Tasty blended eggplant dip

Eggplant and capsicum dip with a hint of smoked paprika

 

Easiest of recipes. The only thing is to watch closely while grilling the veges- don't set the kitchen on fire!

1 eggplant

1 yellow capsicum

1 TBS lemon juice

1 TBS tahini paste

1 clove of garlic

seasoning to taste (I use a Mediterranean style herb and spice mix)

50ml olive oil

Smoked paprika to garnish

 

Wash and dry the veges.

Remove the eggplant calyx and slice it lengthways into 1cm thick slices and season.

Remove the seeds and slice the capsicum into quarters.

With a basting brush, coat with olive oil.

Grill until the eggplant flesh is browned and  the capsicum soft and /or the large skin surfaces 'blister' (don't place it too close to the grill - be sensible about this and keep a close eye!)

Remove from grill and when cool, carefully remove the capsicum and eggplant skins.

Whizz up in a blender or food processor with the remaining ingredients, except for the paprika (left-over oil can be added too if mixture seems a bit dry)

Cool in fridge and serve in small dish with a sprinkling of smoked paprika on the surface and garnish with flat leaf parsley.

 

This is delicious as a starter on fresh ciabatta, with vege sticks or with an antipasto-style snack.

 

 

Lily and Frank feature

What a lovely surprize to come home after a long day at work and discover that Catherine Frawley from the www.borrowed-light.com website and Instagram profile @lilyandfrank featured my Instagram photo as the winning entry in her weekly #frommykitchencompetition Instagram challenge.
Thank you Catherine!

This scrumptious recipe is a Nigella Lawson chocolate mousse recipe. Gloriously simple and wickedly delicious!

 

Botanical beauty

Mail arrived this week from Georgina Reid (Head Hunter founder and editor) of the online magazine The Planthunter Life. With Plants. Georgina's classy magazine celebrates the connections between plants and people.

A few months ago Georgina ran an Instacomp with her issue 8 theme of the theme of Poetry. She collaborated with the jeweller, Carolyn Barker, to offer this beautiful piece of jewellery as the prize.

It is a hand-made copper pendant with a botanical theme- a gingko leaf and is from Carolyn's 'fallen leaves' series. Carolyn is based in Queensland, Australia and developed the series as a result of a crowd funded project. Carolyn was inspired to create the botanically inspired pieces after spotting sun tinted leaves adorning a sandcastle on a beach after an evening swim. 

More on Carolyn's amazingly beautiful jewellery can be found on her website. http://www.cbjewellery.com.au

Of course the lure of winning this gorgeous pendant inspired me to write a poem. And being a lover of the botanical and really wanting to win, I simply couldn't resist, so not one but two entries.

Here are my two attempts and corresponding pics.

{ode to the gingko}

no flowers
only  golden beauty
cascading
stolen  by winter
when naked branches secretly
nurture new life

{ode to the manuka}

your fragile blossoms 
belie the healing elixir 
of your gifts, uplifted 
and woven by tiny creatures 
into sweet, golden treasures

Manuka is a New Zealand tea tree used by local bees to make delicious honey goodness.

And here the beauty that arrived this week! Joy is me and thanks to both Georgina and Carolyn!

Tea & roses

July in the Antipodes is time for rose pruning. After a week of non-stop rain, I awoke to a blue sky with painted clouds and looking out the window realised that the new leaves on my roses were already starting to sprout. I seriously needed to get on with pruning the old dear. 

Auckland isn't really the place to grow roses - too humid in summer, so I only have one rose. It is no dainty standard type, but a gnarly old fashioned one 4m high that I would have pulled out long ago if it hadn't been so persistent. Its ugliness is only forgiven by its stubbornness to cease flowering  well into winter accompanied by the scent of a 1000 perfumeries. Apparently it is difficult to breed roses for their scent, so another good reason not to remove this brute.

Accompanied by Frodo, my faithful gardening companion, and equipped with clippers, long handled clippers and a pruning saw, not to mention the thick gloves and protective clothing, I clambered my way behind the hedge and started pruning. I tried  to avoid hacking the stems which was tricky because of the height of the plant and to avoid being stabbed by razor sharp thorns. The rose 'branches' were way above me (a ladder would have been helpful, but threw out our old one recently!), so I had to stretch to reach the skyward growing stems and bend my body into weird angles to avoid having my kidneys punctured by surrounding bushes and branches.

 

 

After three quarters of an hour, I had all the branches cut down into stick lengths and dumped in the garden bin. I can tell you that the cup of tea that followed was well earned!

 

 

My tips on rose pruning:

In a standard or bush type of rose, the purpose of pruning is to create a bowl to allow light and air into the centre and to encourage the plant's branches to fan outwards. My rose 'tree' is against a fence so I needed to prune it to ensure that the branches didn't grow across each other. Also I had to be careful not to remove too many branches too far down to the woody stem.

It is important to make a cut at an angle above a growth node. Also depending on which way you want the branch to fan out, you need to choose your cut above the correct node.

Happy pruning!

 

Source:

The easy gardener for New Zealand gardeners. 1999. Random House Australia.

Special mention by Jen Francis, Interiors Addict blog owner

Another fun #7vignettes completed! This Instagram challenge is run by Jen Francis who runs the blog Interiors Addict and who is currently flitting around Europe and America. Despite this, she still found time to post and this month, judge, the #7vignettes challenge. Each day there is a theme and it's incredible to see how each participant interprets them. The winner was the wonderful Angela Steyn an interior designer from Australia. Angela puts together the most beautifully edited photographs. Somehow she knows just how many items to include in her compositions and in the most muted calming tones.

A few of us competing in the challenge got a special mention (including moi). Have a look at their lovely galleries - so amazing to see how creative people can be:
@madebyciel
@kerrieanne4artonparkdesigns
@_fridays_child_

 

Instagram community

Over the last few weeks I have been kept busy with Instagram. There are loads of challenges to participate in and I have found them to be huge fun.

• #7vignettes, a monthly 7 day challenge with themes provides by Jen Bishop, who runs the website Interiors Addict 

• #ELPminimal run by Sarah from Emotive Light Photography who's love is food photography. Each Sunday Sarah provides a theme for participants to post an image with three items or less. A number of my photos have been featured.

 

 

 

A Happy peaceful Easter