Easter Plum Jam- it's so jam fine

It's Easter! 
Unfortunately Australia lacks Easter tradition in infinite proportions. Here it's all about the consumption of chocolate. Jesus is doesn't get a look in, you can't buy easter decorations, there are no easter carols or concerts or anything remotely spiritual/heartfelt/profound. In an attempt to make Easter more special, I have decided to make a tradition out of plums. Alex and I were at the supermarket 10 minutes before they closed for the holidays. 


Plums were 96 cents a kilo. 
Were we going to let those plums rot in the supermarket over Easter? 
Hell no were weren't. 


We made the most delicious, tart but sweet plum jam. The whole process turned into a bit of a party; we made labels and covers and tied them with string!  Now our hearts feel warmed, and we have enough jam to last us until next year.


Plum jam (makes 14 medium jars of jam)
4kg plums
2kg sugar
Juice of a lemon
1 packet jamsetta


Wash, de-pip and and quarter plums.
Throw them in a large pot on low heat.
Add sugar, lemon and jamsetta.
Stir until sugar is dissolved.
Simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Meanwhile sterilise jam jars in oven or dishwasher.
Test jam by placing a spoon of jam in the freezer for 3 minutes. If the jam creases when a finger is poked in it, then Mr Jam is ready to be bottled. Otherwise continue to simmer a while longer. Be careful hot jam burns baby. It burns.

Enjoy on ciabatta, crepes, bagels, croissants, icecream, in shortbread cookies or sponge cake.  

Happy Easter!

Tomato basil fettuccine riduculous-ness

We sure had fun making lunch today.
2 tbs olive oil
3 crushed cloves garlic
2 tins of tomatoes
Handful of fresh basil from the garden, roughly chopped
Lots of parmesan cheese 
A packet of fettuccine
Salted boiling water
Ribena to drink


Heat oil in a pan, fry off the garlic, add the tomatoes & simmer for 15 minutes.
Boil pasta in salted water for 10 min. Drain. 
Mix sauce and pasta. Add chopped basil & cheese.
Serve and enjoy with a glass of Ribena. What a pleasure.

Mondays at Il Lido

Enjoying dressing up my dog. Not enjoying assignment deadlines.

March 2012

Enjoying the content of assignments, not enjoying deadlines. Procrastination via blog.

Happy 21st Amelia!

New Delhi, India.

I am just back from an amazing trip to India. WOOOHOOOO! I am still on a bit of a travel high. It was five sense overloaded weeks, mostly in Rajasthan, with two friends both named Alex. The trip ended up being ridiculous fun, which was only enhanced by the fact that both my travel companions have the same name (see side note below). Here are some photos of our first few days in Delhi. We spent daylight hours outside and retreated to our hotel in the evening. You might think we a little cautious to begin with, not to worry, as the trip wore on we became more relaxed, silly and daring. In the coming posts you will see that we stayed up until 6am at an Indian wedding, bathed in the Ganges, covered ourselves in henna and by the last day of the trip we were riding around the streets of Delhi with fake moustaches and beards.


Some observations about New Delhi, India.
- The streets don't have nearly as many people on them as I expected.
- The poverty is in your face. As we drove from the airport, I was amazed by all the people sleeping on the side of the road, especially a family with a baby huddled around a small fire in the median strip.
- The metro is modern and super efficient. The rest of Delhi not so much, but the fact that things are inefficient and maybe a little backwards only adds to the charm.
- Customer service is gold. We were always offered a comfortable seat and a cup of tea when visiting shops. 
- Indian tea (chai) is super sweet and delicious.
- The people are genuinely friendly, eager to learn and have the best sense of humour! We loved that people didn't take life too seriously and were willing to take a few minutes out of their day to have a good belly laugh with us.
- The people probably have diabetes from all that sweet sweet chai. I don't blame them. If I was Indian, I would happily inflict diabetes upon myself. It's that good.


*Side note-  Sometimes I would also pretend to be named Alex. It was highly entertaining to watch the wide eyed reactions of the Indian shopkeepers and street food vendors. It was even more entertain when people didn't notice that we all had the same name.

India Gate

An Indian gypsy at India gate. She tried to scam us, it didn't really work. 

One of the first times I saw a baby with eyeliner on.

The beautiful Loutus Temple

Ok, so the streets might have been a little busy. 

Almost every Indian outside the Red Fort wanted a photo with Alex, even the army guys.

Miss T's Cupcake Icing Tutorial

We were invited over to Miss T's for a cupcake icing tutorial. She is a pro cupcake maker as she works at the yummiest cupcake shop in town. We got to learn her secrets. Score!

Alex's Icing
90g unsalted softened butter
200ml full cream milk
500g icing sugar
Vanilla


-Beat butter, milk and half the sugar until the mixture loses it's yellow tinge and turns white. --Beat in the remaining sugar and add vanilla flavour/ colour/ cocoa. Icing should be almost as thick as mashed potato, and should hold it's shape. It should not taste like mashed potato.
-Hold the piping bag directly above the cupcake, about 1cm away from the surface, keep the bag steady, let the icing naturally spread out, then finish with a swirl.