A Good Samaritan 'still around'

Yesterday, My kids and I drove to Hazelwood Pondage to meet my two other friends to go fishing. I was driving our old rusty ute. I never had a problem with this ute besides with its look. Well, it is usually used for work, getting sand and gravel from the shop to our place, transporting heavy and bulky stuff.

When we get to Hazelwood, first stop, there in a launching place for boats and jets-ski, could not fine there car,  i then went to the other fishing area where we fish before, but still they were not there. I thought, there's probably another  launching area. While driving, looking for my friends, I smelt something burning, I pulled over on the side of the road and check where that burning smell comes from. I didn't realized that the ute ran out of water and the bonnet was smoking hot, it overheat.

Luckily, while i was standing there figuring out what to do, the car pulled over beside us, the man came out and asked me "on what seems to be the problem" and i answered: "It's steaming hot, i guess it ran out of water".  He straightaway open the bonnet, he got his glove on and a bottle of drinking water to try to cool down the lead of the water tank so he can open it to let the pressure out and also the overflow. Fortunately, we also bring a liter of drinking water, that's what we used to put on the tank to kept me going for the meantime.

I had the same problem with the other car before, i usually stop on the side of the freeway many times because it ran out of water, but, this is the only time that someone stopped and helped out. I wasn't able to know his name, but I thank him for stopping and helping out.

Lunches for School.....Hmmmmm???????????

Since my Daughter started school, i also start thinking what kind of food she could bring for snacks and lunches everyday to school.  I have to make sure that it is easy to prepare, tasty, colorful and most of all nutritious.
I have to be creative in making lunches for her because she is a fuzzy kid. Fresh fruits, biscuits and yogurt for snacks, but making food for lunch everyday is a challenge for me. When i make a sandwich, i also use wraps instead of using a regular bread all the time just to make it different. 

Here are the lunches i had made so far.


Ham and Cheese sandwich
Ham, lettuce, tomato with cucumber sandwich
Raisin bread with butter
Boiled egg with a sliced of celery or carrots
Silver side, Cheese, Avocado Wrap with feta bread 
Roast slices with tomato Chutney sandwich
Egg sandwich
Coleslaw salad wrap
Vegemite sandwich

Eating meat is not her favorite thing, but i have to let her eat a little bit as part of her daily diet.

I am running out of ideas on what kind of lunches i should make for her. Any suggestions?
I appreciate for any ideas you could share.

Mango Milk Shake

Ingredients:

1 Ripe Mango, sliced
1 1/5 cups Frozen Milk
2 tbsp. Condense Milk

Procedure:

Put the sliced mango, frozen milk and condense milk in the blender. Blend it until every ingredients are mixed well.


Sorry i got no picture this time, my kids could not wait to drink it all up. :)

Banana & Blueberry Smoothie

Ingredients:

3 pieces ripe Banana, sliced
1 punnet of Blueberry

1 cup of Milk
1 tbsp.Sugar
Ice cubes

Procedure:

In a blender, put banana, blueberry, milk, sugar and ice cubes. Blend until it becomes smooth.

You can add more sugar, depending on your taste.

Homemade Pizza

When days like these,  It's raining all the time, could not even go out and let the kids play in the backyard. I always think of food, cooking something that i don't usually cook. I have decided to make a pizza. Delicious and easy to make.

 Ingredients:

 4 slices of bread
1 big size tomato, cut into small cubes
1 small size onion, thinly sliced
1 pc. of bacon, cut into strips
shredded cheese
tomato sauce

Procedure:

Pre-heat oven to 190 degree Celsius.
In every slice of bread, spread the tomato sauce using the bread knife.
Put the fresh tomato, onions, bacon strips, shredded cheese on the top of each bread.
Then put it in to pre-heated oven for 35 minutes.
Serve.

