RSC Week 11 - Green Updates

Another GREEN week, inside as well as outside. 

It has been raining and Friday at around midnight we had a spectacular thunderstorm that lasted about 2-3 hours. Some fishermen were interviewed on the news, they said they'd never experienced such a heavy thunderstorm. 

March is the Green month. RSC (Rainbow Scrap Challenge) hosted by Angela over at SOS Scrappy.

Rainy days and what is better than stay inside playing with stash?!

I have finished the 48 Churn Dash blocks for the boy's quilt. 

Churn Dash blocks are fun and quite fast to make. 

Some leftover pieces I plan to use for a pieced backing

Table scraps turned into big crumb block!  

... and a small one! The crumb blocks are for the backing too. 

Some rectangles I didn't need for the Churn Dash blocks

I turned them into a small table topper 

...and a smaller one, all batiks. I love these greens, 'sour' greens, as I call these bright green colors. 

A pillow cover top for my friend in Norway, it has two different greens.

More green emerged from the shelf! It's going to be some round placemats for my shop. 

...and outside; avocados from the tree! 

Linking up with Angela and RSC - Rainbow Scrap Challenge

RSC Week 10, GREEN all over

 GREEN and wet outside - GREEN and cozy inside!

It's week 10 of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge - RSC hosted by Angela over at SOS Scrappy. March is the GREEN month. It has been more rainy (and h*** humid!) than sunny days this week hence no venture out (except grocery shopping).  

I've been working on green, trying to reduce some of the approximately 30 yards measured. Where did all that green come from?! Someone must have done some purchases! LOL 

After making the pink quilt (left to add binding) for the little girl, I decided to make a GREEN quilt for her brother. 

The first idea was to make a Rail Fence quilt but decided against it. Curious to what block I've chosen? Scrappy Churn Dash! This block would make a more fun scrappy quilt, IMO. (A Rail Fence quilt is still on my bucket list). 

I have 22 blocks, each block 12" finished). I'm aiming for a 72 x 96 inches quilt. The kids' two uncles are 6.56 feet / 2 meters tall, the nephew may take after them, who knows? 

The first I did this week, was to make the blocks for the Swirling Stars Quilt

This is the big block, 22.50" square

Two small ones, 11.50"

They look pretty in green, don't they? 

Slow progress on my UFO; two more 'trees' made. Now I have all the 'trees' needed. It's going to be a Christmas Card Holder. 

A dear friend in Norway has asked me to make two throw pillows and a table runner. We decided on 'Granny Squares' for the first pillow and maybe reverse the colors for the second one. Two different greens (Moda Marbles) will be used. 

I began this post with 'Green and wet outside', and that is exactly what it is right now!

Taken from our porch less than 30 minutes ago. The mountain in the distance (west) is covered in clouds and rain. Not sure if you can see it; the berries on the trees in front are coffee beans (berries). Click on the photo to enlarge. Then there's some banana trees and in the background a palm tree, known as latania palm by the locals. 

Bananas! Fresh from the garden! No pesticides or herbicides. We usually get the bunches off the trees before they are ripe to prevent birds eating them.

Linking up with Angela and RSC (Rainbow Scrap Challenge)  

HAPPY SCRAPPY WEEKEND! 

 

Jack-seed paste

Have I invented a new recipe?

I posted about jackfruit (here) some days ago. At that time we didn't do anything with the seeds, except keeping them in water. The next day DH removed them from the water and wrapped them in newspaper - to let them dry up a little bit. Yesterday morning they were removed from the newspaper and put in the sun to dry more. (Sorry no photos from that process). Last night part of the seeds were boiled - like potatoes. Yummy to eat when still warm with salted butter added! :)

Here are the boiled jackseeds. Have to remove the "shell" from each of them before eating. I call it "shell", because it is a bit like the shell on shrimps.  

After the seeds were cleaned, I put them all in the food processor. I added garlic, olive oil, water (jack seeds are dryer than potatoes), sesam seeds, leek, salt, pepper and different spices. If one wants it spicier, add chillies and more salt. I didn't do that, because I find chillies too hot.

