By Massimo L. (Own work) (Public domain) via Wikimedia Commons.

This weekend’s cooking featured Orange & Yoghurt Pancakes from the February 2011 issue of delicious. The recipe is a bit fiddly – lots of different bowls of things need to be prepared, and it stretch the resources in my (admitted under-equipped) kitchen. To simplify things, I decided to serve the pancakes only with Greek yoghurt and the berry compote – no messing around paring orange peel – but if I were to make this for brunch with guests (as I almost certainly will) I’d give my guests the choice of all the possible toppings. Because I’m still getting to know my kitchen, I burned quite a few pancakes before I’d worked out the right burner to be using, and the right setting for that particular burner, but once I’d worked it out, the pancakes were delicious, and smelled divine.

Parker Earle (strawberry) watercolor drawn in 1890 by Deborah Griscom Passmore (USDA).

This morning I set myself to making Real Strawberry Jelly, from the February 2011 issue of delicious. I made a few changes to the as-written recipe, in part to make my life easier, and it in part to work with ingredients I could find at my local supermarket (perhaps this also falls in the category of “making my life easier”?). I used frozen strawberries rather than fresh ones – at this time of the year much easier to find, and probably much better quality than anything fresh. I probably used a bit more than a tablespoon of lemon juice (squeezing directly into the pot is an inexact science), and when it came to drain the fruit I used a colander lined with cloth (this is what I had on hand). I substituted 6 gelatine sheets for 3 teaspoons of powdered gelatine (I couldn’t find the powdered version in the supermarket). I also didn’t faff around with inserting fruit into the setting jelly, although I did divide the strawberry syrup into ramekins to make individual servings. Despite my shortcuts, the resulting jelly is delicious. It’s not too sweet, and has a rich, rich strawberry flavour.

Louise and I ended up with the least interesting job: putting bottles in boxes and stacking them. Clare filled the bottles, Tim corked them, Dad labelled them, and David heat-shrunk wrapping to the bottle tops. I was surprised by just how much port was in a barrel – we filled 64 cases with 350 mL bottles. There are more photos of our bottling effort here.

Photo by found_drama

Like all lasagnes, it’s a bit fiddly to make (although the fresh lasagne sheets I used made it a lot less fiddly), and it uses the food processor twice (I hate cleaning the food processor). I think there wasn’t really enough filling for the lasagne – if I made it again, I’d double the amount of filling (or halve the “footprint” of the lasagne) – and I over-browned it a little, but I was generally happy with the end result – not spectacular, but still good, and a nice vegetarian option.

started and finished a cardigan for myself,

and started a cardigan for a friend’s baby.

It’s been nice to pick up the needles properly again!

Photo by Noodle snacks

After a phone call to the RSPCA, I picked up the dove in a towel and headed out to the Murdoch emergency vet clinic. I’m not overly optimistic about the bird’s chances – by the time I picked it up it was no longer putting up a fight – but it was still alive when I handed it over, so perhaps there’s some hope.

Photo by Zachary Ground

We ate dinner at Cantina 663 (where I had delicious gnocchi) before heading next door to see the show. I really enjoyed it, although we felt that the sound quality wasn’t great (but much better when we got out from under the balcony).

Yesterday I made a Goat’s Cheese and Rosemary Tart for dinner (along with the suggested grape, celery and walnut salad). It was very straight-forward (especially if you use pre-prepared pastry for the crust), and good despite my slightly over-cooking it (it was a little browner than I would have liked, but didn’t taste burnt). The accompanying salad was a winner, too – I’m a fan of fruit in salads – and it was nice and crisp. We’ll be eating left-overs tonight.

For dessert I made Lemon & Prosecco Cake from the most recent issue of delicious. I substituted cheap sparkling wine for the prosecco, and I thought the resulting cake was a little rubbery – perhaps I over-cooked it? Clare used the remaining cheap bubbly to make mimosas, which she served wearing appropriate glasses.

Great Wave Off Kanagawa

Today was a public holiday in Japan – for culture day. This is a poor excuse for a public holiday if ever I’ve seen one – the Japanese people I’ve talked to about it don’t really know what it is in aid of, and Wikipedia (meta link!) isn’t particularly clear, either. Not that I’m complaining. I spent the day in Ginza, soaking up Japanese culture. ;-)

The Melbourne Cup was run today, too – resulting in a public holiday in Melbourne.

It was (is?) election day in the US (which in my humble opinion ought to be a public holiday).

And, today, my PhD was officially conferred. I satisfied all the requirements some time ago, but the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences only confers degrees three times a year. Reason enough for a public holiday, I think.