The Ugly End of Summer

We're at the ugly end of summer now.  When the days are unbearably hot and the rain refuses to arrive.  When flowers and vegetables that were green and lush just a few weeks ago look tired and limp, and the lawn crackles brown beneath our feet.  When the people are as tired and limp as the plants.

The air-conditioner struggles valiantly on and makes sleep possible during long, hot nights.  Lacking energy, we do puzzles and play cards, watch TV and eat ice cream.

I felt so sad for the kids who returned to school today.  It was 43C (about 110 F) in the shade, and worse in the sun.  It was too hot for much learning, but they came home happy and excited about seeing their friends.

Tomorrow promises to only reach 33C.  After today, that's almost cool.

Linen Cupboard Organisation

Today has been one of those horribly hot days when the thought of doing anything outdoors is unbearable.  Armed with my label-maker, I decided it was the perfect opportunity to organise my linen cupboard - yes, I know I'm crazy, but this cupboard has been nagging at me for a long time!

Our linen cupboard is a large, double width cupboard and it is used to store all our tablecloths, sheets and bed linen.  Tea towels are stored in the kitchen and smaller table linen such as place mats and napkins are kept in the sideboard in the dining room.

I wish I had thought to take 'before' pictures.  The cupboard was stuffed full, yet it contained exactly the same number of items that are in these, much tidier, images.

While it may seem a bit (a lot!) obsessive compulsive to label shelves, it does make sense in a largish household like ours where I am not the only one to put clean laundry away.  Now that the shelves are labelled, no one has any excuse for shoving things just anywhere.  And with tidy shelves it is so much easier to see at a glance what we own and what might need replacing. 

The labels for the shelves are:

On the left:

tablecloths

beach towels

bath towels

bath mats and hand towels

sleeping bags

On the right:

pillowcases

queen bed sheets

single bed sheets

doona covers

mattress protectors

I expect after reading this, most of you will want to run screaming to the hills in boredom, but perhaps there are some who may find it useful.  Does anyone else like to label things, or is it just me?

The King's Speech

On the weekend my husband and I saw the King's Speech, and I thoroughly recommend it if you haven't seen it yet.  Everything about this film was exceptional: the sets, the clothes, the script, and the performances.

Despite not looking in the least like King George VI, Colin Firth was superb in the lead role.  Of course, he is my favourite actor, so my opinion should probably be taken with a grain of salt. 

However, the entire ensemble of actors was superb.  Geoffrey Rush played the pioneering speech therapist Lionel Logue with great sympathy and panache, and Helena Bonham Carter made an exemplary Queen Mother in a role very different from her usual quirky and manic characters (think Harry Potter's Bellatrix Lestrange and Alice in Wonderland's Queen of Hearts.)

I was also thrilled to see Jennifer Ehle as Lionel Logue's wife.  Is this the first time she has acted with Colin Firth since Pride and Prejudice?

In contrast, last night I saw the movie Australia (2008) on television and it was truly awful, one of the worst fims I have ever seen.  I really wanted to like it, but everything about the film was just wrong.  I am so glad I didn't pay to see it; I only regret having wasted a few hours of my life waiting for it to improve.

Garden Inventory: January 2011

As regular readers of this blog will know, over the past few months I have been establishing a vegetable garden at our (new) red house.

I was fortunate that the previous owners left a bare patch of about 20 square metres (215 square feet) at the back of the backyard when they took their cubbyhouse with them.  This spot has become my main vegetable garden.

In addition, I have planted a number of fruit trees to add to the existing orange and lemon trees, I have underplanted some of the roses with herbs, and I have planted nasturtiums and a few extra vegies under the new, not-yet-producing fruit trees.

The last few months, while hot, have not been as extreme as the usual Adelaide summer.  While there have been many days over 30C (86F), I don't think we have had any days over 40C (104).  We also haven't been affected by the floods in other parts of the continent.

I have grown almost all the vegetables from seed but have purchased some of the herbs in punnets.  I prefer to grow heirloom varieties from seed although it does take longer for the garden to start producing.  For example, my eggplants are only just coming into fruit and the capsicums are still not flowering.  Fortunately, Adelaide has a long, hot growing season.

The fertility of the soil has been a concern and I've been improving it with blood and bone fertiliser, worm castings, pea straw (purchased) and compost. I have also been bringing home some of the used coffee grounds from our coffee machine at work to use as a mulch and to add to the compost.  In a few months I hope to purchase a couple of chooks, who will be set to work producing more fertiliser!

With the dramatic increases in food prices caused by the recent, enormously destructive floods across Australia, I am very happy to have my little garden.

Here is a list of the edible plants in the garden, keeping in mind that many of them aren't producing yet, and that some are grown in very small quantities.  An asterisk indicates that the crop is currently bearing.

Fruit

orange (Valencia and Washington Navel)

lemon

apple (Pink Lady)

plum (satsuma)

Tahitian lime

mandarin (Emperor)

strawberries*

blackberry

redcurrant

watermelon

Vegetables

artichokes

asparagus

eggplant

capsicum

tomatoes*

potatoes

carrots* (almost finished)

onions* (almost finished)

silverbeet*

perpetual spinach*

zucchinis and squash*

sweetcorn*

beans*

Herbs

basil (Thai basil and sweet basil)*

mint (peppermint, spearmint, Vietnamese mint)*

sage*

Italian parsley*

horseradish

chia

dill*

chilli*

oregano*

thyme*

comfrey

nasturtiums*

tarragon*

rosemary*

Marinated Grilled Zucchini

Looking for recipes to use up some of the zucchinis and pattipan squash in the garden, I found this one in Stephanie Alexander's The Cook's Companion (1996).

