tiny happy

bright as flowers

Kia ora! 

These February days are feeling decidedly "late-summer" in nature (current rainstorm notwithstanding) but looking at this week's photos, mid-summer is still shining through. 

Here are a few more projects and snaps to share with you and hopefully bring a warm breeze through the screen!

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In the first photos, you can see a silk dress I sewed up at the end of last year. We had a wedding to attend in the new year, and I knew it would probably be a hit day - so I made a really loose-fitting and airy dress from a self-drafted pattern. The fabric from The Fabric Store is a sheer crinkled silk - tricky to sew with but lovely and light. I wore it over a black silk slip I sewed last year. My kind sister-in-law sent through the photo of me at the wedding - cheers Gemma!

I've also included faded hydrangeas spotted on a recent walk around the neighbourhood - they're so beautiful at this time of year - papery and almost hand-dyed looking. And a pic of some chocolate brownies I made from a new cookbook I bought Tom for Christmas. It's Nigel Slater's A Cook's Book - a beautiful read if you can find it at your local bookshop or library. The brownies themselves are delicious, especially the next day - you can find his popular recipe here. 

Despite having more than a few projects on the go already, I've cast on for a new cardigan - I'm going to make the Sky Cardi by Carrie Bostick Hoge (Ravelry link here), a pattern in Making magazine issue #5. I'm using Zealana Kiwi yarn which is a combo of merino, possum and cotton and I'm hoping the result will be a lightweight cardigan that will be super useful for work over dresses.

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Are you reading or listening to anything interesting at the moment? I'm enjoying reading Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell and My Name is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout currently.

Through the headphones, I've loved listening to the sweet and soulful voice of Emma Donovan this past week - especially this song. And in the evenings, Tom and I have been watching Succession - dark and funny!

I hope this finds you very well and keeping safe and healthy.

Melissa X

bottling season

While I love the idea of a full-scale home bottling operation in the summer, like my Mum used to set up when I was a kid, city life here in Wellington doesn't really necessitate a store cupboard filled with endless jars of fruit and preserves. But I do love making a little jam and marmalade when I can, and giving the jars to friends and family. There's something so nice about the jewelled jars cooling on the windowsill.

Last week we scored a bag of plums from my parents' place, and there were more than we could eat fresh. I made a batch of plum + blackberry jam and another of spicy plum sauce. I was really happy with both so thought I'd share the recipes here. They're both cobbled together from a few other recipes, and adjusted to suit the ingredients we had in the cupboard.

Plum + blackberry jam

2 kilos plums
1 1/2 cups water
7 cups sugar
2 lemons
2 tsp cinnamon
1 cup frozen or fresh blackberries (or other berries)

Wash and sterilise your jars (I used 7) and place them in a warm oven. Wash their lids and place in a small saucepan half filled with water. Halve the lemons and scrape out the pips with a knife. Wrap these in a piece of muslin and tie securely.

Halve and stone the plums and place with the water into a big pot. Bring to the boil and simmer for about 15 minutes, or until soft and pulpy. 

Add to this the wrapped pips, juice from the two lemons, cinnamon, berries and sugar and simmer slowly until the sugar has completely dissolved. Then bring jam to a rolling boil and keep stirring until it reaches setting point. This could take anywhere from 15 to 30 minutes, but you can use the saucer test if you need to.

Heat the jar lids until the water boils then drain. Remove the warm jars from the oven and carefully fill them with jam using a small jug. Seal with the sterilised lids.

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Spicy plum sauce

I was surprised at the delicious flavour of this sauce, and by whizzing it with a hand-held blender I got the most beautiful ruby-red sauce you can imagine! It's great alongside meat and/or vegetarian dishes, such as zucchini fritters, or even a toasted cheese sandwich.

2.5 kilos of plums
4 onions
6 cloves of garlic
1 fresh chilli (or dried chilli powder)
2.5 cups of brown sugar
1 litre apple cider vinegar
2 tsp salt
2 tsp ground pepper
1 stick cinnamon
2 star anise
5 whole cloves
6 cardamom pods

Halve the cinnamon stick and place on a square of muslin or cheesecloth fabric with the star anise, cloves and cardamom pods. Tie into a bundle with some cooking string.

Wash and sterilise your bottles or jars (I used 5 small bottles) in a warm oven or in a pot of hot water.

Halve and stone the plums and place in a big pot, along with the chopped onions and garlic, chopped fresh chilli, brown sugar, cider vinegar, salt and pepper.

Bring to the boil, stirring frequently. Boil steadily until mixture is pulpy. This might take about an hour.

Remove the spice bag and cool slightly before using a hand-held blender to puree the sauce directly in the pot. If you don't have a stick blender, you could push it through a sieve or blend in a food processor, or just go for a textured sauce!

Return the pot to the element and re-heat the sauce until boiling. Pour into bottles with the help of a funnel and seal.

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