Final Growers' Market for the Season

Saturday was our final Growers' Market at Ut si for the season but I really hope to see it up and running again next spring.

It was one of those almost too perfect days. The perfectly still day full of sunshine and warmth, when the sky is so blue it hurts your eyes.

I would like to say a HUGE THANK YOU to Collette and her team for hosting the market.

Collette's drive and creativity really brings it alive and I love her dedication to community and ethical eating.

I know sometimes she thinks she is banging her head on the proverbial brick wall but she IS making a difference. She IS doing something very important. She IS a light in the dark...quite literally when she is up well before dawn trying to coax her naturally levened bread to rise!

Ut si also have a beautiful organic garden out the back that supplies their kitchen with wonderful, fresh produce. It is common to see Chef popping out to pick for the changing seasonal menu.

These are some of the beautiful heirloom tomatoes that they were also selling yesterday.

Little Jenny Wren popped in to say hello and filled her basket too. She looks wonderful and is doing really well. She has a wonderful warm philosophical outlook on life.

While she was there she and her husband also had a chance to chat with Papa about the wood fired oven where Ut si bakes their own bread.

I didn't have any excess produce to sell as the garden is ticking along with only enough for our needs at the moment.

I figured there would be lots of tomatoes and basil so I converted my hens eggs into fresh pasta.

It wasn't a promising start when one of the first locals through said:

"Uurrghh, what IS it?"

"It's spaghetti"

"Urrrggghhh! What do you DOooo with it?"

"You boil it"

"urghh"

I thought Oh no, is this what I stayed up till 2.30am for! Craig and I will be eating pasta for a week!

Happily it was recognised by other customers and I'm pleased to say it was a sell-out.

Phew!

Do pop in and visit Collette at Ut si (Latin for "as if") and take a wander through her beautifully landscaped garden. Sit with a mezza plate under the spreading tree in the sunshine and you will think you have been carried off to somewhere exotic for a mini holiday. But perhaps you would like a second opinion? They have also been featured in Gourmet Traveller and you can read this great post from Spicy Icecream.

Postcards-Declining Art?

My mother is in France for three months.

She has been gone for about four weeks now.

I was musing the other day how strange that she had not posted any photos yet on Facebook.

Then I thought she has probably not realised how to do that with her i-phone.

That's what people do now days.

Instant, networked and public.

Then the postcard turned up.

Harking back to the days before cameras, telephones in every pocket and the Internet.

Back when people put pen to paper on a weekly basis to communicate.

That was when it was so exciting to check the letter box for a letter from Nan.

I wonder if postcards will die out with the next generation to go?

Perhaps not!

My gorgeous children often write random messages of love on these postcards and send them to me.

They are free advertising cards that they pick up in coffee shops and waiting rooms.

The art work is quite interesting.

I keep it on my fridge.

Sometimes its "I love you mummy"

On the bottom one they wrote: "teeney weeney yellow polka dot bikini"

Just a bit of nonsense but it tells me of her memories of childhood (I exposed them to a lot of music) and it tells me I am thought of randomly in their day.

Emails are great and wonderful ways to stay in touch but a hand written message posted and received days later is like a big bright satiny bow on a package.

How about it? Could you manage a simple penned "I Love You" in someones letterbox next week?

An Apron For Me

I have found a wonderful apron pattern that is;

stylish,

covers generously,

completely reversible,

Sizes S-XL

and easy to sew.

It's McCalls Retro Aprons pattern #M5643

You know I usually source thrifted fabric but the day before I spotted this rose pattern in the local haberdashery shop and had to have it.

It looks very similar to a Villeroy & Boch dinner set pattern

"Switch Summerhouse-A Rose"

of which I have some pieces and have never grown tired off.

I couldn't cope with a whole dinner set but it accents beautifully with the green version and plain white naturally.

So I have really spoiled myself and paid waaayyy more than I normally would for "apron fabric"

and

 for now it will hang in my kitchen for a couple of days till I get up the nerve to stop looking at it and actually get it dirty.

Finished Bunting/Entertaining With Elegance Cont'd

This has been such a satisfying project and a little addictive in a way.

I really want to make more but my next project is an apron for ME!

I have a couple already in the Resurekt shop if you are looking for a good generous covering, reversible apron.

So as we peruse the bunting of thrift I thought it would also be appropriate to share again a couple of gems from the "Entertaining With Elegance" book by Genevieve Antoine Dariaux.(published 1966)

"D" is for "Decoration" (how appropriate)

"Every woman wants her home to be more beautiful than ever when she entertains....

You do not want to leave the coffee table and side tables completely bare...but the only objects , magazines and books that remain should be those things you have left on purpose. Usually this means hiding the detective novels and girlie magazines and leaving Teilhard de Chardin and Country Life....

While it is not chic to decorate your home for normal entertaining, there are special occasions when you can release all your pent up decorative urges (heh heh, see Arabian Nights!)

Dinners For Two.

"......it seems to me very worthwhile going to a bit of trouble in order to give your husband the impression that every time he comes home in the evening he is going to a party....

Try to put aside until later your worries and problems. Don't overwhelm him the moment he arrives. He usually spares you the detailed account of whatever disagreeable moments he may have experienced during the day's work....Try also to vary the menus as much as possible....he will become as fine a gourmet as you wish if only you give him the opportunity to acquire a gastronomic education.

By putting into practice these simple ideas, both of you will enjoy one pleasant dinner after another, and towards the end of your life you will be amazed to discover what perfect serenity you have achieved together..."

Sound a little twee? Maybe but there is some sound sense in the bones of this piece of advice. If a couple are to achieve long lasting serenity then I think concerted effort (by both parties) in the small things, like dinner together, is as valuable today as then.

