December 2022 – MakeCookGrow.com

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?

Image Pexels

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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Cleaning The Silver and Other Jobs

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cleaning the silver

Christmas preparations are much the same each year in this house. Apart from cooking and decorating I like the silver to be polished! I know, who cares? Well, I do! So I filled the sink with sheets of aluminum foil, a good shake of baking soda and hot water then dipped the tarnished pieces, leaving each piece for a minute then taking it out. Rinsed, then polished. Some of these pieces were so tarnished we had to clean and polish them with silver cleaner.

This was a good opportunity to wash all the bits and pieces I keep in the silver bowl. Time to refine the contents! The pebbles I’ve collected all over the world went back in and also my collection of miniature birdcages remained. Other bits and pieces went out! Also cleaned and sorted a long neglected cupboard. Little steps and so much more to do to declutter.

The discarded decorative pieces and lots of other things were all dropped off at the Salvation Army depot in town. Still more ‘treasures’ need to go but I find the process quite hard. Been loaned a very motivating book but I lose momentum rather easily.

dosing the cake

I made two Christmas cakes a few weeks ago. Three days ago my husband used a skewer to poke holes in the top of each cake. Next he poured the remaining port from macerating the fruit onto both cakes. Smelt wonderful. Moist, delicious and very popular.

I make the cakes using an old, photocopied, stained recipe from my Aunt, via my Mother. The ingredient list is very long although once everything is gathered and measured the process is actually quite quick. Every now and then I tear a recipe for Quick and Easy Christmas Cake, or No Fuss Christmas Cake or something similar from the paper and without fail, they have been mere shadows of the cake made from this treasured family recipe. Lesson learnt. Now I just plan a day for cake making as it takes at least four hours to cook! And weeks to macerate the fruits in port.

adding a pocket to a shirt

Had this light summer shirt for a while but I’ve only worn it once. The sleeves are very full and flappy so it felt too big. The other problem was it doesn’t have a pocket, so I’m always having to carry my phone or keys when I go out for a walk. Solution became obvious when I looked at it this morning.

I cut the sleeves to elbow length and folded and pinned a hem on the remaining, trimmed sleeves.

Trimmed one of the cut off sleeves to create a pocket. I left the existing cuff on the piece then turned and pinned the raw edges before pinning the now ironed pocket to the shirt.

Left the existing cuff from the sleeve as an edge on the pocket. The fabric is lawn and is quite thin so the cuff creates extra strength for the pocket.

I put the shirt on and pinned the pocket exactly where it was easy to access. Also ensured my phone fitted comfortably.

Ironed the pinned edges, then sewed them on place. Checked the sleeve length was right. Ironed the shirt, been wearing it all day. Considered making two pockets but I don’t really need two and I have a long TO DO list, anyway.

making biscuits

This time of the year is party time and many invitations ask you to ‘bring a plate’. This is an Australian tradition and involves taking a plate of food to share. I have a few invitations this week where I need to take a plate. This can be tricky when there’s no fridges available as the gatherings are outdoors. My solution is shortbread biscuits!

They don’t need refrigeration, cutting up or extra sauces or topping. You don’t need napkins and you don’t need to wash your hands afterwards. Easy!

saving seeds

The heat of summer has begun so it’s time to reduce the number of pots needing hand watering. I’ve also saved the ranunculus corms and red poppy seeds for next year. I intended saving the tulip bulbs, too, but only found their skins. The wild life had enjoyed a feast of tulip bulbs!

I store the collected seeds in brown paper bags pegged up high in the cool garage until it is time to plant again next year.

wrapping gifts

Printed this paper using brown packing paper, acrylic paint and a stamp. I smoothed out the paper and ironed it before printing on it. If you want to try this but want perfectly smooth paper, lightly spray it with a mist of water, then iron.

I hope all your holiday plans involve wonderful food and fun get togethers, plus lots of sleep!

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It Has To Be Red, Giftwrap and Teriyaki Beef Bowls

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in the red

Hugely popular in all things Christmas themed, the colour red is also a major decorator favourite for next year. From primary reds in childrens’ rooms, to AGAs and other stoves but especially fabrics and paints, every shade of red features strongly. Summer has just begun in Australia but temperatures in Perth have already reached the 30°Cs so red painted walls are unlikely to catch on here!

Red is historically associated with wealth and status. It didn’t begin with Louboutin’s red soled shoes! In fact, in the 17th century, aristocratic courtiers to Louis XIV featured flashes of red dye on the soles of their shoes. The concept of a red carpet event isn’t new, either, but goes back to Ancient Greece. Archeologists working at Pompeii found red walls were so common they’ve named the colour Pompeian red. Red signifies energy and warmth.

Louboutin claims he decided to paint the soles of his shoes red after a fairly plain pair were delivered and his assistant, who was painting her nails at the time, offered to paint the soles of the shoes bright red, using her nail polish. Louboutin went on to sell nail polish and lipstick based on the colour he used on the soles of his shoes.

Although Western Australia is no place for red painted walls, I really, really like furniture painted in Chinese red. This can range from orangey-red through to dark vermilion. The red I particularly like features throughout Asia. No longer made from ground cinnabar, for many Asian countries, red symbolizes good fortune, luck, vitality, celebration and prosperity. Splashes of vivid red are thought to ward off evil spirits and bad luck. We bought some old pieces finished in Chinese red and had some pieces made.

These two carved, ornate panels are originally from a door at the entrance to a hutong, a family housing complex. I was always on the lookout for more, but no luck!

I had these three wedding boxes restored by inmates at a juvenile detention centre. The boys were taught to restore old pieces of furniture using semi traditional methods so they would have a skill when they were released. The boxes now store memorabilia from our years in China.

