Plum Wine Recipe

It's almost 2 years since my attempt at feijoa wine. I have to say, I was not pleased with the results! It came out far too dry and thin. It smelled lovely, but I have continued to sample it at different stages of aging, and it has not improved. Perhaps I was too impatient with it? The more recent plum wine is a different story all together.

Today I bottled the Black Doris Plum wine that I started in March 2012. I had more or less left it to it's own devices in the hot water cupboard, occasionally checking up on it. But I must have done something right. Today I decided it had been doing nothing for long enough. I got the equipment sterilized and removed the airlock and had a taste.
WOW
It tastes like real wine! Like a slightly thin and slightly sweet pinot noir! Kind of sad now that I only made 5 bottles (and I'm 2/3 through the first one already!). I will definitely be giving this one another go come plum season! Here is the basic recipe, you will need to read between the lines, or read other fruit wine recipes to get the gist of what you need for sterilizing, making a yeast starter, racking, all that jazz.

Black Doris Plum Wine
Started mid-March, bottled end of November. Auckland temperatures!
1.7kg black doris plums, de-stoned and frozen for a few weeks (might have been 2kg to start with?) Thawed, weighed and put into sterilized primary fermenter bucket with 1 litre of water and 1 teaspoon of pectinase. Leave overnight, covered but not sealed. Also prepare 1 kg sugar dissolved in 1 litre water (hot) for mixing in tomorrow.
Next day; Add sugar syrup and 2 crushed campden tablets. Gravity reading = 1.111 (14% potential alcohol?) Wait 24 hours before adding yeast.
Yeast used; Vinters Harvest VR21 (asked for a yeast for a plum wine at the brew shop!)
Next day; Add yeast, or yeast starter (1tsp yeast, 1tsp sugar with lukewarm water, left in a warm place until frothy). My yeast was slow to start, probably due to temperature being low. Cover but don't seal (keep bugs out but allow gas to escape).
3 or 4 days after signs of activity (ie, crust forming and bubbly); Sieve through sterilized cheesecloth and funnel, into 1 gallon demijohn. Fit airlock (or cover with gladwrap and rubberbands) and put into hotwater cupboard or other slightly warm place.
2 months later, or when bubbling has slowed right down; Rack wine (transfer) into a new sterile demijohn, leaving sediment behind (use hose method). Add 4 tablespoons of sugar.
3 month later, or when bubbling slows again; rack again leaving sediment behind. Should taste fine, but young. Add more sugar if needed.
3 months later; Bubbling should have stopped, there should be no more sediment in the bottom of the demijohn, and wine should look clear. Tastes ready to drink! Sterilize 5 x 750ml bottles and bottle wine using sterilized funnel.
Drink within 6 months as not likely to improve with age! _________________________ I'm feeling quite drunk now. I estimate this one at between 13 and 14 percent. *Hic*

Kitchen Gadgetry

Kitchen Gadgets. Those things you think are a great idea. And then you buy them, use them a couple of times, and shelve them. Well, I haven't made one of those purchases in a long time. My kitchen gadgets have mostly been second-hand purchases, from the Salvation Army usually. These are my top 3.

Today I went to the Sunday Markets and apples and carrots were on special. I LOVE carrot and apple juice, but the fresh stuff costs $5 or $6 for a glass (and the not-fresh stuff is rubbish). Good thing I bought a juicer a few years ago for $15. It has paid for itself several times over. If I had bought it new, I would never have gotten enough use out of it to justify it's purchase! And I only ever juice apples and carrots. :-) Sometimes with a little ginger.
My longest companion would have to be the Soda Stream Classic, complete with 2 glass bottles. I believe this was also a $15 purchase. I try to avoid drinking straight store-bought juice, (too much sugar), so I make a glass of soda and add about 1/3 juice. I use it several times a week, so it's probably been my best purchase.
Gadget number 3 is my mini Goldair food processor. I remember that a friend of mine had an "Oskar" mini processor, that she used all the time, and I saw how useful it would be. So I was on the look-out for a second hand one, because I knew I couldn't afford one as a penniless student back then. :-) And how could I make hummus without one?? The Goldair gets used a couple of times a year, so at $10, I think it was worth it.
Gadgets that didn't get the usage? A home espresso machine. One of those weak things that barely gets up enough steam to warm the milk, let alone froth it. Instead I use a plunger (french press) daily. If I want froth, I warm the milk, put it in a glass jar, and shake it. The effect is exactly the same as the machine produced! If I have a lazy day ahead, and it's just me, I can hand-grind some beans and use the stove-top espresso, which only makes enough for one cup. :-)
New-bought gadgets that receive lots of use? Mini-grater. For citrus zests, grating ginger, chocolate, and parmesan. Garlic press. Self explanatory. Pizza cutter wheel. It was a gift that I would never have bought for myself, but I find myself using it a lot. It saves my knives from being blunted on the metal cooking trays!
What got me thinking about the kitchen gadgets, was a bit of fanciful design for my little gypsy caravan. I might have to give up the gadgets if I can't fit them in! So i'm going over things and trying to figure out what is actually essential in my future kitchen....as well as what is actually essential in my bedroom, lounge, bathroom. What has to be housed in the "core"? The space that will be the only heated area in winter. I guess I won't really know until i try it!

