Did you know lavender has been valued as a plant for centuries? Lavender is visually beautiful, smells wonderful and attracts bees to the garden. As spring approaches in the Southern Hemisphere the scent fills the air. The delicate clusters of blooms can be blue, white, violet or lilac and the foliage can be lime green through to grey green.
Lavender is the common name of Lavandula, a genus of flowering plants in the mint family. The name derives from the Latin “lavare” to wash, as the Romans scented their clothes and baths with the flower. The plant has been cultivated for ornamental use in the garden, as a culinary herb and as an essential oil.
The calming properties of lavender means it is thought to be the most used essential oil in the world. It is also claimed to alleviate stress and anxiety and is often recommended to treat insomnia. Try a drop on a tissue near your pillow and see if it works.
The lavender fields of Provence bloom in the Northern Hemisphere summer, June to August, and have inspired authors, painters and tourists for centuries.
Lavender tea. I didn’t buy it as I’m going to try making my own. Being non-toxic, lavender is perfect for cooking, sprays and potpourri. Lavender bags in drawers create a sweet scent and bags on clothes hangers will make clothes smell lovely.
Caring for lavender bushes is easy. They like full sun, deep and infrequent watering and light pruning when necessary. French lavender, Lavandula dentara is less aromatic than English lavender, Lavandula angustfolia, which can withstand colder temperatures.
Lavender can be grown from cuttings, layering and seeds. As they often self-seed, try looking under an established plant for seedlings.
Today is Buy a Book Day, so very easy and pleasurable to celebrate, especially when you can browse online, order and have books delivered quickly and safely from my favourite, Book Depository. (see side bar for more information)
READING Chalcot Crescent, by Fay Weldon, English author, essayist, feminist and playwright. Written in 2009, Weldon imagines the life that might have been lived by her stillborn younger sister whom she envisaged as a once famous author, a national treasure and a fierce feminist. The younger sister steals Weldon’s life. It’s 2013, Communism has failed, Capitalism is abandoned except by the public servants of the people, who like the best of everything, and frugality has ruined the economy. Centralized government rules. This take on Britain in 2013 is astute, funny and thought provoking. Sounds a bit grim but was a good read.
WATCHING The first series of Un Village Francais, the story of a fictional French village near the French/Swiss border and it’s inhabitants and their lives during the German Occupation from 1940 -1945. It highlights the challenges and dilemmas of surviving as families are shattered, people disappear and food becomes scarce. It shows the repression and fear during occupation, the disparate French Resistance groups all interspersed with individual loyalties and antisemitism. We borrowed it from the library. Can’t wait for the next series.
MAKING Spanakopita, feta and spinach pie. This is my recipe so I don’t know how true it is to the original Greek recipe but it tastes very good, hot or cold. It makes four generous serves or six light serves. Dice one medium sized onion and cook it in a dessert spoon of butter in a bowl in the microwave until the onion becomes opaque. Add it to 250gm ( 0.55lb ) broken up goat feta and one thawed packet of spinach (200gm/0.44lb) squeezed dry. I’ve tried making it with fresh spinach from the garden but can’t cut it finely enough to get the same results. Stir in two beaten eggs and a teaspoon of nutmeg. Of course, you can use any good feta, not just goat.
Line a medium sized casserole dish or similar with two sheets of filo, draping about a third over the edge to make the top, spread melted butter with a pastry bush on the sheets and add two more. Add the feta/spinach mix, smooth off, then fold remainder of the sheet over the top of the dish and smooth it down before brushing with melted butter. Put in 175 C (350 F) degrees fan forced oven and check after 35 minutes. The top needs to be golden and crisp.
Serve with roasted or steamed vegetables. Enjoy!
Our son wears sober suits or standard chinos and shirts to work. His socks are a different matter.
Our weekend treat from our favourite macaron shop Cafe des Delices in Dalkeith. They lasted three days.
Made bread and discovered the new oven is hotter than the old oven, so will modify the temperature next time.
This Sunday 2nd September is Father’s Day in Australia. The gifts are bought and wrapped for my husband and we will cook a roast lunch, open some wine and enjoy family time, remembering our treasured fathers, too.
