High Summer, and the gift of silence

My birthday is arriving and Leo that I am it is announced to loud fanfare of trumpets, drums and bagpipes. Three quarters of a century is nothing to sneeze at either. I never thought I'd make it to 21, yet here I be, my ego and me. 

 

I had planned a trip, but all of a sudden I noticed my Damson tree was loaded with fruit, and probably would ripen exactly when I would be away. I cancelled the trip and now toe tapping for the ripening of these little jewels hanging from the lateral branches. 

Before the Camp Fire debacle, I had harvested and made Damson Cheese which was going to be small holiday gifts for friends and family. It was merrily melding away the day the fire devoured our lives, and everyone elses in our small town of Paradise.

I noticed a few damsons on the ground that the birds had taste tested, not quite ripe yet and I am sure it will be a full on manoeuvre to snag enough fruit to make my cheese.

https://www.sbs.com.au/food/recipe/damson-cheese/rlikn79yi

Damson cheese is a very old recipe. It isn’t a cheese in the dairy sense but a thick fruity paste; a throwback to when the term ‘cheese’ was used more loosely. It is mysteriously inky and black and should keep for years.

Ingredients
2 kg (4lb 8oz) damson plums
1 kg (2lbs 4oz) sugar
Wash and sterilise five or six 300 ml (10.5 fl oz) straight sided jars
Perserving time six months.
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 150°C (300°F).
Place the damsons in a cast-iron casserole dish with a well-fitting lid. Bake for about an hour until the juice runs freely and the stones become loose. Push the fruit and juice through a sieve. Collect some of the stones, crack them to remove the kernels and add these to the pulp. This seems like a lot of faffing, but they add a strong almond flavour, although it will still be delicious if you skip this step.
Weigh the pulp and put it in a jam pan. Add 75 g (2¾ oz) of sugar for every 100 g (3½ oz) of fruit pulp. Bring to the boil over medium to high heat, stirring often and turning the heat down if it’s really raging, for about 40–50 minutes until it’s set when tested.
Put the cheese in straight-sided jars: this is so it can be turned out onto a plate when ready to serve. It’s best to keep for 6 months before use. When it starts to shrink away from the side of the jar it is ready.
Sterilisation
This is the big one. In the age of refrigeration we’ve often forgotten how much mould and yeast thrive when left unchecked. You can preserve things through excluding oxygen (tight-fitting lids), introducing an acid (pickled foods), and by adding enough sugar or salt. But even then it’s important to start with really clean implements, and to store things in sterilised jars with sterile lids. So wash your storing jars or containers really well before sterilising.
The heat method
(a dishwasher is a good place to start)
Heat kills bugs, and bugs can cause your preserves to lose quality, or even go off. If you want to sterilise just one bottle, or a few jars, you can place them in a saucepan of cold water, on their sides, making sure they’re full of water and submerged. Put their lids in there too. Bring this pot to the boil and simmer for 10 minutes. This will kill just about all the bugs you’re worried about. The only downside of this method is that it is a little tricky to take hot bottles from a pot of boiling water, though there are special tongs on the market to help you. A good thing to note is that hot sauces and jams will crack a cold jar, and this method allows you to have your jars pre-warmed ready to pour in a hot conserve.
Dishwashers, with a hot rinse cycle, also sterilise the jars, so that could be an easier method.
Be sure, when dealing with hot jars, not to put them onto a cold surface or they will crack. Always put them onto a wooden board. Cold jars will also crack if they have very hot things put in them, so warm the jars a little first, using warm water or similar.

Most of us know about quince paste or membrillo, a popular fruit cheese for cheese platters. But fewer people know about damson cheese, a fruit cheese made from plums.

Damsons are particularly good for making plum paste because they have an intense tart and spicy flavour that goes very well with cheeses. This makes damson paste a better choice than sweet quince pastes for cheese boards.

My heart is crying for those in Lahaina, Maui this past week. Worse I think than what we endured, more deaths certainly.

Time

I have been banging my head against the wall for far too long. Now it's time for me to step back and look for a new better approach to my life, at the end of days.

Hand Embroidery new and vintage

Simple and charming is how I would describe our dish towels, all are hand done, lots of hours of pleasure. The only time I complain is if I am in the car and my husband hits a bump in the road causing a stabbing incident.

