Puff pastry and Nutella ice cream sandwich

Ingredients:

• 1 egg
• 1 tblspn water
• 1 sheet puff pastry
• Chocolate hazelnut spread (e.g. Nutella)
• ice cream
• garnish, choc topping + icing sugar

Pre heat oven to 200 degrees Celsius. Defrost puff pastry on kitchen bench for 5 mins. Cut sheet of pastry into comfortable sandwich size pieces. Combine egg and water in a glass and whisk, then baste the egg wash over both sides of the pastry. Place a sheet of baking paper on a tray, then place pastry on paper. Place another sheet of paper on top of pastry, then place another tray (preferably the same size) on top to wiegh down the pastry. This step is important, and ensures the pastry does not rise too far. Bake for 15-17 minutes.

Once pastry is ready, place on plate and spread with nutella and add ice cream. Garnish with chocolate topping and icing sugar.

Parmesan, onion and bacon rosti, topped with poached egg

This is an awesome Sunday breakfast to cook and enjoy out in the backyard.

Ingredients:

• 2 medium potatoes, peeled and grated.
• 1 onion, grated.
• 50g finely grated parmesan cheese
• 4 rashers bacon, finely chopped
• salt and pepper
• 3 eggs
• 75g Butter
• Olive oil

Mix potato and onion together. Drain liquid from mixture using a strainer - pushing out excess moisture, and place into mixing bowl. Microwave bacon pieces for 1 minute. Mix 1 egg and parmesan cheese together, then mix into bowl with bacon. Season with salt and pepper. Shape mix into 2 patties.

Melt butter in pan, with a dash of oil to help stop burning butter. Cook rosti patties on a medium high heat for about 3-4 minutes per side, until golden brown.

Serve with a poached egg on top of rosti, making sure a broken yoke can run through the rosti upon devouring.

Serves 2.

Enjoy!

Lawn Mowing

Mowed the back lawn today - and found more glass, and quite big pieces which is concerning. There's always glass to see after heavy rain, but I'm not sure how to get rid of it all.

Why is there glass everywhere? I'd like to know that too. When we bought the place, it was a deceased estate. Relatives of the old man said there used to be some rough nuts living next door who always got on the drink. Being the d!@kheads that they were, they frequently threw empty beer bottles over the fence and smashed them for laughs. Fun times...

To add to this, the old man seemed to treat the very back of the property like a dump. Rusted paint cans, oil cans, old wheelbarrows, bricks, hoses, etc, etc. I think there may even be some asbestos bureid under there. He just let a choko bush grow over the top and forgot about it all. It's difficult to get it all cleaned up without a trailer and a digger, but it's getting there.

I've picked up quite a bit of glass, but I always find more. It's been 4 years since we bought the house now... and I'm starting to wonder if the only way to definately get rid of it all is to dig up the entire top layer of soil and get it replaced. Huge job though and would cost a bomb.

Camping Checklist

I'm going camping next week - and I find myself writing a new checklist each time I go. This post will hopefully be the end of that... so here goes.

Kitchen

• Picnic basket - with eating utensils (knives, forks, plates, cups, corkscrew), cooking (sharp carving knife, long tongs, spatula, foil) and cleaning (chux, steel wool, detergent)
• Citronella candles / mosquito repellant
• Washup basin
• Billy and billy hook
• Tripod and firepoker
• Gas cooker. Butane canisters
• Pan. Camp oven
• Jaffle iron. Fire Toaster
• Kitchen table
• Food - Meat (steak/chops, sausages, mince, stewing meat, bacon, ham), Veges (onions, potatoes, pumpkins, peas, beans, mushrooms, zucchini, broccoli), eggs, soup packets, salt, pepper, oil, bread, snacks (cheese, bickies, chips, dips)
• Drinks - beer, wine, water, softdrink, teabags, coffee, sugar, milk
• Esky/Coolers. Ice.

Hygiene

• Bathroom bag
• Toilet paper
• Tissues
• Shovel
• Thunderbox
• Shower tent
• Camp shower
• Garbage bags
• Dustpan and broom
• Buckets

Lighting

• Gas cylinder
• Gas lamps
• Head lamps
• Tent LED light
• Torch
• Long Matches, lighter
• Kindling, firelighters, coal beads, newspaper
• Axe, wood

Fishing

• Fishing license
• Rods, reels
• Tackle box
• Rod Holders
• Jigs, shrimp trap, crayfish trap. Dry dog food, tin of sardines for traps.
• Roll of thin rope
• Buckets
• Net
• Live catch store net
• Canoe, paddles, life jackets, anchor rope
• Boat:
• fuel
• ropes 
• chain and locks to secure overnight
• sponge to clean salt water off
• hose, spray nozzle, tap fittings, mufflers
• trailer lock

Tents and sleeping, etc

• Main tent
• Outdoor screen room
• Spare tent pegs, ropes, poles
• Hammer
• Toolbox
• Tarps
• Blowup mattress
• Sleeping bags, dooner, sheets
• Pillows
• Air pump

Clothing

• Thongs, crocs
• Hats, sunglasses
• Towels
• Clothing Pegs
• Boardies
• Warm jumper, trackies, socks, boots.
• Rain coat or poncho

Other stuff

• Chairs
• Picnic rug
• Binoculars
• First aid kit
• Sunscreen, zinc
• Paracetamol, ibuprofen, aloe vera gel, lip cream, throat gargle
• Jerry can filled with drinking water
• Books, magazines, puzzle books, notepad, pens
• Cards, Uno
• Camera, tripod, film
• Batteries - AAA, AA, torch batteries
• Car jumper leads

September - Paver Making End of Month Report

Total completed paver area: 6.34 square metres

A depressingly long time away for a completion date has forced me to re-think things a little. I have now decided I'll probably buy some complimentary pavers - more specifically london cobblestone pavers to act as a border to my hand made ones. As they're a more rustic looking paver they should fit the bill nicely.

They come in sheets and will fit around the edge of my area pretty well - they are almost exactly the same width as my proposed concrete seats, and 1 pallet (51 sheets) is very close to my required 45 sheets. 1 pallet costs about $1170 + freight (although they're currently listed on ebay for $700 + freight). If I use these as a border - it reduces my area for the hand made pavers to 28 square metres. Optimistic times for this area are at about 4 to 5 months - instead of a year, without buying any extra moulds.

Progress - Picture updates

Pic update: these are fairly high contrast pics taken in the middle of the day, so hard to see whats going on. will post some more in better light conditions when I get a chance. I've completed approx. 1/9th of the total area so far....

Bad news on the paver making front

Rainy days have made me contemplate how far I am actually behind. I currently have 6 paver moulds which make 0.75 square meters per run. The following illustrates:
At this rate - it will take me about a year to finish it if I continue on with 1 run a week... bad news when I was hoping to have them laid by the end of summer. I definitely need to up my average runs per week, and also bite the bullet and buy more moulds. It'll cost me about $380 to buy 2 more 40x40 and 2 40x20 moulds from phoenix moulds - unless I can find another mould maker with cheaper prices or even make moulds myself. At the moment I'm seriously considering the latter option if I can source the correct materials. This company called chemind looks like they have what I'm after - item 7: cold cure cast polyurethane mould system.