In the Garden - November 2012

I've been holding out until the end of the month to do a garden update because I thought I'd already done one for November. Clearly I haven't so my waiting has been in vain. Talk about baby brain! The weeks, months, years really are flying by. I was quite excited by my dimness however, as my garden is a little bit exciting at the moment.

We FINALLY got some soil for the new front vege patch. We knew this was going to cost a bit to fill, hence the delay, but I'm so glad it's full now as I have renewed enthusiasm for the vege patch.

The six watermelon seedlings I grew in pots from seed were big enough to transplant into the ground.

The front bed is also home to some new cucumber and zucchini seedlings which I also grew in pots to inhibit their consumption by slaters. This picture gives a good view of part of the front plot, which bends around to the left in a kind of "L" shape. Our whipper snipper is in pieces in the shed at the moment, so the buffalo is getting particularly friendly with the railway sleeper border.

The front is also home to some corn (which I've never had the room to grow before) ...

... dwarf beans (also grown last month in pots then recently transplanted) ...

... and some peas.

Remember the tree that we lost in a storm while we were away? Well the stump, which we never got around to pulling out, is now a bush!

Things are going great guns out the back too. With summer approaching, the basil is finally getting a bit more sun and looking quite healthy.

 

The small capsicum plants, of which there are six, are all bearing little capsicums. I'm a bit worried that the plants themselves are too small to hold the fruit, but time will tell. 

 

 

 Some oregano seeds that I planted several months ago, and had given up for lost, have sprouted! The last oregano plant I grew in this pot in the same place in the garden, lasted about 3 years, so I'm quietly confident.

 

The biggest of the rhubarb plants has stalks large enough to harvest. I think a crumble might be on the menu one night this week.

The grapes are getting bigger. We're all looking forward to this season's fruit. I had Chicky in tears in the supermarket the other day because I refused to pay $25.99/kg for grapes. I assured her that in a few more weeks we would have more grapes than we know what to do with.

The flat leaf parsley is just as unkempt as ever, and seems to be multiplying. I use more parsley in cooking now than I ever have, because I can.

 

The potato tubers that I planted last month have all sprouted and are getting quite leafy. I never did get around to adding more soil so I hope they are not too restricted by space. These are in an unprotected part of the garden, so my current task is keeping the chickens away.

The tomato seedlings are growing. A few more self-sewn plants have popped up in between from last year's crop so I am sure the tomato garden will be just as crazy this year as it was last. I'm looking forward to lots of salads and a freezer stocked with pasta sauce.

 

I'm pretty happy with my garden at the moment. The back is filled with weeds, and the grass is overgrown but the useful stuff is doing well. I'm sure we'll have a bumper summer crop if the sun isn't too harsh. What's happening in your garden this month?

In My Kitchen - November 2012

As summer approaches, Perth's weather continues to be bizarre. Last weekend we were fishing on the boat in 34C temperatures. This weekend we're back to trousers and jumpers, dodging the storms. After spending the morning out yesterday, there was no way I had the inclination nor patience to go grocery shopping in the afternoon. So I stayed home, used what I had in the house, and baked. Here's what was in my kitchen yesterday (all the edible parts have already been consumed).

The baking began because we ran out of bread, so I baked a loaf of Mixed Seed Bread. 

 

With fresh bread in the house and the weather being foul, I couldn't resist making a pot of Teresa Cutter's Vegetable Minestrone Soup. This soup, with bread makes a hearty dinner that everyone will eat.

Without grocery shopping we had few snacks in the house, and Poppet always wakes up from her nap starving, so I thought I'd make a batch of biscuits. Trolling through recipes I'd never tried before I found a link to this cookie recipe at Fig Jam and Lime Cordial. Like Celia, I used wholemeal spelt flour, cranberries (as I had both in the pantry at the time), and 54% Callebaut callets. The result was a chewy, chocolatey, tangy cookie that everyone in my house approved of. Several went missing before making it to the cooling rack.

