A satisfying kind of weekend

I've had a weekend that felt satisfying and productive but in a nice, lazy kind of way.

I knitted some more of my lap rug until I ran out of the colour I'm currently using.

I worked on a stitchery of cupcakes until I ran out of thread.

I then sewed up the 4th block of a block-of-the-month patchwork quilt I've been working on for the last 3 years.


I baked passionfruit melting moment biscuits.



Rhys' sister Lauren came over and we made Matcha (Japanese green tea) cupcakes with matcha butter-cream icing.

Our good friend Dan came over for dinner and Lauren shouted us all pizza and pasta for dinner.


I did 4 loads of washing.

I wrote a letter to a friend.

I sewed a dress from a pretty dusty gray-blue fabric I had bought a while ago for cheap - a project I started in the morning and finished in the evening.

A very productive weekend indeed!

Onions - Something to Cry About

I was flicking through my handy household hints book, looking at the interesting tips when my eyes fell on the entry for Onions.

It made me think that I have heard SO MANY different tips for how to chop/slice onions without the teary eyes but none have ever worked for me. These are all the ones I've heard:

• Breathe through your mouth, not your nose. (Why this would work, I don't know!)
• Put the onions in the freezer for a few minutes first.
• Store your onions in the fridge rather than the cupboard.
  
• Plunge onions into boiling water just prior to peeling.
  
• Run onions under cold water for a few seconds prior to making the first slice.

None of these tricks have ever worked for me! The closest I've gotten to eye-dry onion cutting is when I use my Tuppawear 'Happy Chopper' which does all the dicing within a fully enclosed compartment. The added bonus is that it limits the amount I have to touch the onions too... getting rid of the problem of smelly hands! Though I've heard two or three wives-tales about how to remove or prevent that too!

Has anyone got any onion cutting tricks they use (successfully) to avoid tears?

What I've been Doing (or Why I've Been So Quiet)

I know I haven't written in a while so thought it would be due time to write something - even if it's just a quick photo entry about what I've been doing and why it's been so darn quiet on here.

I bought a breadmaker which I've put through it's paces a few times - both making bread and pizza dough.


My newest niece was born. Shortly after, I put a deposit down for a very pretty little devon rex kitten. I played photographer for two friends at their wedding.


I bought some basil, thyme and English spinach plants from the inner-city Wednesday markets. The basil showed some signs of water stress until I put it out of the direct sun.


The thyme is thriving beautifully in full sun. The English spinach can't make up it's mind of whether it wants sun or shade... but I think all three badly need to be repotted. I'm constantly learning from my mistakes, so it seems. Not days after I bought these plants I read in a book that you should never buy potted plants which have roots growing out of their watering holes, something that is happening quite badly on two of these plants.


I had word from the breeder that the kitten I had chosen had died suddenly of a stroke or spider bite. I then caught the flu from Rhys. A miserable few days ensued.

While sick with the flu, Rhys cooked me a meal for the first time ever in our relationship. Granted it was only scrambled eggs, but it was a touching gesture from my boy who views the kitchen as foriegn territory which occasionally offers up tasty peace offerings to him. Then both Rhys and our best man Dan did the washing up for me while I was in fitful sleep. I could have cried for happiness when I woke up and realised they'd done it for me.

I've been continuing the long process of knitting a lap blanket and teaching myself new stitches. I'm up to the second 'stripe' of colour. The first stripe was pink in a plain knit. I'm doing the second, light grey stripe in a heavy rib stitch.


My little sister came for a visit from Sydney for her birthday. I was too sick with flu to go to her party or my elder sister's graduation party but did manage to take my little sister to the local markets on Sunday.

I've been learning to food plan before I go a-marketing... but that didn't stop me from getting too excited about the range of vegetables, leading me to buy some I don't actually need. Snow peas in the pod!


So that's a quick write up of everything I've been doing in the last few weeks.

The Humble Goog

goog [gug, gʊg]
noun Australian: an egg.
Origin: 1940–45; orig. uncert.
Common Usage: As full as a goog.

