2010 Perth Royal Show finale

3rd Place Colorful Peppers

    There are some similarities between the Perth Royal Show and the Ohio State Fair: one needs to register entries two months before the event (often leaving people to enter things that do not yet exist) and that there are so many surprises.  Take my colorful peppers (or capsicums, as they are called here) four different colors striped in a jar. Looked like candy...and lost to some drab "dilly beans".

Blue Ribbon Tangy Tomato Jam

   And then there was the tomato jam experiment. I had never heard of tomato jam before last year when a friend mentioned how much she loved it. Really? So I experimented with some cheapy grape tomatoes and made a few batches, threw out two and saved one small jar of stuff that didn't make our eyebrows curl.  And rather surprising at that seeing as how it had vodka and hot peppers in it.  Looky here, a blue ribbon! And I had no idea what I was doing or that I was leading a trend. Savory jams are becoming quite popular and next year it will be a category of its own. I am quitting while I'm ahead.  
    But it begs the question, what made this right? At the Ohio State Fair, the only feedback offered by the judges is at the time of judging. Miss that and you miss out. At Perth's Royal Show, the judges write down comments at the closed judging which contestants  pick up at the end of the fair.  This is when I will find out what was wrong with my colorful capsicum confetti relish (which did not look as mushy as the other relishes) or why my gingerbread kangaroo cookies were not up to scratch.
   And because it was asked; Yes, the Quince Strawberry Jelly of amazing clarity featured in the last blog did win the blue ribbon.  The prolific prize winner named Reuben who made it is even featured in a cooking/competition book printed locally, as are other serial ribbon grabbers.         I have a new goal in life.
   Ever watch the 1947 (or even 1962) movie, "State Fair"?  Notice how everyone dresses up to go there, especially at night? Apparently that was the case here in OZ, also.  The treasurer of the Country Women's Association commented to me how dress standards have changed, "why, we would get a NEW dress to go to the Show!"  O.K. I'm having a tough time seeing the standard fair goer donning a suit and tie or high heels with a linen dress. Does a shirt with buttons qualify as dressy now? Good, call me a Swell.

   Kev is a reluctant fair goer, even without a tie. But a free ticket and the promise of free food got him there. "Only for a couple hours, grumble grumble."  And lasted five, spent gawking at squawking poultry, daggy sheep, washed & blow-dried cows and eating all free food samples that we could get our grubby hands on. (Some things are universal regardless of what you call the fete.)

Kev at The Show / Poultry

We watched some young teens trying their hand at sheep shearing. Not as easy as the pros make it look.

Learning to shear lambs

Emu  - so not pretty

What I always wonder is why do so many animals look like a science experiment gone wrong? Especially some of the birds. Maybe butt-ugly has been their best defense for ages and now celebrated at state fairs and royal shows world wide.  Ewwwww.

Fancy decorated cakes

   Now let's talk pretty. I have always enjoyed looking at the decorated cake section of the fair. The science of baked cakes is nice enough but the fondant finery draws the bigger crowds everywhere.  I have no hope of ever diverting my creativity into a frosted delight. It's just not in my DNA. But I encourage  and enjoy it from others.

   My State Fair/Royal Show is done for this year. Now it's ten months of planning for the next one.

  

Getting Ready for the Show

Stewards at Work

More fussy entrants

   At this time of year, who isn't singing "Our state fair is the best state fair...don't miss it , don't even be late."  And such would be the case here in Perth, although it is called the Perth Royal Show.  It's a very busy place at the moment as everyone from vendors to show contestants scramble to get set up by Saturday morning.

Jaw Dropping Jelly-so clear!

   I couldn't tell you why my nerves were vibrating as I brought in my entries. But I was not the only entrant biting my nails, fussing about the handling of each entry, wiping away crumbs from baked goods or fingerprints from jars.  This must be the toughest day for the stewards.  So many nervous nellies coming in and fretting endlessly.  The least nervous of the bunch seemed to be the kids entering their baked creations in the Junior Division. The little oddballs actually looked excited.

      One consolation to this whole process is getting a close-up look at other entries. "She entered that?"  "Oh, that is a nice touch" "How did he get that Quince Strawberry Jelly soooo clear? And how did he keep his family from digging into it?"  The stewards and the 35-year veteran of competition was impressed by the clarity of this year's jelly.

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So as everyone scrambles to get set-up (and I to work!) Watch this space for the finale.

