Raw Materials

So who would have thought that Jon’s much-scoffed-at pre-compost practice of burying vegetable scraps in the backyard would have paid off so brilliantly! Gilbert can’t help himself, he’s back there every five minutes scrubbing about for more of these things that the rest of us seem so excited about. Bless him. He’s all enthusiasm. And it was a TWO EGG day! Our aged chooks are having some kind of revival.

Combined with the world’s most mammoth clove of organic garlic (note peg for scale), some olive oil, flour and natural yoghurt, these little back-yard ‘taters will make a truly magnificent accompaniment to the boneless leg of lamb, slathered in seeded mustard, that’s gradually melting in my slow cooker.

Sylvie lovingly scrubbed and wiped the garden off our potatoes and we thinly sliced and baked them only to eat more than a third before the dough was even ready – apparently, we all lack patience, not just the toddlers in our midst.

The one minor tradgedy of the day has been the total lack of fresh rosemary – we went to two separate grocers with no luck but came home with a bag of my unlikely favourite, Brussels sprouts (to cook like this), and a bag of the cheapest bananas I’ve seen in ages. Actually, most of them got eaten at the park…

And what Wednesday would be complete without a little bit of post-park painting mayhem?

Dinner turned out great!

And as for the 2011 Year of Craft, look at the treasures I uncovered at my new favourite place:

Here’s what I’m hoping to finish off tonight:

We'll see how we go...