[naked tacos]

A late start on dinner, and what to cook? Looking in the fridge I surveyed what leftovers we had ... taco mince and some roast chicken... My youngest son wanted pizza, but it was too late to start on making a base, but I remembered a recipe of Nigella’s for Meat-za, which is basically a meat base with pizza topping. Inspired by that, I decided I might make tacos on a plate without the taco shell (as we only had three taco shells left!)

Yum, Yum!!

Taco mince, mozarella cheese and tomato slices topped with salsa and then put under the grill until the cheese is golden and melted.

Left: after grilling, top the dish with grated carrot, shredded lettuce and a dollop of sour cream. Serve with a broken toasted taco shell so you can dip into the yummy mince like nachos.

Right: a chicken version (without tomato) for my hubby’s ‘anti-gout’ diet.

[babysitting the bonsais]

My Mum and her new husband of 9 months (can't quite get used to saying step-Dad yet) are travelling around Australia at the moment in the motor home, and I'm charged with looking after his bonsais while they're away. Now as you know, I don't mind gardening, but certainly don't profess to having totally green thumbs, so it's a bit of a hit or miss affair...

I've been pretty much just watering them since Mum left mid-October, but just before Christmas I gave the bonsais a good prune and a few days ago (under the guidance of some YouTube videos) cut the roots back and repotted them. So far, so good, they seem to be happy, let's just hope they continue this trend, especially as I think a couple of the trees are over 15 years old!

(The only issues so far is that some wildlife was digging up the dirt, and yesterday we found a dirty old toad snuggled into the potting mix, so I suspect this is my digging culprit - hopefully a few more carefully placed pebbles will discourage this behaviour Mr Toad!)

My favourite tree is the one with the really wide base trunk. This is also my youngest son's favourite, as he says it reminds him of the trees in Pamela Allen's books. The one with the little bridge is my teenage son's favourite ... typical, the one with 'accessories'...lol

[mini cupcakes for the teenager]

My eldest son turns thirteen tomorrow, so a day with his mates at the indoor skate park is planned, and I shall merely tag along as the food and drink carrier.

I have yet to make the famous 'scooby snacks', that went off a treat at my Mum's wedding in April, however, I have triumphed with mini cupcakes. I used my new food processor to make the cake mixture, and whatever magic it wielded resulted in the most delicious, moist and perfect textured cakey mouthfuls of yumminess!

No doubt the boys will 'inhale' these little cakes inbetween carving it up on the quarter pipe and the mini bowl...

[Courtney’s special hat]

Our dancing instructor is moving to Alice Springs, and we joked at our last class for the year she’d need a hat with corks for the flies. But not any ordinary hat ... hers would need bling! Well, I thought I'd make one!!

[teacher’s pet part 2]

My eldest had his Year 7 Graduation tonight, marking the end of his primary school years.

Here's the card we made for his teacher:

He's really going to miss her...

[teacher’s pet]

It’s the last week of school for my kids this coming week, and I only get a gift for the teacher if my boys say they want to ... so here’s the first creation for my littlest man's teacher, who just loves owls!

The gift box is handmade and it's decorated with a Christmas decoration that's intertwined around the box’s ribbon. I love what my Grade 2er wrote on the inside of the card for his teacher. Nawwww, so cute.

[quilled Chrissy decorations]

It's such a busy, busy time of the year ... with end of year celebrations happening and yet to happen! 

Tonight I'm heading out to dinner with my girlfriends and we've reached a little milestone ... we all met when our kids were in preschool and this year marks when those little preschoolers finish primary school! Where did the time go?? Over the last 7 years we've lost a few of the 'originals' who've moved away, but essentially it's still the same group of friends, which I think is rather cool.

Anyways, I managed to whip up some cute little quilled decorations for everyone last night - momentarily escaping the work and other chores to find a little Christmas spirit. :)

'Tis the season... :)