August 2024 – MakeCookGrow.com

Sunrise, National Gallery of London, Neighbours & Egg, Ham and Vegetable Pie

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sunrise

The days are getting longer! The sun is up before me now. I took this photo a few days ago.

national gallery of london

We have no plans to revisit the UK this year or next year but have very happy memories of previous visits to the National Gallery of London. Celebrating its 200th year, the gallery is considered one of the world’s greatest art galleries. A film has been made as part of the 200 Years of the National Gallery of London celebrations called My National Gallery. Various people working at the gallery, including cleaners, curators, security guards and the director were asked to identify the piece of work which meant the most to them and to explain why.

Great art can communicate with anyone and well known celebrities and other art lovers were also asked to identify one artwork that resonated with them and to explain why it was their favourite. Well known and not so well known people and paintings featured. Their stories were told along with stories about the original gallery, the architecture and development of the current gallery, the modernisation of the new areas and information about how some of the works travel for exhibitions around the UK.

During World War 2 the artworks were safely stored in a slate mine in Wales. Each month a painting was chosen to be returned to the Gallery and displayed. If there was an air raid warning, the painting was quickly taken off the wall and stored in a safe place below the building. During this time a famous concert pianist Myra Hess organised a series of lunchtime concerts, too.

Two things struck me as surprising. So many of the works chosen by the people being interviewed for the film were based religious or Biblical events. The second thing was with few exceptions, the artists were male. Women artists were not taken seriously. This was a thought provoking and interesting film.

JMW Turner (1775-1851) ‘An English Packet Arriving at Calais Pier’

Image, Royalty Free, Wikipedia

My husband’s favourite painting in the gallery is Turner’s ‘An English Packet Arriving at Calais Pier’ . We have visited it many times but often the gallery was crowded. He laid a plan. We’d be first in line when the gallery opened and would go straight to the painting, which was towards the back of the building. When we arrived, I talked to the guard and my husband had nearly fifteen uninterrupted minutes in front of the painting before anybody else arrived. Very satisfying.

neighbours

Do you have lovely neighbours? Since Anzac Day 2020 five neighbours on our side of the street have gathered regularly at each others houses for ‘get togethers’. Sometimes it’s to commemorate Anzac Day together, sometimes it’s ‘Christmas in July’ and sometimes it is for no reason at all, just an opportunity to chat and eat together. The dogs come, too.

Then circumstances resulted in one household preparing to move to another suburb! They’re currently packing and making moving plans. We will miss then being nearby but I’m sure we’ll keep in touch with regular ‘get togethers.’ So on Sunday we converged on another neighbour’s house to say goodbye and good luck. Everyone brought food to share and we settled in for a good catch up. Sad to see them go but they’re happy with their new house and they’ll be invited to every Neighbours Get Together.

Zucchini and Corn Fritters made with sourdough leftover mother/starter.

sorting

We’ve spent a lot of time sorting out my Mother’s house which involves a four hour journey as well as time spent doing jobs. So it’s no surprise that I couldn’t even recognise some of the things in our freezer. They might have been there for months. Time for a clean out. One of the finds was frozen ham. Half of it, chopped, was added to leftover corn from Sunday’s Zucchini and Corn Fritters, along with tomatoes and some spinach picked from the garden. Added eggs and some yoghurt and baked the resulting pie. Good to tidy the freezer and a rather nice pie, too.

Looks a bit rough, I know, but it tasted very good.

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Lego, Cooking and Painting

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lego

Sorting and emptying out my Mother’s house has made me realise she wasn’t keen on throwing out anything! I found a box in her shed with some of my dolls, their tiny teasets, many dolls’ clothes and their tiny wire hangers my Father made for my dolls’ house plus a bag of Lego. The Lego brought back so many memories. It actually belonged to my brothers but by the mid sixties they’d lost interest. I absolutely loved it.

There’s white rectangular building blocks, green roof tiles and red framed windows and doors. I designed and built mini houses. They sat on a flat base plates. There were none of the people available now in Lego, nor the fancy pets or pieces for ships, spacecraft or botanicals.

Lego was first manufactured in 1949. The plastic bricks quickly replaced wooden toys and were hugely popular. They enabled unlimited projects to be created, so long as they were square or rectangular. In the 1970’s mini figures appeared. The pieces could be taken apart and reassembled without effecting their structural integrity.

