deborah – Page 40 – MakeCookGrow.com

Down South 1. Dunsborough

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Lunch in Busselton on our way down south. This is the Busselton Jetty, the longest timber piled jetty in the southern hemisphere. It was built in 1864 and is 1.841 kilometres (1.1 miles) long. Once popular with American whalers, it was also used to export grain and timber. It is only used for tourism and recreation now.

To Dunsborough on Geographe Bay late in the afternoon. This is a beautiful stretch of coastline popular for swimming and boating.

Dinner at a cafe with a range of beers. Ordered a share plate which included venison shepherd pies, mandarin and beet salad, spring rolls and a great pizza. We couldn’t eat it all! Really tasty, well prepared food, but the venison pies were wonderful. Spelling on the menu not so wonderful!

Really like to relax with a decorator magazine or two. We had a balcony over looking treetops with lots of birds and the sounds of the ocean. It was lovely!

Today is Take Your Dog To Work day. Wish I could, hope you can!

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Growing Microgreens

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Microgreens are edible, immature germinated seeds and usually less than 5cm/2″ tall. These little nutrient powerhouses are simple to grow, packed with flavour and beneficial enzymes and they look pretty, too.

Within a few weeks of planting they’ll be at the cotyledon, or true leaf stage. Snip and enjoy scattered on your food! Some will regrow, otherwise tip the soil onto the compost heap and start again.

Common microgreens are lettuce, kale, spinach, beetroot and land/watercress. I’m growing lettuce, coriander (cilantro), spinach and beetroot. I grow mine outside, but they will grow well on a sunny window ledge indoors.

To add a little balance to all this healthy eating here’s the coffee cake, with coffee icing and chocolate dipped coffee beans, we devoured later!

Did you know today is Fresh Veggie Day? Get crunchy now!

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Kathleen O’Connor, West Australian Artist

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Self portrait, Kathleen O’Connor, part of the On Heads exhibition at the Bunbury Regional Art Gallery.
Kathleen O’Connor (1876 – 1968), daughter of the famous West Australian engineer C.Y.O’Connor, was born in New Zealand but came to WA in 1891, later going to Europe to study Art. She was influenced by the Impressionists but developed her own style. This self portrait is different from so many of her paintings which are vividly coloured and large and bold. My favourite is Afternoon Tea, Paris. Her works hang in national, state and regional galleries.

Another of my favourite Australian artist, Margaret Preston, again on a food theme! This is Thea Proctor’s Tea Party, 1924.

The Bunbury Regional Art Gallery is in the former St Patrick’s Convent. We went to Bunbury especially to see the exhibition.

From the gallery to a cafe on the Back Beach for lunch. Spectacular view. I grew up in this region and this was a favourite swimming beach.

After a long hot summer it is suddenly cool enough to change sandals for espadrilles and even cool enough for a scarf! Love cooler weather clothes.

The 8th of June was World Oceans Day. Please consider using less plastic bags.

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Citrus Time

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It’s officially winter and the lime tree is doing well. Our favourite salmon dish is a generous squeeze of lime and a splash of maple syrup on the salmon fillets a few hours before roasting then some more lime as it goes in the oven for about fifteen minutes. Delicious!

I like using seasonal produce so made a batch of Jamie Oliver’s Lemon Butter Biscuits. They went very quickly.

Cool enough in the evenings for a roasted shoulder of pork.

Hand surgery during the week and pleased with how this plastic sleeve meant I could shower. Very clever.

Did you know yesterday was Leave The Office Earlier Day? Good advice as it is a long weekend in Western Australia!

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Beautiful Bali (2)

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Innovative and really attractive restaurant interiors, a variety of interesting and well balanced menus, lovely flowers and some gorgeous crockery add to the pleasure of eating in Bali. Restaurants to meet all price points and always charming service. Love eating in Bali!

Cool breezes and views stretching for miles from the roof terrace at our villa. I like to spot the kites.

My favourite thing to do several times a day is to swim. So relaxing.

Some very tempting shopping. I bought these great tassels and a couple of shirts which are well made and fit well.

Bali is the perfect break! Eat, sleep, swim and explore this lush island.

Tomorrow is Paper Plane Day. Start folding that paper!

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Beautiful Bali (1)

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A lovely break in beautiful Bali. We’ve stayed in the same group of villas many times.
Spacious, comfortable accommodation, good facilities, and very helpful, friendly staff.
So relaxing.

Bali has so many amazing restaurants. We ate at old favourites and tried some new ones, too.
Good food, interesting decor and great service.

Regular visits to a nearby place for reflexology.
In-room reflexology for my husband and a pedicure for me….very indulgent, very nice.
Talked into the purple nail polish and love it!

Tropical lush gardens. These lanterns hang along walkways and remind me of bird cages.
Lots of exotic heliconias.

Tomorrow is Maritime Day. Does that float your boat?

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Some Gardening, Some Cooking

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These hippeastra have bloomed for months.

Clivias are blooming, too.

Bought a worm composting farm and dug it into a garden bed in dappled light.

It’s citrus time in Western Australia, so I made a Lime Cake. This recipe has olive oil instead of butter and was very moist.

Neighbours put out a basket of oranges at their gate so I made an Orange Cake. It was very good.

Another neighbour gave me some lemons, so we had Lemon Delicious Puddings.

These Brussels Sprouts were oven roasted in olive oil. I stirred through sweet chilli sauce and put them back in the oven for 15 minutes. They tasted wonderful!

Cooler weather means our son uses the slow cooker to make delicious ragu. He serves it with pasta or couscous. The smell wafts enticingly throughout the house for hours before we eat it!

A recent article in delicious.com.au (A Wasted Opportunity) talks about the cultural, environmental and economic problem of food waste in Australia. I have redoubled my efforts to not throw out food, so more Bread and Butter pudding.

How did you celebrate International Nurses Day?

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Making Furniture

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A new birdcage but nowhere to put it. Tried several places, on shelves, on a cupboard and on a bench and nothing looked quite right. Decided to measure up and make my own display unit.

Did some measurements and sketched a plan. Took the plan to Bunnings, an Australia wide hardware store. Bought the planks and took them to the Chop Shop in the back of the store where Brad cut them to size.

Painted the pieces in Dulux Antique USA.

After the second coat of paint our son drilled and screwed the unit together. My husband held the pieces in place. He counter-sank the screw holes, I filled them and later, sanded and retouched the paint.

Very pleased with this new piece of furniture.

It’s International Iris Day today. Mine are looking good, but it’s too soon for them to flower

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Birdcage Cushion

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Couldn’t resist the birdcage image!

Washed and ironed the linen cushion cover and then pinned on the pompom edging.

Machine stitched the pompoms on, using a large zigzag stitch. Hand stitched zippered edge which was hard as I have a sore finger. The pompom edging stretches a little bit.

The finished cushion.

Couple of pompoms left over, so I cut them from the edging. I made the tassel from embroidery thread looped five times. After I stitched one end together and snipped straight across the other end, I stitched the pompoms together on to the top of the tassel. Added a wooden bead to cover the stitching and some others for decoration then attached it to the laminated bookmark. The lovely floral bookmark is from Yas Imamura’s Quill & Fox.

Yesterday was International Firefighters Day.

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PERTH GARDEN FESTIVAL

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The Perth Garden Festival features garden displays, landscaping, floral displays, garden related products for sale and sustainable living ideas. I went with my Mother and niece and we had a lovely day. We looked at the displays, talked to lots of experts, enjoyed cooking demonstrations, talks about controlling pests naturally and also a talk about roses.