Busy, Busy...

I wrote a quick post last night, that may not have been very coherant, due to being very tired. So tired, I apparently wasn't qualified to hit the publish button on the little blog window. I don't know where my blog has gone... Anyway, the point was that while I hadn't blogged for a while, no less had been happening - in fact, the opposite.

Last weekend, Jodie and I made a trip to Adelaide for Andrew and Cheryl Mudge's wedding. It was a wonderful wedding in the Barossa, with people travelling far and wide to get there. William and Hannah came across from Canberra, Andrew and Melissa came from Geelong, and Andrew Williams came all the way from London. One of the bridesmaids came from Norway, so it was a truely international event. Unfortunately, it was such a quick trip, we didn't get to catch up with many people that weren't involved in the wedding. Except Jon, Jodie's brother, who we dragged away from work on the Friday afternoon for coffee!

We also got to meet some lovely little people, since William and Hannah, and Andrew and Melissa had children since we had seen them.

We also had a visit from my neice Jacqui and her friend Sally, who where in Hobart over the weekend. We met up with them on the Sunday afternoon at the airport, and hooned to Swansea. It was a wonderful visit, which saw us getting up to Kate's berry farm [we been meaning to go] and experiment with some of our food service ideas on the girls. Both of you are welcome any time!

Both of these events deserve both blog entries, and their own web albums, so expect those soon.

The photo above is one of my very favourite shirts. It has come all the way from Canada, where William and Hannah got it for me. It's a strip to commemorate the 2006 World Cup, but unfortunately while Australia qualified, Scotland did not. It's still one of my favourites - thankyou William and Hannah.

For those of you that don't know this about me, I'm big on collecting t-shirts and shirts. I have quite a collection, and I won't throw any of them out. So... I'm very cautious with my very favourite ones, and hardly every wear them. Which is silly. They are clothes. So, I've started a project to preserve them digitally and in pristine condition, and then I can wear them out! Hence the photo.

I also have to give a quick shout out to Barry the Bosch who is Jodie's tremendous front loading pinnacle of German engineering washing machine. It is him [and Jodie's attention to my eating habits] that have saved many a shirt [including the Scotland top] from some serious potential stains.

I also forgot to mention that the top pictured on the web album for Peppermint Bay was from Frances, my cousin in Scotland. Andrew Williams also brought home my Numpty coasters and mouse mat, that I left at his place in London!

Schouten House Website

Today, our new website has been uploaded to www.schoutenhouse.com, which has been a little while coming. It's the first version and will have features and images added as time goes on. We haven't replaced the .com.au site yet, but that will happen soon.

Please have a look and provide feedback... by the enquiry form if you'd like to test it out. If you do, please make sure that you identify it as a test, otherwise it could be a little painful wading through them all. Naturally I'm after some more specific feedback from some people - you know who you are - you guys with macs will be able to let me know about any browser compatibility issues.

It's an important first step in getting our business up and running, and we are excited to see it available to the world.

My favourite feature thus far is the google map, so make sure you click on the map of Tasmania to see it... or you can click here.

Cooking in the BIG Kitchen

After some serious cleaning... we have begun cooking in the BIG kitchen... our very own commercial kitchen with more stainless steel than you could poke a knife at. I am pictured above, cooking a full cooked breakfast for Jodie, of bacon and eggs, beans, toast and mushrooms. Jodie's delicious meal is pictured below.

Although it was a bit of a slog, I was ably assisted in cleaning the kitchen by a bulk order of cleaning chemicals - 35L all up, of some seriously concentrated stuff. Gloves were required, and it cut through grease like a treat. Below is a photo of the stove looking all sparkly.

The next thing on the list of culinary quests was a curry! I cooked a very peppery [but not too spicy] curry that night, and was privileged to use Jodie's Le Creuset to do it. It makes simmering slowly just perfect. Tonight, I made a beef vindaloo, which could have been interpreted as an attempt to kill Jodie - but I am very very proud of her accomplishment in eating it! I worked up a sweat eating it... so it was pretty hot. The main reason for this may have been using up the last of Mel's dried chillies, which are very, very hot. The quote of the night was me explaining the heat to Jodie, "The chillies were really hot, that's why I added the cayenne pepper!". Some of the spices used in the curry are shown below.

