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Archive for the ‘Food & Friends’ Category

Rainbow Lorikeets

Posted in Food & Friends, tagged , on March 6, 2011| 36 Comments »

The Rainbow Lorikeets have been calling for days, but I couldn’t track them down.

Today, determined to get a photo for birdlovers Joanna and Brian, I went walking the street with my camera – and found them happily settled into the neighbour’s persimmon tree, jealously guarding it against all intruders.  Rainbow Lorikeets always travel in pairs, but this handsome couple refused to pose together in the one photo for me.  Here’s a shot of the all green back…

There’s more information about these gorgeous Australasian natives in this Wiki article.  They’re a noisy bird, and if you listen to their calls here, you’ll understand why I knew they were in the neighbourhood!

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Two Years Old

Posted in Food & Friends, Musings on February 25, 2011| 63 Comments »

Fig Jam and Lime Cordial is two years old today!

We celebrated with a sourdough fruit bread based on Dan Lepard’s Raisin and Cinnamon Loaf (from The Handmade Loaf).

I ended up adding a little wholemeal spelt for good measure, and a mix of golden raisins, cranberries and currants…

I also made some bread muppets (aka cottage loaves)…

…and Big Boy picked winners for our Book Darts giveaway! Given he’s both a writer and the most widely read in our family, it seemed appropriate to ask him to choose.

Congratulations to…

A tin of our Fig Jam and Lime Cordial Book Darts will be in the mail to you shortly!

And because you’re all so wonderful, I asked Big Boy to pick two runners-up.  He chose Sandy and Anne –  I’ll be sending you both a little something in the mail as well!

Thank you all again for reading and supporting our blog. It’s been a wonderful two years, and we look forward to sharing many more with you!

PS. I’ve been playing with Wordle (thanks to a tip from the lovely Joanna), and created the graphic above.  It’s a fun programme to while away some time on!

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Anniversary Book Darts

Posted in Food & Friends on February 11, 2011| 60 Comments »

In two weeks time, Fig Jam and Lime Cordial will be two years old.

To celebrate the occasion, I had some custom labels made for these tins of Book Darts.   Each contains 75 darts in a mix of metals – brass, bronze and stainless steel.  I’m a big fan of these brilliant little linemarkers, having waxed lyrical about them in several posts.

I have two tins to g1ve away!

To make this fun, please enter by telling us in a comment what you like to read.  Please be really specific – if you’re a fan of romance novels, please let us know if you enjoy Regency bodice-busters, or time travel romances (astonishingly, Amazon list this as a genre), or vampire tales.

Similarly, if the only thing you read is cookbooks, what style or cuisine do you enjoy the most?  Are you a crime fiction buff, and if so, which author or detective do you follow?

I am a huge fan of old Ellery Queen detective novels, set in the 1940s – 60s.  I’m also a collector of comic books – Peanuts, Doonesbury, Calvin and Hobbes, The Far Side and Footrot Flats.  What about you, what do you like to read?

I’ll leave this open until 25th February 2011, which is our anniversary date, and I’ll happily ship the darts anywhere.  And if you’d like custom labels for your book darts, please contact Aaron via the Book Darts website.  They provide free bespoke labels with any order of ten tins or more!

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Fish Lanterns

Posted in Food & Friends, tagged , , on February 10, 2011| 29 Comments »

Final lantern post, I promise!

I wasn’t going to make any more, but couldn’t resist these two YouTube tutorials.  Plus we were in the middle of a 40C heatwave in Sydney last week, and it was really too hot to cook or go out!

The second tutorial is in Cantonese (I think), which I don’t understand, but the instructions were easy to follow nonetheless.  I’m posting them here, so that I can find them again next year!

 

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Free Ham Bones from Paesanella

Posted in Food & Friends on February 9, 2011| 13 Comments »

A headsup to Sydneysiders – Johnny at the Paesanella Cheese Shop in Haberfield has asked me to let you all know that he has free ham bones to give away on an ongoing basis.

These are absolutely wonderful for hearty soups – we use them as the basis for our survival soup at least once a week. They last for ages in the freezer, and have provided us with many an emergency meal.

Johnny said the bones will be available on a “first come first serve” basis, so if you’re driving from a distance to get them, it might be worth a call first to make sure he has some in stock.  Please also note that the bones will be available only from their Haberfield store (and not through their online website).

While you’re in the shop, do check out all the other wonderful things they have in stock. I came home today with a tub of warm ricotta, freshly made this morning!

. . . . .

Paesanella Cheese Shop
88 Ramsay Rd
Haberfield  NSW   2045
Tel.  02 9799 8483
or visit their online store:
DeliVer, Gourmet Food Distribution

 

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