Keeping the home fire burning

Image from oddknits.com

Hello! I'm so sorry for my absence these last few weeks. I've missed being here. I hope that you had a lovely Christmas and I truly wish you every good thing for this new year that is spreading out invitingly before us.

Here in the Yellow Wood, I have had a quiet time, taking it slowly and as calmly as I can, while the sand shifts beneath our feet.

The comforting and familiar has had my firm and grateful attention...I have been cooking some good and simple dishes from the wonderful CWA's (Country Women's Association) Family Meals. Kedgeree, quiche and orange cake. So very good!

Knitting has me preoccupied again...will I ever graduate beyond garter stitch? I sometimes think I have the knack of another stitch and then it skitters away again (laughing a little at me, I think)...!

I am reading and falling in love with Elsie J. Oxenham's Abbey Girls series. Wonderful! They are like book length conversations with Call the Midwife's Chummy!

So, what's been keeping you busy?

~ Feronia x

Interesting times

Some challenging times are afoot at the moment, with serious illness in my family. I am literally taking each day at a time, and working hard to stay calm and positive.

I have all sorts of things to tempt me in the evenings - I am really enjoying reading Persuasion, I am cross-stitching a very sweet little folk design, long-stitching a pretty alpine scene and I have finally found my cure-all knitting book The Knitting Problem-Solver (by Tish Lilie) because I want to have a proper stab at moss stitch.
Having watched a great documentary on the Amish last week, my sweet husband has been suggesting we switch off the telly in the evenings. It would be the perfect chance to get some of these things done. But I find by nightfall I am tired and have only the energy to watch tv and silly tv at that (Snog, Marry, Avoid anyone?) It gives me a welcome opportunity to put my brain in neutral and be distracted by the passing parade for awhile.

Ah, well. I think it's important to follow what you feel you should do, what feels right for you. Sometimes even in the smallest of ways, we need to nurture ourselves just a little and take some time out.

Lately I have also rediscovered my love of Blur, who I haven't given much thought (or an ear) to since I got into the whole Britpop thing in the mid-90s. I adore this song ("The Universal"), and its sentiment. It seems about right, right now.

Blogger doesn't seem to want to embed it, so here's a link -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrbxWOMpwfs

Wishing you happy days, friends.

Bug Watch

One thing about keeping chickens is that you do find yourself on bug-watch duty now and then. I just couldn't leave this lovely little guy within pecking range so I brought him inside, off the back steps (where Gladys, Joyce and Jean love to hangout), to have a little respite in a dried flower arrangement while our team of feathered marauders found amusements elsewhere.

Winter Colours

As winter begins to move amongst us, I like to brighten up the house with flowers. Luckily, I have a very sweet husband who brings home a lovely bunch quite regularly! The last two weeks have seen orchids and tulips, both with a crisp, cool beauty - I think - befitting the season.

The bathroom offers the best light...

...but the combination of purple tulips and our green walls in the living room was too much to resist!

Good things in Autumn 1

It is definitely starting to get cooler here. The days are gradually getting shorter and the sky is often grey. There is still the odd sunny day (of the beautiful, not-too-hot autumnal kind) but the leaves are turning brown and covering the front lawn and nature's wheel is beginning to turn.

This of course means that the time has come for some cold weather treats to come back into the schedule because, let's face it, steaming-hot milky porridge topped with honey or strawberry jam just doesn't make sense in summer!

Sunday Morning

Sunday morning is always a good time to slow down a bit, don't you think? I saw a nice recipe for French Toast in the English magazine The Simple Things during the week and so last Sunday I made French Toast using brioche dipped in egg, milk, sugar and cinnamon. Mmmm-mmm. I didn't serve it with berries as the recipe suggested but it was still good. If not particularly slimming!

Doing and Listening

I'm so pleased with how this piece of patchwork has turned out as a wall hanging. The piece itself cost me $2 at the op shop and the bamboo stick it's hung on about 30 cents!



Hope you had a lovely weekend! Enjoy your Monday.

Saturday nights in

Usually my husband cooks the mains and I am in charge of cakes, biscuits, puddings and other such desserty things. On Saturday night, though, I thought I'd give my new cookbook - Russian, German & Polish Food & Cooking by Catherine Atkinson and Trish Davies - a bit of a go. A lot of it was cooked in butter so it's all probably 'sometimes food' as they say on Sesame Street. But, it has to be said, cooking in butter makes things very tasty and it all turned out quite yummily, even if the chef says so herself. Potato pancakes, braised celery with cheese and asparagus. Not too bad at all. I am yet to convince my husband to try what I have been given to understand is a Russian style of serving tea - black tea with a spoonful of cherry jam mixed in. Personally, I love it.

