The Chocolate Chase

*WARNING* - If Rats freak you out don't scroll down!!


Background: for a short period of time I was involved in Rat Rescue, that is fostering/re-homing pet (or lab) rats once the novelty has worn off, the irresponsible breeders realised there's no money in it, or the study had finished .. Naturally I'd end up attached to the little fuzz butts so almost as soon as I started I decided instead to give a permanent home to the eight I'd already taken responsibility for ..

This was a couple of years ago and the guys (all male which I prefer for personality and heath reasons) were of various ages, so now-a-days we only have five that come from three litters .. Well yesterday was bath day so they're all sweet smelling and today got to have cuddles and free play on my bed, where I was eating chocolate:



Hey Mumma, What you got there?

Nom Nom Nom - Peppermint

Mine - it's all mine!!

Not for long - Watch Out behind you

Back Off - you had your turn

Quick Bro, I'll hold him and you grab it

Mumma Mumma they stole it from me :(

Finally my turn, nom nom nom

Now that was lip licking good - Any More ?

Sorry Mumma, I promise to share real nice next time

Summer Solstice 09

Yesterday was such a lovely, casual, festive but low key day .. We started off with the usual early morning gift giving, listening to a CD of Glee mash-ups my daughter made for the occasion .. Then moved into the kitchen for Strawberry Daiquiris, crackers & dip etc, and of course laughter and conversation while preparing for a roast lunch - it was a cool day so quite pleasant having the oven going .. Followed by the ever decadent Tiramisu for desert *yum* only I broke tradition by making that and kinda wish I hadn't, but picked it up again by serving leftovers for dinner ..

Solomon and his new Pool Shark

Gypsy (my new doll) meets her cousin Daisy May (in santa hat)

Gypsy was a bit standoffish with all the puppets but warmed up by the end of the day .. I expect they'll be BFF's by tonight!

Thermomix recipe of the day was the Parmesan Grissini I found at Ricks Blog


They were a hit, and obviously you don't need a THX to make them ..

ps: I've just worked out how to change the date stamp on my posts so everything previous has been marked a day behind, but it's right now .. I'm slowly working this blogging thing out, bare with me ..

Santa Parades, Swimming Pools & Pineapple Sorbet

Well today finds me standing on the doorstep of Solstice *Yippee*

For the record I'm Pagan so we celebrate on the 21st not the 25th, but that's tomorrow and I was going to write about yesterday .. You see it was our towns annual 'Santa Parade' which I've boycotted for the last 7 yrs, yet still feel guilty about .. I'm sure my son would enjoy it, and I think(?) it would be good to show support and connect with my little community, but at the same time I'm anti it on principle (as is my daughter) .. We both rather despise 'Christmas' in general actually, from decorations to carols - except candy canes .. Candy canes are good, lol ..

But seriously, I mean no offence to any Christians, I think it's great you have your faith and celebrate your holidays! But the commercial aspects, the hypocrisy of non-believers and families that hate each other getting together and pretending to get along for one day each year is just too much for me to witness, not to mention the greed, pressure, stress and expectations .. Christmas is the time of year when mental hospitals are overflowing and suicide statistics peak :(

And that's no coincidence ..

I know I sound like a Scrooge, though in all honesty, sharing the bounty or taking the time to connect and remind our loved ones how important they are to us has my total backing .. As does creating a bit of fantasy and magic for a child .. But making someone dress up in fur in the middle of summer and throwing candy so that kids scamper and push each other to eat it off the street - well it makes me shudder ..

Anywho that's enough of that, and again I really don't mean to offend anyone as I truly respect we each have our own perspectives on the matter and I'd like to wish each and every person who reads this a wonderful 'whatever' tradition YOU have this time of year!

Sooo, being that I was feeling guilty I always end up making sure my son has a super fun day while the parade is going on elsewhere .. Being that it was a hot and muggy one we headed to the school pool for a swim .. Well I swam, the boy practised his jumps, and the girl sat on a picnic table txtíng friends and playing with my camera (she took these):



Look my dreads are red again!

In the afternoon we played puppets (fantasy play with soft toys), watched Scooby Doo & The Addams Family, and I made pizza from scratch and tweaked another recipe, this time for Pineapple Sorbet:

60gm sugar (blitzed to icing sugar in THX, 10sec, speed 9)
add 3 thick (2cm) slices of frozen pineapple and 1 tray of ice-cubes, 20sec, slowly increasing speed to 10 and then add second tray of ice-cubes

again increase speed to 10 until you can hear ice is crushed - use spatula to scrape down sides - total time to make = less than 2min!

I didn't think to add mint until I'd finished but it tasted great sprinkled over top too :)

Homemade v's Store Bought

In case no-one got the connection of why I showed photo's of our pet chooks yesterday, it was because of the ice-cream I mentioned making .. You see I've never made ice-cream from scratch before and wanted to try using the Thermomix to make some as it's the simplest way of making a custard base you could imagine, heating and stirring unattended while you go about your day ..

