I took these photos a while ago but forgot to post them, that is until my Twitter friend Bianca reminded me! I sowed these broccoli plants in about March, they were in the ground by April & then I just kind of ignored them, that is until the last few weeks while they’ve been making broccolis! They have been fairly trouble-free, aside from picking off a few cabbage moth caterpillars when they were seedlings. Then it’s just a matter of waiting til they are big enough, then cut steam & enjoy! 
Blood oranges. Blood ORANGES! I have had my heart set on getting myself some Blood Oranges ever since I first saw their beautiful ruby colour on the pages of Foodgawker many months ago. But like most things, I was doubtful I would ever get my hands on any since I live in what many people call the ‘arse end of the universe’ (my dad especially says this) and such exotic things are rare. So you can imagine my excitement when on Monday I was driving past Raw, a local organic food store, and saw BLOOD ORANGES on the blackboard outside the shop! I immediately did a U-turn and bought two kilos.
But now that I had the precious Blood Oranges, I needed a better cooking pot then the tiny one that I had (and remembering my last adventure with jam making, when I had to decant 1/2 into another pot & boil them seperately). I went to a few cooking shops in Hobart city, with not much luck, even the specialty cooking shops didn’t have any! So I went out to North Hobart to a catering shop called Medhurst, which is a great place & I really should have gone their first!! They have pots big enough to get into. I found a great 11 litre Scanpan stainless steel pot, the last one in the shop & on special for $85! It is exactly the same width as the biggest pot I already had, but is actually twice the height which is important when making jam, because when you add the sugar to the mixture it triples in volume. I also treated myself to a new Victorinox knife, since my old favourite failed due to only having a plastic handle.
Now, onto the marmalade!! I was loosely following Elise’s recipe for Seville Orange Marmalade, except I was too lazy to do the whole membranes & seeds pectin thing so I just used some Jamsetta. I didn’t bother measuring the fruit mixture after the first stage of cooking either, I just put in 2kg of sugar!
Another thing I had to change for the sake of my sanity, is the way of separating the skin from the pith. I used the ’scrape out’ method for 2 halves or so before my hands got so tired I could hardly hold the spoon anymore, so I had to try something else. The peeler wasn’t working on the already-juiced skins, so I decided to try to cut the skin off using my new ultra-sharp knife. It worked very well & I julienned them and everything.
And the result. 8 jars of beautiful ruby red marmalade, ready for my toast tomorrow morning. My few taste tests when checking for setting time were very promising indeed, but I will save the real taste test for tomorrow! For now, I can’t stop looking at the colour:
I took the plunge today & cut down my apple tree, all by myself!! It was surprisingly quick & I didn’t even get tired. I really wish I had a mulcher, even though I’d probably only use it once a year. Next job: dig up the nectarine & move it to near where the apple tree was. Still so much work to do but it’s getting there!
Having issues with WordPress’s iPhone app at the moment, but I thought I would at least show you some photos from the garden today. The broccolis are getting bigger, the peas are still peaing, and the broadbeand are getting taller. I did some weeding and planting in the main flowerbeds today (plants I recieved from Diggers and Woodbridge Nursery), I’ll post some photos of those when they emerge from dormancy. And that’s all for today
It was so cold & blustery outside today, but I hadn’t visited the garden for a few days so I thought I had better pay it a visit. So this afternoon the sun was coming & going between the clouds, so this would be a good a time as any to go outside.
There few a few tomatoes hanging on the vines still, but I think I am going to have to pull them out soon. Once they are close to ripening the wet weather quickly rots them and I end up throwing them onto the compost. A not-so-wonderful end for the last veggie of Summer in the garden. So it’s time for the Winter veggies to have their turn in the (low gloomy Winter) limelight.
I sowed these broadbeans about 3 weeks ago from memory, and they have just shown up in the last few days. I guess it’s the cold that has delayed their germination, but I seem to be getting very good germination rates so I don’t really mind. I would have planted them sooner but I had Golden Nugget pumpkins here that just refused to die back like they were supposed to, and I didn’t want to damage the pumpkins by pulling them out prematurely. I’ve never grown these before so I’m interested to see if I’m going to need to stake them or not.
My plan for an Autumn crop of peas is coming along nicely, with the first flowers appearing this week. Here’s hoping I get some pollination & some yummy peas in the next few weeks!
I had sown a small row of carrots before I planted the cabbage seedlings (in top left corner of the photo), and, being my usual impatient self, I just planted the cabbage seedlings on top because I didn’t want to have to wait for another area of the garden to free up. But it has worked out okay as an accidental catch crop, because now that the cabbage leaves have almost started to cover the space in between each plant, the carrots are just about ready. Well, for baby carrots anyway! I have a few in there still, so the next lot I pull will hopefully be a bit bigger. I have 2 rows that are 4 weeks old also, and my last sowing (2 rows each of St Valery and Mini Round) have sprouted this week. I am determined not to run out of carrots before Summer this time!
Out of sheer curiosity (and also because I am terribly impatient) I pulled two parnips as well. These were sown on the 28th of January, and I was very surprised at the time because they had all germinated after only 9 days. Covering them with plastic & onion bags really works, and have used it for my carrot seeds with great success too. So these ’snips are about 3 months old now & still probably need another 3 months! They are cool though! I’m going to grate them up along with the carrots & make some veggie fritters. It will be my first time eating parsnips so I hope I like them!!
