I love Nori Rolls

I was introduced to Sushi,  or more precisely Nori rolls about three years ago while out shopping.  Never afraid to try something new I bought one prawn roll  for lunch, that was when my love for Nori rolls began.   My family like these almost as much as I do, so I decided I had to learn how to make them.    After several messy attempts I can now proclaim I know how to make these little rolls of yummy.    Ok, I still make a bit of a mess but they do hold their shape when I cut them and they taste yummy.   I was asked to take a plate of food to a friends birthday last weekend, so of course I decided  to make a platter of Nori rolls. Actually it was my sister who demanded I make a plate of sushi to take along.    I was surprised to find that there are some people that haven't tried these before.  I  convinced a friend to try one and guess what,  she has just bought a Sushi kit from the supermarket today to try and make her own.   Last night while wondering what to have for dinner I realised I had some fillings left from the wekend so I made a couple for my dinner last night.    I also have a weekness for pickled ginger and I  like rice paper rolls, my daughters and I often make these over the summer, they are so nice on a hot day.

Men and machines

The works have begun on the parkland across the street from my house.   Early starts to my mornings this past week, the men and machinery complete with their generators have been arriving just before 7am.   Today I decided to leave the house for awhile just to get away from the noise.     So far they have almost completed the new walking paths that extend the whole perimetre of the park.  We have been informed the new gazeebo and bbque area as well as garden beds will be completed before Christmas.  This will bring more people to the park, which until now has been nothing but a wide open space, I'm looking forward to see what it will become.     
In the front of my house I have a gum tree, over the past three years a magpie family have taken up residence in a nest in this tree.  It has been so nice to wake to the sound of their warbles first thing in the morning, they have a young one that I could see over the top of the nest this morning but, by the time I came inside to get the camera I could'nt see it anymore. So I only have a photo of the nest.

The adventures of a quilt

My quilting group, The Willows, and I have been disappointed and saddened to find a quilt that we had sewn as a group,  was being used to cover a childrens sand pit in a community kindergarten.    This quilt was made and presented to our Shire Office, to be hung as a community quilt,  and it was for a considerable amount of time until it was found to be fading by light from a nearby window.     It was removed to be placed in another room.  Over time we had wondered about this quilt, and it's whereabouts but had never followed up to find where it was.   Many hours were spent in making this special quilt, from taking photos of the buildings of  importance in our area, having the patterns developed,  finding suitable fabrics, deciding on the design of the quilt and then nominating who would sew each block.  We were very proud of this quilt, we had achieved this as a young, recently formed quilting group.   We were formed in 1997 and this quilt was planned during the following year,  I was one of the team chosen to be apart of this quilt, my block consists of  trotting horses during a race,  our area is home to Harness Racing and at that time I had a friend who was involved in this industry.    I thoroughly enjoyed working on this block, and was very proud of my efforts.  Phone calls have been made and the quilt has been rescued, cleaned and returned to our group.  Further enquires have followed and it appears that it will have a new home with the Heritage Society where it will be hung for display once again.

Where is my unpick?

Melbourne Cup Day today,  the horse race that supposedly stops the nation, if you follow horse racing you will know this race is big..... it is a public holiday here in Melbourne.  Have you ever heard of a public holiday for a horse race before, most people use this time to have a lunch with friends, watch the race via the television, have a few glasses of champagne and eat far too much.    Those who go to Flemington to witness the race will dress in their finery, men and women alike and be amoungst one hundred thousand others people all fighting for a position to hopefully see the big race.    I have been to this race day only once and believe me once was enough, far too many people.      Me.... what did I do today, well I woke early and decided to spend some time in the garden before it warmed up, I trimmed my roses, pulled the parsley that had taken over the garden and swept the paving where my grandsons had spread the crushed terracotta,  and all this before lunch.    After lunch I decided to tackle something I have been putting off, an attempt at something for the Christmas Challenge for my quilting group.   I have decided on three inch log cabins for the background, actually it has to be log cabin, that is part of the challenge,   what I will do then I'm not sure I have several ideas but will decide once I have these done.  I have been sewing these by hand and it has taken me two hours to do four.     Everything was going so well, I had four done and then I looked at them,  what have I done, where is my unpick?   I've  made a mistake, see if you can spot it.   Damn, now I only have two complete and two I will have to unpick and do again.

  I need six in total, so I guess this is what I will be doing tonight. 

Sunday is market day

Fresh asparagus, cherries, olive oil dressing and basket

The first Sunday of the month is market day in the little town up and over the hill from where I live.  I love going to this market because the fresh produce is locally grown, there is a huge array of different stalls, plants, gifts, fresh breads, cakes, jams, olive oils etc.   This morning I arrived early, always best if you want a good parking space, and the weather was predicted to be showers and cool, yesterday was very warm and today just the reverse, typical Spring weather.   I came across a stall selling wonderful grass baskets, different shapes and sizes, the women selling these told me they are made by women in Ghana from elephant grass, 60% of the sale of the baskets will go bach to the community to support women and children.  I decided I would buy one of the baskets, but which one, it took me awhile before I made the decision as to which one it would be.   I really do hope that the funds from the sale of these baskets do go to these women.     I was able to buy some wonderfull local cherries, asparagus and an olive oil and verjuice dressing before my phone rang.   My friends who live near by would meet me for coffee, then the rain came down so we went to a cafe where we sat and talked for awhile, before my daughter rang to say she was just parking her car and would meet me.   We were wet and cold by the time she bought her free range eggs, some lovely berry jam and some breakfast cereal.    We decided it would be a much better idea to come home and dry off,  and in her words " wrap herself in her quilt cave and watch a movie this afternoon".

