figs, friends and francophilia

Here's a photo of Teresa and I singing our first song at the festival in December, O the Dreadful Wind and Rain (Gillian Welch and Dave Rawlings version. Looking forward to some more singing. Right now I'm thinking accordion, violin and some french chansons.....

and for Toby and Ryonen, the promised no fail Fig Jam recipe (it's hard to f*** up fig jam really) from Stephanie Alexander...(I love you two xxxxxxxxxxxx)


(photo care of www.foodpast.com)

1kg ripe figs
750g sugar
1 large lemon washed and finely sliced
1/3 cup red wine vinegar (I guess you could use apple cider vinegar???)

slithered almonds and ginger optional

Cut figs into bite size chunks
Mix with sugar and tip into large non reactive saucepan that will hold figs comfortably
Pulse lemon for a few seconds in food processor to make smaller pieces
Add lemon and vinegar to pan
Give it a good stir
Bring to boil over moderate heat
Cook for about 30mins stirring intermittently to prevent sticking
test for setting by placing a dollop on a cold saucer; when it cools you should be able to stick your finger in it and it will part the blob without running back together.
allow to cool for 10 minutes then spoon into hot sterilised jars and seal.

Happy Jamming lovelies.

Kings and Queens

We had these beautiful visitors yesterday and today, so tame, the King Parrot stayed a long while to eat sunflower seeds and pose for photos. Today he flew up to the window twice to get my attention. The echidna is still sitting in the garden with its nose snuffling for ants....I love it that these things are part of our day to day. And Henrik, it is with you most clearly in my mind that I post these pictures; some bits of Australia that I know you love so well! Enjoy my friend xx




Monday has become a very communal day for T and I and our boys. We usually spend the whole day together walking, talking, sharing chores, and preparing meals. I have earned the honourable title of 'Kitchen B****'to Kitchen Queen T. It's all about Superfood and chocolate and all things good and green from our local vege co-op. We think we should have our own TV show, baby in sling and all.....

sweet retreat

Saturday midday, left the boys happily doing their thang....


and fetched the gorgeous Bridge to head for these ....


for some of this....



and one of these....


in between lying around like this....

(what is it about a pristinely clean, white toweling bath robe?)

consuming yet more of this.....

(Please note presence of books indicating periods of time spent in, (as were termed the 15 minutes immediately following lunch break at my High School...) U.S.S.R or Uninterrupted Sustained Silent Reading....)

And then driving back to the city after more than 24 hours of adult conversation, a good night's sleep, a belly full of home-made treats, some looking at and some discussion of art, and the pleasurable thought of coming home to our boys, refreshed. Thanks sweet Bridge, what a joy!

guys and dolls

my guy is on his last night in India possibly still in a giardia (spelling?) spin. Some bad noodles. A blessing really to not have been ill until this far. But still...not nice. Poor darlin'.



I am about to make some kind of step towards making the Steiner Doll for Beau that I have long had the materials for. Even if that step be only to read the book. My intention is that at least by the time he has a sibling (should circumstances lead fortuitously to such an outcome) there will be a little effigy for him to care for himself. My friend told me that it is good to sleep with the doll (as the mother and maker) prior to giving, in order to infuse it with one's smell and energy. How lovely.

The wind is wild. We walked out into it today to have some sun and it blew us home again to dress up and make osso bucco.

The Domestic Goddess is In

You now those days when you feel on top of it all? (rare here but they DO happen), the washing is done, folded, put away, the house isn't completely feral, everyone managed a shower, a load of dishes has been cleared, AND wholesome soup and cake are to be had for lunch rather than hurried cheese sandwiches that only get half eaten.....I am having one today, a Domestic Goddess, patting myself on the back, hoping there will be enough left overs to have this feeling last until tomorrow evening.

The Rhubarb and apple cake is based on a recipe on which I have improvised to make it more gluten free and butter free, but it is still fluffy and moist and so damn good that last week I made it three days in a row, well on the third day I broke free and used the mix to make muffins. Wooo! It's all breath-taking excitement around here ! Cake recipe below.


Rhubarb and Apple Cake
small bunch of rhubarb washed and cut into 2cm pieces
2 medium apples peeled and grated
3 eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup yogurt
2 and 1/4 cups flour (I use spelt mainly, which you can also mix with other flours)
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 tablespoons of coconut oil (this was my substitute for butter and it rocks!)

• Cream coconut oil and sugar
• Beat in eggs one at a time
• beat in yogurt
• stir in the apple
• fold in the flour and baking powder
• stir in rhubarb
• place mix into round, greased cake tin and cook for 35 to 40 minutes at 180 degrees Celsius or until golden brown on top and fork comes out clean from centre.
  

Woolly Weather and the Holden Whisperer is missed.

It's February and we have the heater on and I am knitting scarves. We'll be making gender non-specific snow persons next.

I have been making this....

