The Morrisons

Guess who has a broken arm?  Poor wee Miriam!  She broke it just over a week ago while playing in the lounge.  We aren’t sure how it happened, I was sitting on the couch in the lounge at the time but didn’t see.  She seemed to be rolling around on the floor and bumped her arm on the coffee table.  Poor wee girl cried and cried until she fell asleep and it wasn’t until she woke up at 6pm that night that I realised she wasn’t using her arm.

I thought she must have dislocated her elbow as Faith did that twice when she was two, so I knew that usually the dislocated elbow will pop back in when they sleep and relax overnight, and was hoping for that but she wasn’t happy or using her arm in the morning so off we went to the Dr.

He sent us to get an x-ray and it turns out she had broken her arm just above the elbow.  The Dr said it was hard to see the break on the x-rays and that it was lucky it didn’t displace!  Nathan was interested in the x-rays and later told Nana, “We saw a skeleton picture of Miriam’s arm.”

So Miriam had a plaster cast put on and her arm put into a sling and was so much happier after that.  I kept the sling on her arm every day but it didn’t stop her from doing anything, she just carried on with one little arm.

The day before we were due to go back to the Fracture Clinic to get her cast replaced with a fibreglass one I let her have the day without her sling as she was getting annoyed with it.  She started using her hand when the sling was off although it hurt (and still does) to carry or drag something around with her (such as ‘gu-gi’ her blanket, ‘Mamey’ her doll and ‘Giraffe’ – she sleeps with all three and keeps them near during the day).

Miriam was able to choose the colour of her fibreglass cast and went for pink which she showed off to the Dr and said, “yes, bea-tiful pink”.

She only has to wear it for two more weeks (3 weeks in a cast in total) which doesn’t seem like long but apparently little bones heal fast.

Miriam is here while I post these pictures and said, “Miriam broken arm, look at that Miriam, broken arm, that”.

Here she is doing ‘dancing ballerina’ twirling around and around.  Unfortunate about the strangle-hold on her baby!
She is very interested in dressing up as a ballerina (as you an see in the photos above) and dancing to music.

The title above may not sound as though it would work on Pavlova and it may not look that appetising in the photo but let me assure you,  Rhubarb Cream and Blueberry Pavlova is absolutely delicious!
My guests to whom I served this up last night agreed that it was very yummy and a success although I must admit we were all a wee bit dubious when I brought it to the table.

I managed to score some free rhubarb plants by the side of the road last year which didn’t look like they’d come to much, and took a good few months to actually start growing and looking as though they would survive, but they are thriving now.  I wasn’t sure if they would grow or be any good, this being our first year growing rhubarb, but they’ve been great.

You can see a couple of pics of the rhubarb plants (up against the fence near the black compost bin) in these photos.

Usually I make Rhubarb Muffins with Cinnamon Sugar Topping or Rhubarb and Yoghurt Crumble Cake when baking with rhubarb – this cake is divine by the way and another Eat Fresh recipe, or otherwise I whip up a quick rhubarb crumble or sponge pudding.

Yesterday I decided to make some Stewed Rhubarb (to keep it simple) using a recipe from Eat Fresh by Annabel Langbein.  I love this recipe book.  My lovely sister-in-law gave it to me a few years ago and as you can see she loves it too.

Stewed Rhubarb – Place 600g or fresh rhubarb in a pot with 2 cups water and 1 cup sugar.  Bring to simmer stirring to dissolve sugar and simmer for 12-15 mins or until pulpy.  Remove from heat, cool and cover.  Will keep for 4-5 days in the fridge or can be frozen.

Once boiled up it looked much too watery and I noticed under the Stewed Rhubarb recipe there were two more recipes using the rhubarb pulp and the liquid drained from it……

…..so I made Rhubarb Cordial from the liquid which was the most beautiful bright pink colour and a lovely tangy tart flavour ……… and Rhubarb Cream (sometimes known as Fool) to have on top of the Pavlova I decided I would need to make to go with the cream (haha, so much for keeping it simple – although I have discovered making a pav is actually very easy – this is the second time I’ve made pavlova and am feeling very proud of myself).

Separate into syrup and pulp – cool stewed rhubarb and strain through a fine sieve.

Rhubarb Cordial – Mix the juice/syrup with chilled soda or champagne (we used soda water).

Rhubarb Cream – Fold 1 cup of thoroughly drained pulp with 300ml chilled whipped cream.  Serve sandwiched between meringues or with Pavlova.

I added some extra stewed rhubarb on the top of the rhubarb cream for effect – and then threw on some blueberries for a bit of extra colour.

Watching this video would be 10 minutes well spent:

Where has summer gone? We’ve barely seen the sun shining for more than 1/2 an hour every few days.
It is very disappointing as our garden was doing so well and now with this cool wet weather nothing is really producing much and our tomatoes seem to have a disease which I hope is not some sort of blight. I sprayed the affected plants (stems and leaves) with a mixture of water, baking soda, dishwashing liquid and a tiny bit of vinegar but Mum tells me I need to go and buy copper spray as well as some others.

