the Spence supermarket (aka a Friendly Grocer) opened a month or two ago and we finally popped in to check it out (after finally making it to choku bai jo* to buy some DECENT F&V at last *breathe sigh of relief*).

the new (old) owners have made some nice changes including a deli and cafe there! you can even sit out in the sun to sip your latte :)

along with it - almost all the cakes there are gluten free! the owner told me they were made by a lady who just makes GF cakes. we tried a blondie which was very yummy - if very sweet, and quite expensive at $4.75 for a piece approx 2.5" x 1.5"

other GF cakes included large raspberry ones (not sure if they were big friands or cakes or muffins lol), brownies, a choc cherry slice, a pistachio cake that looked delish, and at least one other kind i can't remember, oh and there was a date one too.

scattered through the shop are plenty of GF items including heaps of brands of pasta, and cereals etc.

definitely the place to go if you need something GF at the last minute in the area!

*choku bai jo please please PLEASE do home delivery! please! we just can't make it there every week and i HATE having to eat F&V from anywhere else :(

wow! thanks to Jude posting on my blog I just found a whole ton more new Thermomix blogs and recipes. If you haven't gone looking for new blogs for a while check out the updated list!!

and if you have a blog you'd like me to add to the list (i get heaps of hits on it every day) just post over on the other post :)

PS: it's great to see the love of thermomix spreading but at the same time it makes me nostalgic for the days when there were only a few of us to keep track of lol

our little vegie patch is NOT in a good spot for a winter garden! it gets NO sun ever through winter, and never dries out. I really didn't know what to try in it. so after posting on EB for advice I planted:

• kale
  
• shallots
  
• carrots
  
• beetroots
  
• parsnips
  
• lettuce
  
• rocket
  
• onions
  
• turnips
  
• broccolli
  
• brussells sprouts
  
• spinach
  
• and i still had the silverbeet from summer growing
  

anyway, most things grew - but very very very slowly. so slow as to not be worth it ie: the shallots (spring onions) are sitll only about 15cm high despite growing for about 3-4 months now. a lot of the stuff went straight to seed in spring time, without ever having produced anything - such as the brussells sprouts.

the things that did well and I would like to grow again next year are:

• kale
  
• lettuce
  
• rocket
  
• broccoli (did OK, not great)
  
• silverbeet
  

the snails were a bit of an issue - eggshells helped but i needed more! and the dampness after our wettest winter yet didn't help - the weeds grew crazily, but it was just too squlchy for me to get out and weed for weeks or months!

i think the silverbeet is finally on its way out - it's now growing horizontally instead of vertically, anyone know if that's right? should i pull it out and start afresh?

anyway, even if we've only managed one meal every week or two out of it it's been a fun experiment and I'll know what to plant more of next year! (hopefully i might have the end of the garden - which gets more sun - ready to go for next winter instead!)

Geoff took the kids to Questacon today for fathers day :) when he checked the canteen he found heaps of GF options, which he didn't remember seeing before.

Rora had a GF spaghetti bolognese & chips which cost around $5 with our member discount. excellent!

keep it in mind if ever at questacon in canberra :D

---- Sent from my 3 mobile

well last week was a bit of disaster in terms of following the menu

so onto this week....

potato, spinach & chickpea curry (and i really must write up a better version of it than this one)
spinach & potato soup
hamburgers
tacos
buckwheat tabouli with grilled chicken /beef and salad

and crust pizza with my family to celebrate emelia's birthday :D

fresh spinach - 2 bunches
potatoes?
tomatoes
cucumbers
carrots
capsicum

fruit

beef