lyrebirdsong

labna

2012-01-27T21:22:00.001+11:00

With some spare yoghurt, I made labna. They are firm balls of strained yoghurt, swimming in flavoured olive oil.
Easy to make, simply lightly salt some natural or Greek-style yoghurt and hang in muslin for a day or two or three. Shape into small balls and plop into olive oil full of pepper, chilli, fresh herbs or any spices that you think would suit. They'll last in the fridge if submerged in the oil for a few weeks or more. Spread them on toast or toss into a salad.
The strained yoghurt:

The marinade:

The finished labna:

A great sourdough loaf.

2012-01-21T19:32:00.000+11:00

I love my sourdough starter. She languishes, neglected for a week or two in the bottom of the fridge. Yet, despite the inconsistency of my devotion to baking bread, she obliges by responding to a good feed and a bit of a stir, and helps create great bread.
I'm always looking for a method that suits my erratic approach. Has to fit in with markets and jam making and the children and garden and music and other creative pursuits.
Here's a good one:

In a large bowl:
1 cup of starter. (If you don't have one then you are a week or so behind - google it - easy-peasy)
2 cups water (normal water - not warm)
stir vigorously then add
1/4 teasp yeast (sounds like cheating, but it works)
3 cups flour
mix then add
1 cup water
2 teasp salt
3 more cups flour
stir but don't mix too much

This will be a wet kind of dough.
Cover it with a teatowel and leave it for a night or a night and half a day, or whatever.

On a really well-floured board with really well-floured hands and more flour within reach:
Turn out the dough and knead it for a little while.
You can clean the bowl now and then grease it, or just line it with clingwrap and oil that (that's what I did and then had a really messy bowl to clean later)
Put dough back in bowl and leave for a few more hours....

Take a biggish dutch oven and sprinkle it well with polenta or semolina or even rolled oats.
Heat oven on a hot temp (say 220C) for 20 minutes with your dutch oven in it.
Then gently roll the dough into the dutch oven, cover and return to the oven.
Cook for 30 minutes, then take off the lid and give it about 15 minutes more.

Turn it out onto a rack. It will be enormous and golden brown with large cracks allover it.
And did I mention delicious with butter and honey while it is still hot.

It always rains on market days!

2012-01-21T18:27:00.000+11:00

What does the weather have against market-goers these days? It seems that more often than not our lovely sunny week days dissolve into wet and windy and generally inclement weather for the weekends.

That's my gripe for now.

Apart from the floods of rain, we had a great first day at the very lovely Bondi Markets. Our tasty corn fritters went down well. We had great coffee, delicious almond croissants and amazing icy pops from Pure Pops.

Peat's Ridge Festival

2012-01-16T16:02:00.000+11:00

We did our first ever big festival over the New Year. It was pretty big and a learning curve of generous proportions. To put it simply, we'll find it easier next time!

However, Peats Ridge is a lovely festival. Everyone was in a great mood and happy and chatty and laid back - and it wasn't just the fragrance in the air - there is a genuine good vibe. Even the stall-holder's organiser (and what a massive job that it) was a sweet and gorgeous leggy blond with time for a chat and advice at anytime.

The girls (we took Izzy and Olympia), and their friends and fellow-workers and the ever-stoic Suzanne, had a great time. They worked hard and also got to chill out and hear some great music.

Our fritters were very popular as were our paletas and the yummy fruit salad we served up for breakfast. (Thanks to David our favourite seller at Flemington Markets for the amazing mangoes and nectarines)

The eggs (organic free-range) from Gerty and Robin at Mangrove Mountain were so big they unbalanced our batter recipe which then needed adjusting!

Pete and I worked a little too hard, but learned a lot. We were grateful for our charming neighbours who served up the best coffee in the festival.

Thanks especially to Cousin-Alex who is the most gorgeous creature on the planet and the best fritter-spruiker. We love her.

Eggs, yoghurt, sour cream, fruit etc in the chiller van:

Beautiful surroundings. And perfect weather:

First day of 2012:

Our fruity paletas were a big hit:
Rockmelon and lemon

Creamy chai.

My favourite paleta was wasabi and ginger. Mmmm.

Here's our fruit salad with our lovely helper Nini:

Our faithful banner:

Marrickville markets - it didn't rain till after lunch!

2011-12-12T23:01:00.000+11:00

We had a welcome respite from the endless rainy weekends on Sunday. Well, it did rain, and a lot of it, but at least the massive storm didn't reach us until after lunch. We were drenched and freezing by the time we got packed up, but we had a lot of help from our friends. Thanks Gabe, Manny and Suzanne!

Here are some pics from the day:

Talented daughter

2011-12-09T13:32:00.001+11:00

Rosie hosted a delightful evening of music last night at Hibernian House in Surry Hills last night. It is part of her ongoing commitment to promoting the music of women musicians/songwriters, and was the best yet.

Charmian Kingston began the evening with some well-chosen covers and her own songs. She has a hauntingly beautiful voice, and a sweet delivery.

Rosie as always charmed the attentive audience with her own songs accompanied by Byron Mark. Then she brought out her sitar and introduced Nila, a really good young tabla player. She sang one of her songs and then did a traditional South Indian raga with the guys. "La Noche", an old favourite rounded off her set.

Ngaiire, Rosie and Charmian had recently toured to New Caledonia for a music festival and they did their stuff last night as the final set for the evening. I knew they were great individual musicians but I wasn't prepared for the ensemble! Wow. Exquisite three-part harmonies. Rosie on cajon and shaker, Charmian on keys and Ngaiire with her guitar for a couple of songs and uke for another. A knock-out!

Here is Rosie with Caspar Jeffrey on tabla and Byron percussion and keys from their performance as part of the Parramasala festival this year:

Rain, rain, go away!

2011-12-08T09:43:00.000+11:00

We have had so much rain in Sydney, not to mention the cold. It is summertime, but we are all wearing jumpers and ugg boots, and I caught a whiff of a wood stove yesterday in our leafy suburb.
I'm developing our range of paletas right now - in fact licking and sucking at a delicious date, vanilla and ginger mini-paleta. Mmmm!
Here are a few pictures:

Gluten-free Christmas Pudding

2011-11-24T22:34:00.000+11:00

Yes, I did it. A rich, moist, light-textured and fruity Christmas Pudding that is totally gluten-free. And did I mention delicious?
Here are some pictures but I can't share the recipe as it is too damn long and I am too tired to type it out now...

OMG - i just made the most delicious Christmas Pudding!!!!

2011-11-22T23:10:00.000+11:00

It's true. I got out my grandmother's Christmas Pudding recipe. Jazzed it up a little with some pecans and ginger. Was more than liberal with the rum and brandy. Let it sit out all night to "develop", and then steamed/boiled it in cute little jars and miniature pudding bowls.
Pete and I had to try one tonight with a dollop of cream and a nice cup of tea. The verdict... magnificent! I wonder if they'll last til Christmas.
I think I'll make a gluten-free version in the next few days. Great presents and will be great on our market stall at Dulwich Hill Street Fair on December 4.

some painting from our trips to bobo creek recently

2011-11-12T22:04:00.000+11:00

I struggle with watercolour - but at least I persist with it. Wish for more time and courage with the medium!
Here is a little study of the view from our deck to the East:

And down by the creek. Beautiful grey-black smooth rocks in the shade:

A quick sketch looking West from the deck:

Trees down by the creek:

our puppets - handmade little people

2011-10-28T18:29:00.000+11:00

Pete was looking for some pictures of the two puppets, but we only had "naked" ones - that is, before I made clothes for them. So I popped them on the piano and took some photos of them. They really are very lovely, and personable too...

Marrickville Festival

2011-10-28T14:24:00.000+11:00

PS: Rosie objects to my constant use of lower-case... so, I'll try and remember to capitalise!

Anyway, we asked Sophie to run the stall at Addison Road Markets while we set up at Marrickville Festival on Sunday. It was a hot old Spring day and we were wedged between a massive pizza oven and a guy cooking an endless sea of paella, and once our barbecue got started we sweated! But we had a pretty good day. It was mostly heads down and serve the food, but the atmosphere seemed appropriately festive and we had a good time. Our food was well-received as always which was great, as we weren't sure how well we'd fare in a "one-off" setting.

We also sold the Yo-Co and had two flavours available: strawberry and berry as well as a combo of mango, pineapple and coconut cream. Sensational. Our homemade cordial sold out too.

