A friend who reads my blog gave me a gentle ribbing a few days ago regarding, firstly, the dearth of posts in the last few weeks, and secondly, my promise to post about what's bugging me (and my lack of follow up).
What can I say? I have no less than seven draft posts languishing on my Blogger dashboard at the moment. Apart from one - a chookie update, which I just haven't gotten around to uploading all the photos to yet - I am hesitant to post any of the rest because, well, they aren't constructive in any way. At best they sound like a poor-me whinge-fest and at worst, an incoherent rant! So, there they sit, for the moment anyway.
In the meantime, I certainly haven't been idle:
* I scored a never-been-used electric bottling unit on eBay for a fraction of the cost of new. I have always been a bit suss about using my stove top Vacola bottling unit because it just doesn't sit comfortably on my gas stove top burner trivets, nor does it heat evenly since it sits over two burners when it is being used, one of which is a large wok burner, which makes me paranoid about potential accidents and/or bottling issues. With a self-contained electric unit however, I am not heating up my kitchen as much in summer when I bottle (yay!), and I am using electricity rather than natural gas - with the installation of our solar panels recently, plus paying for Green Power for the electricity we use from the grid, this is a 'greener' option for us.
* With the Aussie dollar currently almost on a par with the US dollar, I couldn't resist going halves with my Mum in a Presto pressure canner. Three years ago I priced them and they were in the vicinity of $380 plus delivery (to order them in Australia), but with the current exchange rate we got ours for $200. Awesome! I haven't used it yet, but I intend 'can' the foods which are taking up all the room in my tiny 140 litre freezer, particularly chicken stock and soups.
* Mum and I also went halves in an overlocker (serger), which I can't wait to bust out to make some clothes for my girls. I'm hoping to give it a trial run this week making some new handkerchiefs for the kids out of repurposed fabric.
* I've been flat out working out Christmas to-do lists. I had a sudden panic a couple of weeks ago when our more-organised-than-me relatives asked for present suggestions for the girls for Christmas, and gently pointed out that it was 'only' 10 weeks away at that stage. It's awesome that they asked, but I was terribly unprepared with suggestions! Thankfully, after a couple of days of heavy-duty internet trawling - including Jenny's terrific list of handmade presents she's given her daughter over the years - I've got a list of cool (I think!) present ideas. My mum is a much better crafter than me so I've sent her away with a list of hand mades I think think my girls will be thrilled with, but I am still in the process of refining the list of items I will be making for them! I want to stick to hand made as much as possible, with the exception of books and craft supplies, so I've literally got my work cut out for me.
* I've had some amazing luck at the op-shops lately, coming home with some excellent finds, yay! One of the more interesting things is this vintage Sheffield spoon, which I totally forgot to ask my Mum about over the weekend:
It has this odd flat edge on one side, which has broken with use over the years, hence the little split you can see. What do you think it is for? My thought is that it's for basting roasts? It's about the same size as the vintage table spoons I have, so bigger than dessert spoon size, but I thought that basting spoons were generally larger than table spoons? Suggestions anyone?
Anyway, back soon with a chookie update I hope :-)
Cheers,
P.S. Can anyone tell me why I can't leave comments on other Blogger blogs at the moment? Very frustrating! I've wanted to leave many comments this morning and none seem to be going through?
24 comments:
So nice to see you blogging again, Julie!
Love reading your thoughts! Looking forward to more.
Julie~
We purchased our Presto canner with my tax return a few years ago. We were putting it off due to the whole money issue as well. It is SO awesome. I love it! Definitely one of the most eco-friendly things we have done and I never saw it coming.
Though it might look a little weird, we can meat with it and it is so nice. By purchasing a very large stack of chicken (the all natural, no antibotic, free range) when on sale, you can can it up and not use the freezer or anything. We get chicken and hamburger this way twice a year and never have to purchase again.
We do the same with U-Pick and have relatively removed ourselves from the food grid in just under 2 years. Now we just go to the farm!
I know what I want for Christmas now - the Presto canner! I look forward to hearing what you can and how it tastes.
Good to see you pop up on my reader list. No idea why you can't leave comments. As for the spoon, I've never seen anything like it. My best surmise is that it's meant for skimming fat off other liquids. But my confidence in this guess is very low. I hope you find out what it really is and let us know. I always like to learn about old kitchen tools.
Oh Christmas - it's great for my fair trade kidswear business and all, but it sure is a lot of work.
Kudos to you for going all handmade and ethically produced this year. That's awesome.
