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Lady Jo & Co

Lost between the ocean & raw edge of the wilderness. Far South Tasmania
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Risotto is the easiest thing to make on the fire. Best done at home when you have a list of jobs you have to do. Kicker is with the dish, you need to remember to stir it. . So Don’t pick big house jobs. Do things like hanging a load of washing or putting away dishes. Don’t decide to clean the entire pantry out. Or you’ll find the rice catches and the whole pot is rooted. Then you then have to find something else to feed everyone . . .....although you also find you eat the burnt offering yourself so you you don’t feel guilty that you’ve ‘wasted all that time...money, food & effort...’ . . But I’m winning today. It’s perfect. And so is Mac. He’s marking ‘smores’ .(if you, like me call seaweed rice crackers, painted drinking chocolate & baby cooking marshmallows s’mores then you too are winning) . . Team us. . That really lovely @maggiemackellar_ podcast link to the @thefoodpodcast is in my profile for
Tiny glass bottles of seaglass collected from my wanderings. I’m so in love with this. These weathered finds are decades old. Some centuries. . I find walking the beaches here, clears my mind, keeps me strong, the air refreshes my freedom, kids get run and I adore making stick fires as they often entice friends out in winter for coffee or wine. . I’ve decided this week to be brave and make a tiny shop. I’m not good at being organised but I’ll try. (Who am I Kidding - I’m shit at being organised) ...It will stock a few things I adore making - little handdrawn maps, jars of raspberry jam and other rewards from pastimes I enjoy. . Well that’s the idea and I’m loving how it all plays out in my head so much already. . But not today. . Today is a day of sorting my seaglass collection treasure out.....and maybe tapping into being a little braver and maybe a little drink of nice wine.
Radio national talkback. Stovetop coffee. Early morning swim runs. . . Was way up before the sun. 4.25am. It’s fresh here but still and the birds were all out twittering. Still in my nightdress but with a puffy. Bundled the children into the car with their blankets and headed through the forest to Gills. @gillyrr up. And we quickly switch lives and children and she heads to the pool for swimming squad. . . I’m on breakfast duty at her home with the little ones. Padding around in bare feet. The sun warms the house quickly. Today’s option is again @weetbixau . . I catch up on newspapers. Do dishes. Video chats to Ireland and my thoughts. And know she will be back and I’ll sit on her kitchen bench and be up for a good chat. . . .#morningmotivation #tasmania #farsouthtasmania #huonvalley #ladyjo #dover #coffee #morningslikethese #simplelife #weetbix
The woodfire is on tonight. It’s actually just on. You see it may be sweltering in the rest of the continent...but here at the bottom if the known world, it’s chilly. . I thought I’d brave it out, combatting it laden with a few extra jumpers & another doona.... . . But that’s not going to dry tomorrow’s school swim suit for Ivy. Or her towel. Or my knickers. And I’ve none clean. I can or could go commando. But no. I need warmth everywhere. . Maybe I need to reorganise the disorganisation of wood in the woodshed. ‘Twas on the list of things to do.... but maybe it needs to gain ground on that list. . Snow at 900m they say....,wtf. Winter, albeit today, seems to have come early- only 5 months. Jesus. . . . #wherethehellissummer #woodshed #tasmania #farsouthtasmania #huonvalley #thefarmhousepantry #cottagelife #farmerswife #countrystyle #countrylife #wood #tasmanianlife
It’s a tad chilly. Fires on at @williesmithsappleshed and I’ve got plenty of reading material to get through. Need no distractions really. . Love this rainy weather. Boots & puffy weather. Coffee & cake weather. . Mind you it’s always coffee & cake weather. . . And I got mail...a @milkwood_permaculture book from my girlfriend who knows me well for almost 3 decades. Thanks @melanie.saw ... your gorgeous. But I’m not opening it till I finish my paperwork first. . Its the first Tuesday of the month tomorrow. That means @cakemates_tasmania is on. Kinda decadent 2 trips here for coffee. It comes around quick. . But it’s worth it. Always. . . #huonvalley #tasmania #farsouthtasmania #williesmiths #milkwood #cakemates #theappleshed #thefarmhousepantry #ladyjo #hunterboots #cargocrew
Wild snaps of the wildlife, forest & coastline. You have to really live here to see it. It’s hidden. Darkened. I’m lucky that I do. And so lucky she does too. . . . 📷 @hanaaneyates #farsouthtasmania #bluewren #bluebird #birdsofinstagram #huonvalley #southport #ladyjo
Turning the bedroom into a sheeted cubby house, neighbours over for a play, undertable fruit platter picnics & Mac is currently designing a house.... typical day in the rainy Far South Tasmanian life. Gosh I love this. . So good to be back home. Classical music on. Coffee with drop-in friends . Kids all missed me. When there’s a break in the weather we will all head down to the beach & run their legs off on the sand.
