Monthly Archives: March 2011

happy moments

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Lots of lovely happy moments this week.

Getting caught in a quick Autumn storm.

Unwrapping boxes sent to me from kind friends and kind chefs.

Wearing earrings bought from Lilac and Snow for the QLD Relief Auction, that every time I put them on, it jump starts the happy again. I love these little earrings to bits.

No one is sick. Little Monkey is healing and his pain is a lot better.

Reinterpreting old classics. Did you know one of the three bears nearly fell into his bowl of porridge?

Restoring dinner with girlfriends.

Super star kind friends who cook extra and drop off multiple meals.

Arm and toe dancing with Little Monkey to chunky guitar music cranked up way too loud.

What happy moments have you had this week?

Basmati Yogurt Breadrolls

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I was given Dan Lepard’s, The Handmade Loaf recently by a good friend and inside is a lovely collection of launching pads of recipes. Now as it’s begun to be known around these parts, I can’t follow a recipe to save myself. So with this in mind I saw Dan’s recipe for Rice Bread and thought I could fiddle with that.

Let’s see…

With some basmati languishing in the fridge and yogurt that needed to be seen to as well, these little fellas did me proud. Healthy, with a sourdough-yogurt-basmati mix, they would have to be quite low GI, and they give a bit more oomph to your standard bread roll. Once cooked, I added some chunky cheese and some old lady pickle*, and I was a happy woman.

* Don’t worry, it’s not really made out of old ladies. Just what I call mustard pickles…. usually made by little old ladies.

Basmati Yogurt Breadrolls

(adapted from Dan Lepard’s Rice Bread)

150gms cooked left over basmati rice

110gms yogurt

250gms strong bakers flour

200gms sourdough starter

3/4 tps salt

40mls water

The usual mix, prove, fold, prove, shape, prove. Then baked at 240C for 10 minutes with steam and then another 10 minutes at 220C.

A chewy toothsome breadroll, that also freezes well, and I’m really looking forward to making these again.

This post submitted to the wonderful yeastspotting.

 

incy wincy freakin’ spider

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It’s true what they say about Australian spiders. They are bigger and badder than any you may have seen else where in the world. I know, because I live here, and there is one currently residing in my worm farm.  Sure it might not be the biggest I’ve seen, nor the deadliest, (apparently harmless they say….pfft.)

The problem is not so much the spider, it’s the fact that I have gotten a little…city-fied.

I am no longer the person that would happily exclaim, crikey, look at that little beauty and gaze lovingly at my new co-tennanting eight legged friend. That person is no longer, (and some would doubt that person was ever really there.) I am what I am, a city hippy farm girl, and in this instance the city well and truly comes first.

So what to do when I casually slip off the worm farm lid to feed my squidgey friends, and am met with a skittish hairy eight legged freak?

Do I…

A/ Gaze lovingly on to its ample body, marvelling at its intricate markings and upright leg hair engulfing all of its rather quick legs?

Or do I…

B/ Scream like a crazy person, grabbing the nearest hard implement to me, (probably a wooden spoon) wave it ruthlessly in front of its four eyes before pounding it to spider crumbs while yelling, Diiiiiiie eight legged freak!!!!

Or I could,

C/ Assess the situation. Survey the nearby land. Establish that the kids are inside and don’t need to know. Mr Chocolate won’t be home for another 12 hours, and do I really need to ‘man-up’ and do anything at all?

Answer= C

Let’s quietly put the lid back on and pretend I was never here shall we? The worms weren’t really hungry anyway.

Next day and I had conveniently forgotten about the pit of terror outside my kitchen door. Off to check on my worms and lo and behold… There it is again. I’m sure the little bugger winked at me, while waving four of it’s legs at me in a decidedly jazz hands fashion. Quick inward suck of air and clumsy step back from me and we eye each other off. Ahh, what to do.

