MakeCookGrow.com – Page 7 – Some gardening, cooking, creating and everyday suburban life

Artistic Occupations, Cooking and Creating A Sourdough Starter

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artistic occupations

Enjoyed two workshops this week. The first was marbling, using Japanese inks. Like other marbling, the inks are drizzled onto water, then stirred to distribute the colours and make patterns. I do this at home to make front and back inside covers for my journals. I’ll also use the pages I made at the workshop in my journals. Interesting to watch how other people created patterns. Fun afternoon!

The second workshop was making a collage. I’ve always liked Matisse’s collages in bold, bright colours and simple lines but I’ve never really tried to do it myself. Collage involves cutting shapes from coloured paper and gluing, stitching or otherwise attaching them to the backing sheet to create a picture. We were directed to pick one of artist Sally Bower’s artworks from her exhibition on display and recreate it using coloured papers.

Good exercise to make you really look at artwork. We were then instructed to used the leftover, negative pieces to create another piece. Although I probably wont do many collages, I did enjoy this evening, both for the inspiration and the company.

cooking dinner

One night we had slow cooked, slightly smoky beef for dinner and decided we wanted more slow cooked, meaty dinners. Too many salads! So my husband donned his mesh butchering glove and I began gathering the ingredients for slow cooker Beef Bourguignon (here) Should I include a trigger warning for vegetarians? Very meaty!

This is a wonderful dinner. You don’t need to use the very best beef as cooking it slowly results in fall apart, delicious meat. I made double the usual amount and cooked it in a slow cooker. It took five and a half hours.

Dinner for two nights in a row with different added vegetables and the rest went into the freezer.

Recycled food containers. They stack well in the freezer with little wasted space.

It’s actually better to label the containers using stickers, but I just wrote on the lids this time.

Fresh head of broccoli and a little leftover beef, sliced very thinly, and lovely broccoli and beef for dinner one night, too.

sourdough starter and LEFTOVER BREAD

I like to eat rye sourdough bread so I make it regularly. To save time, I started making two loaves at a time, then three loaves. The starter obviously felt neglected. Then we went away for 10 days leaving the unfed starter in the fridge. Back home and keen to make bread. The starter smelt like beer. I fed it and put it on the table where it got warmth from the sun, waiting for it to bubble. It didn’t. It was exhausted.

Following the instructions on this blog, Feasting At Home (here) I began a new starter. Sourdough starter , called ‘wild yeast’ is a mix of flour and water plus yeast from the air. It grows and is fed, over and over until it doubles in size. It took six days and was very easy to grow. Half a cup of the starter is fed flour and water every day until at the end, it doubles in size. The leftover starter is called ‘discard’ but I didn’t want to throw out the frothy mix! I’m aiming for minimal food waste.

A quick look online revealed so many recipes based on sourdough discard. There’s recipes for scones, pancakes, tortillas, biscuits, waffles and even pretzels. I made pancakes. While they cooked my husband went out the back for fresh lemons. So, delicious pancakes, with a sprinkle of sugar and a squeeze of lemon juice for a breakfast. It was good! And every time I feed the starter I will have enough ‘discard’ to make something else.

The next lot of discard became scones. I followed a recipe by someone who claims to descend from scone royalty and they did taste nice, but were a faff to make. I usually make scones by rubbing butter into flour, adding milk and a pinch of salt, kneading, cutting, baking. The recipe in this case had a few stages and also had sugar. I never put sugar in plain scones! Interestingly, this scone maker kept emphasizing the need to feed the sourdough starter every week, even if you weren’t using it. Lesson learnt!

leftover bread

What to do with leftover bread? I’m trying to avoid food waste. Bread, especially, seems to get dry before we’ve finished the loaf. The easiest thing is to dry it in the oven when your baking something else, then blitz it to make breadcrumbs. Similarly, cube the leftovers and make croutons! More a winter thing than a summer thing in Perth when the only soups eaten are cold but you can add them to a Caesar salad. There’s an Italian summer salad using dry bread, too.

To make croutons, cube stale bread, toss lightly in olive oil and seasoning with chopped up garlic and bake, spread on baking paper, until the cubes are browned and crunchy. Panzanelia Salad, a traditional Tuscan salad is a mix of stale torn up pieces of bread with chopped up tomatoes, some cucumber, red onion and lots of basil all mixed together with a generous splash of extra virgin olive oil and a splash of balsamic vinegar. (This is optional)

Did you know modelling predicts it takes 559 years for a disposable nappy to decompose?

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Domestic Organisation.

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domestic occupations

Laughed out loud when I read the Queen of Decluttering, Marie Kondo, has relaxed her standards after the arrival of her third child. She now believes clutter is part of family life. Changing your approach to all sorts of things is part of the human condition! I think the amount of clutter you can comfortably live with is a very personal thing. Almost every decluttering article I’ve ever read has shared three or four or more really useful techniques for tidying up and instigating more effective ways of organising your home. Most are now part of our everyday routines.

