Ice-cream and Quinces

Yesterday as I drove home from a nice day shopping with the girls and visiting their Nan I was listening to Drive on the ABC (yes, I feel like my mother, no offence Mum, you should be glad I am slowly morphing into you) and heard about Peters ice-cream being sold on and that it will no longer be produced in Western Australia. I am not sure if there is a 'mainstream' locally (meaning Perth) produced ice-cream available? I know there are several small gourmet ice-cream producers, but they are still several hundred kilometres away and only available in the city. I think it is time to investigate ice-cream makers as I will not be purchasing ice-cream that is made in the eastern states and I certainly won't be going without ice-cream!!

The quinces on my tree are nearly ready- only amount 8 big ones thanks to the 28 parrots, so when I saw some for sale yesterday in AVEG (a fruit and veg shop that focuses on locally produced stock and only stocks Western Australian produce) I snaffled up a couple of kilograms. I am unsure what to do with them, I think I will have to a least have a crack at quince paste and maybe some slow baking. Need to go and organise myself as it looks like quince paste will tie me to the stove for a while.

Ready for the Cool

We are really enjoying the mild autumn weather this week, for shearing, playing and outside jobs. Lyssie and I have cleaned out the wood box and disposed of the enormous amount of spiders and filled it ready for when the cooler weather comes. This morning we collected sticks down the driveway while Emme had a nap. Ian has cleaned out the plate at the top of the fire so we are ready to go when the cold hits.

Quiche and Playing

Thank goodness lovely autumn weather has arrived and the girls can finally play outside without worrying about the sun too much. Emme really loves being outside doing fun things like eating stones and chasing moths. This morning I found her eating compost out of the wheelbarrow as I refilled an old laundry trough to replant some mint.

Impossible Quiche

1 onion, chopped
2 rashers bacon, chopped
1 cup of grated cheese
salt and pepper
1/2 cup self raising flour

Mix the above together in a bowl until everything is coated in flour.

4 eggs
1 1/2 cups milk
1 tbsp melted butter

Whisk together in a jug then pour over flour mixture and combine well. Pour into a greased quiche dish and bake for about 45 minutes at 200*.

Works well with other bits added such as corn, asparagus, grated zucchini, spinach, parsley, tomato slices on top, or anything else you have on hand.

Wonder Woman

Yarding sheep ready for shearing

We have a busy couple of days coming up with happenings on the farm. We are shearing at the moment and on Monday will be pregnancy scanning 2500 ewes as well- a lot of sheep coming in and out of the yards over only a few hours. So I thought I had better get organised today so at least we would have good food to keep us going.

This is what a good morning in the kitchen produced

• bread
• chocolate cake- big one, hald will go in freezer
• pumpkin, zucchini and bacon soup- some in little containers in freezer for small children
• impossible quiche- will write out recipe when I have a little more time as it is really versatile and simple
• batch of spag bog sauce for the kids- little containers in the freezer as well
• lamb and pumpkin curry for tomorrow night
• 
  
• 

The stove at 11.00am

Still have to make an apple and rhubarb crumble and custard to take out tonight and ice the cake. Had better go and get organised as we need to be out of the house and ready by 4.45pm!!


Fresh bread and a jar of tomatoes ready for the spag bog for the kids. Are just about out of fresh tomatoes so have just started to use the bottled tomatoes, definately pleased with my first effort at bottling my own tomatoes

Poppa's Birthday

On Saturday we headed to the coast for a big family birthday lunch for Poppa's 70th.
It was lovely to catch up with everyone and see all the kids play together out side in Nan's beautiful garden.

Emme really enjoyed the birthday cake!

Lyssie is showing potential to become a great country lady by mucking in and helping Nan with the washing up.

Simple Apple Cake

It has certainly been quite a while since I have managed to blog! Thought it was about time to get back into it. There has been quite a bit happening here with taking on a new farm and just the children in general, it has been hard to find 5 minutes to sit, write and reflect. I will try to make time more regularly. I will hopefully start to feel a bit more motivated too as the seasons are changing in the garden and there is once again a lot happening.


I finally used a new Bundt pan I bought a while ago on special. I think Bundt pans could become an obsession, I have three now and I can see room for many more in my house. There is certainly one for every occasion. It was really easy to prepare and cooked a simple apple cake perfectly. I used the Quick Apple Cake recipe from Stephanie Alexander's Cooks Companion. It makes a nice pudding cake with a hint of brandy or rum, might be nice with a bit of spice next time.