Mucking about with hammers and twine.

When I'm bored I like to look at pretty pictures of stuff on the internet. And by stuff I mean design blogs. It can be inspiring. Today it inspired me to take some photos of my own stuff. Because we all need to appreciate the things we have, right? What's in the little emergency coolie bag???

"Box of Birds Mate!" Get it? They are Penguin classics! Emergency reading matter.


Do you know how hard it is to disassemble an ABC crate? The wood wants to break before the nails want to come out.

That's why instead of building a little set of shelves for a spice rack, I ended up with this. It's kind of a letter rack, with a compartment in the top. Maybe for pens and paper?
And for the grand finale....

Can you guess what it is??? (it's really hard to photograph it in a hallway)





Tiki Bar! Well, sort of. It's to go on the front of the DJ booth at a "Tropical Island" themed birthday party. I was lucky my Dad had some dried bamboo in the garage that he has been trimming off the neighbour's bamboo plant to keep it from taking over the section. It's all tied together with hemp twine! No nails! Easy to disassemble and recycle! (unlike ABC crates).

Gypsy Wagon Dreams

Winter is creeping in. Time to snuggle down, read books, daydream, and surf the net a lot more. My daydreams of home building are evolving. From tiny house on a trailer, to gypsy wagon on a trailer.

I somehow imagine a Gypsy Vardo (wagon) might be easier for me to build, than one of Jay Shaffer's little homes. Plus there's the cute factor! So, I did some drawings.

This first one supposes going to 13 feet in height, (about 4 meters). In New Zealand, maximum road height (without a permit) seems to be 4.25 meters. After looking at at loads of photos of wagons, I realized that they couldn't possibly be that tall, because none of them have room above the door for a window! So I drew one up 2 foot shorter.

Looks more like the proportions of the ones I've been looking at. But the lower roof height means no room under the bed platform for a "sitting room". Why don't people build them higher? Are they more difficult to tow? Is it because of the extra weight? Comparison:

Either height, the layout could be the same:

I assume it would be best to mount a pot belly stove over the axle, because of the weight. I have zero experience of towing trailers. I've never owned a car with a towbar. And I think I would need quite a powerful vehicle to tow one of these! (and to build it on a pretty heavy duty trailer, looking at upwards of $5000 NZD for a new one!) Looks like there is a place in the South Island that makes wood burning stoves for mobile homes, which is great. But expensive. Another $2000. Obviously I should be focusing on saving money to buy the land to park it on first! But i'm desperate for a project, some kind of hope to keep me going, something to chip away at. Something to come home from work to, and keep my mind occupied! For now, I will have to be satisfied with drawings.

Lime Hollandaise

Hollandaise! Except.... I didn't have any lemons. So i used a wrinkly old lime. And I didn't have any cream, so I used a little milk instead. Still... pretty good. The right texture and everything. (I used the Edmond's recipe) Very rich though. Also enjoying "african autumn" tea. Cranberry, orange, red bush. Mmmm. I had to bring my little teapot out of retirement, as 1 teabag makes 2 cups!

Travelling sale woman

That's a chandelier, in the foyer of the Museum Art Hotel.

This is a confused snail I found on a walk through Newtown.

Yup, been to Wellington for easter weekend. For a birthday dinner infact. What do you give a man who's turning 80? A sockmonkey of course!