Love seeing you back again.
Is it just me or can other people see the face in the second picture of the spoon?
What an interesting tool! Is it for scooping foam off the top of jam?
Our Vacola sits on the wood stove. That's one way to heat evenly.
I thought I was getting my comments deleted from some blogs, because they just weren't showing up. But I read on my dashboard recently something about blogger introducing some automatic spam filter & a reminder to check the spam folder on my blog occassionally to check that nothing was in there that shouldn't be (if that makes sense). So maybe the non-appearing comments are actually being directed to the spam comment folders?
Possibly the reason that you cannot leave comments is that you are using a browser, e.g. GoogleChrome, that does not support that function.
Cheers
Great to see you back. All blogs are good even if it's just 'to get something off your chest'/have a good whinge. Keep it up:-)
I am with Kate and Annon. - I think it is for skimming something. it looks like that makes sense.
I found a great big Presto pressure canner at a garage sale this past summer. $20US WOW! I love it. Have fun with your.
Sincerely, Emily
Hello everyone,
Thanks for all your comments! I really like the "skimming" idea for the spoon, I hadn't thought of that, but is makes sense. I will try it next time I make stock or jam and see how it goes :-)
I'm glad to see that many of you are enjoying your canners, I'm certainly looking forward to using mine :-)
@Granola Girl, I'm definitely looking forward to doing something similar to you, although sadly there aren't any U-pick farms in may immediate area :-( I can buy in bulk from the local farmers' markets however which is almost as good.
@ Sally, I'm not sure if the face is me or if it's just a weird reflection of something? LOL!
@ Anon, It seems to be a recent development though as I have previously left comments of the same blogs using the same browser (Firefox)? Odd.
@ Toris, Hmn, it could be that too. I've noticed that some random comments which are left here on my blog go into spam for no apparent reason too? *Shrugs*
Cheers,
Julie
Incoherent rambles seem to be my specialty and I have several drafts racked up as well. It's all there in my head, twirling round, but has a devil of a time getting to paper or keyboard and making sense to others.
Not sure what the spoon is for, however a skimming spoon sounds sensible.
Never seen a spoon like that... it looks like a spatula to pick up all of your creamy soup from the plate!
Or a spoon-knife!
ciao
Alessandra
Hello, It's my first visit here and I like what I'm reading and hope to make my way back again... it's a long way from the west.
best wishes for all your Christmas activities
Robyn
PS... word verification is
restives.... now that's a relaxing Christmas
Hi Julie, have you happen to figure out any new information on the neat "spoon" you found? Just wondering
Sincerely, Emily
Hi Julie,
Nice to see you blogging, but its been a month again......I do so enjoy your posts just wish you could blog alittle more.
Coleen
Missing your posts as well, Julie.
Hope everything is going well for you.
I was unable to tell people how to leave a comment on my blog for a while. It was frustrating. Apparently, the easiest thing to do is sign up for Google email, then when you "Choose your identity" when preparing to complete your comment, select "Google Account", then type in your Google name and password. I hope this helps.
OH MY GOSH!! AS I TYPE THIS I JUST SAW THE STORY OF STUFF LINK ON THE RIGHT OF THE PAGE! I JUST TOLD A BLOGGER IN THE MEDITERRANEAN AREA ABOUT THIS NOT FIVE MINUTES AGO! GREAT JOB HAVING IT ON YOUR BLOG!!!
Would you email me at veggiegardenblogger@gmail.com and tell me how I can put it on my blog? I have been trying to share that video with people for about three years now. It was very exciting to see it as it is incredibly important for everyone to know its content.
Thanks!
Veggie PAK
one of my New Year's resolutions will be to learn to can. congrats on the pressure canner. AND the serger. wow
HI Julie,
I hope all is well with you and yours. You haven't posted in a long while..... Have a Merry Christmas and a Great New Year!
Coleen
Best wishes for an enjoyable festive season Julie. Hope all is well :-)
Best wishes for a 2011 that's abundant in all the ways you would like it to be,
Ally
www.happyearth.com.au
I'm not sure, but I think that spoon might actually be an eating spoon (don't know the specific kind). I was thinking: for example, you know when you have pie with ice cream? Should you use a fork or spoon? It's difficult to cut most pies with a spoon, but you need one for ice cream... So maybe that flat part on the side is to aid in the sectioning of foods.
Just a thought, anyway. It seems like it could work for shaving away or pushing aside undesirable foam or grease, but that feels a little awkward to me.
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