op shop treasure

i'd been feeling a bit disappointed with op shopping lately

i used to find treasure quite regularly at my local haunts but in the last few months i'd found nothing that i wanted

fortunately i hadn't completely lost heart because today when i visited them i found something in each three

there were two of these hidden away in a corner
they will join my other enamel cups

i bought these ($3 for the plate) from the same shop as the cup above

i bought this old chopping board ($3) today from an op shop that i had
 virtually stopped going to because it rarely has anything i want
it's in really good condition and according to the sales person
it had only been used to cut bread
i will give the top a light sand though and a coat of orange oil

i rarely see tea pots i want to buy but i love this blue metal pot ($4)
i'll only ever use it for decorative purposes though because
it's made of aluminium 

another aluminium tea pot ($5)

i bought the 2 metres of calico ($2) for christmas puddings
and the printed cotton baby sheet ($0.50) will be
used for patchwork

happy weekend..x

blackberry and raspberry trifles

blackberry and raspberry trifles

tea with hazel

serves 2

ingredients

egg white cake (see recipe below)

blackberry and apple jelly (jam) *

blackberry ** and raspberry *** jelly (see recipe below)

marinate 1/3 cup blackberries and 1/2 cup raspberries with 1-2 tablespoons sugar or to taste and 1 tbs chambord for 1/2 hour

vanilla egg custard (see here for recipe)

assembly

~ slice 6, 1 cm slices of cake, spread 3 pieces with blackberry and apple jelly, then top with the remaining slices

~ cut each sandwich into four and divide the pieces between two glasses

~ drizzle the cake with chambord and divide the jelly between the glasses and refrigerate until the jelly is set

~ add the berries and then spoon over about 1/2 cup of custard 

~ cover with foil and refrigerate

egg white cake recipe

recipe adapted from here

ingredients

6 egg whites **** 

125 gms castor sugar

160 gms plain flour
1 heaped tbs corn flour 

1 teaspoon (tsp) baking powder
1 tsp vanilla

100 gms butter melted and cooled

method 

~ whisk egg whites with 2 tbs sugar until light and fluffy

~ sift flour, corn flour, baking powder and sugar

~ fold the dry ingredients into the egg whites

~ fold in the melted butter 

~ spoon mix into a buttered and base lined ring tin 

~ cook at 180 deg c for 30 minutes or until cooked

~ cool in the tin for 5 minutes and then remove to a cooling rack

blackberry and raspberry jelly

ingredients

3/4 cup raspberries

1/3 cup blackberries

2 gold strength gelatine leaves

water

sugar

method

~ place berries in a saucepan, just cover with water, bring to the boil, and then mash the berries well

~ place mashed berries and juice in a muslin lined colander and drain into a measuring jug without squeezing the muslin (there should be about 200 mls..if not add water to make up the amount)  

~ add about 2 tbs of sugar to the strained juice or to taste and stir well to dissolve

~ soak the gelatine in cold water until soft, squeeze out excess water, then add to the still warm sweetened juice and stir to dissolve

~ set aside to cool

notes:

*       substitute with raspberry or blackberry jam or jam of choice

**     i used blackberries that i picked last summer and froze

***   i used frozen berries

**** i had 4 egg whites i wanted to use up; i made custard from the yolks of the other two whites

when time stands still

over the years i've tried all sorts of structured exercise type things but it's just not my thing..ok..i'll be really honest..i can't stand it..

once upon a time i lugged my children on the train to the ywca in melbourne where i could attend an affordable aerobics class (when it was all the rage) while my children were being cared for..and since then i've attended many different aerobics classes in different venues..i found with most classes a) i didn't have the right gear b) the music was too fast (i couldn't keep up!) and b) i was uncoordinated

then i swam..i even built up to 50 laps of a 25 metre pool..not great by some people's standards but that was epic for me..but it was a mission showering before going in the pool and then showering after swimming and then there was the travel bag of ablution accoutrements i had to take with me that girls need like soap, facial cleanser, shampoo, conditioner and a hairdryer..and of course there's all the other clobber you need like a bathing cap, goggles and ear plugs..these are not essential like bathers are but they a) made me look the part and b) they prevented hair, eye and ear damage..the bit where i had to shower in front of everyone was challenging enough but the thing that really put me off swimming were all the bits of human debris in the pool..ok..i know i've said too much already so i won't elaborate and offend your sensibilities any more..