It's not easy being green

On Sefarina's (http://windleben.blogspot.com/) advice, I bought some little houseplants to sit on the windowsills to absorb some of the summer heat bursting through the glass. Unfortunately, after yesterday's 38 degrees, the poor plants themselves have got a little scorched and I have had to move them temporarily off the windowsills to recuperate! They are still giving a lovely display of cool, soothing green though, as you can see.

I had a good week in Sydney last week. Free of the distractions which come with a home office, I got some good work done on what I hope will become a novel and I also got to visit my favourite bookstore of all time...Kinokuniya. I loaded up on craft books, so hopefully over the next couple of weeks I will have some finished projects from them to show off to you.

We always say that Sydney is warmer than Melbourne; Sydney is closer to the equator, more humid, more tropical and so on. But these last couple of days have turned all that on its head. We had some very welcome rain this morning (and more on the way, judging from the skies) but it is so humid here in Melbourne. I would quite like to be back in Sydney in my air-conditioned room, with the hotel swimming pool just down the hall...Ah well, it's only summer here until Thursday!

Weekend Doings

With some cooler temperatures and lots of goodies from the garden, we've ventured back into the kitchen! Yesterday, my DH and I made some apple and tomato chutney. So easy! Taken from my grandma's 1933 New Standard Cookery (with imperial measures) -

6 cooking apples
4 small onions
3 teaspoons salt
3 cupfuls brown sugar
1 green pepper
6 large tomatoes
1 cup raisins
1 quart vinegar
1/4 cup peppercorns, allspice, cloves

Mix finely chopped apples, tomatoes, raisins and green pepper together in saucepan. Add remainder of ingredients and boil steadily for 1-and-a-half hours. Allow to cool. Pour into jars.

We didn't use as much vinegar as is suggested here (we used about 800ml) and we used a red pepper rather than green, so it can be adjusted to your own tastes.

And on Saturday, I made a lemon cake. Using a plain cake recipe from the Net -

2 cups self-raising flower
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
125g butter
2 eggs
2/3 cup milk

Then, if you like, add the grated rind of 1 large lemon and a little bit of lemon juice.

Combine. Bake at 180 degrees celsius for 30 minutes. The icing is just my usual concoction of 1 cup icing sugar and 2 tablespoons boiling water. I then added some lemon juice and this made it nice but very runny!

Ginger tree, very pretty, and the ginger flower is sweet...

My mother dropped by for lunch today and she brought with her a piece of ginger plant for me. At least, we think it's ginger plant. We don't really know! It looks so tropical and more than a little triffidy. And its aroma! I don't know if I like it exactly but it's very distinctive. Sort of like the scent of a lily. No shrinking violet, this one. This flower makes a statement!

Feeling hot, hot, hot

Summer is in progress in earnest here in Australia. We are expecting 34 degrees today and tomorrow. High 20s and low-mid 30s for the rest of the week. Bleh! 25 degrees is about my limit. After that, if there's heat for any length of time, the house just heats up and up and won't cool down. We don't have air-con but we do have overhead fans and I try to seal the heat out wherever I can. But, as you can see, it still sneaks its way in... everywhere in the house is bathed in a glowing orangey light this morning.

Blogtober Day Six - Weekend Happenings

On the weekend, I finally managed to get something done with a lovely little set of vintage swap-cards depicting different types of fruit that I bought at a flea market in Copenhagen. There are also cards of vegetables and nuts in the deck, but I like the fruit ones the best. I had had them just on their own on the kitchen wall, but then thought that framing them would be better.

Discovery! I started knitting with two balls of yarn last night, following a suggestion from the magazine I mentioned last week. You know I am but a baby knitter - I'm sure all you knitters out there have been doing this for ages! But I enjoyed trying out something new.

And so it begins...the first recipe tried from the Australian Women's Weekly Sweet Old-Time Favourites - Caramel Cornflake Chews. They are very like Anzac Biscuits but without the oats. I was going to post the recipe but I got scared after reading the copyright section of the cookbook! These are super yummy, though. Hot out of the oven - gooey in the centre. Oh yes.

How was your weekend?

Blogtober Day 5 - At Home

The fairies are definitely about at the moment. I know this because they have planted a little ring of daisies in our garden!

I have decided to make use of my grandmother's cutlery set. She only used it when my parents and I came for Sunday lunch and every Sunday, after lunch, I was placed in charge of polishing each piece and returning it to the homemade calico pouches they lived in. We certainly won't use it every day but it now has its own drawer in the kitchen as opposed to being bundled up in a bag as it was when I just wasn't quite sure whether I should use it or not. Brings a nice little touch to things, I think, and reminds me of those lovely Sunday lunches. Do you have anything special like that?
I can feel a bake-a-thon coming on...there are so many goodies in the Women's Weekly cookbook that I mentioned yesterday...cinnamon teacake, swiss roll, caramel cornflake chews, melting moments, chester squares... I'll let you know what I chose to make on Monday.

