R = Roses and Roast Beets.

I love roses, most people do, although if Matt gives me flowers I don’t want roses because they don’t last as long as other flowers such as Carnations. Where I used to live in England we had a wonderful rose garden and not only that I decorated the living room, which looked out onto the garden, with rose patterned materials and it was known as the Rose Room. Then, when I had lots to pick, I could make lots of arrangements whilst they lasted. For you viewing pleasure, here are three slightly unusual roses.


How they achieved the last picture I have no idea, is it real, is it photoshopped, I don’t know, but they are rather lovely.

I love beetroot, or beets as they are always called round here, and I thought this seemed like a good way of preparing them. I have no idea what Persian feta is, but I assume regular Greek feta can be substituted.

Roasted beetroot salad with olive oil, lemon and Persian feta

Huey’s Kitchen
Serves 4

Ingredients

• 6 medium beetroot, scrubbed
• olive oil
• juice of 1-2 lemons
• sea salt & freshly ground pepper
• Persian feta, crumbled
• 1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley

Method

• Preheat oven to 180°C fan forced (200°C normal).
• Roast the beetroot until tender and, when cool enough to handle, peel and cut into wedges.
• While the beetroot is still warmish, toss with oil, lemon juice and seasonings to taste.
• To serve, arrange the beetroot on one plate (or individual plates), scatter a generous amount of feta on top and sprinkle with parsley.

Have a great weekend.

Valentine’s and Snow

On Friday Matt had to go out for a couple of things and when he came home guess what he got me?

What a gorgeous colour, I know, not the traditional red, but I don’t particularly like the traditional colour anyway, these are lavender roses. Apparently when Matt was in the store the other day they had some gorgeous carnations but they had sold out when he went back. These are lovely though and I was delighted to receive them. Funnily enough they had a segment on Good Morning America about saving money by buying flowers in a supermarket and then arranging them, etc. The presenter then listed a whole bunch of gadgets you would need, shears, strippers, etc. etc. all of which would have cost another $30 or so then there were ways of presenting them, some in various containers which would have cost, or in bottles and cans which had to be spray painted, so you had to buy the paint, right?

I’ll tell you one thing, Mother Nature has definitely decided she was too kind to us in January and has been making up for it since. We had lots of snow last night and it is still snowing on and off this morning. The snow banks are beginning to look like normal winter conditions round here, I just wish we were fit enough to go cross country skiing like we used to, its so much fun and also a very healthy pursuit. Matt used to come home from a night shift, years ago, and then go out skiing once I had gone to work. He spent hours one morning chasing fox tracks but never did find it. I really miss being able to ski. I think all our pix are on slides, I really must get them put onto a CD. I have discovered our local store will do them for a few cents per slide, i.e. a whole CD with 200 slides would cost around $24. Not a bad deal. I tried scanning a slide myself, but the picture came out way too dark, insufficient light in my scanner I suppose.

Here’s a nice, simple recipe for a Valentine drink.

Champagne Love Shots

Servings: 1

Ingredients

champagne

2 tablespoons fruit purée (raspberry, passion fruit, blood orange, peach, pomegranate)

Directions:

Spoon the puree into a champagne flute and pour champagne on top. How easy is that!

Have a great weekend