Sourdough Biscuits and other things

Being a public holiday meant the owners across the river were onsite and we had a day off.

Jean had put together a sourdough bread but it failed to rise which meant rather than feed it to the chooks I turned it into savoury biscuits. Plain, Fennel seed, Sesame seed and caraway.

Went down to the workshop yesterday to run the generator for 20 minutes - a monthly chore to ensure it is working. Rather than move it outside I started it in situ but it would only run for a minute and conk out. Today with more time it was dragged out into the light and the air filter checked for mud wasp nests, the fuel bowl drained and cleaned and a thorough overall check. It was then I noticed the fuel on/off switch was in the off position. It ran well after that.

Harvested some more coffee beans and at each opportunity spent a little time shelling the previously dried beans. This is a tedious job but I'm committed to making at least one batch of our own coffee. Finished the shelling while watching a Annabel Langbein DVD that evening.

As usual, it is Monday and a fast day all day from our morning tea/coffee until dinner time. That doesn't prevent us from doing a dozen laps in the pool, 30 minutes of Aquarobics and a HIT session.

With the moon still in the right place bottling continued with another 4 dozen bottles. This time it was 36 litres of Petit Verdot. We had a bottle with dinner in the evening (what diet?) and found it really very good as a varietal. It is normally blended with other varieties but we prefer the unique individual flavours. So we aren't connoisseurs.

The weather continues to be dry and we have started the watering program again with both pumps working on the dam. I never have a problem with them as I don't turn off the fuel.

Some weeks a go we were given a largish pen which had been used to house broody hens and thus get them out of the busy laying boxes. The mesh in parts was badly rusted and today we finished replacing all the damaged sections. It now just needs a little rust proof paint and will be ready for action.

Wine Bottling Time

Having experience some weeks of high temperatures we are pretty sure the red wine remaining in demijohns has finished fermenting and will not start up again. Bottling is best done when there is a descending moon or no moon. Experience has shown a big reduction in sediment when the timing is right.  What ever doesn't get done this month will be attended to over the next two months. As long as all the botting is completed before January when the new vintage commences.

As with everything bottling is only one stage the next is cleaning up.

In only a couple of hours five dozen bottles were filled. A mix of corks and screw top seals. Corks for the bottles destined for longer aging.

Three wines today: Pinot Noir, Merlot and Shiraz. All three of these had extended time on skins and have as much of the goodness as possible extracted from the grape skins. Although its best drunk young before the goodness diminishes it will age very well and mellow.

In most vintages we experiment continually with different techniques to optimise or improve flavour as well as examine the effects of different techniques on the end product.

With Chardonnay and Semillon this year we used American Oak to compare against previous vintages where we used French Oak and occasionally no oak. With grapes such as Sauvignon Blanc and Traminer the spicy flavours do not take to oak well and the experiments are limited to the amount of skin contact time and temperatures during fermentation.

The reds this year had the most dramatic experiment with skin contact time extending to 24 days in most cases and sometimes beyond. Each year the type of yeast is varied to try and match it against the specific qualities of the fruit and the conditions of the vintage. These conditions maybe hot dry weather, over ripe fruit, under ripe fruit etc. Also this year we mixed equal quantities of American and French Oak.

If the fruit is of particular quality we will keep a percentage of them as whole bunches during the fermentation to extract more tannins.

Chilling the batch to below 10 C adds more time to the skin contact period without risking premature fermentation.

Sometimes one variety or batch is ready for pressing earlier than another. In these cases we may put the pressed skins into another batch which is still fermenting for further extraction of tannins.

Another change in technique is rather than plunging the cap of skins we inserted a perforated plate in the fermenter so that the rising skins stayed below the surface. This reduces the need to attend to the plunging every 4-6 hours but does require juice from the bottom of the fermenter to be pumped or stirred to the top at least a couple of times each day.

As you can see there are so many options to choose from. We find it a hell of a lot of fun. The worst part of the entire process is hot humid weather during picking but at least for the last couple of vintages this has not occurred. Getting up at 4 am to make the hour drive to the vineyard can be a bit tiring but by packing breakfast and espresso coffee we make it a bit of an adventure.

