In Retrospect - Third Quarter

Another 3 months down - I felt I was stagnating somewhat (for various reasons) for most of these 3 months, but I've had some forced forays out of the comfort zone in the last month or so.

Food.  My new favourite green thing is kale.  I now order it for every delivery.  So far it's only been cooked in stir fries so if there are recipe suggestions out there, speak up!  I've been a bit more creative with biscuit flavours too (even more since the previous biscuit post), and have more ideas up my sleeve.  And having milk (and now, fish as well) delivered weekly is wonderful.  I hardly need to go to a supermarket now!  Plus all that feel-good feeling of helping local farmers - what's not to like?!

Domestics - Indoors.  Just little things.  My brother's stereo has been at my place for ages, but I gave it back to him yesterday.  This means I have cleaner lines in that area (good) but no radio (not so good).  I downloaded an app but it appears to have problems in iOS 6...  The radio in my bedroom still works so that might just have to do me for now.  I bought different cleaning products last week, too - I'd run out but forgotten to reorder.  I really like this new variety (brand name 'method').  The new arrangement of the living room has stuck.  It is more open, and all the students and parents seem to like it more.  I guess it's staying.  And I have new pictures by the stairs (although some of them have fallen down - need bigger hooks).

Domestics - Outdoors.  Whoa - garden!  Some of my older outfit posts have photos taken in the courtyard, and you can see the jungle qualities present.  And the shade/lack of light.  Now, it is much barer, neater, sunnier.  Plus, I have green things growing and not just a few square metres of paving.  I like.  This has also brought back my gardening mojo (at least so far).  Fingers crossed for more edibles other than herbs. 

Me.  I feel I've had a bit of a makeover lately.  New hair, new glasses, new goals for life.  I've been contemplating that which was previously inconceivable.  And I've started doing things, like telling people if there's a problem, or asking people to sign a petition for something I believe is really important.

Other Little Things.  I actually downloaded iOS 6 for my phone - I feel like I have a new phone.  This was not a disaster.  I can now deal with chocolate that is not broken evenly (well, usually).  I am a bit more careful what I share on the internet.  You may have noticed the absence of Spending Reports - this is because I haven't bought any clothes or accessories for 3 whole months.  This began as a "let's see if I can do this" and now it's in that "how long can this go on" phase.  I even tried on a dress at my favourite Lifeline last week, but decided against it.  Having just seen my shoe collection en masse I suspect it's time for a wardrobe cull.  I've started ordering things online more.  It seems we've started a dinner party tradition with the group from church (we had one last night - they're fabulous!).  I started another blog.  I can run with far less brain preparation than before - and even do better than if I had more brain preparation.  Weird.  Oh, and I've been reading a book series out of order.  I've read them all before (I don't think I could have coped otherwise), but read #3, then #2, #4 and again #4 (couldn't sleep one night last week at the coast).  Blaming it on the library...

So, although parts of these 3 months have seen me huddled in a corner, I have changed a lot of my surroundings and person and way that I am. 

Monday's photo:

Dinner last night was indeed fabulous.  Dessert was all homemade of course - lemon tart with raspberry and lemon sorbets and (lactose-free) vanilla bean ice cream.

Today's photo:

I am very pleased with this pot of herbs.  The basil has had a resurgence recently, the parsley isn't dead, and the chives (newbies) are still alive.  The whole thing looks like an explosion of green.

Ordering Plants Online

Monday morning, and I wanted to buy a small tree.  After recent gardening endeavours, I've been left with a much nicer and neater courtyard.  Much more sunlight is encouraging me to plant edibles.  No privacy, though, is rather disconcerting.  I can see right into my neighbour's rooms.  Obviously, they can see right into my living room, too.  Hence the desire for a small tree.

Instead of wandering into local nurseries and finding out what they have (or not), I went online to find nearby nurseries, intending to phone them and find out their small tree stocks.  I found, however, online nurseries that deliver.  Perfect!

I spent quite some time checking out different providers, and different plants.  There were quite a few from interstate - not so keen on that, despite their assurance of quality.  When I found nursery direct online (find them here), I was much happier.  They service South East Queensland only, and include free delivery.

Eventually, I decided on a Lilly Pilly - fast growing, screen plant, native, full or part shade, suitable for pots - yay!  They require a minimum order amount so they can keep the delivery free, so I kept looking.  One bit that is bare but gets lots of sun is against the fence which has the clothes line, and I picked some kangaroo paws for there (although they won't stay there, I didn't think that through); I also bought a 12-pack of herbs.

The Lilly Pilly

They arrived today.  So exciting!  I had a call earlier in the week to check something, and the driver this morning was lovely too.  And I had forgotten how beautiful kangaroo paws are.  My grandparents had some in their front garden so this made me all nostalgic.

Kangaroo Paws

I'm going with pots for a couple of reasons: I want to keep them when I move; and the soil in the borders is fairly poor.  These photos were taken immediately after they arrived, I've been stocking up on pots and soil over the last few days.  My local gardening supplies place is probably getting suspicious.

Herbs!

The herbs looked so bright and enthusiastic in the morning sun - they reminded me of kindergarten kids.  I'm not going to the extent of naming them though.

Today's photo:

From the garden, of course.  I removed some excess garden stuff, some weeds and some - I don't even know what it was.  It was covering a stump, and (I discovered) a big fat worm and some new aloe growth.  Which looked like some sort of alien growth.