A double batch of granola, my favourite cereal. (the cup of Black Adder Licorice Tea is for consuming on the side)

For the regular batch;
75g dates (stoned and chopped)
75g sultanas or raisins
50g blanched or chopped almonds
50g raw cashews
50g macadamia nuts roughly chopped
2 cups rolled oats
1/3 cup grapeseed oil
1/4 cup pear juice concentrate
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Preheat oven to 150C combine mix fruit and put aside. Combine nuts and oats separately and set aside. Heat oil and pear juice concentrate in a saucepan til simmering then pour over the nut/oats mixture and mix well. Put into baking dish and press down to about 3 cm. Bake for an hour, stirring now and then until golden brown throughout. Cool in baking dish and then stir in the fruit and store in an air tight container.
This is my version of a recipe in Stephanie Alexander's Cook's Companion. You can use honey. I prefer the concentrate because it's low glucose. You can add other nuts or dried fruit of course. For me this is sweet enough in fact you could probably leave out honey/concentrate all together and just use dried fruit.

I have also been here.
To purchase this.

It was very difficult to leave the establishment due to all the yummy, affordable, desirable, colourful woolly stuff. In Borders today I tossed up between '400 Knitting Stitches' and 'The Knitter's Handbook', eventually choosing the latter for it's broader content, but seriously people 400 DIFFERENT STITCHES!!!! ??? I have to have that book. It shall be mine oh yes it shall. (I'm a gonner aren't I......)

Did I mention that Beau is out of nappies and off the boob?? I do believe I did. Sorry, repeating myself. Baby number two is knocking on my reproductive door and my heart simultaneously.

We are currently car hunting. (she said quickly deleting all posts raving about the joys of car-less life) Station wagon lovers that we are, and who wouldn't be with kids, dog, Camberwell Market booty storage needs.....My father has been working on cars, trucks, boats, bikes anything with wheels and a motor for most of his life and while all my other mates were buying; trashing and pumping money into mysterious new cars as teenagers, I drove around in a small green Mazda 1300 that Dad and his TAFE Automotive engineering class built from the ground up. They built it, cleaned, it spray painted it and primed it for me and it went on and on and on and on. And when on the rare occasion anything did come loose (it was usually from neglect on my behalf) Dad was there to fix it. So Consequently I have Trust Issues with Mechanics. Thankfully we now have one who is of Dad's ilk. My brother and I call Dad the Holden Whisperer because for example, K and I bought our last car here in Melbourne on the basis of Dad listening to the engine on his mobile phone in WA. Say no more.

What was my point here....?? I'll move on. Just to clarify the whole car free thing.....Beau is now of a weight that coupled with my lack of fitness, makes carrying him around on the back of the bike a dangerous sport. But more importantly the Big Move is nigh. Foggy though the details may be, the act is inevitable and you won't see me riding around dirt country roads on the way to the shop with a new born baby and a toddler in tow. I do still prefer to walk, ride or train/tram/bus it whenever possible because the irony of it all is that I do hate traffic.

K and Icurrently in the midst of Detox. Not that there's a lot of Tox in my body to De so it's a bit of a break from daily cake really. I do feel rather light and good and pious as if the Lord is watching me and He is pleased. This is part of Preparation for Conception of a Baby and makes us sound like a pair of Control Freaks when actually we are a pair of hippies who generally leave everything up to the Universe. Given that we're officially in our 40's, a bit of conscious effort won't go astray.

OK I'm going now. K is 1 meter away from me at his computer. It's a disturbing picture. Aint no babies gonna come from this kind of an evening...

Just imagine it.

Had I a camera I would have taken photos of the numerous culinary delights I created this weekend like a regular domestic goddess. Despite fighting off a bug and feeling a bit weary, I just had the urge to bake, and cook and use up a fridge full of veges. A friend gave me organic double cream and a jar of organic marscapone which obviously necessitated the making of cake. Yesterday I made cauliflower and potato soup, flourless orange/almond cake, and pear compote which I've used today to make banana and pear muffins. I finally got around to making my own sourdough leaven which is proofing as I speak and seems to be doing what it should be doing, ie frothing up nicely with a slight beery smell. So tomorrow I will make my first ever rye sour dough loaf! Never thought dough would get me so excited but there we have it.
We have been cleaning up our front and back gardens and shed in honour of the glorious weather promising spring. Slowly but surely our garden is becoming a lovely place to hang out and hopefully we'll have a little pergola with shade cloth and a baby grape vine before the heat of summer hits.
Next thing to do is mend and adjust the funky frocks hanging on the study door, ooh I can't wait to get into those. Unless of course I am pregnant by the time the weather warms up - that would be both wonderful and disturbing given that all winter I've been rotating the same three outfits without too much complaint knowing that frocks are awaiting!
A wonderful musical discovery today - well music recommended by a friend - a six CD anthology of American Folk Music recorded in the late 50's.(thanks Mike for keeping us well fed in the music department, and you too Martin while I'm at it) Apparently Bob Dylan 'borrowed' the exact anthology from a friend prior to his rise to fame. You can hear the influences so clearly. There's such a mix of spirit and joy and darkness in those songs. Makes me want to pick up my guitar more often and sing whatever is in there. It's so easy to not do it. And yet lately each time I've played and sang for a few hours of an evening I've spent the following day feeling like I've had some profound spiritual cleansing!! Why wouldn't a person want to experience that more often and just say 'bugger the dishes'.....
Beau's perfect joy right now? A simple Ikea train set that he bought with the coins in his money box. He clutched it to his chest in quiet satisfaction all the way home and hasn't stopped playing with it since.