Mad Monday – Day 27 NaBloPoMo 2017

27 Nov 2017 1 Comment

by Debra Manskey in Baking, Urban Farming, Vegetable Gardening Tags: , , ,

A quick post tonight after a very mad Monday!

I realised fairly late in the day that I had no burritos or tacos to go with the wonderful beef and bean taco mix the Gentleman of the House (aka GotH) had made up while I was out at work. I usually make fairly big batches of my own wheat tacos with bread flour, a little water and a dash of oil – just enough to pull it all together – roll them out and freeze the leftovers. Sadly, the freezer was bare!

So, while I was feeding Wee Beastie, my sourdough plant, I struck on an idea that turned out to be a total winner. I love having real sourdough but we don’t go through a lot of bread in this household, so I’m always looking for ways to use up excess starter.

Here’s the recipe:

Wee Beastie Burritos (Makes 4)

1 cup strong bread flour

1/4 cup sourdough starter

1/8 – 1/4 cup water

1 tab olive oil

pinch of salt

extra flour for dusting

Method: 

In a mixing bowl combine the bread flour and salt. Make a well in the center and pour in the sourdough starter. Mix with a wooden spoon until it resembles bread crumbs. Add the water a little at a time until it comes together in a ball and mix in the oil. It should come away cleanly from the side of the bowl.

Turn out on a lightly floured board and knead it for a couple of minutes, it should be quite smooth and elastic but a little drier than a bread dough. Put it back in the mixing bowl and cover, leaving it for about an hour.

Prepare a heavy-based fry pan on medium high heat. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knock any air out of it. Cut it evenly into four pieces. Roll out each piece to a thin, roughly pan-sized circle and cook in the dry fry pan a minute or two on each side. Be careful not to burn them!

Wrap the cooked burritos in a clean tea towel – I take them to the table like that!

Fill with your favourite taco or burrito mix (we had Chilli Beef and Black Beans tonight), grated cheese and chopped leafy greens, Italian parsley or coriander leaves.

I’m going to make more of these for the freezer later in the week I think – they were delicious! If you try this recipe, please let me know what you think – I’m keen for feedback 🙂

25 Get To Know Me Questions – Day 26 NaBloPoMo 2017

26 Nov 2017 Leave a comment

by Debra Manskey in Biography Tags: ,

Because it’s NaBloPoMo, I’ve been reading a lot of blogs – even more than usual – including Needles & Wool. Lisa put these questions up, following on from Megan Has OCD.

It was an interesting experience, I hope you enjoy it and please feel free to keep it going, answer your own 25 questions and let me know so I can read your responses too 🙂

 

  1. What is your middle name? Kaye – and I have no idea where it came from or if it has any family significance!

 

  1. What was your favourite subject at school? When I was at high school (literally, back in the last millennium!) I really enjoyed English and History but since I’ve been back at university, I’d have to say all the Film Studies units – they’ve been wonderful!

 

  1. What is your favourite drink? At the moment, Grapefruit & Lemon syrup with plain soda and lots of ice or a fresh mango smoothie with lots of homemade yogurt. But I love a good single malt occasionally or a glass of wine.

 

  1. What is your favourite song at the moment? Good grief! As a professional musician and songwriter, this is a diabolically difficult question. Recently, I’ve been listening to Portishead, Clutch, Einsturzende Neubaten and Tori Amos’ new album, Native Invader. 

 

  1. What is your favourite food? I eat meat and really enjoy an old fashioned roast, but I think my favourite is probably fresh salad from the garden – green or fruit 🙂

 

  1. What is the last thing you bought? A present for a loved one – a book of course 🙂

 

  1. Favourite book of all time? Oh dear, there’s so many! At the moment (thanks to recent study) I’m re-reading a lot of Margaret Atwood and I’ve fallen in love again with the enigmatic Grace Marks in Alias Grace. And my tutor put me on to The Gilda Stories by Jewelle Gomez, which I’m thoroughly enjoying.

 

  1. Favourite colour? Purple always!

 

  1. Do you have any pets? Three lovely rabbits and six eccentric, elderly chickens – all very spoilt and treasured pets ❤

 

  1. Favourite perfume? I have a few I like to wear depending on my mood, but my “go to” for the last few years has been Crabtree & Evelyn’s Summer Hill.

 

  1. Favourite holiday? Probably Xmas/New Year because it’s mid-summer here in Australia

 

  1. Are you married? Have been but it didn’t take.

 

  1. Have you ever been out of the country? Yes, I’ve been to Singapore, France and England. I really want to go to Canada, Japan and see more of Europe, maybe the US at some stage.