Here’s a photo of the parsnip leaves, which was another thing that was a mystery to me when I first started growing them. They are a bit like flat leaved parsley, but several times larger, and the stem bases wrap around the newer middle leaves – you can see this a bit in the other photo. It’s kind of cool. Carrots do this too but because the stems are narrower it’s less noticeable.
Also eagerly awaiting my first turnip!! This is the biggest one, I might roast it, or make some soup with the winter squashes I still have. Such excitement!
That’s it for now – I’ll see what the weather’s like tomorrow after work, I might pull out the tomato plants & spread out a load of manure & coffee grounds. Seems like a long time until its going to be Summer again!
For some reason, I can’t remember now, I had an urge to make miso soup. So I went to my local Asian grocer, got the miso paste and firm tofu, but then I though, I want it to be a bit more substantial then just soup with tofu. So I got some flat rice noodles as well, but then I spied in the refrigerated section: Enoki mushrooms! I have always always wanted to try these & now was my chance. But would my miso soup be too crowded? I will risk it, I thought.
The mushrooms were growing on what looked like a compressed block of shredded wood. Rather cool! I opened the pack & had a little taste: they were very mild, yet firm & buttery. Delicious!
Taking photos of white things is so hard!
So, for the recipe, I prepared everything before starting the soup.
You will need:
Half a block of firm tofu, cut into half-inch cubes
2-3 tablespoons of miso paste (according to taste)
1 scallion, sliced into rings
The optional ingredients:
Enoki mushrooms
Pre-warmed noodles
Method (probably not very authentically prepared but it turned out great):
Heat up some water in a saucepan (depending on how many servings you want). Take miso paste & disolve in the water just before it reaches boiling point. Add pre-warmed noodles (I just poured some boiling water over mine), tofu and mushrooms, and simmer for a few minutes until everything is heated through. Serve into large bowls, sprinkle with the sliced scallion & enjoy
As you can see I opted for more solid ingredients then soup!! But it was delicious and I will definitely make it again. Might just go for the simpler version next time, accompanied by some plain rice as a “diet dinner’ or something!
Me & a friend went to the Salamanca markets today, because we hadn’t been for ages. I really wanted to get some local fruit & veggies, and have a bratwurst. Here are a few pics of the market today, and also my delicious haul! Click to enlarge.
Today I thought I’d better pick the rest of the capsicums since it’s gotten pretty cold now & they’re not going to get any riper. So I picked 4 of those, and another handful of tomatoes that have ripened. They seem to be ripening slowly but surely. Also today I visited my friend Eryn & her 4 month old identical twins, Bella & Olivia. They were gorgeous, even if they did spew on me a bit!! Also I finally gave them their presents that I made them, two kitties from Amy Butler’s new book, Little Stitches for Little Ones. They are so easy to make, and I’ve given them to a few other children of friends too. Anyway that’s all
It’s well & truly Autumn now, and today it’s rainy & dull & gloomy. I was meant to mow the lawns today, I should have done it yesterday when it was nice & sunny! Here’s some photos I took yesterday in the sun:
These apples are nice to look at but are full of codling moth worms. I have tried for 2 years to get decent apples from this tree, and this was it’s last chance so I will be taking it out this winter & moving a nectarine tree in it’s place. Sorry apple tree!
In contrast to the doomed apple tree is the very well behaved Nashi pear tree, giving me 7 fruits this year. Nashi pears are not actually a cross between apples & pears as some people think, and these don’t seem to be attractive to coddling moth or pear & cherry slug, so I think this tree has earned another year in the garden Behind the nashis are my slightly-chewed cabbage plants, they have had a growth spurt in the last couple of weeks.
My first time growing winter squash; had great results but the vines (2 of them) ran rampant through the whole veggie patch & onto the lawn, so I will have to grow them on a trellis next time. They have been lined up along the edge of the veggie bed for the last couple of weeks to cure, but since it’s raining today I really should bring them inside. They have a really hard skin so I hope this means they will store well. I will have to investigate recipes for soup & things. Overall I got 17 cute little yellow squashes.
Just for something different, I thought I’d post a photo of my bedroom this morning as we got a tiny moment of sun earlier on. The nights are starting to get colder, so last night I put on my Laura Ashley throw rug for extra warmth. Also, it keeps the Puss fur off my luxurious Laura Ashley sheets so I only need to wash the throw when it gets too furry & not the whole set. Can you tell I like Laura Ashley? One day I will get rid of that ugly lamp & buy a pretty Laura Ashley one, and get two bedside tables that actually match, and some new curtains that aren’t pink. But, that’s for another day. Actually, considering their prices, another year! Anyway, I love opening the curtains & letting the sun come in, and my view of the (too long) green grass & tortured willow in the front yard is so nice
It was cold & gloomy today, and at lunchtime I felt like having something a bit fancy-shmancy as well as quick & easy. I have been harvesting some decent-sized tomatoes lately, so I really wanted to showcase them somehow. Bruschetta was the perfect solution.
I used a lovely sourdough from work for my bruschetta, but use any thick cut crusty loaf.
I made mine with tuna, diced tomatoes, grated cheese & oregano, but use anything: avocado, mushrooms, capers, olives, smoked salmon… The possibilities are endless. Grill or bake until bread is crispy & your ingredients are heated through. Dig in & enjoy!
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