The fact there has been a plethora of bassets photographs recently is reflection of this renewed photographic energy.  But as much as I’m a loner and a home bird, I need to step out again and find some new photographic assignments that will capture my imagination and plan carefully for the opportunities of arising from the travel that is planned for later in the year.  This includes a trip to Queenstown which has some of the most beautiful scenery anywhere in New Zealand, a few days in San Francisco, a few weeks in England and finally a few days in Tokyo which will I am sure will be an amazing sensory experience.  I also want to push myself a bit harder with my photography closer to home – literally here at Domestic Executive HQ and also within the Wellington region making the most of the luxury of time I have when I’m not working.

But for now, here’s a selection of a little photo shoot with Mason.  He was of course completely oblivious to my camera but instead being a wicked basset stealing the toy from Fortnum and playing on his own.   I love the wild abandon a dog can have rolling around with their legs in the air like nothing else mattered in the world (which of course to them it doesn’t). No doubt Little Basset can be a charmer when he wants and for a few seconds was happy to lie perfectly for a basset portrait before he became much more interested in another toy he could steal and play with!

For February Big Basset is looking philosophical in the beautiful evening sun.  You can see all the February Basset Photographs in the Basset Gallery.

The light has not always been that beautiful over this summer but it doesn’t stop me pointing my camera or iPhone at my resident clowns.  Here’s a couple from last week which I have moved to my “get printed folder”.  They sum of the distinctly different characteristics of our bassets.

Mason 

Fortnum

I had grand plans for making progress on some photography and blogging projects over the break but there wasn’t quite enough time to fit it all in.  Nevertheless I’m aiming to use the upcoming long weekend to kick start a new series of 30-day challenges.  The bread making in January was fun and I know that I’ll build on that more.  Cheese making is February’s culinary challenge and already I’ve tested out what I learned at a home cheese making course last weekend.  I don’t think I’ll be bothering to buy ricotta cheese any more as it’s so easy to make your own and tastes so much better. The true test will be this Friday when I will be making mozzarella that will of course be centre-stage on our home made stone baked pizza.

With this in mind I’ve been devouring bread making books, blogs and articles in newspapers to find the secret to good home made bread.  After trawling through acres of information about the art and science of bread making it became clear what I was looking for was less a methodology of how to make bread but more a way of creating a bread making routine.  A way of baking bread that would a regular habit and not a weekend luxury.  Just as I was starting to despair I found a revolutionary no kneed approach to bread making.

“What no kneed?” you might be thinking.  That’s like bread without butter. But yes there is indeed a way to make tasty bread at home with just a few minutes of active effort and without clock watching or rising before dawn to have freshly made bread for breakfast.

This month I’ve been using the Artisan Bread in 5 minutes a day methodology using a book that I got for Christmas.  This approach to bread making has been around for quite a few years with quite a food blogging frenzy caused when Mark Bittman of the NY Times posted a recipe created by Baker, Jim Lahey.  But this methodology was not without it’s controversy best summarised by Michael Rhulman who after his initial dismissal was converted to a no kneed approach.

In a nutshell, you make a bread dough that has a high water content which after it’s initial rise can be kept in the fridge until you want to bake.  You then pull out some of the dough, shape it and let it rise again before baking for around 30 minutes.  The dough takes a bit of handling but with practice it get’s easier.  The beauty of this method is you get really tasty bread with the minimum of fuss.  Every time we’ve had consistently good loaves with our most recent bake the best yet after I fiddled with the flour and water ratio to give the dough more body for shaping and resting before baking.  We’ve tried plain white bread, wholemeal and brioche using the same methodology and the recipes have been consistently successful.  I’ve been tweeting about the results.

The Brioche bread dough was a total revelation to me.  I’ve rarely eaten brioche but now I’m hooked for that special weekend treat.  And for the holiday weekend we lashed out and used the brioche dough to make a chocolate bread make using a delicious chocolate ganache.

Although I haven’t yet tackled “proper” bread making I feel more confident to give it a go so we can make a comparison with the no kneed method.  For now though we have a tried and tested method that goes fantastically well with our latest batches of jam and marmalade. The bread maker still makes a perfectly good loaf of bread and is ideal for his Lordship’s lunch sandwiches but I’m looking forward to extending my no kneed repertoire further as well try out the varying bread making techniques.

Oh, if you’re interested in trying out this method – here’s a link to the main recipe which I’ve found to be so reliable.   Next month I’m moving into cheese making as I was given a voucher for a home cheese making course which I’ll be attending this coming weekend.

For the last three years I’ve inflicted a selection of basset photographs on my nearest and dearest in the form of a calendar either as a desk calendar or a wall calendar.  I of course have both in my office and their cheer me up every time I look at them.  I’ve been very late in getting into production this year but they have all finally arrived and I can now stop getting confused about the days and dates of the week by looking at last year’s by mistake.

