Watering and Cooking

The vegetable garden as expected needs to be watered every few days but the rest of the other gardens peppered around the house yard haven't needed watering for some time. The rain has taken care of it and then some. Today however it was time to head outside with the hose and give some plants a drink. The established orchard is fine but the new trees needed a soak as did the more tender fruits- the kiwi fruit, the berries, the currants and the gooseberry. I also watered all of the roses, the herbs, the garden beds surrounding the house and the potted plants on the verandah. It took a while but I love to have enough time and enough water to not shortchange the plants. It's great thinking time if that's what your after.

A couple of the bird baths were. I feel bad if I don't keep them topped up even if there is plenty of water around elsewhere.
They are all brimming now ready for thirsty birds and insects.

I just liked the look of this spider web built across one of the archways. Not sure where the web builder was but his web is pretty.

Yesterday was Tim's birthday and I made him most of the things he requested for dinner. All three recipes I used came from the book above, delicious more please. It is quite a good book and I'm thinking of buying it when I return this copy to the library.

It was a little too hot for the requested zucchini soup so I replaced it with a refreshing Basil Lemonade. Sounds a little different and it is but it is very refreshing. Sweet,sparkling, lemony with a basil twist.Even Hope drank it which is saying a lot because she really does not like herbs. The main meal was Bobotie which is a South African style shepherds pie. It has a custard like top and sultanas and apricot jam in the pie which gives it a distinct sweetness. Definitely worth a try if you like sweet and savoury in the one mouthful similar to Moroccan food. The dessert/ birthday cake was my rendition of the cover recipe, a classic vanilla cheesecake. I left off the chocolate sauce and used the berries that we had ready yesterday-raspberry, blackberry and strawberry. The difference in this version from other cheesecakes I have made is that there was a top layer of a mix of sour cream and sugar. The recipes were easy to prepare and ever so tasty. I'm sure I won't be able to top it tonight.

Tracy