Category Archives: Homemaking

Creating Community Collaboration

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Today I want to share a project I am working on which I think highlights what community is really about.

I am cutting out fabric triangles to make bunting. I have calculated that I will need 232 pieces to make ten 3.5 metres lengths. I have cut out 117 pieces so far.

I had previously used a cardboard template for a pattern for cutting the fabric. However, I decided that I needed a sturdier template for this project. So, I enlisted the help of the volunteers at the Men’s Shed. I now have a durable plywood template which is lightweight, easy to handle and will last long beyond this project.

The bunting is to be used for decoration at a Village Fete in a couple of months. It is a fundraising event being organised by our local Community Pantry. The funds raised will support the Pantry to continue providing a helping hand to all in our local community.

Clean Up, Cook Up

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Contrary to the statement in my last post, regular blogging did not return. It is almost 3 weeks since my last post and I have been doing everything except writing about it. If I am honest, I keep delaying trying to figure out how to easily use the tablet for blogging, particularly with respect to uploading photos. Hopefully, I have it sorted and I will be testing my skills on our upcoming trip.

I am now in the midst of getting ready to head off on a holiday to New Zealand.

One of the important tasks is to make sure that there is no perishable food which would go to waste while we are away. So, I have had a cook up over the past couple of days.

Here is the result.

There are at least 4 serves each of Tuscan Bean Stew, Chickpea and Vegetable Curry and Mushroom Stroganoff. These are now all in the freezer for future quick meals.

I hope to squeeze in one more post before we go away but as always I will be posting holiday updates on my other blog.

Updated Technology

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For several years we have had 2 laptops and we have taken the smaller one when we are out and about as well as when we have travelled both interstate and overseas. From time to time we have wondered about getting a tablet but never taken it any further.

A couple of months ago one of the hinge brackets on the smaller laptop broke but somehow or other the laptop still works. However, we cannot close it nor easily transport it. We enquired about having it repaired but the cost was almost more than a new device.

After a bit of research we ended up deciding on a Lenovo tablet which we are confident will be sufficient for our needs. It is considerably lighter than the laptop particularly for travelling.

Once we picked up the new tablet and unpacked it I realised how delicate and vulnerable the screen was so I decided that some sort of a case was going to be necessary.

So, I set to work with some fabric and materials from my stash. This was the result. It is not super fancy but it is functional.

A view of the inside.

Why a Wok?

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Last week we were doing the grocery shopping and I fell victim to the centre aisle in Aldi. For anyone who is not familiar with Aldi in Australia (and possibly elsewhere), the centre aisle is a relvolving door of special buys which include everything from furniture to homewares, garden supplies and clothing.

Anyway, I bought a wok.

It is not the first wok I have ever owned. Many moons ago I had a lightweight aluminium one, however, that went by the wayside and was replaced by a fancy ‘non-stick’ wok which had a small flat base which was more effective on the cooktop I was using at the time. That eventually was deemed unusable due to wear and tear on the surface and it was really too big for our current requirements for just the 2 of us. I have not had a wok for a couple of years but instead used a large stainless steel frying pan which was adequate at best.

It is now just over 12 months since we changed from gas burners to an induction cooktop. You can read about that here. I was fortunate to have stainless steel saucepans which work perfectly on the induction cooktop but the large frying pan from the same set would not work. I have a smaller cast-iron pan which I love but it is really not large enough for stir-fries so a debate about getting a wok or large pan ensued but with no clear outcome.

That was………until we walked into Aldi and GMan spotted this medium-sized stainless steel wok with an added steaming rack for $50.

Last night I made a vegetable stirfry which turned out perfectly. There will definitely be more stirfries, curries and risottos coming up.

This is the steaming rack which I have yet to try.

Cooking, Brewing, Bottling and Freezing

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It is nearly 2 weeks since the family came to visit and we celebrated a milestone birthday for our younger daughter. Thank you for your patience while I get back into the swing of regular blog posts.

There was afternoon tea and socialising with friends and family. Of course, there was cake!!

Dinner with the extended family. It was so good to be together.

So, now it is back to regular transmission.

Today was a busy one in the kitchen.

GMan bottled the latest batch of home brew.

He also started 2 more loaves of sourdough bread. These will be baked tomorrow.

Meanwhile, I had a large bunch of celery and a leek which I had bought earlier in the week with a plan to make soup. I ended up with 14 serves of celery soup and 12 of leek, poato and broccoli soup. It is really just leek and potato with the addition of whatever broccoli stalk I have in the freezer. Today there were 5 large stalks.

I also retrieved a bag of frozen cherry tomatoes from the freezer and made another batch of tomato sauce.

The links to the recipes for all of these can be found in the recipe index.

Here is the result of my handiwork.

All of this was done between 11am and 2pm to make use of the free electricity offer from our energy retailer.

Rewind and Replay

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This blog is hosted on the WordPress platform and about a month ago I noticed that my notifications now include reminders about blog posts that I made on a particular day in the past. Since this blog is now over 15 years old there is plenty of old material.

I have begun re-reading the old posts in the notifications and was fascinated to see this post from June 28th 2023. It is now 3 years later and I was doing exactly the same preparation for the same guests who arrived yesterday.