It was only yesterday it dawned on me that this was a form of publishing my photographs.  I’ve failed miserably in getting any of my photographs printed and framed despite the fact we have a long corridor in the house which is a perfect gallery area.  Now I feel so much better about this although still determined that I have at least 12 framed photographs on the wall by the end of this year.  Preferably all of them not basset hounds.

I thought I’d share each month the photographs in the calendar and start a new photo gallery for all basset blogging lovers who kindly stop by and read this blog.

Yee Haw!

Mason (aka Little Basset)

Paddling

Fortnum (aka Big Basset)

From my teens to my thirties, I was an avid tennis fan glued to the sofa for a fortnight with a large punnet of strawberries gorging myself on Bjorn Borg, Boris Becker, John McEnroe, Jimmy Connors and Andre Aggasi with a side helping of Chris Evert, Steffi Graff, Billie Jean King and Martina Navratilova.  Oh those were the days when tennis was fun to watch before it slipped into a frustrating oblivion of technology and tantrums and I switched off.  Whilst I’m not the tennis fan I used to be I haven’t shaken the strawberry habit one little bit although still can’t get my head around the fact that strawberries are in season for Christmas.

One indulgence in the kitchen garden is a large strawberry bed which lies fallow much of the year but for a few weeks reigns victorious bringing me strawberries galore.  Such is my love of strawberries I was in a total funk when I thought the recent rains had ruined this year’s crop. Thankfully they were not and once again we are overflowing with strawberries in the kitchen.   There’s been a hive of culinary activity to make use of the crop – strawberry ice cream, strawberry jam and strawberry purees – all to preserve this highlight of summer to enjoy once the strawberry flush is over.

In a bid to create new kiwi associations to my favourite foods, I am declaring Wellington Anniversary Weekend as our official strawberry celebration.  And what better way to mark this auspicious occasion but to gorge on strawberries and cream with a touch of cake.

It won’t take you long to realise that I am still on a quest to master the art of baking a victoria sponge.  My previous attempts have been as equally unsuccessful in different ways.  I have looked for the holy grail of cornflour and gone for the scientific approach. This time I wanted to go back to the traditional route but with more precision in my baking inspired by Mary Berry who is making a revival in Britain on the Great British Bake Off.

We even bought a set of new cake tins to avoid previous issues of using the wrong size.  I also weighed everything out meticulously sorting through my egg stock until I found the right combination of four eggs to match the flour, butter and sugar quantities.  I even leveled the baking powder in the measuring spoon using a knife rather than my usual “that looks about right” measure.  Alas, I failed to achieve the classic dome shape which I deduce is done to one of two things – the oven or the baking powder.

After a momentary gloom I perked up knowing that the perfect way to make up for the gap in cake was to fill it up with more strawberries and cream. Despite appearances the cake was delicious and with some careful photography my baking shortfalls were disguised.

My stubborn nature is starting to kick in with this cake.  I’m determined to get it right and wonder whether I should take up a challenge similar to Cath Webb, a teacher in England who has is baking a Victoria Sponge Cake every day and giving it away. Now that sort of discipline would either improve my cake baking or ruin my mental health.  Aside from that it seems a remarkably generous thing to do and not dissimilar to the Baking for Hospice venture a kiwi food blogger has embarked on in memory of her father.  My first batch of home made strawberry ice cream and Friday’s strawberry harvest was packaged up and dropped off at my neighbours as a small thank you for them filling up our wood shed last weekend.

One of the books I got for Christmas was Harry Eastwood’s book on healthy cakes.  Yes, I know it sounds like an oxymoron but she’s perfected baking using vegetables as an alternative to sugar and butter and also uses rice flour.  For her Victoria Sponge she uses potato which sounds intriguing and I shall make it soon to see if it works better than the more traditional Victoria Sponge recipes. If it does it will be the perfect baking route for my backyard pantry.

PS – any bakers reading this blog please feel free to share your Victoria Sponge baking secrets in the comments below.  Thanking you in anticipation!

In the spirit of being sisyphus I am under no illusions that the list won’t be rebuilt rather quicker than it gets ticked off but it is rather a good feeling to know that progress is being made.  It’s the small things that matter.  Like being able to open and close the gate without having to fiddle and jiggle because the wind has blown the latch all out of alignment.  Or having the courage to reshape my prototype obelisk initially built with a dear friend just after Christmas which was subject to much ridicule for it’s wobbly charm and lack of straight angles.

I’ve made hay, staked almost every crop growing in the kitchen garden, retied trees and mended fences.  All in themselves sound simple tasks but with over 50 young trees it’s a slow and often backbreaking task to weed, feed, mulch and tie.  The sad truth is that I’ll be doing the whole thing all over again such is the nature of life in the country.  This is why New Zealanders call a small holding in the country a  ”lifestyle block” for this is the sort of life you sign up to when you become custodian of your own country acres.  And, I wouldn’t want it any other way.