That's him in the grey. He has a paint palette, because he's an artist. No brush though. (monkeys finger paint. or use their tails!) Little rainbow monkey is for a very small child who is a new addition to a friends family. Haven't made monkeys in a long time. Don't have room anymore for the kind of havoc they create! My room is STILL a bombsite.
I was having a minor panic about not having a "going out somewhere fancy" coat to take to Wellington. This is where angling for a minimalist wardrobe falls down a bit. Took myself out looking for a coat at the op-shops on tuesday. Found this:

Positives = Very nice wool blend coat, with hood, Max Label (nice), with toogles, nice fitted shape, only $8. (!!!)
Negatives = I'm a bit allergic to wool, and it's a size 10. I am NOT a size 10. Except in the shoulders.
So, according to my rules about clothes, I really shouldn't have brought it. But it looks good on, and I was getting a bit desperate, (having nothing but casual-wear for a very fancy restaurant dinner.) I can only get the top button done up, but it looks just fine left open, and worn with a scarf to keep the wool off my neck. That's a lot of "buts". I've told myself I can on-sell it if it doesn't work out.
Oh yeah, I also brought that black velvet skirt. *sigh* Talk about falling off the wagon! I had planned to wear it for the dinner, but it took up too damn much room in my carry-on bag! It cost more than the coat too, at $12. At least it is well made, and I may be able to wear it for work.
What I didn't buy, was a crown lynn teapot. It was a bit of a funny shape, but I probably could have on-sold it to a collector. Oh well. Too late now!
What's in my future? Catching up on sleep. You never sleep as well as you do in your own bed, do you? And 2 William Gibson books from the library.

Excellent.

Tell the world.

World Organic

This is what I did with the money I haven't spent on booze.
:-)
Actually, I've been saving up. I haven't spent any money on skincare in ages. (Determined to use up everything in the bathroom cupboard.) A couple of days ago I got down to the dregs of my Trilogy - Enegizing face lotion. In a timely fashion, I also reached the dregs of my Neutrogena - Deep Clean foaming cleanser. So, at last I can order the stuff I've been dying to try from The Organic Skin Co!
I picked up some Calming Calendula Cream at a Sustainable Business Network showcase in town over summer (I also got to try out their other lovely products). It's brilliant stuff for eczema, and smells absolutely divine. Like lemon vanilla cheesecake! I've been desperately crushing the metal tube to try and get more out for weeks, while also eyeing up the website in anticipation of ordering more.
If you follow that link, you might notice a "summer series" special scroll past. (I certainly didn't notice it at first.) The general gist of it is that if you spend $100, they send you a set of River Veda stuff worth $94.50 for free! But I didn't quite realise this when I ordered myself a Calming Calendula Cream ($38), and a "Back to School" set (Organic Skin Co. Rosehip and Orange Day Moisturizer, Juniper Face Wash, and Almond Seed Face Exfoliant) which has disappeared off the website now, but was $75. plus $5.50 p&p. So, a rather extravagant $118.50!
Today, the cute little box arrived, with all the lovely extras! I am irrationally excited. The Freebies are from the other organic range sold by World Organic, called River Veda. A cleansing milk, lip balm and eye cream.
I gotta say, just tried out, Juniper Cleanser, Almond Exfoliant, Eye Cream and Lip Balm from River Veda, and Rosehip and Orange Day cream. My skin feels fricken amazing! And smells soooo good. All these super critical extracts and lovely organic bio-active things are awesome!
The exfoliant is very fine and wet compared to what I've been using, so you only need a tiny amount and it spreads really well and feels great.
Both ranges are Ecocert certified, and free from a whole range of nasties, and not tested on animals. Infact, everything carries the stamp of the Vegan Society, except for the Lip balm, (which contains beeswax).

When I find a new product I love, I just have to share.

*I should mention, I have not seen these for sale in any stores yet! They seem to be going the "Party Plan" route, and signing up consultants and beauticians. So, if you get a chance to try out the products, grab it!

Making and Doing

Just doodling around with photoshop. When I was supposed to be posting this.

Very bored with my thermal curtains, I found this nice trim at the fabulous Geoff's Emporium. The curtains are very large and dark, and have come to dominate the room when I draw them at night. The trim helps a little (and the green matches the old bit of carpet I had overlocked to make a rug).

While I was loading the photos onto the 'puter, I found a whole bunch of photos on the memory stick. Stuff I can't remember if I've blogged about...

Soy Candles I made at christmas time, for presents etc. And by etc, I mean myself! I bloody love the smell of the Ecoya French Pear soy candles, but no way can I afford $50 for a nice large one in a glass jar. Fortunately, I can make my own with supplies from HERE. Their "french pear" fragrance smells exactly the same as the ecoya one. Soy wax has a lower melting point than parrafin or beeswax, and is cleaner burning. The fragrance "throw" is much better too.

