Stony Oaks Wildlife Park

Our local Playcentre organised a trip to Stony Oaks Wildlife Park as part of our Spring theme so off we went with our gumboots and morning tea out to Inglewood on a cloudy damp typical Spring-in-Taranaki Day. I was excited for Oscar to see some more unusual animals aside from the usual sheep & cows we see on our daily drives and heard there were baby Nubian goats, pheasant chicks & even a Highland Cattle calf. 

But the flavour of the day with Oscar was......................the cow! Yep, the good old brown bovine was loved & adored by all. She looked a bit old & tired but didn''t mind all the hugs & attention.

Somehow Oscar got it in his head he had to RIDE the cow. I'm just glad the cow just lay there because she was massive. The rest of the morning was spent chasing small animals and cuddling bunnies & guinea pigs. Stony Oaks is a fabulous experience and we'll be back there soon for more cow rides.

I am a One Handed Wonder Mum

This may be a short post but it will take me forever to write as a fumble along with one hand all swathed in bandage and the other clumsily typing (hurrah for spell check!). But now have to get used to having only one hand for at least 2 weeks until I get these sutures out and dressings off. This will make my days interesting!

  So I've just had a spot of surgery today on a very bad case of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. When I was 1st diagnosed with this I thought "but that's an old ladies ailment" however have since discovered it is very common in women and aggravated during pregnancy. Along with the repetition of yanking trays of muesli out of the oven the last 18 months have meant I can barely pick up a piece of paper and the agony at night has left me with broken sleep. So at long last my number was called and I had the operation at Taranaki Base Hospital. What a bright efficient bunch of staff & the surgeon was super fast (completed in 13 minutes) and APPARENTLY has sewn some very tidy sutures. Although we all questioned his bandaging technique however Dr  assured me my overstuffed dressing would welcome much sympathy my way. More jelly on my ice cream please.

Snow Weekend

I am VERY excited about my birthday tomorrow. Not only because I have some mystery parcels & cards to open but we're off on a weekend away to somewhere we've never been to before. Huzzah an adventure into the wilderness!




We're off to a little village on Lake Taupo called Omori and there are Thermal Pools ($5 entry BARGAIN) and we're right by the sunny shores of New Zealand's largest lake. Wonder if we''ll see a taniwha (Maori water monster)! Its going to be a very chilly (-3 low 13 high) but sunny weekend and we plan to hit the National Park for some sledging too. Theres an epic 2m snow base up on those mountains and I want to plough down them on the toboggan. I might let 2 year old Oscar have a turn. Hmm maybe I better get more toboggans.

Famous Spiegeltent Part II - Electric Boogaloo

What a great night! The town of New Plymouth looks spectacular with lots of cool coloured lighting. The old town clock has had a makeover and looks spectacular. You can just see a glimpse of it from my kitchen window at home so it was great to see all the lighting close up.





I JUST made it into the tent. I was faffing round taking photos and the Security Guard said "Lady get a move on we only have room for 320 people and I just let in no 319". Skates were ON!



The inside was cosier than I imagined which was great as Taranaki was hit by snow today and it was only about 2 degrees outside. Lots of pub like booths and a rich velvet striped canopy. I loved the chandelier. It was very hard to take photos without shoving your head in someones way so some limited pics here. The event was for the Taranaki Sing Songwriters club. My brother plays guitar in The Smiles which took to the stage after a few solo artists played for the 1st hour. Got every ones feet tapping warming us up. Good night!

Tonight at the Spiegeltent - The Smiles (-:

So tonight I am ACTUALLY LEAVING THE HOUSE and going to a gig. Yeah! The Taranaki International Arts Festival is on here in New Plymouth which is a Biennial event and there are some fabulous shows on. I'm not a theatre goer so the Cirque de Soleil type show SOAP isn't for me but is world class and getting great reviews. I did check out the NZ Graphic Novel Exhibit & Renegade at Puke Ariki. The Renegade exhibition is showcasing some of Taranaki's top contemporary artists like Michael Smither & John MacLean. There's a huge colourful Smithers cubist sculpture on display. You can buy it for a cool $20k!



But tonight I am off to the world Famous Spiegeltent where the Taranaki Singer Songwriters are putting on a free showcase. While I lived in Melbourne I had many opportunities to check out this cool mobile venue but when its on your doorstep you take it for granter I guess. So its on my doorstep again and this time my brother is playing under its old canvases with The Smiles so off I go. I'll post some pics of the tents inside treasure chest later.

RECIPE - Mushroom & Red Wine Soup

Here it is by special request of RayRay. Enjoy!

CREAM OF MUSHROOM SOUP ( with liquor yeah!)
45g butter
700g field mushrooms chopped
1 onion chopped
1 garlic clove crushed
2T flour (rice flour is great)
100ml red wine or sherry
700ml chicken or vege stock
175ml of cream (or milk if too rich)
salt n pepper
chopped flat parsley to garnish

Melt butter on LOW heat, then turn up to a MED heat & add onion, garlic, mushrooms. Cook for a few minutes. Remove from heat & stir in flour for 1 min. Return to heat & add wine/sherry. Gradually add stock continuing to stir. Season & bring to boil. Simmer for 20 mins.
Puree the soup in a blender. Cool it off a bit. I have tried doing this while hot and the top blows off the blender and you end up with 3rd degree burns!. Return to pan and heat, add all cream/milk except for 4T. Serve in 4 big bowls garnish with dollop of remaining cream and sprinkle with parsley.

RECIPE - Raspberry & Orange Upside Down Cake

After being sick with a nasty nasty stomach bug for what seems like half a lifetime, my appetite is back AND with cravings for bad sweet naughty food. And cake. Lots of cake please.

But the bug has left me with even worse food intolerances. So no wheat & no lactose whatsoever for Aunty. Not even lick the spoon after scooping an icecream for Oscar. And I really love doing that. So here is a delish sweet but berry tarty cake I made recently. I don't go in for the pretty looking iced cakes as I don't have the patience or skill. So this upside down cake is just perfect.


In the recipe photo it looked a perfect raspberry red & orange combo but mines more of a muddy purple! But its a super delish muddy purple cake.

RASPBERRY & ORANGE UPSIDE DOWN CAKE
Serves 8 (or 3 in my house over a wet weekend)

1 1/2 cup Gluten free flour or plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
150g almond meal
3 large free range eggs
3/4cup caster sugar (1/2 cup of you like a tarty cake)
175g butter cubed & at room temp
2T grated orange rind
1/3 cup fresh orange juice
300g froz raspberries
3 tsp demerara (raw) sugar

Preheat oven to 170C (no fan). Spray a fluted non stick ring pan with oil. Line the base with good baking paper. Beat butter, sugar & orange rind together until light & creamy. Add eggs one at a time until well combined. Fold in combined flour & almond meal & juice.
Arrange half the raspberries at the bottom of the tin (which will be the cake top). Top with half the cake mix. Tap on the benchtop to settle. Repeat with remaining raspberries & cake mix. Tap tin on bench & smooth with a spatula.
Bake for 50-60 mins or until a skewer comes out of the centre clean. Set aside for 10 mins to cool. Take a clean flat knife and run carefully around inside of pan. Turn the cake onto a platter & sprinkle with demerara sugar. Serve with cream or ice cream or in my case eat half the cake neat over the course of 3 days. oops!