the upcycling cycle

April 19, 2017 ~ Gillie ~ Leave a comment

I love social media, to be specific Facebook. I quite like twitter and Whatsapp is great for group conversations but if I want to waste an hour without noticing then Facebook is the place for me. I follow news outlets, political parties, craft groups and an upcycling group.

Upcycling- the new shopping. Don’t buy something new, don’t throw away something old, upcycle it into something totally different. It ticks all the boxes for the eco-friendly. You can create new, useful and beautiful objects from stuff that would otherwise go in o landfill, and at the same time you are not buying new and unnecessary stuff that will probably end up in landfill in a few years time anyway. Perfect.

Or is it? There are two types of upcycling projects. The one where you find something lurking around the house and instead of chucking it out a light bulb goes off in your head and you say “wow this cracked decanter that hasn’t seen a bottle of wine in decades would make a perfect lampstand”. Using my highly accurate survey methods (i.e. asking around, looking on social media and following a huge range of upcycling blogs etc) about 80% of potential crystal lampshades will remain as cracked decanters; 10% will get part way there and will metamorphose into decanterlamps that are missing vital parts and will never make the full transformation; 5% will be transformed but never switched on and will remain in the workroom/shed and a lucky 5% will shine bright on the table shaming every failed upcycler who comes into the room.

The second type of project is that created by the pro-active seeker upcycler. This character scours markets, auction houses, freegle, swap and sale groups and second-hand and charity shops actively looking for potential projects. No three-legged chair is without potential and nirvana is a pile of pristine, unwanted pallets. It is also not unheard of to purchase new (“what?!”) items purely in order to turn them into something else. I will confess to having fallen into that category. Why buy something already made, when I can buy the constituent parts and make it myself. We are not talking saving hundreds or even tens of pounds. I suspect my rather lovely cake tin stand would have cost as much to purchase ready made as it did for me to make it (but it wouldn’t have wobbled quite as nicely as mine does).

tin-tidy

Returning to my highly tuned research methods I had assumed that these projects would have a higher success rate. The people who take the the time to seek out the unpolished gem and part with hard earned cash for it are surely not going to let it languish unloved in a shed? These are people who frequently sell their completed upcycles. They have a vested financial interest in getting the job done.

Ladies and gentleman, we are all the same. Whilst there are of course exceptions to every rule (and the standard deviation for my statistics here is probably in the region of +/- 2,500 or thereabouts!) the proactively sought and paid for projects stand just as much chance of making it to that final 5% as granny’s whisky decanter did.

As the build on the Barn and Gin Gan comes nearer to completion we have to move even more stuff out and rehouse it in our now smaller home. The picture frame that I was going to turn into a gilt mirror, the china kept for mosaic work. How long have I had them? Have they magically transformed themselves in my absence? Reader, they have gone. Perhaps somebody else would like to house them in the vain hope that they might one day make a mosaic effect mirror?

mango mango mango

April 11, 2017 ~ Gillie ~ Leave a comment

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There is nothing like a mango, nothing that I can know. With apologies to Oscar Hammerstein II. One of the many, many bonuses of being in SE Asia is the proliferance of mangoes. Back home we usually only have two choices of mango (Kent and Keitt) both of which are relatively bland compared to the huge choice available across Asia. Mango is sold on almost every street corner in Thailand, chopped up in little bags with convenient little wooded sticks to avoid getting your fingers sticky. As the girls will confirm, any attempt to prevent my fingers getting sticky and dribbling food down my front is bound to fail. I am the messiest eater I know. As a result when travelling and needing a snack to keep me going I avoided the fresh variety and instead stocked up on dried mango. The only problem was that I could eat an entire family sized bag in one sitting, and frequently did!

The good news is that it is now possible to get other varieties of Mango in the UK. One option is to seek out your local specialist Indian supermarket or if you live in Durham the wonderful Robinsons Greengrocers on North Road, but if you are in a specialist shop desert you can find some delicious Pakistani and Indian mangoes in some of the larger supermarkets and I am reliably informed that Thai mangoes will be available this year too. Get hunting mango lovers.

