MODIFYING A MAT
Bought this mat to put in the laundry at the door going outside. This is where our dog, Louis, goes in and out. I chose this rough textured mat hoping it would remove some of the winter debris walked inside whenever he uses the door. Unfortunately, I soon realised the fringes on each end were getting tangled when Louis exited at speed, something he does if the dog next door barks, or the lady on the other side goes out her back door, or if a cat dares walk along our fence.
Initially, I thought I’d leave a smaller amount of the fringe exposed by partially covering it with hessian fabric tape, but changed my mind. So, pinned on the tape, sewed by hand along the top and then trimmed the fringe to make it shorter than the hessian edging. Then stitched along the bottom edge. It was hard work and I don’t know how many times I pricked my finger.
Enclosing the fringe in the hessian means the knots holding the mat together were still intact, just stitched inside the hessian edging. I couldn’t machine stitch the hessian onto the mat as it is too thick for my elderly, domestic sewing machine. But I’m happy with how it turned out and how well it is wearing.
READING
This is the year of vicarious travel for West Australians and many other people, too. Although we went of the Silo Art Trail and thoroughly enjoyed it and have another road trip booked, we cannot leave Western Australia due to the hard border.
So when I saw Janice MacLeod’s A Paris Year, My Day To Day Adventures In The Most Romantic City In The World I knew it would be high on my weekend list of things to read. Best known for her previous book, Paris Letters, MacLeod illustrates or photographs and writes about daily discoveries in Paris. She combines personal anecdotes along with historical information about landmarks, monuments and people.
Took me a while to tune into her handwritten text but once I did I really enjoyed this record of MacLeod’s year in Paris. Plus I learnt the history of things I’d seen, such as the Wallace Fountains, funded by Richard Wallace and all painted carriage green and intended to provide free, fresh water for those wandering around Paris. He created the fountains with each of the four sides decorated by a beautiful sister, representing kindness, simplicity, charity and sobriety.
A long but interesting love letter from MacLeod to Paris. I really enjoyed it. It’s a book you can flick through, reading those entries with illustrations or photos which appeal or read from the beginning to the end.
EATING
Fresh mulberries, picked this morning from an abandoned tree. Some of the berries were sweet and some were a little tart, but they tasted good, anyway. Served on sheeps’ yoghurt at breakfast. The immature berries at the front are good for removing the ripe berry stains.
Collateral damage. An abandoned mulberry tree is carpeted thickly with fallen, overly ripe berries. I had to scrub my shoes as the soles were stained and impacted with squashed berries. I had already scrubbed them before coming indoors.
Amazingly, the stained soles came clean after some vigorous scrubbing. I’ll be better prepared next time we go picking mulberries.
A wonderful snack! There isn’t an Aldi supermarket close to us but when we do go to one I always buy anchovies, ginger biscuits, their 1 kg tub of hommus and now, their spreadable Goats Cheese made in France. It is very good. I pick some chives from the garden and chop them, using kitchen scissors, into the cheese then spread it on a cracker.
We had planned to have fish for dinner so I was keen to try this David Herbert recipe in the Weekend Australian Magazine. This is his recipe for CANTONESE STYLE STEAMED FISH. Although the steamed fish follows the recipe, my bok choy wasn’t ready for picking but we had some cabbage and also fresh asparagus, so I used them instead. (https://www.theaustralian.com.au/weekend-australian-magazine/cantonesestyle-steamed-fish-and-garlic-prawns/news-story/2f12f44f1b9e7e957db748077abb272ere)
The fish, flavoured with ginger and sitting in a little water and Shaoxing wine, was steamed on a plate over boiling water for about five minutes. Then I added the finely cut cabbage and continued steaming until the fish was quite white and opaque.
The steamed fish was placed on the plate and then drizzled with the cooking juices, soy sauce and sesame oil and served with the cabbage, plus the asparagus which was steamed separately. This is not genuine Cantonese cuisine but we really enjoyed it!
More cooking, this time scones. Friends were coming for morning tea and it was wet and windy, so I made PUMPKIN SCONES. These are served steaming and hot straight from the oven, with butter. Butternut pumpkins are in season and plentiful, so we have been enjoying them roasted, too.
I used a recipe from a very old cookbook called The Golden Wattle Cookbook. Reliable recipes but I have to look up the Imperial measurements to convert them to metric.
Eaten hot from the oven, enjoyed with butter and good friends.
September 24th is WORLD MARITIME DAY. The United Nations Sustainable Development goals intended this day to showcase their work regarding “sustainable shipping for a sustainable planet”. Disrupted supply chains and severely reduced cruises traffic has shown clearly the damage shipping does to the environment.