Friday...Day Five.

 Our day started early as usual and we were eating our bacon and eggs by 06.15.
I was pegging out a load of washing by 07.00 and as soon as Tony headed out to work I headed in to my room to plan my day. I knew I would need a trip to the garden center and the super market, and my efforts in the early morning showed that I also needed to visit the sewing center.

At 8am I was on the doorstep waiting for the sewing center to open. Got what I needed there, next stop the garden center. I was spoiled for choice, how many varieties of cauliflower are there???
I settled on good old White cloud which produces lovely white football sized heads.

By 9.20 I had finished at the supermarket and was on my way home. By 10am I had my cauldron bubbling with a batch of tomato sauce. While it was busy with that, I got busy making a Lemon Cream Pie. (You can find it on my recipe page at the top of my blog).  By 11 am the Lemon Pie was chilling in the fridge, the dishes were done and I was itching to go for a walk but the tomatoes were still bubbling.  So on went the bread machine, and I watched a couple of video tutorials and prepared a few bits and pieces for the afternoon.

An earlyish lunch and finally the tomatoes were ready, I finished them off and poured them into freezer pots, leaving them to cool and did another load of washing up. 

I finally made it into my room just before 1.00pm. When I got busy making a zippy pouch.

Bit of a washed out image, sorry. The sun has decided to burn off the cloud.

All those points caused me a few issues with bulky seams getting in the way occasionally but on the whole I'm happy with it. There will be more.

The bread machine beeped as I was taking photos of the pouch, so I put the dough into a pan and set it aside to rise. (We use the dough cycle only, preferring to put the dough into a normal loaf tin and not have that silly hole where the paddle sits). That done I put my shoes on and headed out for a late walk. I walked 8km through the scenic reserve listening to the cicadas and the birds. The warm sun on the gum trees filled the air with wonderful aromas. A hot but lovely walk. I pulled the washing off the line when I got home and had it all put away before Tony got home. The bread had risen and was ready to go into the oven. It made a lovely loaf. 

Tony helped out in the garden for a while before tea, as I planted the cauliflower seedlings and we tidied up some low branches on the cherry tree. A bowl of tomatoes was picked before watering the greenhouses. I left the beans, I'll investigate them with the children on Sunday teaching them how to pick them nicely and hopefully have enough for Sunday lunch.

Home made Pizza for tea. Lets face it I have plenty of tomato sauce and fresh tomatoes for the topping. A little cheese, dice a left over meat pattie throw the lot onto a keto base and I was done. 

Now I'm going to sit down for the evening and pick up my crochet. 

Day Four

 And still busy, busy, busy.

My day started at 5.45 like most days. Tony cooked bacon and eggs for breakfast and after clean up we both pulled out our laptops then at 7.20 Tony went off to work and I wandered into my room knowing I needed to have a tidy up. My Down in the garden project was everywhere.

As well as the results of yesterdays tidy up by my armchair.

I couldn't even sit down while I had a think about it!

So I got stuck in, I put a bunch of stuff away then set about completing the applique on the Garden blocks.

The blocks that still need work also now have a calico border as some of the stitching is very close to the edges. It is all now safely tucked away in a project bag along with the threads, the pattern and border fabrics.

My room looks way better and I was able to get the ironing done. Yay!

Hmm, I neglected to get after shots of the room. I promise you it is waaay better. LOL

Still in tidy up mode I turned my attentions to the quilting room. As I tossed the next quilt top and it's backing over the frame

I had noticed the pile of pantographs on the bed of the frame. My patterns are printed on to normal A4 paper and I have to stick the pages together. I used to pull them apart after each use and put them away in a folder, but that leads to a build up of old tape and the risk of tearing.

 Last year I started to just leave them and pop the next one right on top. It was getting untidy and sometimes they would get hooked up in each other. The solution came to me when I was helping with the crafts at work. 

You can't see it but I've written the names of the pantos onto the cardboard tubes. 

Works for me and looks a lot tidier on my quilting frame.

Time for a walk. There was a nasty looking cloud out there so I opted to walk with Leslie on my TV.

Picking a 3 mile walk. 

I was glad I did as it soon started to rain, though it didn't last long.

It wasn't quite lunch time when I was finished so I got on with organising binding for the Windswept quilt. 

