Suburban Life – Page 24 – MakeCookGrow.com

Omakase Degustation Menu at Marumo

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An Omakase Menu at a Japanese restaurant means the chef has decided on the ingredients and presentation of the menu based on the quality of seasonal produce available. You entrust the chef to make the best decision to showcase the ingredients.

We were pleased to get a booking at Marumo, a local Japanese restaurant where the bookings open quarterly in three month blocks for a one night booking in the 28 seat venue at 7pm for four nights a week. Our seven course menu, plus two amuse bouche, was based on winter ingredients and featured a lot of seafood.

Our dinner began with an Amuse Bouche, Pickled Squid, a good indication of the flavours and tastes to follow.

First course: Shokoku Buri ( yellowtail) Looked enticing, tasted very good.

Second Course: Shark Bay Amaebi.

Third Course: Duck, Mushroom and Miso Egg Yolk, delicious and surprising textures and colours.

Fourth Course: Chef’s Selection of Sashimi. Wonderful clean fresh flavours.

Fifth Course: Tasmanian Salmon Belly Sushi, with a lovely range of textures.

Sixth Course: Yearling Beef, Onion and Puffed Rice, the only beef course and the only one I forgot to photograph. It was beautiful to look at and beautiful to eat.

Amuse Bouche: A yuzu sorbet, made from a tart but aromatic citrus fruit not commonly available locally, but delicious.

Seventh Course: Shio Koji, Popcorn and Chestnut. A grand finale!

This was a special night for us. We really enjoyed the carefully chosen and beautifully presented food.

Yesterday was SEWING MACHINE DAY. A sewing machine, capable of stitching saddles and canvas sails was invented in 1755. The more familiar style of sewing machine was invented in 1842.

Most of the clothes we wear today were stitched on a sewing machine. This means people have more clothes as hand sewing is slower and more expensive and machine sewing is fast and cheap.

I have a love/hate relationship with my sewing machine, so when it is working smoothly and the bobbin is full and the needle doesn’t become unthreaded, I love it, but when those things happen, I hate it! These things, of course, are all the fault of the machine.

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Officially Winter: Reading, Making Sourdough and Winter Food

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READING

Finished Latika Bourke’s “From India With Love”, her account of being adopted from India and growing up in Australia. One of many children in a devout Catholic family, her story is joyful and her account of visiting India, which was deeply personal, sometimes harrowing and always interesting. Now a political reporter in Canberra, Bourke has written a lovely tribute to her family, to Australia and to India, as well. A good read.

Also read the very popular “Where The Crawdads Sing”, by Delia Owens. Beautiful descriptions of the north Carolina coast, but I found it unbelievable and the story almost predictable. I finished it, but didn’t find it remarkable at all, but lots of people did, so you must make up your own mind!

My new favourite book was a Mother’s Day gift. It is Alan Marshall’s “The Illustrated Garden”, the perfect gift for someone who paints botanicals and loves gardens and gardening. This book is a collection of garden themed paintings and prints. A celebration of natural beauty but also a showcase for the work of many modern artists in the UK. I find something fabulous on every page.

Paul Torday’s The Girl On The Landing is my bookclub book this month. Utterly reliable, decent and dull, Michael is attractive to Elizabeth for these characteristics, so different from her father. After ten years of boring, predicitable marriage, Michael stops taking his medication and life begins to change for this couple. A rather unremarkable story slowly becomes very gripping! I read this thriller in two sittings and really enjoyed it. Thought provoking, informative ( about schizophrenia) and totally engaging.

MAKING SOURDOUGH

Within hours of arriving back in Perth from Bali I had taken the mother/starter for sourdough out of the fridge to “wake up”. I started the bread making process the next day and finally baked this loaf a day later. I used to make lovely, rustic looking round loaves in a dutch oven but find the rectangular shape easier to fit in the toaster and easier to predict how much I’m eating and when I need when to start the process again. Making sourdough does not happen quickly!

I have reduced the use of single use plastics and was trying instead beeswax covers but they never sealed properly for me and often fell off in the fridge which rather defeated the purpose of covering things anyway. I have ordered a set of silicone stretchy lids but for now I use clear, hotel shower caps to cover the rising bread and a lot of other things in the fridge, too. I can fit them over a number of bowls and plates, wipe them clean and re-use them and I can still see what they’re covering!