Enjoy your weekend.

In Praise of Grannies

It may be getting warmer (slowly) and in fact in sounds like we have a pretty lovely weekend on the way weather-wise but cosy, warm dishes are still on our food agenda. Last night I made the Sweetcorn Chowder from Natalie Oldfield's Gran's Family Table. I love the concept of this book - recipes inspired and collected from her gran, Dulcie May Booker. You can find out more here - http://www.dulciemaykitchen.com/ There are a number of recipe books around our house which belonged to my Grandma - some even handwritten - and they are really precious to me.

The chowder was good - and there's enough left over for lunch (yay!) - but I'm not sure that this photo quite does it justice. If I was a food stylist I'm sure I would have at least wiped around the edge of the bowl!

50g butter
4 small sized onions, diced (I used two)
4 medium sized potatoes
4 tomatoes, diced (I used one fresh tomato and a can of tomatoes)
800g creamed corn
1 litre chicken stock

Melt butter into large saucepan. Add onions and fry for about 5 minutes. Add potatoes and tomatoes and cook for 3-4 minutes. Add corn and stock. Simmer for 20-25 minutes.

Serves 6-8.

I think the sausage pie might be my next venture from this book. Mmmmm! Have a lovely weekend.

Sunshine

Some pretty calendula to brighten up an otherwise grey day.

Right here, right now

Two of my favourite blogs, Soulemama (http://www.soulemama.com) and Another Beautiful Day (http://milk-and-berries.blogspot.com) have both recently listed what they are doing right now, what is occupying and fulfilling them in this present moment. I am trying to learn to live much more in the present moment, and so I give you what's up in the Yellow Wood right now -

Playing:: With beads, yarn and thread. Lots of stuff in the craft basket at the moment but nothing actually getting finished because I am flitting from one project to the next like a drunken bee.

Listening:: To atmospheric to the point of spooky music from Wardruna and delightfully silly and cheerful 80s pop by turn, depending on my mood.

Looking:: At the first delicious little flickers of spring in the garden. The lemons, although traditionally winter bloomers, are leading the charge.

Learning:: About making jewellery. I am considering taking a TAFE course in it. I want to get soldering - oh yeah!

Helping:: Or at least trying to help my poor hard-working and sleep-deprived husband and my dear mum who has just had her cataracts operated on.

Reading:: Spoilt for choice as I mentioned the other day. Lucky Jim is the next one off the shelf.

So what about you?

If only Paddington Bear lived with us

A couple of years ago I found some books in an op-shop called A Glut of Apricots and Peaches and A Glut of...(something else I can't remember). They were by Ann Carr. Well, I wish there had been A Glut of Citrus Fruit too because that is exactly what we have here in the Yellow Wood at the moment! Our lemon and grapefruit trees are going quite mad (who knew winter was their season??) and we have said fruit everywhere. My dear sweet husband made about a dozen jars of lovely three-fruit marmalade on Monday night but we still have citrusy goodness all over the kitchen and plopping ripely to the ground outside. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Friday on my mind

Nom, nom, nom...a bee has his way with some pollen in the Botanical Gardens, Oslo.

Some serious op-shopping planned for this weekend...not one but two op-shop stops (!) planned tomorrow. I tell myself that I need to do it to re-stock my Etsy shop - it's work really, it's business - but over the last week I have thrifted far more stuff for myself than than shop...

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I am reading Robert Rankin's bizarrely enjoyable The Hollow Chocolate Bunnies of the Apocalypse and I am about to start Lucky Jim, on librarygirl's (http://www.livinginthekingdomoftoomuch.com/) recommendation.

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Planning to make the mocha cake from The Barbara Pym Cookbook later today since we are having dinner with my parents tonight.

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What have you got planned?

Green tour of Europe: Part 1

One thing that I did take a lot of photos of while we were away is plants. So beautiful in their variety and also good practice for the amateur photographer wielding a macro lens! I couldn't resist one more photo of the German forests...

A delicate rose growing behind one of the large cathedrals in Heidelberg...

And something not quite so cultivated but no less beautiful, spotted while out walking. Is it an elderflower?

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I was so sad to see when we returned home, though, that the people living in the house behind ours had cut down a large and beautiful hawthorn tree in our absence. It was often covered in lovely red berries and attracted a wide assortment of birds, most particularly white cockatoos. Unless a tree is about to smash through your roof, I can never understand why people chop trees down. It seems like the ungrateful return of a wonderful gift.