Cooking

Fitness Trackers, Salmon and Christmas Cakes

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fitness trackers

Do you wear a fitness tracker every day? I’ve worn a Fitbit since 2013. Initially I wore it attached to my clothes, later moving to a device worn on my wrist. When I first became interested in monitoring how many steps I did in a day the common idea was to aim for 10 000 steps. As a junior primary school teacher I usually did between 7 000 and 8 000 steps on work days then easily reached 10 000 steps racing home, getting dinner ready to cook when I got home from the dog park and then all the other jobs in the evening.

So I gradually aimed for 11 000 then 12 000 then added an extra 1 000 every year until I was getting over 15 000 a day. When I moved to a wrist tracker I realised cardio and fat burning zones and calorie burn were more important to me. Then I kept reading blogs and many articles comparing the accuracy of wearing the tracker on your ankle instead of your wrist. The tracker doesn’t record movement effectively if your arm doesn’t move. Some people recorded an increase 0f 20% to 30% more steps and related information strapping their tracker to their ankle.

Intrigued, I attached my tracker to my ankle. I recorded about 15% greater scores in several areas so was a convert! Many bloggers give up wearing their tracker on their ankle despite the increased numbers because the length of the band is intended for a wrist not an ankle so it can feel tight. Mine fits comfortably but mindful of a few stories of trackers falling off I have looped a rubber band around the tracker buckle and my ankle. Unattractive!

Fitbit does not recommend wearing your tracker on your ankle. It will not record other metrics accurately. If your goal is to monitor your performance measuring all the other indicators available, Fitbit suggests a chest band, commonly seen on elite athletes. Then you need to read your numbers on a phone or a second tracker on your wrist. If you have your tracker on your ankle it is very cumbersome to read your numbers. I gave up and looked on my phone.

I’d really like to know if you’ve tried wearing your tracker around your ankle. I’ve read heart beat is not as easily measured but that’s fine. I’ve ordered a clip for my tracker as it looks funny on my ankle and I’ve really enjoyed wearing my old watch again. Also, it looks like I am wearing an electronic police tracking device! The tracker clip arrives tomorrow so I’ll do some comparison walks and workouts.

salmon

We try to eat fish at least twice a week and sometimes more often. Usually it’s salmon. Generally we oven roast it in lemon or lime juice and maple syrup. Regular readers will know I have been a fan of Nagi Maehashi’s online site recipetineats for some time. I bought her book RECIPE TIN EATS DINNER and was interested in trying a new way to cook salmon.

Part of the appeal of this cookbook is you probably have the ingredients in the fridge or pantry already. This was the case with THE ASIAN GLAZED SALMON which I made a few days ago. There was an enticing photograph of the finished product. Once you’ve marinated the salmon this recipe is quick, easy and delicious. The salmon tasted wonderful and will now be part of the regular dinner routine. The book shows the salmon served with rice, I served the it with mashed potato and asparagus. Always trying to add more vegetables.

Sticky, richly flavoured salmon with mashed potato and asparagus. Of course, the salmon should be served with rice but not this time. No chopsticks this time, either.

I am always trying to increase the variety of fruit and vegetables we eat, so the second time I cooked ASIAN GLAZED SALMON this week I served it with Chinese cabbage, roasted potatoes, beans and peas. (Chinese cabbage is cooked quickly in ginger, soy sauce and vinegar with chili and garlic and tastes much better than it sounds. Surprisingly delicious.)

Marinating the salmon, our new favourite recipe for fish.

Each recipe has a Q Code on the page. Scan this and watch Nagi prepare the recipe. How clever is that?

christmas cakes

Do you make Christmas cakes? Our family are great fans but I know lots of people don’t like fruit cake. We put a mix of dried fruits to macerate in port in October. The jars are turned daily to ensure the fruit is moist and delicious. I’ll make the cakes soon. I used to make, roll out then carefully place a marzipan layer on the cake. I’d finish by covering the marzipan with pure white icing and Christmas themed decorations.

Nobody wants to eat the icing now so I press cherries and blanched almonds in to the top of the cake in a pattern before the tins go into the oven.

world remembrance day for road traffic victims

Every year more than one million people die from traffic accidents.

www.worlddayof remembrance.org/

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Six Things In Seven Days

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exercise

I go to the gym twice a week. I occasionally remind the sports physiologist who did my initial assessment and supervises my workout that my goal was to feel healthy and flexible, not to prepare for the next Olympic games. She just laughs and ups my weights and repetitions.

Image Pexels. Not me but I use this equipment at the gym. I don’t look like this super fit person!

Although I usually exceed my daily goal of 13 000 steps I am now more conscious of how often I am in the cardio/peak fat burning zone. An hour at the gym twice a week exceeds this goal. An hour of yoga each week offers no zone points but is wonderful for flexibility and relaxation. The recommended amount of time in the cardio zone for a week is 150 minutes.

blooming

Spring! Our flowers are wonderful. The roses have all recovered from chili thrip and are in full bloom. Roses, ranunculas, hippiastrums, alstromerias, geranium, nasturtiums and arum lilies plus clivias ar all flowering now. I have yellow and orange nasturtiums growing together and found I now have yellow nasturtiums with orange centres and stripes. The bees have been busy.

