In My Kitchen, December 2024

 What is it about December each year which means the pace of living ramps up, and we are trying to cram too much into our lives in these last few weeks before Christmas. I refuse to be hurried or succumb to too much Christmas hype, and I think by now I have met all of the deadlines on my list. Christmas cards? Not sent yet. Do you still send them? I am wavering.

In My Kitchen, December 2023

 

I'm in the mood for Christmas now, which is great, because it's nearly here and the stunning colours of Christmas are naturally occurring in our garden. Bring it on. It's been a big morning today. The fruits for my Christmas Cake and my Christmas Plum Pudding are now macerating, and the Rum Ball mixture is chilling in the refrigerator. I'll roll these traditional little festive balls in coconut tonight. I needed to start all of these preparations early at 6.30 am this morning, before the heat of the day set in, and I am so relieved that I have made a start. Hopefully the cake will be baked and the puddings made by the end of this week. I am usually earlier than this making the Christmas cake, but I've been fairly casual about it all this year, and they will still taste great and make it feel like Christmas, even if lunch is fairly simple. 

A touch of Christmas Red in our Tropical Garden

This morning the sky was blue, and the garden looking lovely, despite the ominous warnings of the impending cyclone, named Owen. However as the day has drawn on, the weather has become more sultry, the skies cloudy, and the weather forecasts are changing by the hour it seems. I think that the media drives a lot of these reports however the average person is over a barrel in determining what is actually happening, and often it is a wait and see game. We should see some weather action here  by Tuesday.

I hope you enjoy these photos of my garden turning on it's red Christmas lights, without any batteries or electricity involved, just the sun and the rain. The African Blood Lillies appeared without any fanfare and are stealing the show, and the rain has certainly helped their bulbs to multiply and produce magnificent blooms this year.

African Blood Lilly

Medinilla

Bromeliad flower

I hope you enjoy your weekend my friends. I have had enough of the shops this Christmas. I think that one of the solutions to a stress free Christmas is to stay away from the shops and shopping centres as much as possible.  All of my Christmas shopping and wrapping is done, our Christmas letter written, Christmas menu partly planned (of course), edible gifts distributed, and now I am preparing batches of Rum Balls, and whatever else I find time to do. 

I have been surprised, frustrated  and dismayed at the amount of up selling that department store staff are trying on this year with every customer. Surely this must result in overspending by many people which becomes very stressful when the credit card is due in January. No doubt the message and training is coming from upper management to shop staff to try and sell as much as possible above and beyond what the customer came into the shop for. Oh well it didn't work with me.

On the kitchen front, I made a delicious cake loaf yesterday, which I hope to share with you in the next couple of days, combining Dulce de Leche, banana, spice and all things nice. Stay tuned for that. Hopefully I will get back to blogging in the next couple of days.

Take care everyone and I hope you have Christmas preparations under control and don't feel stressed out by it all. 

Best wishes

Pauline

A Peaceful Dove bringing life, hope and peace to our North Queensland Tropical garden at Christmas time

A ready built home for the family, with interior decorating included. Recycling at it's best. She's been sitting on her eggs for a couple of weeks.

A flimsy nest of twigs and grasses in the peg basket. Since this photo, there are now two eggs.

Happy Friday to my friends, and prepare to take a tour of my tropical garden. 

The birds, the edibles, and the ornamentals  bring our garden to life each day. We enjoy our morning cup of freshly brewed coffee on our patio before the heat of the day radiates to force us inside. However, salutations to our very maternal Peaceful Dove who continues to sit on her eggs in the peg basket on our Hills Hoist washing line,  through the heat of the day and the cool of the night. I am so conscious at times of her lying out there exposed to the elements. and I have even at times in the heat of the day moved the washing line around so that she is in the shade of the neighbouring Golden Penda Tree. Neil has firmly secured the peg basket to the washing line to ensure it doesn't blow to the ground during windy weather which happened last year, when she or another Peaceful Dove was siting on her eggs.  She is very used to us now, and doesn't fly off when we walk nearby or do the watering around her. She is now sitting on two eggs, when I took the earlier photo she was only sitting on one egg. It's a beautiful thing really to see her so bravely guarding her future offspring. We are looking forward to the eggs hatching, and hope it all goes well for her.

Yellow gerberas saluting the sun

Beautiful Vanda Robert Smith x Asca Thai Ruby flowering again after a few years. 11 years old. A senior citizen in the orchid world perhaps.

Bromeliads flowering at last like a torch 

Christmas flowering of lush and tropical Heliconia "Kawauchi", a relative of the banana

A miniature rainforest

Flowering Thumbergia loved by the birds

Italian and sweet basil, our future pesto ingredient

Caladiums in harmony with the Desert Roses

Crotons, Caladiums, Pentas in a tropical medley

Potted Oregano adjacent to the purple ground orchids and tarragon

Everflowering New Guinea bottlebrush tree, a haven for the nectar loving birds

Covered Turmeric and ginger patch emerging