i've done yoga too and meditation..that's not bad because you don't need stuff and it's ok if you wear your old stretch pants and look like a dork..i know the whole idea is about relaxing but i get bored, really bored, and when i'm supposed to be meditating i open one eye and look around the room and at the clock when i'm supposed to be thinking quiet thoughts and focusing on my naval..basically i just want it all to be over..oh..and i did pilates once too..

i love walking so quite a while ago now i went on a walk with a group..there was carpooling and a long drive and then a lot of walking in nice places with a lot of people..and when i say a lot i mean about 60 people who talked a lot and seemed like nice enough people but a) there were about 58 too many of us for me b) we made so much noise that any wildlife in the area would have headed for other hills and c) there were so many human distractions that it was hard to really enjoy the bush setting..i only went once..

yep..i've been to the gym..i've worked out to the noise of a big plasma screen television on the rower, the bike, the bench, the ball, the walking thing and all the other gizmos ..in desperation i even had a personal trainer for a while..my bank account got the best workout ever..

this week i've exercised a lot though..in total i probably did about 20-25 hours..but it's the sort of exercise where for me time stands still and where i don't have to force myself to move my body..in fact i have to discipline myself with a time limit so that, i can get other things done, and i don't push myself too hard physically..what i'm talking about here is gardening..i've hand mown the lawn and raked up the clippings, weeded, prepared a garden bed for vegetable planting, pruned a dozen roses and my crabapple, elderberry, pomegranate and lemon verbena, removed two roses, one of which was so big i needed to get the axe to it, that i haven't like for ages, picked up several bags of rust infected rose leaves and i've bundled and tied all of the prunings and then piled them in two wheelbarrows..i'll stack the bundles in my shed in the next day or so to dry so they're ready to be used next winter as kindling..and i didn't have to a) spend anything b) drive anywhere c) wear a special outfit d) pack a travel bag e) risk water borne infection f) talk to anyone i don't want to know or g) undress in public..

what's your favourite exercise? i promise i won't judge you if it involves wearing lycra..

pita bread

until yesterday i'd never made pita bread but as i was cooking a greek meal for my children i thought it was time to give it a go..i didn't start making the dough 'til quite late in the afternoon and it was really cold but fortunately i had a fire going so i was able to cosy the dough up on the hearth to prove..

pita bread

adapted from here

makes 8

ingredients

125 gms organic wholemeal flour*

250 gms organic white bread making flour*

1 tablespoon (tbs) honey**

2 tbs olive oil

1 teaspoon (tsp) yeast

1.5 tsp salt (i use crushed murray river salt)

filtered water

method 

~ mix all ingredients with enough water to make a shaggy dough

~ leave for 30 minutes and then mix again briefly

~ remove bowl from the stand mixer, cover with either oiled cling film or a damp tea towel, and leave to prove until doubled

~ tip dough onto a flour dusted bench and knead briefly

~ divide evenly into 8 pieces

~ shape into rounds and leave on the bench for 10-15 minutes for the dough to relax

~ place a baking stone or tray (i used a cast iron frying pan) in the oven and heat the oven to 220 deg c

~ roll each piece of dough into a thin round 

~ place the dough on the cooking surface of choice, cook for 3-4 minutes by which time the bread will have puffed up, turn over and cook for a further 2 minutes

notes:

*  i bought the organic wholemeal and white lauke flours from red beard bakery in trentham..they don't sell pre packaged bags of the wholemeal flour because of it's rapid deterioration rate but they kindly offered to bag up any quantity i wanted..as a result i don't know its protein level but the white flour has 11.5%..  