Today while looking through 80 Breakfasts, a beautiful cooking blog, I read how the author had frozen egg whites for later use. Having tossed an egg white yesterday after my passionfruit curd experiment, I thought it would be worth doing some research to find out if this is a safe and practical way to save egg leftovers.

During my internet footwork, I remembered a few things I had learned about eggs in my Home Economics classes at university (I'm a trained Home Ec teacher though I don't work as one!). Then I checked my handy 'ultimate tips' book and found even more useful tips to do with eggs.

So I thought I'd share with you some useful bits of information about the humble goog.


Buying eggs, testing for freshness and keeping eggs fresh for longer.

• When buying eggs from a supermarket take the time to flip open the carton and turn each egg to check that none have already cracked slightly.
• Don't buy eggs that are kept in a warm or bright area of the store. Refrigerated eggs and those kept in darker, cooler areas are safer.
  
• To check if an egg is fresh, put the egg in a bowl of water. If the egg is super fresh it will sink to the bottom. If the egg floats or stands on its end in the water, it is not as fresh. (WHY? An egg has a tiny pocket of air at one end. As an egg gets older, small amounts of water seep out through the shell and evaporates. This makes the pocket of air get larger and makes the egg more buoyant.)
• If you are camping without refrigeration, you can help eggs keep fresh longer by oiling the egg shell all over. This will help keep the moisture in the egg and the air out.
  
• If you are producing your own eggs via chicken/duck/bantam/quail keeping don't wash the egg after collection unless excess dirt and poop makes it necessary. When the egg leaves the hen it is covered with a thin film called 'bloom' which will keep the egg fresh longer if it is kept on.
  

Eggy leftovers.

• Leftover egg yolks can be kept in the fridge for up to three days. Cover the unbroken with a little bit of water and then some plastic wrap over the top of the container. The plastic wrap acts as a 'skin' for the yolk so its own skin doesn't dry out.
  
• Leftover egg whites can be kept in the fridge for up to seven days or can be frozen.
  
• Egg yolks can be frozen but they will become gluggy after defrosting and don't work well for cakes or other baked goods. To solve this problem beat in a little sugar to the egg yolk before you freeze it - (as a guide: one tablespoon for 6 eggs).

Seperating Eggs

• To seperate eggs.... cheat like me and get a tuppawear egg seperator. I couldn't live without mine. For shame!
  
• To seperate eggs without cheating, gently break the egg onto a saucer. You can then place a small cup (maybe a medicine cup size would work) over the yolk and tip the white off into a different bowl.
  
• When cracking eggs open to seperate them, crack them gently against a thin edge of a cup or bowl. This will create a crevice that you can pry apart with fingers. Too thick an edge (like a wide edged bowl) can cave the egg in and increase the chances of breaking the yolk.
• Rhys' sister Lauren can seperate egg white and yolk by tipping the yolk between the two halves of the egg shell.... but she's a genius and we can't all be so fabulous.

Using Eggs.

• Always, always, ALWAYS crack each egg used in a recipe into a seperate cup or bowl first, not into the bowl with all other eggs and ingredients. This allows any contaminated egg to be detected before it is combined with the others. It also means it you are seperating egg yolk and white that any mishaps don't destroy the batch.
  
• When beating egg whites to a froth, heat the beaters before hand. This supposedly makes it happen quicker and easier.
  
• Add a dessertspoon of vinegar to the pan when poaching eggs to prevent the yolk from breaking and to keep the egg white snowy white!
  
• Adding a pinch of salt or three drops of glycerine to egg whites when beating will make the froth stiffer.
• When beating egg yolks, first rinse the cup/bowl in cold water. This will help the egg yolks slide out rather than stick to the side.
  
• When poaching eggs put the egg in the shell into the boiling water for a few seconds before breaking the shells.
• When boiling eggs add a 1/4 tsp of salt to the water for every egg. Once cooked, empty out the hot water and add some cold/chilled water to the saucepan of eggs. This will make the shells very easy to peel off.
  