Sheppard's Pie

Ingredients:

500g minced beef
200g peas
200g green beans, cut into small
4 large potato
2 carrots, (1diced into small pieces and 1 shredded)
1 big onion, chopped finely
1 egg
1 beef broth cube
1 satchel Sheppard's pie recipe base 
Veg. Cooking Oil

Procedures:

Peel the potatoes, cut it into cubes, put it in the pot and boil, add a pinch of salt. cover until cooked.

While boiling the potato, get a non-stick fry pan.
 

In a pan, put 2 tbsp. cooking oil, put the onion when the oil is hot, fry it until golden brown. Add the minced beef, cover and simmer for 5 minutes. Slowly add the carrot, green beans and peas, broth cubes  into the pan and mix it on to the meat. Cover and simmer for another 10 minutes or until all the vegetables are cooked, Occasionally stir it.  Make sure that there is enough moisture in the pan until the vegetables are cooked. Add the Sheppard's Pie recipe Base and mix it well. Cover again for 2-3 minutes.

When the potatoes are cooked, drain the  water out, add milk and butter, 1 egg and mash it properly. Set aside.


Pre-heat the oven to180 deg. Celsius

Get an oven proof tray, transfer the cooked minced beef with vegetables first, Flatten it with spatula. On top, put the mashed potato and flatten it. Place it inside the oven for 35-40 minutes or until the top gets golden brown.

Serve while its hot.
Serve: 4 people

Cyclone Yasi

I was watching  the news a while ago, Cyclone Yasi is believe to be the strongest cyclone in Australian history that will hit North of Queensland. People are stacking up sand bags in preparation of the cyclone that's gonna hit tonight. In other places, people are evacuating to shopping centers, soldiers are doing door knocking, asking people to leave and go to higher grounds. Some people choose to stay at home, if in case they will get flooded they will go up on the second story of their house. 

Places that have been affected by the floods before will be affected again.

My heart and prayers goes out to them.

Cleaning Tips: Stinky Fridge

Yesterday, i was driving on the way home and listening to abc radio, they have a guest who knows a lot about cleaning and what kind of cleaning materials to use.
It's so amazing how she knows how to get rid of stains, molds, rust. from carpets to clothes to kitchen stoves. What also amazes me was that the bicarbonate soda, white vinegar and salt has so many uses in cleaning things.
Like for example: cleaning the  Stinky Fridge. A sprinkle of bicarbonate soda and vinegar can be use to clean the fridge and getting rid of the smell. Sprinkle the bicarbonate soda inside of the fridge, get a tea towel, soak it with white vinegar, get a butter knife and wrap the tea towel around it, use it to clean the seal.

Cauliflower W/ White Sauce and Nutmeg

Try this recipe, for sure you will love it.

Ingredients:

1 whole Cauliflower
1 cup Milk
1 Tbsp. Cornflour
 

Procedures:

Steam the cauliflower for 15 - 20 minutes or until it get soft.
 

Making the White Sauce

dissolve the cornflour in a little bit of water,
in a pot, put the milk, make it hot but not boiling, 
then put the cornflour slowly, stirring constantly while pouring the cornflour until you get the desired thickness.

Transfer the Cauliflower in a bowl and pour the white sauce all over it and sprinkle the nutmeg on top.

Serve. 

Beef Stew

Have you ever tried making a pot of Beef Stew? This is the recipe that my husband like to have  most of the time. This is very easy to eat and very handy if you got no time to prefer other meal on the next day or anytime you want a fast meal. Every time i make this recipe, i have to make a pot full and put it in the container and freeze it. When we want to eat it, i just put it in the microwave to reheat it again.

Ingredients:

500g Blade Steak
5 good size Potatoes
6 pcs Carrots
300g Green Beans
1 big Onion
2 beef cubes
Salt and pepper
Tbsp. corn flour

Procedures:

1) Cut the meat into small cubes
2) Chop onions finely
3) In the pot, put the meat, onions, a little bit of salt, add plenty of water and bring to boil until the meat get tender. make sure that there is plenty of water in the pot.

