Things we’ve been doing

What have you been doing? Have you been doing some good things? Or is life kind of biting at the moment? I hope if it’s the latter you’re getting a bit of the former too.

I have been doing all kinds of things. Sometimes it’s hard to capture the things and be fully IN the things, so I can just tell you about them, even if there are not matching photos for all of the things, right? I am sure you understand.

I’ve been listening to podcasts. I loved hearing Lord Grantham’s Desert Island Discs, especially when the sweet tones of this song filled my headphones. DID is such a rad standby, is it not?

We’re on a budget, so we’ve been doing big shops on Saturday and avoiding the shops on all the other days. You know when all the bills come in at once? That! The GOOD thing about this is that you remember how great it is to keep an eye on your spending and not fritter money away. PLUS – you spend time doing things that aren’t spendy – like making the garden nice and making things and cooking hearty stuff. So there’s that.

We made an old favourite the other night (turn away vegetarians) and it was so good. You should totally make it for your people, if they eat that kind of thing. It’s so nourishing and unpretentious!

Here it is:

Simple Lamb and Vegetable Stew
500g diced lamb
1 onion, finely chopped
1 tbsp good quality curry powder mixed with 2 tbsp water
3/4 cup tomato passata
1 tbsp soy sauce
250ml beef stock
500g butternut pumpkin, peeled and diced roughly
500g potatoes, peeled and diced roughly
200g green beans, topped, coarsely chopped
2 fresh tomatoes diced
2 tbsp olive oil  

Heat 1/2 the oil in a large heavy-based saucepan over medium-high heat. Brown half the lamb pieces. Then remove and brown the remaining lamb. Set the browned lamb aside.

Heat the rest of the oil in the pan over medium heat. Fry the onion until golden and fragrant. Add the curry powder/water mix and stir-fry until fragrant.

Add the tomato passata, stock, soy, potato and pumpkin. Cover and bring to a simmer. Add the lamb and cook, partially covered, for an hour or so until tender. Add the beans and cook for 5 minutes until just tender.Stir through the diced tomato. Voila!

You could add some frozen peas at step 4 if you wanted to make it super vegetabley!

 

 

Tonight we had this.

And last night Cam lit a fire outside and we had a bbq’d shoulder of lamb (that had been in the freezer for a little while) with a big salad and pita bread and boiled potatoes.

Boiled potatoes are my favourite at the moment. Little tiny ones, boiled and eaten with fresh mint, salt, pepper and good mayonnaise. Gosh. Yum.

Do you know what else is yum? This cake.

I’ve been working on a big embroidery project, crocheting baby Del’s blanket (which is taking me way too long! Sorry Gem!), making pompoms, learning to use a pen and ink, and working on some mini-craft projects on the side, too.

I’ve been watching The Secret Life Of The American Teenager. It has a zillion episodes, stars Molly Ringwald AND is the most sex-positive-yet-slut-shaming show I have ever seen. It’s very addictive for a trashy TV lover like me. They say the word ‘sex’ two thousand times in each episode. I am not even kidding.

In other exciting news, we changed our living room around and now it feels like we have a whole new house (again!) which I am loving. Every day I sit in the new-but-not living room and do my work and watch all the birds and notice the light changing and the warmth seeping in and receding. It’s really lovely.

Sometimes I buy a little bag of lolly pineapples from the milk bar down the road and eat those while I watch the birds and the light. It’s pretty premium.

I’ve been working on a book and an applicant for a cool thing. And I’m thinking about another crafty book I want to make too. Hopefully someone will publish those at some point..! Fingers crossed! Publishing is tough at the moment and it’s very hard to get books out there.

In non-book related news, this week is Max’s birthday. Can you believe he will turn 20?! I know you can’t believe that, if you have been reading for a long time.

Also: I have been crazily stalking a pair of Tawny Frogmouths that live at the bottom of my street. When I see them high up in the trees I take photos of them. You can hardly even tell what they are from my terrible photos, but I can tell… and the joke is on me. I have a phone full of terrible Tawny Frogmouth photos and I could not be happier.

Yesterday morning I went for a walk and saw a row of birds on the power line. It was misty and raining slightly and a little bit chilly. As I looked at the birds, up there on the wire, they each took a turn at tipping their heads up to the sky, opening their beaks and gobbling a little bit of rainy morning. It was completely adorable. Like a cartoon made real. Sometimes we are so lucky to see the things we see.

 

 

Today when I went for a walk, a very small, wet black dog bounded up to me and ran circles around my feet. Then it licked my hand until it was warm and damp. Ugh. It was the best. I had my headphones on, but I could see the owner mouthing the words ‘sorry’ to me as I mouthed the words’ hello, hello, hello!’ to the curly little dog, over and over.

Tomorrow the working week is back in full swing (after a three day ANZAC weekend.) This makes me realise how much I love three day weekends.  I am sure I have talked about them one zillion times here, but I really think they should be a weekly thing. Imagine how happy we would all be… And relaxed. And creative. And well rested. Sigh.

Vote 1 to the 3 day weekend, guys.

Love to you! Tell me what you’re up to, too?