It's not a batik like the rest of the fabrics, but it looks like one and it looks better with the finished quilt than my original choice. I got it cut, joined and sewn on before lunch time. After a quick lunch I decided to get a head start on tonights tea, making lamb patties.

I used this recipe. 

Seekh Kebabs.

1/2 medium onion

2 cloves garlic

tablespoon crushed fresh ginger

500g lamb mince. (Beef is ok too).

1 tea spoon each ground cumin, Ground coriander, garam masala and dried mint.

1 tea spoon salt

1/2 tea spoon each Chilli powder, ground cloves and cinnamon.

8-12 wooden skewers, or kitchen paper squares.

Put the skewers if you're using them, into a bowl of warm water to soak.

Add all of the ingredients to a food processor and whizz until well mixed.

I couldn't be bothered getting the processor out so I just mixed by hand today.

 Divide the mixture into 8-12 equal portions and press around the skewers.

Or shape into patties by dropping each portion onto a paper square and using damp hands to form a pattie shape. I pulled out my trusty pattie maker.

I found it at a dollar store and use it every time I make patties.

As you can see it works perfectly.

I piled my patties on to a plate, wrapped them in glad wrap and put them in the fridge.

Next a quick coleslaw. That came ready chopped in a bag from the supermarket. LOL

*

Then I sat down to rest and closed the binding by hand. 

It really didn't take long to close up and add my Loulee label.

By now the sun was shining again so once that was done I took a walk around the garden to see what awaited me today.

I think tomorrow I'll be making more of Uncle Ruffies tomato sauce. I might add one of those zucchini to the mix.

As the sun was out I decided to take another walk, around the block this time. When I got back Tony was home and we got busy together in the garden. Tony with the mower and me with the leaf sucker as the foot paths were starting to look like my quilt top.

That didn't take long and pretty soon Tony was cooking up my patties on the BBQ.

While he did that I took my completed quilt in to the garden for a photo shoot.

It was a bit breezy for the old man tree shot so I laid it on the lawn under old man tree. 

Next I draped it over the bench that Joe made for us.

And finally a quick shot in the leaf litter and bark chips.

And that was my busy day.

Time to sit and maybe do a little crochet.

Wednesday.

 The third day of my leave has been another very busy day. It started early, my first job was to prepare those zucchini and salt them. I left them covered all day long.

Next I made this.

And here's the recipe. 

Coconut Balls.

150 g dark chocolate 

60 ml cream

50 g desiccated coconut

15g coconut oil.

Break the chocolate into small pieces.

Pour the cream in to a pan and bring to almost boiling, add the chocolate and stir until it is melted, then stir in the coconut oil and finally the coconut.

Set in the fridge for about an hour then roll in to approximately 16 balls, roll them in a little extra coconut or crushed walnuts and return to the fridge.

Or do what I do and make double the recipe then pour it into a lined baking tin, lick the spatula and place the tin into the fridge for 2 hours then cut into bite size squares. The missing square?

Cooks perks. LOL

Once the chocolate was in the fridge I got on with quilting Windswept.

I was going great until I ran out of bobbin thread.

At least it wasn't in the middle of a row. But frustrating to be so close to finishing. I quickly filled a bobbin and returned to quilting. It didn't take long to complete the final two rows and very soon I had it on the floor trimming around the edges.

The back shows the quilting nicely.

With that job done it was time for a walk.

It was beautiful outside, finally we are getting a taste of Summer.

When I got back it wasn't lunchtime yet so I went back outside to complete some garden jobs. 

First I planted some more potatoes into one of the empty buckets.

I tidied up the zucchini, trimming lower leaves. Next I turned my attention to the broccoli, cutting the final three heads off and pulling out the roots, I mixed some fertiliser into the soil and pulled the butterfly net back over the bed.  I'll go shopping for replacement seedlings tomorrow.

Next I pulled some rhubarb. While I was doing that a Southerly wind blew in and cooled everything down. Time for lunch anyway so I retreated indoors. After a cooling and much needed shower I had some brocolli salad for lunch. 

After eating I chopped the rhubarb and stewed it for Tony, then made a chilli for tea, next I looked into the corner beside my armchair wondering what to work on for the afternoon.

What a mess. I pulled everything out and had a good sort out.

Three baskets of crochet became two.

