Home, Sweet Home

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You may have noticed my absence for a few days.  I have been in Sydney for work but am now safely home.

2015-08-20 01I stayed at the Four Seasons Hotel.  Depending on which site you read it is 4 or 5 star.  However, I found much of the experience over-the-top and excessive.  The lighting in the foyer would illuminate an entire village in a Third World country.  The extravagance was overwhelming and I can honestly say that I am relieved to be home.  Give me the simple life any day.

There seems to be an ever-increasing competition between luxury hotel brands to outdo the opposition so this type of experience is not limited to this particular hotel.  I wonder how many people actually find this appealing.

What are your thoughts and experiences?

A New Recipe

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It is not very often that I come across a recipe that is not just a simple variation of something I already make.  However, here is one I came across from ‘Christine’ on Simple Savings.  I don’t know what the origin of the recipe is.

007It was so good that I did not even have a chance to photograph it before we served up our dinner.

This is exactly as Christine presented the recipe.  I made a few minor adjustments and will continue to do so but more of that in another post.

BEAN & BROCCOLI LASAGNE
Lasagne sheets
Bean Sauce (see below)
Cheese Sauce (see below)
250g frozen broccoli or equivalent fresh (I use fresh & steam it a little)
90g matured cheddar cheese, grated
1 tbsp grated parmesan cheese
½ cup light sour cream

Lightly butter a 20cm square casserole dish
Lay sheets of pasta on base and cover with half bean sauce
Spread half cheese sauce evenly over bean sauce
Chop broccoli into pieces and place on top of cheese sauce
Cover with another layer of lasagne
Spread with remaining bean sauce then cheese sauce
Top with final layer of pasta
Sprinkle with grated cheddar cheese, then with parmesan cheese
Bake, uncovered 180 deg C for 20 minutes
Drizzle sour cream over top and bake a further 10-15 mins or until golden brown
Stand 10 minutes before cutting & serving

Bean Sauce:
1 tbsp butter
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
125g mushrooms, sliced
1 x 440g can red kidney beans, drained
Salt & pepper to taste
½ tsp oregano
1 x 425g tomato puree

Melt butter, add onion, garlic and sliced mushrooms.
Saute gently for 3-4 mins
Add beans, salt & pepper, oregano & tomato puree
Bring to boil the simmer 10 mins or until slightly thickened

Cheese Sauce:
2 tbsp butter
4 tbsp plain flour
Salt & pepper
Pinch nutmeg
500ml skim milk
100g matured cheddar cheese, grated

Melt butter, add flour, salt, pepper & nutmeg and blend until smooth
Allow to cook 2 mins
Remove from heat and blend in milk
Return to heat, stirring constantly until sauce boils & thickens
Reduce heat and cook 1 minute
Remove from heat and stir in cheese

Have you ever seen this or a similar recipe?  What do you think?

Some Sewing

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You may remember that earlier this year I ran a series of posts titled “Sew My Stash Sunday”.  Well I have finally got back to my sewing room and continuing to sort and cull.  Of course, I did not get too far as I was inspired to actually sew.  I have made 2 little t-shirts (Size 1) from a piece of fabric that I found last week when helping my mother sort through some excess fabric.  I just have to put the ribbed neckbands on and they will be complete.  There was some blue ribbing that was with the fabric so that is what I will use.

008Next, I found a couple of pieces of fleece and have cut out some tracksuit pants.

009The black ones are a size 2 and the red spotted ones are a size 6.  The spotted fabric would not be my first choice for tracksuit pants but it was a piece leftover from a dressing gown I made for my grand-daughter a few years ago.  They might make a snug pair of pyjama bottoms that will keep someone warm.

That is a couple more pieces of material gone from my pile and hopefully will be of use to someone.

Never-Ending

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Even though I have consistently decluttered for several years there are always random things that elude several attempts.