I also cut back the 22 year old spring onions for the second time since I planted them. They get a bit straggly after about ten years so I cut them down to the white bits and they’ve all regrown. Sweet, healthy little spring onions. So handy to add to so many things. Still picking snow peas, too, and a few tomatoes.

driving gloves

No, I am not going on a long journey, nor taking up rally driving! My husband recently came home after a long drive on a hot day and said his hands felt burnt. He decided to get some driving gloves to protect his hands during the heat of summer. As a fully paid up member of the melanoma family, I wanted some, too. I’d tried cotton gloves but they didn’t grip the steering wheel very well. Although I uses masses of sunscreen all the time, I also wash my hands a lot, so very little sunscreen remains.

Bought online, our gloves arrived quickly, fitted perfectly and do the job well!

painting

When we lived in China I learnt about the Chinese style of painting from a man we called The Master. Typically, he trained Chinese students to be artists. It was like an apprenticeship where he loaded his brush in a particular way, then the student copied. He’d make a mark on the rice paper, again, the student copied. This was very much the approach he took with his three or four “gweilo” women, too, which was very different from the way we were used to painting.

Until the last thirty years, Chinese painters often did an apprenticeship with a master, a recognised artist, then graduated to their own works, mostly in very traditional styles. These were often annotated with comments about the leaves, the mountain or other subjects. Recently I’ve seen a lot of Chinese artists’ work online and it is very different from the traditional themes and styles. Bold colours and often social commentary feature. I wonder what The Master thinks?

Last week I began a Chinese and Japanese painting course. I have worked with this tutor before, drawing from nature. She is very talented! Unfortunately, whatever I learnt in the past has disappeared. My bamboo leaves were fine, my bamboo stems not so good. Needs more work.

eating

Despite wanting to eat simple food this week I jumped at the opportunity to make Authentic German Frikadellen, German meat patties. Why? I’d accidentally bought bolognese mince, a mix of beef and pork and had no idea what to do with it. It’s just what this recipe required, so I gathered all the ingredients. We also had the required two slices of white bread bought to make curried egg sandwiches for visitors and promptly forgotten about lurking in the fridge. No waste! The only thing missing was marjoram, a spice. I try not to buy spices I’m unlikely to use again as I don’t think they last very long so I’d have to throw the remainder away. Tasted good without it, anyway.

Soaked the bread in milk for a few hours, then began the process. Fried the onion and garlic, added it to the other ingredients. My husband blended the mix by kneading everything together, as suggested in the recipe. We shaped nine quite generous sized patties from the mixture and browned them on high heat, then left them to cook through on a gentle heat. It was not included in the recipe online, but I used the pan juices to make gravy to serve with the patties.

We ate these wonderful patties with spicy Chinese cabbage and potato salad. A dab of mustard on top. We’ll have these patties again.

reading

Richard Osman has written three books The Thursday Murder Club, The Man Who Died Twice and the latest one The Bullet That Missed. It’s another wonderful tale about the inhabitants of an old peoples’ home who like to solve murders. All a bit improbable but very entertaining. Apparently he’s already working on number four. Good.

Do you have an author you really enjoy and eagerly await their next book?

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Making, Cooking and Growing

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Isn’t spring wonderful after a long, cold and wet winter? Every season has features I look forward to but spring brings an explosion of colours and scents into gardens everywhere. Shrugging off coats and jumpers and boots feels so liberating yet I remember feeling excited when the change of season led me to wearing those boots!

Apart from clothing the other element that changes with the season is food. What is available, particularly fruit and vegetables, dictates what we eat as the temperature changes. Salads and other meals served cold appear often prompted by what’s available at the green grocer. Usually we go there with a few staples on the list but then allow the freshest, most attractive fruits and vegetables to dictate what we eat for the next week.

We go to green grocer which has been run by a family of Italian descent for jas long as I remember so we can buy sheep and goats milk cheeses and yoghurts, a selection of cold meats and some other items. I love their olives.

We couldn’t resist the first of the locally grown mangoes! Armed with a damp cloth we slurped our way through three. Pretty colour, great taste, a bit sticky.

making

TOMATO and CUCUMBER SALAD WITH MUSTARD and CRESS DRESSING

This week I was looking for a Lebanese cucumber to make a salad. I also bought tomatoes, but they’re always on the list! When we got home I washed, dried and diced the cucumber, tomatoes and three slices of red onion then mixed the vegetables with two heaped dessert spoons of bought mustard and dill dressing. I didn’t add any salt as it draws the juices out of the vegetables and makes the dressing watery. Into the fridge to chill for dinner. Served with a small sprinkling of salt and some grated pepper it was delicious!

BLOOD ORANGE SORBET

Blood oranges were also on display so I immediately knew I was going to makes sorbet. I put the icecream maker insert from the Kitchen Aid in the freezer overnight to chill. The next day I made the sugar syrup and put that into the freezer, too, until it was very cold. Washed seven blood oranges which resulted in two cups of juice, just the amount required to make the sorbet. Put the juice and sugar syrup into the chilled icecream maker and set it to stir for 12 minutes. Then we had blood orange sorbet!