Mum's Baked Custard

When I was growing up, if there was a glut of milk for some reason mum would make a baked custard.  (Excuse me while my tastebuds have a moment).  Recently, I signed up for milk delivery - but because I've had a cold I haven't been consuming as much milk as normal.  There is enough milk in my fridge that I wouldn't have to buy any until Monday, but tomorrow is delivery day.  Yes, I am able to change my order but I forgot to actually do this until after the cutoff time. 

On mum's last visit, she was looking for something and came across an old (I mean, really old) Good Weekend magazine.  On the front, she had written out her recipe for baked custard.  Could this have been found at a better time?  I think not. 

So, did you get all that?  Excellent.  (Oh, the cup with pills is part of the graphics of the cover, not an actual cup).

Dear Mum,

Thank you for passing on this recipe.  I hope it's ok if I share it with the whole internet.  You should be glad I have a smart phone complete with a converter app.  So when you said, 'preheat oven to 375F' I could just put that into the converter and discover it's 190C.  I boiled the kettle for the bain marie then realised I only had 2, not 3, eggs.  While I waited for confirmation from Abm that he had a spare egg for me to use, I checked cake books for recipes with only 2 eggs.  These are surprisingly scarce.  When he arrived, we chatted while I boiled the kettle (fully, this time), greased the casserole dish, and sorted out the best bowls to use. 

I separated the (thankfully) 3 eggs.  I admit, I neglected to add the pinch of salt to the whites before beating them.  Um, I also admit that after a while of beating them I decided the peaks were firm enough.  I also admit I was rather 'mum-like' in my measuring of '? 3 dessertspoons' caster sugar. 

Now, when you say 'gently heat 600mL milk with a teaspoon vanilla essence DO NOT BOIL' (well, I reordered the sentence so those not in the family who may read this can sort it out), how heated do you mean?  Do you mean lukewarm?  Almost boiling but not quite?  Over low heat?  Medium-low heat?  Medium heat?  I used medium-low heat and heated it a little past lukewarm before adding 3 dessertspoons sugar and then stirred until the sugar was dissolved.  While I was waiting for the milk to heat I whisked the egg yolks, and put the casserole dish in the lasagne dish (best dish for bain maries).  After the sugar had dissolved, I added the yolks to the milk and sugar and stirred a bit with a wooden spoon.  I was half hoping the whole mix would thicken and look more like custard than milk and egg, but I was disappointed.

I enlisted Abm's help in holding the sieve over the casserole dish so I could pour the egg and milk into the casserole dish through the sieve.  Good thing he was here.  Now, this whole 'gradually fold in egg white meringue so that most of it remains on top of milk/egg mix' bit.  Can you be more specific?  Am I to pour over the meringue and just let it sit?  Or mostly stir?  It seemed to sit on top anyway so I just tried to make it look pretty.  Of course I will add nutmeg if it's ever mentioned - who wouldn't?! :)  Water added for bain marie, and into the oven.  After 10 minutes (or should it really be 15?) I lowered the temperature to 175C, which is what my converter app told me 350F approximates.  After 20 minutes it looked all nicely browned so I took it out of the oven.  The meringue was nicely meringue-y but the custard was still quite wobbly so next time (yes, practice makes perfect) I'm guessing more mixing and possibly longer cook time...?

Anyway, I was very pleased to have made this recipe.  I think Abm is rather pleased as well.  And of course there are leftovers as well so dad might benefit also...  Obviously, I need more practice.  With merely eggs, milk, sugar, vanilla and nutmeg, it's relatively healthy, yes?  Excellent.  I hope to be able to make this for you in due course :)
Lots of love,
Anna xo

Today's photo:

Public holiday today in Brisbane, thankfully.  Spring was in the air, so I was inspired to do some gardening.  Before I got stuck into it, I appreciated the light and shadow on the tomato and aloe vera plants.  After taking this photo, I had to check my camera and what I was seeing - the top looks chopped off but it's just made that way, promise.

Lucy II and the Milkman

Neither of these things was on my list of New Things for today.

At the start of the holidays I bought, on impulse, a new shade of nail polish ('Lucy II' from Bloom).  A whole range of things prevented me from applying it until today, but I had a mini pamper session this afternoon.  I quite like the darker shades, especially during winter.  Of course the first thing my mum asked when she saw me was, "are you undergoing chemotherapy?" (chemo patients, we discovered last year, often wear dark-coloured nail polish to help protect from sun damage).  Sigh.  Thankfully, no.

I was looking for a way to demonstrate the colour, and the music stand was right there.  The reflection of notes in the glass was a bonus.

This evening, there was an unexpected knock at the door.  The milkman was looking for people wanting milk and other things home delivered.  (No, I didn't 'do' the milkman, despite the jokes!).  When I signed up for organic fruit and vegetables to be delivered it made such a huge impact on my life.  Although I can get dairy delivered through that company, they only deliver to me every fortnight, but this group can deliver more frequently.  And they do meat and fish as well, and have a later cut-off time for changes to the order.  More than that, though, I prefer buying 'direct from the farm to [your] door' instead of through mega supermarkets, knowing that the farmers are getting a better deal.

Today's photo:

Thanks to a lot of rain at the start of the week, these oven gloves have been on the line a while.  They're on adjacent lines so it must have been someone else who put them on there.  Early afternoon, they were catching the last of the light in the courtyard.