Preserve the taste of summer

Winter is on our doorstep here in South Africa and although most perennial herbs will go through Winter, their growth slows down, which means that you may not have enough of the fresh stuff to meet both your culinary and medicinal needs. This is particularly true of herbs like, Thyme, Sage and Peppermint that are particularly good for relieving coughs, colds and sore throats.

There are other herbs like Oregano and Bay that are better when dried. Bay leaf is much more palatable and less bitter in the dried form. The stronger and sharper flavour derived from drying Oregano is well-suited to Italian dishes, marinades and roasts.

Sweet Basil and the various Mints are also coming to the end of their season and they need to be preserved if you want to keep the taste of Summer going through Winter. Because they lose most of their flavour when dried, it is better to chop the leaves, put them in ice trays with water and freeze. The ice cubes are then stored in a plastic bag and used when cooking.

DRYING HERBS
Drying your own herbs is very easy and there is simply no comparison between home-dried herbs and those bought from a supermarket.

You will need a sharp pair of pruning shears, a sharp knife or a sharp pair of small scissors and a basket or similar container to carry your harvest in.

DRYING METHODS
The main aim of the drying process is to remove the moisture as quickly as possible, while losing as little colour, taste and aroma as possible.

Air drying is the most satisfactory method and a dark, dry place is best for this. Drying the herbs in sunlight will cause the colour, taste and aroma to face.

The herbs can be formed into small bunches, tied with a piece of string and hung up in a cool place. Alternately you can use a table or other flat surface and lay them out on an oven rack, a looking rock or something similar to dry.

Drying times can range from a few days to a few weeks, depending on the drying method and moisture content of the herbs at the time of harvesting. the easiest way to check whether the herbs are dried, is to rub them between your fingers. If the herbs crumble and break, they are dry enough.

Microwave drying is not suited to large quantities and aroma and taste of herbs dried in this manner is not as good as those that are air dried. Most herbs should dry within 2 to 3 minutes in a microwave. Test your herbs every 30 seconds.

Oven drying is also a popular method, but once again the quality is not as good as air drying. the exception to this is cut roots, which dry very well in the oven

STORING DRIED HERBS
As soon as the herbs are dry, store them in air tight containers in a cool, dark spot. rub the leaves off the ranches, but try not to crumble them unnecessarily. It is better to crumble the herbs just before you use them

Remember to label the container with the name of the herb and the date they were dried.

WHEN TO HARVEST
Herbs for drying or other processing should be harvested early in the morning, once the dew has evaporated.

Never harvest more than you can process quickly. Try to avoid harvesting many different herbs in one basket. Discard any leaves that are diseased or yellowing.

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Summer! Home-made Iced teas

Forget Lipton's in the tin - how about making your own iced tea this summer? There is nothing more refreshing than a glass of ice cold tea prepared the old-fashioned way.

First of all, here's the BASIC RECIPE for iced tea :

- Brew your tea in the teacup so that it is slightly stronger than what you usually drink.
- Add sugar or honey if you prefer a sweet tea.
- Pour the tea into the glass of ice and stir it with a spoon until it is chilled.
- Add more ice if the cubes melt completely.
- Add a slice of lemon or sprig of mint to the glass.

APPLE & HONEY ICED TEA
Ingredients:
• 3 cups water, boiling
• 4 tea bags
• 1/3 cup honey
• 3 cups apple juice
Preparation:
Steep tea bags in hot water for 5 minutes. Strain out tea bags, and stir in honey and juice. Mix until honey is dissolved. Chill and serve over ice.
Serves 6-8



Iced tea with lemon

BOSTON ICED TEA
Ingredients:
• 4 quarts water
• 1 cup sugar
• 15 tea bags
• 12 oz frozen cranberry juice concentrate
Preparation:
Heat water to boiling, and add sugar. Stir until the sugar dissolves. Add tea bags, remove from heat and let steep for 4 to 5 minutes. Remove tea bags, and add cranberry juice concentrate.
Stir until melted and mixed, then allow to cool to room temperate before refrigerating. Serve over ice.
Serves 14

And just to add a bit of spice to life, here's a

COGNAC ICED TEA
Ingredients:
• 4 oz cold tea
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 2 dashes aromatic bitters
• 1 tsp sugar syrup (see below for recipe)
• 1 1/2 oz cognac
Preparation:
Mix ingredients and serve over ice, with a lemon slice.

And for those Latté lovers amongst us.... !

ICED CAFFE LATTÉ
Ingredients:
• 2 1/4 cups coffee, cold
• 2 cups milk
• 2 cups crushed ice
Preparation:
Blend all ingredients until frothy. Serve over ice.




