The most wonderful time of the year

Christmas madness is upon us. I looooove Christmas. Adore it!
But due to poor planning on my husband's and my part we also have our children's birthdays in Nov and Dec. Plus my family has followed the trend so add another 4 to that between Nov and Feb.

It makes for an incredibly busy and expensive time of the year.

This year marks the first year my eldest has really been aware (and therefore into) birthday parties. 'It has to be at the riding bikes park mummy'. This was non-negotiable. Luckily the park has a community hall. Even better it only costs $10/hour to rent it. Given Auckland weather around this time of year (it's raining as I type) I wasn't keen on having 16 kids in my little house. So $40 outlay and some chips and wee people food. Entertainment will hopefully be the bikes and the park itself. If it's wet, balloons inside will hopefully suffice.
There is a barbecue, full kitchen with dishwasher and tables and chairs. Everything I need to keep it stress free.

If you are stuck for party venues I recommend looking into this option (assuming your kids are old enough that you can't get away with a small family gathering). Friends of ours were amazed at how cheaply they were able to rent the local community hall for their area. The bonus was there was a play centre attached and the play area was open for them to use. There are fantastic options that come cheaper than McDonald's or Lollipops if you do a bit of searching around your local area.

This year I don't have to host Christmas so that removes the expense of extra food. Present shopping for the kids has already been done months back during sales. This may be the last year I can do this as I suspect next year Miss 4 will have set ideas about what Santa needs to bring. Grown up pressies are proving to be a bit more of an issue. Mainly because my handy present list I used every year was stored in my old phone that got drowned by an errant cup of tea. (Moment of silence).

I've already been caught out with shopping without a list. A visit to some local shops last week resulted in a baby shower present, a birthday present and.... no Chirstmas presents :S

If you are crafty and need a bit of inspiration my new fun place to hang out is Pinterest
Instead of creating endless bookmarks of things that inspire you this allows you to 'pin' it with a picture to a virtual board. Think of it like a cork board on your computer. Lots of very crafty people share great ideas on here. Fantastic for those of you wanting to go the homemade route this Christmas.

I'm also carefully scanning the local papers for Christmas Events. Tree lightings, Carol services, markets; there's lot's of fantastic things starting to happen now.

Oh and for those of you wondering Kale does bolt. Apparently you just need to blog about it to set it off ;) But that's ok because strawberries and snow peas are already happening in our garden. Christmas and summer produce - who could ask for more?

Playing Coffee Roulette

Anyone who knows me knows I'm a coffee nut (or should that be bean?) . Like any coffee nut I'm pretty picky about the product. Especially when it costs upwards of $4 for a cup. It seems New Zealander's really aren't that fussed about good coffee - or else why are there so many terrible baristas (I use that term loosely) out there?

Now I'm no expert but if you get a sour watery coffee or one that tastes like someone has stubbed their cigarette out in it then it's no good. That's $4 of undrinkable coffee. Plus the cost of fluffies (that's steamed milk in a demitasse cup for the unitiated) for the kids.

I was lucky enough to be gifted an old coffee machine a year or so ago by friends of mine who had upgraded. It was small but it was beautiful and I loved it. It even came on holiday with me. Sadly it died this year and so I was left with the option to buy a replacement or play coffee roulette with bought stuff.

I managed to get a Baby Gaggia off TM at half the retail price of new. A very dirty, never been cleaned machine but still a good price. I did have to buy the cleaning brush, backflush disk, tamp (it came with a plastic one) and cleaning solution for it. Plus since I don't have a grinder, I have to buy coffee for it every week(To all the coffee drinkers shuddering at the thought of pre-ground; I know! I know! But I haven't been able to convince my non-coffee drinking hubby that we need a $600+ grinder -yet). Unlike my old machine she's a bit fussier and doesn't like the 'supermarket' grind. It has to be finer for my baby. So it costs $12-15/ week for the coffee but I get 7 or more cups from that.

So is it cheaper? Possibly not at the moment. Depending on how long the machine lives it may well be though. Is it better than bought stuff? Well it's better than a majority of it. I know a few places to get awesome coffee around here but only a few.