** i used manna gum honey that i bought from a local producer in trentham  

i served the pita with lamb fillet souvlakia, baked potatoes and olives in lemon and oil, a roasted capsicum, garlic, chilli and dehydrated tomato (my own) concasse and a home grown mixed green (cos and oak leaf lettuce, rocket, watercress, nasturtium and coriander and parsley leaves) and flower (cerise carnation petals, purple and white violets and yellow, white and purple pansies) salad with a pomegranate dressing..  

what's cooking?

barley malt syrup biscuits
these not too sweet but crunchy biscuits were made for an afternoon tea last week
i found the recipe on the label of the tin of syrup 

roquefort, prosciutto and quince paste pizza
the base is made with a mix of  00 flour, bread making flour and boiled potato
i cooked the base for 5 minutes at 275 deg c added the topping and cooked it for another 4 minutes
the cheese was too strong (i was warned that it would be but i didn't listen)
next time i will use gorgonzola 

chocolate custard
served in brown enamel mugs
made with my gran hazel's custard recipe with the addition of 1 tablespoon of cocoa

organic amaranth, sour cream and lyle's golden syrup bread
the amaranth gives the bread an interesting crunch
i'm going to plant some of the seeds because i've been on the lookout for amaranth seeds for ages
the greeks use amaranth leaves to make 'horta' and it's my favourite cooked leafy green 

i'm flying to sydney on monday and then my brother adam and i are spending about a week driving up the new south wales and queensland coast

my brother tim is going to fly in to join us somewhere along the way

my other brother david would have come too but he is overseas at the moment

it will be a very special trip

hand made bird cards

hand drawn with pen, ink and pastel on original vintage music scores 

named on the back along with a title reflecting the story portrayed  

even though they're time consuming i love making these bird cards..i often personalise them to reflect the personality, or an interest, of the recipient..for instance i've drawn shells on the sea shore (along with the bird) for someone who loves the beach and on another i did a sunset..

barley and lemon sourdough

i generally make about one sourdough loaf a week unless i have guests and i'd been thinking about adding barley to this week's loaf since i enjoyed it so much in a soup i'd made a while ago..i added lemon because i felt it needed an acid to balance out the richness of the other ingredients and because lemon barley water has such a lovely flavour..

barley and lemon sourdough

tea with hazel

ingredients levain

1 tablespoon (tbs) active starter

100 gms bread flour

125 gms filtered water

ingredients dough

225 g levain

300 gms white wheat flour

50 gms rice flour 

50 gms oat flour (i processed oat flakes until they were very fine)

100 gms cooked barley

1 tbs barley malt extract (i used saunders' barley malt extract)

1 1/2 tbs salt (i crush murray river salt flakes)

finely grated rind of 1 large lemon

filtered water

method levain

~ mix the levain ingredients, cover, and leave until very active (i refrigerated mine overnight, took it out in the morning, and it was ready to use by midday)

method dough

~ in the bowl of a stand mixer add flours, barley, malt extract and levain and mix with enough water to make a shaggy dough

~ autolyse for 45 minutes

~ add salt and lemon, mix briefly, rest for 15 minutes 

~ mix briefly again, remove the bowl from the stand mixer, cover with oiled cling film or a damp tea towel and leave until well risen

~ remove the dough to a flour dusted bench and repeat two gentle stretch and fold cycles with 15 minute rest intervals

~ shape the dough and rest until a finger pressed into the dough leaves an impression

~ slash and bake with steam at 250 deg c (conventional setting) for 30 minutes, reduce heat to 195 deg c and cook for a further 15-20 minutes

comments:

~ visually this loaf doesn't look very different to many other loaves that i've made but texture and flavour wise is a different story altogether..the crust is quite dense and crunchy and the crumb is open and soft but with plenty of body..even though i knew i'd added the lemon to the dough it came as a bit of a surprise when i first tasted it but, for me, it works..so far, of all the bread i've made, this is my favourite 

~ i wanted to add barley flakes to the loaf but i couldn't find any locally..next time!

roasted fennel and potato soup garnished with fennel leaves
and chilli oil

i think soup and bread is a perfect winter's meal..what do you think?

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