MORE MENDING
While Mum was recuperating with us following melanoma surgery, I spent more time than usual upstairs. That’s how I discovered one of the timber plaster veneer frames on the stairs was chipped ( previous blog) and also how I found the tiller on one of the model yachts was broken. Another repair job! So wipe, glue and wait for the glue to cure. Usually I rely on clothes pegs to hold small things together while they cure, but the tiller was too small.
It’s back upstairs where it belongs.
SOME COOKING
Lots of visitors while my Mother recuperated, so lots of cooking. This has been the coldest, wettest winter in years, so I’ve been turning out curries, warming stews and some lemon flavoured shortbread. I have added a thick bolster off a sofa along the door into the garage as I can feel a cold draft when I walk past, we have sand bags at the ready following flooding in neighbour’s houses and we’ve used the reverse cycle heating often, which is rare for us! Our house was designed for the searing heat of West Australian summers with tiled floors which stay cool and sun blocking window coverings.
RED LIPSTICK
I’ve noticed lots of red lips lately. Then my husband read me this from a book he’s reading about when the main protagonist is preparing herself to greet difficult guests, ‘My favourite red Chanel lipstick is a great morale boost.’ He wanted to know if I felt that way about lipstick, but I had to admit I’d never given it much thought.
This morning I was reading the paper and there was an article about buying red lipstick. It was interesting with references to lots of famous women and their favourite red lipsticks. Read the advice and noted the shade of red recommended for my skin tone and added ‘red lipstick’ to the already long shopping list.
After we’d done the usual shopping and extras for hosting my husband’s bookclub meeting tomorrow night, I set off to investigate red lipsticks. There were a few which looked like the colour recommended for me, so I chose the type of lipstick I know well. That is a two part process; firstly, apply the colour, let it dry, then coat it with the clear, waxy sealer. For at least the last 20 years these two part lip colours have been my preferred lipstick because they can last all day if you don’t eat! And they don’t leave marks on cups. Perfect for work.
Then the trial run at home surprised me. I will take a while to adjust to Classic Red, instead of Rich Berry, but I do like it. Next purchase will probably be a traditional wind up tube of Chanel Rouge Allure Luminous Intense Lip Colour in Rouge Rebelle. In the meanwhile I’ve added red nails to the overhaul. And no, I’m not dying my hair red, too.
By the way, today is National Lipstick Day in America.
RED ONION SALAMI FLAN
This week my husband hosted his bookclub evening at our house. I made two grazing platters, plus heated some sausage rolls and little pies. It was a very wet, stormy night and the hot sausage rolls and little pies were very popular.
I had leftover cold meats. I realised I had a bag of red onions I needed to use, too, plus leftover salami, so instead of a classic onion and anchovy flan I made a red onion and salami flan. Avoiding food wastage is important.
These onions needed some work before I could cook them but cleaned up they yielded 1kg of sliced onion.
Peeled and sliced the onions. This resulted in 1 kilo of sliced red onions. They are sweeter than the brown onion used in the classic French Onion Tart. I caramelised the onions in a very heavy pan with a generous amount of olive oil.
I’d like to say I made a luscious butter, flour mixed with lukewarm water pastry, but I didn’t! While the onions were cooking I dug out a packet of frozen pastry which also needed using and rolled out a long piece for the flan tin. Heated the oven to F/F 160°C.
Put the flan base to cook and when it was ready, pressed the caramelised onions firmly into the base. Then sliced the leftover salami into strips and crisscrossed the strips over the onion. Cooked in the oven for about 40 minutes.
This flan was lovely served hot for lunch but even better cold for dinner! It was based on the traditional French Onion Tart or Pissaladière. To make a traditional Onion Tart brown about 1kg of onions with about half a dozen anchovies. The anchovies dissolve and boost the flavour. The mixture is then pressed into the flan tin. Crisscrossed with some extra some anchovies on the top and scattered with some olives. Delicious.
Did you know foam plastic cups take at least 50 years to decompose? Better to always have a keep cup on hand.
Thanks.
Hello!
Lovely to hear from you.
Deborah