Here is the harvest we were getting every few days back when the sun was shining – the last of our carrots (we have planted more but they aren’t up yet), some beans and snow peas, raspberries, red onions and courgettes.

I’ve been enjoying not having to get up early and rush out the door for school so we’ve been lazing around at home. Cora and Amy have been in Gisborne for the past 10 days and they get back on Tuesday night. They’ve been doing all sorts of fun things, shopping, movies, swimming at pools and at the beach, camping at Tologa Bay, eating take-aways, more shopping……and enjoying lots of hot sunny weather.

It has been quiet (sometimes!!) with these 3 little ones at home. Yesterday we made pikelets and Faith wanted to make them in the shape of numbers so we made 1-10 in pikelets (which Miriam calls Pipelets and Faith couldn’t remember if they were Peeplets or Pamphlets).

Way back in September last year Grandpa (Clare in Gisborne) gave Amy a packet of seeds of baby carrots. They were in seed tape which is a light paper with the seeds attached so all you do is make a wee trench and line it with the seed tape and you end up with a perfect row of carrots.

Sorry, I know this is a lot of photos of carrots but I love these two photos with the little hands and feet of Faith and Miriam to show the size of the carrots.

We were so excited when we started harvesting these delicious baby carrots – we all love to eat them fresh from the garden (after a rinse off with the hose or Miriam’s method of swishing in the paddling pool).

With the shift to the new house this year, we had the opportunity to start a new vegetable garden. We have 3 sets of photos. The first ones were taken in about September, the next ones in December and the most recent just this morning. The one below is from December. You can see the progression, there has been huge growth in the last 3 weeks since we’ve finally had some summery weather!

The garden was fairly bare at the new house, so we were able to start from scratch. We brought the raised beds we had made earlier with us, and set them up against the fence in the back yard, filling them with pea straw and compost. We also bought 3 fruit trees, a cherry, apricot and nashi pear. We are hoping to espallier the apricot and nashi against the corrugated iron fence.

To our frustration, the compost we had purchased had weed seeds in it, which immediately started sprouting. In addition, the pea straw produced fresh shoots which popped up throughout the beds. We might try lucerne straw again next time, and go back to Warehouse compost.

We also brought with us raspberry canes that had been planted at the old house. We weren’t sure if they would survive, but they came back to life after spending winter in a box in the garage! Notice the old grape vine stump, we weren’t sure if that would grow as it looked very dead but it is very alive!!

Near the front door in a bare garden we planted some strawberries and a lemon tree, bay bush and rosemary bush, sage, parlsey and coriander, silverbeet and lettuce and more recently tomatoes. Some self-seeded marigolds and silver beet also appeared in that garden – as well as plenty of weeds! It is an effort keeping on top of the weeds.

In the raised beds, we planted beans, red onions, silver beet, celery, peas, carrots and later cucumber and tomatoes. We’ve got a range of tomatoes – cherry dots, roma, bloody butcher, yellow pear cherry (still small as we planted the seeds late) as well as some unknown as they were given to us.

As well as the raised beds, we planted gardens in an old broken clam shell play pool. In the clam shells we planted potatoes – half of which we harvested last week, and have now replaced with bean seeds. Behind the clam shells you can see the tiny rhubarb plants which I picked up on the side of the road advertised as free (bargain!). I wondered if they would come to much as they looked a bit unhealthy but in the last month they have grown amazingly!!! The leaves are huge now and I will harvest some soon.

We also planted courgettes) and spaghetti squash and some more cucumbers (in pots). We’re trying out the green courgettes in buckets and the yellow ones are in the garden. Last year our 8 courgette plants were very disappointing and died after they got some sort of disease (which is part of the reason why we’ve separated the yellow and green. This year we only have 3 of each yellow and green but they are doing a lot better than last years.

Everything has sprung happily to life, although the celery and silver beet went quickly to seed so most of them have been pulled out and the peas haven’t done so well. Some of the onions are growing well, but they haven’t formed particularly large bulbs yet. We have been enjoying the carrots fresh from the garden.

Twenty ten, doesn’t that sound weird?  I am so used to saying two thousand and nine but have heard that twenty ten is the correct way to say it so I am practising.  I have noticed the news presenters have been saying twenty ten this year whereas in the past they were in the “two thousand” club also.

Happy New Year to you all.  We’re looking forward to all 2010 has to bring.
We are expecting a new baby in June!  I am 18 weeks now and having a scan next week.  I’m so glad to be over the horrible morning sickness stage – you may have noticed there weren’t many posts from us from September/October onwards!  It is always a difficult time but I am thankful I was not as sick as I was with my last pregnancy.

We have not gone away this year and it feels strange being on holiday at home.

Katrina, Marcel and Hugo came and spent about 10 days with us over Christmas and New Years which was really great.  Was good to just hang out with them and get to know Hugo a bit more.  I think he enjoyed getting to know his cousins too.

