About SJPONeill

Retired(ish) and living on the side of a mountain. I love reading and writing, pottering around with DIY in the garden and the kitchen, watching movies and building models from plastic and paper...I have two awesome daughters, two awesome grand-daughters and two awesome big dogs...lots of awesomeness around me...

AS I SEE IT (11 March)

Posted on 12 March 2016 by SJPONeill

ancient mariner

By Terry O’Neill.

Hot arid conditions may push humans into out-of-character behaviour.

This is well-documented in Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s graphic 18th century poem, “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” in which the albatross which guided the ship out of stormy waters was blamed for the it’s becalming. The ancient mariner shot the albatross, his crew died all around him, and he paid the penalty by the albatross being hung around his neck. A situation, one would think is a long way from a dry and dusty Weston Park sports ground.

To the ancient mariner in the doldrums all he could see was “water, water everywhere, and not a drop to drink”.

The Valley cricketers and rugby players would agree whole heartedly, although it’s not the potability of the water that’s worrying them, it is its availability. The extremes of dry weather created a playing surface almost resembling concrete. It is ironic to note that the main oval also has drainage difficulties and is about to have its drainage system restructured.

The problem facing the Valley Sports Club as it caters for a multitude of players in summer and winter, is its inability to irrigate the surfaces which have reached the stage of being unofficially classified as “dangerous”, especially for contact sport.

Apparently local illegal water users, recently identified, have contributed to the problem and now must use the water registers or measures to monitor the flow to their properties.

To some the Waitaki District Council has become the ogre because this sports ground is under its umbrella. The WDC has demonstrated its willingness to cooperate with sports groups. This was illustrated in practice, particularly in the recent Hawke Cup cricket challenge between North Otago and Hawkes Bay, when it came to the party prior to the game and poured an estimated 650,000 litres of water onto Milner Park, cricket’s temporary main ground while a new ground and block is being developed at Centennial Park.

Hopefully Weston Park, which will be out for the next three weeks, will be able to benefit from a satisfactory solution to its predicament.

The worst scenario for the club, or the WDC, would be for OSH to step in and close the grounds because of this condition.

Doses of aqua pura. That’s all.

Bic Runga, Tim Finn and Dave Dobbyn have the solution in their song, “YOU JUST ADD WATER”.

Another magnificent cause for celebration in North Otago! An amazing array of talented young sportspeople was on display as the sporting awards were announced on Monday evening.New Zealand under 19 cricketer Nathan Smith took the major award,Supreme Sportsperson of the Year.At the other end of the age spectrum Bruce”Bruiser” Rowland was deservedly awarded the Denis Birtles Memorial Award for his forty years of rugby refereeing. A great night amidst a galaxy of talent.

ENDS

How I got muffins for the next few days…

Posted on 9 March 2016 by SJPONeill

DSCF9678 Having people around for afternoon tea means two things: tidy the house and sort afternoon tea…here, it’s not quite so simple as just popping down to the eclair shop for some ‘clairs and lamingtons; more so when the message comes through “…on our way, just leaving Whakapapa now…” and I’ve got nothing ready but an idea…

Speed cooking is, for me, analogous to speed dating: just not something I do…I like a more deliberate planned kitchen experience…but not today…it normally takes me about 15 minutes to drive from home to Whakapapa so time was the one ingredient I was short off…I had selected a good Kiwi recipe the night before and dug the muffin tray out of the back pantry but that was it in terms of preparation…

I am quite chuffed that I managed to get it all together and into the oven before my guests arrived:

What I used:

125g Melted Butter
1 Cup of Sugar
1 Egg
1 t Baking Soda
3 T warm milk
2 Mashed Bananas
1 1/2 Cups of Flour
1 1/2 t Baking Powder
1 – 2 Cups of Blueberries

How I used it:

Heat the oven to 180 degrees.

Mix the butter and sugar together.

Next time remember to add the egg – just realised that I forgot to add this: not quite so chuffed then…

Dissolve the baking soda into the milk and mix in to the rest.