Sales began to slow down in the 1990’s due to competition from video games. Lego introduced the Star Wars and Bionicle ranges and sales soared. During this time, Lego was increasingly bought by adults to create their our designs. During Covid lock downs the sales of Lego skyrocketed, mostly selling to AFOLs ( Adult Fans of Lego) Many AFOLs have entire rooms dedicated to their collections. A television show appeared about this time called Lego Masters.

A keen collector of Lego as a child, my son’s interest was renewed during lockdown and he built many models. Last year at Christmas he surprised me with a beautiful vase and a collection of Lego flowers.

cooking

Visiting friends brought us some spinach. While it was still crisp and fresh I chopped it up and put it in a bowl with diced onion, some finely chopped garlic, three eggs and ground black pepper. I know it sounds like spinakopita and I did add crumbled feta cheese but also grated leftover red leicester from a grazing board because you know I try to avoid food waste. Didn’t have any philo/filo pastry, either, so used some puff pastry.

Constructed the pie in the bread baking tin and put it in the oven until the top was crisp and golden. This made two dinners for two hungry people!

Also made bread and butter pudding. We had leftover artisan bread. A friend also delivered a jar of orange marmalade so of course, I thought of bread and butter pudding! Nearly out of custard powder but as I read the ingredients listed on the box I decided I’d make it myself. I remember my grandmother standing at the wood stove, stirring a big pot of custard. We ate puddings with lunch every day and that often included custard on pies, crumbles, dumplings in golden syrup with added custard and stewed or preserved fruit also served with custard. We also enjoyed jelly and custard or cream from the freshly boiled and cooled milk. Does anyone still eat jelly?

Looked up a recipe and gathered the milk, eggs, vanilla, sugar and a teaspoon of butter and made a pot of custard. Worked well. I buttered the leftover bread and added the gifted marmalade, arranged it in a dish and added the custard. Sprinkle of nutmeg and it was done. My husband likes bread and butter pudding for breakfast, also lunch and particularly dinner.

painting

I haven’t been able to paint for a long time. We spend a lot of time at my Mother’s house, dispersing her things, keeping the garden tidy and dealing with business matters. When we are at our home we are also trying to keep up with our own gardening, cleaning and administration matters. Add a few regular activities and there’s no time for painting. The table where I like to paint is also frequently covered in paperwork.

Spending an hour or so for the last few weeks doing some felt making and printing motivated me to put all the paper work on the table to one side and sit down and paint. I found some YouTube videos showing artists doing quick flower paintings. Decided I could spare twelve minutes to do the same. These paintings are wet on wet and rapidly completed. That means wet paper so the colour runs a little and is easy to apply. I tried several and have concluded this is not for me! My paintings looked nothing like those being demonstrated.

So many online tutorials, so not for me!

Much happier painting from life. It took a lot longer than the flowers tutorials on YouTube.

Looking at the screen trying to work out where my paintings went wrong I realised I was actually now looking at an arum lily and leaf in a vase behind the screen. Painted that and felt relieved I can still paint, just not quick, loose wet on wet flowers.

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Plastics and Autism, Lemons and Printing

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plastics and autism

Plastics have made so many aspects of our lives easy and disposable. But there is a dark side to plastics, too. The Florey Institute has just released the results from a decade long study clearly connecting a biological pathway between autism spectrum disorder and BPA (the plastic chemical bisphenol A). Boys are particularly affected by BPA. It can disrupt male fetal development.

Autism is defined as a neurodevelopment disorder with a wide spectrum of cognitive and behavioural changes. The research has shown that high BPA exposure suppresses aromatase, a key brain development enzyme. This has been noted particularly in males and has been linked to an increased likelihood of autism.

Image Pixabay

BPA is found in packaging, food and drink containers, cosmetics, even some foods, such as chewing gum. Common items with this plastic are food packaging, water dispensers, reusable plastic drink bottles, plastic wrap, takeaway cups, waterproof clothing, kitchenware and even sunscreen. Plastic makes these products stronger and more durable. There are many reusable alternatives.

lemons

No risk of scurvy in this house! The lemons are plentiful this year and we’ve been enjoying them in both sweet and savoury dishes. We had leftover lemon juice after I’d prepared dinner but my husband had a solution. It went into a glass with a generous splash of gin. Very nice, apparently.

