My Incredible Edible Garden

OK, I must admit that I'm feeling rather smug about the garden at the moment - it's true that not everything I planted has grown, and quite a lot of precious seedlings haven't made it through the busy spell, or those not planted out still in my newspaper pots have succumbed to the destructive forces exerted by my merciless puppy and cat, who both think nothing of sitting plum on top of my plant pots or better still shredding the pots with abandon, scattering the contents where they will  (Grrrr!). 

That said I'm learning more every day about the culinary bounty that surrounds us.

I may have already mentioned my flower syrup, which is a real hit on crepes, but that's run of the mill now. I managed to make a first and very precious single jar of hibiscus jam (yes, you heard right hibiscus jam, using a couple of hibiscus varieties that I have got growing here), it is an amazing vibrant red color and has a very pleasant, albeit subtle flavor. 

Whatsmore, I've just discovered daylilies. 

We have a fabulous display of them every spring, it's a real visual treat, but they're also a treat for the palate I discover now - we tried deep fried flowers (after the success of the squash flowers), and they were pretty good I admit. 

Supposedly you can eat almost every part of the plant from the under ground tubers, young shoots to the blooms and buds (aparently an important ingredient in authentic sweet and sour soup - I'm up to try, we've got some dried mushrooms lying around, but sadly we can't get the tofu here to make it a really decent version)! 

A birthday to Remember

Last week was birthday week, Matotea turned six and Viriamu was a bit older.

While Viriamu refused to celebrate, as usual. Matotea had a wonderful week of birthday fun - Dana our friend and mermaid was with us, so I had some help with the celebrations.

We did a mermaid treasure hunt on the day, as well as the obligatory screaming children, cake, balloons and jello.

Later in the week Matotea and Heimana got a chance to hang out with a mermaid and try on their very own tail!

It was worth it to see the girls' faces......

The chaos continues....but in a good way!

September has given way to October, the weather is slowly warming up. The whales are still here in abundance. I spotted a dozen between my home and the local store last sunday - now don't tell me that's not exceptional! I really can't get over it, this year is incredible. We've hit the ground running since the salon, so not too much time to breathe, just enough time to put my poor aching pregnant lady legs up for a day or two!

But it's all good, I've been indulging in awesome sea-salt and monoi body scrubs, thanks to Ashlee's great idea and I get the odd well needed massage if I play my cards right! We've also been blessed with a great group of guests recently, including Amber a friend for the girls and her grandma Thi an avid cook, originally from Vietnam with lots of great original culinary suggestions to inspire me.

As well as tattie Dana, making her annual migration (though this year it was so much fun that she's back for a second round in a few days time!! I can't wait)....

......she'll be here for Mato's birthday.......it's going to be a fabulous, fabulous fishy surprise.....

And how about this for home-grown deliciousness, an excellent tropical dessert that I've perfectioned this month (if I do say so myself), a papaya, banana and strawberry coconut-crumble (beat that with 100% homegrown fruits and nuts), served with a lashing of coconut milk - every bit as yummy as it looks!

September's here

Almost a month has flown by between blogging, and it's been a busy one, full of guests and whales and goings on! First of all we had the much-anticipated arrival of the Gauguin cruise ship, which turned into a fiasco as the guests were unable to get off the boat due to the rough seas and narrow pass in Avera......this was a huge disappointment to us all, particularly the tourist committee (of which I am the tresurer) as we'd spent months preparing a spectacular welcome, training guides, programming an activity-packed day and negotiating at great length with the cruise company. Fortunately, the day was saved to some extent, as some of the welcome committee were allowed to get on the boat (after much to-ing and fro-ing with the cruise staff), so thankfully we managed to get paid for the 325 flower leis that had been prepared by our craftswomen.......I was very grateful to have been absent, it happened to coincide with another tourism salon, and I don't regret it an instant, as we managed to fill the guesthouse for the next three months. The school term continues and Heimana is getting into the school rhythmn. Matotea is making leaps and bounds in the literacy race, she tells me she wants a desk and computer for her birthday, she'll be writing novels by next year!!! For my part the garden's coming on, though it's been a bit too dry lately so some of my seedlings suffered from my absence at the salon, but I'm stocked for fresh herbs, we've been eating my home-grown plum tomatoes, the odd cape gooseberry and are slowly gathering strawberries in the freezer, in the hopes of making some jam or a sauce for yogurt, before the end of the year......I also have been growing, there's a third and final bump, due in feburary......