. A French Bistro restaurant we stumbled across about five visits ago. We didn't know it, but the owner is one of the chefs we see on TV a lot. After a big lunch we decided to just have appetizers for dinner. We sat at the raw bar and had clams, oysters, a serving of crawfish gumbo and a pate platter. Yum!

Save room for dessert

Charlotte aux framboises et au fromage blanc

I made this for dessert last night. I have always wanted to try my hand at a Charlotte, they look so fancy and this tasted pretty fancy too. I just had some leftovers for breakfast...even better!
It is made with yogurt, hmm...GOOD FOR YOU!!




so next time I make this, there will be a few changes in my technique:

- I will dip the little ladies fingers into the syrup mixture, not soak them (they fall apart and syrup runs out onto the plate)
- the cream will be whipped before I need it (prep pays)
- the fruits will also be cleaned, cut and ready (prep pays)
- if I am careful with the gelatin melting process I won't have to sieve out lumps!



The recipe (Taken from a French food blogger)

Charlotte aux framboises et au fromage blanc

serves 8

two dozen of biscuits cuillère, either homemade or bought.
300g water
210g caster sugar
for the mousse
6 gelatin sheets (I used 4 pks of powder - too many - try 2)
500g fromage blanc (I used Greek Yogurt)
120g caster sugar
330g double cream, whipped
a couple handfuls of raspberries

Make a simple soaking syrup by combining the water and caster sugar in a saucepan. Bring to the boil, then pour into a wide container, and allow to cool.

While the syrup is cooling down, soak the gelatin leaves into cold water for at least ten minutes.

Divide the fromage blanc into two heatproof bowls. In one of the bowls, mix in the sugar until dissolved. Heat the other bowl containing half of the fromage blanc in the microwave until it reaches around 40°C. Then quickly drain the gelatin leaves, and incorporate to the warm fromage blanc. Mix until fully melted. (Here I sprinkled the powder on the hot yogurt...had lots of trouble but eventually most of it melted) Then, fold this into the sweetened fromage blanc. And finally, gently fold in the whipped cream in a couple of batches.
When the syrup is cool enough, soak the biscuits into it and arrange in a shallow Charlotte mould.
Pipe (I spooned - it was very stiff at this stage) half of the mousse into the biscuit-lined tin, then cover with a handful of raspberries and more soaked biscuits. Top with the remaining mousse.
Chill for a couple of hours, preferably overnight. Unmould and serve.

The yogurt gave it a slight tang! very yum!
If you try it, let me know.

The big sewing project

I am doing a makeover in our bedroom.....not rearranging nor replacing furniture, really just the bedding, bath towels etc and maybe a change in paint colour. So after many hours of thumbing thru magazines for inspiration, a lot of Internet research and hours of walking the racks in fabric shops (with thanks to a couple of friends in Atlanta who came along on the hunt) a decision has been made and now the project is finally underway.

I collected a few swatches. I was aiming for something gold/chocolate/rust/red and it needed to be Chester proof.

This photo is very washed out, the true colours are a lot warmer, golder (look at choice #1 here and then again in two photos down)

my two favourites

This is my pick #2....mainly because it is softer than the other and it's from a local shop.
#1 was in Atlanta.

I collected swatches for the skirt and pillows

The three fabrics

the bed skirt panels ready for the blind hem stitch.

That is progress so far.....

Mango departed for the birdie resort

Mango had a brief and memorable impact on our household. We all tried to love him but, it just wasn't meant to be. Who would have guessed that Mango would take over our lives.
Six months ago thinking we needed a buddy for Kiwi, (our sweet and chatty budgie) we arrived home from a bird show with baby Mango. He quickly adjusted to his new home by bossing his humans around. While still a baby, I had to drop everything to hand feed him - not a problem, but the sounds associated with me mixing his food and boiling the water etc. all triggered a signal in him, a signal that meant he was about to get our attention...so fast forward to the present and make a single noise in the kitchen any time of day or night and Mango will get excited. His excitement was the in the form of a very load scream and if you didn't respond quickly he would then walk in the direction of the kitchen, chatting away while walking right up to our feet. Of course at first we thought it was all cute, we would feed him then play with him, even walk and work around the house with him along for a ride perched on your shoulder. Eventually he took over by wanting this attention all the time, the screaming when he didn't get his way was what drove a couple of family members to the edge. We tried several methods of training to cure the problem but he wasn't to be fooled. It was time to find a new home.....I feel bad giving up on him so quickly, but it turns out that I am the only one here with any patience. Mango was recently given to a bird park, somewhere where he is with others of his kind, where the public can visit and we can volunteer our time.

Both birds had their own cage, but the doors were always open so that they could climb on the outside and hop from place to place. Kiwi was fascinated with his new friend, and followed him everywhere, even onto our shoulders which he had never done on his own, he even wanted to share any food Mango had in his beak - tiny Kiwi picking at Mango's mouth looked dangerous but Mango put up with it all, only occasionally getting fed up and snapping back. They were both often seen grooming one another. Kiwi eventually moved out of his own cage and into Mango's, only visiting his own for his food and water.