Diving season

   My neighborhood is a bit dangerous this time of year. No, it's not the young guys hooning in their souped up cars. Nor have petty thieves started congregating in larger numbers.
   It's nesting time.  And somewhere  in the tall tree planted  at the traffic circle at the corner of McMaster and Washington is a thrush nest. Or at least I think it is in the center. Might be in the northeast corner fig tree.  Hard to tell. We don't stand around long enough to search for it.  The thrush dive bombs everyone who walks past this corner (and who doesn't?) and snaps her wings at your shoulders and your head.  Keep away from my babies!  No one is safe. None of us has even the smallest inkling of hauling our backsides up a tree to bug this bird's bubs. But there is no avoiding this corner in the center of the street.
   Our neighbor Keith says that some magpie on the next street is also getting a bit territorial.  I noticed that he seems to keep a much faster pace these days. Me , too. I thought of getting a nice snapshot of someone copping grief from Mrs Thrush.  It would be altogether too easy with barely a wait for results.  Except that would have put me in harm's way, as well.  And I have no intention of recreating a scene from a particular Hitchcock movie.
   How long  does it take for baby birds to fly the coop?

A simple man's supper

   Ever have a day when, after running a jillion errands and realizing the to-do list just isn't getting smaller, you just want to go home? And just stay there.  Relaxation in your favorite chair is your refuge.  I was like that today.  Walking into the supermarket -- for the second time because I forgot the urgently needed toilet paper the first four times I walked into a store-- I spotted a store bakery worker with many batards in a baker's trolley near a display table.  She was bagging them as fast as she could to an advancing crowd of customers.
   In a heartbeat I was transported back to Korea.  If I was late returning home from my morning classes I would stop in at the bakery in my alley.  The baguettes would be coming out of the oven. Hot, yummy baguettes. Normally I would only get one of her narrow, 15-inch loaves as I am not a big bread eater.  But if they were hot, and she would make me wait a few seconds to be sure I got one just out of the oven, I bought two. I would then race home and eat one right away. As fast as I could tear a piece off and put a dab of butter on it.  Not just delicious but soul anchoring goodness. Feeding not just a body but a psyche. Like being warmed by your own personal ray of sunshine with a rainbow chaser.
   Back to Coles.  I race walked to the baker trolley. The batards- 11 inches long and maybe three inches wide-  are very hot. A buck a piece.  I'll take two! She gets them into a bag and I race to get the t.p. (was this really that urgent?) pay and race home. Broke speed limits and chased pokey women to the curb. I didn't unload the car, just the important stuff. Bread still hot. Grab some butter. Tear the bread. A thin shave  of butter on top...the whole thing melts in your mouth.
   I could have wept.
   A few more bites. Are my hands shaking? Then I remember I have triple-cream Brie from Tasmania (at a huge discount,of course). The bread has cooled to merely warm. The brie, spread only slightly thicker than the butter, works very well.  The heels of the batard never got cold or I might have slowed down enough to cut up an apple.  Mom says that bread, cheese and apple is a "simple man's supper"  although how simple can a person be if she is eating an oven-hot batard (or baguette) and triple-cream brie? But how can a person be so homesick and so at home at the same moment?
   The second loaf has now thoroughly cooled.        Kev can have it.

My $5M Herb Garden

     My favorite park in Columbus, Whetstone, has a wonderfully large rose garden and an herb garden within it.  I liked walking through the rose garden in June and September when the roses were in bloom.  I loved walking the circular herb garden to check its progress and admire the great variety of mints, botanical remedy plants and common cooking herbs. Before certain members of the general public would ...too enthusiastically...help themselves to some of the greens (although no one actually harvested an entire plant with its roots) I would pick a few leaves or strands, immediately tape them to a card and mail them to my mother.  It was a little game we played: Identify the Plant. I don't know of another public park that has such a garden.

Ham, er, gull, in "Urban Orchard"

     Perth is taking a stab at it. Late in August, the city unveiled a public space that had been made into a "Urban Orchard". Raised beds of herbs, lettuces and citrus trees have been set up next to the WA Art Gallery in the Cultural District.  A nice sitting space at lunch for downtown workers and shoppers. Probably a pit stop for partiers in nearby Northbridge at night.  It is meant to complement a nearby water fountain that has had some dirt and mulch tossed into it to form a living swampland for birds and such.

Sandwich and salad greens. Yum!

Now, you might guess that garden would benefit taxpayers in a small way.  You know, a leaf of lettuce for your sandwich or an orange for dessert.  A little something, just like at Whetstone.  After all, the City paid five million dollars [$5,000,000] for that silverbeet and lemon tree plotted area. No dice.  Signs are up hailing the beauty, forwarding thinking and greening of public spaces along with admonishments not to pick anything. "They" (whoever "they" are) will harvest the produce for appropriate use. Yeah, whatever that means. Good luck with that plan. I can only see Australians being even more...enthusiastic...about getting a share of the public plot. Especially when it is so handy. Peter Rabbit Lives!

One Day in Pompeii

Pompeii Exhibition? Where?

