Recycled Plastic Labels, Flowers and Books

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RECYCLED PLASTIC BOTTLES

This hard to read label says, “I used to be a plastic bottle. This label is made from 100% recycled plastic.” My new cardigan is made of 100% cotton except the buttons and has a label made from recycled plastic. Good.

West Australian solo sailor Jon Sanders found on his recent world circumnavigation that nearly every 100 litre of seawater sample collected contained around 300 particles per cubic metre of microplastics. Why is this a problem? The chemicals released from plastics contribute to infertility, immunity disorders and abnormal neurological development in children.

FLOWERS IN THE HOUSE

The Phalaenopsis orchids are showering themselves in glory! Very satisfying, very pretty.

Several vases of early ranunculus. I cut them on short stems as the remaining stems have so many buds.

I read on a gardening site that ranunculus have more flowers if the corms are soaked prior to planting. I’d never done this before so tried it this year. I shared the corms with my Mother who lives further south. Unsurprisingly, mine germinated and bloomed before hers did but they also seem to be stronger plants. From now on I will soak the corms before planting.

I love arum lilies. They are a weed in Western Australia but my lilies are contained within an isolated bed. The lush, thick leaves don’t die off totally in summer as they do in the wild. The flowers start appearing at the end of August. I like to put the beautiful lilies in vases indoors.

The last of the Glamis Castle roses. They’ve all been pruned now.

CHOPSTICK STORAGE

We use chopsticks regularly. They’ve been stored in a cardboard tube for the last twenty plus years. The tube they were stored in was getting tatty. I was about to throw this acrylic chocolate box in the recycling bin when I realised it would make a great storage box for the chopsticks!

It had a brand sticker on the lid. I tore it off slowly and carefully but it left a layer of sticky glue. Tried removing it with hand sanitizer which was within reach. Didn’t work. Sprayed the sticker with Isopropyl alcohol and the residual glue just wiped off. Gave the box a wash in hot soapy water, dried it and now it’s a perfect chopstick box.

READING

Dr Norman Swan is a well known Australian broadcaster and physician. When I saw his latest book, So You Think You Know What’s Good For You? on the XPRESS ( seven day limit on borrowing for very popular books) display at the library, I borrowed it. He answers the health questions he’s asked all the time, based on the latest evidence and with good humour. Easy to flick back and forward following items of interest, this book is full of information and sound advice. You can just avoid the bits that make you nervous!

PLANTING OUT HYDRANGEAS

These ‘sticks’ are from pruning existing hydrangeas. Take a piece with two growth buds, push it into soil and come back a few months later. Roots should have appeared. I will plant these new plants in a very shady place where I planted some last year, as a trial. The plants only grew a little bit but each one produced flowers. I hope in time they reach a height where they will get more dappled light and thrive. I really like their glossy leaves and big, blousey blooms.

PRESSING EARLY SPRING FLOWERS

I collected a hat full of early springs flowers to press. I’ll use them to make some gift tags so I snipped their stems short. If I was planning to use them to make a card or a picture for the wall, I’d leave a longer stem and include more foliage.

I’d already cleaned the dusty press and put four layers of lithograph paper ready for the flowers. I don’t use paper towel as delicate petals can end up with the pattern of the paper towel imprinted on them. I also avoid newspaper as the ink can seep through the paper and stain the flowers during the pressing process.

Arranged the flowers then covered them with another four sheets of litho paper. I used a wooden press as I have one, but heavy books are also effective.

Put the top layer of the press in place and screwed on the wing nuts not really tightening any of them until they were all in place. Then I tightened them until there was no more movement.

I’ll put the press somewhere cool and dry for the next month. It needs to be accessible as I’ll continue tightening the nuts every three or four days for about a month.

TRAVEL JOURNAL PAINTING

Visited Rowles Conservation Park near Ora Banda while we were in Kalgoorlie. This lagoon is very beautiful. I have done a quick water colour painting for my journal.

In Australia and New Zealand, Father’s Day is celebrated on the first Sunday of September, so we will be celebrating this Sunday. This is a lovely opportunity to get together with family members but it may not be possible for all families due to ongoing lock downs in New South Wales and Victoria. Wishing all Fathers, where ever they are, a lovely day. Happy Father’s Day!

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Cezanne, The China Room, Cooking and Sewing

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WATCHING

Cézanne SELF PORTRAIT (Depositphotos)

We are very lucky to live close to a cinema. It has parking at the back, too. On Sunday we went to see Cézanne: Portraits of Life, a documentary focusing on Cézanne’s many portraits. This documentary was filmed at the National Portrait Gallery in London, The National Gallery of Art in Washington and Musée d’Orsay in Paris with contributions from specialists and curators from each gallery.

There was lots of background information about his life in Aix -en- Provence and Paris, his wife and son and his perpetual letters to his father, requesting money. In fact, an enormous amount of his correspondence with family, other artists and friends was read throughout the documentary.

Many of us are more familiar with Cézanne’s landscapes, mostly painted in Aix-en-Provence but this film focused on his influence on modern art. His style of portrait painting, intending to capture the feeling of the subject rather than an accurate copy, is accredited with the development of the Modern Art movement.

Cézanne and also Van Gogh are considered the Fathers of Modern Art. Both are known for evident brushstrokes, avant garde perspective and vivid, bright colours. The influence of both painters was evident in the development of Fauvism and Cézanne’s works are considered the precursor to Cubism.

An interesting documentary and as close as we are going to get to artworks outside Western Australia for some time!

