Fusion?

Tonight's dinner:

Two green plantains …


… boiled until tender …


… peeled and passed through a sieve …


… mixed with an egg, some finely chopped onion, some grated ginger, some salt, and half a cup or so of flour.


Rolled out and cut into gnocchi …


… and boiled in salted water until they floated. Then fried in some oil until browned …


Added to a soup made from a teaspoon of green curry paste fried in a little oil with half an onion, a cup of good strong chicken stock and another cup of water, some runner beans from the garden, fish sauce, lime zest, a couple of teaspoons of brown sugar, juice of most of a lime, and a tablespoon of coconut cream powder:


Not too bad at all, and a good bit still left over.

Black Doris plums

Some for eating …


… and some for freezing …


… vacuum packed:


Black Doris plums have dark dark firm flesh and are quite tart, the stones come out easily so they are ideal for bottling or freezing. They make the best stewed plums and plum jam. My father adored them, and I always think of him at Black Doris time of year.

Next up is the Omega plums, which are similar but possibly even better for eating raw.

And another pair of sensible sandals

What can I say? They were cheap, and all my other ones seem to be black.

Present from Yoshio

My friend Yoshio brought me back some bento boxes from Japan just after Christmas (or at least his wife did - Yoshio had to bring his golf clubs). I'll post about them when I start using them - at present I'm still eating salads for lunch.

He also brought me a gift that he rescued from the back of his late grandmother's linen cupboard while the family were cleaning it out. It came in this box:


Which looks like this when you open it:


And is this is what it turned out to be:


- I don't quite know what to call it. If it were longer it would be a table runner, but it's not. If it were lacy it would be a doily, but it's not. It's made from kimono fabric and is rather beautiful. It needs ironing, but I'm a bit scared to iron it.

Frock for a wedding

My motorcycle racing friend Ian has finally decided to get married at Easter - for the first time, and at the ripe old age of 67. This is very exciting, because I'll get a chance to wear a hat. No matter that the wedding is "smart casual", I'm past the age of worrying that I'm overdressed and I have a lovely hat that I've never worn. OK, I have several hats that I've never worn, but this one is really very nice. I bought it in Edinburgh nearly five years ago.

So I had to make a dress to go with the hat, didn't I? It nearly drove me crazy, I broke ten sewing machine needles just putting the zip in. Plus the material I first chose for the bodice decided it didn't like being unpicked, so I had to make the bodice twice.

Never mind, here is the finished article, front view (with hat):


And back view (also with hat):


The bodice is actually ivory, not white, and is a much better match for the hat than it looks in these photos. The skirt is a full circle, and is about four inches shorter at the front than it is at the back. Sort of like Dior's "New Look" of the fifties.

I plan to wear it with my lace-up ankle booties, mostly because the wedding is in a garden and the boots are wedges so will (hopefully) not sink into the grass. I also know, from experience, that I can wear them for hours on end standing and walking; they're amazingly comfortable for such high shoes.

First stop tomorrow on my way to work is the sewing machine fixit guy.

Sheep acting like sheep

I've been away in Christchurch for the weekend at a motorbike race meeting (that's why I didn't post any cooking), and on the way home my eye was caught by a number of sheep following each other around hillsides in single file - as in the proverbial sheep. Usually sheep just mill around with their noses stuck to the ground eating grass. When I got home and looked over the back fence I saw this:


More sheep being much more sheep-like than normal. I wonder if it's seasonal.

I've been eating snacks so far this week. I made another salami last night, and couldn't be bothered cooking a proper meal. I cut up a few pork trimmings, rubbed them in salt and curry powder (I like the flavour of curry powder, I don't care how unauthentic it is), quickly fried them …


… added some yoghurt, and ate them:


It was good too.

While I was making the salami and cooking up my 2 minute curry I was also boiling up some chicken carcasses for stock. I got three from the supermarket for about $2.50 and they actually had a decent bit of meat on them. After I'd made the stock I picked all the meat off the bones …


… mixed it in with a little soy sauce and mirin, and fried it in the fat from the top of the stock for a long long time until it was pretty nearly dry:


… I put it in the fridge where it should keep quite well. I can use it as a topping for rice or, as I did tonight, mix a little of it in with a vegetarian curry for extra flavour and protein.