My Cooking and My Garden

YES, IS POSITIVE WORD.

Winter Care in The Garden.
Pruning Roses
July is the last month to prune the roses after finished the pruning spray with sulphur. The spraying has to be done when the weather is good and dry. Don't do it when it is raining and windy
YES, the roses have been attended with care.

Winter is the time for pruning trees and transplanting plants. Moving potted orchids to a shelter or inside the house to avoid the winter frost. Tidy up the hydrangea to make sure they won't be growing wild during the spring. Light pruning only is needed.

The job was done for the winter, and yes, I am pleased.

YES, the citrus fruits which are ripening on the tree, the colour-orange and yellow brighten up the dull winter.

Working in the garden during winter could be easy but remember to dress appropriately, wrapped up in warm clothes. The fresh air is good for our well being, and Yes, it is delightful.
Appreciate what it can be found in the garden, flowers, dry leaves, leafless plants which are resting during the season and so forth. YES, of course.

Stay In
It is agreeable, a lovely warm room to be in, a time to catch up with family carefully, enjoy the beauty of the flowering indoor, and the goodness of hot food to nourish. YES, indeed!

Cymbidium Flowers, 2018

The last rose flowers before pruning

Visiting Places
YES, to be out there, undercover and inside the building is the best place to be, away from the cold. Visiting Art Gallery maybe, or visiting the family and spending quality time with them is warm you up. It is a big YES. Having an extra hot drink, attending a Cafe for a treat, is delicious YES.

A day for late morning tea at a Cafe enjoyed the carrot cake. The cake looked so pretty and wholesome. It was not only loving the cake but also was learning how to decorate, a big YES!

Coffee and Carrot Cake at a Cafe

I do learn from what I could see and taste regarding food, and it makes me more affluent in the knowledge of food and concerning the preparation. However never attempt to make the decorative coffee, lets the barista to do it. YES, always leave it to the expert.

Plants in the Backyard.
YES, It is so good to see the plants came to a full circle, from the seedlings the startup to harvest time. Also caring for the plants, a tree and occasionally does not work well, the tree dies, gone without our knowledge. YES, only questions in our thought. Indeed I got a few of those, and here it is one of them, it was such a beautiful green weeping Japanese maple, a standard tree.

Now, only a standing dry twig remained. YES, the plant has come to a full circle now, it says something to me. I do like it, let it stays that way in the garden.

A Good Cause.
When the children were little they were encouraged by the school doing a good cause, I remember the girls did readathon and also they had to do forty hours of famine to raise money. YES, It was good, they loved to do it, and as their mother, I did support them. And now, YES, they are very thoughtful people.

Recently in our sports club had the biggest morning tea to raise money for the Cancer Council. YES, for a good cause. All members were invited and encouraged to bring a plate. YES, we come along to participate. It was good to see everyone to shine, everyone came and contributed to the massive spread with lots of variation delicious food, from savouries to sweets, biscuits and chocolate on a long table. It was a success. Congratulations to Shirley, the organiser and to everyone.
YES, I followed the brief
For this year I made my own version of Paris Brest, it's decorated in pink colour. I will show you the preparation, it was fun. Made out of a large round choux pastry and the filling was custard and cream. Garnished with pink chocolate ganache, and pink sugared rose petals. The rose petal could be done a week or a month before, keep in an airtight container and store in the dry room. Easy enough, but YES, an excellent organisation was needed.

Sugared Rose Petals

The white chocolate ganache added pink colouring.

Filling the choux pastry with cream patissier (custard), which could be prepared the night before, chilled and refrigerated, topped /drizzle with the pink ganache and garnished with the sugared
rose petals.

I prefer savoury, but I do like choux pastry with a sweet filling. YES, Savoury is so forgiving to prepare. These club sandwiches and the cheese rounds could be made the night before. Slice the sandwiches when they are semi-frozen in the morning. Butter the savoury round filled with cheese and dressed with fresh herbs.

The savoury rounds with cheese dressed with sundried butter and fresh herbs.

YES, BEAUTIFUL FOOD MAKES US HAPPY. (My Children Agree)

Family.

Time is so precious, the family is important, I am glad in my later life I can see them and talk to them regularly, thanks to modern technology which makes the world so small. We could reach out to the family intimately. YES, we make the time.

Thinking of you Mel, please take a rest, yes indeed you have huge tasks, four children to care for and the work to go to, YES, Lance is there for you always. But Overtired is a no and no, twenty minutes rest is a big YES. A significant difference it will make, trust me! I am glad that we had time to talk the other day. Please be gentle and be kind to yourself.

This message applies to everyone: Be Kind to Yourself. YES, it is the Key! YES, it is the Start.

Susy.

It is time to say hi to everyone. Home sweet home, it's so good to be home. It was a lovely trip, beautiful journey, away from home that we thought us needed. Indeed, I cherries the great experience to see different places, I learnt lots, and I am blessed. The best visit was to see our youngest grandchild Elanora celebrated her first birthday and her big brother Milo who is at school now. We had a great time spending time with them, to play and to get to know them better.

How lovely it is to see the garden and potted plants are all green and living well, thanks to our good neighbours Jenny and Bruce. They cared for the place beautifully and carefully, we could not thanks to them enough.

And look what I found, beautiful fresh food, in our backyard. The winter is cold, but it is kind enough.

Potted lettuce, chilli and eggplant. Beautiful fresh vegetables for the salad and the herb, chilli is always coming handy.
You girls must be happy to see this. Mum always loves her fresh green chilli! You would say!

The rose flowers are still there, but pruning for the roses is just about ready now. A big job ahead.

Amazingly some flowers are looking good in these pots, they add colour and light up the moody winter.

The cold winter does not help, particularly if you are having a cold. Resting and have plenty of fluid to drink and soup to eat, that's the advice, and that what I did too.

Stay in and do the old daily routine as you start feeling better with yourself.

Gathering herbs for the saffron rice, fresh endive to serve. Not traditional food but rice is always yum.

A new dish was created, but how good it was to have a warm kitchen during the cold days. Baking did take place.

Open Lasagna with Eggplant topping.

Easy homemade water pastry for spinach and feta pie is one of our regular cooking took place too in our kitchen to fill up the winter kitchen. A simple dish but satisfying.