Ho Ho. Ha Ha.

This is pretty hilarious, but Santa came to the Christmas Party. As pictured in the club portrait. With notable absences, Brooke, Don and Rachael.




The kids were pretty excited. Santa seemed a little dazed and unsure of how to wield these special Santa suit powers. Clancy was pretty happy to wave from a distance. And he got close enough to offer Santa a present. Very sweet to watch.




It was breakfast, so we had scones and muffins and fruit salad and french toast and bacon and I made a wooden heart Christmas cake, which is almost invisible on the Fleischmann's table.

Money Lenders

I have just topped up our Kiva account with funds raised from our raffle on Sunday. You can see the details of our loans here. Thank you to everybody who bought tickets and everyone who contributed! We have more money to spend on Oxfam unwrapped gifts, and I will be doing that over the next few weeks. Merry Christmas from Chutney Club and I hope you have a safe and happy New Year.

We have a winner!

Actually, we have three! Congratulations to Jen, Hannah and Buster.

Crumpets

Our lovely friends Trotski & Ash have just posted a delicious crumpet recipe, which would be one perfect way to sop up some jam or quince jelly. And like everything on the blog, it just looks sooooo good!

They also have a lovely looking calender out, a perfect Christmas gift.

Last Chance

These are some of the preserves we have stockpiled for the hampers. They will be divided up and stashed in these handsome hessian totes from the very talented and clever miss Penelope Durston. There are three, yes three prizes!




Tickets are still available up until saturday night, so only a few more chances to win, what are you waiting for? Each of the hampers will also contain a copy of the CWA Tasmania Cookery book, and various other bits and pieces too.

All proceeds go to Kiva and Oxfam. I will update with photos from the draw after it happens on Sunday. Good Luck!

Press!

Thanks Jen at Three Thousand and Lucy at The Design Files. Only one more week to snap up tickets!

"The Inter-Suburb Chutney Club was founded in 2005 by local artists/craftists Dell Stewart and Drew Martin. Outsiders have speculated that club members might be bloggers, food enthusiasts or associates of The Black Rebel Activities Club. Certainly, they delight in irregular meetings in parks, backyards and on rooftops, and swap sauces and preserves with one other. At Christmas time, they pile a selection of their homemade delights from the year past into big baskets and raffle it off. Last year, they raised more than $500, which went towards Kiva loans. This year there are three hampers to win, all brimming with enough stuff to give even Matt Preston's pantry a condiment problem."

By Jennifer A. Walsh

One note, I can't remember the exact date for our first meeting, though I'm pretty sure it's at least 2003, maybe even 2002. I will try to find the initial invitation on my backup discs. Sometime.

OMG! You can buy tickets online.

HERE.

Christmas Hamper 2010

It's happening again. Go to your friendly chutney club member for your chance to win one of three amazing hamper prizes.

Each Hamper will also include some wine, crackers and other goods to help you enjoy the chutney club experience. As well as giving you the chance to win some of this loot, proceeds will allow us to loan money via Kiva. Last year we raised over $500 and have been receiving updates all year on the benefits of our loans. We also contribute gifts to Oxfam and with the proceeds from the last fundraiser we bought goats, a veggie patch, fruit trees, some breakfast and also some eggs.

Working in 26 countries, Oxfam Australia is providing people with the skills and resources needed to develop their own solutions to poverty. Simple things like seeds, clean water systems, and skills training can mean the difference between desperate poverty and hope for the future.

The raffle will be drawn at the end of year BBQ on December 19th. We will endeavor to deliver prizes within Melbourne before Christmas to help with festivities. Get in touch if you want a ticket or if you'd like to contribute!

People

The Wards

We had a meeting at the Ward's house, to get provisions for a BBQ summer. We were also collecting for this year's Christmas Hamper Raffle. Here are some of the featured preserves (my camera ran out of batteries half way through this process).



Simon's O Mi Corazon Salsa Picante. Yum. Kate's Garlic and Chili Sauce. Double Yum.