Five boxes of EPP became  one and a thread box.

And two boxes containing my Christmas ornament and my cross stitch chart tucked in alongside my sewing chest.

Finally I got to sit and sew.

Out came my cross stitch.

Over Christmas we were visiting with friends and the lady of the house was going to throw this handy tin into the bin. Noooo!

I know it's not the prettiest of tins....

But it's the perfect size for holding all the threads needed for Winter fairy.

I do like a tin and couldn't see it going to landfil.

I seem to remember promising an update on Winter Fairy.

This is where I left her last year on 30th December.

And here you can see the progress I have made.

Not all todays progress, I have worked on it here and there over the last few weeks. 

This is where I left it at tea time this evening.

After tea I drained and rinsed the zucchini then made it into relish.

And there you have it, day three of my leave. Another very busy day.

I might do some crochet while I watch a little TV.

*

I wonder what tomorrow will bring?

Another good day.

 Day two of my week off has seen me busy with chores and relaxation.

I started the day with laundry. Once it was pegged out in the sunshine I got busy with my quilting frame.

It's not quite finished yet.

Maybe tomorrow.

Or maybe I'll do something else.

Next I went for a walk. I did 7.5 KM in the scenic reserve. It was beautiful down in there and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Once I got home I had prawn salad for lunch then settled in my armchair to stitch by hand.

First I made up two more Christmas ornaments.

These are my Chookshed challenge #6. So I can call that completed.

They're secret, no peeping.

I wonder what next months number will be?

Once I had done those I intended to do some cross stitch, but found myself pulling out my crochet instead. I had ripped out a bunch last week and set about figuring out where to go next.

Why get fancy?

I'm using up leftovers, so rows will do just fine. So backwards and forwards I go adding on to these few blocks which I joined together. 

*

After pulling in the laundry a look around the garden revealed a broken tomato plant, so the green fruit from the broken top is now on a sunny shelf still in the green house, it may ripen.  I also pulled in another bowl of red tomatoes. The veg patch produced enough beans for tonights tea and these four little zucchini.

Yes they are small, but as most gardeners know the difference between a small zucchini and a marrow is only a matter of hours. LOL

I now have enough to make a batch of zucchini relish.

That will be one of tomorrows chores. 

I'm off to look at my roast lamb. After tea I think I'll be doing some more crochet.

Some much needed time off.

 I requested leave for my rostered days this week, that gives me seven whole days off.

There are a few chores to be done, nothing too strenuous, then my time is my own.

Hopefully I get to spend lots of time sewing and relaxing as well as getting in some walks.

My day started today with a wander around the garden, we had a rather rainy day yesterday with some strongish winds so I took my cutters out with me expecting I might have to tidy up a little. I was pleasantly surprised to find only a few broken stems. I rescued what I could and popped them in to a vase. 

I was delighted to find this beauty still standing tall. Most of my lillies have finished but this one was a little late flowering. Maybe that has something to do with the 21 buds it created.

And it is taller than me! 

Next I investigated the veg patch and brought in a handful of beans, just enough for tonights tea, also a courgette and a broccoli head. The greenhouse didn't disappoint giving up a whole bowlful of ripe tomatoes. I might have to make a batch of relish this week.

Before doing the grocery shopping I played in my room for a while, doing more preparation work on the Down in the Garden blocks. Cutting and adding some of the applique.

I also traced the final stitched design.

I'll need to come up with a good way to transport these pieces to Scrub Stitchin'.  I think I might add a bit of a border around the edges, just for while I'm stitching on them, some of the designs are very close to the edges.

After grocery shopping it was time for a walk, and lunch then I relaxed again. In my arm chair this time with some EPP. I'm using up the last of the spots and stripes diamonds that I had prepared last year.

I have a plan for them.

*

I've made a bacon and broccoli salad for tea, time to persuade Mr H to light the BBQ and cook some sausages I think. Then after tea I might do some more EPP.

Tomato soup and sauce recipe.

 I was sure I had previously shared this recipe, but I can't find it so here goes.

Ruffino's Tomato User!

Ruffino was my friends uncle. As  teenager I walked into the kitchen when uncle Ruffie was making sauce and hung out with him for the rest of the day. As his name suggests, he is from Sicily.

A big bowl of ripe tomatoes. The bigger the bowl the better.

