Saturday, December 24, 2011

pickling cucumbers



It became clear that our 6 cucumber plants were producing at a rather wild rate where we could no longer eat 3 per day in salad. Yesterday we decided that our collected jars would not be for home-made tomato sauce but for pickled cucumbers! I have vivid memories of mum and dad always, and still to this day, having a jar of pickles in the fridge. Tasty. Sweet but sour and a little bit zingy. Love them!

We modified this recipe slightly and took a few photos along the way: Summertime Sweet Pickles. So just in case you find yourself with an abundance of cucumbers or glass jars here is how we made our pickles :)


1. Wash cucumbers and allow them to dry.


2. Sterilize all jars and lids in a pot of boiling water for 5 minutes. Let them cool before handling.


3. Slice cucumbers into desired widths. As we have never pickled anything in our lives before we trialled thin and thick rounds as well as length way longer slices.


 5. Jam as many slices of cucumber into each jar as possible, leaving a little space for a pickled onion and about 1cm of empty space from the top of the jar.


6. The recipe below is perfect for 1 kg of sliced cucumbers, so we just X4 each ingredient in one big pot, as we had 4 kg.


Boil the following together for 5 minutes.

  • 1 cup Barossa Fermented Spiced Vinegar
  • 1/8 cup sea salt (iodised or table salt will turn your pickling liquid cloudy)
  • 3/4 cup white sugar 
  • 1/4 tsp tumeric
  • 1 tsp dried mustard seeds
  • 1 tsp dried dill
  • 2 sweet onions
  • sprig of fennel greenery
Pour the hot liquid in each jar leaving a 1 cm air gap.



7. Screw on all lids and rinse each jar with tap water.

8. Place the jars in a boiling water bath (aka, lasagne dish) for 25 minutes until most lids have popped down. You will hear the POPs and sizzling air sounds as the pressure builds up. Remove, cool and store in a cupboard and wait! :)

It's suggested to eat them after one week. Fingers crossed they taste as yummy as the picking liquid smelt. Friends and family we hope you like pickles! ;)

Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year xx

Sunday, December 18, 2011

christmas tree 2011



2009 and 2010: We had a branch. Each year I LOVED the branch. I loved that it was totally bare to begin with. An empty canvas. It allowed me be creative with it's decorations, most of which were handmade. This year there were a few requests for a tree. So this is her. I like it... but part of me misses the branch.


Decorations:

  • Small and large vintage apples (thanks Ma), 
  • Clear glass baubles,
  • Thrifted embroidered coasters, 
  • Wooden laser cut keys and reindeer (Typo sale 4 for $1) and 
  • Sewn maths grid paper garland (made by me).




Can't wait for Christmas 2012 ... with our little button! 

Merry Christmas 
 xxx

Saturday, December 17, 2011

a little baby


Mark and I are having a baby! :)

I do love spreading those happy words about. It's been sooo long that I've wanted the words to come freely to everyone and anyone who will listen... plus I am possibly the most terrible person at keeping my own secrets.

We are almost 12 weeks.

Battling nausea, up to 5 toilet trips per night, creeping out of work at 3:05pm just after the school bell has rung as I can't keep my eyes open, falling on the couch in an exhausted heap and feeling guilty as Mark cooks away (OK that part has been lovely hehe I am so grateful for his help), and the tiredness = not enjoyable. Lately I have had every limb crossed hoping things would begin to improve and I feel little inklings that they are beginning to. Two whole nights without ANY nausea. Hurrah! Just the thought of those feelings disappearing for a while makes me want to celebrate. 

I have been lucky by having super healthy yummy cravings - mostly all I desire are huge fresh salads riddled with crispy iceberg lettuce and tomatoes, dark rye toast with cheese slices, veggie delight footlong Subways, fresh fruit of any variety... oh and the odd H.J veggie burger just for good measure.

I'm amazed at how much there is to think about, as this is my first baby. Initially I found everything quite overwhelming, especially after reading 'those baby magazines' *insert raised lip here* I was left with a heavy head- cloth Vs disposable, bassinet Vs cot, $50 brand label onsies ummmmm, sleepsacks, swaddles and cot sets... OH MY!  A few weeks after this magazine and online onslaught I feel completely optimistic about the decisions Mark and I have made to reuse and recycle as much as we can as we begin to prepare the nursery in the next few months.

Until then I will just continue to swoon over all of my favourite nursery room design ideas over here on my Pinterest board. Pretty pastels, prints, fabrics, mobiles, quilts... happy days of planning ahead! 

ohdeedoh

designsponge

nicety.typepad

blog.effortless.style

ohdeedoh

ohdeedoh


naaaaaw :)

Sunday, December 11, 2011

printers tray

Many moons ago (Feb *cough*) I blogged about stumbling upon the perfect printers tray to use as a wall display - read the discovery story here... so I finally decided where to put it.


It lives in the lounge room above our couch and I couldn't be happier!


It makes me so so happy to see my vintage sewing spools freed from their collection jars.


I adore the green & blue hues 


It just feels like the lounge room is complete now. Funny how a little something something on a wall can do that. Happy me!