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".