 

  1. Do you speak any other languages? To quote Corbin Dallas from The Fifth Element “I only speak English and bad English”, a sad reflection of being a middle-aged white Anglo-Australian. Seriously, besides English I have retained a little French and less Latin from high school.

 

  1. How many siblings do you have? An older brother and sister, sadly both deceased and missed every day ❤

 

  1. What is your favourite shop? That’s easy – Cracked & Spineless New & Used Books ❤

 

  1. Favourite restaurant? Again, it depends on my mood. Tokyo & Seoul for the best sushi in Sandy Bay and Dumpling Express https://www.dumplingexpress.com.au

 

  1. When was the last time you cried? A few weeks ago, when I saw the latest Aronofsky film, mother! (Yes, movies can make me cry!)

 

  1. Favourite Blog? I read a lot of blogs about many different subjects, I don’t want to single out any one.

 

  1. Favourite movie? So. Very. Hard. There isn’t just one. Studio Ghibli favourites are Porco Rosso (1992) and the amazing Princess Mononoke (1997); westerns would be The Searchers (1956) and Andrew Dominik’s astonishing The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007); favourite science fiction is still Duncan Jones’ Moon (2009) and I still love The Exorcist (1973).

 

  1. Favourite TV shows? Another hard question. I don’t watch an awful lot of TV but this year I’ve really enjoyed Dark Matter and very recently watched Star Trek: Discovery. I still love Firefly, and the animes Ghost in the Shell and Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood.

 

  1. PC or Mac? PC always

 

  1. What phone do you have? An old Android Nexus 5 – still hanging in there!

 

  1. How tall are you? A mere 164 cm (5’4”) – so short!

 

  1. Can you cook? Yes! I particularly love to cook the food I’ve raised or grown myself and living in Tasmania, I have access to some of the best produce on the planet.

 

Super Saturday – Day 25 NaBloPoMo 2017

25 Nov 2017 Leave a comment

by Debra Manskey in Inspiration, Music, Performance, Singing, Teaching Tags: , , , , , ,

Oh what a day!

The Superstars played a set at today’s Christmas Lunch for OAK – Possability participants and I was very proud of us all. We played a selection of our favourites, that showcase people’s skills, a few festive numbers and a couple we’ve written. And ended up doing encores of audience favourites!

Playing in a band is quite a tribal thing, and it’s evident that we’ve made connections with each other that are lasting. This was particularly clear today. Two of our group, Kathryn and Sally have been away sick for a few weeks and turned up today with their families – ready, willing and able to perform. As a professional musician, I couldn’t have asked for more commitment than these people gave ❤

Me and my lovely friend Sally (aka “my gorgie one”)

Although we’re a month early, it was a lovely festive function and we had heaps of really excellent Xmas food to eat. (So much, I couldn’t eat dessert!) It was a very warm, muggy day but we finally got some brief respite with a thunderstorm and a little rain this afternoon.

All round, I think I’m a very lucky woman – I live in a lovely part of the world, I’ve clean water and good food to eat, and work that sustains me, letting me work with dedicated staff and fantastically talented participants ❤

Friday Night Chicken – Day 24 NaBloPoMo 2017

24 Nov 2017 2 Comments

by Debra Manskey in Cooking, Fruit, Produce, Urban Farming Tags: , , , , ,

Before I left for work this morning, we decided on chicken breast for tonight’s dinner. We really weren’t sure what to do with it but we wanted it to be easy – it’s been a busy week and the weather’s still very warm!

I’d been to our local deli on the way home and picked up bacon (among other goodies) so we thought we’d stuff the breasts, wrap them in bacon and bake them. But what to use as a stuffing?

Well, when I was a kid, things wrapped in bacon and grilled were a bit of a fad. Angels on Horseback and Devils on Horseback (oysters and prunes respectively) were really popular as hors d’oeuvres – and I still have a jar of prunes from last year’s plum crop 🙂 As I mentioned last week, the early garlic harvest has been less than wonderful but it tastes wonderful and even though it isn’t properly cured yet, we decided to start using it.

It was really very easy and the results were delicious! Here’s the recipe:

Garlic & Prune Stuffed Chicken Breast (Serves 2)

 

2 skinless chicken breast, butterflied

4 dried prune halves

1/4 cup Marsala or dry sherry

2 full rashers of bacon

4 cloves garlic, chopped fairly finely

2 tabs butter, softened

Herbs/spices for topping (we used a Moroccan-style mix with some chilli – but use what you prefer)

Method: 

In a small bowl, soak the prunes in Marsala for at least a couple of hours – the longer the better. Once the prunes are plump, drain and chop them roughly. Put them back in the bowl and add the garlic and softened (room temperature) butter.