• When boiling eggs, add the eggs to the water before it is heated up rather than adding them to already boiling water. This will lessen the chances of the eggs bouncing around and splitting. (By the time the water is boiling and the eggs are bouncing, the outer layer of egg white inside the shell will already have hardened a little).

Hmmm.... when I was a teenager I read that the high levels of protein in eggs is exceptionally wonderful for hair. The book/web site (can't remember now) advocated washing your hair once every so often in fresh egg. This I did once a month for a while and I believe it made my hair softer and glossier but that could have been a placebo effect. I'm susceptible to placebo effects... I wouldn't recommend using eggs straight from the fridge like I did. Nothing feels more disgusting than a chilly egg on your scalp. Really.

Has anyone got any hints or tips about buying, storing, using eggs that I haven't listed here?

Onion, Apple and Sage Pie

Due to popular demand (on facebook) for this recipe, here it is! The recipe for Onion, Apple and Sage Pie - adapted from the cookbook "Like Grandma Used to Make" by Readers Digest. (I can't recommend this book enough!)



Onion, Apple and Sage Pie

• 3 small onions, sliced thinly
• 2-3 small apples, peeled, cored, sliced thinly
• 2 tsp fresh sage, chopped finely
• 1/4 tsp of salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper

• 2 cups flour
• 125g butter, softened
• 1 pinch salt
• 3 - 4 tab chilled water
• a little milk for glazing.

For the pastry:
(or you could 'cheat' and use a sheet of pre-packaged shortcrust pastry.)

In a bowl rub the butter into the flour. Add enough cold water until a very stiff dough is formed. Knead on a floured bench for a minute until smooth. Cover in plastic wrap and chill for 20 - 30 min.

For the pie:
Preheat the oven to 220 degrees (celcius).

Roll the chilled pastry dough out to a square slightly larger than 30cm x 30cm. Trim the edges to neaten the square. I found it useful at this point to gently mark the area I wanted to put the pie fillings in - a smaller square rotated45 degrees and fitted inside the pastry square like a diamond, so that the four corners of the pastry will act like flaps.

Lay the pastry down on a baking tray. Place down a layer of half the onion slices. Top this with a layer of half the apple slices. Sprinkle half of the sage across the apple then dust with half of the mixed salt and pepper. Place a layer of the remaining onion, followed by a layer of the remaining apple slices. Again, top with the remaining sage, salt and pepper.

NOTE: The recipe in the book called for 4 tab sour cream to be put ontop at this point but I had no cream or sour cream in the fridge and this called for the pie to be chilled for another half hour.. and I was hungry. So I left it out. If anyone tries this recipe with the cream I'd love to know how it works out!

Brush the edge of the pastry with milk. Fold two of the corner flaps up over the filling and press together -they should overlap slightly. Fold the other two corner flaps up to meet the other flaps and press together. You may find you have a bit too much filling - gently pull out what you need to so the flaps of the pie can all be folded up neatly.

Use the excess trimmed off pastry to make decorations for the top of the pie (I made leaves and little flower shape. Brush the whole top of the pie with the milk.

Put in the oven and bake until the top of the pie is golden brown.

Aluminium Cookware - Tip

If food burns on the bottom of an aluminium pan, cover it with vinegar and add 1 tablespoon of salt. Leave this overnight then scour.

Expanding my Homesteading Library

Today marked the start of the annual Brisbane Lifeline Booksale, an event known and loved by any bibliophile in the South East Queensland area.

Lifeline is a charity organisation which provides a phone counseling/listening/help line for those who need to call someone for guidance and help in times of desperate need. To raise money Lifeline run a chain of op-shops stocked by donation bins. One thing they get donated in the thousands each year is books. So every year they hold this gigantic (and I don't use that word lightly!) booksale where all the books are pooled at one location and sold en masse at very cheap prices. It is an excellent event to hunt down that elusive book you've been seeking or to just pick up a good read. The best part is knowing that the money you spend is going to a good cause.

I went there today with the goal of expanding my library, in particular the non-fiction gardening, homecare, home-making section of said library, which beforehand was thin to non-existant.