While I was busy baking away, Chicky (who did help with the cookies) decided to work on a creation of her own. I believe it consisted of water, whole macadamias and flour initially. She mixed them together then covered it with plastic wrap to....umm....rise maybe? I'm not sure what she thought might happen.

Later in the day she came back to the creation to complete the final steps. This involved adding some flowers from the garden, something that might be a spring onion (I didn't actually see it before it was added), and stirring with a plastic spoon. She is heavily influenced by the story Wombat Stew at the moment, after a little friend introduced her to the idea recently. Our garden (and now my kitchen) is filled with buckets/cups/containers of water plus <insert random ingredients here>.

While Poppet was less interested in the creative process than Chicky, she did bring me some lovely flowers from the garden yesterday afternoon, and left them on the kitchen bench.

 

A toy camel made it into the kitchen this week, and got left on the bench during the bread-making process, so he got covered with flour. 

The final item that technically isn't in my kitchen anymore (because I ate it), was a block of House Blend, 70% Cocoa content chocolate from Bahen & Co, a small, family-operated chocolate facility in Margaret River. The owner is a cousin of a friend and she gave me a block of this to try recently. I haven't tried any of their other varieties, but the house blend has a unique, almost fruity after taste and is very "adult". It is gorgeously smooth, yet a piece or two is all you need to satisfy that chocolate craving. I look forward to trying some of their other varieties.

 

That's about all that's happening in my kitchen at the moment, but head over to Fig Jam and Lime Cordial to have a peak into some other kitchens around the globe this month.

Desperate times call for: Hedgehog Slice

This morning I made the decision to get my hair cut. There are a couple of those "take-a-ticket" options at my local shopping centre so I kitted the girls up with some colouring books, crayons and snacks and decided to just do it. I had Poppet in the pram to avoid havoc in the salon, and to provide a storage place for all the things we seem to need to take on even the simplest of trips, so armed with my ammunition I boldly approached the counter to take my ticket. Before I had a chance to state my business, the hairdresser behind the counter quickly informed me that I couldn't take the pram in, and there was clearly no place for it (or my children). The girls were disappointed that they weren't able to sit and explore their new colouring books, and I was heartbroken. That woman had no idea what kind of hormones she had messed with. I expressed my disappointment then turned the pram and walked down the mall with unfortunate tears welling up. Who cries because they can't take a pram into a store? Really? A crazy pregnant woman, that's who! I did the rest of my shopping as quickly as I could and came home. This occasion called for one thing and one thing only. Hedgehog slice.

This no-bake recipe is adapted from one I found on Kidspot, and preparation began as soon as I walked in the door.

250g packet plain biscuits
¾ cup almonds (I used blanched)
1 cup sultanas
120g butter
100g raw sugar (caster sugar would be better but I was out)
2 tbsp cocoa (dutch processed)
2 tbsp dessicated coconut
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg, lightly beaten

Icing
1½ cups icing sugar
2 tbsp cocoa
2-3 tbsp water
hundreds and thousands

1. Whiz biscuits and almonds in a food processor, leaving some lumps. 
2. Add sultanas, cocoa and coconut. Stir to combine.
3. Place butter, sugar and vanilla in a small saucepan and stir until butter has melted and sugar has dissolved. 
4. Add butter mix to dry ingredients and mix, then stir in the egg.
5. Press into a lined 20cm x 20cm tin. Wet fingers will help this.
6. To make icing, combine icing sugar and cocoa, then add as much water is needed to form a spreadable paste. 
7. Spread icing over slice (this will be difficult if the icing is too thick), sprinkle with hundreds and thousands (or not if you don't like them) and refrigerate for at least a couple of hours. Slice in the tin.

 

I haven't eaten hedgehog slice in years, but this looks just like the stuff I remember from bakeries as a kid. My complete chocolate ban of last week resulted in a successful addiction break, so I have relaxed the rule to allow chocolate on the weekend. I don't remember saying anything about cocoa though, and it is Hump Day. Happy Wednesday everyone! I hope you, like me, have found something to make this Hump Day a bit brighter.  

