A weekend away

Last weekend we went down to Adelaide. It was a great time for me catching up with family and friends while my hubby Paul, enjoyed watching the Clipsal V8 Motor Racing.  We headed down Thursday night, so I had 3 days of R&R.

Friday I met up with a couple of my sisters and we visited Mum who is in Resthaven. Poor Mum has dementia but is well looked after and cared for. We have gradually be loosing the Mum we used to know. Very sad, but thankful for the services she receives to make her life comfortable.

From Mums visit us girls went out to lunch at the Payneham Tavern where we met up with another sister and Mum's best friend and her family which we all grew up with. It was a great get together. 

After the 'long lunch' I went back with my sister 'Glenys' to her house and stayed there the night. We enjoyed some wind down drinks on their deck. Lovely!

The next morning one of my 'besties' picked me up and we went to Marion Shopping Centre where we had some lunch (delicious!), watched a movie (The Lady in the Van), did some shopping, had coffee and then went back to her place at McLaren Vale where I spent the night.
The Lady in the Van was quite good. Started off a bit slow but grew into an enjoyable movie. I can't think of anyone else who would be so suited to the 'Lady' as Maggie Smith. She was amazing.

On Sunday we enjoyed a lazy morning, wandered up the main street of McLaren Vale and then after lunch went to House and Garden on Unley Road and Burnside Village before meeting up again with Paul after the race. It was a very relaxing and enjoyable weekend 'in the big smoke'!!

I bought this cushion from House and Garden. It is the start of purchasing a few things to go with a bit of a makeover I'm doing in the family room.

And these 2 cushions were to replace some old ones on the cane chairs I have in the office for clients. I got these from House at Marion.

Our youngest grandson Luca is 7½ months old and is on the move. From our kitchen into our family room we have 2 steps, which Luca managed to go up this week no problem! We need to teach him now how to turn around and go backwards to get down. We taught his brother Owen that and he caught on really well at an early age and whenever he needed to get off of anything he would always turnaround and go down backwards.  A good thing to learn.

 Nothing exciting on the baking front. Friday night I quite often make Pizza. This is one I made this week. A local greek lady makes the bases which are available at one of our supermarkets and they are good! Topped it with bacon, chicken, capsicum, spinach, mushrooms and mozzerella cheese. Yum!

It's a long weekend here in South Australia. One of my sisters and her husband are coming up today and staying the night.

Hope you are enjoying your weekend.

Easy Tuna Pie

I have many favourite recipes that have stood the test of time...most of them have been ones that Mum or my Mother-in-law used to make.

One of those is Tuna Pie. It has a savoury biscuit base and the ingredients are a one bowl mix. So easy!

I made it last week, and remembered to take photos as I prepared it.

 Biscuit Base...I use the Chicken Drumstick biscuits - Mum used to use Jatz

 I snipped some chives

 Mixed the ingredients together

 Baked

 Served with a fresh salad

Here is the Recipe

Base: 1½ - 2 cups of savoury biscuits and 3 oz butter melted.

Combine and press into a pie plate - let set in fridge while preparing the filling.

Filling: 3/4 can evaporated milk, 2 beaten eggs, ¼ cup grated cheese, 1tsp mustard (I use mustard sauce), ½ cup chopped celery, 1 onion (I used chives), 425g tin of Tuna.

You can add other things  - I added sweetcorn this time too.

Drain the Tuna and combine all ingredients. Pour into base. Sprinkle with extra grated cheese. Cook in moderate over for about ½ - 3/4 hr.

It's really nice the next day for lunch too!

I spent the weekend painting a couple of walls in our family room. We have ordered a new lounge suite which we won't get for another few weeks yet. I wanted to give the room a fresh new look, so the process has started.

I will reveal it once I've finished. Here is a little teaser!

Some of you may have seen some interviews that James Cordon has done with well known musicians. I love the one with Adele....make a cuppa, I'm sure you will love it. How good is HIS voice too?

Click here to see and hear it https://youtu.be/Nck6BZga7TQ 

Hope your week is a happy one.