LED Lighting, Family Members, Maintenance

First job of the morning was a walk down to the pumps and kick them into action. The holding tank is low and all the beds will need watering this morning. As usual the dogs go with me and hunt around smelling the lingering scents of the previous nights visitors. Usually foxes, wallabies and rabbits. Nikki stays with me hoping I'll throw a stick in the dam for him to fetch but since he is recovering from a bad neck injury that does not happen. Bill stays in the background observing proceedings and only venturing forward occasionally. Lisa is off running about looking for rabbits or anything else of interest.

The pumps working I head back to the house. Of course Lisa is missing but I know she will not be far behind. If she misses the opportunity to go through the fox proof fence with me she always sits patiently on the other side and waits until someone comes and opens the gate. We are not sure how long she will wait because occasionally she has just appeared magically at the house. For a small slightly portly dog climbing over a one metre fence is an achievement.

I keep an eye on the gate and on schedule she appears just sitting and waiting.

And then when she sees that someone will let her into the Orchard a big grin breaks out.

Every year our entrance road needs a bit of maintenance. Being 400 metres of bitumen it acquires the occasional pot hole which needs patching but this weeks job was to trim away any grass from the edge which if left too long will force its way through the bitumen surface and erode this expensive access. After trimming away the growth we also rake the clippings over the edge.

As this is our only way in or out of the property it is our escape route in the event of a major bushfire. The section just below the road is steep and mostly Blady Grass which has grown tall and now very dry. When this burns it produces very tall flames and masses of black smoke. In the event of a fire it would be difficult to navigate down the road and so we spend some hours cutting a wide break along the downside of the road. The fallen grass will still burn but not as intensely and provide an opportunity to escape.

And of course we could have burnt off the grass as most of the locals do but didn't someone mention something about global warming and CO2 gases? Can't remember what that was but anyway I'm sure the soil will benefit from not killing the microbes and the cattle will enjoy the juicy regrowth. Must ask the neighbours one day if they have heard of this climate change rumour. I'm sure they will know about it.

Another long standing member of our family is Burbles the companion fowl. She and Bootsy are the only two fowls to share the house yard. They have learnt to behave themselves and only venture into a vegetable bed when we are digging it over to help with any grubs. Having ceased laying some years ago she keeps us company whenever we are outdoors. Especially if we are eating. She is of fairly large proportions and is a bit like a Saturn V rocket when launching vertically.

We raised Burbles after she fell from the nest and was abandoned. That same day she escaped from a large Brown snake as well. Destined to a peaceful life wandering around the house yard cleaning up any bugs or food scraps.

Todays big outing was an early trip to Aldi in Raymond Terrace to collect some LED lighting. There is a special buy of various LED lights and in our quest to continue reducing electricity consumption we have worked out a list of lights that could be beneficially replaced. In particular two tubes in the kitchen which are used heavily and various other frequently used globes which are either already fluorescent of halogen. At the moment we are leaving the down lights as is because the wattage available is insufficient. The few down lights we have are in areas which are poorly lighted by the main fitting and we rely on them to see clearly. No doubt in the next 12 months we will be able to replace these as well. Rather than throw out the old fluorescent lights we will use them as replacements in areas which are infrequently used.

Aquarobics

Who's idea was it to go to the pool this morning?

Yesterday was overcast, then there was a slight drizzle of rain, a brief hail storm and some more drizzling. Temperatures remained low all day unlike the 32 C of the previous day. The result is a swimming pool with water at 20 C.

The pool manager looked surprised we were there at 8 am and bemused. Jean didn't hear the manager's comment about it being only 20 C and proceeded to go in. I stood at the deep end preparing to dive in but hesitating in case Jean showed some sense and called it off. She didn't. Just a firm statement about how cold it was and in she went.

I reminded myself that in previous Winter's when doing laps in Newcastle's ocean baths the temperatures had been between 14 C and 17 C most days. When you dive in the shock is horrendous but if the heart doesn't stop it is only a matter of doing a few very fast laps and all is almost fine. At 20 C it is one quick lap. At lower temperatures it is a few more and a head cap is required to stem the loss of body heat (and stop the ears hurting).