Our house is comfortable, easy to clean, fairly easy to locate paperwork kept for future reference and reflects our passions and interest. There are a few cupboards best never opened by the unprepared, but we’re comfortable with that and may sort them one day. Besides, I used to wonder if Marie Kondo’s garlic press, tissue boxes and laundry pegs ‘ sparked joy?’ Her mantra was ‘only have things that spark joy.’ Nevertheless, it is important to surround yourself with things that make you comfortable.

I do have a few habits to make everything easier; I like a calm, functional, comfortable home. I try to avoid waste. A tidy, productive garden with some plants grown from shared plants is satisfying, too. I believe in maintaining, repairing if necessary and enjoying our house and its contents.

So a few things I’ve done recently in line with my philosophy.

I wandered into a home decoration shop recently, looking for sheets for my son. It was one of those shops filled with beautiful china, bed linen, gifts and some furniture. Didn’t find the sheets he wanted, but I did find other things! Initially, I picked up some William Morris print serviettes/napkins (so pretty) then a big butter dish which would hold the 500gm blocks of butter we buy. It has rounded corners and sits nicely next to our retro looking toaster.

Then I spotted a box of four blue and white patterned mugs with fine, thin rims, which I prefer to chunky rims so I added them to the pile. Two new mugs were actually on my shopping list, anyway, so now we have four new ones.

The dilemma was evident when I got to the checkout. I’d parked some distance away, two of these purchases were in big boxes and I didn’t have a shopping bag! The lovely assistant offered me a faux oilskin bag for $1.00. It is very pretty and will be added to my collection of shopping bags. Like all these cheap bags, the side seams are not well finished and often start unraveling and separating from the top edge after being used a few times.

The side binding is not finished well and will come apart easily. I could have overlocked the end of the seams but the fabric is not very sturdy and I wondered if the needle holes made stitching them would actually weaken it. I didn’t want the bag tearing. So I glued the end of each seam and when I tested the next morning each corner was strong and firm. This bag should last a long time.

While we were in Kalgoorlie I needed masses of chopped herbs for a sandwich spread I was making. I’m a big fan of chopping herbs with scissors as all the flavour becomes part of the recipe and not a green stain on the chopping board. I used herb cutting scissors, with multiple blades in this case, but usually I just use kitchen scissors. No green stain on your chopping board and all the goodness goes into the food.

Always trying to increase the variety of fruit and vegetables we eat, so I make several different salads regularly. One of my favourites has tomatoes, celery, potato and half a red onion in it. Red onion tastes very good but has a particularly strong aroma. So when I store it in the fridge I seal it in a wide mouthed recycled jar. If the scent lingers on the lid after it’s been washed I put it out in the sun and all the smell is gone in no time.

I usually avoid round storage containers as they waste space whereas rectangular and square containers can be placed with no wasted space.The round, wide mouthed jar works well for a round onion!

My very old, tired sourdough starter. A bit sad!

We were away for ten days and in that time my sourdough mother/starter ran out of enthusiasm. It smelt strongly of yeast but didn’t react when I fed it. So I had to dispose of it after more than four years. I am on day six of growing a new one, using only flour and cooled boiled water. It is very hot during the day in Perth at the moment so the new starter is doing well. Looking forward to fresh rye sourdough!

The other thing I’ve been doing is saving all the vegetable off cuts in the freezer and adding new bits each day until I have a bag full. Then I boil them up and let them simmer on low heat for about twenty minutes. Next I strain the liquid into a jar and freeze it. Beautiful vegetable stock! Leftover bits go to the worms.

I have lots of plans for using the stock and I’m sure I’ll share them with you! Do you make stock?

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10 Days in Kalgoorlie.

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Kalgoorlie is 594 kilometres from Perth. Established in 1893 when Paddy Hannan discovered 100 ounces of gold, it is still a thriving, mineral rich area. It took nearly eight hours to drive from Perth to our son’s house in Kalgoorlie. Most people would probably take around seven hours for this trip but we stop for three dog walks, one of which also included buying lunch. Progress was also hindered by ongoing roadworks. Every time we’ve come to Kalgoorlie for three years there have been road works!

We’re very comfortable staying at our son’s house. He also enjoys the company of our dog who seems to think it’s his second home. Louis has his own rituals connected to staying in Kalgoorlie. He’s also a good traveler and spends a lot of the time asleep. When we’re in the car he drinks happily from a plastic bowl I fill from a bottle and pass to him between the seats.

The name Kalgoorlie is thought to derive from the Aboriginal word ‘karlurlah’ the name of a common plant in the area. The entire region is rich in geological history. My son and I like investigating more recent times. We’ve visited ghost towns, old mines, natural pools and lakes, including Lake Ballard featuring Antony Gormley’s amazing bronze sculptures, wood lines which supplied the timber for steam engines and water distillation, abandoned pubs (hotels) and cemeteries. I’ve seen wild flowers I’ve never seen before and wandering camels, emus and a horse which lives at the hotel in Kookynie and visits everyone in the (very small) town every morning for breakfast.

