A surprise crop of self sown sunflower, much diminshed now as the local parrots enjoy a feast several times a day

'Why don't you put some of them away?'  asks my husband, as we begin the morning ritual of noisily preparing coffee and juice to go with the day's breakfast selection. I was jamming a third open cookbook into my waiting holder preparing for the session in the kitchen today.

Much delight this week with the continuing supplementary dribble from the vegie garden to our diet. The Potimarron, golden globe Cinderella, pumpkin was destined for the pot. Half of it made a nearly, but not quite correctly spiced, pumpkin curry, courtesy Nigel Slater. Absolute delight to add garlic from my well produced crop harvested in December, an onion, from my small trial crop, and lemongrass, very borderline viable in Canberra.

Yesterday saw a flurry of activity in the kitchen after retiring inside due to inclement weather that crept into Canberra so gently, and by this morning had added to the very low level of my rainwater tank.

Blueberry, hazelnut and lemon zest muffins baked away happily whilst I prepared the mix for the cake containing the remains of the Potimarron pumpkin. The cake eventually came out of the oven, in for 20 minutes longer than expected; very wet mix. Mmmm. The smell was divine. Spicy, rich. I resisted temptation and wait an hour to slice into the dark coloured body of the cake. It is filled with the grated pumpkin, roasted pecans, raisins and fragrant spices. Yum.

The 2 punnets of fresh blueberries bought on special at Coles yesterday were bolstered with another 2 punnets enroute home from collecting my husband from work. These are destined for the pot for another small batch of jam.

Another inclement morning in Canberra will see a busy kitchen. Hope I remember to pick some corn for lunch today.