Colours of Fall: Day two

BURNT SIENNA
Certainly makes me want to get on a train and travel off into the sunset.

Not feeling totally satisfied with this, I looked back at some old photos and realised that for me

fall makes me think of my daughters, for they were both born during this season and I connect it to 

those last days of being pregnant and then the settling into winter with a new born. 

This is a photo from my older daughters birth, she was born at home, in Malta

(we were renting an old house in a place called Zebbug which means olives). 

This was our bedroom, the early afternoon light had an unusual effect on the room. This was one of my favourite things about this house.

Autumn Colours Day One

I am joining the colours of fall week suggested over at Elsie Marley and today is the start. In ode to the colours of fall I am missing, here is a picture of a fabric I am taken with and what comes to mind when I think of fall... a comforting cup of tea.

Changing seasons - Rummien

They say here with the September rains, it's the sound of the thunder that cracks the pomegranates open and then you know it's time, they are ready. While passing under it's tree on our walk today, we spotted our first cracked open one.

It's the small things sometimes

Like today, I set aside all major projects, cleaning tasks and to do list of errands and took all three children on a long walk to Birgu (equipped with a stroller and a picnic lunch). We had such a good time, trying out some unknown side paths, spotting not three but six little salamanders (or so they call them), test flying Tano's little paper model plane, going up and down on the see saw, the children were so good, with all the walking, heat and tricky streets to cross they did not complain once (not usually the case). One of those days you so enjoy being a parent and getting to spend time with your children. I wish this was true every day.

The pictures, while A. was away in Portugal last week and I was on my own with the kids, the Zabbar feast was in full swing. I took the kids through the crowded streets, to the band marchs, fire works, little stalls (am not normally much of a crowd person) but I managed and this was one of my favorite parts.... strolling round a familar little piazza to find an angel, or rather a tall painted wooden statue of some angel, they suddenly appear all over the city during the week of the feast. There is something uplifting to me me about turning a corner and seeing an angels wing or the bare foot of a temporary statue. Here are some close ups.

2 minutes

I stepped away for a moment, just a minute... and whalaa two cups of milk added to the playdough...nice. Needless to say that was the end of the playdough, which perhaps was good timing- it was all looking the colour of a dirty toad. As much of a pain as playdough is (the tiny bits you find squashed on the floor, in carpets, on shoe bottoms, hidden inside legos weeks later) it does certainly keep my gang very occupied.. I would go as far to say an hour.. which is an eternity with my lot. Am sure there is some flour based make it yourself recipe out there I can find on line. I hope!

Till the next posting, a song that off and on gets stuck in my head -Don't Fence Me In by Cole Porter , (only ok sounding version I can find at the moment) the horse bit is a little creepy.

Can I visit?

Although we have bought our old house and are still slowly setting things up here in Malta, I seem to have caught the house design bug and stumbled upon this site the other day DWELL. Without meaning to, a broom and the mop to my side (dinner dishes and the kitchen floor to attend to as A. had bed time honours with the children). I got a bit side tracked and before I knew it a good half hour had passed. Maybe I am missing Grand Designs (admittedly one of the shows I miss from the UK). Here are some pictures of houses I wouldn't mind visiting. The last one is from a section called scrap houses, all made from scraps of material- love it.

That crush

I saw her again, that beauty of a car, wonder if I can talk the old man into selling it. The colour, the details, I just love it. I used to cross paths with this Morris car every now and again while walking my children to school.

This

is a little bit fun -

perhaps he has been around for some time but this is the first I have heard of him- check out the Face Hunter blog. I love seeing people who take on a style of their own. These are a few from his Berlin section (he goes round the world and photos people on the street).

Adjusting

In my tastes anyway, much like the experience of growing to like (love actually) Geit Ost (the brown goatcheese) while living in Norway. I have come to love some Maltese specialities, like Kinnie (the national soft drink) and pickled onions, todays lunch was one of my recent favourites, fresh local bigilla (bought at the market this morning) served on today's bread, parsley and tomatoes. Bigilla is a broad bean spread usually made with Garlic and any combination of spices, no two seem to taste the same.

(One my favourite streets on the walk to the market)

By the way, kids have given the thumbs up on the blue doors and so has A, so I suppose we will stick with it. Funny, now the picture in our kitchen (red and blue print of Obama) is like the cross over from the outside to the inside.

Apologies to your eyes, we seem to have endless red surfaces, this was taken as I joined the kids on their kid table for a picnic lunch. Just realised it too is turquoise and red!

