As I have said, elsewhere, if not here, I recently moved to another part of Greater Sydney, an hour inland to what they call the Western Suburbs. It is probably 6-10 degrees hotter here than where I was previously and this if my first summer dealing with it. It gets hot so quickly that you can't even do the 'open the windows on the cool side of the house /close on the hot side thing to ventilate the house to keep it cool. We do luckily have some angles awnings on the western side of the house so we have those pulled down a good ways and get a break from the afternoon sun. The patio in the back keeps the sun from directly hitting the back of the house.. It's well done, Jeff - my friend and owner of the house. ;)
The issue I am having is protecting my vegetable garden. I need to go invest in some large stakes that I can put around in the garden so I can tie some shadecloth or garden blockout fabric ACROSS over the top of the plants. I haven't done that, so today I took some of the blockout cloth I found in the shed and draped it over the top of the plants. Just flat over the top.. but I'm thinking maybe I am just going to burn the top off them by doing this.. lol It really should not be touching the plants at all. Alas, I don't have the appropriate stakes.. so I am wondering if leaving it there for a few hours, then pulling it off will really do any good. ;-/ We will see.
OH.... the reason for this post is my kitchen cooking experiment. I am not a cook, really. I prefer to bake. But, as I am home, I've been fixing supper most days. My husband would happily sit in a rut of something and chips.. (chips = fries in Oz). We even have our own deep fryer. He would also happily have the same menu every week. I used to know the day of the week by the meal cooked for dinner and vice versa. I have systematically eradicated the rut, but now I have to come up with something to eat every day.
We have frozen staples.. I won't tell you what exactly, ;) but if I just can't bear to knock something up, I go there. I'm not a health nut, but I do like my fresh fruits and vegetables. With the floods, a lot of that stuff is going to be pricey. I'm happy I have my little garden.. let's just hope I don't burn it down.
Okay, now.. today I am making a little beef roast in my crock pot/slow cooker.. about 2 lbs. I've dumped a large tin of diced tomatoes in there, with a very small tin of champignons... button mushrooms to us regular folks that I have cut in half. I'm a fan of fresh mushrooms, but not so much the tinned ones.. but I am following my NY resolution and using up stuff I have in my cupboards.
Oh that reminds me... yesterday I emptied two...TWO bottles from my bathroom shelves.. one of shampoo and one of conditioner.. a double punch!! woohoo.. I won't tell you how long I have had the one bottle of conditioner.. because I honestly don't know.. just suffice it to say.. a VERY long time..
So, back to the kitchen. Having worked with tinned tomatoes before. I know you have to put in some sweetener... so I search for my honey. I know I bought some honey.. I hid it in the basket so Mike wouldn't say.. ???? so where.... is.......it. hmmmm It could be stuck way back in the fridge...if HE used it and then did that to it... but I am not going to dig out all that stuff to find out.. so.......... (it really isn't in there anyway, surely) I don't want to just chuck spoonfuls of sugar in there... let's see.
This is how I cook. I just throw stuff in.. except for the basic baking recipe..when I bake.. but I do have a tendency to add more peanut butter in my pb cookies, extra fruit in anything that has fruit in it.. you know.. the good bits.. ;) I have some golden syrup... but if I make some pancakes when Mike is home.. he will need that. hMmmm I have maple syrup somewhere.. I have a tendency to like my pancakes with eggs over easy, and only a dessert of one pancake with syrup, so I can spare some. So in goes maple syrup.. how much? Well, I coated the top of the meat and then drizzled around the pan. lol You guess.
I have several carrots from my garden that I have chopped into some largish pieces to throw in later along with one small bell pepper from my garden. I could probably throw in a chopped up leak.. eh? But I'll save them for some potato leak soup later on. It is amazing how long a leek can stay in the ground in the garden.. a very good staple to plant, imho. You know.. just as an aside.. this is the first time (except for last week when I pulled one) that I have pulled carrots fresh from a garden. At least that I can remember. I do remember digging potatoes in our family garden when I was about 5-6 (nasty job and why I am balking at plating them in my own garden "they are so cheap at the store and so much work" - HE certainly won't be tending them I can tell you) It was cool pulling up the carrots. ;) I also plucked off two cucumbers.. had one last week and it was delicious. I'm not letting them get too big as they tend to get a bit sour, I think, maybe.