Mr Ward made Rose Onion Relish, and Mrs Ward, a Classic Tomato Chutney.
Hoops made a spicy Szechuan Sauce and I made a fruity Mango BBQ Sauce.





Drew brought his famous Pickled Onions, Estelle made an amazing Strawberry Vinegar, which Sailor wanted to drink, and Birdy made Rhubarb Cordial, which I wanted to drink, with Gin and lime and mint.




Flieschmann made a delicious California Chutney, Don made a Green Tomato Relish with Loquat and Annie bought us a zesty Redesdale Apple Chutney.



There was a rich Marmalade from Brooke and an Apple Pear and Ginger Conserve from Estelle.



Mrs Ward supplied charming sailboat skewers and woody coasters too. The children are boosting our numbers with Leroy (welcome!) Iggy, Clancy, Sadie, Scout, Sailor and Samaya.
I'll soon be posting hamper details, featuring the above bounty and more. Chutney Club love!

Pickled Eggs!

Ominous, and also kind of interesting. Drew hosted our autumn harvest chutney club so he could make people eat his pickled eggs; as Kate understandably refuses.



It was a good one. There were takeaway eggs, feijoa chutney, jelly and quince and feijoa two tone jelly, tomato chutney, piccalilli, plum jam, crabapple, rosehip and pomegranite jelly and quince paste. Innovations in packaging from Rachael, Annie and Lydia. Poached figs with cream. Feijoa jelly with marscapone. If only I were hungrier at the time.

Feijoa and ginger jelly.

1.5 kg feijoas
Half a lemon
Crystalized ginger to taste
3 1/2 cups of sugar (approximately)

Chop 1.5 kg roughly. Squeeze over half a lemon. Almost cover with water. Cook til soft. Strain through muslin. Measure into pan. Add slivers of crystalized ginger and 3/4 cup of sugar for each cup of juice. Cook til soft ball or until the jelly sets when spooned onto a cold plate.

Haha harvest

It's that time again. Drew has offered to host this chutney club and open his pickled eggs. I want to suggest the 2nd of May, but am open to your suggestion.

I felt like making it a challenge.

Harvest. Make something with something you picked yourself. Easy for some, but I have a concrete backyard, and therefore have to skulk about alleyways looking for ripe fruit. Luckily it's autumn, there is fruit everywhere, so see what you can do. If you need help there is a map of fruit trees within reach of public property here.

Figs and feijoas, quince, apples and pomegranites are all over these suburbs. Make something of it.



I picked a some delicious apples up the farm, though not sure what to make of them, too good to cook with. Crunch Crunch Crunch.

Need fruit?

Hello preservers. Chutney club is about due for a meeting. Need fruit? Well here is a site devoted to fruit trees in public ripe for the picking.

The map of fruit trees is here. Feel free to update it. Now we just need a ripening schedule. I have made some alley fig jam. There is heaps more out there to be made.

Kiva Update

Part of the money we loaned through Kiva has been repaid so I reinvested in a group in Kyrgyzstan. It's great to be updated on how each group are going with their business and re-lending the money as it's paid back.

Kiva

We just made a loan to a woman in Nigeria, a co-operative in Bolivia , these beautiful women of the Makotekokoumana Group in Mali and another group in Vietnam using a new website called Kiva. For more information our lender page is here.

You can go to Kiva's website and lend to someone across the globe who needs a loan for their business - like raising goats, selling vegetables at market or making bricks. Each loan has a picture of the entrepreneur, a description of their business and how they plan to use the loan so you know exactly how your money is being spent - and you get updates letting you know how the entrepreneur is going.

The best part is, when the entrepreneur pays back their loan you get your money back - and Kiva's loans are managed by microfinance institutions on the ground who have a lot of experience doing this, so you can trust that your money is being handled responsibly.

It's finally easy to actually do something about poverty - using Kiva you know exactly who your money is loaned to and what they're using it for. And most of all, you know that you are helping them build a sustainable business that will provide income to feed, clothe, house and educate their family long after the loan is paid back.

Join us in changing the world - one loan at a time.