Meanwhile Sophie had some help from the lovely Corrie and they did well at Addison Road.

what we are doing

2011-09-27T10:22:00.001+10:00

right now:
required to have "Food Safety Supervisor" credentials for our food stalls at markets and festivals. so i am doing an online course. interesting sort of...
making lots of handmade goodies for our stall at Marrickville Festival. deodorant and lipbalm yesterday and we have lots of great soap to label and wrap up for our stall.
we've pretty much perfected our "yo co" for the markets, but had to put the launch on hold on sunday as it bucketed with rain (again!). we had fun in the rain and gave away more fritters than we sold. brought home boxes of given-away vegetables, so are having a very vegetarian week's worth of dinners this week.

as well i'm working on the lyrics for a song pete and i are writing. and pete's rehearsing his soul band and writing new songs for them. it's school holidays so i'm not teaching, but trying to fit as much creative stuff in as possible.
next week we go to bobo creek to get some serious work done.

low-fat, delicious, frozen yoghurt with real fruit and our very berry jam

2011-09-20T12:08:00.000+10:00

We've had a lovely time tasting our frozen yoghurt and tweaking the ingredients.
Look out market stall. We'll be there on Sunday in Marrickville.
We are calling it the Yo-Co (as in yoghurt cone), and have tried many variants on fru-fro-yo-co...

so many jams

2011-09-14T11:39:00.001+10:00

jam display

2011-08-26T17:48:00.000+10:00

i'll admit we do spend a lot of time thinking about our "merchandising" and have decided that pete's superpower lies in the area of display and stock control. in fact our friend simon has nicknamed pete "merch", as in merch doherty. ha ha.
here is merch hard at work before the market kicks off, early in the morning polishing the lids of our lovely jams and racking them up.

i made a modular system of shelves and blocks. i used foam core cut into pieces and sandwiched in layers to form the blocks and cut to length for the shelves. then i stitched tight covers from stretchy cotton knit and sewed them in. foam core is lightweight and really sturdy.

sophie's party

2011-08-17T12:17:00.002+10:00

sophie - daughter number 2, and an exquisite specimen - turned 22 and demanded a party. well, she organised the invitations and organised me to do the cooking - chastising me for not expressing quite enough enthusiasm.
that being said, it was a delightful day. an outdoors kind of party with lawn games and a morning tea that lasted well into the evening. we had (as always) heaps of food and sophie did make her signature brownies and lovely pretty cupcakes.
sarita made a giant scrabble set complete with hand decorated tiles on canvas blocks and a quilted scrabble "board". the young folk had a great time with it.

rosie back from india:

olympia stirring the chai:

sophie and old friend pavle:

sophie's amazing brownies:

our favourite frozen yoghurt delights. with sour cherry jam and a little plum jam, vanilla and cinnamon.

new jams update

2011-08-05T22:13:00.001+10:00

we've been pretty busy lately with some new jams. it's a long process of sourcing the ingredients, writing recipes, testing and refining - with a fair bit of tasting involved - and then designing the labels.
here are some of our latest creations:

this is a sweet orange, made with the most amazing organic oranges from mildura. our neighbour at the sunday markets sells them. he was keen for me to eat the rind of the orange with some good dark chocolate. what a sensational combination, as orange and dark chocolate truly are made for one and other, so a marmalade was born.

onion marmalade is a pretty tasty one. so many onions in each jar. i must calculate, as they cook down so much.

this fig and buttered walnut jam has chopped vanilla pods, orange zest and lots of cinnamon - all great together and has proved to be a big hit at the markets.

i was so happy with this one - although it's really plain looking, it has a lovely flavour and was sensational with our roast pork the other night, but not selling so well...

market days are fun days

2011-07-17T21:12:00.000+10:00

marrickville markets are where you'll find us each sunday. with either olympia or izzy to help we spend the day serving the truly delicious corn fritters swamped in our relishes and other homemade goodness, and selling our jams. as well, we get to catch up with friends and meet new ones, hang out with the other stallholders and despite the hard work, have a really good time.
here is the view from our stall:

here's the display of jams:

and:

izzy is thrilled to be up so early working:

and pete behind the barbecue:

new jams

2011-07-15T12:11:00.000+10:00

beautiful dried figs from turkey:

organic oranges:

pete and i set off at 5.30 on tuesday morning to flemington markets to buy chillies. cold and dark, but warmed by the friendliness of our favourite growers and our early coffee next to the flower section. but! chillies were too expensive and red capsicums were $80 a box. so, we had to rethink our plans and found really good firm packham pears which make a lovely jam as they are a little tart and hold their shape well. so we are mid-way through a big lot of pear and vanilla which is very labour-intensive but a delicious and popular jam. as well we made batches of: fig and buttered walnut, spiced apple and currant relish, apricot relish, sour cherry and an excellent sweet orange marmalade made with seedless, organic oranges grown in mildura and sold by jahved, our neighbour at addison road markets on sundays. will have to buy more from him and make up a bigger batch because it is so yummy.

fig and buttered walnut jam

2011-06-13T19:29:00.000+10:00

i have just finished a batch of delicious winter-y jam. i had a slightly less busy day than usual and have made one and a half batches of jam. the half batch is not finished yet, but is pineapple, saffron and star-anise.

the finished batch is fig and buttered walnut jam. i used dried figs, and orange zest, vanilla bean and a bit of cinnamon at the end. it is really delicious. i think the butter helps!

i also juiced up dozens of really tasty lemons from our trees at bobo creek.

we have a great new tool - a skymsen citrus juicer. it is so powerful and simple to use.

trying a new market

2011-06-11T18:16:00.000+10:00

on the lookout for more fritter opportunities we decided to try the local market place opposite newtown station, outside the Hub. these are community-based markets. small and friendly and administered by marrickville council. it's a matter of get in early to get a place and rebook every two weeks, but it is available 7 days a week and is a great spot.

we used the new banner i stayed up late painting and the stall looked great. the weather was cold, wet and windy, but we made some friends and satisfied some locals with our tasty offerings.

we got to the property last week

2011-06-01T09:19:00.001+10:00

so glad we went last week and not now as it's been pouring rain and there's flash flood warnings on the mid-north coast.

so pete and i took a car-full of plants again, guitars, paints, books, food, beer, piano accordion and no dogs or children to bobo creek for five days.

pete took the flu too so spent a day or so lying in the sun on the deck of the cottage and felt better after that.

i planted avocados, figs, lilly-pillys, papayas and many other trees in our various orchard areas and flattened more of the pad for the water tank next to the cottage. pete managed to get the wiring in the cottage done, so now we can insulate and line the cottage walls. we slept up there as the cabin by the creek in the heavy shade is so so cold. perfect in summer but not now!

here are some shots from inside the cottage, and our various bits and pieces:

olympia turns 17 today!

2011-05-20T15:04:00.000+10:00

that rings a bell.. it was izzy's birthday three days ago. they love it not, being so close together in their birthday celebrations.

olympia is a rather remarkable young lady.

10 things i love about her
her cool and whacky sense of humour
her poise and grace
her exquisite musicianship
her artistic talent
her ability to communicate with animals
her beauty
her empathy
her depth and wisdom
her love of nature
her diplomacy

here is a beautiful copper fish she made me for mothers day:

izzy turns fifteen today!

2011-05-17T22:27:00.001+10:00

number four daughter is now 15. amazing that time rushes on and children get older and wiser and even more amazing.

here are 10 things i love about isabel
her lanky elegance (despite being petite)
her sense of style and her ability to make a room look fantastic (which includes her tidiness)
her great skill in telling a good story and getting to the point
her empathy
her musicianship and speedy piano playing
her love of animals
her way with little children (even though they drive her crazy)
her kindness
her beauty
her sense of justice

izzy is the proud owner of scout - our adorable puppy. last night izzy had both jessie (big dog) and scout (little dog) in her bed. it is cold in sydney right now but i think izzy had a pretty bad night with no leg room whatsoever.
but she is 15 now and enjoyed her presents and we enjoyed her choice of lasagne for dinner.

fudge!

2011-05-06T19:54:00.000+10:00

as if i don't have enough to do today. (finish the felt corn for the markets tomorrow; bottle up 25 bottles of a new and exciting plum and smoky chilli sauce; prepare shallots and parsley for tomorrow; make a big batch of aioli for the weekend; apple jelly as i found great fresh sour green apples today and couldn't resist - so got 20kg now hanging from a pole between two chairs in huge jelly bags dripping quietly; and chocolate chip cookies for olympia's cousin who is not well) i succumbed to the idea of lovely little bags of pistachio nut and cognac fudge for the mothers' day markets. it looks pretty yummy as it sits and cools.

here's my recipe (probably for the second time...)
quadruple quantity cos you know you love it!
500g butter
2kg sugar
half cup of milk
4 tins of condensed milk

put butter, milk and sugar into a large, heavy-based saucepan.
stir as it melts and combines.
then empty the condensed milk into the pan.
you need to stir almost constantly. especially the "corners" of the pan. keep the heat fairly low.
don't worry if little brown flecks appear, but don't burn it!
the process can take up to half an hour. the colour will gradually darken and by the time it is a light brown colour it's getting close. you'll notice little crystals forming around the sides of the pan that make a scraping sound when you push the spoon against them. when you feel it is a rich light brown/ochre colour, remove from the heat and beat for 5 to 10 minutes. i cheat and use a good stick blender so it only takes a few minutes.
now stir in nuts or chunks of chocolate (which will melt immediately), and pour it into a lined tray. mine is about 28 by35cm and the fudge is pretty thick, so you can use two trays.
let is set then cut and eat...
easy!

more jam and more rain

2011-04-30T22:04:00.001+10:00

pete and i got to flemington markets by 6am on friday and stocked up on lovely red-coloured vegetables for some huge batches of chilli jam and roast capsicum relish.

the markets at that time of day are crazy with forklift drivers whizzing about like kids on dodgem cars, but driving backwards. however, everyone is good-tempered and the produce fresh and cheap. we got chillis, red onions, capsicums and tomatoes as well as shallots and parsley for the weekend's fritters.
our blue pajero is such a workhorse. a truck full of red vegetables now:

the sun appeared while we sat outside chopping vegetables.

but, it rained so much as we set up our stall today. later when the weather cleared lots of happy people enjoyed our corn fritters at orange grove markets.

why does it always rain on saturday mornings?

