Memories Of Blue

(Scroll to the bottom and hit the play button so you can listen while you read)

My father is visiting from interstate in a couple of weeks so he can visit with all the family here one last time and meet his great grandson, Julien.

Julien was also his father's name.

The blue china on the dresser is called "Envoy" by Royal Doulton and very popular after the second world war and often sold by door-to-door salesmen. This is the set that my grandmother used everyday and the one that my father grew up with. It holds memories for me and must do for him too I'm sure. I've also mixed it with some of the white Hutschenruther china that he gave me for a wedding present.

It's so good to be getting familiar things unpacked and the Matthew Simms doll has finally found her home. I bought her just before we moved thinking she would fit so well with our Georgian cottage. 

Matthew Simms is a local artist/eccentric and he paints and makes these extraordinary dolls by hand.

Here is an extract from his site

"With a hand saw I cut blocks of willow wood, split them and stack to season. 
Then I cut the dolls to shape with an axe, finishing off with a rasp and pocket knife.  
The legs and arms are put on, clothes made with a hand sewing machine.  The clothes, in almost every instance, are silk, linen, cotton or wool.  These dolls are not copies, nor are they unlike dolls from history."

Memories Of Blue by Vangelis

Tools Of The Trade

A beautiful find this old tool box.

A bit of a clean up, a little light sand, not too much as I want to preserve it's integrity and some nourishing oil.

Over the years it may find many uses but for this next incarnation....

it's holding MY tools of trade!

And rolling pins are so beautiful why would you hide them away!

I have the original little turned one my mother had starting out and a French taper of maple, a massive Huon pine roller up for the biggest jobs and tiny Indian roti rollers.

The perfect spot for seasonally abundant herbs, handy for happy cooking.

A Shared Table - Garden Style

Summer has been hot and perfect!

The halcyon days, blindingly bright and bluer than blue skies above.

The clouds and rain so elusive.

Gardeners in Tasmania have been able to grow melons this year, truly a rare feat.

The children have flown back to China and we were pathetically wandering for a couple of days trying to find our rhythm again. The house seemed so quiet and our days filled with hours.

Before they left we had a BBQ for family and friends to catch up with them, escaping the heat within the shade of the giant cherry plum trees.

Our garden is abundant and provided so much for our shared table

Crisp lettuce salad with peach slices and purple torfino beans

dressed with balsamic and oil and a scattering of fetta.

Roasted root veg tumbled through greens

Cous Cous with the first of the season tomatoes and plenty of fresh herbs

and the classic

Beetroot and Carrot salad with currants and pumpkin seeds

and 

for dessert

Upside down plum cake

Peach and rhubarb with vanilla bean Crumble

Great food, good friends and happy family.

It doesn't get any better than this!

The Old Bridge

Number 1 son and DIL returned from China for a weeks visit. They have been travelling two and a half years so it was very exciting but far too brief. It was a whirlwind of visits and visitors, staying up talking till 2am every night and trying to cram lots of missed and longed for food in, like bacon. They currently live in Nanjing and have missed being able to harvest from the garden for meals. Perfect timing for them with the plums and peaches just ripe.

We took them to see the oldest continuous use bridge in Australia. It was the original bridge built over the Elizabeth river and built in the 1830s. In the top photo they are actually peering into the grass trying to spot the 4ft tiger snake that just quietly vacated for us.

This is a view of the Red Bridge looking east. It looks so serene and peaceful but this bridge, built by convict labour in the 1840s takes substantial traffic and loads. An almost constant stream of trucks, including double container loads and car carriers. Those early builders would be amazed to see what a pounding that bridge takes now.

This building on the hill above the bridge is said to be the very first inn in Campbell Town and built in 1838 and once would have been the major through route. When the new bridge was completed, traffic was redirected and a new main street was created and new shops built including hotels and inns.

Peaches

The kitchen has arrived just in time for 

PEACHES

This is a very old white peach tree and it hasn't had much loving for the past many years. The lack of pruning has made the tree lanky and weak limbed, especially laden as it is in high winds. I love a white peach variety but this season the fruit flavour is average. I'm sure with some proper feeding and pruning next years' crop will be outstanding. 

