Well, it is nice to see someone is following our restarted blog, by asking where is Caramello?  He stayed at home during our last trip - probably not out of choice, but being bad parents we forgot to take him!!  Anyway, here is a photo of him lounging around with friends in the garden.

It was another domesticated weekend.  We started off by going to see Poi e which we really enjoyed -  a move with a bit of kiwi culture and humour  http://www.nziff.co.nz/2016/auckland/poi-e-the-story-of-our-song/.

Saturday dawned cold but not wet, so we ventured off to get top soil for our new garden.  It took two trips to get two cubic metres and a few hours to move it into the garden.  This was the story of a role reversal - perhaps us woman shouldn't have fought so much for liberation!!  We scooped the soil from the trailer into the driveway and while Harry returned for the second load I shovelled it into buckets and moved it into the garden.  Arriving back, he was surprised I hadn't cleared a small path for him to go through the gate and then said "the car was a lot lighter with only one person in it"! How to stay friends with your wife in one easy lesson!  Men, do not consider Harry as a role model.   Harry then hopped in the car, returned the trailer, bought fish and chips and returned to about a little pile of soil which I left for him.  I planted a couple of blueberries and a blackcurrant - the beginning of our edible garden.

Saturday night (nursing a rather sore knee) we went to Melissa and Rob's for dinner.  We really enjoyed the drive over the Eastbourne and catching up with them. They cooked a great vege curry and I took a cheesecake which looked fine but wasn't quite set.  I think when using agar you need to double the amount that is recommended for gelatine in the recipe. Sunday dawned, we watched the Pumas and All Black game with a couple of cups of tea and then went for a gentle stroll around Plimmerton Beach.  The seagulls and shags were out in abundance.

 

 I had read in the paper a couple of weeks ago that egg shells make great incubators for seedlings. Lots of calcium! So, here is the start of our cherry tomatoes for this summer.  When you plant them apparently you crush the bottom of the egg shell, this means that the roots are left in tact.  Seedlings at my place will appreciate that as I usually just pull the little blighter out of the soil and hope for the best!!  Maybe that is why I have mixed results from my vege garden.

 Off to cook some meals for the week.I was given this recipe the other day, and it is really yummy particularly if you stir it all up and then put in the fridge over night.  I didn't even make little balls, just dolloped little drops in the pan to shall fry.

2 cups cooked lentils, 2 large eggs, 2/3 cup breadcrumbs, 1/2 cup ricotta, 1/4 cup parmesan and lots of pepper.  They go great over spaghetti with a tomato sauce (being lazy we didn't make out own, but I did throw some spinach in so feel o.k about that).