Family - Food - Home

Memory Lane - The Snow

Waiting for some snow so we can go tobogganing. Thought I'd post so photos of our previous snow days for a little trip down memory lane. Some photos were from Lake Mountain and some from Mt Donna Buang.
Pouty and teary #3.

The cousins and the pickles make a snowman at Lake Mountain.

Lake Mountain was burnt the previous year, sadly a lot of homes were lost and a lot of lives too. The bushfires spread through this whole area.

The snow lodge at Lake Mountain.

You'd think they hated the snow??!!

valet service...thanks Mr3P



Nearly home time. We played till it got dark.



Hopefully, I'll have some NEW snow photos to post here very soon. There was 10cm on Lake Mountain this morning, so fingers crossed for more .

linking to

Kirsty Girl
Good Life Wednesdays

Playing with heat maps





{recipe} Lemonade

If you have a lemon tree and you live in Australia, it's probably going nuts right about now. Our tree would have to be at least 25 years old, maybe more and produces sweet lemons in abundance. There must be 200 lemons on that tree at the moment. So here is my lemonade recipe.
In a large saucepan, place 1 cup of white sugar and 1 cup of water. Stir on low heat until sugar has dissolved, then bring to the boil and  boil for 2 minutes. Turn off heat.


Add one cup of freshly squeezed and strained lemon juice, stir. Put lid on saucepan and leave to rest for 20 minutes.



Add 6 cups of water and stir. Fill a jug with ice, throw in some bruised mint leaves, pour lemonade over ice. Enjoy.

Variations:
Instead of 6 cups of water, you could use sparkling water or soda water.
Instead of sugar you can substitute with spoon for spoon sweetener, like Equal.
For a bit of zing, finely grate some fresh ginger into the jug before serving.

The Versatile Blogger Award



Thanks Ava at Picket Fence Fancy for giving me this award. I love reading her blog and you will too, go jump that picket fence for a visit, she won't set the hose on you, I promise.

I'm told that this award comes with rules. I'm not very good with rules,but I think I can manage these ones....
so....
Rule #1Thank the people/person who gave you the award and link back to them. Easy, peasy, lemon squeezy ( sorry, couldn't help myself).




Rule #2:  Share 7 random things about yourself...... hmmm.... much harder but I'll give it a go........


1. I don't hate spiders, but they cannot be allowed to live if they enter the house. If Mr3P is sent to kill it, then I must witness a "body", not "yes dear, I got it". If I get brave enough to kill it (I did give birth to three children sans drugs, yet killing a spider is difficult for me), then a special dance that includes much screaming and the flailing of arms is required.


2. When I was 12years old, I had my finger caught in a catamaran rudder. It nearly chopped it off...lucky.


3. I LOVE my iPod, it's like my sanctuary. My playlist currently includes : Nickelback, Billy Joel, Guy Sebastian, Pearl Jam, Garth Brooks and Michael Jackson.  Strange mix, I know, but hey.....


4. I have an older brother and a younger sister. (And I suffer from MCS....middle child syndrome)


5. The most famous person I have ever met is Prince Charles.


6. I used to do gory make-up for movies before I did wedding make-up. I prefer wedding make-up...not as sticky.....


7. I want to see more of this beautiful country with my family before my pickles get too big.




Rule #3: Pass this award on to 7-15 worthy blogger's and let them know I've done so by dropping them a message.


in no particular order


All things Heart and Home
August Fields
Sweet Nothings
Whipperberry
Robynne's Nest
Pearl Mayple
My House My Garden

these blogs make up part of my regular reading list. Give them a visit.


Macro Filters

I don't know if you've noticed but I LOVE taking shots using macro or macro settings. The world is so different in close up, don't you think?
A full on macro lens can come with a big price tag that my non-professional budget just doesn't allow {yet}. So after doing a little homework, I discovered macro filters. They're kinda like a magnifying glass that can screw onto your lens. After shopping around, I found a great deal on Ebay for only $20plus $10 postage for 4 lenses. The stores were quoting me from $90 upwards and that was for only 2 or 3 lenses. Oh, and they came in a cute carry bag AND I got them the next day. Woot, woot ! ...gotta be lovin' that!.
I got them from this seller and I'm really happy, but you can get them all over ebay, markets probably too.. I got the Olympus ones, but they sell other types too.
Anyway, I thought I'd post a couple of shots I took as soon as I opened the pack. I really need to learn about lighting and these f stop thingys.

Please let me know what you think of my virgin shots with these filters.

This is a lavender flower that has gone to seed.



These little "daisy like" weeds are teeny tiny and grown all over the lawn.

Good Life Wednesdays
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{recipe} Rizogalo - Greek rice pudding


Another family favourite that tends to get requested as the weather starts too cool. This is a traditional Greek recipe, but I find it is very similar to the English version that my Aussie/English Nanna used to make (except for the cloves). Very simple to make (I like it simple) and tastes great warm or cold.




RIZOGALO

4 cups milk (I  used 1 cup powdered milk and 4 cups water mixed)
1 cup long grain rice (uncooked)
3/4 cup sugar
4 tablespoons butter
1 cinnamon stick (used 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon if you don't have a stick)
3 whole cloves (or use a good pinch of ground cloves) I did this today
3 eggs slightly beaten

In a large saucepan add the rice and about 2 cups water. Bring to the boil (don't stir), then turn down to simmer and place lid on pot. Simmer until rice is almost tender.

Add milk, sugar, butter, cinnamon and cloves and bring back to the simmer. Stir frequently.

When mixture looks thickened, remove cinnamon stick and cloves.

Take about 1/4 cup of hot pudding mixture and add to beaten eggs. Stir and repeat. Then add egg mixture to pot and stir to thicken and mixed thoroughly. This prevents scrambled eggs!

Pour pudding into large serving dish or individual bowls and sprinkle with ground cinnamon.

Let cool and serve warm or chill and serve cold.

ENJOY!



Linking to


Good Life Wednesdays
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Miz Helen’s Country Cottage






Simply Delish Saturday