WINTER FOODS

This afternoon we have had rain. Apart from the relief that farmers and the garden have had rain, my thoughts turn towards soups, casseroles and, of course, citrus fruit. It is cool enough to roast vegetables and slow cook thick, hearty meals, to throw a rug over our knees in the evening and to put an extra blanket on the bed.

Vegetables for roasting, citrus fruit for jam making and tomatoes and avocados to make salsas to drizzle on roasted vegetables. The rain, which is so welcome, turns our focus on indoor activities.

What do you do differently in winter?

World Environment Day 05/06/2019

This day is about worldwide awareness and protection of the environment. The theme this year is Air Polution and what needs to be done to reduce it in industry, transport, agriculture, wastes disposal and households. Search online for detailed information.

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Making a Quick Cutlery Roll

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Just as Northern Hemisphere blog writers are pleased with the signs of Spring, I am pleased with the indications of Autumn! We had some rain yesterday and it is cool outside. The frog chorus is rowdy tonight. So my thoughts are directed at making, cooking and growing. I am enjoying doing things around the house.

MAKING a CUTLERY ROLL Often when we are travelling we eat breakfast and lunch and then something light in the room for dinner. These hotel room picnics can consist of bought ready-made salads, cheese, bread, fruit or cold meats. I saved these bamboo knives, forks and spoons and carry them for our picnics.

There is a plethora of instructions online for making cutlery rolls, but I wanted something light, quick and easy. This one took half an hour if you don’t include the washing and drying of the fabric. This actually is a hemmed rectangle with one end folded up and stitched into three slots and finally rolled and held in place with ribbon. Too easy!

I washed and ironed a remnant piece of fabric and then cut a rectangle to make the cutlery roll. My piece of fabric measured 50cm x 25cm (about 20″ x 9″) including seam allowances.

After I’d sewn down one side and across the bottom, I snipped the corner, turned the rectangle back to the right side and ironed it, making sure the raw edge at the top was folded over into the middle so I could sew it closed.

After I’d stitched the raw edge, I placed the cutlery on the rectangle so I could fold the end up to create the pouches to the right height to hold it (your chosen cutlery will determine the size of the folded piece) then stitched it to make three slots or pouches. I just guessed the measurements.

I hand stitched a length of grosgrain ribbon in the middle on the back, to tie the roll, after folding each third to make the roll.

Fold, tie and all done!

Light, quick and very useful, my super easy cutlery roll.

GROWING Went to an Open Garden afternoon with Sophie Thompson, a columnist, national public speaker,TEDx presenter, author, broadcaster, horticulturalist and weekly presenter on Gardening Australia on ABCtv. She focuses on sustainable gardening and promotes water wise and climate compatible gardening. Sophie spoke about the natural ways to control pests. Extremely well informed and funny, it was a great afternoon held in a wonderful garden. Very motivational

There are still some flowers in the garden. My Amaryllis Belladonna Lily (Naked Lady Bulb) thrives in our hot climate, grows in full sun and blooms late in summer when other flowers are finished.

This Abraham Darby is a lovely fragrant rose which sprawls out of its pot.

I collected seeds from this hippiastrum late last year and have five small plants. It has beautiful flowers several times during the year.

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Hello Autumn!

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Autumn is here! A few days have been cool enough for long pants and even a scarf this morning which is a lovely change. By the end of summer I am tired of my summer clothes. Also planted snow peas as a winter crop.

A crisp, yellow autumn morning, so breakfast at the beach followed by a walk. Great view, great food and a great walk!

I seem to abandon herbal teas when it gets cooler and drink way too many espressos. Lots of socializing means lots of espressos but I love catching up with friends. And I love good coffee.

In gardening news, I am pleased with these cream clivia seedlings. I collected seeds from a mature plant. I planted fourteen and they all germinated and most are thriving.

Started the new year doing a small painting every day, but life got in the way. Lately I’ve been doing quick watercolour pencil paintings using anything around me on or near the table as subject matter. As I’ve become more familiar with the pencils I’ve realized how versatile they are and will keep working with them on small pieces.

This Sunday is Mother’s Day. We are really looking forward to spending the day with my mother, chatting, eating, just spending time together. Mother’s Day is special!