The Lemon Chicken I normally make is a Greek recipe. This recipe has an Asian flavoured sauce, which was a lovely change. I served it with the pieces of lemon from the roasting dish but my husband found them too strong. I really enjoyed the intense flavour. Also, I used maple syrup rather than honey. I served it on mashed potatoes but rice would be good, too, except I don’t eat rice.

https://www.woolworths.com.au/shop/recipes/easy-lemon-chicken

One lemon provides about 31mg vitamin C which is 51% of the recommended daily intake. Vitamin C reduces the risk of heart disease and stroke, as does their fibre and plant compounds. Vitamin C plus citric acid, both in lemons, may help prevent anemia by aiding the absorption of iron. And they smell wonderful!

Also made these Lemon Crackle Biscuits. I omitted the desiccated coconut from the mix, so the biscuits were softer and spread out. They were delicious!

https://author-p35852-e148706.adobeaemcloud.com/shop/recipes/lemon-crackle-biscuits

We had leftover Lemon Chicken for lunch. Added mashed potato, carrots with mint and butter and baby beans. I also had leftover apples I wanted to use before we shopped again. Made an Apple Slice recipe which was easy and tasted great. The recipe actually states ‘green apples’ but I took a risk and used red apples. The slice was very good. Ran out of raw brown sugar so also used some brown sugar.

Visitors so I made a Lemon Cake which also had lemon flavoured icing and Brownies, no lemon at all!

printing

Our local library closes this afternoon and will be relocated to another building in the future. I have played mahjong there for years and also was part of an art group. We don’t know if we will be accommodated in the new venue. So we were just finishing off some printing projects this afternoon.

I had been very disappointed with the crispness of my previous prints. I cut a new plate, using the inside lining of a long life milk carton. I spent a lot of time pressing the image into the foil to ensure a crisp edge. Then I printed it in blue a few times and finally, in black. Quite pleased with the final monoprint. I have a piece of lino ready for my next project so will be drawing, carving and printing with lino.

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Literacy and Numeracy Week, Printing and Reading

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literacy and numeracy week

Celebrated on 29th -4th September, this week recognises that literacy and numeracy are the cornerstones of learning. The most recent OECD Program for International Student Assessment reveals more than half Australian students fail to reach proficiency standards in maths and 43% fail to become proficient in reading. Australian students are four years behind Singaporian students in maths and more than two years behind in reading and science.

The report also grades Australian classrooms as amongst the most disruptive ( in terms of disorder and noise.) We rank 71 out of 81! This makes me question the role of ‘student- centric learning’, the fashion of recent years. The teacher is seen as a guide or partner in the child’s education, not as a responsible adult familiar with educational philosophy. Education moved from a system based on knowledge, facts and experience to one based on political ideology.

This appalling information was published around the same time as the Australian Education Union rejected the Victorian Education Minister’s directive that all school in that state would employ the explicit teaching of phonics for a minimum of 25 minutes a day. The union says this displays a breathtaking disregard for teachers and advised their members to ignore it. Phonics is one of the most efficient and powerful ways for children to learn to read and spell.

Countries performing well according to statistics, employ ‘old fashioned’ educational styles. The slightest errors (eg. forgetting a pen) can result in demerits (two equal detention). The students sit up straight, all facing the front. Strict and explicit teaching methods, walking quietly between classes and being prepared plus greeting teachers politely are some of the criteria putting the children at these schools in the highest performing levels. Many are in disadvantaged areas. There is enormous parental support for these schools.

(Some of these figures are taken from an article written by Colleen Harkin, published 31 July 2024.) https://www.spectator.com.au/author/colleen-harkin

printing

Following the felting activity last week, I did a printing session this week. No, not learning upper and lower case letter formation! We created a template from a milk carton, inked it, pressed paper over the template then rubbed the paper to transfer the image onto the paper. Basic but satisfying activity.

Not really pleased with my print but next week will refine the activity.

reading

Piglet, by Lottie Hazell, was a very popular book earlier this year. Now I’ve read it, too. This is the story of Kit and Piglet getting married. Thirteen days before the wedding Kit reveals an awful truth ( it’s never actually named, but you imagine infidelity). They go ahead. They’ve bought and decorated a house, planned a honeymoon, sorted the flowers, the feast, her parents have paid for the wedding gown and all is set to go.

I was very surprised at the complex planning that goes into a grand wedding and the cost. Do the bride’s parents still pay for the wedding? This wedding was very grand until Piglet, the bride, realised at the altar she didn’t want to go ahead. The dream was spoilt. What happened next was pretty awful.