However, dried mango is readily available and to maintain my mango fix without dribbling down my front I made these yummy mango balls from Madeleine Shaw’s Ready Steady Glow

200g dried mango
grated zest of one lime
180g desiccated coconut
2 tbsp coconut oil
1 tsp fresh grated ginger
sesame seeds for rolling

Soak the mango in water for half an hour or so and drain. I kept the water and put it in my water bottle for the next day.

Add the mango to the rest of the ingredients and blitz in a food processor.

Mould into bite-size balls and roll in the sesame seeds. Keep in the fridge for as long as you can!

Next time I may pass on the sesame seeds or perhaps toast them first as I didn’t think they added all that much and they kept sticking between my teeth. But the wonderful thing about this kind of recipe is the total adaptability. Swap mango for dried apricots, swap coconut for chopped nuts (I’ve tried apricot and pistachio – you can see the little green squares on the left of the top photo – they were delicious and as you can see there are only a few left!)

Enjoy.

Love Gillie x

the kimchi kick

April 7, 2017 ~ Gillie ~ Leave a comment

There is nothing like the kick that you get from a good mouthful of kimchi first thing in the morning. It is the mother of all wake up calls. But unless you happen to have a Korean chef living in the kitchen, or live above a Korean restaurant you are going to have to make it yourself.

I have had several goes at making kimchi with varying success. I trawled the internet for recipes but I struggled to get the balance right. Some were too spicy, some not spicey enough. Some seemed like a vegetable explosion with a shopping list as long as my arm. Some looked rather sparse.

Then I went on a little cookery books shopping spree and one of my purchases was this

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And there on page 98 was Kimchi nirvana. Just the right mix of vegetables and just the right balance of spice.

Here it is, with thanks to Jordan Bourke and Rejina Pyo Classic Cabbage Kimchi (baechu kimchi)

1 large airtight sterilised jar with lid

vegetables

I large Chinese cabbage (about 1kg)
50g table salt
70g sea salt
450g daikon radish cut into fine julienne strips
30g chives cut into 4cm lengths
4 spring onions halved lengthways and cut into 4cm lengths

paste

1 1/2 tbsp rice flour
8 garlic cloves
20g grated ginger
100g finely chopped onion
1tbsp salted shrimp paste
70g gochugaru red pepper powder (I substituted medium strength smoked paprika)
100ml nam pla
2tbsp soy sauce
1tbsp coconut sugar (you can use unrefined sugar if you can’t get coconut sugar)
2 tbsp rice wine vinegar

First prepare the cabbage. I misread the instructions and separated the leaves, this recipe actually asks you to cut the base off the cabbage and separate the leaves whilst keeping the cabbage intact. Rinse well and sprinkle the sea salt on each leaf, focussing on the thick base and working up to the thinner peak then place in a bowl of saline made with 1 litre of water and the table salt. Leave for four hours until the leaves are soft and limp.

Meanwhile make the paste. This was new to me, I had never used rice flour before and this was a much thicker paste than I had made before. Mix the flour with 2 tbsp of water with a fork until there are no lumps and add a further 230ml of water and place in a pan. Heat to a boil and then reduce the heat and simmer gently for 5 minutes stirring all the time until the paste is thick and glutenous.

Remove from the heat and leave to cool, the paste will become thicker still as it does

Combine all the rest of the paste ingredients in a food processor with the cooled paste.

Transfer to a large bowl with the daikon, spring onions, and chives. Mix well ensuring that all the vegetables are well combined with the paste.

Now this is where I had to divert from the original instructions as I had separated my cabbage leaves. I covered each leaf with the mixture and rolled it up. If you have followed the instructions properly you spoon the mixture onto each cabbage half making sure to cover every leaf with the mixture and wrapping the outer leaf of each half around the cabbage to keep the mixture in.

Place in the jar leaving 3cm between the cabbage and the lid. Seal tightly and keep at room temperature for two days. By then it will have started to ferment and will smell a little sour and there will be plenty of juice. Press the cabbage down into the juice, reseal and place in the fridge. Start to taste it after a couple of weeks. The longer you leave it the more sour it will become. It should keep for about five to six months in an air tight container in the fridge.

Enjoy

Love Gillie x