Cold days in a warm kitchen

This is my favourite new toy... a Breville breadmaker, bought in the Easter sales. I've been baking bread like mad since I got it. I've had some tasty successes, and one or two doughy messes (it definitely pays to use the right kind of flour). Here it is, making yummy corn bread.

Homemade bread (this is sunflower and pumpkin seed bread) makes the best sandwiches - especially when you fill them with fresh homegrown tomatoes and salad greens and homemade tomato relish!

You can even bake cakes and teabreads with it. This is a sweet Madeira cake (best served with cream and fresh berries).

My other new toy is a slow cooker. I've been googling for recipes to use with that and am quite amazed at the range available - all kinds of hearty casseroles, potato bakes, desserts, chutneys - you can even bake bread in one! Today I'm cooking lasagne.

It's autumn here in the southern hemisphere. Daylight savings time ended in NZ this weekend. The summer flowering plants in the garden are finishing up and putting themselves to bed for the winter.

I planted all my spring bulbs. I have miniature daffodils, irises, ranunculus, and crocus. I didn't plant any tulips but after seeing all the pretty pictures starting to pop up on northern hemisphere blogs, I might have to make a quick dash to the garden centre and get some after all...

All my bulbs are in pots so I can move them in and out of pretty containers as they flower.


I'm also propagating my strawberrries: the lovely sweet pink-flowering Pink Temptation. You peg the runners into little pots and in a couple of months they put down roots. And then: six new little strawberry plants.

And just think of all the jam I could make with those...

PS. All these photos (and more) are at my Flickr page.