Open the butterflied chicken breasts and spoon the prune/garlic butter mixture down the center. Close them and press down lightly to seal the edges. Sprinkle with herbs and spices of your choice. (If you like to add salt, this would be the time for a sprinkle)

On an oven tray, lay 2 rashers of bacon diagonally and lay the chicken breasts across them. The tails of the bacon should wrap across the top of each breast.

Bake in a moderate oven until the chicken is cooked through (20-25 minutes).

I made a very quick couscous with vegetables as a side.

It was absolutely delicious and a lovely quick dinner to make together at the end of another frantic week. The chicken was succulent, fragrant with garlic and the bacon was lightly crisped on top. The Marsala soaked prunes pieces added some sweetness without overwhelming the dish. Couscous was the perfect companion to this – light, fluffy and full of garden herbs and vegetables.

 

We’ll be making this again for sure ❤

Tomorrow The Superstars are performing at an Oak luncheon. Hopefully, there’ll be some photos too 🙂

Shortcuts & Syrups – Day 23 NaBloPoMo 2017

23 Nov 2017 Leave a comment

by Debra Manskey in Cooking, Fruit, Preserving, Produce, Urban Farming, Vegetable Gardening Tags: , , , ,

I resolved to have an indoor day today, trying to survive this Tassie heatwave, and decided to get some kitchen jobs done.

Realising I was all but out of yogurt early this morning (enough to change my breakfast plans) I decided to do what I call a shortcut jar, and it couldn’t be easier. I have an ancient EasiYo passive yogurt maker I bought new about 20 years ago. It’s probably one of the best purchases I’ve ever made as my family go through a lot of yogurt! Although EasiYo sell sachets of starter, I generally use a dollop of the last batch and refresh it with new starter culture every few months. My preferred starter is plain Greek style.

To save having to go to the shop for extra fresh milk, I took a favourite shortcut, and used powdered full cream milk. It’s a great thing to have in the pantry cupboard in case I run out of real milk, and I also use it to enrich sauces, puddings – and yogurt! For my 1 litre tub, I use 1 1/4 cups of milk power mixed thoroughly with about 500 ml cold water. Filtered or rain water is best for this, as tap water additives can inhibit the culture.

Once the milk powder is well incorporated, I add a generous half cup of yogurt from the last batch

Mix thoroughly and top up with cold water if necessary.

Then it’s just a matter of filling the maker with boiling water, making sure the trivet is the right way up, and putting in the yogurt jar and screwing on the lid. Leave it for 8-12 hours, depending on how sharp you like your finished yogurt. I generally leave mine 9 hours but a little longer if I’m making cheese from it.

The finished product is really lovely, creamy and tangy. Perfect with fruit, making smoothies and using for dips and dressings.

Once the yogurt was out of the way, I juiced a bag of oranges that were past their best but still good, and about 10 grapefruit I was given by friends a few weeks ago. I used the same standard recipe I have for lemon syrup and it made about two litres.

Finally, I bottled my stash of spring grapevine leaves (close to 50), destined for dolmades later in summer. After cleaning them all and removing the stems, I blanched them in a strong boiling brine, plunged them in a pot of icy water and (once they were cool enough to handle) rolled them up in bundles of 10. I put them in a small preserving jar and covered them with boiling brine and 1 teaspoon of Citric Acid. Then I processed them along with the bottles of syrup for 15 minutes.

It was hot work, but totally worth the bother. The syrup is sharp and sweet, perfect in iced water as a refreshing drink – even better with plain soda and a dash of vodka for the adults – and makes a very interesting ice cream topping.

The vine leaves always lose their bright green hue but are wonderful. They apparently keep very well in this acidulated brine – but they never last longer than a few months here! Now the grapevine is starting to take off, I feel better about doing more jars through the season 🙂

So, now I’m sitting happily watching the cricket, (the Ashes series has started!) and I’m waiting for it to cool down enough to feed the animals, water and pick salad for a late dinner. I might have to make a yogurt dressing 🙂

See you all tomorrow, and Happy Thanksgiving to all my US friends ❤

Too Much Too Soon – Day 22 NaBloPoMo 2017

22 Nov 2017 2 Comments

by Debra Manskey in Chickens, Rabbits, Urban Farming, Vegetable Gardening Tags: , , ,

I thought it was unusually warm for this time of year but apparently it’s a record-breaking heatwave for Tasmania. The forecast for tomorrow has been upgraded to 31 C (about 88 F) and hopefully a thunderstorm in the afternoon.

