Chickens again

So the chickens have decided to start laying eggs. At pace! We're getting 5 eggs a day from the ten hens and I've been monitoring the sizes. We started out with pullet or peewee eggs at just 30-something grams... I had a full-on panic! We've had bantams before and their eggs are about this size and pretty useless in my baking endeavours... getting the point? We're up to 58g as the record (which is classified as 'large' at Woolies and perfect for baking cakes!) and no more under 48g...

So, with so many eggs this weekend, I made some meringues:

In short you beat egg whites until white and stiff. Then add 1/4cup of fine Castor sugar per egg white used. Beat until shiny and keeping it's shape. Spoon this super-sticky mixture either into a piping bag (I just use a freezer bag and cut a small corner off when I'm ready to go) or directly onto grease proof baking paper into the sizes you want. Bake at 120 degrees C for about an hour. Watch to see that it's not too hot (they'll go brown). After the hour, turn off the oven and allow them to cool slowly (it makes them crispy)

Next was to use up the yolks:

As I told someone yesterday, if you have not yet eaten fresh, made from scratch, egg custard, you have not lived... it's a bit fiddly but oh so wonderful when you get it right! I've simplified the recipe (for myself as I adapt it to use the available eggs anyway). Here's the ratio I tested out this weekend:

1 egg yolk
15g Castor sugar
100ml milk
1ml vanilla essence or vanilla pod

Put the egg yolks into a double boiler over heat and beat in the castor sugar. It'll go lighter in color and texture. Whilst beating warm the milk in the microwave (adding warm milk is not essential but does prevent the custard from curdling). Add warm milk and vanilla whilst stirring continuously. It takes a while to thicken and if you take a break for too long lumps form on the sides. Should your custard curdle (you'll know if it does!) mix a little corn flour (maizena) and warm milk and whisk into the custard while you're still cooking it.

It'll keep in a sealed jar in the fridge for up to 2 weeks but in my house it lasts only a few hours before the male species find it and then it's gone! Serve hot over stewed fruit, malva pudding, with jelly, etc. You'll be impressed, every time :-)

Something Pretty

 

Even though the weather was summery and warm, I felt the need to make something beautiful inside today... I collected a bunch of tins, found some remnants of gorgeous fabric and set about making pencil holders / desk organisers.

Simple enough - I tried double sided tape and contact adhesive to stick the fabric strips onto the tins but neither worked all that well: the double sided tape came undone within a couple of hours whilst the contact adhesive went straight through the fabric and didn't look all that great. Time to take out the big guns! Enter the amazing glue gun... I'm sure it's already saved lives! Word of caution though is that the glue is HOT, very hot and if you get it on your fingers it sticks and continues to burn... but once I got that out of the way it was great fun!

Here are the results:

The makings of a fun afternoon

I covered all of the tins in fabric first

Then added embellishments and ribbons for a little sparkle!

So chuffed with the lovely results :-)

Sunday Ramblings

I finally got it together to start the strawberry beds on the walls (remember the Strawberry Plan?)  and I'm quite pleased with the results :-) Proud to say I managed to do it all myself - from cutting the gutters (disastrous!) to drilling the walls (a little more successfully!), etc.

This was inspired by our trip to Stellenbosch on Friday. The strawberry farms already have red berries by the thousand (granted they're growing in tunnels!). I've noticed they're getting a little less ridiculously priced at woolies (they're still darn expensive, even if someone else is paying) and there's more variety.

I owe my mom a MASSIVE favour (or ten - I'll blog about that one tomorrow) so I'm going to put up some strawberry gutters for her this week... I'm thinking of planting some more things than strawberries though and I'll have to put lots of them up as it's a very hot and exposed area (my thinking is that if I put up enough it'll cool it down a bit...). Hopefully I can turn it into a relaxing and productive space for mom (and Dad) to enjoy :-)

 

I've started off with just 3 tiers to test out the plan (plus, I didn't have washers for the screws I'm worried that the screws might pull through the plastic...) Seems like a good thing I'm planting them out as the seedling trays have stunted their growth - they were pretty root bound.

The white powder was my over-zealous gardener adding bone meal to the planting process... I'd asked him to mix a handful into the soil and this is how he understood it (I was fetching a cup of tea!)

The lettuces and beetroot are growing like crazy! The rain and warmer weather have done them the world of good (I thought they were duds as they struggled to get going!)

Close up of the lettuce. I think I can make a salad with all the outside leaves soon and leave the inside to keep growing

The onions are coming along nicely - the stems are strong and thick

Self-Sufficiency

A couple of months back I wandered into Exclusive Books (as I do very often!) and a book caught my eye... The New Complete Book of Self-Sufficiency: The Classic Guide for Realists and Dreamers by John Seymore. The catch phrase is something like for idealists and dreamers (I can't remember off the top of my head now...) I'm not sure where I fall between those two categories - some days I'm the ultimate idealist and others I just have these dreams that run away with me - but I can honestly say that John Seymore's books are nothing short of inspirational! Given that they were written many years ago (he gives instructions for the construction of cold houses as there were no fridges, etc.) there is much entertainment to be found between the covers. I not only purchased The complete guide to self sufficiency but The New Self-Sufficient Gardener too! I have read and re-read them hundreds of times already, drawing inspiration, motivation and skills from their beautifully illustrated pages... Both books cover a very wide knowledge base that has been put into simple words that bring the ideas and concepts to life. I have learned much about planting, looking after my vegetables and trees, culinary skills such as preserving my produce, etc.

