National  Wood Expo . . .

At the weekend I attended the National Association of Woodworkers NZ annual Expo, it was the most amazing experience from beginning to end. I loved everything about it.

Seven incredibly talented woodturners shared their passion for wood, creativity and artistry with us. Initially I was so enthralled by what I was watching that I forgot to take photos. These turners were so generous with sharing their knowledge and tips that they have acquired over the years. It never fails to amaze me how you can take a simple rectangle of wood and create such a variety of objects. Peter from our club demonstrated how to turn a pull along bee, we can't call it a buzzy bee as that name is trademarked. At the end of June, he will be holding a workshop for us to also try our hand at making one. I will post my attempt at turning a bee after that workshop. Cross your fingers for me lol. Apart from Peter, all of the other demonstrators were from North Island clubs.

In between demonstrations we were well fed and entertained with other tool demonstrations and of course all of the wonderful merchandise stalls to peruse. The Expo dinner on Saturday night was a great event with wonderful food and hilarious moments. At the end of the evening, we had an auction as the demonstrators had donated the pieces they turned for us. As there were three demonstrations planned for Sunday, these items were sold as mystery boxes. This enhanced the excitement for us.

My club put on a fabulous table of turned pieces for everyone to view and enjoy. 

#WoodTurning 

25th & 26th May 2024

Finished Frogs . . . 

I was back in the workshop today and turned the eyes for the frogs. Trying to get them all the same size was a bit of a challenge, but I got there in the end. I used a black felt pen to colour the eyes while the wood turned on the lathe. I glued the eyes onto the frog heads after holes had been drilled to accommodate them. Then with holes drilled in the bottom of the frogs and dowel inserted into the log, the frogs were finally able to sit on the log. Then they were ready to take to tonight's club meeting. I have challenged myself to making something for each month's meeting. 

On our club meeting show table were these amazing pieces from some of the members. The fire engine was made by a man who has been turning for over 40 years. I have a very long way to go to get to that standard.

#WoodTurning #WoodTurnedFrogs #WoodenFrogs #FiveSpeckledFrogs

22nd May 2024

 Wood Turning Frogs . . .

I had the most disastrous day on the lathe yesterday. Every frog I tried to put an off-centre mouth on just didn't work. I really need more practise using both my skew chisel and the new chuck jaws that allow me to move a piece to the off-centre position. Today I went to the workshop determined to make a better job of it. The first couple were total duds, then I worked out that I was moving the frog too much. By just moving it a little off-centre, the mouth suddenly appeared in the right place. It is amazing that by moving the frog just a little, it no longer cuts all the around, thus forming the mouth. I still can't get my skew to cut as nicely as my tutor showed me. This is definitely a work in progress and a lot more practise is required! As you can see, my ability to turn the same shape has a way to go too. Tomorrow I will make the eyes, so they begin to look more like frogs.

While I was busy at the lathe Finney decided to spread the pile of shavings I had just swept up. Then after turning herself around a few times, went to sleep in the nest she had made. However, she obviously woke up feeling cold and headed back to her workshop bed. When I checked on her, she gave me a pleading look for her blanket. After tucking her in, she snuggled down and went back to sleep. What a great life dogs have - I'm a little jealous of her rug as the workshop is like working in a refrigerator.

#WoodTurningFrogs #Off-CentreTurning #JackRussell

21st May 2024

 Filling The Cake Tins . . .

I still talk about cake tins but in reality, it is all Tupperware these days. Today I made Feijoa cake and Spice biscuits. With the feijoas now starting to drop I have to be creative to use them. Although Bruce usually takes a handful each day in his lunch during feijoa season. After feeding the animals, I picked up another few feijoas. When Bruce hinted that the cake tins were getting a bit empty, feijoa cake seemed to be a good idea. He also really likes our spice biscuits. They keep really well - if they last long enough to store. Also freeze really well.

Spice biscuits are incredibly easy to make and are pretty much fool proof. They are great for children to make. It is a dough that can be rerolled many times without altering the texture of the biscuits and they can be cut into any shape you desire. At Christmas I make stars and drizzle melted chocolate over them. They are lovely sandwiched together with jam and iced on the top. Joined together with icing or in Bruce's case eaten just as they are. He doesn't like icing in any form. The most important part of the recipe is creaming the butter and sugar, it needs to be light and fluffy. This enables the other ingredients to be incorporated quickly to form the dough. This recipe can either be halved if you don't want too many biscuits, or doubled if you want a big batch for Christmas etc.