The clothes hanger covers are vintage hand embroidery with hand made lace, crochet or tatted edges. Originally were vintage pillow cases that were past their prime but seemed too pretty to toss away. All the covers include a lavendar filled organza sachet to keep closets and clothes smelling crisp. The lavendar was gathered from the Mt. Shasta Lavendar farm in Northern California. I did buy some covers a while back from Elizabeth W. but at over 35. each thought it was too expensive for my whole closet. Additionally they couldn't be cleaned because of the sewn in lavender pouch, so I came up with my own design and it is more practical. I can wash the cover gently, and also replace the lavender when needed.

Agnes was inspired to create a Needle and Pin set after my daughter gave her a pin cushion for christmas, and like her egg cosies are simple in style as well as practical. I just love them. Natalie pointed out that it should be Pins and Needles, but we're an odd pair so Needles and Pins it is.

Brilliant day, and Spring is showing off!

The sun has returned, and the garden is blooming. I found a random tulip in the Rosemary, I have no idea how it got there, never have seen it before so it's my velvet red surprise, and it's gorgeous.

I picked some flowers over the weekend and shared with family, and saved two pink and green tulips for myself. I need to remember to buy more of them this Autumn I love the shade and colours of this one especially. My Look At Me tulip are unreal, and the Plain Jane yellows are beautifully ordinary. I have no idea what any of the real names are for the tulips all I know is they are beautiful. Hello Spring!

It's different now. Post November 8th 2018

I hesitate in starting to write, because it's been such a long time since I have. Last time I did was a little before the incident. The incident was the Camp Fire, Paradise, California.

One thing I don't want to be defined, and my life dictated by is the loss all of us in the town suffered and endured. We relocated to another town, that seems to be alright. The land is level, no ups and downs, and is more accessible, which is better for my husband.

I have lost a few friends since I last wrote, not through death, but I suppose a divergence of ideals. I would have written close friends but since they no longer are in touch then I was mistaken in the close friend label. Like some trees there is a need to shed leaves, I rather hope I'm a Redwood type or even better my favourite tree at our former location, the Quercus kelloggii, California black oak. This is the tree where my grand daughter's rope swing was hung and she enjoyed flying through the air, or just drifting with her imagination.

Is it 2018? It has been ages

Summer Soltice 2015

And apparently it's Father's Day too, poor Dad has gone and has been now for over a decade and he is missed and remembered for the lovely person he was.

The heat has been unrelenting here in The Sierra (California and the whole west actually), a steady two weeks of upper 80's and mid 90's with a few 100's just to keep us sweating, and yes when it's this hot you sweat.

Combine that we the gawd awful drought, and you might say it's hell, although I'm told I live in Paradise, well that's what it says when you drive into town.

Farmer's Market is in full swing now, which is just as well since I haven't really grown anything this year due to water restrictions. A couple of Sungold tomato plants for Zadie to pick, when she visits.

Fruit on some trees have ripened, no cherries this year, all just dropped before they did anything.


I let all the Artichokes blossom in an effort to provide the precious bees extra pollen.

The Lavender is absolutely vibrating from the hovering bees, there are so many different types, big fat bees, some bees that are barely a quarter inch long, and of course the honey bees, that seem to come swooping in droves. We did manage to put together a bee hotel and as far as I can tell we have a resident, or at least the residue of a resident that bore out a hole.

garlic, onion, eggplant

carrots then beans

squash

Last Tuesday at market I picked up eggplant, squash, onions, garlic, tomatoes, parsley, carrots and mushrooms.

mushrooms, parsley

Last night I made Ratatouille, summer stew with Merquez Lamb and Boar sausages.

Lamb & Boar Sausages

add Mushrooms

Add tomatoes

Add vegatables

Add herbs, simmer 15 minutes

Sauteed items up separately then after the meat was cooked started adding the vegetables back in, popped the lid on, and simmered covered on low heat for around 15 minutes. A couple of glasses of wine and baquette for Mr. G. Easy meal for hot summer night and that was really good tasting, I did add fresh thyme, oregano and a bay leaf. No salt was needed and I didn't add any pepper either.

I cooked half a cup of rice, and served the summer stew over the rice,  takes around 35 minutes to cook and 5 minutes of fluff when it's done, so start cooking rice when you begin sauteing the meat.

3 cloves garlic
1 small red onion
3 small eggplants
3 small squash
6 crimini mushrooms
big handful parsley
4 small carrots
handful of beans
1-1/2 lb sausage, slice into inch bits
fresh oregano
fresh thyme
6 tomatoes, or medium can
1 bay leaf