Here is the finished product. Now that I've managed to use up all of Mel's chillies - we'll get some kashmiri chillies to get the really red colour, and authentic taste.

I can't wait to cook a stir fry on the cooktop! These gas

Every commerical kitchen needs themometers - so that statistics can be taken on fridge temperature. Despite my tendancy to obsess... we got ones with a display on the outside, so I can sit and watch the fridge cool.


Yesterday, I also baked a batch of shortbread. It has been a very long time since I've made any. I think the last time was making some for Jodie when I was working for the department of health in South Australia. It's going to be interesting getting used to the gas ovens, which seem to be a little temperamental.

Oh... I can't finish this post without talking about our first bulk food order... otherwise it deserves it's own post! The highlight for me [besides the tabasco] was 4.1kg of rump. Jodie cut some wonderful steaks the other night, and half of it serviced our vindaloo. We've still got almost 2kg to go, in the freezer. We got 5kg of pasta, tons of baked beans, and enough stock to block the arteries of several guests through shortbread inhilation.

Wineglass Bay and Seafood

Last Sunday, we were planning to have a lazy day - but inspiration hit, and we headed out to Wineglass bay. As well as being spectacular [people travel half way around the world to see it...], we are both making an effort to get around to all the sights, so we can make enthusiastic recommendations to guests.


Unfortunately for Jodie, I had my GPS with me, so the trip up to the look out for Wineglass bay in the Hazards had to be quick, which it was. The photos don't do the view justice, so you should all come and check it out. I know just where to stay!

Below is a little Wallaby, that stubbornly stayed asleep until all the other tourists left, and then quickly made friends with Jodie [although I think it was after my apple!].


On the way back to Swansea, we stopped at the Freycinet Marine Farm for some fresh Oysters and Mussels. Jodie was our oyster tasting expert, and got to try before she bought. Jodie was so overcome with the taste, that she ordered a dozen. One dozen. Realising that none of these were intended for me - I made sure the order was for two dozen. With safety in mind, we got them on the half shell. Now that Jodie has found her metal chain-link glove, we'll be getting them whole and shucking them ourselves for sure.


We also picked up 1.5 kilos of Mussels, which had 'been taken from the water at about one o'clock'. Even after the Mussels were cleaned [what a thankless task] and the open one thrown out, they still weighed in at 1.5kg. I even counted them - 63 mussels in all. They were big suckers - much bigger than the little ones I had in France.


We cooked them simply in white wine and cream, with some onions, garlic and chili. With the oysters as the entree, it was quite a feast. I rate the dish at least equal to the Mussels I had in France, and am looking forward to much, much, much more seafood while we are enjoying the East Coast of Tasmania.

Jodie and Cameron in the Guest Lounge

Our guests from last night wanted to take a photo of Jodie and I for a memory of the place [and the people], so I jumped on the bandwagon, and asked them to take an extra one with our digital camera.

Today, it's raining, so the open fire is quite an attraction. As well as the pots of tea we do for the guests when they come back in from the cold.

Sunrise

The photo is a shot of the sunrise at 0622 this morning, with a bleedin' seabird in the foreground. It's a wonderful sight to wake up to, and now that daylight savings is here in Tasmania, it's feasible to get up that early all the time!

We've now got to get ready, tend to our freshly baked bread, and make breakfast for our guests.

The Filter

Yeah, that's right, I'm drilling though stainless steel with my [not Jodie's 'cause it didn't have a big enough chuck] drill and a 12mm bit.

Swansea is on a permenant 'boil-water alert' due to the lack of appropriate filtration systems. Apparently, the only time it's an issue is after heavy rain, and then bacteria in the water reaches unacceptable levels. So we supply bottled water to all the guests, and pre-boil all water used in food preparation. But what about us?