This eye catching display of huge paper flowers is hanging from the very high ceiling of our local shopping centre (mall) to celebrate Mother’s Day.

We have a holiday soon and part of the planning is collecting books as we both find it really relaxing to lie around reading. Some we will both read, some we wont, but we leave them at the resort as we finish them for anyone who wants them.

Did you know May is Get Caught Reading month? So much to enjoy, fiction, non-fiction, perhaps some poetry, but don’t just restrict yourself to reading in May, read every day!

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Making Pesto, Cooking Pizza and Reading ” Common Table”

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MAKING Made pesto using just harvested basil and other simple ingredients. I picked and rinsed the leaves then blitzed them with extra virgin olive oil, lightly roasted pine nuts, pecorino (a strong sheep) cheese and garlic. Smells wonderful, tastes delicious. This pesto doesn’t keep for very long, but we’ll use it on pizzas tonight and on pasta tomorrow. It never lasts for long because it tastes so good.

I was a bit surprised to read that bought pesto has vegetable oil, pine nuts, garlic and pecorino cheese plus milk, salt, potato flakes, sugar and acidity regulator(575). Try making your own. So easy, so tasty, so fresh.

COOKING This yeasty pizza dough rose nicely as it was a warm day. Later, we rolled out the dough and made a variety of pizzas with several different toppings, including some of the pesto I made earlier. Delicious, quick to cook and a treat for us plus some leftovers for tomorrow.

Common Table

READING “Common Table” written by Janice Marriott and Virginia Pawsey, two New Zealanders who were at school together and met again later in life and began corresponding by letter, which make up this book. The co-authors write about their shared interest in food and their diverse lives and different challenges, as one lives on an isolated farm and the other in the city. Warm, often very funny, scattered with recipes and astute observations about the people around them, this is a book about two old friends adjusting to their changing lives and expectations.

I enjoyed this book so much I have hunted down and ordered their previous book, Common Ground, based on their shared passion for gardening.

Today is Meditate in a Garden Day, which sounds like a lovely thing to do, so make time to settle, relax and meditate in a garden.

Common Table

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Easter, ANZAC Day and the Eiffel Tower

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EASTER

So what’s the Easter bunny got to do with Easter? Apparently derived from German Lutheran folklore, the rabbit, originally a hare, decided if children have been good or bad and distributed eggs accordingly.

Gifts for friends and family treats. Lots of foods traditionally associated with Easter celebrations. We have fish on Friday and hot cross buns on Sunday and, of course, lots of chocolate, shared with family and friends.

More gingerbread rabbits with marshmellow tails. Tasted good and made sweet little gifts in cellophane bags.

ANZAC DAY

ANZAC DAY is the national day of remembrance in Australia and New Zealand commemorating all Australians and New Zealanders who served in wars, conflicts and peacekeeping operations. It is an opportunity to reflect on the freedoms of our country due to these actions of the armed services.

This is our local memorial soon after dawn.

Many of us attend ANZAC DAY services, often marked by fly bys, the laying of wreaths and always by one minute of silence and remembrance. Then coffee, tea and Anzac biscuits with friends and family. It is a time I think of my Grandfather who was badly wounded in the battle at Villers Bretonneux in 1918 where the Anzac forces stopped the German breakthrough advance on Paris.

ANZAC stands for Australian, New Zealand Army Corps.

EIFFEL TOWER

Eiffel Tower on focus photography

Recognised the world over, like the Sydney Opera House, the iconic La Tour Eiffel, or Eiffel Tower celebrated its 130th birthday in March. It was built as the entrance arch for the Exposition Universelle, a world fair celebrating the first 100 years of the French Republic and intended to demonstrate the industrial prowess of France to the world.

Designed by Gustave Eiffel, originally the construction attracted ridicule and scorn. Now a landmark recognized worldwide, the 300 metre high Eiffel Tower attracts over seven million visitors a year. When it was complete, Gustave Eiffel walked the 1710 steps to the top and placed the French flag on the summit.

Did you know April is Gardening Month? Gardens have always been important as sources of food, medicines, for leisure plus habitats for insects and other animals. Gardens are vital to our survival. They can be either tiny or very large areas, surrounding your home or even some distance away, such as an allotment or community garden.

