MakeCookGrow.com – Page 5 – Some gardening, cooking, creating and everyday suburban life

Computers in Classrooms, The Most Livable Cities and Reading

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COMPUTERS IN JUNIOR CLASSROOMS

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Western Australians are currently enjoying two weeks of school holidays. I enjoy the holidays, too, despite not having school aged children because I catch up with several groups of friends I have taught with at four different schools. Three of those groups are involved in primary school education.

There is one constant concern expressed by these teachers; learning is prescriptive, online and difficult to assess. Many learning areas are totally digitalised and children work on their devices alone. It has long been known children develop writing and spelling skills by actually sounding out and writing words. The physical involvement reinforces and embeds the skill. Self correcting digital programs do not require nor develop these cognitive skills.

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So I was interested to read that Sweden’s Minister For Education, Lotta Edholm, has recently announced a plan to reduce the use of computers in primary schools. This follows Sweden’s poor score in the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study . This indicates Sweden’s performance has declined from high to intermediate in the past five years. The test measures the reading comprehension of 9 – 10 year olds.

Computers are everywhere and will be part of everyday life in all areas. Children will become adept at using them without missing out on standardised learning objectives, the current trend. The article refers to comments by Isobel Dans, Professor, University of Santiago and researcher in Diadactics and Digital Education. She says “Screens are everywhere. What is a mistake is to link them to more traditional learning without assessing their usefulness.”

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I know many experienced junior primary teachers in Western Australia who would agree!

Further information SOURCE

THE MOST LIVABLE CITIES IN THE WORLD

According to the Economist Intelligence Unit, Vienna is the most livable city in the world. Vienna has won this award several times in the past five years. The city is recognised for its stability, infrastructure, culture and entertainment and education. Return to order after the covid-19 pandemic was also considered. Improvements made in developing countries were also noted.

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The 30 indicators for each of the 175 cities assessed are ranked from 1 ↔100. The indicators are assessed according to ratings of acceptable, uncomfortable, undesirable or intolerable.

The top five most livable cities in the World as rated June 21st, 2023 are

Vienna, Austria
Copenhagen, Denmark
Melbourne, Australia
Sydney, Australia
Vancouver, Canada

READING

STORIES of the SAHARA by Sanmao.

This cover would win the award for the least clear and enticing cover on a book.

My neighbour lent me an unusual book of essays. Originally published in Chinese this translation of Stories of the Sahara into English was published in 2019. The author is described as a writer, novelist and a pioneer. Born in China in 1943, she excelled at school, especially in literature and was offered opportunities to study philosophy. She then continues her studies in Spain.

Widely traveled, she is fascinated by the Sahara Desert. She meets a Spanish diver and underwater engineer, José, who moves to El Aqúin in Spanish Sahara to begin work for a mining company.. Sanmao soon follows and they consequentially marry. Housing is in short supply and expensive, so they move into a small, unfinished derelict home in the cemetery district and settle into desert life.

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The Spanish colonized this area of the Sahara in 1884 to capitalize on the fishing opportunities and ports on the coast. They increased their claim in 1958. They also mined phosphate. The Muslim Sahrawi, the traditional owners, living around the Spanish mining ventures, continued living the way they had for centuries. It is an uneasy arrangment, but ever curious Sanmao goes exploring, often alone, in the desert. She makes friends with some of the locals by getting to know their children.

Sanmao is thrilled by the desert and writes essays about the temperature, sand storms, mirages and the way the light changes at sunset. She describes its vastness as ‘majestic’ and is awed by the changes in colour during the day and the total blackness at night. She has an array of Chinese and Western medicines and despite no medical training, becomes known for helping with aches and pains, infections and other health problems. She holds ‘school’ for the local girls and teaches them to count, a skill previously only known to males.

Unlike other Spanish living in El Aqúin, Sanmao develops friendships with some Sahrawi families. She writes about the planned guerilla led revolution against the Spanish and the occupation by the Moroccans. Although I found her behaviour to be frequently reckless and also dangerous for the Sahrawi involved, she was adventurous and a keen observer of local life. She records and writes about local life in both positive and negative ways.

Map Unsplash

El Aqúin is two thirds down the coast of the yellow part of the map.

What also intrigued me about this book was my ignorance about the Spanish occupation, the bungled decision making about their future in the Sahara, the downfall of the Sahrawi guerillas and the eventual occupation by the Moroccans. Spain began to withdraw due to international pressure, especially from the United Nations. Morocco and Mauritania now preside over different parts of the region. The history of the area, south of Morocco, highlights the problems of colonization, particularly when the colonizing country withdraws.

Sanmao was a free spirit, a skilled writer and she lived an extraordinary life. José died in a diving accident in 1997. Supported by her parents, she returned to Taiwan, where her extended family lived, and continued writing, teaching and traveling before committing suicide in 1991, aged forty seven.

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Home Ownership, Happiness and Household Things

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DOES HOME OWNERSHIP MAKE YOU HAPPY?

Australia is experiencing ever increasing inflation with no end in sight. The cost of food, fuel, insurance, electricity and consumer goods rises every week. Home owners with mortgages are experiencing regular increases in their repayments and most are feeling the pinch. The cost of living continues to rise. ( Mortgage stress is considered to be making repayments greater than 25% of the homeowner’s post tax income. It is estimated more than 30% of West Australians with mortgages are already in this position)

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This poses the question: Does home ownership make you happy? A leading psychologist in New Zealand, Professor Robert MacCullioch, an expert on Money and Well Being refers to the cognitive bias, the ‘Endowment Effect’ which claims human beings place more value on the things they own.