So in it was and a very fast lap (heart still working).

On Tuesday we did 12 warm up laps and then worked our way through the various Aqua exercises at 30 second intervals. As the season progresses it will change to 60 seconds. Arm strengthening movements. Then the leg strengthening and finally the lower back. By the time we finished the fingers were tingling as the body loses heat. Today it was too cold to stay in the water that long and there was agreement to do the 12 laps then the HIT and some stretches.

We have incorporated HIT i.e. High Intensity Training where we punch out in the water as fast as we can for 20 seconds then rest and recover for a minute or so then repeat twice more. This is also known as interval training. It is supposed to be very good for reducing the risk of diabetes and there is some but not fully confirmed evidence that it may lower blood pressure and improve lipids.

So HIT it was and then the various stretches and out of the water. I find the long slow stretches really beneficial in loosening up after exercise.

The Women's change room has hot showers but the men's does not. I shared Jean's shower today.

Then home to a normal day of waxing the Parmesan made earlier in the week and starting another Roquefort. A little gardening and a little paid work Finishing off the day with drinks and cheese outside in the last of the sun. Dinner was crispy skin fish, salad and potatoes in Rosemary and Garlic and a bottle of our own Chambourcin.

Sourdough Pizza, Sourdough Biscuits, Diet and Exercise

On a roll today. Rather than use the remaining sourdough material leftover from the pasta making for more  pasta we decided to give pizza a go. And it worked fine. The topping on one of the two pizzas was the leftover Marinara from the pasta dish plus onions, mushrooms, olives, preserved capsicum and cheese i.e. leftover pieces of Havarti, Cheddar and Provolone were grated over the top. The base of sourdough was rolled out very thin and fitted to a pizza tray and baked for 15 minutes to harden it a little then the topping was added. The crust tastes a little different from the traditional pizza base but it is after all sourdough.

There was a little bit of dough still remaining which was rolled out very thinly and had some Caraway seeds added then cut into strips about 30 mm wide and baked until crisp. A perfect base for some Camembert or Colby that was in the fridge.

The morning started with a punishing round of Aquarobics. It was cold out and it was cold in and we remained cold all day. Probably the combination of fasting and exercise. Anyway the pizza and wine warmed us. As long as you have something to look forward to each day all is well.

There was a recent podcast from the ABC's The Health Report covering aspects of diet and exercise. http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/healthreport/the-lifestyle-challenge/4953496

It was extremely interesting. Our take on it was that it is irrelevant which diet you undertake be it Paleo, Atkins, CSIRO, Low Glycaemic, 5:2 Fast etc. It is more important to adhere to one that works for you and that you are happy to stick with because that is the secret. You need to stay with it indefinitely. There are no easy solutions. Calories are calories and the only way to lose weight or prevent long term weight gain is to restrict/reduce your calories. Making sure your food is fresh and balanced is a must. None of the faddy stuff like eating only Apples for weeks on end. The goal is to keep the body healthy as well as keep the weight down. A balanced diet of fresh unprocessed food with good variety and not too much of it.

Exercise will not help you lose weight unless you get into training of Olympic proportions. Exercise is to keep you fit and healthy. A balance of Aerobic activity and muscle building activity. Some exercise is better than none of course. BUT... be aware that to really obtain and maintain fitness you must improve on your performance all the time. If you walk around the block each day you will have to walk around faster next week or go around twice or something else. And that was the good news.

The Mulberry tree is producing masses of fruit and we are having some with yogurt each night. A few years ago we made a batch of jam using just the fruit and no sugar and we still have some left. We are not fans of making jam with sugar preferring to eat the fresh fruit. Because of the variety of fruit trees, vines etc we are rarely without some form of fresh fruit. The Citrus are still hanging there and we have some of those each day as well.

The new baby chickens are doing well.