Add the bananas. I used frozen bananas that I had remembered to take out of the freezer earlier to thaw out. Today’s lesson is that you can squeeze the banana – in toothpaste fashion – from the skin by cutting the stalk off and squeezing…way less messy…I mashed them as I blended them into the mix but this would have been better if I had mashed them, THEN added them – didn’t seem to make a lot of difference to the final product though…

Blend in the flour and baking powder.

Mix in the blueberries – I used about a cup and a half – using frozen ones means you don’t have to be so gentle with them plus I am saving our fresh ones for breakfast each morning…

I used a folded up paper towel to swab out the container that I had melted the butter in and quickly greased up the muffin tray. The tray seats sixteen but my mix only lasted for a dozen…

Place the tray in the oven and hit the fan bake.

Keep them cooking until a skewer comes out cleanly…

Now the bit I really mussed up: let them sit in the tray after you take it out of the oven until they have cooled down and ‘set’…I tried to remove them while they were still warm and it was just disintogram time…

DSCF9675 I meant to come back to them once them had cooled but once we’d had a bit of a show round the property and an abortive attempt to walk down to the stream, and got into conversating, I forgot about them til latter…so muffins for the next few days…

My plan was to serve them simply with just butter – yes, “…pure poison…”, I know…but am keen to suss out some other ideas… DSCF9679

Insights

Remember to add the egg next time – although they seem to have come out OK regardless…

Let the muffins cool before trying to remove them from the tray.

Get a new muffin tray: this one came with the house and has seen better and more non-stick days, even when greased…time for retirement and replacement…

‘Toothpasting’ thawed bananas works well.

Frozen blueberries are easier to mix in…

The amount of sugar could be reduced and I’m wondering if the milk could be replaced by an alternative non-cow milk..?

They taste good with a crunchy crust that most likely comes from the sugar…I was worried that I would over-mix the ingredients and end up with a rubbery texture – all the muffin recipes seem to warn about this – but nope, all good…

Definitely a keeper recipe and one I will try again just as soon as all the current muffins are consumed and I have a new muffin tray…

Screen | The Daily Post

Posted on 8 March 2016 by SJPONeill

Living with Kirk was like having a permanent seat behind the guy with the afro at the movies…

Write a new post in response to today’s one-word prompt: Screen.

Source: Screen | The Daily Post

AS I SEE IT(4 March)

Posted on 7 March 2016 by SJPONeill

By Terry O’Neill.

What? Volunteers made redundant?

Volunteering is an integral New Zealand response whereby people selflessly offer services, skills and time for the benefit of others. Every community has people who do their bit with grace, skill and charm.

It can be a two-headed coin. Each volunteer gives to meet a particular need and is often surprised to receive a sense of accomplishment, fellowship, and contentment, the blessings of true generosity.

A recent Oamaru Mail article on Girl Guides in North Otago suggested the national body is “revitalising”, whatever that means, so it can fulfil its goals of developing self-esteem, confidence and leadership, and a centralised business and administration arm will reduce the work of volunteers in these fields. But to maintain the national “ivory tower”, annual fees for each Girl Guide must be increased from $180 to $300, though in some cases there may be a decrease. Some local guide leaders believe the fees may push the movement into an elite club beyond the reach of many including loyal families with Girl Guide members throughout generations.

When former Prime Minister Rob Muldoon introduced the “think big” philosophy mixed results evolved, and now it appears some organisations which survived, and indeed grew, applied this philosophy in a very practical way. The Society for the Intellectually Handicapped (IHC), Save the Children (SFC) and Riding for the Disabled (RDA) are but three which experienced, and resisted in some cases, the nudges or heaves towards centralisation. Many local branches had a rich complement of competent volunteers before top-of-the-tower decisions effectively attempted to bypass this invaluable resource of experience and support. “Bigger would be better”. Maybe.

Centralisation appears to require paid “executives” whose salaries enable them to direct and organise the remaining, often disillusioned, volunteers. And this rejection of volunteer input ultimately affects the vitality and growth of local support for the national body and its dedicated services.

It’s a New Zealand “thing” to support financially what we believe to be worthy organisations. I wonder how many find it offensive when a wealth of attractive glossy material regularly is sent out to squeeze even greater donations from already dedicated supporters of the institution? Exactly how much of each regular donation contributes to such simplistic unsolicited expensive-looking material. Many charities come to mind. Surely regular voluntary subscribers could be spared this practice? Sincere volunteers and supporters are too valuable to be treated with disrespect.