READING

The China Room by Sunjeev Suhota came well recommended and as usual, I borrowed it from the library. The story is based partially on his own family’s history and is well written. He writes about the arranged marriages of three brothers and the total subservience of the bought brides. They were virtual slaves to the mother and the three sons. The story is set in the early 1900s so I thought of it as past history, not as something that could happen now. Not an easy read but it was interesting.

Unfortunately, I also read about a local court case which concluded this week in Perth. An Afghani refugee entered into an arrangement with a man in Melbourne to’ buy’ the man’s 21 year old sister for $15 000. She was unwilling to come to WA and to marry the man but was forced to co-operate. Her husband felt she didn’t show him enough respect and the marriage is not consummated.

Eventually, after an argument, he picked up a kitchen knife and slashed her throat twice, then left her on the floor to die. He then rang her brother to tell him to come and pick up her body. In his summary the judge talks about the murderer’s sense of entitlement, that his wife should follow his demands, show respect and be totally available to him.

The Australian Federal Police say that the most common crime reported to them is human trafficking and slavery. It is conservatively estimated that 15.4 million women worldwide are living in forced marriages.

COOKING

Our two passion fruit vines went from healthy with flowers to dropping their leaves and looking awful. As they are now growing new leaves and look healthy again I am assuming the chilli thrip that decimated the roses also damaged our passion fruit. Luckily, a friend has shared her passion fruit! Delicious.

The new growth on the pruned roses is healthy and vigorous. I’ll be checking every day to make sure they are not under attack again. Apart from treating them I have added fresh potting mix to those in pots and fed them Seasol and added pea straw. Fingers crossed they remain healthy.

COOKING DUTCH CARROTS

Did you know carrots were purple until the late 15th century? Apparently the Dutch then hybridised orange carrots as a mark of respect for William of Orange who led the nation to independence. This belief is highly contested online!

Many recipes add honey to glazed Dutch carrots. I find them very sweet anyway, so prefer a recipe with garlic and rosemary.

Pre-heat oven to 200°C (400°F)

Begin by scrubbing the carrots and removing the foliage. You don’t need to peel them.

Line a baking dish with baking paper. Arrange the carrot in a single layer in the tray, drizzle with a little olive oil, sprinkle on a chopped garlic clove and salt and pepper.

Roast carrots for 15 minutes, sprinkle with chopped rosemary and return to the oven for 15 minutes or until they begin turning golden and caramelising on the edges. Serve hot. Delicious.

OTHER TREATS

Our son visited one of his favourite pastry shops. We all benefited! Crisp, moist and a rare treat.

SEWING

We are having a cold, wet winter. Many of us have discovered draughts under our doors, never noticed before but now very cold and obvious. A while back I made draught excluders for my Mother (here) and this time my son requested two, one for his en suite door and one for the bedroom door. I made these out of the same remnant fabric I used before and filled them with fibre fill. They are very effective

I remember draught excluders on the farm where I grew up. They were heavy and not very flexible. I don’t know what they were filled with, but they lasted forever. Several people have suggested they were traditionally filled with sand or sawdust. Rolled up old towels could be used at a pinch. Everyone seemed to have ‘door sausages’ so maybe doors weren’t as well fitted, the winters were colder or there was less heating.

Did you miss International Orangutan Day yesterday?

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Some Sewing, Watching, ZOOM Painting and Chilli Thrip

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SEWING

Are you a home sewer? I had my sewing machine serviced this week. It was the first time in 34 years, so I thought it was due. Actually, I’d tried to mend my husband’s pyjamas and the machine made it clear things had to change. Off to the repair shop. Now it hums along happily. Mostly I mend and modify things, so nothing fancy, just practical.

Home sewing is experiencing a huge boom! Last year the UK recorded a 300% increase in sewing machines sales. Thought to be influenced by a program on television called “Great British Sewing Bee” and CV-19 resulting in more time at home, there’s also a move towards greater sustainability in clothing and a continuing reluctance to shop.

Not only has there been an explosion in the popularity of home sewing, but also knitting and crocheting are wildly popular, too. The UK Craft and Hobby Trade Association estimates over one million people have begun sewing for themselves in the past 3 years.

Sewing machine sales in Sweden have also increased more than 10 fold in the past year. A spokesman for Swiss sewing machine manufacturer, Bernina, says sales figures have literally exploded. (The West Australian newspaper 10/05/2021) Sales of knitting and crocheting materials have increased by eightfold. Availability of Australian grown and manufactured wool has increased enormously and can be found online or in craft suppliers. Good. In the past we sent most of it overseas.

So, is overt consumerism declining? Environmental concerns, a focus on individuality and the pleasure of creating all contribute to the increase in sewing, knitting and crocheting. Interestingly, many bloggers comment on the cost of these activities.

Once seen as thrifty, sewing machines and fabrics are quite expensive and mostly imported into Australia. Others suggest that having invested so much time, energy and money into making clothing or household pieces, they will take more care of them and keep them for much longer. It will be interesting to see if sewing clothes at home will continue.

WATCHING

I hate to admit it, but Jeremy Clarkson's farming show is really good TV | Television & radio | The Guardian The Guardian.UK

I enjoyed “Our Yorkshire Farm” and “Escape To The Farm With Katie Humble” but it all became a bit repetitive. Neither of these programs prepared me for ” Clarkson’s Farm”. Jeremy Clarkson has 1 000 acres in Oxfordshire. Fairly clueless, but with great enthusiasm and elan, he farms his 1000 acres. He employs a variety of advisors, farm hands and general contractors in typical Clarkson style.