4)While cooking the meat, prepare the vegetables.
5) Peel the potatoes, cut into small squares, do the same with the carrots.
6) Cut the green beans into an inch long.
7) When the meat is cook, add the vegetables, beef cube, salt and pepper to taste, mix and cover.

8) Stir occasionally.
9)When the vegetables are cooked, on a cup, dissolved a tablespoon of corn flour with a little bit of water and slowly put it in the pot and mix to make the soup a bit thicker.

Serve while its hot.

*Any left overs, put it in the containers and freeze. It can be reheat anytime.*

First Day of Work

I've been waiting for this season to come, to get extra earnings again. Since last week, as soon as i got a call from my employer, i was so excited to start my first day of picking blueberry, but the weather didn't seems to agree.

Picking blueberry is a fun and very easy work than other picking jobs. Most of the bushes are as tall as me, so it is easy to reach the top fruits. The bunch are like grapes, but the fruits easily drops when its move.

Today, I was so excited to start my first day of work. I turn my alarm clock at 6:00am so i could leave and start early. While i was having my breakfast, i heard my son waking up, i have to go back to bed and feed him and try to put him back to sleep again. While feeding him, I fell asleep for an hour. When i woke up, i had to move quicker and faster I still have to drive for 40 km to get to the farm. As soon as I get there, I went to the shed and grab the basket that was already ready for me with a bottle of water to drink and buckets for the berries. As I came out from the shed, i see my employer walking up from the pud-dick to meet me, she walked back down with me and point me to the row where i can work on. After giving me the instructions, she let me go and do my job.

Walking down to the end of the row, i saw my friends already there working. I quickly get organized and start picking. An hour later, it starts drizzling, getting worried that the berries will get wet, i work a little faster and hide the buckets full of berries under the bushes.  As the berries getting wetter, we have to stop working because we are not allowed to pick it when it is wet. We walk up and bring the berries to the shed. We all went inside the house and had a cuppa. Hoping that while we're inside, the rain will stop, so we could all go back to work, but unfortunately, the weather did not seems to favor us. We decided to call it a day and hoping that tomorrow will be a fine day for working.   

Budget meal, Easy to prepare

I have just prepared a dinner that is so easy to do. Every ingredients on this recipes just being boiled and steamed.

Beef Silver Side with Mashed Potato and Steamed Peas

Ingredients:

Beef Silver Side
Potatoes
Peas or Carrots
Onion , medium size, chopped 
Salt and pepper
Butter
Fresh Milk

Procedure:

1.) In a pot, put the Beef Silver side, add the onions, salt,  pepper and boil it for 2hours or so, until the meat is tender. every now and again, check the water and make sure that it is always above the meat.
When the meat is tender, prepare the other ingredients.

2) Peel the potatoes and chopped it into squares, put it in a pot, add water, salt and bring to boil until the potatoes is soft enough to mashed.

3) While boiling the potato, Put the peas/green beans into the steamer and put it on the top of the boiling potato. 

4) When the peas is cooked, put it in a bowl, put a little bit of butter and mix.

5) When it is cooked, pour the water out, put  a little bit of butter and milk. Slowly mix it in to the potato while mashing.

6) Slice the Silver side in desired thickness

Serve Hot. 

honeyed carrots (other option for vegetable)
You can also use a fresh carrots as a side dish instead of peas or beans.

On a separate pot, boil the carrots until it is soft, put a tablespoon of honey on it, let it simmer for 5 minutes. Pour the water out of the pot and transfer the carrots on a bowl and add a little bit of butter.