Sports bodies are feeling the impact of a smaller volunteer base, and I don’t apologise for bringing this up again. Often loyal supporters hold positions of responsibility for long periods, and are the butts of criticism because nobody is willing to ‘step into their shoes’. Eventually, burnt out, the stalwarts eventually take their skills and drop off the code’s radar into oblivion.

In these days of semi-professional sport, there’re suggestions from some volunteers that those getting paid should do all the work! But is this just a cop out?

ENDS

Seeing corn in a new light…

Posted on 3 March 2016 by SJPONeill

…through a veil of tears…

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In Happy Endings a few weeks back, I described the origin of my green journey…further into that discussion, I offered a number of obstacles to my starting the journey…among these was “Without butter, how can I have corn on the cob with pepper?” The butter, of course is the enabler for the pepper to stick to the corn – you can’t beat home-cooked pepper corn!!

One of Bubble’s alternatives was drizzling basil oil (I didn’t know what it was either and had to look it up) over the corn in lieu of butter, or possibly even in lieu of the pepper…I’ve tried this and yep, it works however my key insights were that:

We need to load more basil flavour into the oil.

The taste gets stronger with the passage of time.

This tastes too damn good to only make up in 100ml batches…more to follow on this one as I (finally) have a surviving basil crop…

Bubble’s other offering for to-die-for corn on the cob was to use chilli oil, although she used a flash name for it, oilio picannte…I had to hunt for this: it’s not common in rural supermarkets and I had to get some when I was in the big smoke last week.

In my first outing with it, I thought it quite mild and a tad disappointing…really? Trust Bubble, Bubble is always right is the rule…

Just substitute Bubble for Ivanoa and I think you get the message

Corn on the cob is cheap as at the moment and I had some for dinner tonight, intending to revert (regress) back to good old butter (it’s not pure poison, surely?) and pepper like I always had. I relented at the last moment and poured a little chilli oil along each corn cob. Feeding my delusion that this was a weak oil with barely any heat, I peppered them up as well…

Ha…!

I wonder now if the oil is heat-activated..? I sure didn’t need the pepper for warmth…when the chilli kicked in, I took a deep cooling (for about 3 milliseconds) breath, spreading the love through my sinuses and nasal cavities in the same spirit as snorting wasabi…as I used to warn the twins…hot…hot…hot…

Once the tears cleared, I realised…we don’t need no stinking butter…

Yeah, baby…

A post in four courses – apres

Posted on 2 March 2016 by SJPONeill

We’re both coffee people so ending dinner with a coffee seemed natural…

But maybe something a little more special than just instant and hot water..? This was a by-product of our research into (yet to be tried) pumpkin spice latte waffles…simply (said if not prepared) coconut pumpkin spice latte…

I opted for this recipe from Half Baked Harvest because it seemed to offer a good blend of healthy themes and flavours…

Ingredients

For the coffee base, you need:

2 cups of coconut water

1/2 cup of freshly ground coffee grounds: yes, I know that sounds like a lot – it is – but I think that the cold infusion is less effective as traditional coffee making processes plus I suspect that the coconut water is not as effective at absorbing the coffee flavour as water water…

For the pumpkin spice latte:

2 tablespoons pumpkin puree

1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice (I made up a bigger batch substituting tablespoon for teaspoon in this list):

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

pinch of black pepper

2 tablespoons pure maple syrup

1 1/2 cups canned coconut milk

1/2 cup coconut water

2 tablespoons pure vanilla extract (yes, also a lot – this is a very sweet brew..!)

Making the components

Make the base by mixing the coconut water and coffee grounds together and letting sit overnight.

Filter the grounds out.

Combine all the latte ingredients in a small pan over the stove.

Simmer and stir until the mixture is steaming hot.

I made both components the night before but I think this mix would go best made fresh with no delays. My inner coffee lover cringes at reheating the coffee base in the microwave and the latte syrup does not like being frothed some much once it has cooled.

