Salzburg

My brother is an exceptional human being. He suffered through the Sound of Music tour in Salzburg for me. He patiently took loads of photos of me and there are a couple of really good photos of him looking pained and troubled but I would be killed dead if I included them here. This is me at the Pegasus Fountain in the Mirabell Gardens. The Do-Re-Mi steps are in the background. A highlight.

Choices

“The choice may have been mistaken – the choosing was not.” Stephen Sondheim

I can't tell you what choice to make. My best advice is that you make sure it is your choice. Don't do something because someone else tells you it is right, or because someone says they won't be your friend.... etc. Make choices based on what you know and what you feel. It won't always be right but at least you know that it was what you thought was right at the time. 

Chicken and Corn Soup

Okay, it's not soup season here. We are beginning (slowly) to get sunny days and warmer weather. Not exactly inspiring anyone to put a pot of soup on the boil. But for those in the Northern hemisphere and anyone who just loves soup, this recipe is easy, nutritious and tasty. Ticks all the boxes really. Freezes okay too. 

 

1 packet of chicken noodle soup (make as directed on the packet)

Add

1 tin creamed corn

1 chopped onion

chicken pieces (leftover bbq chicken is good)

spring onion

 

Bring to boil and then simmer until onion is soft

Mexican Cheese Dip

Easy peasy lemon squeezy...... that's me being politically correct. Really, you can't go wrong with this recipe unless you do one of the two things that I know people have done using my recipe. DO NOT:

1. try to melt a whole block of Kraft cheddar cheese. Grate it first.

2. melt the cheese on its own. The grated cheese goes into the heating water and milk.

Saute 1 onion, 1 chilli, garlic, 1 capsicum

Add ½ cup water and ½ cup milk

Melt 500g grated Kraft cheddar cheese* slowly into the above.

Add a drop of Tabasco, ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper and black pepper to taste.

Serve with corn chips or carrot sticks or other raw veggies or all three. El yummo (who knew I spoke Mexican??)

* This is the cheese that comes in a blue box and is found near the Vegemite in the supermarket. 

A Few of My Favourite Things…Beatles Albums

There may come a time when you are lucky enough to have a large piece of Sunday afternoon stretching before you. The late, great author Douglas Adams called this the “long, dark tea time of the soul” and sometimes it does feel like that. You know that Monday is not far away but if you have a chance, take it. Grab a favourite piece of music and really listen.

For me, it is a Beatles album and, after much thought and deliberation, it is Abbey Road. Maybe not everybody’s classic. But for mine, the closing songs – Golden Slumbers, Carry That Weight and The End carry me to somewhere else. There are other moments on Abbey Road – quirky Maxwell’s Silver Hammer and the sublime Here Comes the Sun to name just two. 

Fruit Cake

This is the recipe that my Mum used to make as her Christmas cake every year. It is much more moist than a traditional fruit cake and doesn’t keep as long. No need to make it in October if it's going to be your Christmas cake. 

I’m not a big fan of fruit cake but I don’t mind this one. 

Mum’s Pineapple Cake:

1 x 450g tin of crushed pineapple

125g margarine

375g mixed fruit

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon mixed spices

1 teaspoon bi-carb soda

pinch salt

1 cup SR flour

1 cup plain flour

2 beaten eggs

Boil first seven ingredients in saucepan for 10 minutes. Allow to cool. Add sifted flours and eggs. Place mixture in an 18cm square cake tin lined with greased greaseproof paper. Cook for one hour at 160 degrees. Test with skewer. Leave in tin for 5 minutes then turn onto rack to cool. Store in an airtight container. 

More advice

Thankfully I remembered my own advice when zesting and juicing lemons again this week! Now here's another piece of advice: hot chicken soup and notebook computers don't belong together. 

Christmas is coming

My big tip for Christmas is save those gold coins through the year and when you have $20 (or better still$50) take them to whichever supermarket you like and buy a gift voucher. Put the voucher in a drawer so that at Christmas you have some "cash". It really helps, especially if you are doing Christmas baking - costs can be crazy!!! 

Black and White Raspberry Slice

Okay, one of the reasons I started this blog was to share recipes amongst other stuff ... the things you can't take with you. So (to celebrate the blog going 'out there') here is another one. 