The article also claims that people who own their own homes are richer and this results in greater happiness. This is because people feel they have control of their money. Home ownership also means you move less often and children perform better at school. Other research claims areas where home ownership is high have better schools and children achieve better outcomes. They also have greater access to services within their community. There’s references to higher social status, better mental health, financial security and independence, as well as less crime in areas of high home ownership.

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This is supported by research both internationally and in New Zealand which consistently supports the belief that home owners are more satisfied with their lives. Some studies cite psychological security ( the home is a safe haven), privacy, equity in the home, choice about where you live, a sense of belonging and being part of a community as important components of home ownership.

So what about countries where renting is more common? Countries such as Germany where more than 50% of people rent have laws that protect the renter, obligations about maintaining the properties and long leases. Traditionally most people rented rather than purchasing their own homes as a result of the substantial deposit required to get a mortgage. Culturally, renting was accepted as a way of life. Due to the shortage of housing stock in Germany anyone wanting to buy their own home would more commonly buy land and build a house. Similar situations exist throughout Switzerland and France.

HOUSEHOLD THINGS

Are you building or renovating your kitchen? I’d like to suggest you place the rubbish bin in a pullout ‘drawer’ below the area where most food preparation will occur. Then you can just pull it out and clean the cutting board or bench top by wiping everything straight into the bin.

This terrible photo of the slide out rubbish bin shows how easily I can swipe rubbish into the bin from the bench top where I do most of the food preparation. I know I should make compost from fruit and vegetable scraps but past experiences make it plain compost is not my forté.

I frequently make sourdough bread. This time I added caraway seeds to the dough and sprinkled some on top before the loaf went into the oven. Lovely flavour. I’ll do that again.

Our greengrocer is full of many different types of apples at the moment. I bought too many for us to eat raw so I stewed some and made tarts and an apple pie. Disappeared quickly.

Now that we have two or three different bins for different sorts of rubbish I use spatulas to clean jars and tins as clean as possible before washing them to go into recycling. Some things can be swished out with hot water and added to whatever you’re cooking or the soup pot.

Thought I’d try a supermarket brand of baked beans having read a few articles saying these items are the same as brand name products. I am sure some are, but not the baked beans I bought. Never mind, they went into the pot of minestrone and tasted wonderful after mixing with everything else.

Minestrone with home brand baked beans. I had to dilute it with more stock as it just got thicker and thicker. Three days of slightly different soup depending on what I added to use up or just dilute it!

Made cheese and sweetcorn muffins to have with the soup. The leftover corn went into the soup, too. Recipe I used (here).

Today is WORLD CHOCOLATE DAY. Well, that’s easy to celebrate!

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How to Sterilise Jars, Preserving Lemons, Pickling Cucumber and Quick Soup

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STERILISING JARS

Glass jars for storing food can be used and re-used multiple times. They are strong, easy to see the contents and easily cleaned and reused. Of course, they are useful for storing many other things, too, but they are perfect for food. So how do you sterilise a glass jar for food storage?

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For each method you begin by washing the jars in hot soapy water, rinse but don’t towel dry.

1. Set the oven to 110°C, place the jars on an oven tray, place in the oven for 15 minutes, carefully remove and leave to cool.

2.Alternatively if you have a pot deep enough you can set the washed jars in it, cover with water and boil for 10 minutes. Remove carefully and leave to cool.

3. Or you could place washed jars in the microwave on high for 1 minute. Remove carefully and allow to cool.

HOW TO PRESERVE LEMONS

It’s citrus season in Western Australia and I use fresh lemons and limes in so many ways. Nearly every style of cuisine involves citrus.

I like to extend the citrus season by preserving some of the lemons. Preserved lemons are pickled in their own juice and salt for three weeks. Originating in Morocco and Middle Eastern recipes I find a little preserved lemon adds zing to everything from salads to stews. Sterilise the jar you want to use to preserve your lemons. A wide opening makes it easy to insert them. Cut off the tops and bottoms after you have washed and dried them. Then cut your lemons into quarters leaving them joined at the base. Spoon two dessert spoons of salt into the jar and spoon more salt into the first lemon. Place it in the bottom of the jar. Continue adding salted lemons, squashing them down and releasing juice. Finally, when the jar is full of salted lemons top up with extra juice.

I push the lemons down with a round wooden ‘stick’ I’ve had forever. I don’t know what it was originally intended for but it’s great for making sauerkraut. And preserved lemons. An upended wooden spoon would do the same job.

Screw on the lid, put the jar into the fridge. Invert the jar each day for three weeks. Then, uncap and remove a quarter. Scrape off any remaining pulp, thinly slice the skin into strips and add to a salad, a stew, a tagine, anything you like.

PICKLED CUCUMBER

The Fruit and Vegetable sections are full of crisp, fresh cucumbers. It’s the coldest and wettest winter we’ve had for years, so salads don’t feature in this house. Raw, cold food doesn’t appeal at all, but the lovely cucumbers do, so I’m pickling them. I still eat them cold but only a little bit at a time.