Drinks like Dinners is an exhaustive subject and Divorce was mentioned also.

Dutch Treats was interesting though

"....Nowadays, even adults, if they are close friends , may decide to share the expenses of a gourmet meal, theatre party....In the case of restaurants and night-clubs, it is more elegant (and easier for the waiter) to have one member of the group act as treasurer, and then to settle up afterwards with him, rather than ask for separate bills."

I have to say agree with this one. There is nothing more cringe-worthy than the meal paying melee at the end of a pleasant evening. It often inconveniences other patrons too when the staff are tied up sorting out spaghetti finances for groups. Before heading out, it is far easier to make sure you have cash in assorted notes in order to hand the right money into the kitty.

Vintage Bunting for 75cents!

Bunting is such a "buzz" item at the moment.

There are a lot of good things to be said for decorations that can be used again and again.

They can be made from scraps and cost next to nothing.

I have decided that my stall at the growers market needed some flagging and have been giving thought to bunting for some time now.

Last week while in St Marys on THE bus trip I found an op shop.

I found a whole shopping bag of scrap fabric and some braid and ric rac and it only cost me $1!

Literally some of the pieces are scraps but I sewed some together to get the pieces I needed for my little flags.

I am sooo not going to tell you how to make bunting...there are plenty of tutorials on the web and there are the lazy one sided cut with pinking shears versions or the make little triangles and turn them out versions.

Which ever suits your purpose....

What I wanted to share that the other tutorials don't cover in one place is some quick tricks to neater, faster job. Yes, making them is easy, but like anything handmade or worth doing it takes time. Think of it as an investment though as you will have them for ages and all occasions.

So make the template from some stiff sturdy card. There is no magic size, just the triangle shape and size of your choice, remembering the seam allowance.

Once you have cut all your triangles, sew them along one long side.

Sew them all without stopping and cutting, just keep feeding them in. When you finish the last one they can all be clipped apart. Now go down the other long side in the same way. So you are in production line mode.

This link has a tutorial with great photos and shows how to do this method.

Before turning them snip the excess fabric from the ends so you can get a nice neat point.

A few snips save you some time and struggle.

With the tips of your scissors or a chopstick (etc) tease the point out. Don't go shoving or you'll damage the seaming. Just feel it to the end till its extended out.

Some fine tuning at the end may be necessary to get a fine point. Gently pull out any further excess.

Before they are finally pressed they look a bit like coronets so grab your sturdy cardboard template again and push it firmly into your lovely pointy triangle and iron.

This will give you a good finished shape in really quick time.

This will give you a beautiful finish.

So that took me about three hours to make 27 pennants, remembering though that I was doing a bit of cutting and shutting with the smaller fabric pieces in order to get a decent run of triangles out of it.

I estimate that given the ammount of fabric I used from the bag, it has cost me 25cents. Also included in the bag was 6metres of brand new in the packet bias binding which I figure has to be half the bag value at least, so say another 50cents.

All up.....75 cents for a string of bunting!!!

I plan to finish it with the bias binding on Tuesday so perhaps photos on Wednesday.

Buying Meat

I'm not saying anything new when I say "buy in bulk" and it's nothing you don't know already.

What I would like to urge you to do is be prepared to be flexible.

When you go shopping for that once a month or fortnight meat buy (because you are buying in bulk right) have a rough idea in mind of the type of meals that you will be planning.

Steak cuts are great for flexibility because you can, obviously, eat as steak, or cut up for curry, stir-fry or slow cooking and when buying in bulk, often the steak cuts are cheaper per kilo than the so-called budget cuts.

For instance; today we bought a whole porterhouse for $7.99/kg. Much cheaper than than lamb shanks, gravy beef (probably shin) and neck chops which were all over $10/kg.

Mince is another typical buy for most at the butchers but when the ordinary grade mince is at $13/kg why not buy a whole rump at $7.99/kg and ask the butcher to run it through the mincer.

I have no problem with mince and think it is a great way for the butcher to sell scrap and rubbishy cuts but why should you pay that sort of price for it? So for my money it makes sense to mince a whole rump at nearly half the price and I get a premium grade product.

Freeze it in flat portions - I allow 125g per person. It thaws quickly and can be made into bolognaise, burgers or meat loaf.

Plan a roast for dinner on Sunday night and then put the rest aside for cold cuts for lunches the next couple of days. Roasting meat for sandwiches at home is a much cheaper option than buying it sliced from the delicatessen.

Plan ahead and be flexible and save.

Not Naff Anymore

In the last post I introduced you to Rita Summers.

I also spotted this basket full of old patterns in her gallery/studio and I just had to take a photo for

Little Jenny Wren.

There has been a lot of talk in blog circles I am in awe of the love and supportive friendships that have grown from blogging. People we have never met and may never meet have become near and dear.

We get to know them or at least the very style or essence of them.

I can't look at vintage patterns like this without thinking fondly of dear, gentle, Jenny.

How about that basket?

I can remember when I was little thinking how naff these sort of things were. Those baskets for keepsakes made from old birthday cards and crocheted together...urgh.

Now I see them as beautiful for I see the time and dedication that has gone into them. Creating something useful from scrap, or in the case of the birthday cards, a sentimental treasure. A time capsule of style in itself.

Stationview Cottage has a lovely post about this topic in regard to quilts and fabric.

My friends at Resurekt have recently bought a book from a thrift shop showing how to make these baskets. I like the idea of finding something sentimental to make them with, like photos or cards, and wouldn't they make lovely Easter baskets.