The books have pride of place on my coffee table and proudly bear the stains of use as a manual in the kitchen and garden. John Seymore's experience is worth a thousand times what I paid for the books! He's unfortunately passed on but his teaching farm still exists in Ireland and his family is keeping his legacy alive. We could do with more wonderful people like this around today!

Hens please lay some eggs now :-)

With so many hens (10 fit and healthy girls!), I decided I needed to brush up on my list of things to do with eggs… I eat eggs only occastionally but cannot bake without them! Can you tell how anxious I am for them to start laying?! The hens are 6 and a bit months old and I’m expecting the first egg any day now…

The best of the bunch seemed to be this book: Eggs by Michel Roux. I’m expecting my copy by the weekend and will definitely write an update review and share some ideas!

In the meantime though please shout if you have any clever Egg tricks or ideas :-)

Breakfast

There's something special about breakfast: it sets up the direction for the rest of the day (and if it's a Monday then it's the foundation for the whole week!).

As you already know I'm very conscious of what's in the food we buy and muesli is no exception! I'm always horrified to read the ingredient list - I hate it when there are things in there that I have no idea what they actually are... And the sugar (not usually called "sugar" on the list) and Salt (Sodium Chloride sound like Salt? Honestly now!). Why do breakfast cereals need sugar and salt added? It makes me wonder if the ingredients they put in are inferior and they need the extra flavours to make them palatable... Just a thought!

My mom used to make muesli for my dad when I was little and I remember the yummy smell as if it were yesterday... Given that I have a man who eats muesli every morning (except the ones when there are leftovers from dinner!) and is conscious of what he eats, it made sense to try my hand at making some. I googled muesli recipes and came up almost blank. It's not that there aren't a million recipes, it's just that they're not really for making muesli!

I decided to wing it and the results were most pleasing: I chucked all of my favourite ingredients into a baking tray and put it into the oven at 150 deg until it was toasted, mixing occasionally. The bulk of the muesli was rolled oats. I also added almonds, sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds, linseeds, and coconut. in no particular ratio - just added as much as thought looked about right for how I like the ingredients (more of the ones I really like!). Once it was all toasted I added some dried cranberries. I find these much nicer than raisins and add them after otherwise they dry out and taste yucky (one of the reasons I don't buy muesli with raisins in it).

It tastes great and has no "extra stuff" and nothing I can't identify... Now that's a great breakfast :-)

Snacks!

I like snacks. I'm permanently stuffing my face with something yummy but am also always on the lookout for healthy options... You don't get much better than this! I've been growing carrots in my veggie boxes (the ones dad helped me make) for the last couple of months. I love the fact that raw carrots take as much energy to eat as they contain so they can't make me look like a michelin man... Plus they're so sweet ad juicy and just darn yummy! You don't need a lot of space to grow carrots: you can do it in containers if you like - they just have to be deep enough for the
orange bits to develop. I made the mistake of planting too many seeds which lead to lots of greens needing to be pulled out (the chickens and bunnies loved the surplus!). Next time they'll be planted in neat rows which will make the whole process a little easier and neater :-) Carrots take care of themselves, requiring only good soil and water. I add kelp plant food to all of my beds regularly but this isn't really necessary.

I was in the garden the other day and realised I needed a snack (again!) so I just pulled up a handful of carrots, topped and tailed them, washed them and voila! we had a great fresh snack for the afternoon... Once you've tasted fresh carrots you'll wonder how the shops manage to pass off the orange root veggies as carrots - they taste nothing like the fresh variety!

Surfing and Sinful Ice Cream

The counter at SINFUL. BLISSFUL!

This morning we went for a little paddle (me) and surf (him - I'm so tired by the time I reach the back line I have no energy left to actually paddle into a wave!)... Muizenberg has transformed over that last few years: it used to be a little dodgy to say the least! The only people you'd see were the beach-bum surfers in their clapped out volksies and a couple of the local homeless folks. Not so anymore! Muizenberg has seen a transformation with the overpopulated apartments in a state of disrepair renovated into trendy, upmarket ones filled with yuppies and tourists. You see families in fancy 4x4's heading down to a clean, safe and healthy environment for their surf lessons or a play and stroll on the beach. We've got Shark Spotters keeping an eye out for the men in grey jackets that lurk in the depths and friendly car guards who enthusiastically help you find a park. With the revamp of the buildings, the developers added retail space which has been filled with a KNEAD BAKERY AND RESTAURANT and Sinful Ice cream.

And let me tell you, a surf is not a surf without a sinful ice cream afterwards! Today's flavour of choice was peppermint in a sugar cone. If you have not yet tried Sinful, you're missing out... It's available in some Pick'nPay stores as well as Sinful shops around Cape Town - well worth a visit.

Now that's a good way to get ready for the new week!