BLOOD ORANGE CHOCOLATES

Meanwhile, I had sliced some of the peel from the blood oranges into thin strips after I’d scraped out the remaining pulp. I microwaved some 70% cocoa dark chocolate in a cup after I’d broken it into small pieces, checking every 15 seconds. When it was glossy and melted I tilted the cup and dipped the strips of peel, one at a time, into the molten chocolate. Then I left each strip to set on a sheet of baking paper. Of course, we had to taste one! There’s no point making something fiddly if it’s not great, is there? Very hard to stop at one each, but they needed to dry. I’ll be making theses citrus strips dipped in chocolate again!

The blood orange and chocolate strips look a bit gruesome but tasted WONDERFUL!

OVEN ROASTED MEATBALLS

Not everything I cooked this week was served cold. I made OVEN ROASTED MEATBALLS following a recipe from recipestineats.com. We like meatballs but I don’t like the splatter on the stovetop from frying them. Obviously I was attracted to a recipe where the meatballs are suspended over the tomato sauce made from tinned tomatoes, Italian herbs, onion, garlic and. Then it all went into the oven for about 25 minutes.

This recipe made two very generous sized meals for two people. Dinner one night was served with the Tomato and Cucumber salad in Mustard and Cress Dressing, a new favourite. The next time the meatballs appeared I served them with just picked and steamed snow peas and potato mash.

As usual, also made three loaves of rye sourdough. It takes three days to get the dough to the cooking stage but three loaves last a couple of weeks. While I’m feeding the starter I measure out the flour I’ll need later and set it aside.

Keep the flour in a plastic crate. I make three loaves at a time as it is a bit of a faff preparing the starter/sponge, then waiting for the dough to double in size , ready to cook.

growing

Using my newly sharpened hedge clippers I have reshaped a big rosemary bush. The way the blades cut through the woody bits and the soft regrowth without much effort is very satisfying. This particular rosemary bush was grown from a piece of my Mother’s bush and is very aromatic and strongly flavoured. She also propagated a bush for our son who felt the one he’d bought from the nursery wasn’t strongly flavoured nor really aromatic.

So as I almost effortlessly snipped off pieces of rosemary I collected the soft, new growth cuttings, stripped off the lower leaves and trimmed the growth off the top a little. Into water then on the end of the table which gets morning sun and soon little thread like roots will form and I’ll pot them up to share.

Beautiful spring weather, I hope you are enjoying the weather where ever you live!

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How Did You Celebrate World Dumpling Day, Reading and the Spring Garden

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world dumpling day 26th of September

How exciting is this day? Our family love dumplings, yum cha, dim sum, call those succulent, puffy, luscious little pillows whatever you like, we like to eat them! Full of flavour and fresh vegetables and proteins we have so many favourite dumplings! We often celebrate the arrival of our son in Perth, birthdays and other special days with yum cha. So we were happy to celebrate World Dumpling Day.

Australians have a few unique dishes but we’re very good at adopting the best of every cuisine in the World. For instance, this week we’ve eaten sushi, dumplings, croissants, pizza, chicken schnitzel, a Spanish Tortilla, wraps with salad and butter chicken and Toad in the Hole.

Toad in the Hole. I know, I was surprised by this very English dish, too, but my husband was reading a book in which the author referred to cooking then eating Toad in the Hole. He found a recipe, we shopped for the ingredients and dinner was Toad in the Hole. Apart from the hilarious name, this dish neither looked like toads nor, I imagine, tasted like toads, but it was very good.

Toad in the Hole straight from the oven.

Cumberland sausages from the British Sausage Company were browned then a delicious batter was poured over. This became a crisp batter with the sausages almost totally embedded in the mix. Served with onion gravy, boiled, drained and then roasted potatoes with rosemary and sea salt plus broccoli. We really enjoyed our dinner and my husband says he’ll make it again. Yes please.

Food products traditionally used by Indigenous Australians are also appearing in our cuisine. In a recent cooking program on TV one team presented a meal based on bush food or bush tucker, products indigenous to different parts of Australia. The menu included kangaroo meat which is very lean. The most popular indigenous food is probably finger limes. They’re shaped like a small cucumber with green citrus skin and inside are pearl like bubbles of citrus flavour. The bubbles pop and explode with a strong citrus taste.

reading

I have just finished Cherie Jones’s How The One Armed Sister Sweeps Her House. Centred on the lives of three generations of women in Barbados it was a difficult book to read but also a well written book.

It begins with a young girl being cautioned by her Grandma about taking risks and being disobedient. The cautionary tale tells about the reckless sister not doing as she was told and as a consequence, losing her arm.

Barbados is promoted as a land of long white beaches with endless cocktails and parties on the beach. This is the paradise of wealthy tourists and ex-pats but underneath the surface is poverty, violence and drug dealing and addiction. The locals plait the tourists’ hair, mind their children, clean their houses and sell them drugs. The young men sell their bodies to young and old women and sometimes, men.

But this book is really the story of intergenerational violence, rape, paedophilia, prostitution, corruption and murder. The sacrifices made by the women in this story, ranging from 1979 -1984, is dictated by what has happened before in this community. Shocking but perpetuated by each generation.

The story is really about Lala, brought up by her Grandmother after her mother is murdered when Lala is a small child and how she perpetuates the same violent relationships, too, despite her grandmother’s attempts to protect and then prevent her going astray. Lala finds herself at 18 married to a violent murderer. She is pregnant. She delivers her baby prematurely while her husband is out robbing then murdering an ex-pat.