Of course he buys a huge Lamborghini tractor which doesn’t fit in his shed and really requires an interpreter to keep it working. The pressures of getting jobs done in between rain results in him inventing his own, unsuccessful, methods. Very funny. Especially when his efforts are inspected by 21 year old contractor Kaleb who doesn’t hold back when he critiques Clarkson’s cultivating. The sometimes pointless but remnant EU rules baffle and annoy him, as did six weeks of non-stop rain. More rain than the UK had seen in a century. His farm becomes a quagmire.

So very funny and interesting, peppered with typical Clarkson observations and antics. All accompanied on a cool Saturday morning with a mug of Fridge Soup. In other words, all the vegetables that needed to be used up in the fridge, plus some meaty stock I had and curry paste. Bamixed, pasta added, left to cook some more, then ladled out and enjoyed. There we were, cuddled up with Louis the dog, comfortable and cosy on a cold morning, cackling at Clarkson. (Amazon Prime)

PAINTING

I really enjoy Amy Stewart’s painting tutorials on ZOOM. She delivers one each month. I’d signed up for a session painting monarch butterflies, so a few days before the lesson I found some images, studied the characteristics and painted one on my rose painting.

The monarch butterflies we painted were based on very quick, directed drawings. The focus was on impressions of butterflies, not so much on accuracy. After we’d drawn the shapes we applied a lot of water to each shape and then dropped paint into it. Unpredictable but colourful results. When the paint was dry we used felt and paint pens to add definition and detail. Very different from how I usually paint, but a wonderful opportunity to try other techniques.

Influenced by Amy Stewart’s use of felt pen to add definition and clarity, I completed this poppy painting by adding some pen drawing, too.

CHILLI THRIP

Continuing the war against chilli thrip. Some roses have responded well, others still look dire.

Some of the roses in the back garden have responded well to bi-weekly sprays, plant oil and Seasol. I have been picking the last flush of roses and there’s no sign of chilli thrip. At the end of July all the roses will be pruned right back. I hope they will be healthy next year! I will replace the top layer of soil where the thrip apparently breed with a fresh mix.

Roses out the front have not recovered at all. They had the same treatment as those in the back garden. Less sunlight?

The lime tree, on the other hand, next to the roses out the front, is covered in healthy, delicious fruit!

It’s International Men’s Health week focusing on the well being of all men. For more information www.menshealthweek.org.au/

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A Week of Verbs: Reading, Making, Buying and Painting

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READING

Really enjoy reading a good thriller and Kathy Reichs’s “The Bone Code” didn’t disappoint! She has written over twenty books in the Tempe Brennan series and they are all gripping, thrilling and a bit disturbing. A Forensic Anthropologist herself, her main protagonist works as a Forensic Anthropologist between Charlotte, North Carolina and Montreal, Québec, as does the author. Reichs is highly qualified and skilled at telling a great story. This book was also full of information about DNA. I really enjoyed it.

Also enjoyed Lily Brett’s ” Old Seems To Be Other People”. She has written six novels, nine books of poetry and four essay collections. Brett was born in the Feldafing Displaced Persons Camp in Bavaria. The family then came to Australia. She later moved to London as a journalist, back to Melbourne and finally, to New York where she lives with her husband, Australian painter David Rankin.

The daughter of Holocaust survivors, her works often focus on what it means to be Jewish. She frequently writes about the survivors of the death camps and the impact of this on their children and grand children. It is a theme common to all she writes, including her new book, “Old Seems To Be Other People”. This collection of 32 essays on ageing is witty, thoughtful and quite informative about NYC. A multi award winning author, Brett’s unique thoughts on getting older was an easy, funny and enjoyable read.

I hesitated before picking up Nina George’s “The Little French Bistro” because of the plethora of books with “Paris” or “France” in the title, intended to tempt the reader to buy a book they might otherwise leave on the shelf! Both words promise something special, mystical and stylish. This book is all that and more. A lovely surprise, this is the story of Marianne, who escapes after 41 years in a loveless marriage and finds a new life, new friends and hope in Brittany. This is a whimsical story with a happy ending, just like a fairy tale. Thoroughly enjoyed it and really liked reminiscing about our own holiday on the same stretch of Brittany’s coast.

As usual, these books were borrowed from the library.

MAKING

What do you do with a loaf of brioche that is nothing short of disappointing? De-core, peel and slice up three ageing apples and make an apple and brioche pudding! Layered buttered brioche and sliced apples with added currants in a casserole dish, poured over a jug of egg, sugar and milk custard. Sprinkled the top with nutmeg and weighted down the whole lot until the custard was absorbed. Cooked at 165º F for 45 minutes, delicious.

BUYING

I like all the pretty lacy, gathered, frothy nighties I see in shops and magazines, but I don’t want to wear them. I’m a fan of nighties that look like over grown T-shirts, prefer them without images or messages on the front and always look for 100% cotton. That’s the tricky bit! So I was really pleased when I found 100% cotton, patterned but fairly plain nighties and bought two for this winter. Unfortunately, they are not made in Australia but I’ll keep hoping and looking.

When I was a child my grandparents lived in a rambling old farmhouse along with my parents and brothers and myself. My Grandfather used a cologne called 4711. It was an eau de cologne so the scent disappeared quite quickly. So, wisps of the scent but not overpowering and not long lasting, either. I hadn’t thought about it for years until I saw a comment online about 4711 Aqua Colonia Blood Orange & Basil eau de cologne.