The bedrooms set up and beds are made. You will notice a few differences from the original post which was barely 6 weeks after we moved into this house.

The 2nd bedroom which is a designated guest room has had a change of bed in the intervening time.

The 3rd bedroom has a sofa bed which had previously been in the family room.

Finally, the 2 granddaughters are now of an age that they prefer not to share a bed so the air mattress is set up in the sewing room so that everyone has their own space.

We have quite a bit of family socialising and events coming up over the few days so I may be a bit quiet here until next week.

A New Favourite

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I have bought sunflower seeds in bulk for several years now as they are one of the ingredients in my home-made gluten-free muesli. Additionally, I discovered that I could use them to make vegan ‘sour cream’. Personally, I do struggle a bit to see the resemblance to sour cream, however, it makes quite a nice savoury sauce/salad dressing.

Recently, I have begun toasting sunflower seeds to use. You do need to be careful and stir them constantly or they can go from raw to burnt very quickly.

I generally toast more than I need and store them in a sealed jar.

The toasted seeds add crunch and a pleasant nutty flavour to salads and savoury dishes.

I make a crunchy topping which is a mix of flaxseed meal, toasted sunflower seeds and nutritional yeast and seasoned with black pepper and garlic salt. Then I add a small amount of grated cheese but you could omit the cheese if you want an entirely plant-based topping.

Tonight’s dinner was a pasta casserole with the topping to add some extra interest and nutrients.

Alterations – For Me and Others

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I bought this coat at the op shop a few weeks ago and knew that it would need a bit of work to make it really wearable.

Both the main fabric and the lining were very creased and looked as though it had spent some time crammed into a bag of donations. Anyway, I managed to improve that by ironing it inside and out with lots of steam. The other problem was that the lining of the sleeves was too long and hanging below the finished edge.

I unpicked the bottom edge of the lining from the main sleeve and corrected the length as well as making a slight adjustment to the overall sleeve length. Then it was a relatively simple matter of slipstitching the lower edge of the lining to the sleeve.

I am really happy with how it looks now and am confident that I will have plenty of opportunities to wear it in a variety of ways with both dresses as well as jeans and shirts or jumpers.

Meanwhile, I seem to have established a small enterprise for my spare time in doing alterations for other people. The majority seem to be taking up jeans and trousers – there must be a lot of vertically challenged people in the town where I live. Other jobs have included lengthening sleeves, putting side splits in the side of tops, removing sleeves, making tshirts smaller, taking in the waistband of jeans and even shortening the straps on reusable shopping bags. I charge less than commercial rates as this is not much more than a hobby for me and the bonus is knowing that in many instances the clothes in question would have simply been discarded.

Anyway, I am heading out to dinner tonight for a family birthday celebration and will be wearing my newly-altered coat over my dress.

Changing Routines

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We all have our routines and in many instances they serve us well for a variety of reasons. However, nothing is ever set in stone and it is worth being flexible and adaptable to changing circumstances. Retirement certainly brings changes in routine – for instance, we no longer set the alarm and get up at 5am to get ready for work. Those days are long gone.

A few weeks ago we changed our electricity plan to take advantage of the ‘Free Three’. That is, the 3 hours of free electricity being offered between 11am and 2 pm each day. The rationale behind this is, where possible, to encourage people to use electricity in the middle of the day instead of during the peak hours of demand between 3pm-8pm.

Our decision was primarily to facilitate charging our new EV using 3 hours of free electricity. However, we have also made a conscious effort to run the washing machine and dishwasher in the middle of the day, too. Both appliances have a delayed start option which I had never used but it is invaluable if you are not home between 11am and 2pm.

Finally, we have decided to make a habit of having our main meal for lunch rather than in the evening or if this is not convenient to consider preparing and cooking the meal ahead of time. As well as saving power, I believe it is better for our health and I am more inclined to spend time cooking in the middle of the day rather than late in the afternoon/evening when I am tired or otherwise engaged.

This was our lunch today. A baked potato topped with refried beans and cheese. Sides of coleslaw, avocado and fried onion, mushroom and capsicum.

For those of you in Australia. Have you changed your electricity plan to take advantage of the free electricity between 11am and 2pm? Are you at home during the day? Don’t forget that it applies on weekends as well as weekdays. Do you have appliances that have a delayed start option? I am interested in how you can make it work for you.

Autumn Afternoon

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We went to Melbourne yesterday to stock up on some dry goods for the pantry but more on that another day.

When we arrived home I took a few photos as I wanted to show you GMan’s latest landscaping handiwork. He built this garden bed using salvaged timber from the original front fence. That was a few weeks ago and it has been on hold as he seemed to have hurt his back while doing it. Anyway, the construction is now in place and has been filled with soil. We have planted some bulbs which we salvaged when the fence was rebuilt. I think they are freesias and hopefully we will have some flowers in a few months.

Meanwile, we have added a couple more native shrubs to the front garden which is gradually developing.

The autumn colours are everywhere and we are enjoying the view of the neighbour’s trees on the fenceline.

Finally, we have another good crop of lemons on the tree which are almost ready to pick.

The last couple of days have been rather mild for late autumn so we are enjoying them before the weather is forecast to turn cold and we early next week.