I did what any self respecting blogger would do and went and got my camera. Followed by Monkey Boy, who I excitedly showed him the ‘lovely’ spider residing in our worm farm. He was enthralled, gave it some eyeball love “WOW Mama, and then left me with the eight legged freak. You see I’m not silly, I wasn’t passing on any preconceived ideas on how to act around spiders. I waited until he left before I made a small gag noise and all the hairs on my arms stood on end.

So why don’t I like them?

Because they run. They run really quickly… and they jump. They are like the crowned Kings of Parcour , and I don’t like it one bit. I can deal with them when I need to, but as Mr Chocolate was home, I didn’t need to. I encouraged him to join me next to the worm farm of terrors and then politely told him he wasn’t coming back inside until he had ‘dealt’ with it.

Do you want me to kill it?

What ever needs to be done babe…

As I quietly bolted the kitchen door behind me, leaving Mr Chocolate waving a flaccid looking roll of newspaper at a bemused looking spider.

* …and he missed it. The eight legged freak casually parcour-ed off and still remains at large.

sweet potato leaves, it’s Frugal Friday

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Sweet potato leaves have come up a few times in my Foodconnect box. At first (along with my red amaranth) I didn’t know what to do with it. A little playing though and another healthy leafy green vegetable to add to my growing list of all things good.

Now what to do with it?

It cooks up similarly to regular spinach, quickly and in a wilty kind of fashion. I used it here with potatoes, as I seem to have discovered there are good potatoes to be had in this world. Who knew!

In my trusty flat bottomed wok, (or use any old pot).

I added 2 good slurps of olive oil

an onion and diced garlic

pop in some already cooked chopped potatoes

give it a one two

add some sliced capsicum (peppers)

and the plucked whole sweet potato leaves

wilt it all on down for a minute or two

serve and drizzle with a little extra olive oil and a squeeze of lemon.

feeding the troops with Anzac biscuits

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Monkey Boy has a multicultural day at school this week, which asked everyone to bring in a plate of food from their respective cultures. I needed something quick, easy, nut free and not requiring a whole lot of thought process. Also something I could do the weekend before, so it had to store well.

Anzac Biscuits you didn’t fail me.

Out of my trusty CWA cookbook, the ever present Anzac Biscuit recipe lay proudly on its page. An eggless biscuit (cookie) initially created to send to troops in far off lands during war time. Wives, mothers and daughters made these biscuits for their loved soldiers, using ingredients that they could easily get hold of and could still be eaten after a long transportation time.

Maybe this time I would even follow the whole recipe to the letter. No short cuts and no changes… Imagine that.

On closer inspection of my pantry I discovered I didn’t have some of the ingredients, so would have to adapt. (I clearly wasn’t meant to follow recipes to the letter.)

I think my biscuits were a bit softer and paler due to less bicarb soda and using the self raising flour instead, (if you want them crunchier, just cook them for a touch longer). Still good to eat though, and I didn’t need to put in that much sugar as was originally called for. As the only troops that were going to be eating my ANZAC biscuits were a class full of excitable five year olds.

ANZAC Biscuits

125g melted butter in a bowl

now add

3 tablespoons golden syrup  (*1 tablespoon)

in a little cup

2 tablespoons boiling water

and

1/2 tsp bicarb soda  (*1 tsp)

add the bicarb mixture to the golden syrup mixture, then add

100g (1 cup) rolled oats

90g (1 cup) desiccated coconut

110g (1/2 cup) raw sugar  (*220g sugar)

150g (1 cup) plain flour

(*original recipe amounts)

Roll in to balls and squish down. Bake at 180C for 15-20 minutes or until golden.

chai and raindrops

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Looking out at the fat rain drops quickly soaking my washing on the line. I was thinking two things. One, well that was a really bad call. Apparently it wasn’t going to fine up and the washing would not be ok to put out as I had confidently told Mr Chocolate. Two, how can a man with just a slight raise of the eyebrow say so many things, namely… I told you so, so easily?

Actually make it three… how do those raindrops get so big?

It’s been a bit of a tiring week.