So there's a Basic Vanilla recipe in the book it came with (which I read online was 'too sweet') so making a few adjustments and tweaks here and there I went about creating my own Rum & Raisin version .. My reasoning with the flavour was that I always choose this when I get a scooped cone (a twice a year occurrence) as R&R is only available commercially in New Zealand, or at least I've never seen tubs/punnets of it being sold anywhere ..

Ingredients: 500g Cream, 500g Milk, 4 Egg Yolks, 150g Sugar, 1.5tspn Vanilla Paste (made with whole beans/seeds), 2tspn Rum Essence, Pinch of Salt, and 200g Raisins

* Put everything but the raisins into the Thermomix and cook for 5min at 80°c on speed 4
* Pour into (preferably chilled) stainless steel bowl, mix in raisins, and put in freezer until semi frozen
* Once set scoop chunks back into the Thermomix and churn for 20sec on speed 9, then for 10sec on speed 4
* Return to freezer until firm enough to scoop ..

I love how you can see the specks of Vanilla throughout, and only wish I'd had some real Rum to try instead of the essence ..

The Verdict: Perfecto - I'll never buy ice-cream again!

Other Daily News: I'm still sick with a (6wk) lung infection and now everyone is making hay so my allergies have been stirred up too .. I shouldn't complain as I'm heaps better but my energy is still very low and I'm getting frustrated at having to pace out everything I do garden wise .. I water all the pots in the courtyard and then I'm exhausted, sneezing, coughing etc .. I really hope I can shake this off before New Years ..

Chicken & the Egg

Day two of playing with my new favourite kitchen appliance and I now have a container full of concentrated vegetable stock in the fridge that should last six months, a double batch of rum & raisin ice-cream setting in the freezer, and a nutrient packed meal of steamed chicken, summer vegetables, sesame seeds, cashews, and jasmine rice in my belly!

In all honesty I wasn't in the least bit impressed with the sherry based sauce given in the recipe book (plain soy sauce & lemon juice in future), and next time I'll do the veggies for less time then recommended (they were in for 12min when I think 9-10 would do), but even so everyone ate everything on their plate with gusto ..

For the record I don't raise or butcher my own meat, but we do have free range (constantly have to chase them out of the house!) egg layers:

That's Speckles,
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - and this is Swift:

- we have a third but she's camera shy ..

Today was also the last day of school for the little one so we have 6+ weeks of lounging around at home in our pj's all day to look forward too *yay* .. I pulled the kayaks out from under the trampoline and gave them a good wash down in case we get the urge to throw them on the roof racks, and tomorrow I plan to do a tidy up inside the tipi and around the fire-pit as I've got friends coming to stay over new years ..

STELLA - our new kitchen b*tch

I recently discovered a revolutionary kitchen tool that's been popular in Europe for 20+ years but has only just this last month made it into New Zealand .. In fact only six people are selling them in New Zealand, and only two on the south island! This is of course the Thermomix:

Mine arrived this morning and has already proved to be a huge time saving asset .. We named her 'Stella', yeah we're weird like that ..

So far she has made (within minutes I'll add) two lots of bread dough, chocolate and cashew nut sandwich spread, garlic and herb dip (also delicious spread on fresh rolls), steamed meatballs in fresh tomato & veg sauce, and peach sorbet .. I kid you not, she can chop, grind, mince, puree, melt, cook, blend, steam, juice, and did I mention pretty much washes herself?

Fresh Rolls and Garlic & Herb Dip:


Before you rush out to get one I should warn you they are expensive, super mega insanely expensive .. But for all it can, and how quickly it can do it, it's well worth the price to me ..

Stepping outside the grotto, so that's what people call the SUN

After some wild, windy and wet weather the sun decided to shine on us today, so we headed out for lunch at a cafe and a walk on the beach .. I thought it would be novel that the first photos I share actually be taken outside the grotto:

This is my daughter, and incidentally I did NOT know she was going to jump in front of me when I took that shot .. In fact I thought she was some distance off to my left so you can imagine my surprise!

Along with Christmas and Summer the caravans and back-packers will be here soon, but thankfully (like 9 months of the year) we had the place all to ourselves ..

Other interesting(?) facts of the day: I finally drilled holes in a couple of old wine-barrel halves and planted an elderberry tree and some strawberries at it's base ..

Welcome to Rainglow Grotto

The idea behind starting this blog was to share and connect with others, as well as creating a visual record of my days for future enjoyment and reference ..

My hope is to post something daily, even if only to show a snapshot I took on that day .. The start date I've given myself is January 1st 2010, however it's possible I will add some background info prior to this ..

Please feel free to subscribe and join me on this adventure, and know your comments are very welcome ♥

~ Clear Marie