Some days

Things just work and others it all goes horribly wrong in small little ways all day long.

Today was one of those days- I had great hopes of finally painting the hideous tan metal doors in our courtyard. But in two ways this endeavor went awry, the first being that one should not start to paint something (with non water based paint) when young children are a foot.

For at just the point (nearly done and getting a little relaxed and carefree) I looked to see little Mr T. who desperately wanted me to look at his upside down submarine made for trains ... and in that moment, the entire can of paint slipped out of my hand and spilled ALL OVER ME, THE STONE FLOOR AND THE LADDER (borrowed from my in laws). My little guy notice an unusual word coming from my mouth and quickly ran over to help - walking right through the bright blue paint. If I wasn't covered in paint I would have taken a picture, it was a site! Slightly worrying, especially when I had not exactly told my husband that I would be embarking on this little DIY project. So with an hour to go before A. would get back from work and with minutes to go before destructo (my one year old) would wake up from nap (paint splatter and footprints EVERYWHERE), I did what one sometimes needs to do in these situations. LAUGH. Somehow it made it all better, it did take me ages to clean it all up ( I was by the end wreaking of kerosene having managed to spread paint form my hand to my face, as well as my elbow, forearm and knee ). I did clean it up in the end - JUST IN TIME. Then came lesson number two, a small square of colour looks very different on a larger scale! Twas all in vain- you look at the colour and think that you're in a fish tank- not the shade of turquoise I was going for after all. What to do?!

Pretty hideous- especially when one takes into account we have a bright red kitchen (as seen above), wouldn't red out doors have been a bit too much red though?! Back to the drawing board...anyone have any suggestions?! The walls are all old yellow sandstone so bold colours can work. Oddly the colour is already starting to feel normal.

On another note, I did have a good cooking day yesterday and made this caramel ice cream from the lovely Falling Cloudberries cookbook, the result- three very happy children. (Notice the ugly old tan metal door in the back ground).

Well good morning!

A friend spotted this and passed it on to me today-(thank you M) and I just had to share it with you all. Talk about athletic! Am loving it this morning, after a strong cup of coffee and with the kids at their grandparents I feel almost like tap dancing around the place myself. Had to share!

Hope you are all out having a good weekend!

By the way, fancy feet and myself are at last signed up to start tango lessons! Just hope I don't get the giggles, tango seems like some serious business.

For the kids

WATER BABIES

Sometimes you just need five minutes, to jump in the shower, run and grab the laundry off the line, finish the breakfast dishes or make a quick phone call. Am including (because I strangely enjoy making lists) a list of some of my kid's favourite youtube videos, most are 3-5 min long.

I admit I am a bad mother and have used them as bribes, such as "if you two can stop bickering and get your shoes, hats and coats on by the count of ten, you can watch the robot song".

Boy does it work! Better then sweets and I admittedly enjoy hearing them humming the songs throughout the day.

FUNNY BUNNIES

CONSIDER YOURSELF

THE ROBOT SONG (TALK BY COLDPLAY)

MAHNAHMANAH! (MUPPETS)

TALK LIKE YOU(JUNGLE BOOK)

CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG

OH TRIANGLE

THE BALLOON SONG (AUSTRALIA)

1234 (FEIST ON SESAME STREET)

BARNYARD

ONE WAS JOHNNY

I'D DO ANYTHING

*I have listed the videos as the kids refer to them.

Mysteries

While stopping by my husband's grandmothers old house last week (when I say old I mean more than 400 years, it has closed up stairways connecting to the catacombs under the city leading to the church), a labyrinth of a house, complete with an inner courtyard, an old well and countless rooms. My other half was away so I was asked in his place to stop by and pick out anything I wanted from one of the old upper rooms soon to be renovated, there was not much left in this particular room but two old arm chests (meant for someone else) and some random pieces of furniture (mostly spoken for already). Just before saying good by and thank you I spotted an odd shaped black case in the corner of the room, my husband's aunt had no idea what it was, so we gingerly took it out and carefully unzipped the case to discover a mandolin in perfect condition. She had no idea where it had come from or how long it had been sitting there, neither did any of her brothers or sisters (all seven), she had never seen her father or anyone else in her family ever play such a thing. She has decided to keep the mandolin and hang it on the wall somewhere but I am still puzzled by it, for it seems unlike the Italian Mandolins I have seen and the carved work is so intricate, many little inlayed triangles of mother of pearl, looks far more like something from north Africa.

