Thursday, May 28, 2009

turning an adult top into a little girl's skirt

Here's a Roxy top with cute embroidery that someone handed down to me but never quite worked for me. Too short, as I remember.

Anyway, I'm glad I held on to it (as I nearly always do...thinking someone someday could re-use it). I attacked it with some scissors:










...sewed down a waistband (I cut so that about 2 cm from the bottom of the bodice remained attached)...










...threaded elastic through, and got a pretty skirt!

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

cold and flu remedies in the cupboard

Tor and I have been struck down by something fluey this week. It featured lots of coughing.

Now, coughs in themselves have a raison d'etre - they expel mucus and get rid of muck in the lungs. So I don't like medicating them. In case you need further discouragement, commercial cough medicines have been found to possibly cause more harm than good.

The production and disposal of drugs is also deleterious on the environment.

On the other hand, it can really make life easier to have a few remedies, just to soothe throats and calm the spasms. Fortunately the pantry can supply quite a few.

Note: with discretion, these can be used for babies - however, medical advice cautions against giving honey to under-ones. You can use rice malt syrup or sweeten with stevia drops instead. However, real honey is really the best thing for coughs, and even out-performs commercial preparations.

#1 Ruth's Israeli Grandma's Pungent Simmer for dry coughs
This is really soothing and works to moisten up a dry cough. Slice up a raw onion and a few cloves of good-quality pungent garlic. The stronger the smell, generally the stronger the antibacterial quality. Simmer these on low heat in a cup of milk until onion is soft. Strain, add raw honey, and give a few spoonfuls between meals.

#2 Simple Thyme tea for productive coughs
When you have a lot of phlegm coming up, thyme can be a great expectorant. (Thymol, an extract, is one of the active ingredients in the popular Vicks brand chest rub). Brew a generous sprig of thyme (or a half teaspoon dried herb) in a covered cup of boiling water, for ten minutes. Serve with half a teaspoon honey. You can add any leftover tea to baby's bath.

#3 Mrs Sakaki's radish syrup for phlegmy coughs
My Japanese 'mother' gave me this time-tested remedy which is well-known in Japan. It's antibacterial and helps break up phlegm. Peel and dice a Japanese 'daikon' radish (the long white kind). Put the pieces in a jar and cover with honey. Keep it in the fridge, shaking daily, at least overnight, and if possible for three days. The juice of the daikon will come out into the honey, making a thin syrup. Strain and give a teaspoon to children when a cough is keeping them up at night. You can use the cubes of daikon as a condiment to curry - sweet and crunchy, delicious!

#4 Ayurvedic turmeric remedy for dry cough
Turmeric is feted in India for many qualities, and one of them is as an aid for dry and frequent coughing. Toast a pinch of tumeric in a dry skillet, mix with a teaspoon of honey and feed from the spoon, or add a pinch of the spice to warmed milk.

I'll follow this up soon with a recipe for flu soup!

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Windfall...

Don't you love it when mothers-in-law visit with their arms full of freshly-picked produce?
Mine came with apples recently, lovely sweet Golden Deliciouses.




This is actually not a lot of apples for me, as I like to simmer them up into a sweet apple butter that does for our porridge in the mornings, spreading on toast, and as a warm, healing dessert with yoghurt or creme fraiche.

Simply peel, core and chop the apples and put in a heavy-bottomed pan with a few dashes of cold water or apple juice for an extra sweet taste (amount depends on how thick you like the apple butter), and an inch or so of a vanilla bean.




Bring to the boil, reduce to low heat and simmer for as long as it takes to get the below texture. I usually let it go about forty five minutes. Mash with a potato masher. So sweet and delicious (especially if you remember the vanilla bean!)