1 medium onion diced

1 carrot diced or grated

1 stick of celery diced.

Plenty of olive oil.

Several cloves of garlic chopped or crushed.

1 tablespoon of Italian herbs. Or mixed herbs or Tuscan herbs, or use a bouquet of fresh herbs from your garden.

2 Bay leaves.

Salt and pepper.

1-3 tablespoons Tomato paste/puree. 

1-2 tablespoonful honey or sugar.

Heat your oil in a large pot. Add the diced veges and stir fry until they soften.

Then add the diced tomatoes. You could skin them but I don't bother, I just cut out the hard wee core if they have one. (Any variety of tomato will do, this year I'm using Grosse Lisse and MoneyMakers. Both very tasty varieties, good for salads or cooking.) Also add the herbs, bay leaves  and garlic and stir well. Take a note of how full your pan is, it matters. 

Bring your pan to a gentle boil and allow it to simmer uncovered until it is reduced by one third for soup or 2 thirds for sauce. Give it a stir now and then. I haven't had a sticky one but you never know. Depending on how many tomatoes you have used and how far you wish to reduce the sauce, this can take a long time, allow the whole afternoon.

The more you reduce it the more intense the flavours will be.

Once it has reduced to your liking fish out the bay leaves and add the tomato paste to taste, and also plenty of salt and pepper.

At this point I also add a little honey, sugar or other sweetener. Occasionally I add a dash of Worcestershire/black sauce. Once you are happy with the flavour use a stick blender to whizz it up a bit, for a soup you will want a nice smooth consistency. Sometimes I'll push it through a sieve too. For pasta sauce it's ok to leave it a little chunkier, unless like me, you feed a fussy person who will complain about celery. LOL

This freezes well, and a pal of mine bottles it too.

If you want to use it as a sauce for on your hot chips and sausages reduce it even further and whizz it well to a thick smooth consistency. You may want to tweak your herb mixture for that, adding some cloves.

This is a very forgiving recipe. Add more or less celery or carrots. Use a big onion if you like. I usually check out the fridge and use up any left over bits a pieces, sometimes I add capsicum, today I threw in a few beans from the garden. Extra garlic always works. 

More tomatoes is always better. The Tomatoes are the stars.

I use this sauce whenever a recipe calls for a tin of tomatoes or a jar of pasta sauce. Mixed with mince it makes great Bolognese or lasagna.  

Buon Appetito.

It's been a busy few days.

Sunday afternoon and evening were spent slow stitching on my Winter Fairy Cross stitch. I'll take a picture next time I work on her and do a little before and after post.

 After work and a walk on Monday I got busy in the garden and the kitchen.  Firstly harvesting a whole bunch of veges which I then had to do something with. 

The spuds were easy, two for tea and the rest into a paper bag in the bottom of the pantry. Next, out came my trusty cauldron to make a batch of tomato/pasta sauce. 

I use this sauce every time a recipe calls for tinned tomatoes or a jar of passata. I got eight portions on Monday, I'll need to make a few more batches. I have shared the recipe before, if I can find that post I'll add it to my recipe page. Or I'll write it all over again!

While it was bubbling away I got busy grating zucchini.

And I made a batch of zucchini fritters. We had a couple with our cold roast at tea time, but they were better the next day when they were cold. I took one in my lunch box.

Then I sat down and did a little crochet before starting to pull it out. I'm not happy with it. I'm using scraps and left overs, different weights and plys of yarn and in places I have put two or even three together. It's ended up way too bulky, time for a rethink. 

Tuesday after work and a walk I was pretty tired. I had been working with a newbie all day My usual work partner is away on holiday in Japan and I was really missing her. I had to think of and pretty much do everything as I coaxed the newbie along. Usually there are two of us working while training a new staff member but we are short staffed again as people who didn't get a break over Christmas now take some much needed time  and we have two out with bad backs, two more with bad knees and COVID has just struck again. At the moment it is just a couple of staff members who have it no residents.

So Tuesday I didn't do much. Just some more ripping of crochet and rolling balls of yarn. But it counts right?

Yesterday was my day off. I was very excited and happy to start quilting on Windswept. Then the top thread snapped.....Then it snapped again! Then I broke a needle! When the bobbin thread ran out almost at the end of only the fourth row, I sighed deeply, turned everything off and walked away.