Valentines day last year, I made this for Himself. Potato chip bouquet, with a large Toblerone stem.

My classic "perfect bag". I've made about 4 for myself and worn them out, 2 for a friend and 2 for my mum (both their first ones wore out too) and made at least a few others for various people. I'm not currently using mine, as the leather one from a few posts ago is in daily use. If I could make one of these in leather I would. Seriously considering getting into leatherwork just so I can!

Funny, just when I say I've stopped making stuff, I find all these photos!

In other news, the plum wine had a miss-fire at the start. First lot of yeast didn't make a go of it. Luckily the second lot seems to be working. First lot I just chucked in the barrel (it's what the instructions on the pack said to do!). The second lot I made a starter in the hot water cupboard. Think I've learned my lesson! Wine has been delayed about a week.

If you were wondering how the lack of drinking is going, well, I stayed up until 5.30am on Saturday night (Himself was DJ-ing), got up at 11am, and offered to work a couple of hours for a friend who had been up all night with me, but working on the bar. It worked out well all round! I did not get grumpy, actually woke up feeling good!
My other big change has been cutting right down on bread. Seems to have made me crave sugar a lot more though. Have not lost ANY weight. Sigh. Still have exzema on my fingers, so a month off the booze hasn't helped that yet. Definitely need a more concerted effort!

Breaking Habits

This is one of my coffee grinders. It hasn't seen a lot of action lately.
I got sick a few weeks ago. Just your average cold but with a bit of an upset tummy. So I thought it best if I didn't have coffee for a day or two. Not so hard to go 2 days without coffee if you are barely able to leave your bed anyway! But on day 3, I started to think maybe me and coffee should take a bit of a longer break. So I started drinking tea instead. It was only when I found myself NOT desperately thinking "Oh my god, I NEED a tea!", that I realized what an addiction coffee was for me.
I'm not a person who goes out much for coffee any more, I haven't been for a few years, can't afford that sort of thing on a regular basis. But with a coffee machine at work, with $1 coffees, it's easy to find myself having 2 a day in addition to the plunger or stovetop espresso I had for breakfast. I had a hard time dealing with the american coffee situation when we went to the states, (I can see now why they all think starbucks is so great compared to a lot of what's on offer).
I am also a person who really struggles to get out of bed in the mornings. When I do manage to get up, it's usually to get as far as the kitchen to make coffee before plonking down on the couch and staring into space while my brain attempts to get into gear for the next 15 minutes or so, while I drink my coffee.
I'd come to believe that I MUST HAVE COFFEE in order to function. Which is obviously a ridiculous notion. It makes me cringe to think of all those bourgeois stereotypes - "oh darling, I couldn't possibly manage without first having my cup of coffee!" I'm not one of "those" people, am I?
Well anyway, I went 19 days without coffee. On day 19, I thought to myself, "I think I'd fancy a coffee." Because I hadn't thought "I NEED a coffee", I had one. It was really delicious. I sat down and drank it, rather than walking around drinking it while doing other things. I savoured it. It was delightful. It was a treat!
Now, if I can just hang on to that feeling!

Coincidentally, it's been 3 weeks since I consumed any alcohol. I think I'll stay off the sauce for a while. The hangovers were getting ridiculous! But speaking of sauce, I've got some black doris plums in the fermenter. About to add the yeast to start turning them into wine! I'll go for a sweet wine this time, as I don't think I put enough sugar in for the feijoa wine last year. One of the batches came out very dry. The SG on the plums (1.7kg plums + 1 kg sugar) is 1.110, which should theoretically put it in the dessert wine range. Here's hoping!

Anti Fashion-Consumer Minimalist ?