I collected quite a lot of blue and white china, too, to add to what I already had.

The altar table used to be in the entrance to our apartment. The lower shelf was convenient for storing shoes as visitors removed their shoes when they arrived.

We bought the rice box after we returned to Australia.

Our bedhead and bedside tables are finished in traditionally made Chinese red using pigments, shellac and lacquer. I took the pieces to an artisan to be painted and he said he was too busy and wrote down his recipe! I eventually sourced the materials and mixed the paint myself.

wrapping paper

Continuing in a red vein, I’ve printed some Christmas wrapping paper. This brown paper began as packing around something bought online and delivered in a big box. I unscrunched the brown paper and smoothed it out and then ironed it. Some months ago I tidied the armoire I keep my art supplies in and couldn’t find the paisley Indian wood block I intended to use to print on the paper. Looked and looked, unsuccessfully, so settled on this slightly star shaped block. I knew where it was when the cupboard was a jumbled mess!

Gathered the paper, a dish for the paint, red acrylic paint and some paper towel. Smoothed the brown paper out on the table and dipped the block in the paint in the dish, tapped it on the paper towel and then printed.

I was pretty relaxed about the placement of the design as the paper will be folded around gifts so irregularities wont really show. It was a hot day and the paint dried quickly.

dinner

I keep writing about Nagi Maehashi’s new cookbook, DINNER because I really like the recipes. As I’ve said before, the ingredients are usually in the pantry, the process is easy to understand and the resulting dinner is very good. Nothing too fiddly but great flavours. All the recipes are on her online site and the book has a Q Code you can scan and watch her make the dish.

I decided on Teriyaki Beef Bowls because I had 500gm of beef mince and all the other ingredients, too. We loved it! I added beans and peas to the rice, not at all authentic, but I’m always looking for ways to add more F&V to our diet. This recipe made dinner for us for two nights.

The recipe called for 145ml of soy sauce. It was very salty. I will be shopping for salt reduced soy sauce which I’ve seen in the supermarket. Light soy sauce, common in Cantonese cooking is thinner than dark soy sauce, common in Northern Chinese cooking but both have very similar sodium/salt levels.

did you know?

Australia is the only continent in the world without an active volcano? It is also the only continent covered by a single country.

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Two Garden Renovations

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coalport stool

Did you have garden furniture made by Coalport? Generally two or four ornate chairs with a table, these settings were Brunswick green or white. I’ve had this stool for a long time, so long I don’t remember anything about its origins. I’ve kept it because it is the perfect height for weeding! I sit with a bucket for the weeds and reach all around me, pulling them out and dropping in the bucket, then moving on and repeating. I frequently make weed tea out of the weeds as it is ready to pour back on plants in about ten days and gives them a boost.

Gathered my supplies and set to work.

This stool has lived a long and hard life and looked it, too. So I decided to renovate it. I especially wanted to treat the rust before it affected the integrity of the metal. The first job was giving it a good scrub and hosing it down. That got rid of dust, dirt and a spider.

Next was a coating of paint remover. Originally Brunswick green I intended to paint it black. The paint stripper was a gel which make the old paint loosen but also gel-like and the only way I could remove it was with a wire brush. This was hard work and took longer than I’d anticipated. Then I used a liquid rust retardant and converter all over the stool. About five days later it got rained on which cleared off the residual evidence of treated rust. Time to tighten the leg screws and let it dry out properly.

As this stool is sometimes left out in the garden I used another rust retarding product to paint it. This was a Rust Guard Epoxy Enamel. It resulted in good coverage but it had a matte finish and I wanted a gloss finish, so I completed the job with a spray paint. These pieces were built to last. Referred to as retro or vintage online, there’s a surprising number of chairs, tables and stools by Coalport for sale. This one is light enough to move fairly easily from place to place despite being manufactured from cast iron.

decorative fence panel

This panel will be attached to the fence. It started life as a screen but my son cut the legs off for me.

The second renovation was a panel for the garden fence. Originally a screen, I knew where I wanted to attach it to the garden wall as soon as I found it. The first job was getting my son to cut off the rusty old legs. Then I gave it a good scrub before checking the strength of the welded joins. It’s old but in reasonable shape.

I coated the screen in paint remover and left it to work before using a scraper to remove the gel like dissolved paint. Messy. After I’d done one side, which took almost five hours, I flipped it over only to discover the old, cracked paint came off quite easily scraping at it. Still took ages but the gel was very messy and sticky, scraped off paint is easy to sweep up.

A coat of liquid rust remover, then a few days later I filled the cut off leg edges with builders filler. The screen will be attached to a wall where the lower part of it will be sprayed occasionally by the reticulation. Left the filler to harden for a few more days then sanded it to a smooth finish.

Sanded the builders filler used to seal the ends where we’d cut off the legs. I don’t have a workbench so improvise using the garden table covered by an old plastic tablecloth and sometimes the garden chairs, too.

Next was a coat of Rust Guard Epoxy Enamel, then finally I finished it with gloss spray paint.

Finished but resting in position on two bricks until I get the brackets to attach it to the wall. The timber slat screwed onto the wall to the left will stop the creeping fig from growing near the panel. I trim along another slat and the top of the fence to keep it under control.

These projects were very time consuming and hard work. I would probably investigate ways of having similar pieces sand blasted or stripped professionally if I had another project like these two. Once sand blasted they could be powder coated. Cleaning, stripping, treating the rust, sealing and repainting took many days. Although I am really pleased with the outcome, I wouldn’t want to remove paint from intricately patterned and pierced pieces again. I almost wore out the wire brush and myself!

Unfortunately, I have quite a long list of repairs or renovations to carry out in the garden, including resurfacing a chipped Chinese stool and restoring a small table. Might think about these jobs for a while!

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