Country Escape

Every year on Boxing Day I escape Melbourne for the fresh country air of northern Victoria; time out from the city and the day-to-day stresses. It's time to sleep, read, watch tv, eat amazing food, drink fabulous wine, and finish up a quilt or two.

The colour of sunset is pretty amazing here.

There's been some yummy food and wine; pork croquettes, steak, and chocolate cake.

The set-up at the winery was just beautiful, as they were preparing for a wedding.

I've also bee around to all the farms buying fresh fruit: strawberries, blueberries, and my favourite white cherries.

Only two more days in the year; it didn't start out as my best year but I'm really loving how it turned out.

Sunday Morning Jam Session

I feel like I've been neglecting my blog lately, and I'm sorry...but its definitely that time of year! Fabric is coming in and out of the shop at a ridiculous rate, there are social events to attend, food to make, and quilts to finish. The last week vanished before my eyes between being in Hobart for the weekend, then in Queensland Wednesday/Thursday. I promise I've finished all my travelling for the year.

This mornings job was apricot jam; last summer's batch disappeared way too early in the year. So I bought a huge bag of the yummiest fruit and set about turning my kitchen into a super-sticky mess. But so worth it!

I've posted the recipe before, over here; it's the Stephanie Alexander one and I wouldn't use any other. It has never failed me.

 

Now I'm off to hide the finished product before anyone else gets their hands on it....

Pumpkin Farro Salad

Last year at a lunch I went to I was served a pumpkin farro salad. I'd never heard of farro before but I really enjoyed it. So I did a little searching and found that you can buy locally grown farro at Thomas Dux (Mt Zero brand). It's a grain that looks a little like wheat, but you can use it as a substitute for pasta or rice, in salads, soups etc.

Ingredients:

2 cups Mount Zero Farro

2 teaspoons fine-grained sea salt

6 cups water or stock

3 cups butternut pumpkin, diced 15mm

1 large red onion cut into 1/8ths

1 tablespoon fresh thyme, chopped

4 tablespoons Mount Zero extra virgin olive oil

Juice of 1 lemon

1 tablespoon Mount Zero red wine vinegar

1 cup walnuts, toasted well

¼ cup goats cheese, crumbled (optional)

1 bunch fresh herbs, chopped (Italian parsley, basil, mint, oregano)

Method:

Place the farro in a large saucepan, cover with cold water and bring to the boil. Simmer for 20 minutes, or until tender and drain well. Dress with olive oil and lemon juice and season with salt and pepper.

Preheat the oven to 200C

Mix the diced pumpkin, onion pieces and chopped thyme in a single layer in a baking tray and toss with 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast in oven for 30-40 minutes, or until cooked. Remove from the oven, sprinkle with the red wine vinegar and set aside to cool.

Toss the roasted vegetables and chopped herbs through the farro and scatter the

surface with the crumbled goats cheese. 

I used a mix of pumpkin and sweet potato, and used slivered almonds as that's what I had in the cupboard. Was the perfect accompaniment to some chicken for dinner.

Summer Dessert

This dessert is great for summer; it's pretty light, has little-to-no sugar in it, and you can use whatever fruit you have on hand. This one has nectarines and blueberries in it, and the last one I made had apricots in it. Berries or cherries would be great too!

50g unsalted butter
¾ cup plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
Caster sugar
¾ cup milk
Fruit of choice

Preheat oven to 220C. Put butter in 2L dish then place in the oven to melt while you make the batter.
Place flour, baking powder, a pinch of salt, and up to ¼ cup sugar in bowl (I only use 1 tablespoon of sugar).
Add milk and mix until smooth.
Pour into casserole dish (don’t stir!), then arrange your fruit on top. Sprinkle with a little extra sugar.
Place in oven, reduce temperature to 180C, bake for up to an hour (mine usually take 45-50mins) until caramelised around the edges.
Dust with icing sugar then serve with cream, yoghurt or ice cream.

So yum!

The recipe comes from an issue of delicious magazine (Dec11/Jan12).

Pop Up Market

This Saturday I've got a stall at the Rock Your Stockings Pop-Up Market in Prahran, so I've been busy sewing this week after last Sunday's busy market.

I've got a few more Dr Seuss/Cat in the Hat cushions, as they seem to be extremely popular. And it seems to be adults buying them for themselves...

A couple more owls.

Outside of sewing things have been happening in the vegie patch. I found this enormous zucchini hiding yesterday; those scissors are a standard-sized kitchen pair, and this baby is over 1kg!