Look at these beautiful winter foods! We’ve had a lot of rain this winter and citrus fruit has been plentiful. I’ve made jams, lemon meringue pie, lemon drizzle cakes and all sorts of salads, sauces and marinades with limes, pink grapefruit and lemons. My husband says the mandarins are the best. I gave up on my mushroom farm and bought these luscious, big brown mushrooms. I am the only one who eats them….lucky me!
The last of the passion fruit. They were heavy and full of pulp and I was going to make passion fruit butter, but we just ate them instead.
Lovely lemons made a lovely lemon meringue pie.
Put leftover bread in the oven while the spinakopita, a fetta and spinach pie, cooked and then processed the toasted pieces to make breadcrumbs. I’ve made chicken, beef and turkey rissoles almost every week this winter and they all call for breadcrumbs.
Spinakopita. I used to make this years ago and made it again for a vegetarian friend and have kept making it. Really enjoying the contrast of flavours. Delicious hot or cold.
A busy day and sushi for dinner. We really enjoy sushi and there’s leftovers for lunch the next day. We always order from the same place.
Fresh mussels were $4 a kilo at The Boatshed so I cooked them in white wine until the shells popped open, then sprinkled them with parsley and poured them into bowls with crusty bread. So fresh and so tasty.
Made a big pot of soup using carrots, cauliflower, celery, a swede, a parsnip, an onion and some potato plus homemade stock. I fried the onions first in a splash of olive oil then added the other vegetables and the stock and let it boil until it was soft, then used a Bamix to puree it all. Forgot to take a photo as we were too busy eating it!
This Kleenmaid Brandt double oven is nearly twelve years old and has been used almost every day. It has been very good, until it wasn’t; the ON/OFF dial stopped working. The electrician came and the replacement part was going to take three months to arrive, cost a frightening amount of money and then needed to be installed. By the time he’d had shown me another problem he’d have to fix, I knew the answer was a new oven.
Set off intending to get another white oven but that wasn’t possible. Oven shopping isn’t fun and when we found a stainless steel double oven with the qualities we wanted we bought it.
Old oven out, new oven in. So glad the cavity was a standard size and the new oven slipped in and was screwed into place. Then we had to run it for 30 minutes. It smelt awful but has been fine ever since. I baked a loaf of sourdough the next morning. The new oven has the ability to be set at 40 degrees to prove bread dough, one of 50 cooking programs and is pyrolytic, or self cleaning. Steep learning curve!
Recently we visited a cousin’s farm and lunch ended with cheese, crackers and quince paste. Delicious. I had three quinces so made some paste myself. Quinces are unfashionable and hard to get and not very attractive. They cannot be eaten raw and need to be cooked for a long time with sugar. They go from white fresh to a gorgeous pink when they’re boiled or baked and taste great.
To make QUINCE PASTE, peel, core and cut up 2 kilos of quince. Bring to the boil with half a cup of water (125ml) in a heavy based pan, reduce heat to a simmer. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. It should now be a thick pulp.
Puree in a blender or with a stick blender then weigh the puree and add 250gm sugar for every 500gm of puree. ( I reduced the sugar by 50gm and it is still very sweet ) Return to saucepan, simmer for 45 minutes uncovered, stirring regularly then pour the mixture into a baking dish, about 2.5 cm deep, lined with parchment paper and allow to cool.
The paste was still runny, so I put it in a moderate oven for 35 minutes, then allowed it to cool and it was glossy and firm. I cut it into rectangles and wrapped it in parchment paper.
The paste needed to be stirred regularly while it simmered for 45 minutes so I made crepes, too, using batter made of the “discard” from the sourdough mother/starter I use for sourdough bread, with an egg and almond milk added. So, pour crepe batter into pan and swirl to spread, stir paste, walk from one end of the house to the other ( 75 steps) flip the crepe, stir the paste and walk. Repeat until all the batter was cooked and the paste was ready to pour into a dish.
Quince paste, or Dulce de Membrillo in Spanish, is a delicacy eaten with cheese and crackers.
Served the crepes with strawberries seeped in kirsch and icing sugar, plus lemons and sugar. Very nice weekend lunch.
