Cold Platters

Salad For A Hot Day - A Cold Platter

It has been a fruitful Friday, reporting pot plants, rosemary, geranium and chocolate mints.  Weeding and fixing the vegetable patch, it is all about tidying up the garden today.  The weather is good for it.

Salad for a hot day is always welcome.  No cooking, the preparation is easy too.  A treat for a good hard working day is a Cold Platter.  It is an assembled food from lettuces, avocado, potato, prawns and chicken.  Mayonnaise and vinaigrette are dressing.

A Cold Platter Salad.

Cold Platter

Avocado, peeled and sliced

Cos lettuce leaves, iceberg-shredded

Sweet Potato, boiled, peeled and sliced

Potato, cooked, peeled and sliced

Strawberries, sliced thinly

Boiled egg, quarters or in halves

Boiled prawns, peeled

Poached chicken and Pork balls, halves

( any cold chicken that you like)

Chop mixed herbs: lovage, parsley and chive

Mayonnaise for dressing

Simple vinaigrette: olive oil, salt, white vinegar, and lemon juice

Method

Mix the shredded lettuce with some of the vinaigrette, and place on a large plate

In individual bowls place the potato, avocado, prawns, meatballs, add in a tablespoon mayonnaise

on each dish, mix them gently together.

Transfer and arrange these dishes beautifully on a bed of the lettuce which is on the large plate

Garnish with the eggs, chopped mixed herbs and drizzle with extra olive oil.  Serve at once

To Serve:

Serve cold – in room temperature for lunch or dinner, garnished with bread

Easy Friday Meal

Until  next post
Susy

A Woodland?

Is it a Woodland or the Bush?

No, neither is right, these lush greens are somewhere in Park Lane.  It does look so beautiful, just like in a bush, but it is in my backyard.  The olive tree has been growing so well since Rayner planted a few years ago, It was my birthday present to him.  He has been looking after it since, pruning and also harvesting the olives.  Other trees are the smoke bush, which is doing fantastically, and the silver birch is so tall, the trunk has grown fatter and look so rustic white, beautiful!

On the beautiful dry day, we do cooking in the area, I am planning to bake some Dutch sweet potatoes in our portable BBQ.  It should be good.
Baked whole pumpkin, takes a long time to cook, but cooking it outside that should be alright.  Serve the dish inside the house if you wish or have it outdoors.

Baked Whole Pumpkin

Whole Mini pumpkin or a Large pumpkin

Cut into two, clean the inside, seeded

Put the pumpkin together again, reshape

Rub the pumpkin generously with oil or butter

Wrap it up with a piece of baking paper

Then wrap it up again with foil

Bake in an outdoor BBQ with cover, for 35 minutes for the mini

Baked Pumpkin

Bake in an outdoor BBQ with lid, for 75 minutes

(depend on the size of the pumpkin)

To serve

Serve the pumpkin with any mixed cooked vegetables to garnish meat dishes

Serve the pumpkin as a dish, fill it up with cooked meatballs, garnished with salads

This dish is excellent for any season.

Second round roses mainly the icebergs are fantastic.  They are budding and also blossoming.

Summer is hot but sweet, the visitors come daily, the black birds, the cats and the butterflies.  Summer is indeed delightful when the weather is dry but not too hot; however, a lot of work is to be done around the garden, but still it is all good.

 Petunia Rhythm  &  Blues

New Annuals for this year.

The lush and beautiful trees are in my backyard, from there is so easy to be home to share a cuppa with friends. 

Tea served with a freshly baked fruit twist

with glace citrus topping.

Today is a perfect afternoon to have tea with Eileen to mark the last month of the year.

Until next post

Susy

The Gloves

Clearing up the Roses

Today is a lovely warm day, sunny and dry.  I spent a few hours in the garden to weed and to tidy up my roses.  There were yellow leaves that looked very bad.  It took me a good two hours just to clean about ten rose bushes.  But the pair of gloves that I had on saved me from the nasty thorns.  The job is done quickly, the roses are clean and looking fantastic, the gloves did the job. Thanks to my Kriskringle.  About two dozen roses to go, I may have to do it another day.


