Dried apples and last days of Summer

Parrots got some of the apples, so I picked the rest. Some are delicious, so I thought the nicest ones could be dried in the dehydrator with some cinnamon. Yum.

It takes about 20 hours to dry the apple pieces. Then they are cooled, and bagged. No need to peel the apples- just core them. Pears are good too, but they take longer to process.

I got some good spices in Carlton on the weekend. Ras el Hanut from Morocco, and another blend, from Saudi Arabia, called Saudi Barahat, which smells just like the Souq in Jeddah. Experimenting with spices is fun, and can completely change a dish. Given that J is not supposed to eat eggs or cheese it enables us to have tasty dishes, and plenty of variety.

We have still not had any rain. Apart from a short storm last week, I can hardly remember our last wet day. The poor animals are getting bolder and bolder about coming in to gardens, as they have no water in the bush. I saw a wallaby tonight about 50 metres from our front door, just hopping along...

Had Sunday lunch at The Tavern today. Lamb salad with feta, pumpkin and pine nuts. Then home for a swim before a quick burst of housework, and a bit of knitting. Grannie stuff!!!

Mum was well on Friday. She has had a change in medication and the improvement was marked. We took her out for an ice-cream, but didn't walk much as it was about 30 degrees. She laughed and chatted like old times, which was great to see. She seems to be steadier on her feet, and odd though it seems, can hear better on her good days!

Which reminds me. I have her Toyota sewing machine, and was about to give it to the local sewing shop to give to some needy soul. But if you know of someone who would appreciate a near new, basic machine I can hold off for a few weeks... It would be good to give it a good home. It has a cover and instruction book.

 

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Life, truth and the way

Someone phoned up to ask me to an underwear party. She's a sweetie, but...How truthful should I be, I wondered. The idea of browsing onesies and bloomers with women I don't know, at prices even I can buy an outfit for, (pardon the preposition), leads me to one level of honesty... "I usually buy my undies on special, and by myself now", which came out as " I usually buy my underwear on special, so I will probably not be a big spender". "No worries, just come for the chat." she responded. Then she added;- "The profits are going to help support our local .....(worthy cause)". I made enthusiastic noises and added the out, that I might have something on that day.... Yeah. Underwear...

 

Well the sourdough making is going splendidly. Here is today's batch, ready to roll into breadsticks. One thing I have noticed is that they needs to be eaten the day they are made, as they go quite hard the next day. Grissini- like, I suppose. So hard that even the ducks at the park had to let the bits soak in the water for a few minutes before they could swallow them, when G1 went yesterday.

I've been making 2 lumps of dough (one piece is too big for the dough hook to work with), and letting that prove in the bowl for about 3 hours. Then it gets punched down, rolled into sticks or left as loaves, and then baked. Easy! As long as you are around to check how fast the dough is rising.

At the gardens near his home, G1 experimented with my camera, and I think he got this shot of Jim at the rotunda. He and I were grappling for control of the camera, and he took several interesting shots. The rotunda has beautiful tessellated tiles, and iron lacework. Just behind where this was taken was a park bench, with a breadboard and table cloth on it, and a note saying " Reserved for a special birthday at 12." We were there at about 11 am, so missed the event...

 

Of course, G2 is not able to be at our Thursday jaunts, so we remember her in other ways. I couldn't resist this little number for next year...

Here they were exchanging secrets at Christmas

 

I love children. They have a level of honesty we must lose as we grow. But get them in the right mood, and they adore a story. It reminds me of Dad reading Coral Island to us when we were kids. Lynley Dodd's tale about the possum and the apple tree is a delight for children who have seen a possum near the fruit trees...

I heard a conversation the other day about teenagers who have " done everything " by the time they are 13 or so. How their lives seem to lack the wonder of a more innocent upbringing . The innocence of little children is precious....

 

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Alzheimer's update, solar electricity, and food

 

Here is Mum. Taken today at Mt. Eliza Village. She was a sweetie today. No throwing shoes at staff when they tried to make her wear something she didn't want to put on. I took her out for a walk. She was quite steady on her feet, and reasonably lucid, once she clarified who I was. She told me today that her parents had been good to her, on the whole. She particularly loved her father, she said. I know that is true- he was good fun and not bossy. Other memories were hazy though- like the fact that I was born in an ambulance (true). She asked what was wrong with me that they knew to get an ambulance even before I arrived. I asked her about that time but she didn't remember Dad, or those years in Scotland. She talks a lot about Rod, and how good he is to her.

We planned to buy an ice-cream, but the store was closed, and she was quite dismayed. Apparently that particular milkbar also sells good chocolate, which she asked for several times, but it was still closed when we were walking back. I took a couple of photos, and suggested I put them on an Internet dating site, but she thought that was silly, 'cos she's only got a single bed now. (I don't think I'd cope with another wedding just now...).