It’s hard to believe that we are heading towards our 6 year anniversary living in New Zealand and just over 4 years living at Kaitoke acres.  But over that time we’ve learned from both bitter and sweet experience what it takes to enjoy the “good life”.  Much is written about the delights of living off the land and a self sufficient life but hidden amongst all the inspiration and hyperbole is hours, days and weeks of hard work and seemingly limitless heart ache as nature plays cruel tricks and can wipe out all your efforts and dollars in the gust of a gale force wind or deluge of rain

Luckily memories of such horror and disappointment is quickly forgotten and put into perspective leaving the good memories, experiences and pleasurable experiences to linger longer and be the constant reminder of why the heck you do all of this in the first place.  I shan’t forget in a hurry the delicious taste of my home-made pesto made this week with the first ever successful crop of basil I grew from seed and nurtured in the greenhouse. It’s the simplest things that make the biggest difference and why I’m looking forward to creating a new to do list that will start the cycle of work all over again.  For this is the  good life!

Such laziness is fine for the bassets since every day is a holiday to them.  But our holiday is officially over today as his Lordship headed off to the big smoke for his first day back at work.  I do have the luxury of more time off work.  I do however see this extended period of “holiday” more as forced unemployment as there is little or no demand for my professional services so I take the time to work on projects around the house.  It’s also a great time for the annual life laundry – cleansing the office, the cupboards and finding some time to fill in the details around my work plans.  I’m also working on some personal project ideas that I want to bring to life.

One thing I am looking forward to over the coming weeks is getting a routine back for the bassets and I to exercise.  Whilst there has been no shortage of walks and physical activity I love this time of year for early morning romps when it’s cool, the light is at it’s most beautiful and I have sufficient time and energy to get into my running groove again.  I’m also tempted to dust off my bike once more and head to the trails as an antedote to all the seemingly constant munching that goes on when you’re in holiday mode.

This is precious time that I really appreciate even if I do feel guilty that my poor husband has to get back into the corporate grind.  I know that he’d rather be at home with us having fun and hanging out.  So this post is for him to give him a smile on his first day back.  A little of what his beloved bassets will be up to whilst he’s earning the necessary funds to keep them in the style he has accustomed them to!

A deliciously light but definitely show off gooseberry fool was pride of place as our Christmas Day dessert.  It was also the fruit I used to christen my new ice-cream maker creating a frozen yoghurt that was most definitely the fanfare of gooseberry taste experiences so far.  Turning some into jam will I hope bring back the bitter sweet taste long after summer has gone.

There are plenty more berry adventures to come this year with raspberries, blueberries, worcesterberries (that are apparently taste like a cross between a gooseberry and blackberry), tayberries (cross between blackberry and raspberry) and blackberries all starting to show their colours alongside the red and blackcurrants.  There is nothing more comforting to be reaping the rewards of your own growing efforts.

I spied a punnet of gooseberries tucked away on the top shelf in the supermarket and gasped at the price.  A small punnet was almost $6 dollars making me realise once again of the long term benefits of growing your own berries. We’ve recouped our initial investment in the plant already and I suspect treated our berries with more reverence than I ever would have with something I’d bought from the shop. That said it dawned on me that I might need to buy some strawberries to buy for this year’s jam supply after the recent rains have ruined the possibilities for a continued home harvest.

It’s was the strangest feeling recognising that I felt a disappointment to not be self sufficient in strawberries for jam.  If I were a a person truly committed to self sufficiency I’d be doing without strawberry jam this year but instead I’m wrestling with levels of self indulgence I’ve not recognised in myself before.  As a next best thing to growing my own strawberries I could buy locally sourced fruit or perhaps I should buy locally made jam.

If you were me what would you do?

A: do without home made strawberry jam this year

B: buy local strawberries and make my own jam

C: buy locally produced jam?

Over the last four years we have done battle with gorse harvests, thistles and hay length grass.  You know you still have a long grass problem when the wind blows a seed storm and you think it’s dust. After days of hard graft with the mower and strimmer/weed wacker the place looks much tidier and dare I say mostly looks like a garden rather than a hay field.  The Kitchen Garden is an oasis of calm fully stocked with goodies and only the final painting to be complete on the arbour making our shady retreat complete.

One of the biggest luxuries of life these days is long summer breaks off work – partly vacation and partly enforced unemployment as the rest of New Zealand kicks back and has no requirement for consultants to whip them into shape. Even after his Lordship returns to work I have a long list of projects to plod on with.

I wonder whether Sisyphus had quite as many late starts to his pushing day.  As many stops for morning coffee, lunch and afternoon tea.  Or time out to read his Christmas books and contemplate the good life.  I suspect not.