Piglet is a successful publisher of cookery books and I wondered what she was called at work. Her family, his family and all their friends called her Piglet, or Pig. Her family called her that as a child because she had a healthy appetite. Awkward name for an adult. Her younger sister was anorexic. This is a story about appetite and ambition.

I can see why it was a popular bookclub book. Feisty discussions, I’m sure!

I also read Sally Hepworth’s Darling Girls. We follow the lives of several girls in a toxic foster house. A sobering book but it does have a happy ending. I’ve read other books by Hepworth, an Australian author. This is a thrilling psychological murder story. Hepworth apparently interviewed social workers, psychologists, police, lawyers and foster families before writing this book. I read it in a day and a half. Not much else got done.

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Making Felt and Seasonal Vegetables

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making felt

I enrolled in a FELT MAKING course. I’ve made felt before but it was a long time ago. We were given 30g of wool. We set up our work places and began teasing our skeins of wool into small pieces. We created a square of five layers of the wool, each layer place in opposite directions, teased out and overlapping each other. We were shown how thick the finished piece should be and how to tidy the edges. Then we rolled the square onto a sushi mat and covered it in a sheet of plastic to create a sausage. Then we rolled this back and forward.

Teasing the wool into thin sections, each overlapping to create a square. We created five layers.

We all worked on the same project.

The wool was rolled many, many times to make the felt.

In the second session we unrolled our fabric, covered it in a piece of tulle, drizzled some liquid soap onto it, sprayed it with water and began rubbing it with a scrunched up soft plastic bag. After rubbing it repeatedly, we rolled it up and secured it, then rolled it backwards and forwards on a hard surface about one hundred times. Uncovered the felt, washed it repeatedly in warm water, then ‘bashed’ it on the draining board. Rinsed it after multiple ‘smashings’ on the draining board.

By now the piece of felt had shrunk and was quite compressed. Later I washed the rest of the soap out then ironed it with a steam iron. Finished!

seasonal vegetables

Our green grocer only sells seasonal vegetables. This suits us as it generally means the produce was grown nearby. I’d decided to stir fry some vegetables to go with some salmon and wanted Chinese cabbage. The Chinese cabbages were really fresh and attractive, but were being sold in lots of four. I only needed two for dinner but ended up with four.

I had already made some of Nagi’s (recipetineats.com) Asian Cooking Sauce which she calls Charlie-My All Purpose Stir Fry Sauce, so prepared the salmon and a pile of vegetables. This included zucchini as I’d used some in a ratatouille I was making and there was some left. Regular readers know my ratatouille mix never includes eggplant but often includes all sorts of other things. This time its Chinese cabbage! I try to avoid food waste.

All Purpose Stir Fry Sauce.

I cooked rice for this salmon stir fry. I don’t really eat rice, which often caused comment when we were in Asia, especially when we lived there, but my husband likes it. Rice is almost sacred in Asia but I become very skilled at avoiding it. I would cover it with sauce or food and leave it on the plate. It was considered polite to leave food on your plate! There’s no photo of the stir fry because the minute it was done, we ate it.

The other seasonal food on display at the green grocer was apples. So many types of apples! We bought Pink Ladies and Gala, a big, flavoursome, crunchy apple. We eat them raw, stewed or baked. Plus an end of season pineapple which was very sweet and delicious. Also eaten before I thought to photograph it!

Enjoying the apple season. The Gala apples are crisp and very sweet.

The next day I grated a zucchini to make a Zucchini Slice. I followed an online recipe. There were interesting comments about Zucchini Slice recipes. One site said it was their most often hit on recipe, another asked if it was a typical Australian recipe as it was very popular. One of my neighbours makes it every week for breakfast, lunch or dinner, whatever she fancies. It is delicious and versatile. You can eat it hot or cold, take it in a lunchbox and even freeze it.

Traditionally, Zucchini Slice has grated zucchini (courgettes), grated cheese, beaten eggs, S.R. flour, an onion, some bacon and some mildly flavoured oil. Of course, mine was a bit different as I had a Chinese cabbage to use up ( they don’t keep for very long after picking) so that was finely chopped and added. Also, I had some cheeses left from a grazing board and some other knobby bits, too, so grated them and used them up. There was a wedge of camembert, too, but that didn’t make it into the slice. I ate it.

The Zucchini Slice was very good. It made three generous meals for two. It was easy to make and we enjoyed the mix of flavours. So many recipes online if you’re interested!

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