FAVOURITE THINGS FRIDAY - Migaloo

Do you remember when I wrote this post about the pure white humpback whale Migaloo?

He is one of the many humpback whales that travel up the east Australian coast every year from Antarctica on their way to warmer waters for the Winter.
It is there that their babies are born and when they return to Antarctica in the Spring they often stop off for a little R&R in the warm, protected waters of Hervey Bay, Queensland.

Making the news today is the sighting of a new, pure white baby whale.

If you would like to read more about it just follow this link:

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/rare-baby-white-whale-surfaces-in-queensland-to-rival-the-famous-migaloo/story-e6frg6nf-1226151997041

or this one

http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/world/10370932/rare-white-whale-calf-spotted-off-australia/

Humpback whales are one of my  favouritest  favourite things !!

Cheers.

SEPTEMBER PHOTO SCAVENGER HUNT

As usual I've left it till the last moment to try to find photos to fulfil the requirements of this month's Scavenger Hunt.

I like to see if I can find photos that will suit in my files, so after I scoured my files I came up with these:

1.  a view from above


Where else but from the Eifel Tower in 2010.

2. Relaxation

You-know-who in his favourite chair watching a documentary about .... The UK of course !!

3. a telephone box

Modern style but lacking the character of the old fashioned ones.
 Not easy to find in this modern day of mobile phones.


4. back to school

Not if I can help it!!!
Two classes and two teachers teaching co-operatively.
Retirement is GREAT !

5. Harvest

A bumper harvest of strawberries in France 2010.


6. the football season

7. What's in the bag ?

He's holding the bag !!!!

 ( goes with photo above )

Yummmmmmmmmm !
 From that market in France 2010.
 Lunch !


8.  something bigger than you

Most things are bigger than me !( taller anyway !)
Spectacular Tintern Abbey, Wales.  2011


9.  a pile of something

My granny squares.


10.  a road sign

Coming down the mountain from Toowoomba.


11.  your desk

12. apples

Scrapbooking layout from the family album.

I must get back to working on it, I'm only up to 1982 !!!!

 

Well, that's it for another month.

Cheers.

Thanks to Kathy for organising the Scavenger Hunt as usual. If you'd like to see more or join in post your name on the linky to be found here.

GOING BANANAS

Queensland is known for its bananas.

In fact people from other states of Australia call Queenslanders "Banana Benders ".

However ever since cyclone Yasi paid us a devastating visit earlier in the year wiping out most of the banana farms in North Queensland, there have been very few Queensland bananas available to buy in the shops.

For once our government has protected the banana industry by not allowing the import of foreign bananas so as a result the price of the humble banana has soared.

$12 a kilo is more than most families can afford for what was often the standby for children of all ages ( and some adults! ).

But things are about to change.

The first bananas from the recovering farms of North Queensland are about to hit the shops.

Yippee!!

By Christmas we'll all be able to afford them once again.

Cheers.

All images today from the internet

FAVOURITE THINGS FRIDAY

Crocheted Granny Squares !

That's my favourite thing for today.

I've been busy using up all the bits of leftover wool from my charity group and making them into Granny squares.

It's just the thing to keep my hands busy while I'm watching TV.

Not too hot now that the warm weather has arrived with a blast.

( around 30C every day this week !!! )

They're beginning to stack up.

Ive made quite a few.... 26 in fact!

Nearly enough to make into a blanket.

That will be a new skill for me to learn.

There are more Favourite Things over on 

 Quilting in My Pyjamas.

Why not go over and take a look?

Cheers.

IT'S A KEEPER

Are you one of those people who like to read new recipes in magazines, tear them out and keep them till you have time to try them out ?

 I am.

Consequently my recipe books have lots of these pieces of paper tucked inside them waiting to see the light of day.

Today I had some old teaching pals coming to lunch so instead of trotting out the same old standards I decided it was a great opportunity to try something new.

Into the recipe books I plunged and as I opened the book a page fluttered out.

When I looked it was a page from the Australian Woman's Weekly from October 1985 !!

Chicken and Ham Cheesecake.

That sounded good.

So up on the fridge door went the recipe and I set about gathering the ingredients.

It's always a bit of a gamble trying out something new when you have guests but they were all old friends and there is never a shortage of food ( and conversation !!) on these occasions.

We could always resort to bread and vegemite if necessary.

