Everything in the garden is all ripening at the same time but I am still not beating the birds to most of it. They get the tomato’s and plums before I do. The ones you don’t recognise are the white cucumbers and the Kamo Kamo (delicious roasted) the cranberries and passion fruit will be another month and the apples and pears are just ripening. I love designing the meals around what is ready. Tonight I think a tray bake, roast the plums as well to make a sauce for the chicken but steam the beans. White cucumbers, green apple and chilli will get pickled. Yum..
Yep I surprised myself too, mountain biking capital of NZ but with my wee short legs I couldnt find a bike that I could touch the ground on. Then suddenly a hybrid e- bike stepthru turned up and I couldnt make any more excuses.
Problem is I live up a very very steep hill so getting out and about is wonderful but getting home is still pushing the bike uphill. I am hoping as my fitness improves I might get up the hill from hell on my own but for now I am just lucky that the bike has a walk function – e bikes are heavy!
The garden is keeping me busy, it’s hard to find homes for all the courgettes (zucchini) before they get too big. I have planted another potato crop which I hope will be ready before the first frost and I am going to put some more carrots in this weekend.
Only one gherkin plant and it’s already produced a good crop with lots of little ones on the way, only problem is they come at different stages so I have huge ones and tiny ones and little in between. I pickled all of these today and I will know in a couple of weeks if my spice recipe is right. It’s been so long since I attempted dill pickles and there are so many different recipes out there. But my dill keeps flowering before it is even 10cm tall and then dies off, it’s my 3rd planting and I still haven’t figured out the best place for it where it will give me a nice green plant. It’s a challenge but so rewarding to go out and pick something for dinner. Tonight it’s leftover chicken with green beans, broccolini, carrots, in a lemon herb sauce. All except the chicken is from the garden. …… and the wine but it doesn’t count cos I like to sit in the garden to drink it 😁🥂
The largest exotic forest in New Zealand with what appears to be the most prolific exotic noxious weeds – dark green pine contrasting with the golden yellow broom looked absolutely amazing sparkling in the sunshine for kilometre after kilometre on the drive to Murapara.
Scarlet runners to be exact. You can never buy them, you have to know a good gardener or grow them yourself. In the olden days you could plant the and they would come up every year giving a bigger and bigger crop and you would not need to put in new plants for at least 5 years, now they last just the one crop and some times it’s not much of a crop. I planted them early and they leafed out and grew pretty fast, not much blossom and I have been checking regularly for beans as they take a up a big section of garden. I finally spotted some potential beans – only two clumps but I will watch them carefully. My gardening friends have been getting beans for weeks so I decided to dive in underneath and see if I have been missing something. One giant bean, that’s it. I am making it my mission to find some old heritage beans, this is my 4th year of trying to grow Scarlett runners and each time it’s been a disappointment. I have tried the packet of seeds, the seedlings from different locations, I am determined …. Watch for next years crop.
I have looked at Otanewainuku so many times and wondered what the view would be like looking back to Rotorua. It’s a native bush reserve, home to kiwi and Kokako. Head north and turn off the main road about 20 min out of Tauranga, then wind your way down a long gravel road to the scenic reserve. The mountain trail offered a 45 min walk up and 45 back, the anticlockwise route was shorter which meant steeper and it was, clambering up steps cut in the mud and tree root stairs, thank goodness for the shade. Earlier showers had dampened the track and if you stopped you could hear the light crackle of rain falling through the canopy. The first thing you notice are the huge huge trees and the supple jack vines. The north island bush robin would hop out on the track and happily dig in the leaf litter just a few meters away. Tui’s flitted in and out and you could hear the Kereru diving into the pigeon wood for the fat orange berries.
Me and treeView from the top, Rotorua carefully hidden by trees.
Travelling back via Te Puke just had to stop and pick Boysenberries. I love boysenberries and I confess I ate as many as I collected. There is nothing that says summer more than sun warmed ripe berries mmmm mmm mmm, to say nothing of juice stained fingers and clothes. Am I the only one who can’t eat berries without wearing some of them? A stop in Te Puke to wash off the evidence showed off some awesome street art.
Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, hope everyone is spending Christmas with the people that have a special place in your heart. I am planning a quiet Christmas with a couple of Barney’s young friends (96 and 93) over for Christmas dinner. We will eat nice and early so as not to interrupt nap time which starts at 2. My jersey bennys ( new potato’s for the Americans 😎) got blight and I was a bit worried when suddenly the plants just died, luckily the spuds themselves are fine and I have been enjoying them with green beans and courgettes from the garden. Christmas menu – pepper hot smoked salmon on sourdough with cream cheese and lemon for appetiser – filet steak marinated in smoked garlic, red wine jus, roast lamb and mint sauce, new potatoes in butter, steamed green beans and garden salad. Rhubarb croissant bread pudding with ice cream for dessert. Just trying to decide if I will make some crime brûlée as well. All my favourite things and leftover delight for the rest of the week. I love cooking and it’s so much more fun when you have an appreciative audience. Fingers crossed we have a nice sunny day. Fortunately ribs have healed and its time to get active again.
Pohutakawa in bloom on the lake just in time for Christmas
After all the torrential rain the gardens are starting to get some colour back. Visited my friend June, she has a small but delightful garden that has been keeping her active. She is on a mission to get me to drink tea, I might even succumb one day as she makes the best biscuits and scones and always has some just baked ready to tempt me to stay and chat.
I had a wander along the new waterfront to see how they have spent the 70 plus million they got from the growth fund. I discovered where they have put the old steamboat that used to live on the lake . Not enough tourists to keep it going, but before you feel sad, when there was, it was making a mint and has not been updated or had any money spent on it since the 70s. Those who have been out on it said it was an expensive blast from the past with weak tea and crap food. I know many in the tourist business who are struggling but at the same time there are some attractions that have needed a makeover and investment for years but were making too much money to stop and do it. I would like to think that someone may reimagine the old boat in some way but with it’s coal puffing pollution it’s going to need to be a pretty major makeover.
They tell me it will be up to six weeks for my ribs to heal and I have been taking it easy and spending lots of time reading and relaxing. Definitely a plus although my garden is growing weeds over the acceptable height while I am not being vigilant. Rolling on my side and taking painkillers definitely a minus. Outside my window my lilies have bloomed with so many buds ready to explode into colour it’s going to be riot. How does it get better than that!
Not much sleep after Friday’s celebration went really late by the time we finished the clean up, so Saturday was full on getting everyone ready and everything set up. My last job before the wedding was to stop and get ice for the wine and beer. I stopped at Lincoln New World, already in my full outfit feeling a wee bit conspicuous. Only one bag of ice left in the bottom of the freezer and on tiptoes I leaned in and stretched to get it, the freezer cover suddenly closed on my side. Hurt like the beejeezus but I got someone to help me get the ice and headed off. Sore but not too bad over the evening but WOW couldn’t lie down that night, got strangely worse and worse over next couple of days and I finally went to doc and found out I had fractured 2 ribs.
Another night of amazing outfits and ceremonies, two families getting to know each other and each other’s culture. Everyone was genuine and friendly and I felt welcomed and comfortable (except for those blasted ribs) the food both nights was cooked by the men, not sure about the goat curry or how chow mein got on the menu but it was good. As the night wore on the Kava came out and everyone relaxed more and more. Three days of full on wedding celebrations with all the setup and take down, outfits and traditional, spectacular and totally exhausting.
