Giveaway.

So this is a no holds barred, shameless attempt to lure more followers to subscribe to my blog. Wouldn't you love to flick through this beautiful coffee table book about some of Tasmania's gorgeous old homes:

My house isn't in this book, yet my friend Janey's is:

.....you can read all about how she chose her curtains. Old houses are something we have in abundance in Hobart. And compared to other capital cities in Australia, they cost less. If you don't believe me, click here and see for yourself.

But wait there's more. A jar of cumquat compote made by me with fruit from my own tree:

You could eat it with vanilla bean ice cream or on a fruit platter. To win the book and the compote all you have to do is become a follower. Please. Once you become a follower you are automatically in the draw. I will choose the lucky winner randomly at the end of the month.

I am a creature of habit. Thursday is Bikram Yoga, a trip to Gowans Auctions, lunch, school pick up, ensuing chaos. If you are unfamiliar with my routine, read all about a Thursday in January here. Today, I was reflecting on life in Hobart. The capital of this funny little state of Tasmania which has a population of just over 500,000. Curious things do happen here, in Hobart, every now and again. Out at Gowans rifling through the usual hotchpotch of stuff, I saw the sign for the Hamilton Inn Couch that they have on proud display in the corridor leading to where you register to bid:

Before I regale you with this fantastic tale of auction going riches beyond anyone's wildest imaginings, I must just give you an honest visual of what it's like at Gowans:

It may be an Aladdin's Cave of treasure but you really do have to sift through the crap.....and don't be deceived, it could NEVER be described as glamorous.

In 2005, an unrestored colonial red cedar couch, which had been stored in a shed, came up for auction......because the owner wanted to raise enough money for a fence:

Initially, this dishevelled piece of furniture was knocked down for $48,000. Then someone complained so bidding started again. It eventually finished at $310,800. One of the highest prices ever paid for a piece of Australian furniture. It dates from 1820 and the value was in the fact that over it's 190 year history, it had never been tinkered with. Apparently the owners kept bits that had broken off in a box with a view to restoring it in the future. Luckily they didn't. The Hamilton Inn Couch is Hobart's version of a Vermeer in the attic.

Like most of the fabulous art to come to Hobart in recent times, the Hamilton Inn Couch was paid for predominantly with gambling money. The Federal Group (which own Tasmania's two casinos as well as the license to operate all poker machines in Tasmania) purchased it and donated it to the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery. The other fabulous art in Hobart funded by gambling is David Walsh's Museum of Old and New Art, MONA. Funded in it's entirety by the spoils of gambling, which used to be tax free. Now the ATO are after David Walsh to pay a tax debt of $37 million. Was I suggesting that Hobart is dull?

R

Etc.

Don't think it's all been fun and fickle frivolity around here this week. I have been working hard embracing my domestic chores:

(Just for the record these were made by Sweet Envy in North Hobart and NOT by me)

Yesterday, it was 16 degrees in Hobart....so I managed to get not one, but two loads of washing line dried, folded and put away. Unheard of for this time of year. And then, on my way down the hill to lunch, I dropped into the accountant's office and signed off on the paperwork to complete our tax reporting for not last financial year....but the year before. This induced feelings of euphoria......it was a two glasses of wine lunch. But that's OK as in the last seven days I've done eight Bikram Yoga classes.

And I've finally gotten around to picking cumquats. With one kilo of fruit I made three more jars of Moira's Cumquat Compote:

Still the tree is heavy with fruit, so my work with cumquats is not done yet. I'm thinking marmalade.....I once coughed up $16 at the Richmond Hill Cafe and Larder in Melbourne for a jar of Stephanie Alexander's Cumquat Marmalade to see exactly how she cut her fruit. I know now. And of course they are delicious squeezed into G & T's......if you have any other suggestions for cumquats, let me know. 

I got another invitation in the mailbox. This time from The Leukaemia Foundation for the '2012 Light the Night' Launch Cocktail Party. It made me cry. Almost four years ago my Dad died of Acute Myeloid Leukaemia.....a rare and very aggressively cruel form of blood cancer. When he was diagnosed he was told that without intervention he would be dead within two weeks. Two weeks. He participated in a drug trial and had chemotherapy. His two weeks turned into five months, for which I am so grateful. It doesn't sound like long, yet it's funny how time, as you've known it before, becomes a strange concept when you are living through such a harrowing experience. It was long enough for him to meet his new granddaughter and to give my sister away at her wedding.

My memories of the 'Light the Night' in Hobart three years ago are so vivid and raw. It was almost a year to the day after Dad died. It had teemed with rain all day. Yet the clouds cleared just as the procession of illuminated lanterns spilled out of the Hobart City Hall and seemed to float around the waterfront. It was eerily beautiful....for one night, so many people's harsh experiences with Leukaemia were somehow transcended into remembrance and hope. I'll be there again this year.

R

Cumquats.

This morning I harvested my first crop of cumquats for the season:

And between the million things I did today I made Moira's Cumquat Compote - the recipe for which she so kindly gave me just before she relocated to Melbourne.

All you do is get your hands on 500g cumquats:

Make sure they are clean and get rid of all the bits of stalk. Put them in a heavy, non reactive pan and add just enough water to not quite cover them. Bring to the boil and then simmer for half and hour:

 Stir in 350g raw sugar and boil for five minutes before putting into sterilised jars. Et voila:

It's meant to be delicious with cheese or ice cream and let me say that Moira wasn't kidding when she said that it was very simple to make. It was. So if you are stuck for cumquat recipes, give it a burl.

In other news, I have recently purchased this water bottle:

And yes, you are really seeing a stylised image of Bikram Choudhury, from way back in the day when he was about twenty years old, emblazoned on the front. Don't let that put you off as this bottle is insulated. That means that even if you add tap water on your way into the hot room, it will keep it cool and magically transform it from mere tap water to icy cold nectar from the Gods.  How did I survive for so long without one?

R