proving and preparing

Now that the early mornings are noticeably cooler and crisp....(you know that delicious Autumn freshness?)....it's becoming difficult to fight my urge to constantly have bread baking in the kitchen.

I believe there is no better scent than that of yeast proving and then the warm delicious doughy aroma of it's baking in bread. It seems to waft so thickly through the house filling your nostrils with every breath.....I think if you looked closely enough you would almost be able to see that heavenly smell.

Have you tried these bread rolls yet? I have only a few times. I like this recipe..... I love the manual step of proving the yeast instead of just *chucking it all in* and being a bread maker recipe it keeps my hands clean and free for attending to all the unexpected needs of the little people of the house. That's important isn't it?

I made a personal tweak though. I like to run it through the dough cycle twice......I like fluffy bread. And for this batch I added about two tablespoons of garlic.

They are perfectly complemented for a mid week meal with a traditional currant and pistachio cous cous........

and oven baked fresh figs with honey and orange blossom water.......

Next on my experimental list of bread baking will be these rolls (and just maybe the cake).

Mmm proving and preparing Autumn dinners is starting out just fine around here......

** Oh and for those interested in the crochet beret pattern......I'm thinking about it and working on it......it was based on a pattern that I just changed to my own as I went along and of course it was not retained in the poor memory upstairs....I will make another and keep track of the details at some stage and post it eventually....stay tuned **

earth hour

We did it.

So.....what did you do at your place?

clicketyclack

There sadly hasn't been much *making of things* going on here lately and it seems to be staying that way on the slow burner for a bit yet, unless of course I can learn to *make* more time.

But I can show you another project that made it off my crochet hook recently (after the *nowel* that is)....plus a glimpse of some others that have progressed a little on the needles.

It seems I am one for making the same mistake with my knitting as I do with reading books.....I can never just have one on the go.....

So I am still at it however slowly.....

With every quick brief tiny spare minute I have I do get to hear some of that sweet sound......clicketyclack......just for a moment or two each day.

beaches and backyards

A slice of each it seems is a pretty delicious thing for the soul.....

A treat and an escape to vast white sands and turquoise waters.....
To get wet and run and lose ourselves in wind whipped dune grass.......

To sit and make sand drip castles, indulge our bare skin and bury our toes.

All of course after busily nourishing the other half of our souls.... in the backyard....

Chopping and replacing an unwanted ornamental with an equally beautiful and silvery leafed tree that better still will bear crunchy fruit to fill our tummies......

Digging and extending new vegetable beds in the brown rich earth of our garden to grow even more organic produce.....

Excitedly planning what is to be added to the growing list for this Autumn.....(As much as I want to I have not read *Food not Lawns * yet.....I know I would lose myself easily within it's pages).

And harvesting more of what has been growing over the Summer.......

It was such a delectable blend of weekend doings here....

Pandering to our desire for all things delicious and productive, both within the backyard and at the beach.....

oh my heart

After a few days of budding tantrums complete with surprisingly ear piercing sounds and some gentle and accurately executed belly flops to the ground.....my ears were treated instead this morning to the sweet sound of.....

* Aye yuboo mummee*....

from a certain cuddling 18 month old boy....proving to my smiling self that we must say that a lot around here.....

Oh my heart.....

raising little guardians

You know you are doing a good job of raising and encouraging budding naturalists when you encounter their work almost everywhere you pass....when their fascination, bordering on obsession, with everything wild, living, dirty and good drives their very being.

You know you are doing a good job when you find yourself eating french toast at the breakfast table with not one, but up to half a dozen male rhinoceros beetles for guests... and you don't mind. (In actual fact in addition to being quite fascinating miniature beasts, they have quite sweet manners and don't eat a lot.)

You know however you can be a nervous Mama when their pursuit of and desire to touch anything fungus makes you slightly uneasy.

But if encouraging your little guardians of the earth involves bedside tables littered with river rocks, crystals and gum nuts....

the kitchen bench scattered with plucked flowers and pine cones and sea shells....

the cabinets topped with birds nests.....

glasses taken to accommodate handfuls of collected berries.....

boxes being made and lined for dead lizards (yes, dead lizards) and snails.....

and lunchboxes being emptied at school and refilled with feathers, leaves and other strange nuts, then I'm sure I must be doing a good job......

And if I smile much much more than I cringe (because secretly I do love it too) doing a great job of raising little naturalists.... little guardians..... is certainly a good good thing.... don't you agree?

the funniest plant in the garden

The girl and I were spending some quiet time in the garden this afternoon.....searching for red tomatoes to wrap in basil leaves and guzzle down when I spied it, most likely from several days ago.....

the funniest plant in our garden.....


It looks strangely like a certain little boy's teeth marks....

weekend footprints

* Admiring the seasons bromeliad flowers in the garden under gentler breeze laden cloudy skies.....

* Trying enticing recipes for the first time that have been stored away for a *rainy day*....like rosewater jelly....

* Delighting in friends for dinner, children playing and nervously testing new recipes for dessert.....

* Beginning a knitting project and relishing the heavenly textures of soft wool and rosewood needles.

* Stolen moments feasting on yoghurt and honey in the silent crisp air of dawn with only the birds and chickens for company......

* Wishing all my women friends a sparkly yet reflective International Women's Day for 2009.

a simple slip of yellow

Inspired by a week of yellow, a little while back now, over here and the delicious visual indulgence of the yellow week flickr group as well, I just had to pull out that pillow slip of my Grandmother's. It had been sitting waiting for way too long. I would let my eye's rest indulgently on it's pretty lemon florals every time I breezed past my fabric pile.

Always with thoughts of primroses and everlastings and daisy chains..... I knew what it's prettiness would turn into......eventually.

There are a lot of pillow slip dress tutorials in blog land and after perusing a few I just went with it on my own.....a few simple cuts and some homemade bias binding and you can whip up one of these in about an hour.

There is something so perfectly simple and delightful about little girls and these dresses.

For me maybe it's the pretty soft cottons and pleasing yellows or more likely maybe it is that link to a simpler past......

*nowels*

We have *nowels* in the garden....
fresh from Mama's crochet hook.

I think they like to munch the flowers.

Yes Mama has found some time to play and continue with her crochet exploration.....

Snail pattern adapted from here....

farewell summer

Well maybe that's officially a little premature because in our subtropical climate it is still hot and we are still enjoying Summer's blooms and sweet homegrown fruits..... it is still swirly dress wearing weather, which we know is Mia's gauge for *Summeriness*.....

But despite this today I gracefully welcome the first day of Autumn.

A new season joins us full of budding potential and promise.

Happy Autumn everyone.....