PLUTO. On the 24th of August, 2009, following intense debate, astronomers decided to demote Pluto from being a planet, so, officially, there are now eight planets in the solar system. Pluto is now a dwarf planet.
I was very interested when a friend mentioned she’d made marmalade in the microwave and decided to experiment. This seemed a quick and easy way to replenish our marmalade supply and use up some of the winter citrus crops.
The same friend gave me large, luscious pink grapefruit so I decided to use them to make marmalade. This was so successful I will try the same method to make lime and kumquat marmalade, too, as I have access to both at the moment.
To begin, I scrubbed two grapefruit, weighing one kilo, then peeled them using a potato peeler.
Using a sharp vegetable knife I cut the peel into thin strips, which released the wonderful aroma of the oil in the peel.
I carefully removed as much pith as I could, then cut the grapefruit into segments making it easier to remove any remaining pith and seeds.
Put the fruit ( about two cups) with their juice and peel into a large microwave safe bowl with two cups of sugar. Cooked it on HIGH in 5, five minute bursts, stirring at the end of each five minutes. I dropped some on a saucer at the end of four five minute bursts (20 minutes) and thought it was not ready and repeated this after the fifth session and thought it was just right and it was thick and ready.
I had washed the jars in the dishwasher earlier but put them in the sink and poured boiling water over them and the lids before emptying them and leaving them to air dry on the sink.
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The marmalade was thick, rich and not too sweet, so just as my husband likes it. Chunky with peel and fruit pulp, it smells and tastes wonderful. I’ll be making marmalade this way in the future.
This is the first time I have made marmalade in the microwave. This way is much quicker than making it in a pot on the stovetop and seems less sticky, too, but I don’t know why! Two very big pink grapefruit made two jars of marmalade so next time I will double the proportions.
Set the table for lunch. We’re a family who like serviettes/napkins but I don’t like washing and ironing small, elegant ones, so years ago I bought a set 0f three similar tea towels and we use them instead. They are a generous size and are 100% cotton so wash well. I no longer iron them. They come off the line and straight back into use on the table.
First thing I made this morning was French Onion Soup for our lunch. I peeled and thinly sliced four onions and cooked them in a little butter until they were translucent, then stirred through a dessertspoon of plain flour. Next I added 1 lt of water and 110 ml of white wine and let it cook for about half an hour, stirring every now and then. Seasoned to taste. Served four.
I didn’t have any ovenproof bowls so toasted the sliced baguette topped with gruyere cheese under the grill and put slices on top of the soup. Delicious.
My husband and son went out to get the cheese for the soup and returned with some surprises, too. We had one box of the bakery treats with coffee after the soup and then settled to the weekend papers. I also have the sourdough “mother” out in the weak winter sun, hoping it will bubble and froth enough to start a loaf this evening so I’m going in and out, checking on it, but think I will have to slightly heat the oven and put it on the door for a while.
The other box of treats was enjoyed at dinner time. Pretty colours, delicate flavours and very easy to eat! We always get macarons from the same place and they are always very good.
While things were boiling and bubbling away I went out and collected the seeds from the basil plant, put them in a paper bag and hung them to dry until it is time to replant.
Today is International Beer Day, recognizing breweries, brewers, bartenders and, of course, beer itself.
Beer has been enjoyed since about 6000BC. Ancient civilizations considered beer a food staple. Often, it was more pure and safer to drink than many water supplies.
So celebrate International Beer Day today with your chosen brew!
This week I made turkey rissoles. I’ve never bought minced turkey before so spent ages looking for a recipe incorporating the Asian flavours we like.
Like most rissoles recipes everything could be mixed in one bowl. I doubled the ingredients and made two lots of the mixture. The recipe used a 450gm packet of minced turkey, the packets I bought were 500gm (1lb)
TURKEY RISSOLES
based on a recipe from allrecipes.com.au
INGREDIENTS
500gm minced turkey
1/4 cup fine dry breadcrumbs
1 egg
2 tablespoons minced spring onions
1 clove garlic minced
1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger
2 tablespoons soy sauce ( I use low salt)
1 tablespoon oil ( I use EVOO)
2 tablespoons chopped parsley to serve
METHOD
1. In a large bowl mix the turkey mince with breadcrumbs, egg, spring onion, garlic, ginger and soy sauce. Shape into 9 rissoles, or to your preferred size.