It’s been a lovely break. But I’m ready to come home to the simple life. Just heading home. It’s been a well needed & good to escape but I’m so looking forward to getting back to basics. . Picking sticks, seaglass hunting, making fires, slow cooked food and beach walks....and my lovely kids.
Love a good drink. Love a good catchup. Love the front bar of @oceanbeachhotel . Thanks for the full on public boob lift @jolove101. I love your style. #whoneedssurgerywhenyouknowjolove
I lived around Cottesloe on and off all my life. Through boarding school, uni and when I returned back to sharehouse from 12 years backpacking in my 30’s. . I love the @oceanbeachhotel . I stayed here in the early 1990’s getting ready for my year 12 ball night with @allyemin. I rolled my swag out in the back of the Ute in the carpark after the Sunday Sessions, or squished 10 to a room during my university ‘Muresk Years’ and I fancied it up here after they had a facelift, when I stayed in Perth with the kids when we were away from the farm. I even made a detailed handdrawn A2 size map of the area a decade ago that I sold around the shops/cafes like @johnstcafe called ‘My Cheeky little map of Cottesloe’ (I still have 150 of them if you want one ) #shamlessplug #$20each 😂 . I’m sure your not suppose to jump on beds. (Better to beg forgiveness than ask approval).....But I’m so happy to be back in this part of the world. The rooms are compl
I remember calling in to the Woolshed after a b&s in a convoy of utes shockingly hungover about 20 years ago and walking on the cool tiles in my bare feet wishing I could lie down and sleep. . Trip down memory lane. Quick Latte, wee & opshop stop in Williams. Heading north to Perth.... . . #williams #williamswoolshed #westernaustralia #australia #ladyjo #thefarmhousepantry #countrylife #ruralliving
Smashed avo for breakfast on a slab of tumeric bread with a lovely poached egg. Reward for yesterdays bike ride. Seasoned well. I’m cheap so I drank just a latte but was in the right place at the right time & got the leftovers. I must make this at home. Kicking goals at @emupointcafe
$6 glasses of white wine. So @missyhigginsmusic is playing in the background. Sharing handcut chips with aioli, overlooking a killer view of the ocean - the it’s overcast .... and between us both we have nowhere else to be. . I could sit here all day and wittle the afternoon away. . And on Tuesday they do special $10 bowls of mussels. With bread. Yum. . #duesouthalbany #amazingalbany #westernaustralia #ladyjo #greatsouthern #albanywa
I saw where she used to go when she was a little girl. When I grew up we too had an outside dunny we had to use on the farm. 30m from the house. I think I still hold the long jump record of 5.15 still at my country primary school purely based on many years leaping from the pathway to the veranda driven by fear of the ‘snake that lives near the water tank’. . We got an indoor toilet when I went to high school & got extensions and life calmed down. I did the prettiest walk of Kalgan River. What a brilliant place to be brought up as a child. . But I can imagine the fear that would be visiting here at night. It instantly reminded me of that. . . #wherethewildthingsare .
@libertealbany won recently the @gourmettraveller Restaurant Awards -Bar of the Year. . @thestmagazine says; . ‘Gourmet Traveller’s Bar of the Year for 2019 is going from strength to strength, with the modern French-Asian share-fare a big part of the reason Liberte is so loved. The chilli crab noodles are worth the drive south alone, followed up with five-spice chicken wings and rounded out with crackly pork belly. Wash it down with a beautiful cocktail.’ . . We decided after being completely full from the previous 2 foodie spots, we had grazed at for dinner, we would go and try and fit in a shared dessert into a ‘non-exsistant space’ in my stomach. I like this style of eating - little meals at a few spots. . The ginger crepe brûlée. . It was so good. So yum. . But I struggled to get out off the couch, rolled myself to the car and then flaked out on the bed like a starfish because I couldn’t move. . But squeezing in that dessert it wa
We rode the bikes from the beach house, weaving through lake Seppings walking tracks till we reached the beach. I felt like a kid on summer holidays through the coastal bush scrub. 20 years later I’m kicking myself that I’m only now just discovering biking. . This early time of the morning and the water is sprinkled with many older budgie smuggler, capped & ‘frill-but-sensible wearing’ swimmers. Deep wrinkles are in vogue from one end of the beach the other. We park up before we go for coffee. My bum hurts from riding. God. Who designs those seats? . 📷 @tall.stories . #amazingalbany #albany #thefarmhousepantry #middletonbeach #farsouthwesternaustralia #tallstories #ladyjo #drone #albanydrone
She drank a Mango fizz cocktail and I ate most of the said & bread with dips at dusk. And was provided with entertainment by the cheekiest of little birds that fecked off with the Turkish loaf. @hybla_albany

