Show Day

My husband and our three daughters spent the day at the show today, they are nearly finished there. I suppose the Show is like a County Fair. We also have Field Days, like Henty Field Days in Australia.



We didn't do a lot, as mentioned in my previous post. But we did get two second prizes. One for my husband's jam, and one for our puppy. He was well behaved apparently which was good, he is a fairly large dog.



Our daughter helped man a church stall which was nice I thought. They were doing games, I think to encourage others to come to Youth Group.



Apparently our dog will be eligible for the working dog events next year as he is a gun dog.



My little girl got what we call here "fairy floss". My older girl got some jewelery.



I am going to post a picture of some canning or preserving on my other blog. It was quite hot today, and windy. Good for the dunking or rather hit in the face with a wet sponge stall.

Off milk and curing your own meat

This book is a joy to us. We didn't know a book like this existed. We already had a Leader Spare Corner book, I think originally from the Spare Corner of the Leader newspaper. It was where the recipes were published. Then after so many months or years they published the spare corners into a book. We recently bought a better copy of the one we had that had no cover. This one is in a much better format. For example it reads like a normal cooking book.

I found a section for example for eggless puddings. I know this is interesting, because I am eggless and have decided that I am not going to replace them until next shopping day, which is in two weeks. I want to keep our left over money for my husband's trip and the girls day at the show. I don't need a pudding though but it is interesting. I suppose if our meals turn out a bit light I could try one.

Last winter I found a curious bag in the supermarket where I shop. It is a farming district and I assume it is salt petre. My husband says it could be carcenergenic. However, imagine having sheep and being able to pickle some of the meat. I suppose freezers are just as good. I love pickled leg of lamb though, I used to have it for Christmas. Maybe my Nana did it so I would know what it was like. Maybe it is that bit special, it did taste nice. Anyway the book has the recipe. That is special in itself because I was sorry I didn't know how to use this ingredient that was prominently on my supermarket shelf.

I found a recipe for scones that uses up off milk. I thought these days with fewer people in homes that could be useful. We use UHT milk, and it doesn't go off really, you don't have to be as careful with it.

Sour Milk Scones

Never throw away a cup of sour milk, keep it, as it makes the most delightful scones. Into 3/4lb. plain flour mix 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar 1/2 teaspoon carbonate of soda, and sift all together in order to get rid of the lumps. Mix into a light, but not too moist, dough with the sour milk, shape into a round on a floured board, and then cut into triangles and bake for twenty minutes on a buttered tin in a good top heat. Mrs. A.K.

I assume it is for slightly off milk.

I wonder if these recipes were tested. Lots of them say, for example for plum sauce, that it will keep. The recipes seemed to have practicality in mind.

Agricultural Show

The Agricultural Show is coming up fast. Last night my daughter picked up a booklet which has all the things you can enter. These are photos from last year. So far very quickly we have thought to enter our nearly grown puppy into a puppy competition. The reason being is we don't think we should enter him in the other section as he is not as well behaved as an adult dog. We have done some preserving, so that is an idea, to enter the plum jam. There is a stipulation there has to be clear covers, but looking through the photos we entered one last year (I know I was worried about the covers, I must have forgotten that detail). I did think of entering roses from the other house as I think they are nice, however, I am not sure what a floribunda is, will have to do some research on that one.



My daughters are not as keen as I am about floral saucer decorating. I didn't think I had any small flowers, but I am sure there would be some at my new house. Lots of driving involved and we wanted to renovate this weekend. (Yes it is a petty thing to worry about.)



I would prefer to do not much, but it seems worth it later on. I haven't entered flowers at this particular show before, but do remember doing that with my Nana for flower shows when I was little.



We have entered dolls and sewing here before, but no fresh ideas for that. If we enter the puppy will have to go in the Grand Parade.




Last year my husband and the two girls, got a second prize for something, my husband got two.




I used to love reading books to my littlest daughter a few years ago, Farmyard Tales by Heather Amery. One particular book was about the show, I think it is The Naughty Sheep. Have a look at the illustrations, it is an English story I think. Here are some snippets of what I have written previously about the Show.

