Day out

Took time away from Christmas shopping, making mince pies and sausage rolls today and drove out to Betty's Beach which is about 50ks east of Albany, haven't been down this area for about 10 years or so, there is a small camping area there and lovely beach and rocky outcrops. We took our morning tea down on the beach and sat on the rocks, Bentley had a great time, he so loves the beach. We could feel a storm coming but didn't hit till we were back in Albany, lovely day out, off to Thai restaurant  tonight , yum 

Camping spot

Bentley had a swim of course 

Time away

We had a great week away in our new caravan. First we camped overnight at a free camp site in Pinjarra and then took the van into Mandurah for its service, caught up with friends, had lunch out and then picked up the van. We spent the weekend at Lane Poole Reserve outside of Dwellingup, parked our van at Baden Powell camp area and then met Debbie and family down at Charlie's flats which is close to the river. We couldn't get the van down there so we had to camp! We found a tent on one of the verge collections while staying at Debbie's and it fitted the bill just for the weekend. Had a great time, but good to get back to our van after two nights in a tent, we stayed a bit longer at Baden Powell in the van before heading back to Albany. We had 6 nights away, no power, just on gas and 12 volt and it all worked fine, love free camping 

The tent we found on a verge collection

Fun on the canoe

Dominic and Bentley having a play fight, well Dom is playing and Bentley fighting, both dogs were very dirty by the end of the weekend 

Cheese and onion pie

After watching Australian Bake Off a few weeks ago I decided I liked the look of the Cheese and Onion Pie, it reminded me of school dinners when I was young and lived in the UK.

I tried the recipe last night and although it looks a bit rustic it was really tasty, I decided against the pastry used in the Bake Off recipe and used my tried and true from Thermomix, of course we have tons leftover so it's on again tomorrow night......

Christmas

Well it's not here just yet but I decided it was time to make a start on some cards, so had a couple of friends around and after two cups of tea and a lot of chatting I did manage to finish a card, it's made with die and stamp set from the new Stampin Up Christmas catalogue, I like the colours a change from the red and green Christmas theme 

Another Masterchef creation

Enjoyed the last dish we did so thought we would try again, this time Gary's chicken curry, of course I did all the preparation, ground the spices, peeled and chopped the tomatoes, weighed out all the ingredients so Chef could come in put it all together. We used drumsticks, another very easy meal, a bit messy to eat with the drumsticks but yummy. Sorry about the splashes on the bowl, would lose points on Masterchef I think

Cook like a Masterchef cooks

Last night we watched Masterclass part of the Masterchef programme, really impressed by Curtis Stone's Salmon with orange sauce. I had the Salmon fillets already in the freezer, not as big as what Curtis used but ok and tonight Brian and I re-created the dish, I prepared and Brian cooked and we plated up together 😃😃great fun and a lovely meal, really tasty, loved the sauce, recommend trying the recipe 

Crafty again

A wet and windy day saw me inside today, a bit of scrapbooking and some card making. I made another card using the Hearts a Flutter stamp and die set, I do like this set, but will be glad when my magnetic platform to use in the Big Shot arrives as that will keep the dies in one place while cutting. My order is due next week so I should have more stamps etc to play with, I find time just flies while I craft so I make sure tea is organised, thank goodness for Thelma my Thermomix 

I also made a couple of other cards, one is for my daughters birthday next week so I can't show that as she would see it before her birthday ! !

The other is a very simple birthday card, using Apothercary Art stamp and dies, some embossing and colouring in