Later, during one of his violent attacks the baby is dropped and dies. Lala somehow manages to find enough money to catch a plane to America not knowing her husband has been murdered that morning. I suppose this suggests a happy ending but this was a grueling book and one that has stayed on my mind. Cherie Jones is an attorney in Barbados and an author to watch!

the spring garden

I really like arum lilies. The contrasting crisp green stems and leaves then the pure white flower with the orange/yellow powdery stamen peeping out is so attractive. They are considered a weed in Western Australia! I grow them in a bed which is separate from other plants and they cannot escape.

Loving spring flowers from the garden and also enjoying spring foods, some from my garden. I am picking snow peas every two or three days and have tomatoes developing on one of three tomato bushes. The herbs are thriving in the spring weather and I have great hopes for passion fruit this year, too, as the vine looks very healthy.

Just picked snow peas for dinner.

did you know?

Adobe image

I heard today that there’s an estimated 2.5 million ants on Earth for every person!

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Six Signs of Spring, Father’s Day Weekend , Roses and Snow Peas

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you know it’s spring when…

The dawn chorus wakes you up! There’s birds everywhere. The pair of white cheeked honey eaters nesting in our garden is loud and energetic.

The days are noticably warmer by mid morning although the evenings can still be cool. There’s still rain every few days so the spring garden (and weeds) thrive.

Suddenly the shops are full of summer clothes.

There’s so many people outdoors, walking, riding, picnicking and just sitting in the sun in the middle of the day.

woman leaning on white table

unsplash

All the bare, deciduous trees are sprouting lime green fresh leaves.

gray pathway between green trees during daytime

Unsplash

In Western Australia there’s another thing too; everyone remarks on how bad their hay fever is, how their eyes itch, their noses run and their sinuses hurt! Caused by the prolific number of wildflowers which grow in our bush and grasslands.

father’s day

On Sunday 4th September we celebrated Father’s Day in Australia. Our son arrived Friday night from Kalgoorlie and stayed until Monday morning which was lovely! When he arrives we like to go to our favourite yum cha restaurant. We sit and chat, eat delicious little bites and drink tea and really enjoy being together.

I made apple muffins for afternoon tea as no one wanted lunch after yum cha. Neither breakfast nor lunch, yum cha is eaten mid morning as brunch.

My husband likes Zwiebelkkuchen, German Onion Pie. It tastes best made the day before you plan eating it. A delicious mixture of egg, bacon and onion, obviously, it also has sour cream, caraway seeds, salt and pepper. It is most often made in a pastry shell, but we prefer it without the pastry. So this was our Father’s Day breakfast on Sunday.

Rich and delicious served with a spicy fruit chutney and tomato.

For lunch I made a family favourite; Lasagne. I know everyone has their favourite recipe but I make the one on the back of the lasagne sheet box! It always turns out well, rich in flavour and looking superb when it comes out of the oven. The leftovers made two more meals for us and I think the flavour became richer each time.

I had also made a lemon meringue pie for dessert but we had it later in the day. I make my own version of Pâte Brisée, an all purpose pastry. I don’t know where I got the recipe but I’ve made it for years and it never fails.

There was some pastry leftover and because I try not to waste food, I lined a pie dish with the off cuts after I’d rolled them into a ball and made another pie!

The lemons were from a neighbour and were fresh and tart. The pie was quite rich, too, so I served it with cut up strawberries, pears and apples. I look forward to the citrus season every year and enjoy the fruit in both sweet and savoury dishes. I don’t really like oranges but love the smell of both mandarins and oranges and waft the scent of both around the house or burn an orange scented candle.

spring roses and snow peas

Do you live in the southern hemisphere? After a very wet and cold winter the onset of spring weather is very welcome. After two years of battling chili thrip which decimated our roses, I am very pleased with these highly scented, big unblemished blooms on the Holterman’s Gold rose bush. The other roses doing well now are Glamis Castle and the red Pierre de Ronsard. Pretty, scented and long lasting as cut flowers, they are the first of the spring roses to bloom.

Snow peas have done well, too, so a little crop to be harvested every couple of days. Picked, washed, added to leftover German Onion Pie with some fruit chutney for lunch another day.

WHAT’S IN THE BOX?

Our son presented me with a box. The outside hinted at the contents! Chocolate and licorice, perfect things to find in a box. During the pandemic there was a push to Buy From The Bush as passing traffic ceased. These small businesses struggled to survive, so promoted their products online if they had reliable broadband. Many of us sought rural suppliers during this time. Lucky me! A big box of organic licorice and chocolates was my surprise from Junee in rural NSW.

It is with great sadness we acknowledge the death of Queen Elizabeth 11.

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Savoy Cabbage and Honey Eaters

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savoy cabbage

Pexels Image

The green-grocer had a display of vivid green savoy cabbages this morning. I couldn’t resist. I cut the luscious, very fresh cabbage into half and set about cooking one half for dinner tonight and I’ll cook the other half tomorrow.

STIR FRIED SAVOY CABBAGE

Savoy cabbage, caraway seeds, butter and garlic.