"Earlier on in the year we went to the Agricultural Show. In our hometown I hadn't attended very often. I am not sure if this was our first or second visit to this show here, but our daughter won a prize for her toy bear that miraclously appeared during our practise year Christmas. I remember the first Show included a Punch & Judy performance and I was thrilled. The Show included what was in my childhood a Red Cross flower show. The Junior part had been joined to the Agricultural Show and the senior part left as it is. Need I say more?



I was thrilled to get reacquainted with Floral Saucers, though my daughters don't share my enthusiasm. My Nana and I had a lovely time attending flower shows, until the day, well I still enjoyed them; but, Nana put rag curls in my hair and I ended up with an afro."

Today, I am getting ready and going to sign up dh's jam melon pickles and chutney for the fair/show. Also dd5 and dd11 made some pet rocks and we have a melon...



My doll's name is Suzy. She is a 60s doll and I was happy lately that our local Show or Fair had a section for exhibition only where you could display your doll."

Too much plum jam?

Made lots and not sure you can use it all up? Maybe it has set too hard? This recipe is a family favourite that we used to make often with chops not fillets. It is an Ellen Sinclair recipe.

Pork Fillets in Plum Sauce

4 pork fillets
cornflour
60g (2oz) butter
2 onions
1 red pepper or capsicum
2 sticks celery
4 shallots or spring onions
2.5cm (1 in) piece green ginger

Plum Sauce
1/3 cup plum jam
1 chicken stock cube
2 teaspoons cornflour extra
1/2 cup water
3 teaspoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons dry sherry
1 clove garlic

Remove any fat from pork, coat fillets lightly with cornflour. Peel onion, cut into quarters. Cut red pepper in half, remove seeds and membranes, cut into slices. Slice celery, chop shallots, grate ginger.

Heat butter in pan, add pork, cook until golden and cooked through; remove from pan, keep warm. Add all vegetables to pan, cook 1 minute. Add Sauce, stir until Sauce boils and thickens. Cut pork fillets into thick diagonal slices, arrange on serving plate, spoon vegetables and sauce over.

Plum Sauce: Combine all ingredients, mix well. Serves 4.

Metric cups 250ml US cups 200ml. Tablespoon 20ml, US tablespoon 15ml.

Stretching the Meat

I read a great post about how to stretch meat without the meat eater knowing. Very good advice. The blog is really great reading. A family in corporate Australia living the simple life.

Here is what we did recently to stretch the meat. We loved it, it was like a frajita in a lot of ways.

Why do we stretch meat in our family? This particular blade steak came to be in our freezer as my car was in the workshop I think. My husband was going down to the local shop after work and he got whatever meat was left that was OK for us to use, meaning not something we really wouldn't want. To have enough for our family he traditionally would have to buy two packets, which there probably wasn't at that time.

I recently read that the amount of meat a person needs each day is related to their weight. If you are 80k, you need 80g. You can find that article here. It is an article about budgeting.

Beef & Red Lentil Curry

Serves 6

400gm blade steak
80g (1/3 cup) korma (mild) or Indian curry paste
2 tsp light olive oil
1 brown onion, coarsely chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
2 tsp finely chopped fresh ginger
1 1/2 cups red lentils
500ml water
400ml coconut milk
pita bread
2 beef stock cubes
greek yoghurt

Please beef and half the curry paste in a glass or ceramic bowl, and turn to coat. Heat half the oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the beef and cook turning occasionally for 4-5 minutes or until brown.

Add remaining oil over medium-low heat, add onion, garlic and ginger and cook, stirring occasionally, for 2 minutes or until the onions softens slightly. Stir in the remaining curry paste.

Add the lentils, stock, coconut milk and water to the pan. Bring to the boil over high heat. Reduce heat to medium and simmer for 10 mintues. Return the beef to the pan and simmer for a further 8 minutes or until tender.

Serve as a wrap with yoghurt on top of meat.

This recipe has been adapted from here. There are variations that make prove just as adaptable.

Preserving Pans

My Mum has/had a preserving pan, it made a distinctive sound when you put the handle down. That was because it was made of aluminium.

I was a reading the Ezibuy homewares catalogue today, and found a red enamelled preserving pan. My husband likes it, and it is much cheaper than the $237 maslin pan from the Aga shop.

Ezibuy also has quilted jars and Ball jars much like the old fashioned Agee jars in Australia which I use to hold dried lentils etc. Why would you want a quilted jar? Because the Americans have them, and it is nice to have something similar sometimes.

