Weekend diary …

Saturday 23 March

I took an early trip into Savers this morning, stopping halfway to put fuel in the car even though I KNOW it’s a stupid day to buy petrol, that it’s pricier than during the week, that I should be more organised and more frugal-minded. Nevertheless, that’s what I did stopping at my usual place which had locked doors, locked pumps and a ‘back in five minutes’ sign on the window (even after I’d been sitting at the pump and waiting for ten minutes.) Perhaps they had slept in? Perhaps they were out the back on their phone? Honestly, I had no clue. I gave up the wait and wove through the back streets to another place, running into a gent who had pulled up after me at the first place and found his way – just like me – to the second by a different route. Mr After-Me got to the second petrol station before me, despite leaving later, and had both petrol and a fresh coffee in his hand by the time I had even wrangled the hose into my car. He was clearly a very efficient kind of person, something that I am no longer.  I felt pleased for him. 

“We got there in the end!” he called to me, raising his coffee like a celebratory glass of champagne and I nodded and smiled and waved him on his merry way.

At Savers (it’s a big op shop/thrift store) I found some interesting cookbooks (Recipes from a French Herb Garden, Recipes from an Italian Farmhouse, Particular Delights, The Cuisine of California and others), a Northern Ireland souvenir printed linen tea-towel, a copy of Rachel’s Holiday for my uni research, and a book about perennials. I also found a book about touring France’s culinary delights which someone has gone through with a highlighter, marking out useful phrases … “C’est bien parti!” and “fabulous Jewish pastry shops” and “eat a couscous down the road at La Medina” and “three of your quails, please.” It’s also dotted with recipes (gougères from Burgundy, flaky apple tart from The Southwest, Terrine Provençal, Dordogne walnut cake, nougat ice cream from Paris) and that’s my favourite kind of travel writing … diary PLUS recipes, so you can see why I snapped it up.

Above: Photos from Recipes from and Italian Farmhouse and Recipes from a French Herb Garden

After that I went to the Asian grocer in Coburg (about 10 minutes drive from where I live) and bought some of this chilli paste to fry with green beans and tofu, as well as some assam curry paste, coconut cream and jasmine rice. Next I bought some fish fillets from the market across the road and up a bit (which now has SUCH a brilliant florist inside!) because the plan is to make a tamarind fish curry for dinner tonight. To go with the beans and tofu. I bought the beans yesterday at Sacca’s when I met up with Rin and Paul for a coffee and a plum pastry. I also bought some Dutch cream potatoes (my favourite kind) and some broccoli because it looked very fresh and good and well why wouldn’t you under those circumstances?! The seasons are changing and the best sorts of shops are changing with them.

Left: Green beans with tofu Right: Assam fish curry

This afternoon I’m going to try and get out into the garden to make that sweet pea flower bed. I’ve got bags of dirt in the back of the car and the mulch is sitting in the driveway. I just have to find the WILL and ENERGY to cart it all out to the back fence and get my hands dirty. I am SURE I can do it. Maybe. Yesterday I was buying the dirt – and a rose plant for my birthday – and I’d trollied it all to the car and piled it in. I was just about to wheel the trolley back to the trolley bay and a lady walked up to me and said “would you like me to take that back? I’m going that way!” Can you even believe how nice that is? I said “oh my gosh. Thank you! Amazing!” and off she went in jeans and her striped shirt with the trolley and a big smile on her face. (And she DID put it back, dear reader. She did. I watched in delight!) Such a cute bright spot in my day, I tell you … (It was this variety of rose, the birthday rose, dear reader. In case you wondered. But from Bunnings, not from the place in the link.)

On Saturday afternoon/evening I rested up and watched some things on streaming services: Platform 7 (Stan) was ok … required a hefty dose of ‘suspend disbelief’ coupled with some dark themes. An odd pairing, really and not quite sure that it worked. I think the book would be much better. I also watched Dear Child (Netflix) which I liked a bit more, but didn’t love. I’m keenly waiting for the new episode of High Country, to be honest, because I’m really liking that.

I was too tired to make a garden bed in the end. Don’t be mad. 