Collected some garlic, a teaspoon of caraway seeds and some butter. Steamed the finely cut cabbage briefly (probably 4 minutes), then drained it in a sieve. Meanwhile, I heated the butter in a pan and cooked the garlic and roasted the caraway seeds before adding the shredded cabbage. Tossed it around until it was mixed and cooked. Served with microwaved then browned potatoes and oven roasted salmon fillets with Mediterranean herbs on top. Easy, quick, delicious weeknight dinner for two, I’d probably use the whole cabbage for more. I seek out smaller cabbages, pumpkins, rock melons and other produce which don’t store well as usually I am only cooking for two people. Pity I forgot to take a photo in my eagerness to eat my dinner!

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/stir-fried-savoy-cabbage

ROASTED SAVOY CABBAGE

A bowl of roasted vegetables can make lunch on a gloomy day rather fun. I cut most of the remaining savoy cabbage into wedges. I leave the core in as I think it adds to the richness of the flavour and it can be sliced out before it’s served, or, in my case, left in and eaten! I prepared onions, potatoes and carrots, briefly microwaved the last two vegetables for five minutes then sloshed olive oil into a glass baking dish .Added all the vegetables. Sprinkled sea salt on top of everything and then into the oven. First I roast all the vegetables together, then remove the cabbage once the edges are coloured then warm them again later when everything is roasted and ready. Drizzle with caramelised balsamic vinegar. (My husband prefers Worcestershire sauce.)

While the vegetables were roasting I also prepared some forgotten apples to stew. When the first flush of winter apples arrive in the shops I buy way too many and we don’t eat them all. I’ll eat the stewed apples, cooked in water and masses of cinnamon, with yoghurt in the morning. I usually have mango but they’ve become very expensive and came from the East until the weather warms up in Western Australia again.

Tidying up I remembered the ‘no waste’ bloggers writing about using the apple peelings and cores to make apple jelly. My Grandmother used to make apple jelly in apple season. The boiled up apple pieces were suspended from an upturned bentwood chair in a pillowcase to drip into a bowl all night. Apple jelly is exquisite, sweet and spicy with cloves, but a step too far for me today.

To recover from all this busyness in the kitchen, I’ve made myself a pot of vanilla and cranberry tea, which is very pretty, smells lovely and tastes great! Quick look at the weekend papers but find that’s not very cheerful so head for the gardening section and the restaurant reviews.

THE GREAT BIG SAUSAGE ROLL

This is not a fancy dish but it is a delicious and easy dinner. I used about a fifth of the finely chopped savoy cabbage along with cubed potatoes and peeled carrots, diced onions and beef mince to make two very fat, giant sausage rolls. ( This time I used very lean mince and it caught on the pan. Normal mince is tastier and easy to use.)

Planned to write out the recipe to include here but that didn’t go as planned. I’ve never really measured the ingredients for these pastry rolls but carefully weighed and noted what I did and when I did it so I could record the process. I’ll never be a recipe developer: the piece of paper I was writing each step on was splattered in all sorts of things. Not at all like the online videos! My apron also went in the wash at the end of this process. Don’t know why everything was such a mess, but we enjoyed eating this and we’re glad I made two so there’s one left for tomorrow. Ate one hot and one cold, both really good.

white-cheeked honey eaters

A pair of these small colourful honey eaters have established themselves in the back garden. They are endemic to Southern Western Australia. They flit around, landing on the clivias, lavenders and passion fruit vine. They are also hunting small insects. They are busy, flitting up and down and are very loud. We hear them chattering when we wake up and they continue well into the evening. We suspect from their behaviour that they are building a nest but we’re not sure where and do not want to disturb them. Apparently, they build their cup shaped nests down low in shrubs and bushes and both feed the young. They are described as ‘Gregarious, active and noisy with swift, erratic flight’. We watch them through the window and they watch us, too!

New Holland Honeyeater - Michael Rutkowski

eBird Image

This is a photograph of a New Holland Honey Eater which is very similar to the White Cheeked Honey Eater. The little birds outside our window are never still long enough to take a photo.

Today is the second day of spring! Beautiful weather after a very wet, cold winter.

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Wordle and Other Pastimes

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wordle

Are you a fan of Wordle? Originally designed by British software engineer, James Wardle to amuse his wife, Wordle is an online word puzzle. Now owned by The New York Times, a new puzzle is posted every day. Each puzzle has one word of five letters and you get six attempts to solve it. Each time you enter a correct letter in the right box, it turns green, a correct letter but not in the right box turns yellow and a letter not in the word stays grey.

This is a quick, ad free, satisfying puzzle. There’s no flashing lights, no ghastly sound track and it only requires a few minutes. There’s all sorts of ‘cheat’ sites online, too, but I can’t really see the point! These sites give hints, a starting letter, lists of the most common letters in five letter words, and suggests best starter words and even lists of all the five letter words plus the answer.

Lots of off shoots online, too. There’s so many variations of word puzzles, plus a fun one called Flagle which gives you hints to guess the flag and also Worldle, with hints to help you work out the country or region featured. All engaging and pretty quick to complete!

other occupations

I’ve painted a blue wren and a Banksia burdetti, both endemic to south west Western Australia. I was happy with the wren but not so happy with the banksia

Completed the fourth week of an exercise class which feels like Pilates on steroids. Just when I feel I can do something without leaving exhausted, they increase the weights. Feel great afterwards. Yoga is gentle but I leave there feeling great, too.