Kiwi has settled into a new routine with Mango gone and we are thinking again of getting a buddy for him...this time it will be another budgie or maybe a canary.



They wanted to hang out here often! I just noticed that if you look closely at the background behind Mango you can see a house plant framed perfectly giving him the effect of wearing a feather boa!

bath time

how cool do I look?

my reading glasses make interesting nibbles

Chester rolls his eyes and thinks of the things he has to put up with.

Here is a short video I made showing our baby feeding technique, he quickly graduated from a syringe type tube and is close to weaning at this stage, so is much more interested in what is going on around him.

Click on the play arrow and hopefully it will work for you.

Ahh......lovely weather

Our weather has been gorgeous - a few scattered clouds to make it pretty and temperatures a few degrees lower (29 C !!) with less humidity and a soft breeze. This break from the weeks of muggy hot days and thunderstorms really gives you a burst of energy. I want to be outside all the time, pity I have so many inside projects to do at the moment.

Yesterday Frank and I drove to Orange beach, it takes about an hour to get there. Well worth the drive for a few hours relaxing at one of Americas most beautiful beaches. And with no need to watch and count heads playing in the water I was able to read and enjoy the view. We drove there last Sunday too, forever hopeful for a day at the beach, but we didn't even get out of the car. As we got closer to the coast the wind picked up and visibility went to almost zero. There were red flags flying to indicate the beach was closed, it turned out that a tropical storm had just developed off the coast and we were getting the outer western edge of the storm. I had checked the local weather radar before we left and saw a few bands of rain off shore, nothing unusual about that, but by the time we got there it had changed significantly.

On our way home we always stop at an ice cream drive up - I ordered my favourite, the raspberry concrete, it's a thick custard ice cream mixed with loads of raspberries....very yummy and even better two weeks in a row!

Frank made a huge lasagna for tea last night - I am not a fan so for mine I cooked up a fresh speckled trout caught by Christopher just an hour earlier from our pier.

I have just made a quick trip to the library to pick up a few books, got a couple of books on tape for when I am working at the sewing machine this week....big sewing project under way.

Chester and I came across these mushrooms while out walking this morning. A nice big clump, I wonder if they are poisonous.

visitors

A nice calm day on the bay.




Here close to a river bank where we thought it would be a good fishing spot.

We have just had young people from Atlanta visiting, some of Christopher's friends from college. They spent most of their time with a chilly bin full of cold beer down by the bay, one day spent at Orange beach on the coast, and on Sunday we took them out boating for a spot of fishing and Mobile River Delta sightseeing. The fishing was a success as in entertainment but the results didn't bring anything home for the table!

We slow cooked a big pork butt on the grill to make bar-b-que sandwiches - an easy way to feed a crowd. Another meal was a big batch of homemade pizzas. I made a pavlova one night with 5 egg whites and used up the yolks in creme brulee for the next night. I must remember to do that more often, they are both so easy, both made in advance and so often requested. I usually waste the yolks when I put them back in the fridge waiting for someone to be in the mood for an omelet or a custard, only to be found five days later, lurking at the back behind other leftovers.

Once the visitors left on Tuesday, with Christopher at work and James back at school, I quickly caught up with the laundry and then put my feet up and celebrated having the house to myself. Yeah!!

A quick trip to Atlanta before the holidays are over

James has been up in Atlanta visiting his old friends there, so I drove the five hours up to collect him late last week. I stayed with an old neighbour, Jan and her family have been fabulous hosts to me on several of my quick trips. The time up there is always a bit of a whirl wind, with me always trying to fit in too much. Atlanta has everything that Mobile/Daphne doesn't have and I need my fix of good shops, and good friends.

A quick stop at Ikea for Elderberry syrup, a drink introduced to me while in Denmark

The ultimate fast food: a dozen meat pies for the freezer from the Australian bakery in Marietta square

One evening Jan made her croissant wreath for dinner. Using the pre-made croissants, which were arranged on a heated pizza stone

topped with a mixture of fresh broccoli, some chopped peppers, Swiss cheese and cream of celery soup (did I leave anything out Jan?) I was told that it is also good with chopped chicken mixed with cream of chicken soup.

folded over and into the oven

hot and very delicious!

The local Diary Queen hosts a trivia night on Thursday, so I joined them for some of the fun. A tradition is to end the night with a line dance...anything for a free ice cream sundae token!

And farewell to Atlanta on a foggy humid morning.....see you next summer

the worn out traveller

You know you are in the deep south when:

the highway scenery alternates between tree lined and kudzo lined trees

the only food available at an exit is bar b que

and when historic landmarks are worth stopping for but you never have the time.