This time we headed out east of Kalgoorlie in the same direction as the Trans Australian Railway. Stopped at the abandoned open pit Imperial Gold Mine before heading on to Karonie. Other minerals mined in the eastern Goldfields include nickel, cobalt, silver, lithium, zinc, tantalum and most of the rare earths. Potassium sulphate is harvested from dry salt lakes.

Passed the entrance to a station and admired the use of old machinery for signage. They had another more pointed message on the gate.

We were a long way from anywhere and it pays to be well prepared for anything that might happen.

We were parallel with the Trans Australian Railway line and slowed so we’d be sitting at the crossing in time to watch the freight train next to us on the track. It was very long! It was slowing down and finally stopped. The train, from Perth, was waiting for another train, heading towards Perth, to pass on a stretch of double lines. Most of the Trans line is just a single track. We sat there for 35 minutes. The diesel engine of the train was turned off while they waited and all we could hear was the slight hum of some of the freezer containers, many of them stacked two high.

The second, much smaller train arrived and passed, the first train started up and slowly moved on and we were able to cross the line and head for the Karonie Covered Dam. Passed these granite outcrops which seem to have been mined recently. Maybe for road base?

Arrived at the Karonie ( corruption of the Aboriginal word Cardonia, meaning rocks) Dam. It has long since lost its cover designed to limit water evaporation. The pillars holding the roof are reinforced concrete and are now collapsing. Built in 1913-1918 when the Trans Australian Railway was being built, the dam provided water for the steam locomotives.

The surrounding rocks were terraced to direct the water into the dam. The terracing is similar in style to the construction work done at the Northam Army camp and was probably also done by Italian POW’s.

The line across the rocks in the distance is terracing intended to direct the water into the dam.

Old train tracks used when the Trans Australia line was built.

In 1919, during the Spanish Flu epidemic, Karonie was also the site of the Karonie Quarantine Station.

On the way back we stopped at a public bush air strip, intended for local and Royal Flying Doctor planes. The motto of the RFDS is ‘The furtherest corner, the finest care’. The service provides emergency and primary health care to rural and remote areas of Australia. Begun 1928 by John Flynn, the RFDS is recognised as one of the largest and most comprehensive global aeromedical services in the world. In this area they service both mining and rural communities as well as the local towns.

Next stop was the Bulong Pioneer Cemetery. I’d driven passed this little fenced in area several times before but this time we stopped. This cemetery was in use between 1894-1898. There are 10 unmarked graves and a list of names of the interred on site. Later research revealed the most common cause of death was fever. An infant was simply named, one man’s demise was the result of a ‘brawl in a bar’ and another, a circus employee ‘died after driving a waggon (sic) into a tree.’

There is a second, much bigger Bulong Cemetery. The town was originally called IOU but that was changed in 1895 to Bulong, the Indigenous name for the area.

I’d like to thank the Eastern Goldfields Historical Society for their assistance sourcing information about the Karonie Covered Dam. www.kalgoorliehistory.org.au

Blogs about previous trips to Kalgoorlie can be found here.

A Week in Kalgoorlie (Part One)

A Week In Kalgoorlie (Part Two)

Visiting Kalgoorlie

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Fashion Blogging and Traveling and Other Things

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fashion blogging

Did you know blogs about women’s fashion are one of the most popular of all blogs? No, I didn’t either, but I am surprised. Fashion, in this case, is specifically about what you wear. It is considered a means of self expression. Fashion dictates what is popular and can change very quickly. Current estimates claim 80 billion pieces of clothing are in circulation. This is an increase of 400% from 2 decades ago.

Image Pixabay

Apparently one in three young women, the biggest consumers of fashion, consider a garment worn once or twice is old and is thrown out. Local figures for Australia suggest every piece of new clothing is worn seven times before it is thrown out or sent to charity shops. I don’t think this is sustainable.

Image Pixabay

The reason I was dwelling on fashion and how it impacts on our lives is simple. Planning for going away soon, I looked up the predicted temperatures at our destination and then considered what was hanging in my wardrobe. I need more light weight shirts. A while ago I narrowed and shortened the sleeves on a summer shirt I’d never worn because the sleeves were so puffy! I added a pocket from one of the cut off sleeves for keys or a phone when I go walking. Now I wear that shirt frequently.

So when I saw another shirt hanging in the wardrobe which would work well with other pieces I’d already decided to take, I took it out and put it on to work out why I hadn’t worn it. In fact, it still had the tags attached. Same problem as the other shirt, puffy sleeves. Was that a fashion last year? So, the second shirt got the same treatment; narrowed sleeves and hemmed the newly cut sleeves at elbow length. Also added a pocket using one of the cut off sleeves. Wash, iron, all sorted.

