Choose life. Life is wonderful.

Monday 1 December 2014

DECEMBER - MY FAVOURITE MONTH







 Don’t slip into mediocrity by living your life based solely on popular opinion.



I love December. It is my favourite month. I love Christmas and everything to do with it. For various reasons most of my family don't. For one family member it is a link with sadness in the past. For another it is the fact that our family is broken and we won't all be together as in times past. And for one it is just the total stress of so much socializing. A bit sad really - but I don't let it stop me - and luckily my Mum likes Christmas so I have at least one ally. P:-) enjoys Christmas.
 

December 1st and I have chosen my branch in the backyard that I will use for a Christmas tree. This is a tradition going back many years. P:-) thinks it is a bit odd. For a few years we had a big artificial green tree when my younger daughter R asked for a ' real plastic tree like everybody else.'



So far my branch has a single bird on it.


I couldn't resist this pretty bargain priced bird when shopping for craft supplies.  I plan to trim my tree in silver, gold and white.


Summer is the time for Jacarandas and my Jacaranda tree has laid a carpet of purple flowers in my backyard.


The purple contrasts nicely with the green of the garden plants.


My daughter R has been painting these beautiful shells for presents and I am hoping I may end up with some for Christmas.




And I can't resist adding this kookaburra we spotted at P:-)'s place, perched on the wires looking for prey in the grass below.




Heart Lamb and Lentil Soup

We enjoyed this soup last night. Every time I cook a leg of lamb I put the bone in the freezer until I am ready to make this soup. It means you can use every scrap of meat and the soup makes 3 meals for P:-) and me. It is very economical and makes one leg of lamb do quite a few meals.



Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large or 2 small onions
1 large carrot
2 cloves crushed garlic
2 teaspoons smoked paprika
450 gram tin chopped tomatoes
1 1/2 cups dried soup mix
left over lamb bone with a small amount of scrap meat on it
6 cups water
4 teaspoons stock powder


Method

1.    Heat oil in pan.
2.    Whizz carrot and onion in food processor and add to oil. Stir for 3 minutes.
4.    Add garlic and paprika and stir 1 minute.
5.    Add tin tomatoes and stir.
6.    Add soup mix and lamb bone.
7.    Add water and stock powder.
8.    Simmer covered for 1 1/2 hours until rich and thick.
9.    Remove bone and remove meat from bone.
10. Chop meat finely add to soup and simmer for 5 more minutes.

Makes 6 serves.
Freezes well.

I began writing this blog to help me look at the positives in my life. Since I enjoy December I am going to try to write a few more posts this month. So keep an eye out.

Love this tree!!




Interesting sites




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71-year-old Bosnian retiree Momir Bojic has crafted a completely wooden Volkswagen beetle exterior from over 50,000 pieces of hand-carved oak.



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Regardless of how you feel about chemistry class, you’re putting chemical reactions to use in your life all the time. Knowing just a bit more about how these reactions work can make many things in life just a little easier, and a new YouTube series produced by the American Chemical Society promises to help you use chemistry to solve everyday problems.

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