In the Garden - October 2012

Last month I planted some seeds and seedlings, ready for a summer crop. Regardless of the beer traps, the slaters dessimated most of the seedlings as they emerged. They seemed to be helping themselves to the beer, but not before feasting on the zucchini, cucumber and pea seedlings. Determined not to let this happen again, I did away with the beer traps (which smell really bad if you don't empty them regularly) and planted some new seeds in pots. The physical barrier seems to have done the trick, and seedlings mk II are now hopefully big enough to hold their own and be transplanted into the vege patch.

I didn't have anymore zucchini or cucumber seeds, but I did have a lot of other options so planted dwarf beans....

 

...peas and watermelon in the background.

Something I thought the slaters would leave alone due to their lack of real leaves, are perennial carrots.

I thought I'd try my luck with spinach straight into the ground, because the thought of transplanting spinach plants wasn't particularly appealing. Similarly, I'm lazy and never thin my carrots, but it makes for some interesting shapes and sizes.

I think there may be one saving grace for the spinach. At the end of each row, a rhubarb plant has re-emerged. When we returned from our Gypsy Getaway, my rhubarb plants (of which I had 3 established) had vanished without a trace. I was a bit disappointed as they were doing well, but they have come back! The slaters love the leaves but don't affect the stalks so this may just be my new slater solution.

The chickens did a great job preparing the tomato garden plot, and this week I transplanted the cherry tomato seedlings I grew in pots from seeds (or rather I dug holes and Chicky did the planting). We planted 7 plants, which will inevitably be too many, but I will attempt to tame them with tomato mesh so we can keep some sort of control on the area.

Here are the girls, looking puzzled about why they're no longer allowed to forage in the tomato plot. Or maybe it has something to do with their tiny brains. :)

Veges aren't the only things blooming in the garden at the moment. The grape vines have gone from dormant to prolific in a matter of weeks. The 5 vines we currently have are in their second fruiting year and teeny tiny grapes can be seen everywhere. I can't wait!

The mandarin tree has some very small fruit emerging. Fingers crossed the birds save us some.

The orange tree, although struggling with some kind of leaf curl, is also managing to fruit this year. Citrus need a lot of TLC in our sandy soils, and really benefit from regular fertilising. This is hubby's job. My slap-dash approach to the garden doesn't involve such luxuries for the fruit trees.

The passionfruit vines seem to take it in turns fruiting, and I was a little surprised to see one of them flowering given we had a winter crop. Providing we get enough bees, I think these will be the purple-skinned fruit. I love the flowers, they are just a little bit Little Shop of Horrors-esque.

Finally, here is what I hope will be a potato patch. I had a few sprouting spuds in the larder so scattered the tubers and covered them with soil. I'll add some more soil when the sprouts emerge and try to get a mound happening, to maximise yield.

For now this is all that's happening in my garden, but with spring in full swing things are moving swiftly.  It's great, and I don't need to play much of a role. Now I sit back and watch things flourish. I'd love to hear what's happening in your garden this spring (or otherwise, wherever you are).

Pregnancy Hormones

Damn you pregnancy hormones, damn you! Today, at almost 26 weeks, I am a blubbering mess.

This morning I did the Glucose Tolerance Test. A 2 hour combination of blood tests, sugary drinks, sugar highs, sugar lows, and hormone provocation. During the second hour, waiting in between blood test number two and blood test number three, I picked up a copy of That's Life magazine. After drooling over a Tim-Tam Cherry Chocolate Cake recipe (I am currently on day 5 of no chocolate, self-imposed), I made the mistake of reading a sad story of a 4 year-old's lost battle with cancer and found myself sobbing in the waiting room. Chicky is 4. I managed to pull myself together just in time for the last bloods and to get the hell out of there to cuddle my children.