Although I immediately think of the French when I think of fashion, one theme which dominates French fashion bloggers is the concept of a capsule wardrobe. Lots of individual pieces which can be mixed with each other, so limited colour palettes and all can mix and match. The other theme common in French blogs is to buy the best quality possible and pay attention to the maintenance of each piece. The French, probably the most attractively dressed women in the world, buy few clothes, but buy quality.

Image Pexel

Obviously, with my approach to caring for clothes, mending, altering and maintaining plus buying less of everything but good quality, I will never be a fashion blogger! But perhaps the average French woman would approve.

traveling plans

So writing about planning trips leads on nicely from writing about planning and organizing the clothes I want to take when we travel next. After two years of only traveling within our own state, we are making plans for a few holidays. We have friends who have several overseas trips booked, too, probably trying to make up for lost time!

We live in Perth, the most isolated capital city in the world. Our nearest popular destination is Bali, about three and a half hours from here. Lucky us! We love Bali and have missed our annual trip very much. We are booked to go later in the year. The next closest overseas destination for us is Singapore about 5 hours travel time from Perth. It is also a favourite! Then the next closest destination overseas is probably Auckland ( 6 hours), in New Zealand, but I have never been there.

Beautiful Bali.

So getting to popular European destinations involves long haul flights for us, taking about 24 hours to get to London (18 hours non stop available again now from Perth) It takes a lot of planning and a lot of stamina to fly to Europe. We traveled extensively within Asia as we lived there and we really enjoyed exploring various countries, some geographically similar but all with distinct cultures. And we’re really looking forward to going back to Bali!

other things

Last week I wrote about using up leftover artisan bread to make bruschetta. We really liked it and looked at other recipes, particularly from Italian bloggers. Roma tomatoes were recommended, we so used them to make the next lot. Wash, chop into small cubes, put in a sieve over a bowl and leave to drip. After a while I agitated the sieve to release more liquid, then continued as before; mix tomatoes, red onion, basil, red wine vinegar, olive oil, garlic and leave at room temperature for half and hour. It was a very hot day so I then put the mixture in the fridge for half an hour, too. Next I toasted thickish slices of bread I’d rubbed with garlic, drizzled with olive oil and then spooned on the tomato mix. Splash of balsamic vinegar. Our new favourite lunch.

Fresh, ripe tomatoes with red onion, basil, garlic, olive oil, red wine vinegar plus a splash of balsamic vinegar and lunch is done. Delicious!

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Slow Living and Bruschetta

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slow living

During Covid lockdowns many people found they enjoyed a less hectic, home focused way of living. There were many advantages, such as no time spent traveling to work, no need to dress in work clothes, money saved eating and drinking coffee at home and greater time with family. Post lockdowns, many people want to maintain the more relaxed way of living, of being able to use their time in ways that better suit themselves and their families, to have contact with their neighbours and wider community and to get more time to exercise or just enjoy being outside.

Wandering around the park observing the old trees is relaxing and interesting. For years I’ve watched this self germinated Moreton Bay Fig grow out of the rough bark of an old peppermint tree.

The new focus in the well being arena is the Slow Living Movement. My immediate thought was, ‘Well, that’s not going to happen! I’m so busy caring for other people. There are no quiet moments.’ I’m a pretty active person, anyway. ( my Father called me Pepper Pot) Reading various articles about slowing down makes me think about how hard it is to do so. I will really have to think about it and plan for a calmer life. I need to ignore some of the expectations of other people and limit the interruptions to peaceful time. I’m not sure how I can achieve this but the reasons for trying are compelling!

I think many of us find ourselves stretched in so many directions and find it hard to slow down. Why try? Because it is good for your mental and physical well being! Slowing down means you can focus on the things that really matter and make you feel relaxed. The goal is to be present, to focus on one thing at a time, to enjoy and encourage closeness. Enjoy what is important to you. It sounds easy, but it may be very different from how you are living now. Unclutter your life, not just things, but interruptions to peace and quiet, too.

Although Louis likes to run and run he also likes to investigate every new smell and other dogs. Going to the dog park is very relaxing.

Some ways to slow down include being outdoors and really looking at the sky and the trees and plants, or watching the dog doing the same. Enjoy the environment. Try new ways of cooking. Only eat dinners you really like and think about preparing food in a slow cooker. The delicious smell of cooking makes you really look forward to dinner.(Sales of slow cookers have increased enormously! This might also reflect the rising cost of energy.) Batch cook to give yourself good food and more time. Become uncontactable by turning your devices off before dinner, don’t take your phone when you go for a walk. Use the evening time without interruptions to read, play a board game, sit and chat. Turn off the TV if the program doesn’t engage you to the point you’re totally engaged watching it. If you’re also on a device turn it or the T, off. Do one thing at a time. Avoid the programs on TV that don’t really resonate or add something to your well being. Watching programs with subtitles really helps you focus!

Image Pexels

One of the suggestions professionals in the area of well being frequently mention is arts and crafts and other rewarding hobbies. Dr Daisy Fancourt, quoted on the BBC Great British Creativity Test found hobbies can alleviate stress, free up mind space and build self esteem when you create something or learn a new skill. Another frequently recommended activity is to garden, if possible, or nurture some indoor plants.