So where was I? The roast. Red wine gravy... yeah?? Okay! In goes about a cup of Shiraz... It's been sitting on the counter since Christmas... or before... so it's time that bottle was emptied. Splash! Okay, let's set that on high for about half an hour (or whenever I remember to go back in there). Well, I went back in before the half hour and decided to have a stir, a baste.. and a taste. WWooooooeeeeeeee... the wine smell when I lifted the lid was all encompassing.. But I know that all wafts off..
Stir.. Stir... taste.. as expected.. not sweet enough.. a bit winy... I need to sweeten a bit more.. I take out the sugar container.. (I got these magnificent containers over the holidays with some of my survey gift cards - you know the ones I earn from doing online surveys) and I LOVE them.
Easy to handle, sturdy.. GREAT lids that clip tightly closed and they stack. I could use about 6 more medium and second smallest.. next gift cards perhaps. The larger ones have their own little measuring cup in them too.
Garden
Tomatoes to the left and center back.. cucumbers are behind that middle tomato plant and staked up. Carrots in front of back bed, spring onions and rhubarb to the right in back bed. Front bed has strawberries, leeks, one sunflower (bird seed runaway) peppers and going to seed rocket.
Tomatoes to the left and center back.. cucumbers are behind that middle tomato plant and staked up. Carrots in front of back bed, spring onions and rhubarb to the right in back bed. Front bed has strawberries, leeks, one sunflower (bird seed runaway) peppers and going to seed rocket.
Crockpot, carrots and cukes from the garden.
Okay.. so.. the crockpot needs more sugar.. I actually had the sugar cannister in my hand, then put it back. Behind that crockpot are two white cylinder ceramic containers.. one houses my tongs.. and one with a lid house all those little sweetener packets that I pick up at various places. Also, I get product samples from time to time and sugar related ones go in there. I decide to try one.. It is called PureVia and touts itself as 'natural sweetener blend'. Yeah, your guess is as good as mine.. It does say that one packet or sachet... oooh la la.. is only 12.9kj (generally if you divide kj by 4 you get calories - at least that is what I use to make sense of it...lol) compared to 140 kj for the equivalent sweetening of two tsp of sugar.
Dump in PureVia.. stir stir stir.... taste. voila~ Grind on some pepper.. (we buy little bottles of peppercorns that come in a grinding top jar. sweeet. I still buy regular pre-ground pepper for when I can't be bothered)
taste...... t'will do. When I went out to take the garden pic I noted that some of the shading cloth has fallen off the plants... I'll remove the rest of it in about another hour or so perhaps.. before I roast my veggies.. lol
I see a trip to the garden shop in my future. I just can't see all my hard work going up in ..um... sun? lol
Well, that is my chapter (and my apologies for the length of this, though it does show you how I can fill a day without even thinking about it.. one thing always leads to another. On a good day, nothing gets left too long to salvage. I have become very good at doing things in a way that I get reminded or have a lot of time to meander around to them again before they are ruined. ;) One of the reasons I like the open plan layout of this house.. no specific room I need to remember to go back to. lol
I'm sure there is something I have left out as I remember being proud that I completed three things yesterday.. or was that the day before?? But I have only thought of two of them. It was probably something for Mike..
Well, off to clear some things off my Tivo.. Lots of new shows coming on soon and I need space!! Dang, that means I'm gonna have to watch TV. Oh well... Some jobs are just tougher than others..
Dang... it is only 10:30am.. What time did I get up anyway???? I went straight to watering before the sun got hot and I didn't look at the clock. A nice elderly couple was walking down the walkway beside my house while I was watering my little patch of flowers out front and she told me how much they were enjoying the garden. ;) I've got to find me a husband that will go for early morning walks with me before I get to their age. Yes, I am currently married.. but he will be at the golf course, I'm betting.. so I will need another husband for the walking bit. I'm sure I will have found a suitable candidate by then.
