The Good Life Down Under

Garden dinner

2012-01-29T18:55:00.001+11:00

Tonight's dinner presented by beans and courgettes...and a few red spring onions (or shallots depending on your hemisphere!). Using another recipe from Hugh fw's Veg Everyday book for a bean and courgette salad with tahini dressing - but I'm making my own dressing. Adding some bacon for Jerry the carnivore!

Oh, and you can see our first tomatoes of the year as well :-)

Zoe's blanket

2012-01-29T10:31:00.000+11:00

After 4 months I finally finished the blanket for a recent family addition (not ours!). I actually finished the main blanket part in good time, but then had to teach myself crochet to do some edging and decorative touches - where would we be without YouTube?! So thanks to the KnitWitch and Bobwilson123 for the handy hints!

So I'm proud to present Zoe's pram blanket - made from 100% bamboo using chinese wave stitch for the body, and double, treble and scallop edge crochet.

For my next project I think I'll try a simple dress/jumper as it's called in the US. It will be my first attempt at knitting in the round - could get interesting!

Christine's comfrey ointment

2012-01-27T10:26:00.000+11:00

Comfrey. Why oh why didn't anyone tell me NOT to plant it anywhere in the garden where you may ever want to grow anything. The stuff is unkillable and I seem to have patches of it everywhere.

So apart from using it as a chook green, and a compost activator, I thought I'd try out an ointment that I saw on Christine's blog. I won't repeat her excellent instructions here - suffice to say it all went according to plan. I've used it a few times on aches and pains (self inflicted at the gym) and it really does seem to work.

Mum is trialling it on her arthritis and aching joints so we'll see how that goes. If you have spare comfrey I highly recommend giving this a go. It doesn't smell brilliant, but it's easy and seems to be effective.

Next time I might put in some lavender for a more pleasant aroma :-)

Happy Australia Day...and Happy New Year

2012-01-26T10:13:00.000+11:00

As January is nearly over I thought it was time to end my "blogiday" and get back to posting :-)

I hope you all had an enjoyable festive season with friends and family, and that my northern hemisphere friends aren't freezing their !! off.

As usual we had an excellent day at the community Christmas lunch - this year there were over 100 people. Great food, good company, and bit of fun and games. Jerry enjoyed 10 days off work - much of it spent playing his new Wii game. I had a couple of last minute work projects so apart from Xmas day, new years day and my birthday it's been work as usual for me.

In between the work, I did manage to cook a few new things from my new cookbooks (Stephanie Alexander's Kitchen Garden Companion, Hugh's Veg every day book (LOVE IT), and The Real Food Companion. ) and made a few bits and pieces - updates coming over the next few weeks.

All the best for 2012 - looking forward to catching up with you all in the blogisphere!

It's a wrap!

2011-12-23T14:51:00.001+11:00

The material I bought to replace wrapping paper is still going strong on it's 3rd year, as are the home made gift tags.

This year, as last we will be volunteering at the community Xmas lunch on Xmas day - really looking forward to it. Roast, all the trimmings, plus pud and ice cream and berries. And no cooking!

I hope you and your families enjoy a relaxing holiday season. See you in 2012!

Preserving p*rn

2011-12-16T08:35:00.001+11:00

Blackcurrant cordial, strawberry balsamic vinegar, blackcurrants in syrup, and blackcurrant jam to be.

Sweet pickled cherries to be

2011-12-13T19:01:00.001+11:00

Saturday in the kitchen

2011-12-10T18:02:00.001+11:00

It's been productive day. I have made 28 jars of jam, jelly and chutney - redcurrant, redcurrant and jalapeño (an experiment), blackcurrant jelly, strawberry jam and cherry chutney. I also have cherries soaking in vinegar to make sweet pickled cherries, and strawberries steeping in white balsamic for a strawberry vinegar.

I've pitted 3kg of cherries and dehulled 2nd of strawberries (thank goodness for a without a trace marathon on tv and a rainy day!). Don't ask me how much washing up I've done!!

Time to put my feet up with a cold glass of something I think. I hope you're having a good weekend what ever you're up to.

Redcurrants

2011-12-07T19:30:00.001+11:00

2.9 kg from 4/5 of one bush ... And still another one to pick. Still have some in freezer from last year and about 10 jars of assorted redcurrant jellies. Have offered some to neighbours, but if they aren't interested then I guess I'll make a big batch of pectin stock. Waste not want not and all that :-)

Early summer garden

2011-12-04T11:58:00.001+11:00

Fingers crossed for a bountiful harvest this year!

And so berry season begins again

2011-12-03T18:02:00.001+11:00

Kitchen Diaries pasta

2011-11-30T17:09:00.001+11:00

It's getting to be that time of year when I can actually get more than a few greens from the garden - of course that also means it's getting to be the time of year when I need to be creative with broad beans. Nigel Slater to the rescue!

