Alishan ‘Uncategorized’ Category

We had beautiful weather for our pumpkin carving event on Saturday. We set up all the tables in the garden, set up each parent and child team with a marker pen, a knife for carving and a spoon and let them get on with it. Some fantastic pumpkins were made and the kids had a lot of fun scooping out the insides and designing the faces. It was then the perfect weather for relaxing on the deck, enjoying the live music and awaiting the gathering darkness when the pumpkins really came into their own.

Mohan-san, the supplier of our Darjeeling tea came to visit Alishan along with his brother. They set it upon themselves to teach us a little more about tea, preparing a whole array of Assam and Darjeeling blends. The Darjeeling tea was very light coloured but with a strong, sweet flavour; surprisingly different from the Assam tea. High grade darjeeling tea has a very strong, fruity fragrance making  Assam tea a better choice for milk tea. We were amazed to hear that in India there are at least 100 different types of tea. Fay’s parents were visiting from Taiwan and were determined to prove that their oolong tea was better by far!

Once we had drunk our fill of tea we then learned how to make curry, Indian-style. The menu was dahl, raita, spicy potato, asparagus and tofu salad (Japanese Italian??) and salad. The quantity of spice we used was amazing; at least two or three times as much as any of us use (especially cumin!). The dahl and the spicy potatoes were particularly good.

Here are our favourite recipes from the party. As there were so many of us and it was all judged by eye we an only give approximate amounts.

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●Dahl Curry

Ingredients：garlic, onion, yellow spit peas, ginger, oil, turmeric, cumin seed, cayenne pepper and butter.
Method:
①Heat some oil in a frying pan and add the garlic and onion and saute until golden brown.
②Add the butter to another frying pan then the spice – there was about a dessert spoon of cumin seed per person. Heat until fragrant. Add some more garlic and onion. Add the cayenne pepper and continue to heat.
③Place the turmeric and yellow split peans in a deep pan. Add the onion/spice mix, salt and three times the quantity of water to split peas. Once the split peas are soft add sliced ginger, the spice mix and a little more salt.

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●Spicy Potatoes

Ingredients：Potatoes, cumin seed, coriander seed, cardamon, cloves, black peppercorns, salt.

Method:

①Boil the potatoes。
②In a frying pan, heat the cumin seed, coriander seed, cardamon, cloves and peppercorns until fragrant and golden.
③Mix the spices in with the boiled potatoes and serve.
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There might be a few of you out there who have been using bottled water instead of tap water for the past few months. Sadly the fear of radioactive water far outweighs the pile of discarded plastic bottles. Rather than throwing them all away though at least you can put them to good use. Here are a few ideas and I’d love to know if you have any more!

1. Fridge Tidy: Lie a plastic bottle on it’s side and cut off the top face. You can put plastic electrical tape round the edges if they’re a bit sharp. I was going to take a photo of mine but then looked in the fridge and thought better of it! It’s just the right length to match the depth of our fridge.

2. Bird Feeder. This was fun to make. It took a while for the birds to cotton on to how to use it but they like it now. Get a plastic bottle, drill two holes in the bottle to run a pice of doweling through. Drill one more hole about an inch or two above this for the birds to peck out the seed. Hang from a handy tree. Make sure the cap is on to keep out the rain! There are lots of sites with more detailed instructions if you google ‘bottle bird feeder’.

3. Desk Tidy: Cut off the top! Easy. Decorate with electrical tape and stickers if you like.

4. Seed Trays / Plant Pots: Cut off the top and stab drainage holes in the bottom.  You can vary the depth depending on the type of seed you’re planting. One word of warning is you don’t want it in direct sunlight or the roots could burn. Paint black or cover with black paper or plastic if you want to protect the roots.

5. Watering Can: Drill holes in the cap and use for watering flower/seedlings.

6. Greenhouse / Cloche: If you have *a lot* of plastic bottles you could make a greenhouse by stacking them all up within a wooden frame. If you don’t have quite that many just cut off the bottom, take off the top and place over a seedling or vulnerable plant when the weather starts to turn cold.

The summer sun is starting to take it’s toll. Both myself and my children have overdone it rather in the great outdoors; there’s only so much sunscreen can do. I’ve been taking a look at the best ways to remedy the effects of the sun and this is what I have found:

The most popular essential oils for sun damaged skin are lavender, sea buckthorn, helichrysum, blue chamomile, sandalwood, calendula, myrrh and frankincense. Mix these with a carrier oil of choice eg. avacado oil; wheat germ oil; rosehip oil or jojoba oil. For 100ml of blended oil you’ll need around 100 drops of essential oil. Most professionals recommend sticking to just lavender oil for children and dropping down the ratio of essential oil to around 25 drops per 100ml. You can also add a few drops of these essential oils directly to your bath water or buy a pre-made blend for the bath. Vitamin E is also great for your skin. There are a number of online shops that sell oil capsules which you can snip open and apply straight to the skin, or add to your essential oil mix.

In the case of sunburn the most important thing to remember is this is just like a regular burn. You have to cool your skin, keep your body hydrated by drinking plenty of water and stay well out of the sun. Add lavender, chamomile and/or helichrysum to water to spray onto your skin as soon as you are indoors. Smooth on aloe vera gel, or cover with cooled teabags. Lukewarm herbal baths can be very soothing too and adding oatmeal will help with any itchiness.

Diet is also very important to the health of your skin. To help prevent long term damage I’m also making sure we’re eating plenty of foods high in anti-oxidants. Happily this is pretty easy. There are three basic categories of anti-oxidant foods:
Beta carotene/carotenoid rich : Apricots, beets, broccoli, carrots, mangoes, dark, leafy greens, kabocha, sweet potato, tomatoes, watermelon
High in Vit. C: Berries, broccoli, brussel sprouts, grapefruit, dark, leafy greens, kiwi, mangoes, orange, bell peppers, sweet potatoes, strawberries and tomatoes.
High in Vit. E: Broccoli, carrots, dark, leafy greens, mangoes, nuts, kabocha, sunflower seeds.
Throw in some apples, raisins, grapes, sprouts, eggplant and beans and you’ll ensure you’re well stocked up in anti-oxidants.

If you’ve having trouble finding essential oils The Tree of Life (Japanese only) has a wide range of oils. Neal’s Yard also sells organic oils in Japan (Japanese only but you can research the products on their English site) or there is the American online store iHerb which can ship to Japan.