Well, I'm happy to say the recipe was a great success.

 It looked pretty good coming out of the oven .....

and onto the plate. 

It tasted delicious.

Here's the recipe if you'd like to give it a try.

Crust

125g packaged plain savoury biscuits, crushed

90g butter, melted

¼ teasp dried mixed herbs

Filling

1½ cups cooked chicken, diced

60g ham, chopped

1 onion finely chopped

2 tabsp  Plain Flour

1 cup chicken stock

¾ cup of grated tasty cheese

1 teasp dry mustard

250g cream cheese, softened

3 eggs, separated

⅓ cup cream

    Crust

Combine biscuits, butter and herbs, press over base of a greased 20cm springform tin. Refrigerate

Filling

1. Melt butter in a pan, add onion and cook till softened. Stir in flour, cook 1 minute, stirring.

2. Add stock, stir over heat till mixture boils and thickens.

3. Add cheese and mustard

4. In a bowl beat cream cheese and egg yolks till smooth.

5. Stir in cream, cheese sauce, ham and chicken

6. Beat egg whites till firm peaks then fold lightly into chicken mixture

7. Pour into springform pan and bake in a moderate oven ( 180C) 1¼ hours or till set

It's definitely a keeper.

Cheers.

PS. Blogger is doing funny things with the Font size today.

I've given up and I'm letting him have his head !! :)



SUNNY SEPTEMBER SATURDAY

WOW, the weather certainly has warmed up quickly here!

Saturday's forecast promised 30+C but with low humidity that means comfortable heat so we decided to do one of our favourite walks along the river into the city starting out at the university.

I've taken you on this walk before here and here so I won't bore you with any more waffle about it along the way.

As you can see from the photos we couldn't have had a bluer sky

as we walked past the new Gallery of Modern Art

and over to the Kurilpa pedestrian bridge. 

The reward was brunch - a much needed cup of tea, hot chocolate for Tony

and this scrumptious looking breakfast.

On the way home on the CityCat ferry we encountered this chap...

Don't know what that was about !!!!!!!!!!

and to finish off the day Saturday's sunset was quite spectacular

Hope your weekend's been fun.

Cheers.

TOOWOOMBA

Yesterday we had to drive to Toowoomba a large country town about an hour and a half 's drive from Brisbane.
It is situated about 2000+feet above sea level at the top of a fairly steep climb.
To get there we drove through the Lockyer Valley, parts of which were scenes of heartbreak and devastation during the floods earlier in the year.

Once we had finished our business in the town we drove to Picnic Point, a lookout back over the valley towards Brisbane.




It was a beautiful day with lovely views through the trees over the valley way below us.

( click to enlarge )

By now it was quite late in the day - about 5 o'clock. It's amazing the temperature difference being at this height makes and Toowoomba is quite famous for being a cold place.

The cafe at the kiosk was closing so no chance of a coffee there

and the temperature was falling quite rapidly so we had a quick look around the gardens.

We spied a Kangaroo Paw in full flower

and this interesting plant now called a Grass Tree
 ( once called a Black Boy in less politically correct times )

They are extremely slow growing, almost impossible to transplant from the wild and produce a single brown, spear -like "flower" spike that sticks straight up in the air.

Toowoomba is famous for its flowers and its famous Carnival of Flowers begins next weekend so the gardens in all the public areas are just beginning to come into bloom.

This striking plant was covered with large blue flowers spikes

and the big beds were full of colour.

I love this one.
We call it May but it is not a Hawthorne which I think they call that May in the UK.

This is the flower close up.



Don't you love these decorative Kales?  (I think !)
It seems that Spring is a little late here this year and the tulips are just beginning to poke through above the Kale....

except for one lonely yellow one which will be on time for the carnival.

Huge clumps of Cliveas were everywhere in two distinct colours

dark

and light.

and you know my weakness for the blue / yellow combination which formed a border of many of the colourful beds of flowers.

Next we headed home down the steep mountainside.

This is a major transport linking highway , travelled by huge road transports

and the warning signs and emergency escapes filled with gravel to slow down out of control trucks,

  make it an interesting descent.

I'm always glad when we are able to get clear of the trucks and arrive at the bottom unscathed.

Home just on dark.

Cheers.

ps. We will try to revisit Toowoomba for a better look at the flowers in a week or so when the crowds have diminished a little.