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Sunday 24 March

A little sleep in and then a bagel with hummus and tomato and chill and tea while I scanned the news sites. (Have you ever had this chilli sauce? It’s really good and has been a bit hard to find – like everyone’s favourite Sriracha was – but apparently now it’s back too!)  But back to the news … as expected it was mostly about poor Princess Kate and her health, so I flipped on Al Jazeera’s Live YouTube and got a broader idea of what’s happening around the world for ten minutes or so. Then I washed my face and got dressed – jeans, gingham a-line shirt dress, Birks – and pondered what should be first cab off the rank in the things I need to do slash I want to do stakes.

First, I did a quite sensible-for-me thing and made a list of 20 or so meals I regularly cook on rotation and listed their main ingredients. It’s a first step to getting back to menu planning and budgeting properly for food. My food shopping just runs away with all my money and I need to get my act together on this front. Everything costs so much right now, so it’s best to be a bit more conscious on this front if I want to be able to pay my bills, you know? Perhaps you feel the same? The list is on the fridge now, stuck there with a magnet in the shape of a Dutch oven. I’m hoping it will keep me on my best meal-planning behaviour and help to avoid rogue trips to the spendymarket.

Along the same lines, I’ve pulled out Rhonda’s brilliant book – The Simple Home – to keep on my desk as a reminder to keep things easy and plan a bit more sensibly. I think, when I was sicker than I am now, all this fell by the wayside because it felt impossible to plan for anything, but as my health improves incrementally, I feel like it’s time to get more organised. With Rhonda’s words in mind I created my own personalised shopping list – based on one she linked to on her blog. I’m going to photocopy a printed-out version and hopefully that’ll help to save both money and food waste. That’s the plan, at least!

Left: My version of the reverse grocery list Right: A glimpse of Rhonda’s book, The Simple Home

On Friday, I bought a bag of granny smith apples, so I am going to make a big apple crumble to dip into over the next couple of days. Every time I buy apples I am reminded of the time Mum and I went on a trip down to Franklin (in Tassie) for a book event at Michelle’s (with Sophie Hansen and Jo and another Pip) and we bought way too many apples at a roadside stall on the way home. There’s only so many apple cakes you can make, isn’t there? Actually I lie. There are never enough apple cakes and perhaps I will make an apple cake this week too. Once the crumble is done. There’s a recipe in Rosa’s cookbook that I like, but this one from Lidia also looks great. Italians really know how to make a good apple cake, I reckon.

Image: Apple crumble making on the first Autumnal weekend of the year

While I was making the apple crumble, I watched one of my favourite YouTubers, Miranda Mills talking about books and going to lunch and a second-hand book fair with her mum. Now I want to go to lunch at a pub with a thatched roof in the land of All Creatures Great and Small … and to get my hands on many of the books she talked about. In particular 

Rural Hours by Harriet Baker
All Before Me by Esther Rutter
The Golden Fleece by Esther Rutter
Twelve Words for Moss by Elizabeth Jane Burnett
This Could Be Everything by Eva Rice

Excitingly Max (my middle ‘kid’) found a good recipe for roasted tomato soup on TikTok, so he made that for our Sunday dinner. We’re going to have it with grilled cheese sandwiches and this is some of the most delightful news I’ve had recently. Can. Not. Wait. He’s using a bunch of the tomatoes I grew, so I am QUITE proud that I’m a farmer now. Going to change my Instagram bio stat. (JOKING!)

Left: Roasted tomato soup with grilled cheese Right: Sambal Ikan Bilis on toast

In more exciting news, I made the often-spoken-of back fence garden bed! While Max was making the soup! I used cardboard, newspapers, broken-down grass clippings and soil for the layers. Honestly it didn’t do my wonky back any good, but I will take it easy for the rest of the afternoon, basking in a sense of achievement. Also? There’s not quite enough soil, I don’t think … I’m going to plant my seeds anyway and will top up with more soil and compost down the track, when the seedlings establish. This is mostly because I don’t want to buy more dirt right now … any trip to Bunnings results in much mooning over the bulbs and the shrubs and the blooms … and invariably spending more than I can afford, so it’s minimal bedding for the seeds, for now. I am thinking that will be okay anyway. They’re only wee plants-to-be right now. I’m planting the birthday sweet peas, plus some dwarf snow peas and some silverbeet. In a few short months I’m hoping it will be sweet-smelling and lushly green and pea-ish. Fingers and toes and eyes crossed for that. 