2011-04-28T14:11:00.000+10:00

orange grove markets on saturday morning. wet. very wet. we stay dry in our stall and enjoy cooking for the people who brave the elements, but it's a slow morning. by the time we get home it's kind of sunny.

anyway, sunday at marrickville is beautiful and we get lots of visitors. and satisfied customers.

in between markets we got up to the property!

2011-04-23T17:43:00.001+10:00

late afternoon light

another brief time at bobo creek, but four nights is better than none. the weather was perfect; warm autumn days and chilly nights.
olympia came along with both dogs, and some friends joined us.
pete got some of the guttering in place and rat-proofed the cottage (yay!) and i started to dig the site out for the water tank that will go next to the cottage. hard yukka actually as the soil was soft but clay-ey and each clod glued itself to the shovel and the mattock.
the rest of the time?
swimming (but not dallying) in the creek
cooking and eating
sitting around on the deck by the creek
enjoying good company
walks to take in the views
music making
and did i mention eating?

here are a few pics so you will get the idea...
the afternoons are beautiful in autumn

scout brought her tennis ball

olympia walking with the dogs

olympia found a tiny green frog in the long grass

this is the view from our bed

and this is where we have our morning cuppa

i finished scout's winter jacket

connie and suzan and manny-rose and jesse came to stay

the quest for the perfect gluten-free banana pancake

2011-04-12T21:11:00.003+10:00

we want to offer a sweet option on our stall that showcases our best sellers in the jam department (pear & vanilla, and very berry). we are committed to serving only gluten-free. so this creates difficulties in its own right. but, i love a challenge, so i've researched and trialed many different batters to reach a really good, soft, fluffy and tasty solution. we have to now make sure we can duplicate it. again and again.

i made a huge mess in the kitchen over several days, trying out a whole lot of garnishes and sauces (all homemade and gluten-free of course) and we finally settled on two options...

here's the pear & vanilla serving:
and the very berry:

and the posters are along the lines of what we did for the corn fritters:

the boxes that pete made

2011-04-12T12:12:00.000+10:00

we have had such a huge lug to the markets each morning, with two sets of ikea bookshelves on the roof of the car. these form our serving ledge and very useful hidden area for all our condiments and extra stock. everything else we bring is in mismatched cardboard and plastic crates. awkward to carry and useless for stacking...so, as a great solution, pete has made nearly a dozen sturdy, perfectly sized and stackable boxes. he used recycled timber knocked out of a dozen old pallets.
they look really good and suit our stall and area a perfect solution.

a busy weekend

2011-04-04T21:02:00.002+10:00

orange grove growers market is pretty amazing. it has grown into one of sydney's finest. from baby lettuce and miniature herbs to sculptured mushrooms, hemp t-shirts, organic vegies, and a great array of meat and dairy products.
the focal point of the market has become, over the past eight years, the famous bacon and egg roll stall. it employs up to 7 people at a time in a relentless conveyor belt of sweet, paper thin bacon and perfectly cooked eggs on soft white rolls. mmm.
but, alas the misfortune of the food stall stationed beside the porcine behemouth!
and yes, it was our luck.
we didn't quite lose money, but it was a little disheartening. we'll persevere and have a trick or two up our sleeves.

sunday's market at addison road, on the other hand, was a great success. perfect autumn weather and the benefit of an extra hour's sleep brought hungry punters out in droves. we sold out by 1.30!

i ducked away early to attend my extended family's annual picnic in celebration of the life of my wonderful grandmother, edith, after whom my plum jam is named.

it was also my parent's golden wedding anniversary. we had an amazing croquembouche from le chocoreve in stanmore. it was a lovely day and i am blessed to have such wonderful relatives. not to mention my fine and loving parents.

and before the weekend got really busy, pete and i had a gig at chatswood, in the pedestrian mall melody market. it is always lovely there and we have such a great sound guy in david, who knows just how to do his job.

our life is in fritters

2011-03-29T08:52:00.002+11:00

we are going to be doing two markets a week, as we have been offered the excellent and reliable saturday organic market at orange grove, in leichhardt, not too much further than our sunday market in marrickville. so we'll be busy for a while. or should i say, busier.
however, it is really fun. the people - stallholders and customers alike are so nice; we enjoy creating this lovely little oasis within our marquee, all clean and streamlined; and serving the plates to happy, impressed and satisfied (they come back for seconds!) customers is a reward in itself.
we get the eggs from the egg lady, and some herbs from the lovely esmeralda, and mix up our own gluten-free flour. we nake our own dukkah and aioli and tahine sauce. the fritters are perfectly cooked by pete. izzy was our helper and did an excellent job. the plates went out looking and tasting really good.
actually, all the girls turned up which was a treat for us.
so here are a few pics.

new snake for olympia

2011-03-20T17:43:00.000+11:00

we lost our beautiful diamond python before we moved last year. it was my fault. i had built the cage from an old cabinet and acrylic and used silicon sealant on part of it. i had put the snake outside to enjoy the spring sunshine and she found a tiny crack which she must have worked at until it widened just enough for her to slip through. and away. so sad and so angry with my shoddy carpentry skills.
but.
olympia decided she wanted another snake. young and suitable to fit into a small bag around her neck and under her jumper to take to school. her first choice was an olive python hatchling but we found out they are one of the largest snakes in australia so we suggested something a little smaller when fully grown. i have always loved the look of the water python. often called a rainbow snake or serpent, the yellow belly is a perfect contrast to the dark back and sides which are striped vertically in iridescence. hence the "rainbow".
we are designing a really good terranium and a carry bag. escape proof.

here's the bread

2011-03-19T14:38:00.000+11:00

here are the two loaves i cooked last night. quite dense, the fruit loaf and good and moist. pete likes the other one with butter and (surprise!) jam.

my week

2011-03-18T18:10:00.001+11:00

i'm working on more posters for the corn fritter stall. i enjoyed using my new laptop in my favourite cafe this morning while i finished off the photoshop work for the posters.

we finshed many jars of heavenly pear and vanilla jam in time to make a new batch of roast capsicum relish, and then a double batch of very berry jam because we have a new freezer (a timely donation from bob and sandra mottram - eternal thanks and a lifetime supply of jam to the good people), and just had to fill it with delicious berries.

as it's friday i made some dukkah and really good aioli for our sunday corn fritters. having roasted too many sesame seeds i made some tahini with the rest. simply sesame seeds and enough olive oil to facilitate a paste in a blender. actually it tastes just like the bought stuff.

and i've got some sourdough bread on the go. this is fruit loaf - full of hazelnuts, dates, currants, sunflower seeds and cinnamon. it's not cooked yet, just rising away in its own sweet time.

and this is a more plain one - just oatmeal and sunflower seeds, dusted with cornmeal.

and here are some of the fruit designs i'm hoping to eventually print on tea towels and t-shirts etc...

pears from nashdale farm

2011-03-14T22:33:00.001+11:00

beau and katie brought us a nice big load of the most delicious pears. right now they are peeled and chopped and macerating along with the plump and juicy vanilla pods from india.
tomorrow it will all be turned into golden pear and vanilla jam.

i can't remember the name of the red pears. just the colour of autumn...

week two in fritter-land

2011-03-13T20:28:00.001+11:00

today was the second day of our corn fritters at the addison road markets. lots of people came back for seconds and we sold more jam than usual. i think this is because we rearranged the stall and had the jam tasters at a higher level and while people waited for their fritters they tasted the jams. say no more.

we had heaps of chilli jam as we spent a couple of days chopping and stirring and bottling and labeling a huge batch of chilli jam.

this is the car with only a few boxes...

i include a picture of the exquisite habanero chilli that we have growing in our vege patch at home. it is amongst the world's hottest chillis. i added only three or four of them and it really upped the heat of our big batch of jam.