You can see why we bought this size oven. Both pots going at the same time, no problem!

The white peach is a free stone variety and tends to go a bit soft with the preserving but the flavour is great. No need to peel the skin of this variety, just a good wash. Remember, peaches don't ripen after picking so only select ripe fruit from the tree. Remove them with a gentle sideways twist.

Finally A Kitchen

Finally, after six months, the kitchen is IN!

We hadn't planned to rip the previous kitchen out but the damage from a dozen cats was way more than we had realised. I have spared you a lot of the graphic photos but a couple of before shots help to realise the "journey". Even every power point has had to be replaced as they were wet and yellow inside. We couldn't even save a hinge as they were all rusted. On the left, is the back of the built in oven and cooktop. In order to remediate we had no choice but to rip out what we could, and that included the plaster and architraves, skirtings....everything. The floors were scrubbed at least 15 times with a special solution to destroy the protein molecules. After thoroughly drying, the areas were coated with a special shellac based primer, Bin Zinser to further seal. The walls re-plastered. There are no short cuts and if you have a similar problem then do lots of research as mis-treatment could mean you actually set the protein rather than destroy it.

But lets look at some prettier pictures as we leave the past behind....

A lovely big set of shelves built in to my island bench. So handy for the cookbooks. The island has a bank of drawers either side for extra storage and is a great central working area, perfect for rolling out pizza doughs on Friday nights.

Overhead glass front cabinets reflect light and add lightness. If money had been no object I would have lit the cabinets but that would have been an extravagance and we can live without it. First world problems and all that....!

Again, like our previous home, I've chosen to keep to a classic palate of black and white which can be dressed in so many different ways as styles and tastes change. I'm adding warm copper and natural wood accents for our Georgian cottage.

For quick easy cleaning I have chosen knobs and pulls instead of the D/C-shaped handles. These are by Castella from the antique range and so much more robust and ergonomic than other ranges I looked at.

Just two handles short! But they'll be here on Thursday along with extra pantry shelves that I have ordered in order to maximise the storage space as there is very little in the cottage.

It looks a little white on white but I do love light, especially through our dark long winters. 

The kitchen has been built by Jason Phillips 

The walls are painted in "Hog-bristle" half strength, so not really white but a good light neutral background with warmth rather than cool blue tones.

The tiling is yet to be done, the architraves and skirtings fitted. The floor for now will be painted white until we can afford a timber floor...

But we are IN!

We have unpacked another swathe of boxes and I can again look at recipes and plan preserving. Just in the nick of time as the tomatoes will soon be ripening.

One last piece of advice;

many well meaning friends will tell you that once you "air the place out and paint" it will be fine. Not so. Unless you break the protein molecule you will never get rid of the smell. Air does not destroy it and paint does not cover it. Essential oils and perfumes also will not rid the smell, they merely compete with it. it is very hard yukky work but it can be done. I do think cement style products are the most challenging though and our battle continues at the front door step.

For cat pee remediation I suggest you start

here

BBQ Apricots with Fetta and Mint

Slight hic-cup with the kitchen and it won't be going in today but that's OK, it's been six months so another few days won't matter. We have relied heavily on the BBQ for most of our meals, especially breakfasts.

Apricots are ripe now and there is another glut to add to the zucchini! 

For breakfast we are having zucchini fritters with spring onion and basil (not too much) from the garden and I'm sure you know how to make these or if not type "fritter" into the search box at the side and I'm sure another post will give a method and recipe.

As for the apricots, simply cut in half and pop a wedge of feta in the indent where the stone was and add a little finely chopped mint. I am cooking them in some coconut oil on the BBQ on a med-high heat. After a few minutes, turn gently and cook for slightly less time than the first side. Use a spatula to remove, neatly keeping all the feta yumminess intact.

The apricots are soft and sort of jammy and a perfect summer accompaniment for the fritters. Love this for breakfast but of course it would be suitable for any meal or BBQ  entertaining. Feta is a very handy ingredient in the fridge and makes many a meal special. It seems to go with just about anything!

And don't stop there, take them cold for lunch as well!