Annual visit to the dermatologist done, nothing burnt off or cut out this year. Wonderful!

Sad remnants of the once glorious apricot tree.

This sad sight is our espaliered apricot tree which no longer gets enough sun to flourish, so I decided to remove it. Hard decision but the palm trees behind are only going to get bigger and block out more sunshine. We stripped off the branches and then my brother used his chainsaw to cut the remaining trunk to a manageable size for us to deal with later. I’ll start new planting soon in this bed. I’ll be planting things that don’t need much sunlight but will bring some colour.

These orbs have sat under the lime tree in the front courtyard for about twelve years. They were rusted and disintegrating. I treated the rust then sprayed them with a rust retarding paint. This is a temporary treatment and I will have to replace them in the future.

The repaired orbs look good under the lime tree. Spring is in the air and things in the garden are waking up! We have fresh lemons and limes at the moment. The azaleas and clivias have added some colour during this gloomy, long winter.

These dear little pansies with their sweet faces are blooming, too.

As usual, made three loaves of rye sourdough. I keep a few slices in the fridge and the rest in the freezer and I find it lasts almost a month. Homemade rye bread is made using a mother/starter, flour, water, molasses and a pinch of salt. Now days I let the Kitchen Aide do the mixing. I used to rely on feeling the elasticity of the dough as I kneaded it on the bench top to tell me when it was ready. It was quite a lot of work. Now I just guess and it has worked well so far.

Three bowls of sponge starter and three bowls of flour ready for a morning of bread baking.

The ease of making bread in the Kitchen Aide compared to hand kneading, the way bread has been made for centuries, made me ponder other changes brought about by technology. My car replaced one I’d had for thirteen years so the new technology was pretty amazing. Connectivity allows me to use the phone, talk to it to change radio stations, swap tracks on Spotify, change the temperature, get directions and probably many other things I haven’t discovered. I have never explored the self parking system but like some of the other things, such as the screen image of exactly how I’m lined up in a parking bay, how close other vehicles are, changed speed limits and advice on traffic flow are all useful.

This is not my car but you get the idea! Image Pexels

I think about the things I can do on my devices, the individualised settings on some of the equipment at the gym, even the noise the fridge makes if the door is open too long and the way lights are set to come on around the house at different times in the evening. Developments in medicine are equally amazing, resulting in quicker and more accurate diagnosis and treatments.

did you know?

The Australian dollar is considered to be the most structurally advanced currency in the world. The notes are made of polymer and are almost impossible to counterfeit. They’re colourful, too!

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Eggs, Entertaining and Reading

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eggs

The difficulty in finding free range eggs in shops at the moment seems to not just be an Australian problem, but a widespread issue. Supply in some countries has been limited by disease (farmers in the USA have killed millions of egg laying hens due to spread of the deadly avian flu) ; some countries believed Covid was spread in eggs, hens lay less in cooler weather and all supply chains have been effected by Covid. The price of feed doubled in cost after Russia invaded the Ukraine, a major supplier of wheat, particularly impacting on prices in the UK.

brown egg on brown nest

The demand for eggs from hotels, cafes and restaurants dropped dramatically in Australia with the onset of the pandemic but was quickly replaced by an upsurge in home cooking. The supply problem arose from a swing towards free range eggs. Free range eggs cost more due to the limited number of hens per hectare, free range hens lay about 20% fewer eggs and the cost of collecting the eggs out in paddocks is greater than barn laid or caged eggs. The other additional costs of fuel, staff shortages and increased cost of feed and packaging materials are spread across free range, barn and cage laid eggs. The drought, the flooding, recently introduced government levies and the mice plague have also added to production costs.

flock of chicken on green grass field during daytime

Unsplash

Why choose free range eggs? Nutritionally, all eggs in Australia are very similar. For me the decision was based on concerns about the welfare of the hens. I just think a hen pecking outdoors is a happier hen! The alternative, keeping our own, is not possible as we don’t have a big garden. It is better not to contemplate that free range hens sadly lead significantly shorter lives. I just hope that they are happier ones.

rooster and hen on grass field

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Interestingly, recent information indicates backyard hens’ eggs in some areas of Sydney contain about 40% higher lead levels than commercially produced eggs. Older, inner city homes are more likely to have high levels of lead in their backyards. All gardens in older, inner city areas probably reflect the same issues with lead contamination. This also impacts on the quality of home grown produce and honey. (c.f. Elsevier, volume 301, Lead poisoning of backyard chickens: Implications for urban gardening and food production)

eating

We’ve been entertaining ! We’ve had relatives to morning tea one day and afternoon tea another day. It was so good to catch up with people returning to Australia and some other family members. Now you know why I was thinking about supply and quality of eggs. I always make curried eggs sandwiches. Everyone in the family makes curried egg sandwiches. I also set cakes and slices and platters of cheese, nuts, dried fruit, fresh vegetables, dips and crackers. I want to be sure there’s something for everyone!

Still a bit chilly in Perth at the moment, so I also made scones to serve with jam, hot from the oven.

reading

England Postage Stamp Exeter, United Kingdom - February 14, 2010: An English Used First Class Postage Stamp showing Portrait of Queen Elizabeth 2nd, printed and issued in 1998 british crown stock pictures, royalty-free photos & images

I was recently given a hefty tome, Tina Brown’s The Palace Papers. I don’t really follow the royal family although I admire the Queen. I don’t usually follow stories about the younger members of the royal family. I did watch the Oprah interview with the Sussexes and felt uncomfortable about their claims and demands. The factual accounts of their behaviour and expectations documented in this book certainly indicates they could never live the life of service and restraint expected of the royal family.