   I have been a volunteer for almost as long as I can remember.  I was a Teen Volunteer growing up in Oak Park, Michigan even before I was a teenager. And rare is the place I have lived since that I have not raised my hand for some sort of duty. I couldn't tell you why I volunteer, I just do. It's just part of my fabric.  I don't always choose long term volunteer assignments. In fact, the short-term, event-based opportunities are the ones I pick most often.  I don't have as much free time to give and I must admit that I get annoyed with volunteers who have agendas other than service to the community ["What's in it for me? Free tickets? I want them now."] and my impatience eventually starts to leak. It's good to know one's limits.

Vesuvius victim

   I was very interested to hear that the WA Museum was getting in an exhibition about Pompeii.  Ha! My high school Latin has come in handy.  I know about Pompeii and like that it is in Perth for a few months bridging a gap between Melbourne and Singapore stops.  The back end of the planet doesn't always get the cool stuff. And this is cool stuff.  The tickets are a bit pricey, $20 while the rest of the museum is free, and the special exhibition space is  a bit crowded, but these 2000 year old artifacts are amazingly well preserved and well displayed. Kev used my free ticket last night and gives the exhibition presentation  two thumbs up. An incredible 3-D movie explains that fateful day in August to those who are unaware of its story. There is a bit of every facet of everyday life presented. My favorite to point out to little kids is the 2000 year old loaf of bread ["If you get to taste it, let me know what it's like"]   and  the vivid colors of the frescoes remain so on the walls appearing at the back of the show room.

Les & Charlotte showing off souvenirs

    The souvenirs are pretty cool,too.  Adult size metal helmets, "antique" pottery , gladiator games, jewelry, Italian olives, WA olive oil (?!) and the creme de la creme: a functional catapult pencil sharpener. I have one.
    Usually an exhibit has a planning and preparation schedule of 18 months. As this was a last minute opportunity for Perth, only four months was available to get things ready. The Volunteer Coordinator, Les, is a good guy and a very lucky man.   His core work force consists of "professional volunteers"- folks who are always pleasant, courteous, engaging and show up for extra shifts.  People who are content to squeeze in a four month commitment because they are asked.  We are but a week away from the end of the  show and, predictably, there is a noticeable attrition rate in body count. But the bodies that are there really count.  Tomorrow is my last shift and the volunteer party is next week.  
     The Art Gallery next door wants to capitalize on this warmed-up, free work force for a special exhibition of theirs coming next month. Peggy Guggenheim's Venetian estate is loaning the A.G. many of its incredible works of art for a three month exhibition.  Expect to see many of the same smiling faces.
   

Random Musings #4

   O.K., O.K. to those who are reminding me that I am behind in my blog entries. My roles with ToastMasters,  volunteering and church reader duties have all carved a bigger slice of my time.  Plus, this chair is mighty uncomfortable to sit too long. So,  I'll just transform several topics into a fourth installment of Random Musings:



  To address this wretched chair issue, next weekend Kev & I will be going curb crawling. The bulk refuse collection is next week (I've written about this before  Trash and Treasures 3-05-09   ) and we hope someone is tossing out a happy orphan.

Calla lillies-Enemy of the State

  Once again taking the risk of sounding like my grandmother, I offer a weather/garden report.  Spring began on the first of this month (as all seasons do in OZ) and it is with a bit of  regret.  We had only half of the expected rainfall in winter and that is about the only time it rains around here.  My garden is more substantial this year than last and I prefer it to thrive not just barely survive.

  On a recent trip south, I was delighted to see those elegant mainstays of weddings and funerals growing wild all over. Gorgeous Calla Lillies.  Found out later that they are officially declared by the state to be "Noxious Weeds".  Calla = kudzu?  I think not. 


   A couple of word pronunciations that have cracked me up recently.  There was a sports kun-TRAV-a-see  in the news as well as two ESS-ka-peez from Hakea.  Why not controversy and escapees?

drying mushrooms

Went to my favorite place for a produce/cultural fix this morning, the Canning Vale Markets. (see Canning Vale Market, 8-08-09)  I and a young Asian woman with a baby strapped to her back were admiring a peck of small, white button mushrooms. They looked good. The price was right. But there were too many.  So we split the price and the "mushies".  Still too many, actually.  So I have experimented with pickling a few.  Then I strung some up like Christmas lights and put out on the clothesline to dry. It'll take about two days (will have to bring them inside overnight) and then the leathery mushrooms get baked  to kill off any remnant bacterium.  The odd-looking but flavor packed fungi will hold for six months.  Freezing is also an option, but Kev is already looking through cookbooks so I'll have to act fast.

   O.K.  My backside and legs need a break.  I'll be back...soon...I promise.