          

About my home town

One of my blogger friends recently asked me to tell her a little about where I live.  Well this is not an easy thing to do, how much do I say,  I do want to protect myself  but, I also want to connect with her and others that read my blog.  This is what I have decided, I don't need to give my address or tell too much about my shire, but I can tell you about my State.    I live at the bottom of Australia, the only place further down and across the waters of  Bass Strait is the island of Tasmania.   My home is in the state of Victoria, named after Queen Victoria, we were settled by the British and most of our ancestors were criminals who were shipped from the motherland England as convicts to settle this great land, although  my ancestors are mostly Irish   My home town is Melbourne it has a population of about 4 million people, I live in a shire about 50 kilometres on the outskirts of Melbourne.  Our shire has a population of roughly a hundred and twenty thousand people, with about a half of the community under 38 years old.  This area was once farming land, the original road through the shire was the Cobb and Co., coach road used to access the gold fields of Ballarat.  The Shire sprang up around the pub and coach office. The outskirts of the shire are still farming but are becoming required for housing.  Victoria's weather is classified as temperate, basically meaning we have very hot summers, mostly dry heat, occasionally it will be humid but this is rare, it has been know to reach 47 degrees celcius in the middle of summer to cold and hopefully wet winters. We have experienced fifteen years of drought but this winter has been kind to us.   Our winter tempretures usually vary between 1-2 degrees celcius to about 12 degrees, this of course varies, especially now we are feeling the changes due to global warming.  I love my town, Melbourne has bush on one side and open beaches with cafes on the forshore where most spend their time in summer.  On the other side of the city it is suburbia and housing,  but then if you want to ski during the winter it is only about one hundred kilometres to the snow fields.    In the summer we are not far from  the world renowned surf  coast of the Great Ocean Road and the beaches of  Bells Beach, Lorne, and Anglesea.  Melbourne is a lively young city, we have the Yarra river which winds it's way through the centre of the city, and has become the hub of many shops, cafes and water sports.  The sport mostly played is Australian rules football in the winter and Cricket in the summer,  and let me tell you everyone who has a club they support is very passionate about their team.  Not far from where I live there are kangaroos, koalas, wombats, beautiful wild birds, parrots, galahs, cockatoos etc, and of course the dreaded snakes.  If you look very carefully along creek beds you may come across a platypus or two, not as many as there used to be.     Kangaroos are taking over parts of this country, they are breeding in large numbers and are now being culled for their meat, which by the way is delicious, little fat and high in protein.  Snakes are some of the most dangerous in the world, and we have many.  

This was taken not far from my house overlooking  farmland

The city of Melbourne has many high rise buildings,  wonderful museums, art centres, theatres, hotels and of course the scorned casino. Most of us live in single story dwellings, we do not have cellars or attics, but saying that,  a lot of the earlier heritage terraces around the city do. The photo on the right is not typical, most people live in suburbia, I think I am very lucky to live outside what is called the green wedge, the land between the city and my shire. This area is becoming smaller as more land is needed for housing, but I am happy as I drive home that I can enjoy the scenery around me and unwind.

My home is a single story house with a garage attached to the side, it has three bedrooms two living areas and two bathrooms, I have a small yard, just enough land to have a garden and a small vegetable plot.  Diane, I hope this has given you an insight into my town and where I live. I have been told Melbourne reminds people a little of Seattle if that will help, not sure.

I took this photo from a hot air ballon eleven years ago, it is early in the morning, with the sun just rising.  We were coming over the city from the east, down below is the Yarra river and the tennis stadium in the middle of the photo with the some of the city buildings beyond.

Shy little boy

Noah waiting patiently for his Dinosaur birthday cake

I am already missing my eldest son and his boys, although I am tired and have loads of  washing to do and floors to clean I miss them.  Noah is so shy when I see him, it usually takes a few days for him to respond to me and by that time, it is almost time for them to pack and go home.  I know it is because I only see him a few times during the year and he is still young, and this will change as he grows.    Isaac is almost six years old and I always receive  huge cuddles from him, he is more outgoing than his little brother, although I can remember when he was little it would take a few hours for him to warm to me before I was able to speak to him and give him a cuddle.    I'm  looking forward to the next visit, I have a flight booked for April next year, but I think they will be down here to visit before then.    Here are a couple of photos of  Noah and his dinosaur birthday cake that his daddy made for him.   Sorry for the photo quality, I forgot the flash.

Family photo,   Isaac helping Noah to cut the cake