Cucumbers galore

I seem to have planted too many cucumbers this year. I raised them in seed trays, waited until the ground was warm enough, planted them and then nothing happened. They just didnt grow. It had been a very wet and cold start to Spring.

I replanted, and rather enthusiastically. The end result is a bountiful crop of cucumbers which we are eating at a great rate, but not quickly enough. So I made Tzatziki – yum. Then what? Making pickles which for some reason I think is really advanced cooking. Its more cooking I’ve just never done before. How easy was that. Now I am a fully fledged expert, here is the recipe – as follows (because I am now a expert) :

• Wash the cucumbers
• Find jars with lids to fit
• Sterilise the jars
• Then place cucumbers in the jars
• Fill the base with white vinegar (2 fingers depth)
• Add sugar (depending on the size of the jar – but half a teaspoon should do it)
• Salt – half a teaspoon
• A couple of small bay leaves or big ones if the jars are big
• Mustard seeds – half a teaspoon
• Half a teaspoon of peppercorns
• Fill the jars up to the rim with water

Put the jars into a saucepan that covers up to just under the lid and then boil for 5 minutes. Turn of heat and leave the jars in the saucepan while it cools.

The finished product bottled up, and served up in an extremely appealing fashion.

Finished Product

I havent written about the garden for 7 years. We moved back to the city for 5 years to a tiny little house and garden, and came back intermittently during the 2 years of extreme Covid lockdowns (we were in Melbourne, Australia) when the house wasnt able to be rented on Airbnb. We are now back permanently.

Boy did we have a big job to restore the vegetable garden. It had become overrun with running grasses and fortunately we had lots of time to dig out all the garden beds and start again.

First summer of us being in the house full time.

Opera and sleep

When i was young i would go to the Opera and be astounded that people in the audience would go to sleep. It was so exciting how could they sleep?  Now i am older i understand. The release of the music/singing is so total. The moment is it. It is this moment when you pause. Stop. Max Richter’s sleep knows this. Sleeping in a rectial, opera, concert is a profound emotion response. Sleep on!

Anzac Day – better do Gran’s Anzac Biscuits

There are two Anzac recipes in Grans notes.  First is described as Anzac Biscuits and the second as Anzac Crispes [sic].

This is probably the magic difference between the chewy Anzac and the crisp ones.  A mystery solved.  I wonder which one they sent to the diggers.  The two recipes are very similar, but the crispes [sic] don’t have coconut and have less golden syrup.

Anzac Biscuits: Put in a bowl 1 cup of flaked oatmeal, 1 cup of sugar, 1 cup plain flour, 1 cup of cocoanut [sic].  Put in a pan on stove, 1 tablespoon golden syrup, 2 tablespoons water, 1/2 cup of butter. Bring to a boil, then add 1 teaspoon of soda, and pour on dry ingredients. Press out with hands and bake 15 to 20 minutes.

Anzac Crispes: 1 cup flour, 1 cup of sugar, 2 cups oatmeal in a bowl, and 1/2 cup of butter, 1 teaspoon of soda, 1 teaspoon golden syrup, 2 tablespoons boiling water in a pan on stove.

Sand Tarts also noted as American Jimbles?

Sand Tarts or American Jimbles – Martha Steward also has a recipe for Sand Tarts

This next recipe has two names – Sand Tarts and American Jimbles.  I can’t see any reference to the second name anywhere, so it must be a old name, long out of use.  This recipe was still bound into Granny’s book, so is in better condition.  Also written in pencil rather than ink.

Granny’s Sand Tarts or American Jimbles: 1 cup of sugar, half of butter, 2 eggs, 2 1/2 cups of flour, 1 teaspoon cream tartar, 1/2 soda, 3/4 cup of milk.

Beat sugar and butter, add eggs and then milk and lastly flour.  Roll out half inch thick.  Brush sugar and currants on top of some, sugar and cinnamon on top of other.  The softer the dough is rolled out the lighter the jimble will be.  Coconut added for a chance [sic] is delicious.

