lest we forget: some recipes for anzac day

Today is ANZAC Day here in Australia.

B3 and I went to see the local march,

VCH took B4, B5 and The Girl fishing, with B2 and his L plates doing the chauffeuring.

They have had great success lately and we have enjoyed several fresh fish meals!

B1 has a job as a "nanny" for 5 days ( he's a manny!).

When B3 and I came home, I made some Anzac Biscuits (cookies), in honour of our ANZACs.

I used this recipe here:

 If you are not wheat or sugar free you may like to try this recipe here:

 

Hope my fellow Australians are having a relaxing day while we remember those who fought for our freedom on foreign soils.

Lest We Forget

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outdoor table looking good

Just a quick post today to show you how these outdoor table and chairs 

that we found on the side of the road came up with a bit of paint.

Before

After

They look so amazing now!

VCH had to fix a couple of things on them and then we just slapped on some Dulux Leadman.

I really like them and am still debating with myself whether to keep them or sell them.

I think for the moment they will stay.

I have lots of coloured cans of succulents scattered around our outdoor area left over from the boys' party, they add a bit of colour to the table.

I am off for a Girly weekend on the Gold Coast with 6 of my old school friends

- looking forward to lots of fun, good food, shopping, laughter and catching up!

Here is a post about our last weekend away 2 years ago. 

outdoor kitchen reveal

Finally I am going to show you our outdoor kitchen!!!!

 I know you have been waiting for what seems like months and I keep teasing you with snippets here and there, but finally here is the whole shebang!

We had been planning to redo our outdoor kitchen for quite some time.

This area has evolved over the12 and a half years we have lived here.

The brickwork and levels were done by the previous owners.

Over time we have added a roof, floor, lighting etc.

We had a sink and cupboard that VCH did at least 10 or 11 years ago and then we had added a few old cupboards that had been replaced in other parts of the house.

But we had been slowly working up to a whole remodel and wanted a functional yet practical space.

We decided that this would be VCH holiday project this year.

Just before VCH started holidays I spied an old kitchen for free on Gumtree, not far from where we lived.

We went and picked up the whole kit and caboodle, 

not sure exactly what we would use off it but knowing it would come in handy.

We mucked around with the various carcasses and came up with a layout fairly closely matching the one we had in mind.

VCH then went on a little trip to get the adjustable feet another Gumtree find.

Using the carcasses from the old kitchen saved VCH hours and hours of work, 

so we were very grateful for the find!

 

We decided to build a little wall at one end to protect the cupboards from the weather and in this we placed a window that we picked up for $5 at the local second hand building site.

 We pulled the the top bricks off what was the brick BBQ and VCH leveled it and cemented it.

 This is where the gas BBQ and Pizza oven now sit.

The gas bottle is hidden away in the cupboard. 

The sink and tapware is from the original Gumtree kitchen.

We decided to make new doors and drawer fronts but reused the hinges.

VCH routed the pattern into the MDF doors and then painted them the dark grey we have used around our house (Dulux Leadman)

I decided grey would tie in and not show up dirt or mildew like white would.

The handles are from my stash.

The bench tops were a laminated pine that we got from Bunnings.

VCH stained it with one coat of a cedar stain and then coated it with a gloss floor polyurethane.

We wanted a bar area and so left a gap in the cupboards to create one.
We still need to paint the sides of the cupboards you can see under the bar grey.

The bar stools were a garage sale find - $10 for the 4.

We still want to put a shelf along this wall and will make it with a narrow piece of left over benchtop.

Great for a pre-dinner drink and nibbles, 

the kids have enjoyed ice cream sundaes here too!

 

 This old freezer has seen better days and was originally VCH dad's.

It still works well so I just gave it a coat of grey spray paint.

 The chalkboard frame was one I picked up from an op shop and I used a pre-coated blackboard sheet from Bunnings cut to size.

I decided to leave the original finish on the frame as I thought it tied in nicely with the benchtop.

 Here is the BBQ and Pizza oven looking towards the bench seating we also put in.

 We used the same material as we did for the benches and then treated them the same way.

VCH attached them to the bricks with liquid nails and brackets.

B4 helped me with the garden.

We still need to do something to the cement floor, at this stage we are debating a few different options.

 In the end it will probably come down to time and money!

 Doesn't it always?

You are welcome to join us here any Sunday night for Pizza!

If you would like to see some befores of this area go here or here.

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back on the trail

Remember when we pulled the cubby house and swings down I said I was after a swing set for the back yard?

 I had been looking on gumtree without success, 

 recently I have been using a local buy,swap sell facebook page with great success 

(I sold the kid's play kitchen through this page) 

and the other day a listing came up for a free swing set- I was on it straight away!

 VCH went and picked it up on his way home from work that very day!