125g Philadelphia cheese
1/4 cup caster sugar
1 egg
1/4 cup white choc chips

1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/4 cup extra caster sugar
1/2 cup cocoa
1 1/2 teaspoons bi carb
150g melted butter
1/2 cup milk
1 tablespoon vinegar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla essence

200g frozen raspberries

beat the Philly and sugar with an electric mixer until smooth. Beat in the egg, stir through the choc chips.

sift the flour, extra sugar, cocoa, bi carb into a bowl. Combine the butter, vinegar, milk, extra eggs, vanilla and then stir into the dry ingredients until combined.

pour into a greased slice pan. Dot the top with the Philly mixture and swirl through gently with a knife. Lightly press the raspberries over the top.

Bake at 180 degrees for about 40 minutes. Allow to cool in pan for 10 minutes before removing from the pan.

Cool and then cut.

Pompeii

The mountain in the background is Vesuvius. Before it exploded it was double the size it is today.

Imagine going about your every day life when half of that volcano blasted away. The 20 000 people of Pompeii stood no chance.

Barcelona

La Sagrada Familia. Sometimes you hear about something for your whole life and when you get there it is a disappointment. But not here. It was awesome in every sense of the word. There will never be enough words to describe it, or maybe just one word says it all. Gaudi. 

How to spend 5 hours wandering around with your jaw dropped the whole time? Visit La Sagrada Familia. 

Cupcakes for Cakie

The weekend was spent discussing cupcakes for Caitlyn's 21st. And for the first time I was grateful that all I have to do is another Master Chef Black Forest Cake. That's what's called getting off lightly. 

Venice

Loved Venice. This is my favourite photo because it captures Venice perfectly. Water. Gondolas. Time. 

Mum and I. Good Friday 2009.

"Your life is an occasion. Rise to it."

(Mr Magorium)

Rome - The Colosseum

It didn't matter that the sky was turning grey. Or that fine, misty rain was beginning. This was the moment I had waited for.

A Long Time

A year is a long time to miss someone. Forever is going to be even longer

Santorini

If I close my eyes I can feel the warmth of the sun on my face. I can hear the chink of cutlery on plates and of glasses being raised and drunk from. In my mind I can hear the songs that were on my iPod on that day.

And I can't believe I could take photos that look like postcards.

Father's Day

Oh yeah. Happy Father's Day. Bit of a nothing day when there is no father in your world. Just makes me miss my Dad more. 

The mango ....

Soon it will be summer. And that most perfect of all fruits - the mango - will be cheap, ripe and readily available. 

Right now that other almost perfect fruit, interestingly enough called the mangosteen, is available. Yes, it may have the texture of the snot of 1000 camels but get past that and the taste is divine. 

And here's the big secret ... the camel snot thing is really only to stop BMan from eating the mangosteens. 

Lemonade Scones

Who wants to spend their life rubbing butter into flour? That's what traditional scones would have you do. Lemonade scones are far too simple...

4 cups self raising flour

300 ml cream

1 can lemonade

Sift flour into a bowl. Make a well in the middle. Pour in the cream. Pour in about 3/4 of the lemonade. Mix together. Does it resemble dough? If yes, then turn out onto a floured board. If no, then add a bit more lemonade until it does. Sort of pat the dough out and cut the scones.

Now the ABSOLUTELY CRITICAL information for scone making is this .... always cut your scones as high as you want them to finish. If they rise a bit in the oven - great. If not then you have perfect scones anyway. This goes for all scones, even the ones without lemonade.

For savoury scones, use soda water instead of lemonade. Add grated cheese, bacon bits, chives or other yummy things.

What was I thinking????

Halfway through making the Master Chef black forest cake and I am tired and have sore feet. I started it at 1 o'clock and it is now 4:15. Still have the hazelnut praline mousse to make and then it will be time for construction. I am not sure how I am going to cut the layers but we will cross that bridge when we get there. 

Probably shouldn't have gardened and done this on the same day!

And it is only a trial run.  

The God of Small Things

The God of Small Things by Arundati Roy is one of my favourite books. It takes some time to "get into" but is worth persevering with. The writing is beautiful and you spend the whole book wondering where it's going to take you. Then when it gets there you really didn't expect it, or expect to feel so moved by it. 