our first fritter stall

2011-03-06T21:19:00.004+11:00

we had a really busy weekend. even by my standards.
pete and i played a gig on friday night at the northern beaches music festival. we were on at 11pm so it was a pretty late night. thank goodness for the friends that drove the hour or so to see us.
saturday was full on preparation for our stall today. i made two types of aioli, caramelised some balsamic vinegar and maple syrup, stitched the cloths to hang around the stall, made up the sandwich boards that proved so great at bringing the crowds, and worried about it all. pete measured out all the bits and arrranged the "furniture", picked up the printed signs, found a table the exact size on the side of the road and then loaded the car.
we were up at 6 with izzy and had enough time to set it all up, get it looking good, socialise with our neighbours and then get cooking. before long a steady stream of hungry market-goers found our stall. we were flat out for four hours - and rosie showed up in the nick of time to give us a hand chopping more garnishes and mixing batter. and then we were all sold out. had to actually turn people away (but with a vouchure for a free feed next sunday). it was great fun and the food was good. many people came back for seconds or brought their friends.

and it tastes as good as it looks:

mariposa plums

2011-03-03T15:12:00.001+11:00

photo from gardenexpress.com.au

on sunday, at our markets (where we sell our jams), farmer beau from nashdale farm offered me a couple of boxes of plums at a good price. they were a bit blemished but had good hearts and great for jam. they are mariposa plums, sometimes known as japanese blood plums. so we cooked them up and the jam is truly delicious. rich and dark.

here it is on my own sourdough fruit bread with organic, unsalted butter. mmm. thanks, beau and katie.

corn fritters: the look

2011-03-01T14:31:00.004+11:00

pete and i made a huge mess of the kitchen today, plating up heaps of delicious hot corn fritters and drizzling caramelised balsamic and maple and garlic aioli and tahine, then strewing fresh herbs from the garden and, finally, sprinkles of homemade dukkah. we are trying to find the perfect presentation solutions.

here are some of the options:

we have two serving choices:
1. the "american" (or the "americorn", or something like this) which is with our chilli jam, sour cream, a garnish of fresh herbs, and a drizzle of caramelised balsamic and maple and a final drizzle of lemon and garlic aioli.
and
2. the mediterranean (a-maize-ing!) with minted yogurt and our roast capsicum relish, fresh herbs, and a drizzle of tahini and garlic and lemon aioli and a sprinkle of my dukkah.

making dukkah

2011-02-26T11:07:00.003+11:00

dukkah has as many variations as you like. i used hazelnuts, pistachios, almonds and sesame seeds, as well as the usual spices: coriander seeds, cumin seeds, pepper corns then himalayn rock salt, a little dried thyme. all roasted up then ground in a coarse kind of way.

roughly:
1 cup hazelnuts
1 cup pistachios
1 cup almonds
1 and a half cups sesame seeds
1 third cup coriander seeds
1 third cup cumin seeds
1 heaped tabsp peppercorns
1 heaped tabsp salt (you may need more later)
1 teasp dried thyme

roast the nuts in a moderate oven for around 10 minutes (don't burn them). you can rub of the skins of the hazelnuts in a tea towel.
roast the spices and the sesame seeds too (i did it in the oven at the same time as the nuts)
in a food processor or blender grind the nuts then the seeds and spices, add more salt and more salt if necessary. mix in the dried thyme. into clean jars with it all and keep at room temperature.

recycling t-shirts. making long, long, long strips.

2011-02-21T21:58:00.005+11:00

i seem to be able to wreck a white t-shirt quicker than you can say 'dog's breakfast'. think emptying the wormfarm, lifting a bags of mushroom compost, grating beetroot, making chilli jam, wrestling with the dogs. you get the picture. so i have a stash of nearly new but stained white shirts in my cupboard.
so i decided to crochet me up a bath mat with them.
do you know how to cut a long strip of fabric out of a t-shirt (or any tube for that matter)? so easy and so clever.

how to cut an "endless strip"

cut across the chest level with the bottom of the arm holes to form a rectangular shape that is a tube.

rotate so seams are at the top and bottom

fold bottom seam up towards the top seam, nearly in half, but not quite. allow a few centimetres between the top seam and the bottom that you have folded up.

cut in a vertical direction from bottom to nearly the top, leaving the top seam intact though. the width of the strips is up to you. i cut mine about 1 to 1.5cm wide.

shake out the strips so they hang like a long fringe.

slide your hand or arm through the tube where the seam in intact at the top.

with scissors cut level with the seam diagonally from the far edge to the first cut.

continue cutting diagonally between each pair of cuts. in this way you create an endless strip.

at the last cut simply cut to the edge of the fabric.

gather the long strip into a ball.

is the wooden spoon mightier than the pen and the sword?

2011-02-19T18:04:00.004+11:00

i spend an inordinate amount of time cooking. just as well i love it. at least most of the time.

our week's menu:
monday was homemade pesto that olympia made with penne and a good green salad.

tuesday was a really traditional shepherd's pie. comfort food. with buttered zuccini.

wednesday was homemade corned beef with potato fry up in oil and rosemary and garlic with salad.

thursday we had isabel and martin stay over on their way between melbourne and brisbane looking at an 80ft yacht in lavender bay. and i made a huge one-plate thai-style salad with cold chicken breast that had been poached in coconut milk, charred prawns, barbecue-cooked pumpkin and mango caramelised with palm sugar. various salad greens and herbs with a dressing of pish sauce, garlic palm sugar, lime juice and fresh kaffir lime leaves shredded through it all.

last night we had paula and paul (she of our permaculture consultation and the proposed development of bobo creek, and he of one of life's more memorably excellent dinners - he is a chef as well as an architect). despite the heat i had cooked (slow and long) an enormous amount of lamb shoulder with salt and rosemary and garlic, with lots of roast and steamed veg and mint in my own apple jelly. delicious. then our juicer served as a dispenser for frozen yogurt/boysenberries/frozen banana and very berry jam. wow!

saturday being a day off i have made 10kg of really lovely apple jelly and the beginning of a double batch of very berry jam.

how does your garden grow?

2011-02-15T21:06:00.003+11:00

i'll keep posting pictures of my raised beds and we can keep track of the growth of various green things.

late tomatoes and assorted lettuce.

little beetroot and some tiny rocket leaves

the highest bed is full of little chilli seedlings that i managed to sprout during the heatwave.

sourdough english muffins

2011-02-12T17:57:00.002+11:00

now, i really don't like what passes for muffins these days. overblown and tasteless cupcakes as far as i'm concerned. and i'm not a huge fan of proper muffins - of the english variety.
but.
homemade sourdough english-style muffins or griddle cakes as we think we'll call them are a different thing altogether. and hot of the griddle. with lashings of butter and our own jam? yep, now you're talking. and a cup of tea of course. they are also a great way to avoid having to toss out the excess sourdough starter each time you feed her.

so here's how.

take a cup of starter and feed it with 2 cups of flour (i use strong bakers flour) and a cup of water or milk. mix and leave out overnight.

next morning mix the dough down and add about half a cup of flour, some honey or sugar and about 1 teaspoon of salt and 1 and a half teaspoons of bicarb soda or baking powder. mix and form a soft, moist dough. knead for a few minutes and add more flour if it's too sticky. roll or press out to about 2cm in thickness.

cut with a biscuit or scone cutter into rounds. place each piece on parchment paper which has been sprinkled with semolina or corn meal. sprinkle more over the top of the muffins.

let these rest for 45 minutes or more.

warm a heavy griddle or frypan. not too hot.

place muffins without letting them touch each other.

cook for about 5 minutes on each side. they will puff up nicely and the sides should look less doughy by the time they are ready.

cool a little before you split them apart with the tines of a fork.

butter and i would suggest our lyrebird pear and vanilla jam. and a cup of irish breakfast tea.

making tortellini

2011-02-12T17:39:00.004+11:00

those are the capable hands of 16 year old olympia who whipped up a batch of delicious tortellini with me for dinner the other night.

here's the recipe:
for the filling
finely chopped bacon, fried with finely chopped onion and mixed with pesto or herbs or spinach and lots of black pepper.

for the pasta dough
we used 500g strong flour and 5 large eggs.
heap the flour on the bench and make a well into which you break the eggs. mix in with a fork and scoop the whole lot together and knead well. you want a firm but smooth dough.

here's how
divide in four pieces and roughly form each into a sausage shape. pass each piece through a pasta machine on a wide setting and then again on a thinner one. you want past about a mm in thickness. we used the width of the strip to form our rather large square shapes.
wet around the edges of each square and put a teaspoon of the filling on each. fold corner to corner to form a triangle and press the dough around to hold the filling nicely. roll the fat edge over one turn and then grab all the pointy corners at either end of the roll and pull them to each other, pressing them together.
put them on some parchment sprinkled with flour.
boil plenty of water with some salt and pop in the tortellini. they need about 4 minutes.
i melted some butter nearly browned and tossed in some sage leaves to pour onto the drained tortellini. yummy.

