strawberry jam

so this week was a big first for me.. I made my first batch of homemade jam!! woo hoo! It was so fun, and i'm really excited to try some other mixes of fruit.



We got a big box of strawberries on a whim at the markets on Sunday, and just found a random recipe to try. It was pretty easy, but a real SLOW process. I want to start doing more things like this. Making our food from scratch. It was kinda scary as there was the same amount of fruit as there was sugar. Morgan's mum told us she uses half the amount and added some natural gelatin to hold it all together. I might try this next time

[kim]



I like the fact that kim is taking more interest in making food from scratch and doing a lot more baking now that we're married. I used to be a chef so I am used to making things like sauces, pasta and pestos from scratch. I now am going to enjoy coming up with a few concoctions of fruit mixes for jam, I'm thinking strawberry and black olive.
(morgan)



The final result... yummy SWEET homemade STRAWBERRY JAM!

fishermans

One of my favourite things to do is to head to the Fisherman's Road farmers markets each week. We are very fortunate to live very close to these great markets which have a great variety of great fruit and veg and also flea market style stalls. I love going to the stalls which just sell one item, you know they have grown the produce and sell it with pride. Fisherman's also has a couple who bring a open tray truck and all the food on the back is $2 per kilogram. They sell potatoes, sweet potato, zucchini, capsicum, eggplant, lemons, onions, tomatoes, and mandarins all fresh and dirty from the farm.

What's also cool is some stalls have taste testers. There is the best popcorn I have ever tasted at Fisherman's, it is sweet and salty and oh so good. I love it cause I have the taste tester and that's all I need. This Sunday was such a great market day, we wanted to share.
[kim]

----

This week we went to the markets for our usual fruit and veg shop, however Kim always likes a wonder and we met a good friend on her push bike. We found a whole tray of fresh strawberries and Kim will make jam with them (I hope I get to help her cut the tops off, it reminds me of my grandma in France). I love thrift shops and all things bargain. We have a sweet old hat stand in our house and a good friend of ours bought us some sweet Brixton hats for our wedding present and always tells us that the hat stand is his when we leave the country. Anyway at the markets an old German lady had a similar hat stand (some might say better than ours) and we bought it off her 5 dollars cheaper than her asking price because we went to buy strawberries for her. When leaving the market I stopped to look at a book called 'The Paper Chase' and the kind old stall lady told me to take it. Exiting the markets a beautiful old man played amazing old bar music on an ancient, decaying piano, a hat stand and bag of produce in my hands and a tray of strawberries in Kim's.
[morgan]

Our Garden

It's funny, when Kim and I were dating I would always see this bucket in her shower, I always thought it was weird and never really understood. Since having our own house or home rather I have taken on duties to create a garden that we can eat from and hopefully share from. Now, I realise that Kim was collecting all the water we waste waiting for the hot water to use in the garden. The garden is a somewhat tricky job seeing as I have a 1x0.5 metre area of leafy, concrete and old roots as my planting ground. I also have alot of pots which I am using through many trails and errors. There are two things stopping growth in my garden, firstly insects (which I am using 5 different natural methods to get rid off) and secondly the fact that we eat the coriander quicker than it grows. I have enjoyed watching the lettuce, snow peas, baby spinach, rocket, 8 herbs, tomatoes and now bok choy grow each day. I think my favourite part is watching the marigolds flowers (which keeps the pests away) grow and most of all eating the fresh salads and herbs, especially rocket and coriander in one of my signature dishes.
morgan.


Having my own garden which not only looks beautiful, but is able to provide food for me has always been a little dream of mine. One which unfortunately only came to be since moving in with Morgan. Our small garden by the front door has become a thing of delight that welcomes me home each day.

It is only small and things are only just beginning to grow (our first snow pea is coming through) but it is such a great venture and one I am very glad we are taking.


This week I planted some flowers which are blooming with delight. I was getting sick of the greenery of it all and wanted to being some bright colours to it too. I guess the marigolds were there, but I wanted more, and some I could cut off and put in a vase inside the house. Well I am very excited by this addition I made, and can't wait to see the way they as we move into spring.
big smiles, kim