I really like citrus smells. Not a big fan of candles and room sprays but I have both in various citrus scents. I cook a lot with lemon, lime and oranges. Also kumquat and grapefruit. So I set off to find 4711 Aqua Colonia Blood Orange & Basil eau de cologne. Loved it! Started off with 50ml as a test, liked it so much I next bought 170ml. I spray it generously and enjoy little whiffs of the fruity scents throughout the day. Invigorating and refreshing. And a bit nostalgic.

PAINTING

Discovering painting lessons and demonstrations on ZOOM has resulted in me painting almost every day. I continue with flowers, enjoying a more relaxed, less formal and much faster style of paining than the classical botanical paintings I’ve done for years.

I’ve also fiddled about with blue and white vases and bowls because I have a house full of them.

I am really enjoying quick paintings and this week will do a session on butterflies.

Did you know, in Australia, you can take all your skincare and cosmetic containers back to David Jones and Mecca for recycling? They’ll take all empty tubes, jars and bottles and empty or near empty makeup containers? They will be recycled into pellets which can be used

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Flowers, Cavolo Nero, Painting and Reading

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CHANGE OF PLANS

I have been working on this blog well ahead of intended publication day as I was going to Canberra for two days and then Melbourne for three days. I’d done lots of research about the three exhibitions we’d booked tickets to see and had a list of other things I planned doing while I was in both Canberra and Melbourne. Then an outbreak of CV-19 changed our plans! Melbourne is in lockdown again. This must be very difficult for them. Anyway, I’m staying safely in Western Australia, at home and my son, who I was travelling East with is going to Darwin for four days instead. Bit sad about missing Botticelli to Van Gogh in Canberra and She-Oak and Sunlight, Australian Impressionism plus French Impressionism from the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, in Melbourne.

FLOWERS

Do you like fresh flowers in the house? Me, too. Not surprising, really, as my Grandmother always had flowers on the table and my Mother has at least one vase of flowers on her table, too. I like to grow most of our cut flowers. It’s hard to find out where bought flowers come from but apparently most roses come from overseas. I enjoy gardening and these flowers are so freshly cut they last longer.

The roses above are mostly from my Mother’s garden. The entire area around where we live has a terrible infestation of chili thrip* which is decimating the roses. The recommended treatments are making very little difference. It’s early to prune the bushes but I’m considering it to try and nurture healthy roses in spring. Any advice about successful treatments would be very welcome!

*Chilli thrip (Scirtothrips dorsalis) feed on roses, all citrus as well as a range of fruit and vegetable hosts. Originally from Asia, chilli thrip is gradually achieving global distribution.

CAVOLO NERO

Common in Italian cuisine, cavolo nero is a blackish cabbage, very similar to kale. I bought it because it looked so interesting. I combined a Maggie Beer recipe with some other general directions and made this BRAISED CAVOLO NERO, which we ate with squid and potatoes.

Rinse the cavolo nero leaves and dry them. I used a bunch to make dinner for two but it would feed four if you were serving other vegetables, too. It tastes better than it looks!

The ingredients are simple. Gather the washed cavolo nero, two cloves of garlic, a lemon ( usually, but I only had fresh limes so that’s what I used and they tasted very good) about five anchovies, because I like the salty, surprising taste when they break up amongst the vegetable. You also need some olive oil for cooking and about half a cup of water.

Fold the cavolo nero leaf in half longways and slice out the stem. I kept the stems to make minestrone! Apparently that’s the typical thing to do in Italy. Then cut the leaves sideways into slices. Put the oil in a heavy based pan and when it’s hot add the garlic and anchovies. The anchovies disintegrate a bit during cooking. Add the leaves, squeeze on the citrus juice and stir them about. The leaves shrink quite a lot. After about five minutes add the water and let it cook until the water has evaporated.

Served with some flash fried squid, a potato and another squeeze of lime. Healthy and fast, although preparing the leaves is a bit of a faff.

I made a very traditional minestrone, including the stems from the cavolo nero this time, but I didn’t add the pasta when I was cooking it. As the soup lasts two of us about three days the pasta becomes mushy after the first day. So I cook a little fresh al dente pasta and put it into the minestrone just before I serve it each day.

PAINTING

I’ve discovered ZOOM painting sessions and have really enjoyed them. I did an Amy Stewart session and painted four birds. This led to me painting a fairy wren, too.

Later I did a session with Marietta Cohen. It began with a guided sketching and painting lesson of cherry blossom, based on a traditional Japanese painting “Fukurokuju Cherry Blossom” created by K Tsunoi, in 1921. Later I sourced the original piece of art and did a full sized painting.

Also did a couple of travel diary paintings on our time down south. I love seeing other peoples sketches and paintings from their trips and am working on doing the same thing. Needs more work!

For some years I have painted botanical paintings. I wanted to try more relaxed casual paintings of flowers. Just realised most of the flowers I’ve painted are pink!

READING

I’ve just read “The Only Street In Paris” written by Elaine Sciolino. First saw this author referred to a on a blog reviewing “Emily In Paris”, then she was mentioned in another review. So I bought the book and I’m so glad I did, too. Of course, I bought it through Book Depository, using the link on the blog side bar! The author, Elaine Sciolino is a contributing writer and former Paris bureau chief for the New York Times. She has lived in Paris with her husband and two daughters since 2002.

“The Only Street In Paris, Life on the Rue des Martyrs” refers to the street in Paris where Sciolino and her family live in an apartment. Published in 2016, this book is the result of detailed research. Located in the ninth arrondissement, Sciolino introduces us to a rich collection of characters in her street. We meet the green grocer, the butcher, the baker, the cheese man, the knife sharpener and even a repairer of antique barometers. There’s a Synagogue, and a famous old church in dire need of restoration, so devout Catholic Sciolino writes to the Pope for assistance. There’s no reply.