Gardening is enormously pleasurable for many people. I come from a long line of gardeners and wish I had more land to work with, but most of the land I have is used for growing food, flowers and herbs. Many members of my family are keen gardeners and grow their own food and flowers, some have chooks ( chickens) and fruit trees.

How will you celebrate Gardening Month?

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Autumn Here and Now Link-Up……but it’s too late!

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Hello!

So happy Sarah is back with the Here and Now link-up. I really enjoy her blog but I’ve just discovered I have left publication too late for this month, so I’ll watch out for next months link-up!

LOVING The gentle change in weather as we move into Autumn. The mornings and evenings are cooler. Very motivated to work in the garden after an afternoon listening to Sophie Thompson, horticulturist, author, ABCTV garden presenter and TEDx speaker.

EATING Easter themed cake and gingerbread rabbits.

DRINKING Forest Fruits with a twist of Apple tea. Warming, tastes good and smells lovely.

FEELING Pleased the roses are still blooming. This red one is Father’s Love and lasts for ages as a cut flower.

MAKING Little muslin pectin bags for jam making. Last year I used a knotted Chux, a kitchen wipe! Very ugly, very efficient, but now I have some little bags which I can wash and re-use. Soon there will be citrus, so I’ll be making marmalade. The pectin, from pips and peel, makes the jam set.

THINKING Time to replant a garden bed which gets good sun but is currently planted with cannas. I’m struggling to get rid of them and have been researching non-chemical ways to deal with them. Digging them out seems to spur any remnant rhizomes to greater vigor. Any ideas?

DREAMING We’re planning trips, first to Bali and then a train trip. These are the things we dreamed about when we were working and had limited time to travel. So many possibilities now!

Tomorrow marks the beginning of EASTER, the Christian festival celebrating the death and resurrection of Jesus. Many families will go to Church, eat chocolate eggs and hot cross buns and spend relaxing time together.

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Three Quick, Easy, Gorgeous Easter Eggs and Bunting

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It’s not too late to make some Easter decorations. Easter has come about so quickly, but these projects are family friendly and mostly require materials you already have or can easily get. The projects I’ve featured here were very quick, very inexpensive and took little preparation. Each activity, except the shrink wrapped eggs, could be done by a school aged child under supervision.

The first easy project is MARBLED EGGS. Begin by boiling your eggs. While they are cooling cover your work area with plastic ( I re-used an old shopping bag). Half fill a bowl with water so you can submerge the eggs, gather some nail polish ( I used orange and grey) and put on rubber gloves.

Drizzle a small amount of both colours on the water and swirl with a toothpick, drop an egg into the water and gentle roll to cover with the marble.Repeat. The almost totally grey egg shows what happens if you pour in too much nail polish!

Leave them on the plastic to dry.

Pretty MARBLED EGGS. I used free range eggs which have very orange coloured shells, colours will look different on whiter eggs.

The second egg project is SPECKLED EGGS. After your boiled eggs are cool, pour some water into a bowl and add a good squirt of blue food dye and about a quarter of a cup of white vinegar. Dip the eggs into the dye and leave five minutes, stirring occasionally to create an even blue coverage.

I used an old shopping bag to cover my work surface and also wore rubber gloves. Remove the eggs and leave them to dry, then “speckled” by flicking brown paint (I used Winsor and Newton Burnt Sienna and Raw Sienna diluted water colour paint and a number 4 paintbrush) onto the blue surface, tilting slightly to speckle the sides.

Again, I used free range eggs which have an orange shell, white egg shells would look bluer.

The last very easy egg project is SHRINK WRAPPED EGGS which involves covering boiled eggs with bought shrink wrappers. (I bought these on EBay)

Separate the wrappers, then slip them over boiled eggs, then, using a dessert spoon, immerse the eggs one at a time, in a pot of boiling water. Hold for 3 – 4 seconds and then leave to cool, while you start the next one. So easy, so pretty.

* I use Martha Stewart’s method for boiling eggs. Heat immersed eggs in one layer in a pot of water until boiling, let boil one minute then turn off the heat and leave in the hot water for 13 minutes before straining and leaving to cool. Perfect boiled eggs!

Quick, free and gorgeous, PAINT COLOUR EGG BUNTING. The day before you make the bunting, collect two of each colour paint sample card you’re going to use, glue them back to back and leave under something heavy (I used a big book) Cut out an oval, egg shaped template and trace two eggs onto each of your colour samples.