Today's haul at $40 was only half of what I'd usually buy but it was still hefty and I was thankful I took a suitcase on wheels to get it home!

Cookbooks
Though I need another cookbook like I need a tonne of chokoes (that is, not at all!) I picked up three which I couldn't resist.

1) The Commonsense Cookery Book (Book 2) ISBN: 0-207-16694-3
This book, used by Home Economics teachers across Australia, is full of classic, simple, basic recipes that won't require a special trip to an international delicatessen to find that elusive, rare ingredient. (You can tell I've been burned by Womens Weekly cookbooks turning too fancy-pants).

2) Food and Cooking in Medieval Britain: History and Recipes. ISBN: 1-85074-081-X.
An English Heritage printed book full of information and recipes straight from the pages of medieval cookbooks. This was bought for my historical reenactment hobby... couldn't resist it at $2.

3) Australian Early Settlers' Household Lore. (no ISBN)
This little charmer of a book is packed from page to page with recipes from the early days of Australia. From old favourites like Scotch Broth and Treacle Pudding to some of the more outlandish creations like Kangeroo Tail soup. This book has it all! But then as I browsed through further I found instructions on things like making cheese and rhubarb wine as well as recipes for home and gardening like a garlic spray for slugs and soap making. Heck, it even has instructions for trying to speculate on the weather via a 'leech barometer' which uses one healthy leech, pure water and a bottle...

Gardening Books
4) Success with Growing Fruit in Containers. ISBN: 0-86411-821-X
5) Success with Growing Vegetables for Pots. ISBN: 0-86411-787-6
Beautifully illustrated with colour photos. Loads of information on which plants will grow well in pots and how to care for them.

6) Growing From Seed. ISBN: 0-86411-946-1
Again, so full of information that it makes my head spin, this book has seed raising techniques and cultivation information with photo illustrated plant descriptions.

7) The Digger's Club Guide to Gardening Success. ISBN: 0-86824-551-8
Produced by my all-time favourite heritage seed supplier in Australia, the Digger's Club!

8) The Woman's Day Vegetable Gardening (too lazy to find ISBN)
Similar information in this book to the other gardening books but it also has a well set out section on pests specific to vegetables with excellent photos.

Home Care, Homesteading, Environmental Concerns Books
9) Clean House, Clean Planet. ISBN: 0-671-53595-1
Information about the chemical products out there and then more information about (and recipes for) the home-made, environmentally friendly and safer alternatives.

10) The Good Life. M. Moody
11) The Good Life in the 90's. M. Moody.
Anyone in Australia who is looking into homesteading, self-sufficient living and simple lifestyle concepts can't help but come across mention of 'The Good Life'. I almost squealed with joy when I found a copy at $3. Then I did squeal when I found her later released book. I bought both.

11) Home Made. ISBN: 0-454-01053-2
An odd little book that can't decide if it wants to be a craft book or a cook book. Excellent recipes for butter, yoghurt, cheese, jam, preserves and various breads.

12) The Ultimate Book of Household Hints. ISBN: 0-85835-818-2
Exactly what the title says. Hints like how to freshen stale bread or how to soften stiff jeans. Peppered with recipes where suitable, like a recipe for playdough or brewer's yeast.

Home Crafts
13) The Harmony Guide to Knitting Stitches. ISBN: 0-7111-0013-6
Very clear pictures on basic knitting and info on how to read knitting patterns. Then there are well over 100 different knitting stitches, each with a photo of the finished fabric.

Because it was Beautiful
14) The County Diary of an Edwardian Lady. ISBN: 0-7181-1581-3
In 1907 Edith Holden kept a naturalist's diary, complete with poetry and gorgeous watercolour paintings of the flora and fauna she saw in her country walks and garden. It has been reproduced in a book format... so lovely! I bought this beacause it was just beautiful but also because it makes me feel relaxed and slowed-down flicking through it.


So there you go! 14 books, many of them in near new condition, for $40. They are all very useful in their own way and I'm pleased with myself for stopping at my budgeted amount where there was so many books left that I wanted! So. Many. Books.