Here are the breadsticks, which are made with wild yeast starter, the dough being kneaded in the kitchenaid, to give a decent texture. A bit of experimenting seems to indicate that a tray of water on the bottom shelf of the oven gives a crunchy crust, but it is easy to overcook the sticks, and then they become too hard.

And while the creative streak continued I made sweet potato chips, some with sumac sprinkled over them. This was taken before cooking. They curl up a bit and go a beautiful orangey colour when ready. Yum!

We have taken the plunge. We have installed 16 solar panels to supply enough electricity for our home. It will take 3 years to break even if projections are reasonably accurate. Electricity has become too expensive to ignore such options... So our roofline has changed. I don't love it- but the savings will be welcome. Hopefully the price we can sell our excess back to the grid will increase in time.

 

 

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Sourdough bread and grandchildren

Here is an attempt to make sourdough bread. The recipe below is from takebackthebread.com., and I am using it because it means you can make bread on a normal working day, and keep the starter in the fridge.

"

Ingredients:

2 cups of starter

1 cup warm water

2 tsp of salt

2 tsp sugar

4-5 cups of white flour

2 tbsps of vegetable oil

As soon as you get up, take the starter out of the fridge. Open it, and add one cup of white flour. Give it a stir, and then leave it for an hour. This stage is important - you're feeding the yeast with some fresh food, so the yeast will be more active when you make the bread.

After an hour, the starter should be bubbly on top.This means it has woken up and is ready. Measure two cups of the starter, and pour it into a large bowl. If the starter liquid seems really thick, add one cup of warm water ( hot enough so that it just starts to hurt your finger). Add the salt and sugar followed by one cup of flour at a time. Once it gets too hard to stir, put the spoon aside, put some flour on your hands, and place them in the bowl to start kneading. Push the dough down flat at the bottom of the bowl; fold it over on itself, press flat again. Do this for a minute or two, adding a bit of flour as you go, until the dough is tacky on the outside, but not wet.

Now, using your hands, form the dough into a ball, squeezing it and folding it over a few times, then make into a ball one last time. Take the dough ball out of the bowl. Clean the remaining flour in the bowl, scraping it off the sides. Place in a cup or smaller bowl - you'll need it in a minute.

Put one tablespoon of oil in the bowl, spread it around, then place the dough ball in the bowl. Flip it over twice so it gets coated with oil. Make sure the seam side is down. Cover the bowl with a damp tea towel. The first rise has begun. Let it rise until you come home from work ( assuming that's 8 or nine hours later).

There's one last step before you leave, though: put one cup of flour and one cup of water into the starter, to replenish what you took out. You can use the flour you scraped out of the bowl for this, as well as regular flour to make one cup. The water can be cold or warm, just not hotter than your finger can stand.

Give the starter a stir, put the lid on, and place it back in the fridge. Now you can go to work and let the yeast do its work.

After the first rise.

It's now eight or nine hours later, and the sourdough ball should have doubled in size. This won't look huge. To test if it is ready, poke it with your finger. If the indentation stays, it's good.

While you've been at work, the yeast has been eating the flour and expelling carbon dioxide, making the bread expand. For the next step you need to deflate this balloon, so punch it down a few times. Take the dough in your hands and knead it for a minute or two. Now, place it in a small oiled bread pan, and put a damp tea towel on top. Now you can go away for three hours as the yeast gets back to work.

Get ready to bake

The bread should have risen again, clearing the top of the bread pan, or at least looking obviously bigger than when you left it. ( It all depends on what size of bread pan you used). Don't worry if it doesn't look too big - it will rise some more in the oven.

Preheat the oven to 370 degrees F. Also, place a pan of water on the bottom rack of the oven. This will help with the crust.

When the oven is ready, take the tea towel off gently. (If it sticks and deflates a bit, just give it another 15 minutes to rise again). Place the bread in the oven, and set the timer to 30 minutes.

The bread is done when it is golden brown, and sounds hollow when you knock it on top. Let it cool for ten minutes before taking it out of the pan. Doing this too early can cause it to rip. Congratulations, you have made a sourdough bread, joining a tradition that is many hundreds of years old! "

This is taken more or less verbatim from the website, so you need to change to Celsius, and I made breadsticks for dips ( a bit thicker than a pencil). I put them in the fridge to prove overnight and cooked them just before lunch to serve with dips and a cool Sav Blanc... We enjoyed that last Sunday with friends from Ireland.

Grandchildren added interest to the holidays...G1 went home to his great sandpit that Pops made for him. It has a swing up lid to keep the cats out.

 

G2 is here at the moment. Totally relaxed!

And just to prove that I occasionally get to the garden, here are some pomegranate cuttings ready to go into the ground anytime from now on:-

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