photo a day challenge - week 31 2015

Do you ever get overwhelmed with all that is around us on social media and the internet?  Breathtakingly beautiful photography, recipes, ideas, opinions, likes, followers, friends, (I could go on....) I know I do. Don't get me wrong, I'm the first to admit to being on and using social media but it often leaves me, especially when it comes to posting on my blog, with the dickhead feeling.  My dear friends will totally understand this phrase as we all use it at different times, so excuse the crassness but it's just the word that sums it up for us.  Once you get the dickhead feeling, it's hard to come back.  For example, one dear friend, once broke up with a boyfriend because he gave her the dickhead feeling.  I often think when I'm about to write a post "who cares, it's all been said and captured much better than you can do it" and so I don't write or post.  Please don't give me sympathy, I'm not chasing that, I'm really just trying to get over the dickhead feeling and remember why I do my blog.  It is for me when it all boils down to it and such a great positive outlet that it's worth me doing, I just have to be reminded, that's all :)

So, to help get my blogging groove back, I'm diving into the a photo a day challenge #fmsphotoaday .  I did do these challenges last year, although they were for a month.  This year they are for a week.  The thing I love most about this particular challenge is that it makes you be accidentally and easily mindful. 
When you are looking around in your daily life for 'that' photo, you can't not get down and dirty with the moment - pretty cool hey!

Here is my week (I'm early I know :) but I'm away over the weekend)

Monday 27: clouds

This was one of those photos that you take but don't realise what you have taken until you get home and have a look.  I was just snapping the bats asleep in the trees at our local gardens and was pretty chuffed to get one with the bat in flight.

Tuesday 28: looking in

mmmm sour dough toast about to be smothered in lashings of butter and vegiemite - be still my beating heart.

Wednesday 29: looking out

In the hen house.

Thursday 30: trash(ed)

Oh this made me laugh and cry all at once....all week I had been wracking my brain to think what I could take a photo of for the word 'trash'.  There was no way I was sharing my garbage bin!! And then, this happened....perfect really.

Friday 31: I brought it!

One step closer to my new kitchen - my new DOUBLE sink!!!!

Saturday 1: fiction

Can you pick the fiction and the non-fiction?

Sunday 2: a little moment

a wonderful cold but sunny winters day spent at the gardens...this was a last minute shot as my little lady was running to get into the roots of that giant fig tree.  Precious memories captured, I love it.

Ciao, Jan x

Miso roasted cauliflower

I was looking through all my photos yesterday, in anticipation of the up coming In my kitchen series, when it dawned on me that I'd better do some seperate posts otherwise my next installment would be too long.

I'm not one for following trends but I have fallen head over heels for this miso coated cauliflower.  I know, the Japanese have been slapping it on everything for centuries but any wonder!  It is salty and tangy and perfect with this cauliflower and another excuse to have the oven in during this bitterly cold winter I'm in the middle of.

I'm using Shiro Miso paste and all you need is around a tablespoon of it, mixed with a dash or 2 of boiling water to loosen the miso up, a pinch of chilli flakes (optional), cracked pepper and if like me you like to hide chia seeds in everything, a sprinkle of them too.  Cut up a 1/4 of a cauliflower into flowerettes and coat well by tossing in a bowl.  Place on a baking tray with baking paper into an oven preheated to 180c for around 20 minutes.

I had it with left over roasted vegetables from the night before (pumpkin and sweet potato), reheated and paired with rocket, feta, walnuts and a spritz of lemon....miso love it!!

Ciao, Jan x

In my kitchen July 2015

It's July...only 5 months til Christmas can you believe it!!  We are in the full swing of winter here and my oh my it has been brisk.  Perfect weather for the oven and I've been bitten hard by the sour dough bug this past month, so get ready for lots of bread!  I'm hooking up with 

Celia from Fig Jam and Lime cordial along with hundreds of other food obsessed bloggers from around the world.  If you love to see what's in other peoples kitchens, pop over to Celia's blog and get stalking!
I'll have to apologise for the exposure of some of the picutres - firstly I had to resell my new camera as it just didn't do what I hoped (rookie error!!) so it's back to my phone and secondly it's so dim in my kitchen and it gets dark so early :( but anyway,

 grab a cuppa or a wine and settle in cause here we go.....