Broad bean, ricotta, mint and chorizo pasta - based on a recipe by Nigel Slater

Make ricotta (it's easy!) (or use store bought)
Get some pasta on the go - whatever kind you fancy really
Pop broadbeans in boiling water for 3-4 mins, then drain and pop from skins if they are large
Fry some garlic (first of the new season garlic - lovely!) in some olive oil, then pop in the chorizo, broad beans, mint and ricotta and warm though
Add the drained pasta, and a bit more oil
Toss through the parmesan and serve

The original recipe didn't call for chorizo, but I had some left and I think it would have been too bland for my taste without it. It still needed (to me) a liberal grinding of black pepper - but I like spicy/hot food . It woudl also be good with bacon I think.

On the table in 20 mins tops if you don't make your own ricotta first.

Lost and found

2011-11-22T19:16:00.001+11:00

Guess what I found in the woodshed? Apart from wood and bark and assorted ~~junk~~ items that may be useful in the future.....

Eggs! I wondered why there had only been one...or none for the past few weeks - I thought it was just because the chickens were getting a bit old (only 1 stared laying this year). But no - they clearly find the bark more comfy than their nice nest boxes!

The dorking is the main culprit (the only chicken we have that lays white eggs) - in all there were at least 17 - a couple slipped beyond my reach.

Now I'm off to test how many of them are still fresh!

More meals from the Kitchen Diaries

2011-11-09T17:25:00.003+11:00

I have only managed to make about 3 new meals from Nigel Slater's Kitchen Diaries, so I think I'll keep the same book for November! I made a low-egg frittata, but forgot to take a picture (sorry).

Last week I made chicken legs with yoghurt, harissa and mint - very easy and tasty. Use leg (deboned) or thigh fillets. Mix a couple of tablespoons of thick yoghurt and harissa (less if you don't like it so hot), then drizzle in 2-3 tablespoons of oil. It won't look too appealing but hat's OK. Coat the chicken in the paste, then grill or pan fry (recipe says grill, I pan fried). When cooked top with mint, and serve with the accompaniment of your choice. Quick, easy and very tasty.

Day tripping

2011-11-05T19:25:00.002+11:00

Sometimes you just have to take a day off from the chores. Enjoy yourself by just hanging around and catching some sun...

Make a new friend, and watch someone else do some work...

Take an old time riverboat cruise and let someone else make you lunch while you watch the water under your feet...

and enjoy the scenery...

Thanks Jerry for a great day out!

Your reward - proper English pork pies ... don't eat them all at once - it's a long trip to get some more!

Fruit to be

2011-10-25T18:13:00.001+11:00

The peach tree in the veg patch is laden with fruit this year, in spite of a bit of curly leaf, and there are a few nectarines in the orchard as well.

The brambleberries have had a radical haircut so won't be incredibly productive this year, but they are flowering happily, As usual it's raspberry city (foreground)

Red and black currants are looking good again this year

The mariposa plum is laden - although not as laden as it used to be - I didn't realise the chickens would eat off the green fruit at this stage. Oh well, live and learn. The 3 rhubarb patches are kicking along nicely and showing no signs of transplant stress

This apricot tree doesn't look very inspiring, but there's plenty of fruit!

In the veg patch

2011-10-21T16:00:00.000+11:00

First salads of the season, and the nastirtium that just keep going all over winter in the frost-free bed

The garlic is coming along well, as are the peas and broad beans.

Wild rocket that self seeded - far superior in taste and peppery-ness than arugula. Plus a new bed using some recycled plastic bed framing kit Jerry found on sale at Bunnings. because you can never have too many beds for growing things :-)

And finally a quick back garden remodel update - after a couple of weeks the grass seed has become baby grass

Irises in the garden

2011-10-20T18:34:00.001+11:00

The chickens followed me around while I took all these photos - in the hope that I might be making my way to their coop to give them some seed!

Cookbook of the month

2011-10-17T10:39:00.001+11:00

I've taken up Gina's cookbook challenge, and I'm going to pick one cookbook each month to cook some new recipes from. It seemed like a good idea, and I have plenty of cookbooks to choose from!

This month it's my perennial favourite Nigel Slater (he may reappear often as I have most of his books!), and his excellent Kitchen Diaries. This book has my all-time favourite quick cake recipe, so it seemed a safe bet for some dinner inspiration.

Sunday nights in winter/spring are traditionally roast nights, so I had a nice 1/2 leg of local lamb to play with.

Whizz up 4 cloves of garlic, a big handful of mint, the juice of 2 lemons and several good pinches of cumin seeds, add olive oil until it's just slushy enough to spread on the lamb without running off. Cut 3 or 4 deep cuts through the lamb - even into the flesh a bit. Massage the "slush" all over the meat, and make sure you get it into the cuts as well. Leave in a cool place (not the fridge) for about an hour, occasionally spooning over any marinade that's slipped off. Roast. Consume. Sigh with pleasure.

