It’s now in between season style where it’s too hot to wear wooly jumpers but too cold to wear summer clothes. What a change of weather we had here in London last week the temperature just dropped down 10 deg cel less within 2 days!! It was 16 deg cel daytime temperatures. Change of temperature … Read more
I have recently made myself a skirt. It was using a cotton stretch jersey and a pattern from burda style magazine. The vivid colours and pattern on the fabric just fascinates me. I just can’t wait to turn into something I can wear. I didn’t run into issues of cutting out the pattern and sewing the skirt up till I came to sewing the zip onto the skirt. It did take me ages to perfect it!! Every time I try to sew it on, it seems to have bulge noticeably when it’s zip up.
Invisible zip
using invisible zip
Using invisible zip
Using no invisible zip just ordinary zip
At first I was using an ordinary zip, as I couldn’t find any invisible zip in the haberdashery shops when I was on holiday. When I got home I bought an invisible zip to rectify the visible bulge issue. It did help, I also gave a bit more slack to the fabric and iron out any stitch that is overlapping at the bottom end of the invisible zip where it joins with the other side of skirt panel. I hope I am making some sense here…
I found out that it is also quite a common problem when using invisible zip on stretch fabrics after going into dressmaking forums. There is a lot of fantastic YouTube videos and posts around on how insert an invisible zip but not many on how to address the issue/s that arise.
I will post some detailed troubleshooting on invisible zip in the future as I am planning to change domain name at the moment. A domain name like cityediblegarden just doesn’t sound good for a sewing blog.
I have match this skirt with a Hugo boss top I got from charity shop. I have match this skirt in my post on in between season in which will be publish on a latter date.
I like making this stuffed vegetable recipe as it reminds a bit of home. I have a combination of fish and prawns as the key ingredients to make the filling but you can substitute them for pork or just use only fish or prawns.
Ingredients
1 medium size aubergine
1 medium size courgette
2 medium size red chilli (omit if it’s too spicy or hot)
1 tablespoon
2-3 tablespoon of oil for pan frying For filling
200 grms of prawns
100 grms of fish meat (coley, cod or any white fish)
1 small carrot chopped
1 tablespoon cornflour
Preparation
First of all prepare the filling. Blend the prawns, fish meat, flour and carrot in a blender.
Slice the aubergine about 2 cm wide then make a slit in between where it has been slice so that it can hold the filling. For the courgette slice into half, scrap the core out with a spoon. then slice the courgette into half. To prepare the chili if it’s use slice it the middle then remove the core and the seeds in the middle.
Then fill the cut and core vegetables with the filling. Preheat the pan with cooking oil for frying.
Preheat the oven to 200 degree celcius
Dip the stuffed vegetables in flour before pan frying as it helps to seal. Pan frying it till it is slightly brown. Put them on a oven proof dish when all the stuffed vegetables been pan fried. Put the stuffed vegetables in the oven for about 20 mins or till it’s cooked. Best serve with rice or as an accompaniment to a plain noodle dish. If you like a bit of sweet chili sauce.
stuffed chili pan frying
stuffed aubergine
courgette core removed
filling
I serve the stuffed vegetables with some homemade noodles and some prawn relish.
This is my quick to sew sewing project which I did in the late summer – a loose summer blouse. It’s very easy to make as there no zips, pockets, fitting to mess around. It took about altogether 2-3 hours to sew this blouse from scratch. The joys of having a sewing machine and overlocker. … Read more
This is a recipe for cooking with water bamboo stir fry. Water bamboo is a fresh shoot available to buy from Chinese grocers. It is a new vegetable for me I found out about water bamboo on social media and was curious to try it out. As a result, I like cooking with water bamboo as it has got a lovely crunchy taste on it. A bit different from canned bamboo shoots which are preserved in brine. It is great to use on stir-fries as it’s quick to cook and it preserves its crunchiness.
This recipe is a recipe I made myself. It is not related to any regions in China as some recipes are. Although in my journey I found some regional recipes that use these water bamboo shoots. On its own it hasn’t got any flavour, therefore, it will need some flavouring from ginger, soy sauce or shitake mushroom.
To cook the water bamboo shoot one will need to prepare the shoot by cutting and peeling away the green leaf layer off. It will reveal some nice white tender shoots. Cut it or slice it to bite-size. I use an Aberdeen Angus rump beef steak which I got from Waitrose. In which I slice into thin slices. The steak and oyster sauce gives some flavor to the shoots.
After writing this recipe I wrote another recipe using water bamboo shoot this time it is cooking with Pak Choi and shitake mushrooms. Here is the link to it. That recipe is a vegan recipe as it doesn’t contain any meat.
Water bamboo shoot
Water bamboo Stir fry
3 Water bamboo (available from Asian grocers) if not can substitute with canned bamboo shoots but with a bit less crunch and fresh taste
A handful of mangetout (about 150 grms) 1 large carrot 200 grms of beef rump steak (if beef not ok chicken meat will do as well, chicken breast or thigh)
4 teaspoonful of cornstarch 1 teaspoonful of shao xing wine ( white sherry wine), optional. 3 cloves of garlic Three stalks of spring onion 3 slices (about 2-3mm) thick of ginger 2 teaspoonful of oyster sauce 1 teaspoonful of soy sauce black pepper to taste 2-3 tablespoon of cooking oil
Cooking
Prepare the Vegetables for stir fry Chop the garlic, slice the ginger finely and cut the spring onions into thin circles. Then slice the carrots and slice the mangetout. Prepare the water bamboo remove the outer green layer as it’s tough to chew till you get the white core of the bamboo. Cut them onto strips about 1 cm.