These are the unpleasant looking rose bushes, they have powdery yellow substance, and the leaves are yellow too.  Spraying with some chemical to them, I am not that keen, so I leave them as they are after the clearing up.

The unhealthy yellow leaves

After cutting the yellow leaves, the clearing up has to be done straight away, I transferred the cutting and the leaves to the rubbish bin.  It was effortless, the job could be done with confidence with heavy gloves on.





The rose bushes are looking much better now, the stems are lankier and cleaner.  I hope they stay that way, just wait and see.

It has been a handy day, as the saying goes: do the job with the right gear then you will achieve a better result.  Well, that is very true.  Pruning the roses with a sturdy pair of beautiful leather gloves is the right thing to do.  To make things better is that my gloves were sent from the other end of the world-The Netherlands.   Thanks, Ed.

 beautiful leather gardening gloves perfectly fit for me

Another day for gardening soon.

Until next post
Susy

In The Kitchen

The end of the year is the time to clean up, from the pantry to the kitchen.

Herbs   -    Spices
The pantry needs to be organised, especially the herbs and spices, they can be kept only so long, depending on the shelf life expectancy.  How do I know that I can keep them longer, particularly the homemade dried herbs?  This is what I do: I smell the herbs, if they don't have enough smell to tell me what they are, then I throw them away.  Dried herbs do smell fresh too.

Dried Herbs and Spices

Kitchen Knives 
People think that sharp knives are dangerous, yes it is true, you have to be careful how to handle them.  But working in the kitchen the sharps knives are essential, you can chop any vegetables or meat safely with a sharp knife than with the blunt one.  Keeping the blades properly is a must, the kitchen knives should have their own place to sleep.  And it is essential to sharp the knives regularly, do it your self or bring the whole set to the Kitchen store to sharpen.  I am very fortunate that Rayner does it for me automatically.

The Knives

Knives Drawers

I don't think it is hard to keep up with the cleaning up of the kitchen, especially I have a small kitchen.  I set it up as a chef's kitchen,  I like to find my cooking tools easily and quickly. The ladles, strainers, skimmers, whisks, cooking forks, cooking spoons, colanders, tongs, turners have to be easily accessible.  However, because they all hang up openly, they get dusty.  They need to be washed from time to time, especially the things that are rarely used but still useful.  Drawers and cupboards are the best places to keep the rest of the kitchen tools.

Kitchen Tools - Kitchen Utensils

To wash the kitchen tools, soak them in hot soapy water or put them in a dishwasher, they wash that way thoroughly. 
The oven is the most significant part, "self-clean oven".  Wow, what a joke.  I think I leave it just here, but I do need to clean it once upon a time.

I admire all working mum with children, and yet they are very disciplined and organised to run the house.  I understood for some people to have a ritual to do thorough cleaning up once a year.  Every day is routine cleaning up that we ought to do.

When things are in order, I feel more relaxed, and work can be done more efficiently.



Until next post
Susy

After Christmas

Christmas Leftovers

Cooking for Christmas leftovers as promised, here I have a few tips what to do with the turkey. 

Wrap it up with baking paper then plastic glad wrap,  keep it in a labelled cloth bag, refrigerate!  It keeps well for a few days.  To do it this way is much better then if you stay in a plastic box-refrigerated.

It does not only keep well in the cloth bag, but it is also very hygienic, preventing food cross-contamination within the refrigerator.

Cooking with the leftover Turkey:

• For a hot dish, I do with the breast meat, sliced thinly, then dip in a batter mixture with cheese then pan fry until golden.  Serve hot with a salad.

• The most obvious one is to slice the meat thinly to have them for the sandwich filling, which is mixed with mayonnaise and avocado.

• Mix the cold meat with egg pasta, serve it in room temperature dressed with the best virgin olive oil and mixed fresh herbs.