Irish Stew on a cold day

May 22, 2015

Irish stew. Cheap warm feed for a wintery day. Made this the other day as I really couldn't be bothered leaving the house as I had too much to do .....and it was frightfully Baltic outside. 

The ingredients are pantry staples, and gravy beef ( you also could use lamb neck chops diced up). I get meat from our local butcher in Pinjarra when its on special in bulk and freeze it up. When I and running late I  just pop it in the slow cooker as is and leave it an hour to defrost then take it out and chop up. I also find it you chop up par-frozen meat you get it looking more uniformed as its easier to cut - thats if your not super organised and have some fresh cuts in the fridge.

And an interesting side note -  osso bucco is the same meat as gravy beef too, just without the bone and generally a tad more expensive. That was a dinner game changer. The hidden ingredient here in this dish is a trick I learnt from a Nigella Lawsons Beef Stew with anchovies & Thyme - a couple of anchovies are always thrown in, as I find it gives the meal abit of depth, and that goes for any beef hearty meal dish. Also I freeze my herbs I use in cooking in little bags/recycled Chinese containers when they are fresh - really easy to have on hand for dishes that call on herbs like 'dill or thyme' that I wouldn't use much

No herbs, anchovies, tomato paste or cornflour etc...so want to cheat? Use beef,carrots,onions,peas, and instant gravy. Its not the best option but its better than spending a fortune getting preprepared stuff from the frozen section in Coles - the house still smells amazing and your still in contention for 'Mother of the Year'

Irish stew

  • 1 kg of diced gravy beef / lamb necks
  • 2 fat carrots cliced
  • 2 onions chopped (garlic if you have it as well)
  • 3 anchovies
  • heaped tablespoon of tomato paste
  • 4-6 sprigs of thyme
  • Stock to just cover ( whatever you use - I use frozen home-made stuff)
  • heaped tablespoon of olive oil or butter ( I generally stick butter in everything)
  • heaped tablespoon of cornflour seasoned with pepper
  • Heaps of mashed potato

Easy way - pop everything in a slow cooker, stir and leave on low for 4 hours. Make a mini crater on your plate of mash potato and fill it with the stew.

Harder way - put seasoned flour in a bowl and toss in the meat till coated, brown this off with onions in oil in a pan then return to the slow cooker and follow the above method Sealing in the meat can mean that its alot tender - but phooey, my immediate family don't seem to know the difference, so I generally don't bother unless I'm trying to impress someone whose not blood related.

Hiding leftovers?  Pop into a toastie with a bit of cheese and serve with tomato sauce or use shortcrust pastry and fill up a pie maker. Or just freeze for other lazy winter days. 

Enjoy

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email: hello@ladyjo.com.au