031These 3 little bottles of food colouring were in my pantry until tonight.  I have overlooked them each time I have cleaned out my pantry.  Tonight I opened the wire drawer to get out black pepper to season our dinner and saw these bottles of food colouring with fresh eyes.  I do not use it in any baking and it is a long time since I have made play dough or anything else that I may wish to colour so they went straight in the bin.  The fact that all of the “ingredients” are numbers made me even more certain that there is no way that I would ever use them again.

What have you decluttered lately?  Anything that should have been binned a long time previously?

Home-made Hummus

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I was recently reading a discussion about home-made hummus and what constituted the perfect result.  I realised that I was unable to contribute very little to the discussion as I do not usually measure any of the ingredients as it is all done by taste.

When I made another batch I was careful to measure the ingredients and write down the method and here it is.

HUMMUS

1 1/2 cups dried chickpeas
3 cloves garlic (roasted)
1 large lemon (zest and juice)
60ml olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon smoky paprika
1 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon chilli powder
1 heaped tablespoon peanut paste

Cover the chickpeas with 4 cups boiling water and soak for 4 hours.  Drain chickpeas, place in saucepan and add fresh water.  Bring to the boil and simmer for 2 hours or until tender.  Drain chickpeas and place in blender/food processor with garlic, lemon juice, lemon zest and oil and blend until smooth.  Add spices and peanut paste and blend.  If mixture is too thick add a little water or more oil/lemon juice if you prefer.

NOTES:  I always roast the garlic as I found the flavour is sweeter and more subtle.  I use about 1/4 cup lemon juice which is the yield from 1 of our lemons.  The peanut paste is used instead of tahini which I do not particularly like.  I use one made from freshly ground peanuts with no additives.  The salt is important to release the other flavours.  I use pink Himalayan salt.  Although I make my hummus using dried chickpeas you could also use canned chickpeas.  You would probably need 2 cans for the quantity in the recipe.

There is no right or wrong way to make hummus – it really is a matter of personal taste.

Dried chickpeas

001Chickpeas soaking

002Chickpeas ready to cook

005The final result

009This recipe makes a substantial quantity.  It keeps quite well in the fridge for a week or can be frozen.

Do you make hummus?  Any personal tips or tricks?

More Dehydrating

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Dehydrating seems to happen in fits and starts around here but I am on a roll at the moment.

My brother-in-law recently gave me a piece of home-grown ginger and I had used a little of it when I decided to try drying the remainder.

I carefully peeled it and then sliced the ginger root fairly thinly.  Here it is spread on the tray of the dehydrator.

004The process did not take too long at all. Four hours later it was dried to a crisp.

006The final step was to grind the dried slices to powder in the spice-grinder attachment of my food processor.

008It has a beautiful, pungent odour which is quite different to the purchased spices.  Next time I think I will cut the slices into slivers before I dry them and store as slivers which will be great for adding to stir-fries.

All Work and No Play….

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….makes Jack a dull boy, according to the rhyme.

Well, although I have been busy with work at home and in the office it is great to ‘play’ a little, too.

On Wednesday I visited the retirement village where my mother lives and joined in their Ekka Day.  For those of you who are not Queenslanders – the Ekka is the nickname for the Royal Agricultural Show which happens in Brisbane each year for about 10 days in early August.  To celebrate this occasion there was a morning of games of chance, bags of sweets, art and craft displays followed by a themed lunch.  In the true tradition of this time of year it was a bright, sunny day but with a bitterly cold westerly wind so I was rugged up.  Mum and I inadvertently managed to match our outfits.

IMG_0736_1_1GMan and I dined out on Friday to celebrate his birthday.  We went to a local Italian restaurant for pizza.  They have the option of a gluten-free base for the pizza which suits me and we indulged on dessert as well.  Waffles for GMan and pavlova for me.

We have been socialising again today when we went to visit some friends who have recently moved into their new home.  Instead of driving down the highway we took the scenic back roads.  At Mt Mee we stopped at a lookout and captured the views.  This is looking north-east towards the Glasshouse Mountains.

010An old cottage and bunya pines.

017North-west towards the Blackall Range.

020We enjoyed a leisurely lunch, lively conversation and a stroll around the back paddock.  What more could we wish for on a sunny Sunday afternoon in winter?