Soon I’ll pull out the tomatoes and turn their beds over with some fresh compost and soil … and put something new in there. I’m not quite sure what though. Maybe some flowers? Maybe something more edible? What do you think? It’s only about 8 feet by 2 feet, so not a huge sort of space. And it gets sun for ? of the day or so.

Currently I’m reading The Flower Arrangement by Ella Griffin. It’s recommended in Marian Keyes’ writing classes, the ones she shared on her YouTube a couple of years ago. I’m really enjoying both the book and revisiting the writing classes. Marian is part of the group of writers I’m researching for my Honours, so I’m keen to look into all things about her and liked by her. 

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New to me recipes I want to try

Rachel Roddy’s Rubbish Spaghetti 
This Rocket Pesto Potato Salad
Nigel’s Chicken and Mushroom Casserole
Date Mini-Loaves

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My Honours supervisor has been encouraging me to get back to daily writing and I have been trying to kick start that in earnest this week. I think, when I was sicker than now, it felt a bit hard to write because there was little variation to my days. Mostly I was in bed. Mostly I was feeling awful. Mostly I was just trying to keep my spirits up. It hardly makes for interesting commentary. The slight improvement I have been feeling has made such a big difference and I feel like I CAN write a little something daily now. I’ve also been thinking about the work I’ve previously done with my supervisor (she was my poetry teacher and my experimental writing teacher) and am – hopefully – going to dip back into writing poems … There’s something about poetry that helps to loosen up the writing cogs and encourage interesting observations and unexpected language. I’m starting by reading this …

Scruffy Hospitality: Poems of Lived in Places

… and I’m pleased I will have some good news to discuss when I meet with her (online) on Tuesday. I’ve also managed to pull together a synopsis for a novel, part of which will form a bit of my honours, which I’m pretty excited about. It’s probably no surprise to regular readers that it’s set in and around Hobart, Tasmania. That’s about all I can tell you right now, but please do know that it feels like the right first fiction story for me to tell and I’m brimming with enthusiasm at this point. 

Image: Apple crumble for dessert! Try to slice your apples a bit thinner than I did, if you make this. I was a bit lazy like that.

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Reader, late on Sunday afternoon I planted and watered in all the seeds! Sweet peas, silverbeet and dwarf snow peas are in! I also set up a barrier – and by barrier I mean a line of bamboo stakes – on one side of the bed to stop my naughty dogs running through it. I think I will need to fence off the front for a while too, but that is a job for another day. Also the hose ALMOST reaches this bed, but not quite. I might need to buy a longer hose. Also a job for a different day. I’ll share a photo when it starts to look cute, I promise.

Anyway, I’ve said a lot so I will say goodbye for now. Thank you so much for reading this far, and for reading at all, really! Below is the apple crumble recipe, in case you fancy making some too …

Love to you, pal!

xx Pip

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Pip’s Apple Crumble

Base
1 kg of apples, cored, peeled and sliced thinly and tossed in a little bit of brown sugar

Topping – with your hands, mix up …
1 cup of quick oats
½ cup of plain flour
½ cup of brown sugar
½ cup of butter, cubed
½  teaspoon each of cinnamon and nutmeg
2 teaspoons of Chai powder – optional
A handful of chopped nuts, if desired

Preheat oven to 180C/350F

Butter an oven-safe ceramic baking dish (or a bunch of smaller oven-safe ramekins) and spread the drained apples evenly in the dish.
Sprinkle evenly with the crumbly topping.
Bake for 40 minutes or until the apple is just tender and the crumble topping is golden. If the topping is browning too fast, put some foil over it and remove for the final few minutes to allow it to crisp up.
Serve with ice cream.

NOTE: This apple crumble preserves some of the shape and texture of the apple, but if you want a very soft apple element to your crumble you can pre-cook the prepared apples in a little bit of water for 5 minutes, drain off the liquid, then follow the recipe as above.

Top image: The Sweet Honey Floribunda Rose