jam making

2011-02-12T17:35:00.002+11:00

pete and i have been busy on the jam front, building up stock. although the weather was unbearably hot we went to the flemington markets and bought chillis, capsicums, lemons, blood plums and peaches, and cooked all weekend.
here are some capsicums roasting for capsicum relish. our new favourite:

amazing birthday

2011-02-12T17:28:00.003+11:00

i turned 49 on tuesday. yes, it's a shock to the system to even have to type in
those numbers. but i had a great birthday. pete and the girls and my parents pooled together and got me a glorious and sexy new computer. a macbook. newest edition. and an ipod. then michael who was up from melbourne and who is possibly one of the most awesome people in the entire universe, came for japanese dinner with us and paid for it too!
here she is:

recent activity

2011-01-29T22:42:00.004+11:00

recent stuff...
i've made lots of soap during the holidays. i love it as the ingredients are so beautiful and precious to work with. especially the essential oils. my favourite mixture is the combination for the green tea soap - it has spearmint, frankincense, patchouli (my absolute favourite), rosemary and a little pine oil. this particular soap also has green tea extract, real green tea instead of water, and olive green clay powder. and macadamia oil.

i'm fine tuning the market stall set up with lots of white cloth and new display stands. it all takes time.

and jam. and more jam. i'm now supplying jam to a gorgeous coffee shop in an industrial area of castle hill. the cafe is in front of the huge warehouse where the roaster is. the place is air coffee, and they are part of airoasters. they are serving great coffee and simple food such as toast and muesli. really nice people with a good attitude to food and coffee.

and i dug up and made a tripe veggie patch. there is a strip of lawn along a section of our driveway that gets sun almost all day, so i've put it in there. i'll post more pics when it all starts growing. u've got heaps of chilli plants in already.

sourdough is happening regularly. i'm experiemtning with sourdough fruit loaf - full of macadamia nuts and cinnamon, and sweetened with date syrup. here is a wholemeal loaf with flax seeds and rye and oats. it's really delicious.

market stall tomorrow. must make scones early!

summer busyness

2011-01-20T16:56:00.004+11:00

the younger two girls are in melbourne having a ball with their dad and step-mum. it's all cafes and shopping and galleries, so i'm flat out getting jam and soap made, and new labels designed and trying out new recipes. i made gorgeous spotty curtains for izzy's bedroom. i hope she likes them as i chose the material without her!

i'm trying to perfect sourdough crumpets for reasons i can't divulge as yet...

i have made some totally delicious rum-soaked, chocolate coated dates.
here is how i did it. (and credit must go to pete's sister, adrienne for the inspiration)

rum-soaked, chocolate dates

soak some pitted dates (and prunes and dried apricots and ginger) in rum in a jar in the fridge for a few days. not being a rum drinker i had to ask to guy at the bottle shop which was the rummest rum that he had. we got captain morgan.
when you are ready to make them simply melt some nice dark chocolate, take our the soaked fruit and drain a bit before you dip them one by one in the melted chocolate. lay on a sheet of aluminium foil to set. keep them in the fridge as they certainly taste very good chilled.

i've been stamping lyrebirds on plain paper bags to use on the market stall. i cut the stamp myself.

first day at addison road markets today

2011-01-16T21:34:00.002+11:00

i needed a banner for our market stall, so got busy on saturday and made two. they are painted with fabric paint on while lawn, backed with white fabric and finished with black leather corners so i can hang them securely.
they looked pretty good at our stall today:

so did the fresh scones i made early this morning:

boxing day on the harbour

2010-12-27T15:58:00.002+11:00

pete and i were invited out on my friend (and piano student) john's catamaran to watch the start of the sydney to hobart yacht race. the weather ranged from morning drizzle to windy and cool and then gloriously sunny. a crashingly good thunderstorm finished the day. our lazy lunch at quarantine bay was serenaded by music from the talented songwriter gairden cooke, and we did a few songs too. wonderful day!

christmas day

2010-12-27T15:53:00.004+11:00

three beauties for bruncholympia, rosie and sophie.
kerstin, adrienne and all served up the most amazing brunch for us all. the only depressing thought was having to repeat the performance for dinner!
and here's dinnerchristmas dinner for 19 was at our place. slow roast lamb and lots of vegies and salads with a superb glazed ham from my parents, and christmas pudding (again thanks to my mum) and pavlova...

last stall for the year

2010-12-27T15:00:00.002+11:00

i need to work more on merchandising and really pimp out the stall, but it's getting there. olympia was a great help at our last stall for the year.
i've also bought more lining fabric for my little recycled-coffee-sack gift bags.

today

2010-12-17T23:14:00.002+11:00

today i cleaned out the fridge, made a huge lot of soap (it won't be ready till january as it has to cure), did three loads of washing, baked a loaf of sour dough bread, cooked dhal, bought two trestle tables for the markets tomorrow, took rosie and mookhi for lunch, assembled some new shelves for the markets tomorrow, did some gardening, disguised the terribly tragic state of the christmas tree by cutting and attaching (with wire) some bits from a tree outside, rehearsed with pete for our gig next week, practiced my blues piano...now i am about to get ready for our market stall tomorrow, which means assembling all my boxes of stuff and preparing the scone mixture to bake first thing in the morning...

yesterday the girls and i got our my stamps and printed our wrapping paper and some cards for christmas.

our riverside markets stalll

2010-12-12T11:12:00.003+11:00

our stall on sunday with simon and pete. need to work on my merchandising, but the hot scones with very berry jam and fresh cream were a lovely way to bring people to the stall.

the fudge didn't sell as well as i had expected. maybe the weather is too hot to consider eating it. it's getting eaten at home. and will be good for next week too.
here are some production shots:

i've made a display out of some really solid cardboard boxes for the markets. it easily supports 9 jars of jam, and holds some more at the back...

olympia's formal dress

2010-12-08T23:02:00.005+11:00

olympia has been looking for a dress for her year 10 formal for months now. she and sophie looked in every vintage shop in newtown. she tried the regular city stores, and i combed all the op shops in the inner west. she was very specific (dare i say, fussy?) and knew what she wanted. but, with days to go, she found nothing that she liked. so i offered to make it. am i crazy? probably, and sewing for a three year old where all they care about is pink ribbons and laces and the "twirl" factor is one thing, but a beautiful and rather discerning 16 year old is something completely out there.

we looked at etsy vintage for some ideas and settled on something with a tight-fitted bodice but draped bust, and a full skirt. we used a lovely old turquoise sari and black velvet for the bodice. tulle for the petticoat of course.

well, it wasn't easy as i had to try and make it up as i went, but it turned out well and she added a belt to hod the waist in even tighter.the doorman said it was one of the nicest dresses he'd seen in the five years he'd been doing year ten formals...

here is olympia with scout. you see how exquisite she is...scout is gorgeous too

facebook page for lyrebird jam

2010-12-07T12:53:00.004+11:00

i'm making a page for lyrebird jam, so i can let people know when and where our market stalls will be.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lyrebird-Jam/179073935453123

busy with jam again

2010-11-26T22:22:00.004+11:00

i've been making jam. pete and i went to flemington markets early on wednesday morning for a big box of very expensive chillies, and lot of other stuff. so now i've just finished labelling a double batch of chilli, some pear and vanilla and a huge batch of very berry.

meanwhile, last weekend pete and i managed to get up to bobo creek for two nights. we got a fair bit done and repaired the tractor. the weather was perfect although the water in the creek was freezing!

here's a vertical panoramic view at dusk.

the view from the back of the cottage - the back wall was the one we covered with cedar cladding.

olive trees i have nurtured at home for months from tiny seedlings. finally planted them on the slope towards the gate at bobo creek.

our new home - before and after we moved in.

2010-10-29T21:27:00.002+11:00

we weren't happy about the idea of having to move, but are thrilled with the new place. i took before and after shots. the "after" shots are just as i found each room - naturally messy!

lyrebird jam and soap at marrickville festival

2010-10-25T21:35:00.002+11:00

i was offered a stall at marrickville festival this year. they were showcasing local products which was great except shortly after i accepted the invitation we found out we had to move - and have ended up moving out of the suburb of marrickville. the weather was dreadful but we did well and had lots of fun. all my girls were there to help. and sophie as salesperson supremo was in her element. we sold jam and soap and some of my new homemade deodorant.

Blogging from my phone

2010-10-19T12:31:00.005+11:00

I am going crazy with no internet connection yet at our new home. So I'm going to do a post from my groovy new phone... I have a stall at marrickville festival this sunday as part of the "made in marrickville" promotion. Ironic, given that we have just moved out of the immediate area! So I'm labelling soap and packaging up jam ready for sunday.

no internet!

2010-10-12T12:02:00.002+11:00

we have moved and the new place is really lovely. open, airy, green, beautiful outlook, a garden(!), less aeroplane noise, great neighbours. but NO INTERNET YET!!!! it is driving us crazy that it will take 10 to 20 weorking days to reconnect. so in the meantime it's dodgy internet cafes for me...

i'll post pics as soon as we are back up.

how come noboby else's blog-home looks like this?

2010-09-30T09:47:00.003+10:00

here's to all the pristine homes in blog-land.

we found a new place. two suburbs away and a lot quieter for us. a real garden but unfenced, so we'll have to quickly deal with that to keep scout and jessie safe.
the packing is awful but the chance to discard stuff. and more stuff. and re-discover some nice stuff that won't be thrown away!
here are some pics of the stuff that we are moving...

this is what i want...