Lipton Iced Tea from the liquid kitchen mini book of Lipton

What you'll need:

(Makes 1.5 L or approximately 8 drinks)
4 bags of Lipton Quality Black Tea
1 tablespoon vanilla essence
4 tablespoons sugar
1 lime, juice
2L boiling hot water

What to do:
1. Add dry ingredients to jug.
2. Poor in hot water and allow ingredients to infuse for five to ten minutes. Stir occasionally to help dissolve sugar.
3. Remove tea bags and lime wheels before chilling.
4. Before serving add ice and garnish with fresh lemon wheels.

And for something really special -

ICED TEA LATTÉ
What you'll need:

(Serves 1)
3 quality Tea bags
6 ice cubes
Fresh boiling water
100ml cold milk
2 teaspoons raw sugar
Cinnamon sugar

What to do:
1. Place tea bags in a heatproof measuring jug and pour
in fresh boiling water to measure 75mL. Allow to infuse
for 2 minutes. Remove tea bags.
2. Add sugar. Sit until sugar is dissolved.
3. Add ice cubes and the milk. Strain tea into a glass and
sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.
4. ENJOY!

Hint: Leave ice cubes in the tea for a really icy drink.

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Coffee prayer

Coffee prayer

W&N watercolour on Amedeo 200gsm watercolour paper

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Caffeine is my shepherd;
I shall not doze.
It maketh me to wake in green pastures,
It leadeth me beyond the sleeping masses.
It restoreth my buzz,
It leadeth me in the paths of consciousness
for it's name's sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of
the shadow of addiction,
I will fear no Equal
for thou art with me;
Thy cream and thy sugar
they comfort me.
Thou preparest a carafe before me
in the presence of Thy Starbucks,
Thou anointest my day with pep;
My cup runneth over.
Surely richness and taste
shall follow me all the days of my life:
and I will dwell in the house of Mocha forever.
Amen! Amen! Amen!
- Author Unknown

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Celebrate every moment

Our time on this earth is sacred, and we should celebrate every moment.

We cook and complain that it's a waste of time, when we should be pouring our love into making that food. 

We work and believe it's a divine curse, when we should be using our skills to bring pleasure and to spread the energy of the Mother. 

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Honest-to-goodness South African home-made Apricot Jam! Made by my dear friend Elizabeth  

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Camera Kodak EasyShare C195

 

Vintages - A niche to dream in

"Plain shelves filled with good editions in good bindings are more truly decorative than ornate bookcases lined with tawdry books."
- Edith Wharton, 1902

Adults love inviting nooks just as children do; such spaces seem protective, made for the imagination. A place apart, where you can gather notes, thoughts and plans. It's simply the idea of a silence in one's self that allows one to think or to feel. Creating a corner where that silence can happen - even in the busiest of households - calls for beauty like the shelf above.

Setting up a reading nook or dreaming niche for yourself is as exciting as building a new house! Lovingly storing your favourite books and stationery in one place where you can relax with a cup of coffee, snuggling under a warm throw, is one of life's blissful pleasures.

Reading is one of the great pleasures of life and an important part of nurturing our soul, gaining knowledge and finding pleasure in fiction. As such, we must make special time for ourselves to pursue our pleasures and make it high on our list of priorities.

Whether you are lucky enough to have a library filled with books and comfortable couches or choose to use a bay window area, filled with light, or a special corner in your bedroom, your reading nook will be YOUR private hide-out where no-one is allowed in except by invitation.

Your first consideration should be a comfortable chair or chaise lounge embellished with all the luxuries like cushions and throws. A coffee or side table will come in handy for a reading lamp, tea pot, some fresh flowers, reading glasses and some extra books.

Incorporating some shelves or a bookshelf for storage of your books and favourite collections is next on the list. Be creative and innovative with your bookshelf - fill blank spaces on the shelves with candles (in case the electricity goes off!) and some of your favourite photo frames. Fill a vintage jug with some pens and pencils for making notes and have a dictionary at hand for reference.

Some extras like a footstool and magazine rack always come in handy and a soft rug underfoot adds a luxurious touch. Also give some attention to the wall colour - find a soothing theme and hang some of your favourite paintings and artwork as a finishing touch.

A corner in the living room used as a reading nook.

A bookshelf and a comfortable chair on one side of the dining room denotes this as someone's dream corner.

Storage for some favourite books

A perfect reading nook

- image from decor8

So settle in with a creamy cup of coffee, your favourite book or your daily journal and enjoy the simple pleasures of life - don't get to the end of your life and find that you have just lived the length of it. You want to have lived the width of it as well.