2. Heat the oil in a frying pan over medium heat and cook on each side for 5 minutes, although I found they took longer. Garnish with parsley.
I used the pan scrapings to make a gravy, added some seasoning and when I re-heated it, a generous splash of white wine.
The double mixture made 18 meatballs which resulted in two meals for my family of three.
It’s been cold and wet here for a few days so I made a tray of roasted potato, kumara (sweet potato), carrot and red onion sprinkled with fresh rosemary.
The aroma coming the oven while the vegetables and especially the rosemary were roasting was very tempting. Next time I’ll add more rosemary as it was lovely with everything.
I divided the cooked patties in half and heated one lot and put the other half in the fridge. While the patties were heating I steamed some broccoli and reheated the gravy adding some seasoning and served the roasted potato, kumara, red onion and carrot and steamed broccoli in the bowls and then added the patties and poured on the gravy.
This was a delicious dinner, especially on a cold and wet night.
A kilo (2lb) of turkey mince makes two meals for three people. I made 18 meatballs, more than suggested in the recipe, but I used more turkey mince, too, as I bought two 500gm (1lb) packages. I doubled up on all of the other ingredients and the mixture was a good consistency.
The second meal was the remaining patties heated and served in sandwich press toasted rolls spread with sriracha mayonnaise, some cos lettuce leaves and snow peas out of the garden, all accompanied by a little bowl of Asian dipping sauce. It was very good and I’ll be making it again.
UPDATE. No minced turkey available this week so I bought minced chicken and the rissoles are really tasty. Again I made a double mixture (1kg or 2lbs minced meat) and will serve the ones in a basil tomato sauce (left) with pasta and snap peas out of the garden and the second lot (right) I made a gravy from pan scrapings, cornflour, some chicken stock and water then poured it over the rissoles and I will serve these with mashed potatoes and steamed vegetables.
Tomorrow is Milk Chocolate Day. Milk Chocolate is a mix of cocoa solids and either dried milk or condensed milk. Chocolate has mood enhancing benefits due to a stimulant, theobromine and a compound called anandamide. Good reasons to enjoy some chocolate today!
Do you love mushrooms? I’m the only one in my family who eats mushrooms and decided to try a boxed “Mushroom Farm”. Followed the instructions and misted the box everyday and waited.
Fifteen days later the first mushroom appeared!
Closely followed by some more.
Weighed the two crops I got and found I’d grown 156 g of mushrooms. What a flop! I could buy 1.5kg of mushrooms from the grocery shop for the $15.00 I paid for the mushroom farm. There was no second crop so the whole lot went into the garden as soil improver.
GARDEN REPAIRS
This gap between two lots of paving was cracked and some of the old pebbles were becoming loose. I dug out the old pebbles and concrete. The channel shows our grey, hopeless beach sand which needs the constant addition of nutrients
Mixed a bucket of quick set concrete using a recycled bucket from the local deli; it used to hold olives. Mixed it with a stick and poured it into the channel.
Smoothed it out and collected the pebbles I had cleaned and could re-use and included some new ones, too, partially burying the pebbles in the concrete.
The job is nearly finished. I hadn’t cleaned the pebbles with a wet rag when I took this photo. Two days later it has set well and is now clean.
SCRUMPTIOUS SHORTBREAD
I have a friend who often talked about the scrumptious shortbread her mother’s cousin, Nancy, used to bring when she was visiting. Nancy is a close friend of my mother’s and I was delighted to be given her recipe and couldn’t wait to try it. I’m glad I did as it is very, very good.
Cream 7 oz of butter with 3 oz of caster sugar and 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla essence. I discovered my electronic scales can be used in metric and imperial settings which was very helpful. Add 9 oz of plain flour sifted with 2 oz of rice flour. Mix and roll into a ball. I pressed it into a glass tray, rolling the top flat with a small rolling pin.
Cut finger shapes into the dough and prick with a fork then put it in the fridge for an hour.
Bake at 140 C fan forced for 45 minutes then leave it to cool. I ran a knife along the existing cutlines and that made it easy to get the fingers out when the shortbread was cool. This is good shortbread, tasty with a light texture.