This is the first time we have ever owned a conventional swing set and our eldest is 18 and our youngest is 6!

He also came home with this pink desk chair that the owners were also giving away- not quite my cup-of-tea but The Girl was thrilled!

Saturday saw me taking in a few garage sales before soccer and I managed to get these gorgeous yellow shutters for $5 for the pair. 

I just love the colour!

This old TV stand is going to be my next play kitchen project.

These lanterns are for my collection 

 

and these metal side tables are going to be spray painted and sold.

What colour do you think?

mexican fiesta party

When we decided to combine B1 and B2's 18th and 16th birthday parties  

(lots of the same family and friends would be coming to both so this just made it easier),
I looked for a way to make it easy on everyone (particularly moi) cooking wise,
I didn't want to do a BBQ for a large number of guests and then have to prepare half a dozen different salads, a sausage sizzle was a little too casual, so it got me thinking about what would be easy and involve minimal preparation but still be yummy.

I hit on the idea of serving tacos, minimum prep - maximum flavour.

This then lead to the party having a whole Mexican theme.

I chose lots of bright colours and decorations to give impact but also keep it all very simple and low key.

 

I ordered some bright paper lanterns from eBay and we put them up in the entertaining area.

I picked up the pinata at Big W.

Each table was covered in a bright coloured tablecloth with a striped cloth used as a table runner
(I bought 2 of these as table cloths off eBay and then cut them into 4 to create 8 table runners. 

I added a coloured tin with some succulents that I planted about a month ago,
a coloured glass citronella candle from Bunnings,
and a bright coloured water bottle to make the table centre pieces.

I mixed up the colours on each table to give a bright eclectic feel.

To continue the theme I used purple plates, green cups and red napkins.

We started with some corn chips and dips:

guacamole, hot spinach salsa queso dip, and a cucumber salsa.

Then moved onto our DIY taco bar.

 I borrowed some crock-pots from friends as well as my own and did a bean mix for the vegetarians, beef for the traditionalists and my taco chilli chicken was in the other for those wanting something a little different.

I kept it simple by serving it with grated cheese, sliced tomato and sliced cucumber and shredded lettuce (took only a minute with my v-slicer).

Some sour cream, guacamole and sauces completed the tacos.

For drinks we made a non alcoholic sangria and a pineapple sangria, then later on a lemon-lime punch.

We also served some flavoured waters and had bottles of water on the table.

We made the party alcohol free as B1 has for the time being decided not to drink and we didn't want any problems with any of their underage friends drinking.

For dessert I served ice cream- I know I have an obsession with ice cream!

It is so easy to make and has maximum impact, you just need to be organised to start far enough in advance.

But it literally takes about 5 minutes prep time and then when it is cold enough you throw it in the ice cream maker and voila it is done- dead easy!

We had: 

Vanilla,

Mint Choc Chip- everyone's favourite

Mexican Chocolate

Liquorice (I will do a recipe of this soon)

Ginger

Coffee

Lemon-lime cheesecake (wasn't overly impressed with this- tasted too cream cheesey)

and for the dairy free Pina Colada Sorbet.

I also served a variety of teas, coffee and some yummy biscuits- I will share these in a post soon.

Every thing was very much do ahead, even the cake I did a week in advance and just froze it, got it out on the morning, iced it and it was good to go.

The photo of the cake has a weird yellow tinge because the lights in our entertaining area are yellow to discourage the insects.
After I wrote their names and ages in brown M&M's B4 covered the rest of the cake in diagonal stripes- an idea I got from pinterest.


Here they are cutting the cake.

We got the pinata down and VCH hooked it to the basketball hoop.

Here The Girl is having her turn- we didn't bother with blind folds.

A collage of the festivities

Happy Birthday in Spanish.

So ends our first party in the new look entertaining area- I will be back with the low down on the area very soon, pinky promise!

bedhead bench

Remember I told you how I had found lots of fabulous bedheads on my roadside foraging?

Well one that didn't end up in the garden lent itself very nicely to a bench seat.

 

I thought I took a before shot but cannot find it.

Basically we used the top as the back and the bottom as the front.

VCH thought that we should leave the metal in place at the front for extra stability.

 I think it also adds a nice detail.

 VCH used some metal brackets we found at Bunnings to attach the seat.

 The seat itself is a piece left over from the outdoor kitchen benchtops.

I stained it with a cedar stain and did a couple of coats to try and match the original timber and then gave it a satin finish.

I gave the original wood a coat with a combination cedar stain and varnish to freshen it up.

It got a bit wet in last night's rain that's why the seat looks wet.

 

 We put it to good use at the party, here is VCH's dad and nieces and nephew testing it out.

 I think it would look fabulous in someone's entry hall or front veranda!

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