Pickling cucumbers is easy. Sterilise wide mouthed jars. Make the pickling liquor by putting 2:1 vinegar and water with coriander seeds and mustard seeds in a pot and bring to the boil. Then slice the cucumbers long ways into thin slices. A mandolin would be useful but I don’t have one. Do this while the pickling liquor simmers for about ten minutes. Then leave it to cool.

I added star anise to the pickling liquor because they’re so pretty! Unfortunately, my pickles don’t taste like traditional pickles, which is what I prefer. They taste good, but just not how I usually make them!

Trim the sliced cucumber to fit in your jars. Pack them in closely. When the pickling liquor has cooled pour it carefully into the jars, adding some of the spices. Put the lid on and into the fridge. These are ready to eat the next day.

When I’d filled the two jars I had about a third of a cucumber left. I try very hard not to waste food, so I diced it finely, then gathered yoghurt and garlic. I still had some cut lemons on the bench from earlier so I had lemon juice, too.

I mixed the diced cucumber, a big dollop of Greek yoghurt, a squeeze of lemon juice and some garlic to make tzatziki. Instant afternoon tea. No waste.

TOMATO SOUP

I was asked this week if I had any other suggestions for ‘quick soup’ that doesn’t require lots of chopping or other preparation. It’s good if the ingredients are already in the pantry so you can make it without going shopping. So here is my other speedy, satisfying and very easy soup!

Dice an onion and fry it with two diced cloves of garlic in a big pot. I use diced garlic out of a jar for this (2 tspn) as the juices add to the flavour and it’s all about speed and flavour. Add two cans of crushed/diced tomatoes and three cups of vegetable stock, made from bullion or homemade. Let it bubble away for about 10 minutes, blend, reheat. Serve with a sprig of basil. A little grated cheese on top is nice, too.

This Tomato Soup takes twenty minutes from gathering the ingredients to serving up, including going out the back to pick some basil. I know because I timed it. Serves four big bowls or six smaller bowls or mugs. Delicious. And economical. Let me know if you make it.

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Rice, Mending and Winter Food

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RICE

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Do you eat rice? Rice forms the basis of many diets. It is a tropical crop which can be grown twice a year, in the wet season and in the dry season. It is mostly grown in China, India, Indonesia and Bangladesh. Japan and Pakistan also grow rice. South America, Europe and Australia grow some rice, too.

So, how healthy is rice? Brown rice, which still has the husk on it, is far more nutritious than white rice. But the question really is SHOULD YOU WASH RICE? Traditionally we were advised to wash rice to make it less sticky. According to Evangeline Mantzioris, Program Director for Nutrition and Food Sciences at the University of South Australia, washing rice before you cook it makes no difference to stickiness.

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Washing is recommended in some countries to remove dust, insects, little stones and husks left from hulling.

There are good reasons to wash rice anyway. The heavy use of plastics in food production means microplastics are being found in all foods including rice. Washing the rice before cooking it can rove about 20% of plastics regardless of the material used in packaging. Rinsing pre-cooked rice can remove 40% of the microplastics.

Washing rice has no impact on bacteria, although cooking it at high temperatures will kill bacteria. Also avoid cooked rice which has been left at room temperature for long periods as it may develop bacteria producing toxins.

More information www.miragenews.com

MENDING

Bought this merino wool cardigan at the end of winter last year. Seem to remember wearing it twice. Got it out on Saturday and as I put it on I realised the shoulder seam had a hole! This was an expensive cardigan so I imagined it lasting a long time.

Inspected the hole. The trimmer had cut too close to the stitching. Investigated all the other seams. They were fine. I can’t remember where I bought it and obviously have no receipt. So, I mended it, using cotton thread. The hardest part of mending was finding a colour close to the colour of the cardigan. Done and wearing it again. Still cross.

WINTER COOKING

Yesterday was the shortest day of the year in the Southern Hemisphere. Western Australia is in the middle of winter. This has been the coldest and wettest June for twelve years. This winter feels like the winters of long ago when I was a child. Raincoats, flannelette sheets, hot water bottle and roaring fires were common then.

All this cold weather means lots of hot meals. The green grocer was bursting with lush, fresh winter vegetables. We filled our baskets with celery, potatoes, zucchini, onions, cucumber and butternut pumpkin, plus pears, mandarins and apples. We also got a salami and some cheese.

So when we got home and unpacked our shopping I began to chop vegetables. The first thing I made was Ratatouille. Such a satisfying cold weather lunch. I used onions, zucchini, diced tomatoes and par- cooked butternut pumpkin. I know, eggplant/aubergine is the traditional vegetable but we don’t eat it. Sometimes I add sweet potato and sometimes pumpkin because I like the pop of colour and the flavour. Tastes great when it’s cooked but wonderful the next day when the flavours have matured. Delicious.

While I was chopping the vegetables I diced onions and carrots. I also chopped the top off the celery stalks where the line is on the stalk. The thinner stalks and even some of the crisp lime green leaves, finely diced, taste good in soup. I added stock, this time made from bouillon as I forgot to thaw some stock from the freezer. There’s no way it would have thawed in a few hours in this weather .

I added some curry paste and left it all to bubble for about 25 minutes. Used the stab blender until it was smooth, then added some broken spaghetti. Actually, rice would probably have been a more likely addition, but I’m not a big fan of rice despite living and still frequently visiting Asian countries where rice is served every meal.

This was served over two days and was very good.