Interesting and supported by thorough research, this is the story of the Queen’s life after she ascended to the throne. Subtitled ‘Inside the House of Windsor – The Truth and the Turmoil’ the change in the public expectations of royalty is evident, especially after the death of Princess Diana. The monarchy had to change with the times. The triumph of her Jubilee year and Platinum Jubilee, the ongoing dramas around Prince Andrew and Prince Harry and her involvement “parachuting” into the opening of the Olympic games certainly revealed the Queen in a different light.

gold and blue crown

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Never a fan of Prince Charles I was interested in his support and popularity with younger people who recognise his passion for organic gardening, protecting wildlife, building and restoring buildings using sustainable methods and general interest in housing. He acknowledges the disruption to the lives of younger people due to the pandemic and expresses concern for their mental health. His trust supports many youth programs. His plans to ‘slim down’ the number of royals depending on the public purse are also popular. The Duchess of Cornwall, Camilla, long time ‘third party” in the Prince’s marriage, is also gaining popularity.

British Collage Illustrator Vector EPS file (any size), High Resolution JPEG preview (5417 x 5417 px) and Transparent PNG (5417 x 5417 px) included. Each element is named, grouped and layered separately. Very easy to edit. british crown stock illustrations

Like so many families, there are those who work hard, like Princess Anne, and those who exploit their position, like Prince Andrew and Prince Harry. Being the ‘spare’ lacks clear purpose and we know how that has played out! This is a very privileged strata of society and different rules seem to apply to what is acceptable behaviour. The difficulty for the Royal family is their once private problems are now broadcast on social media almost instantly.

The author’s conclusion, “The fascination of monarchy is that its themes repeat themselves because its protagonists are earthy.”

A fascinating book, too. Have you read it?

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French Holidays and Roasting Fennel

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the french ON holidays

Menton Pixabay

I am thinking about the French. Mostly I’m thinking about the way they go on holidays. The French have five weeks of paid holidays a year and these grand vacances are usually in July and August. Visit Paris in August and you’ll find even the boulangerie shuttered and deserted. It’s summer holidays and many Parisians flee the city for the country. Mostly the French stay within France for their holidays, unlike many Australians, most of whom came from somewhere else, even if it was five or six generations ago. Australians go seeking the uniqueness of other cultures, the French prefer their own!

Pixabay

Many French have access to beach houses where several generations of their family will gather for extended periods. They swim, eat, sleep, read, shop. They enjoy traditional, restful holidays. They eat the local specialties intermingled with their usual cuisine. When Australians go on holidays they rush from one site to the next, jamming in as many galleries and museums as they can. They hire cars to visit the cultural attractions, they take photos of all the statues and buildings and generally rush around, completing a detailed and exhausting itinerary.

The Brandenburg Gate, Pexels

I’m thinking about this as our next planned holiday fits all the criteria of achieving as much as possible every day. The Margaret River Region Open Studios, an annual event where artists in the region open their studios daily for two weeks is wonderful but requires meticulous planning to do everything we want to do in a week. Although the program is online, we prefer a paper copy. Using different coloured highlighter pens we both mark the studios we’d like to visit, or in my case, one I’d also like to re-visit. The studios are in four areas, making it easy to decide on one zone a day, so then the real decisions are made. Finally, we have a map with the places we’re visiting marked and try to stick to the plan. Next comes the booking of lunch time cafes and restaurants. It’s a lot of planning for a week away.

Pexels

Rigorous but stimulating, this will be a very busy break. Then I think we should plan a “French” style sea break. A swim in the morning, a pile of books and magazines, lunch somewhere close by, perhaps a little sleep, then a walk or another swim before a dinner of cheese, crackers and a punnet of strawberries. Unlike French style holidays, my beach break will involve no sun tanning and lots of sun screen! And a hat, always.

Pexels

Reading a French blog this morning I was pleased to see that espadrilles are de rigeur again this season. Not that I really care about fashion but I do really like the ones I bought last year and look forward to wearing them again. The beach outfits featured on the same blog are in a different category all together. Offering little coverage at all I think the dresses, playsuits and bikinis are intended for a particular age group which doesn’t include me!

fennel

Fennel is an eyecatching vegetable. So eyecatching, in fact, I bought one at the green grocer, although I have never prepared or cooked fennel before. We have enjoyed fennel seeds in Indian cooking and fennel salads in Alsace but I have never actually made anything from a fresh fennel.

Fennel Seeds Pixabay

Looked at lots of online recipes. Did you know fennel belongs to the same group as carrots? They don’t look alike! Fennel is eaten thinly sliced and raw in salads or roasted. It smelt slightly of aniseed when I was cutting it up but this wasn’t really noticeable when it was cooked. Most recipes I read advised keeping the cut off celery like stalks and any hard outer layers for soup. So I gathered up beans, carrot, cauliflower and the fennel stalks and outer layers and made a pot of soup, too. I kept some of the wispy fronds as a finishing touch when I served dinner.