As usual no cooking instructions – guess they just knew how to do it!

Cheswick Pudding – Something of a lost recipe

Granny’s very faded and difficult to read Cheswick Pudding recipe

This recipe was particularly faded – as you can see from the photo.  I googled to see if there were any references to this pudding so I could check my interpretation of the hand writing and faded bits correctly and there was very little reference at all.  I think I can remember my grandmother making it, and perhaps my mother.  If it is what I am thinking it is, it is best made with dripping.

Granny’s version:  Cheswick Pudding. 1 cup flour, 2 tablespoons of brown sugar, 3 tablespoons of dripping (or butter), 1 cup of milk, 1 teaspoons of [bicarb] soda, scant teaspoon of salt, 1 cup of raisons or currants, a little nutmeg or cinnamon. Boil for three hours. [Mrs Spearman’s recipe below suggests in a well greased basin, but might be possible in a cloth].

From “The Truth” newspaper April 1935.

Making Jelly – the old way – throw in some sherry

Jelly recipe with a good slosh of Sherry. Not for the kids.

When I saw a recipe for jelly in my great grandmother’s cook book, I thought it was odd, since it is so easy to make. But this is without jelly crystals and some rather interesting twists. Here’s the recipe:-

Jelly. Soak 1 oz gelatine in half a pint of cold water for 2 hours.  Then add a little citric acid (1/2 teaspoon), quarter pound of sugar, pour in half (writing isn’t legible) a pint  of boiling water and half a pint of sherry.  Essence of Lemon.

The sherry makes the whole show a bit more interesting!  Don’t feed to the children.

100 Year old recipe – Apple Charlotte

Apple Charlotte recipe including a 100 yr old blob of something on the top left!

This is my great grandmother’s recipe dating from around 1900 (we’re slow to breed in our family!).

Instructions are as follows: Apple Charlotte. Thoroughly butter a pie dish. Cut bread into strips and butter both sides, cutting all crusts off. Line the dish and fill up with thinly-cut apple peeled and cored. Cover with sugar, then squeeze the juice of a lemon over the top, and cover the lot with bread buttered both sides. Bake in a moderate oven to turn a crisp and golden brown color. Serve with cream.

I’m off to buy some white bread, and will cook it this afternoon.  Photo to follow.

Done and baked for desert tonight. Tasted good, but presentation needs some work. It’s a quick simple recipe – perfect for the busy family.

Apple Charlotte

Potato harvest

Stored for drying – will pack them away in two weeks as per instruction from Wikipedia.

Today I had the pleasure of digging out the remaining potatoes. God it was fun. There were so many and its a bit like a treasure hunt.

They were planted so long ago I cant remember what variety they were but there were some big ones. I got about 20 kgs from abour 2 sq metres. Far better than last years crop.

Digging out the potatoes.

Garlic, garlic, garlic

This year my husband went mad on garlic. We had  one and a half beds planted with it. More than we’ll consume in a year, and it took a heap of growing space. I guess the space wasn’t a problem over winter but once it warmed up I needed it back. (That ended up interestingly since I got 6 new beds built!- very expensive garlic).

Enough complaints. The garlic is delicious, and we also used the scapes, lovely in salads for a spicy crunch finish.

I thought the scapes were beautiful. So perfectly shaped and rounded. I took a few photos as 1 thought I might do a painting of them.

Maui garden

On the road to Hana on Maui is ‘the garden of eden’. It is a 30 acre botanical garden.

It is on a steep hill with great views. The paths are well laid out with gentle inclines traversing the slope so climbing up or down is barely noticable.

Given its name here is a religious theme throughout with an array of cheap cement statues of Jesus and Mary which definitely detract from the quality of the garden.

We picked some fruit from a tree and can report the world is unchanged as a result. It was delicious.

Well worth a visit if you’re in Maui.