There’s cafes, restaurants, bars and night clubs. She writes about famous people who have lived in the street and about the history of the street going back centuries. The buildings in many cases are untouched by progress and many shelter unseen gardens behind their remaining courtyard doors.

The survival of traditional specialist shops in Paris is made possible by legislation protecting them from multi-national and chain stores moving into some of these streets.Sciolino’s acute observations and mulinational cast of shopkeepers, mixed with the history of the area, makes this a compelling read.

Hello WINTER in the Southern Hemisphere, hello SUMMER in the Northern Hemisphere!

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How to Print Rose Pattern Giftwrap and a New Teapot

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PRINTING ROSES

Mother’s Day is only days away so I’m printing some gift wrap with a rose pattern. This could be the easiest craft project you ever attempt! The roses will be pink to go with the pink carnation card I have already painted for my Mother.

You need a bunch of celery, a knife for cutting the celery, a palette or plate for paint, sheets of brown paper or any colour you prefer and acrylic paint for printing. I also used some paper towel for dabbing off excess paint from the celery before printing. If you’re mixing paint colours, as I did, you’ll need something to blend the desired colour. I prefer a stiff paint brush as the bristles really massage the paint and combine the colours.

Cut the base from the bunch of celery. (Wash and store the sticks to eat later) Leave the base to dry overnight. When I looked at it in the morning I needed to cut the top flat again.

Prepare your work surface and gather your materials. When I looked closely at the base I thought the four outer remnant sticks were not adding to the rose shape of the others, so I cut them off. You could use a rubber band to secure the cut off sticks and print using them if they look more like roses.

Mix your preferred colour. I wanted pink to go with the pink carnation card I had painted for my Mother. I made a pale pink and a darker pink. Don’t worry if you haven’t mixed enough paint for your sheet of paper. The paint colour is easily matched to what remains on your palette/plate.

Lay you paper for printing on a protected work surface. Squeeze the paint onto the plate or palette, mixing colours if you want a different shade. I used acrylic paints. Dab the celery in the paint. Tap onto paper towel if you need to, then place on the paper. Press firmly. Repeat, creating a pattern.

Then I experimented with pale pink over printed with darker pink and also did some darker pink roses. Taking the cue from the black outline I added to the carnations on the card I also did black pen outlines on the printed roses. I used a Sharpie. Prefer the paler prints when they’re outlined in black.

When your prints are dry it’s easy to add leaves if you like, using green paint, felt pen, coloured pencils or even glitter pen. I didn’t but if I was doing this super easy activity with children I’d let them decide if they wanted to add leaves.

I printed on brown paper. I salvaged it at Christmas time. It was the packing paper around a large gift. Later I ironed it to make it smoother but didn’t bother making it perfect as I liked the slightly rumpled look! The paper grips the paint well. I have printed on tissue paper but it’s tricky as the paper sticks to the celery and butchers paper, which works well. I think it would look interesting to print the roses on sheets of newspaper, too.

MY NEW TEAPOT

I don’t drink tea although I love the smell of it! I just don’t like the taste. I drink coffee but try to limit the number of cups I have each day. Looking through the drinks menu at a cafe one afternoon I saw a list of Fruit Infusions and ordered a pot of Cranberry Vanilla. Really liked it and ordered it again a few days later then went hunting for it to have at home. It is sold as a loose mix in a packet.

Initially I made it in a cup using an infuser spoon basket. It was fine but bits of the mix escaped the basket and it took a lot of mix to make each cup of tea.

So when I saw this teapot I bought it as it was similar to the teapot used at the cafe. It’s a saucer, cup, pot, stainless steel infusion basket and a lid. And it’s pretty.

Pour the hot water over the infusion basket full of the loose fruit mix, put on the lid, leave a five minutes. Pour into the cup. No floating bits, full flavour and two cups of tea. The second cup stays hot in the pot for ages.

The same amount of tea used in the infusion spoon put in the stainless steel infusion basket makes twice as much tea!

IN THE GARDEN

The hippiastra continue to bloom. These are in flower almost all the time. I have had them for many years. The ranunculus corms I soaked before planting have all germinated as have most of the poppy seeds. Unfortunately, the roses are all under attack from chilli thrip and despite spraying them as recommended all except the icebergs look miserable. Too early to prune so I’ll continue to cut back the affected leaves and flowers and spray regularly. Any clever ways to solve this problem?

Did you know milk cartons take about five years to compost?

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Using My Handmade Book, Eating and Reading

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USING MY HANDMADE BOOK

I made this book, or zine, during a recent workshop. I knew I wanted to use it to record some of the things I planned to do this year. First on my list was a water colour course to learn how to do quick paintings of places we visit. I’d seen people with their papers, pens and small paint boxes drawing and painting when we traveled and I wanted to do that, too.

These gorgeous mementos feature quickly completed views. In our course we started with tonal paintings, then coloured versions of the same image. Our next lesson was using washes with black silhouettes.

I’ve always glued maps, tickets and photos into my journals when we travel but really like these quick paintings. I have illustrated my notes with sketches but I’ll create an outdoor paining kit and buy some water colour paper for our next trip and do some paintings. I’m looking for an A5 pad so I can paint then tear out the finished work and glue it into my every day journal.

Had some leftover papers of the right size and thickness and some embroidery thread so I made another book.

Used a template to mark the stitching holes. Poked them through using an awl.