Kris’s parents also spent a few days over Christmas with us.  They arrived just in time to share my 30th  birthday cake, a gluten free carrot cake with cream cheese icing, mmmmm (which I’d made earlier in the day – yes, I made a cake for myself – in my new food processor which was a gift from Kris).

It was my first year making Christmas dinner at our home.  Everything turned out beautifully but I was exhausted at the end of it all and thank goodness for our dishwasher!

I made a lamb roast and a pork roast (recipe from the Healthy Food Guide – Maple Glazed Rolled Pork Roast with Cranberry and Pecan stuffing)!!  It was delish!  Along with that we had baby carrots and silverbeet from our garden, boiled new potatoes and roasted kumara and red onion .  Served with gravy, cranberry sauce, mint sauce and apple sauce!  For dessert we had Pavlova with cream and berries and Christmas pudding with custard.

Everybody was spoiled with lovely presents.  The highlight for the guys was the cricket set Marcel and Katrina gave Kris.  The men, Nathan and most of the kids enjoyed playing cricket down our driveway that afternoon.  For the girls it would have been their new clothes.  They were each given two sets of clothes/dresses so looked beautiful in their new outfits.  Nathan was given a pair of dress trousers which look very smart on him.

Oh and I mustn’t forget the Hot Wheels sets Nathan was given which provided hours of entertainment over the next week for all the children including Hugo and Miriam who were often found playing down in Nathan’s room.

Sometimes I feel that we might as well be living in a different country rather than stuck in Christchurch far away from family.  Of course Katrina (my sister and only sibling) is in a different country (Australia) so that doesn’t really help!

Sundays are often such lonely days for me.  We come home from church feeling tired but the children are always full of energy.  Gone are the days when we could put our two or three small children to bed and then ourselves and have a lovely afternoon nap.  Upon us are the days of exhaustion and feeling lonely without family around.

Sometimes I am super-organised and manage to make a nice lunch and have the house tidy enough to invite visitors over for lunch but usually it is enough just getting our family fed and dressed for church then out the door, let along making something for lunch.  So lunch for us is often toast or toasted sandwiches.

Our church has a shared dinner (they call it tea – I just can’t say it I’m sorry, it will always be dinner for me) once a month on a Sunday evening.  I am always caught out as we don’t eat our main meal at lunch time on Sunday whereas it seems that most other people do.  If I was more organised I could put a roast in the oven…..maybe one day I will be!

So everybody brings just a little plate of food, usually some mini muffins or slices of bread or maybe sausage rolls etc.  I have seen people arrive with larger dishes of food just for a morning tea.

And then arrives Louise with an enormous dish (our banquet sized electric frying pan) of fried rice and a dish of honey-soy chicken nibbles.  It is so embarrassing tucking in to a larger-than-everyone-else’s meal while some people just eat a muffin.  Perhaps if I was skinny it wouldn’t be so bad but I am not so people probably assume that I am just greedy and stuffing myself.  Maybe it is embarrassing because even if we had eaten a main meal at lunch time I would still feel like a regular sized meal for dinner, rather than a couple of measly muffins!

It is worse being Gluten-free now too because there is usually nothing I can eat (apart from what I take) so I often go home hungry from these shared ‘tea’ evenings.

Woops, that was a bit of a side-track.  As I was saying, Sundays are lonely without family and friends to spend time with.   If we were in a different country I don’t think it would be much different, except maybe it would be more exciting with new places to visit and sights to see.

Maybe I am just feeling sad that we won’t be going to Gisborne for Christmas this year as we have done the past two years.  Katrina and her family will be coming here for Christmas so we are really looking forward to that.

I am just going to have to become Mrs-Super-Organised and keep a spotless home, always have groceries in the pantry, prepare lovely lunches ahead of time for Sunday AND invite people over to share lunch and spend time with us.  One of the dumb things about being a larger family is that you don’t get invited round to people’s houses for lunch very often!  So I will just have to get them to come to my house instead.  Now if only I had some energy……

I often enjoy the posts on this blog.

This one is very sad, but worth reading:

… Every time I walked by, the little girl was happily playing with her doll, like she had been entertaining herself for years. She didn’t cry at all, and no one heard a peep from her that night. It bothered me that she wasn’t sad and didn’t seem to notice that she was all alone and should be scared. Her neighbor, on the other hand, screamed bloody murder when I walked into the room, and tried to bite me as I dragged him out from under his dad’s chair. …

Read the whole thing.

This sounds like it would be quite a story:

He is handsome. He is romantic. He is Amish.

Twenty-three year old Cassidy lives a simple life in the Amish countryside of Lancaster County. Simple, that is, until Slade Byler moves into the old Lapp farm. Cassidy finds herself irresistibly drawn to the handsome Slade; but she fears to share the secret that she alone knows. For Cassidy is an immortal, a princess in the long line of ancient Amish vampires. Will Slade’s love grow cold when he learns this great secret? Can she give to him a heart that does not beat?

Now, if only he could find a publisher, I would know what to get Louise for Christmas.