We like toast with soup. Actually, the soup was so thick and filling it was all we had for dinner one night, plus some toast. These two loaves look very rustic! I’ve begun adding more rye to the mix. I also sprinkled poppy seeds on one loaf and caraway on the other. I’ll add caraway seeds to the mix next time. They taste so good!

Winter also means citrus fruit. I love all forms of citrus! I made this lemon cake with lots of lemon juice and then used more juice and zest in the icing.

My ‘go to’ winter citrus cake is a Lemon Drizzle Cake but I didn’t have any mild Greek yoghurt, only sheeps’ yoghurt, so I made this loaf cake.

No risk of scurvy in this house!

We’ve picked many lemons and limes so they will be featuring in our cooking for some time, yet.

Keep warm if you’re in W.A.!

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Easy Dinner and Other Domestic Business

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SALMON PATTIES

The overdue pantry clean and sort produced a tin of pink salmon. Probably bought during one of the pandemic lockdowns, along with a 10 kg bag of rice, baked beans and cans of chickpeas. I don’t think we’ll ever get through the bag of rice. Determined to use the salmon, I searched online and found many recipes for Salmon Patties.

The recipe I chose for Salmon Patties required six ingredients, all to hand. So, I tidied up the weather beaten spring onions when I went out to get two for the recipe, boiled about a cup of potato, took out the jar of breadcrumbs and finally, an egg. All the ingredients went into the food processors and quickly amalgamated into a mixture I could spoon into my hand and shape into patties.

Next time I’d season with salt. According to the recipe, the mix would make eight patties, I made twelve, so make them bigger than mine!

In the evening, I took the plate of Salmon Patties out of the fridge, heated the oil, cooked them until they were golden on both sides and served them with steamed vegetables and wedges of lemon. Very tasty, quick to make and everything to hand. We enjoyed them! Recipe here.

https://www.taste.com.au/recipes/salmon-patties/c5b04490-0973-4042-b77d-3c6b3504d141

KITCHEN SCISSORS

I have a rack of knives and a pair of scissors just next to the workbench I use for food preparation. Why scissors? Because they are so useful! From opening packets to snipping herbs and vegetables and even cutting up cold chocolate which refuses to snap, I use scissors. I wash them along with the knives. I also have a pair of scissors in a drawer I use for snipping the stems clean on cut flowers, something I do every few days to prolong their freshness. They get washed in hot, soapy water, too.

ALOE VERA

Twelve months ago a dear friend gave me an aloe vera plant. It is very attractive but also has magic powers! I burnt my hand on a hotplate two weeks ago. It was quite a deep burn. Ran my throbbing hand under cold water for a very long time; every time I took it away from the water it hurt! Our son was staying with us and he cut a piece off the aloe vera plant. I put it on the burn. Relief! When the aloe vera got hot and dry, I cut a little piece off and applied it again. And again, along with a cold compress.

Aloe vera is a cactus like plant which grows well in most climates. Its uses listed online are surprising, but most commonly, it’s recommended for treating sunburn, burns and radiation toxicity. There’s a surprising number of other uses which made me consider this attractive plant in another light!

The aloe vera soothed the pain and limited the swelling. By the next day the burnt area was very stiff and tight and puffy. It slowly settled into a long, hard strip of wrinkled skin. Over the next two weeks the wound cracked and I picked pieces off! Still a bit tight but now there’s just a strip of new pink skin.

PERSIMMON

A favourite in South East Asia, persimmons are in season now. Apparently, once common in Australian gardens, they’re now out of fashion. They are very attractive. My husband brought three home when he’d been shopping so we could try them. I cut one into quarters, removed the core and skin and then cut another in half to scoop the flesh out, like it was a cup.

Easy to prepare and tasty, plus very pretty but I probably wouldn’t buy them again.

BREAD AND BUTTER PUDDING

You know I try to avoid food waste! So, leftover bread, buttered and spread with jam, some milk and eggs became pudding one night and breakfast the next day.

The dried cranberries plumped up into delicious taste surprises through the pudding. I added nutmeg and cinnamon to the top before putting it in the oven. Just add cream or icecream.

SHAKING BEEF

Cold and very wet. We’ve had more rain in five days than Perth usually gets in the month of June. So dinner needs to be hot with strong flavours to satisfy the taste buds. Cubed beef is marinated in garlic and sugar plus oyster, soy, sesame and fish sauce then cooked in a hot wok. Some vinaigrette, made from rice wine vinegar, sugar, salt and some thinly sliced red onion is poured over the meat when it is cooked and the rest, with squeezed lime, when it is served. Full of flavour and warmth, we really liked it! This was very good served on rice with beans topped with coriander.

I’ll be making this again!

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Cooking and Eating

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MICROWAVE CHOCOLATE BROWNIES

I’ve made a lot of Chocolate Brownies over the years. I’ve misplaced my favourite recipe and tried many others, some quite good, some too rich or sticky and some didn’t really impress. Recently I made a tray of Chocolate Brownies to set for afternoon tea and was then asked for the recipe. Began a serious hunt for my favourite recipe. Although I was unsuccessful, I have culled my recipe books by at least half, even the beautiful ones I thought I might use on day.

So, I went looking online. Online recipes are the reason I wasn’t using most of my recipe book collection! If an online recipe is a success, I print it and keep it in a book or I bookmark it to refer to later. This works well for me.