Stitched the binding. The new book, for idle thoughts, is complete.

While I had scissors, glue and paper out on the table, I also made an insert for the card I’d painted for Mothers Day. Australians celebrate Mothers Day in May, so that’s when I’ll give this card to my Mother. She grows many, many carnations and has a constant supply of cut flowers. I love the peppery scent.

FAST, FABULOUS FOOD

Last week I made a pot of Guava Jam using divine smelling guavas given to me. Although I halved the amount of sugar suggested in the recipes I read, the Guava Jam was still very sweet. I heated a few dessertspoons of the jam in a cup in the microwave for 30 seconds and then drizzled the warm jam onto ice cream. Instant fabulous, delicious dessert! We really enjoyed it.

And not so fast, but equally easy to eat, Pear Crumble. Pears are in season so I made a Pear Crumble hoping for cooler evenings. Hasn’t really happened yet, but the dessert was great. I added nutmeg to the crumble and we enjoyed the extra depth of flavour. Looks a lot like icecream and guava sauce, tastes very different. I’ll be making that again!

READING

I’ve written about Kit Kemp, co-owner of Firmdale Hotels, interior decorator and author, twice in the past few blogs, so I’ll just write briefly about her latest book I’ve been reading. Called “A Living Space” it is actually one of her earlier publications.

Kit Kemp: A Living Space by Kemp, Kit | Hardcover | 2012

Kemp focuses on you trusting your instinct and ignoring the rules! She combines antiques with newly made objects or recycled pieces, bespoke with readily available furniture and very valuable artifacts with ephemera. She encourages her readers to look at texture, add some humour and surround yourself with comfort and colour. Live with what you really, really like around you.

Chapter headings include Bespoke And One Off’s, Antique With Modern, Compare And Contrast, Art And Collections and an amusing chapter called Dogs. Kemp champions emerging artist and crafters whose work sits comfortably with traditional furniture or family heirlooms.

Kemp often frames pieces of fabric or wallpaper which look interesting on the wall if you have any wall space to spare. I haven’t. Obviously, I enjoy her style of decorating, her combinations of affordable and valuable, her cheeky additions and the pages and pages of gorgeous photos.

A few weeks ago my husband read “The Man Who Wasn’t Maigret, A Portrait of Georges Simeon”. He is the author of the Chief Inspector Maigret series. This biography resulted in my husband getting fifteen Maigret books from the library. After he finished the first one he put it on my side of the bed and said, “You’ll enjoy this.” I’m on number nine, now and looking forward to the rest.

Some interesting facts about Georges Simeon:

1) He wrote 193 novels under his own name and another 200 under a variety of pseudonyms.

2) Maigret books sold over 500 million copies in 55 languages in Simeon’s lifetime. Only Jules Verne and Shakespeare have sold more.

3) Almost all of his books took less than 2 weeks to write. He wrote without any revision.

4) Simeon wrote two autobiographical novels, followed by a 1048 page autobiography and then a 21 volume memoir of his life. He frequently contradicted himself in them!

5) Simeon desperately wanted to be seen as a serious writer, an intellectual and to be nominated to the French Academy. It never happened.

Simeon is a marvelous story teller. His writing style is simple and shows a deep understanding of human nature. He limits the actual vocabulary he uses in the Maigret series to about 2000 words. He is Flemish, not French and a few of his stories are set in Belgium, others in Holland but mostly set in Paris. As a travel starved Francophile, I have enjoyed meandering around Paris with Maigret although I wouldn’t like to see some of the things he finds. He is famous for investigating murders.

Between 1931 and 1972, Georges Simeon published seventy five Chief Inspector Maigret stories as well as another twenty eight short stories. Most of these have been republished by Penguin in the past six years. Great reading.

Yesterday was Earth Day. The enormous drop in pollution resulting from less flying, cruising and manufacturing during the early days of CV-19 indicates we can make a change. And please try and reduce the use of single use plastics.

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What I Cooked, Ate, Baked and in the Garden

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cooking

Beef Bourguignon

Certainly not the usual weather for making slow cooker Beef Bourguignon but we bought fillet steak which was tough! We buy whole pieces of meat and my husband butchers and packs them himself. We found we had a lot of tough, expensive fillet steak. Despite the heat, I knew I’d be turning it into one of our favourite slow cooker recipes, Beef Bourguignon (here)

While my husband turned the steaks into cubes, I cut up red and white potatoes and carrots and put them in the slow cooker. Collected the ingredients for the sauce.

Seared the steak in several batches.

Whisked the sauce ingredients, brought them to the boil then simmered for a few minutes before pouring over the ingredients in the slow cooker, putting on the lid and setting it to HIGH for four hours.

This unctuous, richly flavoured Beef Bourguignon was served the first night with steamed beans. The second night I just made toast to dip into the sauce. Just as good!

Tarte Tatin

Also made tarte tatin. I’ve never made this before but I couldn’t resist some new seasons apples at the grocer so had to use up the six apples I already had. These were pink ladies, not the recommended Granny Smiths. The recipe I used is here.

Made the caramel syrup by dissolving sugar in water over heat then adding butter and cooking until it was slightly caramel in colour. While this was happening I peeled, de-cored and quartered the apples. When the caramel was ready I added the apples and stirred them around in the thick liquid for 10 minutes.

I had already thawed a sheet of pastry. Cut it the size of the pie dish I was using, then adding the apple quarters in a concentric pattern. Poured the left over caramel over the apples and put it in the oven for 50 minutes.

Left it an hour to cool before serving. Absolutely delicious! We only had left over cassata to serve with our tarte tatin but it was wonderful.