This afternoon I checked out a recently found blog/website called Scary Mommy. The author is quite raw, honest and hilarious. I found the website a few weeks ago when googling Vulvar Varicosities - a rarely mentioned possible side-effect of pregnancy which I was horrified to experience before learning about. Google it if you dare, but if you're faint hearted or yet to embark on the journey that is pregnancy, maybe it's best you don't. Anyway, today I stumbled across a post called Motherhood is... and alternated between laughing and welling up. Then I read a reader's comment: "Motherhood is watching your children sleep and praying that you’ll have another chance to be a better mom to them the next day." That was it. All composition I had regained from the morning was gone again. I often find myself hoping I have a chance tomorrow to be a better mum, to be the mum I aspire to be. Luckily Chicky and Poppet were both having quiet time, so I could escape to the carport and let the emotions out without the "why are you crying Mummy?" questions.

Thrown into the works today I have had to explain dwarfism to Chicky after she expressed "Why is that lady so little?! No ladies are EVER that little!" in ear shot of someone who was in fact that little. I have also had discussions about the necessity of Woolworths employees to eat lunch too, discussed the brain size of a magpie and why they swoop us even when we don't want to hurt their babies, wiped several poos that weren't my own, pretended to be Hansel and Gretel's nasty stepmother and pretended to take my children into the forest and leave them there (a favourite game of Chicky's of late), read several stories multiple times, diffused an argument over who was eating who's hair, and been kicked countless times from the inside. These are just the things that spring to mind, and the afternoon is still young.

Motherhood is... learning everyday a new part about motherhood.
Motherhood is... recognising that the traits you find most irritating in your children are the traits most similar to your own, and not getting angry at them for it.
Motherhood is... looking at your children playing quietly and wondering how in the world you were so lucky to be given the best job in the world, even if you were pulling your hair out in rage at them 5 minutes earlier.
Motherhood is... inviting other mothers over for some adult conversation, starting 25 different conversations but not finishing any.
Motherhood is... calling me. Looks like it's the end of quiet time and the end of this post.

I'd love to hear some other people's thoughts on motherhood.

Tales from a pregnant runner: Episode 2

Last time I posted about running, I was just getting back into it. Now, two months on, I can call myself a pregnant runner, hitting the footpath 2-3 times a week to tally between 10 and 20kms. The bump is more than obvious now, and I get more than the occasional double-take while strutting my stuff, but overall the public's reaction is positive. I even "competed" in a 5km event on the weekend, and other than a few surprised glances, I disappeared into the pack nicely. I entered the event with my best friend who has just started running. This was her first event, and the furthest she had ever run, and I was so proud to help her achieve that.

When I started running again, I found things a little uncomfortable. The pelvic instability was unnerving and the constant bladder pressure off-putting. I was also getting a bit of lower back pain after even a short run. After a bit of research, and discussion with a fellow runner who ran until she was full term, I purchased a Gabrialla abdominal support belt. This has made the world of difference. I haven't experienced any lower back pain since using it, and it makes everything feel a whole lot more stable. I wear it to run, for step aerobics, and even for grocery shopping if I know I'm going to be pushing a heavy trolley full of shopping and children. Thank goodness they come in black, so you can't even see it on top of my running shorts. I can't recommend enough, some sort of abdominal and lower back support garment for anyone thinking of running through their pregnancy.

So I was feeling good running again, even getting in up to 10km at a time, but I still had a niggle in the back of my head asking if I should be doing this. My obstetrician is supportive but certainly not an expert in the area of maternal fitness, so I decided to do a bit of my own research. If a science background has taught me one thing, it's to be educated. I came across the name James Clapp who is a professor of obstetrics and gynaecology and an international expert on the effects of exercise during pregnancy. His latest book, Exercising Through Your Pregnancy, covers the most recent research on the effects of not just exercise, but training, on the mother and child. It provides answers to most of my questions and has reassured me that given I have a low risk pregnancy and am otherwise fit and healthy, regular exercise is a good thing. In the past, pregnant women were urged to exercise within specific heart rate ranges, but if running has taught me anything it's that heart rates vary hugely between athletes. Clapp's book appreciates this and suggests perceived exersion as a better determinant of exercising safely.