My search results included a recipe for microwaved Chocolate Brownies. I was intrigued and gathered the ingredients and made it. Quick, easy and I had all the ingredients in the pantry. I don’t know what golden caster sugar is but substituted caster sugar. I also used 100gm of dark intense 91% bitter chocolate, although the recipe called for 75gm of any sort of chocolate, because the block weighed 100gm and who keeps 25gm of leftover chocolate? I know where that would have disappeared to in no time!

Cooked as directed and left to cool. Sliced into twelve generous sized pieces. It is a really delicious slice, not too gooey, not dry but way too easy to eat. The bitter chocolate is just the right balance. Not ‘fudgey’ like so many other slices, but I prefer the bitter flavour and cake-like structure of this brownie.

https://realfood.tesco.com/recipes/microwave-chocolate-brownies.html

OTHER COOKING

Meanwhile, I was cooking other meals for the next few days. I made a spicy meat sauce to eat with tortillas for dinner. I make the spice mix instead of buying little packets. At dinner time I added bowls of grated carrot, fresh baby spinach leaves, chopped lettuce, grated cheese, tomatoes and salsa so we could make our own tortilla.

This is the mix for homemade Taco Flavouring. Quick, easy, economical. Combine

1 tablespoon chili powder
¼ teaspoon of each garlic powder, onion powder and dried oregano
1 ½ teaspoons of ground cumin
2 teaspoons paprika
salt and pepper to suit

I mix and store it in a screw cap jar in the pantry. Add about 2 tablespoons of the Taco Mix to 500gm (1.1 lb) of meat. I make three times the above list of ingredients at one time as it keeps well.

We knew we’d be down at my Mother’s place all day Saturday and would be late getting back, so I used the slow cooker to make a hearty beef casserole. I started browning cubed beef, adding onions and garlic before putting that into the slow cooker. Made a gravy from the pan juices, some beef stock and tomato concentrate plus Worcester Sauce. Thickened it a little with plain flour, added some grated black pepper and poured over the meat. Tipped in thawed, frozen vegetables plus some cubed potatoes and left it cooking for about seven hours.

Everything in the pot, lid on and seven hours later, a hearty, hot dinner.

Put some of the slow cooker beef casserole in the freezer and served the rest when we got back from down south. While it was warming, I cooked some shredded cabbage with a drizzle of oil and some cubed bacon. Almost instant dinner.

The other dish on the menu was Toad In A Hole. I know, funny name, but a traditional English recipe my husband has made before and I like to encourage him to cook! He was closely overseen by our son, who has been staying with us for a week while he was completing a course. Our son is a very good cook and gave advice. He also made this luscious gravy to have with the Toad In The Hole.

Shelled a pile of prawns for lunch one day and wondered how prawns are prepared commercially. Turns out they’re lined up on a roller which removes their heads, then splits the shells and spikes from below remove the shell in one piece. Pondered the pile of manually removed shells in front of me, once I’d cleaned my hands under running water followed by rubbing them in a cut lemon.

Went looking for uses for prawn shells. I soon discovered some people suck the prawn heads clean. Eh, no, didn’t appeal, so kept looking. Soon discovered fish stock recipes. Put the shells and heads, or you could use any other fish bits ( total 500g) into water (6ooml) with a chopped up carrot ( should have a chopped stalk of celery, too, but I’d run out.) Boiled for 20 minutes then left to cool before straining it and putting the liquid in a jar in the freezer. I am still considering the numerous online recipes which called for fish stock.

Lots of warming foods to keep us going and the base for some soup. I also have vegetable stock in the freezer.

As always when the family are together, go have yum cha. Luscious little steamed treats. Our favourite yum cha restaurant is always packed, so we get there early and line up. It’s worth it!

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Sweet Chili Chicken Balls, Potato Salad and Garden Trends

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SWEET CHILI CHICKEN BALLS

It’s suddenly quite chilly by dinnertime in our part of Western Australia, so my thoughts turn to hot, tasty dinners. This time I made Sweet Chili Chicken Balls. Try them, they’re quick and easy and taste great.

INGREDIENTS

To make 16 balls, you need

500g chicken mince

2 finely chopped cloves of garlic

I tspn ground ginger

1/4 tspn of each salt and ground pepper

4 tbspn chopped spring ( green ) onion and some more to serve

1/3 cup breadcrumbs

1/4 cup sweet chili sauce.

METHOD

Mix all the ingredients together until well combined. The chicken mince I used must have been very moist as I eventually added half a cup of breadcrumbs to get a good, firm consistency. Roll to the size of golf balls and cook in 160°C F/F for 20 minutes. Pour 1/2 cup of sweet chili sauce over the chicken balls and return to the oven for 5 minutes.

I served the chicken balls with roasted potato cooked in duck fat with rosemary and sea salt plus cauliflower and beans. Very nice dinner.

I microwaved the potato wedges for 6 minutes, added a little more melted duck fat, rosemary and sea salt then roasted them in the oven.

NOTE I used spring onion in this recipes as they are growing enthusiastically, but chives would be nice, too.

POTATO SALAD

This easy potato salad can be served warm or cold but I like to leave it to cool so the potatoes really absorb the flavours. Potato salads made with mayonnaise always seem more appropriate for warm weather meals. I’ll serve this tonight, slightly warmed, with German sausages and fried cabbage. It is a cold night dinner.