* If there is any left over on the Silver side, put it in the fridge. Silver side sandwich as lunch in the following day wouldn't be a bad idea.*

Minced Beef With Green Beans

Ingredients:

400 grams of Mince Beef
500g Fresh Green Beans 
2 pcs. tomato (sliced)
1 pc. medium brown onion (chopped fine)
2 tbsp. veg. oil
Beef cube (dissolve in 50ml hot water)
Salt and pepper 

Procedure:

Turn the Stove into medium heat. 
Place a frying pan on the stove.
Put the vegetable oil, until it gets hot
Put the onion on the frying pan, until golden brown.
Add the tomato
then add the minced beef, cover and let it simmer until the water of the meat is completely gone. Stir it occasionally while simmering. 
Add the fresh green beans and a broth into the frying pan. cover and simmer until the beans is cooked. Add also salt and pepper to taste.

Serve while it's hot. 
Serve for 3 to 4 people.


Some people like it when the beans is still crunchy. some like it when it is soft.

All About Santa

Christmas was past approaching and my 5 year old daughter was asking about Santa.
Is he real? Where does he live? Will Santa drop by and deliver her presents?, and etc.

When they had a Christmas party in the their school, all the kids were so happy that Santa came by and they all receive a present from him with their name on it.

She knew a little bit about Santa, that he ride on a sleigh, with the reindeer and deliver gifts on Christmas day to good kids through the chimney and drinks milk and cookies and all that sort of thing.

Almost everyday she ask, how many sleeps before Christmas. She's very excited on buying gifts for her friends and of course she expects to receive gifts too because Christmas is about gift giving.

A few days before Christmas i went to the Post office to send a parcel to one of my customer, while i was in a queue, i looked around the shop and i've seen a box placed in the corner with writing on the front  "A Letter to Santa". When i got home, I asked my daughter if she wanted to write a letter to Santa  She likes the idea and so excited to do it. Well, She just finished kinder garten and she don't know how to red and write proper words yet. I helped her by writing down what she want to say to Santa, then after she have to copy and transfer it in another piece of paper.  When it was all done, we went to the post office and drop the letter in the box herself.

On Christmas Eve, before she went to bed, she have everything ready in case Santa will come. She prepared a glass of milk and a cookie and put it in the kitchen table.

Me and my husband were laughing, knowing that Santa will never come, but we have to make sure that he did come and visit on Christmas while she's asleep. We have to put bread crumbs on the plate and drunk the milk from the cup. My husband also printed a letter pretending it comes from Santa "thanking her for preparing a snack for him. Apologizing that he was not able to bring her present because he got traffic on the air and lost some of the present on the way, but the elves are looking around to get them back. He will come by to drop the present anytime soon as soon as the elves got everything back".

I don't know if it is wrong to lie to my kids about all this stuff, but all i know that it makes her happy and have something to hope for at Christmas season.

Yesterday afternoon, I went out and checked on the mail box, one of the mail is addressed to my daughter. It comes from the North pole. I called her out and told her that she got a letter, "from Santa".  As soon as she heard about it, the excitement drawn on her face was so good to see. She was flying out to get to the door, to get the letter.

Here is the content of the letter:

Dear Joanne

Merry Christmas! Thank you for writing to me. I just love getting letters from all the girls and boys around the world. I'm sorry I didn't get a chance to write to you before Christmas - it was busy up here at the North Pole.

Now, the postmark on your letter tells me that you're from Australia.

In Australia\, Christmas is in summer, so the sun is shinning, the skies are clear blue, the birds are chirping, you can go to the beach, play cricket, but best of all, you have BBQs!

I just love BBQ, they are my favorite - how do you think I got this big jolly tummy?

This Christmas, the elves and I stopped downunder for a BBQ. I love Sausages, steaks, fried onions, and all the fresh salads and  summer fruits too - yummy!

I hope you had a very Merry Christmas and a safe and happy holiday. Thank you for qriting to me and I look forward to hearing from you again next year.

Ho,ho,ho!

Your Friend
Santa Claus

I am still looking the toy unicorn in the shop so i could buy it for her as a gift from Santa because that is the one she ask from him. ^_^.