Bottling Beans

A lovely few hours were spent at Prinzessinnengarten today. Walking through the gates is such a wonderfully relaxing experience, not that being in Berlin is stressful at all, but in the words of Darryl Kerrigan, "How's the serenity?"


Today there was a choice of two jobs. One was to move some compost and the other was to pick and bottle some beans. Being up for a new experience I went with the latter and was so glad of my choice.


There were a variety of beans that were harvested along with some herbs.

I would love to be able to tell you all about the different variety and be full of fabulous information, but my lack of German makes that a little difficult.

The first job was to top-and-tail the black beans and the yellow beans. These were then cut into pieces that were a little smaller than the height of the jars that the beans were to be stored inside.

Some of the larger beans were shelled.

These Fire Beans where shelled similarly to how you would shell a Broad Bean by taking off the outer layer. My phone camera does not do these little beauties any justice. The colours speckled over each little bean were gorgeous.

The little pieces of beans were blanched in batches and I was amazed to see that the black beans lose all of their dark colour and become green within second of being placed into the simmering water.


After a cooling bath and being place in a sieve to drain, the beans were stood up in the jars. Some of the herbs that we picked were added to the jars and the beans were packed as tightly as possible, without squashing them.

With all of the harvest, there ended up being 7 jars of bottled beans.

Some of the longer pieces of bean needed trimming so a few little adjustments were made. The bonus was that we were able to munch on the offcuts. Delicious!


A salted water mixture was brought to the boil and this was to be poured into the jars to assist in the preservation. We were unable to stay until the end of the process but I am sure that the final product would be fabulous.


Bottling beans is not something that I would really have thought to do, but after today, I will definitely have a go on my own.


What sorts of vegetables do you bottle?


Take care

Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner

After a quick visit to the random number generator I am back with the magic number, and it is

7,

so a big congrats to Clare.

I will send you an email, Clare, to get your details and get your parcel in the mail this weekend.

Thanks to everyone for playing along. I would love to have sent you all a little gift but know that I appreciate all of your comments and sentiments.

Take care

PS The Pav went down a treat. All were impressed and it tasted great. Phew!

Does This Make Me a Grownup?

It has been a while since I played along with Rhonda's On My Mind, but here goes.

There are handful of recipes that I just think of as a Mum job. And by Mum, I don't mean me. I mean my Mum. Those recipes that I just don't think I am ready for yet. One of the recipes that fits into this category is a Pavlova.

Friday is the last day of Deutsch lessons and we are having a bit of a party at the end of the session. Each person is bringing something from their own culture so I decided on a Pav.

I have never attempted one before so was a little worried. I would have to go this one alone as there wasn't time to get Mum to make one and then send it to Berlin. (I'm not sure if Australia Post or Deutsche Post would be big fans of this idea). There wasn't even time to email and ask for the recipe that she uses from a 1971 Woman's Weekly magazine. (I didn't think she would appreciate a midnight call for a recipe - I am such a considerate daughter.)

After a bit of Googling I decided on this recipe as I was pretty sure the ingredients would be easy enough to find. After a quick late night trip to Bio Mart, following consultation from my new BFF, Google Translate, I was ready to tackle this beast.

I have followed the instructions to the letter and now have a Pavlova sitting in the oven cooling with the door open.

Please cross fingers for me on Friday as I'll attempt to get the Pav to the class via public transport. I think I will top it with cream, strawberries and kiwifruit once I get there.

What was I thinking!

I must admit that there is a little plan in case disaster prevails. When we had to list what we were going to bring, no one knew what a Pavlova which was quite lucky for me. If it all goes horribly wrong, I can really take anything along and call it a Pavlova. No one will know the difference.

Take care

Prinzessinnengärten

After nearly two months of not having a garden of my own and noticing that my fingernails are constantly clean, I was feeling the urge to get out of doors again and into a vegetable garden. 

