Garden

It is well and truly spring here in Adelaide and the weather has been beautiful.  We have had beautiful spring days.
I now feel I need to update you on our vegetable garden.

It is growing very well, and I will take some pictures to show you.

We have a large quantity of peaches, apricots and pears that are growing on our trees so we are looking forward to some lovely fresh produce in the new year.

Our corn (normal corn that is) is growing very tall, so again we hope to have some nice cobs to eat soon. 
The lawn (couch) that was in the patch before we dug it up for a veggie patch, is also flourishing with the extra watering.  So after this crop, we will have to dig it over again.  We should have sprayed and let the ground sit for a while, but we were a little impatient to get our veggies growing & dont' like the idea of sprays.

Our snowpeas are just gorgeous and taste yummy.  DD #2 who is 4 yo, goes out everyday to pick some & loves eating them straight off the plants.  Yesterday she played with her little friend Penelope and they had a wonderful time staying there eating snowpeas for ages.

Penelope said they were the best snowpeas she had eaten.  Not that imagine the 4 yo is a connisseur of snowpeas, I still felt my chest puff out!!!

Adelaide's Christmas Pagaent

Well for anyone who has grown up or lived in Adelaide, you will be aware of the annual Christmas Pagaent.  This is the day of days for any child in Adelaide and marks the beginning of the Christmas season where Father Christmas comes to the city.

I am running late, and didn't get a chance to post this before hand.
I do have some great tips as a regular Pagaent goer.  This year the weather was absolutely perfect.  We weren't planning on it, but we arrived earlier - everyone in the house was up - so I figured we might as well head in.

We had food, drinks, rugs, cushions, and chalk.  With 4 children I need to be prepared to ensure it runs smoothly and is enjoyed by all.  We are fortunate that Mr S works in the CBD and is able to access his building after hours.  So we camped out the front of his building, which meant he could easily run the children up to the toilets as required.  DD#2 had made some biscuits on the Friday before hand, and we took in popcorn and fruit boxes. 

We arrived at 7am when the roads were closed.  Armed with chalk, the children started drawing and entertaining themselves.  We secured front road seats.   We were mainly in the shade, which is also important when waiting in through to the end at 11:30 and being of Irish decent we are all as fair as fair.

It was a great day.  DS #2 (baby #4) learnt to wave which was my highlight of the day.  But it was also great to see DD #2 (baby #3) was so enlighted and enchanted by the magical floats and clowns.You can see how thick the crowd is and all the chalk drawings on the road.

It is a great day and is FREE - so for a family with 4 children is a great event without spending any $$$$.


Thanks to the Pagaent Sponsors, the Credit Unions www.cupageant.com.au.  This year was the pagaent's 80th year and it was great to see new floats and lots of new and fresh costumes about.

Pippi's Piece - Fantastic Apple Almond Cake

A friend recently gave me this recipe.   It has to be the EASIEST recipe EVER!  Here is the recipe as she gave it to me.  I am unsure of where she found it, or whether ithas been passed down through her family - so sorry for not giving any sources.

APPLE ALMOND CAKE

2 cups sugar

2 cups self raising flour

2 tbs cinnamon

1 tbs nutmeg

1 cup vegetable oil

4 eggs

2 tbs vanilla essence

4 apples peeled and sliced/diced

1 cup sliced almonds

Combine/mix in bowl in the above listed order.

  Place in well greased bundt pan.  Bake 180 degrees for 1 hour or as long as it takes. 

Can use combination of apple and pear. 

 I didn't have any apples, so I threw in some tinned peaches instead.  It stayed moist for days and was absolutely delicious!!!! 

Thanks Ana!.

Today I have attempted a Gluten Free version.  I omitted the vanilla essence, and used Gluten Free Self raising flour.  The cake looks just as delicious

I can't wait to try it tonight.  I will sprinkle it with icing sugar before serving.  It is so moist you don't need to serve with cream, but you can if you like.