EATING

The week after Chinese New Year seemed a good time for us to go to our favourite yum cha restaurant. We arrived before it opened and lined up. When the restaurant doors opened we all scanned our Safe WA Q codes ( so we can be quickly notified if we’ve come into contact with anyone diagnosed with CV-19) and were shown to tables. The restaurant was totally full within minutes and there were still people queued and waiting. The yum cha is very good!

We ate all our favourites, including the black egg pie. All washed down with a few pots of tea. Such a good way to start the day.

Baking

I made sourdough bread for some years and then began making rye sourdough. It is a dense, strongly flavoured bread which I really enjoy. Then I began buying some rye breads and enjoyed the lighter texture of loaves combining rye and white flour. The Germans call this blend of rye flour and white flour a mischbrot, a mixed bread and it makes a lovely loaf.

So I went looking for a recipe to try and settled on this recipe here. I already had a rye mother/starter so simply followed the steps to create an active ‘sponge’, which is not as runny as the usual starter but not as firm as bread dough. This took 20 hours to develop.

Kneaded the dough until it was elastic and smooth then left it to rise until it had increased in size. Then kneaded and folded it again, creating a boule or ball. Left it to rise while the oven heated. Added a bowl of water to the oven to make a crunchy crust. Baked the bread for 35 minutes. Smelt very good.

Cut into the loaf when it was cool. The texture was light and even and the flavour was great! This will be my new bread recipe. It makes a smaller loaf than my previous recipe but I will make two loaves next time as I slice and freeze the bread, removing a few slices every day for breakfast toast.

The Garden

Autumn has arrived with heavy rain and high humidity. The limes are already developing and will be very welcome. Lurking amongst the limes is the household gargoyle.

This alien looking plant is a haemanthus or blood lily. This is a plant originally from South Africa. When the orange bloom and spotty stems disappear thick, leathery leaves will appear.

The amaryllis belladonna lily or Easter lily is a tough but pretty bulb. Also originally from South Africa, this lily thrives in our harsh climate. Traveling in the country side you can often see where a house used to be by the clump of belladonna lilies growing in the middle of no where.

Did you know the first Thursday in March is World Book Day? We are a family of serious readers and happy to celebrate this event by settling down for a good, long read! Both sides of our family are committed readers and have been for several generations. How will you celebrate?

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How To Store Food

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Do you know the best ways to store the food you buy? Planning what you’ll make with what you’ve bought reduces food waste. Appropriate storage is part of this, too. I didn’t really know which fruit and vegetables went into the fridge or not so years ago I researched the best way to store food.

Here’s the basic food storage list. We live in a country with very hot, dry summers, so our storage needs will be different from cooler areas. Consider your climate and make adjustments according to the seasons, too.
Onions shouldn’t be stored in the fridge, nor should avocados, peaches and other stonefruit and melons until they ripen. Once I’ve cut an avocado I wrap the remaining half with the stone still in it in a large silicone wrapper. There’s some clever reusable capsules available for storing cut avocados but I haven’t tried them .

Eggs, carrots, apples and oranges should go in the fridge. The problem here for me is I like the apples and oranges in a fruit bowl where I can see them. I only buy a few at a time so they’re eaten fresh. Garlic should also be kept in the fridge. All berries go in the fridge, too.

Once you’ve opened tomato sauce it should also be stored in the fridge to limit bacteria and mold developing. Same with opened jams, chutneys, mustards and tomato paste. Leftover tomato paste can be frozen in icecube trays then popped into containers and the individual cubes can be quickly thawed when required.
Bread is one of the most wasted foods in many houses. It should be stored in the fridge. It is easy to remove as much as you’ll use in a day and store the rest in the freezer. It takes us ages to use a loaf, so I freeze it and remove a few slices when needed. The more you put in your freezer the more effectively it keeps things frozen. Before you throw leftover bread in the bin, consider making breadcrumbs or croutons which will keep for ages, or a bread and butter pudding.

Leafy greens ( lettuce, cabbage, Brussel sprouts, cauliflower, celery, spinach) should go in the fridge. Years ago I bought (from Tupperware) a celery keeper and a lettuce keeper. Both work really well. Fresh peas and beans, in the fridge too, and beetroot. None of these should be kept for more than a few days. Leftovers make great vegetable soup, risotto or fritattas. Add leftover herbs, too.

Fresh herbs are tricky to keep fresh! Most can be stored in the fridge for two days but you can also put them in a glass of water and they stay fresher long. If you have room, pot up the herbs you use most often and they’ll always be fresh.

Potatoes should be stored in cardboard boxes, wicker trays, or lined drawers, not in plastic and not in the fridge.

There’s so much information online about safe food storage which will help reduce food wastage.

Apart from fresh produce most of us have an array of dried produce stored. I like clear containers so I can see what I have and what needs topping up. For years my favourite canisters have been recycled glass jars. They are a good size, I can see what’s in them and they fit and stack well on the shelf in the pantry. I can wash them in the dishwasher and they’re not so heavy I can’t grab one in one hand in a hurry.

After many years of constant use the labels have become tatty. Went searching for new labels online. I wanted an attractively shaped label with an outline. The design needed to be editable so I could add my own ingredient list as so many of the ones I saw listed things I’d never need.

My first choice was just written food names with no borders. Not what I thought I wanted but they do look fresh and clean. Printed them off and set about transferring them to packing tape to transfer onto the glass. I taped each onto packing tape, burnished each with a soup spoon and dropped them into the water bath, just as directed.