I hope you have had a wonderful weekend with time for both work and play.

Retirement Plans

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No, we are not about to retire, although today is GMan’s birthday and it is a reminder that the time when we are no longer in paid employment is edging inexorably closer.

2015-08-06 01It is strange how thoughts seem to align.  A friend posed the question on Facebook today, “What are your retirement plans?”  The answers varied but an overarching theme seemed to be travel and writing which may have something to do with her particular group of Facebook friends.  However, I was blown away when one respondent stated, “I’m hoping to simply make it to retirement age!!”  That really put it into perspective because although we all risk not making it her odds are definitely not as good as most of us.

I also saw my own plans with a great deal more clarity.  I realised that my retirement  plans are very similar to the reality of my life today and while some could view that as rather boring I can see that I am living my life as I choose here and now, today and every day.  I don’t want to sound morbid but if anything happened that I did not reach the age at which I intend to retire I would still have done and seen much of want I want to do and see.

We need to create a balance in our lives but I would implore you to savour each and every day as well as planning for the future.

Project 333 – A Capsule?

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Since I first tried the idea of Project 333 back in 2012, I have used “Project 333” as the preface for the title of all my blog posts about my streamlined wardrobe.  I would like a similarly short, snappy preface that is unique to my blog posts so I will give it some thought but in the meantime I will use “Project 333”.

Tonight I want to address a question which vexes me and that is, “What is a capsule wardrobe?”

I read and hear of a capsule wardrobe, winter/spring/summer/autumn capsules as well as formal capsules and gym capsules to name but a few.  Confused yet?  I certainly am. Here is the Wikipedia definition.

My wardrobe has never been bulging at the seams but I have had the same issues that many other women have identified and that is the feeling of looking at a collection of clothes and feeling that you have nothing to wear.  This seems to lead to random purchases which only further compound the problem.  Therefore, I have chosen to carefully select clothes which truly fit my lifestyle and reflect my personality.

I live in a fairly temperate climate so have very little need for heavy coats.  We do not have clearly defined seasons and generally have more warm weather than cool.

It is currently winter and the weather is as cold as it gets with overnight temperatures as low as 5C and some days when the maximum is only around 15C, however, on Sunday the daytime temperature reached 25C.  You can begin to see the folly of packing all warm weather clothes away for a 3 month period.

2015-05-18 01Nevertheless, I did remove some of my true summer clothes from my wardrobe a few months ago and it is easier to see exactly what season-appropriate clothes are available.

2012-05-28 01As I have continued to define and refine my style over the past few years, I have found that I tend to purchase multiple items of the same style.  For example:  I have 3 identical pairs of shorts – black, white and khaki as well as a very similar pair of red ones.  When I find a style that fits well and suits me, why not buy multiples?  4 dresses, 2 cardigans, 2 pairs of jeans and 2 skirts are other examples of where I have more than 1 colour of the same style.  I guess it is a matter of ‘when you are on a good thing, stick to it’.

What do understand by the term ‘capsule wardrobe’?  Have you tried to pare down the selection of clothes?  What tips do you have?

Dehydrate & Downsize

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I don’t use my dehydrator as much as I could but after my recent success of drying onion and making onion powder I decided to experiment a little further.

2015-07-29 01The labels on the commercial stock powder in the pantry reveal that the two main vegetable ingredients are onion and celery so I am planning to have a go at making my own stock powder. There is celery growing in the garden in abundance so I decided to try drying some.

001Here are the four trays filled with the stalks and leaves ready for drying.

And the final result…………

001Here is a tiny Vegemite jar which is about 3/4 filled with 37g (a little over 1 ounce) of powdered dried celery.  This is the yield from a full (albeit small) bunch of celery from our garden.  Along with some of the onion powder, this is the beginning of my home-made stock powder.

The space-saving advantages of dehydrating are amazing.  I am sure some things lend themselves to this process better than others and I am keen to discover other ways I can use the dehydrator.  One of the next things on my list is ginger.

Do you have a dehydrator?  What have you dried in it?