Image Pexels

Slow living is about feeling at peace and happy with your life. You have to learn to love yourself a little too. I read these articles as they promote better sleep as an outcome of slowly down and living in the present. Fingers crossed I’ll get there one day!

eating bruschdetta

When we went out for lunch last week my husband chose bruschetta as his entree (first course). Of course, I needed a little taste and was glad I did, because I’d forgotten how wonderful tomatoes, garlic and basil mixed with olive oil and vinegar, taste on toasted bread. So when I was considering some leftover artisan loaf later, I thought of bruschetta. Usually, I make breadcrumbs from leftover bread but I already have a jar full and sometimes I make croutons but it’s the middle of summer and I add them to hot, winter soups.

Gathered the bread, tomatoes, olive oil, balsamic vinegar and garlic, plus some finely chopped red onion then came to a halt. I don’t have any basil! I knew it hadn’t germinated this year and meant to plant more. I forgot. Off to the shop to buy basil. A bunch of bought basil, enough for 1/4 cup when finely chopped, cost nearly $5.00. So I’ll be planting some basil very soon.

Followed the instructions to make the bruschetta. It was very good. The amounts mentioned in the recipe made so much that was all we ate for dinner!

did you know

More than 300 different languages and dialects are spoken in Australia, including 45 Indigenous languages. In fact, 21% of Australians don’t speak English at home.

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What Did You Do On Your School Holidays?

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school holidays

When I was at school we had two weeks holidays in May, two weeks in August and seven weeks summer holidays starting just before Christmas. The long summer holidays seemed endless. Once the excitement of Christmas and Boxing Day has passed, life settled into a routine for a while. My Mother took us into town from the farm, more than a forty-five minute drive, for swimming lessons. I started swimming lessons early because I was the youngest, just sitting there and as Mum said, “You might as well swim rather than sit on the beach watching.” She’d chat with the other mothers surrounded the wet towels, thongs (flip flops) and discarded shorts and shirts. This meant I’d completed all the levels of swimming before I was nine and couldn’t do the Life Saving Medals for three years.

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My two older brothers and I played cricket. We could have done with a few more players because the dog and I were usually fielding. The cricket, broadcast on the radio, would be on where ever Dad was working. I was 12 before we got electricity; prior t that we had a 32v generator and when it ran out of fuel it spluttered and stopped. Suddenly we were plunged into darkness and total silence, but usually the three children were in bed by then.

Prized Christmas gifts were books. With no access to the school library for seven weeks, the books received as gifts were very welcome. When I’d read my books, I’d read my brother’s books. I loved Biggles and Tom Sawyer. When they were tired of their Lego, I played with that, too. We had a platform up an olive tree set up as a cubby house and I’d disappear up there, but I had other hiding places for uninterrupted reading, too. We’d swing for hours from a branch in the almond tree and bounce on a large tractor inner tube.

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I had a Barbie doll from America, brought back in 1965 by my Father, and I made clothes for her, plus furniture and decorated cardboard box rooms for her, too. Always interested in decor and houses, I’d pore over the women’s magazines my aunt passed on to my Mother. I was always making something.

Kids were expected to help when I was younger. We’d climb the apricot tree, picking warm apricots to eat raw, preserved or made into jam. We’d be sent to pick mulberries, almonds, grapes and my favourite, nectarines. We grew rock melons and water melons and masses of vegetables. Do children still spit water melon seeds at one another? Our pocket money was earned by sweeping the verandas, under the grapes and the path, opening gates when we were going up to the front gate plus chopping wood. (My Father gave my son a tomahawk for his six birthday and taught him about chopping wood.)

Late in the afternoon when Dad had finished work outdoors we’d go to the beach. Like every other farmer on the beach, Dad’s dark tan would finish at his ankles where his boots covered his feet. He also had a tanned V neck line and tanned arms. As kids we were permanently sunburnt and competed to see who could peel off the biggest piece of burnt skin. Paying for that now!

Image Pexels

School holidays also meant going to Perth to stay with our Aunt, Uncle and cousin. Bliss. Television was like magic for farm kids! There was another girl to play with, things like icecream were served regularly because the shops were nearby. (By the time icecream got from town to the farm it was melting and messy.) My Aunt was always busy so we’d go out frequently, to shopping centres, her friend’s places and to see films. For some years they were involved in a marina and I often went to stay on Rottnest Island with my Aunt and cousin. Bliss. But more sunburn.

Going back to school meant catching up with friends on the school bus. My husband grew up in the city and I asked him to reminisce about his long school holidays in the 1950’s. He said that due to limited finances and transport not much happened. He learned to swim at the Hotpool in Dalkeith and when he was old enough to ride a pushbike by himself he would go down to the river with his dog to swim or fish. The very hot unairconditioned summers meant long days of lying in the shade on the lawn reading books or playing board games with friends. Building and flying kites was another pastime.