2010-09-21T22:19:00.003+10:00

on friday night isabel and i were taken to a concert in angel place with L'arpeggiata - a wonderful ensemble from france. a dancer, theorboe player, hammered dulcimer, jazz clarinetist and a gorgeous singer. they joined forces with member of the australian brandenburg orchestra. a delightful concert.

their most popular song is this one which pretty much sums up what we are looking for in a house.

Voglio una casa
I want a house

I want a house, I want a beautiful one,
filled with brightness like a star,
filled with sunshine and good fortune,
and for the moon to rise above the roof.
filled with laughter, filled with tears,
house, I dream of you, how I dream of you!
Dididindi, dididindi.

I want a house, for lots of people,
I want it to be strong and welcoming,
robust and warm, simple and real,
for making music morn and eve,
and where poetry would have its bed,
I want to live under that roof.
Dididindi, dididindi.

I want a house that is lived in
and for no one to sleep in the street
begging like a dog
because there is nowhere to go
treated like an animal and spat upon
and with no one who helps them
Dididindi, dididindi.

I want a house for the children
who never know where to meet up
also for the elderly, big houses
where they can live with their families:
inexpensive houses, for the whole family,
where children will be born.
Dididindi, dididindi.

Lucilla Galeazzi who is the singer with L'arpeggiata wrote the words.

we have to move...

2010-09-21T08:45:00.002+10:00

we are having to move after five years in this great house. it is not particularly beautiful, is on a busy road and under the flight path, BUT it is an excellent family home - sun-filled and pretty big. we are looking for somewhere else to live.

here are a few pictures in and around the house:
tulips in the kitchen
the wallpaper in our bedroom. wild!
the music room at christmas
orange blossom with washing in the background
the little trees i'm nurturing to take to bobo creek
the back view

lyrebird jam display at our local cafe

2010-09-17T16:36:00.002+10:00

my dear friend claire and i went to our local cafe to set up a display of my jams the other night. the cafe owner is so friendly and sweet, and kindly plied us with coffee as we worked. i suspect we looked a little like a comedy skit... but it all worked out well. the cafe is using the jams in their menu as well as selling them.

bags made from old coffee sacks

2010-09-08T19:49:00.002+10:00

i've been in production mode... lots of gift bags to go with the jams. i've used recycled burlap coffee sacks and lined them with plain satin in jam-appropriate colours. with bulap handles (webbing from bunnings) and the labels i made last week.

gig last night at dinki-di acoustic

2010-09-07T11:39:00.004+10:00

pete and i, as 'lyrebird' were invited to headline at a delightful monthly acoustic evening run in erskinville, in sydney's inner west - just down the road from us. we met graham and jennifer, who host the evening a few years ago and they do a great job. it's a little upstairs room above a bar and was pretty packed out when we arrived. my piano student, pat was there which was a great support, and we were mightily gladdened by the entrance of two of sydney's folk illuminati - sandra nixon (who runs the loaded dog folk venue in annandale), and margaret waters.
we played across our three genres - folk, blues and contemporary ('easy listening' i guess describes it best)
our set list was:

saturday night
new shoes
house on the hill
shrodinger’s cat
market song
rainsong
battlesong
twenty-four
lucky
leaving home blues
black dog
birthday

these are all our own songs. pete played guitar and i was on keys with whistle and blues harp. we both sang, and swigged at our honey and hot water as we are recovering from heavy colds! the joy of sharing...

new linen tape labels

2010-08-26T08:55:00.002+10:00

i've been making gift bags with old coffee sacks and lining them with bright jam-coloured satin. i wanted some label tape on the bags so used some nice natural linen tape and some heat transfer paper that i bought at aldi ages ago.

end of the soccer season

2010-08-23T09:15:00.004+10:00

olympia who is 16 now has been playing soccer for about 7 years. truth be told, she's a bit over it. long weekly training sessions in the cold and then early sunday morning games. often against really aggressive girl teams. her team are a delightful group of bright, attractive good all-rounders. they are the A team, so the girls are pretty excellent athletes. their club fosters a great culture of fair play and good-sportsmanship. they didn't win the competition this year but did admirably in their final match and had possession of the ball for most of the game. olympia collided mid-air with an opposing player and there was blood spilt. she now has a crescent shaped gash on her forehead that i suspect she is rather proud of. the other girl's nose was badly cut and she was gushing blood.

cookies

2010-08-18T13:09:00.003+10:00

here are some delicious white chocolate, macadamia nut and cherry cookies:
the recipe and method is this:
partially melt 250g butter
in your mixer add 1 and a half cups of castor sugar and 1 and a half cups of brown sugar.
cream until light and fluffy then add 1 egg.
hand mix for the rest of the mixing... add 250g white chocolate roughly chopped, about a cup or less of macadamia nuts, a big handful of glace cherries, and 2 to 3 cups of self-raising flour. stir until combined. i used my hands as it was hard to stir.
pre-heat your oven to moderate and then put spoonfuls or fistfuls of the mixture on baking trays lined with baking parchment.
cook for 10 to 15 minutes until lightly browned.
cool on racks and then hide from the children if you want to eat any later...

labels stuck on jars

2010-08-11T21:32:00.003+10:00

olympia kindly took some photos of my new labels on the jars, which reminded me that i was low on pear and vanilla jam. i spent yesterday making a new batch. mmm. rich and sweet. unlike me!

izzy's cartoon

2010-08-09T14:26:00.004+10:00

watching david attenborough last night izzy suddenly lept up and drew this cartoon. she threw it away, but i think it's very funny, so i rescued it from the recycling bin.

jams are labelled

2010-08-07T18:20:00.002+10:00

my new labels arrived from the printer and they look great. then i realised i need to get cracking with more jam as i have only three jars of pear and vanilla. heaps of chilli and a fair few of the delicious very berry. olympia helped me take some shots tonight so i'll upload them in a minute. in the meantime here are some pics taken with my phone:

i love kiva!

2010-07-29T13:34:00.003+10:00

these women are from Kochkor, Kyrgyzstan.

i am so excited when i get an update on my kiva "portfolio" and i can re-lend my money to assist someone else.
and today i got this email:

Dear kate henshaw,

This is an update on your loan to Ainura Kochorbaeva's Group in Kyrgyzstan. Thanks to you and 27 other Kiva Lenders, the $875.00 loan request in Kyrgyzstan has been 100% funded.

This loan will be used for the purpose of: to pay for her daughter's education at university.

so that's great news, i reckon.

jam labels (again!)

2010-07-24T22:22:00.003+10:00

i seem to constantly need to improve, refine, develop (mess with) my labels for the jam. we've decided to get labels for three jams printed in two colours each. the jams are chilli, very berry (our fave) and pear and vanilla. the mandatory nutritional panels took a while to generate.
i'm getting business cards printed too.

scout got ticks!

2010-07-21T13:42:00.002+10:00

a weekend at bobo creek in winter (ie not tick season) left scout with seven tiny ticks. yep, paralysis ticks. a bigger dog would have been fine but it was pretty bad for little scout who spent four days at the vet on a drip. she is fine now but they had to shave her! she looks so funny, but is as delightful as ever.

a great weekend at bobo creek

2010-07-12T15:17:00.004+10:00

we spent the weekend with three girls, two dogs and our builder-friends aidan and catherine making a big start on the below-floor level of the cottage. it was cold but the days were clear and the property is beautiful in winter. the creek is shady and mossy and the grass glorious shades of ochre and gold.
here are some photos:
the building materials arriving
the girls putting up their tent
jessie keeping warm
scout loving the long grass
the creek
sophie and scout
pete and aidan got the joists up

izzy's new puppy

2010-06-29T12:48:00.004+10:00

izzy is our bright 14 year old. she has been desperate for her own puppy for quite some time now, so last year pete offered her a puppy in exchange for outstanding grades at school. she didn't deliver so was given another shot at it for the first half of this year. well, with a firmer commitment and a slightly more disciplined homework routine she did really well.

so we spent days searching for a puppy that was suitable. izzy of course wanted a huge dog, but as jessie is a huge dog we had to set a size and energy restriction. in the end, failing to find a rescue puppy (because of the adored rabbit it had to be a puppy rather than a mature dog), and 47 puppies later, we found a gorgeous cavachon (which is a cross between a king charles spaniel and a bichon frise). a little girl 10 weeks old. she is pretty and sweet with a curious disposition and we all love her.

she slept with izzy the first night and then with olympia last night - i went in this morning to find them cuddled up together fast asleep...

of course, jessie loves her too.

but the best thing is that izzy now knows that she can achieve anything, and that hard work is not all that hard...

chocolate caramel slice

2010-06-17T21:15:00.004+10:00

everyone's favourite slice, and pretty easy.

you'll need for the base
250g butter
1 cup sugar
1 cup coconut
2 cups plain flour

in a medium sized saucepan, melt butter and add other ingredients and stir to combine. press into the base of a rectangular tray (about 30x20cm). bake in a moderate oven for 12 minutes.