Another book I purchased was the Runner's World Guide to Running & Pregnancy. This provides month by month recommendations and advice for someone who was running regularly before pregnancy and wishes to continue to run.

So at 25 weeks I'm not sure how much longer I'll run for. I'm taking it one run at a time. Sometimes I have a shocking 3km run and end up walking home. Other times I can run 8-10kms comfortably. All I can do is listen to my body and follow the advice I have found and am given. I hope I can still run into the third trimester, but I'm not going to be devastated if I no longer feel comfortable. I'll take up another swim or stationary cycling session in place of a dropped run. I have to work off all the chocolate and jelly beans somehow!

In My Kitchen - October 2012

Wow, I think this is the first In My Kitchen post that I've managed to get out at the start of the month! Maybe I'm a little excited about some new toys, or maybe I've been doing way too much baking (and eating) that I'm feeling in touch with my kitchen this month. Either way, here's what's in my kitchen this month.

My recent discovery of The Book Depository has been a little dangerous. My debut purchase involved a heap of kids books, put away for Christmas, some running/exercise books and of course some foody books. I'm a sucker for fast, easy recipes, so couldn't say no to Nigel Slater's Real Fast Food. This book is great for ideas when you've got some staples in the pantry, are short of time and lack inspiration. Slater shows you how to prepare common ingredients, several different ways which I love. His recipes are also open to interpretation so you can totally work with what you've got in the fridge. There are no pretty pictures, so if that's your thing then it might not be for you, but if you often find yourself preparing dinner shortly before you want to eat it, this book is great!

Because I am an unashamed sweet tooth, I couldn't go past Slater's dessert version: Real Fast Desserts. I have already tried out his Chocolate Almonds and they were a big hit, so I'll be giving a few more of these recipes a go soon.

I normally order my dark chocolate two ways. Callebaut brand 54% callets in a 2kg bag, which I use for muffins and biscuits as the callets are small. I also buy a two-pack of Sicao Classic Dark (also 54%) 1.5kg bags. The Sicao brand is a little cheaper than Callebaut but I consider the quality to be comparable. The Sicao callets however are large (akin to Nestle melts) and while they don't work well in bite size treats, they are perfect for melting. Sicao have recently changed their product coding, and confusion at the distributor meant I received 1 packet of 54% and 1 packet of 70% (which happen to be the smaller callets). This is great for me because I haven't before experiemented with 70% callets. If I can stop myself from eating them all straight from the container, I might test out some darker recipes.

Another exciting part of my recent chocolate delivery was a Callebaut flavoured sampler pack of chocolate buds. This includes about a cup measure each of cappucino, strawberry, lemon (interestingly these are green, not yellow), caramel and orange flavoured buds. I lifted my self-imposed chocolate ban today and made some Apple Caramel Muffins (below).

Apple Caramel Muffins
These are a variation of my favourite Banana Choc Chip Muffins, made this afternoon because I was out of bananas.

60g butter, melted
2 cups wholemeal self-raising flour 
1/3 cup raw caster sugar 
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup milk
2 eggs
1 apple, grated with skin on
1 cup caramel buds

1. Preheat oven to 200C. Line a 12 hole muffin tray with paper cases.
2. Mix flour, cinnamon and sugar together in a large bowl.
3. Lightly whisk eggs with milk, add to flour mix along with apple and melted butter.
4. Mix with a spatula until batter just comes together.
5. Add caramel buds and mix to combine.
6. Spoon mixture into muffin cases and bake for 12-15 mins or until just beginning to brown.

 

I kind of added lib with this recipe and hoped it would work. It did. I'm not a massive caramel fan so find the caramel buds a little sweet but the combination of flavours definitely works. Now I have to think of some interesting recipes for the other flavours.

Head over to Fig Jam and Lime Cordial and check out what some other bloggers have in their kitchens this month.