Tricolore Treats

28 Thursday Aug 2014

Posted by Teresa in Cooking, Garden, Home

Tags

cooking, Family, garden, Italian Food, Tricolore

I get a real kick out of making food in the colours of the Italian Flag. Red, white and green. My favorite pizza, the Margherita, is made with basil, tomato and cheese. It was invented in Naples as a tribute to the Italian flag, also known as the Tricolore.

In the dish in this photo I used Basil from my garden and combined it with, tomato, bocconcini and prosciutto to create a Tricolore antipasto. I only wish I could share it with my cousin Antonello in Italy. Its been too long since we’ve shared a meal together.

Here is a link to more Tricolori dishes https://www.google.com/search?q=Tricolore+food&client=firefox-a&hs=y3r&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&channel=sb&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=_Z_-U4UOiJ2MAumogBA&ved=0CFcQsAQ&biw=1441&bih=1060

Making the most of your gifts

21 Thursday Nov 2013

Posted by Teresa in Garden, Home, Photography, Uncategorized

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childhood, garden, gifts, Italianness, lilies, propagation

Whenever my mother received a bunch of carnations she would pinch out the green shoots and plant them in the garden. Within a few months they had turned into small plants and soon after flowers would follow. My parent’s garden was always full of plants but I never saw them buying any of them or going to a nursery. It was always a matter of exchanging seeds with other Italians or taking a cutting and propagating it. There was something miraculous about this because it was making something out of almost nothing. I remember being enchanted by the idea of propagation and would pinch new shoots from plants on the way home from school and try to grow them. I found it wasn’t that hard and had a lot of success. I still love the idea, but pushed for time, I often end up buying seedlings off the shelf. However, a few years ago a friend gave me a small pot of ornamental indoor lilies. When they died off I dug the bulbs into the garden and that small pot has become around 50 plants and every spring they pop up underneath the mango tree and put on a show.

Grevilleas from Outer Space

26 Tuesday Mar 2013

Posted by Teresa in art, Garden, Home, Photography

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close ups, courtyards, flowers, friends, garden, Grevilleas, macro photography, plants

At a distance Grevilleas look like old dry brushes, but up close they look lush, soft and sensual. With a mass of curly insect-like antennae they almost look like they come from another planet. However, I found these in the tiny courtyard of my good friend Cathie P today while we were testing out my macro lens on her camera.

Life at Home

14 Thursday Feb 2013

Posted by Teresa in China, Home, Photography, Travel

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Tags

Buddha, China, garden, Madonna, photography, travel

We’ve been back from our trip about a month now and I feel bad that I haven’t post a blog yet. It has taken me a while to get over the shock of getting back to everyday life at home after the high of living in China. I’ve always loved China but this time I fell ‘in love’ and leaving felt like I was ending an intense romance prematurely. I cried when it was time to leave the apartment. To make matters worse, on the way to the airport the chauffeur put on the Madonna song ‘I’ll say Goodbye’ which set me off again, even though it also made me feel ridiculous. Before My Tiny Italian Garden returns home to Australia, I though I would add a few last photos from China.

I’m back and so is my Cavello Nero

25 Sunday Jul 2010

Posted by Teresa in Garden, Home

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Amsterdam, cavello nero, Croatian Cabbage, Croatian Garden, Deleuze conference, fans, garden, Perth, Tomatoes, wiinter tomatoes, winter garden, world up

A few days ago I got back from the Deleuze Studies conference in Amsterdam where I gave a paper, and guess what? My Cavello Nero has bounced back. You might remember a post a while back where I talked about how my Cavello Nero had been ravaged by caterpillars. Well I was determined not to give up on them so I cut them back–basically to stumps–and they started to grow back. They were just starting to gain momentum before I left, but the growth seemed to be slow. Now they are ready to pick. Its amazing how fast plants grow when you’re not looking.

Speaking of the cabbage family.

On the way back from Amsterdam I stopped into Perth. While I was away Baba and Poppet went to visit both our families who live there. My Mother-in-law has a gorgeous little Croatian Garden. Here it is the middle of winter and she already has tomatoes growing. Now, I know its not a European winter but it still gets down to 0% at night, so it quite a feat. She also has Croatian Cabbage growing, which you leave in the ground and pick leaves as you need them. This means it last ages and grows very tall. Hers reached my chest. And the best part is that she gave me some seeds. I’m going to sow them today.

By the way, the World Cup was on while I was in Amsterdam. I took photos of the fans before the game (still happy at this point). I’ve uploaded some on flickr. If you would like to have a look click on the flickr link on the right side of the blog.

Loving the Lime: Part Two

27 Sunday Jun 2010

Posted by Teresa in Cooking

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Tags

Chilli, chutney, cooking, garden, jam, Lime, marmalade, orange

I looked outside my kitchen window into the backyard the other day and noticed the lime tree was full of over ripe fruit. The limes were going yellow and Poppet had started referring to them as lemons. Now I just had to work out what to do with them. A few weeks ago we went to a two year old’s birthday party where they served curry accompanied with hot lime chutney. The mum was Indian Fijian and the chutney was a family recipe. It was without doubt the best chutney I have ever tried. I wondered it I could replicate it. I wish I had asked for the recipe but I didn’t. Instead I trawled the internet for a recipe that seemed to contain all the same elements. Last weekend my partner and I sliced up a dozen limes, a hand full of chillies mixed them up with spices and other ingredients and made hot lime chutney. It will be another few weeks before we can try it, but I have high hopes for it.

This week I used some of the remaining limes to make a lime and orange marmalade. I would like to be modest but its difficult because the it turned out to be unbelievably delicious. The family loved it. When I mentioned I was going to give a jar to a friend Poppet retaliated with a defiant NO. I had to explain that it was simple to make more. I’ve never made jam before so I’m thrilled.