Consistent coffee every morning is worth the cost to me. Plus my cafe doesn't charge for fluffies :)

Labour Weekend

So this post is a bit late but of course Labour weekend is traditionally the time that the garden gets planted for summer. We didn't break tradition here.

The Kale are still in. I'm not really sure if/when they should come out. They haven't bolted so I have wee Kale topiaries around the boarder of my vege patch. Zucchini are in as are capsicum. I decided to try tomatoes this year - I've never had any success before but I thought we'd try a few cherry tomato plants and see how we go. I've planted a row of carrots but they have yet to germinate so I may have to redo that. Six snow pea plants are in too.

From my mum's seed stash (from last year's garden) I have planted broad beans and also rocket. That certainly lived up to its name germinating in a couple of days.

I have room set aside for more tender stem broccoli. I haven't managed to locate any yet but I am very keen to replant after last year's results.

The strawberry plants from last year have been fed and since then they've just thrived. There is already a decent sized, albiet green, fruit on one of them. The kids will be stoked!

In the herb garden I've planted parsley, basil, coriander (hoping it doesn't bolt as it isn't from seed) and a jalapeno pepper to keep the ever present mint company.

The onion and garlic are still happily growing. I'm really looking forward to the harvest. Already I can see that the onion stems are thickening. I have both white and red planted and the red stems are such a gorgeous colour near the base.

Really looking forward to this summer. It looks like it's going to be a good one.

When she got there the cupboard was bare....

Ah spring - the season I invariably get sick in. Two weeks of illness and I am out of pre-made stuff. I'm sad to admit that we had a few takeaways in the last fortnight.
So back into it today. Time to restock.

Chilli Con Carne, a staple in our house as it pads out cheap mince with kidney beans, has been made and frozen. Pizza bases are next on the to do list. With the breadmaker of course. Then if time permits some wraps and pita pockets will also be made and frozen.

I did manage some cinnamon scrolls last weekend. A couple for a lazy Sunday with the paper and a coffee (home made of course) and the rest are frozen. I freeze them before their second rise. Then it's just a matter of taking them out Sat night and leaving them on the bench to defrost and rise. Sunday morning they just go straight in the oven.

Hummus will also be quickly whipped up. It doesn't have a long shelf life but with two active kids it's a great snack with some carrot sticks. I also make a lamb pita pocket with it.

We've had a crack at home made curries over the winter using spice packs from the supermarket. You provide all ingredients and follow the recipe on the pack adding spices as instructed. It's not the cheapest of dinners but compared to bought curry it is much cheaper, plus you get more, plus it tastes as good as the best takeaway curry I've ever had (thank you Sigdi in Devonport) and you can control the fat content by adding slimmers yoghurt or lite cream. Of course it also makes a small bit of meat stretch much further.

The last few weekends in Auckland have been typical for early spring. 2 days of rain after 5 working days of sun. Not too much of an issue so far as I like to plant seedlings rather than seeds. So I have a few more weeks before the capsicum and zucchini need to go in. I should be planting out broad beans and peas now (they're already late) but that requires breaking more soil and I have not been up to that lately. I'll also plant carrots and parsnip from seeds next weekend and some kale (seedlings) and maybe some broccoli. The garlic and onions are still growing happily in their little garden. The red onions have started to get red at the base of their stalks which is very exciting :)

Christmas is fast approaching. Not sure how we're going to approach that this year. I would do home made if I was at all talented but I think a better approach is to make a list and work out a budget. Sadly my old present list was in my old phone which met its end earlier this year thanks to husband and an errant cup of tea.

Calling all gardeners

Ok so finally I ventured out to the vege garden for more than a quick harvest as the sun was setting (for dinner). It was a mess. Weeds everywhere. Snails and slugs hiding among it. Broccoli has well and truly bolted now - I managed to delay it for a while but it's really done its dash.
Beetroot looked lovely from the top side but when I pulled up the biggest one and it had a root no thicker than my thumb I pulled them all out and biffed them.

So anyone who is good at gardening - how do I get beetroot to grow? Also brussels sprouts. I managed to get about 8 bulbs off 6 plants - all the rest grew loose bushy heads that were no good.
I used a vege mix soil before I planted but I'm guessing the soil is probably the problem. I'd love some insights.