I'll admit, I've been crocheting over blogging due to a few orders for my 
granny stripe blanket.  I'm halfway through this one now and am loving it just as much as the first one.  

In my kitchen has been a steady stream of Jerusalem artichokes and parsnips.  

In my kithchen, I've been crushing on this coconut yoghurt - delicious!

In my kitchen has been lots of cos and mint - I had it this day with fried rice, a dry fried egg and wrapped it up in the cos - yummy healthy lunch.  I've been trying to increase my leafy greens and fresh vegetable intake.

In my kitchen has been lots of soup for lunch too, especially this prawn chowder  - I blanch a mix  of freshly picked beetroot leaves, kolrabi leaves, kale and spinach to top this off as a vitamin power house.  I sometimes also add a poached egg to my soups to give it that extra protein hit and they add a natural creaminess to them if you keep the yolk runny.

In my kitchen has been lots of sourdough and changes to my sour dough.  This starter above is from a dear friends which must be around 15 years old now.  I did experiment with this starter some time ago which you can read about here but to be honest, I didn't quite gel with the length of time needed to get to the final product and I killed her.  This is a new one that I hope to keep going alot longer.  There seemed to be so many steps and seeing as I'm an instinctive baker rather than a chronic step follower ( such a rebel :) ) 

I searched for a way that would be more a kin to my favourite no knead bread. 

I did lots and lots and lots of reading online but finally found what I was looking for.

Enter my new 100% hydration starter that contains the original starter.  

Isn't she beautiful!  

I just naturally feel like it's more 'alive' and gets quite bubbly when left in the fridge.  Basically it's 100gm starter, 100gm water(weigh on scales) , 100g flour.  I feed her once a week, and/or the day before I want to bake a loaf or two.  I can do it all the night/afternoon before and bake it the next morning - perfect!

Here are some of the useful blogs I used to get to where I am now.  

How to maintain a 100% hydration starter

Celia's overnight sour dough - this is the recipe I now use - I do halve it sometimes to just make one loaf.

Johanna's take on Celia's overnight sour dough - Johanna has lots of helpful tips and things she has discovered on her sour dough and bread learning curve.  Thanks for all your work Johanna.

Celia's bread section on her blog - this has been a great find.  Celia is very passionate about her bread making and has taken the time to document lots of different types.  Thank you Celia for taking the time to explain this mystery in wonderful terms and taking the fear out of it and for feeding my passion!

I fed my new starter a few times over the course of 5 days.  I did want to make 2 loaves so I needed to double my starter.  To do this you need to start a few days before baking. I took off 150g of starter (discard the rest) and added the same amounts of water and flour(150g). I left it out on the bench for 4-5 hours in a warm spot, then that night I took off 300g starter (discard the rest...you could use it to make another starter to give to a friend or bake with it) and added the same amounts of water and flour (300gm of each).  I then popped her into the fridge.  

The following day after lunch I then started Celia's recipe:

300g starter (it should be bubbly)

570g water (I used filtered or from the kettle)

18g salt

1kg flour

Mix together and leave out for 30 minutes.  Knead for a minute or 2 and then pop on the bench til the morning.

 I used Wallaby bakers flour (I've also had great success with the Laucke crusty white bread pre-mix Mr. GW accidentally brought but it has the salt in it.  

I ideally wouldn't want to use this as my go to flour as it has 

other preservatives in it)  Don't forget to take off 100g starter to keep :)

Above is the bread that resulted - not bad but not great.  5 days later I started again...but with much better results

This is the dough after it has been out on the bench over night.

Very gently tip the dough onto a floured surface and cut in half.  Lightly dust with flour and lightly shape, if at all actually as you want to keep all that air in there.  Your oven should be on as high as it can go and put camp oven or casserole dish to heat up for at least 15 minutes.  Make sure you have a piece of greaseproof baking paper on the bottom of your vessel.

Taking care to take the camp oven out of the oven, gently place your dough in and snip the top with sharp kitchen scissors or a razor and whack the lid on.  After 30 minutes take the lid off and turn your oven down to 180c.

And this is what you should have 30 minutes later.

These loaves where fantastic.  I think the main difference between this lot and the first ones is that the starter has had more feeds and time to settle in.  I was also gentler and didn't knead/shape this batch.  I can't tell you how happy this makes me.  I really have a big passion for bread baking now and never get tired of the loaves coming out of the oven.  I never thought I'd get such pleasure from something I though would be so hard and I'd never be able to do.  Just goes to show you where having a go and not worrying about the failures can lead you.

