Just a bit of June in the garden

Here's just a little bit of what's going on in my garden. Despite being in the thick of winter with it's unforgiving coldness and wind, there is some fabulous things flowering and fruiting!

Lately we've lost some of our big trees and shrubs to old age. Natives don't last forever. We've squirreled some wood away in the shed, and done endless trips to the tip with greenwaste. It has left us with lots more room for new plants, it wasn't a hard decision to fill these gaps with fruit trees.

Miniature versions of citrus, apple and nectarine have filled in some of the gaps in the garden. They are fabulous for smaller gardens. We've even squeezed in a feigoa tree! Summer is going to be in her element when they fruit, she LOVES them.

I've pruned my roses, except for the carpet roses. They are still throwing out a few flowers, but have to get on to pruning those a bit. They tend to get a bit unruly if left to thier own devices.

Alstroemeria

There's a bee in there somewhere. I tried to coax him out, but he came straight out and flew away. I couldn't get a good shot of him.

   

Green Hellebores

Jonquils

We have oranges, and behind that, mandarins!

pink carpet roses

I love this colour of snapdragon, so gorgeous! The buds are a dusky pink,, then open to a soft pink. These come up from seed, so I hope I get some more come up of this colour.

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Red lentil and caramelised onion soup

I should have mentioned in the title that this soup also has a winter favourite, pumpkin.

I made this last week and ate it for three days! It perfectly matched the chilly weather we've been having. I swear this past weekend I achieved nothing except for the usual mundane house jobs. I am not sure if it actually stopped raining on Saturday. Perfect for lazing, with or without pyjamas all day, with the heating on to keep from freezing our tits off! 

We've just bought a Nintendo Switch gaming system for the kids of course, but I did waste a few hours playing Super Mario Odyssey. I am well and truly sucked in, and cannot wait to get my hands on Donkey Kong Country.

When Jake was a boy, he'd go off to school and I would sit and play with his Nintendo gameboy. Pokemon was my game of choice. I loved it.

Then when he was a little older, I would sit in his bedroom and play Doom on playstation when he was at school! 

Here I was thinking my gaming days were over!

Back to the soup...It's nice and thick so will stick to your ribs and keep you satisfied. I reserved some of the caramelised onions and used them for garnish, with toasted pumpkin seeds and feta cheese for some more flavour. 

I must say I forgot about the pumpkin seeds when they were toasting in the oven, as you do. I saved them just in the nick of time, they were crunchy and nutty, without having that obvious burnt taste. Don't forget to check your pumpkin seeds!

 Ingredients:

2 Tablespoons olive oil
2 large onions, sliced
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons ground coriander
2 garlic cloves, chopped
2 cups cubed pumpkin
5 cups water or veggie stock
375 gr bag of red lentils(McKenzies)
feta cheese, for garnish
toasted pumpkin seeds, for garnish(about a tablespoon per bowl)

How to cook your soup:

Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion and cook for about 10-15 minutes until soft and a light golden brown. Remove just under half of the onions into a bowl and set aside for the final garnish. 

Add the cumin, coriander and garlic to the saucepan with remaining onions and stir for 1 minute. Add the pumpkin, water and lentils. Bring to a simmer and cook covered for about 20 minutes, until the lentil are soft.

Use a stick blender to blend the soup.

When serving garnish with toasted pumpkin seeds, caramelised onion and broken up feta cheese.

If it wasn't so cold outside, I probably would have gone outside to get some fresh herbs to sprinkle on top, parsley, mint or coriander would be nice.

If you like a bit of heat, some chilli oil drizzled on top too.

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Glenelg weekend away

Sorry for letting the crickets loose on the blog again. Life gets busy.

The weekend before last I shot off to Adelaide after work on Friday. I ummed and aahed about going a day earlier than I needed to, but I needed and deserved a weekend away by myself god damn it!

I arrived in Adelaide in peak hour traffic and made my way to Glenelg with a shitload of help from mum's GPS. I would have been LOST without it, I have no clue where I'm going in Adelaide!

The motel I stayed in was on Broadway, a fab spot with a couple of pubs down the road, a good array of shops, cafes and bars and a couple of supermarkets a quick walk away. It suited me down to the ground. I parked my car in front of my room and that's where it stayed until I left on Sunday morning. 

I walked to Glenelg's shopping strip, Jetty Road on Saturday morning. I had a relaxing walk around the shops, by the beach and walked back to Broadway along the beach front. When I got back to my motel, I even had a nap!

My god, these breaks away from my family, from my everyday pressures, sure make me realise how important these breaks away are!

I returned to the beach front on Saturday evening, hoping to experience a sunset, and I wasn't dissapointed at all. It was fabulous to do a heap of people watching, and have all the time in the world do my own thing and take lots of photos.

I spent all day Sunday, from 8:30am to half past 4 in the afternoon, at the Gymnastics SA training facility, getting my Gymnastic for All accreditation, and then drove the four and a half hours home! Hence, no post last week.

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