A quilt and some cooking

When our first grandchild was born in 2013 I made a shaggy quilt for his arrival. Here is the finished quilt. You can see that post here.

So when we found out there was another grandy on the way, I got to work and did another one. As we didn't know if it was a boy or girl either time, I went for safe colours. I'm a 'self taught' sewer so my quilts are basic and not at all to the standard of my of my fellow bloggers!

And here is Luca with his Aunty Chelsea on it when we were down the river last weekend.  His Uncle Adrian is strumming a ukelele!

Lasagne with veggies

Monday nights we have our kids over for a family tea, so on Sundays I try and get a bit organised with the preparation. Today I've made a big Lasagne and a little one which doesn't have the meat content in it as one of our daughter in laws doesn't eat meat.

I like to add veggies to my lasagne's, so I just cook them up to soften first. Then I fry the beef and add a can of crushed tomatoes along with bolognaise sauce and then combine it all together.

 

I then do a basic cheese sauce and layer it up. I've put alfoil over them, placed them in the fridge and will just pop them in the over tomorrow night. We'll have it with a tossed salad and herb bread. 

Date and Walnut Loaf

 I also made a couple of Date and Walnut loaves. I got the recipe from here

 

 I don't eat a lot of ice cream, but my hubby does so I've always got a tub of Golden North Vanilla Ice Cream in the freezer. But while shopping the other week while in the Ice Cream section I noticed a box of 'Frutare Mango Smoothie' , so thought I'd give it a try.....Wow, they are delicious, so creamy with real chunks of mango. Sorry about the picture, it was the right way around in my file!!

Anyway, it's the start of another week. Here's a quote that I thought was quite good. Enjoy your week!

13 months on.....haha!!

How time flies when you're having fun!

I didn't intend to stop blogging but I guess life just got in the way.


The highlight of 2015 would have been welcoming another gorgeous grandson, Luca, into our family. It was extra special as he arrived on my birthday in July! He is a brother to Owen who is nearly 2½.

A few pics of them to bring you up to date

Above: Just a few hours old

 

Above: Happened to snap a shot where they have the same expression and pose!

 

 Above: Luca - now 7 months old and sporting 5 teeth!

Above: Paul's a bit of a 'Ford' follower and bought this shirt for Owen at Bathurst last year.
Owen loves having a shirt just like Pops.

Above: Paul and I have the boys on Wednesday as Telesha has gone back to work for a couple of days. It's great fun and lucky we can have a special day with them each week.

 Enough about the grandies!

I like to update our quilt cover every couple of years. Once I start looking, it usually takes time to find one I really like. I found one at Bed Bath and Table that took my fancy, so I bought it. Very happy to have a new look in the bedroom.

Hopefully this post will kickstart me back into blogging mode and blog visiting again. 

Happy new year!

Well christmas has come and gone since my last post! We had a very relaxing, fun time with family at our house over a few days.

Before Christmas we had our backyard made over. As we had our new entertaining area built over the past 10 months the backyard had been a building site, so the lawn and garden needed a spruce up. I'm loving having my garden back. Here are some progress shots.

The plants ready to go into the garden area.

My planter box was looking a bit sad too, so I cleaned it off and repainted it. It's now holding 4 pots which are growing strawberries, basil, parsley, chives and cherry tomatoes.

Some of my other pots by the backdoor are giving some nice colour.

The photo below is of a Devil's Ivy that I received as a hanging pot back in July for my birthday. The leaves when I got it were just below the pot....look at it now!! It must  love the spot where it sits, very protected.

Nothing real exciting happening in the kitchen, but I did try some Vegeroni Pasta the other night which turned out nice. I cooked the pasta, chopped chicken thighs and browned in the pan, tossed in some finely chopped carrots, onion and celery. Once they were all nicely browned, I added some curry powder, cream and sugar and then the pasta along with some cashews. It was a nice quick meal.

To end with here is a pic of our little grandy Owen, playing his favourite game...hide and seek!

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