I did read Captain Corelli's Mandolin many years ago and loved it (never saw the film), but ever since moving here it has drifted in and out of my mind for it's descriptions of the light on the Greek island remind me of what it is like here, and the band clubs where the old men gather, and the dry rocky earth with sparse olive trees....so many small details envoke a similar feel to this island. So this mandolin has for the time being captured my interest. Certain there must be quite a story behind it, one we will probably never know. At the least though I would like to know which country it came from. There is nothing written on it.

oh new books!

Kid related tid bit, my other half brought this home for our airplane enthusiast (we so enjoyed his other book, both pictured). Really beautiful illustrations and both have very sweet stories. Ahem someone went to Scotland and someone stayed home. Sometimes your the sail sometimes your the anchor I suppose.

In any case I just had to share...

Monsoon Rains?!

Fig and Ricotta Tart

What a delight to have a bit of rain on Saturday, thunder and lightening to boot! Summer storms are something I miss from my midwestern roots, England at least did provide a good dose of summer rain. The rain brought a smile to my face and a wave of nostalgia, actually more for our quiet days in Winchester when a short stroll through the tiny lanes, past the river, to the Bridge cafe was the perfect morning outing (especially with two toddlers and a new born) complete with fresh croissants. For some reason it is near to impossible to get a croissant here in Malta (at least in Zabbar). There is a wonderful cafe- newly reopened (will have to take a photo) in Valletta, a cafe near the old library called Cafe Premier which does thank god have good fresh croissants. Next post perhaps I will have to highlight some of my favourite cafes here. So yes a bit of rain over the weekend was lovely, the heat however did not subside much, and the humidity seemed only to increase. Back to the beach with the lot of us on Sunday.

I did find some last figs at the local vegetable stall and made this, which turned out suprisingly well! Shame I did not think to do it earlier in the season. Next year I guess.

I am terribly embarrassed about this picture, I am totally rubbish at taking good food pictures, and the grilled figs are a hard thing to capture but I feel compelled to add some kind of visual to the recipe.

Fig and Ricotta Tart

Crust - (makes enough for two)

6 ounces butter or about 3/4 cup (you can use half butter half margarine)

125 grams self raising flour (about a cup)

125 grams plain flour

pinch of salt

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

100 grams almonds

1 egg

filling

250 ricotta

2 eggs

1 1/2 Tbs semolina

5 Tbs sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla

Mix Flours, almonds, salt and baking powder together.

Mix in with your fingers the butter till the consistency of cornmeal or wet sand.

Beat one egg with a fork, add in a tablespoon of cold water

Pour egg mixture in and briefly mix together the dough.

Place the dough in the fridge for at least an hour before rolling out.

Blind bake the crust at 180 C for 10 min.

Take out and let cool

Meanwhile mix together the filling and once the crust is cooled off to room temperature pour in the filling and bake for 30 min or till the edges are golden brown at 180 C.

take out and place the quartered figs on the top, brush lightly with heated currant jam and grill for 10 min.

Let cool, tastes best when eaten cold.

Local Talent

No, I did not make this dress, but my dear friend E. over at My Funny Valentine did, what a pleasure to have met such a talented and interesting friend here - she cooks too! What could be better than a French friend who likes to cook?! Lucky me. She has effectively re-lit that fire of desire to sew again, now to find some time alone... may have to wait till school starts again. Till then I could not resist sharing some of E's lovely creations.

It's been a year

The feast of st. Helena,

This last weekend we celebrated the Birkirkara annual feast, (the town from which A. is from) this photo was taken of the statue of St. Helena making her way round the narrow center streets. It has been one year now since we relocated to Malta, a year ago we were in quaratine with three kids all having chickenpox. Seems in a way far longer than just a year. I have to admit that I still do not feel quiet 'settled'here. But I do feel I have adjusted in ways I did not expect, some things I mocked when first settling here I now see the logic of and some things (like pink sequined mispelled clothes for little girls) still get to me. I have quietly 'mislaid' the corset style bright pink top for my three year old more than a few times.. sometimes gifts are tricky things.

I have grown to like our noisy ally, with it's various standby characters and even feel a growing sort of belonging to our noisy side of Zabbar. Everyone seem to adore little destructo in particular, perhaps that is partially due to her daily 'Bonju' or ÇIAO!' which she says to every person she passes, with a huge grin and great gusto.