Thinking about primary school aged children I know now our school holidays probably seem very different. No play dates, no devices, no television on demand. I would have loved a trampoline! We were outdoors more as children. Please share your memories of school holidays.

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Summer Sales, Pashminas and Small Paintings

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summer sales

Pick up a newspaper, turn on the television, log onto your emails or walk past a shop window and you will be bombarded by advertisements for SALES. Not just post Christmas, but every day of the year. If a brand you’re looking for is not on sale, a quick search online will usually reward you with the item your looking for on sale somewhere.

I don’t know if all countries have constant sales, but I remember being in France in January when the winter soldes were in full swing. French shops can only have sales twice year, in January and July. The sales last for four weeks although until 2020 the sales used to run for six weeks.The sales are intended to make room for new seasonal products and collections. The prices on remaining stock drops as they weeks go by until the sales end.

pashminas

Pashmina and cashmere both come from the domesticated changthangi goat which lives in the Himalayas. The goats shed their wool in Spring. It is combed off their bellies for pashmina and the rest of the wool from their bodies is combed off for cashmere. The difference is the number of microns. Pashmina is very light and gauzy and is usually mixed with 30% silk to create a warm but strong and long lasting fibre used to make shawls and scarves.

In 2001 we were spending a lot of time in Hong Kong before moving back to Western Australia. The weather outside was hot and often humid but in offices, restaurants and shopping centres air conditioning was on ‘high’ and it could be very cold! We went to Lane Crawford and bought me a pashmina. It has traveled everywhere with me since and is worn frequently during winter. It is soft and rolls up to easily fit in a handbag or suitcase.

Time to wash my pashmina! To do this, I dissolve soap flakes in about 300ml of hot water, then half fill the bucket with cold water and stir it to ensure the soap flakes are dissolved and the water is cool. I hand agitate it, then rinse up to five times in cool water until the water is clear.

Fold the pashmina in half across the middle, then in half again and place it on a towel, Fold the sides over the pashmina and twist the towel to remove most of the moisture. (The pashmina is old but the towel, from Club Med circa 1984, is older!)

To dry it I place it on a hanging rack after shaking and smoothing . I move the pashmina around a few times while it’s drying to avoid imprints from the rack frame. It dries very quickly. Before I roll it up and put it back in its bag I check all the hand knotted fringes on either end to ensure there are no knots.

small paintings

My life has been pretty frantic since last October. We have had constant demands on my time, my painting things got put away, off the table, out of sight. Every now and then I’d think longingly about sitting quietly and painting. Mixing colours, really looking at things so I could capture the essence of it, applying paint to paper. There was no point in even getting my brushes, paints and papers out, even after Christmas as I had no time to paint.

This is a very small diary and was never going to work for us!

Post Christmas tidying up unearthed a 2022 unused Moleskin diary. I really like Moleskin diaries, journals, painting books and other products, but this is a very small diary with seven days to two very small pages. My husband and I keep a combined calendar so we know what each of us has planned and those plans would have never fitted in this petite diary.

Eureka moment! I’d do a very small painting every day either on one or both pages. Considering the size of the pages I was never going to confine my work to one page, but that was my initial thought, quickly discarded when I picked up a pencil So I set everything out and started drawing, then painting and as soon as that painting dried I started another one on the next two pages and this kept going until I’d done four paintings. It felt wonderful.

My first small painting intended for one page but soon over both.

Bottle brushes, endemic to Western Australia come in red, pink, yellow and white.

So many of these bold, cheeky, darting dear little birds around here.

Chinese ceramic headrest/pillows date from the Tang Dynasty (618 -907) and were used by the upper and middle classes. I’ve always liked the illustration on this one which also features chrysanthemums, common in Chinese illustrations.

Hearing about someone’s plans for Chinese New Year, motivated me to do a little painting based on the Chinese pillow.

I planned to stack the paints and brushes on top of one another and leave most of the table available for other things but that hasn’t happened. My paintings things are going to stay there and whenever I can find 10 minutes, I’ll work there. I even found I could paint leaves with one hand while the other hand held my phone. I needed to finish the painting before we went out.

Second day of small paintings. I have a scarlet hippeastra about to bloom in the garden.

in the garden

This Gloriosa lily is a Rothschildiana variety.

Peliagonias.

Cannas

Hydrangeas everywhere. So pretty, so hardy in this harsh sun.

What’s happening in you garden?

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Why My Dog Has A Bank Account and Other Matters

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the dog’s bank account

When our previous, wonderful dog became older, his health began to deteriorate. That meant frequent visits to the vet. And we all know that means lots of bills. When we got Louis, our lovely Groodle, we investigated many pet insurance companies. We compared the cost of our vet bills with the insurance costs, especially as a pet gets older and did our sums.

