Recipes and Renovation tips, Making and Baking hacks, and Weaving Joy
Image @leantimms
There’s never a morning where I don’t wake up and feel incredible grateful to live here. Even on the overcast days, the northern beaches are full of wonder - cockatoos screeches, the high and low tides changing the beach landscape hourly and the rich and deep greens of the magical blend of bush and rainforest and tropical plants that surround our house. On the hot humid days you can smell the heady fragrance of frangipani. Sometimes this gratitude is expressed creatively and sometimes it’s just experienced as a the backdrop to stolen moments in the day for tea and cake or cheese and chutney on the front verandah.
Green Tomato Chutney
We recently stayed at Pink Moon farm in Roberston in the southern highlands a couple of hours from Sydney- the little goat farm with magnificent views all the way down to the coast - verdant country covered in mist in the mornings. The tomatoes had become overgrown and in need of staking - underneath all the tangled layers of vines were so many green tomatoes that would never ripen. I gathered them all up and made some delicious green tomato chutney as a gift for our host and even though soem of the core ingredients weren’t exactly the same the result was very moorish. The smell of the chutney bubbling away with freshly picked tomatoes was such a joy.
The recipe is adapted from one by Nigel Slater
Recipe
900g tomatoes, mixed green and red
350g onions
90g raisins (I used golden turkish raisins - a real treat if you can get them)
250g dark muscovado sugar• (I used rapidura sugar or brown sugar would do I’m sure)
1 medium sized, hot red chilli
1 tsp salt
2 tsp yellow mustard seeds
300ml white wine vinegar
Halve the tomatoes. Peel and roughly chop the onions. Then put them all together in a large stainless- steel or enameled pan. Then add the raisins, sugar, chilli, salt, mustard seeds and vinegar.
Bring to the boil, turn down the heat and leave to simmer for an hour, giving the occasional stir to reduce the risk of the chutney sticking.
Continue to simmer until it is a jam like consistency. Then spoon into sterilized jars and seal.
•Unrefined Dark Muscovado is the world's finest dark brown soft sugar. The cane is crushed within just 24 hours of harvesting and the sweet juices are collected, clarified to remove impurities, evaporated and crystallized.
Bathroom Renovation Tip -
SUGRU - mouldable glue
We recently renovated the bathrooms in our 1970’s home. For the walls we chose Kayoborder tiles from Japan - sourced from Academy Tiles and we contrasted these with black matt fixtures and fittings. Everything came together beautifully - when it came to fitting the handwash dispenser, the last thing we wanted to do was drill holes through the beautiful Japanese tiles and all the layers beneath.
So .. We used the SUGRU ( created by Jane - a design school student. You can read about her story here ) It’s the most amazing mouldable glue. We just rolled it into two small ball with points on them and pushed them into the mounting plates and then pushed the stand against the tiles. We wiped away the excess SUGRU and smooths it over and then taped it to the wall form top to bottom and across - to hold it in place – left it for 24 hours and voila. The fixing is so strong that it doesn’t move at all when you press the handwash down to dispense the soap. Highly recommend !!
Finding and making
with things from the sea
I have a little collection of interesting pieces of driftwood in one of my bowls and one came in handy when I found a small piece of interestingly shaped mottled and flexible shell (looked like a thin tortoise shell) on the beach. (I’m still not sure what creature it was from!!)
It was beautifully symmetrical and strong as well as thin and flexible. I could imagine it as a small serving spoon and I matched it to a wonderful mottled stick of driftwood. I was able to cut a thin slit into the driftwood using a wonderful Japanese flexible saw. I then just gently straighten the piece of shell out and it slipped right into the sawed slit at the end of the driftwood - and it still maintained its scoop-like shape.
Komame Ryoba Saw - 240mm made in Japan. Its very light and gentle to use - but very sharp and effective. “With its two different tooth patterns, the Ryoba saw ensures optimum cutting performance not only across but also along the grain, making it the most versatile saw for carpentry and joinery.”
RECIPE For LEft-over porridge muffins
It’s often the case that we find ourselfves with a few scoops of porridge at the bottom of the saucepan - here’s a recipe to ensure there’s no wastage next time around.
RECIPE
1/2 cup rapidura or coconut sugar
50 gms butter
1 egg
1/3 cup plain flour (I like the nuttiness of rye or spelt flour) 1/3 cup almond meal
1 teaspoon baking powder
pinch salt
1/2 - 1 cup left over porridge (can be pure oat or mixed grain porridge.
1/2 cup stewed fruit - or raw fruit tossed in 1 tablespoon brown sugar and a squeeze of lemon, I used fresh apple cut into little cubes
I also like to add maple pecans or walnuts - ( tossed in maple syrup over heat )
In one bowl mix together the dry ingredients: almond meal, sifted flour, baking powder and salt.
Then melt butter in medium saucepan, mix in sugar, and stir to combine - don’t worry if they separate a but .. keep stirring. Take off the heat to cool a bit. Lightly beat the egg with a fork. Then stir in the egg and lemon zest then beat well with a wooden spoon.
The add in the dry and stir well together. Then add the fruit and any liquid in th bow with the cold porridge and walnuts till it all comes together. Scoop the mixture into the lined muffin tin and bake at 180 degrees until cake tester comes out clean.
Getting the most out of your apples
Use an old fashioned melon baller to scoop the center seed area out of the apple arther than cutting it out with a knife or using an apple corer. It is so quick and easy and means you have so much less wastage of the delicous apple flesh. Just halve the apple, and scoop the centre out.
Extra BAKING HACK you can use for this recipe
Making your own baking liners for a muffin tin - especially good if you’ve run out mid baking !!
Cut baking paper into 140mm x 140 squares, then fold each one cross ways till you have the old cross ways till you have the center point. Turn a glass tumbler or a jar upside down - place the centre point of the baking paper square in the middle of the base and then press from the centre down the side baking tray in the middle of the base and press down until it is creased and folded. Then they’re ready to pop in the muffin tin.
The late afternoon light in my little office - with glimpses of pittwater through the trees
WEAVING IN THE EVENING
NUMERO 74 WEAVING KIT -
I purchased a Numero 74 (a french brand) weaving kit from Mama Papa in Avalon a while back and recently I used left over wool to make a colourful clutch for my wallet and phone. I’ve also made a gorgeous little bag for my granddaughter Layla to collect shells in - both are pictured below. Mama Papa don’t seem to have any stock currently but the smaller size kits are available in Australia from Little Kids Closet.
The Numero 74 Kits have everything you need to get started.
Layla on market day in the Bellarine with her woven bag.
New Work in the Shop
At the end of our street is one of the entrances to the Angophera Reserve. A hidden gem of a bush walk that takes you through clusters of the protected Cabbage Tree Palms. This lino cut is one of a series of 2 both offering a different perspective and colour story of the bush walk. It is built up with two separate lino cuts printed over each - to reflect the sense of depth you feel as you peer through the the layers of green and brown colours and shapes on the bush walk or up in the rich canopy of trees and palms. This is the first in the series and is No. 2 of an edition of 10.