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I used the steam frother on my coffee machine and that was OK but not ideal…partly because the reservoir is not that big and, by the time it heated, only pumped out enough steam to froth a coffee at a time…

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I got a light froth on an OK coffee…OK in that it was very smooth but not as strong tasting (of coffee) as I like…

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…which tasted OK but lacked texture and heat (I like hot coffee)

Insights

Next time I will make the coffee base in a pan over the stove and use it immediately. This is actually the alternate method in the recipe and I don’t know why they don’t simply do this anyway and avoid the whole reheating thing.

Using coconut water for the coffee base does seem to provide a smoother coffee but I will see how this goes. My gut feeling is that if I can master the syrup, this drink will be just as good with conventionally brewed coffee – note to self, overcome anxiety and master the coffee syphon…

I used the recommended quantity of pumpkin puree but apart from possibly adding to the texture of the latte syrup, did not appear to add much unique to the flavour – although it is up against some pretty intense competition. I think I will double this next time.

The coconut milk and maple syrup tend also to override the flavours of the pumpkin pie spice. It may be – quite likely, I think at the moment – this may become a coconut maple syrup latte if the pumpkin components can’t step up to the plate…

…or maybe dump the maple syrup – I don’t think this needs any MORE sweetening – in favour of the pumpkin flavours…

The blending option – over the whisk/stir strongly or steam approaches – that is mentioned as an alternative in the original recipe is probably the best for frothing a mix like this and that it how we will do it next time…

Like the dairy-free ice cream, this is probably more philosophically healthy than actually healthy…it is very sweet and one probably needs to plan some extra physical owrk to compensate

toy para rocket So…don’t get me wrong…this makes a nice coffee…I described its effect to a friend the next day as being like one of those toy rockets with a recovery parachute: the caffeine kicks you up to about a thousand feet then the sweetness kicks in and lowers you gently back down…time it right and you’ll float to the ground just as your head hits the pillow… as I did…slept like a baby…

A post in four courses – dessert

Posted on 1 March 2016 by SJPONeill

A simple dessert, keeping with the green journey theme…

Dairy-free coconut ice cream in a waffle cone…

This is the first ice cream I made ever and I worried that the dairy-free aspects might add undue complication to what appeared – from the reading – to be a complex process…I needn’t have worried: like so many other things the anticipation was way worse than the actual doing…I was so sure that this would end in total disaster that I didn’t bother taking any photos of the making…if I want to see disasters, I can always rerun Titanic…

I made this according to this recipe which I found at The Kitchn There are lots of other ones around but this looked the simplest of those I found in my initial Google and simple is good…

What I used:

2 400ml cans full-fat coconut milk

1/2 cup honey, just ordinary old, common, garden-variety honey, nothing flash.

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons corn flour

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

And this is what you do:

At least 24 hours before you plan to churn the ice cream, put the ice cream machine’s bowl in the freezer to freeze. This was the first time I had used my ice cream maker even though I bought it on the other side of winter…I never realised that the bowl had a liquid filling

Cans of coconut milk separate into a thick, creamy layer and a thin watery layer on the shelf. Before opening them, shake the cans of coconut milk thoroughly to incorporate the layers. If you forget – don’t ask how I know – you’ll need to give the can contents a vigorous stirring.

Measure 1/2 cup and set this aside.

Pour the remaining coconut milk into a saucepan.

Add the honey and salt to the coconut milk..

Warm the coconut milk on the stove over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until the sweetener has completely dissolved into the coconut milk.

Measure the cornstarch and add it to the reserved 1/2 cup coconut milk. Whisk thoroughly until the cornstarch is totally dissolved.

Add the cornstarch mixture into the warm coconut milk while whisking gently.

This is your ice cream base. Increase the heat to medium. Stirring occasionally, continue cooking the base until it has thickened enough to coat the back of a spoon, 6 to 8 minutes. Do not allow the base come to a boil.

Remove the base from heat and stir in the vanilla.

Pour the base into a shallow container. Let the base cool slightly on the counter so it’s not hot when you put it in the fridge.

Cover the container and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or for up to 3 days.

Remove the base from the fridge. It should be completely chilled and slightly pudding-like in texture. Pour the base into your ice cream machine and begin churning.