Jerry's verdict? " You wouldn't get a better roast in a restaurant"

Thanks Nigel S, once again you've made me look like a domestic goddess :-)

Water chestnuts from Erica

2011-10-13T17:55:00.001+11:00

Erica, a forum buddy, sent me some water chestnuts this week (swapped for some scarlet runner bean seeds) - thanks Erica! Here they are in their new home, a laundry sink we "rescued" from the tip. The bit of branch is to provide a pathway for the frogs so they don't get stuck in there and drown.

Jerry also resized one of our garden beds that was too wide for my short arms - it's now much easier to reach across, and will be perfect for a corn crop as soon as it's warm enough to plant. Soil temps here are still around the 12-15 degree mark, too cool for many things so I'm having to resist the urge to go on a planting frenzy!

Ashmolean Dining Room, Oxford

2011-10-11T18:29:00.001+11:00

You might know that earlier this year I spent 10 weeks in the UK for work (well, there was a bit of holiday at the beginning!). It was my first time back after 5 years of being home, and it was lovely to see friends and family again (hello friends and family!). I thought for a change of pace I'd do a few posts about my travels to intersperse with the regular gardening/cooking routine.

I spent my last weekend before flying home with my brother-in-law and my soon to be world famous author sister-in-law and my nephews in Oxfordshire. It was glorious, sunny and hot and we had a lovely time. I took myself up to Oxford one day for a last look around and a trip to the Ashmolean. It has been completely renovated since we left, and it's just stunning. There's so much light, and I love the interior use of glass - the exhibits have great new displays and the interpretive info is extremely good too.

To top off the decadence of a hot sunny day in Oxford (it got to 30) I treated myself to lunch at the Ashmolean Dining Room, on the top floor of the museum. Fortunately there was a table just inside the door so I could look out on the roof terrace and the view, but still be in the shade, and enjoy the breeze.

Some lovely sourdough bread with olive oil and butter to enjoy with a glass of wine while I was waiting for my char-grilled octopus with rocket and parmesan salad to arrive. Delicious and tender, and just perfect for a summer day.

But it is the dessert that I remember with the most fondness. A to-die-for strawberry and vanilla custard tart. I would love to find a recipe to reproduce it - the custard in particular which almost had the consistency of whipped cream - gloopy but without the gelatin-y "stodginess" that this kind of custard can have. Flecked with vanilla bean, it was the perfect foil for the strawberries. The pastry was light and almost flaky. I'm almost drooling just remembering how tasty it was!

Quick solar update

2011-10-10T18:38:00.000+11:00

On average over the last 2 weeks we've been exporting 10kWh per day - max of 15 and min of 2. In total we've produced 133 kWh in that time, and exported 112 of them. Since the meter has been installed and we've been on the new tariff (2 weeks) we estimate that we're cost neutral one electricity - including the standing charges for just having a power supply. Of course, we have to buy in power at night and for the old hot water service (off peak), but that is a lot cheaper (17c/10c).

We're pretty happy with the results we're getting so far (although of course there's the very large hit of installing the system in the first place) - and the novelty of daily meter readings hasn't worn off yet!!

In other news Freddie has made it his personal mission to flatten out the topsoil on the ex-front garden bed :-)

Got my bread making mojo back

2011-10-01T16:40:00.001+10:00

Hurrah! A loaf of sourdough I'm happy with! I pretty much followed the no knead bread recipe featured in the NY Times a few years ago, but added the starter (my new one) in the first step. It has a fantastic flavour, and the chewy crust we like. The only issue is that it was, I think, still a bit 'damp' so next time I'll reduce the water. It was a bit of a gamble as I didn't know how much water to remove to compensate for the water content of the starter.

In other good news, while we were away our new bidirectional meter was installed (only took a week - what's the story SPAusnet? :-) ), and on wednesday the electricity company confirmed they'd received our tariff acceptance, so our solar is installed, running and making us money. From signing the order and paying the deposit to now it's been less than 2 months. We'll be eligible for the 60c feed-in tariff until 2024. Gotta be happy with that! In the past week we've fed in around 58kWh. Stay tuned - I'm sure there will be a chart or 2 coming up once I have a few months of meter readings :-)

We also took delivery of an important part of our "let the grass win" veg garden and orchard strategy - a Fiskar's momentum reel mower. Funky looking eh? It's still a bit wet (we've had over 70mm rain in the past 3 days) to give it a really good test, but we had a play with it today and I think it will be great. I really like the fact that the wheels are behind so there's no missed bits of mowing under the wheels, and it gets really close to the edges of things, It's light to push, quiet, and - even better - it throws the clippings forward so it kinda mulches the clippings as it goes and doesn't give you grassy feet. Will certainly be quieter, more fun and more environmentally friendly to use than the strimmer / whipper snipper. But no, we're not planning to mow the "home farm" acre+ with it ... although we probably could, but the ride-on is more fun for Jerry.

Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

Extreme landscaping - part 2

2011-09-13T20:06:00.000+10:00

Once we'd seen how much fun tractor landscaping was we couldn't stop

Extreme Landscaping, part 1

2011-09-12T19:22:00.004+10:00

A man with a mini-tractor turned this

To this

Gotta love a man with toys - this would have taken us weeks to achieve!