    

Next, I made the feijoa cake. For this I have adapted my banana cake recipe. The hardest part is collecting the feijoas lol. If the fruit isn't soft enough to mash, 1 to 2 minutes in the microwave is all that is required to mash with a fork. I like to use silicone pans now, but if you just have metal pans, grease and flour them before using.

I used to make my cakes in regular cake tins, however, Swiss roll pans take half the time to cook. This cake freezes well if you want to take advantage of using feijoas up. 

Bruce was on hand to give both the biscuits and cake the all important taste test.

The eggshells will be crushed when they are dry and sprinkled around my brassica (cabbage) seedlings. Slugs and snails don't like crawling over them.

Spice Biscuit Recipe . . .

250g butter - room temperature soft

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp mixed spice

2 tsp cinnamon

2tsp cream of tartar

1 tsp baking soda

1 cup cornflour

2 cups flour

Method:

Cream butter and sugar till light and fluffy, add eggs and beat well.

Add sifted dry ingredients and mix till a dough forms. 

Roll out thin and cut into shapes, rerolling as required until all dough is used. 

Bake at 160° for 10-12 minutes. Cool on a wire rack, 

When cold drizzle with melted chocolate, join with jam or ice.

Feijoa Cake Recipe . . .

125g butter - room temperature soft

1 cup sugar

1 egg

1 cup feijoas - mashed

1 tsp baking soda

2 Tblsp milk - warm 

½ tsp baking powder

1½ cups flour

Method:

Cream butter and sugar, add egg, mashed feijoas and baking soda dissolved in milk. Beat together, then add sifted dry ingredients.

Bake at 180° for 20 minutes in a Swiss roll tin or 45-55 minutes in a ring cake tin.

When cool, dust with icing sugar or ice.

Note: It is delicious with a cream cheese icing, unless you are called Bruce lol. 

Cream Cheese Icing Recipe . . .

Combine 225g of cream cheese, 110g of softened butter, and 1 tsp of vanilla extract. 

Gradually mix in 2 cups sifted icing sugar until smooth and creamy.

#Biscuits #Cookies #SpicedBiscuitRecipe #FeijoaCake #Cake #CreamCheeseIcing #CreamCheeseFrosting #Feijoas #Eggshells #CrushedEggshells

 

18th May 2024

 Tunnel House . . .

Now that the tomatoes and cucumbers have finished it is time to clean out the tunnel house and replant with winter crops. I am excited that most of the broad bean seeds have germinated. I'm personally not a fan of them, but Bruce really likes broad beans. What he can't eat, I will bottle for later use.

Once I removed the cucumber frames, I lightly forked over the ground and buried some toilet roll tubes that I had collected. Worms are great for the soil, and they really love cardboard, so it is totally a win. This is a great way to use something that would otherwise just get thrown away. In fact, worms are the greatest garden helpers you can have, the more worms you have the healthier your plants will be. They also do a lot of the heavy work for you by digging and aerating the soil.

After I buried the tubes, I planted out some red and green cabbages. The broccoli seedlings are not quite big enough yet, so that will be a job for next week. Also, the path needs to have some more wood chips on it. The wood chips are great for keeping the weeds down that otherwise flourish in the tunnel house. This will be a job I will do once I have cut the raspberry canes back. At least at this time of the year it is a warmish place to work.

#TunnelHouse #BroadBeans #ToiletRollTubes #Worms #SoilAeriation #CardBoard #GreenCabbage #RedCabbage #WoodChips

17th May 2024

 Larder . . .

This morning, I labelled and put the Pasta Sauce and Spaghetti away in the larder. I always get a kick out of seeing the rows of preserved fruit and vegetables that we have harvested from our garden.

We certainly won't go hungry anytime soon.

Bruce made these fabulous deep shelves for the larder. 15 years ago, we were going to varnish them, maybe now that I have retired it might get done lol.

