o frabjous day!
books, recipes, parenting & other things
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Our very first ripe tomato. This photo cunningly disguises the fact that, as I didn’t stake the tomato plants very well, the weight of the fruit caused them to collapse over each other, and when I lifted part of the plant to examine the ripe tomato, it came right off in my hand. Here, I am holding it artistically against the fence to make it look like a ripe tomato in the wild.
I’m quite amazed that we produced any tomatoes at all, let alone any ripe ones. I planted these tomatoes in a fit of madness at the beginning of winter – “Ah, it’s the subtropics, they’ll be fine” – and they actually grew, albeit a little slowly, and then actually fruited, joy of joys. And I was sure that they’d all die off before they ripened, but no! We have gardening victory in the shape of one tomato.
Actually, the stalk of the plant where I broke the top bit off has begun to resprout leaves. Perhaps this warm spring weather will give my tomatoes a second chance. I promise to stake them better this time.
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This was a nice freestyle ratatouille I cooked up for a springtime lunch out on the verandah. The local fruit & veg shop had bags of nice fresh zucchini on special for a couple of dollars, and bright firm eggplants on their shelves – ratatouille was the first dish I thought of.
Chop up one onion, and roughly chopped a few cloves of garlic. I used a ceramic casserole dish to cook this in, because I wanted to serve it straight from the stovetop onto the table.
Saute the onion and garlic in a bit of oil until translucent. Chop the zucchini and eggplant into rough chunks. (My eggplant was a nice young one with barely-there seeds – I think the only time you need to salt eggplant is when the seeds are larger and it’s older and more bitter.)
Add the chopped zucchini and eggplant to the pot, and cook for a while, stirring occasionally, until the mixture has shrunk down a bit. I seasoned it at this stage, with plenty of pepper and a little dash of salt. Add a 500g can of chopped tomatoes, and let simmer for about 30 minutes. You want the vegetables to be soft, but not mushing together.
This stew had a beautiful fresh flavour, thanks to those lovely zucchinis, and I enjoyed it as leftovers stirred through pasta, and served with a beef curry.
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Now the weather is becoming rather warm, fruit salad seems the perfect way to end an alfresco lunch or light dinner. Despite the lack of bananas in the shops, there’s lots of other gorgeous fruits which will combine into a delicious salad.
I peeled some oranges and chopped them into small segments. Peeling kiwifruit is a little difficult, I find – I use a potato peeler, and do it over the bin so the excess juice has somewhere to run. (I’m now wondering if you can juice kiwifruit, and what it tastes like.)
Strawberries are easy – hull and chop into nice large chunks. They’re beautiful against the acidic tastes of the oranges and kiwifruit.
I ate this with a beautiful Jalna yoghurt – their biodynamic Bush Honey flavour, which is a delicately scented, thick, honey yoghurt. I was a little confused about the meaning of biodynamic – from their website, I gather that they mean organic principles, and so I wonder why it isn’t marketed as organic yoghurt. I guess it doesn’t meet the criteria? It sounds like it does from their website, though. Puzzling.
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When I make soup, I generally make them as chunky and thick as possible, so this attempt to make a clear, fragrant soup was quite new to me.
I began by gently frying finely chopped shallots with a little bit of olive oil in a large saucepan. I added two finely sliced garlic cloves, salt and pepper, and stirred for a little while. I then poured in several peeled and finely diced carrots.
I didn’t have any excellent stock in the fridge, but if you have homemade or liquid stock, I suggest you use that – pour in a generous amount to cover the vegetables. I used a powdered chicken stock (as I’d run out of vegetable), and it turned out very well.
In hindsight, I don’t think I put quite enough water in – some bowls were very chunky with carrot, and that wasn’t quite the effect I was going for. I wanted a fragrant liquid with scattered pieces of carrot and shallot floating in it, not piles of carrot with a bit of liquid on top. Then again, I suppose it’s better to be less generous than too generous with water – it’s easy enough to add more liquid to a soup, and rather more difficult to reduce it.
I’d like to try this again with better stock and some different vegetable combinations – I’ll have to resist throwing too many things in, and ending up with a chunky soup yet again.
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Well, isn’t this a delightfully romantic little beer? Needless to say, I did not choose this one – and happily, I believe the taste didn’t quite turn out as expected.
The boyfriend comments, “I was slightly disappointed with the tang of lingering aftertaste. The beer was too sweet for me, and almost cidery in piquancy, but I imagine this would appeal to some palates.” In fact, as someone who doesn’t like beer but does enjoy cider, this might have been the beer for me. Pity about the label.
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I chose this beer for the boyfriend to try – I like moving him outside his beer-comfort-zone, and this very light Japanese beer is pretty far away from dark English ales.
The boyfriend drank this beer after a succession of dark beers, and commented, “Much as I expected, this beer had as much flavour as a severely watered-down fruit cordial. However, it has merit as a refreshing light beer on yet another 40C+ day, but I wouldn’t drink it during the two weeks a year we get of reasonable weather.”
The onset of spring and much warmer days has made the boyfriend, a natural polar bear, a little tense thinking about the coming summer. I am pleased to know that Asahi will be the answer to all his woes come the hotter weather.
A comment by the boyfriend, after re-reading his review. “Yeah, it wasn’t too bad, that beer.” A positive word for the light beer! I am satisfied.
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How can you resist a beer with the picture of a hobgoblin on it? Made by Wychwood? I’m here to tell you that it’s impossible. I think this beer was chosen mostly because of the label.
The boyfriend says, “This beer is delightfully mischievous. A strong flavoured dark ale, with chocolate undertones, and a punchy aftertaste.” I am enjoying the boyfriend’s creative use of adjectives when it comes to beer, so I shall leave out any censure for that “delightfully mischievous” comment.
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This jam is amazing. I bought it at the markets at Salamanca Place in Hobart, and had a terrible time choosing flavours, as there was a most enormous array. In the end, I settled for a jar each of raspberry and blueberry, and was very pleased with both.
They’re both very liquid jams, but they firm up quite well when kept in the fridge. The ingredients consist of organic berries and sugar, and the flavour of both jams is most deliciously sweet and tart at the same time.
My favourite way of eating them so far is spread over bread warm from the oven, so that the jam soaks into the bread. There’s absolutely no need for butter – it’s a sublime snack.
o frabjous day! 