Punch holes with a leather punch or similar and knot them onto string or ribbon. I knotted these close together so I could hang them around a cake serving plate.

Today is Licorice Day. Isn’t that wonderful? Licorice is a plant extract used in confectionery, medicines and alcohol. Love licorice.

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Cottesloe Beach for Sculptures and Albany for the Avenue of Honour Lights.

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Visited iconic Cottesloe Beach on a really hot day to wander around the Sculptures By The Sea. This free exhibition is in its 15th year and exhibits more than 70 pieces.

The sculptures are arranged on the grassed area and the beach so it’s easy to look at them from each perspective. Good access, beautiful surrounds and interesting pieces make this a very popular event. Across the road from the beach there’s coffee shops and cafes, icecream shops, restaurants and fish and chips shops, all with great views of the beach and Rottnest Island beyond.

This is one of a series of textural sculptures, clumped together creating a “cactus” garden. Tactile and not too big, these were very popular with children.

On The Nose, a humorous and clever sculpture. Very popular.

The artists exhibiting come from all over the world, including Japan, Germany, America, Sweden, China, Finland, Austria, Italy, Norway, Greece, England,South Korea, New Zealand and Australia.

The tower on the left is the Surf Life Saving post. This is the state’s coastal safety and rescue organisation. They patrol all the local beaches and provide essential educational and emergency services for the millions of people who visit WA’s beautiful beaches every year.

SLSWA runs children’s programs, too, called Nippers, and the children on the surf skis are practising their surf life saving skills.

Luckily, visitors to Cottesloe Beach to view the Sculptures By The Sea can refill their drink bottles with filtered water from these sources encouraging less reliance on single use plastic bottles.

The leaf sculpture “Ipomoea”to the right, moved on its stem and was fun to watch. It’s the work of New Zealander, Phil Price.

To Albany, down the south coast, to visit the Avenue of Honour.

Field of Light: Avenue of Honour is an installation by Bruce Munro and features 16 000 lights which glow green, yellow then white, representing the wattles, a native bush, common in the area. This immense and extremely moving installation down both sides of the avenue, pays homage to the ANZACS . This was the last sight of Western Australia for the 41 00o troops who departed from King George Sound.

The lights just before dusk.

The lights after dusk. Beautiful, quiet, very moving, a special visit to Albany. I really like this photo because there’s a ship in the background leaving King George Sound, just as the troops left all those years ago. Amongst the beauty, we can reflect on the sacrifice, courage and honour of the ANZACS.

ANZACS the acronym for Australian, and New Zealand Army Corps

Tomorrow, the 6th of April. is Teflon Day, commemorating the accidental discovery of polytetrafluoroethylene, or Teflon. In 1938, Dr Roy Plunkett was trying to make a CFC coolant, but created Teflon.

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Cooking With Nigella…I Wish!

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Fabulous and famous enough to be recognised by her first name alone, Nigella is about to complete a talking tour of Australia. Called “An Evening With Nigella” she talked about her way of cooking and her beliefs about food.

I have always liked the generosity and flavours of Nigella’s recipes and was attracted to this recipe, ” Chicken and Pea Traybake” from my latest book of hers called “At My Table”. It’s full of gorgeous photos, wise advice and delicious recipes. Nigella’s food is for cooking at home and serving up to friends and family.

Another attraction was that I had all the ingredients to hand! I like watching her cooking programs, too, as she’s passionate about food and uses real ingredients, doesn’t follow fads and enjoys eating. Quite inspiring.

The first layer of this traybake is frozen peas, yes, frozen always on hand, peas. So easy. They actually become sweet and soft as they cook and absorb some of the flavours of the other ingredients in the dish. Then you add chicken, leeks, garlic, vermouth, oil, salt flakes and dill.

Straight from the recipe book!

My version after it came out of the oven. I served it with boiled potatoes to mash into the pea, leek and chicken juice. This recipe made two dinners for us.

An easily prepared, one pan dinner. Once it’s in the oven you only stir it once more, otherwise you leave it to cook while you get on with everything else.

Mine looks just like Nigella’s!

Today marks the beginning of Write A Letter Appreciation Week, so find some beautiful paper and mail a handwritten letter to someone. A nice change from a text or an email.

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