To make this Potato Salad boil about a 1.5 kg (3lbs) of any potato cut into biggish cubes. Add a generous teaspoon of salt to the cooking water once it is boiling. After about 10 minutes cooking, insert a knife to test if the potatoes are slightly soft, but not mushy! While they’re boiling gather a handful of herbs. I used basil, chives and a small leaf parsley, but just finely chop whatever you have on hand. Dice half a red onion ( I store the remaining half in the fridge in a glass jar)

Marinate the potatoes in 3 tablespoons of vinegar, stirring every now and then for about half an hour. The potatoes absorb most of the vinegar and this adds to the clean flavour of the dish. Then pour half a cup of extra virgin olive oil into a jar, add 3 tablespoons of Dijon mustard and 2 tablespoons of vinegar, screw the lid on and shake until the dressing is amalgamated. Strain off any remaining vinegar. Pour the dressing over the potatoes, stir in the onion and herbs and let it sit for a while before serving.

Heat slightly in the microwave before adding the dressing if you prefer to serve the salad warm.

NOTE. I used 25 %food grade acetic acid, known as essig essenz, to marinate the potatoes, which is what would be used in Germany. It breaks down the cell walls and is absorbed effectively into the potatoes. Readily available overseas, harder to access in Australia. This recipe works with ordinary white vinegar too.

Delicious!

CHELSEA GARDEN WEEK NEWS

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The main message from the Chelsea Garden show this year seems to be WEEDS are good! Yes, I reeled in shock, too, especially as I had a massive weeding session planned for the weekend. We’ve been away for two weeks and returned to a tsunami of weeds. Apparently, bees love weeds, they are an important source of nectar. I think it will take me a while to digest this news!

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Another feature noticeable in many gardens is the inclusion of dead wood. Pieces of dead wood, normally tidied up and burnt, should be left to create insect habitats. Insects are key species in healthy ecosystems and need our support to thrive. They are threatened by the removal of trees around houses which are bulldozed to allow high rise apartments. This is particularly relevant in Perth where multiple old houses on big blocks are being bulldozed along with every feature of the landscape. These are replaced by huge blocks of apartments with no gardens.

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The plot-to-plate theme continues to gain popularity. Many of the gardens incorporated herbs and other edibles in their designs. These edible ornamentals even have a name; they are called edimentals. This trend is easy to achieve, too, and the benefits are enormous. Fresh herbs and vegetables are delicious. I also have a couple of quite compact blueberry bushes, too, along with lots of herbs. Nasturtiums as edimentals were big too. I have lot of orange and yellow nasturtiums but have never eaten them. Have you?

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Another trend is growing your own mushrooms. I have done this a few times in the past and not been overly impressed by the harvest. Also, I am the only one in the family who eats mushrooms but I think I’ll try it again this year. My favourite self grown mushrooms were oyster mushrooms. They look like baby aliens when they first germinated but they taste great.

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Do you have any special gardening plans?

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Shopping in Bali and Good Books

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After two weeks in Bali we are back in Perth and back to our old routines. We left Bali on a sunny 30C° day and arrived back in Perth to overcast skies and 20°C. So getting all the washing dry has been challenging. The garden has obviously enjoyed the rain and will need attention later.

I’ve been asked about shopping in Bali. There’s everything from open fronted stalls to grand new malls. We went back to a shopping centre in Kuta where my husband bought quality boat shoes four years ago and were pleased to find they still have that brand, so he bought another pair! He wears size 46 (12) shoes and they had his size.

A bit squashed straight from the suitcase.

Wandered around the same department store and found cashmere scarves. Obviously not big sellers in Bali, they were being offered at 50% off the original price. We have two new scarves. We have found unexpected things to buy in Bali each visit.

Cashmere scarves found in Bali.

The next day we went to one of the newer, big shopping malls. I don’t normally shop at H&M and there isn’t one close to us in Perth but there was one at this shopping mall. I have a new shirt. The tag says it is made from 95% organic cotton and it replaces a very old striped T-shirt I have worn for many, many years. There were a few other clothing shops, lots of optical shops, Watsons pharmacy, tech shops and so many food outlets. (The entrance to many new shopping centres is off the main road. You’ll probably need to ask the person at the valet parking desk at the entrance to phone for a taxi unless someone is dropped off in one and you can grab it)

The price and information tags are attached by cotton threads, not strips of plastic.

So many shops everywhere selling clothes in every price range, shoes, too, and lots of decor shops but the most surprising thing was the number of tattoo shops! So many. Lots of lovely woven baskets with and without linings but I have so many baskets already. Some gorgeous jewelry, too, and other small items.

Food to prepare at your villa or room is available at various shops. Although we buy crackers and cheese, icecream and punnets of strawberries I haven’t bought things to cook or prepare. If we are hungry we order in or wander down the road. I cook all the time here but not in Bali. I am on holidays!

READING

We are keen readers and take books when we travel we’ll both read. The Ann Cleeves thriller The Heron’s Cry was in this category. Cleeves is probably best known for her Vera and Shetland detective series. Interestingly, Ann Cleeves’ first name is actually VERA. This book is one of her new Two Rivers series featuring Detective Matthew Venn and is the second one I’ve read.

Cleeves weaves clever tales with many twists and turns. This is a story about current issues in society, such as struggling small towns in the UK, suicide and the inability of health services to provide necessary services and the impact on families when one member is involved in a long running and complex murder enquiry.

