Winter Gardening
I’ve been inspired by several blogs about living sustainably. I’ve lived a greener life since I’ve moved to Australia but a personal decision recently has given me a real reason to reduce my carbon footprint. So after reading this blog this morning, I made a decision to create a small vegetable garden and it took me only one afternoon from start to finish. It was so quick and easy. I picked up a few styrofoam boxes from the green grocer for FREE and a few supplies from the local garden centre.
I alleviated the boxes with a few wooden stakes to improve drainage. I then line them with leftover flyscreen mesh to stop the soil and compost from draining through the holes.
Richard’s been working on his compost for months now and it has paid off! The compost is dark, rich, moist and packed with nutrients. I filled a quarter of each box with compost.
I mixed premium potting mix with regular potting mix that I had leftover. I also sprinkled in a few handful of blood and bone and gave it a real good mix. The boxes were now filled up with this potting mixture. The seedlings were planted and given a good drink of seaweed solution. I’ve got space for two more boxes and pots too so more vegetables to be put in over the next few weeks. I will update you again in a couple of months when I start harvesting.
I couln’t capture the garden in one photo so I made a video instead. Turn the sound on because I’m narrating it as I’m walking around the garden.
P.S. I think the mic makes me sound nasally.
Stews to Die For & More…
The evenings have been rather cold the last week. It’s warm and nice in the afternoon sun but the temperatures drop very quickly after 4 o’clock. Not surprisingly, I’ve been craving for comfort food and for the first time, cooked some real, hearty, true blue Aussie beef stew. I found this recipe on the internet and it sounded easy and straightforward enough. I was a little suss on how the flavours were going to turn out but I think I was just paranoid. The stew tasted delicious!
However, when I make this stew again, I will make the following changes to the recipe. I would use something stronger than paprika. I only had smoked paprika and it just wasn’t spicy enough. I think a touch of chilli or mustard powder could be the way to go. I omitted the wine and used vegetable stock but I would definitely use a good beef stock next time. I also replaced celery with carrots. I’ll probably use both instead of just the carrots. Other than that, this recipe is definitely a keeper.
After making one yummy stew, I was ready for the next one very soon after. The recipe is from an Australian Women’s Weekly recipe book. I don’t know which one it’s from as the recipe was photocopied and given to me. I think it was the one called Cheap Eats and the recipe is called Italian Chickpea Stew. I feel like a good girl for making this. It’s got all the good stuff my body would appreciate – tomatoes, vegetables and chickpea. Very nice, except that my stomach is sensitive to too much tomatoes and I had reflux for days! Richard enjoyed it thoroughly though.
To carry on with my good girl theme, I decided to make muesli bars again, instead of buying store bought ones. The new term begins tomorrow and Richard goes through a box of muesli bars each week. I was pretty much over them halfway through last term. This no bake recipe appealed to me for several reasons. The obvious one is that there is no baking involved. The other reason is that the chocolate layer is a combination of chocolate AND peanut butter! The bottom layer holds all the goodness of oats. Without further ado, feast your eyes on the No Bake Chocolate Oat Bar.
I modified the recipe slightly by using only 90grams of brown sugar, increased the peanut butter from 1/2 to 2/3 cup, substituted semi-sweet chocolate chips to dark ones and halved the quantity, and lastly, added a small handful of chopped peanuts. It turned out just the right sweetness as the reviews were saying that the oat bar is very rich and sweet. I also use a slice tray so I just had a layer of oats and a top layer of chocolate, instead of sandwiching the chocolate between two layers of oats. Still worked beautifully. Now the challenge is to try to make it last the whole week!
{ 4 comments }Look Where I Had My Lunch Today
Isn’t it just the best view to set up a little picnic and ironically, there was this perfectly placed rock that we could use as a table!
For those living on the Central Coast, it’s Warrah Lookout in Brisbane Water National Park. It’s between Patonga and Pearl Beaches. We haven’t heard of it before and actually planned a bushwalk in Maitland Bay but that was closed today for weed spraying. A bush ranger told us about this one and it is by far the best little bushwalk to do around the Peninsula. The track to the lookout was downhill on beautiful sandstone steps, winding through flowering shrubs and rock platforms.