I'll get back to it another day. Maybe things will go a little easier next time.

So what did I do for the rest of the day?

First I went for a walk, it was a beautifully warm day and I enjoyed the sunshine.

After some lunch I wandered into my room wondering about what I might do....

I had a quick tidy up of a few things that had been plonked where ever, then pulled out a box, any box but determined to work on what ever was in that box. (No my project boxes are not labelled, sometimes I remember what is in which box and sometimes I don't). This particular box houses my Down In The Garden Project. I collected all of the parts as a BOM back in 2011. In 2019 I made a start on putting some of the blocks together. Completing blocks 1,2 and 3. After prepping block 4 I stalled.

The stalled block 4.

Yesterday I prepared blocks 5, 6 and 7. Putting them together and tracing the stitched designs on to the fabrics.

Block 5 is the center piece and has only stitching. 

Block 7 needs an EPP Dresden in the green gingham square.

There is also some applique butterflies and hearts to add.

I still need to prepare blocks 8 and 9.

This project is on my Chookshed list and  while chatting with Janice one day, I mooted the idea of taking it with me to Baradine in April. 

And that was my Wednesday.

Today is Thursday and I've already declined an extra shift at work, there was a message waiting for me when I woke at 5.50am. 

I have a couple of appointments to attend today and had planned a busy day around them.

First up, I got home from work the other day to find that Tony's father had left me two big baskets of onions for pickling, so last night Tony and I topped, tailed and peeled the first basket full. Here they are sat in hot water to soak off the skins.

I left them sat in salt overnight.

And this morning I have packed them into jars, added spices and hot vinegar.

Tony says he will help me to peel another batch tonight. 

I'm told there are more to come.

That leads nicely in to todays recipe.

Lou's Pickled Onions.

Top, tail and peel about 1kg of pickling onions. Tony cuts the bottoms off, but I just rip off as much root as I can. We both cut the tops off. Give them a rinse then place them in a non metallic bowl and fill with boiling water. Allow them to sit for 15-20 mins to loosen the skins. Peel and put them back into the bowl and coat with 4-5 tea spoons of coarse salt. Give them a stir up to ensue the salt is spread right through the bowl. Cover with a clean tea towel and leave to sit overnight.

Rinse and drain then pat dry with a clean towel. I use large jars with wide necks. I sterilize them in the the oven. 100C for about 10 mins before adding all of the following per jar.

1 bay leaf

1-2 dried chilli

1/4 tea spn black and yellow mustard seeds

1/4 tea spn celery seeds

1/2 tea spn black peppercorns or pink

1/4 t spn chilli flakes.

You can add pretty much any spice or flavourings you like, but I always add those listed above.

Sometimes I add a tablespoonful of honey, or black treacle or molasses. I have added whiskey, bourbon and even rum, just a couple of spoonfuls per jar.  A sprig of rosemary or peeled apple quarters add a nice flavour too. 

Pack the onions into the jars with the spices and flavourings. I use a mixture of sizes using the tiny onions to fill the gaps between larger ones. 

Next I heat about 1 litre malt vinegar per KG of onions. Add 1/2 - 3/4 cup of sugar. Can be white or brown, today I have used white stevia. Stir until the sugar is dissolved and the vinegar is hot but not boiling. Pour over the onions. If I am just a little short at the end I just top up with cold vinegar, if I'm a lot short I will sweeten and heat more. If I run out of malt vinegar I top up with apple cider vinegar. Pop the lid on and tip the jar this way and that to loosen any air bubbles then top up with more vinegar before tightening the lids well and  store for 6 weeks before opening. 

No need for a water bath or other sealing techniques. 

Tony's dad loves my recipe since the first time he tried them and every year he brings his harvest to me for pickling. He even created a new garden especially for growing onions for me to pickle. LOL  I'm glad he likes them. 

So what does the rest of today have in store?

First a shower to get rid of the onion and vinegar smell. Then I might go back into my room and work some more on the Down in the Garden preparations.

I'm off for a hair chop at 10.

Then I'll need to go buy some more vinegar, I'm meeting a girlfriend for lunch then the afternoon is mine.....what to do?

Decisions,

decisions.

Back to work tomorrow for an extra shift.....I'll be the activities lady. 

I might take in our ring toss/quoits game.