That’s when things went wrong. Was I using the wrong sort of packing tape, didn’t I leave the labels in water long enough? Instead of print staying on the tape when I rubbed off the wet paper, everything came off! After many attempts I accepted the stickers weren’t working, so just wrote the ingredients on tape and stuck it on the jar.

Problem number two: I couldn’t read the label on the jar once I put something dark, like peppercorns or brown lentils, in it! New plan involved printing a new set of labels and photocopying a drawing which I cut in half. Then I glued the food label in the middle. Looked too big, trimmed some off the top and bottom of the image then it looked fine.

Floral image from Shutterstock.

Fiddled about for ages trying to decide on the size I wanted and whether they should have a border.

Meanwhile, I emptied the jars and washed and dried them in the dishwasher. The lids went outside on a tray. It was 38ºC so they dried quickly. Then, labels attached with a rectangle of Contact, ingredients poured in and all back on the shelves in the pantry. Not what I imagined but they do look fresh and clean.

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The Week Before Christmas

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giftboxes with shortbread and chocolate ginger

Lots of lunch catchups this month so I’ve made giftboxes with shortbread and chocolate dipped ginger as little Christmas presents. I added the gorgeous 3D birds because they are so pretty.

These gorgeous birds are from here. I printed off these Blue Bird of Happiness images and glued them to brown paper to make the finished bird a bit stronger. They are small and fiddly and took ages to cut out. I used a craft knife where possible and small scissors for the other bits. They look great but I don’t know if I’d do it again. It’s too busy this time of the year!

I have been using this tatty template for years. It began as a download from a long forgotten source but over the years I have modified it to suit my needs. There are many similar templates available online. I glue the printed side of the template onto the gift wrap I am using to make the gift boxes as the fold lines are still apparent. This way the inside of the finished box doesn’t really show the printed lines. I fold the lines using an old school ruler, and that works well, but a boning tool would be good too.

Completed boxes and the little cellophane bags of shortbread and chocolate dipped ginger.

The finished boxes ready to give to friends this week.

I dipped pieces of crystallized ginger into melted 90% cocoa chocolate using a skewer. Left them to set in the fridge, peeled them off the baking/parchment paper and sealed them in little cellophane bags. Tried not to eat too many. Very, very delicious. These I added to bigger bags of shortbread I’d also made that morning. Both went into the gift boxes.

Then I began on cellophane wrapped bowls of shortbread, rum balls and chocolate ginger for our very special neighbours. These pretty little bowls are fine to take up and down the street but the lighter boxes are easier to carry to lunches.

Gifts for neighbours.

two book reviews

One of the good things about being away was time to read without the distraction of jobs that need doing at home. So I have read two books, both thought provoking.

The first is journalist Frank Langfitt’s ‘The Shanghai Free Taxi, Journeys with the Hustlers and Rebels of the New China”. He writes about his time in China in Shanghai 2011-2016. We also lived in China during the time of his earlier posting in the late 1990s. He lived in Beijing, we lived in Guangzhou.

To talk to locals and really understand their beliefs about modern China, Langfitt offers free taxi rides, not just within the city but also carrying people to weddings and other celebrations in far away provinces. He assumed everyone talks to taxi drivers and his premise seems to work. He is fluent in Mandarin and also has an interpreter with him.

Conversations cover wide ranging views of modern China, the difficulties created by leaving family behind in their villages and finding work in fast moving cities. Many people not only leave their parents and extended family for 12 months at a time, only returning, if they can, for Chinese New Year, but they also leave their only child in the care of family.

This is a thought provoking book. The author compares Chinese beliefs and political systems of America and China and relates this to various conversations in his taxi.

The goals of modern China result in frequent change. Wide sweeping, interesting and sometimes hard to believe how people in China still live and the rules they must follow but always very readable.

The second book is JD Vance’s ‘Hillbilly Elegy, A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis’, an autobiography about growing up poor in Kentucky. I think of an elegy as a sung lament. This account is certainly a lament, but also a call to action.

A member of a sprawling, under educated family group, Vance writes eloquently about his multi partnered/married Mother and her battle with addiction, his grandmother and her belief in him and the ever present violence and poverty. These are the problems facing all under educated children in all first world countries, not just America.

Poor nutrition, unstable homes, school systems with few expectations of student achievement and casual violence is self perpetuating. Vance, who regularly lives with his Grandmother, hasn’t done well at high school and signs up for the Marines. The discipline and expectations of the Marines shows Vance possibilities away from Middletown and the future there.

Through hard work and observing how other people live plus support from the Marines, Ohio State University then Yale, Vance becomes a lawyer. Completing the course requirements was not easy as his Grandmother, his chief support, dies during this time and his Mother succumbs to drug addiction again and becomes homeless.

A testament to human strength and determination, this book has been made into a film of the same name showing on Netflix. The film cannot convey the shocking deprivation Vance describes in his book which should be a set text for every politician and educator.

the summer garden

This hippeastrum flowers for months at a time.

Lots of flowers on the passion fruit vines, so lots of fruit to follow, I hope!

Glorious hydrangeas.

As this very strange year draws to a close, I keep hearing people saying they’re having a low key Christmas. Big family gatherings and all out partying sit uncomfortably with the events of CV-19 and this year. We too have planned a small and fairly quiet Christmas. My Mother and our son are staying with us. I’ve cooked a ham and roasted a turkey breast and we have a cassatta in the freezer and a Christmas pudding, too, but mostly we will eat simply and be grateful for the company of family and for good health.

Merry Christmas

and Best Wishes for a

Happy New Year!

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