It made more sense to open a term deposit account specifically to cover any health care costs for the dog than to buy an insurance policy. At the time the interest rate was pretty good, then it was pretty bad and now it is improving again. The point is, at nine years of age, Louis has savings in a term deposit to cover probable costs for healthcare.

why i drink coffee at home

I love coffee, but I drink it black so I really taste it. Many coffee shops, cafes and restaurants make acceptable coffee if you add milk and maybe sugar, but black coffee leaves nowhere to hide. I rarely buy coffee when I’m out because it can vary from just drinkable to stewed, brewed, weak and when did they last clean that machine? I know how I dispose of stuff, but have no idea how commercial providers recycle their packaging and grounds. So, I drink coffee at home and drink herbal tea when I’m out, so long as it is made in a pot and not from a bag (many brands have plastic in them)

sorting christmas wrap and ribbons

It seems the thing now to reuse wrap and ribbons from Christmas time. Good. Just make sure you get wrapping paper with no plastic in it. Try scrunching the edge of the paper; if it says scrunched, it’s paper, if it springs back it has plastic in it. Don’t buy plastic or foil wrapping ! Similarly with ribbon; avoid all ribbons except fabric, woven ribbon which can be sprayed with water, ironed and reused, and reused probably for ever. Years ago I bought a roll of grosgrain ribbon on line and I’m still using the same roll, probably because I collect the ribbons when the gifts are all opened and iron them, ready for next year.

eating

Christmas week

So many families have traditions about the food they eat on special occasions. So, birthday cakes, matzoh ball soup, ham and turkey, pumpkin pie, hot cross buns and plum pudding and many other recipes feature for some families at different times . Christmas time as a child and now, means bowls of sweets around the house. It’s a Christmas thing and we enjoy it! Then a week after Christmas we’re back to most of our coloured food being fruit and vegetables, not confectionery.

crafts

A magazine I was reading had a list of pre-Christmas markets being held locally and those tantalizing words ‘ handcrafted textiles, original artwoks, fine art prints and ceramics’ really caught my attention. The very words suggest beautifully designed and produced pieces, each individual and special. I love looking around craft and art markets, but it’s the usual dilemma which stops me buying, those harsh words in my head, ‘but do you need it?’ Mostly, no, I don’t, but sometimes I buy because I really want it and usually those things remain while other things are sorted and deemed unnecessary.

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I like handmade arts and crafts, the individuality, the uniqueness and the fact each piece is hand designed and hand made. These pieces employ materials available in the local area which adds to their individuality and appeal. I enjoy looking at old artifacts in museums and books showing everyday utensils made by hand and used by several generations. At the moment I’m thinking about printing and am about to do a lino printing course. I actually have the lino and the necessary tools, but a class adds the input and ideas of others but most importantly, access to a printing press!

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Post pandemic articles often refer to the explosion of interest in hobbies. Confined at home but with access to tutorials and kits online, it was easy to explore or rekindle a craft. Kits to try every craft imaginable are easy to access. The internet is awash with painting and drawing tutorials. Lots of inspiration, too, encouraging people to make items that can be used in their own homes. The interest in making items for your own decor was so great after the television series ‘Escape to the Chateau’ hit our screens, that Angel, one of the couple restoring the chateau, created a line of her designs for sale and she and her husband Dick have a spinoff program about recycling furniture and making your own decorations. Her workroom looks very enticing!

Wishing you a HAPPY NEW YEAR, full of good health, good people and good fun!

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The Last Week of 2022

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food

Christmas means a lot of food preparation as we like sitting around with friends and family, eating, drinking, chatting and generally catching up. The days leading up to Christmas Day involved preparing so much food but this means those days afterwards can involve meals made from leftovers. Ham, turkey breast and puddings can all be served for days afterwards with the addition of salads or custard or some other quick and easy variation.

Leftover ham, leftover cheese plus five eggs, a cup of yoghurt and spring onions and a great quiche, served either hot or cold.

Hot weather lunch .

The ham plus remaining cheese appears again in light quiches and sandwiches, same with the turkey breast and the cassata can top fruit mince pies, a wedge of Christmas cake or a crumble of shortbread. For some reason we had lots of chocolate fudge slice remaining, so that became a pudding, too.

Boiled the plum pudding for an hour, doused it in brandy, ignited it and ate with icecream, not brandy butter.

I hope your Christmas break was peaceful and enjoyable, anyway, even if you are tired of party food. We have had our son and my Mother staying so lots of visitors and visiting. Planning for the New Year, too. Last year, inspired by a few bloggers I have followed for a long time, I chose a word to think about when making plans. I wanted to be organised, control the business surrounding us, have some calm times. None of those plans worked out and we experienced a year of constant change, worry and upheaval. So, not even considering a word for 2023, it will just happen!

presents

This time of the year is awash with presents! I seem to have reached an age when I don’t really want things and find it hard to give hints or answer direct questions about what I’d like for Christmas. Luckily, my husband is very aware of the decorating and gardening magazines I really, really like and continues to update my subscriptions and my son is very aware of my passion for paints, pens, papers and art journals. Lovely treats. Do you find it hard choosing gifts for older people who don’t seem to want more things?