It is really more of a guide than a recipe, as quantities are not given.  My additions are in italics.

To grill zucchini: Halve zucchini or squash or cut thick slices on the bias.  Brush with olive oil aand place under a hot griller until the surface starts to look blistered and golden.  You can also use a chargrill pan.

To marinate zucchini: Layer grilled zucchini in a flat dish (I used a square cake tin - boring but effective) with thinly sliced garlic, chopped mint (I used basil as well as mint from my summer garden), pepper, a sprinkling of red-wine vinegar and a drizzle of olive oil on each layer and marinate for 1 hour before enjoying.

That's it.  Simple and delicious.

Twenty Years

Last week my husband and I celebrated our twentieth wedding anniversary.  Twenty years!  It's hard to believe.  I have now spent almost half my life married.

In twenty years so much has happened in our lives:

We have had four children.

We have shared six homes in three different states.

We have been members of five churches.

We have worked and lived and loved and played together.

I don't really feel much older than my 21 year old self, although I'm sure I look it.  I'm certainly a better cook than I was in those early days, and unfortunately my waistline shows it.

Twenty years is a long time to get to know someone, but I hope we get another twenty years (or two) to share.

I think this is what being blessed means.

Cancer Council Classic 2011

This evening my husband and I joined 100,000 other people to watch the 2011 Cancer Council Classic.  I have never watched a road race from the sidelines before and I loved every minute.

The race, a prelude to the Tour Down Under, is a 30 lap, 51 kilometre road race.  Because of all the laps we had plenty of opportunities to see the cyclists as they sped past.

Adelaide was at her beautiful best tonight, warm and sunny, and with surrounding parklands gloriously green.

Before the race began, cars drove around the circuit with models of cyclists in the various team colours on top.  A loudspeaker announced which teams the different outfits represented.

The starting line.  The rider with the red 'R' on his shirt is Lance Armstrong.

The peloton.

The finishing line.  The winner was Matthew Goss from team HTC-Highroad.  Mark Renshaw came second and Robbie McEwen third.   In a very generous gesture, all the prize money for the race was donated to the Queensland flood appeal.

Roses at Dusk

What is it about dusk that makes photographs of roses really 'pop'?  Even tired-from-the-sun, brown-around-the-edges summer roses look better photographed at the end of the day.

I wonder if this applies to people?  Perhaps I should only agree to be photographed in dim light?  (At this time of the year I am usually wilting from the sun by the end of the day too.)

Queensland Floods

Queenslanders, we are thinking of you and praying for you. 

May the waters subside soon without further loss of lives. 

And may we pull together as a nation to support you over the coming months.

Cousins

It is so lovely for us, who live about 1500 kilometres by road from our nearest close relatives, to have been able to spend lots of time with family over the past month.

First, of course, was our big road trip to Sydney for my brother's wedding and Christmas.

Even better, less than a week after we returned home to Adelaide, my sister-in-law arrived from Sydney with my three gorgeous nieces, who are 5, 8 and 9.  My kids love seeing their cousins and doing ordinary things with them, such as sharing meals, playing board games, and going to the park.

I think they appreciate each other all the more because they see each other so rarely.  Perhaps absence really does make the heart grow fonder?

Edible Garden: January 2011

It's past my bedtime but I'm up blogging because it's too hot to sleep. 

Today I thought I'd share some pictures of my food garden.  None of the fruit trees are producing at the moment (mostly because they are new trees) but the vegie patch and herbs are doing well, despite the hot, dry weather, and two weeks of neglect while we were away in Sydney. 

So here are some of the things you will find if you walk around my garden.

onions ready for lifting

bergamot in full flower

nasturtiums

yellow button or pattypan squash

dill

silverbeet (Swiss chard)

tomatoes

sweetcorn

What do you grow in your garden?

Home-Grown Carrots

Just about every day I dig up a few carrots to cook for dinner.  The thing is, they never seem to make it to the pot.  After a quick wash, they are inevitably devoured by my kids.  

I don't really mind - it would be hard to find a healthier snack.  And, without doubt, home-grown carrots smell and taste better than bought ones.

However, when I brought these carrots in the kids were at the beach with their Dad.  This gave me the opportunity to cook some at last, so I roasted them with the potatoes around a leg of lamb.  

They were delicious - although the kids agreed that they would have preferred them raw.

Home

native irises

Late in 2009, after Christmas in Sydney, I did not want to come back to Adelaide.  Although I had lived in Adelaide for a year then, it did not feel like home.

This time everything was different.  I could hardly wait to get back.  I wanted to check up on my garden to see how the plants had survived the heat.  I wanted to cook real food (not travelling food) in my own kitchen.  And I wanted to sleep in my own bed, knowing my kids were asleep in theirs.

It has taken more than two years, but Adelaide is finally home.

New Year Wishes

May you always have work for your hands to do.
May your pockets hold always a coin or two.
May the sun shine bright on your windowpane.
May the rainbow be certain to follow each rain.
May the hand of a friend always be near you.
And may God fill your heart with gladness to cheer you.

Irish Blessing

As 2010 becomes 2011, my heart goes out for all those affected by the devastating floods in Queensland.  I pray that the waters subside quickly and you are able to start rebuilding your lives soon.