Making Pickle

Midway through June, Mr Honey Pie brought home a generous amount of limes from the 'share-table' they have at his work.

At first I thought they were very green lemons but within a day or two I realised they were limes.

I love lime-pickle so I searched for an easy recipe on line (I've never made lime pickle before) and found this relatively easy fermented lime pickle here.

It's a process that takes a few weeks but I just love how it looks so far.

Isn't it wonderful that people are so generous with their produce?  

It's Only Words

Recently I have been most noticeable, I think, by my absence.

The past few months have been quite a struggle.

In the late part of 2015 I was dealing with severe symptoms of sinusitis; such as I’ve never experienced before.

In my despair I sought out a new GP who practises alternative medicines and found myself a nutritionist at a university where my daughter attends.

The exorbitant cost of alternative therapies in Australia has always infuriated me, not because of the cost but because the Australian government refuses, in the main, to subsidise these therapies and, for the chronically ill, who have tried conventional medicine to no avail, are the least able to afford them.

But all that aside, if the GP practises alternative medicine, I am subsidised to some extent, even though I still end up paying over 50% of the fee myself.

The university offers consultations with nutritionist in training at a very small fee but the supplements usually end up costing three or four times the cost of the consultation.

Despite all that, progress has been made.

First the GP ordered tests; to discover that I had a parasite infection in the large intestine -Dientamoeba fragilis. (Treated with a course of antibiotics).  So that taught me: A second opinion was worth it.  I had seen her way back in 2003 and she was curious to know why, after so long, I was still suffering from IBS symptoms even though I had taken various steps to treat the condition.  

Second the nutritionist recommended eliminating all dairy and gluten from the diet.  Which I did, to amazing results. For the first time in decades I can state that I’m free from sinusitis and hay fever symptoms. 

Thirdly, I have been struggling with weight gain for many years now, and while I may not look obese, or for that matter, even overweight, I know I am.  I have the physique that fills out nicely, and doesn’t necessarily bulge, but for someone that weighed just on fifty kilograms after her third baby, it certainly feels like a burden to carry around half of that weight again.  

Just cutting out the dairy, I believe, is a big factor in the weight loss I’ve experienced since late last year.  Not a huge amount…six kilograms or so…but also changing what I eat generally has also helped. 

I’ve increased the amount of protein at each meal by including more fish, quinoa, eggs and  buckwheat into my diet, and saving my main carbohydrate meal for the evening.  I’ve discovered chia puddings, almond milk (both which I make myself), coconut yogurt, seeds, and nuts.

My sugar intake has dropped dramatically and I haven’t had a cup of coffee (affogato – my downfall) for at least three months!

My next step in to up my regular exercise, at the moment I only do yoga once a week for around 60 minutes but my aim is to find a personal trainer willing to work with my resistance/weight bearing exercise from the aspect of someone who tires very easily.

My new GP gives me regular acupuncture and some alternative remedies and I continue my nutritionist’s consultations … I will endeavour a challenge at the end of the week, re-introducing dairy in the way of a 50g serve of hard cheese and note any reactions I may have. 

In the meantime I'm fighting a dose of summer flu!  I have been in bed since Sunday and missed out on a family lunch! Today I lay, languid, in bed writing these words.  I’ve done my fair share of reading too, but I want to be up, enjoying the world and I’m cursing the person that has shared this unwanted bug with me (Mr Honey Pie!).  (Well, perhaps I should be cursing the person who passed it on to him!)

In other news, I’m reading Geraldine Brooks People of The Book. I know one of my blog followers recommended this book to me, but I cannot remember who that may have been but I thank them for the recommendation.

The book spoke to me one hot afternoon, as I stood outside one of the two local used bookshops in Springwood, waiting for my Grand Daughter to meet me off her school bus. It sat in a pile of strategically placed books in the shop window.  I restrained myself from going into the book shop and the next afternoon, the shop was closed early so the temptation was taken away for the week.

But the next time I was there, and had some time to spare before the bus’ arrival, I slipped in and handed over the twelve dollars for the book.  I felt a bit rude as the book shop lady wanted to have an in-depth conversation with me and asked if I’d read any other of Geraldine Brooks’ books and I said ‘no’…only to discover, once I was home, that I had, because Brooks also wrote Years of Wonder.

Explaining that I was waiting for the bus, I had to slip out quickly.  I’m a bit wary of the fact that the bus stop is right out the front of a used book shop…this is a new thing for both my Grand Daughter and I - meeting at the bus stop...and throwing a book shop into the mix is a dangerous thing, both for myself and my Grand Daughter, as we are both book fiends and avid readers. 

Seems I owe a 'thank you' to Jayne M at Adventures At Tiny Toadstool Cottage for recommending the above text.  Thanks Jayne I'm enjoying the read!

When September Comes

September, for our family, is full of birthdays. And then there's father's day too, which, in Australia, is celebrated on the first Saturday of September.

It's been a difficult month for us this year, as the fathers we are missing grew again with the passing of my brother in May, and our nine year old niece spent her first birthday without her Dad. It is also very hard for Mum who has lost both of her sons and for her to know that two of her Grandchildren will never see their Dads again.  But spending as many days as possible with family celebrating birthdays helps to make remembering the birthdays of those that are absent, much easier to bear.

