Quiet days at home

I Love this time of year in New-Zealand, the summer days seem to last forever and people seem to slow down so much more. I don't know if it's because of the weather or because people are still in holiday mode but I love it.

Today we visited friends of mine and literally picked our lunch from the garden. Liz has an extensive knowledge of the medicinal properties of herbs so we brewed a huge pot of herbal tea with herbs from her garden and it was so lovely. When we left her house I took with me a big bunch of parsley so I can make Tabbouleh for dinner and some rhubarb which I plan to stew and serve with yogurt.

There are many things I should be doing this month before school resumes but so far I have been enjoying just taking things slowly. Spending an hour in the garden reading a book with Aviva, making batches of crumpets in the afternoon, knitting in the sun. It has been such a joy to just take things as they come and enjoy the time off. Today we went to the Thrift shop and found some wonderful books such as Black beauty and the Wind in the willows and various other classics. I also found Good Wives by Louisa M. Alcott which is the follow on from Little Women, what a beautiful book! It truly is from other time when wives held their husbands in such high reverence and respect and understood the true benefits and joy from living as truly submissive to their husbands.

This afternoon I plan to make some zucchini Relish in a way to deal with the never ending glut of them, I found a beautiful recipe and thought I would share it here.

Zucchini Relish

INGREDIENTS
2 pounds small zucchini
1 tart apple, peeled and cored
1 medium onion
1 green pepper
1 garlic clove, minced
1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
1 cup vinegar
1 (2 ounce) jar chopped pimientos, drained
1 tablespoon fresh ginger root
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon salt

DIRECTIONS
Peel zucchini and discard any large seeds; chop into small pieces (about 5 cups). Finely chop apple, onion and green pepper; place in a Dutch oven along with zucchini and remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil. Reduce hat and simmer, uncovered, over medium heat until thick, about 45-55 minutes, stirring often. Cool. Ladle into jars; cover and refrigerate.

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Zucchini-Chutney/Detail.aspx

I don't have a dutch oven and I will adjust some of the spices but It looks like a beautiful and fail proof recipe.