More Cake!

Thought I'd share a few more cakes I've done so far this year. Nothing as fancy as previously, we haven't had any big parties this year. Next year though, is Eva's first year of school so she gets her big party!

 My first "cheesefake" was sooooo good!

 I actually didn't do this one. My girls made it with their dad for my birthday!

 Easter bunnies the girls made.

 This one I did for a friend's daughter =)

 Snickers Cheesecake.

Pancake is a type of cake right??

Hopefully next year I'll make some more exciting cakes!

What Vegetarians Eat...

So this post, and hopefully series. is inspired by three things.

1. A friend of mine has started a summer salad series over on her blog rosiesaysrelax.com (go check her out for a bit of beautiful bits and pieces eye candy!)

2. Over the years I've received the question "You're vegetarian...what do you eat?!?!" more times than I can count.

3. I have a few friends that are on a vegetarian/healthier/natural food path and have asked me where I get my recipes from.

So I'm aiming to answer the two questions!

In general I don't follow recipes. I'm more of a fly by the seat of my pants cook. I throw in what I feel goes. Either that or I tweak recipes. Sometimes meat recipes are tweaked and sometimes vegetarian ones. 

This particular meal was very much a fly by the seat of my pants affair...

 (excuse the blurriness!)
Chickpeas
Sultanas
Carrot
Slivered Almonds
Corn (you don't have to use fresh, I just happened to have some from my delivery that week. Tinned or defrosted works just as well)
Silverbeet (again substitute with spinach, curly kale, whatever is on hand)
(not pictured)
Cumin
Tumeric
Garlic
Sea Salt
Pepper

Mix all the above with some precooked rice and voila! Chickpea and Rice Salad!
I don't really have any measurements for any of my ingredients, just add to taste. You can omit things if you don't like them, or add them if you think they'll improve the dish! That's what's so great about cooking like this. Anything goes!
And by the way feel free to add meat too if you want. This is great as a complete meal, but would also be a great side salad at a BBQ. Just make sure it's free range though ;)

What sort of a cook are you?
Do you have a fall back throw anything in type dinner?

Middle Earth Two!!

FINALLY! I can actually upload my photos! My connection has been terrible lately, so uploading these took me around... 2 weeks! These are the rest of the South Island photos from NZ. Hopefully it won't take me as long to get the North Island ones up!

Elephant Rocks aka NARNIA!!

It was windy and freeeeezing, but the girls had a ball climbing every rock in sight.

This was in Oamaru. I think that was one of our fav places, we stayed two nights so it was a little more relaxed.

We stayed right next to Oamaru Botanic Gardens which had the most awesome swings!

 That is a seal on the beach!

 We got to see the Blue Penguins too.

After Oamaru was Christchurch. The city center was like a warzone.

As amazing as it was, it was a little depressing.

 Mountain. Road. Ocean.

 Picton

 It was beautiful!

I was pretty worried taking the ferry across the Cook Straight. Boats and I do NOT mix! It was surprisingly fine. I think it helped that it was more like a ship! 

Next was Wellington on the North Island and Weta Workshop...AMAZING!!!

Middle Earth (New Zealand) Part the first! (warning photo heavy post!)

At the end of September we all jumped on a plane to go to New Zealand!! We stopped off in Sydney for a few days to break the flight up. These photos take us to half way through the south island. Seriously we could do this trip 3 or 4 more times and not do the same thing twice! We did so, so much, but missed so much too!

Sydney was HOT! Around 36C in Spring! It was a bit of a heatwave.

Flying into Queenstown. I will never. ever. forget this landing. Flying in amongst all the snow capped mountains. It was just breathtaking.

Down the road from our apartment. It was freeeezing!

You can't really tell just how steep our street was!

Never in my life have I actually been ABOVE a rainbow!

First time in the snow for the girls. They absolutely LOVED it!

I could not get over the beauty of this country! Queenstown was a favourite for both myself and hubby.

We didn't stay in one place for more than 2 nights. And no accomodation was pre-booked except 2 nights in Queenstown when we arrived. After our stay in Dunedin we learnt very quickly that as soon as there is free wi-fi book accomodation at least 2 nights ahead!

Cadbury chocolate factory in Dunedin.

Moeraki boulders were amazing.

Next stop was Christchurch which was just amazing but also very depressing....

What Was I thinking?!?!

We've just returned from a 2 1/2 week holiday in New Zealand (post to come!). It was AMAZING, but so, so tiring. We drove from Queenstown to Auckland (some 1800km). No accommodation was booked and we had to go by on free WiFi wherever it popped up. Needless to say it was a little stressful. We flew home on a Saturday night and back to work for hubby and school for Chloe on Monday.
We. Are. Jetlagged.
Not to mention I've come back to uni work, which I thought I was ahead with. Not so much.
AND I have something rather big in the works that is taking up the majority of my time and energy.
Oh and my mum and dad left for a 4 week holiday the day BEFORE we got back.
I'm not quite sure what made me think I could do it all.
I have a quote on my wall:
"You can do anything, but not everything"
from David Allen.
I think I really need to start taking that into account...

Spring Flower Craft

I've done this flower petal stain glass window craft with Chloe every Spring (and every Autumn with pressed Autumn leaves) since she was about 2. 

 Of course when Eva was old enough, she joined in too.

 Each year, Chloe's windows get more complex. I love watching her creativity grow!

The original idea can be found here for Spring, and here for Autumn at The Artful Parent. Seriously take some time and have a look around this very clever blog! There are some AWESOME ideas for kids craft on here. One very talented woman indeed!

Do you have any seasonal traditions? I'd love to hear them!

Spring has Sprung!

Just like everyone else in bloggy land that lives in the Southern Hemisphere, I am SO grateful for the emergence of Spring! I'm a little over walking to school on the drop-off and pick-up in gale force winds and sheet rain!

 These freesias are my absolute FAV! I love the smell!!

I hope you're enjoying the change of season where ever you are! =)