wiling away the hours

Blogging at 12.48am, due to my inability to sleep comfortably anymore. Only 18 days to go now. This has been a funny week. Since the new kitchen was successfully completed (hooray for my DIY champ husband!) I have a little more free time in my day, and have been musing on life little issues...

-daylight savings was something I loved before I had a child. It really is a thrill for those who like long evenings and alfresco eating, or who have dogs to walk along the beach at sunset, or who aren't as uptight about adhering to routines as I am. Now, it's a bit of a pain. The day is already long enough, having started at 6am. Come chat with me in a few years time, and I'll probably be loving the light again. Today I just want him to go to bed at the usual time.

-acupuncture is a brilliant thing. I will not stop saying this. If you have anything bothering you, from a cough to pregnancy, go see an acupuncturist.

-my friend from the city brings me this awesome honey, with brilliant flavour, intense, like rosemary and blossom nectar. Collected from his own hives by a little man, it seems to be unprocessed, so is super bacterial and healthy. The joke is that she gets it in Clifton Hill, but it is harvested down here, in Sorrento and cannot be bought anywhere BUT her little store Clifton Hill. Talk about your food miles...

- Yet again I find myself annoyed at tradespeople. Mechanics, currently. Our red car has really died, but not before we spent considerable money attempting to save it. I have an inkling that responsibility for it's problems may rest at the feet of our mechanic, who failed adequately diagnose the initial issue. But he seems to put it all down to luck, as in our bad luck. Where to from here? Then the whipper-snipper we just has serviced is conking out exactly like before, and under inspection the baker found a little hole in a part that probably should have been detected by those servicing the thing. Shouldn't it? So now it has to go back. Time and effort and money wasted, again. Why can't they do the job properly first time?

- we have spent so much time in Bunnings now, that I can spot their stuff in other people's houses. Like my Mum's house could easily be the house that Bunnings built, like ours is becoming. Doors, kitchen, even the bin in the bathroom I recognise. The issue here is that I need to spend time somewhere else, doing something else..

for pumpkin season

I have just made a wonderful pumpkin cake, and since we are coming up to the time for cheap, abundant pumpkins, I want to share it. It's a great one for kids, not because of the pumpkin, but because it's quite low in fat and sugar, yet is sweet and moist. Thank-you must go to Gabriel Gate.

Grease a 20-22cm loaf tin and set the oven to 180c.

Steam 200g pumpkin to soft and allow to cool.

Using a food processor or beater, cream 60g butter, 1/4c caster sugar and the zest of an orange to light an fluffy.
Add two eggs then mashed pumpkin and 1/4c milk.
Add 2c wholemeal self-raising flour, 1/4c each of chopped almonds and walnuts (the finer the better, you end up with a cake the texture of flourless orange cake, quite dense) and 1/2 c chopped dates. I also added 1/2t cinnamon and 1t vanilla.

Pour into tin and bake for 1 hour. Allow to cool for 10 mins before unmoulding onto a cake rack.
Enjoy.

For those new to my recipes, 'c' means cup, 't' means teaspoon.

My lack of photos is annoying me, the problem being that our computer is too full to load on anymore. I'll see what I can do tomorrow. Then, if there's any left, you can see this golden, lovely cake and desire to cook it yourself!