Today is PINK DAY. Pink didn’t describe a colour until the 17th century. Before that, pink meant to create a perforated or punched pattern (think pinking shears) Pink, the colour, was previously known as rosy or pale red and remains the colour of romance. I hope you are in the pink of good health.
To celebrate I’ve bought some black and pink, not black and red, journals which are awaiting covers and marbled lining papers.
The end of summer fruits, kiwi fruit and strawberries plus new season pears and apples.
Following a period of poor health I am trying to “repair” my gut and found lots of online references to gelatin. It is thought to improve the mucosal lining of the gut and stimulate the production of gastric juices aiding digestion. It is an easily digested protein.
There are so many recipes for fruit jellies, or gummy bears, online, but I wanted to use apples as I already had a bowl full. My resulting fruit jelly wasn’t such a pretty colour like those made from strawberries or mango, but it tasted very good.
I began by stewing four apples in very little water. When they were soft I drained them and pureed the pulp.
I put one and a half cups of pulp in a jug and stirred through two dessertspoons of gelatin dissolved in half a cup of water. Next time I will put the fruit through a sieve to make a smoother jelly, but I quite liked the chewiness of this lumpier jelly.
I poured the mix into a lightly oiled glass dish and left it to set in the fridge for a few hours before cutting it and tasting it. Intense apple flavour and very nice. Some online recipes include faux sugars which would certainly make it more like traditional gummy fruits but I didn’t add this and we still enjoyed the taste.
Lots of examples online show the jellies made in silicone moulds shaped like bears, hearts and even Lego figures which are also available online and in kitchenware shops.
I will make this again trying other winter fruits which are now appearing in the fruit shops. A thinner version, using less gelatin, would be like normal jelly/jello but the whole point is to digest the gelatin so I’ll stick with these proportions of fruit to gelatin.
We’re going away soon and have begun collecting books to read while we are on holidays. Our collections often overlap and we swap, but I don’t think that will happen this time. I also like to take some decorator magazines.
The last of the hydrangeas. I cut and potted lots of “sticks” when I was pruning to create new plants in spring.
The last of the roses. The bushes are getting “leggy” and will be pruned soon.
Today, the fourth of May, is Star Wars Day, so sit back and watch your favourite Star Wars DVD with your light saber close by and may the fourth ( ha ha) be with you!
Artist unknown, after Giovan Francesco Barbieri, known as Guerano after 1648
The Corsini Collection, portraying 600 years of the family history, left the Corsini Palazzo, a magnificent Baroque palace to travel to Auckland, New Zealand and then Perth, Western Australia for the first time ever and is currently on display at the Art Gallery of Western Australia.
PORTRAIT OF BIANCA CAPPELLO, MORGANATIC WIFE OF FRANCESCO DE’MEDICI
Alessandro Allori after 1579
Featuring artworks by Botticelli, Mantegna, Tintoretto, Pontormo and Caravaggio and many others, the collection is a snapshot of an eminent Florentine family history from a time when Florence was the centre of culture and the arts during the Renaissance.
Morganatic relates to or denotes a marriage in which the spouse of lower rank, or any children, have no claim to the possessions or title of the spouse of higher rank. No, I didn’t know, either!
HOLY FAMILY
Fra Bartolomeo 1511
The family agreed to the exhibition leaving the palazzo to travel to the antipodes as they felt they owed a debt to the allied forces of Australia and New Zealand who forced the German troops from their part of Italy in World War II. The family also benefits from curatorial research and restoration of some of the works prior to the exhibition.
PORTRAIT OF MAFFEO BARBERINI
Caravaggio 1597
As the Germans approached, the family drove the artworks to their country villa for safety. The collection was concealed behind a rapidly erected false wall with the portrait of Saint Andrea Corsini at the front. A German lieutenant, smelling the fresh plaster, shot into the wall. The bullet holes remain, unrestored, in the Saint’s forehead.
The collection included decorative objects and furnishings from the Corsini Palazzo, a hand written recipe book, kitchenalia and textiles plus designs for ceiling frescoes and the chapel dome.
The dining table is set just as it was for a banquet held at the palazzo in March 1857.