I don't know what label to put on this idea. I don't even know how to articulate it properly! I guess the general gist of it, is that I realized I had too much stuff quite some time ago. One of the facets of this realisation, was that I kind of stopped making stuff. If you have too much stuff, why make more? Right? Another was that I stopped going op-shopping. The joy of finding a bargain was being crushed by the guilt of the space it would take up, and doubt over if I would really use it, or if I was just kidding myself. Having your possessions condensed down to one room really makes you think! (ok, there are still boxes and furniture stored out in the shed! I admit it!)
But another part of this involved looking at my wardrobe. I would sigh over articles like THIS and THIS thinking how much easier those "what-to-wear" decisions would be if my wardrobe only contained 24 items or 30 items or whatever the magic number was! But it got me thinking.
I'm a jeans and T-shirts girl anyway. My work clothes are usually black jeans/pants and black T-shirts, and my casual wear is not much different. Why did I need a draw full of blue jeans? Hell, most of them were too tight, or worn at the seams anyway! I had a draw full of tops, of which I only wore about a quarter. There were dresses in my wardrobe I had worn once, and never felt comfortable in. (It's not like I ever go anywhere that requires me to dress up beyond the level of jeans with high heels!)
So I packed stuff up that I hadn't worn in ages or didn't quite fit right, and stashed it under my bed. After 6 months I hadn't pulled a single thing out of that bag to wear. So out it all went. "To market to market" to sell a pile of clothes for $2 a piece! It was a relief. Now the hard part. NOT replacing them!

In May last year I went to New York, and I had a plan. Alongside all the sight-seeing, I would shop judiciously. I had in mind some items I knew I would get good wear out of. I would be careful.
Of course it didn't go completely to plan. A heatwave in New York had me buying singlets, my handbag broke and I had to replace it, I caved and bought an expensive pair of high heels. But some things have proved excellent buys. I replaced my old chuck taylors, I bought 3 pairs of levi's in the "juniors" department(now these are my only jeans), and a replacement for my old denim jacket, a pair of Havianas which got good use until I lost them in a stream out in west auckland, even the silk scarf I bought to keep warm that first day in NY has gotten good use (though not in that subsequent NY heatwave!) I bought some Mac make-up, just powder, neutral eyeshadow and an eyebrow pencil. It was a revelation! Lovely stuff! And no skin trouble with it at all! Dior perfume, a black top with rose detail that I keep for "going out".

A lot of what I bought that wasn't "fashion related", was gifts. The only items I haven't gotten good use out of, was my "San Francisco" jacket (how did I not notice that this looks a bit silly unless it's zipped up???) and those high heels I mentioned (there's hope for them yet! I have a wedding to go to soon.)

Now. Compare the photo above to the one below.



These are my fashion purchases since I got back from the USA in June 2011.(8 months ago)
A leather handbag (which I um'd and ah'd over for weeks, and I'm now sooo glad I bought it).
A black cotton embroidered top for work. (a well considered impulse buy, if there is such a thing, since I've worn it almost every week).
A band T-shirt and a pair of socks, purchased this weekend. (the socks to save me from blisters on Saturday night in town).

I also bought a nightie, but I don't think that counts!

I've also scored some freebies. From the lost property box at work, just a couple of T-shirts that I'm not yet sure if I will wear (I'm waiting for winter). And one of my nana's dresses (something to wear to that wedding!)

Sometimes I feel like a bit of a frump, always wearing the same things to work. But the truth is, I'm comfortable in them, getting dressed in the morning is easy, and I actually don't think anyone has noticed! If they have, they haven't said anything about my boring dress code. :-) We all wear black anyway!

On the whole, it's liberating. And I tell you what, the less dressed up you are, the friendlier people are to you! (I always thought it was the other way around, but apparently that's only if you go to snobby places.)
:-)

Contemplating Plastic Free

I'm trying to get my head around going plastic-free for a period of time. As in, purchase NOTHING that has plastic in it or comes with plastic wrap. A kind of cold-turkey to shock myself out of my lazy behaviour when it comes to making purchases.
Even contemplating this is difficult.
How it all started was, I've been dreaming about building myself a trailer cabin, and not putting any plastic or toxic substances in it, but the biggest drawback is that this will make it very heavy. And Expensive. (And of course, I don't yet have a piece of land I could park it on.) Also, the toilet would almost certainly have to involve some kind of plastic! As would the shower!
But back to the much nearer future.
Some of the things that I would have to find substitutes and solutions for:

Toothpaste
Shampoo & Conditioner
Cat food (my cat is particular)
Milk -No glass milk bottles available locally! Only current solution, milkpowder?
Jarred products - often have a plastic skin inside the lid, as do tinned products.
Bulk store products - My local bulk store pre-bags most of it's products in ... plastic bags.
Juice - even the cartons are plastic coated
Gardening - plants and potting mix both come in plastic, meaning seeds only?

The more I think about it, the more difficult it seems!
*I'll probably add to this list as I think of more stuff.