#Larder #FoodStorage #DriedFruit #DehydratedFruit #FruitLeather #ElderflowerCordial #Juice #BottledFruit #Jam #Jellies #Beans #Relish #Chutney #Sauces #Beetroot #Tomatoes #PastaSauce #Spaghetti #Soup #Gherkins #PickledOnions #BreadandButterPickles #Patē

16th May 2024

 Workshop Fun . . .

This morning, I worked on the lathe to make some items for my craft fair table. I started by finishing a bowl I started at the club workshop. It is a shallow bowl and I'm really pleased with how well it turned out - no pun intended. It has wonderful grain and sanded well. Unfortunately, I don't know what the wood it.

Then I went on to turn a selection of wee Christmas Tree decorations. I will need to make a lot more of these. Making small objects like this are great for refining my spindle gauge turning skills. Because they are relatively quick to make, you get variety while turning.

#WoodTurning  #WoodenTurnedBowl  #ChristmasTreeTurnedDecorations #SnowmanTreeDecoration #ChristmasTreeDecoration

15th May 2024

 Bottled Spaghetti . . .

As I was getting the preserver out for the pasta sauce, I decided to take out some of the tomatoes I had prepared for Spaghetti and had popped into the freezer. I had so much fruit to bottle that the spaghetti was left for another time, like now.

This Homemade Spaghetti Sauce recipe has been a family favourite for as long as I can remember. It is really simple to make, and the flavours are fantastic. So much better than tinned spaghetti. Whenever the grandchildren stay it is the first thing they ask for. Spaghetti with farm reared sausages is definitely a hit.

This is one of those meals that always tastes amazing, and it is perfect for busy weekend lunches at this time of year. Spaghetti piled on toast with grated cheese on the top is Bruce's favourite way to have it.

Like the pasta sauce I make, this is also very easy.  Start by washing quart size jars and putting them in a low oven to sterilize.

I placed the frozen tomatoes over a very low heat to defrost while I made and preserved the pasta sauce. I did remove the plastic bags lol. This is the only tomato recipe I make that I remove the skin from the tomatoes. To do this, I dip them in boiling water and the skin just slides off. I did this step before I froze them.

To make the sauce I added the onions and garlic to the tomatoes and cooked them until they were pulpy. Using the stick blended I pureed the vegetables and added the sugar, salt and pepper. Then while they simmered, I prepared the thickening. Melt the butter in a pot, add all of the flour and make a roux. Add the tomato sauce and ladle in the tomato puree mixture. Simmer for a further 20 minutes. While that simmered, I put a pot of water on to boil and cooked the spaghetti till just al dente - about 8 minutes or so. When cooked I drained it and placed it in a bowl of cold water to stop it cooking any more.

Next, I poured boiling water over the seals and placed seven jars on the bench ready to go. Using a jug, I half-filled the jars with sauce and then divided the spaghetti amongst them. After draining the spaghetti for the second time, I poured boiling water over them to reheat them. Using a chopstick, I stirred the spaghetti into the sauce and topped up the jars with more sauce leaving a 2cm headspace at the top. Wipe the rim clean and place the lid on the jar. Apply band and turn until it is fingertip tight. Place jar in the boiling water in the preserver. Repeat until all jars are sealed and in the water. Add more boiling water to cover the jars completely. It probably appears like there isn't a lot of pasta in each jar, but it works out perfectly.

Process the quart jars for 1½ hours. Check every now and then to make sure the jars are covered with water, add more as required. Turn off the heat and remove the jars carefully from the water bath, remember that steam burns, place on a towel, tighten the bands and let cool to room temperature. Make sure you use gloves or a cloth when tightening the bands as they are extremely hot. When they have cooled, check to make sure the jars have sealed correctly. If any jars haven’t sealed, they will need to be refrigerated and used within three days or you can tip them into bags and freeze them. However, it is rare for jars not to seal. 
Note - Spaghetti does not need the citric acid.

Spaghetti in Tomato Sauce Recipe. . .

Sauce - 

6 kg Tomatoes - skinned and sliced
1½ kg Onions - diced
10 tsp crushed garlic
1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon common/plain salt - do not use iodized salt
Freshly ground pepper

Thickening -

250g butter
1 cup flour
1 cup tomato sauce - homemade

500g packet Spaghetti

Prepare as above.

#Spaghetti #SpaghettiBottled #SpaghettiCanned #Tomatoes #SpaghettiInTomatoSauce

14th May 2024