But what am I to do? I can’t help it.
The latest example of this personality flaw happened a couple of weeks ago. It was our friend Di’s birthday and, as we are social distancing, she couldn’t celebrate it in the usual way so she asked if she, and her husband Fred, could come around for driveway drinks. Continue reading
This year, through some miracle of miracles, the birds left some plums for us. Whether it was conscious or whether they just missed them, I don’t know. Of course, as happens with every variety of fruit and vegetable in the garden, they all ripened at once. There was not a huge amount but certainly more than we would eat. I put them in the cool room (along with the 1,000 passionfruit) until I could decide what to do with them. We are not big jam eaters so jam was not an option. We do, however, eat a bit of sauce. Plum sauce it would be then. Continue reading
Everyone has their favourite pumpkin soup recipe. My favourite is one I have posted before – Pumpkin, cashew and coriander soup. It is a beauty (check it out here) but it does take a bit of effort. And there are plenty of times when effort does not figure. For those times, I have been dreaming of a recipe my mum used to make. I had it hand written in my recipe book but somehow I lost it. I did ask my sisters but to no avail. I remembered the ingredients – chicken stock, pumpkin, tomatoes and onion but I couldn’t remember the proportions.
About 18 months ago, I decided we needed a retaining wall built behind our garage. I was reluctant to call the guy who had built another wall for us. It was not that the garden wall he had built was not good – in fact, it was bloody good. The problem was he took ages and ages to come. I remember ringing him on a regular basis until, finally, he arrived. When he did come, he came with a smile, did a good job and did things over and above what was called for.
In the end, I decided to risk it and called, let us name him, ***.
It’s summer glut time and I’m suffering badly. I find it impossible to let produce go to waste. And I don’t like giving away produce if I think I may need it sometime in the forth coming year. Cucumbers I am happy to give away because I am determined not to make any more relish or pickles until we have eaten what is in the pantry – and there is not much else you can do with cucumbers. Continue reading
I still have 14 pumpkins from last year’s crop and I am told it is very difficult (impossible?) to store them over summer. Shit! I was under the impression that they could last out the year.
Oh, well, … I haven’t given up hope. Everything I have read says keep them in a cool dry place. As you all know, there is no such place during an Australian summer. The only other advice I have read to prolong their life is to wipe them with disinfectant. This protects them from bacteria. I washed my pumpkins in diluted Pine-O-Cleen, made sure they were perfectly dry, then put them in the cool room. Here’s hoping.
Postscript: I have just read this post where a pumpkin soaked in a weak bleach solution was still perfect after nine months. There is hope. Continue reading
The other day, I decided I would like to make some passionfruit butter to serve in little tartlet shells. After my bumper summer crop, I have passionfruit pulp stored in the freezer for winter treats… and passionfruit butter tartlets really appealed.
After a cry for help regarding the abundance of tomatoes in my vegie patch, I received the following comment from a reader named Jenny:
What about some kasundi with the next batch? We love it, and eat lots of it – with curries, as a marinade for meat, as a cooking sauce (thinned with bottled tomatoes), stirred into stews etc, with sour cream as a dip or topping, with cheese …
As you all know, I recently made passionfruit jam (and did a post on it). I was intrigued by the idea of making jam from the soft inside part of the passionfruit shells so I decided to give it a go. I was very pleased with the result. The jam tastes amazingly good but is quite thick and both Maus and I prefer our jam to be on the runny side. Continue reading
Postscript
If you have found this post looking for a passionfruit jam recipe, you may be interested in knowing that I made it again adding the pulp after the setting point was reached. I prefer the resultant jam. Here is a link to that post.
Hello, everyone. We are back after our little break. A good time was had by all.
Thank goodness, the passionfruit and tomato situation seems under control for the time being. The passionfruit have all but finished, the San Marzano tomatoes are ripening at a moderate rate and the self-sown cherry tomatoes are yet to peak.
Passion Fruit Garden 