Leek and Potato soup was the winner in our house this week. Easy to make and the kids inhaled it. I added a bit of zing to the adult portions with some sliced chorizo.

There's another cold snap forecast this week and that will probably see most of our wood used. But barring a long winter it seems that the two cubic metres is sufficient. We'll definitely get more kindling with next year's order as buying it on an 'as needed' basis from the local supermarket is very pricey (plus the last lot was damp!)

Of concern this week is the possible hint at changes to ECE funding from the government. Tinkering with the 20 free hours has not been ruled out which could signal an increase in fees for a lot of parents. It will certainly impact on us as #2 child is chomping at the bit to start and will be attending from the beginning of next year.

I am a bear Grahhhhh!

The 'real' winter has finally hit and our family has been in hibernation mode. It's been so cold and wet lately that even my vege patch in the back garden has been too far to trek to. We live in suburban Auckland so trust me it's really not far at all.

I hadn't realised how neglected it has been until I looked out of our bedroom window this morning and spied beautiful yellow flowers in amongst the green. Yes, unthinkably I had let my loose head broccoli go to seed. A quick trip out between showers saw me harvesting a huge bundle of the heads which will go toward dinner tonight. This type of broccoli has been brilliant - only yielding a dinner size amount at a time and because they aren't huge tight heads we haven't had the previous issue of caterpillars that you only realise haven't been rinsed away when the vege arrives on your plate :p We will definitely be replanting again.

I also noticed my carrots are almost ready to harvest, Kale is still going strong, Bok Choy is ready to go too. The beetroot is still just sitting there - last time I checked there were no big veges on the end of the leaves and they've been in the ground for months now so I think we'll chalk that one up as a failure. Pity because I loooove beetroot.

The garlic and onions are already thriving so I'm hoping all this rain doesn't drown them. If this weather keeps up I may consider planting rice! ;)

Eating seasonally has been fantastic. I've discovered so many new veges and in turn so many new recipes. Our current favourite is Jerusalem Artichoke which I made into a gorgeous soup the other day. My husband was very confused when it came out of the Foodbox, wondering why we had been sent such a large quantity of ginger. Swedes and Leeks, things we used to walk past at the supermarket have now been integrated into many dinners. I'd love to say that we use Kale in many different recipes too because I know there are so many out there (being a staple of American cooking) but we can't go past the Kale chips. Hey, it gets the kids eating it and if it works I say go with it.

I must admit I did feel rather smug the other night when the news ran a report on the skyrocketing price of veges. They used Capsicum and Tomatoes as their examples - well of COURSE those are expensive! They're completely out of season! Yay me for actually knowing that. A year ago I would have been in the majority of the younger population who, thanks to a global market, has no idea what veges are grown in what season locally.

Almost Half Way

Time to put the garlic into the fridge for a week in preparation for planting. Yes I know I'm going to end up a week early from the shortest day but the following weekend looks busy already and I want to make sure I don't forget.

I can't believe we're in winter. It's unseasonably warm in Auckland. The mornings are chilly but most of the day is spent in teeshirts or light shirts. The sun still has heat. If it weren't for the shortness of days there'd be no indication.

So not a great litmus test for the woodburner vs. electric heater experiment really but I can tell you that the woodburner heats our upper floor completely and also warms the rooms faster than the heater that struggles to take the chill off just the lounge some evenings. The other night husband was lounging in front of the woodburner in just his undies because it was so warm in the room. Usually it only needs 3 or 4 pieces of wood too so it should take us a fair while to work through the woodpile. What a pity both of us suck at building and keeping the fire going. We wouldn't survive in the rough I'm sure.

I'm working on the husband to let me keep chickens. We go through about a dozen eggs a week and I figure laying hens would serve not only to keep us in eggs but also make good pets for the kids and help with pest control in the garden (so long as I fence off the actual veges). So far hubby has said no but I'm going to keep pushing the benefits.

For those of you interested and in Auckland there's a great site called Chickens at Home which sells many different breeds. There's also a few other sites which serve the rest of the country.