I knew I was going to be around beautiful scenery today so I knitted madly yesterday to finish my Ilean cowl. I think it makes my knitted objects look so much better when I take the time to take photos of them against a gorgeous backdrop. It also helps that I look much happier surrounded by nature.
Details on Ravelry
Holy Knitted Baby Tomatoes, Batman!
I haven’t had the oppotunity to knit baby clothing. Last week however, I found out that my friend and his wife had a baby girl 7 weeks premature. Mum and bub are healthy and doing well. This baby girl is really special as her lovely parents have waited many years to hold her in their arms and ironically, she couldn’t wait to meet them too! So I thought it would be perfect to knit her something equally special.
My friend’s wife is Italian and so I’ve knitted with a stereotypical Italian theme – Tomatoes! First, a little Tomato Beanie to keep her head warm this winter.
Details on Ravelry
Then adorable Saartje’s Bootees (pdf) to keep her little toes warm.
Details on Ravelry
Together, they make a very cute gift set! Carino!
P.S. I’ve also completed a few more knitted objects. Not as blogworthy as the tomatoes though -
Fourteen #4 for sis-in-law, a pair of red tweed handwarmers for me, a pair of leaf bookmarks and fuzzy slippers for my mum-in-law, and a razor shell neckwarmer for my neighbour.
If You’re Hungry & You Know It, Clap Your Hands!
Hehe… I’m trying to think of unique titles for my blog posts and this was the first thing that came to mind. Anyway, I’ve been putting off blogging about food because I wanted to save them up for a big post. But I think I’ve waited too long. This one is going to be a ridiculously long post with tonnes of food pics. I won’t apologise because I know you love it!
I have two new cooking toys. I finally got myself the V-slicer a couple of weeks ago and I’ve had quite a bit of fun using it. First thing I made was apple chips. The V-slicer lets me cut the apples soooo thin and it turned out really crispy. I forgot where I got the recipe from but I basically sliced the apples thinly, dipped into sugar syrup and baked it slowly for a few hours. So nice!
The second thing I made was onion rings. Oh my god. Slicing onions have never been so easy. This is the BEST onion rings I’ve ever had. I must add that the only other onion rings I’ve had is from Burger King/Hungry Jacks. Nonetheless, they were divine as far as onion rings go.
Recipe
And of course, I’ve been using the V-slicer to chop up onions. This time its for a Thai Green Curry Risotto and it was a reader-submitted recipe from a recent Woman’s Day magazine. She (the reader) must have a tongue of steel because I quartered the amount of green curry paste recommended and it still nearly blew my Asian head off! If you have seen the recipe, try it as it’s so simple to make and absolutely beautiful. Just use 1-2 tsp of green curry paste so you can really enjoy all the flavours.
My second toy is actually Richard’s birthday present in a way. I had enough Flybuys points to redeem a Tefal frypan and I love that I can use metal utensils on it. So we bought a couple of fish steaks and pan seared them on the new pan. I found this wonderful recipe which had the most perfect viniagrette to match the fish. I don’t normally have anything on my fish as Australian fish is just beautiful as is. But this viniagrette really enhances the flavour of both the tuna and the salmon. I will definitely be reaching for this recipe often.
Ok just two more raves. I picked up the “40 Winter Recipes” booklet from Coles and actually tried two of their recipes. The rasberry and white chocolate muffins turned out okay but I think the recipe (pdf) I posted ages ago is a lot better and idiot proof because I can stuff up recipes even when I’ve made them before.
On the other hand, the Bread & Butter Pudding recipe in the booklet was yummy! It’s really a perfect winter dessert. It’s not your regular bread & butter recipe though. It uses fruit loaf, orange marmalade and fresh oranges. So decadent!
The last food item on my list wasn’t cooked by me. Richard made an impressive mushroom quiche for dinner tonight. We had company and we all enjoyed it. He had to modify this recipe slightly because he only had a piece of flaky pastry left. He used this pastry as a lid instead of lining a tart dish with pie dough as recommended. It was beauuttiiffuulll! I was halfway through the meal before I remembered to take a photo! So between mouthfuls, I took a quick snapshot of his masterpiece. Thank you darling!
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