Bring on 2015 ...

I worked Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday...

I made French sticks...

Tuesday night I made Rick Stein's Butter Chicken. It turned out very well. You first bake the chicken breast pieces in the oven, slathered in yoghurt and cream marinade then add it to the sauce to finish.

I love his kachumber salad - a fine pickle!

A cucumber mint raita always accompanies my curries, to cool the fire!

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I made fresh naan bread too...

Wednesday evening for New Year was spent quietly at home. Angus invited his mother to join us and our girls.   I did salads and Gus did rack of lamb in the Weber...

Brianna made a champion pavlova and decorated it accordingly...

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Thursday, New Years Day started slowly. We had lunch under the pergola then before we knew it, we were in Ruby and heading for Southend beach to see my niece and family. It was cool and breezy on the beach.

Here's Brianna holding 2nd cousin Brax (he's nearly 3) trying to keep up with him on the beach - that boy sure has lots of energy!

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This is baby Tex, 10 weeks old and wrapped up against the cold (this pic taken 3/1/15 when the cool change had hit). Such a cutie!

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Time to head for home...

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Friday, the weather was horrible. Hot and very windy. We just hung around the house. In the afternoon, Bri got out her paddling pool and spent time in the shade. I of course, stayed inside.

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By about 4pm Friday it was evident that a very bad fire had started and was blazing away in scrub and pine forests about 20kms from our town. A strong north wind and 40C temperatures only fanned it more. Catastrophic conditions!

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Kirby and I went for a drive, just to our town limits to see how bad the smoke was. This was the view from our road.

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This taken from the outskirts of our town.

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This was taken about 2 hours later. Fire now out of control andthreatening properties in Glencoe area.

Saturday, the conditions had eased slightly but the fire was still out of control. Some 500 firefighters battled the blaze. They had 7 water bombing planes dousing the fire too. I take my hat off to anyone fighting the fire in such harsh conditions.

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We decided to head to our favourite beach spot, Number Two Rocks to hopefully camp overnight. By the time we arrived, the cool change had started to come through with threats of a thunder storm. We set up shade and had lunch but it was fairly clear that camping would not be a good option.

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We packed up and just as we left, big spots of rain started to fall. Lucky!

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Such a pity, I was looking forward to my first swim of the summer!

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We got home and unpacked all that we had packed! Horrible job - sand in everything! There was a good sprinkle of rain which was an answer to the firemen's prayers. This bought the fire mostly under control with days of mopping up to come. Because there were lightening strikes, the chance of more fires and flare ups is a real threat but the temperature has come way down which is a relief!

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We set up under the pergola, the girls played Fluxx and we drank the Sangria they had made. Yummy!

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Gus made this fantastic prawn dish again - so good!

http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/38126/barbecued+prawns+with+corn+bacon+blistered+jalapeno+and+avocado+puree

So that brings me up to date. Its been a slow morning, I think we're heading to Coonawarra for lunch then Gus is doing a spit-roasted chicken for dinner. Back to work tomorrow!

Cheers - Joolz xx

Posted by Joolz with Blogsy