It can be eaten at dinner as well as bread-spread.

It turned out so yummy!!!

MIL told me jack curry as well as boiled jack seeds were "poor-people's-food" in the old times. Many families were fortunate having a jack tree in their garden, and often they ate jack three times per day...

There are not many vendors at the fruit- and vegetable market selling jacks nowadays. The younger generation doesn't bother about it anymore - sadly. In DH's family, there are only I and him who know how to clean jacks - and MIL - of course - and some of her siblings.  Perhaps we are fortunate having such an exotic fruit in our garden! :)

Cleaning up the garden

Such a beautiful sky this morning!

We have one jackfruit tree in our garden. The leaves are dark green and takes up a lot of light, so it was needed to cut off all the branches. We have talked about it for some weeks, but it was not before yesterday we finally did it.

The heap doesn't look that big, does it?! Man it was!!! I like to do works like shredding branches and started as early as 07:30 this morning. At noon I was almost done with the heap, but had to give up due to rain!  

Here's the shredded jack branches! OOOOH! I'm sure the flower beds will be happy when I add it all there! :) 

This is how our poor jackfruit tree looks now! It looks so ugly!!! But I know the job was needed; it will dry up faster in the flowerbed after rain and we get much more light into our kitchen. The huge branch to the left should have been cut off too, but we don't have suitable equipment for doing that. If you look carefully, you'll see there are still 4-5 jacks on the tree, most of them almost ripe. One has to be removed from the tree tomorrow, or else it starts to rot. Perhaps I'll make more jam - mixed with ripe bananas this time! :)

Jackfruit jam

Any of you who knows jackfruit? I was not familiar with it until I visited Mauritius for the very first time in 1998. The fruit is the largest tree borne fruit in the world. What is so fascinating with the fruit is that it is eaten as curry (unripe and boiled) as well as fruit (ripe) and even the seeds are eaten (boiled). The taste of ripe jack is something between ananas and banana - with other sweet tastes. Don't eat too much ripe jack; it's "heavy"! :)

Jackfruits cut in half. These are ripe jacks. The middle and right one is OK, but the left one had started to rot so we couldn't use it - except the seeds. When ripe, it also has this "sickening" kind of sweet smell; some says it smells like onions that start to rot, but actually I'm not sure how to explain that smell! :)

DH is cleaning jacks! Those of you who are familiar with the fruit, knows how much work it is to clean and how darn sticky that thing is! Before cutting, put cooking oil on the knife! The only parts that are used from ripe jack is the flesh around the seeds and the seeds.

The seeds - often boiled as beans.

 The flesh - ready to be boiled. The ripe fruit is very sweet so there is no need adding sugar while boiling it for jam. I added vanilla pod, whole, chrushed cardamom and cinnamon. Last time I made it, I mixed in some ripe bananas. I know jackfruit jelly as well as jam are made in Goa (India), perhaps other places too, but as far as MIL knows; it is not common here. She had never heard of it until I made it for the first time a couple of years ago. :)

VOILA!!! 5 small glasses jack jam!  

Fresh fruits from our garden...

What tastes better than fresh coconut milk?! We have one coconut tree in our garden that never gave fruits in 25 years - until settled here - that is what MIL says! The truth is the poor tree didn't get enough light - sun - it was shaded by another huge tree that we had to cut down for the construction of our house. The coconut tree started growing and gave fruit the same year as we moved into our new home. The coconut tree is less that 2 meters from our kitchen window - very exotic for me!




We have some banana trees in our garden and hubby had to cut off a huge bunch, because some had already gone ripe. We heard the birds in that direction (where the trees are) this morning and guessed some of the bananas are going ripe - and so they had. They look ripe - don't they - but they are not. For the already yellow ones it takes at least 3-4 days before they can be eaten, because now they are still a bit hard inside. This photo shows half of the bunch - the other half we gave to MIL.