The recipe suggested roasting fennel with carrot and onions. Did as I was told. The marinade was a mix of balsamic vinegar, olive oil, Italian herbs, garlic , lemon juice and salt and pepper. (I didn’t have any white balsamic vinegar, as recommended, so used red. Tasted very good) In another pan I roasted chat potatoes in duck fat. It was cold and stormy outside so a starchy, roasted dinner was very attractive!

Roasted fennel is slightly sweet and soft and really luscious. The three vegetables were slightly sweet and were well caramelised.

Salmon with Mediterranean herbs, the roasted fennel, carrot, onion and potatoes and a squeeze of lemon. Lovely dinner and leftover roasted vegetables for a salad and also there’s a pot of soup.

Spring

At the end of the month the Southern Hemisphere welcomes Spring. We are currently experiencing the cold and wet sort of weather I remember from my childhood. I have enjoyed the rain but also look forward to spring flowers and planting tomatoes. After disappointing harvests, for us, not the rats, I will grow them in a cage. So unattractive. Are you beginning to plan a Spring garden?

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How Was Your Week? Mine Was Busy!

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We arrived back from a week down south via my Mother’s place. She keeps sorting through the accumulated ‘treasures’ of the last century or so of our family life and sends me back with things she thinks I want, will enjoy or at least will look after for the next generation. My heart is not in it! I’d like an uncluttered house but that’s obviously a longer term goal.

Our son arrived here from Kalgoorlie that evening and it was wonderful to see him. He has worked extraordinary hours since October as it has been impossible to get workers, despite offering great wages. So he stayed for three days to really have a break. We did all the usual family things we like to do; eating yum cha, eating curries, sitting and talking. It was lovely.

Some of our favourite yum cha: Siu Mai, Prawn and Coriander dumplings, Prawn and Chive dumplings.

Baked Salted Egg bun.

After he’d set off for Kalgoorlie we settled back to our usual interests and occupations. I went to my Drawing in Nature class. Sadly the course ended this week. I have learnt so much and met lovely people and hope I can catch up with some of them in the future. I will be watching for other classes being presented by the tutor, Jane, too.

Leaf drawing, using Aquarelles. LIke coloured pencils, adding water spreads the colour. The small leaf, top left, is the real leaf!

It’s the middle of winter and I have been reading a lot. I have finished We’ll Always Have Paris. by Emma Beddington. This is the biographical account of a bored teenager who discovers French Elle in the school library and decides what she wants to be; she wants to be French! So begins an exciting, frustrating and very funny attempt to live in France like the French. She meets a Frenchman during her gap year and later they both live in London and have two sons. She doesn’t feel settled there, they move to Paris, then back to London, then to Brussels, then she leaves him and goes to Paris when he has the children. Eventually they reunite in Brussels. Apparently she now lives back in the UK. As much as I enjoyed Beddington’s accounts of living in each place I think her capriciousness would be better tolerated by younger readers.

We'll Always Have Paris by Emma Beddington

Also read the latest Marion Keyes book, Again, Rachel, a sequel to a previous book of hers, Rachel’s Holiday, which I haven’t read but will order from the library. Keyes is a warm and witty Irish author with a huge following. I’m always pleased when there’s a new book because they are so entertaining. Again, Rachel is classic Keyes with all the usual twists and turns and dramas and it was a really clever, satisfying read.

Again, Rachel by Marian Keyes-Book

cooking

Winter foods need to be warm, filling and full of flavour, so I often make Beef Bourguignon, a French beef stew. I make it in the slow cooker because I think it enriches the flavours. The smell of this cooking throughout the day is very enticing. Apart from beef, it’s got carrots and potatoes in it, so I just need to steam some green vegetables and dinner is ready to serve. I also make enough for a few meals.

Traditionally this recipe would also include button mushrooms, but I am the only member of my family who eat mushrooms! My preferred recipe is here https://www.makecookgrow.com/2020/06

covering journals

I set about covering four new journals. I start with red and black A5 notebooks. Leaving the red bound spines, I glue paper on the front and back covers then fold them in and glue them down. I measure, trim and glue marbled papers into the front inside cover and the back inside cover and finally, I add a calendar. I add an elastisized loop with three stitched slots for feltpens and sometimes, my reading glasses. I usually marble ten papers at a time as each journal requires two A4 pieces. Information on covering the notebooks to create a personalised journal (here) and how to marble recycled paper (here) and the elastisized holder (here).

The frido kahlo cushion

Saw this Frido Kahlo cushion online, really liked it, looked at it again the next day and decided to order it! Visited the Frida Kahlo exhibition in 2018 at The V&A Museum and loved the vibrant works of this Mexican artist (06/07/1907 – 13/07/1954) She was famous for her colourful artworks, feminist beliefs and her monobrow. It was impractical the carry any of the artworks or other products back from the UK so I was pleased when I found these products for sale online from an Australian seller. Now the cushion lives upstairs on the red leather couch. Not sure where the door stopper, ordered at the same time, will go but I know I will find a place.

in the garden

Twelve tulip bulbs have germinated, the spearmint scented lavenders are covered in flowers and I am making so much weed tea because i have so many weeds. I’ve pruned the rest of the hydrangeas and planted a few ‘sticks’ to give to my mother. She lost hers in a heat wave in February.

The last of the roses.

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