Seeking Simplicity

I found this new blog that is all about simplicity, named appropriately Seeking Simplicity. I feel this TV video doesn't do it justice. See what you think and visit the link on the sidebar, or click here.

Homemade Worcestershire Sauce

This sauce is a family recipe. It keeps indefinitely and we love it. It comes from the Leader Spare Corner book. My husband first made it probably in 1984.

Worcestershire Sauce

1 gallon vinegar (make sure you have the right gallon recipe for the right country)
1 oz cayene
1/4 oz cloves
1/2 oz ground mace
1/4 oz allspice
1/2 oz ground ginger
1/4 lb salt (+ 1oz garlic my husband has added this)
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup treacle

Crush all ingredients together and mix with cup cold water and put into boiling vinegar. Simmer for 1 hour. Strain and bottle. Strain through an open fabric, leave some sediment with it.

My cheapest ever recipe

We made this in Flowerdale when we lived there because you needed no money really to make it, or so it seemed. It saved as a few times. We were renting and also paying off a mortgage in our hometown at the same time. The recipe comes from a newer version of Cookery The Australian Way, a home economics text book. There is a lovely vegetarian section in that book (6th edition).

Spicy Lentil Noodles

Serves 4

2 teaspoons (10ml) oil
1 onion (125g) finely chopped
425g can tomatoes, chopped
1/2 cup (100g) brown lentils
1 tablespoon (20ml) sweet chilli sauce
1 teaspoon (5ml) Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons tomato paste
Instant noodles (2 minute)
2 tablespoon grated cheese
pinch sugar
2 chicken stock cubes

Heat oil in saucepan. Add onion and saute until soft. Add tomatoes, lentils, sauces and tomato paste, stock cubes and sugar.

Bring to the boil and simmer gently for 30 minutes until lentils are tender. Cook noodles, drain.

Add noodles to lentil mixture and mix gently. Serve hot, sprinkled with grated cheese.

Pantry Restocked, Meals Planned

Well I definitely didn't need airconditioning on my day out to get the food. I came across a sheep or two near the road, two dairy cows with collars one each side of the road, it took awhile to slow down for them. They weren't impressed either and decided to head for home. I saw two kangaroos eating in an elevated paddock, with very native looking grass not far from the tree line.

It was cold when I stepped out of the car when I got there, then it started raining, raining lightly on the way home.

My husband buys the washing powder, cheese and milk and will do that, and then the fruit order will come on Tuesday with the bread.

Thursday ~ beef & red lentil curry
Friday ~ stir fry sausages
Saturday ~ bean and pumpkin stew
Sunday ~ Spaghettini with tuna, capers & chilli
Monday ~ warm pasta & tuna salad
Tuesday ~ veal campagnola
Wednesday ~ chops, chips & Greek salad
Thursday ~ chicken snitzel burgers with radish and cucumber salsa
Friday ~ pasta with sausage, rosemary and tomato sauce
Saturday ~ pork chow mein
Sunday ~ mince stroganoff
Monday ~ sausage casserole
Tuesday ~ spaghetti bolognaise
Wednesday ~ chow mein

Making Plum Jam

We had a knock on the door midweek, the person bearing nashis and over 15lb of small blood plums.

On a very hot Saturday I weighed the plums and hubby bought the last of the sugar at a small supermarket near our new house. I had checked an old Department of Agriculture Victoria book and called him with how much sugar I thought we would need. I checked on ebay, bad move and found another interesting cookbook to buy. We have had so much value with preserves and things with out old books that we have had over 20 years. They were my husband's mostly.

I found a recipe in my new school fundraiser book.

Blood Plum Jam

1lb plums, piped
3/4lb sugar
for every pound of fruit add 2 tablespoons of water

Boil plums and water together until soft then add sugar slowly and simmer (not boil) till a skin forms on top of jam. Do not stir. Bottle in warm sterilised jars.

We did a pectin test and did 1lb for 1lb. I must say it set very hard.

This morning, Sunday, another hot day after a hot night. Both days were over 40oC. My husband started the jam. We have two pots of jam going. Some is bottled as you can see.

Cost of sugar $11. Twenty jars of jam.





My son liked the taste, and he wants scones to go with it. I don't think, since scones are cooked in a hotter than normal oven, that will be happening today.