So that's me for this month.  
Thanks for taking the time to stop by, your comments are greatly loved and appreciated.  I'm now off to see what's happening in everyone else's kitchen this month.

Ciao, Jan x

Granny Stripe Blanket - Ta Dah!

I've been so excited to share this Ta-dah moment as if feels like it has taken me ages to finish.  I started it in early April and finished it a week ago, so 2 months, but that wasn't hooking everyday.  I made this blanket for some dear friends' birthday(they are a couple ;)  I giggled for a minute thinking you might thing 2 friends had to share custody!!) , whose deadline I did miss but only just :)  

This pattern is from Attic 24 blog.  Lucy also has an online shop at Wool Warehouse which is where I ordered all the yarn for this pattern in a bundle already made up.  

It has the right number of balls to go with the pattern - how genius is that relationship!!  I've ordered another bundle as I've had a few requests for the blanket and it will actually be enough for 3 blankets.  The yarn, although 100% acrylic, is a dream to crochet with and is a really great price.

The balls do come with sleeves but I was too hasty before I remembered to take photos ;)

Now this my hooking friends is genius.  I was scratching my head and worried about how I would ever remember what shade colour the yarn was....enter 

Mr. GW, such a thinker that man...so this is his idea to stick a little piece of yarn on the corresponding sleeve....now why didn't I think of that? Too worried to think clearly I think!!!

It's been almost a year to the day that I first tried my hand at crochet and I've been hooked ever since.  This is my 5th blanket I'm very proud to say.  This craft that has become my addictive hobby has seriously saved my sanity.  It gives me something tangeble to see at the end of most days when the couch is as far as I will be going.  Here are some photos....lots of photos :)

It's made with a foundation chain of 239.

I did change the border ever so slightly (moi? mess with a recipe or pattern!!) I did the last pink row in hdc (half double crochet US terms) instead of a sc (single crochet).   Boarders are my favourite part as I love seeing it all come together.  It is rolling up ever so slightly though, any tips from anyone would be appreciated!!

So there she is....now onto the next one, my fingers are itching to get started.

Ciao, Jan x

In my kitchen ~ June 2015

It's June....and that means winter here and my goodness it has been cold.  It's mid afternoon as I type this and it's 6c (42f), the heating is on and if Coco the cat gets any closer I think she might get singed.  It's also time for In my kitchen where I hook up with 

Celia from Fig Jam and Lime cordial along with hundreds of other food obsessed bloggers from around the world.  If you love to see what's in other peoples kitchens, pop over to Celia's blog and get stalking!

Lots of lovely things have been happening in my kitchen this month.  
So grab a cuppa or a wine and settle in cause here we go.....

I made these grissini sticks that have been eaten up with slices of salami and into my daughters lunchbox.  

Our Granny Smith apple tree is almost at the end of its production so I whipped up some crumbles for the freezer - perfect fodder for this bitter winter that's hit.

Seeing as we have been doing lots of preserving, especially our tomato passata, I ordered these nifty jar tongs off ebay and they are awesome.

We are at the end of what was a bumper chilli crop this year.  Mr.GW makes chilli sauce and pickled chillis with these.  I think he has enough jars for 2 years instead of one!

I was given this jar of raw honey from a friend awhile ago.  I finally used it this month in banana muffins.

My baby Kromilla has been getting a workout - lots of baby meringues and meringue nests and a few breads....

This delicious bacon and cheese ring braid was dished up with soup and not a crumb was left.

A friend had me care for her beloved 15 year old sourdough starters while she was overseas-big responsibility!! But I love the job.  I used the recipe I played with awhile ago, before I killed my starter.  I've got another on the go now and will try my hardest to nurture her for longer this time.

I adapted this recipe for bap rolls - I don't use a bread machine so did the proofing next to the heater - once until the dough had doubled in size (approx. 1 1/2 hours) and then knocked the air out, rolled into 8 rolls and then proofed again for an hour.  They were scoffed straight from the oven with this yummy soup.

This is my tomato passata served as soup with a poached egg, crispy bacon and cheese - perfect Sunday night dinner.