There has been a lot of comfort taken in that green tea cup filled with chai this week. The dangling tea infuser is one of those little things that I enjoy filling and then quietly plopping it into hot water. Watching the water slowly change colour. A tiny thing where it’s as much about the process as it is the taste.

It’s a warm hug in a tea cup.

A double hip spica cast on a 2 year old is not fun. A double hip spica cast on a 2 year old, that is still getting pain and muscle spasming constantly is not fun. It’s also not fun when he gets a rip roaring virus on top of that, which sends him back to Emergency and with high temperatures for days on end.

Counting down the days until I see the skin of my boy’s little legs again.

I’m looking forward to easter, as that’s when those little legs should be showing again. Looking forward to seeing his little legs run around looking for tiny chocolate eggs in a garden. Temperatures will be gone, cast will be gone, and Mama should have some terribly well toned biceps from carrying the not so Little Monkey around.

 

Sustainable Seafood

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Some useful links…

Slow Fish– Slow Food International’s Slow Fish campaign.

Fish Fight– Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall’s campaign.

Greenpeace International Seafood Red List.

Sustainable Seafood Guide– Australia.

Tuna– Industrial tuna fishing brings in big money as people love the stuff. It’s a cheap, tasty form of protein that appeals to many, either in the form of the handy little cans or eaten fresh and whole.

Greenpeace’s Canned Tuna Guide. Which brands to aim for and which ones to dodge.

http://www.fish-4-ever.com/ A UK based company, that uses skipjack tuna caught in the Maldives. Line and pole method.

A short snippet of what line and pole method actually means. (I found this fascinating!)

What you can do

Read more about the topic

Blog about it

Send a letter

Start a conversation about sustainable fishing

Vote with your dollar.

upcycling to gift tags

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Gift tags are such a simple thing to make. You can upcycle so many things to make instant eye catching tags that re-cycle something, look pretty good and don’t cost anything. Scissors, a hole punch and imagination are all that’s needed.

Christmas cards are a great thing to chop up, (thanks to Tricia for the point in the right direction with this one). Just make sure there is no writing on the other side.

Gift to match: Anything Christmassy.

Cereal boxes. I know that sounds a bit odd, and it would depend on what cereal you buy maybe… but with the right gift, I think it works.

Gift to match: Jar of muesli/granola, box of muffins.

Chocolate wrappings. Ok, this isn’t going to work if it’s a mars bar. But if you are buying some tip top chocolate once in awhile, it seems a shame to spend all that money on some delicious chocolate, for it not to get a second go doesn’t it? (See this post, on how to make wrapping paper and cards from chocolate wrappers.)

Gift to match: Anything, it looks a bit different.

Biscuit/Cookie boxes. Again, maybe not for any old box, but given the right one and it can look rather interesting I think. I was given these as a gift and loved the box so much it just sat there empty for a few months on a shelf. The Monkeys had been told to keep their little mits off it until I had decided what to do with it.

Gift to match: Something lovely.

So many things can be turned into a gift tag, or used as a small card. Perfume boxes, old calendars, pasta boxes… lots and lots of things to have fun with and give a new life to.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Bread

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sourdough rolled in cocoa


It started off as a dare. Chocolate Peanut Butter Icecream bread. What a hoot that would be.

A dare that made me think, ponder a little…. hmmm, I wonder…

What if?….

…and then…

no…maybe… yes?

First incarnation. Not so great. Dense, and lacking flavour. Ditch the milk powder, and chestnut flour. Far too dry as well….

More thought time spent on the next incarnation than should rightfully have been done so. An addition of a biga, add a little honey. Longer prove. I wanted a chewier texture, just a hint of the honey and cocoa, and didn’t want to be banged over the head with the sweetness. I wanted a bread, not a cake.

Second incarnation. Much better. More complex flavours, but still… not right. In the mixing it smells wonderful. Subtle in the flavours, not overly sweet, yep, it all sounds right. I have high hopes for the rising dough… and then it just sort of gives up.

Was it simply something that just doesn’t work. The flavours not holding hands together? Was it something I said?

One more crack. If it didn’t work this time, I would lay it to bready rest.

