June 2018 - Week 4: Veggie Soup, Berry Jam, Markalade and Quiet Time

It was a busy week of cooking again as I get used to buying fresh ingredients and making my own meals instead of mostly eating either processed convenience foods or take-away. I made a batch of markalade which turned out quite a dark colour.

25/6/2018 - Monday

I went to the doctors to get more antibiotics for my still blocked left ear and rattling chest.

When I went to the chemist to get my prescription filled, I took the opportunity to have another fish and chips lunch in my quiet location overlooking lake Illawarra. This time I met a furry friend. I'm trying to 'slow down' and this inquisitive fellow helped. Animals can be very relaxing.

I published last week's blog and continued my Situationist artwork research and writing. I focused on a 1957 artwork called Memoires, which is an aesthetic / detournement book, by Guy Debord and Asger Jorn.

26/6/2018 - Tuesday

I bought some fresh veggies to make a soup. I wanted a bit of colour so added a red capsicum and a zucchini to my usual potato, carrot and onion.

Veggies for a soup.

Left: Veggies for making soup. Right: Veggie soup cooking.

I made a mixed berry jam while making the soup.

Strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, and raspberries in the pan with water.

Left: Strawberries, blackberries, blueberries and raspberries with water. Right: After cooking for an hour, an equal weight of jam sugar is added (castor sugar with pectin).

The freezer is looking not so much like a supermarket freezer now that it's stocked with homemade goodies like sausage rolls, 2 varieties of potato patties, and lasagna.

The top shelf of the freezer is stocked with homemade goodies.

For lunch, I had a piece of lasagna and left over chips from yesterday's lunch.

A quick and easy reheat of lasagna and chips for lunch.

Matt and Bill called over for a jam in the afternoon.

I continued with my research / writing after my soup dinner.

My bowl of healthy veggie soup.

27/6/2018 - Wednesday

I worked on my research during the day.

Chub brought over some spring onions and celery from his garden. I took some to give to Deniz.

I went to Deniz' place for dinner. I took over some veggie soup and veggie patties. She said they were nice, which means a lot coming from a vegetarian/sometimes vegan.

After dinner I went to the Content Creators Illawarra meeting at Wollongong City Gallery. This week was a panel discussion about corporate sponsorship in the arts. There was a David representing Create NSW, Simon representing a local arts project 'Wonderwalls', and Hayley who is the director of the South Coast Writers Festival. I went out of curiosity, because seeing as I'm anti-corporate, I didn't expect to find any relevance to my creative circumstances. However, I found out about a local organisation supporting arts, The Culture Bank, which crowd sources to provide funding to projects it deems worthy. Amounts range from one to three thousand dollars. I will give this consideration to help do some outdoor, projections in public space.

28/6/2018 - Thursday

I returned Deniz' and my borrowed equipment to Glenn (which had been extended because of extra need from Deniz). She is busy editing a documentary for Beyond Empathy and can't join us for lunch. Glenn and I went for lunch.

29/6/2018 - Friday

I researched and wrote about Guy Debord and Asger Jorn's collaborative book, Memoires.

I cooked a roast beef and enough veg to make 4 meals plus made 3 packages of roast beef for future dinners or even for sandwiches.

30/6/2018 - Saturday

I went and had fish and chips for lunch again in my quiet location overlooking Lake Illawarra.

I continued to research and write about Memoires.

I enjoyed roast beef for dinner.

1/7/2018 - Sunday

I made a batch of markalade. I added too much water to start with so ended up having to cook the mixture for too long before it started to gel. The end result is a very dark coloured markalade, but it tastes good nonetheless.

Left/top: Grated oranges in the pan. Right/bottom: Grated peel.

Left/top: Weigh the oranges down with a plate. Right/bottom: Scrape out the pulp when cooked.

Left/top: Pulp, peel, water. Right/bottom: I made 6 x 125 gram jars of dark markalade.

I enjoyed a roast beef lunch and dinner.