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I'm sharing a sneak peek with you, as Kate from Tea & Jam has done with us.

The session on Sunday was completely painless and I'm very happy with this teaser. It's amazing how vibrant and clear everything is and I love the way our kitchen looks! If you're interested you should get along to Mathilda's Market this weekend, as they're offering 50% off their session prices.

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A cold wet afternoon calls for orange, sultana and cranberry muffins. I wish I had time to sit and enjoy with a cup of tea reading my current book. In reality I'm grabbing three, running out into the rain, gobbling one down in the car, the second still warm for Ella at school pick up and the third for Leila at kinder pick up. I'm still imagining it with tea!

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I feel better when I'm organised, but I don't often find time to be as much so as I'd like.

One thing I try and do is write a menu plan every week. I do it because of finances and to save myself the daily torture of deciding what to make. I certainly spend a lot less on groceries if I'm only buying to a menu or a list, rather than to my fancy on any particular day. The downside, I find the effort put into writing a menu/list challenging some days/weeks and I also like cooking what I fancy on any given day.

For now, my weekly menu/shopping list, and I write for the amount of days deciding on the day what I fancy, is:

1. New York steaks (marinated sirloins) with potato & spinach dauphenoise & garlic g/beans

2. Italian meatballs (already in the freezer) on linguini with fennel and orange salad

3. Homemade chicken parmas with brown rice and green salad

4. Zucchini and feta fritters with roasted cauliflower salad

5. Caesar salad with pancett and a poached egg

For the record, no, my children won't eat all of this - theirs will be a modified version of most of them, decidedly plainer. One day though, one day, we'll all eat everything together, without modification.

Now, I'm starving, I have to go eat ..... a bagel!

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I'm constantly amazed and delighted by the wonders of yeast doughs. You wouldn't think that different applications of pretty much the same ingredients could yield such amazingly different results.

As I said earlier, I wasn't sure they'd taste like bagels, but they really do. The boiling part is amazing, the way the dough changes in both appearance and feel - looking more like a donut. Pop them in the oven and the smell is a bagel smell (I used to live across the road from Glicks in St Kilda so I know that smell) and the taste, the texture, the external shine, it's a win, win!

Run to your kitchens, check your cupboards to see if you have all you need and make bagels. You simply must!

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I'm not sure about this one. Do you know what it is?

I have Leila home sick today and as she's having a really good sleep rather than nap, I decided to make two things that have been on my "must try to make" list for a long time. This is the first of them. Mole. A spicy Mexican sauce that includes chocolate and cocoa in its list of ingredients. I'm reserving judgement until it's eaten with a spice rubbed chicken stripped and laid on fresh tortillas, topped with some chopped cucumber, lettuce and coriander, then with some mole spooned over the top. Perhaps using Lindt dark chocolate was the mistake, it smells like Lindt to me. There are many layers of spices and a lot of heat, but I don't think it stands well alone. I'll reserve judgement and let you know.

The second I'm more confident about. Bagels. I'm using this recipe and we'll see. The dough has a lovely feel to it, but we'll see if they actually taste like bagels in texture, or whether they're more like funny shaped rolls. Again, more to follow.

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You must, simply must, make this cake. If you lived close by I'd say you must come and taste this cake with a cup of tea, at mine, but failing that, you must make your own.

The recipe came from Honey and Jam and it's a good one. I always hold my breath when using this cake tin as there have been as many cakes that haven't wanted to come out as those that just slid on out. Luckily today very generous greasing of the tin meant this was a success.

Can you believe I've never eaten rhubarb? I've always meant to but as Geoff has an aversion (he grew up being served extremely overstewed rhubarb on icecream) I've just never got around to it. After seeing this recipe and then yesterday buying rhubarb at the shops, how could I not? I used lime instead of lemon and normal full cream rather than butter milk, oh and I cut back the sugar by 1/2 a cup as I find some US recipes VERY sweet.

I think even Geoff will like this one!

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Autumn jewels from the tree in Nan and Pa's garden. The sweetest fruit I've ever tasted from what I think is the most beautiful of trees.