meanwhile
175g butter
4 tablespoons golden syrup
2 tins condensed milk

using the same saucepan (to save on washing up) melt butter, add syrup and then condensed milk. stir well over a low heat until the mixture bubbles. remove from heat.

when the base is cooked, take it from the oven, then pour the caramel mixture over. return to the oven for 10 minutes.

melt about 300g chocolate and pour over the warm caramel. all it to cool and set before cutting it up.

knitting season

2010-06-07T11:56:00.004+10:00

winter always gets me knitting and crocheting. the danger is that by the time i finish things it's too warm to wear them. scarily, we have increasingly short and mild winters...
but i managed to get a few beanies and berets finished recently including this one that i sent off for my youngest niece araluen, back in england after her adventures around (well, half-way around) australia. it will be too warm in the uk for her to wear it, but luckily they still have brief summers...

another birthday

2010-06-01T13:21:00.002+10:00

jessie's birthday was on the second last day of may. may is a good birthday month.
izzy made her a birthday treat complete with a stick of cabanossi as a candle. we made her "sit!" while we sang happy birthday to her.
jessie really is the most gorgeous dog. so gentle and attentive, she licks the rabbit, licks the bird and licks the snake whenever she gets the chance. she enjoys a good "wrassle" with olympia and gets special cuddles from izzy.

across the nullarbor (again - but this time by car)

2010-05-30T15:28:00.005+10:00

pete and i have just got back from a lightning trip across the nullarbor from perth to sydney via adelaide and ballarat.

my sister madeleine and husband chris were unable to sell their car at the end of their three month tour around the bottom-half of australia and offered it to us. pete has wanted a white pajero for a while with a bit more grunt than our blue one so it was easy to say yes - and then look at the map and go 'aaarrggh - it's such a long long way!' however, it was a great trip and although we didn't stop much we saw a lot. the nullarbor was green and beautiful and often raining.

the time difference between nsw and wa worked in our favour as it was (relatively) easy to rise at 5 and get going each day. it also meant we were asleep by 8.30!

here are some pics to give you a bit of an idea of our journey.

here is the car, outside coolgardie. at this stage we looked at the map and realised we had only covered a few centimetres and had metres to go!

and i have to include a photo of these trees that lined the road east of perth. i must find out what they are for they glowed lustrous bronze in the evening light and were amazing:

i had a little friend who must have climbed in while we were still in perth. he travelled on my hair for hundreds of kilometres and sat perched at the top of the steering wheel while i drove the ninety-mile straight road in the middle of west australia, heading into the nullarbor treeless plain. we finally put him on a little bush by the side of the road. i missed him.

this is on the nullarbor but before the treeless plain. midway through day two.

the treeless plain. not one kangaroo did we see despite all the warnings. but we saw a herd of camels in the distance.

dawn of day three. on the nullarbor across into south australia.

the sun shone briefly.

eerie sun and shade.

stunning cloudscapes.

inland from ceduna, heading towards port augusta and then adelaide.
port augusta, an open cut mine glowing red in the dusk.

driving into the adelaide hills at sunrise on day four:

hahndorf provided the best coffee of the journey and a welcome bit of civilisation. we bought pete a great bluesman's hat, called a mississippi gambler...

victoria was foggy and then lush and green:

once we had the slasher on the trailer we could really feel the extra weight. by dark we were hungry and tired so had a big meal in a pub and a quiet night in a motel in euroa - ned kelly country.

almost home and wind turbines outside goulburn. huge.

the trip was well over 4000km, and renewed my awe for my sister's travels with five children in that car, as well as an appreciation of the diversity and beauty of the australian landscape. we were never bored looking at the changing scene. and pete and i had lots of time to talk and laugh and even to sing!

olympia's birthday

2010-05-21T20:43:00.003+10:00

it's birthday season in our house. olympia turned 16 yesterday. amazing, creative, insightful child. we had indian for dinner followed by gelato. her favourite flavour is pannacotta. we bought her moonstone earrings as she has an indian name: 'chandra-mookhi' which means the face of the moon.
happy birthday olympia!

isabel's birthday

2010-05-17T19:19:00.004+10:00

isabel anna grace turns fourteen today. she's grown from a delightfully roly-poly baby into a willowy, stylish young woman. she occasionally reverts back to her childhood conviction that she was indeed the "boss of the universe", as she described herself at about 4 years old many times. pete has been known to call her "isn't-abel", but mostly she is diligent and creative and full of compassion and empathy for others. when olympia (nearly 16) first sponsored a world vision child (gcebile from swaziland), isabel was so concerned that the child was not receiving enough letters from her sponsor that she wrote to gcebile and signed the letters "olympia". that's the kind of girl isabel is.

happy birthday to you.

ps. the photo was taken by olympia who is a great photographer. check out her flickr pages...

indian biryani

2010-05-14T13:01:00.004+10:00

sophie and i thought of biryani at the same moment the other day. it had to be cooked for dinner that very night!
i didn't take any photos as i was cooking. so IN the moment! but i'm using a handpainted scarf that i did a few years back when i finished my degree and realised that i had done very little in the way of truly creative things for the four years of full time study that it took...

lamb biryani
i used 1kg diced lamb (cheap quality is better)
i fried 3 big onions in ghee until soft and translucent, and added a handful of fresh curry leaves, 1 big stick of cinnamon and about 10 cardamom pods, and some black pepper corns.

then, i added 6 cloves of chopped garlic and a lot of chopped ginger, then a tabsp of cumin seed, tabsp coriander powder, tabsp tumeric and when that was nice and aromatic chucked in the lamb pieces. i let it all cook for ten minutes or so then added about 1/2 cup of yogurt and some salt.

i covered it and cooked it on a low heat until the lamb was soft and tasty - for me that was a couple of hours, but it will depend on the lamb itself.

in the meantime i rinsed and briefly soaked about 2 cups of basmati rice, then drained it well.

i tipped out the curry mix into another bowl so i could use the same saucepan for the rice and curry mix. you will need a fairly big pot with a good lid and heavy base.
i fried the rice lightly in some ghee and oil and then tipped in the curry mixture.

the tricky part now was judging how much water to add. basically you need to cover the rice and curry with enough water to be less than one knuckle depth of your finger. does this sound vague enough? in cooking rice the absorption method the rule of thumb(ha ha) is to cover the rice with water to a depth of the first bend (or knuckle) of your index finger. because the rice for the biryani has been washed and drained some time before the cooking begins you will need a little less water. however, it is a forgiving process.

stir everything together and let it boil uncovered until the water is nearly evaporated. then throw in a handful of frozen peas and cover well. put on a very low heat for about 10 minutes and then leave it for a while until you serve it.
the garnishes that we love are fried onions (fried until dark brown), fried onions and fried raisins. mix these through as you serve the biryani.

my accompaniments were mango chutney, tomato and onion and coriander salad and a raita (yogurt salad) made with spinach:

spinach raita
defrost some frozen spinach or lightly cook and chop some fresh spinach. drain well.

mix a cup of yogurt with some honey and lemon juice, salt and pepper. mix the spinach into the yogurt.

in a small pan melt some butte or ghee and fry some mustard seeds, black cumin seeds, regular cumin seed and a little garam marsala.

tip this aromatic, sizzling stuff over the spinach and yogurt mixture and stir.

tree trunks are beautiful

2010-05-05T14:04:00.002+10:00

i enjoy sitting by the creek on our property drawing the intricate folds and bulges of the casurina trees that soar and form a dense canopy over the water.

morning pages

2010-05-01T19:01:00.003+10:00

i told pete i was going to start up doing my 'morning pages' (see julia cameron - the artist's way) and he said he hoped they wouldn't become moaning pages. but so far they have been a massive list of all the things i want (and indeed, look forward to) doing.
now i have to just arrange my time a little better to fit in: music for both pleasure and business. gardening both here and at bobo creek. acquiring a lot of knowledge about permaculture and organic farming, natural building etc. jam and soap - finalising some of the packaging and the distribution. art and craft - but this is a big subject and i'll write more about that later.

meanwhile here's a little sketch i did at bobo creek last weekend:

how's this for a list?

2010-04-22T18:44:00.004+10:00

here is a great list of dos and don'ts from melanie williams' blog "where simplicity leads".