Jodie and I quickly did the sums on how much it would cost to keep us in spring water, even when bought in bulk... it was way too much. So, we bought a filter system with an ultraviolet lamp to kill the bacteria [this doesn't change our stringent approach to water safety with guests [since it can't be guaranteed to always kill all backteria]]. Below, I'm pictured handling the UV light tube.

At one stage, just after we were contemplating tearing out some more gyprock under the sink, and drilling a hole in the kitchen counter for the power cord - we considered calling a professional. Well, we did call a professional - the only plumber in town who said he didn't like our chances this side of Christmas. Next stop - the hardware store. We called them, and explained the situation, and headed in to pick up supplies [this is TTTHS#1].

TTTHS #1: We came back with a compression elbow and a lugged elbow. We couldn't really figure out how the plumbing worked... so we called in the expert - Jason from the Hardware store - who kindly paid a house call.

Jason knew that we needed more stuff. So after he explained how the plumbing worked, we went back to the Hardware Store.

TTTHS #2: We came back with a Socket and 15mm Nipple. But we still couldn't get the t-junction sorted for the cold water feed into the mixer tap.

TTTHS #3: This time we got an Easy Hooker - which was just the device we need to give us some extra length to work with, and easily turned joints on both ends.

So after 3 trips to the hardware store, a house call and about 6 hours of labour and frustration. Oh... and RE-thread taping EVERY joint after the first effort leaked [you can't use too much of that stuff]... We had the filter installed.

The power adaptor is screwed in above the unit, with the UV lamp above the filter.

Woo hoo! Drinkable water, straight from the tap!

The plumbing situation here is a little desperate. Today I called our lone plumber, since our hot water for the shower wasn't working [it's awesome having guest suites we can run to in an emergency [assuming we aren't full]]. He did successfully diagnose the issue over the phone, which prompted another hardware store trip, and new washers! It's as good as new!

To the big smoke... again

Last Thursday, Jodie and I went to Hobart for a planned trip. The timing was so that I could get my stitches out by a very good GP we'd found. I also got a tetanus booster [so did Jodie] while I was there.

The other main reason for the trip was shopping. We had started to compile a big list of things that we needed, and it was time to make the most of the trip. After getting the stitches, we'd stocked up on toiletries, and two huge glass jars... but there's more.

First stop: Office supplies. The highlight was definitely the laminator... then a quick stop to get some dry food for the boys.

Hardware store...

• my wood chopping protective equipment
• knee pads for cleannig [must blog photo]
• 10kg bucket of Omomatic [can't wait to place bulk wholesale orders]
  
• 12v Wet & Dry dust busters - one for the guests too
• Mini Bankers Lamp

We got a coffee grinder at the whitegoods place, and lots of stuff from two different housewares places - including more huge glass jars, and a magnetic knife rack. We investigated sheets and towels. We even stopped into Target to get a matching bedside lamp.

We stopped by the homebrew supply store too... where we bought lots of Coopers products, so along with my home brew kit that Andrew gave me, I can start brewing my own beer.

It was a very well planned, executed, and exhausting day. The highlight was a lunch at the Lark Distillery. We had a peat smoked, and whiskey cured salmon and cheese platter, and some Moobrew! Fantastic!

Cameron vs. Wood: Round 2

I call this one: Unfair advantage. I had to get back on the horse, after being bitten in the face [the horse is hungry in this metaphor]. In the photo above, I am sporting the spoils from an organised trip to Hobart, where we bought sooooo much stuff, it deserves its own blog entry.

On Thursday, in Hobart, I also got my stitches out! It wasn't nearly as painful as the local anaesthetic, but the Doctor made up for it by very quickly responding to the idea that we might think about getting our tetanus boosters... I'm glad we [Jodie got one too!] did, after looking at the wikipedia entry...

As you can see in the photos below, the protective equipment restored my vigor, and the wood was indeed splintered beyond recognition [which is a good thing, because Jodie likes her kindling!].

Here I am, boasting with motherload of wood that would keep the home fires burning for some time to come!