David and Heather

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Today's Recipe: Jamie Oliver's Moorish Crunch Salad

I've stolen Dave's Christmas present for a day- a Jamie Oliver cookbook- because he's had it for weeks and hasn't tried any recipes yet.

http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/salad-recipes/moorish-crunch-salad

Ingredients

300g carrots, peeled, cut onto matchsticks
150g radishes, sliced thinly
2 crunchy eating apples, cored and sliced thinly
1 small handful of raisins or sultanas
1 handful of fresh parsley, roughly chopped
1 handful of fresh mint, roughly chopped
4 tablespoons sherry or red wine vinegar
8 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon tahini
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons sesame seeds, toasted in the oven
optional- roasted chicken

Instructions

1. Mix it all together, except the sesame seeds.

2. Add the sesame seeds and mix them in just before serving.

Yum!

Thursday, January 21, 2010

The House That Came on a Truck

After a year of waiting and living in a caravan on the fish farm... our house has arrived!

The truck arrived Wednesday morning. The truck backed into place, and jacked up the house, pulled the truck out, and lowered the house on its concrete footings. The house is prefabricated on a concrete pad. It is cyclone proof, and it has a 9-star energy rating, which is very good (but I don't know how the rating system works).

I think it looked like it was floating while it was on stilts. Four little stilts. Magic house.

The rainwater tank (55,000L) will be on the left, the carport on the right, and the verandah will run the length of the front of the house. The verandah and carport will be concreted after the verandah is assembled.

We had to choose all the colours- inside and out, tiles, flooring, cabinets, everything online- so we weren't sure what it would look like in the end! Neither of us remember choosing the white facade... but then, we didn't think we had a facade (what a fancy name for the front bits of the house) so I am not sure we chose anything! The white will turn a lovely orange colour (the colour of the dirt around it).

Here's what the house is like (the Acacia II).

http://www.fleetwood.com.au/manufacturing/manufacturingtest/acacia.html

It is small, but considering we've been living in a caravan, and there is only two of us, and we don't have much stuff- it will be perfect. Besides, with untouched Australian bush for our backyard, and the ocean for our pool, a BBQ and outdoor tables... we probably won't be inside much!