Third go in. It has the lovely combination of vanilla, honey, butter, sugar, peanut butter, cocoa. All flavours that would normally be working so well, (in a cake). The addition of the biga to give it a bit more oomph and…

It still doesn’t work. It’s dry, lacking in flavour, annoyingly slow to prove and does nothing for me what so ever.

BREADY rest… Let it rest.

Instead I make up a batch of normal sourdough, pop some dark malt flour in it, roll it in some cocoa just before the final prove. Once baked and cut, slap some crunchy peanut butter on it.

Ta dahhh!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Bread.

This post submitted to the wonderful Yeastspotting

home

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traction

who knew little diggers could do the 'Hokey Pokey' and turn around

 

Amazement

for the boy who has handled being flat on his back attached to a bed, in pain. not able to move, and now with a body cast.

Thankful

to the boy who still wanted to play hide and seek despite these restrictions. Making me laugh so hard when it was his turn to hide.

Feeling lucky

for living somewhere that is so very close to a Children’s Hospital. Not having to travel hours

and hours to get there as some parents  have to, and that his little leg will heal.

Gratitude

for the family and friends who have helped out with entertainment, food and logistical problems of the last week. Thank you.

Glad

for sushi, mobile phones, hospital arm chairs to sleep beside little people beds, dark almond chocolate, loving big brothers, accessible pain relief and healthy takeaway.

 

Now to get through the next 6 weeks with as much love and patience as we can give to our unmoving hip spica plaster cast 2 year old little boy.

*******

* Things might be a little quiet around here for awhile. I’ve got a few draft posts that I will pop up, and I will still be reading a little bit, but comments might be few. Thanks everyone for your concern and kind words though. XX

sounds better singing twinkle twinkle little star at home

double hip spica that starts just below the under arms going down both legs to the ankles

songs to make cupcakes to

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Cupcakes were on the menu.

Nothing fancy, just simple little numbers to be eaten after dinner. Mr Chocolate’s parents were coming over. A special dinner to celebrate my father-in-laws birthday and to also celebrate the fact that he and Mr Chocolate’s mother had been in the country for 40 years.  I was thinking a pavlova with a few typical Australian flavours thrown in, however Mr Chocolate seemed to think vanilla cupcakes would be better. Needing a tiny excuse to make mascarpone, I agreed.

The boys were out, and I had myself a little mama time. Time to get the oven cranked and perhaps some music to.

What songs to make cupcakes to?…

I used the Strawberry Vanilla Cake recipe, and just changed it to mini cupcakes.

Now how to make your own mascarpone?

Thanks to my trusty The Real Food Companion book, I wanted to have a go at making it. Mascarpone is soft and mild Italian cheese. It’s usually quite expensive to buy, but well worth it to be used in desserts, such as Tiramisu or my birthday meringue cake last year. I also use it diligently instead of a butter frosting for cakes. I had tried to make it late last year, but wasn’t bowled over with the results. So I wanted to redeem myself. Now where was that mascarpone love?

Mascarpone

300mls cream

2 teaspoons lemon juice

In a pot bring the cream to a simmer, adding the lemon juice and cook for about 1 and half minutes. Allow the cream to cool completely in the pot, and then pour into a muslin lined strainer and leave for 1-2 days in the fridge. For this one I popped in a vanilla bean directly after I had turned the pot off and allowed the bean to infuse with the cream for about 15 minutes. I then gently squeezed the tiny vanilla specks out, and into the fridge the whole lot went for at least 24 hours.

Result, is a speckled mascarpone, with a lovely real vanilla flavour. Just cream, lemon juice and vanilla bean.

It came out thick, smelling lovely and tasted like mascarpone.  You have to plan a little a head of time but it beats buying it.

Quickly whisked it up a little, and then adding 1/2 cup of icing sugar to the mixture. Slap it on to the cupcakes and decorate with strawberries.

Optional Australian flag.

****

…but the songs, what about the songs to make cupcakes to?…

Boy and Bear