I was alerted to the ripening of the peaches yesterday by the wattlebirds. They're getting their share, but we have more than enough to go around. It's so nice to eat fruit that was picked only seconds earlier.

I've also just picked my first handful of butterbeans for the summer. These will be going in a stirfry tonight along with that zucchini and some home-grown roly poly carrots.

I Love Summer!

After the coldest start to summer in over 20 years, the sun is finally shining! The cicadas are chirping and the parrots are certainly doing their bit in my feijoa trees. I'm trying hard to split my time between inside activities and outdoors jobs.

I stitched up all the offcuts from Swoon (I hate the wastage that comes from flying geese) into a big pile of HSTs....now I just need to decide what to do with them.

Swoon is basted and currently residing in the machine; my plan is to have it done by Christmas so I can hand stitch the binding while I'm away on holidays. My sewing machine has been giving me lots of trouble when I free-motion quilt (the bobbin thread catches), but apparently you can stipple with the feed-dogs up, and it seems to be working so far. The middle block is always the hardest!

The garden has completely come alive; the aggies provide a nice bit of colour against my in-need-of-a-paint fence.

Those tiny little tomato seedlings I rescued and planted have turned into mammoth plants, and they seem to be competing with a self-sown oregano plant.

There are little tomatoes hiding everywhere.

After no zucchinis last year, I've already got quite a few this year (and some of them are HUGE!).

My butter beans are already covered in flowers and tiny beans...hopefully they'll be ready by Christmas day.

My poor peach tree is so laden with fruit I've had to tie the branches to the fence to prevent them snapping off.

There are little figs tucked away.

I netted the blueberries this year and I actually get to eat these yummy little morsels.

The quinces are putting on weight, so we should have a nice winter crop.

The hibiscus are also adding a nice bit of colour against all the green.

So that's what is happening in my world at the moment. It's only 19 days till Christmas and I still have three markets to get through, and a bit of baking. Ive already baked (and eaten) a batch of shortbread....

Zucchini Fritters

Summer usually brings with it an overload of zucchini, and sometimes it can be a bit of a struggle coming up with new and creative ways to use up the abundance.

Today I turned a few zucchini nearing the end of their shelf-life into fritters; these will be yummy for lunch with a bit of home-made aioli. I used normal milk rather than buttermilk, chedder instead of feta and some parsley and oregano instead of thyme. I also squeezed as much water as possible from the zucchini, and added a handful extra flour.

Recipe and pic from taste.com.au

Ingredients

2 eggs, lightly whisked
75g (1/2 cup) self-raising flour
2 tbs buttermilk
3 (about 400g) green zucchini, ends trimmed, coarsely grated
100g feta, crumbled
1 red onion, halved, thinly sliced
1 tbs finely chopped fresh thyme
1 garlic clove, crushed
Sea salt flakes & freshly ground black pepper
125ml (1/2 cup) vegetable oil
Lemon wedges, to serve

Method

Combine egg, flour and buttermilk in a bowl. Add zucchini, feta, onion, thyme and garlic, and gently stir to combine. Season with sea salt flakes and pepper.
Heat oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Place 4 heaped tablespoonfuls of zucchini mixture around edge of the pan, allowing room for spreading, and use an egg lifter to flatten slightly. Shallow-fry for 1-2 minutes each side or until golden and cooked through. Transfer to a plate lined with paper towel. Repeat, in 2 more batches, with the remaining zucchini mixture, reheating oil between batches.

Wacky Weather!

No pictures unfortunately, but the south eastern suburbs have just experience a major dumping of rain, right as I was travelling home from my grandmas house. It took us almost 30 min to travel from the next suburb over, with a detour via another suburb; all the roads to my house are under water and there are dead cars bobbing all over the place. Apparently it's a results of the cyclone that's just battered QLD.

I'm very glad we were in my mum's Forrester otherwise we would have had a lot more trouble, though we did have to use the footpath to get down one street. Outside the local restaurants, cars are up to their windows in water.

Australia Day

A quiet Australia Day this year; the weather is less then ideal. Overcast and a bit drizzly. Perfect for having a nosey around in the veggie patch for a bit of a mid-summer update.

The zucchinis are finally flowering, though no fruit yet.

My self-seeded pumpkins are staging a mini takeover of the wood heap.

The butter beans are finally making an appearance.

Beetroot ready to be picked.

