In a Pickle

These only get made when my friend Helena arrives with a bag of her smallish and delicious home grown cucumbers. Today was one such day,  pickled within hours of being picked. They are ready to eat after one day and keep for months. I like them on crusty bread and butter, in sandwiches, with cream cheese and in burgers. A few tablespoons, chopped and mixed into potato salad is also delicious.

It is important to have thinly sliced cucumbers

Salting the mixture draws the moisture out of the cucumbers

The pickling mixture

The cucumber mixture is added to the pickling mixture

Then cooked for about ten minutes until the cucumber turns translucent 

The cucumber pickle is cooled and then packed into sterilised jars.

Pickled Cucumbers

(Bread and Butter Pickles)

Part 1 1 kg small green cucumbers 4 small brown onions (250g) 2 tablespoons salt

Part 2 1 ½ cups apple cider vinegar 1 cup sugar 1 teaspoon turmeric powder 1 teaspoon mustard powder 1 ½ tablespoons mustard seeds 1 teaspoon celery seeds or fennel seeds ¼ teaspoon chilli flakes (optional)

Method

 Part 1

Wash cucumbers and remove ends. Thinly slice cucumbers on a mandolin or use a food processor.

Peel onions and cut in half and thinly slice to form half circles. Thinly slice cucumbers on a mandolin or use a food processor.

Place cucumbers and onions in a non reactive bowl (glass/plastic/stainless steel). Add salt and enough water to just cover the cucumber mixture. Leave for at least two hours or over night and then drain.

Part 2

Place vinegar, sugar and spices in a pan large enough to hold the cucumber mixture. Bring the vinegar mixture to the boil, stir and simmer until the sugar is dissolved.

Add the cucumber mixture and cook gently for 10 -15 minutes, stirring occasionally to ensure all the cucumbers are evenly cooked in the pickling mixture. The green will turn more olive and the flesh will become more translucent.

Cool until lukewarm and pack the cucumbers into warm, sterilised jars. Pour any liquid over to fill jars but not overflowing.

Seal jars when the mixture is cold. 

The Month That Was

As a former teacher, The Australia Day Long Weekend has always marked the end of the summer holidays (but unfortunately not Summer) and despite retiring the habit has stuck. Like many of you I find the lead up to Christmas a hectic time and it seems that each year it becomes more so. Consequently January has been a time to relax and regroup. It is not that I have been doing nothing but more going about things a little more slowly. So here is a snapshot of the the month that was...

In the garden. The colours of Summer, this year not as much red in the garden but plenty of yellow and orange.

An old favourite, this dahlia seems to flower for ages. 

At home with family. The joy of spending time with Oscar and introducing him to my passion.

Out and about.  My daily walk around the neighbourhood or around Lake Wendouree on my trip away.

Creative moments. Lots of altered papers for book making. Some stitching and 

a trip to Fibre Arts for a workshop with Lorie McCown which I wrote about in more detail in the previous post.

Happy times. A wedding for a long standing family friend. 

Sad times. A farewell to my Aunty Rey who sadly lost her long battle with illness. 

Some dining out. Pizza at El Toro, my go to quick meal when I do not want to cook.

A trip to a new vegan restaurant, Face-Plant This

A fun night at the Lorne Hotel. A pop up restaurant featuring Geoff Lindsay’s Crab Club.

Scaled back cooking, simple food. I didn’t give up cooking altogether, however, we worked our way through the casseroles, curries and other foods stashed away. Lots of guests but minimal effort meals and very little baking or dessert making.

The Australia Day BBQ lamb lunch served in a wrap

Easy cooked breakfasts,

Or something healthier 

Gnocchi from the freezer

Waffles

Crumpets, these have become very popular.

And Stir fry, lots of these with steamed rice or noodles.

Ginger Beef with Broccolini and Beans

500 g thinly sliced steak 3 tablespoons soy sauce 2 cloves garlic, crushed 1 small knob of ginger grated(1 tablespoon) 1 tablespoon oil 1/3 – 1/2 cup stock 1 teaspoon sesame oil Optional 2 teaspoons cornflour, mixed to paste with a tablespoon of water

1 onion, sliced into thin wedges 250 g green beans sliced and blanched/ cooked in microwave for 1 minute 1 bunch broccolini, sliced and blanched/ cooked in microwave for 1 minute 1 large chilli, thinly sliced ½ bunch spring onions, thinly sliced

Method

Combine beef, garlic, ginger, soy in a bowl and marinate. I like to refrigerate it overnight.

Heat pan/wok until very hot, add oil and then beef. Toss/stir for a minute or two until brown and nearly cooked. Remove to a clean bowl.

Add onions to hot pan, toss around and allow to cook a little then add chilli. Return beef to pan, add stock, bring the stir fry to the boil. Add beans and broccoli and toss together. Add the sesame oil and then spring onions.

To thicken sauce

Stir in cornflour paste and allow mixture to boil.

Happy Birthday Oscar

Our grandson Oscar has turned one and we had a small party to celebrate. Not that a one year old really understands about parties but more from the belief that occasions and milestones need to be recognised and celebrated. It is such a joy to be Oscar’s Nanna.

What is a birthday party without cake? Nanna was so pleased to make his cake, based on the children’s book The Very Hungry Caterpillar.

The first step was to make the caterpillar cake topper. When making this type of decoration from icing you need to allow some time to dry, so I made it a couple of weeks ago. The toothpicks are to help anchor the caterpillar onto the top of the cake.

In the book the caterpillar eats his way through a lot of fruits and food and the circles are around the pages so I made these to decorate the sides of the cake.

For the cake, I thought that a rainbow layer cake would be appropriate and used my favourite mud cake recipe, the white version. The mixture was divided into six bowls, each bowl coloured and then baked. I used standard  7 inch sponge tins. The frosting between the layers and over the cake is white chocolateganache, whipped until thick and fluffy.

This is a smallish cake and more for cutting. The white chocolate cupcakes are easier to serve and eat and also box up and take home.

A few party pics.

Not sure why everyone is singing.

Cutting the cake, not a real knife,

Parties are fun.

A glimpse of the revellers.

Back to Printmaking - Cyanotype

For some time I have been taking printmaking classes. The facilitator, Gaye, is a very knowledgeable and skilled printmaker and always puts together an interesting and challenging range of classes. The focus for the first two sessions is Cyanotype. The first session involved using images copied onto acetate sheets to create the print. I decided to use some botanical images from my stash, one of drawings of a raven and a feather.

Callistemon or bottle brush.

Inverted image

Waratah

Inverted image

Raven

Raven image with toning in peroxide solution

The original drawing. This was done with permanent marker onto tracing paper. I think it would work better on acetate sheet.

Feather, original print and then toned in peroxide solution.

The images on acetate sheet and then placed on the prepared paper.

Exposing the images to sunlight.

Rinsing the exposed papers

A chance to admire each other’s work with all the prints laid out around the room.