"As Estha stirred the thick jam he thought Two Thoughts and the Two Thoughts he thought were these: 
a) Anything can happen to anyone. 
and 
b) It is best to be prepared."

Florence

I have nearly finished the DVD for Florence which means I'm about halfway through them. Have to hurry, the memory is fading and I have found myself looking at some of the photos of Florence thinking "where was that". Or maybe that was just Florence. 

The music has focussed around Michelangelo and the fact that he was the golden boy. And also the Medici who really did rule that part of the world for a while. 

Too Short

Life is too short to spend it doing something you don't like. Or with someone you don't love. Or dreaming about the things you'd like to do someday ....

Today

And if I had one chance to freeze time
And stand still and soak in everything,
I’d choose right now.
And if I had one night with sunshine to break through and show you everything,
I’d choose right now.

Invictus

A poem by W.E. Henley

Which I have loved for a long time. And which got me through some tough times.  

Out of the night that covers me,

Black as the Pit from pole to pole,

I thank whatever gods may be

For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance

I have not winced nor cried aloud.

Under the bludgeonings of chance

My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears

Looms but the horror of the shade,

And yet the menace of the years

Finds, and shall find me, unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,

How charged with punishment the scroll,

I am the master of my fate;

I am the captain of my soul. 

The Five People You Meet in Heaven

And the things you learn from them…

 

1.     There are no random acts. We are all connected.

2.     Sacrifice is part of life. When you sacrifice something precious you don’t really lose it, you just pass it on to someone else.

3.     Holding anger is poison. It eats you from the inside.

4.     Life has to end. Love doesn’t.

5.     Our place in life is meant to be.

 

Each affects the other and the other affects the next, and the world is full of stories, but the stories are all one. 

A few of my favourite things. Part One. MOVIES.

It’s a personal thing really but definitely on the list of my favourite movies are

·      The Princess Bride

·      The Sound of Music

·      Stardust

·      The Wizard of Oz

 

It’s also more about movie moments for me than whole movies. For example

·      Gene Kelly – just singing and dancing in the rain (Singing in the Rain)

·      Gordon McRae – cutting through the corn (Oaklahoma)

·      James Stewart – when a bell rings an angel gets its wings (It’s A Wonderful Life)

·      James Cromwell – they’re Vulcans! Live long. And prosper. (First Contact)

·      Sam Shepard – breaking the sound barrier (The Right Stuff)

·      Meryl Streep – bon appétit! (Julie and Julia)

·      Russell Crowe – home again. (Gladiator)

·      Brendan Fraser – running with the horses. (George of the Jungle)

·      Judy Garland – ding dong the witch is dead (The Wizard of Oz)

·      Robin Wright and Cary Elwes – as you wish (The Princess Bride)

·      Robert de Niro – can’t say anything more (Stardust)

·      Julie Andrews – running over the mountain (The Sound of Music)

 

And then there’s Johnny. Johnny Depp. He who surpasses all others! Which movie would I choose? Too hard but when I need a quick pick-me –up and a smile I definitely go for the final scene of Don Juan de Marco. Johnny. A beach. An open shirt. No need to say any more. 

Lemon Zesting

Note to self - zest the lemon first. Then cut in half to juice. This is particularly important when you have a paper cut. 

Apple Slice

With thanks to the late great Nanna Norma, who wasn't really my Nanna but was always a great date! 

BASE = 

1 packet vanilla cake mix (cheapest available)

1/2 cup coconut

1/2 cup melted butter *

Mix together and press into the base of a rectangular pan. The one I use is about the size of an A4 page. Bake at 180 degrees until lightly golden (about 15 - 20 minutes) 

* you may need more melted butter. The consistency you are looking for is like pastry. 

FILLING =

almost 1 large can of pie apple (or apricot or peach...etc)

Spread on base (base does not need to be cold) 

TOPPING =

200ml sour cream

1 egg

Mix together and then spread on top of apples. Sprinkle cinnamon on top. Bake again at 180 degrees for about 30 minutes. 

Well...you can't take it with you

So it's time to share. Photos, recipes, ideas, thoughts, hints. On anything and everything. Enjoy.