Busy in the kitchen

Hello, how are you?  I can hear the sigh of relief in the northern hemisphere from all the peeps who are longing for spring and warmer days.  I know it doesn't really warm up for a bit but I hope the appearance of bulbs poking out of the ground, the lengthening of days and a little sunshine here and there is cheering you up.  I'm not ready for autumn yet let alone winter as we had far too many grey cool days this summer in Melbourne.  Over in the west on the farm they are longing for cooler days after a long hot summer.  I guess the challenge is finding lovely things in all the seasons and making the most of it.

So late February is when the tomatoes start to ripen nicely and then we have to find different ways to use them before they spoil.  I've already posted about oven dried tomatoes here and have made another batch since.  I've also made some tomato chutney and used the few dodgy apples from the tree in the back yard that the parrots didn't get to.
 
 

Chutney cooking up nicely.

 This is cherry tomato tart we had for dinner one evening.  Delicious.

Hubby and I visited a farmers market recently and bought a couple of kilos of blood plums, my absolute favourite plums.   I used some of them to make this upside down cake.  Recipe can be found
here.

With yet more tomatoes ripening in the garden, a mix of cherry and grosse lisse, the making of tomato sauce/ketchup was next on the agenda.  I used the recipe found here
a slightly corrupted version using red onions (all I had to hand), balsamic and apple cider vinegars and brown sugar.  It was quite a process and you need a good three hours to make it but it is SO worth the effort, the sauce tastes amazing.

After the sauce had finished cooking I blended it with a stick blender which reduced the amount of pulp after sieving.

All that remained after sieving and that went into the compost.

The finished product.

 Hubby and I are off over to Western Australia next weekend for two weeks to visit Mum and for hubby, my brother and his mate to go on a fishing holiday for a week down to the south west coast.  On our return we will have some exciting news to share but until then I just have to be patient.

Anne xx

Cherry tomatoes and garden plant labels

This summer we decided to have another crack at growing tomatoes even though the last three years have been a dismal failure.  This summer season it seems we have had a measure of success with the cherry tomatoes fruiting well and the Grosse Lisse fruiting and starting to ripen.  The cherry tomatoes are somewhat disappointing in flavour and texture so perhaps not best enjoyed fresh but certainly enjoyable to eat in cooking like on top of this zucchini and spinach quiche I made the other night for tea.  The spinach and onions in the quiche were from our garden too.

As the vegetable garden has expanded, I've needed/wanted some garden plant labels that could be used over again.  I did try to make some from clay but they were unsuccessful.  I decided that labels made from galvanised steel would be more durable and after talking to hubby, he supplied me with some galvanised steel strips left over from a prior project.  So I gathered my steel ruler, marking pens, tin snips and steel file and made 47 garden labels.  I greatly enjoyed making something which was needed myself and made out of left over materials.

This morning I noticed we have some zucchinis that will be ready to pick in a few days so am looking forward to adding them to a curry or even making a chocolate zucchini cake.  Speaking vegetables and vegetable gardens, if you want to see an amazing vege garden, visit Tania at http://outbacktania.blogspot.com.au/2015/01/veggie-garden-update.html.
Her garden is amazing.

Anne xx

2015

Well another year is upon us and may it be a good one for everyone.  I hope your NYE celebrations were enjoyable.  We spent ours at home with family and friends, the special guest of course being Mum.  I made up some fruit punch, an old recipe of Mum's that is simple but refreshing.

NYE is a fine time to bring out pretty glasses and family heirlooms.  The silver serving tray in the photo below was my Grandmother's and Mum was very happy to see it being put to good use.  It certainly saved red wine stains from going on the white tablecloth.

 We enjoyed a selection of lovely cheeses and dips with crackers, nuts and other delicious nibbles during the evening.  A few sweet things were enjoyed too, some lemon coconut balls I made, some delicious chocolates and a wonderful platter of fruit.  One or two glasses of champagne were enjoyed by those who wanted something sparkling.

 New Years day was a quiet and slow one here.  There might have been a few of us napping during the day, enjoying yummy leftovers from the night before and some reading of books.  A lovely way to bring in the new year.

Mum returned to Western Australia today accompanied by my sister who will be spending about 10 days with her.  As you know from an earlier post, Mum recently lost her 18 year old cat Humphrey which was heartbreaking as he was a lovey boy and such good company.  I am very happy and excited to hear that before Mum travelled home to the farm today, she adopted a little three year old cat which she has named Cara.  Apparently Cara is settling in well and doing normal cat things like smooching the furniture to leave her scent, jumping up onto the sink, a no no, attempting to scratch the furniture and learning that the scratching post was designed for that purpose.  I'm so very happy for Mum that she has a new little companion and my sister can be there to help out during the settling in period.

Summer weather is arriving in dribs and drabs in Melbourne.  We've had some hot days followed by cool ones and some lovely rain too.  Our tomatoes are looking good, fruiting well and I'm anxiously waiting for the fruit to ripen.  I've started to harvest some of the climbing beans, the dwarf beans have been prolific.  The flower garden is not so plentiful as it was in spring but there is still some lovely colour and summer flowering plants about to burst into bloom.

Grosse lisse.

Cherry tomatoes.