Churn the ice cream until it thickens considerably and is roughly the consistency of soft-serve ice cream.

Transfer to freezer container: Scrape the ice cream into your freezer container. I achieved the same by filling to the very topping and placing the lid on. Freeze for at least four hours to harden the ice cream.

DSCF9564-002

This mix does set quite hard – not icy, just hard. Let it warm a few minutes on the counter before scooping. This is a bit of a balancing act because once it starts to melt is keeps going quickly!! So far it seems to me best to let the ice cream contain sit on the bench for maybe 2-3 minutes and then serving it.

It doesn’t seem to roll quite as well as dairy ice cream and so, especially for cones, I find it is easier to use a dessert spoon to scoop the ice cream out and then pack into into the cone.

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Bottom line

Very nice, especially in a cone…reminiscent of rum and raisins without either actually in the ingredients

Would benefit from some lumpy bits in the mix…nuts, raisins, dried fruit…

Smaller batches would mean greater variety

“Philosophically’ healthy in that it doesn’t use globally unhealthy ingredients but is very sweet so eating this in lieu of ‘normal’ ice cream is unlikely to do anyone’s waist line any favours…

A post in four courses – main

Posted on 29 February 2016 by SJPONeill

For a healthy main, I selected what I call my Lebanese Lasagne…its real name is Lebanese Kibbeh but I call it a lasagne because it has a similar layered construction and it is easier to say in company without a lot of explanations…I got the original recipe from this great little book, from the Paper Plus bargain table about ten years ago…

CCI28022016

The first few times I made it direct from the recipe but found it to be a tad dry so took to adding half a can of diced tomatoes over the filling to add some additional moisture. In all fairness, the original looks quite dry too so this is just me adjusting to fit my only preferences…and it has been so long since I have made this, I forgot the tomatoes…

Here’s what I used for this dinner…

For the base and topping

3/4 cup of bulgar wheat. This seems to hide in different parts of the supermarket, even between branches of the same chain so you may have to hunt for it.

450 grams of quorn…I didn’t know what it was either but found it when I was looking for a vegetarian alternative to meat mince…it was easier to find in the Levin New World than bulgar wheat…it’s not cheap but was worth it for an experiment and I still have a little left over to try in something else…

1 large onion grated.

15 grams butter, melted

salt, pepper to flavour

For the filling

2 tablespoons of chili oil

1 onion finely chopped

1 tomato, finely chopped

250 grams of button mushrooms as an alternative to the mince in the original recipe

1/2 cup of pine nuts

1/2 teaspoon of allspice

For the dressing

200 ml of greek yoghurt

2-3 teaspoons of crushed garlic. I used the store-bought stuff in a jar as it was there and needed to consume it

2 tablespoons of chopped fresh mint. Actually I forgot this as i was too busy chatting to my guest as I was serving up…it’s not like we have a shortage of it here.

Other stuff

1 cup of brown rice. I have oodles of white rice but have been wanting to try brown rice for a while with an eventual intention of switching entirely to it from white rice…just need to find a good (cheap) supplier…

This dish is quick and easy to make, even with the non-meat variations. I made it up the previous day in case prep time on the day was limited due to unforeseen work commitments.

Heat the over to 190 degrees

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I wasn’t sure what I would find on opening the packets of quorn mince. It just looked and felt like cooked mince…a bit of an anti-climax really…here is is mixing in with the bulgar wheat and onion…

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The other main alternative to meat mince was good old button mushrooms…I got the recipe from the Thanks For The Food blog…like the quorn, it was amazingly simple and anticlimatic. As suggested in the recipe, I fried the diced mushroom in chilli oil before following the other steps…

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Once the mushroom was mincified, I added the pine nuts, diced onion and tomato, and the allspice. I added the diced tomato to add to the distinction in flavour and texture between the base and the filling – as above though, it wasn’t enough to offset the natural dryness of the recipe. I also meant to dice and add the remaining peppers from my stuffed pepper experimentation but this was also forgotten in the flow of conversation…

I also added a dash of salt and a goodly amount of ground pepper which gave the filling a nice and occasional tang…

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Add half the base layer to a greased baking dish, before adding the filling evenly over the base. If I had remembered the can of diced tomato, it would have gone over the filling.

