Of potatoes and lemons and the smell of coffee

The coffee sack potato experiment seems to be going rather well.  They've been in their sacks for a good month now.  The theory is that once the plants show leafy growth, you cover that with soil, and in doing so prompt the plant to grow another layer of tubers.

Here's the Creative Reinventor holding the sacks' sides so the soil doesn't fall out.  Two of the three sacks have reshot leaves, so it's time to fill them again.  We also decided to try the same with leeks.  No such progress yet.

You've got to admire the tenacity of plants.  This lemon tree had a nasty citrus gall wasp infestation.  It needed hard pruning twice to get rid of all the galls.  And it's done this.  Quite out of season, but it's in a sunny spot, and Perth doesn't really get cold.

Meanwhile the Practical Reinventor struggles with the black dog.  The Corona-crisis has rendered her unemployed and this is not a good state of affairs.  Thankfully the weather is mostly nice enough to cycle every day, and exercise is a saviour.

The Creative Reinventor is doing rather better.  With the pandemic forced the early closure of his first cafe, it's also brought a new landlord who's most supportive of setting up a quirky cafe.  And the rent is rather more reasonable than the original site.  There has been much fitting and sawing and painting and discussing and we're looking at opening in July. Exciting!

It's the glory!

The local agricultural show is a time of great excitement at Marmalade Cottage.

This is the third year the practical reinventor has entered some produce

The jam and marmalade prizes remain elusive, but the garlic came second as did the pineapple relish.

But that was nothing - nothing - compared with the home grown and pickled beetroot.

Not only a first prize, but an OTT rosette for the President's Choice!

And a total of $6 prize money.

Getting ready for Christmas

The practical reinventor has a new sewing table - it's one of those clever ones that has a gas lift and folds away to look like an innocuous corner cabinet.  She has the luxury of not having to fold it away, as she has a whole room dedicated to sewing.  She also has the luxury of the creative reinventor who finds her wonderful birthday presents and always indulges her sewing and craft projects. 

On the new table at the moment is

a selection of tree ornaments, and

a Santa hat for the practical reinventor's Executive Director, a Yamaji Man.  The Yamaji are the Native Title Owners (Aboriginal people) from the Mid-West region of Western Australia.  He has very graciously agreed/been bullied into having a division Christmas party and playing Santa for the compulsory Kris Kringle.

That garland along the bottom is supposed to be gum leaves and the astute reader will recognise the Aboriginal flag.  The practical reinventor had never seen sparkly felt before - it makes a very good, Christmassy gum leaf garland.

The force is strong with this one

Avid readers might remember waaaaaaaaaaaaay back in the beginning of Marmalade Cottage, there was some discussion about whether the dessicated stick of grapevine in the back garden was still alive.

Here's your proof.  Not quite 18 months on and it's not only alive, but producing.  And producing a lot. 

The creative reinventor took a picture of our juvenile grapes to a viticulturist of his acquaintance who tells us they're table grapes.  Which is a little surprising since the former owner was Italian and grew a huge amount of veg.  We'd expected them to be wine grapes.  But, well, there you go.

It's been a loooong time coming

One of the not-negotiables of the purchase of the reinventors' home was a room for sewing.  Marmalade Cottage has a small bedroom created out of the verandah that we immediately recognised as small but perfect.

Since we moved in, it's been used for storage and the practical reinventor has variously set up her sewing machine on the dining table and in the guest bedroom.

Then one day, she came home from work to find the creative reinventor had cleaned and painted and rearranged.

"It's just a start," he said, grinning.  "You have to make it your own."  So off we trooped to the green and orange temple to lost weekends, which is conveniently open late.

We got some shelves.

And some moulded skirting board or architrave or something that makes a perfect cotton reel holder.

There's a full-length mirror on the front of the stuffed-to-its-gills fabric cupboard.  The cutting table is set up and there's room for the dressmaking forme and boxes of scraps.  Most importantly, the sewing machine and overlocker are out of their boxes and plugged in.  Bliss!

By request - Marmalade Cottage mulled wine

Essential for any winter party!

You will need:
Two bottles of reasonable red wine
One orange
Half a dozen cloves
A stick of cinnamon
Sugar to taste


Stud the orange with the cloves, and bake it in a 180deg oven for about 20 minutes.

Pour the wine into a saucepan, add the cinnamon, slice the baked orange into fairly small pieces and add to the wine.

Bring to a very gentle simmer for five minutes or so.

Taste and add sugar until it makes you feel warm and cozy.

Share with friends around a fire.

By request - Marmalade Cottage clam chowder

At the creative one's birthday party, the clam chowder was a hit. Which rather surprised the practical one, as she'd never even tasted it before!

This is the recipe, adapted from one found on the internet.

Serves about 8

Ingredients3 medium potatoes cut into 1cm dice
750g clam meat (I could find only frozen meat, but if you get fresh clams, you will need to steam them open in some water or white wine and strain carefully to get rid of any sand or grit.
2 litres fish stock (hot)
2 tablespoons butter
½ cup flour
1 brown onion, chopped finely
2-3 sticks of celery, chopped finely
4-6 cloves garlic finely chopped
600ml light cream
salt and pepper to taste 3 bay leaves
As much fresh dill as you like

Method
Gently melt the butter, and sauté the onions, celery and garlic, but don’t let it get more than pale golden. The soup has to be white.

Stir in the flour quickly with a wooden spoon, then add the hot stock a dribble at a time, stirring as you go until it’s all incorporate and nice and smooth.

Add the bay and half the dill, then the potatoes and three-quarters of the clams, simmer until the potatoes are soft.

Take out the bay leaves.

Whizz with a stick blender, then add cream and adjust your seasoning.

Add the rest of the clams and simmer until they’re cooked. Just before serving add the rest of the dill.

The inaugural party

So it was the creative one's birthday yesterday, and what better excuse does one need to throw a party?

The reinventors were most pleased that no one went through a floorboard, and nothing attached to the house caught fire.  There does seem to be rather more beer and wine after the party than before, and they are not drawing any conclusions from that.

The free-off-Gumtree stove performed admirably - clam chowder, spiced mushroom and cauliflower soup, baked potatoes, beef stew, braised lentils, broccoli with lemon and almond sauce, and mulled wine. 

It did not cope with pavlova.  But, as any creative cook knows, lots of whipped cream and fruit atop will adequately disguise a flattish meringue.

The reinventors suspect that's the first party Marmalade Cottage has seen in nearly 50 years.  And Marmalade Cottage had a lovely time.