Luckily, we are a family of readers and each year anticipate unwrapping new books.

As our tastes and requirements change we often want less and even things which were once precious are now just ‘things’. Although I am not good at decluttering and progress in fits and spurts, we took many boxes of things into the Salvation Army depot before Christmas. We just don’t use the storage containers, the serving dishes or so many other things which were so important to the way we lived. I found things long forgotten when I emptied a cupboard recently. I hope someone else is now enjoying them.

trends

How we decorate our houses directly reflects how we feel. Post pandemic it is no surprise people are abandoning minimalism for warm, cosy and relaxing interiors. White is being replaced with warm earthy tones which seem more nurturing. So, it’s no surprise that Panatone’s colour of 2023 is Viva Magenta, a bold vibrant pink/red colour, full of warmth and energy and not just for interiors. Already featuring in fashion, makeup and multimedia marketing, Panatone claim Viva Magenta is ‘full of vim and vigour” Florals featuring magenta are very popular for fabrics and this is especially evident in clothing. I think it is rare to totally change all your wall colours and furnishings at once but easy to add a cushion, a new chair or some warm works of art.

Viva Magenta

Of course, how you want to live will influence the furniture and colours you chose and many of those things will stay with you for a long time. The climate, whether you own the house, your budget and the views of other people sharing the house probably influence your choices. Many people discovered during the past three years that their houses didn’t really offer the environment they needed to feel comfortable. Trends come and go but how you live and what you want to feel when you’re in your house will change more slowly.

2023 is nearly here

The New Year always feels like a new start. The papers, social media and TV are awash with planning resolutions for the New Year, how to stick to them and the rather disheartening fact that 80% of New Year goals are abandoned by the end of January. Do you set New Year resolutions? Do you stick to them? I’d really like to know!

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The Week Before Christmas

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Christmas Cooking

We celebrated Christmas with our wonderful neighbours before the big day. My husband made Glühwein which smelt so amazing. I cooked and made bags of shortbread as gifts. We took a plate, an Australian expression meaning to take a plate of food to share and we all met for an evening together. This is a lovely chance to hear everyone’s news and plans and just relax together, sharing delicious food and stories. Best way to start the Christmas Week.

What’s in the pot? Gingerbread men! Gingerbread dough smells so good.

These dear little men look a bit rough but it is years since I have done any decorative icing. Decorated birthday cakes are a thing of the past. Even finding the nozzles and icing bag was a bit of a challenge. They don’t look elegant but they taste great!

Some other little treats, too. Pre Covid our Christmas holidays were often overseas and I loved being given marzipan mice and pigs. No trips to Europe now, but a wonderful delivery from overseas to remind me of those precious times.

Then it was time to cook the ham. I like a leg ham with the bone in. I have tried many glazes and prefer a sticky mix with a citrus base. The glaze for this leg of ham is an aromatic mix of maple syrup, mustard, brown sugar, marmalade, cinnamon and allspice. For a similar mix with exact measurements, look at recipetineats.com.

Glossy, delicious glaze. Back, brown sugar, front marmalade, cinnamon, Dijon mustard, allspice and maple syrup.

Still picking tomatoes and spring onions plus masses of herbs including mint, parsley, chives, basil and rosemary. Love the smell of herbs. Did you know you lose less flavour if you snip your herbs with scissors rather than chopping them? Next time you chop herbs look at all the colour and flavour left on the chopping board.

All this cooking is the result of a lot of shopping. Shopping at this time of the year is a bit fraught. First trial is finding parking but not too bad if you set off early. The next challenge is the gaps on some of the shelves. Flooding in the east and a train derailment are the reasons given, also the favourite reasons given by Australia Post for snail like delivery times of anything ordered online. The next shopping drama is the checkout queue. It can be long. It’s that time of the year. Being cross with the checkout person doesn’t make the process any quicker.

Grumping at the checkout person reminds me of one my rare shopping excursions in the early days of Covid. I was in a long line, standing on my safe social distancing spot when the man going through the checkout was mouthing off loudly about social distancing, wearing a mask and the lack of checkouts operating. The girl operating the checkout looked about 17, probably a student. Did he think the board of this Australia wide supermarket had sought her opinion on safe checkouts? Did he think she had any say in Covid rules?

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Which makes me think about all the people who work hard around Christmas time to make everything happen and keep us safe. All the retail workers, the nurses and doctors and masses of support people in hospitals, the police, the rubbish collectors and delivery drivers, the farmers getting the highly sought after products picked, packed and off to the shops along with all the meat we’ll consume. Thank you, too, to the plumber who solved a problem three doors down our street, all the careworkers assisting their clients and all the people I’ve missed.

Louis

Last week Louis, our groodle, was very fluffy and very hot. We’d made a grooming appointment three months ago not realizing it was going to get hot so quickly.

BEFORE

This week Louis is trimmed and cool. He is very pleased with his sleek new state and very active and playful.

AFTER

Wishing you a joyful holiday break with lots of good food and good company!

merry christmas !

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