 I've been thinking thinking about the goals I would like to achieve this year rather than making any New Years resolutions.  I have a painting sitting up in the studio, the portrait of a lady that needs completing.  I haven't even started looking at my photos from our 2012 Europe trip with a view to using some of them as painting subject material although a couple of photos in particular come to mind as I'm typing, especially from the Roaches area in Staffordshire where Louise of the blog Ramblings of a Roachling lives.  If you want to see stunning photos of a very beautiful part of the world, go check out her blog, you won't be disappointed.  I'd like to grow more vegetables, get some  chooks again, make lemon marmalade from the lemons on our trees, finish crocheting a cardigan and a blanket I started last year and get myself fit again.  I did lose 4 kilos late last year by reducing my calories just a little bit, reducing my portions a little and with lots of physical activity in the garden.  It was a was a big achievement for me and one I'd like to continue with to lose a few more kilos.  It's most encouraging when you can fit into your clothes comfortably again and rediscover long lost favourites to wear.

Looking forward to catching up on all your posts now things are getting back to normal after the silly season.  Take care everyone.

Anne  xx

December

What an interesting month it has been so far.  Two weeks spent in Western Australia with my Mum and then bringing her back with me to spend time with family in Victoria.  The trip to and from Western Australia is a long one.  It involves a two and a half hour train journey to Perth, a taxi ride to the airport and then waiting time for the plane departure and a three to three and a half plane ride depending on the wind.  We get on the train at 11.00am and get back into Melbourne about 11.30pm which includes a three or two hour time difference depending on daylight saving.  It's a hour by car from the airport to our home so it makes for rather a long day.  Mum is just the best person to travel with and despite her mobility difficulties and age, she never complains.  

One very sad thing happened before we left Western Australia, we had to say goodbye to Mum's beautiful 18 year old cat Humphrey.  He has been a great farm cat catching mice and rabbits and a loving companion to Dad and Mum.

Last Tuesday I took Mum to one of our large shopping centres for a little Christmas shopping and a bit of a look around.  We had a fun girly time and were successful in our purchases.  And then on

 Thursday evening we took Mum to see a productions of the ballet Sleeping Beauty at the State Theatre, at The Victorian Arts Centre, Melbourne.  It was such a treat for us all but especially Mum who has never seen a live ballet production of that quality before.  The dancing, costumes and orchestra were wonderful and as we had a special seat for Mum, we were quite close to the stage and had a very good view.

Members of the household were ill last week with a head cold, thankfully Mum only got it mildly, and in amongst that our washing machine broke down.  It was only 5-6 years old, they just don't make things to last anymore.  Genevieve and I became sick on the weekend and are still recovering and hoping to be feeling much better on Christmas Day.  My sister is hosting Christmas this year so the pressure is not great.  It doesn't matter if the house isn't cleaned, that can be attended to after we feel better.   I have some baking and cooking to do for Christmas lunch which can be done tomorrow.  The big grocery shop is on today after the delivery of a new washing machine.  Hubby is on holidays so I'm enlisting his help.

In other news, we have been enjoying cherries from a local orchard and bought from a road side stall.  They are big, sweet, fat and juicy.

We also had our first harvest of home grown beans with our dinner last night.  They were beautiful.  Even the youngest lady in the house who doesn't care for beans said how much nicer they were than those bought from the supermarket.

A little bit of seasonal decorating has been taking place.

Just the other day I received a lovely calendar from Louise of Ramblings of a Roaching.

I get to try a different recipe each month and here are two I'm looking forward to trying.  The scenes in the calendar are beautiful.

 
Thank you Louise for such a lovely calendar.

I would like to wish everyone a beautiful, peaceful and happy Christmas sharing this special time of the year with family and friends.  Thank you for continuing to follow my blog despite my sparrodic posts, it is much appreciated.

Take care,

Anne xx

A quick catch up

Hello.  Although I've been absent from the blogging world for a few weeks, life has been busy with different things.  I've been spending a lot of time in the garden and happy to say that some seeds sewn have germinated in their punnets.  Some of the seeds were over six years old so it's especially pleasing they've germinated.

We've had some vege pickings from the garden including red onions, leeks, lettuce, spring onion, sugar loaf cabbage and  bunching broccoli.  We also have a few bulbs of garlic.

 

I spent a good 15 minutes one afternoon watching this baby Currawong having a drink at the bird bath in the back yard.

Hubby and I went out for an impromptu dinner with friends and I had what was possibly the best meal I've ever eaten.  Spicy crispy skin Atlantic salmon with sweet potato, wilted spinach, roasted parsnip and a creamy lemon sauce.

  

Stripey has been enjoying our lovely sunny weather and took a nap in the cat mint after chewing, licking and rolling in it.  He managed not to squash the spring onions too much.

The garden is still doing beautifully and full of flowers.

This is the first Buddleia I've planted and the perfume is amazing.

I'm off to Western Australia again tomorrow morning to spend two weeks with mum and then she is flying back to Melbourne with me to have a holiday and spend Christmas and New Year with our families living in Victoria.

Thank you for taking the time to read this post and continuing to follow my blog despite my absence at times.  Enjoy your Sunday.

Anne  xx