It’s a great thriller and we both enjoyed it. We leave the books we have finished in the office for other guests to read. I like to borrow books from the library when we’re not traveling as we have so many, already, but take paperbacks on holidays.

Are you a fan of Redoutè’s gorgeous floral engravings and paintings? You’ll recognize his paintings everywhere, especially on gift cards, notebooks and address books because they are so beautiful. A lovely Mother’s Day gift, I am reading Pierre Joseph Redouté The Book of Flowers published by Taschen. Redouté, is referred to as the ‘Raphael of flowers’ for his exquisite, naturalistic paintings and engravings. This book features engravings from his Roses, Selection of the Most Beautiful Flowers and Lilies collections.

The works featured in this 500 page book are all amazingly accurate and very beautiful but just as interesting is the historical information about the time and the focus on gardens, herbariums and horticulture generally. The advancement in printing the engravings and watercolours, plus the developments in mass publications are all addressed, too.

Included is Redoutè original index of plants, plus a modern index reflecting reclassifications. A hefty tome, overflowing with glorious paintings and masses of information. An excellent reference book for gardeners, artists and historians. Redouté paintings feature on my address book, a notebook , an old diary I’ve kept for the beautiful pictures and several postcards so a very welcome gift!

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Lucky Bay, a West Australian Beach at Esperance, named by the explorer Matthew Flinders, is named the Most Beautiful Beach In The World.

So as the Southern hemisphere heads into winter the Northern Hemisphere heads into summer. Enjoy the special aspects of each seasons where ever you are in the World!

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7 Things About Bali

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We love Bali. For years we visited regularly but Covid prevented us from coming for three years. Now we’re back! We stay at the same villa, we’ve visited old friends, caught up with the wonderful staff here, eaten at our favourite restaurants and cafes and found a few new ones, had massages and reflexology and spent hours in the pool, chatting and bobbing about. It is wonderful! Here are a few things you need to know before you come to Bali. All interspersed with photographs of food because the food in Bali is wonderful.

SEVEN THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT BALI

ONE Bali is 8° south of the Equator so you will burn easily just walking around. It is very hot most months of the year. Bring a 50SPF sunscreen and reapply after swimming, wear a hat and stay in the shade in the hottest part of the day. The streets are full of badly burnt tourists! Be especially careful to protect young children from burning.

Not glamorous but good protection in the pool. I wear a rash top in the pool and add a hat when I’m not actually swimming. Rash tops, which look like fitted shirts, are made out of spandex, polyester or nylon manufactured with UPF, (ultraviolet protection factors) and provide some protection from the sun. They are most effective used in conjunction with sunscreen.

I love being in the pool! Instead of just counting steps every day I like to keep a tally of laps, too. These are my lap markers, which worked well until there was a gust of wind and they blew away!

TWO The Balinese are hospitable people and very welcoming. They don’t like confrontation. Stay calm and polite and a solution will be found.

THREE Clothing needs to be cool and protective. The Balinese are modest and tolerant but be mindful about what is on display. There’s clothing for sale in Bali to suit every budget. Explore and enjoy!

FOUR Taxis are everywhere and very affordable. You can choose from cars, motorbikes and scooters. Always check the taxi has a meter or negotiate a price before setting off. Tipping isn’t common but you can easily round the price up or have a small denomination note ready to give to the person providing the service, such as a masseuse, as you leave.

It’s late autumn in Western Australia and my feet have been hidden in shoes and boots so straight in for a pedicure .

The family legs lined up for an hour of reflexology. Not quite traditional Chinese reflexology, but it’s very good, anyway.

FIVE Authorized Money Changers advertise their rate outside the building and are more reliable than exchanging money on the street where it is hard to count reliably. There’s ATMs but the exchange/withdrawal sequence can be different from what you are used to and can be confusing.

Make sure you stay well hydrated.

SIX The food in Bali is amazing and affordable. Online restaurant reviewers are the most up-to-date source of information as more and more cafes and restaurants open or reopen after the pandemic. We usually eat breakfast at the villa then go out for a remarkable lunch and then snack on something light for dinner. Old favourites, Chandi’s ( accompanied by a jug of margaritas!) and Mamma San feature every few days but there are many choices to suit all budgets.

Sometimes late in the evening you need emergency supplies delivered to the villa.

SEVEN Bali belly, or gastro, can happen any time! Don’t eat from street stalls unless the food is taken out of a fridge to be cooked for you as you wait such as at a local warung. Otherwise, visit local cafes and restaurants. There are so many! It’s best to also carry anti-diarrhoea medication and re-hydrating products, just in case. There’s Apotek/Pharmacies with basic supplies. Symptoms include vomiting and diarrhorea and will probably resolve within 12 hours otherwise seek medical advice.

Bali is known for its amazing beaches, beautiful mountains, terraced rice paddies, lush tropical forests and the warm welcome from the local people.Know as The Island of the Gods, there are temples in the eastern corner of every family compound and everywhere else, too. If you’re lucky, you will see one of the many parades and performances at a temple, celebrating special religious days, weddings or other events.

Dinner in Nusa Dua with dear Balinese friends at Mr Bob Bar and Grill. Really good food. We enjoyed ribs and steaks, imported from Australia. They were the best! Attractive building, attentive staff and a good night out. If you’re interested in genuine Balinese cuisine, he has another restaurant behind the Bar and Grill. We’ll go there next time!

