Filed under: House
A long overdue job got done this spring. 
Our corrugated roof was in need of a coat of paint, and thanks to the motivation and help from our friend Clayton we got it done. We hired a big water blaster and Jonno gave it a good wash and got rid of a bit of lichen. A few nails needed to be tapped back in or replaced. This alone made the roof look much better, but getting the paint on has really made the whole place look sharper. 
Such a great job to get done. 
Thanks so much to Jonno and Clayton, and to Paula and Hayley for the lunches and looking after Noah while I was up on the roof.
Filed under: House
The coal range has been going well, as well as the porridge each morning we have done a chicken casserole, bacon and egg pie, and my first bit of baking with it, Nana’s chocolate slice, from the Ripponvale Recipe book that Mum put together.
We also acquired 10kg of tomatoes from a neighbour, so we have been into making tomato sauce and some pasta sauce.
Our friend Julie gave us some fejoas which were also put to good use, Paula made a fantastic Fejoa cheesecake which didn’t last long enough to have its picture taken, and I made a Fejoa Loaf.
I have had my first go and making that great example of South Island cuisine, the cheese roll. Fair to say it wasn’t a complete success. All I knew was that the mixture contained cheese, evaporated milk and onion soup mixture. I used too much evaporated milk and so the mixture was too sloppy. The mixture gets rolled up in thin white bread before being toasted. I put too much mixture in each roll, and so as you can imagine there was cheese mixture going everywhere when they were toasted. Despite that they were all eaten! Will try again soon.
Our coal range in the kitchen is now up and running. It needed a bit of work to fix the dampener and a handle, and we also got the wetback connected up. It is great to have it going, so far we have only burnt wood in it but we will be getting some coal for it. We really noticed a difference with the hot water and the next thing we will do is get a radiator in the hallway connected up to it.
We will also get a drying rack on pulleys set up on the ceiling to dry the washing.
Cooking my porridge and making coffee
Filed under: House
I do love poached eggs. Happily the chickens are now drinking out of theit new water dispenser! The first recipe of hopefully many on this blog… well not really a recipe, just how I make my poached eggs. After heating the element to make my coffee in the espresso maker, I get my small pot of water onto boil. While this is happening get the toaster ready. Once the water is boiling break the eggs into a glass, and using the slotted spoon that you need later, get the water spinning in the pot. Once this is happening slide the eggs out of the glass into the spinning water. Here is the important bit, get the bread into the toaster. Turn the water down to a simmer. After the toast has popped and you have buttered it the eggs will be ready. I realise this will only work if you have the same toaster as me. Anyway a bit of salt and pepper on top, lovely! I would have a picture but I only thought of it as I finished it this morning. Next time I will take a photo, and also time my toaster!
