Author: Caroline

14 days of cooking with the Thermo

I joined a group on Facebook that challenges you to cook something new with your Thermomix for 14 days. The latest challenge for 26/5 to 8/6 was…

1. – “I’ve had my tmx a yr and I still haven’t made…..” that thing everyone raves about that you keep meaning to try, something that’s so simple but you haven’t got round to it yet, that thing that’s been on the to do list for ages or something you thought you would make in the first week that you just never got round to!!!

2. – winter warmers – hearty nourishing winter meals

With that challenge I decided to make a list of things I’d like to make and thought I’d blog about it.

  • Monday 26/5 – Yummy Chicken Pasta (recipe community)
  • Tuesday 27/5 – Pikelets (TM31 Everyday Cookbook p57) and lemon butter (TM31 Everyday Cookbook p47)
  • Wednesday 28/5 – Tomato Soup (TM31 Everyday Cookbook p 78)
  • Thursday 29/5 – Impossible quiche (Devil of a cookbook) – first time doing quiche in thermo
  • Friday 30/5 – Chicken Stroganoff (Devil of a Cookbook) – a family favourite
  • Saturday 31/5 – Raisin bread (from Thermo Affairs)
  • Sunday 1/6 – crumpets (recipe community) – a bit of a fail, not sure what went wrong 🙁 and I forgot to take a photo

Week 2

  • Monday 2/6 – Super simple sausage rolls (recipe community)
  • Tuesday 3/6 – converted mum’s one egg meringue recipe – still working on tweaks
  • Wednesday 4/6 – Apricot Balls
  • Thursday 5/6 – taco mince (using the packet stuff)
  • Friday 6/6 – Parmesan Garlic Bread Wheel
  • Saturday 7/6 – i was out all day so didn’t make anything
  • Sunday 8/6 – Chicken Cashew Nut (TM31 Everyday Cookbook p111)

Overall I think it was a pretty good 2 weeks. We’ve found some new recipes we’ll add to our family favourites, some that will need a bit of tweaking before we decide and a couple that won’t get made again. I’m looking forward to the next challenge 😀

The road to our new bathroom

As I mentioned in the Home Sweet Home post we’ve recently started renovating out bathroom. We looked at doing it ourselves then decided too hard and after a few quotes decided to go with locals, 2am Construction & Plastering.

When you look at the before pictures you can see why we needed to renovate – wood panelling – everywhere. Old bath. Old sink. Nearly no storage. Mould. And I hate it with a passion. It’s not somewhere I can go to relax and unwind. That & I think it was making us sick 🙁

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We had no real idea of what we wanted to do except get rid of all the wood panelling and maybe use our awesome cast iron claw foot bath we’d been given. Sadly after much discussion with the builders and plumber it worked out we couldn’t really use (or afford to use) our bath. Boo. On the upside we have a bath for when we win Tattslotto and build up and get an ensuite on our new bathroom. Hey a girl can dream, right?

The first couple of days was gutting the bathroom completely, plumbing, moving power points and light switches, putting in the new bath and bathroom window. Then it was plastering the walls.

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Having no bathroom has been fun but thanks to the in-laws we’ve been showering there.
I’ll be back in a couple of days with the next stage – waterproofing and tiling.

My PL wish list (May 2014)

This list could get really, really long but I’ll keep it to what I really want this month. Things I would actually use in current projects not just buy & leave sitting around 😉
(Images are linked)

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  • The Daily Stamps (digital) at Peppermint Creative. All 5 versions (so far). This is the May set
  • Peppermint Creative LIP: Hello Let’s Go 3×4″ Journal & Filler Cards (digital) for my BYS album
  • Personal Yearbook Mini Kit for Miss K’s yearbook I plan on starting this year cause she started pre-kindy this week!
  • Cats Theme Pack for a mini album I want to finish on our cats. Started way back when I started scrapping in 2005!
  • School Theme Pack for Miss K’s yearbook.
  • List cards from Becky. Not sure what project I might use them in but I do want them LOL

What’s on your wish list right now?

Share the bloggy love

Cause I love finding new blogs & blog lists like this are a great way to find some new reads

In no particular order:

BBQ goodness

Another week, another theme – National Barbecue Week.

What’s your go to BBQ food?
Me – chicken & ham kebabs, potato salad, chips, layered garden salad. Not really a steak or snag girl. Much prefer chicken kebabs or maybe even a bit of seafood.

Keep an eye out over the next few weeks, cause I’ll be sharing the kebab recipe and the salad recipe.

Sail or Fly? That is the holiday question.

We’re pretty lucky when it comes to the choice of how to travel here in Tasmania when we decide we want to holiday on the mainland (or the big island as it’s often known). We can fly or we can take a leisurely trip across Bass Straight on one of the two Spirit of Tasmania ships.

There are benefits and draw backs to both methods – costs, luggage, comfort.

We often fly when we take a trip to Melbourne, namely due to cost and time benefits. It’s cheap and quick. BUT when you sit down and think about it flying can get expensive and it can end up being a long process that can end up being stressful.

I’ll be honest, last time we flew was a bit stressful – first time flying with a 2yo. Fun times. Maybe if we’d taken the boat it would have been more pleasant. For the record, she flew home fine.
Travel on the Spirit could be much more less stressful, kids can run around or play in one of the many kids areas or play in the arcade or catch a film. And given that kids under 15 travel at a lower price – more spending money for the trip. AND until 11:59pm on 7th June 2014 (unless sold out prior), kids travel for just $10* per child each way with the purchase of any Adult or Pensioner fare. Valid for travel between 1 July 2014 and 28 September 2014.

Now if you’re anything like me when you plan a trip to Melbourne (or Tassie if your coming over from the big island) you know you’ll be doing some shopping, some more than others and if you’re flying that means paying for extra luggage on the way home – not cheap! When you travel on the Spirit the only restriction n luggage is what you can fit in your vehicle (I’ve heard of people hiring vans in Tassie, going on a shopping trip to Ikea then coming home). Oh yeah, there’s another benefit to sailing – taking your own car, no more car hire charges, not being locked into using public transport (as much fun as that is).

Some of the the beauty of travelling by sea is having the freedom to step out on deck, enjoy the beautiful sunsets and breathe in the fresh ocean air – there’s nothing quite like it. When it gets dark you can wander inside and have a meal from a choice of freshly cooked options in either the a la carte restaurant, buffet style eatery or café and there a number of bars to relax in with a drink. When it’s time for sleep you have the choice of a range of accommodation options to choose from including a Deluxe Cabin equipped with a queen sized bed and flat screen TV, Twin Berth Cabin, Four Berth Cabin or an Ocean Recliner. From personal experience (before kids – yup that was the last time I went on the Spirit) I wouldn’t go an Ocean Recliner again – I hardly slept. Next time it’s a cabin for sure, the Deluxe cabin looks lovely.

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So when you next plan your trip to Tasmania (& why wouldn’t you visit our lovely state – there is so much to do here!) or to Melbourne, you might want to consider sailing on the Spirit of Tasmania. I know we will.

*Conditions apply