Driveway improvements sneak peek

and a touch of Spring colour

Big bug came for a visit

I've been living in NZ for 25 years now and in that time I've seen various bugs of all sizes, including the renowned Weta.

But in all that time, I've never seen one of these 'little' critters:

I say 'little' but......it wasn't little at all. Eek, this NZ native millipede (oops I mean centipede - thanks upcoming treechanger) measured up at nearly 10cm long. And with all those legs..it sure moved quickly. Hubby found it buried in a big pile of composting kumara. So long as it stays outside that's fine... Have to say it made my skin crawl somewhat!

Tangelos, cake and some sugar free chocolate cookies

Tangelos, in case you didn't know, are a cross between mandarin (tangarine) and a grapefruit. We don't have a tree but someone that does (and doesn't use the fruit) let us pick some of the ripe fruit. Most of this will probably be juiced, but I do intend to try it in as many dishes as I can. I started off with this lovely citrus loaf. It was really quick and easy to produce and made a nice dense, citrusy, satisfying loaf cake.
Hubby and D both rated it highly so the cake disappeared very quickly!

However, while this cake suited the boys, I am still doing my darndest to steer clear of sugar so it was off the menu for me. Instead I made up some of these fantastic chocolate and sea salt cookies from Nicola at Homegrown Kitchen. These are really good! I will definitely be making these little treats again, perhaps trying some slight modifications - this first batch was made using standard plain white flour but I could test out different flours for the best texture and flavour combinations. I would also like to try almond butter instead of peanut butter.

 Even G ate more than one of these and thought they tasted quite nice! Hooray, success all round this baking day!