We are feeling fairly settled in our Berlin apartment and I have been looking for a community group to get involved in so I can to get out and meet people. It would be so easy to just keep to 'us' and not contribute to the neighborhood. Becoming part of the community is such an important part of this whole overseas experience for me, otherwise I may as well have just stayed home.

A few weeks ago I came across this amazing community participation garden, called Prinzessinnengärten, not too far from where we live. I love the history and philosophy behind this place. 

Twice a week there are community planting days, so last Saturday I covered myself in sunscreen, grabbed my hat and went along.

I was a little anxious at first, just like being back in Year 1 again, but this time a little different as I didn't speak the language. We were given the job of picking cabbage moth eggs and caterpillars from the kale, which was a very relaxing way to spend an hour or so. Quite a few people were bilingual, which was lucky for me. I did go along thinking that I may be the only non Deutsch speaker so it was a welcome surprise to be able to chat while I picked. 

Off to the next job.

With shovels in hands, three of us headed over to the compost bays to start layering some of the older compost in with some of the not-so-composted vegetation. Compost is something that I love tending to so I was happy to get right into it. The worms are a personal favourite and always bring a smile to my face. They were working busily and it almost felt wrong to disturb them. At least we were providing them with a new food source.

The afternoon tasks were complete and lunch at the cafe was calling me. I am not exactly sure what it was, but I can tell you it was delicious. The main part was made from the beetrrrot out of the garden and was a bit like a stew. This was topped with potato that had been mashed with some salt and pepper, along with a delicious addition of coconut cream.  It was so nice to eat this under the shade of some trees with a girl that I met on the day. 

It felt satisfying to wander home with some dirt under my fingernails.


Take care


Don't forget the giveaway.

Sourdough Update

I am now about 3 weeks into my 30 day sourdough challenge and I am actually really enjoying myself.

The starter came along nicely and there have certainly been many more successes than failures.

For a basic loaf recipe I am following this one and have been thrilled with the taste and the texture. The honey is a great little touch and ever so subtle.

On most days I am organised enough to get the starter out of the fridge and get it to room temperature, ready for adding the other ingredients later in the day. Yesterday I seemed to lack to energy/enthusiasm for loaf making so I thought a little pancake making was called for. This happened to double as and experiment and a Fathers' Day breakfast.

Blueberries were added during the cooking as I was following this recipe.

With a little maple syrup added these light and fluffy pancakes were a perfect way to start a beautiful Berlin day.

If you are in Perth and are interested in sourdough, you might like to know that Yoke at Wild Sourdough is launching her new book on September 25. I am sure you could email her at yoke@wildsourdough.com.au for more information.

Don't forget about the giveaway.

Take care

Milestone and a Giveaway

100th post

At the beginning of the year I tentatively jumped into the world of blogging, something that for so long I had just sat on the side and watched. I am so glad I did.

Well I thought I should celebrate this little milestone with a bit of a facelift, and more importantly, a Berlinesque giveaway.

This Ampelmann tote and cookie cutter set are up for grabs. 

If you are a follower, regular visiter or first-timer (welcome), leave a comment on this post by 8pm on Freitag (Friday) 9 September Berlin time and a winner will be selected at random.

Take care

Market Munchies

Every Tuesday and Friday one of the local streets turns into the most amazing market I have ever seen. The sights, sounds and smells are make it something that anyone visiting Berlin should experience.


We generally visit around meal time as the gozlemes are amazing. One of these is enough to keep you going all afternoon. There are a few varieties but Spinat und Käse is still my favourite.

We have luckily discovered another great little treat from the same vendor. The longer, thinner pieces are called sigara borek and I am sure that many of these will be consumed over the coming months to keep out the cold. (Everything on the board had been cut in half for sharing so the portion sizes are quite big.)

For our little sweet treat, we are loving a serve of tulumba tatlisi. These are delicious to eat while still warm, but I still manage to go through quite a few once they have cooled. The sugary syrup soaks right through but the outsides are still a little crunchy.


Roll on Friday!


Take care


PS Just wondering if anyone is going to be out on Thursday playing along with Sow. Give. Grow.?