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Green Tip #4 - Entrance feature

 (Image scsnned from a magazine)

Garden tools displayed at the back door make a nice arrangement as well as being on hand and quickly accessible.

There is nothing worse for me than, when I'm wandering through the garden and I see a branch or two that just needs a quick pruning, to have to go all the way to the garden shed, find the key, unlock the door, and fetch the pruning shears.

Why not just keep it all close and handy and at the same time make a beautiful feature at the back door? An old vintage coat rack with pegs makes an ideal place to keep you most used tools within easy reach, - even a piece of wood with nails hammered in will do the job.

Enjoy your ease and comfort and add a pretty feature to your entrance at the same time! 

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Green tip #3 - Coarse Salt

Add coarse salt in water before bathing . It will relax you and remove all toxins.

Bath Salts have many benefits:

Salts, when added to bath water, change the chemical balance of the water. This change makes it so that less water is absorbed into the skin, reducing the "pruning" effect that prolonged exposure to fresh water can have on your skin.

High concentrations of salts increase the specific gravity of the water and increase buoyancy which makes the body feel lighter in the bath. Flotation therapy has extremely high concentrations of salts in the water.

A Coarse Salt Bath can not only soften dirt and supply salt and minerals in your body, but also lose weight. The reason of this weight loss way is that coarse salt has the effect of sweating, and can speed up the metabolism of the skin, remove the waste in your body, so Coarse Salt Bath can not only help lose your weight, but also can make your skin tender and tight.

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Vintages - Chintzware

HEART-CATCHING CHINTZWARE - For avid collectors of Chintz-ware, the flowered pottery with old-fashioned airs, the joy is in the hunt, tracking down wayward pieces that have all the innocent charm of a wild flower meadow.

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Leonard Grimwade's Royal Winton Chintzware is considered the finest and he sought patterns everywhere. He even stopped ladies in the street so he could copy the designs from their pinafores.

One of my Royal Winton Chintzware Biscuit trays - Pattern "Julia"

"Julia", "Florence", "Sweet Nancy", "Summertime", "Sunshine", "Maytime" - the names given Chintz-ware patterns are as blithe and fresh as their clustering blossoms. Yet, often collectors must go by hunch to find out the history of a piece they discover, for the marks on the bottom, if there are any, don't always reveal its origin. Take the patterns of Royal Winton, for example, perhaps the most avidly sought by collectors today.

Royal Winton's "Cranstone" pattern, with roses echoing roses. A brass wire net over the top of the vase catches the stems and arrays he blossoms. Some Chintz-ware flower vases have perforated lids instead. The amount of precise work involved in covering entire pieces with transfer patterns is probably one of the reasons that efforts to revive old patterns have usually failed.

The widespread use of these designs, and the absence of accurate records, give that extra edge of mystery to today's pursuit of Chintzware. Many pieces have 'Royal Winton' on the back stamp, along with the name of the pattern and the country it was exported to, but some older ones were numbered, not named. If there is no stamp, it may or may not be Royal Winton - you can't tell.

If it says "England", not "Made in England" on the back, it was made before 1920.

Another collectors' favourite - a Royal Winton stacking teapot in forget-me-not-scattered "Julia". An ode to efficiency, the teapot, sugar bowl, creamer and lid all fit together as one.

A prized breakfast or bedside set in Royal Winton's "Welbeck" pattern. To aid hurrying housemaids, the pudgy teapot, teacup, sugar bowl, creamer and toast rack all fit, snug and secure, into indentations in the octagonal tray.
Pics from a 1970's 'Victoria' magazine

For all the nostalgic charm that makes Chintzware at home with Victoriana, the most collectible period is form the late 1920's, characterised by the daintiness of the floral patterns, to the 1960's. In the 1940's, the colours became increasingly vibrant and became scarce during the war, but afterwards it was revived, probably because it was so bright and cheerful.

Not only are the designs heart-catching, but Chintzware's pleasingly idiosyncratic shapes and uses also ensnare collectors.

If you close your eyes, you can almost smell the flowers!

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The bliss of Lavender

Said to bring protection to the household if planted at the front gate, Lavender has long been a favourite in the garden, in herb lore, and in the medicine chest. Its Latin origin “lavare” to wash, bears testimony not only to it’s refreshing smell but also to antiseptic qualities.

Much fuss is made in some books about ensuring that only the flower of English Lavender (Lavandula angustifolia) is used as a healing herb but in this (as in many things), I follow Yvette van Wyk, one of our best-know South African gurus on herbs. Yvette suggests that all major species, including the French (Lavandula dentata) are fine, and that all aerial parts are usable.