Recipe book “Recipes for Tidbits” written by Antonietta Corsini 1864-1881
PORTRAIT OF PRINCESS ELENA CORSINI Pietro Annigoni 1950
Princess Elena Corsini was responsible for saving the family collection from the German Armed Forces 1944. Traditionally the men were collecting these artworks, but during the twentieth and twenty first century it’s the females who are responsible for the collection. Both Countessas Livia Branca and Elisabetta Minutoli Tegrimi traveled to the opening of the exhibition.
PORTRAIT OF COUNTESS LUCREZIA MIARI FULCIS CORSINI
Luciano Guarnieri 1964
Today is Teach Your Children to Save Day intended to encourage children to develop the regular habit of saving money.
Bunbury Townscapes from the City of Bunbury Art Collection.
These artists’ impressions are an important representation of the development of Bunbury during the last 100 years.
All these paintings are watercolours except Ron Appleton’s St Mark’s Church, Picton, which is done in acrylics.
Frank (Charles) Norton 1916-1983
BUNBURY 25th FEBRUARY 1973
Bunbury is a regional city about two hours drive south of the capital city of Western Australia, Perth. I grew up in this region. On the way back from our break at Bunker Bay we visited the Bunbury Regional Art Gallery.
Ron Appleton (1908-1999)
ST MARK’S CHURCH, PICTON, 1968
Like many regional councils, in the 1940s, BRAG benefited from a collection of art works donated by WA philanthropist, Sir Claude Hotchin. More recently, twenty two works of art were donated by Alcoa of Australia.
Sam Wheeler (1875-1939)
BUNBURY HARBOUR, MONDAY SEPTEMBER 28th, 1903
The Gallery is housed in the old Convent of the Sisters of Mercy, a beautiful building in the centre of the city. The building still has traces of its former incarnation with a nun’s cell on display and the Chapel Gallery.
Leith Angelo (1904-2000)
UNTITLED
BRAGs has a collection of over 300 botanical water colours by Bunbury artist Rosetta Kelly (1916 – 1940). This is a significant record of the wildflowers of the south-west of the State. These art works are slowly being restored and exhibited.
Ivor Hunt(1903-1971)
THE SCHOONER
Today, Good Friday, marks the beginning of Easter for Christians. It commemorates the crucifixion of Christ and many people attend church services and traditionally eat fish. We also eat hot cross buns, the crosses reminding us of how Christ died.
Easter Sunday celebrates His resurrection and ascension into Heaven. We eat eggs to signify new life and more hot cross buns. My husband would like hot cross buns every day of the year. Lots of families spend Easter Sunday together.
Easter Monday is a holiday in Australia, a time for resting and reflecting and this year, enjoying the last of summer, although it is autumn, but still hot.
Easter is celebrated in autumn in the southern hemisphere and the change in temperature is very welcome, except it hasn’t happened in WA, yet! It’s so very hot.
This is the first time I’ve made a layered cake and it was very easy but took a lot of time as I didn’t have two same sized cake tins. I made a double mix of butter cake and then divide it into four lots and added food dye.
I tried to make the dyed batter similar in colour to the speckled chocolate eggs used in the decoration. I used a very simple butter cream between the layers and to cover the cake then added the eggs.
This cake was delicious! And pretty.
Decorating boiled eggs. Bought a packet of coloured Sharpies and was keen to try them, so cut out two rabbit templates and lightly glued each one onto a hard boiled egg, dotted blue around the template and then peeled it off. Quick and easy decoration, once you’ve cut out the template!
Blue and white shrink wrap boiled eggs. I got these from EBay.
Hello Easter Bunny. He used to sit on my desk at school but now he’s on our dining table with the other Easter themed decorations. Louis, our dog, doesn’t eat chocolate so he has his own Easter Bunny ready in the cupboard for the day. Wonder how long it will last?
Other table decorations. Our other favourite part of Easter is hot cross buns. We’ll make them for Easter Sunday.
How do you celebrate Easter? What special things do you do and eat?
We have just had Know Your Neighbour Day in Australia. The theme this year has been ” The Importance of a Supportive Neighbourhood for Children and Young People” The idea is to focus on encouraging all Australians to support safe and welcoming communities for children.
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