Grow your own fruits, veggies, beans, nuts, and seeds.
Grow herbs for medicinal, culinary, and cosmetic purposes.
Raise chickens, rabbits, bees, goats, sheep, etc. for fur, fiber, meat, eggs, dairy and honey.
Cook from scratch.
Don't buy processed foods.
Eat at home.
Buy from local growers what you can't grow yourself.
Join an organic CSA.
Buy grass-fed meats.
Reduce meat consumption.
Shop second-hand stores, flea markets, etc.
Barter, use free-cycle.
Become self-employed.
Don't invest in the market.
Loan within your community to support positive enterprises.
Don't charge interest except to cover inflation, if any.
Build passive-solar homes.
Heat with locally available fuels.
Swap seeds with neighbors, friends, family.
Compost.
Use humanure.
Use graywater systems.
Collect rainwater. (Illegal where I live!)
Own your own water.
Sell your car.
Build with locally available materials (adobe, strawbales, stone, logs, etc.)
Salvage materials.
Give up gadgets (tv's, microwave ovens, dishwashers, cellphones, etc.)
Do it by hand (garden, kitchen, house, etc.).
Build a root cellar.
Learn to preserve foods.
Share excess produce.
Learn to build, repair and tinker.
Insist on home funerals and burials where legal.
Self-insure.
Exercise and eat right.
Ferment foods.
Learn how to safely store drinking water.
Drip irrigate.
Conserve water.
Learn how to find water.
Go off grid.
Use permaculture principles, esp. create no waste.
Live in the smallest shelter that's practical.
Buy bulk grains, beans, spices, salt, etc. if they can't be grown or found locally.
Figure out what you can do without.
Learn how to make cheese, yogurt, soap, wine, herbal distillations, etc.
Raise your own sweeteners (honey, maple syrup, sorghum).
Plant for genetic diversity.
Learn how to build and maintain healthy soils.
Use a clothesline.
Learn how to identify wild edibles and incorporate into your diet, sustainably.
Forgo air conditioning.
Choose a climate suitable for human endeavors, one that doesn't require much artificial heating or cooling.
Learn to hunt, track, trap, and fish.
Learn to co-exist with the local critters (including the human ones).
Don't use airplanes.
Stay where you are.
Build strong communities.
Re-invent community canning kitchens, community grain mills, etc.
Finance nothing--no mortgages, no car loans, no lines of credit.
Don't use banks.
Help your neighbors.

a few sketches from WA

2010-04-22T13:54:00.002+10:00

the beach at quobba pointat lynton stationa headland on the rugged west australian coast

the sun set into the ocean for two weeks

2010-04-19T13:21:00.005+10:00

izzy and i have just got back from 2 weeks in west australia. so, so different to our lovely lush new south wales... my father joked that it is desert that extends westward to end in a cliff above the ocean. it is not quite, but we saw a fair bit of the north coast above perth that qualified for that description.

the trip was to meet up again with my adventurous sister (out from the UK) and her five children and husband who had packed into a pajero and trailer and driven from sydney to perth and beyond. we met up again in the pinnacles, a few hours north of perth near a town called cervantes. the pinnacles are limestone finger-like projections set in yellow sand. the raw material for the limestone came from seashells in an earlier epoch rich in marine life. these shells were broken down into lime rich sands which were blown inland to form high mobile dunes. there are a few theories as to the actual formation, but they make a great playground for children and adults.

we looked at stromatalites at hamelin pool on the edge of shark bay, and admired a stunning skyscape. there is often not much between you and the horizon.

then on to quobba where we stayed on a rundown but over-priced sheep station that was spectacularly located on the ubiquitous cliff over the ocean. excellent snorkling nearby kept us at the beach each day. beautiful coral and vivid fish.

after a tearfull farewell to the english cousins who are heading north before their trip back to england, the rest of us stayed near port gregory on a farm so close to the beach that we could hear the breakers all night. on the property are several historic buildings including a convict hiring depot that illustrated the brutality of forced labour. these poor wretches were brought over to work in the geraldine lead mine. the big boss was captain sandford who lived in a magnificent limestone manor on the hillside overlooking the ocean. the original property was something like 24,000 acres. now a mere 800 it has recently been taken on by greg and jenny poett who are organic farmers from down south and will work their biodynamic magic on this place too.

we swam and lazed about for three days on a deserted beach. then headed back to perth and sydney. lovely to be home...

cannelloni

2010-04-03T22:12:00.003+11:00

i seem to be drawn to rich orange/red coloured sauces lately, and the tomato sauce that swamped my spinach/ricotta and feta filled cannelloni was no exception.

recipe

sauce
fry a few onions gently until translucent, add garlic and then a jar of tomato passata. season with salt, pepper and eventually herbs and simmer until thickened a little. put aside or freeze until needed.

cannelloni
i used fresh lasagne sheets which meant the stuffing was so much easier than into the little brittle pasta tubes.
so, spinach cleaned and steamed, or (in my case) defrosted and drained.
fried onion, ricotta, egg, mace or nutmeg, a little feta cheese crumbled, some cream, pepper and a little salt. combine and place a big dollop on each half-sheet of fresh lasagne pasta. roll the pasta around the filling and lay on a baking dish. repeat until you have used up your ingredients.

pour tomato sauce over the lot and top with cheese (i used mozzarella and parmigiana).
allow to rest for half and hour before baking in a moderate oven for 45 minutes or so.

serve with a nice green salad...

horseradish

2010-03-30T21:13:00.003+11:00

take some fresh horseradish root. peel and chop into cubes. work quickly to avoid it oxidising. place in a blender with a few cubes of ice and a little cold water and a pinch of salt. blend to your preferred consistency. now... add a little vinegar (i used aged white) immediately if you like it milder, or wait for a few minutes if you like it hot. the vinegar neutralises the action of the enzymes upon the volatile oils that the root contains. i added a little sugar too. it was wonderful stirred into some hollandaise sauce and served over warm corned beef.

daughters...

2010-03-30T11:23:00.007+11:00

i think these photos cover all four daughters...olympia is in the middle looking pensive. she plays french horn and is very musical... sophie is a prolific reader and watches movies at 1.5x speed so she can watch more!

izzy is on the left. this is before rosie's gig. izzy sings too and plays excellent piano.

rosie (on the right) is in japan for three months performing. she is riding her pushbike to work through the snow. i thought i'd put a pic up of her on my blog.

waffles with sour cherry jam

2010-03-22T14:57:00.003+11:00

here's a random recipe:

buttermilk waffles

the ingredients are in 3 bits...

2 cups SR flour
pinch of salt
2 Tbsp. brown sugar
cinnamon all combined

2 egg yolks, beaten
2 cups buttermilk
1/3 cup melted butter all combined

this bit is important - separately:
beat 2 egg whites into peaks until stiff but not dry.

lightly mix all and then use a waffle maker to cook one at a time.

delicious with sour cherry jam and cream or icecream...

addicted to sour dough

2010-03-05T14:12:00.004+11:00

it's true. i love making it almost as much as i love eating it. so much for a low-carb existence!
i've got into an easy rhythm with my method. not too much fuss and quite flexible.

you need a starter. i've blogged before about this. so when i'm doing a new loaf i pour a blob (about a cup full) of starter into my big mixing bowl. then a good couple of handfuls of strong white flour, a lug of honey and about a half-cup of warm water. i leave it for a few hours and give it a bit more flour every so often, with a little warm water if it needs it. it should start to expand and look interesting...

when it seems to be active for a few hours (or days, depending on how hungry you are) add a few cups of your flour (a mix of rye and white, or spelt or whatever). a bit more honey or sugar and enough warm water to just mix together. leave for 20 minutes or so then add a generous tablespoon of salt. then knead the dough. apparently this delay of adding the salt improves the ease of kneading. mix well and knead on a bench - adding more flour or water.

i only do one proving (heretic that i am) and so i form the dough into a rough oval or rectangle and roll up, leaving the join on the underneath side. i slash the top, then i put it on a lined tray and cover lightly with a teatowel and leave it till it looks big enough to cook. this can take overnight or all day or several hours. it probably depends on a range of atmospheric and bio-chemical factors that i can remain blissfully unaware of.

cook it in a preheated moderate to hot oven. before you put the bread in, place a bowl of hot water on the bottom of the over to provide better humidity inside the oven, and spray the top of your dough-loaf with water.

bake for about 40 to 45 minutes. you may wish to turn the loaf over to make sure the base is cooked properly before the end.

fresh-baked sour dough is pretty hard to slice, but it gets easier as it cools.

bon appetit!

gingernut biscuits

2010-03-04T19:07:00.008+11:00

my sister madeleine and her family (five children and husband, chris) are here from the uk for our dad's 80th birthday celebrations and will drive from sydney to perth and up to quobba (just for a snorkel) before they leave. chris loves gingernut biscuits and i've made some to take to bobo creek (our property) where we will hang out together for a few days.

here's a nice recipe:

melt
120g butter
100g honey
120g black treacle
120g brown sugar

mix these
450g sr flour
2 teasp bicarb soda
4 teasp ground ginger
4 teasp cinnamon

add
wet to dry to form a stiff dough, then bake in bits in a moderate oven for 12 - 15 minutes.

ps.
the girls liked the dough so much i had to shoo them out of the kitchen so i could actually bake some biscuits!

some pics from melbourne

2010-03-01T11:20:00.005+11:00

a couple of weeks ago my girls gave me a weekend in melbourne as a birthday present. it coincided with chinese new year, and as rosie and i are both tigers it was a great start to our year - full of firecrackers and lion dancers.
we stayed near fitzroy gardens and could walk in and out of the city easily.
i think i am converted to the superior city idea of melbourne )as opposed to sydney). except. we have the most glorious harbour, but you don't get to see it unless you live on it. however, marrickville is a great and diverse and nourishing place to live.