Despite all the mulch I use and regular watering, things are looking a bit dire out in the yard. The chickens and rabbits have good shelter – the bunnies even have their own umbrella – and plenty of fresh water and greens, but I always think this is the hardest time of year for them.

This evening when I went down the yard to feed everyone and water the garden, Boudica our British Giant doe was stretched out next to her water bottle and demanded to be hand fed her fresh grass ration. As you can see, she’s a dreadfully vicious creature – not!

Although I’ve been at work, I’ve had a week off from study and was hoping to get a lot of gardening done, but all I’ve managed to do so far is pull some garlic and try to keep things alive.

As I write at 10:40 pm, it’s still 18 C (64 F) and very hot in the house. I hope we get the forecast thunderstorm tomorrow. This is too much too soon for my taste!

 

Atomic Blonde – Day 21 NaBloPoMo 2017

21 Nov 2017 Leave a comment

by Debra Manskey in Movie Review, Writing Tags: , , , , ,

Atomic Blonde 2017. Directed by David Leitch.

I only watched this for the first time a few days ago – it had quite a short run at my local cinemas – and I was expecting something of a spy-romp, in the vein of Modesty Blaise (1966). It was a surprisingly taut and very stylish spy thriller but I found the narrative (based on a graphic novel “The Coldest City”) a little on the light side.

The cast are universally excellent, from Charlize Theron leading the pack as the MI6 agent, Lorraine Broughton, James McAvoy at his sleazy best as the Berlin MI6 agent, and Sofia Boutella as the French agent, Delphine. They are ably supported by three of my favourite actors – John Goodman, Eddie Marsan and Toby Jones. And look out for baby-faced Bill Skarsgard who recently starred as Pennywise in It (2017).

There’s a couple of editing choices in the action scenes that I questioned but generally, this is where the movie shone. Unfortunately, the script is pretty flimsy and if it weren’t for Theron’s incredible and insightful performance as the world-weary spy, this probably would’ve collapsed in on itself and totally bombed. It’s yet another case of a really fine cast of actors having little to work with.

Having said that, this is a perfectly serviceable first feature from David Leitch, a well-known stuntman and stunt coordinator (he’s been Brad Pitt’s stunt double in something like five of his films). Leitch has worked a lot with the Wachowskis and was an uncredited director on the surprise hit, John Wick (2014). I look forward to seeing how his directing career progresses – apparently his next film will be the Deadpool sequel.

Nevertheless, Atomic Blonde is another perfectly fine popcorn movie and (despite narrative issues) a solid start for David Leitch.

The Woman in Black – Day 20 NaBloPoMo 2017

20 Nov 2017 Leave a comment

by Debra Manskey in Movie Review, Writing Tags: , , , , ,

The Woman in Black 2012. Directed by James Watkins.

This is quite an interesting film in several respects. Firstly, it was based on the wonderful novella of the same name by English writer, Susan Hill. Despite its Edwardian setting and reading like a period Gothic horror, it was originally published in 1983.

Secondly, it was part of the re-emergence of Hammer Film Productions, that most famous British horror studio. In the 60’s and 70’s Hammer was the spiritual home for so many people like me, who grew up watching Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing.

Thirdly, it was the first bona fide adult screen role that Daniel Radcliffe took on post Harry Potter. And despite the fact (to me at least) he looks almost impossibly young, he really brings a lot of heart to the role of Arthur Kipps and undeniable star power to the whole film. And he pretty much carries the movie. I particularly enjoyed his scenes with Ciaran Hinds, and by the end, found myself genuinely caring about poor Arthur.

Despite being a fairly standard tale in many respects, this is a genuinely fine old-school horror film, with good measures of tension, scares and pathos. It also caused quite a stir in the UK when the BBFC (British Board of Film Classification) decided to rate it a 12A instead of a more appropriate 15. The producers offered to cut a few scenes in order to get the lower rating – and capitalise on Radcliffe’s huge box office appeal to young audiences.

Nevertheless, this is still a good and very entertaining film. I think it’s worth a watch, if only for Radcliffe taking his first steps to shake off the shadow of the boy wizard.