• For the red meat (the thigh or leg), shred the meat, add some lime juice, oil and herbs.  Serve it on a leaf (lettuce) as a Sang Chai Bao.

• Chop the meat finely then add in fresh crushed garlic, some mashed potato, ground white pepper, salt and eggs.  Mix them together, then make small balls out of that mixture, fry in hot deep oil until golden brown, these are very delicious simple croquettes.

• Make some fresh pancake rolls, fill with cold turkey meat, together with fresh carrots-Julianne and shredded iceberg lettuce. Serve with a dipping sauce that you like.

• Last but not least, add some chopped meat to nasi goreng (fried rice Javanese style) to replace chicken.  Turkey is not readily available in Java, in fact, it is not commonly cooked; however, I don't mind if my nasi goreng has some turkey meat in it. 

At Mel's Christmas Lunch, one of the dishes was baked salmon.  Leftover salmon is good to have in kedgeree for breakfast the next day.  Look up the recipe in the older post.

Christmas Turkey
Buffet

Hope you like the tips, you could do more, be creative to have more exciting recipes.

Any leftover Christmas Cake is alright.  It keeps for months.

Until Next Post.
Susy

Happy Christmas

May the joy of this festive season be with you throughout the year.

I wish you all to have a Very Happy and Peaceful Christmas. 

We are going to my eldest daughter's place today to have our family Christmas celebration.  It is a very very special occasion to us both.




Thank you for visiting my blog, your support and for all your kind comments.

Enjoy your Christmas and Keep Safe.


Until Next Post
Susy

Lettuce

Iceberg Lettuce

The use of iceberg lettuce is almost endless.  It is eaten raw for salads, and it is delicious to be braised, eaten as a hot dish.  Also for the presentation of cooking in a Chinese meal, Sang Choi Bao.  It is an excellent garnish in clear soup.

Today I used it as a bowl for my prawn's salad.  What you need are some chopped red tomato, cooked, peeled prawns and a dressing.  The dressing is simple: lemon juice, vegetable oil, salt and shredded kaffir lime leaves.  It is a good summer salad.

Prawn Summer Salad

Freshly deep fried food is rested on a bed of iceberg lettuce, it is a good idea because the food can be enjoyed together with the salad.  A slice of lemon can be added, squeeze the juice before serving/eating it.

Freshly picked young iceberg lettuce from the garden is absolutely a treat.  It is soft. Sweet, crunchy, and so fresh.  Thank you, Roland.
I have never succeeded to plant lettuce.  In Autumn or Spring, I plant cos lettuce, radicchio and rockets, most of the time they do well.

Refrigerate and keep them in a container to stay fresh.  Wash as you needed. Otherwise, the leaves are ruined to turn brownish.

Have iceberg lettuce for the Christmas Lunch, shredded, mixed with sliced avocado and dressed with saffron mayonnaise.  It is an excellent salad if you have a Cold Table.  This salad goes with white meat, ham or even seafood.

Tonight is Christmas Eve, staying in and enjoying the Christmas song.

Until next post.
Susy

Cooking Gallery

From Twilight Farmers Market  To The Gallery

Just at a glance, we visited the twilight farmers market today, they were a lot of people and many stalls.  Some people were busy the last minute shopping fresh produce for their Christmas Lunch, and a few people that we know were there to check out what it was all about.

I was lucky to get a bunch of purple carrots, I never had them before, I am looking forward to tasting it.  Beautiful fresh berries, I was too late to get the fresh raspberries, but mixed berries I got them instead.  Once a year, I like to have fresh berries, and it is now time.

Fresh Mixed Berries

Cooking Gallery, selected randomly.  Start from a Christmas Cake to Klepon ( a Javanese sweet)

Cooking      Gallery

Sweets

 Kerstmis    To     Klepon

Klepon a Javanesse sweet
Poached Glutenous Rice Flour Balls
with Coconut Sugar Filling

Christmas Eve is tomorrow.  I wish you all the very best for the Christmas preparations. 

Until next post

Susy