Image from Pinterest

Lavender is perhaps best known as a headache cure. (Always remember of course that the cause of a headache should be investigated especially if headaches persist. Many headaches are simply the result of mild dehydration, and can thus be best dealt with by drinking a tall glass of clean water. Other common causes of headaches are constipation, neck tension, allergens, and bad lighting.)

Lavender is particularly effective as a relief from tension headaches. Make a strong cup of lavender tea (officially called an infusion. Sip the tea, and inhale. Lavender is also fantastic for insomnia. Drink a cup of tea just before bedtime, or sleep with a sprig between your pillow and pillowcase. Also good for calming the nerves, lifting the spirits, and curing sore throats (gargle with a warm infusion) and bad breath (due not only to its sweet smell but also its antiseptic qualities).

As an antiseptic, I find the essential oil the most convenient and never travel without it. (It is imperative to use organic essential oils, as there are no pesticide or fungicide residues. The distillation process is also done slowly, with as little heat and pressure as possible. This ensures the therapeutic value of the oil.) It is mild enough to be used straight on the skin if necessary and is great for insect bites and small injuries. Ideally it should be combined with warm water to clean out grazes, small cuts, and the like, and can also be used like this as a gargle (add about 5 drops to a glass of warm water). Apply a drop to each temple for headache relief.

Image from Pinterest

Lavender oil is one of the best treatments for minor burns. (Apply only after the burn has cooled.) Add a few drops of essential oil to the bath to relieve tension, and to take the sting out of sunburn. Lavender is one of the essential oils that is mild enough to be safe for children. From 'Biophile Magazine' http://biophile.co.za/health/herbs-for-everyday-ailments

LAVENDER LINEN WATER
Mix 100 drops (5 ml) of lavender essential oil and 5 drops of peppermint essential oil with ¼ cup vodka. (Use the good stuff. You can buy 50 ml "nip" bottle of high test at the liquor store. It will be enough.) Stir into 3 cups of distilled, spring or well water. It will turn cloudy, but it won't stain cloth. Store in a glass container and shake before using. Add a quarter cup to rinse water with your bed linens for a comforting scent that will soothe you to sleep. Recipe from 'Homestead.com' 

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Vintages - A brush with Silver

 Cutlery for daily use

I'm an avid collector of antique glass and silver accessories and am always on the lookout for anything with a silver handle, tableware, sewing tools, buttonhooks, powder jars, salts, trays, mirrors and brushes, even ink wells and handbags. I have a special weakness for silver cutlery with bone handles, which I use for everyday use. They do require slightly more care than stainless steel which can just be thrown into the kitchen sink, but the little effort is worth the pleasure.

Cutlery close-up

Vintage and antique accessories add a special touch to any room, no matter what your décor. Glass and silver on crisp white linen looks great on a table for a special dinner party or celebration, together with flowers in any vintage or antique vase.

A sketch of Hydrangeas on my dinner table arranged in my vintage Hollands pewter pitcher from the mid-1950's.

Out of my collection - A Fish knife on Cut glass knife rest - Sheffield 1899

Amid the cruets and crystal on a formal table, every proper Victorian hostess would have set out - to the right of each place - a gleaming knife rest: an artful little bar that handily propped up knives to keep the tablecloth spotless. Rendered in such rich materials as cut glass, silver and bone, rests came in a wonderful array of elegant and whimsical shapes. Whether newly minted or antique (now the province of collectors round the world), these charming accessories can still ad a note of festivity to any well-appointed table.

Some of my silver collection displayed on Cut glass knife rests. The knife on the left is a Silver Wedding cake knife - Sheffield 1921, all in daily use.

Dressers or vanity tables are another great place to use and display your silver and glass collection. Today's vanity tables, though less elaborate than those of a century ago, can be just as appealing - especially when enhanced by cosmetic brushes with antique silver handles that not only recall a luxurious era, but also impart a soft glow to the complexion.

At the turn of the century, a vanity table always included an assortment of jars, or cabochons for holding creams and salves, as well as hair, make-up and clothes brushes.

A fan-shaped brush is especially good for applying blush and highlighting cheek-bones. When you hold any of these brushes in your hand, you experience a sense of continuity and permanence - a link to the past.

My guestroom Vanity

Hallmarked Silver and Blue enamel brush set

Silver Hallmarked hand mirror - next to it is an antique Silver chain mail mesh purse (unlined) dating from the Edwardian era c1908. Specially for those evenings when you don't have pockets and don't want to carry a purse! It's just big enough for an ID and a lipstick and a couple of R100 notes.

Close-up of chain mail mesh purse

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