Apples! – Day 19 NaBloPoMo 2017

19 Nov 2017 Leave a comment

by Debra Manskey in Fruit, Produce, Urban Farming Tags: , , , , ,

Spring is such a busy time around here. There’s so much to do – planting, weeding and watering are starting to take up a lot of my time – apart from the daily routines (aka playing with the bunnies and talking/singing to chickens) and making sure the greenhouse doesn’t dry out. And there’s always lots of eggs and plenty of salad greens to eat.

Berry fruit is starting to set and I think we’ll have a good crop of raspberries again this year. I was incredibly heartened to see my grape vine is setting fruit. It’s a pretty common Thompson’s Seedless table grape, but I planted it about 18 months ago to climb up over the chicken’s run and give them some shade through summer. It’s really thrived after I pruned it back in early winter and I’m hoping the fruit will make it to maturity. I’ve got a couple of other varieties that I bought in very small pots and I’m growing on. Hopefully, they’ll be ready to plant out at the end of autumn next year.

The vine is strong enough that I’ve been harvesting the biggest, most perfect leaves to preserve in brine and make dolmades, one of my favourite snacks. I’ve got enough now to make up a 1 kg jar (about 60 leaves) and I’ll do that sometime this coming week.

I’ve been experimenting with wicking boxes and barrels the last few years to cut down the amount of watering. This system uses a water reservoir that I fill up through a poly pipe and run off outlet just below the soil level so the plants don’t get inundated. I’m having a lot of success growing fruit trees on dwarfing rootstock by this method. In particular, the apples I planted in winter 2016 are doing incredibly well. I bought a Pomme de Neige (aka Snow Apple or Lady in the Snow), Sturmer, McIntosh and Royal Gala (all bare rooted from a local grower). They’ve all thrived in their wicking barrels and after taking all the embryonic fruit off last summer and light pruning this winter, they’re developing into healthy and strong small trees. I’m going to let them bear this time and I’m especially thrilled with the Royal Gala, which will be the first to harvest.

Baby Royal Gala

Now that we’re past the windiest part of spring (fingers crossed!) I’m going to thin the fruit soon – the Pomme de Neige is particularly laden – but I’m very happy with their progress. Despite living in Tasmania (traditionally called the Apple Isle), it can be hard to find good apples and difficult to know if they’ve been sprayed. It’ll be fabulous to have some home grown beauties! ❤

 

Garlic Harvest Blues – Day 18 NaBloPoMo 2017

18 Nov 2017 2 Comments

by Debra Manskey in Produce, Urban Farming, Vegetable Gardening Tags: , , , ,

One of the great things about keeping a blog is being able to compare harvests over time. And one crop that usually grows really well for me is garlic. We use it a lot so I grow plenty, and this year I thought with three beds, I might have enough to see our household through the year. And in the nearly eight years I’ve been living here I’ve only ever had a garlic crop fail twice, once about five years ago and this year.

My maincrop variety (like so many great gardening stories) started out with a few cloves someone gave me. I think it was a standard Tasmanian purple skin (but who knows?) and it keeps quite well for six or seven months. Over the years I’ve built up my stocks, only keeping the best and biggest cloves to replant the following autumn. And I carefully rotate beds, mulch them well and leave them to get on with it. Generally, there’s not a lot to do except weeding – they don’t like competition.

I carefully checked a couple that were starting to die back a few weeks ago, and was shocked to see as I eased the soil back that there was very little bulb development. Also, they were slow to get started and we had a lot of rain – so much that it looks like 30-40% rotted in the ground. I’ve heard from friends that I’m not the only one to have problems this year – but I don’t know if that makes me feel better or more concerned!

Harvesting garlic as I’ve said before, is something of an arcane art. Too early and the heads aren’t properly developed, but leave it too late and bulbs will split and don’t keep. After some very warm weather and a thunderstorm last week, I decided it was time to pull the worst affected bed.

It was pretty “meh” compared to previous harvests but I suppose is better than none at all.

Part of this year’s poor garlic harvest

The next bed doesn’t seem to be as bad, the plants seem stronger and stems thicker, but it’s dying back and will need to come out in the next week or so.

The final bed looks like this season’s winner, all named varieties I bought from a local specialist grower, specifically for their long keeping qualities – planted later and correspondingly will be harvested later. And they’re looking very good – thanks Letetia 🙂 I think I might be changing my maincrop variety next year!

It was warm out in the yard today, a really beautiful spring day, and while I took a break in the shade of the plum tree, I found some very well formed reminders that summer’s just around the corner ❤

Prune plums forming on the tree

Have a great Saturday everyone and see you tomorrow 🙂

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