I played with ricotta gnocchi and marvelled at the ease of the recipe compared with the potato kind.  I like to have it with a simple sauce and a big leafy salad freshly picked from the garden.

And lastly, we've been pickling our olives and I can hardly wait to crack them open.

So that's me....thanks for stopping by and if you leave a comment I will pop over and see what's been happening in your kitchen.  

Ciao, Jan x

a gluttonous wife's city treat

A week or so ago I made the 3 hour train trip to the big smoke - Melbourne.  I love our quiet country city life but I do get excited by the thought of a few days in the city trying different restaurants or cafes - it fuels my soul.  Add to that the chance of catching up with some of my girlfriends with no children = mummy nirvana :)  

             I took my current granny stripe blanket with me which helped pass the time and keep me warm on the old rattler.  I must remember to avoid the    train coffee machine at all costs, but at 5.20am it's hard not to be tempted by it!

I started day one with lunch at my favourite go to - The Grill at Grossi Florentino.  I just can't go past it I'm afraid.  The service is always so warm and effortless and the special menu's hard to beat for $$$ value.  We had the 3 courses with a glass of wine and coffee for $50.  I had spaghetti vongole for entree, this delicious slow cooked ox cheek which was sublime and cheese for dessert.  
I admire anyone who blogs and reviews restaurants as I find it a bit 'wanky' taking photos of every thing and it does take away the moment for me personally so I apologise for not snapping every thing.  

After a great nights sleep, I made my way to find Patricia's Coffee Brewers.  When I'm planning a trip to the city, I google lots of 'bests' - like best coffee, best breakfast, best Italian and love doing the research.  I walked up and down little William St searching for Patricia's only to have to stop to ask for directions.  Just my luck, the blind man I came across knew a thing or two.  If you look for the MoVida aqua sign and head down there it's down the alley and to the right.

  

Patricia's is hipster smooth but without a beard in sight.  It is rated one of the best coffees going.  I beg to differ and was a tad disappointed with my brew but would go again to give it the benefit of the doubt. 

Not to let an opportunity go by, a quick stop off to buy an almond croissant at Laurent bakery helped raise me from the doldrums.  It was heavenly.

A casual lunch at Ba'Get was really, really good - with the traditional Vietnamese rolls of bahn mi hitting the spot.  We shared one and had a chicken rice paper roll chaser - the hoisin dipping sauce added so much to this, I wish I was eating this right now.

One of my friends flight from Sydney was delayed 5 hours (aka cancelled - naughty Jetstar) so I had some time on my hands after lunch.  I was wandering around little Lonsdale st and came across Sbriga Espresso Bar where I really, really did mean to just have a coffee but when I finished my latte, I still had time to kill and I turned my eye to this little menu just near the bar and realised they served proscecco - my favourite....the personable waiter inquired if I was finished and I ever so coyly answered that I could possibly fit in a proscecco to which he assured me he had the answer for me in an aperol spritz and it didn't disappoint.  Luckily I had to go otherwise another would have been on the cards - they are dangerously good.

Dinner that night was at MoVida but I didn't take any photos as it just wasn't the right mood for it.  I had some amazing bites that I'll share just in the printed word as they deserve to be included.

Jerusalem artichoke croquette  

Quince paste cigar with whipped goats milk cheese - amazing.

Brioche, duck liver pate and PX foam Toasted sandwhich - dangerously good

Spicy Steak tartare of raw, grass fed Wagyu beef  - almost dish of the weekend

Slowly braised beef cheek in Pedro Ximenez on cauliflower puree - my dish of the weekend and it was a shame I had to share it :)

The last decadent stop was a lunch the next day at Bistro Vue.  I had a funny conversation booking the reservation as my last name just happens to be Bennett - the same as the owner.  Again, the same banter on arrival, which helps to break the ice....maybe I could be Shannon's long lost cousin.

The two of us shared entrees of steak tartare with home cut crisps which was so different from the one at MoVida but just as good, 

and house cured Salmon with avocado and a herb sauce.

My main was a Confit duck leg with rainbow carrots and pommes sautees.  The duck leg was stuffed with a couple of garlic cloves and was delicious.  I didn't want it all to be over...but it was time to go home but I was ready and recharged.

I had weetbix with banana and sugar for dinner when I got home.

Tell me, do you get the chance to fuel your soul? What is it that you like to do?  I'm already planning my next visit.

Ciao, Jan x