A country life… all you need is patience

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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, ***.

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A dog day afternoon

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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

Passionfruit Jam (Revisited)

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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

Passionfruit Jam

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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.

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Melon, Ginger & Lemon Jam

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I have been very excited all summer as I have a self-sown honeydew melon growing in my vegie patch.  When setting up my vegie patch, I added some compost from Perth.  Clearly, a honeydew seed came along for the ride.

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Quince Frangipane Tart

I just love quince frangipane tart.  It is such a wonderful, classic French dessert.  This recipe is based on Damien Pignolet’s recipe in french.

Quince Jam

I always use this recipe as the base for my frangipane tart.  It is great because you can make the tart whenever you feel like it, not just in the quince season.  Of course, if it is quince season, you could use poached or baked quinces. Continue reading

Spiced Quince Jelly

Ages ago, my neighbour, Renate, brought over (or rather up, as in hill) a book she thought I may like.  It was called Home-Made and at a fraction of the cost by Polly Pinder.  It is a gem of a book.  Just the type of book I love.  It covers so many things, eg, making bread, sweets, preserves, cosmetics, soaps, etc. There is a chapter for each.  I quickly wrote down a few of the recipes and gave the book back.  When I was in Willunga recently, I went to a charity book sale and there it was.  All books were $2.00. I LOVE a find like that.  Mine is hard covered, toooo.  It was first published in 1983; mine is the 1984 reprint.  The paperback version was published in 1984.
Keep a look out for it next time you visit an Op Shop. 
One of the recipes I wrote out of Renate’s book was Spiced Quince Jelly for, you see, I have a quince tree. Continue reading

Pomegranate Jelly

Oh! My goodness, I have sooo many pomegranates. The birds, for some reason, have left about two thirds for me – that is not like them.

I left a very large box of the best in the cool room and brought back (to Perth) an equally large box of the split and nibbled (hence, the not so perfect specimens in the photo).  I am really at a loss as to what to do with them all. I have scoured my books and come up with pomegranate jelly, pomegranate cordial and pomegranate molasses.  I started with the jelly and intend to tackle the other two, but that is not going to use up all the fruit. Continue reading

Fig Jam

From this …

to this … (with a few hiccups along the way)

When we bought our property, we planted one or two of every fruiting tree we could think of with a view to living the good life on the produce but, alas, the only ones reaping the rewards are birds.  Unless we net a tree, we don’t get any fruit and, even if the tree is netted, the birds will still somehow get into the net, eat the fruit and then escape leaving a bare tree. Continue reading