The older two seem more settled and are looking forward to the start of school (school starts the first week of October here) so still a ways to go!

I am secretly hoping not to find full time work for a few months so that I can have enough time to sew, plant, run, read and finally begin in earnest again with corresponding by pen and paper to old friends.

Nothing like necessity

to make you try something new. Can officially say that I am back on the ice cream kick again, this time its fruit sorbet. We had six kiwis I had forgotten about in the fridge and they were just at that soft sort of mushy point that no one really cares to eat, this combined with the fact that I have not been able to find any fresh cream in the small shops in our area combined with the nagging desire to make some new ice cream. So that's what led me to try out making a kiwi sorbet. I followed a great (Jamie Oliver tip) which he used in a lemon sorbet recipe, that being that once you have dissolved the sugar in the boiling water add in a table spoon or two of marscapone, it slowly dissolves and makes for a very creamy sorbet texture. Am very happy with the result. Really refreshing. Next time I make it I would double the proporions, this made only a small pint of sorbet.

Kiwi Sorbet Recipe

6 kiwis (scoop out the insides and puree)

1/3 cup sugar

1/3 cup water

2 Tablespoons Marscapone cheese

A small squeeze of a lemon (to bring out the tang of the kiwis)

First Boil the water and sugar (just enough to dissolve the sugar) then add in the

marscapone, let this cool. Next scoop out the inside of the kiwis and puree, add in the

sugar mixture and about a teaspoon of fresh lemon juice. Pour into the ice cream

mixer and your done. I am guessing you can do this in a freezer container - stirring it

every few hours for a similar effect but have not tried.

I was on a bit of a it's-hot-and-we-need-some-cool-desert sort of kick and made this second ice cream that we will be taking to Birkirkara today for the St. Helena Feast.

That is a fresh peach and prickly pear (cactus fruit) ice cream. I have been determined to try and make something with the prickly pears, they have an odd texture but have such a nice gentle taste, in the end I ended up using peaches (very ripe and bruised) with some local prickly pear liquor and did this time find some single cream. Here is the recipe (quickly before I forget myself).

Peach Ice Cream

6 very ripe peaches

1/3 cup sugar dissolved in 1/3 cup hot water

250 ml single cream

3-4 tablespoons prickly pear(cactus fruit) liquor pure all together and wirl away in the ice cream machine

Makes a creamy delicate ice cream, like the kiwi sorbet it would go well after Sushi.

Publish Post

Last but not least, a photo of the fig ice cream, recipe featured on a previous post.

Maltese inspired salad

For those of you that have been to Malta and tasted the tuna ftiras then this will probably look very familiar, it's basically a ftira minus the bread. A simple tuna salad- photo shown above.

Maltese inspired Tuna salad

INGREDIENTS

1/2 a small red onion finely chopped

big handful of fresh mint leaves chopped

few sprigs of parsley

spoon full of capers

3-5 green olives chopped

1-2 tomatoes chopped

can of tuna

some olive oil

salt pepper

dash of lemon juice or red wine vinegar

*if you have pickled onion, it can be added as well as a few broad beans

or white butter beans.

if you have it on bread, be sure its the kind with a good hard crust and spread on some tomato conserve and add a dash of olive oil ( as is always done here).

Another newly acquired favourite inspired from living in Malta is fresh ricotta sprinkled with some fresh ground pepper and salt on bread, straight simple and so tasty (especially if you have some good rustic bread).

.

3last thing is that I have to admit to being pretty won over with the preview of the new film Where the wild things are- I soooo loved the book as a kid and my children do as well and it seems they actually made a film that does justice to the book. Still have to see it though.. hope it comes here soon! Here is a link to the trailer I am talking about.

At last

On a random Friday afternoon walk , just the wish-he-were-a-pilot T. and little destructo and myself, down past the old city arch to Birgu to play in the lovely outdated (nice old school metal and wooden playground). On our way we passed the old truck I have been admiring whenever spotting, in the year since we arrived in Malta. The sunrise truck! Had the chance (as I was on foot and in no particular hurry)so took a few pics to share.

I do love the way that people here personalise their vehicles, trucks and buses in particular can be covered in small details. In fact a few months ago I nearly got run over by a huge cement truck (nicely painted blue and red) the drivers apparently not seeing the zebra crossing and myself till the last possible moment, so suddenly I found myself nose to nose with the front fender (yes tall truck) in which in bright yellow paint, were the words in search of gold. Really made me laugh, the possibility that those words could have been my last sight on earth.