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Smooth the remaining base over the filling.

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Baste the melted butter over the top. Next time – if I remember – I’d like to try a final topping of non-dairy herby cheese…

Place in the oven and switch to fan bake for 40-45 minutes, or until the topping is golden brown.

It’s now that I drop the rice into the steamer with a little salt. it takes about 40 minutes too as, perfect world, the lasagne and rice will be ready at the same time.

In the meantime, mix the crushed garlic, sour cream and mint together in a small serving dish. Ideally I think this should be done the night before to give the garlic and mint a better opportunity to battle it out with the sour cream flavour…

Slice up the lettuce.

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A cross-section after our two servings were plated…

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Plated ready to go…

A post in four courses – aperitif

Posted on 28 February 2016 by SJPONeill

A friend got onto a course north of here at short notice and said she’d drop in for tea and a catch up on her way home…she’s rather careful with her diet which put a line through some other menu options: a great reason though to explore further along the green journey…

This ‘summer’, up on the Plateau anyway, we seem to have a three to five day cycle of summer(ish) weather followed by two to three days of not-so summerish weather…Wednesday was right on the cusp of the change: I planned on summery for the menu with a less-summery option in my back pocket…

Summer lasted the whole day so the Plan A aperitif was greenlighted…this was an easy one for my as it is what I have most nights when I get home, with something more substantial later in the evening…

Smoothie group photo

The makings are all very simple and flexible: my staples are the ginger, flaxseed and coconut water: the natures of the juice, fruit and green may change depending on what is available at the time:

a tablespoon of flaxseed/linseed. This adds a nice texture to the smoothie and is apparently healthy as well. Bought a big bag for not much at Hardy’s in Taupo – keep it in the fridge.

200 mls of juice. I usually use the Keri Premium Spicy Tomato Juice but the pineapple juicy was on special so I bought a bunch of it – I suspect from the lack of floaties that it is more processed than I like so once it’s ALL gone, it’ll be back to spicy tomato juice until winter when bulk carrots are available. On occasion, I buy cheap fruit, juice it and freeze it until needed – just have to remember to take it out a few hours before smoothie time so it can thaw to a slushie-like consistency.

200 mls of coconut water. In the absence of this, just normal filtered water (no additives in our water) and I’ll also use normal water to top the unprocessed ingredients up to the Max line in the smoothie jar.

Half an apple, cored. I’m not actually sure that it achieves anything taking out the core as there doesn’t seem to be any difference to notice when I forget. It’s probably more important to remember to remove the little sticker from the outside…the same weight of pears, pineapple, or other juicy fruit also go well.

Half an orange, or a similar weight of mandarins, or tangelo. I quarter it, and cut off the peel, squeezing any remaining juice into the smoothie jar – a little peel left on never hurt anyone and I never worry about removing pips: it doesn’t hurt the flavour and the surgery wastes too much juice…

A thumb-size piece of fresh ginger. Dice this up into littler bits…I don’t worry about the skin or knobbly bits: they are get combined in the processor…

A bunch of spinach…or silverbeet, or cabbage, or other greens. I chop off the rooty bit and normally halve the length so it fits better into the jar…

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Almost ready…

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Just about forgot the flaxseed…

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Ready to go and gone…only needs about 30 seconds of processing…

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Ready to drink…although on this occasion, I decanted it out into a couple of glasses over an ice cube base…

Refreshing on a summer afternoon…

Seasons | The Daily Post

Posted on 21 February 2016 by SJPONeill

This week, let’s embrace the season: share an image that embodies the world or the weather where you live.

Source: Seasons | The Daily Post

Every January, the Department of Conservation and Project Tongariro host the local Mahi Aroha Summer Programme, a month-long calendar that encourages people into the outdoors and showcases local conservation projects… DSCF9471 The first activity each year, on New Year’s Day, is the family kite day…
DSCF9481 Even though the first of January is technically in the middle of summer, true summer here often does not kick in until February….
DSCF9486 Pleasant but overcast days like this are common for this period of the season… DSCF9476