One little baby peeking out

Two braver babies feeding

Blood Bank. Sourdough Pasta Success, Chickabator Working

Blood Bank

First up I forgot to mention the Blood Bank truck was in Clarence Town yesterday as they are every four months. Having booked an appointment four months ago there have been two reminders, an email two weeks ago and then a telephone call last week. The entire process is very efficient with very little waiting. All you have to do is make sure you have eaten well and drunk lots of water. Both those boxes ticked. The only real problem is afterwards. No heavy exercise after giving blood but we did manage a very good morning session of a few laps and aquarobics.

This is the first aquarobics session of the new season and I have to say it seemed easy going during the session in which we only did 30 second durations on each exercise. Something about doing all this in water makes a difference. For several hours after the session our bodies generated heat as if the metabolism was in runaway mode. I haven't noticed this after a plain old swimming session even when its been intensive. And the next day the body felt as if it had really been used (in a pleasant way).

And of course the day after giving blood it usually a good idea to take it reasonably easy as well - well that's what they recommend. No vigorous swimming.

Sourdough Pasta

Mixed this yesterday. 2 cups of starter and topped up with wholemeal flour and Semolina (only because there wasn't enough ground wholemeal at the ready) until the texture seemed right. It sat until the next morning and because it looked bit soft and sticky a little more flour was added. A final mix that evening and then the roll out. No good. The dough breaks up when rolled through the pasta maker. Not a disaster yet but we may be having Marinara without the pasta. Halved the dough batch and beat two eggs and mixed again with more flour. Finally the texture is about right and it rolls beautifully. So that seems to be the secret i.e. you need the eggs. But not until it has gone through the souring process.

And the taste was spectacular. The pasta was almost sweet in flavour and stood out even in a heavily Tomatoed Marinara sauce. Lots of Parsley and parmesan over the top.

Chickabator

Success. Three little chickens hatched with a little assistance from the grandparents. The shells seemed particularly tough and some prising was needed to allow them easier exits.

Rather than raise them in a brooder we bunged them under a broody hen (her timing was impeccable). She took to them immediately and they have now been transferred to small chicken tractor until they are big enough to roost with mum. When they were first hatched they were very fragile but a day under mum changed all that.

Now the program can get serious. Jean wants to breed from particular pairs. These will shortly be put together in some small chicken tractors and the eggs can be harvested as they occur.

Photographs

No photographs of the Aquarobics as the camera is not water proof.

No photographs of the chickens hatching - just plain forgot- too much excitement.

No photographs of the sourdough pasta because there was a panic in the kitchen at 6 pm when it all looked like a big disaster. And too relieved at having recovered from near disaster to think of it afterwards.

Yogurt, Cleaning Bottles, Mortar and Pestle, Sourdough Pasta

Chilled the yogurt made yesterday in the spare refrigerator and then started the draining process just before lunch. This batch looks a bit watery but we'll see what the yield will be. The liquid will go to soaking the chooks grain and the thicker yogurt texture is much nicer. I like mine a little softer than Jean. she prefers it almost like Labna.

The first batch draining

Removed labels of a batch of bottles and put them into the dishwasher for a final sterilisation. Soaking them for 24 hours before hand makes the label removal reasonably easy when scraping with a sharp knife. We don't use that knife for anything else and don't recommend you use your best best kitchen knife as the constant friction with glass is not the best thing for the blade.

Last bottle soaking

This works well

Normally we make our own pasta using freshly ground wholemeal flour. Our favourite recipe involves using eggs. Just out of curiosity it would be interesting to see what a sourdough pasta would be like. Using two cups of Jean's sourdough starter and the basic pasta recipe which doesn't involve eggs a batch was mixed. Will leave it until tomorrow night before attempting to roll it out. Looks a little soft and may need a little more flour to take away the stickiness. We'll see.

Sourdough pasta mix

Mentioned in an earlier blog was a Broad Bean Bruschetta made simply with Broad Beans, Garlic, Olive Oil, Salt and Pepper. The Mortar and Pestle we use is the biggest one we could find in a Sydney Asian food store. It was dirt cheap and is very heavy but has become indispensable for mashing up big batches. We keep it on a special (very sturdy) shelf under the marble pastry stand.

You can judge the size by the space it takes up on the kitchen sink