Such perfect weather for a birthday! Lots of blue sky and sunshine. By midday it was a balmy 10 degrees. The birthday girl had lots of fun with her little friends including her birthday buddy. How special it is to share your birthday with your friend.
Putting the neighbours paddock to good use. A game of soccer was played and lots of running done.
A picnic lunch and a surprise visit from her much adored big brother a visit to wish her a happy birthday.
Look at those beautiful birthday crowns, so special, to be treasured.
This aunty was a gem, how would we have managed without her. What a wonderful aunty she is.
Her most special birthday gift, this cocktail. It's bringing her so much joy. Yes it has been in some scrapes and lost some feathers but we are sure they will regrow in a few weeks. We were so amazed at how quiet this little bird is, it's perfectly secure on Gracey's shoulder and doesn't she love that! A perfect day for a perfectly beautiful little girl.
I've wanted to try to make a ciabatta style sourdough bread for a while but couldn't get my head around working with such wet dough. Finally I just jumped in and did it. Not nearly as difficult or as messy as i expected. I'm really happy with the way it turned out. The dough was soft and had a great flavour. Serena made some more of her wonderful dukkah to go with it, perfect.
This is the whole wheat style I have been making most days. I'm experimenting with wetter doughs like the books I've been reading say to use. The results are good in flavour and texture but I'm not happy with the crust of the free form loaves. Too rough. I definitely have plenty of learning to do but it's fun learning. I was able to cook some loaves in the neighbours new wood fired pizza oven this week. That was fun. The bread turned out great, the tinned loaves we're a little dark on the top and I excepted them to be under done in the middle but no, they we fine. The Turkish style breads were great. And the smell was wonderful. Maybe one day we might have our own pizza oven ...maybe. Surely much better than a solar oven in Tasmania.