Being in Bali is very relaxing. You can be busy sight seeing, snorkeling, swimming or surfing. You can eat fabulous food. You can indulge in massages, spa treatments and our favourite, reflexology. You can do a yoga class, just relax in the pool, catch up on emails or read a book.

We celebrated our 39th Wedding Anniversary while we were here. Housekeeping Staff saw our cards so we arrived back from lunch to this lovely surprise!

It was also Mother’s Day during our stay. We were lucky our son was able to join us for just over a week so we celebrated the day at one of our favourite restaurants. Such a lovely day.

Have you been to Bali? Tell me your favourite Bali stories.

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Preventing Breast Cancer, Tarts and Mystery Chicken Dinner

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GARDENING, OTHER EXERCISES AND CANCER PREVENTION

An article I read last week makes some interesting comments about exercise, gardening and the prevention of breast cancer. We know what we eat and how much we eat, how active we are and how much sleep we get are fundamental aspects of our well being.

The article from The Journal of Physical Activity and Exercise, published on the Mail Online News site summarises a study of 48 000 women in the UK and concludes daily light exercise, such as gardening, housework and walking can reduce the chance of developing breast cancer by 21%

a woman in a blue top and leggings is on a pink exercise ball

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Being active for 5 hours and 45 minutes seems to have the most impact on preventing breast cancer. The 48 000 participants wore fitness trackers to determine their daily activity. The researchers also considered age, weight, alcohol consumption and smoking histories, all contributing factors in developing breast cancer. It is not clear if genetics such as a family history of breast cancer were considered as part of the research.

Before feeling overwhelmed by this amount of activity consider the steps taken getting to and from work, at work, doing the shopping, cleaning and generally attending to daily activities. Add some weight bearing exercises and you will be close to the daily target. To determine the amount of exercise suited to age, weight, health and current fitness level just search online. There’s a wealth of information.

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Recognising gardening as being good for your health is great! I like gardening. I wander out the back first thing in the morning to have a look around, I often do some tidying up during the day and water in summer in the evening as well as walk around out there talking to my Mother on the phone every night. My minimum step goal each day is 12 000 steps, some in the high intensity range but a lot are accrued incidentally.

So now that gardening is identified as a healthy activity, here’s a brief update of what’s happening in our garden.

This frequently blooming canna continues to please with brightly coloured flowers. I’m often asked what it is called and I don’t know! My mother grew it at the farm and she has it at her new house, I grew some , too. It was growing in a garden bed but it was so vigorous I dug it up and put it is pots. So pretty.

The hollyhock seeds have germinated as have the stock seeds, planted in a recycled dip container. I will plant them soon and add ranuncula corms to entice bees to the garden. We enquired about ‘hosting’ a beehive in our garden and were told it was too crowded. Shame, it seems bees need a bigger runway than we can supply.

PUMPKIN, FETA AND CARAMELIZED ONION TART

Needed to take finger food to an At Home movie night so decided to make a tart. Roasted some butternut pumpkin, caramelized some onions and crumbled some fetta. I had intended to use crumbled stilton but decided it might be too rich. ( So I ate it instead) Lined the tart tin with pastry and blind baked it, then added the other ingredients plus beaten eggs and milk, sprinkled fresh rosemary on top and baked it. Delicious.

How something that tasted so wonderful could look so unattractive is a mystery but I think it’s the caramelized onion which looks black, not luscious brown and richly flavoured.

Turned the leftover pastry, feta, onions and butternut pumpkin plus eggs and milk into a smaller, rather rustic pie to eat on the weekend.

What is the difference between a tart and flan? Both are open topped and generally pastry based but a tart can have a savoury or sweet filling but a flan is generally sweet. Despite finding agreement in these definitions I have seen both terms used to refer to both sweet and savoury dishes.

CHICKEN DINNER

I thought I was pretty particular about labeling leftover food before I put it in the freezer. Apparently not, so the container of chicken I thawed to make something for dinner was a bit of a mystery. I added leftover roasted butternut pumpkin, leftover caramelized onion and half a cup of peas. Turns out the chicken had a slight curry flavour and went well with the other flavours. Mystery dinner was great but I’ll never be able to repeat it as it will never taste quite the same. And I’ll be sure to label containers before I put them in the freezer.

CINNAMON SCROLLS

Then the weather changed and it really started to feel like autumn even though winter is only a month away.My thoughts drifted to cosy, warming afternoon tea food. I made cinnamon scrolls. The soft, satisfying dough, kneading and adding cinnamon and sugar and rolling them out resulted in fat little scrolls.They smelt so good while they baked. When they were cool I added drizzled icing. We fell on these cold weather treats. Luckily there were some left for breakfast, too.

Did you watch the coronation?

This frequently blooming canna continues to please with brightly coloured flowers. I’m often asked what it is called and I don’t know! My mother grew it at the farm and she has it at her new house, I grew some for my son and of, course, we have some. It was growing in a garden bed but it was so vigorous I dug it up and put it is pots. So pretty.

The hollyhock seeds have germinated as have the stock seeds, planted in a recycled dip container. I will plant them soon and add ranuncula corms to entice bees to the garden. We enquired about ‘hosting’ a beehive in our garden and were told it was too small. Shame. A lot of alysium seedlings have have self seeded in the same area.

An article I read last week makes some interesting comments about exercise, gardening and preventing breast cancer. We know what we eat and how much we eat, how active we are and how much sleep we get are fundamental aspects of our well being.

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