A mango tree (!) which appeared in my compost heap (and a self-seeded tomato plant behind it). I'm not so sure it'll survive in Melbourne, but I'm going to give it a go.

Todays bounty of beetroot, red onions and butter beans.

And some yummy bruschetta with homemade parsley pesto and boccocini. I do love homegrown!

A Spring Clean of Sorts

Yes, it's summer, not spring. My mum is on holidays this week, so we figured it was as good a time as any to blitz the house. Two adult women living in a single house can become very squishy, especially as I have bought a lot of things that I'll need once I do finally move out.

Starting Bella's Patchwork hasn't helped; all the fabrics have been living in their boxes in the little alcove that is meant to be our home's dining room. Only this alcove is so small you can fit a table, but no chairs. It would certainly make for an interesting dinner party. So this space has gradually been getting more crowded as boxes have been arriving, and filling orders gets more difficult as the stack of boxes reaches three deep.

My mum had something of a sleepless night last night, and while lying there, a plan formed: to tackle our hall cupboard and make it the new home for all those lovely bolts of fabric that have been hidden from sight until now. Our hall cupboard is a bit of an odds-and-ends heaven, where random items go to live. Everything from an old (working) mixmaster from the 70's, stockpots, Christmas decorations, and my collection of homemade jams and relishes.

We hauled everything out of there, took out all the shelves, and gave the whole thing a good clean. We live in a 50's weatherboard house, and it's very prone to being dusty.

Then the fun part; hauling all the boxes into the hall and lining up all those gorgeous bolts. There are also more bolts in the next cupboard too, so we managed to get every Moda fabric in there!

Bella is loving having so many empty boxes to play with, even just for a little while (you can just see the top of her head towards the bottom right of the photo, above the esky with all the jam jars in it).

Definitely a job well done!

Simple Summer Pasta

I'm a pasta-lover, and could quite happily eat is several nights a week. The warm weather brings a dilemma however, and it gets too hot to be making and eating yummy warm sauces with my pasta.

For days like today I prefer a cool pasta, and this recipe is a sinch!

You just need:

• tomatoes; either diced large tomatoes or halved cherry toms.
• basil; grab a handful and tear the leaves.
• a clove of garlic, sliced thinly or crushed. This adds a bit of bite to it.
• olive oil. I usually add 6 glugs, but it would depend on how many serves you want.
• a dash of red wine vinegar; I usually use about 1 teaspoon.
• Salt and pepper to taste.

Let it sit for about half an hour, cook your pasta, drain, then toss it into the sauce. Mix it round then serve it up! The pasta will be slightly warm, but far more pleasant to eat when its hot.

It's hot enough here that Bella has taken to lying on the kitchen floor...looks a bit akward!

First Day of Summer...

...And its pouring with rain! Admittedly, it's not cold; I'm wearing a sleeveless top. But it's not really the start to summer we've all been hoping for.

Not much sewing action happening here. I've finished up most things for the market, bar one cot quilt. I'm hoping to start something with Fandango shortly, but I'm not sure what pattern to go for, so suggestions welcome!

I did a final harvest of my silverbeet yesterday; the plants had bolted and were now taller than me! All the leaves have been washed, blanched, and packed into baggies in the freezer for use in quiches etc.

Just a note on Bella's Patchwork too; the shopping cart is currently malfunctioning, so if anyone is looking to place an order, please email me at kate@bellaspatchwork.com.au. I'm getting very frustrated with my provider and am looking into alternatives...not what I needed in the lead up to christmas!

My Favourite Summer Salad

With another gorgeous weekend upon us, I thought it only right to share a recipe for a yummy summer salad.

For this one you'll need:

2 punnets cherry tomatoes, halved

2/3 cup finely sliced red onion

1 cup canned, drained cannellini beans

1/2 cup small black olives

1/3 cup roughly chopped flat-leaf parsley

2 tbs olive oil

1 tbs malt vinegar

250g haloumi cheese (I find 180g is sufficient, but depends on how much you eat along the way)

To make:

Heat your oven to 180C, put you tomatoes in a baking dish cut side up, drizzle with oil, salt and pepper, and roast about 15 min. Remove and cool.

Put onion, beans, olives, parsely in a bowl.

Whisk together oil and vinegar, add to bowl with tomatoes.

Cut haloumi into small fingers, fry in a little olive oil until golden on each side, then arrange over salad.

It's so yum I really should learn to make a bigger batch!