We've therefore had a number of celebrations since the beginning of September and they culminated with a picnic birthday celebration last Sunday at Watson's Bay.  

The weather came to the party too and we languished gracefully under a monstrous fig tree and indulged in take away fish and chips from Doyle's at lunch time. The queues for take away were soooo long!

The day ended in a beautiful show for which I am grateful.

Yesterday was our Mum's birthday so my sister and I took her out to lunch at Mother Earth Nursery Cafe at Kenthurst where we languished some more and indulged in a little bit more than fish and chips...

Affogato...looks too good to eat!

We ordered a 'little' cake for Mum's birthday...and shared it three ways.

Heat Wave

We have been sweltering these past few days. Top temperatures have been hovering just below 39 oC.

Outdoor activity has become almost negligible unless performed before nine in the morning.

So I thought it would be appropriate to share this ice cream recipe I have fallen in love with.

 It is a very simple recipe and there is no need for an ice cream machine, which is great because I don't have one and don't really want another kitchen appliance.

I love it too because it's egg free and there's no messy syrups to make.

I haven't purchased store bought ice cream for months now, since I discovered these easy instructions.

It's a great recipe to make with Little Miss Six because, as she told me when I asked her if she'd make scones with me, no thanks Nanna, you do it because I get bored. 

I have made this at ten o'clock at night and believe me...it's done and dusted in fifteen minutes! Just long enough to hold a six year old's attention span.

Home Made Ice Cream |

Stay at Home Mum 

600ml cream  (I usually use pouring cream but I have also used Jersey Double Cream by Moo & More when I can get it.)
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
1 can Condensed Milk
Using an electric mixer beat cream until it begins to thicken.  
Adding the vanilla continue beating until a light whipped cream forms.  
Slowly add condensed milk and keep beating until mixture thickens and becomes a nice cream.  
Pour into a container and freeze until hard.(At least for 6 hours).

(I like to use a ceramic dish with straight sides for pouring my ice cream into.  Then I cover with a sheet of baking paper cut to size before placing in the freezer).

(And I always chill my beaters, bowls and dish beforehand.  It's a good idea to serve the ice cream at least five minutes before you need it to allow it to soften a little.)

Day 189/366

I wish I could say I've grown these African violets myself, but I can't: I bought them from the growers' markets in Penrith a month ago.

These little beauties flower well as long as they are provided with lots of (filtered) light and are kept at a temperature above fifteen degrees Celsius.

The only way I can provide such an environment is to have the pots sitting just centimetres from a south-west facing window and to have the heating on.

Today, our lowest temperature was less than one degree.

Our high didn't quite reach fifteen degrees.

I decided (after I'd done my shopping at this month's growers' markets) it was the perfect day to stay indoors and re-pot the African violet cuttings I'd struck over the last couple of months.

These cuttings were taken from this plant.

Here's how I did it:

(I'm not going to give a detailed post on this because there are numerous blogs/videos with great instructions on the WWW already).

Instead, here is a picture-log.

The cuttings were struck in an African violet liquid feed.  Plant-lets have grown from the base of the stem, as have masses of roots.

I prepared discarded take-away food containers (these are from a a sauce that came with our Thai takeaway).

A wick was created from an unwanted nylon shoe lace (don't use cotton or wool).

Cut holes in the lids of rectangular Chinese food containers to house the babies, fill base with African violet liquid food so that wick just sits into the liquid.

Set in a warm and nicely lit position and wait.

What Are You Eating?

Leanne at Cottage Tails blog spot has shared this link with her readers: Food Fears from Jim Long's Garden Blog.

I think it's well worth a read.

I support Australian Farmers by shopping at growers' markets every fortnight and buy organic whenever it's available and if the price is not exorbitant.

I would love to grow my own food but this is proving to be a challenge on our sandy and rocky bush block.

Organic food is not necessarily expensive, especially if purchased at Growers' Markets.

You can read my post about how I paid double the price for conventional parsnips at my local supermarket as opposed to the organic ones pictured above - here.

In our home, certain brands are boycotted on ethical grounds.  This can sometimes make things difficult, especially when one manufacturer buys out other brands.

With one particular product I use all the 'brands' available in my supermarket are produced by the one company which I've boycotted.

What to do? What to do?

Eventually I found one in Aldi that wasn't.  

Otherwise, I guess I'd have to go without.

But it's not convenient for me to shop at Aldi so I have to plan ahead.

People in our society can sometimes complain about things happening in their local area.

I believe that if we vote with our feet(i.e. don't buy, don't visit, don't support, don't walk through that door), then we'll get the message across.

At our local shopping centre there has been a lot of opposition to the opening of a Dan Murphy (owned by Woolworths) Liquor Store. This store will definitely undercut our local liquor store and some people believe that this will see an increase in unruly behaviour on our streets after dark.

I say, don't buy there, don't walk over that threshold and they'll soon get the message that they're not welcome in our suburb. 

But of course this won't happen because really, the majority will only think of their hip pocket.

With Monsanto, well, I think this is a more difficult scenario to crack.

But if we all spread the word perhaps we can move mountains.