The Ramble
Frosty Fruits by the pool, a metamorphosis, a cannellini bean failure, and peanut cookies
After a ridiculously hot weekend for this time of year (we got up to 35 degrees on Saturday—I had to pull out the purple thread for the temperature blanket!), things have cooked back down to almost perfect conditions.
Anyways, without further palaver, here’s the week that was.
What made me go hmmm…
Maria Sibylla Merian
This article in The Guardian about German entomologist, naturalist and scientific illustrator Maria Sibylla Merian sent me down a research rabbit hole.
More than a century before Darwin’s voyages, Merian, a single, divorced woman, travelled with her youngest daughter to Suriname, then Dutch Guiana, in 1699. She braved pirates and unexplored jungles in South America to create an illustrated natural history of Suriname. She was the first person to record the metamorphosis of a caterpillar becoming a butterfly in its natural habitat. (Now I have the Pet Shop Boys song in my head).
Aside from travelling without a man and being interested in insects and the natural world, Merian was also an early advocate for the emancipation of slaves. A woman way ahead of her time.
Now, if that’s not a story for a book, I’m not sure what is.
What I wrote…
It’s been a slower week on the word front, but I’m still progressing steadily with Murder In The Mangroves.
On Monday I attended a free “Social Media For Authors” workshop at Kawana Library. While the presenter concentrated primarily on genre romance (she writes in a very niche but lucrative genre - spicy monster romance), I still came away with some hints and tips. The biggest of these was to up my Facebook author presence and either:
Set up a separate Instagram account specifically relating to books - mine is currently all about sunrises, food, baking and travel - and writing or
Consciously change the content on my Instagram to be more author-centric.
At this stage I’m leaning towards the latter.
I also received the latest iteration of the new Philly Barker covers. This series will have a whole new look, so I’m keen to nail the look—and, in particular, Philly.
On the blogging front, there were a couple of posts:
What I read …
Tim Weaver’s The Missing Family. This had a twist I did not see coming!
I’m currently:
reading Elly Griffith’s The Stranger Diaries,
listening to John Irving’s The World According to Garp, and
eagerly awaiting the release of Jay Rayner’s Nights Out at Home (which I’ve pre-ordered).
What I watched …
Season 9 of The Brokenwood Mysteries has finally been released in Aus and I’m loving being back in this Midsomer County of New Zealand.
What I cooked …
We had Sarah and a family friend over for dinner on Saturday night. Sarah requested barbeque meat and all the salads, so that’s what she got.
Sarah had been at the beach all day (35C on the last day of winter is ridiculous), and our friend had been snorkelling on a citizen scientist-type reef check project, so I knew we’d have two hungry twenty-somethings to feed. First up was Adam Liaw’s chicken wings with ranch dressing. The recipe is intended for the air fryer, but we did it on the barbecue.
To go with our barbeque meats, Grant made a potato salad the way Sarah loves. It’s got bacon, spring onions and boiled egg chopped into it, and the dressing is lightened with a little light sour cream.
I roasted beetroot (I roast them whole and wrapped in foil so the skins slip off) and served them on a bed of whipped feta. You’ll find a similar recipe for the feta here.
We also cooked a heap of different vegetables - zucchini, button squash, snow peas, radishes etc - on the barbecue and tossed them in salsa verde. It’s a spin on one by Kathy Slack. (Speaking of which, her Substack, Tales From The Veg Patch, is my absolute fave at the moment.)
Finally, we finished with my Petite Lemon Curd Pav. I don’t eat it, so this size was plenty for three people, with some leftover for Sarah to take home for her housemate and for her breakfast.
During the week I also baked this almond and lemon loaf cake (recipe to come) and this shortbread (also to come).
However, there was one kitchen fail —this cannellini bean air fryer situation I saw on Instagram.
Sarah immediately turned her nose up and our friend politely said, ‘I don’t know if they’re okay or if I’m just really hungry.’ They went in the bin.
Recipe of the Week - Peanut Cookies
I’ve been making these cookies since I was a teenager, and this week I made them to take into the op shop for my shift. You’ll find the recipe here.
I've seen a few recipes for cannellini beans in the air fryer but haven't tried them yet. Any idea what went wrong? I've decided to read The World According to Garp again too. I read it so long ago, I have very little memory of it.
I am wondering what pulling out a purple thread from a temperature blanket means?? Love that butterfly illustration. And what a woman she must have been.
cheers
sherry https://sherryspickings.blogspot.com/