Prepare the Beef Cut away any tough tendon that is on rump steak then sliced thinly the beef. Marinate with some cornflour. If you like at this point you can add a bit of soy sauce and some shao xing wine to marinate.
Prepare the sauce. In small a bowl put about 2 teaspoonful of cornstarch, 2 teaspoonful of oyster sauce, one teaspoonful of soy sauce and some black pepper. Then add about 250mls of water slowly mix till it’s well mix.
Stir Fry/ Cooking time Heat about 2 tablespoon of oil on medium to high heat in a wok or frying pan. Once it’s heated up add the marinated beef. Stir fry it about 2-3 minutes till it’s partial cook. Till there is no more redness from the meat and it’s starting to turn brown. Take it out of the wok. With the remaining oil and a bit more oil then fry the garlic, ginger and white part of spring onion till it releases the fragrant. Keep an eye and not let it burn. then add the carrots, mangetout and the water bamboo. Give it a good stir about 2 minutes. Add the cornstarch sauce then once it’s beginning to thicken up add the beef. Coat the beef with sauce and vegetables. Then it’s done enjoy!!
I have done a video on it but wordpress.com wouldn’t allow me to post any videos on my current tariff. Here is the link https://youtu.be/qlY0Z7hSbnc
This is my harvest from garden today. I found some edible flowers that are in bloom. They are the borage, then recently I acquired some dwarf marigold seeds and viola plants.
Marigold
I planted the dwarf marigold as I was getting bitten badly by mosquitoes during the hot summer season. I found that marigolds can help to prevent mosquitoes from getting bitten by mosquitoes while sitting or being in the garden. The marigolds are also good for preventing diseases in tomato plants in the garden. Marigolds however in general have perculiar taste to them which is not everyone likes. But they are edible. Another marigold family plant is Peruvian mint marigold here is the link to it Growing and harvesting tagetes minuta
Borage
I have got borage growing in the garden as well. With it’s blue colour flowers it’s a good starting point of a conversation. Here is a link on how grow borage Edible flowers – Borage
Viola
Viola flowers don’t last very long after harvesting as a result one don’t find them in shops. However, good news is that they are easy to grow, don’t need much care and relatively disease free.Using edible flowers Using edible flowers in dishes
I like adding edible flowers to a dish or recipes as they add texture and colours to your food. My 4 year old doesn’t need much convincing to eat them which a bonus and good news for me. By having mild tastes on borage and viola they can be added to salads. Also with the alpine strawberries as well. The leafy greens are chard, little gem lettuce and baby pak choi which I am growing in my garden at the moment.
using edible flowers in salad
Decorative purposes
As these edible flowers look good in pictures as blogger I find it great to post on social media sites. They look good as well in cocktails. There are many other types of edible flowers around like nasturtiums, callendula, roses, lavender and bellis daisy.
One can crystallize the flowers, first by covering them in whisked egg white. After that, put the egg white covered flowers in caster sugar. Finally leave them to dry for 24 hours. They are good to use in cake decorating or desserts.
My courgette plant has been giving a bit of flowers recently. Here is link on Growing CourgetteIt’s end of season. I have decided to cook them by making some stuffing for them. I just nomally coat them in flour and then just pan fry them.
After making some chinese wontons (ravioli) the other day I had some stuffing leftover and I decided to put in the courgette flowers. they taste quite crisp and refreshing. If there is any left over just turn them into pork meatballs or patties. Just dip the patties into flour and some egg white or yolk. then dip them onto some breadcrumbs.
Courgette flowers about 5-10, washed and clean
100 grms minced pork
1/2 carrot, chopped finely
2 stalks spring onion, slice thinly
1 tablespoon chopped coriuander
1 teaspoon cornflour
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon soy sauce
black pepper to taste
2-3 tablespoon of cooking oil
Preparation
Put the minced pork, chopped carrot, sliced spring onions, chopped coriander and cornflour together in a bowl. Mix them together will they are well mix. Then put in the sesame oil, soy sauce and black pepper.
Then put the minced pork mixture into the courgette flowers cavity and the petals alone as it’s used to seal the filling.
Cooking
Heat 2 tablespoon of cooking oil in pan. Once it’s heated up then put in the courgette flowers. Turn then round when the flowers start to wilt. Fry them on medium to low heat for about 15-20 minutes or till the minced filling it cook. Serve with rice or noodles.
At first I was using an ordinary zip, as I couldn’t find any invisible zip in the haberdashery shops when I was on holiday. When I got home I bought an invisible zip to rectify the visible bulge issue. It did help, I also gave a bit more slack to the fabric and iron out any stitch that is overlapping at the bottom end of the invisible zip where it joins with the other side of skirt panel. I hope I am making some sense here…
